Vintage Heart

I don't really 'do' Valentines cards but there are a lot of love and heart-related posts out there in blogland right now...

But hearts don't just have to be Valentines, right?

I've used  Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose papers, on a Craftwork Cards scalloped card blank.  The scalloped heart was cut using my Craft Robo Lite, and the edges 'inked' with a Promarker.

I'm entering this for the Shabby Tea Room challenge - I know, no blogging for 2 months and I enter 2 challenges in 2 days...get me!

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

another of those projects that evolved as I went along. I had the basic idea for a decorated mirror in my head but originally was going to do a faux-mosaic look with pink papers. After fiddling about for a while trying to work out the best size for the squares and the spacing I considered covering the whole of the front of the frame with the paper.  Eventually I came up with this design...

The dangly ribbons are to clip hair-slides etc on to keep them tidy.  I've seen lots of similar things in blogland but liked the idea of using them with a mirror.  The flowers at the ends of the ribbons are cut from fleece using the same Hello Kitty Sizzix flower die as I've used for those on the mirror.  I've weighted them with pennies to help them hang properly.  The lettering was cut with my Craft Robo Lite and the paper is a Pink Petticoat download.  

The mirror incidentally was bought from Ikea over 10 years ago and never used (it was pine but I've painted lightly with white acrylic), and I've just checked the website and they still sell them!  Think I'll pick up a few more next time I go...

80th birthday card

not a lot of blogging lately as all of my time is being spent on either commissions or building up some stock for my first craft fair, which is now less than a week away!

This is a commission I was asked to do for an 80th birthday.  The brief was 'mauve' and the birthday 'girl' had sent invitations to her friends featuring the Jenny Joseph poem 'Warning' so I based the card on that.

For some reason I can't get the photo to upload the right way round here, the hat should be in the top left corner and the flowers bottom right but you get the idea...

The hat was cut on the craft robo lite from a free file found on the UK Scrappers forum. I designed the word 'eighty' myself on the robo and the wording on the white mat was done in Word.  The flowers were bought from Hobbycraft and the leaves are from the wedding cake flowers my colleague gave me a few months ago.

Of course there's also a matching box - I should be able to make these in my sleep now but still get the measurements wrong...

Too busy crafting...

to get round to blogging!


But, here's a quick peek of one of today's creations - I'm trying to stock up for the craft fair I'm doing on Sunday 29th August - not long now, eek!

The card is very similar to the box I made for the 21st birthday card last week.  I'm not happy with the proportions of this one (5" x 7", cut down from a 10" x 7" card so the fold is on the short side), will try it on an 8 x 8 square card next time.  A very simple card though, shapes cut on Craft Robo Lite - teacups were a free download from UK Scrappers website, the bunting I managed to 'design' myself! The papers are a selection from the Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose collection - think these are my favourite PP papers of all time...the 2 fonts used are called Auburn and Hiccups both from Kevin & Amanda, I think they complement each other really well...Edges were 'inked' with a Blush Promarker and teacups trimmed with a little bit of paper lace.

my first exploding box

Create and Craft TV has a lot to answer for...! I was just about to make a 60th birthday card to send to a colleague and was planning to do a variation on the handbag  card.  But before I could put knife to paper I spotted an exploding box as one of the demo samples on Create and Craft and thought 'I can do that!'

So, the result of my first exploding box...I'm very proud of it!

The letters and numbers were cut on the trusty Craft Robo Lite, but believe it or not I added all the polka dots by hand! Glitter peel-offs from Papermania and flowers are leftovers from the Forever Friends wall decor sets.

upcycling

I spent a happy day last weekend cutting up the lovely birthday cards I'd received and 'remodelling' or 'upcycling' them.  Will post more pictures soon but this is one of my favourites...

I forgot to take a pic of my cards before I got at them with scissors and guillotine but here's a pic of what this one looked like, its the one at the top...

with the addition of some black and ivory cardstock I came up with this

and then realised I didn't want to part with it just yet! So what's a girl to do but get out the craft box and recreate the topper.  The shoe is cut from vinyl using the Craft Robo Lite and the box from some cardstock that I got in a bargain pack last year and have never been able to find a use for until now!

Silver Wedding Card

another commission, usual 8 inch square format (to think I used to make mainly 4 inch square cards!). This one includes a shaker box cut from mirror card with nestabilities and filled with silver punched hearts and gems. The personalised text and sentiment are done with Meltdust from My Craft Studio  and the bow is gathered together with a 'make your own' brad from Papermania. Numbers were cut on the Craft Robo Lite from self-adhesive glitter vinyl

I went to town a bit on the insert of this one with a bit of 'bling'

Teapot Mark II

It seems it's not just me who loves the Union flag teapot design... My favourite customer brought more work my way, this time a commission from her daughter for a 21st birthday card for someone who loves drinking tea...

she wanted one of my 8 inch square cards with matching box, and I have to say I love this box as much as the card - may just have to reproduce as a smaller scale card...

what do you think of the little handmade paper teabag peeking out of the cup...?

Papers are a mix of Pink Petticoat and My Minds Eye, cut on Craft Robo Lite. Self-adhesive paper lace made by Creatability, and rub-ons made myself with special rub-on transfer paper from Grafix (bought at Hobbycraft, about £10 for 4 A4 sheets so will be using it sparingly!)

Graduation card number 2

for Heather's boyfriend, so it was a case of 'his and hers'...

Made in much the same was as yesterday's card, the backing paper was a free download from www.scrapbookscrapbook.com I found when looking for something with blue stars.  It wasn't wonderful quality but worked well enough for this card.

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You can't really see the tassel in this picture, but its a much plainer one than yesterday.  The wording was cut from vinyl with the craft robo.

Graduation card number 1

...made for the same person as yesterday's 21st birthday card.  Again the brief was 'girly'.

I used a scalloped edge 8" base card and the backing paper is cut from a 12" DCWV sheet. I ran it through the printer to add the sentiment then went over the lettering with Diamond Stickles to bling it up a bit...


The mortar board was cut using the craft robo (have had a lot of use out of it lately, lol!) and layered with 3d foam pads.  Don't you just love the tassel (which cost more than the rest of the card put together!)


And yes you've guessed it, there's a box too, although this 1 is a bit plainer than usual.  The tag was designed in Word after I'd used Photoshop Elements to recolour the ribbon on the clipart scroll.

Check back tomorrow for another graduation card...

21st birthday card

My first stepper card - a commission for a 21st birthday card for a 'girly girl'.  This was for the daughter of the recipient of the 50th birthday card I made a few weeks ago so I couldn't use the handbag this time!

I cut the card base with the craft robo, after running it through the printer to add polka dots to both sides (as the 'wrong' side is visible from the front of the card).  I can't remember where the shoe image came from but I digitally paper-pieced it to coordinate with the rest of the card.  The paper designs are all from Pink Petticoat, although I had to use a bit of jiggery-pokery to change the colourway to suit.

As ever I had to make a matching box as the card was way too deep for an envelope, so designed a basic template for the craft robo and cut it from printed card.  The words 'twenty one' and 'Heather' were also cut with the robo, as were the large flowers.  The trim on the box is of course made with a Martha Stewart punch.


I'm pleased to report that my customer loved the finished card - I must learn not to worry so much, lol!

Thinking out of the box...

This is a little gift I made for a colleague's birthday instead of a card. He's always scrounging coffee supplies from other people so this was just a tongue-in-cheek gift...

I cut the box with my craft robo, from a free template by sparkeyb on the UK Scrappers craft robo forum. The cardstock is an unwanted file divider - think I have some in cerise too - and it cut perfectly.  Loved the interlocking bottom on the template too, easier than sticking but very sturdy. The sides are decorated very simply with panels created in Word.

I filled the box with individual sachets of coffee, sugar etc, with a couple of teabags and tubs of UHT milk. For some reason he drinks his tea with honey so I bought a mini jar to go in the box too, its surprising just how much you can get in a box that's less than 7cm cubed!

Handbag Mark II...

Well, version 1 went down so well I thought I'd have another go

very similar to the first but I used a linen effect paper (not sure if that was wise, it didn't cut cleanly with the robo) and added a bit of bling. I designed the key myself on the robo  (I know some people still like keys on 18th/21st birthday cards so thought this was a very discreet way to use it!)

Inspired by...

...well I hardly think I need say any more - the cute little scottie dog says it all! I bought a pack of the scotties at Harrogate in March with a card for one of my sisters in mind - she's a collector of a certain designer handbag range and my budget doesn't run to the actual thing...

Anyway there I was sat trying to decide what to do for the 50th birthday card I'd been asked to make, with the brief of 'girly' and cast my mind back to the conversation where I'd been told that part of the gift for the birthday girl was a you-know-who bag...

...and voila!

Papers are Pink Petticoat, handbag shape traced from a Craftwork Cards blank then layered with 'panels' cut on the robo. I cut a pocket into the front of the bag to slot the scottie into. The '50' charm was also cut on the robo - I cut 3 layers and stuck them together for strength, and the brad used for the closure was from Dovecraft I think.  Some assorted flowers and thin strips of black vinyl and we're good to go :-)

As has become the habit with my 8 x 8" cards I made a matching box instead of an envelope and I think it turned out pretty well, after completely mis-measuring last night - the 1st attempt wasn't even square lol!

Of course I'm my own worst critic and worried that it wasn't up to scratch but my friend loved it, and I think I'll be making a very similar one for a 21st birthday card she needs too...

Oh yes, and not forgetting my sister's card!

I don't do big cards...

...so could someone please explain how I came to make an A4 size card???

I offered to make a wedding card as one of my colleagues is getting married on Saturday and we've clubbed together for her gift.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, until I realised that I know very little about this person's tastes,  not to mention the rest of my colleagues...

I decided to steer away from the lovely cute Lili of the Valley image I bought at Harrogate and had a picture in my head of an 8 x 8 inch square card with a 3D tiered wedding cake in ivory with red accents as the bride is wearing a red dress with full-length ivory coat.  Took the prototype in to show my colleagues the other day and got the impression they didn't approve of the colour scheme - eek!

Lots of hours later I ended up with this - the only thing it has in common with my original concept is the tiered cake

I finished it after midnight last night, then dragged myself off to bed knowing that I wasn't really happy with it.  So this morning I pulled it to bits!  This is version 2 - very little difference except the cake is now lower on the card and the springy wires connecting the hearts are gold coloured instead of silver.

I'm as happy as I'm going to get with it now so I think its time to make the box - I've got about 4 hours, lol!

For a large card it was incredibly cheap to make - the cardstock is from my bargain buy at Harrogate - pearlised A3 card folded in half to make the base card then decorated with a Rollagraph stamp wheel using Versamark and mica powder ( Harrogate spending spree again!). The cake tiers use Martha Stewart punches (yes, Harrogate!) with a bit of glitter and a few gems. The cake stand uses a couple of Fiskars punches - the curved sides were done using an oval punch. The glittered hearts were also punched from the same cardstock as everything else then run upside down through my mini Xyron before adding glitter.  And last but not least, the sentiment panel was created with my Craft Robo Lite - I love the gel-pen drawing function. Incidentally, the ivory cardstock used for matting and layering, and some of the cake elements is just the same cardstock but coloured with an ivory promarker!

On the subject of weddings I had to chuckle at this post last night by Kerry over at A Load of Old Pickle. Why do we volunteer ourselves for these things, lol?  I made my friend's wedding invitations last year, apparently I'd offered while under the influence of far too much wine (which I blamed on the shock of her finally getting hitched after 10 years together!).  I couldn't help but be struck by the similarities to Kerry's invitations, especially the insides

Can I just point out though - I didn't want the peel-off there  - that was a last minute addition when the bride's father thought a wedding invitation should feature wedding bells (even though it wasn't a church wedding...)

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone is enjoying their eggs and other Easter goodies :-)

Just a quick visit to share this card with you - not strictly an Easter card but it could've been...

I love this design, one of a set of cutting files for my Craft Robo, bought from My Scrap Chick.  Unfortunately, although it doesn't really show in this pic I had a bit of a disaster with the good old pinflair glue , put a bit too close to the edge when sticking it all together - if you look closely at the middle 'tuft' on the chick's head you might be able to see it. But, as any good crafter knows, there's always a way round - et voila (!) version 2...

...with a hastily designed and cut sentiment!

I managed to squeeze a bit of Promarker action in there too - instead of faffing about cutting the eyes and beak out of different pieces of card I cut them in yellow with the main piece and then coloured them in - genius, even if I do say so myself!

Off to do more tidying now :-(