Vintage Card - Gift set - Part 2

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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)