Sixteenth Birthday

Another 16th birthday card for one of my daughter's friends.  The topper is from a Hunkydory paper pad and I glittered the edges using a Quickie Glue Pen and Glamour Dust.  The cardstock is Hunkydory and I made the 'card candy' from the same card.  The sentiment and numbers have been cut in black Hunkydory Adorable Scorable card and both use dies by Crafter's Companion.  This is my first entry to challenge 50 on the Crafty Friends Challenge Blog which was simply called Girly!

Make One Christmas Card a Week for 2017

I joined a Facebook group where the aim is to make one Christmas card every week throughout the year.  I joined a little late so I had to play catch up and make 4 cards in a week.

I turned to my favourite little bears - luckily with the weather having been so cold and frosty of late it was fairly easy to get into the Christmas spirit - I'm not sure it will be so easy when the sun is shining and the temperature hits 30 degrees (you have to be hopeful don't you!).

First post for 2017

After a really difficult 2016 I'm back!  I made the cards I needed to last year but didn't photograph many as everything was upside down and back to front due to having a house extension built, which is much larger than I thought it was going to be.

This card was made for one of my daughter's friends - they're all turning 16 so I've become quite expert at 16th cards recently! 

The focal image is from the Hunkydory Little Book of Milestone birthdays - it's amazing how these Little Books are far more versatile than you initially think.  I embossed a piece of light blue Adorable Scorable cardstock with an Embossalicious embossing folder and matted it onto a darker shade of Adorable Scorable.  The butterflies and sentiment are from Sara's Signature collections (Butterfly Lullaby and Birthday) and I added some sparkle to the numbers with some Stickles (every 16 year old girl loves a bit of sparkle!)

 

Thank You Card

One of my daughter's favourite teachers, Mrs Ward, (the library manager) left last week to take up a position in another school and we wanted to send a card to thank her for all she had done for Sophie.  She really nurtured Sophie's love of books and reading and also lead the school to victory 2 years running in the County Lit Quiz (Sophie was in the team both of those years!).  Sophie is also a librarian and attended the weekly book group and Mrs Ward always looked after them so well with biscuits or cake at book group and lots of chocolate at Easter and Christmas.  The card was made using a Hunkydory topper and background card - and I added a rather well-tied (for me!) bow.  Simple but heartfelt.

Butterfly Create-a-Card

This was my first try at using a Die'sire Create a Card die.  It was supposed to be just a practise run but it worked so well I was able to make it into a card!  I cut the die on to one half of an A5 piece of Centura Pearl card which, folded in half made an A6 card.  The backing paper is from the Sara Davies Butterfly Signature Collection as is the butterfly die which I cut in Centura Pearl and overlaid it with the same die cut from blue vellum.  Gems on the butterfly body added a bit of sparkle! 

First Birthday Card

Very hard to believe that my great nephew Taylor is one today.  I don't like to be reminded of the fact that I'm a great-Aunt, although obviously I am a great auntie!  The card uses a Hunkydory topper and backing card set which I think was from the All the Boys kit.  I used several different fonts for the wording.  The Happy Birthday is a Die'sire only words die, the number 1 is by Stampin' Up, Today and Taylor are from some really old Cuttlebug alphabet dies.

Birthday Card

This card was made for my daughter's school friend.  It uses a topper and backing card from Hunkydory (although I can't tell you the name of the kit!).  A simple one to kick off January!

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).