more... more... more...

I love this style of wedding card. It was originally inspired by one I'd seen on the Docrafts gallery. I usually make them A5 sized and personalise the cards with the names and date, but thought that I'd try a couple of smaller ones for my box! I think they turned out ok? Apart from the extremely thin ribbon on this card, I only realised I hadn't got any thicker ribbon when it came to sticking it all down! I like to make these cards to co-ordinate with the wedding theme where possible.
I've made this version of the 3 Tie's card before but using different papers. These papers are actually part of the Pink Petticoat Christmas Lights kit. I love the red/blue colour combination. Again, I've finsihed it with a Craftwork Cards sentiment. Meet Alex the Lion! I've been having fun with my punches again! My 3 year old son gave him his name! He's a big Madagascar fan! He's not quite how I pictured him before I started and is a combination of a couple of punched lion's I'd seen before. I think he's quite cute though. The background paper is Epsom again. The perfect colours for Alex!

I've used the Sugar Nellie pirate with an Epsom treasure map for this card. I've torn and distressed the eges of the map and then added the sentiment using my sizzix naturally serif alphabet. I've just added some navy eyelets to tie in with the sentiment and to add a bit more colour to the card. Quite a simle one, but I think had I have added anything else I'd probably have ruined it!

More Christmas Creations!

You might remember this chap from a couple of posts ago! Well I've really struggled to make a card with him. I had a flick through some of my old cards to see if any of the layouts inspired me and this is what I've finally come up with! I printed the sentiment using paint shop pro. The Santa's list is part of a great stamp set I picked up recently in Hobbycraft, called Holly Jolly Christmas by Hampton Arts. It must be an old set as I've not been able to find any cards made using these stamps or anywhere else that sells them!

And another version, using one of my old layouts. I've decided to keep the colour scheme to all of my cards fairly similar this year. It saves on buying lots of different papers etc and I like to have some sort of theme to my Christmas cards.

I saw this card on Julie's blog last year and absolutely fell in love with her poinsettia. I didnt have a go at it last year, but was brave this year so have given it a try and am quite pleased with the result, although it was a little time consuming. I love the idea of using the paper ribber tool for the petals. I tried to vein them using my embossing tool, but they didn't look as effective. So a big Thank You Julie for your inspiration! I wanted to keep the card very simple, so as not to take the attention away from the poinsettia so have based the card on one I made last year, only I like this one better!

A Close up of the poinsettia!

I think this next card is probably my favourite of the christmas cards so far . I was so pleased with how this little punched penguin turned out! I've stamped some snowflakes onto some Kraft card for the background, then used a few torn strips of heavy vellum with the edges glittered as the snow. The sentiment is stamped from my new Hampton Arts Set. The large snowflake is a Cuttlebug Die, which aslo comes with a matching embossing folder too! All quite simple again, but quite effective. I think the orange brad just finishes it off, taking the colour from the penguins nose!

I've been crafting all day today and I've only actually made two cards! I have been playing around with a box template as I'm planning on making Christmas Cookies to give as a gift this year. The first box was a bit big and the second one was about the right size but the cookies are a bit too big! I made a test batch yesterday, like the ones you get in Tesco's or Millies Cookies, the slightly gooey ones! I'm thinking that I might be better off making a slightly smaller cookie as' I'll get more out of the mixture and these are little on the large side! Delicious though!

Thats all for now, I'm afraid. I'm off to re-create some more of these cards ready for a couple of craft fairs I've got coming up, and to finish off working on my cookie boxes! I may have to test a few more cookies first though!

Thanks for stopping by and reading.

I've been getting ready For Christmas! and its only October....

Well as the title says I've been getting ready for Christmas. It is a little early for me. Usually I don't make any Christmas cards until at least the end of November. I have however been really inspired by all the fab cards and gifts on Splitcoast Stampers and also I'm loving the use of Kraft card stock with white brown's & reds, by the Elzybells team. I'm severely lacking in funds at the moment so the option to buy all the gorgeous new Christmas stamps is just not available! So I've set about making some of my own embellishments using my punches and a pair of scissors! I'm actually really pleased with how they have turned out, but as yet have only made a card using the punched Robin. I thought I'd share them with you though, so here they are! I first saw a punched Robin card on Ruth M's blog which is what first inspired all my punched characters!

The Robin!

I wasn't really sure what to do with the little Robin once I'd made him but after a bit of inspiration surfing, I came up with this. Something quite simple really. I really love these gingham ribbons. I've stocked up as I have a feeling they are going to be the theme of my cards this Christmas!The main man! Santa! I had good fun making him. I'd seen a couple of examples but thought I'd adapt them to come up with my own version. I've used my nesties to cut out the beard and a flower punch for the moustache. I've inked all the edges in charcoal ink to give him a bit more definition. I love my little penguin! I didnt really know what i was doing when I was making him, so made him up as I went along. I'm really pleased with how he turned out. I think I might make a little bobble hat for him though or maybe a santa hat.
Frosty's not really a punched character! I used my nesties again to cut him out, but wanted to go for a bit of a rustic look. So I pulled out my gingham ribbon again and added a button as his scarf. I've used Kraft cardstock for his buttons and hat, all of which have been inked. I decided to go with an orange brad for the nose rather than trying to create a pointy carrot type nose. The string for the arms was an after thought. I'm really pleased with how it looks though. To finish him off I've just added some highlighting with my white marker pen.

I saw Kath's card which had been made using the free template from papercraft inspirations which was what led me to make this card! I've used a combination of doodlebug card to make this card and again have inked all the edges to define him a bit more. I've used foam pads to stick his nose on to make it stand out a bit more and have highlighted it again using my white pen. The snowflakes were cut using a cuttlebug die, but I've now invested in a snowflake punch which is a lot less time consuming! Finished off with some star shaped adhesive stones in the centre of each snowflake. I never seem to use the stars so thought this would be a good way to utilise them! I then finished the card with some brown & red gingham ribbon topped with a sparkly snowflake and a brown brad. I wasn't sure whether to add a sentiment or not, but I dont think it really needs it! I think most people would gather that its for Christmas! I hope!

Its gonna be a long one! grab a cuppa!

Sorry for the long post...I've been such a bad blogger lately. I just dont seem to be able to keep up! In all honesty, i've not actually made many cards recently and the ones posted below have been made over the past couple of months. I thought it would be easier to put them into categories, so here goes!

Girly:This card was made for my mum's friend, who wanted something pink with butterflies. What made it easier is that it was for her 85th Birthday, so I started with my trusty old number style card and embellished with butterflies and lots of adhesive stones. It was quite a difficult card to photograph with the mirrored butterflies.

This card is for my friends little boy and girl to give to their auntie. The request was for something pink and princessy with an image of a little boy and girl on it. I've stamped the Edwin and Tilda images but then scanned in the Tilda image to the pc and re-sized her so that she is slightly smaller than her big brother! I love these papers so much, very girly and sparkly! they are from the raqnge Fairest of them all by Imaginisce.
This card is for the same lady as the one above. Her sister has paid for her to have ice skating lessons for her birthday and wanted a card to match. I found a template on the internet for an ice skate and decided to use this papermania paper in the background as it has a swirly pattern, hopefully made to look like it has been skated on! I've added some extra glitter too! I'm really pleased with how this one turned out.

I was asked to make this card for a family who have recently lost thier teenage daughter. The lady asked for something with rainbow's and angels, but I couldnt find any angel images that I felt were suitable, but in a flash of inspiration I thought I'd use butterflies instead. The background image is one I found on Google. I'd be quite touched if I'd have received this card when I lost my little girl, and hope that the family that receive it feel the same too.

For my Mummy:

Tomorrow is my mum's birthday. I like to try out a new idea or project when it comes to my mum's birthday. I like to give her something a bit more special, something that's had a bit more effort put into it. This is my first flowerpot card. I used the tutorial found on Joanne's blog, which you can find here. I love Joanne's blog, its so inspiring and has many ideas for "no tools" flowers.
I found that placing the flowers was the most difficult part. I spent a very long time moving them around, trying to get them in the right place, but in the end had to settle and just stick them down where they were before it drove me completely insane! I tend to do that all to often with my cards! Not bad for a first attempt, but there are definately things I will do differently next time.I've made another slightly different version for my son to give to his Nanny tomorrow. I've used a different stlye of flower punch and less flowers. This one was a lot quicker and easier to put together. Hopefully she will like them both. I wonder how long it will take her to realise how to find the message though! lol. Also I have added a little stand to the back of each of the flower pots so the stand up nicely.

I've bought my mum a nice boquet of flowers, which she had delivered today, and to go with them I bought her a small box of choccies. I've been wanting to make a little treat box for a while now, so today I set about making this one for her. I saw a box recently on Mandy's blog, which was shaped like a bird box. I thought it was really cute, and after a lot of searching, I still couldnt find a template anywhere. I've made this box myself based on the measuremenst of the choccies inside. I'm quite pleased with it. It's not quite how I imagined it would turn out, but a good first attempt. I've made the lid so that it just lifts off with the ribbon threaded through the top of the lid. And finally, I made this card for my step-dad to give to my mum. I'd been working on this little paper pieced cake stand a few days ago and thought it would be ideal for my mum. The cupcakes are actually from one of the Pink Petticoat Lola Rose images which I've printed and cut out and then have heat embossed the tops with clear powder, to make them look like they have frosting on them, and then just coloured the topping in red. The teapot is also a Pink Petticoat image. The cake stand is made by simply using my Stampin Up Scalloped edge punch and a swirly punch for the legs. I'm really pleased with it! I've been looking around for a stamp with a nice cake stand on, but now I dont think I need one anymore!

Craftwork Cards Inspired:

I've had these little Craftwork Cards sentiments in my draw for quite some time now, and I really love them, but I dont use them as often as I should! They were my starting point for this card & candle gift set. I love the shape of the background on this card, not sure what the shape itself is called but I know there are a set of nestabilities out there like this, with my name on them!!!! one day I will own them! but for now I just drew my own template out of card and hand cut the shape. I've gone round the edge with my quickie glue pen and then sprinkled on some glamour dust for that bit of sparkle! I've then gone round the edge of the shape with my pokey tool and pierced the card. Then just a few adhesive stones to finish.

I love these flowers. They are quite large and were a freebie with one of my magazines a few months ago! The papers are from Pink Petticoat. I've used a few pins to firmly attach the card/paper and ribbon to the candle.

This card was inspired by Julie who's blog I came across whilst looking through the Craftwork Cards blog. I've spent a long time looking over her blog and her wonderful inspiring creations. I love the use of a single colour on this card, but I decided to add silver edges to the embossed squares and flowers and a touch of silver ribbon too.

I fancied having a go at one in colour too, and this is what I came up with. Something for the fella's this time!

Something for the kids:

I'm always really inspired by Kerry's blog and was particularly inspired when I saw a card with this layout! I had this Edwin image coloured in and sitting in my box for a while so decided it was about time he was put to use. I found he co-ordinated quite well with these Basic Grey Abrosia papers.

Using the same layout again, but this time with Tilda, whos so cute! and some more Basic Grey papers. I think this is the Bittersweet yummy chocolatey collection. Such a simple, yet striking layout.

This card is for my friend to give to her little boy on his 2nd Birthday. I've layered Thomas's face with 2 layers of foam pads and have layered the middle of the cloud with 2 layers of foam pads but have stuck the sides down with tape. The tunnell is hand cut/drawn and the train lines were downloaded from the internet and printed onto clear ascetate. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I think I may try this with tyre treads for car cards too if I can find some to download!

Weddings & Anniversary's:

This is a copy of a card I made a few months back, only this time in Sapphire Blue! I really love the simplicity of this card and have since made another one for a friends wedding recently.
This card was made for a couple who recently got married in Canada. My friend asked me to make it incorporating a Canadian theme somehow! As soon as she said that, I instantly thought of the Maple leaf and decided to copy a card I'd made in the past with the images of Tilda and Edwin sitting inside. I was really pleased with how it turned out.
I made this card for my Mum and step-dad's wedding anniversary last month. It was a bit of a last minute card, but I was so pleased with it. I've used a stamp that came free in a magazine and have stamped it using sliver ink and heat embossed the hearts. Finished with a nice silver bow and a few heart shaped adhesive stones.
This is a card I was asked to make recently. The lady had seen one of my cards with the champagne glasses on and had asked for it to be personalised with the names/dates. She also wanted to incorporate light turquoise too. I've used this pistachio card from doodlebug. I hope its the right colour for her. Its the nearest I had to light turquoise! I've added a few punched flowers and adhesive stones to finish. Again, with all the mirror card used, this was a really hard card to photograph!
And last but not least! Hubby and I will be celebrating our 6th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow. We've actually been together twice as long! It took him a while to propose! The colour scheme for our wedding was Ivory/Gold and I like to make our Anniversary cards in gold to match. Not that I guess he would make that link though. Again the hearts on this card were a free stamp from a magazine, which I've stamped in gold and heat embossed. I've embossed a strip of white card with my swiss dots folder, added a strip of gold ribbon and edged it on some matt gold cardstock. The sentiment is stamped in gold too! There is A LOT of white space on this card, not something that I'm all that comfortable with, but I know its the sort of card that my hubby likes! Hope he likes this one too!

Well if you got to the end of this post, thank you for stopping by and reading. Hopefully I will update a bit more often in future!

Boys, Boys, Boys!

I've had a few of my friends little boys to make cards for over the past couple of weeks. I wanted to have another go at my favourite little paper pieced dinosaur that I made a few months back, and here he is. This time I've used the basic grey Archaic paper set, which is what origianlly inspired me to make my own dinosuar. The little bones are all hand drawn and cut out. In all I made 4 dinosaurs which were really time consuming but quite theraputic.I had this Sugar Nellie Pirate coloured and sitting in my stamped images box waiting to be used! I had a vision of this card before I made it, and Its absolutely nothing like it was going to be! I've actually kept it a lot simpler than it was going to be. Ive distressed the edges of the map and highlighted some of the lines so they stand out a bit more. I was having a flick through some of my old magazines looking for inspiration when I came across a page of Jo Kill's paper peiced toppers, one of which was a cute little builder. I had a go and he was really easy to make. I just cut out a few circles using a punch, did a little bit of cutting and a lot of edge inking! I've also gone with Jo's style of doodled edges which I think goes well with this image. I really like making my own paper peiced toppers for cards. Its very satisfyingAnd a slightly larger version. The diy letters are little wooden stickers that I got from a pound shop ages ago. I knew they would be usefull for something one day! The wood effect squre is actually some old laminate effect vinyl which we had left over from when we had to make a repair in our kitchen. Its actually been really usefull and I've used it on a few cards in the past.

My Favourite Layout!

I've discovered that this is my favourite layout at the moment. Every card I make using this sketch I really like, which is unusual for me! So here are a few of them. First of all is this gorgeous Edwin! I decided to use papers from the DCWV Rockstar stack, which I have been very reluctant to use in the past and it has sat in my craft room for about a year now! Its one of those sets thats too good to cut up, but I was brave and here is the result! I'm glad I used it now. The little records are so easy to make and so effective. I just cut a few small circles with my nestablities and popped an eyelet in the centre, and then just added a few white highlighted lines.
I liked the card above so much so, that I wanted to re-create a girly one using some of the pink papers from the Rockstar stack. It took me a while to come up with the idea of using the Ipod as I didn't think I had a suitable alternative to the Edwin image, until I woke up the following morning, after having made the card the night before, and realised that I have a Pink Petticoat image of Lola holding an Ipod! I will use that one next time, lol! I find the best ideas usually come after a good nights sleep, but then I have to write them down quickly before I forget! And finally, I bought these Basic Grey papers a month or so ago now, and was really inspired by the colours. I had this Edwin image already coloured and he kind of matches so thought I'd use him.