The still image does not do justice to this card. The total card is 6x6 inch or 15x15cm. I just noticed the watermark on my desk, looks like it needs a good oiling. Well cant do anything about that now. Hope you folds have enjoyed the card and are inspired to get crafting. 

As always, there is always an anything goes challenge at "A Perfect Time To Craft", monthly winners are chosen from the entries at the end of each month. I hope to see you there and thank you again for stopping by. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ​

I used a stamp set from Poppy Craft, cant remember the name but has a whole bunch of coffee and tea related images. I have been waiting to use it and the quotes just made perfect sense. 
I only used one colour of ink for this whole set of cards. I used Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, a sponge dauber and a slick surface, the plastic sheet from the stamp. The paper I used was copy paper at 200GSM. Works really well when I am layering. 
I started by placing my stamps along the edges of the precut panel. I can get four panels from one A4 paper. To make the quotes standout and give it more interest, I made a halo effect using the Vintage Photo ink and a sponge dauber. One of the dauber I used had some left over black ink and made the colour a sort of grey, definately a happy mistake. 
​Here are the 4 cards I made. 

I hope this has given you some inspiration to use up your quirky quotes. You can always make your own using Microsoft Word or stamp out sentiments, cut and match words to make truly unique ones. If I were do redo this, I would probably add a mat under the quotes to highlight it a little more. 
In the comments, tell me which one is your favorite or share how you might use your quotes. I would also like to invite you to join our monthly challenge at Creative Fingers Challenge Blog. The theme is always, anything goes. Come and share your work of art. 
Thank you again for visiting. Take care and hope to see you back here soon. 

The kit comes with decoupage images to cut and layer, this made the next part super easy. I wanted my critters on the left, with the tea pot facing the same direction. In the original image, the teapot faced right. Since there was no words on the image, this part was simple. If there were words, the "flip" will make the words illegible. I'll give you tips on how to work with that in another post. 
To make this card, I followed the following steps.

1. Using GIMP 2.0 which is a free software, I made a copy of each decoupage layer and flipped the image on the vertical axis. 

2. Using Word and my template (makes 4 card front on one A4), I arranged my images to make 2 card front and the other 2 to print the decoupage elements. Usually, I would use this template to make 4 card fronts which are slightly different so I can turn them into a set of cards to give as a gift. Remember to use the scale function to reduce/increase the size of your images, so that each layer will match up. Super important with decoupage images which come in multiple sheets. I reduced both the layers at 30%. Here is the link for this template.
         However, like Murphy's Law states "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong" and it did!
         One of my card front was ruined, so I was left with extra decoupage images that I needed. 

3. I continued working with the good card front, I cut it to 3 13/16 x 5 1/2. Then I backed it with some deep red cardstock. Before I glued it down, I used my puncher to take out some pieces. This not only reduces the final weight but also gives you some extra pieces to work with. No one will see this.

​4. I used wet glue to stick the layers together, being careful to not press in the middle as the punched out area will indent if pressed hard and leave a unsightly mark on the card front. 

5. For the sentiment, I looked through my scraps for a pretty teal paper strip. This one happens to be  top part of a pattern paper which I had saved. I layered it behind a sentiment which I printed on regular white cardstock. Super easy to make. I will have the one I made link below. Remember to use a black marker to go around the sentiment to give it a professional finish. 

6. The sentiment would block the little mouse, so I cut out the decoupage layer and backed it with 4 layers of scrap paper to give it dimension and glued it, making sure to line the image up with the bottom layer. I wanted the doggie to stand out more, so I cut out another one of it and backed it up with 3 layers of scrap. 

7. To create more shadow, I gently curled the mouse's ears with a pencil. 

8. I finished off the card by adding Nuvo Drops in the colours Autumn Red and Dragon Scales. ​

That is all folks, hope you have fun creating. As always, A Perfect Time To Craft August challenge is up and running! Check out the team's inspiration in our video and join us over at our blog for your chance to win! 

Hello Folks, we have officially started the 2nd half of 2021. I hope you have all been doing well and staying safe. 
In the current uncertain times, I have found card sending ever more important to stay connected. As many of my cards are quite feminine, I decided to make a masculine one today. 
Today's image, Steampunk Owl comes from the very talented Lauren C, and you can find it here at her Etsy shop, LCWaterworth. She has a wonderful collection of outlined B&W stand alone images as well as coloured pattern paper sets for scrapbooking. 

As usual, thank you all for visiting. Hope this gave you some ideas to get crafty. If you would like to share your crafty creation, join the Monthly fun at "A Perfect Time To Craft", where you can summit ANY of your creations. Click here for that page.

Hello lovely, I got into another design team!!! I am so excited. Love working with new crafty people. Everyone is so talented and have a variety of styles. Absolutely blessed to be a part of CREATIVE FINGERS team. This group runs a challenge too, they do it every 2 weeks, beginning on a Friday. It would be lovely to see you all there. 
​
​Now let's get to business. ;)

The sponsor for this challenge is the fantastic Bugaboo. I used this chibi image called Kidz Bella Love. I wanted to use the image in my planner / journal for July so  I resize the image in 5 different sized and printed them out on one sheet of paper. I only used 2 out of the 13 images I coloured. 

I'm in Australia, so the paper I used was A4. My Journal booklet is 7 3/4 tall and 4. The balance of the paper I used to make a smaller booklet which I use like a notepad.
I use Zig Brush markers on 170GSM paper. I made multiple sizes of the image on one page, so I can colour and choose the size that fits me best. Pattern paper the background, die cut letters to spell July, added some gold drops and voilà, a cute little booklet to go into my planner. ​
If you are interested in tutorials for resizing digital images without them going all blurry, let me know. I have a few tutorials that I am working on and that will help me prioritize.

Finally, thank you so much for dropping by. I would love to hear your thoughts or if you would just like to say hi. You can find the link for the team challenge here. There is no themes, anything goes. Looking forward to seeing your wonderful creations in the challenge. Sending you lots of love and groovy crafting vibes. Stay safe and take care. 

I loved the image, so I made another one with purple hair. 

Let me know which one you like better. Personally, I would have loved the purple one, if the colour blended better. Well what's done is done. That is all I got for you folks this month, as usual don't forget to join the Monthly fun at "A Perfect Time To Craft", where you can summit ANY of your unique creation. Click here for that page. Or you can also visit our facebook page here for more inspiration to use your digital images. Thank you for spending your time with me.  Stay safe, stay crafting and hope to see you all again, till then take care. ​

That is all I got for you folks this month, as usual don't forget to join the Monthly fun at "A Perfect Time To Craft", where you can summit ANY of your unique creation. Click here for that page. Or you can also visit our facebook page here for more inspiration to use your digital images. Stay safe, stay crafting and hope to see you all again, till then take care. 

Hi folks, I am sure most of you have heard of digital images for card making. They are super affordable and when you buy them, you have them for LIFE and all you need is a printer to printout your image as many times as you want. For the next few post, I am looking at doing more digital image techniques. So if you are interested, subscribe and stay tuned. 
While digital images are cheaper than buying stamps, inks and stamping blocks, it is still your hard earn money. So if you get stumped after making a few cards, continue reading to get some inspiration on using your digital image. 
Most digital images come in sets, my favourite place to go for images is The Hungry JPEG. For this post, I am using their oh-so-stunning set called Spring Garden Roses, Peonies Watercolor Clipart By LABFcreations. This set comes with 40 images of beautifully soft and romantic hand drawn floral watercolour in ​light blush pink and white colour palette.​

To keep these inspiration accessible to most card makers, I am sticking to very basic supplies. You can always add more embellishments and use alternative products to decorate your card. I use liquid glue, some craft cardstock, gold sequins, white ribbon,  white ballpens in 3 different sizes (you can easily get way with one and just vary the size of dots you make), Nuvo drop in Bright Gold (alt: pearl stickers, pearl drops or gems) and Versamark embossing ink (this is shiny but you could sub it for normal versamark with perfect pearls).
Other items not shown in the picture include white cardstock for the card base, gold mirror cardstock, ink from my dirty ink dauber, foam squares, a happy birthday background stamp and some scrap cardstock in replacement for foam. 

To demonstrate, I picked just one image from the 40. I picked a wreath that was already arranged beautifully. Using my Windows computer's default printing software, I made 6 copies of the image on one A4 size cardstock. I made sure to make my image fit the frame which allows all of the wreath to show. To make those with words in them, I used Microsoft Word app to overlap the words over the wreath. You could also print the sentiments separately on cardstock then cut them out, or use rub-on or pre-printed sentiment strips. I fussy cut some of the wreaths, left others with the center and one with extra space at the bottom for the sentiment.  
P.S: For a close up image, click on the image. 
 
Ideas to try:
1) Switch around the font you use for your sentiment

2) Switch around the placement of the sentiment

3) Use a variety of embellishments
Choose colours from the image or a complementary/ neutral colour for your embellishment. I use craft, gold, black and white. I used sequins, Nuvo drops and pens to decorate my cards. 

4) Change the orientation of the card opening, ie landscape or portrait. There is also so many other card fold style you can use. I'll cover this in more detail in a future post.

5) Use ribbons add softness to your card
 I used the ribbon to anchor the image and fill the empty space under the wreath. The soft texture of the ribbon adds flow to the straight edge card. 

6) Use specialty cardstock strips as accents
I used gold mirror cardstock strips to add interest to the card or you can use it as a focal point like the gold heart in the middle of the wreath.

7) Add dimension with foam or layered up scrap paper
Make sure you are generous with it,  or else it could make unflattering dips when it gets squashed in the mail.

8) Make a subtle background
​You can also use semi-transparent sparkly ink to add some subtle sparkle to your background or use a similar colour to your cardstock to add watermark/ faded print to the background. Inking a light halo with a dry/ dirty ink dauber can help add a focal area to add the image. 

As usual, your questions and comments are always welcomed. If you find the ideas useful, do share this with your crafty friends. I am part of the "A Perfect Time To Craft" design team, we have a monthly challenge on our blog where you can summit ANY of your unique creation. Click here for that page. Or you can also visit our facebook page here for more inspiration to use your digital images. 

Hello folks, I hope you have all had a fantastic February. I definately did. I had Lunar New Year celebrations, Valentine's day, my 5th wedding anniversary, my mom's birthday and I turned 33 on the 23rd. SO yay,  a BUSY FEBRUARY!!!
That is what drew me to this sponsored image. I love bumble bees, the look so cute and fuzzy. This month's sponsor is SheepSki Designs Digital Images & Art. The image is Bumble Bee Blossom - image no 90. Being such a full on month, I wanted a WOW project without the looooong hours. So I did what human's have done for generation and built on my project on top of other's work. 

Do you have a stash of pattern paper which is too busy/ complicated/ not-so-you colour which you can't use but don't want to get rid of because it is precious paper? Then I have an idea for you to use up those papers. 
Here I have a very busy peach yellow toned flower doodled paper from Studio Calico. I have had this for years and have used most of the other papers in this collection. For whatever reason, the colour mix of this paper just didn't look right to me. I have hear the wise saying to cut pattern papers into smaller pieces if you don't like the design, but I can never decide where to cut into!

When I got myself a laser printer, a new world opened for me. Printing on patterned paper!!! For this project, I adjusted the image to fit on my 6 x 6 inch paper and printed it. Then to add some definition to the image, I used some alcohol markers to colour in the image. You can also use dye inks from reinkers or ink pads with daubers, to colour. Water soluble markers like Zig will work too, but just be careful to not use too much water as it will warp the paper. 
Because it is already on pattern paper, blending is not a worry. Just make sure you use light and transparent colours if you want the pattern to show through your colouring.
For example, the peach and pink I used on the flower allows more of the background pattern to show through than the dark grey and black on the bumble bee. If you had put down too much colour, just remember you can always remove it with a blender marker. 
To finish off the image, I added glossy accent to the eyes and wings then added the project to a slightly bigger cream cardstock to give it a 1/8 inch frame. 
If you don't have a laser printer, then you can just change the colouring medium to colour pencils, use feathering motions to gradually add the colour. On a side note, Pigment inks and Oxides are not great for this technique as their opaque properties' tend to cover the background pattern and the printed image. But if you are great at colouring in the line and just want a one layer card with patterned background, then go for it. 
​Always appreciate you coming and hanging out with me. If you have any question, drop me a comment and I will be delighted to help. Thank you again to SheepSki Designs Digital Images & Art for the beautiful image. 
As always don't forget to join our Monthly Challenge. The theme is always "anything goes", so share your marvelous creations for the world to see. Visit our  A Perfect Time To Craft Facebook page for more inspirations. 
​Till next time, stay busy and lots of love.