Whitch Craft

Black and White - Monochrome Christmas Card 2011

2012-01-13T17:16:00.008Z

Here's the card(s) I made for my Dad to send out. I decided to have a go with black and white...

The image and sentiment on the front of the card are rubber stamps by Serendipity. The paper on the front was embossed with Impressabilities Snowflakes. I used two of them (cutting off the border of the dies) so as I could cover the whole of the paper and I used my Grand Caliber. The inside sentiments are computer generated, the snowflake border was a free silicone stamp I got off a "Craft Stamper" magazine.

Hope you all had a great Christmas. Take care & keep smiling :o)

House Mouse Birthday Card for Phoebe

2011-10-26T12:23:00.015+01:00

Back in February 2009 I made a house mouse card, and although I was happy with the main image I wasn't to happy with the rest of it. So, as it was my sons' girlfriend Phoebe' birthday I decided to revamp the card and give it to her. The first image is the original card...

The rubber stamp used inside the card is from GCS artstamp called "Loves me not". The sentiments are computer generated. My logo and text on the back are rubberstamps. Now I'm happy with the card, but I think I like the box more :o)

Take care & Keep Smiling

Birthday Card For My Dad - 2011

2011-10-23T19:58:00.006+01:00

I made this card for my Dads' birthday which was in September. It's a pretty simple. The backing papers were made using Stampendous "Music Score" rubber stamp . Using VersafineOnyx Black, Toffee and Deep Lagoon ink pads for the stamp and Tim Holtz' Distress ink pads - Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen, Broken China,Pumice Stone and Chipped Sapphire. The main image is a clear stamp from Butterfly Kisses "Musical Collage". Stamped with Versafine Toffeeand Onyx Black. The swirls were gone over with a gold gel pen, the musical symbols were gone over 4 times with Black Sakura Gelroll pen. The musical notes were hand cut and heat embossed. card.
The quote book inside was computer generated and the swirl is a stamp by La Blanche "Flourish". And I used some rub ons. Now I've told you the boring bits here's the card...

Take care & keep smiling :o)

Steamer Trunk Gift Box

2011-09-24T17:13:00.015+01:00

Finally got my crafting head on and came up with this, a steamer trunk gift box. My Dad went to Germany for a holiday, and bought back a small Stein jug to give to our friend Gillian, but it didn't have a box so my Dad asked if I'd make one. And to keep in the holiday/travelling spirit I thought this was appropriate...

The "leather" work was made with Tim Holtz' Grunge paper and stained with his Vintage Photo ink pad and then hand stitched. The corners were cut from Nestabilities circle dies. The travel stickers were from Cavellini & Co. And the interior was fully lined with velvet paper. Oh and the box was made with mounting board, which was just under 2mm thick. Thank you for visiting and taking a peek.

Take care and keep smiling :o)

James Bond 007 Birthday card for my brother

2011-03-10T22:12:00.008Z

As you may have seen from previous posts, my brother is a big film fan/buff, so the cards I make him tend to reflect that. On this occasion I chose to do something different from the horror cards, and went for action instead ...

Did you notice underneath my logo on the back of the card are the words "Take care & keep smiling Ann" That is a rubber stamp that was made especially for me from my lovely friend Els. When I opened the lovely little box she had made for it and saw the stamp, I'm not ashamed to say I cried. Thank you Els XxXxX

Well as I always say at this point...

Take care & keep smiling :o)

Valentines Day Card - House Mouse

2011-02-14T06:09:00.007Z

Long time no blog !!! But I have been crafting away like a little busy little bee, and here is one of my efforts. I made this Valentines card for my son to give to his girlfriend. I decided on something a little different from the usual Valentines, taking into account that my son and his girlfriend live about 200 miles apart and don't get to see each other as much as they'd like. But saying that my son will be moving down to London (where his girlfriend lives) in the summer and then I won't see him so much :o( Oh well I can always get on the train and visit them :o) ...

Waaaay to many details on this card to list but I will tell you I used my Grand Caliber machine and HUUUUUGE circle nestabilities. Hope you all have a lovely Valentines day.

Take care & keep smiling :o)

Vintage or Medieval Christmas Card for my Dad

2010-12-28T04:50:00.011Z

I am so, so naughty, I didn't finish this card until Christmas morning. But my dad said it was worth waiting for :o)

The backing paper I made myself on the computer, here they are if you want to use them, I hope they print out the right size.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Take care & keep smiling :o)

Vintage Christmas Cards for 2010

2010-12-06T11:09:00.008Z

Here is my Christmas card for 2010. I made several of these for my Dad to send out to family and friends.

Flowers - Flower Fantasy Die Set - Marianne Design Creatables. Stamen - Nellies Choice punch. Foliage - Pine branch - Marianne Design Creatables - Starry Garland Die Set. L Em - Ash Branch Punch. L Em - Evergreen punch.

Merry Christmas Stamp - Penny Black.

Take Care & Keep Smiling :o)

Christmas or Halloween Card ? For my brother

2010-10-31T18:55:00.018Z

OK, so this may not be everyones idea of a Christmas card, maybe more of a Halloween card, but my brother is a BIG horror film fan, and I always like to make cards reflecting the recipients tastes - interests. So here is my brother's Christmas card for this year, and you have been warned this card is NOT nice ... You can click on the pictures to get more gory detail :o)

The Vampire Santa is "borrowed" from Vampire Wars, a game I play on Facebook. Thank you for looking.

Take care, keep smiling and HAPPY HALLOWEEN ^v^

Double Tri Shutter Card - 21st Birthday

2010-10-06T12:07:00.024+01:00

Here is a Double Tri Shutter Card that I made for my Son's girlfriend Pheobe. This card was a lot easier to make than the Tri Shutter card in my last post, but then again this card is a lot less fussy than the last card.

Materials Used -

Stardream card

Bazzill card

Woodware Daisy punches

Brilliance inkpads - Victorian Violet, Mediterranean Blue, and Sky blue.

Crafts -Too Daisy embossing folder.

Nestabilities circles dies - Standard and Small sets

Fiskars border punch - Threading Water

Elusive Designs sentiment rubber stamps

Bling on a Budget gemstone swirls (I got mine from Craft Obsessions)

Rangers Glossy Accents glue.

First of all I cut all the panels for the card then ran them through my Cuttlebug with the embossing folder. Then using the Brilliance ink pads sponged the Daisies and edges.

The 21st center was cut out using a standard size nestablities circles die. I then cut out another standard circle then positioned the small die in the middle of this to get a frame. The number 21 was bought and the gemstone swirls were further embellished with some dark blue rhinestones from my stash.

The daisy flowers were made with Woodware daisy punches and the center of the flowers were coloured using a cotton bud and a Brilliance ink pad. The center of the flowers then had a generous blob of Rangers Glossy accents glue and left to dry for a couple of hours.

The happy birthday sentiment was gone over twice with a Sakura Gelly roll clear glaze pen.

The box center circle was hand cut and the frame was made the same way as the 21st centerpiece.

The acetate was embossed with the same embossing folder as the card.

The edge of the box border again has blobs of Glossy Accents in the holes.

The card is then held shut with some dark blue organza ribbon.

Not sure what my next card is going to be, maybe a double, double tri shutter card :oD Anyway until then ... Take care & keep smiling

Tri Shutter Card - Dads Birthday

2010-09-21T09:48:00.027+01:00

Here is my first attempt at a Tri Shutter Card. What a nightmare, cutting out all those panels and then trying to figure out where to put the embellishments so as the card would shut. But I did it and I'm very happy with the result.

The designer paper is by K & Company.

Flourish stamp - Tim Holtz

Butterfly - Marianne Design Creatables Butterflies 3. This was Cut from a lilac Bazzil card and then sponged with Tim Holtz Weathered Wood and Broken China Distress inks and then double heat embossed.

The flowers where made by me using EK Success Daisy punches. Again sponged with Tim Holtz Broken China Distress ink. The stamens I bought. The leaves are made using Nellie's Choice Jumbo leaf punch and embosser.

Metal frame and feather I found in my stash of goodies :o) The postage stamps are from Graphic 45 and the cameo is a Dress it Up button. I cut off the shank removed the cameo ant then sanded and painted the frame (which was black) with Smooch Azure ink. I left this for a couple of hours then wiped off the excess.

Very Best Wishes stamp is by Butterfly Kisses. Stamped with Toffee Versafine. Then the words were painted with Smooch Azure and Molasses. The Azure words were then gone over 3 or 4 times with Sakura Clear glaze gel pen.

Small butterflies are Martha Kay's' Medium Monarch Butterfly punch.

The poem is by Walter De la Mare and is called "The Sleeper", it's actually about Ann watching her mother sleep, but I changed it to father. You might be thinking what has that poem got to do with birthdays. Nothing, it's just that my Dad has a habit of falling asleep in the chair and it seemed appropriate, especially as the "watcher" is named Ann.
The dots around the box sides were made usin my Scor-Pal and Scor-Bug Embosser.

I'll show you how I made the flowers another time, but until then ...

thank you for looking and take care and keep smiling :o)

How to make a paper rose - Tutorial.

2010-09-02T21:23:00.015+01:00

I did promise a while back that I would post a tutorial for paper roses. Now let me just make it clear this is NOT my tutorial, I got this from the Magnolia Ink Issue 3- Fun in the Sun magazine. The tutorial was done by Johanna , unfortunatley the rose tutorial is not on her blog (well I couldn't find it, but then I can't speak Swedish LOL ). So here is my version. The pictures are not very good I'm afraid, and I've done them small to fit them all on, so if you need a closer look please click on them :o)

First picture shows the tools used to make the roses. The punches are called Retro Flower and are by EK Success. You'll also need a mister, something sharp to make a hole and a small brad. I didn't have a mister when I first made one of these roses, I just flicked the water instead. Oh and you'll need some double sided paper/card.

You need to punch out - 4 large, 3medium and 3 small flowers. Then I stacked the large flowers together and made a hole in the middle, then did the same with the medium and small. I found it easier doing it that way than stacking them all up and trying to make sure they were all even.

Then load the flowers onto the brad, space out evenly and then fix brad. Then spray or flick water onto the flowers. Depending on the thickness of the paper/card will determine how much water you'll need to use. DON'T completely soak or the paper/card will tear. I tend to spray and then as I lift the petals if I think it needs it I'll spray again.

This piture shows what I mean by lifting the petals. Do it one layer at a time until it looks like this..

Now at this point I like to give it a good squeeze, but only because I like my petals to have a "veined" look, If you want your petals smoother don't squeeze the layers too much as you are lifting. Then VERY carefully peel back the petals one at a time. I say VERY as they can tear if you are to rough. I used the tool for piercing to help peel, but then I haven't got long nails.

Then you should end up with something like this...

Not very elegant, so at this stage I start to shape the petals. Using something like a cocktail stick gently curl back the petals until you are happy. Then leave to dry. I usually leave overnight to make sure it's completely dry and then it will keep it's shape and should look like this...

Johanna didn't do leaves in her tutorial, so I'll show you how I made mine.

The punch and embossing set is by Nellie's Choice and I used Bazzil card stock.

As you can see I sponged the edges of the punched leaves and drew a line down the middle of the leaves with red ink. Then it's time to emboss them...

Now I'm only a small person with little hands, and I found it hard to make a good impression, so I put it on the floor and trod on it with my heel :o) And here's a photo of before and after...

And here are the finished roses that I sprayed with some Glimmer mist.

There, hope I haven't bored you too much. They really are very simple and again I would like to thank Johanna for sharing her lovely roses.

Take care & keep smiling.

Art Deco Birthday card - for a man

2010-08-25T16:37:00.035+01:00

Well now for something completely different, instead of vintage, Art Deco. I did the card in this style as I was asked to make this card for a friends' boyfriend, and I'm not very good at making cards for men unless I really know them. Anyway here's my attempt...

I made the backing paper using this image I found on the internet...

Changed the colour to grey and did these two designs. Though I only used the bottom one ...

The main design in the middle was made by me, here is the template if you wish to use it (it should print out A5 size) ...

I printed out three times and cut them out like this...

The embossed lines on the silver silk mirri card were made using my Scor-pal. The rhinestone 30 I bought and the only embellishments used were some rhinestone brads and peel offs.

Inside the card the diamond embossing was done using the smallest square Nestabilitie and again the lines were made using the Scor-pal. The poem I found on the web. I'm not sure I like it, but I think that maybe because I didn't distress anything :oD Anyway I hope she likes it. Thank you for looking, oh here's another Art Deco template I made

Take care and keep smiling.

Vintage Golden Wedding Anniversary card and a handmade rose !!!

2010-08-01T10:44:00.017+01:00

I was asked to make a Golden Wedding Anniversary card, and in this day and age of "disposable" marriages to have a couple reach such a mile stone is cause for celebration indeed :o)

The backing paper/card was made by me using Hessian embossed card, Tim Holtz Distress inks - Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Frayed Burlap, Spiced Marmalade and Tattered Rose. And then stamped with Inkadinkado Gem Flourish clear stamps using Versafine "Toffee" inkpad. Then sprayed with Glimmer mist Gold.

The roses I bought from a gorgeous new website Wild Orchid Crafts. They too were sprayed with the Glimmermist. The heart is made from 3mm Beech wood that I bought from Button-it when I went to a craft fair at the begining of the year. I haven't been able to fine these hearts on their website but I've no doubt if you emailed them they would be able to help. The heart was sponged with StazOn Metallic Gold and Copper ink and StazOn Timberbrown. The sentiment on the front is computer generated and embossed down the side with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder, and then inked with the same colour combination as the backing paper/card.

The heart in the insert was made using Nestabilities heart die and Cuttle bug embossing folder then hand stitched with gold thread. It was all then sponged with Brilliance inkpads Gold, Beige and Coral. The flourish was made with Sizzix Bigz die "Decorative accent with flower".

My "logo" on the back is hand stamped the other information (sentiments) is computer. generated.

Finally the box was decorated using Nestabilities square die and the embossed using a Cuttlebug Embossing folder and edged with gold peel offs.

I was going to make my own roses, but that would have taken to much time. But here's a picture of one I made a while back

This rose I made following a tutorial given in the Magnolia Ink Magazine edition No.3 2010. And it is VERY simple to make. The lady who gave the tutorial has a Blog but unfortunatley didn't put the tutuorial for this flower on there :o( When I've got time I'll post a tutorial for this rose, but of course ALL recognition will go to the lady who did it first. So until then ...

Take care & keep smiling :o)

Vintage Fathers Day Card

2010-06-20T18:48:00.017+01:00

Hello and welcome to my new card. It's Fathers Day so what better card to show you than the one I made for my Dad...

All papers used were made by me on the computer and printed on hessian embossed card..

The picture used on the front was sourced from the internet and is called La Scapigliata by Leonardo Da Vinci. Her hair is "highlighted" with very small gold stitches ( I apologise for my stitching. Sewing is not one of my strong points)

"DAD" was first stamped using Anna Griffin "Elegant Engraving Alphabet" clear stamps and again hand stitched and rhinestones added.

The hinge, lock and key were made using Tim Holtz Alterations Hardware Findings die, thick grey cardboard that was inked with Tim Holtz Distress inks - Frayed Burlap, Vintage photo and Firebrick red. Then they were inked with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with Tim Holtz Distress embossing powder Black soot. I used the die in my Cuttlebug using the sandwich - B plate, die (cutting side up), card then B plate again. I ran it through twice to make sure it went through the card.

The flourishes on the inside were made with Tim Holtz Alterations Elegant Flourishes die and hand stitched on.

The passage was printed on Jacquard Inkjet Silk, and the word love was again hand stitched. The font used is FranciscoLucas llana, a free font from abstract fonts.

And here's the present I gave to my Dad

Thank you for looking and Take care & keep smiling

Happy Tilda 18th birthday card, gift set

2010-06-06T21:16:00.025+01:00

Tilda strikes again :o) This time for an 18th birthday. I was asked to make this card for a girl who is girly but loves football AND she absolutley adores the husband of Belinda (lady who requested the card). The snag to this is the birthday girl and the husband both support different teams, who happen to be bitter rivals in the world of football. So how to combine all those facts into a card... well here's what I did (lots of photo's, click on them to see more detail) ...

Materials used :

Bazzill card stock - Flowers, covering picture frame and picture mount.

Stardream pearlescent card - base card, square, star and circle Nestabilities,.

Creative Imaginations Samantha Walker Die Cut swirl card

Glitter paper - flowers, Tilda's top.

Shimmerz paint - "Angel Wings" on champagne flute, "Poinsettia Pink" on footballs.

Smooch paint - champagne flute ribbon.

Atyou glitter pens - Football badges and sentiment.

Tim Holtz - flowers

Rubber Stamps - Happy Tilda and Champagne flute by Magnolia Rubber Stamps - coloured with Derwents Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor.

Printable acetate.

Bling on a budget rhinestones.

K&Co paper lace - inside card.

Numbers 1 and 8 - bought from Hallmark Cards.

Pink cotton lace and ribbons.

Metal key and heart bought from eBay.

Cherry Blossom multi punch by Woodware.

I'm not going to go into great detail as to how the card was made, but the insert backing paper was made by me using a football image sourced from the web and then changed to pink. I then painted over the pink parts with Shimmerz paint. The football badges were sourced from the web changed the colours to various pinks and then coloured over with Atyou glitter pens.

Tilda's top was my first try at paper piecing, I used Stazon Rocket red ink on pink glitter paper and then went over it with a Staedtler fine red pen.

Thank you for looking and take care and keep smiling

Traveller Tilda Leaving Card

2010-05-09T00:46:00.023+01:00

(sigh) I made this card for my lovely team leader Michelle who has moved on to pastures new. I knew I wanted to use the Traveller Tilda stamp but wasn't quite sure what else to do, but once I started I found it VERY hard to stop LOL.

1. DP (designer paper) used through out the card and on the box - Making Memories/Forest Green series. Stardream Pearlescent card. Bazzill cardstock.

2. Punches used - Martha Stewart's Deco Fan border punch and Frond Branch. Nellies' Choice Floral punches and embossers. VERY small daisy punch - unknown make. Corner rounder punch.

3. Stamps used - Magnolia Rubber Stamps - Traveller Tilda, Suitcases and clock. Alota Rubber stamps - Wall/window. Watercolour Stamps - cobblestones.
4. Embellishments - Tim Holtz - Journalling tickets. K & Company - paper ribbon. Bling on a Budget - Rhinestones/gems.

5. Other items used -Derwents Coloursoft pencils and Sansador (Colouring in stamps) Tim Holtz Distress ink pads (flower centers and card edges). Sakura clear Gellyroll glaze pen (clock face, eyes, buttons, case handle)) Krylon Copper pen (colour banding on suitcases) Atyou glitter pens (wording on front of card, Tilda's hat flowers). Pink glitter card (flower centres)

6. All sentiments/wording - computer generated. To get the wording on the journaling ticket, I first printed the words onto a piece of A6 card then using a small piece of double sided tape I positioned the ticket over the words (I held the paper up to the light to get it right, if you've got a light box that would be even better) then fed it through the printer again.

So there you have it, I really enjoyed making this card, though I didn't like the reason I made it, I shall miss Michelle, but I am very happy that she is finally getting to where she wants to be.

Thank you for looking and take care & keep smiling

Oriental Koi Carp Birthday card

2010-04-20T20:30:00.015+01:00

Hello, couldn't wait to use my new toys - Dreamweaver stencil and paste. WHAT A NIGHTMARE. The lady demonstrating made it look so easy, I on the other hand, made an epic saga out of it LOL. But I got there eventually, and I'm quite pleased with the result...

1. The main image is made from a Dreamweaver stencil and black matt paste on printable acetate, that was then hightlighted/painted with Shimmerz "December Sky" paint, then mounted onto Stardream "Lapis Lazuli" pearlescent card and edged with gold peel offs.
2. The square and circle panels were made with the same Starcream card using Nestablities dies then embossed used my Cuttlebug and "Victoria" embossing folder. I then sponged over the raised parts with Brilliance "Pearlescent Ivy" and "Gamma Green" inkpads. The circles were edged with peel offs and the squares mounted onto gold satin Mirri card.

3. The patterned card is called "Precious Peonies" by Hunkydory crafts. And the only embellishments added were the Chinese brass coins.

Right I'm off now to have a go at another card, this time I'm going to get my Tilda stamps out :o) And I MIGHT even have another go at another altered tin, not sure yet, see how the mood takes me. So until the next time....

Take care & keep smiling

Vintage Card - Gift set - Part 2

2010-03-24T19:43:00.024Z

Hello again, and as promised here is the second part to my gift set. I bought a mug from the store that I work at because it was in a tin. Didn't want the mug but I had an idea for the tin, and as it was only £2 it was worth buying just for that :o) This was also my first attempt at altering, and I was very happy with the result ...

All the papers used for inside and outside the tin are by Graphics 45. The lable is computer generated, distressed with Tim Holtz inks and stamp with Basic Grey flourish stamp. The bead trim was first sewn onto the ribbon before being attached to the tin (I hate sewing LOL) The foliage was made with Martha Stewart and L-Em punches.

And here they are together. Just wish I'd have bought more of those tins, I really enjoyed decorating it, oh well maybe they'll have more in another time :o) Thank you for looking.

Take care & keep smiling

Vintage Card - Get well - Part 1

2010-03-23T19:19:00.023Z

Hello, I've gone all vintage AGAIN :o) I love it, and I think I'm slowly getting better at it. It's one of those styles that just about suits everyone, male or female, and as I wanted to make a card for my friend Tracey who's just had a back operation, I thought this style would be perfect. As you can see from the title of this post this is part 1 as there are LOTS of photo's as I not only made a card I also altered a tin to make a gift set. So here we go ....

In this picture the card is in the box I made for it. You might be thinking what are those black lines on the girls faces? Well I scanned the DP I used for the card and through my graphics programme I changed it to black and white, then into a negative and then printed it onto printable acetate, and then used it to make a "window" in the box lid. Below is a picture of the lid with some white paper behind it so as you can see the printed acetate better. You can click on the photo to get a better look if you want to.

1.The main image is from the internet, unfortunately I can't remember who the artist is.

2. The DP or backing paper is from Graphics 45 "Botanicals" range.

3. The flowers were made by me using EK Success medium flower punch and red vellum

4. The torn letter is a rubber stamp by EK Success - "Parchment Script". Stamped onto parchment, which was then screwed up, distressed and aged with Tim Holtz distress inks ( I don't know how I ever lived without these inks)

5. The Butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.

6. The sentiment is computer generated aged as above and then double heat embossed.

7. And if you're wondering, the cherub is a button by Dress It Up.

1. The main DP/backing paper is from a CD by Bearly Mine Designs.

2. The pocket for the postcard was again made with the same printed acetate. The "lace" trim was made with Martha Stewart's Doiley Lace punch and Fiskars Leave it to Weaver punch, aged again with Mr Holtz's inks.

3. I loved the postcard I made for a previous card so I decided to do it again for this card. The Eiffel Tower image again was sourced from the internet.

4. The butterfly was made using Marianne design Creatables Butterfly 3 die.

5. The side of the note was made with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then sponged with the same distress inks.

Lastly here's the back of the postcard. The sentiment is computer generated, the rest of the images are rubber stamps from Clear Art Stamps "French Mail".

Tomorrow I'll post part 2 - the altered tin I made to go with this card. So until then

Take care & keep smiling

Alota Rubber Stamps Challenge 29 - Distress It

2010-02-21T12:14:00.014Z

Hello on this cold and snowy Sunday. The card I'm about to show you I originally made for the Alota challenge 27 - punch happy, but I forgot to post it DOH. But all is not lost as I had distressed this card aswell so here it is ...

Card size - standard A5 (14.8cm x 21cm)

1. Designer paper by K & Company

2.Both stamps by Alota Rubber stamps - Shed and Garden shelf. Coloured with Derwents coloursoft pencils and Sansador. The Ivy leaves and bottle were gone over with Sakura clear gellyroll glaze pen and a silver gel pen was used on the tools.

3. The "branch" at the top was made with Leone Em ash branch punch and the tiny flower punch was one I bought from a local supermarket. The center of the flowers were dotted with Smooch Gold Lame.

4. Down the bottom the daisy flowers were bought off eBay and the foliage was made with Martha Stewarts Branch and Frond punches, and garden twine used for the bow.

The plant labels were made with a template I found on the internet, and with a graphics program I added the flowers and text then hand cut and punched.

5. the edged of the DP and the main image were distressed using Tim Holtz's paper distresser and his Antique linen distress ink.

Thank you for droppin by and to Emily - yes I am still alive LOL, though not crafting as much as I should be :o)

Take care and keep smiling

Vintage 60th Birthday card

2010-02-04T09:36:00.016Z

Hello and a happy New Year, I know I'm late wishing you this, but better late than never :o) I was asked to make this for a friends' sisters' 6oth birthday, she didn't give me much notice so it didn't turn out as I would have liked it too, but saying that it didn't turn out to bad either. Lots of small photo's, but just click on them if you want to see more detail ...

Card size - 6.5" x 6.5" or 16.5cm 16.5cm

Way too many details to go into but here are the basics...

Front of Card - The Designer paper is by K&Co, however I only had one sheet so I did a naughty and cut it to the size I wanted then scanned it and printed it onto some Hessian textured card. I know I shouldn't have but it was the only paper that would do. The photo on the front of the card was sourced from the internet. The February calander is a rubber stamp from Tim Holtz. All the distressing through out the card was done with Tim Holtz's paper distresser and his distress inks - Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap and Tattered Rose. The 60 was hand cut and tripled heat embossed. The hearts and tag were made with Spellbinder dies.

Card Insert - The photo is that of my friends' sister and mother. I scanned the original onto Ilford Galerie smooth pearl paper (it is quite expensive, but I like to use it on special pictures) I then decided to turn it into a postcard. So on a seperated piece of card I printed the sentiment -

"Sisters. Yes we’re just sisters. Our story is not heroic, or even memorable. But when I need support I sense you quietly by me. I always will.~Helen Thomson~

then I used Clear Art "French Mail" stamps, then stuck them both together.

Card Box - The center panel was made using my Cuttlebug and one of their embossing folders, and the folliage/leaves were made using Martha Stewarts' Frond punch.

If I'd have had the time, I would have liked to have made my own flowers and I wanted to make a bookmark aswell.

I have almost finished another card that I was hoping to enter into the http://alotarubberstamps.blogspot.com/ challenge, but I missed it as I had to get this card finished first. Hey ho, when I do finish it I'll post it. So until then

Take care & keep smiling

Vintage style Christmas cards

2009-11-30T10:20:00.012Z

Hello :o)

Should have posted these a while back, but when I came to assemble them I'd ran out of card and had to reorder anyway here they are now.

Supplies used -

1. Stardream pearlescent Antique gold card

2. Backing paper (front and insert )curtosy of Altered Bits. The snowflake border, bird, sentiment and snowflake are stamps by Inkadinkado all stamped with Versafine Sepia ink and dotted with Stickles gold glitter and Shimmerz Choc-o-lot paint.

3. Main image is mounted onto gold hessian paper, the ovals and snowflakes where made with Nestabilities and Shapeabilies dies.

4. Insert sentiment is computer generated and initial letters coloured with Atyou Gold glitter pen(doesn't show ) and the bird and holly stamps are again by Inkadinkado.

5. My little "calling card" on the back was cut with deckle edge megabilities. The web address is computer generated and the witch and other wording are stamped. Again mounted onto gold hessian paper same but larger die and then run through the cuttlebug with the snowflake impressabilites.

I made 20 of these for my Dad to send out, now I've just got to make my own :o/

Hope you're all keeping well and thank you for still popping by.

Take care & keep smiling from the worst blogger and slowest card maker in the world

Vintage 70th Birthday card - for my Dad :o)

2009-10-27T12:56:00.008Z

It was actually my Dads birthday on the 29th September, and have only just remembered to take a photo of it !!!! Anyhoo I took lots of photos and I've uploaded them small to get them all on, cos as usual I couldn't make up my mind which ones I liked best :o/ So here goes...

I won't bore you with the details as to how I made the card, as there is waaaaaaay to much to list, but if there is anything you want to know about the card feel free to ask. All I will tell you is the photo's are of my Dad when he was VERY young :o)

Thank you for taking the time to look and take care & keep smiling

Vintage Christmas Angel

2009-09-29T19:21:00.012+01:00

This card was intended to be entered in to last weeks Winter wonderland challenge - Very Vintage. But once I'd done the main image just couldn't decided what to do with it, so onto the shelf it went. Then today I got it down and had another look at it, and this is what I came up with...

The main image is a painting by Edward Burne-Jones (1878) called 'An Angel Playing Flageolet', I think it's rather beautiful. I made the frame for it from gold hessian paper and a Cuttlebug border embossing folder, then edged with gold peel offs. The backing paper is from alteredbits.com. The edges were stamped with Inkadinkado Snow flourish stamp using Versafine Vintage Sepia ink. The inside of the snowflakes was then painted with Shimmerz Candle Light paint and darker areas with Shimmerz Choc-o-lot paint. The centers of the snow flakes has a blob of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles - Frayed Burlap. The flowers are Flora Doodles white wild roses. The edges of the roses were stained with Tim Holtz Distress ink - Antique Linen, and then gone over again with Shimmerz Candle Light paint. The stamens of the flowers were painted with Smooch gold paint.There another Christmas card done, only another million to go !!!!!! :o/

Take care & keep smiling

Tilda with Roses or Roses for Rosella

2009-09-28T11:14:00.027+01:00

I made this card about three weeks ago for my friend Rosella's birthday....

1. Backing papers inside and outside of the card are from Bearly Mine Designs CD Rom.
2. Magnolia's Tilda with roses and Rose rubber stamps. Colured with Derwents Coloursoft pencils, Sansodor, Atyou red glitter pen and Sakura clear Gellyroll glaze pen. Background for Tilda was made using Tim Holtz Scattered Straw ink pad.
3. Roses on the front where plain white but the edges where then painted with Shimmerz Royal red paint.
4. Frames for Tilda and inserts where made with Nestabilities and heat embossed (about 4 layers)
5. Leaves - L-Em punch and Bazzil card.
6. Sentiments are computer generated and gone over with Atyou red glitter pen.
7. Gold corner and border peel offs used on the inserts.
8. Metal corner embellishments and raffia bows on the front.
Take care & keep smiling

Winter Wonderland Week 15 - Frosty the Snowman

2009-09-12T09:01:00.024+01:00

As I've been away from blogging for a while I thought I'd get myself back on the map by entering a challenge, and as I've been following the Winter Wonderland Challenge blog for a while but never entered I thought this would be a good place to start. And lets face it WHO can resist a snowman :o) ...

I do have a snowman stamp but didn't want to use it, so I went scouting round the Internet to see what I could find, and found this lovely snowman on a children's colouring page. Do you think I can find that page again ???? No, argghhhh I hate it when that happens. Anyway I've changed it slightly from the original picture, and so as I could colour it in without the ink smudging, I printed it in a pale grey colour and then went over it with a waterproof ink pen and then coloured it with Derwent coloursoft pencils and Sansodor, and the band on his hat was gone over with Atyou Spica clear glitter pen. The owl and birds are Magnolia stamps coloured the same as the snowman and on their beaks and their eyes I went over SEVERAL times with Sakura clear Gelly roll glaze pen. The snowman's nose was gone over again several times with Sakura Gelly roll Christmas red glaze pen. The sprig in his hat is the top part of Martha Stewart's branch punch and the berries were made with Stickles Christmas red glitter glue.

The arched backing paper is one I made on the computer, and the snowflakes where then painted over with Shimmerz Angel Wings paint (not that you can see on the photo's).This was then mounted onto silver Mirri silk card that had been run though the Cuttlebug with Impressabilities Snowflake embossing plate. Because the card is bigger than the embossing plate I first cut away the frame that surrounds the plate so as to get a nice continuous pattern. oh and by the way the arches were both cut by hand. The backing paper is from Bearly Mine Designes Designer Extreme Vol. 1 CD. The icicles are from a Christmas tree garland I got in the sales, and the snow at the bottom of the snowman's feet is Flowersoft Polar White, I was expecting it to be white but as you can see it's transparent :o( Oh well. I think I covered everything. As I can't find the site I got the snowman picture from here he is... But remember this is NOT my art work and I take NO credit for it...

And here's my altered version.

PS. I did a waistcoat for him, but me and my Dad thought he looked on this occasion better without it, but I think I may well do another with his waistcoat as this was such a fun card to make.

Take care & keep smiling

PS. The bottom photo may look like a blank but when you print it it comes out a pale grey. That's so as you can go over it with what ever colouring medium you chose :o)

Vintage Wedding Card Box

2009-08-12T23:08:00.008+01:00

Hello :o)
Won't bore you with details for this, but it's the box I made for the Vintage Wedding card to go into. Sorry for the photo's but the card has to be given to Mary tomorrow in time for her daughters wedding, and there won't be time in the morning for me to take any decent daylight photo's, so here it is...

1. Nestabilities

2. Impressabilities

3. Inkadinkado Gemstone Flourish clear stamps

4. Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads - Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap

5. Martha Stewart Border Punch

Thank you for looking.
Take care & keep smiling

Vintage Wedding Card

2009-08-11T17:14:00.025+01:00

OK, so this took me a while to do, but other than knowing I wanted to do a vintage style card, I really had no idea as to what I was going to do. But here it is a last and now I've just to make the box for it, which shouldn't take me that long to do...

1. Base card cream 300gsm

2. Front of card - Both DP's are from Bearly Mine Designs - Designer Extreme Vol. 2 CD Rom. The floral design wa printed on to white linen card, and the beige spot was printed on to Stampin' Up Whisper White card.

3. The photo was one out of a pack of photo's I bought from Joanna Sheen. The frame to the photo was made by cutting round the Nestabilitie I used to cut out the photo (it was a standard rectangle photo) Then I hand pressed the Nestie into the cut out to get a border. Then taking a Versamark pen I went round the outline and then triple heat embossed with Moon Glow two tone EP "Gilded Burgundy Brass" (the car used for the frame was Stardream pearlescent Chocolate brown card).

4. The roses I bought from Joanna Sheen, and I painted the tops of the petals with Shimmerz "Candle Light"

5. The Cream heart lace and silver metal corners I bought from eBay and the organza ribbon was from Raspberry Ribbons.

6. The Cherub is a button from Dress It Up

7. The card insert papers are the same as the front, only both are printed onto Stampin' Up Whisper White Card. The edges were distressed with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink. The stamp is from Inkadinkado Gem Stone Flourishes which was stamped with Tim Holtz Scattered straw Distress ink.

8. The heart lace border and Butterflies are from Martha Stewart, punched from the same SU card and sponge coloured with Tim Holtz Antique Linen and the butterflies also had Mr Holtz's Walnut Stain sponged on to them, then they were painted with the Shimmerz Candle Light.

9. The sentiment is from SU, I have the stamp but I wanted the "Love" more in keeping with the card so I printed off the computer using "Comic Sans" and "Beautiful" Fonts.

There I'm not going to bore you with every single detail as there was a lot more involved in making this card, but those are the main details. Any questions ? Just email me :o)

Take care & keep smiling

Tea Bag Gift Box Template

2009-07-18T14:43:00.025+01:00

All credit is given to Lotti (Stampalotti) for this template, as all the measurements given are the ones she used to make the one she sent me. And the measurements I used to make mine.

Hopefully these scans will print out at the correct size.

Click on scans to see the details - The dotted lines are the score lines. Solid lines are the ones you'll need to cut or punch.

Scan 1. This is the outer case. Cut out with the measurements provided. Now I didn't use a score board, all I used was a very small embossing tool and a ruler, this was because I didn't actually draw the guide lines on my card as I didn't want them showing. I used double sided tape as opposed to glue, this is just my personal choice, you use what ever your comfortable with.

Scan 2. That's the inner case. This is where your tea bag envelopes are going to go. The middle section is what is going to be the top of the box. I've just noticed, where the small shaped cut out pieces are (on the sides) I've put glue or tape, you actually glue or tape ON THE OTHER SIDE. So when you fold it to stick it, these pieces will be inside the box so therefore need adhesive on the other side.

Scan 3. This is the envelopes for the tea bags. You'll need to cut three of these. When you punch the half circles, to make sure they match up fold it along the length ways score line (the one running top to bottom on the left hand side of the photo) You'll notice there are three different coloured measurements. Score the first envelope using the RED measurement, second envelope using the GREEN measurement and of course the third using the last measurement. So why three measurements, that's so they'll nest inside each other nicely. The blue measurements are the over all dimensions.Once you've cut all your pieces this is when you want to decorate them. Once decorated, just assemble.
This doesn't have to be just for tea bags, I made mine to hold chocolates. Looking at it you could alter the measurements to have it hold small photo's, ATC's, whatever you like.If you need more details or something explained just email me.Take care, keep smiling and have fun

Raisa and the reluctant Reindeer :o)

2009-07-16T20:07:00.002+01:00

ROFL, I just HAD to show you this. Raisa my Finnish friend has been off on holiday in Lapland. When she said she was going I told her to stroke a Reindeer for me, LOL, and this is as close as she got. She says in her blog she had to chase after it to get the picture, doesn't that just conjure up a comical scene in your head like one of those slapstick silent movie chases :O)

clipped from tuulentuvassa.blogspot.com

How I made the flowers for the Pack a Picnic Gift Box

2009-07-15T20:53:00.031+01:00

I had an email from a lady named Diane from South Carolina USA who asked for a little more information on how I made the flowers for the Gift box. Sooooo, I thought I'd have a go at a tutorial LOL. So bear with me as this is my first time (blush).... Oh and small photo's to get them all on, so click on them if you want to see more detail...

Here are the tools I used (ignore the white tool, I used that on another flower, sorry) The card is about the same weight as Bazzil card, but this is two tone - dark pink one side light pink on the other.

1. Punch out two large daisies, two medium daisies and one of the little daisy.

2. With the tear drop punch or any punch that will give you a notch, punch each petal end on both of the large daisies, until you have these...

3. Put the flowers (both large and medium) on the foam mat then with the etching tool (that's the one with the pointy end and the scoop on the other end) or follow this link HERE for tool substitutes, score down the middle of each petal (wrong side of the card or what will be the underneath of the flower), keeping the point as flat to card as possible, and press as hard as the paper or card will allow...

Until you have these...

4. Then glue the flowers together, I used Art Glitter Clear Adhesive, but any quick drying glue will do. I say quick drying because you're going to be moulding them and you don't want them to slip whilst you're doing that...

5. Then with the shape mate (that's the one that looks like an embossing tool) place it in the centre of the flower and with circular movements go round and round the centre until the petals have raised...

6. Take the littlest daisy, again on the foam mat and with the shape mate "stroke" the petals right way up until they have curled...

7. Then glue the little daisy into the center of the large flower and on the foam mat with the Shape Mate really push down into the flower so as all the petals raise up. You may want to do those circular movements again, it really all depends on the thickness of the card/paper you are using...

8. Then with the scoop end of the etching tool I pulled the center petals up and pulled the bottom petals down...

PHEW!!! So there you have it. I got my inspiration from these two ladies. They are what I would call experts at making flowers...

http://joanne-mainlyflowers.blogspot.com/search/label/floral%20punch%20craft

http://peejays-crafty-bits.blogspot.com/search/label/Tutorial - The flower tutorials are towards the bottom of the page.

I made some other flowers that were going to go on the gift box before I decided on which design I was going to go for...

All the flowers were made with Vellum/ parchment paper and EK Success Retro flower punches as were the leaves on the bottom flowers and the leaves on the top flowers is a punch by L-Em. The stamens on the top flowers (big and small) where made with a snowflake punch and a Cuttlebug snowflake die :o) Hope I haven't confused you too much, the links above give much better tutorials.

Right I'm off to catch my breath :o)

Take care & keep smiling

I see wonderful things...

2009-07-15T17:12:00.027+01:00

The title to this post were the words uttered by Howard Carter in 1922 when he first looked into the tomb of Tutankhamun, and they were what I saw when I opened a parcel sent to me by Lotti. This VERY generous lady sent me the parcel as a thank you for the Whiff of Joy stamp kit I sent her. She said she was making something as a thank you, and I presumed she meant a card. Then the parcel came and I said to my Dad "Wow, that's one big card", then I opened it up and was totally lost for words...

Isn't it just lovely. And it's not just the gift.It's the time, effort and thought that went in to it that really makes it so very special. I've only done little photo's so as to fit them all on, so click on them to see the details.

In the first picture you can see some pink and yellow paper, that's a tea bag gift box Lotti did for me to make up myself, it was Lotti's tea bag gift box that inspired my After Eight gift box LOL, well I wasn't to sure if my friend would drink herbal tea, but I do know she likes chocolate and I always have a box of After Eights on my desk so there was my excuse for making one :o)

In the next picture is a fabulous little organizer (well that's what I call it), made from matchboxes and coasters, how cool is that :o) and she put all those little bits and pieces in. I've already used one of the little handbag charms, they're so cute.

In the third (that's my son's thumb, bless him) and fourth photo's she's made a folder with stamped images in, and let me tell you there are TONS of them, it must have took her aaaages to do all those. I really like the way she's used envelopes as the pockets, very ingenius. In the fourth phot is a small sample of the stamped images she sent, and I have to say I LOVE the little Pan stamp, and I had to show the one of the Stamp Shop.

Then next of course is the Tea bag gift box, I think maybe this is my favourite :o) I don't know why, I just think it's fabulous.

And lastly Lotti also put in three of the loveliest clear stamps, and here they are stamped up ready to go into my Stamp Catologue. Those children stamps are just gorgeous, they remind me of the artwork of Jessie Wilcox Smith, she did the most gorgeous paintings of children. And who wouldn't fall in love with that dog, I didn't realise he was a Dalmation till I inked him up, and he's got a wonderful expression.

So there you have it, my truly wonderful gift from an exceptionally talented and generous lady. By the way did you see all the links to her blog? Just a small hint :o)

http://stampalotti.wordpress.com/ LOL

Take care, keep smiling and don't forget to Blog hop, you don't know what you might be missing out there.

Tilda Insert and card box - Gift set card

2009-07-13T07:59:00.009+01:00

Quick post, loads to do, but here's the insert to the Tilda card and the box I made to put the card in...

Quote on the left panel from The Quote Garden, both sentiments are computer gererated. Fonts used - Monotype Corsiva and Kingthings Annex , free font from dafont.com (kisses). Spotty paper - Bearly Mine Designs and Tim Holtz mini mask in the corners. Stole the scalloped edge of the box idea from Emilie, have a look, it's sooooo pretty :o)
Right I'm off
Take care & keep smiling

Just Magnolia Challenge 12 - Tilda Gift Set Card

2009-07-07T17:51:00.011+01:00

I didn't think I was going to get this card finished today, but I did and I'm very pleased with the result. This card is to go with the Pack a Picnic gift box and Tea bag gift box I made for my friend Michelle's birthday and is also my entry for the Just Magnolia week 12 Challenge - So Charming...

Card size - A5 - 21cm x 14.8cm

1. Stardream pearlescent pink card (base)

2. Heart swirl DP from Bearly Mine Designs Designer Extreme Vol. 1 CD Rom. The hearts were painted with Shimmerz Blingz Poinsettia Pink.

3. The ovals were cut with Nestabilities and the embossing was done with Impressabilities Flowers. To get the nice smooth edge (no embossing) on the dark pink card, I first cut the oval but left it in the oval die, then using this stack - A plate, B plate, Tan mat, card with nestabilitie (Nestie on top), Impressabilites plate, B Plate and then two pieces of card and then run it through my Cuttlebug twice. Found that little tip on the Wizard website, though it wasn't for the Cuttlebug, but I though I'd give it a go to see if it worked.

4. Tools used for the flowers can be found on my Pack a Picnic post. The leaves however on this card were made with L-Em Ash branch punch. I had to stand on this punch to get it to work !!!

5. The Magnolia Tilda stamp is coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor, and her shoes were painted with Smooch Siren. When I stamped Tilda I used Versafine Onyx black Cube so as to miss the little cross stitch heart on her apron, then after cleaning the stamp I inked just the heart with Versafine Crimson red and using a stamp postioner then stamped the heart onto the apron.

6. The charms and chain I got off eBay except the little handbag which was in the parcel that Lotti sent me (photo's of which will follow soon).

If I've missed anything it's because those details are on the Pack a Picnic post, so here's a photo of the whole Tilda gift set, just got to add chocolates and little prezzies :o) ...

Take care & keep smiling

You have JUST got to see this !!! And I didn't make it :o(

2009-07-07T00:42:00.003+01:00

Do you like this wallet ? It's made from card, yes really card !!! It's made by a VERY clever lady called Yvonne, if you want to find out more details click HERE to go straight to the post.

clipped from yvonne-anabelle.blogspot.com

Take care And keep smiling

Tea bag gift box - well sort of

2009-07-05T19:51:00.014+01:00

Here's a little tea bag gift box I made to go with my Pack a Picnic gift box. Well it started out as a tea bag gift box, but I changed it to an After Eight gift box :o) For those of you who don't know what an After Eight is, it's a wafer thin after dinner mint, mint fondant covered in dark chocolate mmmmmm .......

I won't bore you with the details again they're pretty much the same are the gift box, except for the DP used for the tea bag envelopes was made by me on the computer, and the After Eight logo on the gift box was made by scanning the wrapper and changing the colours with my graphics program (the front and back of the box are identical). This was inspired by part of a gift sent to me by the extremely lovely and talented Lotti, I'll show you some photo's of the parcel she sent, I was overwhelmed by it, not only by the generosity of it, but by the time, effort and thought that went in to making it. BUT I'm afraid those photo's will have to wait until I've made the card to go with these gift boxes as I'm hoping to finish it in time to enter it into the Just Magnolia Challenge this week.

So take care & keep smiling

Pack a Picnic Gift Box Template

2009-06-28T09:24:00.034+01:00

NB. The Pack a Picnic template is NOT free, it costs $5, and worth every penny... or cent :o) Also the small side panels do not come with the template, I made those myself.

OK, hold on to your hats, I've actually made something that ISN'T a card !!! I made this after visiting Raisa's Blog and seeing her lovely little handbags she made and decided it was about time I had a go at doing something other than a card, which for me was a rather scary prospect. I found a lovely template by Paper Tray Ink - My Timeless Templates - Pack a Picnic and decided to go for it and make a gift box from it...

Sorry about all the photo's but I couldn't decide which one I liked best.

The size of the box is 13.5 cm high (from base to top of lid) x 14 cm wide. There are two templates in the pack, this is the larger size. Right here goes with a list of stuff used to make the box.

1. Stardream pearlescent pink card for the main structure of the box.

2. Double sided ( dark pink one side, pale pink on the other) pearlescent thin card for the ovals, mount and flowers.

3. Heart Swirl DP is from Bearly Mine Designs Designer Extreme Vol. 1 CD ROM printed on to white hessian card. Who are looking for DT members, click HERE if you're interested.

4. Taffeta watermark paper used for the lip of the box ans punched with Martha Stewart's Doily Lace Punch.

5. The ovals were cut with Nestabilities Petite Large ovals and embossed with Spellbinders Impressabilities Flowers template.

6. Flowers on large side were made with Woodware 1 1/2", 1" and 3/4" Daisy punches, and the little nicks in the top of the petals was done with Woodware Teardrop punch and the leaves were made with Martha Stewart's' branch punch and Bazzill card.

7. Side flowers were made with Woodware 3/4" Daisy punch, Bosscut Flourish die and the leaves were made with Woodware 1 1/2" daisy punch and Bazzill card. The centers have Stampendous Raspberry Tart Fun Flock in them.

8. Butterflies are made with Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch, Stardream pearlescent card and heat embossed with Versamark pen and Heat It Up Pink EP.

9. Bow, handles and sides of box lid - Vanilla 1cm Grosgrain ribbon

10. Flat back pearls, 1mm rhinestones/gems and pearl brads for the finishing touches.

Well this took me a week to make, most of my time was spent making flowers. I did four different types before I decided which style I liked best. I could have saved a lot of time if I had used flowers I had already bought, but being a glutton for punishment I went for the handmade option :o) I did make a couple of mistakes but hopefully there's that much going on they're not that noticeable, and it's all good experience for my next one ... which won't be for a while yet. I hope you like it and have a wonderful Sunday.

Take care & keep smiling

Happy Fathers' Day

2009-06-21T07:37:00.005+01:00

Well I wasn't going to show this box as it isn't that good but as I haven't posted anything for a while and I haven't done any crafting as such I thought "why not". So here is the box I made to put my Dads' Fathers Day card in ...

By the way my Dads' name ISN'T R. Bear and we DON'T live in Nutwood, that's Rupert's name and address :o) Anyway I was having trouble thinking of how to decorate the box, so I finally decided to do it like my favourite way of wrapping presents, brown paper and string. The "postage stamps" pictures I found on the internet and I wrote the name and address with a dip pen and ink as I wanted the writing to look like that old style of writing which wasn't to hard to do as I can't write with any type of ink pen so it turned out scrawly as intended and the string used was gardening string as it's a bit thinner than the usual parcel string. So there you go, not very exciting but I think my Dad will like it. Have a lovely Sunday.
Take care & keep smiling

Rupert the Bear Card - Fathers Day Card

2009-06-16T10:43:00.017+01:00

I didn't think I was ever going to finish this card, talk about not knowing when to stop :o\

Well this card features the one and only Rupert the Bear, not many outside of the UK will probably know who this little chap is. He's a character that was created in 1920 by Mary Tourtel an English artist, for the Daily Express newspaper and when she retired the job of continuing the adventures of Rupert were passed over to Alfred Bestall. So successful were the stories in the newspaper that the first Rupert annual was produced in 1936. There have been 5 artists that have in succession continued the stories of Rupert, and all artists were carefully chosen to keep the drawing style of Rupert faithful to Mary Tourtels' style. The stories are STILL being published in the Daily Express and the Annuals are still being produced and my Dad collects them. The oldest original Rupert Annual that he has is 1964, but he has got some Rupert Facsimile's which are limited edition faithful reproductions of the original annuals. My Dad says these are some of the best fantasy stories he's ever read. Rupert is really a children's character, but I would say his biggest fans are all adults, you can see that when you try to buy an older annual, the prices these go for in auction are phenomenal, even the facsimile's can go for as much as £200 - £300 !!! Anyway that's the end of the history of Rupert for those who didn't know, so here's the card...

Card size - A5 - 21cm x 14.8cm

Card used - Stardream pearlescent card "Mars Red" and "Antique Gold" and to mount the front pictures and sentiment Colorplan "Bokhara Red".

The striped paper is a picture from the web which I coloured alternate lines with Marvy DecoColor Liquid Gold pen.

Martha Stewart Embossed Diamond edge punch.

Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirl embossing folder.

Nestabilities Labels 2 and Large Ovals.

Martha Stewart Frond punch. The leaves were scored with a very fine embossing tool to make the veins.

EK Success Retro flower punch (smallest one). The flowers were moulded with a Leone Em Shapemate so the petals didn't lie flat.

Cuttlebug "Frills" Border embossing folder set.

All Rupert pictures scanned from my Dad's Rupert Annuals.

The verse is from The Quote Garden.

Because I've waffled on enough I haven't gone in to to great a detail as to how I made the card, but if you see something and you'd like a bit more of a description feel free to email me, I promise I won't bite :o)

Now I'm off to make a box for it, so take care & keep smiling

Modern Wedding Anniversary Card

2009-06-09T23:46:00.015+01:00

Hello :o)
When I made the vintage wedding anniversay card I also made a modern one. As I was making it for someone to give to her husband and not knowing him other than I know he likes football (for American readers - Soccer)I thought it best to do two completely different cards that way she could choose which one she prefered, and as it was she chose the vintage one...

The card size is 16.5cm x 16.5cm/ 6.5" x 6.5"
All the white card used is Stardream pearlescent card.
The top half of the card is embossed using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. Now because the folder isn't long enough, I embossed the card but made sure NOT to go to the end of the folder otherwise you get that nasty line, then I took the card and matched the dots up in the folder then I got an embossing tool and finished the dots of by hand to the end of the card. I know I'm a glutton for punishment, but that line REALLY bugs me, and I have tried erasing the line with a bone folder like some people do but I find it dulls the card when you rub it with the bone folder and looks worse. Well that's MY opinion, each to their own.
The hearts were made with a free stamp I got off a magazine, stamped with versamark ink pad and then heat embossed with Sparkle N Sprinkle Japanese Lacquer EP. Each were hand cut and jiggled about until I thought they looked nice :o)
The embossed lines were done just by placing the card on my Scor pal and scoring away.
The label is from Nestabilities. The white card was cut with the nestabilities die, but the silver mirri card was cut by hand after tracing around the die with a fine embossing tool.
The wording is taken from a quote by a sports commentator, the quote was actually "Football, it's a game of two halves" I just changed the wording to suit and it is computer generated.
The cord used on the label is Twilley's Goldfingering crochet wool. No I don't crochet, I just found the wool and thought it would look good on cards, needless to say I have several colours. Then it was finished off with some silver peel offs. Oh and here is the sketch I found on the web and used for the card...

Here's a link to sketch http://phutchsketches.blogspot.com/2007/01/love-is-in-air-february-sketches.html. The lady's sketches are mainly for scrapbooking, but with a bit of jiggaling you can make them fit a card :o)

Take care & keep smiling

Vintage Wedding Anniversary card Insert & Box

2009-06-03T23:48:00.009+01:00

Here is the insert to the Vintage anniversary card I made, won't bore you with details, it's all pretty much the same as the outside of the card, but just in case you're wondering what die/die cuts I used for the numbers, I didn't, they're hand cut...

and here's the box I made for the card. Pretty boring I suppose, just wanted to play with that Tim Holtz mask again...

Whiff of Joy Challenge 33 - Once Upon A Time In Merry England

2009-06-03T17:57:00.013+01:00

Here is my 4th card in my series of Once Upon a Time cards using the Whiff of Joy Medieval collection stamps and also my entry into the Whiff of Joy Challenge 33 ...

Card size A5 - 21cm x 14.8 cm

Base up...

Stardream Pearlescent "Chocolate Brown" card
DP is from DCWV "Once Upon a Time" 8 x 8 pad
Leaf Frame stamp is from Alota Rubber Stamps, coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Sansador and Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze pen. I stamped the frame twice, but cut out the leaves on the second stamp to mount on top of the leaves on the frame with 1mm foam pads.
The "bush" behind Charlotte I made from the Magnolia Tree with carved heart stamp from the Spring 2008 collection. I only inked up the leafy part of the tree and using a stamp positioner and masking, I stamped the image three times and coloured the with Derwents again.
Rogue Charlotte of course is from the Whiff of Joy Medieval collection and coloured the same as above. She was then cut out and mounted with 1mm foam pads.
The flower is from Prima Quick pick hydrangea Woodland, and the leaves are made with two different colour green Bazill card and Martha Stewarts' Frond and Branch punches. The frond leaves were scored with a fine embossing tool ant then the ends pinched.
The "Once Upon a Time" stamp is from Hampton Art Fairy Tale Stamp set.
The tag die cut is made with a Cuttlebug die. The ribbon and charm are from eBay.

I actually started making this card on Sunday and finished it yesterday, then I saw the challenge today and as it fitted the criteria decided to enter it into the challenge.

Thank you for looking and take care & keep smiling

Vintage Wedding Anniversary card.

2009-05-23T06:50:00.019+01:00

Hello, well here's the finished card I made using the masked paper from the previous post...

This is a 6.5" x 6.5" / 16.5cm x 16.5cm card.
From the base up...

Stardream pearlescent “Chocolate Brown” card.
Main DP and Strip – Cosmo Cricket – Autumn. Mounted onto card from Pizazz 8x8 Christmas Cardstock Pad.
Small SquaresDP - K & Co Vintage Collage Flat Paper. Mounted onto card from Pizazz 8x8 Christmas Cardstock Pad.
“Photo” from Joanna Sheen’s “Fashion Boutique” CD Rom printed onto smooth pearl photo paper. Aged with Tim Holtz Distress ink pads – Antique Linen and Vintage Photo. Edges lightly distressed with Tim Holtz Paper Distresser. I thought I had ruined this TWICE!!! First, when I had gone over the photo with the distress inks the ink reacted with the black printer ink on the photo and turned it purple, but I decided it looked good. THEN, when I was messing with the Tim Holtz mask it caught the photo I had put to one side and took off the top layer of the photo, and that’s why there is a white patch on the womans skirt. But again I thought it looked good. That was after a whole lot of VERY bad words :oP
The heart I made with a Tim Holtz Grungeboard flourish (see previous post). Went lightly over with Versamark pen and then heat embossed with Heat It Up Gold EP.
The butterflies where made with Martha Stewart’s “Monarch Butterfly” punch from the same cardstock I used to mount the DP on. It’s a double sided card hence two different coloured butterflies. Again these where lightly gone over with versamark pen and then heat embossed the same as the heart.
The “Once Upon A Time” stamp is from Hampton Art. I’ve got the matching "And they lived happily ever after. The End” stamp to go with this, which will be used on the inside.
The lace I got as a freebie from a magazine a while back and then lastly I used Making Memories eyelets to decorate the corners.
The sketch used for this card is one I borrowed from Just Magnolia week 5 challenge.

I made this card as a Wedding Anniversary card for a lady at work to give to her husband. That’s why it isn’t full of flowers and bows. I’ll be making her another card but with a more modern design so she has a choice as everybody’s tastes are different.

Right, I won't be blogging now for a while, my time just seems to be taken up at the moment with gardening and work, and I'm just too tired to keep up with challenges and just generally visiting my favorite blogs. So I'm going to take some time out. Thank you for visiting my blog and I'll see you around :o)

So until we meet again ... take care & keep smiling

Tim Holtz Mask - OK, I admit it...I'M HOOKED :o)

2009-05-19T17:54:00.007+01:00

Grrrr, had to come in from weeding as it decided to persist down with rain, soooo I had another play with my new Tim Holtz Flourish Mask. What do you think?...

The paper is from Cosmo Cricket - Autumn. On the large paper I used the mask in the usual way with Antique Linen Distress ink (my favorite) and then on the strip I used the negative inked up with Antique Linen first and run through the Cuttlebug and I decided it was too pale. So I inked it up again with Vintage Photo Distress ink and because the negative (and the mask) are clear I was able to position my paper again in the same place and re-run through the Cuttlebug. To make things easier I reversed the Cuttlebug Sandwich ( you can make sure the mask is in the right position this way) on the second run, from the bottom up -

A plate
B plate
tan mat
2 scrap pieces of card
DP with pattern up
mask, ink down
B plate

And you can see I also did A Tim Holtz Grungeboard heart. Well actually it's a flourish, I cut it in half and positioned them to look like a heart, just got to get rid of the two sticky up bits at the bottom :o) HOPEFULLY this will end up being an Anniversary card, with a few more bits added of course. Anyway I just wanted to share my new toy with you and I can't wait to buy some more T H Masks, but they'll have to wait until next pay day UGH :o(
Take care & keep smiling

Tim Holtz Mask - Throw away the negative! I DON'T THINK SO

2009-05-19T12:17:00.008+01:00

Right this is just a quick post as I was out in the garden getting rid of an over abundant supply of weeds... Grrrrrrrr. But the postie has just been and in a parcel that had some rather gorgeous papers was a Tim Holtz mask I had ordered. Well, have you seen the size of these things!!! They're HUGE. Had I have known how big these things were I wouldn't have ordered it. Anyway I went on to Tim Holtz's blog to see how to use it, and I'm sat there watching..."Hmmmm I think I'm going to like this" I thought, THEN he said "I just toss this" refering to the negative of the mask. EXCUSE ME, I don't "toss" anything. So I took the negative part and sponged Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress ink onto the negative. You'll feel ridges (the out line of the mask) and it was inside the ridges that I put the ink. I also used the distress ink as it stays wet for quite a while. Then I ran it through the cuttlebug. The same sandwich as you'd use for Nestabilities - A plate, B plate, Mask Negative (ink side up), card or paper, two layers of scrap card, Spellbinders tan mat and lastly another B plate. I ran it through twice (forward and backward), and here is the result...

I think it looks great for a first attempt and only on printer paper. You also get a slight embossed feel to it, though I don't know how long that would last as the mask is only a thin plastic and not really designed for use in the Cuttlebug. So there you have it and the moral of the story is... don't throw ANYTHING away. And if you have...buy another one :o)
Right back to the weeds.
Take care & keep smiling

Super Mario Birthday Card Insert - For Nathan

2009-05-17T18:04:00.005+01:00

Ooooo, two posts in one day, I think I may come over all faint :o) I don't know if you remember but back in March I made a Super Mario Birthday card for my Dad to give to my nephew Nathan, who is a BIG Nintendo DS fan, well today I did the insert for it. I don't usually show the inserts to my cards as frankly compared to the outside they suck big time. I've seen so many of the inserts to cards made by other crafters out there and they are so superb I thought I'd make a bit more of an effort...

It's all computer generated, and all the images were sourced from the internet. The hollow lettering (Super Mario font from Urban Fonts.com)was coloured in with Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pens and the other lettering (comic sans) was gone over with atyou spica clear glitter pen. Oh and the octagon was made with my new Octagon Nestabilities my Dad bought me for my birthday :o)

Well I'm off to have a bath now as I've got to go to bed early tonight as I have to start work at 5am tomorrow, this is NOT my usual work hours, just covering for someone who is off ill, but I get to finish at 1pm and then Tuesday is my day off, so it's all good.

So goodnight, God bless and keep smiling

Raspberry Ribbons Sketch 21 - Once Upon a Time…In ye days of olde, when knights were bolde…

2009-05-17T08:06:00.023+01:00

Hmmmm, I’m not sure this card turned out how I wanted it to, my Dad likes it, but I’m not sure. I like the stamped images and my first attempt at distressed edges :o), it’s just the card and paper I’m a bit dubious about. But It’s done now and it’s for the Raspberry Ribbons challenge sketch 21 and also my third installment of my Once Upon a Time cards…

Ooops, forgot the "Once Upon a Time" Stamp !

From the base up...

Stardream Pearlescent “Antique Gold” card.
Bazzill card – Edges distressed with Brilliance “Coffee Bean” ink pad and Tim Holtz paper distresser.
Scalloped Panel – Bazzill Card, Friskars “Threading Water” punch. Edges first gone round with with Brilliance “Coffee Bean” ink pad and then gone over again with Versamark pen and then heat embossed with Heat It Up Gold EP. Gold Organza ribbon.
Top Panel – DCWV “Once Upon a Time” 8x8 pad, cut out with my largest deckled edge Megabilities. Gold silk Mirri card that was cut out by tracing round the deckled edge die with a fine embossing tool then cutting out by hand.
Main Image – Whiff of Joy “Warrior Charlie” and “Charlotte’s Horse”, coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. The “metal” parts (armour, shields etc) where gone over with Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze pen. Oh and the swords on the little image where coloured with a silver gel pen. For the smaller image I used Deckled edge rectangle Nestabilities.
Fleur de Lys – these where made from a small punch I have (unknown make) and then heat embossed with Heat It Up Gold EP. I only did one layer of EP as I wanted an uneven finish to make them look old.

So there you have it, I’ve got to wait for three stamps to be delivered before I can carry on with my little series, one of the stamps has got to come from America, so I probably won’t get it until the end of next week :o( Oh well in the mean time there’s always Tilda :o)
Take care & keep smiling

Whiff of Joy Challenge 29 - Once Upon A Time ... There Was A Queen

2009-05-10T15:02:00.019+01:00

Hello and here is my entry for the Whiff of Joy challenge 29 - A Sketch.
This card is the second in a series of cards I intend to make entitled Once Upon A Time. The first card which I didn't enter into a challenge was Once Upon A Time ... There Was A Dragon. I do so love the Whiff of Joy Medieval collection, they remind me of my childhood when my head was always stuck in a book - fairy tale books, so here's my card...

Card size - 6.5" x 6.5"/16.5cm x 16.5cm

Stardream pearlescent "Ruby" card
DCWV Once Upon A Time 8 x 8 paper pad
Ribbon is from Raspberry Ribbons September 2008 Loving Lilac kit.
Gothic Window and Bricks Rubber stamps are from Cherry Pie Art Stamps. Colored with Derwent Coloursoft Pencils and Sansodor. The "glass" of the window was gone over with Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Glaze pen. The plain parts of the wall and edges where sponged with Versafine Smokey Grey and Vintage Sepia ink pads.
Queen Charlotte and Throne of course are from The Whiff of Joy Medieval collection. Coloured with Derwents again and the crown and Sceptre where coloured with a silver gel pen.
The crown charm I got from eBay and I added the gems/rhinesones to ti just for a bit of bling :o)
And the sentiment stamp, did you notice it? Up in the right hand corner , "Once Upon A Time". Sorry I can't tell you who the manufacturer is as there isn't one on it, but again I got it off eBay.

Well I'm not quite sure what my next card in this series is going to be, I've got so many little scenes in my head for these cards it's hard to make up my mind which one I want to do next. But tomorrow I'll be showing you a card that was made for me, it's so cool :o)

Take care & keep smiling

Gift Tag - Raisa FINALLY got her prize :o)

2009-05-10T01:18:00.005+01:00

Raisa finally got the Birthday Surprise present that I gave away on my birthday. Here's the tag I made to go in the parcel (photo stolen from Raisa's blog as it was a far better photo than the one I took), and if you want to see what was in the parcel click HERE...

he he he, I absolutley loved making that parcel up, I loved it even more when I got to give it away :o)
Take care & keep smiling

Just Magnolia Challenge 3 - Tilda And Edwin Together Chasing Butterflies

2009-05-04T07:59:00.011+01:00

Here's my entry for the Just Magnolia Challenge 3 - A Sketch...

Card size - A5/21cm x 14.8cm
Stardream pearlescent blue card.
DP is from Bearly Mine Designs – Designer Extreme Vol.1 CD ROM, printed onto white Hessian card.
Oval cut with largest Nestabilities using Bazzill card. Blue ink sponged around the edge.
Tilda and Edwin are from the Magnolia Chasing Butterflies collection. Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. Edwin’s Buttons and Tilda’s shoes gone over with Sakura Gelly Roll Gaze pen. Edwin's hand was cut and Tilda’s hand was slipped into the cut and secured with glue. Butterflies are from Magnolia Stamp Club 2007 Collection, coloured the same but with white gelly roll pen on spots and body gone over with atyou Spica black glitter pen.
White band was cut from white Hessian card and punched using Fiskars Threading Water punch.
Ribbon is from Rapberry Ribbons June ’08 Pink kit.
Flowers were made with white Hessian card, punched with three different sized Woodware daisy punches and two different sized EK Success Retro flower punches, sponged with pink ink and flatback pearls in the middles.
Flourishes were made with a Quickutz die and Bazzill card.
Mermaid Tear Zoomz.

Thank you for looking

Whiff of Joy - Once upon a time there was a Dragon - card

2009-04-30T17:52:00.016+01:00

OK, not quite up to Raisa "The Dragon Queen's" standard, but here's my version of Whiff of Joy GORGEOUS Draco the Dragon stamp ...

From the base up...
Stardream pearlescent "Chocolate Brown" card..
Basic Grey Bitter Sweet paper, stamped down both sides with Kelly Panacci Border stamp.
Top and bottom panels - DCWV - Once Upon A Time 8 x 8 paper, and mounted on to some brown card.
The beautiful forest background stamp is called "The Forest Path" and is from Cherry Pie Art Stamps. Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Sansodor, Sakura white and yellow gelly roll pens and Staedtler Fineliner Triplus pens. This was then mounted on to Bazzill card that had been cut using the largest Megabilities Rectangle ant the edges where embossed with one of Cuttlebug's border embossing folders.
The dragon of course is from Whiff of Joy Medieval collection coloured again with Derwents and the scales and eyes where gone over with Sakura clear gelly roll pen.
The ivy vine I think is from Syntego, and the Ribbon is from Raspberry Ribbons December Kit.
So there you have it and I hope you like it.
Take care & keep smiling

Just Magnolia Challenge 2 & Raspberry Ribbons Sketch 20 - Tilda with a Cherry on Top

2009-04-26T08:12:00.018+01:00

YES, YES, YES, I finished tidying my crafty stuff and to celebrate I messed it up again by making a card, It's just not natural having a tidy craft table :o) So the card I made is for Just Magnolia Challenge 2 and also Raspberry Ribbons Sketch 20 ...

From the base up...

Stardream pearlescent "Baby Pink" pearlescent card
DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl
Bazzill card stamped with a See D's stamp (can't remember what the set was called, but it's all stitches)
Tilda in Cherry Dress and the Cherry Stamps are from Magnolia's Heavenly Collection, all coloured with Derwent Coloursoft Pencils, Sansodor, Staedtler Fineliner Triplus pens and atyou Spica red glitter pen- on the cherries and the cherries on her dress. Her shoes where gone over three times with Sakura Gellyroll Clear Glaze pen nd the cherries wher double heat embossed with clear EP.
Ribbons from Raspberry Ribbons June '08 Just Pink & August '08 Paisley kits.

Well after I've posted these on to challenge sites I SUPPOSE I'll have to tidy up again so as I can wrap up Raisa's Birthday Surprise Prize. Oh just before I go I've got to post this picture for Els ...

There you go Els, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate mmmmmm. Just think of all those calories that are now firmly attached to my bum LOL.
Take care & keep smiling

Are You Ready For This?

2009-04-24T16:09:00.029+01:00

WARNING

Have you ever been to visit someone and they've said oh I'll get the photo's/slides out, and in your head your screaming NOooooooooo, but you politely say "oh that'll be nice" then spend the rest of the evening looking at photo's that are of absolutely no interest at all. Well this is your time to leave if you're not interested in the photo's I'm about to show you which are of some of my cards and prezzies that I got today :o) I did the pictures small to fit them all on, so to see the details click on them to get the BIGGER picture.

This is the card I got from Els. The colouring on the flowers is AMAZING, she did them by stamping with a white ink first, then heat embossed with a clear EP, then she coloured them with Copics. I know this 'cos she told me. And doesn't the sentiment just make you want to sigh.

The top topper comes off. It's actually a bookmark, AND it's got a magnet in it so that the front and back snap together over the page, how cool is that, I've never seen that before, trouble is I keep playing with it :o)

And this is the present Els sent me. The Organza bag is huge, I've never seen one that big before it's 29cm/11" long, and it was hand stamped by the lady herself and Els put glittery stuff on the heart, :o) I'd never seen that glittery stuff before either! In the bag were two of the cutest stamps, apparently I may be the only person outside of Holland and Belgium that has some of these, even cooler. Also Els sent me some of that glittery stuff that's on the heart, he he he, and just look at the tag she made, it's a witch, YAY.

This card is from Raisa, I'm afraid the photo doesn't do the colouring on this justice at all, do you see the sentiment?LOL, isn't that fabulous.

And this is what Raisa sent me. She made me a Bind it All note pad!!! You can see Raisa's colouring a bit better on this photo, and there is A LOT of colouring, not only on the front, but on the back and the inside. Then there's some LOVELY ribbon and a gorgeous little charm :o)

Here's the inside of the book, isn't that quote lovely, another one to make you sigh :o)

Here's the inside. Every page has a different image on it, all coloured by hand. I know I'm showing a lot of photo's of this book, but there has been so much time and effort put into making it, it would be ashame for you not to see.

And the back, just as pretty as the rest of the book, and I LOVE the ribbons down the wires.

This card is from my Dad, when I opened it I "ooo, I've seen these cards..." and before I could finish the sentence my Dad said "You haven't seen it before, I made that", to which my Son replied " I like how you put the bar code on the back", I think maybe my Dad is not quite telling the truth, and my Son is getting far to witty!!!

I had to show you this one, I think it was applicable to a couple of ladies today ;o) yes you know who you are LOL. It's from my Young Enough To Be My Daughter friend at work Michelle, who is also known as Shell and I call Smell.

And last but not least, this one is from my overly witty but lovely Son. He said it seem like a good idea at the time to buy it... until he went to pay for it and there was a rather attractive young lady serving, ROFL.

So there you have it, some of the highlights of my day, I hope you made it to the end without falling asleep :o) Thank you for all your emails , comments and EEK cards, you have all really made my day, but I think the best present I got today was knowing I've got friends, ooo I'm going to cry.
Take care & keep smiling

Sarah's Mobile / Cell Phone Birthday Card

2009-04-13T19:50:00.010+01:00

It's my niece Sarah's 22nd birthday 3 days before mine, and she's not a girly girl, more of a tomboy, she lives on her mobile phone so I just had to make a card with one on...

Card size: 16.5cm x 16.5cm / 6.5" x 6.5"

Black Stardream Pearlescent Card.
Basic Grey - euphoria / helio paper.
Inkadinkado Gem Stone Flourishes stamp with added black rhinestones and black Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze pen.
Black Mirri card.
Bazzill Basic purple card cut using Megabilities Long rectangle dies.
Kelly Panacci Border stamp.
3mm black grosgrain ribbon from Raspberry Ribbons January 2009 kit.
Flower was made with EK Success medium ans small Retro flower punches and Sakura Gelly roll Stardust purple glitter pen, and a black rhinestone brad.
Made a Mobile phone template using a picture borrowed from Google and then used to make phone out of black glitter card. The screen is made with the same Basic Grey paper and border stamps as above and the sentiment is a stamp from Hero Arts, then triple heat embossed. The number pad was made with the same Bassic Grey paper again and the numbers where stamped with my VERY old John Bull printing kit. I had one of these when I was a child and saw one for sale on eBay and bought it manly for sentimental reasons, but it came in handy for this little project.
The phone charm I bought from a Supermarket. It had a red and green centre but as it didn't match the colour scheme I cut the center out and put a purple rhinestone there instead.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter, see you soon.

Take care & keep smiling

Wishing you a perfect day

2009-04-12T08:45:00.007+01:00

Tag made for Alex's Easter present using stamps from A Whiff of Joy. All wrapped up in brown paper and string, my favorite way to wrap prezzies.

Well it's Easter Sunday, and whether you're celebrating at home, in church, with family, friends, alone, Christian, Wiccan or Atheist I wish you all a perfect day.

Tilda with Tulips - This one's for Jan

2009-04-10T19:57:00.008+01:00

REMINDER- TO ENTER MY SURPRISE BIRTHDAY DRAW CLICK HERE.

Four months ago a lady I work with Jan had a massive stroke, she's still in hospital, and will be for a long time yet. Anyway it's her 65th birthday in July and her best friend (Sue) at work has decided to do her a photo album, with all all the girls photo's in, Sue also gave us some card to write a message on to go with our photo's. Well I wasn't about to just write a message, so here's what I did...

The DP is a freebie from off the net, sorry can't give you the link as I've had the image for well over a year and it was before I started blogging. It's darker than what's shown in the photo and that's because I lightened it because I didn't want it too busy. Both the main image stamps are from Magnolia's Easter collection, the border stamp is from Kelly Panacci and the "sending a hug" and XOXO stamps are from Hero Arts. The sentiment in the circle is computer generated and is an adapted quote from The Quote Garden, it was meant for a 40 yr old. The size of the card is 15.2 cm x 10.2 cm.

Thank you all for all the lovely comments and messages you've left me, and I'm really sorry I haven't got around to reply to you all, but the Easter holiday is almost upon us and I've got three days off after tomorrow so I'll catch up with you all then.

Take care & keep smiling

Raspberry Ribbons Sketch 18 – Anja’s Easter Bunny Card

2009-04-08T19:25:00.014+01:00

REMINDER - If you want to be entered in my surprise Birthday present draw, read the post below this one.

When I was out in the garden yesterday and I was replanting my Camellia, the dirt reminded me of chocolate, which reminded me of Easter, which reminded me of Anja’s Easter bunny, which reminded me my 17yr old Son asked a couple of weeks ago if I was going to make him an Easter card. So I have, and boy is he ever going to regret asking LOL…

He he he, isn’t that just the cutest bunny ever? It was drawn by Anja an extremely talented artist and card maker. She has drawn a set of these bunnies and they’re free for you to take and use as you choose; now that’s what I call generous. They can be used for all sorts of cards, not just Easter.
I chose to use this weeks Raspberry Ribbons challenge sketch 18, as I always mean to join in the challenges but always seem to miss them, which is a shame as they have some lovely sketches on there, and I decided on brown and pink as my colour scheme as I’ve never used that combination before.

Card size 6.5" x 6.5"/16.5cm x 16.5cm
From the base up …
1. Stardream pearlescent card
2. Basic Grey – Bittersweet - Crushed Berry (12x12)
3. Basic Grey – Bittersweet - Brittle (6x6 pad)
4. Both ribbons from Raspberry Ribbons June 2008 and March 2009 kits.
5. Gold silk Mirri card. I hand cut this using the largest circle Nestabilitie as my template, and here’s a little tip, after you’ve cut out your shape it can look like it’s been hand cut so I go round the edges with a Friskars embossing tool, using the largest end it then gives it a nice beveled edge.
6. The eggs are a rubber stamp from Magnolia, coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. The ribbons on the eggs where coloured with Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens, gold gel pen and then gone over with Sakura Clear Glaze pen.
7. The photo corners where made with Sizzix photo corners #2 die and gold silk Mirri card. The embossed pattern on them was done with the corner of a Cuttlebug embossing folder. It looks like a postage stamp with gifts in the middle, but I just placed the photo corner on the part of the embossing folder I wanted.
8. The die cut edging at the bottom of the card is from the Basic Grey Bittersweet 2x12 collection. And very sad me went over the pink bits with atyou Spica clear glitter pen.
9. The Easter sentiment is a rubber stamp from A Whiff of Joy, and then finished off with some pink rhinestones/gems.
Can’t wait to see my Son’s face when he sees this, I’ve got a feeling I’m going to get an icy stare and a refusal to share his Easter egg, LOL. There’s no point having a teenager in the house if you don’t play them up and get your own back on them now and again.

Birthday card for Christopher - Nintendo DS

2009-03-29T13:43:00.010+01:00

I know another Mario card, but I was inspired by the last HM challenge (shaped card) that I thought I'd have go at making another shaped card, well sort of ...

From the base up...

1. Stardream pearlescent card - orange.

2. The backing paper was one I made myself on the computer from a block image found on the Net, changed the size to suit and I randomly tiled then filled the blanks in with yellow and printed onto a plain white card.

3. The Game console inner,cover and screen images where also from the Net and again all the images where resized. The bottom image had the text added by me using Comic Sans font, and both top and bottom images where triple heat embossed and edged with silver peel offs.

4. I scored the "hinge" using my Scor-Pal.

Unlike my HM shaped card, I'm really pleased with how this one turned out.

Thanks for looking

House Mouse Challenge 30 - Happy Birthday TJ

2009-03-27T20:21:00.010Z

Hmmmm, not too happy with this card, it didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, but here it is my entry for the House Mouse Challenge 30 – Shaped card…

From the base up
1.Stardream pearlescent “opal” card
2. The backing paper is from Joanna Sheen’s “Baby Love” CD ROM (there are loads of fabulous backing papers on this, and not just for baby cards) printed on to stardream pearlescent “Crystal White” paper
3. The HM stamp is called “Surprise Party”. Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Sansodor and Sakura clear glaze pen on eyes and noses.
4. “Happy Birthday” printed on to the same as backing paper using “Toyland” font and highlighted with Sakura clear glaze pen, then triple heat embossed.
5. “3” computer generated, coloured with Sakura Lime stardust pen then triple heat embossed. The ribbon is from a gift tag I bought from a supermarket, which I just cut to suit and glued to the back of the number 3.
Thank you for looking,
Take care & keep smiling

Another card for Nathan - Nintendo Super Mario Birthday Card

2009-03-25T04:05:00.011Z

Here's a quick card I made for my Dad to give to Nathan.

Card size - 6.5" x 6.5" / 16.5cm x 16.5cm

From the base up…
1. Yellow card – eBay
2. Backing paper made by me on the computer using the star image found on the internet.
3. All Mario images from the internet. Mario & Luigi are stuck on with 1mm thick foam pads, the landscape picture and the sentiment are mounted onto red silk Mirri card.
4. “Happy Birthday” stamp from Art Impressions. Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Sansodor and Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pens and then double heat embossed.

Nice quick and simple card to make and I've no doubt Nathan will like it as he's big on Nintendo DS Mario games at the moment.

Take care & keep smiling

A Whiff of Joy Challenge 22 - Green

2009-03-23T21:44:00.007Z

This is my entry for A Whiff of Joy Challenge 22 which calls for the colour green to be used...

From the base up...

1. Stardream pearlescent "Rose Quartz" card.

2. Basic Grey Sultry/Vogue paper

3. Bazzil card. The stamp used is from a clear set of border stamps by Kelly Panacci (SandyLion)

4. Main image is "Willow with flower basket" by A Whiff of Joy. Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils Sansodor, Gold Gel pen on the bracelet and Staedtler Triplus fineliner pens.

5 The flowers are from Joanna Sheen and the leaves are by Syntego. Ribbon and butterfly charm courtesy of eBay.

I haven't put a sentiment on the card as I don't usually put one on until I'm about to send it out.
Not really happy with this card apart from the colouring of Willow, but as I haven't got time to make another it'll have to do.

Thanks for looking.

Take care & keep smiling

Whiff of Joy Meets Magnolia - a birthday card for Nathan

2009-03-18T22:21:00.011Z

Can you believe it I found a Magnolia stamp I bought last year that I hadn’t put into my “catalogue”, how bad is that. Anyway I’ve found it now and it has been added, AND it’s been used in this next card. I have made this card for my nephew Nathan’s birthday, he’ll be 10.

Card size is A5 = 21cm x 14.8cm or 8.3” x 5.8”

From the base up…
1. Stardream pearlescent card “Mars Red”
2. DP is from Rusty Pickle (what a great name for a company) and is appropriately called “Jester’s Argyle”
3. The wall (Shabby Chic Collection) and window (Easter 2009 Collection) are from Magnolia stamps and the scene through the window is called "Country" and is from Alota stamps.It's a large stamp and I've only used part of it. Coloured with Derwents Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. The window was stamped first, masked then the wall was stamped over it. The large window pane was cut out then stamped. The scene window has been double heat embossed and the “stained” glass and flag bars have been gone over three times with Sakura Gelly Roll Glaze red, yellow and clear pens. The main image has a gold peel off border.
4. Jester Charlie is from Whiff of Joy coloured the same as above and his bells and juggling balls have been gone over twice with the Sakura clear Glaze pen.
5. Nathan was printed off the computer using “Toyland Outline “ font on to white card, coloured the same as the stamped images and also with Steadtler Triplus fineliner pens and Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust red, blue and green pens and then double heat embossed.

When I first saw the window stamp I thought of castles which made me think of the Charlie the Jester, so I just had to make a card with them both in, and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out, hope you like it too.

Take care & keep smiling

Tulip- i -licious - Magnolia vs. Stampavie Challenge 17

2009-03-12T19:02:00.020Z

Howdy Folks,

I wasn't going to enter any challenges this week but I saw the Sketch on the new Magnolia vs. Stampavie challenge and decided I HAD to have a go, plus I felt the need to try out my new Tilda with Tulips stamp and of course the Tulips stamp from the Magnolia Easter Collection.

Card size is 6.5" x 6.5"/16.5cm x 16.5cm

From the base up...
1. Stardream pearlescent card "Fairway Green"
2. Stripe paper was a freebie download I got aaages ago but I can't remember where and printed on to white hessian paper. The vine paper is from K & Co Tim Coffey Daisey 6x6 pad, and Bazzill card stock. The large circle was hand cut, the small circle was cut using Nestabilities.
3. All stamped images are coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor and Staedtler Triplus fineliner pens. the Tulips and the Tulips on Tilda's lap are all double heat embossed with Versamark ink pad, Versamark pen and Stamp N Stuff detail clear EP.
4. The sentiment is from Whiff of Joy stamped with Versafine Olympic green ink pad.
5. The ribbon is from Raspberry ribbons Sublime Lime - July kit.
6.The "pebbles" are Zoomz - Lime Parfait Mix. The 2mm clear rhinestones are from eBay.
I don't know if you've noticed, but I've done a lot of double heat embossing lately, I really like the way it intensifies the colours, plus it's cheaper than buying epoxy stickers :o)
Hope you like my little effort and thanks for taking a peek.
Take care & keep smiling

PS. I've just seen the NEW Magnolia Spring Collection, OMG, they look so gorgeous - Did I really say I wasn't going to buy any more :oP

Hanna in the little black or is gold dress?

2009-03-08T17:25:00.013Z

Hi ya,
Well I couldn't help myself, Hanna just had to make a second appearance, but she's had a bit of a makeover. Can you spot the difference?...

Yep, got rid of the ruffle on top of her head, changed her hair style to a pony tail and lowered her fringe on the one side. Then gave her a necklace, earrings and a ring. Just wanted to glam her up a bit. I was toying with the idea of changing the mug to a glass, but decided I'd messed about with her enough. I made this card with inspiration from Mary's card, as I liked the sketch she used and from Emilie, who has made two beautiful red and black cards.

Right I'm not going to bore you stupid with a long description like I did with the last Hanna card. I'll just tell you what I used.

From the base up...

1. Stardream pearlescent black card

2. All papers by imaginisce - Black Tie Optional collection. I went over the dots and flower centres with Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust clear and black pens (I know I'm sad).

3. Ribbon from Raspberry Ribbons Black & White January kit. Ribbon sliders by Syntego.

4. Hanna clear stamp - Cafe. Image coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Sansodor, Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Black pen, Staedtler triplus fineliner 0.3mm pens, gold gel pen and Sakura Gelly Roll clear and black glaze pens. Rhinestones added to necklace and bracelet.

5. Silver silk Mirri card.

So depending on the light her dress can be black or gold. Looking at the pictures now I wish I had used a plain white card as the main backing paper, as it seems way too busy. Oh well you live and learn, and it seemed a good idea at the time. But saying that I DO like Hanna's makeover. I'll have to have another look at her and see what else I can come up with :o)

Take care, keep smiling and toodle pip

What A Brilliant Idea - and it's not mine :oP

2009-03-05T21:31:00.002Z

Hello Peeps,
I know I keep doing this - promoting other peoples blogs, but when I see something outstanding I just feel the need to share. Well I had a lot of nice comments about my Magnolia collection and that people liked the idea of my "catalogue", WELL take a look at what Daniel has made. He's taken the idea of a catalogue to a whole new level. Here's the link and be prepared to pick your jaw up ... http://danielshobbyblogg.blogspot.com/2009/03/distress-ink.html.
By the way Daniel made a card for Tim Holtz and there's a picture of the man himself receiving the card http://danielshobbyblogg.blogspot.com/2009/02/wohoo.html. I think Daniel could probably give Tim a run for his money in the creativity stakes.
Take care & keep smiling

Hello Friend – Rosella

2009-03-04T19:11:00.009Z

Hi ya,
Well I said my next card wouldn’t be pink, and this one is a rainbow of colours. Actually I made this card over a week ago but couldn’t post it on my blog as I made it for my lovely friend Rosella who lives in Canada, and I didn’t want her to see it until it arrived. It was Rosella who bought me the Hanna stamps that I used for this card, such a lovely gift and so different from what I would usually buy myself. So this was a bit of a challenge as to what I could come up with, and more to the point did I have any “retro” papers? As I usually buy what I call Victorian/Old world style papers. Mind you that wouldn’t have been too much of a problem as I’m not adverse to making my own papers on the computer :o)
But first of all have a look at the stamps and the beautiful card Rosella sent me (sigh) ….

And now here’s the card I made as a thank you card for Rosella…

From the base up…
1. Stardream pearlescent yellow card
2. DP is unknown. I only had one sheet and the name that was printed on the back of the paper is now in Canada !!!
3. Yellow Bazzill card stock
4. The main image is from a Hanna Stamps set called Café. The image was coloured with Derwents Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. I went over the chair with a silver gel pen and then with Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze pen. Her lips where coloured with Sakura Gelly Roll real red glaze pen. Her bracelet was coloured with a gold gel pen and went over again with the clear glaze, I also made her some earrings with the same pens. Her mug was gone over with the clear glaze pen.
5. The mugs down the side of the main image where stamped then coloured with my Derwents again, cut out and then double heat embossed with Versamark ink pad and Stamp N Sprinkle Detail EP. Just a little tip, if you’re going to heat emboss a small area like the mugs, I find it a lot easier to press the image into the ink pad rather than ink down onto the image. 1 because you’re going to get a more even coating of ink, and 2 your not wasting ink and creating a mess like you would if you stamped down the ink pad.
6. The flowers are from Flora Doodles – Mini Florettes.
7. Raspberry ribbons came to the rescue with their Sublime Lime – July kit and their Loving Lilac- September kit.
8. And last but not least, the sentiment is from Whiff of Joy, stamped on to the same yellow Bazzill card with two different coloured inkpads. Tip 2 – If you want to use two different coloured inks on the same stamp, stamp with the lighter colour first covering only the area you want that colour, then use the darker colour. That way if you do (and you will) go on to the lighter ink it wont matter about getting the lighter ink on the darker inkpad as the darker ink will just absorb the lighter colour. I don’t know why I’m telling you this, you’re all professionals at this and knew that already ;o)
So there you have it, I had oooodles of fun making this card, and guess what I’ve now ordered two more Hanna stamp sets :oP It’s Rosella’s fault, LOL.
Rather a looooong description, I do apologise, next time I’ll just post the picture.
Take care & keep smilin’

Sniff – House Mouse Challenge 27 - Chipboard

2009-03-03T18:18:00.012Z

Salut,

after making my entry for the WOJ challenge I decided I really liked the flowers I did in the corner for that card and that I would make a card with a flower arrangement. THEN I saw the new House Mouse challenge that required chipboard to be used, “Ooo” I thought “I’ve got some of that”, then I went over to Larissa’s blog and saw she had made a card with a little House Mouse image I had sent her, and I thought “Ooo I really like that”. SOOooo the upshot was I made a card incorporating those three ideas, and here it is…

From the base up –
1. Baby pink Stardream pearlescent card.
2. K & Co Bordeaux Floral Flat paper
3. Stardream pearlescent “Fairway” green card used to make the scalloped oval, which is the largest of the large petite scalloped Nestabilities. The inner oval was cut using the second largest of the large Nestabilities. The House Mouse image is called “Please” . It’s so tiny, from bottom to nose it’s 2cm high. This was coloured in with my trusty Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor, and his little nose has a spot of Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze. The flowers are from Prima – Forever Flowers No.3 Passion and pearl brads were used in the centres. The leaves where made using Martha Stewart’s Branch punch and two different green Bazzil card stock.
4. The chipboard swirl/flourish is from Maya Road – Scrolls II. This was inked with a white inkpad and double heat embossed with Moon Glow two-toned EP “Oak leaf Olive Gold”.
5. Corners was made with a Cuttlebug die and light green Bazzil card stock and then finished of with some green satin ribbon and a bit of bling in the corners.
I’ve just realised my last 3 cards have been pink, I think it’s grown on me :o) For my next card I will endeavour to use a different colour… but I can’t promise.
Take care & keep smiling

My Magnolia Stamp Collection or is it Obsession ?

2009-03-02T20:07:00.019Z

Hello,

Well I've just stamped up my newly acquired stamps into my "catalogue"(all stamps I've bought, all manufacturers). I do this so when I want some inspiration or I need that certain accessory stamp, I just flip through until I find what I'm looking for. Anyhoo, I thought I'd show you my Magnolia collection, this isn't me bragging, this is me trying to shame myself into not buying anymore, though saying that I've bought rather a lot of Whiff of Joy stamps over the last month and I've also discovered Hanna stamps , In Style Stamps AND Papilio Stamps. I think I need therapy :o)

So...there you have my Magnolia collection (so far) 156 stamps, It's rather shameful really isn't it?

BUT I'M LOVIN' IT.

Take care, keep smiling & keep stamping

Whiff of Joy Guest Designer Call

2009-03-01T08:20:00.008Z

Well the last two cards took me less than a day to make, this one took 4 days!!! I have been at work though (lame excuse, I know). If I’m honest I spent a lot of time looking at all the other entries in the Whiff of Joy DT challenge (for which this card is made), just to see if I could come up with something a little different from everyone else, but there isn’t much room for difference when you’re following a sketch…

I’ve just been looking at my card and have just realized I didn’t do something I’d planned to do, Grrrrr. I meant to do some cross stitch up the centre (between the DP) to match the lacing on Charlottes dress, oh well you’ll just have to imagine I’ve done it LOL. I think it’s a sign of old age, I really should write these ideas down.
From the base up…
1. Stardream pearlescent card (Serpentine Green)
2. Spotty DP by Making Memories – {note}worthy Audrey Pink Floral. Harlequin/diamond paper by K & Co – Somerset Diamonds Flat Paper, which are both mounted on to Bazzil cardstock.
3. The paper “lace” border was made with the same spotty paper using Martha Stewarts Doily Lace Punch.
4. Main image was made using two stamps 1- Maid Charlotte by Whiff of Joy and 2- Cobblestone by Art Impressions. Coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Windsor & Newton’s Sansodor. I dabbed over the leaves and daisy centres with Sakura Gelly Roll clear glaze pen, and the daisies in her hair were coloured with Sakura white Gelly Roll pen. Mounted onto the same Bazzil cardstock that the DP was mounted onto, and die cut with scalloped rectangle Nestabilities.
5. The sentiment was stamped on to green Bazzil cardstock using a stamp by Stampin’ Up and Versafine Olympic green ink pad. This was then mounted onto two punched out daisies using Woodware 1 ½ inch Daisy punch (same pink Bazzil as above). Then I cut out two “ribbons” to turn it into a “rosette”.
6. The butterfly is from Whiff of Joy coloured the same as the main image and then double heat embossed with VersaMark ink pad and Stamp N Stuff clear detail EP.
7. The daisies are from Prima, pearl brads and the leaves were made with Martha Stewarts Branch punch (Yeah I finally got one). Oh and the ribbon was from a favorite seller of mine on eBay.
Phew! There done. I’m really annoyed with myself for forgetting the stitching. I think it would have finished the card of nicely. Oh well, you live and learn.

Take care & keep smiling