By Request

A lovely lady emailed me asking how I made my Butterfly Birthday Wishes card, so I thought I would share it here. For me, this card was all about texture, it is a little time consuming but gives you a very stroke-able card in return!

To make the card
1. Cut a piece of thick card half the size of your card blank, cover with wet glue, apply a layer of batting and allow to dry
2. Cover the top half of your card with patterned paper, I used flocked paper by Making Memories. Cut a frame from Bazzill, stamp with the stamp of your choice and apply perfect pearls. Mount the frame over the flocked paper.
3. Cover the batting with fabric, pull the fabric taut and glue in place. Evenly stitch over the top of the fabric and pull tight, tie ends in a knot and fluff the end of the thread.
4. I sewed small seed pearls along the bottom edge of my lace, then glued the top edge of the lace on the back of the fabric covered board then flipped it over to make a seamless finish. Glue the board and slip it under the edge of the frame so it slightly overlaps then stick in place.
5. Add your sentiment.

To make the butterflies
I used some K&Co chipboard butterflies which I traced onto grungeboard and then cut out. There are lots of digital templates or dingbats that you could use to create yours, or run it through a die cutter with your favourite die to make it even easier!
1. Cut out your butterflies, sandwich in your chosen embossing folder and run through your die cutting machine. I used Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl.
2. I painted mine white with acrylic paint, you could paint a coloured layer of base coat, then paint over with white paint and lightly sand to reveal the colour underneath.
3. Once dry, lightly smooth versamark ink over the top, don't press too hard as you only want to ink the raised detail. Dust over the top with perfect pearls, I used interference blue for a nice lustre.
4. Lightly ink the edges, then apply small blobs of distress stickles around the edge (a little goes a long way!) and smooth around the edge with your finger.
5. Gently pull the wings together to create a more 3D effect. Embellish with sequins and gems to create the body.
6. Flip the butterfly over and glue ribbon 'tails' on the back and top with a tuille bow. Take a length of wire, fold in half, curl the ends and glue for the antennae.
7. Adhere butterflies to card.

I have also added a list of the supplies I used, it does seem quite long but most things you should have in your stash already, all of my cardstock, fabric and ribbons were offcuts so it's great to use up all those bits and pieces you have lying around.

If you do make your own, please post a link to yours in the comments section, I'd love to see it!

Until December!
p&r

Supplies needed:
Card blank
Patterned paper
Bazzill
Card
Fabric/lace/batting/needle and thread
Ribbon and Tuille
Grungeboard
Glitter/gems/sequins/beads
Embossing folder
Distress stickles/Distress Ink
Perfect Pearls

Drought

A bit of a drought at the moment, i'm in the process of moving house and unfortunately all my crafty stash is the first casualty when packing!

Hope to be back mid-december with some new bits and pieces!

Spooktastic

I am rather accident prone at the moment, from hurting my back, tripping over my own feet and now I have 2 fingers strapped together which makes typing and crafting a rather slow process!

I have been working with the latest Crafty Templates kit Autumnal Treats and it is scrummy. Filled with papers and embellishments that work for both Autumn cards and Halloween Treats . As soon as it landed I had so many ideas and the templates that come with it are adorable, unfortunately I have been hampered somewhat by my unbendy fingers so I only managed a couple of cards and a mini book by deadline, but I'm hoping to work on some more cards later this week!

Apologies for the small pictures, they are clickable for a large size, Blogger seems to be stretching out my pictures if I make them any bigger!

How cute are the halloween characters? I added the apple, candy and the letters which die cut from sizzix Wingo Zingo alphabet.

The front of the mini book. The wrap is made from Bazzill Just the Edge wavy cardstock strip with a velcro closure topped with Elle's Studio Halloween Mini Paper.

The pages were die cut with Spellbinders Labels One then backed onto black card. Each page was set with eyelets and threaded with ribbon, I added Elle's Studio Vintage Label cut outs then miniature halloween characters from the templates provided.

Cute little Halloween treat bags. I folded the bag into 3 and stapled the back to make a smaller bag, die cut a label and added a pumpkin from the template and more Elle's Studio paper. I made a few of these to give to my friends kids. I tried making little bags for any trick or treaters that knocked on my door last year, but because we live on a dark, country road no-one dared venture out of the village to us!

Finally, an autunal card using the template for the trees, yummy Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice papers, handstitching on the leaves and as a border and Hero Arts sentiment.

I'm off to rest the fingers after the epic post and look forward to posting some more during the week after I get the splint off. Happy Crafting :)

Christmas is a-coming!

I used to be very bah humbug when it came to christmas but last year felt a resurgance of christmas spirit and threw myself into decorating and baking and loved it (could have also been because I didn't work over the christmas period for the first time in 7 years!)

I've noticed some changes around me recently, mince pies, stollen and family tins of sweets in the supermarkets, plans at work for the all important 4th quarter and finally the christmasalicious September Crafty Templates kit that arrived the other week! What's a girl to do but try to embrace the season so I popped on a christmassy movie and here is what I came up with.

I loved the little stockings, especially coupled with the sweet little bells, made me think of elves which in turn prompted me to watch Elf while making these!

The house template was so cute, I liked the idea of opening the windows like you would with an advent calendar.

I cut the jumper template from felt and embroidered. It's perfect to send to my friend in Canada where it's so very cold.

This is not a template card, but I liked how it turned out. I love using my cuttlebug embossing folders and this one is a firm favourite, it adds just the right wintery touch.

Hope this week has been kind to you all, have fun :)

Zig-a-Zig-GAH!

I am at odds with my sewing machine. I love the look of sewn cards and it took me quite a while to be brave enough to use my sewing machine on a card for fear of ruining it and sure enough I did the first time but I keep persevering with varying results.

I started this card for my mother in law's birthday and decided that I wanted to sew the paper on for a more finished look and with some trepidation started with the sewing. The first inch went well then it all started to go wrong, it started missing stitches, zigging when it should have zagged and so on and so forth. I continued onwards and after i was finished it just looked...ugly. I took some thread and oversewed the parts that had been missed, it looks much better but I can still see where I had to correct it, I just hope the MIL doesn't!

A Special Lady's Birthday

I was going to give my mum a card that I made a while ago that she really liked, but decided she required something a bit more special. So for her birthday this Sunday I came up with this:

My first full acetate card.  I used the same template as the Celebrate card for the inside paper, added a Bo Bunny dotted card strip on the front used with my new Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch (oh how I love it so!) some grosgrain ribbon, a K&Co butterfly, a beautiful paper rose I found on etsy a while ago then added a handmade beaded embellishment and some sparkle stones. I was so pleased with how it came out, almost exactly as I had imagined it!

To while the time away while making some of these recent cards I have become addicted to the Gilmore Girls tv programme and I am working my way through the boxset. Has anyone else watched it? I just want to pack my bags and move to Stars Hollow!

Duly Noted

It's my wonderful Mum's birthday on Sunday and I wanted to make her a little something. I knew right away that I wanted to create a set of notecards after my first attempt the other day with the sunflower ones.

I have a box of gorgeous K&Co Madeline chipboard butterflies and a paper pad that I have been waiting to use so I went ahead and created some simple notelets using the papers, a butterfly, ribbon and a sentiment. I made 2 each of three designs complete with lined matching envelopes. They measure 4 1/4in x 3 3/4 in.

A bigger picture can be seen here. I love them, they are such a cute size and perfect for a quick little note. I also made a box using Chatterbox papers, sizzix die cuts and ribbon which I think she will love.

I want to keep it for myself now! I guess I'll just have to make another one :)

Princesses and Baby Love

I adore my Niece, she is so huggable, bubbly, chatty, cute as a button, adorable, ok I think you get the picture! Unfortunately she, along with my best friend and Nephew emigrated a million miles away (well, maybe not a million but enough that I can't visit every month) and I miss them all so much. They have been at the forefront of my thoughts just recently and although her birthday isn't until December I wanted to make her card now, it made me feel good knowing I was creating something for her and I also want to make sure I can package up a big parcel for all of them for christmas and need to send it mid-November to make sure it gets there on time!

She is a proper little princess, beautiful blue eyes and blonde ringlets so I know that she would love a very girly card and this is what I came up with:

I adore the Imaginisce 'Fairest of them All' collection and was sad that it has been discontinued so have been buying up as much of it as I can. I used two different papers, a chipboard sentiment, some glitter sizzixed (is that a word?) swirls, velvet trim, ribbon roses and sparkly stones. I love it and I am hoping that she will too. I now need to scrap some photos of her using the aforementioned papers!

During my little stamping session the other day I also stamped this cute giraffe, again from imaginisce, colouring him with watercolour pencils.

I used some of my new whitewash coredinations card, cuttlebug embossing folder and some other bits of stickers and trim. Please note the stitching, not something I am used to and I was quite pleased with it. I am not so pleased with the card I am working on at the moment, I used a zig-zag stitch and it zigs more than it does zag so I am currently oversewing parts of it by hand grrrrr.

I don't have anyone around me expecting so I don't usually make baby cards, but he was too darn cute so I went ahead and made one anyway. You never know when you might need a card for such an occasion, right? right?

*crickets*

Shhh, it makes me happy and you never know, someone in the family may have some type of 'tuplet' and that will excuse the ten ton of cards I plan on making - athough I hope they don't weigh ten tons, ouch!

A very productive few days.

I was lucky enough to finish work on Wednesday afternoon for a few glorious days off and decided that I should really get started on making some cards. I have so many birthdays and anniversaries coming up in the next couple of months, usually I only have 1-2 occasions to make for but I have 17 over the next 3 months and I need to make a headstart!

However, sometimes things don't always go to plan. Here is the first, created for my boss for his birthday on Sunday, although I have now found out that he does not celebrate his birthday and is particularly touchy as he is 40 this year so I guess this one is going back in the box ready for another male birthday - I always have trouble striking the right balance on men's cards. I created a template for the background, cut it out of Doodlebug dotted swiss and doodled the coloured frame on the outside to tie it in with the pre-made greeting.

I then became distracted from the task at hand and made a couple of others, not for any particular purpose but just to pull a couple of ideas together.

I have been playing around with some vintage-y ideas for a while but I can't seem to strike the right balance, this seems a little bright and the distress stickles didn't go quite how I wanted but when I catch a glance at it on my desk it looks so pretty and girly that I can't resist it! IRL the love card sits behind the flower petals.

This one below isn't floating my boat, sure it would be lovely to blog about the things you are most proud of, but hey, i'll take the rough with the smooth!

I started off cruising around some blogs looking at stamping techniques so thought I would have a go at stamping and watercolouring. I am resisting the temptation of Copics/Promarkers and I know I couldn't just start off with one of two, I'd want the whole set! I stamped the butterfly with staz-on, so far so good, pencilled with the watercolours and blended them together and I thought it looked ok, then I smothered the whole thing in perfect pearls which looks very spangly but doesn't really show in the picture.

Regardless of the fact that I just spent £30.00 on some new Hero Arts greeting stamps I couldn't find the right sentiment for the card so I used a K&Co sticker, but it had yellow/green on it and there was none on the card so I added the Doodlebug frill. I don't know what it is about me but I like things to tie together, I definitely need to try something outside of my comfort zone!

It's definitely on the 'meh' list so I think i'll just save it for when I need to dash off a quick card! More cards to post this week :)

Cherry = Love

I adore cherries, it's high up there with my two other favourites almonds and pears. I love the smell and the taste, both edible and in bath products, patterns or the colour!

I found a cute little BG Cherry stamp set on holiday and knew I had to buy it! I feel some more cherry related cards coming soon and I can't wait to snaffle some of that Doodlebug Cherry Amore and Berry Blue paper to make some sweet summer goodness!

Now, I'm not one for sewing much but I was so pleased to work out for myself how to make the stitching on the cherry stems in one continuous line. I know, I'm not the sharpest pin in the sewing box when it comes to anything stitch related!

Sunshiney Day

What a beautiful day today, a nice relief to the grey days experienced here recently. Although I am a self professed 'rain lover', you know the feeling, wrapped up in a duvet, the rain tinkling against the windows and you are snuggled up with that special someone watching a good movie and all is right with the world, but I do forget how much I enjoy the sun and how it can lift your mood, so I sat down today and knew that I wanted to make something yellow to reflect the happy vibe (even though I have a horrible week ahead of me at work being on call from 8am - 11pm)

The flower came from a recent kit, it's one of those pieces of stash that you look at and think it is too pretty to use, I do that a lot and therefore end up with lots of pretty things which never make it onto a card or scrap book page, I need to make a mid-year resolution to start cutting into that pretty paper and use all those sweet embellishments.

I love making little cards, I made these ones from the offcuts from the first card and added some sunflower toppers that I bought on sale a few years ago. I'm thinking of creating a whole bunch of these using a couple of sheets of co-ordinating papers and some mixed sentiments as a little gift for my mum.

I think that about does it for today. Hope you and yours enjoyed a wonderful weekend!

August Card Kit

Sometimes life just gets in the way doesn't it? I was poorly for the first half of July, then I had a fab holiday and promptly came back to earth with a thump and the post holiday blues! I had so many good intentions to get crafty, from making cards, scrapbooking and other little projects and they seemed to fall by the wayside. I did manage to complete a Making Memories 8x8 mini book about my holiday, but the cardmaking, not so much. I have managed to complete my DT assignments and I hope to start on some new cards for the weekend, so many ideas but when it comes to getting them all out I'm sitting there staring at the paper - I need to find some get up and go!








These little monsters are dangling on some acetate to give some movement, I love hearing the wiggle eyes rattle!



My first ever pop up card with a couple of miniatures of the larger templates

July Card Kit

So here are my first submissions for the Crafty Templates design team, albeit a little bit late! I'm still finding my feet with it but I hope you like them!

Very excited!

I'm a dabbler when it comes to crafting, some months I can go at it full throttle then I can have a serious lull like I did during June, however at the end of June I did have a lovely pick me up. I have been invited to join the Crafty Templates design team! I was seriously shocked and flattered to be asked and this month I created my first submissions, here is a little sneak peek..



It certainly helped me get started but I'm off on holiday next week so I'm hoping that won't put me in that 'post holiday lull' sorta feeling! I decided to take a little break from crafting and thought I'd watch a movie, why, oh why did I choose Marley & Me? I blubbed like a baby and made my already pounding head a lot worse!

Why is my head pounding? I had an accident with a rather heavy box falling on my head earlier this week which gave me mild concussion, it didn't help that I was working away from home so I had to go to a rather scary hospital in London all on my todd, something I don't wish to repeat! Fortunately the rather nice Dr today at my local surgery gave me some lovely tablets to help ease my headache and once the Marley & Me snivells disappear I should feel a lot better!

I hope this week treated you better ;)

Birthday Wishes

Ugh, I have a cold and feel very sorry for myself at the moment and if one more person says 'I hope it's not swine flu' I will throttle them!

Whilst I have been home sick I have been working on a birthday card for my Nanna's birthday at the end of the month, I usually end up leaving it to the last minute and I hate rushing a card as I like to put a bit of thought behind it.

This card started off in the same vein as my mother's day card, I knew the look I wanted to create and started pulling bits together. I originally started with some pretty green K&Co Madeleine paper and chipboard butterflies and a victorian cherub embellishment, but when I talked to my Mum about my original idea she wondered if I could make something in blue as it's my Nanna's favourite colour and this is what I came up with.


I started off with the padded idea, i tried it on thin chipboard and funky foam but didn't get the little indents I wanted so tried it again with felt as the padding and it worked better than I expected. I added the MM Paperie flocked paper but because of the padding it was had a large step between the two hence the frame. If I had been thinking a bit better I should have raised the flock paper to the same depth of the padding.

I haven't used Grungeboard before but it's a great medium to work with. I hand cut the butterflies from GB, embossed with cuttlebug folder, painted then decorated with glitter, distress stickles and perfect pearls. I mounted them over some tulle and added some ribbon tails. I have had the lace for almost 20 years (I almost fainted when I realised that, how can I be so old??) and handstitched some seed beads at the edges.

My only problem is how to pack it, it's definitely not going to fit in an envelope!

To love and be loved

I found this as a journalling card on some Fancy Pants papers and really liked it. I cut the card following the lines then cut some co-ordinating card and a card blank in the same shape to replicate. I then drew the border and coloured it with watercolour pencils and Marvy pens, which is something new for me. I finished it with some ribbons from my favourite Etsy store.

Aloha

I've always loved hibiscus flowers, ever since holidays to spain as a child, the vivid colours and long stamen, I liked to pick them and put them behind one ear and imagine being a flamenco dancer. Now I associate them with Hawaii, must be all those surf clothes that feature them.

I recently scored a bargain paper pack of mixed prints and there was a really pretty one with hibiscus on them that i knew I had to use but I wasn't sure on what or how.

I made these little aloha notecards with the paper, some sizzix die cuts embellished and raised on foam squares and stamped the aloha on little squares of card. I thought they were pretty cute.

I was then left with the remnant die cut pieces that I didn't use and I couldn't waste them so I decorated them and put them to one side and left them for a couple of weeks. Eventually I got sick of looking at them on my desk all lonely and unloved so I popped them together on this card. I think I like it and it's different from what I've done recently.

Supplies: White Card, Dovecraft Retro Floral Paperpack, Sizzix Thin Cuts Hibiscus die, Glitter, Chalks, Scallop punch, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, Woodware Circular Greeting from the previous post.

Birthday Goodness

I was thoroughly spoiled for my birthday and received lots of crafty goodness including these stamps, I can never get enough of sentiment stamps!

Some new (new to me) cuttlebug folders, I wasn't keen on the D'vine swirls at first but it looks great when you emboss a die cut shape.

Some cosmic shimmer powders, I really love using perfect pearls and picked up 3 more pots recently but loved the bright colours of these, so tropical!


I also picked up some Grungeboard, Metallic Alcohol Inks, single stamps and a few other bits and pieces, I just need to get my butt in gear and create something, i had a good run for a while but seem to be having trouble at the moment!

Another revisit

Another oldie today, didn't get much accomplished last night. I love this little duckie card, so easy to make and coloured with watercolour pencils with a little bit of stickles for the beak. This is a lift of a card I saw a while ago but unfortunately can't remember where!

Today's Progress

Used up some more of the kit from Crafty Templates , I've never used a card kit before but I have found that I am able to create much faster from a kit! I'm thinking of putting together my own kits from my own supplies and see if that boosts my productivity!


I did add a couple of my own things, I used a sizzix die for the birds and branches and imaginisce stamp for the sentiment.


I used my sizzix machine for the flowers and some extra aqua bazzill, perfect pears and a thanks sentiment stamp

This is my least favourite, it didn't come together as I would have liked. Paper 'buttons' from the paper included in the kit, rikrac, sequin leaves and a cuttlebug folder.