Welcome

Welcome to my blog where I post regular photographs of cards I have made. I hope you enjoy looking through my cards and I would like to thank you for taking the time to stop by and also for leaving any comments and following my blog. I shall also be posting a few of my knitting projects too.

Followers

Sunday 31 March 2013

Buttons & Twine



Hi fellow crafters and followers, hope you are all well. 

My post for today is quite a basic card but I do hope you like it.  I started with a C5 base white card followed by a piece of blue dotty paper which was out of my stash.  I have decided that I need to use up some of my patterned papers before printing anything else off from the fact that my printer is broken at the moment.
 
I then die cut the lattice frame which is a spellbinders one.  If you have this one you will no doubt have found out that you need to put it through at least twice but it is lovely.  Before positioning it I wrapped some bakers twine around the lattice which is something I keep forgetting. I usually go for ribbon.

 
My image is a digi image from saturated canary and was printed onto watercolour card and water coloured with whisper pens, die cut using a die from the A2 card creations set and inked around the edges with spun sugar distress ink.
 
This has all been finished off with some nice blue buttons.  Like I said a simple layout but hopefully effective.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog and thank you for your comments I really do appreciate them.
Take Care.

I have entered this card into the following challenge: -

Saturday 30 March 2013

Grateworks

Good afternoon everyone. Here was I thinking we had done with the snow and we keep getting flurries here is Birmingham.  Isn't it supposed to be the first day of summer tomorrow or something - clearly someone forgot to tell the weather!
 
Still at least it means more time or crafting.  Too cold and we to go out, that's my excuse anyway.

Having watched so many spellbinder shows over the last few months and seeing Jo Channon with the D-Lites I suddenly realised that I hadn't actually used mine that much so I am on a mission at the moment, to use my D-Lites at least once. Plus I intend to use card from my growing 'bit box'.   Hence today's post.

I started with a C5 base white card followed by some lilac pearlescent card, from my bit box.  In fact all of the card, apart from the base card, was from my rather large 'bit box'.

I die cut three square swatches in white, and 3 gateworks in lilac and matted them.  I also die cut the flowers using Marianne dies, shaped them etc.

A really simple, quickish card, once I had decided on the layout of course, which always takes sooooooooo much time.

I finished it all off with some gems in the centre of the flowers.

Well, until next time.  Thank you for stopping by and please take care, enjoy your Easter.

Friday 29 March 2013

Daydream Notelets

 
Good evening fellow crafters and followers.

Hope you are all enjoying your long weekend and for those of you who have had to work - thank you.  I used to work shifts during Easter, Christmas, New Year etc so I know how it feels to be at work and see everyone else planning their bank holiday weekends.

I have had a lovely afternoon crafting again.  I have 3 more crafting days before returning to work on Wednesday so I intend to make the most of it.

My post today is not a card.  I recently bought a papercrafting magazine and saw a project in there for a notelet set which I thought was a fantastic idea, however, the notelets were rather small and I wanted a pack that took A6 notelets, so, using that template but resizing it all, making my own template and then making a sample up took me a while but for me it was worth it.

I decided to produce it in Serif Craftartist 2 and used Daydream digi kit.  The first photograph is the front of the notelet and the 2nd photograph is the back.  There is nothing inside obviously so the recipient can  write their notes etc.  I printed out 12 of these using Print It card from Card Creations - beautiful card and gives a true colour reproduction.
 Next I had to make the holder.  As I don't have an A3 printer I made the holder first using plain white card and then covered it with backing paper printed out from the Daydream digi kit.

I stamped an image onto the front using a beautiful rose stamp  using versafine black ink and embossing it with black wow embossing powder which has a slight glitter in it.  The stamp was from a Kanban set I purchased sometime ago.

The back is also covered with the same backing paper as is the spine.  The pink ribbon was placed on the spine before placing backing paper on.

The inside has been covered with a contrasting backing paper.  The pockets were also covered with the same contrasting backing paper but I also stamped a little rose and verse which also came with the Kanban stamp set.

As you can see from the inside photograph I have placed ribbon around the notelets and the envelopes which are bought ones.

I was really pleased with the finished item and I think it will make a lovely gift.  This particular one will be a gift for a friend who is going through chemo at the moment so is having a tough time of it, hopefully she will not be checking out my blog - oops.

I am now working on measurements for a large version which will also take A5 writing paper so watch this space.

Hope you like this.  Thank you for stopping by.  You take care and see you all soon.

I have entered this into the following challenge: -



Thursday 28 March 2013

Wonderful Things



Hi folks, hope you are all well today.

I have had a wonderful play with my spellies in today's card.

I started with a plain C5 white base followed by a piece of pearlescent mustard card.  I then took a plain white piece of card and inked through my Doodle Daisies mask with mustard seed distress ink followed by embossing it in a daisy embossing folder.  I lightly inked around the edges with mustard seed distress ink.

On a piece of white card I stamped my frame from creative expressions stamp set, Design Elements, which versafine majestic blue ink and clear embossed it.  The verse was also stamped in the same ink and embossed.  The verse is from LOTV.  I die cut that out using an Xcut die.

During my convalescence I have watched a lot of tv, as you can imagine, luckily there were lots óf spellbinder shows on and I decided to listen to Sue and Julie and look at my dies differently so I die cut the large one from Lace Doily Motifs, cut the corners off and positioned then on to the corners of my stamped image.

The little tiny flowers are from Bitty Blossoms and the large flower is from Jewel Flowers & Flourishes which I cut three times and glued together finished off with card candi.  The flourishes were also from Jewel Flowers & Flourishes.

Hope you like today's card.  Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment.  Take care.

I have entered this card into the following challenges: -

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Pink and Grey.

Good afternoon fellow crafters and followers.   Our snow is slowly clearing away now on the roads but boy are the footpaths slippy, pity I am not 30 years younger I could take up iceskating!

My card today is, as you will have guessed, pink and grey. I do think these colours are lovely.  I was having a completely blank moment about what to do so I went to Sue Wilson,s blog which I always find inspiring.  I picked a layout I liked but as usual once I started I went off on my own.  Do any of you find that?  You start out liking someone else's layout and then your imagination takes over - good job we all share.  So thanks Sue AGAIN for the inspiration.

My card is a C5 base white card, followed by another sheet of base white card which I draw dashes around the outside.  I then embossed a piece of pink card using my A4 lattice m-bossibilities and cut that into 4 before placing them onto my card.

My sentiment is stamped using versafine ink and then clear embossed and the die I used was from the A2 card creations Floral Ribbon Threader set which I also inked up using Tim Holtz Worn  Lipstick distress ink.

My large swirl/leaves is Belle Rose die which I inked using Tim Holtz Weathered Wood distress ink.  I also used that on the flowers and leaves which are all Marianne dies.  I finished them all off with some pink card candi.

Well, thank you for stopping by and take careUntil next time................

I have entered this card into the following challenge: -

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Yummy


Good evening to you all.  How's the snow where you are, not too deep I hope.  Our is still lingering and the paths are like ice, even poor Enya slipped a couple of times.

My post today is another one I produced for Help The Heroes so it is an A6 white base card.  I matted some light blue card and then the patterned paper which was printed from Strawberry Kisses CD Rom from crafters companion.

I then stamped my image which is also Strawberry Kisses as are the strawberries. My images were stamped on water colour card with versafine ink and then clear embossed to give that shine.  I then coloured them in with whisper pens and cut them all out before shaping them and putting them on the card.

Because it is a C6 card there is not much more room to do anything else.  I will say that these stamps are lovely and a pleasure to colour in.

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by.  Take care.

Monday 25 March 2013

Rob is 62!

Good evening crafters and followers.  I do hope you are all safe and sound with this terrible snow and you are not one of the poor folk who have lost their power etc.

Today's post is my hubby's birthday card.  His birthday was on the 22nd March.  We had decided to go away for a few days prior to his birthday and returning on his actual birthday.  We went to Cornwall and had three beautiful days, in fact, last Wednesday we had gone a lovely walk on the beach with our dog, Enya and it was such a beautiful day with blue skies, little cloud and a lovely spring day we sat for ages after our walk having a cuppa whilst sitting on the sea wall watching the world go by.  Imagine our shock when we saw the snow on the fields as we got nearer to Birmingham.  Still I never thought much of it as it appeared to be melting and the roads were fine.

Little did I know that it would start snowing at tea time and  not stop until SUNDAY.  Result, no NEC.  Neither my friend Wendy nor I could get our respective cars off the drive, the main roads were in a terrible state and at 0730hrs they closed the M42.  We were forced to admit defeat and not go - you can image how miserable and disappointed we both were.  So we are now looking forward to November and hope we don't have early snow.

Hubby's birthday card was made before we went away and was actually my first card since December last year.  Shoulder is definitely on the mend and I can actually see an end to my tunnel now.

My card is an 8x8 white base card followed by some navy card and some more white card embossed with large dots - the 8x8 embossilicious folders from crafters companion.  As you will see the image is a photograph of myself and Enya on the national trust trail in Boscastle taken last year.  The photo was die cut with distressed edge spellbinders die from the A2 card creations set matted onto to navy card.  The striped card was from my crafty stash.  All finished with a sentiment and bakers twine.  I used Clarity Alphabet for the name.

Rob was thrilled, hope you like it too.  Thank you for popping by and for your comments.  Take care.  See you soon.

Saturday 16 March 2013

Sweet Pea

Good evening folks, hope you are all well.
My card tonight is one I made for a set I sent to Help the Heroes.  It is a plain white base card - A6 in size. I matted some green pearlescent card followed by some plain white card which I embossed using a couture embossing folder.
My image is stamped in black versafine and embossed with clear embossing powder onto watercolour card.  I then water coloured it in using whisper pens.  The stamp is from a flower set by Dimension Stamps and there are 12 stamps with flower names and months.  This is such a useful set and definitely one of those 'go to' sets when you haven't a clue what to do.
I then die cut my image, matted it onto some pink pearlescent card which was also die cut.  All finished off with some card candi.
Definitely a simple card but hopefully an elegant little card.
Hope you like this.  Thank you so much for stopping by and do take care.  Until next time.

Saturday 9 March 2013

Dilnoza

Good afternoon crafters and followers.  I do hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend.  Must say the weather here in the West Midlands has not been good today, raining, dull and drizzly.  Definitely a good day to craft and I have just finished my first card since December so I am really chuffed.  Unfortunately I can't show you as it is my hubby's birthday card and that isn't until the 22nd March. 
So, my post today is a card I made pre shoulder op.  If you saw my last post, the wedding box, well it was also the bride's birthday so I was commissioned to do a birthday card too. 
Dilnoza loves baking hence the cook and rather large muffin.  This card was an 8x8 white base card.  I matted some lovely deep red followed by some centura pearl which I embossed using one of crafters companions 8x8 embossing folders. 
The image is a digi stamp but I can't for the life of me remember where I got it from, but it was coloured in with a mixture of copics and spectrums.  My customer wanted red and white but I also put in some purple to tie in with the wedding colours too.  I stamped the name onto centura pearl too and also stamped the muffin, embossed and coloured them in.  They were shaped and then glazed.  The embellishments were a mixture of dies from Marianne.
Although you cannot see the inside, the above is just the topper, it was made into a book as my customer wanted about 8 pages inside so that all the wedding guests invited back to the house post wedding could add their sentiments.  Each page was produced in serif so I could add a few photographs and images onto the pages so they did not look blank.
I also made a box for the card and put a photograph of the bride and groom on the front.  Tissue paper inside plus the card and it was all finished.  I wish now I had taken some more photos but my batteries ran out and I had to deliver it.  My customer was thrilled to bits with it and I know there were lots of tears when the card was presented to her so it was all worth it.
Hope you like this as much as my customer.  Take care and thank you for popping by.  See you soon.
I have entered this card into the following challenge: -

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Wedding Box

Good afternoon crafters and followers.  Finally I am back to crafting, little steps but at least I am back.  I tell you, the last couple of months have been sooooooooooooooo long and I have so missed my crafting.

I am not back making cards just yet so today's post is one I made earlier so to speak but I have started to do some colouring in. My shoulder is still painful and I still have to watch repetitive things but at least I can now do some crafting.

My post today is not actually a card, it was commissioned by a friend of my moms for her sons wedding.  It was an indian wedding and very large.  She had bought a lovely old box which her hubby had painted up and the idea was to place the box by the door of the reception so guests could put their cards, messages etc into it.  The couple would then open it up when they returned from their honeymoon.  She wanted me to make something for the front of the box, and this is the finished project.

I used pearlescent card in white and lilac as those were the colours the bride wanted.  It was an A3 box so matting and layering was called for.  I then used my alphabets from Dimension Stamps and stamped our the bride and grooms name together with the date of the wedding on the lilac pearlescent with silver cosmic shimmer embossing powder.  Cut those out and shaped them. I then ran them through an embossing folder with hearts on.  The accents are a mixture of spellbinders flourishes and Marianne flowers/leaves in both lilac and silver mirri card.

I was really pleased with the end product.  I then took the whole lot to her house and fixed it to the front of the box.  To be honest that was my biggest fear - that it wouldn't stick to this box but it did with pinflair glue and apparently it is still on the box.

Hope you like this as much as the bride and groom did.  Thanks for stopping by and do take care.  See you soon.