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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!

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!

Oh My Word...where has the last month and a half gone?

I'm so sorry for being such a bad blogger...I just dont know where the last month and a half has gone. It all started at the begining of May. I went to Cornwall for a week on holiday and I'm still not 100% back into my normal routine yet. After we came back from our holiday I had a couple of weeks to prepare for my stall at a local country fair. I've worked my socks off trying to get things ready in time! The show itself wasnt actually all that busy, the weather was great though and we have a really nice weekend away! It was nice to hear such lovely comments from people about my cards and gifts. Here is a piccy of my stall!

I've been asked to make quite a few cards recently and the first one I'm showing you is probably my favourite. I was browsing the docrafts gallery looking for inspiration for a Wedding card and I came across a card by Barbi which really inspired me. So I had a go at my own version and this is what I came up with. The colour scheme for the wedding is light toffee and cream so I thought I'd use these colours for the card. The wording is printed onto a cream pearlescent card, and I have personalised it with the bride and groom's name and date of the wedding.I really love this little girls first birthday card. I think it turned out really well! I've made a blue version of this card before, but this is my first go using the pink colour combination. The papers, card and ribbon are Doodlebug! who else?I was asked to make a thinking of you card for a lady recently and I decided to use a layout that i've used before using the cuttlebug embossing folders. This time though I thought I'd add a little extra to it by layering a stamped Tilda with Boquet in the bottom right corner.

And my final favourite for now! is this BBQ card. I have a stamp set from Studio G who I think are now being sold as Dovecraft stamps. They are the 99p sets. This is from "The Great Outdoors" set. I was inspired to make this card by lots of other cards on the Splitcoast Stampers Gallery. An invaluble source of inspiration!

I think that will do for today. I do still have lots more to show you, but I'll leave some for another time! Thanks for stopping by.

I've been a busy little bee...I've lots to show you

First of all, my mums friend, one of my most loyal customers! asked me to make her a wedding card which matched the invitation she received. She actually gave me the invite so I could use the embellishments from it which was really handy. She specifically requested an A5 gatefold card and this is what I came up with! The picture doesnt really do it much justice, its much prettier in real life. The original invite was simple a DL sized card with the ribbon and heart shaped diamonte buckle. I wanted to make the card simple and not too fussy. I've embossed a square with my nestabilities, a new technique for me! Usually I just cut and emboss them! I then printed the sentiment from my pc and mounted using silver mirror card. I've added two strips of the same ribbon to the edge of the card and finished with a few extra adhesive stones! I dont think you can beat simplicity when it comes to wedding cards.

The same lady asked me to make another card for an 80th Birthday, she wanted it to be quite simple with butterflies and flowers. I had a rummage through my stash and I pulled out this beautiful paper, by Laura Ashley. This is one of my favourites, I absolutely love the colours.

I've added some glamour dust to some of the butterflies for some added sparkle. I decided to make the sentiment the main feature of the card instead of sticking something else on and ruining it. I printed it from the pc and layered it using my trusty nestabilities, adding a few adhesive stones to finish it off. This has got to be one of the quickest cards I've made! I hope she likes it as much as I do.
Here are a couple of cards I made using some Pink Pettticoat Images. I love these Lola images! I'd actually had this one printed off for a while, so thought it was about time I made good use of her. I really love this combination of pink and grey.
And this one, I'm not sure about. I love the papers and the colours, but something about it just doesnt feel right. Its a sketch I've used on a few of my cards and they have all looked ok, but it doesnt seem to work her. The papers are from the Basic Grey Urban Prairie set. I've added some glamour dust to finish it off.

And the last pink petticoat card! I think this is my favourite of the three, I have used my quickie glue pen and glamour dust to highlight some of the flourishes on the paper. The sentiment is printed from my pc using the "Sparkly" font from Fontfinder.com

I've added quite a bit of glamour dust to lola and to the sentiment too.
I've made another stationery box for the lady who ordered the first two card as a thank you gift. Again, I've made a matching criss-cross card to go with it.
The only problem I've discovered when making the stationery boxes is that I've made A6 sized notecards to go in the back section, only I can't fit the envelopes in, they are about 1cm too big! So before I make the next one I have to resize the cards and find envelopes to fit! For now though she can have a pack of envelopes seperately!

I'm really pleased with how these have turned out. The box itself is very quick to make, its the contents that take the most time.
Right, I think thats about all for this post. I will be back soon though as I have more cards to show!

The sun is shining here today, and it feels quite mild too, so I'm off to make the most of it before it goes again.

Hope you all enjoy your day.

Woohoo! I made some more Cards! and Blog Candy Alert!

First of all, Tara is celebrating passing 10,000 hits on her blog and is offering some great blog candy. All you have to do is "follow" her blog and tell her your all time favourite song and she will add it to her playlist. You have until 31st January to do so. Please go and check out her blog, as she has some stunning cards and is a great inspiration to me.

I've been in my craft room over the past couple of days and have a made some more cards! They are an order that i've received from my Aunt. The first card is very similar to one i made for her before and she liked it so much that she asked me to re-create it for her.

I've used quite a lot of silver mirror card on this one and it doesnt photograph very well! But in real life its really beautiful. Now I have to say that i'm not really a fan of peel offs anymore but seeing as they are what I used on the first card I made for her, that i'd do the same again. Also, I have a draw full of the things and I must use some up before I buy any more stamps! I've used a embossed pearlescent ivory card which is absolutely beautiful, I think it came from InspireMe Papers! I was asked to make this one for an older lady so went with a slightly more traditional look. The papers are from part of the Forever Friends Kit I got earlier in the year and the cardstock is Bazzill/Doodlebug. Again I've used another one of my peel offs in a bit of an effort to use some of the up and clear a bit of space in my drawers!

Well this is a card that I've tried and tested before and seems to prove quite popular! Its such a simple card to make but this time I think I've made it better than ever before which is why I've chosen to share it with you. I made the sign in paint shop pro and printed them out with an extra set of numbers so that I could decoupage them. I've then gone over it with my glue pen and added some glamour dust. The grey lines at the bottom are some thread that i've stitched onto the card. This time I've also layered it onto some red doodlebug card which just finishes it off nicely.

And finally, this is the set I was asked to make for the lady from the pre-school christmas fayre. I've used the forever friends bear on the card and candle and have used matching blue gingham ribbon on both too. I've printed the name date and weight of the baby on the candle too. I really hope she likes it.

Well thats all for today. I'm going to spend some time colouring some stamped images and seeing if I can get inspired to make some cards with them!