Evie's Three

This is a card I made for a friend's grand-daughter and has Whispy, my favourite Saturated Canary image from Krista Smith on it.  Whispy was coloured using Promarkers in various shades of jade and sparkle was added to her wings skirt and leg warmers using a stencil cut from another print out of the image and Crafter's Companion spray glitter.  Spellbinders grand rectangle dies were used to cut a frame for Whispy.

The patterned backing papers and card used were from Nitwit Collections Snow Princess solids, Seraphina and Friends backing papers cd and Kanban card.  These layers were cut using Sue Wilson Noble square dies and Spellbinders grand rectangle dies.  Stitching was added to the Sue Wilson die cuts.

To personalise the card for Evie bunting was cut and layered using a La-La Land Die die which also cut out hearts from the centre of each flag.  Letters and numbers were added to the bunting to spell out Evie's name and age.  A Stampin' up punch was used to add layered flags at the other side of the image and a peel off Happy Birthday sentiment was added.

Extra embellishments added to the card were silver brads, jade satin ribbon, a bow coloured to match using a Promarker pen, crystal sticker dots, waste hearts from the die cut bunting and silver corners with sparkly gems which I found in our local Home Bargain shop amongst their bridal decorations section.  The corners were threaded together on a card but cut off individually they make nice embellishments.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges

A Gem of a Challenge 200 - Birthday Wishes

Allsorts Challenge Week 428 - Name and/or Number

Crafty Friends Challenge 64 - Anything Goes

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C398 - Monochromatic

Aud Sentiments Challenge 186 - Fairies and Sentiment

Creative Kockouts Challenge 206 - For a Child

Moving Along With the Times Challenge 51 - Things That Fly

Ronnie's off on two wheels

When I saw this photo of a grandnephew having just set off on his two wheeler I knew exactly what image would be perfect for his birthday card.

It was this one from Lili of the Valley which I bought as a coloured digital image.  The spotted backing paper was also a digital download from the Nitwits Collection Candles and Cakes.

Spellbinder plain square dies and Sue Wilson's noble square dies were used to die cut and layer the images and stitching was added to the borders.

 

A Sizzix/Hero Arts stamp and die set was used to decorate the edges of some of the mats with bicycle wheel images and it was also used to add the bicycles and the on the go sign as embellishments. Tonic dies were used to make up the Happy Birthday banner and also the number 4.

To personalise the card for the birthday boy the letters for his name were die cut from a Tattered Lace die and added to layered bunting punched out using a Stampin' up punch.

Hopefully Ronnie is enjoying his new found freedom on wheels during the summer holidays.

Thanks for reading

Liz xxx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges

Crafty Creations Challenge 347 - Anything Goes

A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge 49 - Anything Goes

A Perfect Time To Craft Challenge 7 - Anything Goes

Paper Creator Challenge 60 - Something For the Kids

Crafting form the Heart Challenge 171 - Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door 8th August - Anything Goes

Simply Papercraft Challenge 49 - Anything Goes

Creative Knockouts Challenge 206 - For A Child

Special Mother's Day Card

I got myself confused when writing the previous post, easily done, and this post will actually be my 400th published post.  The previous one was only number 399 as there was an unpublished post sitting in drafts which made the postings total read 400.  Never mind, this is still a special posting for the official 400th one.

On Mother's day Elaine was in Canada visiting her best friend to meet her four month old daughter for the first time so it was two days after that when we caught up and I received my Mother's day card.  Although plain and simple, this was a card with a big message which took me a minute or two to understand it's meaning.  All being well, I should be a granny around the end of September this year.  Inside the card was a copy of an ultrasound scan which made it all the more real.

Above is the card I received along with the cards I sent to my sister and mum to let them know that they are to become a grand-auntie and great-granny.  It helped channel my excitement hunting out the bits and pieces to make these announcement cards.

A Stampendous stamp was used for the baby image and coloured using promarkers.  Lots of different dies were used to make the other elements for the card.  A Sue Wilson noble square pierced die cut the patterened paper for the base layer and the smaller plain and scalloped squares were cut using Spellbinder dies.  Added to the squares were die cut buttons from a Quickutz die, die cut feet from a Marianne die set and die cut stars from a Die-namics die in the Rock Star set.

  

Blue, pink and yellow thread were used to stitch, wrap around the squares and add a stitched centre to the buttons.  Self adhesive pearls were the only other embellishments added. 

A mixture of patterned paper downloads were used too as I was trying to use up left overs.  The pink splattered paper is from the Fred She Said Purple Pansies set, the gingham paper from Cuddly Buddly's A Patchwork of Papers Blue and the baby paper from the Nitwit's Collection Tickled Pink.

I found a lovely verse to put inside the card which makes it seem that the card is coming from the baby and on the other side of the insert the scan picture was printed.

Some of you may have noticed that there are three cards ready to be put together in the photograph of the crafting mat. I also made one for Elaine and along with the scan picture I added this lovely verse along with a personal message of congratulations. 

Mother and Daughter 

It's a special bond that spans the years

through laughter, worry, smiles and tears,

a sense of trust that can't be broken,

a depth of love sometimes unspoken,

a life long friendship built on sharing

hugs and kisses, warmth and caring.

Thanks for reading my 400th published post and even better that it was a special one to share.

Liz xxx

Challenges entered

I Love Promarkers Challenge 333 - Anything Goes

Creative With Stamps April Challenge - Baby

A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge 42 - Anything Goes

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge 4 - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers April Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Love to Craft April Challenge - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Dreams April Challenge - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Journeys Challenge 90 - It's Hip to be Square

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge 56 - Anything Goes

My Time To Craft Challenge 344 - Sequins/Buttons

Brown Sugar Challenge 247 - Use A Die Cut

Crafting With Friends Challenge 41 - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers Challenge 128 - Anything Goes

Simply Papercraft Challenge 45 - Anything Goes

Crafting From The Heart Challenge 156 - Anything Goes

Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - So So Cute

Allsorts Challenge Week 412 - I Spy Something Beginning with B.....  (baby, buttons and blue card and thread)

400th Post Anniversary Card

This is the 400th post on my blog and the card I've chosen to write about is one I made for our daughter Elaine and her husband Andy who celebrated their second anniversary recently.  

There was a mix of old, new and free craft items used to make this card.  The starting point was the Penny Black stamp Squeeze 'til I Squeak which was stamped onto Hobbycraft's white linen card and coloured using Promarkers.  The daisy head, its centre and mice feet were stamped and coloured a second time and layered on top.  Using the daisy image was significant because we gave Elaine a Sheila Fleet Daisy pendant on her wedding day.  Check out this previous post to find out the story behind this jewellery design and the box I made for Elaine's pendant.

  

A free embossing folder from issue 161 of Simply Cards & papercraft and a set of dies which had been a reader offer in the same issue were used to frame the image.  This was layered onto daisy patterned paper from K & Company which had been die cut using a Sue Wilson noble pierced square die.  Stitching was added to the paper once it had been attached to gold pearlescent card.

Two more patterned papers were used on the card and both were from digital downloads and printed onto white linen card.  The spotted one was from the Cuddly Buddly set A Patchwork of Papers Yellow and the marbled effect one was a backing paper from the Fred She Said set Purple Pansies.  The marbled paper was also die cut using a Sue Wilson noble pierced square die with stitching added before it was attached to the pearlescent card.

Spellbinders plain and scalloped hearts dies and Tonic's Happy Anniversary die were used to make up the sentiment topper.  Along with the patterned papers, glitter card and matt gold linen card were used to make up the layers.  The completed topper was attached to the card base using a strip of acetate at the top and wet glue at the bottom.  This allowed the topper to stand out from the card and added dimension.

The topper at the bottom of the card was also made using the Spellbinders heart dies and the 2U added on top were die cut using the Sizzix sizzlets die set Chunkidelic. 

  

Other embellishments added to the card were flat backed pearls, grosgrain ribbon and crystal dot and gold heart stickers.  A small Woodware daisy punch was used to make the flower embellishments. The daisies were layered and ink was sponged on the tips of the petals.

A tag for their present was made to match the main topper.

Hope you've enjoyed this trip amongst the old, new, free and forgotten craft stash.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx

Challenges entered

Passion for Promarkers  Challenge 391 - Going Dotty

I Love Promarkers Challenge 333 - Anything Goes

Cards und More Challenge 182 - Monochrome

Through the Craft Room Door April 18th - Anything Goes

Crafting From the Heart Challenge 155 - Anything Goes

Make My Monday Challenge 44 - Embossing - Wet or Dry

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge 56 - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Girl April Challenge - Use Any Image

Hiding in my Craft Room Challenge 297 - Tic-Tac-Toe  Ribbon/An Animal/Flower

Crafting With Friends Challenge 41- Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge 161 - Flowers Theme

Simply Create Too Challenge 126 - Anniversary

That's Crafty Outnumbered Challenge

Sisterhood of Crafters Stamp It Challenge

A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge 42 - Anything Goes

A Perfect Time to Craft Open Challenge 4

Craft-Dee Bowz - April Challenge

Crafty Animals Challenge 1 - Anything Goes

Love to Craft Challenge 9 - Anything Goes

Stitching Selection

December is usually the month when we're busy making Christmas cards, along with doing all the other preparations that are needed for the festivities, but there are also birthday cards needed to be made for friends and family whose birthdays fall in this month too.  Amongst the birthday cards I need for December are four for crafting friends with another needed in the first days of January.  This post shows the selection of cards I made for them whilst on my stitching spree.

Burgundy, aqua and purple using the square frame and topper die set from Ann's Paper Art. 

  

  

  

   

Then a happy accident happened.  Whilst batch die cutting, using both the stitching die sets, I lost concentration and cut out the wrong backing layers.  However, it still worked combining the two sets of die cuts and in the following selection the backing layers from the square frame set have been used to layer behind the oval stitched frames.

   

  

The Happy Birthday background papers are all printed from different colourways of the Cuddly Buddly Patchwork of Papers download sets.  Ribbon, paper roses, clear gems, flatbacked pearls and peel off greetings were added as embellishments.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx

Stitched oval, frame and border in turquoise

The card in this post was for a friend and was made using the oval stitching frame and topper from the Joy Crafts Wedding Collection - Cutting, Embossing and Embroidery Stencil 6002/1011.

Self coloured threads in blue and turquoise were used to stitch the topper, frame and border and card in shades of turquoise were used to matt behind them and the background layer.  There are no dies in this set to cut matting layers but the dies which allow you to cut the frame and topper out of card can be cut twice and overlapped behind the stitched pieces to give this effect.  Using the two shades of card to do this added an extra contrast.

The patterned paper on the base layer of the card was printed from the Cuddly Buddly download Cottage Collection in the Duck Egg colour option.  For the other half of the base I got a bit more adventurous and used the topper die to cut out a pricking template in acetate and used this to prick out a flower and leaf border to stitch.

  

Embellishments used on this card were blue self adhesive pearls, Stampin' up grosgrain ribbon, silver brads, silver cord elastic and a silver Happy Birthday peel off.

It's not often that I venture to use something other than for what it was intended but I enjoyed this little experiment.

Thanks for reading today

Liz xxx

Challenges entered

Creative Craft Cottage Challenge 85 - Dies and/or Punches

Crafting From the Heart Challenge 154 - Anything Goes

OLLC Challenge 226 - Birthdays

Use Your Stuff Challenge 259 - Flowers

The Ribbon Girl April Card Challenge

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge 345 - Flowers

Square stitched frame in aqua

Two more cards made using the square stitching die from Ann's Paper Art and both are in shades of aqua.  I thought that I'd photographed the same card twice but the patterned papers, the gemstones and the thread colours used on the flowers petals tell them apart.  Had I looked beyond the card then I'd have noticed that the cloth behind them is also set different.

As well as self coloured threads in shades of aqua a variegated thread was used which went from light to dark in colour as well as changing shades.

The patterned paper used for these cards was from the Nitwit Collection Snow Princess Solids.

 

 Flat backed pearls, clear gemstones, aqua satin ribbon and a Happy Birthday silver peel-off were the embellishments added to the cards.

Hope you've enjoyed the change in colour theme today.
Liz xxx

Challenges entered
Shopping Our Stash Challenge 297 - Tie One On
Crafting From the Heart Challenge 153 - Anything Goes
Ooh La La Creations Challenge 225 - Layer It Up
Dare2BArtzy April Challenge - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girl April Challenge - Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge 55 - Anything Goes
A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge 41 - Anything Goes
A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge 4 - Anything Goes
Hiding in My Craft Room Challenge 295 - Monochromatic

Square Stitching Die - 2 in Purple

The next set of stitching dies I invested in was a square one from Ann's Paper Art.

These sets of piercing and stitching dies come with extra dies to cut backing layers and apertures which increases the variety of combinations you can create using them.  The following two cards are made using the dies and one of my favourite colours to craft with.  The first one was for an Auntie who is also a card maker and who also likes to add stitching to her cards.

Shades of purple and lilac thread were used for the stitching with flat backed lilac pearls added to the centres of the flowers.  Smaller self adhesive pearls in a darker shade were added to the embroidered square and centre topper.  Lilac grosgrain ribbon was added across the card to cover the join of the backing papers and also to make a bow.

 

The backing papers for this card were from the Cuddly Buddly download A Patchwork of Papers Purple.  The happy birthday backing paper was printed on to lilac parchment card.

This second purple card using the square stitched frame was for another Auntie and although she doesn't make cards she is a very talented crafter in sewing, knitting and baking and is also a keen gardener and bowler.  

The same thread, flat backed pearls and ribbon were used on this one but the small pearls were replaced with clear gemstones and a Happy Birthday peel-off was added to the little topper.

 

The purple gingham backing paper is also from the CuddlyBuddly download A Patchwork of Papers Purple.

There are many more cards to share using these two sets of dies in various colours and combinations and hopefully I'll get them all recorded on here soon.

Thanks for reading today

Liz  xxx

Blog challenges entered

The Ribbon Girl April Challenge - Use Ribbon

A Bit More Time To Craft Challenge 41 - Anything Goes

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge 4 

Craft-Dee Bowz April Challenge - Use a hand made bow

Die Cut Diva's April Challenge - Birthdays

Hiding In My Craft Room Challenge 295 - Monochromatic

Scrapper's Delights Challenge 65 - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers Challenge 127 - Anything Goes

Crafting With Friends Challenge 40 - Anything Goes

OLLB Challenge 225 - Layer It Up

Crafting From The Heart Challenge 153 - Anything Goes

Through The Craft Room Door Challenge March 28th - Anything Goes