Thursday 25 April 2013

Cute Card


It was also the birthday of a cousin's daughter yesterday and this is the card I sent Chloe.  This one is also made from a Create and Craft card kit but as the front had a scalloped and glittered top edge I left it as it was.  


The Happy Birthday paper is printed from the Cuddly Buddly download A Patchwork of Papers Plum.  Stampin' up's rich razzleberry card was also used along with two shades of lilac card.  The Embossalicious 8"x 8" dots folder was used to emboss the lilac card.  Rich razzleberry ribbon was used to make bows and wrap around the panels.



A few self adhesive pearls from Hobby House and corners cut using a Quickutz die were the final touches.

This was a message posted on Facebook by her big sister yesterday.
"10 years ago today, at about this time, me and Amanda, Granny and Grandad were all sitting around the phone waiting to find out if mum had had a girl or a boy. After what felt like forever, we found out Chloe had been born. So weird to think it's already been 10 years! Happy Birthday Chloe, you little twirp xx"

Hopefully Chloe enjoyed her birthday with her two big sisters.  I always use Chloes age to remember how long I've been card making as I made her first birthday card during the first year.  Those were the days when all my crafting bits and pieces fitted in a baby changing box.

Thanks for reading today
Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following Challenge
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Wednesday 24 April 2013

A Bouquet of Flowers


It's a friend's birthday today and this is the card I've sent her.  Once again I've gone back to a Create and Craft card kit and chopped up a card to make the toppers for this one.  Instead of using the card front untouched this time I chopped it down, rounded the corners, layered it up and added a sentiment, ribbon and pearls.  There's a lovely depth to the decoupage in this kit and this gave it a nice frame. 


Stampin' up's rose red ribbon and card were used to pick up the bright pink from the flowers and the pink pearls used were from the Hobby House.  The green gingham backing paper was printed on to cream card from the Cuddly Buddly download a patchwork of Papers Green.  Two shades of cream card were also used.  The little topper on the panel behind the front was made using a sticker from the kit.


 

A printed message was framed using grand nestabilities circle dies and attached on the inside of the card.  On the opposite panel a little topper was made using the picture from the back of the original card from the kit.

The flowers on this card have a spring look to them which we have missed this year.  Hopefully these ones will brighten Jan's day as she's had a tough time recently and deserves a bit of brightness on her birthday.

Thanks for reading today
Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Card Makin Mamas Challenge - Time For Ribbon
Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Pink and Green
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Tuesday 23 April 2013

Double Celebrations

As well as it being Rory's first birthday yesterday it was also his Mum's birthday and this is the card I sent Julie.

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Once nephews and nieces turn twenty-one I don't usually send birthday cards except for special "0" birthdays but it seemed a bit mean to send Rory a card and not Julie when their birthday is the same day.

This card is made from pieces which were left over and gutted from a birthday card I made for Julie's Mum and also from the Easter book cards.

 
The butterflies on the toppers were made using a stamp and punch from Stampin' up.  Attached underneath the stamped and punched butterfly is a dark blue punched one which is slightly off set. The butterfly's body was cut using a Quickutz butterfly die and once assembled the butterfly was attached to the topper with foam pads.  The topper layers were cut using square and scalloped square nestabilities dies.

Gold thread was wrapped around each topper and a few pearls added in each corner.  The smaller butterflies were punched using an X-cut border punch.  A gold elastic cord tied around the front was the final embellishment.


The sentiment on the front was made using a stamp and punches from Stampin' up and then attached using foam pads to raise it above the corners of the toppers.

On the inside there is a double insert and the corners of the white layer were punched with a Martha Stewart butterfly corner punch to carry on the butterfly theme to the inside of the card.


Hopefully they both had a good day yesterday.
Thanks for reading
Liz xx

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges
Dream Valley Challenge 55 - Things with Wings 
Make It Monday - Anything Goes


Monday 22 April 2013

Happy First Birthday Rory

Today is the first birthday of a grand nephew and this is the card I've sent him.


There are three little fellows with first birthdays amongst family and friends this year so I bought this stamp to use on them and as it was a Penny Black stamp I've made the card to fit the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this month which is a sketch.  It's a long time since I've entered their challenge and also a long time since I've coloured in using ProMarkers and it felt like starting all over again.

 


The Penny Black stamp used is called Balloon Teddy and after being coloured was framed using circle and scalloped circle grand nestabilities.  Bashful blue ink from Stampin' up was sponged around the image and around the scalloped circle and a number one was added to the balloon using a Quickutz die.  The heart banner was die cut and double layered using a La-La Land die with green hearts cut from Stampin' up's old olive card added to the top layer.

   
The patterned papers used were from the Cuddly Buddly download a Patchwork of Papers Blue and a stitched border was added to each paper layer.  The blue card is from the Papeterie.

A quickutz die was also used to make the tab embellishments and the blue hearts from the heart banner die cuts were used to decorated the corners of the card.  Other embellishments used were green brads and blue grosgrain ribbon.


The sentiment on the outside of the card was created on the computer and cut using circle nestabilities dies.  On the inside a verse and message was printed on to a green insert which was layered on to a white layer which had its edges sponged with bashful blue ink.  Bashful blue ink was also sponged around the scalloped edges of the main card.

It's a day of celebrations in Rory's house today as it's also his Mum's birthday.  Hopefully they both have a good day together and both get equally spoilt.

Thanks for reading
Liz xx

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

Thursday 18 April 2013

One Sheet Wonder

We had our monthly craft meeting on Saturday and our theme this time was One Sheet Wonder Cards.  This card making technique involves taking a piece of patterned paper, double sided patterned paper or creating your own patterned paper and then cutting it up to create pieces to use on a number of cards.

Before the meeting I made a set and used Wendy Janson's one sheet wonder template as a guide to cut the patterned paper.  The measurements had to be adjusted slightly as Wendy had used paper measuring 8.5" x 11" and I used an A4 sheet.  The patterned paper used was printed from the Niwit Collection Thimbles 'n Threads  and here are the cards made using it.


These cards are slightly larger than A6 in size as the base cards were cut down from square craft cards.  I made this a double challenge as I tried to make each card tell a little story about how my card making has grown and some of the influences along the way.


 
The card above represents where my card making first started. The stamped image is from an Anna Griffin stamp and it was after watching one of her shows on QVC that I decided to try scrapbooking.  To practice some of the different techniques I started making cards, went to a stamping class at a local craft shop, and never looked back.  Ten years later there are still only four completed pages in my scrapbook.  

As well as watching programmes on QVC I bought magazines to learn more and used to enjoy reading stamping articles by Kim Reygate.  She frequently used a notched corner punch to decorate corners, and sometimes wrapped thread around her toppers, and this is something I frequently do to add an extra frame to a topper.



As well as watching Anna Griffin on QVC I also watched Dawn Bibby's Shows and picked up numerous ideas and tips.  On this next card this is represented by the peel off 3D butterflies.  Dawn frequently demonstrated the use of peel offs and making 3D butterflies is one of the ideas I still use from her demonstrations.  It was due to Dawn Bibby, and the setting up of her Tiny Teams throughout the country, that our monthly Saturday group was set up.  Without her I wouldn't have met this lovely group of crafting friends who, as well as being a source of inspiration, have been there when life hasn't been running too smoothly.

Also on this card is a pricked border strip made using an Ornare stencil.  Along with stamping, paper pricking and spirelli were the first techniques I tried.  

There are also two other techniques on this card which I like using and that is stitching and die cutting with Spellbinders dies.  



This card represents the first die cutting tool I bought which was the original blue Quickutz.  I upgraded to a Quickutz Squeeze and every card I make has a set of tags, like the ones on the front of this card, with contact details attached to it.  I've also added the Big Shot and the Grand Calibur to my die cutting machines and wouldn't like to be without either of them.

The bottom edge of the card is embossed using an embossing folder.  I loved embossing on cards from the beginning with the use of the light box and stencils or the Fiskars texture plates and embossing systems but when the Cuttlebug A6 folders appeared they made this process so much easier and faster.  Now we have the luxury of so many different sizes of folders and themes to choose from. 

  

When I make a card there is usually a theme and colour scheme I have in mind and before starting to put anything together I look for crafting items which follow these themes.  For this set of cards it was the leaf sprigs on the patterned paper and shades of pink which were the themes and from there I picked out an A6 and a border embossing folder, the Stampin' up build an owl paper punch which includes a branch, a Hero Arts rubber stamp, an Ornare pricking stencil and various embellishments, card, ink and ribbon in shades of pink.  Some of them were used to put this card together.



The card above carries on the themes and uses ribbon and pearls, my favourite embellishments, in abundance.  Most cards I send out whether they be for male or female have ribbon somewhere on them.

The Hero Arts stamp was used to decorate the edges of the sentiment on this card and ink was sponged all around to soften the outside edge.  This is something I frequently do to layers or to the outside edge of the base card.  This has caused amusement amongst my crafting buddies through the years as I use old washing up sponges to do my inking with.     



This card represents me out of my comfort zone.  Clean and simple is not a style I do very often but on this one the patterned paper was die cut using a Memory Box die, which leaves a negative image, and then raised on foam pads to give depth behind the the blooms.   The paper and backing layer were also embossed with a random dots embossing folder to add texture.  



This last card is me back in my comfort zone of layers, ribbon, pearls and my latest addiction of making paper roses.  On all seven cards I've used Stampin' up sentiment stamps and on some of them their punches too.  Stampin' up has been a big influence on my choice of crafting products recently but through the years I've also been inspired by watching demonstrators on Create and Craft, by members of the Cuddly Buddly and Joanna Sheen forums and more recently by reading blogs of crafters worldwide.

I hope you've enjoyed reading through this post today.
Liz xx

I'd like to enter these cards in the following challenge
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Friday 12 April 2013

Wedding Cake

Carrying on from the wedding theme in yesterday's post this is a wedding cake card I've made this week.  It was an order from a friend of a friend and the guidelines were that it was a second time marriage for both of them, something pretty and perhaps lilac as the colour scheme.  I basically had free creative reign so hopefully this meets the criteria as I certainly enjoyed making it.



I usually make shoe cards for weddings but this time chose to case the wedding cake card we made at Carol's  Stampin' up class and scaled it up to make a topper for an 8" square scalloped card.  The cake pieces were rectangles cut from Crafter's Companion centura pearl card which then had their two top corners rounded before being embossed using a swirls embossing folder from Docrafts. The pieces were backed on to darker purple card from the Papeterie to leave a quarter centimeter border around the sides and top.  Lilac grosgrain ribbon was wrapped around each piece before they were attached to each other.

The trailing ivy was cut using a die from the Marianne Creatables Ivy die set LR0206 and attached to the ivy are 10mm paper roses from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The paler rose was originally white but I used a lavender Promarker pen to colour it.  The white paper roses are ideal to colour this way as, using the chisel end of the pen, they soak up the ink as soon as they touch the nib.  The little buds were also coloured this way.


The cake was attached to the topper using foam pads and then ribbon bows and self adhesive pearls, to represent piped icing, were added.  The hearts at the top of the cake were cut using Spellbinders plain and scalloped hearts dies and self adhesive hearts from Hobby House were added on top.  The couple's initials were added inside the hearts using peel offs.  

The sentiment was stamped using a stamp from the Stampin' up set Petite Pairs with Encore purple metallic ink and then punched out using their plain and scalloped oval punches. Purple Encore metallic ink was also used to sponge around the scalloped edges of the card, around the sentiment and around the message panel on the inside.  Die cuts made using the Precious Hearts dies from Memory Box were used to decorate the panel behind the front of the card and on the topper.


 Attached to the inside is a printed verse which was framed using Spellbinders grand nestabilities circles dies.  On the opposite flap the couples names and date of marriage were framed using Spellbinders heart dies.  The hearts were attached using foam pads so that they looked as though they were suspended from the die cut bows from the Precious Hearts dies.  The space below is for a message to be written.



The patterned paper for this card came from the Nitwit Collection download Time for Tea.  I really like this collection as it uses purple and green which is one of my favourite colour combinations.  The paler purple card is from W Enterprises.  

Hope you've enjoyed the tour around my wedding cake today.
Thanks for reading

Thursday 11 April 2013

Ahoy There, It's the Birthday Boy

Earlier this week I posted about a pirate birthday card I'd made for Ian who celebrated his fifth birthday last Saturday. 


Birthday celebrations were put on hold as Saturday was a busy day for his family.  They were attending a wedding where his Dad was one of the groomsmen.  A couple of days later photos  appeared on his Mum's Facebook page and with her agreement I can share them here to show how smart Ian looked and how gorgeous his sister Olivia was on the day.



This photograph was taken after the marriage ceremony with Ian back on in front of his Mum and Olivia at the bottom of the steps.  I'm wondering if she presented the bride with a horseshoe.  Their Dad is the groomsman standing to the left of the Catherdral door. 

Looks like Ian wasn't done out of his party though as here's the cool dude with his fabulous dinosaur cake celebrating with friends.


Then out to the garden for a breather to blow bubbles.


Thanks for taking a look in today to see some of the younger members of our family.
Liz xx

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Two Cards for Two Sisters

As well as it being a crafting buddy's birthday yesterday it was also a sister-in-law's birthday and her younger sister celebrates her birthday today.  These are the two cards I made for them.



These cards have been made using cards and decoupage from a Create and Craft Kit as the toppers and matching them up to various backing papers and embellishments to make larger z-fold cards.  This is a technique learned from watching Nancy Watt demonstrate on Create and Craft and was probably one of the persuading factors in deciding to buy the kit.

Vicky's Card



Vicky's card was made by layering up dark blue card from the Papeterie, Stampin' up's so saffron card along with gingham paper from the Cuddly Buddly download A Patchwork of Papers Yellow.  The sentiment was stamped using a stamp from Stampin' up's Petite Pairs set and punched out using their oval and scalloped oval punches.  Stampin' up's night of navy grosgrain ribbon added to a lemon grosgrain ribbon were used to wrap around the panels and make bows.


The little image from the back of the original card was cut, framed and layered using Spellbinders nestabilities oval and labels dies and the verse and message were created on the computer and framed using their nestabilities and grand nestabilities circles dies.  Peel off corners and crystal dots were added as embellishments.

Helen's Card



Helen's card was made by layering up a pale green card, Stampin' up's old olive card, a pale lilac pearlescent card from the Papeterie which was embossed using an 8"x 8" Embossallicious folder from Crafter's Companion and a Happy Birthday paper from the Cuddly Buddly download a Patchwork of Papers Plum.  The same stamp and punches were used to create the sentiment and the ribbon used was Stampin' up's certainly celery and green satin ribbon from Club Green.


The layout of the inside was the same as Vicky's card with the addition of a couple of pearls.  Hopefully they both have had lovely birthddays.

Thanks for reading
Liz xx