In sympathy cards

We had some very sad news last weekend, a family member sadly passed away. They will be very much missed by everyone who knew them. So there may not be too many updates from me for a little while, but I just wanted to share the simple card I made for some of my relatives.

 

 

It's always tricky to get Bereavement cards right, you want to keep your design simple and clean but also be uplifting. I hope I got the balence right.

 

 

Mojo Monday #287

After a really long day yesterday I was in need of some 'me time' and usually that means locking myself in my craft room or opening a bottle of wine and watching a girlie movie. However I was lacking craft inspiration and as I'm on a health kick I decided against the wine, lol. Rather than attempt to keep working on one of my current projects I decided to open my scrap paper drawer and just have some fun making a card for this week's Mojomonday competition. Here is the original sketch:

I mostly used scraps from my MME boys crazy stash, as I love the colours, and distressed the edges with Brushed Corduroy, Ripe Persimmon and Broken China. I used my Spellbinders Gears dies for the red and orange cogs. The sentiment was stamped on lined Kraft using Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black I even experimented with my new Fiskars eyelet setting tools as the embellishment detail. I substituted the scalloped circle for a flattened bottle top to which I added a punched circle of the scrapbook paper and filled with resin for a glossy finish. Finally I added the twine for some texture. Here is the finished card:

  

Check out all the great entries at Mojomonday#287

 

Happy 1st Birthday Freddie

I can't believe it's been a year since I sent a 'Welcome to the world baby Freddie' card to Freddie's parents, but here we are on birthday number 1!

 

 

 

Again I found this fab and fun scrapbooking paper at my local craft store Sparkledreams, and picked out the rocket from the original design as a handstamped rocket on kraft. I cut the '1' out by hand.

 

 

I've refined the design a little and a similar card is now available in my ETSY SHOP :)

 

Mother's day cards

Admittedly this post is a few weeks late, but here is a look at the two variations of Mother's Day cards I did this year. Both where designed around my new Bigz Birdhouse die from Sizzix.

 

 

The cards are a admittedly little on the 'twee' side of my usual work but I like to think the use of old book pages and distress inks help give it a more vintage look.

Mojo Monday #282: Baby Arrival Card

Seems like forever since I headed over to MojoMonday for a bit of a crafty challenge. I've been soo busy with the kids and I've been helping a dear friend of mine with her wedding invitations, and when I do need to make a card my brain has been a little scattered lately, so what better way to top up my crafty mojo than a Mojomonday challenge? Mojo Monday 282 to be precised. It's the last Monday in the Month so it's circle or square time :) This week's sketch was designed by Julee, and it is both simple yet striking.

 

 

 Isn't it a nice to have someone else worry about the layout while you just need to experiment with colours, patterns and textures? Often I get the colours and a vague idea about composition and have to spend the majority of my time experimenting with layout. I needed a card for a family friend I grew up with in Hong Kong who has just had a baby, and had this fab paper just waiting for the next little bundle of joy to appear.

 

 

I used the fab alphabet scrapbook paper (can't remember who it's by, might be MME) as my main feature and the added kraft card and the reverse of the gears card I used in my last post. I stamped the little feet image using Ranger Archival ink in coffee and aged the edges with Distress Inks: Broken China and Vintage Photo.

 

Please excuse the quick photoshop job on the latter half of the name, I always like to include the baby's full name as a keepsake and so I've obscured it for the family's privacy.

 



Happy Birthday Nan: Felt corsage broach and card

It's my Husband's Nan's Birthday next week, I wanted to make her a unique card which was a little less grungy that my more recent creations and a little more chintzy but I also wanted to send her a gift. I needed something that was easy to post, and so I reached for the felt and beads and came up with this corsage broach;

 

I have to admit I've really missed sewing, I made one sock monster and got halfway through a Shelf Elf at Christmas before we all got poorly and then Christmas cards and tags took over.

 

Somehow along the way I started designing a card around the broach, using a slightly glittery floral paper, prima flowers and paper lace, and punching two holes in the card to allow for the Broach back to be fastened inside the card.

 

Before adding the prima flowers I was starting to doubt myself but I think it works in the end, not sure my sewing is good enough to unleash this sort of design in the shop just yet, but if you can't make a special effort for family and friends who are you going to make it for?

 

 

Happy Birthday Jason: A masculine travellers card

I need a card for the birthday of one of Mr S's best friends, and found this wonderful scrapbooking paper at my local crafting store. I couldn't resist sprucing it up with a bit of a travel theme and voila this card was born. One of the most 'me' cards for a long time, rather pleased it came out so well. I love the blue accent colours, although I wish I could have picked up on the red somewhere too.

 

 

Help! I'm drowning in Christmas Cards!!

The first batch of cards for nursery and a few friends is complete (and on going). Here are the first two designs, which I've been making in two sizes, 4x4 and 5x5. I've tried to keep the design quite simple as it had to be replicated so many times (cue: trip to my local craft shop more than once for more MME paper).:

 

 

I do have to keep asking myself why decide to make ALL of my Christmas cards this year? Especially considering Josh has 25 children in his nursery class and 5 teachers on top of the usual family, friends and neighbours ... the original reasoning behind it was that next year I want to launch packs of Christmas Cards in my Etsy online shop and take samples and pre-made/bagged tags and cards to some local craft fairs, and I figured practising making cards in quantity was good experience. What I hadn't counted on was the family having one illness after another for a month and no time to craft.

 

Right, no time to blog, back to the BigShot, guillotine and stamp pads :) Hope you are all having a lovely festive season, and good luck to those of you with projects of your own to finish! xx



Handmade card: Teal and Brushed Corduroy

It's my step-mother's birthday today, so I can finally reveal the card I made for her. I used a mixture of papers, dies and inks. It's probably the most 'my style' card I've made for a while. Tried very hard not to over-work it. Love the paper colour combination and the vintage book page buttons.

 



Get well soon Laura: A Mojo Monday Card

A friend of mine had the misfortune of falling down the stairs yesterday - luckily nothing broken but tendon damage and crutches are definitely fun. So I decided to make her a 'Get well soon' card.

 

 

This had to be a quick card as I wanted to take it around today, so I used the Mojomonday sketch #263 from the Halloween card as my basis. The card was made using cardstock from K&Company's paper stack 'Poppy Seeds' and distress inks: Peacock Feathers Dusty Concord and Broken China. Dies are from Spellbinders and X-cut.

 



Happy Halloween!!!

This is my first ever Halloween card, its not really a tradition to give them in the UK but then I managed to get my hands on the Fall set of Seasonal Distress Inks and was looking for an excuse to try them out.

 

 

 

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch as a template, I tried to utilise my love of old book pages as much as possible so I could play around with some of the new inks (here I've used Distress Inks: Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserve, Black Soot and Antique Linen). I also tried out my new 'Sew-easy' kit on the edges - which wasn't as 'easy' as I'd hoped but I shall persevere, and if I ever get the hand of it I shall post a tutorial.

 

 

 

I decided to enter this card in the NMWC Halloween Creations Challenge and one of the requirements of the challenge was to use an image as the focal point, luckily I got the chance to borrow this amazing spider stamp from a friend. It's part of the 'Tim Holtz Stamp Halloween Blueprint Set'. I accented the 'spider' with Stickles in Black Diamond, and cut the stamp out using my circle punch, this is framed with a Spellbinders Picot Circles die-cut and handmade paper page rosette.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Last year my Dad's Birthday card was a turning point for me, I deciding that I was never going to buy another card again, and have managed to make 95% of the cards I sent this year. My card making techniques and experience has come on leaps and bounds.

 

 

Last year's card (below) was inspired by Dad's boyhood hero "The Loan Ranger" and made using a sheet of My Mind's Eye (Lost and Found) "Boy Cowboy" 12x12 Paper and I hand cup the lettering from gold card. This year I couldn't help but continue the Cowboy  (above) - the letters were still hand cut, but from cork board. I die cut the tag from a sizzix combo set, and aged paper from Paper Cellar with Walnut stain and Black Soot, I also aged a Kraft 6x6 card blank. The Sherif badge is from a carboot sale and the horse shoe charm. The prima flower is from Dovecraft and the butter is a Marianne Creatable.

 



Handmade Card: Music, Twine and Time

My Step-Mum asked me to make a card for her Nephew as he was turning 30, my brief was simple: Something like my previous men's cards and he likes music. As I don't know Sam personally and can't ask if he minds having his baby photos blogged - I've done a bit of 'crime watch' style pixilation on the photo - Sorry if it spoils the effect somewhat, but I'd hate to offend someone by using their photo without permission.

This card was actually completed a while ago, but after it got lost in the post (1st class Royal Mail) and I thought it was a little cruel to do a 'and this is the card you could have had' post, lol. Luckily it turned up eventually (over a week later) so I finally think I can share it.



Mojo Monday #261: Christmas

Here is my second card for the Mojo Monday competition this week. I went with a Christmas theme because it's getting to be that time of year AND it was a great excuse to break into my new Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments (2010) set.

 

 

 

I also got to use my favourite Christmas sentiment stamp and (now, my reinker has arrived) I got to use lots of Brushed Corduroy and a bit of Aged Mahogany, and it wouldn't be a card from me at the moment without a page from an old book and a button (in this case a Marianne Creatables.

 

 

Here is the lovely sketch by Julee, why not head over to their site to check out all the amazing entries - some great inspiration there for all styles and techniques of cardmaking :)

Happy Birthday Emily! A Mojo Monday card.

It's my cousin's birthday today! Happy Birthday Emily! I decided to make her card but wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it until I realised it was Mojo Monday. I like this weeks sketch and have made two cards using it this week.

As Emily is a teen I put my trusty Brushed Corduroy down and steered myself towards the bright end of my Distress Inks range including my brand new Peacock Feathers (from the Spring limited editions), Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord and a little Broken China.

I also used a few distress techniques I've not tried before including scrunching up a plastic bag and flicking water. The scalloped edge on the circle is hand cut with Scallop Scissors from, the circle is from a 2inch X-cut punch and the tag is a die cut from a Sizzix scallop combo set. The dot paper (which continues on the inside) is from a paper stack from K&Company called Poppy Seeds.

I'm fairly happy with how the card turned out. I think the 'emily' letter could have been larger - I think I may need to invest in some larger font stamp sets, not to mention Birthday sentiments!



First Christmas Card of the year (inspired by Mojo Monday)

Well, I'm not normally one for starting my Christmas cards early but with sets of Christmas tags under way for Etsy I'm feeling a little festive and what better way to get my creative juices flowing than to take part in a challenge, using Mojo Monday's sketch as a basis for a new design. I really liked this weeks sketch, think I'll be referring back to it for some future projects.

 

 

 

Here's how the card turned out, I use my trusty distress inks: Brushed Corduroy, Walnut Stain, Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany, the stampers (in ranger archival ink: jet black) are from my new set of 'Lost and Found Christmas' stamps by My Mind's Eye, the card base is a 6x6 Kraft card. The rosette is made with a distressed doily and an old page of a book, and the embellishment is a flattened beer bottle cap with a snowflake circle with room for a name (for when I finally decide who's getting this card).

 

 

Here is Julee's sketch, isn't it pretty? I'm looking forward to using it again when I have circle dies and materials at my disposal :) Check out all the other fabulous enteries HERE

 

Handmade card: Happy 70th Birthday Uncle Don

For my Uncle's 70th Birthday I was asked to make an additional card for the occassion. It was quite tricky coming up with 2 unique cards for one occasion, and I spent so long on the other card I ended up with litterally 45 minutes to design and make my own card (also the first official outting for my sizzix big shot).

 

 

This is the first card, as my Uncle was once an Elvis Tribute act and played the clubs, I wanted to theme the card around it. My starting point was this old photo, which I aged with distress ink around the edges (Antique Linen). I recently discovered my old badges collection, so threw in this lovely pin - which almost acts as a title. I added a vintage playing card (found the pack for 20p at a carboot sale). I hand cut the cork lettered and distress inked (Peeled Paint and Pine Needles) - really need to invest in some number dies now I have the bigshot. And embossed and distressed a ticket from the tri-boss range.

 

 

This is the 45 minute ,and actually I quite like the way it turned out - there are things I'd have done better, but I quite like the simple layout. I stamped a sentiment on the background with ranger jet black archival ink. And now for the bigshot: I cut the the photo and cork frame with Xcut's Square Parenthesis nesting frames, and the bookplate from Xcut's tags set. I added buttons to the bookplate and a flower.

New card: Happy house moving Mum!!

It's been about 8 months in process but today my Mum's new house has finally gone through and she has the keys in her hands! So what better excuse to create a new 'new home' card :D

 

 

I distressed some cardstock and added the vintage key stamp to the background in Archival - Jet Black. Then added the orgami house - made from an upcycled book page which was also distressed. Added a bright background and key charm, bottle cap, dovecraft flower and ribbon.

Fairy Toadstool Card: Happy Birthday Edie-Jean

Time for an other distress ink card :) This time a girlie version - desinged for my cousin's daughter Edie-Jean's Birthday on Saturday. I've been dying to use these new little fairy charms and ended up designing the card around it.

 

 

The Distress ink colours were: Victorian Velvet and Brushed Cordoray. With an upcycled book rosette, bottle cap name, masked toadstool and tiny personalised letter from the fairies :D

 

Distress Ink colour chart: The start of an obcession

Last month I finally dove head first into the wonderful world of Tim Holtz's 'Distress inks' from Ranger. I have to admit I previously I thought they were just over priced ink colours and never gave them a second thought, then I discovered the series of Tim Holtz videos on YouTube and I knew I had to start collecting them. Perfect for the aged effects I've spent years attempting with good old fashioned tea bags (lol!) and that's not beginning to mention the blending and water blotting techniques.

 

 

 

As an avid collector and list maker I was pleased to find that the ranger website offer a free A4 pdf colour chart. I love the idea of checking the colours off as I collect them. I've already printed one for my folder and resized one for my filofax (see this Friday's filofax update).

While looking at ways to store my new inks I discovered Britta's series on 'No-Stress Distress Inks' and I instantly adopted her method for labelling the sides of the inks  with the titles and colour as its so much easier to keep track of them once stacked. I also liked her method of storing the foam pads on Velcro on a large version of the ranger colour chart, but wanted to use a bigger foam board - so I ended up printing her enlarged version, cutting the grid out, covering the board in brown paper and stencilling the title in sharpie marker and adding addition sets of boxes for each of the 'limited edition' seasonal colours (the titles are stamped on).

So far I have: Brushed Corduroy, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Broken China, Black Soot, Victorian Velvet, Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen, and Walnut Stain. I already have my eye on the next 3 ;)