50th Birthday Card

This card was for my sister in law who, probably reluctantly, celebrates her 50th birthday today.  I used paper and dies from the new Crafter's Companion Sara Davies Signature Range.  Very pretty papers and a lovely font for the happy birthday die, elegant but not too fussy.  I used the largest die to create the aperture and embossed the front panel in the corner.  I cut the 50 and the Happy Birthday in both silver and lilac and offset them slightly to form a drop shadow.  I always find it hard to photograph mirri card successfully but hopefully you get the idea!

Autumn Birthday Card

I love Autumn and making cards with Autumn themed products.  This card was made for my nephew and uses background and toppers from Hunkydory Fall for Autumn kit.  A very simple card for those hard to make for males in their early 30's!

Annoversary Card

Another card from the Hunkydory Moments and Memories kit.  I cut an aperture and used the frame from the topper sheet on the front and put the topper on the inside.  I used an insert on the inside front to cover the workings.

Bebunni Birthday

The decoupage and papers used on this card were a freebie in a magazine from ages ago, so long ago that I can't even remember which magazine it was.  I don't buy many magazines as they are so expensive but if the cover gift is worth the cost of the magazine then I can justify it to myself!  I added a couple of Card Candi which mimicked the sweets on top of the cake!

Getting Ready for Halloween

This is probably one of my favourite card sizes - it's a large DL (basically A4 folded lengthways).  The envelopes aren't easy to come by but I get mine from Crafts U Print which is also where I purchased this sheet.  I printed it on to watercolour card as it adds texture which works well with cute images.  The sheet consists of a plain layer and the extra characters to decoupage and the card was very quick to put together but looks very effective.

Acetate Card

This was a first for me - I used acetate to make a card base.  The toppers were from Hunkydory.  Just had to make sure that the workings were hidden by using the exact same size of plain card/insert on the other side.

Double Pocket Fold

I saw the instructions for this card in a magazine and thought it perfect for giving a gift card.  It was made for one of my daughter's school friends.  I don't really like giving gift cards but teenagers are a really tricky bunch to get right, especially when you don't know them all that well.  I used a sheet of paper from a Hunkydory pad with a tag and topper from a different Hunkydory kit - I've had it so long I don't even remember the name of the kit; it may even have been a freebie somewhere along the line!

Pre-teen Boys Birthday Card

These pre-teen and teen boys cards are really hard!  You can get away with cute and fluffy for girls or there are sassy girl images in abundance but not very much for boys from age 9 upwards.  This sheet is from Crafts U Print.  I printed it on to semi gloss photo paper which helped with the colour and kept the borders looking like mirri card.  I embossed some dark blue Centura Pearl cardstock from Crafter's Companion with a criss cross pattern and added the backing paper and toppers from the printed sheet.  I used foam pads to give some lift to the toppers.

A Day at the Races

Another Hunkydory card, this time from a Hobbies and Pastimes kit.  Hunkydory are great when you find yourself without mojo but in need of a card.  This card was for my brother's birthday.  He's horse racing made so it was very appropriate.

Playing Catch Up!

It's been a while since I've added anything on to my blog.  I've not been making very much this year, life has been quite cruel to me and my family over the last few years and it just got too much for a while.  However, I'm beginning to see more light than tunnel and feel just about ready to face the world again.  I have taken pictures of the few things I've been making but have never got as far as taking the images off the cameral, let alone posting them.  So what will follow over the next few days will be a real mixture but I'd like to share them anyway!  To start with, here's something fairly recent.

Apologies for the inside photo, I'd already written the card before I remembered to take the photo!  My friend's daughter passed her driving test, first attempt, aged just 17 years and 6 months.  The topper and insert are from a Hunkydory kit (Moments and Memories) and I added some fibres to the tag on the front.  The insert is actually 2 sheets as the card was too big to just fold one in half; I've been practising hiding the joins in the centre crease.

Monkeying Around!

Had a rollercoaster of a time lately so haven't been making very much but time to dust myself off and get back to it!

Crafting, and especially colouring, is very therapeutic which prompted me to have a look through my wooden stamps and see what took my fancy.  This image is  called Changito B.day and it's by Stampendous.  I just love those cheeky grins!  I coloured the image using Promarkers and then matted it on to a Die'sire die.  The spotty background paper is by My Minds Eye and is from a stack that I bought in America in 2011 (or might even have been in 2009!).  Just the kind of cheerful image and card that I needed to get me going again.

Birthday Card For My Niece

 

Today is my niece's birthday, haven't a clue exactly how old she is but I know it's over 30 but definitely below 40!  This card was made using a topper from the Hunkydory For the Girls set.  It's an 8x8 card and I cut an oval aperture on the right hand side.  I backed it with some pink glitter card and used the frame from the topper on the front to neaten all the cutting and placed the topper on the glitter card.  The heart was another topper from the same sheet and I added a lilac bow.

 

Inside the card I used some lilac paper with silver swirls (free with a magazine last year) and added the matching Hunkydory insert.

Happy birthday Kerry, I hope you have a great day!

A 'Just Because' Card

 

I needed to send a book to a friend and so made a little 'hello' card to send with it - so much better than a scrap of paper or Post It note!

 

 

 

The image is a Forever Friends die cut from the Kraft Notes set, as is the sentiment.  The backing card and border are from a Hunkydory kit.  The ribbon was upcycled from one of my lovely Christmas presents from my husband (a beautifully packaged L'Occitane box full of my favourite products).

Presents for Baby Taylor

 

Is there anyone who doesn't enjoy shopping for new baby things?  I had a lovely time choosing and then wrapping some presents for my new baby nephew.  The basket is from Hobbycraft and I fell in love with the wrapping paper (from Tesco) as I though it was something different to the usual baby blue.

My children each chose a special present for their new cousin and I made a couple of tags so that they could each write a personal message for Taylor.  Both images were coloured with Promarkers but one was stamped on solar white Neenah card and the other was stamped on desert storm Neenah card.  It's the first time I've coloured on to Kraft card and I liked the results. 

The images were mounted on die cuts with a ribbon to make the tags.

New Baby Boy

 

On 28th January I became a great auntie for the first time!  Baby Taylor was born weighing a healthy 8lbs 5oz at a very respectable 1.27 pm.

 

Here is the card that I made for the new parents

 

 

I used the topper and backing card from the Hunkydory Making Memories kit.  It is an 8x8 interlocking gatefold card.

 

I also made the inside a little more interesting than usual by using the matching insert (cut down), matted and layered onto matching card and the addition of the inner frame from the front topper.



I think this is one little boy who is going to get spoilt rotten by his new auntie!

Bebunni Birthday Card

 

This is a birthday card made for a friend.  The stamps (image and sentiment) were from a set that came free with a magazine.  I coloured the image using Spectrum Aqua pens.  The aperture was backed with some paw print acetate and I added a little diamante to the envelope.

 

Because of the acetate I didn't want to write inside the card as it would have shown through the acetate so I added a little panel to the back

Gatefold Gift Card Card

 

This is the first card of 2015 for me and was made for my daughter's school friend.  They're now at that age where a gift card is the safest option for a present but they don't look much wrapped up so I usually end up buying something else just to wrap the gift card with! 

I used a very old Kanban Simba and Bamboo kit and made a basic gatefold card from one of the patterned card sheets and added toppers to the front.  Inside, I lined it with a co-ordinating piece of card and created a little pocket from Hunkydory Adorable Scorable card to house the gift card. 

This idea will definitely be used again this year as more of her friends celebrate their birthdays - wish I'd thought of it before!