Happy Birthday Dad

For my Dad's Birthday, I used a card that we did with Sarah,

at a team day some time ago, that I really loved.

Whilst I was very loath to part with it, I felt he deserved it!

How often do you make cards, that you find difficult to part with????

I think it originates from JKCards.

The colours are Real Red, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake,

the left-hand panel is dry embossed.

The stamp sets are Stampin' Up! Clockworks, and Affection Collection.

The latter will probably remain in my collection even if it does retire!

The ribbon slider, and tiny button brad add some metal masculinity.

Happy Birthday Mum

My dear Mum is one whole day older than my Dad....

I did this card with a couple of my classes,

and loved it so much, I thought Mum might too.
It's based on one by Jennifer Timko.

The colours are so delicate...Stampin' Up! Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, and Garden Green.

I tinted the Flower Trim with a Stampin' Up! Marker Pen in Melon Mambo.

The inks and marker pens can be used to colour so many things,

including ribbon and embellishments.

One of the many advantages of Stampin' Up! products is the colour co-ordination.

It takes away such a lot of the time-consuming process of putting a card together.

The chevrons were created by using marker pens to colour the stamp,

rather than using a single ink pad.

The doily was formed into an oval shape by cutting it in half,

then overlapping the two halves, which is then covered with the inked oval,

and the greeting banner.

Swallowtail

I just love this large stamp from Stampin' Up!

I still have so many ideas for it...

but here's one I did for my Sis....

I used the baby wipe technique, and added a layer of dazzling diamonds on top

(altho, as usual, that doesn't show up)

a few rhinestones add even more bling!

Here's a close-up

annoyingly the bling doesn't even show here...hey ho...

but....I'd stamped a swallowtail I wasn't totally happy with....

was going to throw it away....until I thought...hmmmm...

so I punched out some smaller butterflies with it!

waste not want not!

cafe au lait!

Ok, I'm sorry, this is yet another OTT card!

A lovely friend who I often meet for coffee in a certain high street chain..

hence the coffee cups, doily, flower trim, ribbon, pearls,

eeek I really did go for it, didn't I?!

I couldn't even leave it there!

I just had to add some coffee granules..

spritzed with warm water to dissolve...

adds a lovely aroma! 

Anyone for coffee?!

Cake anyone?

This was a commissioned card for a lady's 70th, who likes baking!
I thought these papers were very retro, and the doily, buttons, large rhinestones and ribbon
all add some pretty details.....definitely not clean and simple!

If you'd like me to make a personalised card for someone special....just ask!

Envelope Book

Here's a memory book we made at Sarah's recently

I added a pocket, using the scallop envelope.....
a place to put all your bits 'n' pieces...

This would make a great brag-book, mini scrapbook, card holder etc...

Eggstra special card for an eggsceptional lady!

If any of you keep chickens, you'll like this one!

I coloured the stamp (Countryside) direct with marker pens,

similar to the egg-laying ladies in question!

The birthday banner is from Itty Bitty Banners,

added a button, topped with an extra larger pearl,

and some ribbon, tied with some crochet trim.

Here's another shot, with my latest bobbin lace project in view!

The card was for my lovely lace teacher from LoowooDesigns..

Crochet Class

I had fun at Hoop in Tenterden today, teaching crochet for beginners.....

It's amazing how so many crafts are becoming popular again,

with lots of modern ideas to engage all age groups.

Here's a little pic of my new chair socks, courtesty of 'Simply Crochet' Magazine...

They are great for protecting hard/wooden floors, 

and make them glide easily without that horrid scraping noise!

If you'd like to learn crochet, contact Vanessa here

or via her website here

Wedding

Felt so privileged to attend the wedding of

Katie & Doug

today...

and what did I forget?

the camera grrrrr!

so the only pic I have is the card and little gift box I made...

Very Vanilla and Crumb cake was my colour scheme..

Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, seam binding ribbon, and pearls...

I made the box with the petite pocket die,

label is four frames, cut with the label punch...

thanks for dropping by!

simple pinwheel

here's a simple pinwheel card using the labels framelits to make a pretty card blank

the background is Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP,

embossed with the clouds folder...

Pinwheels

This one's for Dee who asked if I could show how to make pinwheels by hand,

if you don't have the Pinwheel die, or want to make different sizes...

The double sided Designer Series Paper is perfect for these...

I used Sunshine & Sprinkles...

Cut a square (this one is 2" square)

find the centre and make a hole with a piercing tool or similar...

Cut from each corner to as close to the centre as you dare..

(I've slipped some contrasting paper underneath to show you)

Make holes in each bottom left hand corner

(you may want to do bottom right if you are left handed)

carefully try to make all the holes large enough to take a small brad....

Carefully curl each holed corner with a bone folder or similar....

Place your centre hole on a piercing tool, or over a pin on a pricking mat,

and carefully place each corner hole on top in rotation...

Push the pinwheel gently down to squeeze it together..

Gently grab the pinwheel between thumb and finger(s) so that it all stays together 

 remove from the tool/pin and insert a small brad in the centre...

You may not succeed the first time, but with a little patience 

you can place it on top of tool/pin again,

and hopefully you'll have a cute pinwheel for decorating cards, gift boxes etc...

Thanks for visiting!

COLOUR REFRESH

COLOUR REFRESH

Stampin' Up! are refreshing the colour sets

Here's a snippet of the new groups,

and the retiring colours.

If you have any favourites from the retiring colours,

please act now! because they are selling out fast!

get well sticking plaster

Sadly sale-a-bration is over,

so this cute stamp set is no longer available,

but here's another cute card we made in class....

inspired by bethspapercuts.blogs

it's a fun cheery card for anyone feeling poorly.....

if that's you....then get well soon!

faded leans continued...

I forgot to show you the finished card from yesterdays experiments!

Here it is ......

Pool party, Island Indigo, Tangerine tango buttons,

clouds embossing folder, 

all inspired by stampinmaryann.... 

faded jeans

A bit more baby wipe technique...

(see posts below)

this time, two blues, added a little green, to give the impression of faded denims...

You can stamp multiple images, to use later....

then I thought...what other stamps would work...

so I tried it on a hot air balloon....

then I looked at the colours, and found my set 'the open sea'....

if I angled it right, I could just get the illusion of 'land' and 'sea'

This will make a good background for one of those hard-to-do male cards...

Baby wipe technique

Continuing the Baby wipe technique...

 Here's another example of using a home made ink pad,

to give a lovely multi-coloured effect ...

Just fold a wipe, droplets of ink on top, randomly...

I used inks that matched my background paper...

this was a VERY quick and simple card...

I stamped the elephant in tangerine tango first,

then decoupaged the multi coloured one on top.

Team Day

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend,

in spite of the cold weather!

We had a lovely lunch out with Alan's parents,

and his Brother and sister-in-law, yesterday,

and Saturday I had a fab day at Sarah's 

with our lovely Starlets team.

We were thoroughly spoilt with projects, swaps, samples,

that we all contributed to, and even little gifts,

as well as lots of tea and biscuits of course!

Here's a pic of some of my swaps:  

I've been getting very inky fingers, experimenting with the 'baby wipe' technique!

I inked the background square using a wipe shaped into a 'mushroom',

adding drops of Stampin' Up! refill inks,

which I then just dabbed onto an A4 sheet of white gloss card randomly!

I then made an ink pad again using a wipe, folded this time, adding droplets of ink.

I used this to stamp loads of butterflies onto gloss card, and punched them out.

I mounted the butterflies onto plain card stock, by punching out more butterflies,

cutting them in half horizontally, and adhering them slightly spread apart.

I punched some itty butterflies from the remnants of my 'background'.

I used my home made ink pad to stamp loads of 'spares',

but it will keep for a good while in an airtight container.

Colours used...mainly, Marina Mist, Melon Mambo, with Sunshine and Sprinkles Designer Series Paper.

Ink Refills Brights Collection.