Flower print card - freestyle stamping

This card is nothing like I've done before, I just felt like having a play and being artistic...well, trying to be artistic...and I love it! Must try to branch out more often! There are two cards here, one is a Happy Birthday card and the other is a Get Well Soon card, but they're both pretty much the same.

I used my new Basic Grey Ornamental Flower stamp set for this card. I treated myself for making my Thank You cards for my wedding (which I've still yet to post...I promise I will soon!). I white embossed some and just white stamped others to create 'depth' and added the flower heads as decoupage cut outs. I coloured the flower heads in dark blue, and then used my white souffle pen to draw the swirl on them - but the dark blue ink hadn't quite dried so it slightly discoloured my souffle pen. But I really liked the effect and it matched the light blue paper perfectly so it looked deliberate ;-) I love it when accidental mistakes just WORK!

I felt like a change....

I never use orange. I don't often do minimalist. So I did both for this card! And I have been influenced by all the orange and black flooding the blogs from all the Hallow'een cards. I don't 'get' Hallow'een myself so I never bother with cards etc for this celebration. It's definitely more of an American thing than a UK thing! But I love some of the effects I've seen using these colours, so I thought I'd have a go myself.

Most of my design ideas come to me when I am just about to fall asleep for the night. Which is great, but quite irritating, because I will want to get up and scribble the idea down before I forget it, but can never manage it, because I am practically asleep at this point....so I just imagine making the card in my mind and usually the next morning, I have at least a vague recollection of what I designed.

This idea came from one of these designs, but the only thing I could remember was using the scribble stamp as a background directly onto the base card, and having a bright ribbon on the top and the bottom (in the end, I only used the bottom as it looked too fussy with one at the top as well).

The stamps are all stamped using black ink, then quickly embossed with holographic powder for a bit of bling. This unfortunately doesn't show up very well in the photos (the lighting is awful, I'm sorry) but in real life, it definitely adds to the overall effect. I'm not sure about the scalloped edges...I'm still considering chopping them off completely...but I may not bother.

Not my best/most favourite card, but I like it enough to put it on here for you all to have a look at....what do you think?

Get Well Soon - again!

I made this card in a rush (hope it doesn't show!) for my Father-in-Law who wanted a card for a friend. I happily sat and made a gorgeous girly get well soon card...then he informed me it was for a bloke and the card I'd already made was totally inappropriate.

Man cards are notoriously difficult to design at the best of times, but I was in a super rush, so I just went right back to basics, grabbed some co-ordinating paper and my white souffle pen and whipped this one up in about half an hour. Then I decided I hated it, because originally I'd used the yellow as a background to all of the squares, so I pulled most of it apart again and replaced the yellow with the green. A vast improvement! And I sent it off with no guilty feelings - I'm my own harshest critic.

Get Well Soon

For this card, I wanted something bright and cheerful, so the recipient would feel, well, brighter and cheered by it! I had thought of doing something with a cartoon/stamp of someone with a leg in plaster, but I couldn't find anything suitable, and I decided on this design. Because I was also strapped for time, I also used this design to make a similar Happy Birthday card for a friend, but this time I used a DL size card for a long and thin version. The photo did not come out so well, so I have not included it here, but it's just a long and thing version of this card with a different sentiment!!

I created this card using a stamp I made from a Cuttlebug die cut and funky foam - an idea I saw on Mel's blog and clear embossed the stamps on pink paper. Then I used cranberry ink and sponged over the flowers to make them 'pop'. I really love this effect...it makes a very boring piece of pink copy paper look like expensive background paper - bonus!

I then printed the sentiment on blue paper and sponged the edges in a dark blue ink to give a bit more vah-vah-voom. My paper collection is quite depressing, mainly due to my budget, so I have to spice it up in any way I can...

The rest was made with creative use of my nestibilities and lots of patience, but eventually I came up with something that I was happy with as the final design. I don't usually use window cards, but decided to have a go with this one, and quite like the effect.

KWerner Colour Inspiration #25 - My First Attempt!

So, I've finally got around to taking part in Kristina's colour challenge, and managed to upload it in time too! Yay! I found this colour combo difficult, mainly because I don't have any Stampin' Up! products and finding papers to match the swatches was difficult (due to my pauper's collection of papers!). But I'm happy with the result - and I used techniques inspired by Kristina too - a lot of clear embossing fun....I just love this effect. I made a whole batch of thank you cards recently using purely clear embossing and they looked great!

This flower is a Cuttlebug die cut covered in diamond glitter for a bit of bling. And a jewel for the centre to lift it and make it sparkle even more! I love my jewels ;-)

The 'Happy Birthday' was just handwritten. I'm fed up of forking out for new stamps and then not having the exact one for the look I'm trying to acheive. I have fairly nice handwriting, so I'm trying to be brave and just grab and pen and scribble away!!

Boys boys boys

I've had a bit of a black and white theme over the last few days, and I'm really loving the monochromatic effects! Black and white cards are perfect for men, and this is no execption - this is for my big brother, so going for the 'industrial' look was a good starting point to get going with, but I softened it by using circles.

This was such a quick card to make! And he loved it by the way - success!! I still want to run a few video tutorials but I've still not got the web cam working....it's so frustrating!

Grandad's 89th Birthday

This card is for a super special man who is now my Grandad by marriage, although I don't ever remember not calling him Grandad! Not having any grandparents of my own, he's extra special to me. He's practically blind now, so I went for super contrast (black/white) and BIG. We're going to visit him on his birthday, so I'll be able to hand deliver his card for once and see him open it in person.

Love you Grandad!

I'm back!!

Hi! I'm back from my honeymoon now, and plan on posting a few tutorials over the next week or so. I've got a few cards to do, so I just need to find the time! It was such a lovely holiday, I will have to post some photos.

My hubby is trying to get my new web cam working on my laptop - it works on his pc just fine, but it's no good if I can't get the camera to my card-making area. It just keeps crashing, but he's the computer genuis, so hopefully he will win and I can get some video tutorials up and running soon. I'm just glad I finally have a way of recording vids that doesn't involve using my time-consuming digicamera. That is assuming we can get the new one working!

Well bye for now, and I will post some cards soon, I promise!!

I'm sorry - I've been very very slack and haven't posted for nearly a month!!!! But I have been busy....I got married!! And the build up to the event was simply making wedding stationary, which I didn't want to put on here in case it was bad luck or something :-)

Here's me and my new Husband on the big day:

It was such a wonderful day! Perfect in every way...and it's so nice being married, not just BF & GF anymore. So many people just don't bother getting married these days, saying "it's just a piece of paper, why should it matter" but it does - it is different being married. Nicer, and more secure somehow. I smile everytime I look at my wedding ring and think of Scott and what it means for us to be married. The only problem now is that everyone keeps asking when we aare having children, as if marriage=children automatically. I for one am not quite ready. I might be 27, but I've still got a lot of things to do before I want to be tied down with children. Maybe in a few years, if it is meant to happen for us, and I will love every minute of it when it does I'm sure. Just not yet!! :-)

I plan on putting pictures of the wedding stationary up on here, but when I get back from honeymoon, not just yet - still no time!

When I'm back it will also be time to start making Xmas cards (dear God, that time already!!) so I will be sharing a few test run designs then. I have loads of cards to make this Xmas - since the wedding, the Xmas card list has grown somewhat!!

The Happy Couple and all our Best Friends - love ya loads guys!! xxxx

Blokey birthday card

I had some fun with this one - I risked breaking my poor little Cuttlebug by die cutting metal!! I was very dubious about doing this, but I do like the effect I got in the end. very masculine!

I simply enjoyed a nice tasty can of Pepsi (crafting is thirsty work), then washed it out, cut the top and bottom off so I was left with a sheet of metal and flattened it to take the curve of the can out. I then cut out small squares and fed them through my 'Bug on the appropriate letter. After some faffing (I had to pack out the sandwich so it would cut all the way through the metal) I managed to get these letters cut. Although I have severely warped my cutting plate in the process, despite turning and flipping it constantly! Oh well, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs....

The accent is a Papermania stamp, stamped in white onto shrink plastic, and heated to size. This went from 50mm to about 25mm in diameter, so you really do need to use a large stamp to start with!

Happy Anniversary to my Folks!

My folks are an inspiration. They've been married for 35 years and still going strong. That is remarkable in this day and age, and gives me something to aspire to with my husband to be when we finally tie the knot next Friday!

I wanted this to be quite a modern card, but still traditional enough not to make light of the fact that they've been happily married for so long. So I've kept it fresh and simple, but used a very extravagant 'Happy Anniversary' script to posh it up.

The silver heart was hand-drawn and made with silver embossed clear shrink plastic. Note to self - emboss the shape AFTER shrinking, otherwise you end up with an ungodly mess of white hot dripping embossing liquid, which does hurt if it gets on your skin - I have the burn to prove it :-) oops!

The Happy Anniversary was traced onto the card, then black embossed using my glue pen for the powder to stick to. I wish I had such an ornate stamp, but I'm really poor at the moment, what with my naff job and my wedding next week, so I'm improvising!!!

The hole in the card feature was made with nestabilities dies. I did the same on the inside to hide the wire fixing to hold the heart in place.

Birthday Wishes with Cuttlebug Crayon Resist

Well it's here at last!! My first video tutorial! And what a pain it has been to get from my desk to here...my camera only records 10minute chunks of film & the batteries only last for 15minutes...then tranferring the files to my computer takes 10minutes per file - I think the whole card took like 2 hours or something ridiculous - and then there was the editing (let's not go there).

Credit where credit is due, the original idea for this technique was from the lovely Mel, so please visit her blog - you'll be hooked just like me! She has some seriously zany ideas, and they're great :-) The post I took the inspiration from is here.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the results, and I hope you get some enjoyment from watching it. Any (constructive!) comments would be appreciated. Thanks so much for watching!

Have a wonderful day DAD

!!!!NEWSFLASH!!!!: Finally, a masculine card that I (a) love and (b) didn't want to throw across the room once whilst making it! A success for me, then!?!

This card was actually really easy. I'd been doing a bit of blog surfing and seen a few round cards that I loved, so I thought I'd try one of my own.

The papers are simply cut to the correct size and stuck together, and as men don't like too much faff, no sparkles :-( and the DAD was cut out of funky foam using the Olivia alphabet on the bug.

This was for a friends Dad's birthday, but rest assured I shall be rolling this one out with a great frequency for all my male rels and friends. Once you're onto a good thing, why waste it, huh? I'll just change a few colours round and hey presto, another unique handmade card! Yay!

Just to say...Thank You to a Special Friend!

My lovely bridesmaids took me on a wonderful Hen Weekend to a Spa set on a pretty lake area in Cirencester at the end of June. We had such a fantastic time, relaxing, drinking and being merry! They cooked up some real treats for me that made the weekend so special - a lovely photo album of me from a baby (some embarrassing photos there!!) until I met Scott, then some great photos of me and Scott after we met until this point now! And there was the Mr & Mrs game, where they asked Scott loads of questions about him and about me, and recorded his answers on a DVD, then saw how I scored against his answers (we actually did scarily well) but it was all so much fun and so special. I know a lot of effort went in to making the weekend a success, and it was worth every minute!

So I had to thank these lovely ladies, and what better than to thank them with a handmade card?!?

For this, I used a new technique I read about on Mel Stampz blogspot, using crayons with the Cuttlebug embossing folders. Good old crayons - I'd not used these since I was a kid! So basically, I ran some white card through the bug, using the Floral Fantasy folder. I then rubbed over the card (still in the folder to support the raised embossing) using a white crayon. I then washed over the whole card in a black dye ink wash, fairly strong, as it dries a lot less dark than when you first apply it. I then waited for this to dry. You can force dry it with a heat tool, but I found this didn't come out so well, so PATIENCE is needed!!

I then did a similar thing using black card for the strip across, adding some faux stitching using a piercing tool and a white gel pen. I also doodled around the floral embossed pattern to give it a bit more pop, but you could use a white wash after the crayoning if you wish. For the top strip, I used white card and simply washed it with the black dye ink wash that I'd used for the embossed main panel. I then stamped and white embossed the sentiment and put the card together. However, I would recommend stamping the sentiment before adding the faux stitching as the gel pen will also attract the embossing powder and it can get a little fiddly/messy.

I added some gem accents, and a bit of sparkly glitter to give it a bit more oomph, then stuck a white insert in to write my gushing thanks and praise...

My intention is to upload a video on this technique. I have done it, I just need to edit it, and as this is the first one I've ever done, there is a lot of trial and error, but I will get it done soon!

Thanks!

Well it was my birthday on Saturday and I received some lovely presents, most of which were for my card making addiction, so I thought I'd use some of my new toys to make these thank-you cards for the people who bought me such great gifts!

I've been waiting for a Cuttlebug for AGES - indeed my O/H bought me it last month, so it's been sitting in the house waiting for me to use it ever since, but I wasn't allowed until my birthday. Anywho, I was up really early on the day to play with my new toy, and this is what I came up with.

I don't think this card needs explaining - it's practically all Cuttlebug based (of course!) apart from a retro stamp I used to liven up the background here and there...

This card was made for a special friend. I had been brewing this design for some time, but after my upgrade to Vista, my ancient old scanner finally gave up the ghost. So, I saved up for a new one, and could start scanning in designs and playing around with images again.

I stamped some scribbly flower backgrounds onto some white paper, scanned them in and shrinked them down, then printed them out on bright pink paper for the main topper. I then went over each individual flower with my glue pen and black embossed each image.

The lighter pink background is clear stamped & embossed, however, when I do this card again, I'll white emboss it instead for more definition that's still subtle.

The stamped sentiment is from the Friendship Blossoms See-D's stamp set. I really like the sentiments in this set, but the flowers aren't much cop!

The box I developed from an idea from this tutorial and tied into the card by using the pinks and blacks and the scribbly flower stamp by Anita. next time I make a box like this, I will make more of the topper on the lid and make it 3d, but I didn't have a whole lot of time as life is quite busy at the moment.

My dad, the dictionary definition of Father

This card was for my Dad using a technique I'd read about, but changed to suit my needs. The card design is similar to this one as I was running out of time to come up with something of my own and post it in time!

Anyway, I made the antique paper using standard good quality ivory paper. First I wet the paper slightly using a baby wipe, but you could just wet it with a sponge or similar, I just used what I had to hand! This helps with the next bit and also helps when inking it up. Screw it up into a ball (artisically of course) and then gently flatten it out. I lightly inked a brayer with brown ink and carefully rolled it over the creased paper so the peaks of the creases caught the ink. I did this until I was happy with the effect. If you are after a softer look, simply rub over the ink with your lightly dampened sponge/baby wipe to smudge/smear it across the paper until the desired effect is reached. Then iron out your image. If you're lucky enough to have an iron & board dedicated to craft (I'm not!) just iron away on the back of the design until flat. Otherwise, iron on the back but with another bit of paper to protect your ironing board from the ink. Do not iron the right side of the image or it will go shiney, unless this is a look you are going for.

Pop your paper into the printer and print your father's day definition or rubber stamp your design onto your 'antique' paper. Cut out and mount on your card accordingly. This technique was so much fun!

If I was to do this card again with a bit more time, I'd background stamp the green strips using green ink, just to give the project something...more.

Boing boing the Baggies...

(inside reads)..."Don't worry Eric, they'll go down again next season!! Happy 54th Birthday"

This card was commissoned for a life long Baggies fan (West Bromwich Albion). Now I know nothing about football, in fact I actively avoid it (unless I've got insomnia). I'm a rugby girl through and through and nothing's going to change that!

So, knowing nothing about football, and enjoying taking the mick out of football supporters as I do :o) this card was born! The guy I made it for has an excellent sense of humour, and will understand that it is all meant in good faith and he should not take it personally that his football team is naff, lol!! Oh well, someone's got to support them!

How it was made - I designed it on the computer and made up some football paper by drawing a football in the Baggies colours and C&Ping the football all over the paper...then lightening it so it was not so in your face. I then cut out around the words using a craft knife (and a lot of patience) then mounted the paper as an insert inside the card.

Hope he likes it! I do!

Good luck!

I was feeling bright and summery when I thought of this card. I'd just spent a lovely weekend with my mom making all the various stationary for my wedding and although we were a little crafted out after putting so many necessary hours in on the wedding stuff, I had half hour left in me to come up with this.

It was very simple - I used PM inspirations papers (I think they were all from the 'Flowery' stack and cut out the flowers from a sheet of that, then layered them accordingly.

The 'Good luck' was a font I found off the internet which I simply printed onto plain paper, and used my glue pen to draw over and emboss with black embossing powder to make it stand out a little better.

I simply mounted it onto coordinating paper, rubbed over the edges (a little too enthusiastically in places!!) and stuck it on the card. If I did this card again, I'd mount the flowery paper on card before cutting them out so I could do some 3d work with it. Not decoupage exactly, but something with a little more 'lift'.

Have a wonderful day

Another magazine inspiration, slightly changed around to incorporate what products I owned at the time!

I like the simplicity of this card and I love how the bead work lifts what would otherwise be quite boring to something unique and tactile.

Pocket full of posies

I made this card using two punches, a flower shaped one and a leaf shaped one. I punched out the flower on printed pink vellum and used an embossing ball pen to 'curl' the individual petals.

I cut out strips of green papers to mimick the stalks and attached the leaf punch outs at various levels, added a pretty pink gingham bow and viola! that finished the topper.

I simple added a sentiment at the bottom of the card and attached it with eyelets.

Great girly card, but the colour scheme can be altered for less barbie doll appeal...

Wedded bliss and bling

I had a horrible time with this card trying to get the rub on to rub off! I was so angry with it not working...I had to re do the actual card I sent to the happy couple because this card has got so many indents from where I was trying to get the rub on to work; it looks a right mess, although from the photo you'd never know ;o)

I had used Papermania rub ons once before and had the same problem, but that time I wrote to DoCrafts asking for an explanation - why weren't there rub ons rubbing on and what can I do about it?!? Apparently, there were some faulty batches that slipped through their quality testing. They sent me loads of freebie goodies to apologise, which was lovely, however, that doesn't help that loads of craft shops/sites with old PM stock are stiill selling these defective rub ons - and you don't know until you get them home!

Anyway, rant over and back to the card...the stamp was a PM ornate stamp that I used a decoupage effect with by stamping it several times and cutting out and layering to highlight the shapes in the stamp. I then used a felt tip (!) to colour various parts in and glue and glitter to glitter the detail. I love the rich effect this gives and it suited the bride and groom in question down to a T!

Masculine Birthday (Contemporary)

This was in response to a similar card I saw on www.docrafts.co.uk by a designer called Jenny Pearce. The reviews for this card weren't that great, but I thought it was a brilliant card for a last-minute man card - and masculine cards are always so difficult (awkward beggers!!) so I gave it a go just to see. It's not my favourite card by a long shot, but it serves a purpose.

Retro Christmas (even though it's May...)

These are the cards I did for Christmas the year before last. The first card is based on a design idea that was on Michael's website (in the USA), here's the link to the site, but I'm sure the designs will have been removed by now: http://www.michaels.com/ The second card was me moving on from that initial design with my own take using the same stamp set.

They were fairly quick and simple to do - a must for mass production cards - and I really enjoyed making them in a conveyer belt fashion.

happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday

I had some fun playing with watercolours for this card. I just used my (relatively cheap) set of water colour pencils and just went crazy! It's colourful and I like the effect, although the design itself looks a bit lost on the card. It needs something else, but I'm not sure what...it's ok like this though, and I'm sure someone will love having this given to them for their birthday!

Wedded bliss!

This was a card a friend asked me to do for a wedding she couldn't go to. It was out in New Zealand, so the couple had a small do when they got back for those that couldn't make it. So their card could have a personalised photo of them on their big day.

I love this card. The bride is Asian, and the rich reds and glitter fit her personality and culture perfectly. I don't often use Anita's Outline stickers because I think they look tacky...sorry, but it's just my opinion...but I think the heart has worked well here to finish the card off nicely.

The close up below shows how the layering was acheived using a part of a Papermania Ornate stamp with 3d stickys and a brad to finish the effect.

Mosaic Madness

Again, this is a design taken wholesale from http://docrafts.co.uk/asp/projects/project.asp?id=947 by a designer called Jenny Pearce. I just loved how simple and quick the design is, whilst still being so effective. You could make so many variations on this theme, the list would be endless. Great cards to do en masse!

I love making cards from someone else's instructions, but I still prefer designing and making my own. Unfortunately, while I'm so busy planning my wedding, all my designs remain just that - scribbles in my 'Card Making Creations' book to make at a future date. Watch this space though, I intend on getting down to some this weekend :o)

Ornate punches - I love 'em!!

I really enjoyed making these cards...they were relatively quick and the effect is great! The design is adapted from http://docrafts.co.uk/asp/projects/project.asp?id=1437 just cos I loved this design so much. Katy Godbeer is such a talented designer.



The hardest part about these cards was lining up the punch correctly. For some reason, the Papermania punch I used didn't have a flat surface inside the punch to 'bump' the paper up to, so it was hard to make sure the punches stayed in a similar orientation, parellel to the edge of the card. This was a dissapointment from the design point of view of the punch, but with a little perseverance I won in the end and the effect was worth it!