A little different ....birdcage from border punch and tiny,tiny digi roses

Anyone who follows my blog will already know that I love to experiment with my punches and see if I can come up with other uses for them as well as their straightforward punch shape....Well, here's another idea!

I bought a Martha Stewart "String Lace" punch around the page set in Sir Stampalot a couple of weeks ago and got to thinking....
Firstly I punched a "corner "(the top of the cage) and then made a punched line down each side from the top. This left a rather blank looking part in the middle so I made a "ribbon" from the same punch and adhered it to the "inside" of the cage.
I then hung the little cage from a Marianne Creatables branch from which I had removed the bird.
Next, I coloured the bird with Promarkers (Blush and Dusky Pink) and put him on the cage.
To add a little more interest I printed out my Two Roses digi image from A Passion for Stamps and made them  really  small  before colouring them to match the bird. I know it's not perfect...but I like it!!

1.  Punch a corner

2. Measure1.5cm from edge of punched corner on each side and mark.

3. Cut 2 parallel lines from the marks.

4. Punch both sides from as close to the corner punch as possible, then cut across the bottom leaving a little "ledge"

5. Cut a 2.5cm strip of paper and make the "ribbon" part for the inside of cage.

Don't forget to check the blog page "Making the most of your punches" to see more punch ideas.
I will be adding more soon,too. 

Challenges

Allsorts  ...free and easy
Creative Card Crew  ...animal antics
Cupcake Craft  ...shabby sparkle
Divas by Design ...summer is here
One Stop Craft  ...vintage
PaperPlaytime  ...in the garden
Passion for Promarkers  ...animals (I hope that includes birds..one of the DT cards has birds!)
Totally Papercrafts  ...bling it up

Sweet pea ...take 2

I haven't taken part in the Less is More challenge for a few weeks. The main reason was that I was on holiday but before that there was a "one layer" card challenge and I just can't do that! I have got Page Plus but just haven't been able to master it yet. Also because I use Promarkers I think my colouring would come through the card.
Anyhow, here is my card for the challenge this week...button or ribbon. I've used ribbon as a little tag under the image.
I used the same image as yesterday mainly because it's new and also because I wanted to try a few different colours of it.  So, again, it's Sweetpea from my digi collection ..A Passion for Stamps.

Challenges

Less is More

Sweetpea

I've been waiting for a chance to use this sweetpea digi image since I came home from holiday. I drew it in my nephew's garden and thought I would get a lot of use from it for various cards I had to make when I got home...but this is the first chance I've had.
You can see it HERE on A Passion for Stamps.

The embossing folder I've used is a new one which I bought on holiday too - it's Creative Expressions, Lattice EF002 .
I've coloured the flower with Promarkers...Carmine and Ruby, Apple Green and Forest Green. Then highlighted with a white gel pen.

Challenges

Everybody Art  ...garden

Digital Tuesday ...garden things with wings

Crafty Cardmakers ...flutterbies

Stampavie ...summer

I Love Promarkers ...anything goes

Allsorts ..   free and easy

Two new digis (sweetpea and baby girl shoes)

 Just a little post to let you know I've added these two dig images to my collection on A Passion for Stamps. I'm just getting into the swing of things again after my holiday so there should be more soon!

 

Sweet Pea; £1.70

Baby Girl Shoes; £1.50

Summer roses and butterflies

A few weeks ago I tried some "cut out" cards and this is one that I started then but never finished until now.
I added strips of card in the cut out panel in "sun ray" formation before adding my image...Two roses  from my collection  A Passion for Stamps . I coloured the roses with Promarkers and highlighted with a white gel pen.
The beautiful border feature to the left of the flowers was made with the help of my new Tonic Studios border punch system and I added two of the tiny butterflies at the top.

 Challenges..
Allsorts  ...free and easy July
Divas by Design  ....pastels
Stampin' for the weekend....wings and things
Paperplaytime ..summer

Met Brenda at Sir Stampalot!

 

 Just in case anyone noticed, I should say I've been on holiday! We had a lovely time in Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire and the Lake District and it was great to see my family over there again!

As you can see from the photo above I also had the perfect opportunity to meet up with Brenda and where better to meet than in Sir Stampalot. (That's Brenda on the left and me on the right!) We had a wonderful time and it was lovely actually to meet face to face. Thanks, Brenda, for the coffee and cream buns!! Fortunately both of us seem to have extremely patient husbands....while we were poking through crafting goodies David and Eddie were sorting the world out!!

You do know, of course that I couldn't leave a super shop like that without treating myself....so I bought a Martha Stewart punch set, a couple of embossing folders, gimgham ribbon and black and white papers (etc!) and I've now made this card using them along with my Stargazer lily digi image.

I'm entering this card into a couple of challenges (yes....no more than 6!!)

Sir Stampalot .....anything goes

Allsorts ...free and easy

Kaboodles  ...embossing

Paperplaytime  ..summer

Crafty Calendar Challenge.....Under the Sea

It's Crafty Calendar Challenge time again and this time the theme is "Under the Sea".
I didn't have any images to use for this one so I drew a new digi just for the challenge. It's simply called Sea Shells and I kept it simple as I am trying to build up a reserve of images which can be used for both male and female cards when I need them.
I've also used my Forever Friends Retro Collection boat embossing folder as it goes really well with the "sea" theme.
The prize for the challenge will definitely have you all wanting to join in....it's from Wild Orchid Crafts!

I'm on holiday at the moment so there's not as much detail about the card as there usually is. Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful summer weather!

I'm also going to enter a couple of challenges if I can...

 Allsorts...... Free and Easy
Stamp Something  ....digi day