Inspiration

I'm still getting my head around this new blogging idea. I've looked at loads of different blogs and they look so good compared to mine. I will discuss this with my daughter and son in law when they next come. I'm sure its really obvious what I need to do. Their generation are just so IT savvy, even my three year old grandson can use an Android phone to play games- even in Japanese!

I started this blog because I make all these cards and send them and never see them again, so this was a way to save them and let anyone else who's interested see them too. I while away many an hour looking for ideas and I'm very grateful for those of you out there that publish your ideas for others to share.

Here is a card I made based on one made in a class from about three years ago. It isn't a direct copy but based on a similar idea.

The card was made for my Mum's birthday a couple of years ago. It is based on a Graphic 45 collection (Le Romantique) with handmade roses and lace effect card done with a Martha Stewart edge punch. The tags were part of the same collection. I don't always like to use ready made toppers, I think it's a bit of a cop out, but these did fit the brief.

This A4 gatefold card was completed with a strand of pearls snaking across the right hand panel.

I have made similar cards using a blue theme and one with a more masculine palette (A proper Gentleman) with different Graphic 45 collections. Perhaps I will hunt it out and post it another time.

The roses were made using punched flower shapes in two different sizes. Here is a linky to a tutorial that shows how to make them, http://in2crafting.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/tutorials-six-petal-rose.html

Have a go they aren't as difficult as they look and you will feel so good when you have finished one!

Birthday card success

Well I finally got my head around my son's birthday card. What do you think?

I love this new Lili of the Valley golfer. Golf appears to be Chris's latest passion so I hope he likes it.

If you are interested in the details the top background paper was some Nit Wits free paper the other two are from a CD rom that was also free five or six years ago. (I have just realized that I used the same paper last year! Well it is a great mens paper.) The greeting was from Lili of the Valley, the tag from Tim Holtz, the grass edging was courtesy of a Martha Stewart edge punch and ribbon from the infamous stash. The card candy in the top right was from Craftwork cards.

Birthday inspiration

Hi folks
It's that time of year when I have to think of a card idea for my son's birthday. Men's cards are really tricky so its always a bit of a head scratch. I keep putting off making and have been trawling through websites for inspiration. I don't want to repeat myself, he wouldn't notice but I would know!
This is last years card.

Chris is a big cricket fan so this Lili of the Valley image is coloured in Yorkshire colours. The background papers were off a free CD rom I got yonks ago. The cricket ball brad was from a Dovecraft collection I had in my stash. The background to the stamp was done using masks made with a Martha Stewart grass punch and torn paper and then inked withTim Holtz distress inks. The letters were die cut with a Sizzix alphabet set of dies, the bunting was cut freehand from matching scraps.

Still not sure about the layout of the next card but it will probably be on a golfing theme.

Thanks for stopping by.....

A "Wednesday" Owl

Our old next door neighbour has a birthday soon and is a mad keen Sheffield Wednesday supporter. She very rarely misses a match. For the past ten or fifteen years all birthday and Christmas presents and or cards have had an owl theme as a kind of in joke. This is the latest.

The card uses an owl stamp from Woodware which has been paper pieced, mounted on satin blue scalloped circle with added punched leaves. The backing paper was some free paper I found in my stash. The tag is from the new Die'sire range, stamped with a sentiment from the same range as the owl. Some white ribbon from my not inconsiderable stash finishes it off.

This is another of the cards I made for her from a few years back.

This one was made using some owl designed paper I had in my stash as a basis for the owl. I sketched the basic shape for the head wings and feet and used two ovals for the body and two circles for each eye. the highlight in the eyes is a paper punch. Shapes were just cut out of brown, black, beige, orange and white card.

The background is simply a piece of blue card for sky and a piece of green put through an embossing folder. The white ribbon around his neck was coloured blue with a permanent pen. and the thin striped across was some from my stash.

It certainly keeps you on your toes to keep the owl theme going.

Bye for now.

A visit from friends

Just said goodbye to two very good friends who popped over for a bit of girly time. We have been getting together to craft for about seven years now. It all started when I was poorly and couldn't get out so they came over to cheer me up and we decided to make cards to raise funds for charity. We don't do as much craft as we used to but its always good to have a natter. We went to a couple of fabric shops as one of my friend's and I are into quilting. She can't leave a quilting shop unexplored.

We have improved our crafting skills over the years and I am quite embarrassed at some of our early attempts. Here are a couple of the better ones from the early years.

These two were made from some free Nancy Watt papers, some punched flowers and leaves from scraps of coloured paper, die cut tags and some bits of ribbon. Even the card bases were made from one sheet of card, the smaller made from the leftovers from the larger tri fold.

These two were made by using a couple of Cuttlebug embossing folders and a wooden stamp I had floating around in my stash. Simple, easy and quite effective.

We've raised quite a bit over the years but there are only so many you can sell to the same group of people.

Well must get back to doing the washing, hey ho.
Cheers

A surprise visit

Had a surprise visit from my grandson and his mum and dad on Friday. They were on their way home from a trip to visit friends when they got stuck in the M6 Friday car park so decided to cut cross country. What a lovely surprise. It was only a fortnight ago that we hosted Ben's birthday party. Lucky for us it was an overcast but dry day in the middle of the heatwave so little people weren't too frazzled.

Here is one of the cards I made for his birthday using the wonderful Molly Bloom stamps

Ben is really into trains at the mo so I thought this would work well for his birthday.

The bridge stamp from the latest collection of Molly Bloom wasn't quite right as I needed a tunnel so I drew this freehand and sketched in the background fields but the train was stamped with the Molly Bloom stamp.

The grassy banks were cut using a Martha Stewart grass edge punch cut on the curve. The greeting is from Lili of the Valley. I used Copic ciao pens to colour the images.

Hope you like it, Ben did.

Bye for now

A card for my daughter's friend's wedding

Thought I would share this card with you. I am struggling to use this blogging thing so its taken me a while to sort out how to down load this from my phone.

Lili of the Valley - Wedding Couple Stamp

Her friend has made all her own flowers out of manuscript paper so she wanted to have a card to reflect this. Not wishing to boast but I am rather proud of the effort. If you are interested the image is from Lili of the Valley, the background paper I found in an old unused scrapbook but I stamped the manuscript paper using a stamp from Kaisercraft. The flowers were die cut using a sizzix die. The background papers were distressed and then inked with Tim Holtz Milled Lavender distress ink. The swirls were cut using a Marianne die.

Now I've broken the ice with this download thingy I might post some more!
Cheers

Crafty Wednesdays

Wednesday is my evening for craft class. I travel to my friend Di's then off we go to the Craftbox in Elsecar. The two of us have been crafting on Wednesday evenings for about five years now but only 18 months at Elsecar. We started because I had to give up playing tennis and badminton as well as work and missed the social aspect of a good natter. Di gets things of her chest on the journey there and I mainly listen.

I really enjoy the class and make some quality cards. Have a look on the link.