Playing with Dolls - the first WMS Pyjama Party

You're never too old to play with dolls.  I've just stayed up practically all night to get this card finished for the first WMS Pyjama Party (or Pajama Party if you prefer).  This is for Challenge 2 - You're a Doll, but as I used the mini crackle stamp to give age to the dolls, I am also entering it in Challenge 3 - In the Background.   I hope to enter the background challenge again before the link closes at Midnight UK time, using my favourite background stamp WMS Cabin Plaid Backgounder.

I got most of the way last night before fatigue forced me to have a short nap, and I couldn't wait to get started again this morning (I like this lady of leisure business).

I wanted to create a card using the different sizes of dolls and the different variations of dolls available in the You're a Doll set.  I've also used the You're a Doll Additions set for the sentiment which I selectively inked, and as it complements these sets so perfectly, I also used the Folk Art Medallion set for the pull tag on the bottom and one of the tummy embellishments for the medium doll.

Here are the various stages of the Waterfall Card I've made for this challenge.

Card Closed  - One Doll and "Beautiful" visible.

Card Stage 1 - Two Dolls

Card Stage 2 Three Dolls.

Card Stage 3 - Big Heart and "You are Beautiful" visible.

I wanted a story to develop as the pull tag emerged so I used some of the story lines from Half Pint Heroines, which I ordered last week and arrived just yesterday at lunchtime.



This is for my beautiful niece Natalie who has one of the biggest hearts I know.

I am also entering this in the Paper Players Sketch Challenge PP156

Belated Bird-day Card

A Belated Bird-day card for my dear friend Michaela - so belated these birds have all flown the nest LOL!
The DPs I used to cut the grass and birds were very thin and I wanted to add them on dimensionals, so I adhered them before cutting to some heavier weight cardstock with Pritt.  The grass was cut with Marianne D. Icicles die for the longer grass and a Martha Stewart edge punch for the shorter grass.  The birds were cut with the Memory Box Meadow Bird die.
The nest and branch were constructed by using some of the elements in the Spellbinders Cherry Blossoms die set and trimming them where necessary.
The sentiment stamp is from Waltzing Mouse Stamps Fancy Phrases Set.
I inked the background using a cloud cut with one of the Memory Box Marshmallow Clouds and some Broken China Distress Ink.
I'm entering this into the Seize the Birthday Linky Party.  As I write there are 232 cards entered in this challenge, so if you want some inspiration for your next birthday card you need look no further !

While adding the labels for this post, I realised the branch die from the Marianne D. Flower and Branch set might make this little nest a bit more realistic, and maybe some little flowers in the grass as well.

A sunflower that grows on you !

Many, many years ago (at least 10 I think) my son James went to a birthday party for my friend dear friend Lena's youngest daughter Emilie whose birthday falls in the early spring.  As a party activity and take home treat she provided all the guests with a flower pot, which they decorated at the party and planted with a sunflower seed.  We brought it home and lo and behold it actually grew (we are not known for our green thumbs here so we were pretty amazed).  By the time we went on holidays at the end of August it was about 3ft high.  Unfortunately it didn't survive the 2 weeks of drought while we were away and had to be given a proper burial once we returned, but I don't think any of us have ever forgotten the excitement of that summer watching it grow almost visibly each day.  What a great take home treat - how many plastic yo-yos, superballs etc.,  have given such a wonderful memory not just to the young child who attended the party but to his entire family.  But then she is pretty clever my friend Lena !!!

If you looked a ways back on my blog, you'd see I've been trying to create an interactive sunflower card that could actually grow.  Previously I tried a double slider card, but this was a bit clumsy.  Well yesterday I had an idea based on a card by Tara Cardwell who did the July Friendly Feature spot over at the WMS Blog recently.  It's such a simple idea - the type that makes you kick yourself and say why didn't I think of that!  She did it with a Russian nesting doll, but I realised yesterday that it could work for my sunflower dilemma too, so thank you Tara. 

I started with a 5x7 card base which had the fold on the short axis not the long axis.  I cut down an A3 sheet of white card to 5x14" (12.5 x 35 cm).  This was 300gsm card stock, quite sturdy so it needed to be scored first.  I scored it in the middle for a tent fold and then folded the front in half again.  I placed the sunflower on the top and the flower pot (a truncated Spellbinders Banner overstamped with a distressed spots stamp from AladinE) on the bottom.   

Naturally I had to do something with all that white space first.  So I cut some clouds (Memory Box Marshmallow Clouds) and used these as a mask to create a cloud bank with Broken China DI.  This was my first ever attempt at this technique, so I started off a bit scratchy but eventually got the hang of it I think.  

A stem, a couple of leaves from a Spellbinder's Leaves and Acorn set and some grass and I had me a fairly instant sunflower.  Despite having a Sizzix Original Grass die and a Martha Stewart edge punch I used the Marianne D. Icicles die for grass because I was so hot I couldn't afford the energy required to root these out and could lay my hands on the latter immediately.  I only wish I could have laid my hands on some real icicles this afternoon (had to resist the urge to climb into the freezer for a spell) and ended up at my friend Bethia's house with a wet towel draped around my neck for most of the afternoon.  The card is for her mum's birthday next month.

I did add a "Happy Birthday" sentiment to the top left corner (had to hide my shaky start to cloud bank building) though didn't get an opportunity to take a photo afterwards, so I'm entering it into the Seize the Birthday Challenge.  

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by