Digital Two for Tuesday 33

This week we have two images from a book called Santa Claus from the 1870's. I am guessing this as there is no copyright but there are many references to the American civil war a few years before. Our guest host this week is Pauline. Pauline has been a follower of my blog for some time and I always love to stop by her blog to see what beautiful creations she has made lately. She has an amazing sense of color. I just love the vibrancy of her work. Here is her bio in her own words. "I'm Pauline, from Stawell, Victora, in the south east of Australia. I am married with a special needs foster child who has multiple disabilities, and an addicted papercrafter! I love cardmaking and scrapbooking. I started scrapbooking, and moved over to cardmaking - I made all my wedding invitations, thank yous and place cards... what an adventure that was! From there I was hooked. My favoured mediums for many years has been rubber stamping, paper folding and piecing, then I discovered card embroidery.... for many years now I have designed my own stitching patterns when commercially available ones didn't suit my need. Then I just started designing them for the fun of it all! I like may styles but am quite finicky with my stamp images I use... I rarely stay in the one genre - I like some realistic, whimsical, cute (but not too cute!) wood cut (I guess the list is endless!) Last year I discovered digital stamps.... and started playing with vintage photo images. So I guess my 'style' could be called 'eclectic' ... as I don't quite seem to fit into any category.

My favoured colouring mediums are markers, H20s, and chalks. My favourite embellishments are lace, ribbons, paper and silk flowers, buttons, beads and bling!" Here are Pauline's projects. Won't you take the challenge and make something with one of these images. Don't forget to share it with all of us with a link in the comments section of this post.

Mother and Child Card:

I have used Bazzill and DCWV patterned cardstock, layers were edged in antique gold ink. The image has been coloured with H20s, with small accents using Stardust Pens (flowers on Mother's robe). As I got a great feeling of serenity from this image, I didn't want to over embellish, so I have used only a strip of vintage reproduction lace, and paper flowers. The largest bloom is a vintage paper flower, the flat blooms are current productions. I have added only a couple of rhinestone brads, and a decorative paperclip which says "Baby

Flower Boy Card:
I have used Bazzill and DCWV patterned cardstock. I coloured the image entirely with chalks, except for the flower in his hand, on which I used Stardust pens. I thought this image was perfect for a Thank You card, so that was the road I took - a simple sentiment was all that I thought necessary.

You can see more of Pauline's talent at her blog My Paper Playground.

Digital Two For Tuesday 32

This week I have two very different images for you. They are from a very old book called Santa Claus from the 1880's. There are so many fun line drawings in this book. I just love the frog images. You can do so much with them. Hopefully, I will find some time to photograph my cards from this week's images and post them on my site Paper Flowers. I'm so busy posting images I never get around to photographing my projects.

Ok, so our guest designers never cease to amaze me and this week's hostess Kym is no exception. I gave her two very diverse images and she created two very exciting cards. Here is her bio in her own words. "My name is Kym and I am a wife and mum to two boys aged 17 and 13. I took up cardmaking in December 2004 by cutting up my previous years’ Christmas cards, sticking on a card and adding an embellishment. I cringe when I think back then and that I gave these kinds of cards to people!! In January 2005 I was in hospital for 7 weeks and then off sick a grand total of 11 months. It was during that time off I came across Dawn Bibby and her shows helped me through a difficult time. It also made me decide that all the cards I make I would give 50% of everything made to charity. I have come a long way card-wise since then and at the beginning of December I celebrated raising £1,000 for many different charities in 4 years by the selling of my cards. That was a highlight for me in 2009 and another one was that I actually got to meet Dawn Bibby in her shop when my husband took me away for my 40th birthday. It made the time away even more special. I so enjoy making my cards and enjoy taking part in challenges as I am always being taken away from my comfort zone. This is my first ever guest appearance and I feel very proud and excited. I hope you like what I have made for you. If you would like to see more please visit me at http://kyms-crafty-cards.blogspot.com/"

The image has been imported into My Craft Studio (MCS) and I put some frames around it and a backing sheet from Walk in Wonderland and printed out. The image I coloured in with Promarkers and used Sakura Clear Stardust pen (no700) to accent the image in places and I did some faux stitching around the edges of the frames. I rubbed a piece of Coredinations card stock with an emery board to age/distress and then scraped along the edge with a craft knife to distress it/make it ragged. I did the same with the digital image sheet. The Coredinations card stock I stamped around with a Kay Carley flourish stamp and Crimsen Red Versafine. I then wet the edges of both sheets with Versamark then put on gold embossing powder and heated it up. I then put the card together with a bow pinched from a box of chocolates we haven’t even eaten yet (don’t tell on me!!!), some glittery gemstones, some card candy and finally some lace with was originally white but didn’t fit in with the colour scheme so I coloured in with my Umber Promarker.

I found four different but toning backing colours in My Craft Studio and layered it all up. I added a flourish in each corner and then placed the flower image in the middle. I then printed it out and coloured in the image with Promarkers using a mixture of pinks/light purples for the flowers and I used a gold Sakura pen for the stamens. I then printed out the backing paper from an Artylicious Damask Delights CD onto a purple pearlescent paper which made it very faint but this was the effect I wanted. The main image was decoupage and then put on some gold mirror card and 3d foam pads to elevate for more dimension. The card was then finished off with some card candy, a ticket sentiment and some purple fibres.

Guest Designer's Wanted

Have you always imagined yourself as a guest designer. So now is your time to shine. You should be a guest designer at Digital Two for Tuesday. I am looking for guest designers for the following dates May 25 and June 1. You will be assigned one Tuesday to wow us with a creation. This is an open call so everyone even previous hosts can answer it. If you are interested in being a guest designer for Two for Tuesday please contact me with a link to your blog or a website where I can see your work at coraharkins@sbcglobal.net. I will then let you know which of the dates you will be assigned. All are welcome. That is what Two for Tuesday is all about trying new things. Your duties will include making a project with one or both of the images from the challenge, a short description of your project,a short bio and to comment on anyones card who participates in the challenge as we all like praise. I will give you the images one week before. They are my choice and sometimes they are different then your usual style. That is part of the challenge. I hope you decide to be a host. Please email me for more information.

Update My Etsy Site

I have updated my Etsy site for my stamps. So please check it out. Clearly Vintage Stamps

Digital Two for Tuesday 31

This week's exciting guest designer Debbi Harris is from South Africa. She has an amazing use of color and texture in her work. I love all the accents she adds to her cards. Here is her bio in her own words."This is my first guest appearance which I am thrilled about. I am a proud wife and Mom to 2 gorgeous children. My son Nic is 13 years old and daughter, Sasha is 11 years. I live in fabulous, sunny Cape Town in South Africa. Rubber Stamping has been a passion of mine for the past 14 years and I have hosted many swaps on our South African Internet group. I enjoy making cards, ATC's, Inchies, Twinchies, Moo's and chunky books. My blog is http://dkhdesigns.blogspot.com/ if you would like to see more of my artwork, please leave a comment if you visit."

I have coloured the image with Aquarelle pencils blended with a Dove blender and embellished with flock and Stickles glitter glue. The background has been sponged with Distress Ink Antique Linen using Inkssentials Ink blending tool. All the edges of the layers of card have been sponged with Brilliance Pearlescent chocolate. The image is mounted onto brown card and then onto 2 layers of scrapbook paper and then matted onto another layer of the brown and finally onto a cream folded card. The card is finished off with a cellphone sticker.

I have coloured the image with Aquarelle pencils blended with a Dove blender and the fairy's crown is embellished with self adhesive pearls. The background and the edges of all the layers have been sponged with Distress Ink Antique Linen using Inkssentials Ink blending tool. The image is mounted onto dark turquoise card and then onto a layer of scrapbook paper and then matted onto another layer of the dark turquoise and finally onto a beige folded card. The card is finished off with turquoise lace and a paper flower that I have embellished with pearls as shown in the photo.

Exciting News

Guess what? I was interviewed for a short article on how to pick a photopolymer stamp manufacturer awhile back and I just noticed it has been posted. Share my 2 minutes of fame here at ehow. Also I have put all of my stamps back in my Etsy shop. So be sure to check out all my stamps. If you prefer your stamps sent our first class mail email me for an invoice at coraharkins@sbcglobal.net.

Blog Candy

I have some blog candy over at Clearly Vintage. Stop by to read about it.

A great link to lots of digital images

While surfing the web I found this great link to a over 700 digital images. There are so many I thought you all would enjoy. So make sure you take a look. You may have to join the site to download the images. Briar Press

Digital Two for Tuesday 30

This week we have two more images from the vintage storybook "The Betty Fairy Book" dated 1915. The pictures are by Margaret Evans Price. Our guest designer this week is Tiffany. She has made two spectacular cards. I love her use of color and texture. Here is her bio in her own words. "I'm a proud wife and mother. I've been scrapbooking and making cards for a few years now. I love making cards the most because you can finish them pretty quickly (hopefully) and feel that sense accomplishment, then share your work with family and friends. In 2009 I really started surfing the web and learning all that I could. Now I have my own blog and am trying to branch out even more! This is my first guest appearance and I'm so excited! I hope my use of the images inspires you!" You can see more of Tiffany's work on her blog at My Little Slice of Heaven.

Each week our guest designers never fail to amaze me with their interpretation of the images. I hope this inspires you to create something wonderful to share with us. Won't you take the challenge?