For our Goth Girl ....

.... Good morning! I can't quite believe that it's been just over 15 years since I gave birth to the most wonderful girl in the world! And yes, I do know that I'm more than a bit biased!! Kat is bold, bright, supportive, assertive, creative, caring, intelligent, honest, generous, kind, and I could go on, but I think you get the picture. She's also something of a Goth Girl. Kat loves Halloween, black, alternative music, being with her friends, singing, photography and she's hooked on Glee! I wanted to try and incorporate as much of that in Kat's birthday card as possible:

Stamps: Stampotique - Prom Queen; Casual Friday Stamps - Love Notes, Exclamations, Whole Shebang; Clearly Besotted - A Little Sentimental; My Favourite Things - Sheet Music Background; Stampers Anonymous Brett Weldele - The Presenters
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, London Fog; Distress - Pumice Stone, Milled Lavender, Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron; Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Wisteria Wonder
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Smoky Slate; Clear Embossing Powder; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear, Orange; Gems; Dylusions Stencil - Skulls Sm

I love the Prom Queen stamp - she's very Goth, very glam and just a bit moody - kind of like a teenage girl! I stamped her on white card, coloured her with Copics and then carefully cut her out with a scalpel. I edged the image with a black pen to hide the white edges. I used Kat's favourite Halloween colours of green, orange and purple. The background is very mixed media with some musical background stamped and then inked over to reveal white music. I added some small skulls with a stencil and randomly stamped musical notes, and little flowers. I stamped the bar of music at the bottom of the card to ground the image. I stamped the Prom Queen directly on the card and added some wings and then adhered the coloured image on top. I added lots of sparkle to the card with little gems sprinkled around the card and used clear Wink of Stella on her wings and dress. I also added some orange sparkle to the treble clef. I think this card really captures Kat. On the inside I cut a mat layer of grey card and kept the white panel fairly simple. I stamped a bold birthday greeting and added another Prom Queen in the corner. I also decorated the envelope.

I'm submitting this card to CAS-ual Fridays Challenge - CFC#156 where the team would like to see Dimension and Bling, and also to Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#211 where it's Anything Goes. Before I go, here's a close up of the sparkle on the Prom Queen - the photo is out of focus as I find it shows the shimmer and sparkle so much better:

Kat had a really fun day yesterday. Breakfast with us and then out with her friends for the afternoon and evening. Just the way she wanted it! Here's a photo of Kat doing "the Kathryn" taken at Detroit Zoo earlier this year.

That's all for now - thanks for allowing me to be the proud Mum!

Neon bright ....

...  Morning everyone!  The snow's back, so I've a perfect excuse for staying in and playing in my craft room.  Not that I actually need an excuse :)  Today's card is for a couple of challenges:

• CASology - CAS#82 where the cue word is "BOLD"
• Muse - MUSE#54 - our muse this time is Therese Calvird

Stamps: CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Truth Is, Cupid's Arrow, Exclamations
Inks: Hero Arts Neon - Pink, Orange, Green; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Stampin' Up! Card - Lucky Limeade; White Lustre Card; Copics Neon

I really like Therese's card with the pretty flowers and lovely green card base.  I decided to keep the colours but make them much bolder!  I made the base from Lucky Limeade and instead of flowers I used the wonderful stylised asterisks from Exclamations.  I stamped the asterisks on a strip of white card to follow the pattern of the flowers.  Before adhering it to the card I stamped the superlots arrow and coloured the feathers with Copic neon markers.  I finished the front with a sentiment above the asterisks.  For the inside I kept it really simple with a white panel onto which I stamped some flowers and coloured them with Copics.

I'm really pleased how this one turned out!  It's going into my stash for the time being.  Now, I'm not doing anymore crafting for a while as I'm off to watch the Men's Free Skate from Sochi - we get to see all the competitors.  Should be a great competition too!  That's all for now - see you tomorrow.