Happy Birthday Mum

I wanted to share this card with you as I have made it for my Mum, whose birthdays' tomorrow.  She'll be 92.  I wanted to make her something special, basically cos she's my Mum.  I had seen a couple of these boxes on Facebook so I watched a YouTube video http://youtu.be/Zlxtfyi6h8Q, which I found one of the better ones, and most useful as the lady 'Dawn' does it in real time, so you can craft along with her!

The flowers on the cake were from Sweet Lilac, whom I must say I was a little dubious of ordering from, but once again ladies from one of the groups on Facebook I belong to assured me that they were very good and I was pleasantly surprised when I ordered the sample box at 11 o' clock one evening and within two days the parcel arrived.  Excellent service, will definitely use them again.  

The flowers on top. Of the box are of course my old faithfuls and made from a Spellbinder die (blossom 4 - I think), oh and the leaves underneath are from an ivy die from Di'esire (think that's how you spell it?)

I was really pleased with the way it turned out and hopefully my Mum will be too, that is if she doesn't open it upside down!!!  

40 Ruby Red Years of Marriage

Hi girls and guys, thought I would share with you a card I made for friends 40th wedding anniversary.  It was one of those cards that went together straight away and proved to be a really nice card (even if I say so myself!), which was a bonus as I made it yesterday, when I needed it for today (no pressure there was there?). 

It was an 8x8 card (as usual) think this is a nice size for special occasions and easier to make a square box too.  I used a spellbinder die to make the red roses and curled the edges of the petals before rolling,  the gold leaves were one of the new Sue Wilson leaf dies, which I really liked, think they're just a bit different to the standard leaves.  The ovals were cutting using the Tonic dies, really useful set which comes with both plain and scalloped ovals.  Obviously the '40 years' and the 'Ruby Anniversary' were peel offs that I had.  Haven't used peel offs for yonks, but couldn't find the correct stamp at the time, but may have to re-introduce them into my crafting again.....

I did make a box to put it in, but forgot to take a photograph,  doh!  Never mind, next time perhaps.  

My latest Creations!

Wow! Cannot believe that it was the beginning of July when I last blogged and now the beginning of August, well ten days in - just where does the time go?  Anyway, have been busy making cards for family and friends and a couple of orders in between, which is always good - can justify buying more craft stash if I make a little bit - not that I make any really cos I always spend more than I get back, but hey Ho I'm enjoying myself and that's the main thing.  

Well lets start with the first cards I made.  These are for one lucky Mum, who is going to get two of my cards from two of her sons (someone at work asked me to make him one for his Mum's 70th) so I made him two to give him a choice and he bought both, one for his brother, which I thought was very sweet - hopefully she'll like them both.  

The first one was made using the bookatrix board by the Glittergirls.  It's funny but us crafters have loads of stuff and we always need more and some of us are lucky to get more, but we do forget about what we've already got and this was one of my 'has beens' till I saw someone had posted pics of one they'd made using the board on a Facebook page (Card Making UK) that I belong to and I thought it suited the occasion just right.

The second one, some of you may have already seen as I had spent weeks trying to get this right - nothing particularly difficult in it, but it just wouldn't fit together for some reason and when it did eventually, I stuck it all down and found out I'd stuck it on 'sideways'.  The air was blue I can tell you - I slammed around, kicked the cat and felt much better (no I didn't kick the cat - I don't actually have one and still wouldn't have kicked it if I had!). Actually I felt much better after I had posted it on Card-Making UK and they all came to the rescue about cutting the front off and mounting it on to another card mount - and that's what I did - and you'd never know I had.  Thanks girls.  

I've used the Sue Wilson dies for the lattice background and leaves, but what doesn't show up very clearly in the photo is the diamond jewels I used behind the lattice.  That was the first time I used them and they do give a really nice affect.

Right the next one.  

This one was for one of the Managers at work little girls christening.  I really enjoyed making this one and started out with making it monochromatic (just using one colour - cream) but as usual it never ends up like the idea you started with, but I have to say I loved the pinks and creams together, sort of ice cream flavours.  I also love the church window die from Spellbinders it has come in very useful and I used the new Sue Wilson dies to make the leaves.  

Right, next one - I told you I had been busy!  (Hope you're not getting bored?)

Ah this one is for someone at work who is leaving.  She works in another part of the Company and we have never met, but have shared many a phone call and e-mail (all about work of course!) and we will be sorry to see her go, but obviously wish her all the luck in the world.  Sometimes those that leave on there own accord are luckier than those left behind!  

Anyway, I used Inkydoodle stamps for this one.  I just love their stamps, they stamp clearly and cleanly and I love their background stamps the combinations you can do with them is endless.  Worth checking them out if you've not seen them before.  

And here's the penultimate one.  One of our friends was having a rock n roll party, so I thought I would use an old Kanban stamp I had and with some paper piecing the dress looks quite effective as 'rockers girls' would wear.  The background was also an old Kanban kit I had and not used lol.  She loved it.

The last one today (if you haven't dosed off in between or lost the will to live!). I told you to make yourself a cuppa and take the weight off your feet lol! Is this one:

I was supposed to be making my 14 year old niece a birthday card, but got distracted (as you do) when the postie brought me a set of dies yesterday (don't know who ordered them????) they are the Marvellous Squares from Spellbinders.  The colour of the card is more turquoise, but the photo makes it more blue.  What do you think, does it need something in else in the corners.  if you think so, leave me a comment.

Well think that is enough for today (more than enough I hear you cry....) but thank you very very much for popping by and staying.  Pleease come back again, promise it won't be as long next time.  Look forward to reading your comments.  

A gift for you

Just a short blog today, not been on here for ages, so need to catch up a bit.  It's always nice to do something different and I've been busy making pop up boxes (will add a pic of them on another day), but fancied a change, then I discovered these cards.  However, I cannot take all the credit, thanks to a You tube video by Elaine, which explains simply and efficiently how to make these lovely cards check out this blog: http://papercraftbutton.blogspot.co.uk/.

One of the nicest things is that the Elaine shows you how to make the box to go with it. It took me a 
couple of times to get it right, OK maybe one box took three attempts to get it right, but once you've 
cracked it, it's simple!!!

My problem was they're made in inches and I am a child from the 60's who's life changed when

decimalisation kicked in!  Or to be honest I was never that good at maths!  Anyway, thanks to being
a bit of a hoarder I found an old wooden ruler with 16ths of an inch etc (whatever they are???) and
as I often tell my son 'don't throw that away it'll come in useful one day' -  I've just proved my point. 
Lol.  Right, off to pack my cards up for a School Fete tomorrow.  Wish me luck, it's in a marquee in 
the middle of a field!!!!!

90 years young

Here's a card I've made for my Auntie who will be 90 years young in a couple of weeks, 

 She's a lovely lady and my sisters and I have a special place in our hearts for our Auntie (and Uncle who sadly is no longer with us).  They have always been pleased to see us, whatever time of day or evening when we've popped in on them - there was and still is always a cup of tea and a piece of auntie's boiled cake on offer.  

Many a time we have 'gate-crashed' their holidays by hiring a caravan on the same site without them knowing or shared a beach hut when it rained lol.  (God we sound like the worlds worst relatives), but these were some of our best times and we have good memories of growing up with my cousins.  We all still meet up for birthdays and other special occasions and we will all be getting together for Aunty's birthday of course (but we have been invited this time - we won't just be turning up lol!).  

Anyway back to the card.  A simple 8 x 8 scalloped blank card  with squares cut from both a fairly dark lilac slightly metallic card and a linen effect white card,  The dies I have used are from Tonic. Deco Frame 'Emily'.  I used a slightly lighter lilac card for this.  The numbers in the middle are from a stamp set from Pinflair, really nice set of numbers.  I may put a little gem or a pearl on the corners but the jury's still out on that one.  

Let me know what you think.  Thanks for popping by, hope to see you again soon.

Pop Up Box Card - Happy Birthday

I've seen a few of these cards around lately and thought I'd investigate a bit further and found out how simple they are and after playing around with some odd bits yesterday, here's the first one I made today.  Both OH and son were impressed - so that's some recommendation I suppose lol!

I used the Inkydoodles background stamps (one of my always at hand whilst crafting items!) I just love them, there is no end to the variations you can do.  Anyway, I digress, the flowers were stamped and coloured in with promarkers. The flowers were from a Hero Arts set of clear stamps and were very easy to colour and cut out.  

Hope you like it and I am sure I will be making lots more of these and will probably bore you to bits when posting them to my blog - but I hope not.....if you want to ask any questions feel free to leave them below or contact me via Facebook or e-mail. Thanks for taking the time xxx

Sue Wilson - Striplet Die

Morning, beautiful sunny and spring like day here in Essex today. Not sure how long it will last though and my heart goes out to those people in the parts of the country who have lost their homes from the floods and winds.  It's horrendous.

As it has been almost a month since I posted last, (where does the time go?) thought I would share a card I've made today with my new Sue Wilson Striplet die.  Ordered mine from Joanna Sheen and it was with me within 48 hours, excellent service.  There are two dies in the packet, an innie and an outie  for want of better ways to describe it.  But for those of you who think 'what is she on about?' I shall explain.... There is an outer die, which when used with the main die cuts the design out of the paper,  If you use only the 'innie' die, then it just cuts out the design not the shape.  When you see the card, you'll understand (hopefully).  I used just the 'innie'.  

I used white linen effect card, and a turquoise card which I had in my stash.  Think this combination gives a clean and fresh image.  Thinking about it, if I was to make this card again, which I will because it is so diverse, and can cover a number of different occasions, I would use sticky pads to layer it, giving it a bit of height, but was thinking if I sell this one, it's cheaper to post.  Ho hum, you learn by your mistakes.

I must admit I got the idea for the card from the a creative Expressions Facebook page, but changed the flower (this was made from the Spellbinders Donna Salzar Rose creations set), I've had it for a long time, but it's one that I go back too time and time again.  The greeting was a wooden stamp, embossed in silver.  

Oh I've also put the card I made for my OH for Valentines Day.  Similar design, but on a smaller scale, the  first one was an 8x8, but this one is 6x6.  (Wasn't sure if he'd get me a card, so thought it wasn't worth making a too elaborate one for him - although he did get me a lovely card which made me feel guilty (but only for a while, a very short while lol).

Sorry this has been a long post.  Thanks for popping by and sticking with it.  Hopefully you'll come back again?  Take care x

2 years old!

Where does the time go?  Really can't believe that my youngest great-niece Betsy Blossom will be two on Tuesday.  (Nor that my eldest great niece will be 19 in April), talk about make you feel old!  

However, thought I'd share the card I made for Betsy using a freebie stamp from Papercraft Essentials.      It was so easy to colour and I used promarkers and blended three colours of pink (sorry cannot remember which ones!), don't often have much luck with blending, but watched a couple of tutorials on you tube and then gave it another go.  

The background was made from Inkydoodles 'Country Checks' background stamps, using two shades of Memento ink pads,  They're very easy stamps to use and I find it quite therapeutic filling in the squares with hearts etc.   

The flower is made from the Heartfelt Creations Sunburst stamp and die and again coloured in with Promarkers.  The square greeting is also part of the 'freebie' set.

I was going to put a number '2' on the bottom right hand corner, but with the oval shape next to it, it looked too much like an advert for O2 so I used my Clarity alphabet instead and spelt the number in letters and hung it as a banner top left,

I was pretty happy with this card and hopefully Betsy was too (although at that age don't think cards really hold their attention for that long lol.). 

Happy Birthday Son

Here's a card that I made for my son Tom.  He was 23 today and what a fine young man he's grown into, so very proud of him.  I used my Inkydoodles 'embroidered background' stamps to do the backgrounds (obviously)' a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end and almost quite therapeutic!  I used Memento ink pads:  Danube blue, Love Letter and Dandelion.  The little boy on the front is a Lili O'Valley stamp coloured in with promarkers.

I composed the verse inside myself.  I wanted to put in so much more, but the words don't always come that easy, let alone getting them to rhyme.

The shapes diamonds and circles were cut using Spellbinders dies.  I was pleased with it and Tom seemed to like it too.  Hope you do too.  Thanks for popping by.  

Round and Round

I thought I would share a couple of cards I have made using my latest purchase the Inkadinkadoo Stamping Gear.  It wasn't something I thought I needed, or would even use but having been given a gift voucher for Christmas and discount for being a member of Pinnacles Craft Shop and my sweet other half paying the remainder (as a late Christmas present), I decided it was worth it.  And boy is it good!  The most difficult thing is to get it out of the packaging, which is quite a lovely presentation box, but you destroy it getting the parts out of it. Anyway I digress....  

This first card I have stamped the same stamp in a circle twice (basically moving the stamp slightly up the paddle to make the circumference slightly bigger.  The smaller circle I cut out using a spellbinders die and the centre is a D-Lite die (I think it's Aster?)

The second one, I've just used the circle block (can't think the proper term for it - sorry brains gone to sleep!!!) and stamped round it using two different memento inks.  Cut a small circle of silver mirri board and then another white one with the greeting on it.

Hope you like them.  Thanks for popping by and please leave me a comment.  Thanks.