24 Valentine's Day Cards Round Up

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought I would pop in and post a quick recap of all the Valentine's Day cards I have ever featured on my blog. Happy viewing and have a wonderful day :)

2015

2014

2013

2011 

2010 

2009

7 more cards for Valentine's Day.

As I mentioned in my last post I had fun making a whole bunch of Valentine's Day cards a couple of weeks ago and I am back again to share some more from that weekend.

I have to say that the first one is one of my absolute favourites.

Cardstock - Bazzill. Patterned paper and die cuts - Crate 

Paper. Stamps and die - Lawn Fawn. Enamel dots - hand 

made. Twine - American Crafts.

I love it so much that I don't think that I can part with it. It's all in the small details, the matching die cuts, the roller skate ticket, the punny sentiment and I had fun 'lacing' the boot too!

I need no excuses to make a shaker card!

Cardstock and glitter paper - American Crafts. Patterned paper 

and ribbon- Doodlebug Design. Die - Lawn Fawn. Colouring 

medium - Promarker. Heart sprinkles - Cake shop. Nested 

heart cut file #23523 - Silhouette America.

I nested 3 hearts and then separated them in Silhouette Studio and cut them from white, red and pink paper. I then glued the 3 panels together to create the nested heart. Sprinkles from the cake store made a fun shaker addition, as did some very old Doodlebug paper and ribbon. I cut the Scripty love die from a foam sheet so it would pop on the front of the card.

As I said, no excuse for a shaker!

Cardstock - Bazzill. Die - Lawn Fawn. Sentiment font Paprika #40924 

- Silhouette America. Shaker contents - Poundland.

This was super simple to make. I cut an A2 panel and ran it through my silhouette machine with the sketch pen setting to create the sentiment, I then die cut the word 'love' with my Lawn Fawn die, the panel was then mounted on acetate and foam tape. The contents were purchased at my local Poundland in the nail art section, I love the scale of the sequins.

Do you ever rediscover things that you forgot you owned in your craft room? C'mon, I know I am not alone and I do it an unhealthy number of times a month too :/ In this instance it was the stamp set.

Cardstock - Bazzill. Stamps - Wplus9. Dies - Wplus9, Avery Elle.

I like how fresh and clean the card feels compared to some of the others I have made.

I purchased the heart acetate on this card many moons ago and this is the first time I have used it.

Cardstock - Hero Arts. Acetate - Anna Griffin. Patterned paper - Amy 

Tangerine. Ribbon - Doodlebug Design. Stickers - Accessorize.

And sometimes clean and simple is what's needed.

Cardstock - Bazzill. Patterned paper - My Minds Eye. Dies - 

Paper Smooches, Lawn Fawn. Glitter paper - American Crafts.

and sometimes I like things pastel and frou-frou!

Cardstock - Bazzill. Patterned paper - Prima. Sentiment 

panel - Crafty Secrets. Flowers - Hobbycrafts, Crate Paper.

Decorative pin - Dainty Paperie.

Shabby chic is not my usual style but it worked well with the sentiment.

What's your favourite occasion to craft for? As you can see one of mine is Valentine's Day, closely followed by Easter, I love the springy colours and soft pastels.

Thanks for reading,
Ang.

6 Cards for Valentine's Day

I had a blast a couple of weeks ago making Valentine's Day cards, I think it must be one of my most favourite occasions.

I had the idea in my head for this one for quite a while and was happy with how it came together, I just hope my husband likes it!

Patterned paper - Crate Paper. Dies - Avery Elle, Paper Smooches. 

Font - Automobile. Glitter paper - American Crafts. Stickers - Accessorize.

I cut the title from AC glitter paper with my trusty Silhouette and it cuts like a dream. You can usually find it Oct-Feb in TK Maxx/Homesense in a 12x12 mix pack, it rocks!

Cardstock - Bazzill. Paper elements - Crate Paper. Heart viewfinder 

cut file #53828 - Silhouette America. Brad - American Crafts.

I made this one first, I had seen the heart viewmaster cut file and just knew that I wanted to incorporate it on a card somehow and I liked making it so much I had to do it again...

Cardstock - Bazzill. Patterned paper - Crate Paper. Paper elements - 

Crate Paper, My Minds Eye. Brad - American Crafts. 'Spin Me' stamp 

- Papertrey Ink. Heart stickers - K&Co.

I was pleased to discover I owned the 'spin me' stamp in my Papertrey Ink Movers and Shakers sentiments set.

I had forgotten that I owned this set and I am looking forward to making some more interactive cards in the future.

I love virtually every Crate Paper release, Emma's Shoppe from 2011 is no exception. I have hoarded quite a bit of paper from this line and it was fun to use it on the next library themed card.

Cardstock - Bazzill. Patterned paper - Emma's Shoppe and Love 

Notes, Crate Paper. Stamps - Papertrey Ink. Dies - Papertrey Ink,

Lawn Fawn, Lil Inker, Mama Elephant. Glitter paper - American 
Crafts. 4x6 library pocket cut file #47236 - Silhouette America.

 This is using some very old paper by K&Co, I just love the cute little plaques.

Cardstock - American Crafts. Patterned paper - My Minds Eye, 

K&Co. Stickers - Papermania, Accessorize. Glitter pen - Sakura. 

Ribbon - Dainty Paperie.

I wasn't happy with this card for a while, originally I had the 'happy' banner over the red glitter heart and it left the sentiment floating in too much space, I was able to peel it off and move it to it's new position and I like it a lot more.

Cardstock - Hero Arts. Patterned paper - Crate Paper. Glitter 

paper - American Crafts. Dies - Paper Smooches. Letter stickers 

- Recollections. Heart and banner cut file #54405 - Silhouette 

America. Stickers - K&Co.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have seen something that tickles your fancy. I'll be back on Friday with 7 more Valentine's Day cards so check back soon!

Ang.

A return to crafting...and blogging!

Hello! It’s been awhile, seven months to be precise and during that time I felt like I lost myself craft wise, none of my ideas seemed original and I had over-saturated my brain by looking at blogs and pinterest on a daily basis. It started at the beginning of last year, I was less and less inclined to go in my craft ‘studio’ and create and by March I had had enough. Enough of what I wasn't completely sure of.

I purchased a number of stamps, dies and pads in June most of which were left untouched on my desk until recently. Every time I would go in my room those purchases would taunt me. ‘Come play with us, it will be fun’ but I would always start to feel panicky and would have to leave the room, sounds silly right?

I think the fear that prevented me from entering my room was due to having ‘crafter’s block’ and then looking at the sheer amount of money I have poured into this craft and it was sitting there, unused and it is money I can’t ever get back.  For those reasons and many more I keep coming back to the idea that I should quit. My husband kept reminding me of the joy it once gave me, and I had no idea how to get it back, I’m getting there slowly but it hasn't been a quick process.

It’s disheartening to go to chain card shops in my town and find them churning out beautiful looking cards with handmade touches for a tiny price. When you factor in supplies and my time the cards that I make work out more expensive but I don’t feel that I can charge a higher price. I am then stuck with the thought that I don’t actually make cards with the intent to sell them so it shouldn't matter.

Towards the end of December I made my first card....and I hated it. It’s nice enough but I got the positioning all wrong, the white space is imbalanced and I am not the type of crafter that can throw a project that’s not working in the bin, take a look for yourself.

Cardstock – Bazzill Card Shoppe. Patterned paper – Peppermint, Crate Paper. 

Dies – Lawn Fawn, Wplus9, Avery Elle, My Favourite Things. Stamps – Wplus9. 

Glitter paper – American Crafts. Enamel Dots – handmade.

I felt discouraged but persevered and a week later made the following card.

Cardstock – Bazzill Cardshoppe. Patterned paper – Crate Paper. Dies – Wplus9, 

Lawn Fawn. Stamps – Wplus9. Chalkboard sticker – American Crafts.

I was not happy with this one either, it’s a bit wishy washy and I’m not sure going with black for the banner was the right decision, in fact, I just plain don’t like it.

At this point I really did feel like I should give up; however I saw this card a couple of weeks later by my friend Nat at Kool Kitty Musings and was inspired to create something similar

Cardstock - Bazzill Cardshoppe. Patterned paper - Cambridge Court, Kate & Co - My 

Mind's Eye. Dies - Lawn Fawn. Pins - Dainty Paperie.

I love it, the colours, the pattern and the little embellishments, all of it! At last I was starting to feel more confident and proceeded to make a number of cards in quick succession (most of which I am saving for my valentine’s post) but here are a couple that I can share now!

Cardstock - Bazzill Basics. Patterned Paper - Cambridge Court, Kate & Co - My 

Mind's Eye. Die - My Favourite Things, Paper Smooches. Polaroid photo 

frame cut file #18096 - Silhouette America. 

I broke out my PTI Rosie Posie stamps and additions set for this one in my favourite floral colour scheme and had fun hand stitching the border.

Cardstock - Crafters Companion. Stamps and dies - Papertrey Ink. Ink - Memento.

I'm pleased to say that I (tentatively) think I have rediscovered my mojo, I never thought I would get here but it feels good to be back. Lastly I would like to thank you, my readers for sticking with me, for leaving lovely comments, sweet emails, pinning my cards and generally being awesome.

I hope to be back on a more regular crafting and blogging schedule for 2015 and I look forward to sharing my ideas and creations with you, up on the blog on Tuesday; 6 cards for Valentine's Day.

Happy 2015!

Ang x

PS - If you found your way here via Hobbycraft or BabyCenter, Hello and welcome!

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 25

I'm running a little bit behind with last week's 52 cards challenge "Whatever the weather", I did make this a few days ago but have been so busy with work and the weather has not been good enough to take photos so I have only just gotten round to taking them.

Patterned paper - Echo Park. Vellum - Anita's. Sentiment - Papertrey Ink.

Cloud cut file #18294, Sun cut file #17341

I already had this card in mind a couple of days before as I was itching to use my new paper smooches rainbow die.

I cut the rainbow shape six times from card stock scraps and arranged them into rainbows, I assembled one on the front of a die cut journaling card from Lawn Fawn and layered the card over a glittered sun from the Silhouette store, the clouds were also cut from vellum on my silhouette using the Echo Park cloud cut file that matches the background paper, I simply duplicated the image, made one slightly smaller and changed the cut line to dotted lines and it mimics stitched clouds.

The sentiment was stamped with an ancient rainbow pigment pad I found in my stash using the PTI Up, Up and Away sentiment set which was then embossed with clear embossing powder on vellum which was overlaid on card. Oh! I forgot to mention that I sewed a little border on the edge of my card stock and went over the printed raindrops with glossy accents. It really is a cheerful card :)

One last thing I thought I would share is a picture I found from a couple of weeks ago of some more crafty goodies I purchased, i'm such a naughty girl!

I have wanted the dainty bow dies for such a long time as well as the Lawn Fawn Let's Polka 6x6 pad, those yummy neon Freckled Fawn enameled dots and how sparkly are those Prima embellishments? I hope I have some time this week for some serious crafting.

Lastly, I created this card from the scraps and pieces I had on my desk from this card.

Happy hump day everyone x