Friday 12 September 2008

DCM - The Same But Different

I had to give carefully consideration to my card for the Daring Cardmakers challenge this morning because once again Kathy has set us one hell of a dare.
You know, she’s right in what she says……….we all start with the same brief but the cards we make are always so different, which just goes to show how much imagination we all have.

This week she says she wants to see what happens when we all start with this quotation on our cards.

Use what talents you possess:
The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke

Now the reason I think that Kathy’s challenge is a corker is because I very rarely put quotations on my cards and am never sure how best to use them.

I decided on a bird and tree theme, simply because I couldn’t think of anything else to do but then I soon had another problem before I’d even got started………….no tree stamp.

While wondering how to get around this little problem I had a light bulb moment, not something that happens to me often.Lol!
I expect a lot of you may already do this but it’s never crossed my mind to use a digital image before. All I can think is that it must have been working with the Funky Hand download last week that prompted me to think of it.

I started looking for free digital scrapbooking downloads and came a cross Bon Scrapatit Designs
They had a page kit called ‘It’s Falling’, designed by Linda and in it is a tree which I thought would be prefect for what I had in mind.

Here’s my card
I started by printing two trees directly onto my paper, which incidentally was a sheet from the Memory Stor kit I have.
I covered the card with one of the trees and decoupage the second over the top.

Next I added a leafy border with my tapestry stamps and some ColorBox Fluid Chalks and Distress Ink..

The quotation was also printed onto the same paper and then the first part of it was cut with decal edged scissors and the edges inked before attaching it to the top of the card. The second part of the quote was also inked, layered onto the reverse side of the paper and then given its decal edge.

The final addition to the front of my card is the little birdie.
My lovely friend Lythan was kind enough to loan me her very cute set of ‘Decorative Birds’ stamps from Hero Arts the last time she came to play. They will be returned to her on Monday when I go to play at her house, so this was a good excuse to use them for one last time.

Now to the inside of my card.
I wouldn’t normally decorate the inside but I decided it would be fun to have all the birds ‘singing’ here when the card is opened so I stamped six more and coloured them with Prisma Color Pencils.

I printed yet another tree, larger this time and sat some of the birds on the branches and the remaining ones on the ‘Happy Birthday’ which was cut using a Sizzix Hunky Dory Alphabet die.

9 comments:

Angelnorth said...

This is fabulous Sue! Love the tree you hunted down and the decorated inside is such a lovely touch - love it!

daisy said...

The tree is totally fab - thank you for the link xx

Jozza said...

Fabulous card Sue! The front is gorgeous and I love what you've done with the inside :o)

Becky Garrison said...

Sue! Thank you so much for your sweet comment on my card for the DCM dare! I am very much into layering, stitching and distressing. I also love vintage images from clipart programs. As for my bow, tht one is just tied to the top of the tag, and was fairly easy, but I do have a short tutorial on how I make pretty small bows. It's on my blog at scrapbook.com. You can find my page here >>> http://www.scrapbook.com/places/Camelliacottage <<< then click on my sb.com blog over on the right hand side of the page. Then scroll down to the very first entry, done months ago, and you'll find the tutorial.

Thanks again for your sweet comments! Becky G. @ Camellia Cottage Designs

Becca Nelson said...

Love your card! Those birds are so cute!

CraftyC said...

This is a gorgeous card, love what you have done!
Clairex

Kathy said...

Wonderful card - you really put some effort into meeting this one, didn't you (if you think I'm going to feel guilty for making you work so hard, then you're wrong....hahahahaha_

I love the contrast of the soft shades outside and the colourful birds inside - great use of your special canrdmaking talent here Sue!

Flower said...

A lot of cutting for you, but the beautiful end result is worth it. Having the 2nd tree full of birds was a wonderful idea!

Sharon Traynor Designs said...

Great card Sue. It's lovely to see the inside too. Thanks for your fab comment on my dare card for this week.
Cheers,
Sharon