Crazy Birds #2 - Friday 29th May 2015

Hello Friends,

Hope you've all had a good week! Thank you for all your comments on the sewing card...my volunteer loved it and was sure her friend would too.

Today I'm sharing another card made with Tim Holz Crazy Bird stamps and I'm going to make this my contribution to this week's Sunday Stamper Challenge (week #357) from Hels Sheridan - deets here

I haven't had a chance to take part for a while because I've been so busy, but this week's theme is 'anything goes' so no excuses.

I have managed to get some crafting done this week...there are a lot of birthdays amongst family and friends coming up, plus one of my American family is about to have a baby (fortunately I know the sex so could get on with the cards!), so I've wanted to get everything made in plenty of time, especially as we have a week's holiday coming up soon.

This is a 7x7 card, I made the splattered background with a mixture of  Dylusions inks and coloured the birds with both Chameleon and Promarker pens. I then cut them out and mounted them on the card with 3d foam tape.

I cut the little word tiles using the tiniest of dies from my Spellbinders Classic Squares set and add the letter by hand. I did the same inside, mounting them inside a Spellbinders Word Bubble die.

 Finally I stamped the birds on the envelope and coloured them, first of all placing some card inside the envelope to prevent the ink bleeding all the way through.

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a lovely weekend y'all!

Love and Hugs,

Carole X

Ahoy there Matey! 9th March

Good Morning to ya!


Today's card was made from scraps left over from a large pirate themed birthday card that had been commissioned for a little boy. The only part of the card that was not a 'left over' is the stamp. I had used the same stamp on the earlier card and wanted to incorporate it here. It's one of the Lilli of the Valley (LOTV) stamp collection. I do love their cute little images,which actually lend themselves to going overboard with the embellishments because they still pop out, never seem 'swamped'!

The stamped image was coloured with Promarkers and then I tore all around the card and inked the edges with denim distress ink. The skull and cross bones paper was downloaded from Crafts-u-Print. I couldn't believe that amongst all my CD's there wasn't anything suitable for a little boy's pirate card, the closest I came was a super design for a teenage girl on Debbi Moore's Funky Diva CD. I had used that quite a lot in the past and one day soon, I will put one up here, but the papers didn't suit a little boy card.

However on Crafts-u-Print I was quite spoilt for choice and decided on the Little Monkey Pirate Aventure Pack as it has a super selection of papers  that I will use again and again...all important when considering buying stash. The brown card with the wording was not from this pack, I got this from a pad of boy themed card I had in my stash.

I cut a rectangle from blue card (also from the boys paper pad) slightly larger than the stamped piece and then faux stitched with white jelly roll pen around the edge. I  then cut a slightly larger piece in black to matt and layer on the front of the card. The silver mirror card edge was cut using a Martha Stewart Punch.

A black velvet feel ribbon was used to divide the two papers and a skull and crossbones flag was cut from the background paper. I cut the skull and crossbones and the flourish with my Cricut (remember all these bits were extras from the bigger card) and the buttons, bakers twine and knotted rope were all from stash.

The big circle was cut using a punch and I know what you're thinking....no Spellbinders die??? Wrong!

I cut the inner black scalloped shape and the white scalloped shape with the typed greeting using my Peony die!

This was just a fun, wind down card that I just enjoyed putting together at the end of a day working on commissions...often I find it so satisfying to just make one I can add to my craft fair box or box for cards to send for a charity I try to support (though never get enough sent off to)....

Have a good Friday and thanks for dropping by!


Carole X

Pretty in Pink - 25th February

Good Morning bloggers,


I'm back today with the first of two cards made for commissions...I have also been working on a few new cards to upload in the next few days....

It's very difficult when I get asked to make two cards for the same person, whatever happens they are going to have my 'stamp' on them and my challenge is for them to be different. 


For this card, which is 8x8, I started with a base layer of card from my Desert Flowers pad. I bought this on a whim and goodness it has been very useful! I shaded the edges with Spun Sugar distress ink, just to lift it a little and then I went for a letterpress effect for the next stage: I took the Spellbinders Heart Squares die and inked it with Perfect Medium. I then placed white card over it and embossed it as normal through the Grand Calibur. The result is the the embossed card can then be cut ut by hand, sprinkled with embossing powder (in this case Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Crystal and heat embossed. Unfortunately, it doesn't really show up in the photo.


I typed the greeting before cutting and embossing it with a smaller die from the same set.For the shading I used Worn Lipstick distress ink. I made the flowers using felt and the Flower Creations and Spiral Blossom One Spellbinders. I just love making these flowers from felt! The age greeting is cut from the Lacey Ovals die, shaded with Worn Lipstick ink and I finished the card with wide, sheer ribbon in a nice bright pink...a rather cheery card I think!


Carole X

Birthday Owl - 22nd February

 Hello!


I'm late today...no work, but quite a few orders to get cracking on and Sue Wilson has the Pick of the Day on Ideal World/Create and Craft, so it's been quite a perfect day really! I will be sharing today's creations over the next few weeks...and yes, I was tempted by some Spellbinders last night. Fortunately it's my birthday next month!!!!


Today's card is a 6x6  card that was made for a friend's birthday. I started by running some dusky pink coredinations card through my Grand Calibur using the Floral Delight Grand Impressabilities embossing die and then sanded it to raise the image.


I printed an owl from my Polkadoodles Sugar Babies CD and cut it out. I then cut and embossed a Spellbinders Lacey Ovals die. This is one of the dies I have always had problems releasing the card from - no matter how careful I am it breaks. Today on TV Sue Wilson suggested using some greaseproof paper over the die and I have been trying it with todays cards and baking parchment  - it works! I have had 100% success rate with my more intricate dies today.

I shaded the outer edge of the die cut with Spun Sugar distress ink and then cut the flowers from Spellbinders Floral Creations, put layered them to make just one flower, the card is white, finished off with Spun Sugar.

Finally I  taped brown and pink polkadot ribbon across the centre of the card and matted and layered the card with the die-cut, image and flower. A few pieces of card candi finished the card. 

Bye for now,

Carole X

Teen boys - 21st February

Morning all,


This card was a commission and one of those that was out of my comfort zone, primarily because it was for a teen and a male!!! However, I will not be defeated and was actually pleased with the final card...

Firstly I covered an 8x8 card with paper from a pad of quite funky papers aimed at mens' cards, that I was given for Christmas. The images are digi-decoupage and apologies, but at this moment I can't remember the site I bought it from..when I find out I will amend this post. I liked the images - Techie Teens and decided it would be  a useful one to buy. I printed the two standing boys on card and cut them out into the Grand Scalloped Nesties die, which I shaded with Weathered Wood distress ink. I then cut another, the same shape in silver mirror card. The seated lad was cut out separately and added to the front using sticky pads to give some lift. The greeting was cut with my cricut and I glittered it up by using some Spray and Sparkle over it. The final card had another tag with the boy's name on it as well, but I photographed before adding it.


This was a fun card and I will be using these images on cards to sell at craft fairs as well.


Carole X

Mouse Magic! 18th February

Morning!


I like making cards that take a long time to make, where I can really fill the space..but I don't often get the chance because most of the time I am creating a card with a remit from a customer and I am working to against the clock! But first and foremost I love to craft and every now and then have to take time just to put a  card together that is just for the enjoyment of it...and this is exactly how I would describe this card: I hope you like it!

I started with a 6x6 card blank, so it's a smallish card with a lot of dimension. The base blue card with raised polkadots is from my stash box, the paler blue is coredinations, which I embossed by putting a 'That Special Touch...' floral mask through my Grand Calibur. I gently sanded the card to raise the image, but there isn't much of the card showing. I then printed some backing paper (on to card) using docrafts 'Tulip and Friends' cd, cut the card into a square and distressed the edges with worn lipstick distress ink and sewed all around the edge by hand. The little mouse fairy is so sweet! I printed her from the same cd and then cut it out with the Spellbinders heart squares die, The edges were also shaded with  worn lipstick, but very lightly. My first choice would have been spun sugar, but I have used that one right up!


The heart is from Spellbinders classic hearts dies and the deckled circle was cut with my Cricut and tucked behind the heart square, which was added at an angle. The flowers, butterfly and ribbons were all from stash; the cupcake is from the cd and the bird, blue tag and blue flower were cut from the Spellbinders bird sanctuary die.


Finally I finished off with some lace and cosmic shimmer sparkle on the wings and wand.


This card was satisfying to make for several reasons...although I made a sketch of the layout, it came to life as I worked, I used all my favourite craft tools - Spellbinders, Grand Calibur, Cricut, distress inks, ribbons, stamps and cd, so it is a very eclectic finished card, that was a lot of fun to make!


Bye for now,
Carole Z

Birthday Wishes - 17th February

Hello!

I made this card last Summer before I started blogging, but it's one that I haven't shared with you before... so here it is for today's card!

I started with a white scallop edged 8x8 card, then added a smaller cream woven silk card. This was matted and layered with a peach colour card from the same card pad, but which I ran through the Grand Calibur using an embossing mask. I stitched around the edge of the cream card. I cut the black edger using Spellbinders Parisian Accents  and cut the two central designs using Parisian Motifs. In retrospect, I probably should have lightly distressed the white die cut.


The ribbon was a rich wide green vintage,which I absolutely adore; I always think that a ribbon such as this deserves 'centre stage', so I ruched it and tied a huge double bow, adding a button in the centre and finishing off the card with three little buttons at the top.


Carole X