A butterfly sympathy card

My brother asked me to create a sympathy card for him to send to a friend so I decided on a blue and ivory theme using butterflies.  I ordered some pearlescent card from Ebay and a new embossing folder and decided I would use a die-cut butterfly to finish off the design.  Unfortunately, although dispatched some time ago my Marianne butterfly die has not arrived and I think it's looking less and less likely that it ever will :(.  Due to this I've used a mirrored butterfly instead that I bought a while ago from a sale at Hobbycraft.

The embossing folder is 'Garden Flowers' by Crafts Too and I've used my Nellie Snellen die to cut the circle.  the flowers, ribbon and pearls were from my stash and I've printed the sentiment using a grayscale shade.  I'm quite pleased with how the overall card came out and I think it's definitely a design I could use for other occasions such as anniversaries, birthdays etc.

Thanks for stopping by! x

Christmas with Humphrey

Sorry no cards for a few days, had to make the most of the glorious weather while it lasted :)

I saw some lovely Humphrey decoupage sheets from Crafters Companion on Ebay last week so just had to give them a try.  It felt a bit weird creating Christmas cards while the temperature was in the high 20's but I still enjoyed it none the less :).

The decoupage sheets were diecut so extremely easy to use.  Again, I've used my Dovecraft Jolly Christmas papers for backing and used stamps from Daisy & Dandelion for the sentiment and snowflakes.  The bow was from my stash and I've finished the decoupage with clear decoupage varnish.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes, Ribbon

Crafts 4 Eternity - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! x

A Pepper fireside scene

I don't know about you but I just love the 'Pepper and Friends' range by Trimcraft.  There's a lovely Christmas Party edition of the range and there's plenty of papers, decoupage and stamps etc available on Ebay.  I ordered some of the 8 x 8 papers and a small pack of the decoupage sheets and was really impressed with the quality.  Many of the papers have a lovely glittery finish and there are some lovely designs.

I think the layout is pretty self explanatory but I've used a sentiment stamp from my Daisy and Dandelion stamps to make the finishing touch.

The decoupage sheets were pre-cut which always makes things easier.  I always use an old nail file to gently sand around the edges of each layer, this just helps to remove any jagged bits from where they were attached to the main sheet.

Thanks for stopping by! x

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Creative Inspirations - #129 Anything Goes

Bearly Mine Challenges - #19 Button It Up

Friends Forever

A new card with a 'Friendship' theme today.  The lovely stamp is from Sliekje Digi Stamps and the papers are from Pink Petticoats 'Wild Blossoms' collection.   The die-cut is one of Nellie Snellen's Multi-frames and a Martha Stewart punch has been used for the edges of the pink card.  The little gingham butterfly was from a selection at Hobbycraft.  I have also used a pink star Gelly Roll pen to make the illusion of stitching along each paper panel.

I've tried to keep my promarker colours in line with the 'Wild Blossom' colours (although I am now awaiting new shades as getting a little bored with using the same colours time and time again lol).

[caption id="attachment_1095" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Friends Forever"][/caption]

 I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Passions for Promarkers - #116 'Patchwork'

Stamps R Us - 'Friendship'

2 Sisters Challenge Blog - #55 Friends

My Time to Craft - #156 Just Between Friends

For Fun Challenges - Kids at play

Cardmakin Mama's Blogspot - Digital

Cupcake Craft Challenges - #158 Patchwork Quilt

A birthday bear

Our lovely niece was 15 on Friday, my, where does the time go?!

Using another freebie stamp from Cardmaking & Papercraft I created this yellow and pink card.  I'm quite please with how the promarker shading turned out as this was one of my first attempts.  I finished the bear's flowers off with a little silver glitter glue.



(For the first time ever!) I am entering this card in the following challenges:

• Passion For Promarkers #115 – Anything Goes


• I love Promarkers #81 - Anything goes


• Stamps R Us - Anything goes

A new bargain basket stamp

Whilst on hols in Cornwall I discovered a fabulous and friendly little craft shop called 'Moments' in Belle Vue, Bude.  'A' and I spent quite a while looking round and in particular at the bargain basket just inside the door where we found Forever Friends Easter papers and stamps, lots of ribbon, flowers, brads and a lovely little stamp reduced from £5.99 to just £1.50......bargain! :)

[caption id="attachment_1064" align="aligncenter" width="256" caption="Stamp coloured with Promarkers"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1065" align="aligncenter" width="254" caption="Stamp coloured with Promarkers"][/caption]

Due to my current addiction to Promarkers I decided to give the stamp a try and have made a couple of cards along the same theme but just using different colours.  The papers are from a lovely freebie selection I had from a recent Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine called 'Vintage Rose'.  I've used paper flowers purchased from Ebay and a Nellie Snellen die.  The image is a 'Whispers' stamp from docrafts.



[caption id="attachment_1062" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Blue & Pink"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1063" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Pink & Green"][/caption]

A belated card creation

Just a quick one tonight.  Made a lovely card (well, yes I'm biased) for hubby's birthday back in June but thought I'd forgotten to take a pic.............that was until today when I realised it was on my mobile phone all along!

I decided to go with a black & white theme and used an old photo I'd sneakily acquired from mom-in-law.  The photo itself was actually in colour but after copying it I converted it to grayscale to keep with the theme of the card.

Apologies for the quality of the photo!

[caption id="attachment_1045" align="aligncenter" width="377" caption="'P's 40th Birthday Card"][/caption]

Welcome to Iris Folding

In one of my recent magazines there was a great article on the papercraft technique called 'Iris Folding'. Although rather time consuming the actual technique itself was fairly simple and I think the overall effect was really effective. My first attempt was for my friend Jo's birthday. We've spent many a morning chatting over a nice cuppa or three so I had a look round for an idea that would incorporate this. I found a super example on The Little Paper Studio which included a teapot design. I tried to create something similar and came up with my own little phrase – 'Always time for tea with friends' for the teapot tag. The only problem I came across was when trying to stick my finished design to the card face due to the thickness of the folded paper I had real difficulty with this. I think next time I would make my design a little smaller to allow more free space around the edge for sticking down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had another attempt at iris folding for my brother's birthday last week. This time I went for a slightly more appropriate theme for my brother of a hot air balloon. I managed to find a template online for the hot air balloon shape and used some left over papers for the iris folding. If you fancy having a go at iris folding have a look at Handcrafted Crafted Greetings for further instructions. They also have iris folding templates available here.

A couple of other events to make for saw me creating a 'Brownie' themed card for our Niece who was 7 back at the start of June and yesterday 'A' sang at the wedding of her Youth On Stage choreographer. I looked around for a little wedding card inspiration as I've not made one until now but I was quite pleased with the result. The idea came from Card Making Corner.





 

 

 

 

 

 

Two new cards

Two new cards created in the last week.  Dad celebrated his 6?????? birthday on Sunday and we all popped round for tea.  Due to his interest in ornithology (or birds for those of you not in the know!) I made him a pyramid card with a picture of a 'Firecrest' on the front.  Only problem was I'd not made a pyramid card before and when I looked at the enclosed instructions they were for a different card! Hmmmm difficult!

After a little searching on the web for a picture of the end result I managed to jumble something together which didn't look too bad.  Also found a lovely poem online at http://www.dennydavis.net/poemfiles/bbychld/fthrpoem.htm



Today was Emma's little boy's birthday so this was a bit of a challenge as I'd not created a child's card as yet.  I had some great dog theme diecuts so decided to make something with these.  I hope he liked it! :)