Day of the Month Card Club Challenge #52 GDT - Happy Birthday to You Day!

Hi everyone,

I'm delighted to have been asked to be Guest Designer again for the Day of the Month Card Club June Challenge, as a result of being voted the winner in April.

This month our theme is 

🎶 🎶 Happy Birthday to You Day 🎶 🎶

"Happy Birthday to You" has been hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recognizable song in the English language, and has been translated into at least two dozen languages. 

June 27th is commonly celebrated as the anniversary of the song's publication, though it probably wasn't actually published on that date. In fact June 27th 1859 was the birthday of Mildred Hill who wrote the song's melody, which was originally written for a different set of lyrics - "Good Morning To All" (published in 1893) - a greeting song written by her kindergarten teacher sister to be sung to her class. 

The song gained in popularity over the following years, and the happy birthday lyrics began to be sung to the melody and were published in 1915. It started to appear in films in the early 1930s, resulting in it being copyrighted in 1934 with the authors credited as Mildred and Patty Hill, even though the writer of the song's lyrics is unknown. The copyright was owned by Warner Music and was supposed to last until 2030, meaning royalties had to be paid to use the song in films and TV, concerts or any public place - this earned Warner Music up to $2 million per year! However following a lawsuit to put the song in the public domain, Warner Music had to give up the copyright in 2016 and the song can be sung freely once more!

Here is my GDT card for the challenge.

Yes - it's my favourite A&C stamp set again, and I have tried to find another innovative way to use it. I cut a piece of black card stock, stamped the flower with Versamark and heat embossed with detail gold embossing powder. I then  coloured a couple of snippets with brushos spritzed with water, and when dry I stamped and heat embossed the flower head onto one of them, fussy cut out and attached. I cut another panel slightly bigger than the black card panel for matting, and stamped my circular "Flower" stamp onto another offcut. I cut a large piece of black card and stencilled the top corner with Versamark and then heat embossed in gold, before attaching the flower panel and coloured circle. I stamped and heat embossed the birthday greeting onto a small snippet of black card, then matted onto a tiny snippet from the brusho panel before attaching to the card. Finally I matted the finished panel onto a border of matt gold card and onto a 7" x 5" card blank.

Stamps: AALL & Create #904 Flower Journey, #531 Textured Florals; sentiment - Penny Black Salutations;

Media: Brushos (Gamboge, Vermilion); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; detail gold embossing powder;

Tools: Visible Image stencil - Halftone.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

AAA Birthday #50 - Birthday and Watercolours

Beautiful Blossoms #5 - Anything Floral Goes (5th entry)

Crafts Galore Encore #112 - Anything Goes

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (June) - Use a Stencil

Creatalicious #260 - Anything Goes with option Birthdays - TOP 3

Inspiration Station #50 - Inspiration Prompt

(I was inspired by the dramatic sunset colours)

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2322 - Anything Goes

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Triple B (June) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms

We Love Stamping (June) - Anything Stamped with option CAS

I hope you can play along with the challenge this month - please link your entries here.

Don't forget to visit the Day of the Month Card Club June Challenge post to see more inspiration from the Design Team.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Day of the Month Card Club Challenge #48 GDT - National Umbrella Day ☂️

Hi everyone,

I'm delighted to have been asked to be Guest Designer again for the Day of the Month Card Club February Challenge as a result of being voted the winner in December.

This month our theme is

☂️☂️☂️ National Umbrella Day ☂️☂️☂️

February 10th is National Umbrella Day, which honours one of the world’s most useful inventions, the umbrella! Not only does the umbrella help keep us dry from the rain, but it also protects us from the heat of the sun and can be used as a fashion accessory. While the umbrella is primarily practical, it can also be decorative…  think cocktails!!  🍹 Umbrellas have also found their way into the worlds of art and music - Rihanna’s single “Umbrella” was one of the most played singles in the UK in the 2000’s; and they play a vital role in some movies too, e.g. Singing in the Rain in 1952 and Mary Poppins in 1964. 

Interesting Umbrella Facts:

The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra, meaning shade or shadow. Brolly is a slang word for umbrella, often used in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. Bumbershoot is a fanciful Americanism for an umbrella from the late 19th century.

The basic umbrella was invented over four thousand years ago. There is evidence of umbrellas in the ancient art and artifacts of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and China.

One of the first umbrella shops opened in 1830 at 53 New Oxford Street in London, England. The shop, operated by James Smith and Sons, still operates regular hours at the same location today. 

In 1928, Hans Haupt’s pocket umbrellas appeared. Then, in 1969, Bradford E. Phillips, the owner of the American brand Totes, obtained a patent for the first “working folding umbrella.”

So now you know … here’s my GDT card.☔️

To fulfil this challenge I dug out a really old wooden Me to You "Tatty Teddy" stamp which I think is really cute, and which features the all-important umbrella!. I stamped it onto a square of stamping card using Memento ink, then masked it so I could create a green landscape and cloudy sky by blending Distress Oxide inks using hill and cloud stencils. I then removed the mask and coloured the image with Promarkers and Flexmarkers, and added a computer generated sentiment. I thought the landscape looked a little bare so I added a few Lavinia flowers in the corner with second generation stamping plus a little bird. I die cut the image panel and a linen card stock mat using my stitched square dies, then matted everything onto my base card. To finish I created some "falling rain" using a ruler and Sakura Stardust pen - here's an angled picture to show the sparkle a bit better.

Stamps: Me to You "Tatty Teddy" - "A Gift Inside";  Lavinia Wild Poppies, Field Grass, Bird Collection;

Media: background - Distress Oxide inks (Bundled Sage, Rustic Wilderness, Stormy Sky); teddy - Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Memento ink (black); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Charming Pink, Shady Lane); Sakura Stardust pen (clear);

Tools: Lavinia hill masks; home-made cloud stencil.

Challenges I would like to enter: 

A Gem of a Challenge #3 2023 - Anything Goes

Classic Design Challenge #2 2023 - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals #69 - Anything Goes With an Animal - TOP PICK

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (February) - Use a Stencil - TOP 3

Krafty Chicks #649 - Stamp Act

Let’s Craft and Create #192 - Anything Goes with option Use a Sentiment

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2305 - Anything Goes

We Love Stamping (February) - Anything Goes with option Add a Stencil

Word Art Wednesday #581/582 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Worldwide Open Design Team Challenge #1 2023 - Anything Goes

I hope you can play along with the challenge this month - please link up your entries here.

Don't forget to visit the Day of the Month Card Club February Challenge to see more fab inspiration from the Design Team, who I would like to thank for asking me to be Guest Designer again this month.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Day of the Month Card Club Challenge #41 GDT - International Day of Friendship

Hi everyone,

Back in May I was lucky to win a top 3 place in the Day of the Month Card Club challenge, as a result of which I was asked to be Guest Designer for the July challenge - and of course I was delighted to say yes!!

So today I would like to welcome you to July's Day of the Month Card Club challenge - and this month's theme is

*** International Day of Friendship ***

International Friendship Day, July 30th is all about the relationship between two or more people based on mutual affection. At least when it comes to the UN General Assembly, which declared this date 2011 as the International Day of Friendship.

As with so many other celebrations and days of action initiated by the UN, the International Day of Friendship has a serious background and an important message behind it. With this one would like to remind not only of the importance of friendship between people, but above all between countries and cultures. In this respect, it is actually surprising that this day of action was only officially launched in 2011. Be that as it may, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sums up the gist of this Day of Friendship as follows:

“On this International Day of Friendship, let us cultivate warm ties that strengthen our common humanity and promote the well-being of the human family.“

A brilliant theme I'm sure you will agree, and a perfect opportunity to make a friendship card or any other crafty project for a friend.  

Here's my GDT card.

I haven't used this image stamp for the longest time, but it immediately came to mind for this challenge, along with the cute sentiment - I think this image is just an adorable depiction of friendship teamwork in action!!

I stamped my image onto a piece of white stamping card and coloured with Copics and Promarkers, then created faux stitching with my pokey tool and a fine liner. I matted the image onto blue and pink linen cardstock, and then onto floral paper which I had also faux stitched, and attached all to a DL card base I had cut. I attached a die cut picket fence, punched glittery butterflies, and my stamped sentiment, and finished off with a few sparkly gems.

Stamps: Penny Black "Daisy Chain" (1690K), "Everything's..." (2733E);

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; Memento ink (black); Versafine Clair (Charming Pink); Fine liners (blue and pink);

Tools: Martha Stewart large and small Monarch Butterfly punches; Magnolia Doohickey "Lovely Fence" die;

Papers and gems from my stash.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Crafts Galore Encore #101 - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals #63 - Include an Animal - TOP PICK

Crafty Catz #602 - Anything Goes with option Say It With Flowers

Creatalicious #238 - Anything Goes with option Lots of Layers - TOP 3

I ❤️ Promarkers #514 - Anything Goes with option of Animals

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2227 - Anything Goes

Penny Black Saturday Challenge (July) - Anything Goes

Penny’s Challenge #525 - Anything Goes With Paper

Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #551/552 - Anything Goes

I hope you can play along with the challenge this month - link up your entries here. 

Thanks very much to the DotMCC Design Team for inviting me to be GDT this month.

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,