Daffodil

I started by printing out the digital image on Xpress It card stock, which I then cut out, I coloured the white petals using pearl paint, and added a few highlights using Lyra artist pencils.The rest of the card is coloured with Lyra artist pencils and Gamsol.  I also coloured a second copy of the cup and coloured it and popped it up on foam adhesive.  I took a card base and cut the patterned paper from the K&Co Hopscotch Designer Mat Pad slightly smaller than the base.  I then took another of the papers from the pad and used 2 Spellbinders Labels 17 to cut a frame and embossed it.  I also placed the dies on my background patterned paper and traced between the two, cut it out and flipped the center over to show the opposite side of the paper.  I stitched around the outside of the green paper and adhered the three pieces to the white card base.  Then I popped my image into the frame using foam adhesive.  I then cut out two corner flourishes from the Spellbinders Fluer de Lis accents and embossed them and mounted them on the corners of the frame with foam adhesive.  Lastly I added some clear KaiserCraft jewels to the flourishes.

Blue bonnets

 I used the blue bonnets digital image for this card .  I've been on a purple kick lately, so I used my Twinkling H20's to colour the blossoms and my Lyra watercolour pencils. I then took the Wisteria Moments Apple Blossom Time digi kit and printed out some of the papers.  I then started with a 5 1/2" square base and layered the papers on the base.  All the layers were stitched and some were matted with card stock. The plaid paper was matted using a piece of card stock cut with the  Spellbinders Fleur de Lis border dies.  I then cut the image out using Spellbinders Labels 4 and adhered it using foam adhesive.  I then stamped the Just Rite sentiment onto purple card stock with purple Adirondack ink, and the border on white card stock. I layered them and then matted in green scalloped card stock and attached it to the card using foam adhesive.   I added a green ribbon bow gathered and attached with a purple brad.  I also added a butterfly to the right of the image and added a few jewels for his body.

Forsythia and Flowering Almond

I created some hybrid cards using some precoloured images.

For this first card I used the Memory Makers Bohemian Summer digital kit with the forsythia precoloured image.  I created the whole card front in GIMP and printed it out.  I added drop shadows to each of the layers.  The torn paper was created by me using one of the papers in the kit.  After cutting and folding the card I added 5 KaiserCraft green jewels to the left of the image.

For this card I took the flowering almond frame image and the Kindred Creations Butterfly Garden digital kit.  I created a file for the card in Gimp and created the card base with the two patterns, then a matted piece of patterned paper, the green piece of card stock and the digital image to which I added the verse.  I printed out the file, cut the base and folded it.  Then I cut out the other pieces I printed, and layered them all onto the card.  I added the flowering almond frame using foam adhesive. Lastly I added some jewels  where the two patterned papers meet on the base of the card as well as 3 pearls above the digital image.  Lastly I added a white butterfly between the blossoms of the digital image.

These precoloured images are a great easy way to create a quick card, and the great thing about an almost all digital card is that if I ever want to create a second or third card, the file is sitting on my computer and all I have to do is print, cut, fold and add a little bit of bling.

Jean-Luc playing ball with Claude

I created this card for another round of card tag, and was given this card by Rhonda to lift.  I was inspired by the scalloped ovals and the bow along the bottom of the card.  I stamped the Stampavie image Jean-Luc playing ball with Claude onto oval white card stock and coloured it using Lyra artist pencils and inked the edges green.  I matted it with a blue scalloped oval and I stitched the layers together.  I took the same blue card stock and created a blue card base.  I then took a K&Co Hopscotch Designer Mat Pad sheet, distressed the edges and sewed around it.  Then I took another strip of paper, distressed it and sewed around it and  layered it over top.  I wrapped crocheted trim and green ribbon around the two layers and adhered on the back, then tied a bow using the bow easy with the green ribbon and adhered it to the center.  I then used the Spellbinders in Spades dies to cut corner pieces from another sheet of patterned paper and adhered them under the corners of the scalloped oval mat.  I then mounted these layers onto the patterned paper using foam adhesive, just above the bow.  I adhered it all to the base and added 4 KaiserCraft pearls to the corners of the card.

Sugar Nellie Girl

I used another Sugar Nellie image for this card, Girl 3 and the sketch from the Sugar Nellie blog.  I coloured the image using Lyra artist pencils and a gel pen. I matted it with the Spellbinders lacey ovals. I used an 5 1/2" square card base and layered it with card stock and patterned paper from the Pink Paisley Sweetness collection.  I stitched the various layers together and mounted the matted image using foam adhesive.  I took three white paper blossoms, painted them to match the pink dress, added these interesting white buttons that make the perfect center for the daisy shaped blossoms.  I tied a bow onto the buttons using painted crochet cotton. (I have a quirky pet peeve about unthreaded buttons :P )  I added them to the card as indicated on the sketch and tucked some white leaves punched with the Martha Stewart twig punch behind them.  I added three white KaiserCraft pearls along the bottom of the vertical strip, and a white satin bow tied with the bow easy to the top right hand corner to finish off the card..

Crocus

I tried something new for me when colouring this digital image.  I first coloured the flower petals using a pale purple Twinkling H2O's then I went back and highlighted the edges using Adirondack dye ink.  I had some issues when I was doing this because it takes a lot of ink to go over the Twinkling H2O's and it takes a bit to soak into the paper.  However as soon as I hit the edge the paper soaks up the ink like a sponge, and in a few places you can tell I got just a little too close to the edge.  I then finished the rest of the image using Lyra artist pencils.  I like giving just that bit of sparkle to the flower petals, it really sets them off beautifully without making the entire image overly shimmery.

I then cut it out using the Spellbinders Nesties 4.  I lightly inked the edges while still in the die.  I ran a piece of green card stock through the Cutlebug with the Kassie's Brocade folder.  I wrapped it with a sheer purple Offray ribbon.  I mounted the image using foam adhesive, then added a bow tied with the bow easy on top of the ribbon beside the image.  I painted the photo corners with pearl paint, added them to the corners of the mat and mounted the whole thing on a white card base.

Bambino

I created this card for Challenge 57 at the Sugar Bowl.

I started with a 5 1/2" square base. I then printed out papers from the Wisteria Moments Apple Blossom Time digital kit. I must say they printed much darker than they appear in the kit and the plum turned out an aubergine colour.  I matted the plaid paper with some light purple card stock which I edged with scalloped deco scissors, and stitched around it.  I also matted the strip of green patterned paper with the purple card stock, and stitched around them.  After I also adhered these to the base I added four purple KaiserCraft jewels to the outer corners.  I then cut out the round mat from Monica Bjork on my Silhouette, added a green inner circle, which I also stitched together then adhered to my base.  I then coloured the Sugar Nellie Bambino stamp using Lyra artist pencils and cut it out using a Spellbinders Labels 4 die, then mounted that with foam adhesive on a larger Labels 4 cut from purple card stock, which was centered on round mat.  I then also added KaiserCraft jewels to the round mat.  I tied a bow from sheer purple Offray ribbon using the bow easy and adhered it below the image, tucked in some leaves cut with the Martha Stewart twig punch, then dangled a moon shaped pendant with some beads from a small safety pin.  Above the image I arranged a bunch of purple ribbon roses with the same leaves, as well as some flourish die cuts.

I love the colour combo of this challenge even though I don't often use purple.  I would likely have done this image in typical baby blue for a baby boy, but I love the result here and if I'd coloured the little bambino's cap purple this same card would have seemed a bit more baby girl to me.  Though I think it is still neutral enough to be used for either I think.