Southern Girls ~ Team Lou ~ Anything Goes

I hope you've all had a good week, I've been busy with the kiddos, but have enjoyed a bit of crafting this week too. This year is screaming past at breakneck speed though. I swear time really does speed up the older I get! It's already time for a new challenge at Southern Girls and I have to confess, that snuck up on me a little bit! Fortunately, I had some time today to finish my DT card. Which was a real pleasure, as we are being sponsored by Crafts & Me this fortnight and I LOVE their gorgeous stamps. So I had great fun colouring up this beautiful Hannah Lynn image. 

I decided I wanted to use Distress Inks, because I wanted to colour the background and I find it easier with DI's. I'm so glad I made that choice though, as the softer finish I think really suits this image! I am still new to Distress Ink colouring, so I did some googling to work out the best combo for skin colours etc, and I just love the combo I came up with. I didn't have all the ink colours from different tutorials, so came up with my own combo and I think the finish is gorgeous! So I'll definitely be doing that combo again. For those that are interested. I used Tea Dye for the main colour on the skin and Walnut stain to create the darker shadows. I used Tattered Rose for the cheeks, which I think came up really well, though you don't see the subtle colour as well on film. 

I chose to print this image a little larger than normal, because I wanted it to be the focal point of the card, so when I went to cut it out with my lovely wonky stitch dies, it was too large! Which got me to thinking about adding some real stitching. I LOVE stitching on cards, but haven't done any myself since I put my sewing machine away. So, intrigued by the fact that my blog buddy Kat hand stitches all her cards, I decided to give this a go. Oh my goodness, Kat how do you do it?! It took me ages to stitch all these layers and I'm getting long sighted in my old age, so the dramas threading the needle! I really had to laugh at myself. But I don't think I'll be doing this by hand again anytime soon, even though I LOVE the way it looks! I'm in awe of you Kat!

I kept the embellies to a minimum, as I wanted the image to feature, so just a bit of seam binding, and some butterflies and a sentiment die, which I cut from the same paper as the background because I wanted a subtle finish. I do love 'subtle' finishes on cards. Which of course are best up close and personal, as they don't photograph well, but I do love those barely there hints of detail.

The beautiful butterflies across the top of the card are from a Whimsy Stamps die, I've tucked them carefully into the stitching and then glued behind the solid wing butterfly. Isn't it pretty? I've had this ages, and never before thought to use it this way, but I love how it looks. 

That beautiful larger butterfly which I popped over the seam binding double bow is from Joy Crafts and I picked this up a while ago so I could use it with the pretty Butterfly Border die that has these same butterflies. I always wanted the 'whole' butterfly from that set, so I could layer it over the bigger butterfly on that border die. But it's an older die and hard to come by! So imagine my joy, when I originally hunted that one down. Even better news, I hunted down another, to add to a candy I will be offering very soon. So if you like this butterfly, watch this space! I have used some pretty chocolate coloured flat back pearls on the butterfly, which are from Flourish With A Bling. I love that they come in several different sizes on the one card.

Come on over to the Southern Girls for a fab 'Anything Goes' challenge this fortnight. We have two wonderful sponsors this time. The beautiful image I used is from our Sponsor Crafts & Me and is called Genevieve. Our second sponsor is Star Stampz which several of my teamies have used images from. Head over to the challenge blog for a healthy dose of inspiration! It doesn't get any easier than this as a theme, so we're looking forward to lots of entries. I hope you'll come and join us. A final shot of my card with a slightly more 'rosy cheeked' image.

 

I'll be back soon with another crafty adventure. In the meantime, have an awesome week and get crafting so you can join in with our 'Anything Goes' challenge. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
The Paper Shelter: Anything Goes
The ABC Challenge: 'M' is for Maiden
Creative Moments: #99 ~ Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread: #21 ~ Anything Goes
Crafting With Friends: #26 ~ Anything Goes
Crafting By Design: August ~ Anything Goes
Allsorts Challenge: #374 ~ A Touch Of Sparkle
Crafts & Me Challenge: August ~ Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: #38 ~ Anything Goes
Deep Ocean Challenge: #134 ~ Foto Inspiration (Chocolate colour from the Hot Chocolate & Blues - as pale as poss - from the blue palette.)

Update: Ooh, happy dance, so excited! I made it into the Top 5 at The ABC Challenge!! Well chuffed. Thank you so much ladies! Mwah xoxo

Second Update: I have won the DT Choice pick on Creative Moments Challenge. Winning a prize from Digistamps 4 Joy. Thank you so much ladies!

Third Update: I won the Crafting With Friends challenge. Such a lovely surprise. Thank you ladies.