A Wedding Anniversary Card

Todays card was created as a special one off for my husbands eldest daughter and her husband. Its a special year for them as they are expecting their first baby in April and felt they deserved something a bit different and personal.

It was created with the My Craft Studio program and one of the photos of their wedding. I cromped the photo to fit inside the frame I chose. The background paper designs was one of the designs that I have within the program and I used the fading button to make it more transparent, though in the photo it doesnt look like that.

I also used this background paper with a white centre as an insert. The front page was printed as a whole with the greeting at the bottom also in a frame, onto an A3 piece of white card, to be able to put it through my printer I have folded it in half and stuck one corner with a bit of double sided tape so that it goes through evenly, I also did this with the insert. Then I printed the front page again onto semi-gloss photo paper, cut it out and used it as a decoupage over the printed base card.

To finish of the card I have wrapped a wide red organza ribbon around the fold and popped two rose sprays through the bow.

More Blogcandy up for grabs

The lovely Nickki at http://bunny-zoes.blogspot.com/ has some awesome blog candy up for grabs if youd like to pop over and visit and leave a comment you might be in with a chance of winning it. Good luck.

A Card for Freddie

Todays card is a very easy one for anyone to make who's in a hurry, I made it for a 16 year old boy hoping that it wouldnt be to feminine for him, you know what teenage boys are like these days everything has to be just right.

Ive chosen the Ringtailed lemur design from the Jayne Netley Meyhew Cd by Joanna Sheen. I printed the main images onto Semi-gloss Card. And on the base card I have printed one of the background papers and folded this A4 card in half. Ive also printed the second design onto the same weight of card to use as a mount for the lemurs.

I have used the second design and mounted this onto Gold Mirra card. The lemur images have then been cut out and mounted onto gold mirra card as well. I did use foam tape to raise these of the green card.

To finish of the card I have printed a greeting onto white card and mounted this also onto gold mirra card and stuck this below the lemurs.

I then used the first design paper again and printed this onto paper and used it as an insert.

More Blog Candy

Theres another blogspot that has some really scrummy BlogCandy, http://papercraftsbyrach.blogspot.com/ and the most beautiful cards. Rachel has some Martha Stewart border punches up for grabs if you are really keen on being in with a chance to win them you have to go and leave a comment for it. Good luck I know you wont be dissappointed when you see how creative Rachel is.

Max and Frog

Todays card was created for a lovely little lad Rufus, to celebrate his 3rd Birthday, like most little boys Im sure he would love to get in a pond and catch a frog.

The image was stamped onto white card with Stazon and coloured with my Distress Inks, I left it to dry and then cut it out with my large Nestabilitie Classic Die, then it was mounted onto a Large Scalloped Nestabilitie Diecut from a piece of Holographic Blue card.

The base card is a A4 piece of blue card folded in half and then cut to a 7"x7" size, and then I have stuck a piece of patterned paper on the top, and printed a water effect paper for the bottom section, on this I have used my Martha Stewart punch to give the effect of waves, Ive also used a piece of dark blue pearlescent paper and again used the same punch to give it more defination.

On top of this I have mounted the stamped image, I also created a greeting on my computer and mounted this in the same way as the stamped image. To finish of the card I have stuck some feature buttons, I firstly removed the loops on the back so they would lay flat.

Gorgeous Pink Gem Candy

Janet has lovely Candy to be won on http://pinkgem-janet.blogspot.com/ just pop over there and leave a comment and a link to your blogspot to have a chance of winning 4 gorgeous stamps of your own selection. I absolutely love Janets stamps.

Little Miss Watercolouring Card

Todays card was created with the Art Impressions Little Miss stamp, and several of the watercolouring stamps eg, flowers, grass, birds and clouds.

The main image was stamped out with a Marvy Sepia Inkpad onto watercolouring paper, and around this image I have used a Marvy Le Plume Sepia pen onto the stamps, to create the background. I did stamp another image of Little Miss to use as a mask so that I could cover the paper without marking her.

I used a damp watercolourbrush to bleed out the inks, and then used a Stamp Tapestry flower stamp to make the pattern on her dress. The image was cut to fit inside a aperture card that I made myself.

Once stuck inside the aperture I have used the flower stamps over the edge to bring it into the overall picture. I have stamped a greeting with the Sepia pen on the card.

A Valentine Thank You

Todays card was made to thank the two people who share the delivery of my many, many parcels, I am going to send it to my local sorting office to thank them also, as its only a very small office you can guess I know a lot of the staff personally and want to show my thanks for all their help, patience and hardwork.

The main stamped image is again one of the Elusive Images Harlequin Rose Set stamps as is the lace tassle edge. I made the background by using my Cats Eyes Inkpads onto Stampboard and then stamping the image with black Stazon on top, then I triple embossed it with UTEE clear embossing powder.

I made the backing paper with several different colours of Glimmer mists and left this to dry. The base card is a A4 Red Card folded in half, I then used a piece of the glimmer mists paper and mounted this onto black card, then used my versamark ink and stamped the lace tassel edge down the front and covered this with gold embossing powder, which I then heated up.

Around this mount I stuck a wide Red Organza Ribbon, and then mounted the whole thing onto the Red base card.

I mounted my stampboard topper onto black card and then stuck this to the base card. The greeting at the bottom was printed from my computer and then mounted onto a piece of the glimmer mist paper and then onto black card, this I mounted over the red ribbon at the bottom.

To finish of the card, I hung a heart bead onto a spiral paperclip and tied a red bow on the top, which I then clipped over the ribbon.

Purple Rain

Todays card was again created with one of the Whiff of Joy Stamps, this one is called Willow with Umbrella.

I stamped the image again onto white card and coloured it with my Derwent Inktense pencils and then used my Artquest paints over the top. When dry I cut it out with my Nestabilitie Circle die, and again I used a larger Scalloped edged one with mauve pearlescent card for the mount.

The base card is a dark purple A4 card cut to 5"x5" size, on top of this I have laid a purple paper which I have punched the bottom edge with one of my Martha Stewart punches called Paper Doilly. For the second layer I have used a patterned paper and stuck two ribbons across the middle, under one I have stuck the stamped image and over the top one.

I then used one of my tag Nestabilitie dies to cut out the tag and put this on the bottom ribbon, I did put a piece of white card in the middle to put the peeloff greeting on, I finished this of with a piece of mauve velvet ribbon threaded through the hole.

To finish of the card I have stuck two different sizes of mulberry flowers on the left hand side at the top, and two flower buttons on the bottom right side.

Blowing a Kiss

Todays card was created from one of Whiff of Joy Stamps called Melinda blowing kisses, you can get these stamps from http://www.whiffofjoy.com/.

I stamped the image onto white card and coloured it with firstly my Derwent Intense pencils then used my Artquest paints over the top to give it a sheen.

Ive made the base card from a piece of A4 white card and put it through my printer, and printed a spotted background, on top of this I have layered another of the same group of papers but this time with the added pattern of flowers and light stripes, on the edge I have used my Fiskars border punch.

The stamped image was cut with one of my long Rectangle Nestabilitie dies, and then I cut a Scalloped one for it to be mounted on. I have used a piece of white card and put it through my cuttlebug with the small dot folder, this was then cut out with my Scalloped Circle Nestabilitie die, and a larger one for the outer mount using the blue pearlescent paper for the back.

I then cut another piece of this pearlescent paper and on top of this I have stuck a spotted ribbon, this was then arranged on the card with the other pieces, and the greeting was created again with my computer and printer. I finished the card of with 3 flowers which I created from my craft stash and in the centre I have stuck a glittery staple. And in two of the corners I have put some corner peeloffs, this is my idea of the Whiff of Joy Challenge this week, not that Im going to enter it, just felt Id like to give it a go and see how I got on, hope you like the card.

A Card for Mum

My mum loves all shades of mauve, and when I had this topper left from one of my cards I made the other day, I thought I would use it to make her one. As she lives in a Nursing home I like to send her a card now and again to cheer her up and to tell her how much I love her.

The base card is a dark purple, and on top of this I have laid a pale mauve, but first I used my Martha Stewart border doily punch to give it a pretty edge, the top layer is a paper that I have printed from the Joanna Sheen Cottage Garden Cds, and again I have used the border punch to give it the same edge.

Down the centre of the card I have laid a piece of the dark card but first I have used a scalloped edge cutter and on top of this I had put a strip of the paler paper but having first used a black pen and a template to create a flourish pattern, I also used my Sakura clear glitter pen over the pattern to get it to stand out.

The stamped image was one where I have used the Art Nouveau stamps that came with My Craft Studio Cds, and then used my Marvy Le Plume pens to watercolour it. I have also mounted this on the same card and papers that Ive used for the card itself, and then positioned it on the strips in the centre of the base card.

Down the fold I have put a dark purple ribbon, it was a bit wide so I have doubled it and attached three mauve roses within the knot.

The greeting was printed on my computer and mounted the same way as the stamped image.

A Girl with a Basket of Flowers

Ive created todays card as a birthday card for a special friend. The image and backing paper was printed from one of Joanna Sheen's Cd, the Cottage Garden double set.

I printed the Girl image onto semi-gloss photo paper (there are several images on the sheet) and the backing paper onto card, this I folded into half to use as the base card.

The little girl was then cut out and mounted onto Gold Mirri card, then I cut the second image out and used it as decoupage. I then used my multi flower corner punch and several different colours of paper to create small flowers that I have stuck to the basket. and I also stuck a large red one to her hat. In the centre of each of the flowers I have dropped a little Pearlidoodles.

Down the border I have used my clear Sakura glitter pen to bring out the flowers and leaves. The greeting was also printed from the same Cd and mounted onto another piece of gold mirri card.

A Lady with Gardenia's

Todays card started as one idea and developed into another. I firstly took a piece of white Pearlescent Vellum and used a Flourishes background stamp to create with white embossing powder the background design I wanted.

This I layered onto a dark purple card which I then stapled together, around this I attached a wide purple organza ribbon. This was then mounted onto a pale mauve card and stuck to my base card.

The stamped Lady image was one I received with My Craft Studio Nouveau set of Cds and Stamps. I used a mauve Stazon inkpad and then painted it with my Marvy Le Plume pen. When dry I cut it around the edge and mounted this onto dark purple card and then onto the pale mauve, I used my scallop scissors around the edge. The greeting was also stamped in the same way as the lady but cut out with several of my Nestabilitie Rectangle Dies.

The Gardenia was created with my paper punches by cutting out six of the large Begonia petals, six of the large Ovid petals and three of the small ones, I used a pen to paint the markings in the centre. These were moulded and stuck to a large and small Snowflake, layered up and then arranged onto the card. The leaves were also punched from the Birch punch and arranged around the flowers to finish them off.

A Valentine's Day Card

I made this card out of some of the bits and pieces that I had left from my Love Card, as I didnt want to waste the beautiful paper that I had left.

The base card is a piece of white A4 card folded in half, and on top of this I have layered several pieces of different card and paper. The bottom layer is Red Gloss Card, and on top of this I have layed a piece of my own created Glimmer Mists paper and then used my Martha Stewart Valentine punch to create a border, and again over this layer I have layed a piece of dark vellum and again used the Valentine punch to make a similar border, and of set it from the bottom layer.

The topper was created with one of Stamps from the Harliquin Rose Stamp set from Elusive Images. I started by using my cats eyes and made a background for the stamp to be stamped on then triple embossed it with the UTEE clear embossing powder, around the oval edge I have used my gold pen to cover up the spills of the embossing to neaten it off. This was then stuck to the card. Along the top and bottom of the card I have stuck some white lace paper that I bought in HobbyCrafts at the weekend.

To finish of the card I have wrapped a length of two different pieces of wool and made a heart pendant from shrink plastic. This was a stamped image again from the Harliquin Rose Stamp set, firstly making a hole in the top before shrinking it down, then pushed a split ring through the hole and fed the wool through that. After this I stuck some Red heart jewels along the edge at the bottom between the layers and either side of the oval topper.

Gloucestershire Weather

As everyone is posting pictures of the weather in their area, I thought you might like to see how we are fairing in Gloucestershire.

We did have a electricity cut last night at 9.15pm and it was off for over two hours, so we had no idea what the time was this morning (as all our clocks were flashing) till our boiler woke us up at 7am.

Anyway the sun is out at the moment and my poor husband has been out to clear both the back and the front paths to our house. Hes also used up a whole bag of salt to make sure it doesnt free later on.

A Card for Joe

Todays card was again created from the Robert Adams Card Pop-out Cd, and it was made for my 9 year old grandson. I find it quite difficult to decide what is right for them these days as they are really only interested in their computer games, but I just hope that this card will please him when the time comes.

This one is another of the Dinosaur designs, which I have printed straight onto card, it takes about 3 A4 sheets of card to print it out on, and another for the base card. I folded the base white card in half, and stuck to the inside the appropriate printed page, but I did print a verse onto this card first.

Once this was done, I cut out the two jaws for the pop-out mouth, I did use Glossy Accents to make the teeth stick out, and also on the eyes. There are lines to which the jaws are attached, its a bit tricky but can be done, I put the lower jaw piece on first then the upper jaw afterwards making sure that the top teeth were over the bottom ones.

For the front of the card, I layered up the image firstly onto dark blue card and then onto a pale blue, this was then stuck this to the front of the card. The greeting was printed onto a piece of a photo paper and cut and mounted again onto a piece of the darker blue card and stuck to the right top side of the card. I finished the card of with the glossy accents on teeth and nails.

A Sneaky Peek

Todays card has been created from the new Sarah Hallam's Floral Jewels Cd, she will be previewing it on Create and Craft at 11am on the 21st February. If you would like to purchase it before then you can get it exclusively from her own website http://www.spanglefish.com/peerlessdesigns/index.asp?pageid=54566 you will see and be able to purchase all her other beautiful Cds, these are all her own Artwork. This new Cd is in a Art Nouveau style and the images are absolutely stunning, you will find it difficult to decide which one to use.

I actually printed the papers straight onto card, the front side I am going to show but keep the pop-out inside for the receiver of the card, all I can say is I printed another paper on this and put in the circle pop out, a vellum which had also been printed with one of the papers and a topper.

On the front cover I have used the Poppy Lady design, and have printed a Scrapbook page onto card. Then printed onto semi-gloss photo paper a oval Topper of the Lady, then I punched it out with my oval Nestabilitie Die, and a further dark Red Scalloped Oval as the outer mount, I then put some foam strips on the back and mounted this onto the card.

I cut out a couple of tags with one of the tag dies, and stuck a peel off greeting on it, then punched a hole through the end and threaded a ribbon through this and attached a staple, this was mounted under the oval image on the front of the card.

To finish it off I have used two different sizes of Mullberry Poppies to mirror the two on the image and mounted these to the left of the top of the stamped image.

A Card for Mary

This card was created to hopefully cheer up a very dear friend of mine who had got herself ready to endure several weeks of being incapasitated, only to be sent home from hospital on Thursday not knowing if she was ever going to get her problem sorted out.

To make this card I used a Simon and Lola stamp called "My little Friend", I stamped it onto white card and painted it with my Artquest watercolour paints. After it had dried I cut it out with my Oval Nestabilitie Die and mounted this onto a piece of Pink Crystaline Card (one of the Glitter Girls), that had been cut with the large Classic Oval Scalloped Nestabilitie Die.

The base card was created out of piece of light green card I had left from my last card its about 6" square, along the side and bottom edges I have embossed two lines, and between the two I have stamped with my Stamp Tapestry Ginger Hearts Set, a border of leaves, hearts and flowers just to give it a pretty edge.

I then punched a ribbon tag out of a piece of the Crystaline card and mounted on top a piece of white card, stamped a greeting onto it, then threaded a piece of green organza ribbon through and cut along the fold and attached the ribbon to the inside, and on the other side I cut two lines and threaded the ribbon behind the border around the edge and attached this end also to the inside of the card.

The mounted stamped image was stuck to the centre of the card and two flowers were put above the image to the left to finish it of.

With Love

Todays card was created as a thank you to a young postgirl who's been helping out at our local sorting office. As most of you will be aware we are very reliant on our post for all our bits and pieces and Im sure without the help of my local postpeople I would be lost. The young lass remarked that her Nan would love one of my cards so I set out to make something a little special for her.

The base card was made out of A3 card cut to an 8" square, on top of this I have laid a smaller square of Cream Pearlescent Card, and then on top of this I have put a pale green one, but Ive also cut a circle in the centre and used one of my EK corner punches, Graceful Heart (I pinched the idea from Becca's Amazing Grace Blogspot) to give it an pretty edge.

I then attached this to, two of the corners of the cream card with punched out hearts made with my Scalloped Nestabilitie Heart Die and two staples, I did eventually put some glue in the other two corners to keep it from moving around.

I created the two Zinnia's with several punches, the raindrop, abstract heart, two sizes of Daisy, mayflower, small suns and the small flowers from my 5 corner flower punch. These were punched out and moulded with my deet tool, then stuck together and then arranged in the centre of my card, around the edge I used large Dahlia petals to create leaves which have been moulded to look more natural.

To finish of the card I have punched out a couple more hearts with my dies, and a tag for the greeting, these were stuck to the card with silicone and I then tied a bow and put this above the tag.

And the last thing I did was stick some green pearls to the hearts and the circle in the centre.

Springtime Mimi

Heres the second card created with one of the Pink Gem's stamps, this ones called Mimi and Daffodils.

The base card is made from a A4 white card folded in half and on top of which I have laid two pieces of backing paper which I got with my Just Great Papers magazine, on top of this I have layed a piece of white pearlescent card which I have put through my Cuttlebug and embossed with one of my embossing folders. Then I have trimmed either edge of this card with blue rik rak paper border.

The main stamped image was coloured with my Derwent Intense Watercolour pencils and again Ive used my Artquest paints to give it a shine. Once dried I have cut the image out with my Standard Oval Nestabilitie Die and mounted it onto a Dark Blue Mirri Card again cut with a Scalloped Nestabilitie Die. Then stuck to the card slightly to the right side.

Ive made three cornflowers with my cosmos punch and small sun punches moulding and layering each one. This was made basically from three pieces of each, and stuck on top of each other. The leaves were also punched out with one of my leaf punches, then arranged to the left of the stamped image.

To finish of the card I have used one of JustRite Stamps from the Harmony Classic Circle II set, and embossed it with Silver embossing powder and mounted this with the circle Nestabilitie dies in the same way as the stamped image.

Candy at Pollycraft

http://pollycraftdesigns.blogspot.com/ Has lots of lovely candy up for grabs, some beautiful new stamps they are gorgeous, I love using them for my cards, look at my Valentine Kisses Card (one of my old blogs).

Mimi

Todays card has been created with one of the Pink Gem Designs called Mimi in Hat and Coat, you can see several different designs on the website http://pinkgemdesigns.blogspot.com/, Janet has some really lovely ones.

I firstly stamped the image onto white card and coloured it with my Derwent Intense Watercolour pencils and then used a watercolour brush to blend the colours, but on top of this I used my Artquest paints to give it a sheen, I then left it to dry, after which I punched it out with one of my Oval Nestabilitie Dies.

The base card is a piece of A4 card folded landscape onto which I have stuck a piece of some of Nancy Watts papers from one of my magazines. I then embossed some Red card with my Cuttlebug and stuck this across the centre, I then used another of the Nancy Watts papers and a Fiskars border punch and placed this on top of the red card. Through the centre I have stuck a ribbon.

The main stamped image has been mounted on a large Oval Scalloped Holographic mount cut with another of my Nestabilitie Dies and placed in the centre of the ribbon.

To finish of the card I have made up some flowers and stuck a staple in the centre and mounted them to the left of the image, above this I have stuck a ribbon bow. I finished of the card with a tag which came with the Nancy Watts papers and stuck this to a piece of red card and cut around the edge with my scallop scissors and punched a hole at the top and put a piece of the ribbon left from the bow through and stapled them together. I then stuck tiny jewels along the edge of the punched out centre piece of paper and on the tag.

A Hug in a Mug

Todays card was created with one of the Elizabeth Bell stamps called A Hug in a Mug, I bought this from http://www.funkykits.co.uk .

I stamped the image onto a piece of white card and coloured it with my Derwent Intense Watercolour Pencils and then using a watercolour brush I painted them out, I also used my Artquest paints to give it a bit of a shine, then left it to dry.

The base card is a piece of A4 card folded just of centre to give a border, then on the front piece I stuck two different pieces of coloured backing paper and another on the border, to the edge of these I stuck a piece of lace, and I used a fine peeloff just to cover the paper edge up.

The stamped image was then punched out with my large Scalloped Classic Nestabilitie die, and this was mounted onto a Square of a darker purple Pearlescent Card also punched out with a Netabilitie die. I stuck this to the card, the Flower was created from some Silk Flowers that I have in my craft stash and stuck at the top of the card.

The greeting was created on my computer and printed then stuck to a piece of mauve pearlescent card and cut with my scallop scissors, it was then attached to the card under the mount.

Fireman Tyler

This card was created for coming 6 year old Tyler who has a real passion for anything in a uniform, his mum says he's forever dressing up in one uniform or another, so I thought hopefully that this card would be appropriate for him.

The pictures that I used I found on the Internet then I downloaded them into My Craft Studio program. I used one for the base card and tiled it to give a background and another picture for the insert.

The main picture was also one that I downloaded but this time I printed several copies of it and decoupaged it to give it some dimension. I then mounted onto the base card a glossy red card mount which was left long enough to put the greeting onto and then on top of this I used a glitter rainbow one, the decoupaged image was then mounted onto this.

The greeting was one that I created with my computer and printed it to fit beneath the main image, and the embellishments on the bottom were bought from Tesco's.

A Card for Georgia

Todays card is for a lovely young lass who's coming eleven and even her mother commented that the stamped image is quite like her so I thought it appropriate to make it for her birthday.

The base card is a white piece of A4 card folded in half and on top of this I have stuck a piece of printed paper which I had with my Just Papers Magazine, I then used two more of the papers and used my Fiskars Border Punch then off set them at the bottom, after which I fixed a ribbon across the top to cover the seam. I then punched out a large Nestabilitie Scalloped Circle from Pink Pearlescent card and stuck this on top, and then attached another piece of ribbon across the bottom.

The main image is one of the Elisabeth Bell's designs its called Pen Pal and I bought it from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/catalog/. I stamped this onto white card and coloured it using my Derwent Intense Watercolour Pencils, then punched it out using the smaller Nestabilitie Scalloped Circle die, and attached it to the white mount already positioned on the card. I also punched out a small Scalloped Tag, again with one of my Nestabilitie dies, and punched a hole out and fed a bit of the ribbon through it and attached it to the mount with a small brad.

I finished of the card with tiny jewels on each of the punched out flowers and made up two flowers and attached them to the bottom on the right hand side.

A Dinosaur for Sam

Todays card is one Ive made for a young lad for his 8th Birthday, and as its not always easy to think of things that will fire their imagination, I made this one hoping that it will do the trick.

Ive used one of the Robert Adams Pop-Up card templates from his Cd, and he gives you instructions how to cut the sheets out and build up the image.

I printed all the sheets, which there are 4 of them onto card to give it stability and then cut them out, and following the marks on the inside sheet you stick the two head pieces to them. Mind you I did stick the centre sheet inside the front sheet before I actually stuck the pop out head on. I wont say that I didnt make a few mistakes and had to reprint them several times before I actually managed to get it right, but I think the end result is hopefully is quite stunning.

I printed a verse on the inside piece before I stuck on the pieces of the head, I tried to make sure that I missed the body so it was necessary to move it right over by the edge of the card.

A Special Thank you for Danu

Todays card was created as a thankyou card for my step granddaughters mum, as shes only five months old it would be impossible for her even to say thank you for all her mum does for her, and I know how much young mum's like to feel appreciated for all their hard work and guidance. Danu's mum is a brilliant mum and is doing so many things with her little daughter and I thought it would be nice to thank her in a special way.

The Base card was created with My Craft Studio program, which I printed onto a A4 piece of white card, I also printed another lighter piece of paper with the same design for the insert, but I first used the Opacity button to make it lighter, on this I printed a thank you verse.

The main card was then folded in half and turned to landscape and across the centre I stuck a piece of Pink Organza ribbon, then I resized a photo of Danu and printed it to fit in a photo frame which I had also created with My Craft Studio program, I cut the photo frame out and put some foam tape on it, and then with the photo underneath I stuck it to the base card across the ribbon. As I had printed two copies of the frame I decoupaged some of the pieces like the ribbon at the bottom and the flowers at the top.

I also printed a greeting from my computer and stuck this onto a piece of Pink Pearlescent Card and used my scallop scissors around the edge, this was then stuck on the card with a bit of foam tape.

I finished the card of with a couple of embellishments which I had in my crafty stash.

Beautiful Peonies

Todays card is one that Ive created with my paper punches, its generally known as Floral Punch Craft. I have several photos that Im going to upload so that you can see the process of making the flowers.

Firstly I will explain how I made the base card, its a Red A4 Pearlescent card folded in half, on top of which I have put a piece of textured white paper, which I have put through my cuttlebug with one of the embossing folders, around the middle I have laid a piece of white embossed vellum which has been punch along the edge with one of the Martha Steward border punches called Double scallop, I bought this from http://www.diestodiefor.com/proddetail.php?prod=ms-doily. Around this I have placed a piece of grosgrain red ribbon and then I cut a Ribbon Tag with one of the Nestabilitie Dies and attached this again with the same red ribbon along the bottom of the card.

I then fitted this piece of white card to the base by firstly punching the two outside corners with one of my EK corner punches called graceful heart, which I bought from http://www.thehobbyhouse.co.uk/ and slipping the corners into the punched out pieces. I then made a Mount for the Flowers with another piece of the Red Pearlescent Card and one of the Label Nestabilitie Die, and the smaller white one was made with another piece of Emobossed Card which I had put through my Cuttlebug machine.

The two Peonies were created by punching out 12 medium Apple shapes, 3 medium Sun shapes, 3 small Sun shapes and two large Snowflake shapes. And I moulded them with the tools that you will see in the photos at the top of this posting. You then stick the moulded petals to each of the Snowflake arms, which are then mounted on top of one another making it two layers thick, the sun shapes are then cupped and stuck to the centre to create petals. After which you then arrange them onto the mount and stick them with moulded leaves around the edge.

A Card for Jack

My youngest daughter rang me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would create a card for her partners young lad Jack.

As the boy was 10 it wasnt easy to decide what to do for the best, so I decided to use one of the Paper Nations toppers and backing papers called Football Boy, which I bought from http://www.pantilespapertole.com/.

I cut and arranged the two backing sheets onto a piece of A4 white card and used a peel off to cover the seam. I then cut the main character out and mounted this onto card to give it an extra thickness, I then cut all the rest of the decoupage and mounted it on top of this.

I then decided to create his name with firstly my Paint Accessories program on my computer and saved the file to my Tabby Cat Template Program, and opened it in this program. Its a bit complicated to describe here, but if you have this program Im sure you have already used it before, you make the letters by cutting them out singley with a special tool in the program and pasting it onto a new sheet and colouring them with their palette of colours and textures.

After cutting them out I then glued them at the bottom of the card, I also printed an insert for the card of my computer.

I also created the greeting with my computer and stuck this at the top of the card. I just hope it was ok with the lad, its always difficult to gauge how boys take homemade cards, but I know my own grandsons love them and carnt wait to receive and discover what Nanny has created for them.

Jak Heaths Blog Candy

http://crafterskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-candy-flippin-men.html
Jak Heath of Crafters Kitchen is offering blogcandy, its the new Flippin Men decoupage, absolutely smashing.

Nannieflash

Pretty in many shades of Pink

Todays card was a bit of struggle for me to get it uploaded theres been so many things that have got in the way, anyway I think we might just be able to get it done now.

This is one thats been created from one of the Sarah Kay stamp images called Carefree, I firstly stamped it onto card and coloured it with the Copic pens, then cut out with the Nestabilitie Classic Circle die punch, and a Pink Pearlescent one was punched out for the larger size.

The base card was made with a pink A4 card folded in half and then on top I printed onto satin photo paper, one of Joanna Sheen's new papers from her Country Cottage Cds, mounted on a piece of silver mirri card, and stuck to the base card.

I then picked a piece of pink vellum and put it through my Summer Days Fiskars border punch and attached it to the base card with a little glue along the fold line. On top of this I placed my stamped mounted image and wrapped a pink ribbon around the card and tied it into a bow. I then printed a greetings on my computer, and mounted this onto another piece of pink pearlescent and stuck to the front of the card.

To finish of the card, I punched out from two shades of pink paper 4 medium Sakura flowers and cupped them with my deet/ball tool, and in the centre of each I put cream with pink tipped cosmos flower punches made to look like stamens. The smaller flowers are made from the small Sakura punch and made in the same way as the larger ones. The Leaves were punched out in two shades of green from two sizes of the 3 leaf spray and marked to give them veins. Then arranged as I have onto the card above the stamped image.

My Love Card

This Card was an image in my mind that I had designed and wanted to try and see if I could actually make it.

Firstly I used several different colours of my Glimmer Mists to create the background paper, this I had to leave to dry over night, as the paper becomes rather wet. I should have said that I used a textured card, a bit like the watercolouring paper, it actually absorbed it better.
I used several different colours on two pieces of Stampboard to create the background and then stamped the beautiful Rose Image, which is the new Harlequin Rose set from Elusive Images. I then triple embossed it.
The piece on the side was a piece that I tore from the remains of the background paper on which I stamped another of the stamps from the Rose set, I embossed it with Black Magic embossing powder though from the picture you would thing I had dont it with gold, and used a gold leaf pen along the torn edge.
The base card is a A3 piece of Red card cut down to 21cm x 21cm, on top of which Ive mounted a piece of black card just a bit smaller. I made the card up by sticking the torn edge piece to the right hand side and I actually stamped some edge stamps just under where Ive mounted the main image, but I then didnt like it so Ive stuck some lace around the edge of the Stampboard, which was mounted on top of the lace.
I cut one of the Nestabilitie Ribbon Tags out and stamped a greeting onto it and embossed it again with the Black Magic embossing powder, I used a piece of red and two tone brown ribbon through the tag and mounted this onto the bottom of my card.
After which I mounted the whole top piece onto the black card, Im reasonably pleased with the end result its more or less what I had in mind, card making always changes as you go along doesnt it?

Second Watercolour Card

I thought you might like to see another watercolour card made with the Art Impressions Stamps. I should have said yesterday that this range of stamps are called Back to Front, you get two stamps that make a front and back of either a person or an animal.

This card was made in the same way as the first one but with two little people instead of the cat and her kittens, I hope that you like it, and that it might inspire you to have a go with them, I find using them very inspiring as you can cover up quite a bit of the paper with the flowers and leaves.

Watercolouring with the Art Impression Stamps

Ive decided after visiting Jak Heath's Crafters Kitchen blogspot that I will post some of my own cards created in the same way that she has with the Art Impression Stamps.

To start with the fence stamp has to be positioned down the front page (preferably on Watercolour paper) about a third up from the bottom, this is stamped with Stazon Ink and then you have to cut out across the top of the fence, with a bit of jiggling with a Stamp Positioner you can get the fence stamped on the inside page to more or less come in line with the front page.

The house is stamped with Marvy Le Plume pens which have been painted onto the stamp, after youve placed it on the page you bleed out the colours with a nearly dry paintbrush, you then stamp with the leaf cluster stamp as many leaves which you feel is appropriate, and again using your paintbrush bleed it out to make it look like a full tree.

The Cat and her kittens are again stamped onto a separate piece of card with the pens and painted again with the paintbrush and left to dry. You then cut them out and put to the side to stick onto the card when youve finished painting.

You can give the impression of grass by rubbing one of the pens onto a acrylic block and mixing with water to create a wash and painting it onto the paper. You can do the same with the sky, how you create the flowers is for your own creation, I use many different flower stamps and also with different colour pens just to create the effect I have.

The cat was positioned on the fence and her kittens behind it, when I use the cards I put a greeting on the outside and write a message inside the card. Sorry that the top photo is a bit tipped to the side, but I hope it doesn't spoil it for you.

A Card for Leah

Again this card has been made using one of the Images from the Pollycraft Range of Stamps, this one is called Innocence.

I stamped it onto white card and painted it with the Artquest paints. While this was drying I created the main card from A4 textured card which I firstly put through my printer and from my computer I picked a paper from one of my Craft Cds and printed it onto the card, I also printed it onto a piece of paper ready to use for the insert.

I then embossed the edges of the card and folded it into a half gateleg shape. I firstly cut with my Nestabilitie Label Dies a mount with Pink Pearliscent Card, and stuck the Image onto it which I had punched out with the Classic Scalloped Oval Die, then this was placed onto the first fold of the base card which was positioned halfway over the edge. I also printed a greeting onto another piece of white card and mounted this onto another piece of pink pearliscent card and cut it with one of my scalloped scissors, this I placed below the stamped image.

The Insert was then embossed down the edge and cut to fit just inside the embossed edge of the card, I had previously printed a verse onto it, I then stuck this inside the second half of the front cover.

I finished the card of with a few different sizes of pink pearls, down the top edges of the card.

Anniversary Card for Ian

Todays card is the one I made for our Anniversary.

I cheated with this one really, I used Joanna Sheen's, Jayne Nestley Mayhew cds for this one, as I know my husband loves Meerkats, I thought this design was just right for him.

I printed out on a A4 piece of Card one of the background papers and then printed another of the background papers onto a piece of lighter paper for the insert.

The main Meerkat Image was printed onto a piece of semi-gloss photo paper and mounted onto a piece of Gold Mirra Card. I also printed a greeting which I created on my computer onto the same photo paper and cut it out and mounted this also onto a piece of the Gold Mirra Card.

I then printed the same backing paper design onto a piece of printable acetate and used this as a outsert, and fixed this to the card with gold ribbon.

The stamped Image and greeting were mounted straight onto the card leaving the Acetate free.

I cut out two of the extra Meerkats and stuck one to the card and one to the Insert. I printed a verse onto the insert and attached it to the centre of the card with glue, so that it opens with the card I always attach it to the front.

A Card for Logan

Todays card is one that Ive created for Logan's birthday.

The stamped image is again one of the Pollycraft Stamps, this one is called Curiosity, which I think is quite appropriate for a 5 year old boy. I coloured this one also with the Artquest paints, and then mounted on a punched out piece of Blue Holographic Card cut with the Large Classic Scalloped Nestabilitie dies.

The base card is again a piece of white textured card folded into a half gateleg, with an embossed edge to it, down this I have stamped with blue ink flourishes, from my Stamp Tapestry stamps and then glittered it with clear Art Institute glitter.

The insert was created on my computer then embossed down one side and cut, then stuck to the inside of the card. The greeting again was also created on the computer then printed and cut with the long Rectangle Nestabilitie Dies, and mounted on another piece of the Blue Holographic Card.

I finished the card with a blue bird button that I had in my craft stash, and mounted onto the card with a drop of silicone glue.

Japanese Anemone's for a Special Girl

Todays card has been made for a special little girl.

The stamp is another of Pollycraft Designs this one's called Reflection. I stamped it onto white card and painted with the Artquest paints,then left it to dry and then cut it out with my Nestabilitie Classic Scalloped Circle Die, I also cut another larger one in Pink Pearlescent Card for the stamped image to be mounted on.

The base card is a textured A4 piece which I have folded in half then embossed the edge with a wave type embossing, also down the edge I have stuck some flower ribbon. The stamped image has then been mounted onto this card, a greeting was printed from my computer and mounted on a small Scalloped Retangle piece of Pink Pearlescent Card.

The Anemone's were created with several punches, Snowflakes of three different sizes, and the Large Ovoid punch for the petals also a leaf punch for the leaves. I punched out 6 pieces of pink paper for the petals, firstly using pink chalk to shade them, then I cupped the petals with my deet tool and put to the side while I also cupped one of the snowflakes (green) for the base of the flower.

I then stuck the petals onto the six arms of the snowflake and left this to dry, after which I cupped two more yellow snowflakes for the stamens, then a small black sun for the next layer, and finally a small yellow snowflake for the centre. I also dropped a little black pearlidoodle in the centre just to cover the very yellow which didnt look right.

I finished the card of with a insert which again I printed on my computer, then punched the corners to give it a less harsh look.

Valentine Kisses

Todays Card is made for my husband, hope he doesnt get to see it before then though.

The stamp is one of Pollycraft Designs http://www.pollycraftdesigns.co.uk/ the design is called Devotion, which I think is appropriate for Valentine's Day.

I stamped the image onto white card and painted it with the Artquest paints, I then left it to dry while I create the card.

The A4 white card was put through my printer and I used one of the Crafters Companion Love Cd papers, I also printed another piece of thinner paper for the insert. I folded the A4 card in half and then used a piece of Acetate which I folded in half also and used it as a outsert, which I attached to the base card with Red ribbon.

I then cut two sizes of the Larger Nestabilitie Scalloped Hearts in Holographic Red Card and Plain Red Card for the main mounts and then two each of the smaller sizes for the two smaller hearts which I have attached to the righthand bottom of the card.

I then stuck the two larger hearts onto the Acetate and mounted the stamped image which I have cut out over these hearts giving it the Valentine look.

The greeting was printed on my computer with red ink and again mounted onto a piece of Red Holographic Card.

Another Thank You Card

This Card is a very simple thank you card I made for a gentleman who helped my husband sort a very tricky computer program out for me.

The main picture was stamped with the Hero Arts Dandilion stamp and my marvy pens. I coloured up the stamps with my pens then spritzed it with water and stamped it onto watercolour paper. I then left it to dry while I made up the card.

The main card was made in a small DL size in white pearlescent card onto which I layed a strip of silver embossed card, then I layed a strip of pink pearlescent card on top of this.

When the stamped image was dry I layered this onto another piece of the embossed silver card and mounted it at the top of the pink pearlescent strip.

The greeting was then mounted at a jaunty angle at the bottom. I then put a simple thank you insert message inside which I printed on my computer.

A Good Luck Card for Sarah

Todays card was created as a Good Luck card for a very special friend who will be making her debut on Tuesday 13th January, at midday on Create and Craft.

I used Sarahs cd Fairy Wishes http://www.spanglefish.com/peerlessdesigns/index.asp?pageid=54566 which you will find on her website. Her cds are really beautiful and Im sure many crafters will have already bought them on Ebay under her name of Peerless Designs, they are all her own artwork and I use them many times for backing papers and inserts.

I printed the backing paper for the insert on which I printed a verse, I used card for the main card and vellum for the wrap, the design is the Fairy on a Swing. I also used a semi gloss photo paper for the main picture, I made several copies so I could decoupage the image.

After creating the main picture I cut a edge of the vellum with the new Fiskars edge punch Summer Days, and attached it to the base card with a bit of glue along the folded edge, then I used one of the new Edgeabilitie dies for the piece along the edge to the left, on top of this I mounted the picture.

I then printed a greeting on my computer and mounted onto a piece of the pink pearlescent card that I used for the edge, and cut the edge with my scallop scissors.

I then finished the picture with sakura punched out shapes, firstly I cupped them with a ball tool and stuck them onto the branch, into the centre I put black stickles and on top of this I used some of the Keepsake Crystal Blossoms. I then put more coloured stickles on the wings of the Fairy and on her garland around her head.

An Early Mother's Day Card

This card was created by itself really, and I decided when finished it was ideal as a Mother's Day card.

The Stamped image is one of the Stamps Happen stamps called "Garden Gate", I stamped it onto white card and coloured it with Faber Castell Aquarelle pencils, then I decided it didnt looked finished enough so I decided that I would use my flower corner punch to create the blossom on the tree.

Firstly I mounted the stamped image onto Pink Pearlised card that I have cut with a scalloped cutter on my Woodware Trimmer. I punched out several different colours of pink paper and shaped them with my small ball tool, then patiently stuck them to the tree branches, this did take time but I prefer the end result than the original one.

To make the base card I used A4 Pink mottled card folded in half, on top of this I stuck a piece of green card which I put it through my cuttlebug with one of the embossing folders, the green mount was then glued to the base pink card. The stamped image was then stuck to the embossed card with foam tape.

I finished the card with a pink label with a silver greeting on cut with one of the Nestabilitie dies, threaded with a pink gingham ribbon and fixed to the card with a curly paper clip.

Fairy Birthday Wishes

Todays card is one that Ive used the Clarity Fairy Stamps, Elusive Images Stamp and the Twinklets Diamond Dust glitter again.

I had a couple of the Fairy stamped images left from my last card and decided to use them with one from the Elusive Images Fairy stamps that I had. This time I cut them up individually with my Nestabilitie small scalloped edge rectangle dies, then I used the Art glue to put a fine bead of glue around the edge of each and scatter the Diamond Dust glitter on them, these I then left to dry.

The base card is a Dark Blue one this time, a piece of A4 blue card folded in half, then I put through my cuttlebug a smaller piece of white card and one of the embossing folders to create the mount for the stamped images. I used my chalks to give it some more defination.

I used my Ribbon Tag Nestabilite die to create the tag for the greeting, then fed a piece of grosgrain ribbon through and fixed it behind the embossed card with tape, I then mounted the card onto my base blue card. The greeting is mounted on a piece of white card which I attached onto the ribbon diecut.

The stamped Images were then stuck onto the embossed card with silicone glue so that I could be able to get them into the right spaces. When dry I used my pearlidoodles to give it some more colour, I finished the card of with three little roses in the left top corner.

Fairy Dreams

Todays card was created with Clarity Clear Stamps and Twinklets Diamond Dust Glitter.

I firstly stamps two images onto dark blue card of two fairies, then I cut it out with my Nestabilitie die and put glue around the edge and shook Dianmond Dust Glitter on, and left it to dry.

I then made the base card from white card size 6"x6" and onto this I laid a smaller square of pearlescent cream card embossed with one of my cuttlebug folders, then punched at the corners. I wrapped a piece of dark blue organza ribbon around the card and tied a knot, this I stuck onto the base card.

The stamped fairy card was then mounted with foam tape onto the embossed card. I finished the card of with a silver greeting and some punched out Sakura Flowers and birch leaves which had been glued and covered with more Diamond Dust Glitter. In the centre of each of the flowers I put dark pink pearlidoodles.

Happy New Year - and a Thank You Card

This being my first card of the New Year, I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

This card was made as a thank you to someone who had been very helpful to me and my husband. It started with the a black stamped image of one of Thomas Kinslade's stamps, its called "A Perfect Summer's Day" this was mounted onto Silver Holographic card, which was then mounted onto a piece of black card that had been embossed with one of my Cuttlebug Folders. This piece of card was then cut to fit within the embossed lines which were made with my Scor-pal Board to create a border around the Cream A5 card, I kept a small piece for the greetings bar, which was made with a one of my Nestabilitie Ribbon Dies then a ribbon was threaded through the holes at each end and fixed to the card at the bottom, and a Silver greeting was applied to a piece of black card which was then stuck on the black embossed strip.

The Tulip flowers were made by Punching out six large Apple shapes and moulded with my deet tool, and then the first set of three were stuck to a small icicle shape covering two of the arms, then left to dry, once dry the second set of three petals were stuck covering the seams of the first three, this was done by turning the first three upside down and fixing the next row from underneath. Once these were dry, a second icicle shape was fixed to the bottom.

The centre was created by punching out two stamen shapes in black and cupping again with the ball tool, and fixing the first one in the centre of the tulips, the second stamen shape is then pinched into half and squeezed very tightly and this is also fixed into the centre of the tulip.

These were then mounted with the leaves, which were punched from the large Dahlia petal punch, shaped into a leaf, and then put onto the card to the left of the stamped image.