August Birthstone; Peridot

Thank you all for joining in with Nat's very first challenge, what a fabulous array of cards we were treated to! We hope you'll enjoy this week's dare, which is the next in our series of birthstone themed challenges.

Before that though, we'd like to take a minute to say that Ania, our July Guest Designer all the way from Poland is going to stay with us for August too - we're so pleased she's agreed to play along for another month as her cards and other projects are such an inspiration.

Our Summer Special treat is that we also have a second talented guest designer to help inspire you:

We're delighted to welcome Julia to the team this month. Followers of the very popular "What's On Your Work-desk Wednesday" fun of sharing photos of our workspaces will already know Julia, as WOYWW was her brainchild!

We wanted her here on the DCM because she makes such wonderful things and we knew she would inspire you to get crafty!

Please take some time to visit the blogs of both of our August GDs - we promise you won't be disappointed.

So, down to the business of this week's challenge.

The August birthstone is the

Peridot

The colour of the peridot can range from lime, yellowish green, olive green to medium dark green.
As well as being the birthstone for August, Peridots are also the gemstone for the 16th Wedding anniversary

The Peridot is the National gem of Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians called the Peridot “the gem of the sun”.

They are associated with love, truth, faithfulness and loyalty, and also with fame, dignity, and protection

We'd like you to make a card using this lovely gemstone as your starting point. You could use the history, myths and qualities of the stone as your inspiration, and/or use the beautiful yellow-green colour in your creations.

Whatever you do, we'd love to see what you make, so please come back and leave a link so we can visit.

Here's what the Design Team have been making this week

Rein

Julia

Lynda

Nat

Ania (Nutki)

Kathy

Keryn

Vanessa

It's a Girl Thing!

Hi everyone!

It's Nat here, ready to share my first ever dare with you!

But first, thanks to everyone who took part in Lynda's "Layer it Up" dare last week. :o) There were some truly fab cards and the winner of 3 of Teri's Delicious Doodles (chosen at random) is:-

SALLY ATKINS

Congratulations Sally - could you please e-mail Lynda (you can find her e-mail address in her profile on her blog here) and she will organise your prize for you.

For this week's dare, I'm taking inspiration from the Card a Day book by Papercrafts. It's amazing just how many National xyz Days there are out there, some I never knew existed, but with August just around the corner, there are two very worthy celebrations ahead!

August 1st marks Girlfriend's day - a day to celebrate that very special friend in your life, and Sister's day just happens to fall on August 2nd.

So the choice is yours, you can make a lovely card to give to your best friend, or send something to your sister - or maybe your best friend is like a sister to you, she could even actually be your sister! ;o)

Once you've made your card please add a link to it in your comment so we can all see what you've made!

Here's what the Design Team have made this week:

Kathy

Rein

Lynda

Nat

Jane

Vanessa

Keryn

Layer it Up!

Hi it's Lynda here this week... first of all I'd like to thank everyone who joined in with Vanessa's 'We are Sailing' Dare last week - we all loved coming to see your wonderful creations.

This week we are being sponsored by the lovely Teri of Teri's Delicious Doodles.

As Teri has some wonderful images which lend themselves to layering, that is what I've chosen for my Dare this week:-

Layer it Up

I want to see at least one extra layer to your stamped, digi

or pre-printed images used on your cards this week. I won't accept just layers to card stock or papers - it has to be on the main image of your card.

Teri is offering 3 digi images (of your choice) to one lucky winner

chosen at random.

...and here's a card that she's made for our Dare this week:-

Once you've made your card please link it back here so that we can come and see it.

To qualify for the prize draw you need to add links on your post to both Daring Cardmakers and Teri's Delicious Doodles

and your card should not be entered for more than 5 challenges (including this one)

Here's what the DT have come up with this week:-

Lynda

Close up of the layered petals

Rein

Kathy

Ania (Nutki)

Jo

Vanessa


Asia Wu  

Nat   

We are Sailing.....

Hello there! Its Vanessa here this week. Thank you to everyone who played along with Rein's lovely silhouette dare.

This week, (just in time for the wind and rain, if the weather here and the coming forecast is anything to go by!) I want you to think of a beautiful summer day looking over the bright blue sea glistening in the sunshine. What do you see? A boat/a ship/a whale/a dolphin or shark? Make your card with something sea related this week.


Don't forget to pop back here to leave your comment and let us know where to come and see your seafaring creations! :)

Here are the DT's offerings :-

Vanessa


Lynda

Kathy

Rein

Ania (Nutki)

Keryn

Asia Wu

Jo
Lythan

Seeing Silhouettes

Hello everyone

Thanks to all who joined in with our birthstone dare -it was great to see all your wonderful creations!

It's Rein here, and my dare for this week is

silhouettes

you could use a cut-out image, a stamped image or whatever you like to make them, but we'd like to see at least one silhouette on your card this week.
Once you've made your card, please come back and leave a comment to let us know where we can see your creation

Hallo zusammen

Vielen Dank für die klasse 'Rubin-Beiträge' - es ist toll, die vielen verschieden Beiträge zu bewundern.

Diese Woche möchten wir Silhouette sehen,

dabei ist es ganz egal, ob Ihr Stempel benutzt oder die Figuren ausschneidet.

Here are some silhouette cards made by the DT to start you thinking.
Hier sind einige Beispiele bzw. Anregungen vom DT.



Rein

Kathy

Lynda

Nat

Jane

Lythan

Asia Wu   

Keryn

Rubies for July

Thanks to everyone who joined in with Keryn's "Ice and Snow" challenge last week - as always your cards were wonderful and full of inspiration. This week is the first Friday of the new month so we'll be returning to our year-long Birthstones theme for this week's dare.

Before that though we are waving Goodbye to Andrea and Kaz who've been sitting on our "Guest Designer Sofa" for the last few weeks - we've loved having you on the team and we hope you'll come back again for another month soon. Thank you both for being such wonderful inspiration for us all.

We have a new Guest Designer to introduce to you this week, and we're thrilled that she's agreed to play along with us this month. We'd like you to welcome

Ania (aka Nutki)

Ania makes the most fabulous cards and other projects so please don't miss the chance to visit her blog.

The birthstone for July is the

Ruby

Rubies are associated with devotion, integrity, courage, happiness and said to promote vitality, confidence and strength.
It's long been believed that precious stones have healing properties related to them. The Ruby's healing powers are in connection to blood problems and infection, it's considered helpful in increasing positive thought patterns.
Rubies are also thought to enhance energy, generosity and to bring prosperity and success.

Plenty there to get you thinking! - but of course you could simply decide to use beautiful Ruby Red as the predominant colour on your card. It's all up to you, we'd just like you to use Rubies as your inspiration this week and we're all looking forward to seeing your cards.

As usual, leave a comment/link and we'll come and visit to see your creations

Here's what the team have made this week

Ania (Nutki)

Lynda

Rein

Kathy

Nat

Lythan

Jo
Asia Wu

Vanessa