70th Birthday card

Hi Everyone from a very sunny Somerset........makes a change but it's a lovely day today; blue skies, sunshine wall to wall and a light breeze.  Hope some of you are also enjoying this spring like weather.

I recently had a commission for a 70th birthday card for a lady who loves flowers and knitting!!!  Okaaay............well, this is what I came up with.

I found an old House Mouse image which was perfect for this card and who doesn't love House Mouse.  I started off by die-cutting the main pages for the book and embossed the lilac layers with my Sue Wilson Beaded Fanfare embossing folder.  I've used Sue Wilson's ivy die and the flowers are Heartfelt Creations Sun Kissed Fleur silver embossed onto lilac vellum and then die cut with the matching die.  The beaded pins are from my stash, as are the gems in the flowers and the ribbon.  The sentiment was computer generated.

I made the knitting needles from some wooden skewers, cut them down and made the ends from air dried clay painted with violet Wink of Stella.  I used some embroidery skein for the ball of wool.  The 70th and her name (Eira) were die cut using Spellbinders.  I've made a pocket using the smallest book page die which I've put onto the back of the card with a tag for the greeting.

I made a stand for the book using a Marianne Creatables LR0266 - three layers of cardstock glued together and then the lilac card for the filigree layer front and back.  This might sound like it's quite bulky but it needs to be quite weighty to hold the card in place.  I finished off by making a box for it.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I'm off to a Stampin Up workshop tomorrow so hopefully will post some photos on Sunday.

Happy crafting.

Bah Humbug - Challenge 46 - Fabric

The lovely ladies over at Bah Humbug have challenged us to make something with fabric this week.  Well I just so happened to be making a felted calendar for 2012 so this is ideal for the challenge.  I started off making my own felted fabric from wool tops.  I then made a template (using an old CD) and created my design within it which I numbered and cut out.  I pinned these pieces onto the various coloured fabrics and cut out.  I cut out a circle from black felt and then added my cut out coloured pieces in the correct order.  I used my Janome embellisher to attach the design to the felt backing.  I cut out another circle of black felt and embellished it to the main design around the edge - before finishing the circle I slipped in the old CD for added stability.  I added a piece of black felt as a hanging loop and a piece at the bottom to attach my calendar to.  The calendar has been covered with black card and peel-offs attached for the 2012 and around the edges.  To make it more Christmassy I die cut a Christmas tree from red velvet using a Marianne die and backed it with silver card to make it stand out.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Anniversary card

Hi everyone - just a quick post this morning showing an anniversary card I made for my sister Val and husband Jim.  I took an A5 card blank and die cut it using nesties and done the same with gold mirri.  I've used a Marianne cut and emboss folder for the main image and added a digi stamp sentiment and flowers die cut using a Spellbinders set called Anemone Flower Topper.

Thanks for dropping by.

Bah Humbug Challenge 37 - Swirls & Flourishes

This weeks challenge over at Humbug Towers is Swirls & Flourishes.  I decided to use one of my new Me to You Winter Wonderland stamp set as I think these images are so cute.  Stamped in Memento and coloured in with Letraset Fleximarkers which are brilliant.  I do love my Promarkers and Tria pens but love the brush tip on the Fleximarkers.  Can't wait til they bring out new colours to add to the range.  I've used my nesties to die cut the image and mat.  The backing paper is from my stash.  I put a piece of silver mat card in an embossing folder (swirls) and ran it through my Joy Trouvaille, rounded the corners and added a pink spotty ribbon.  The main image was layered on top.  I have used a Marianne Flourish, Stampin Up sentiment (cut using SU circle and scalloped circle punches) and added a piece of ribbon to this.  The snowflake is a Whimsy Stamps die and this was a strange bit of serendipity.  I wanted to cut the snowflake out of glittered paper but thought it would be too thin and might tear, so placed it on a piece of the pink card and ran it through my Joy.  When it came out the other side it had sort of welded both pieces together which was quite a nice effect so I left it.  I added some Embellishment Attic Snow for Tatty Ted to stand on.

Thanks for dropping by.

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LIM Week 31 - Colour - Metallics

This week the Divas over at Less is More have asked us to create a CAS card using a colour theme which, this week, is: 

METALLIC

I've been dying to use my new Marianne's Christmas Ornament dies and this was the perfect challenge for them.  I took some Art Emboss medium weight Pewter which I normally use in my free machine embroidery and die cut three shapes; two of the more open designs and one of the slightly more solid design.  They cut beautifully and, because the pewter is quite flexible, came out of the die easily.  I attached some metallic black and silver cord to the top of each ornament and then mounted onto a piece of black card to which I had put a strip of red liner tape around the outside edges and added metallic flakes to.  I then used Diamond Glaze on the inside of each of the ornaments to give a nice shiny finish and mounted this onto an A5 ribbed black card base.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up Contempo Christmas and embossed in detail silver e/p.  To finish I've gone round all the edges with a silver pen.

Thanks for leaving your comments - they are very much appreciated.

Less Is More - Week 27 - Colour of Your Nation's Flag

This week Mandi & Chrissie have challenged us to use the colours of our nation's flags which should provide a riot of colour.  I've decided to go with the Union Jack and red, white and blue for my card.  I've taken a white linen square base card and added a strip of red organza ribbon across it.  The blue mirri and white patterned paper were die cut using nesties.  The butterfly is die cut using a Marianne's die with added gems.  I didn't have any navy/dark blue gems so coloured some pearls with a dark blue Sharpie pen.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

Gold mad.............

Hello everyone.  Next weekend Tony and I are going to his cousin's Golden Wedding Anniversary party so I've been working on a special card for them over the last couple of days...... in between cooking breakfasts for over 100 people!!!!  Enough said.......

I decided to use my Bookatrix embossing board as everyone always seems to appreciate these cards.  I decided to see how many different types/colours of gold card I actually had and was quite surprised at what I found.  The base is a double sided pearl card , the second layer is a gold embossed gauzy type fabric which I've stuck onto cream pearlised card.  The top layer is a fairly dull gold card which has a faint sparkle to it.  On this layer I have used my SU Manhattan Rose embossing folder on each side.  I've used flexible peel-offs around the edges of these layers and after shaping them around a bottle (empty!!! lol) used silicone to put them together so they kept their shape.  For the sentiment I have printed this on my computer onto a clear adhesive backed sheet and used gold leaf on the back - this and the mat were cut out using nesties.  The flourishes are a Marianne die and the butterflies are a Stampin Up Sizzlets die.  I've used wired gems and flowers from my stash and added gems here and there.  The central ribbon has been put through a diamante buckle.  I've also made a box to match.  Hope they like it.

Less is More - Week 14 - Colour Challenge White on White

This week the girls over at Less is More Mansion have set us a colour challenge of white on white and there are some gorgeous cards over on their blog.

I really enjoyed this challenge and started off by using a white linen square card blank.  As most of you will know there must be hundreds of shades of white and none of my cardstock actually matched the white of the card blank so there was nothing to do but use another card blank for my embellishments!  Firstly I used the largest embossing folder from the Sizzix set "Butterfly Migration Set".  This is a lovely folder giving a really crisp finish but I thought it looked lop-sided just having the embossing on the left-hand side so just put the top right corner through again in the folder.  I then die cut the main focal point using my Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants - Renaissance Hearts, then a Magnolia swirl and the sentiment Love was die cut using my Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Monogram Seals.  The Renaissance Hearts were placed on the card using silicone glue, as were the letters.


Thanks for dropping by.

Less is More - Pastels

Week 5's challenge over at Less is More is Pastel Colours.

I used an old Anita's stamp of roses for my main theme.  I stamped in Stampin Up Old Olive and then coloured with Promarkers.  I then die cut the image using a Spellbinders labels nestie - I used the two largest sizes to create a main focal image and a frame.  I tied a piece of ribbon around the frame and put it directly onto my square card.  The main focal image was placed using foam pads with some glue stick on them to allow me to manoeuvre it into the correct position.  The pink swirl is a Marianne's die.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up Sincere Salutations stamp set and again stamped using the SU Old Olive.  I used the same labels set (but a smaller die) to cut this out.

Thanks for dropping by.