oooops has it realy been 3 weeks!!!

Baby album commission

How time flies when your crafting. Its been 3 weeks since I posted here but that's because I had 2 scrapbook albums to make for commissions. I also had a dozen cards and gifts for various teachers at my daughters school some of who were leaving and some just thank you cards.
So I will give you a little peek of what I have been up to.
Firstly the cards and gifts that I made for the teachers leaving my daughters school.
These cards were all very personal as they were made with their various hobbies in mind.

Rugby themed card

This was made using an 8" x 8" white card blank on which I matted a royal blue piece of card 7.75" square and then a piece of cream 7.5" square and finally a piece of green measuring 7" square.
For this card I used Anna Marie Designs template Cd rom number 4 to print a template for the main rugby ball shapes, goal and word rugby. I coloured the word using a Promarker and then highlighted both the ball and word with faux stitching using Sakura gelly roll pens. I then mounted them all onto the card as shown. Finally I added a sentiment written onto a piece of white card using Weathered Wood and Bundled Sage distress markers. I cut this to 2" x 3" and matted onto a piece of royal blue.

Theatre themed card number one

 This one was made using an 8" x 8" white card blank which I matted firstly with a piece of red pearlescent card cut to 7.75" square. Using the same red card I created theatre curtain shapes. I then took pieces of textured paper to create the stage area and placed onto the card front before attaching the curtains. Next I embellished the card using images from My Craft Studio as well as taking images of theatre posters into the programme to shrink them. I finished the design with a bunch of roses, sentiment which I mounted on a Spellbinders die cut and curtain ties.

Theatre themed card number 2

 First I printed a topper and mini venetian mask from the Debbi Moore Venetian Collection. I mounted the topper on a scalloped circle cut using spellbinders largest scalloped circle die. I then added glitter highlights to the mask. Next I mounted the circle topper onto a small square of Kraft card measuring 4.5" x 4.5" to which I had attached a red border. I then matted this onto a cream square cut to 5" x 5". I then took a cream card blank 8" x 8" and matted on to it a piece of silver mirror card 7.75" square a piece of red texture card 7.5" square and then a piece of textured paper cut to 7" square. Next I added my smaller layered square complete with topper. I further embellished the card by adding the mask, paper roses, crystal cabochons, crochet lace, ribbon and tickets.

Cocktail themed card 

 For this next card I took an 8" square white card blank and matted with two different shades of pink cardstock cut to 7.75" square and 7.5" square. Next I added a piece of patterned paper 7" x 7". I then created my main topper by layering up small piece of cream card 4.5" x 4.5" and textured pink card 4" x 4" before adding the cocktail image. (The background paper, cocktail topper and sentiment were all from an old issue of Making Cards Magazine. I knew my hording was for a good reason!!) Next I punched a border strip using a Martha Stewart punch and stuck this to the bottom half of the card along with a length of orange polka dot ribbon. I cut 3 smaller pieces of the same ribbon which I looped in half and attached to the top left of my main topper before I stuck it to the card front. I stuck it in the top right corner. I completed the card with the sentiment which I backed with a piece of card to strengthen before adding to the card as shown.

Cinema/movie buff themed card

 This card was made for a film buff who both loved watching movies but especially going to the cinema to see them. Firstly I used My Craft Studio Cd rom Men-y Happy Returns to print the ticket background and various movie themed items. Some I printed as digi stamps and some as coloured images. I coloured the popcorn image using promarkers and wrote mini messages on the film strip. I then took a 8" square cream card blank to which I added a black mat measuring 7.75" square and then a red mat cut to 7.5" square. Next I cut the ticket background to 7" x 7" and stuck this to the other layers. I finished the card by embellishing with the movie themed items.

Floral good luck card

 This final card was for someone who loved flowers. I took an 8" square white card blank which I matted with a piece of gold mirror card cut to 7.75" square and then added to this some Hunkydory card measuring 7.5" square. In the top left corner I created a flower feature using Spellbinders leafy corner and various flowers I made myself by layering up Martha Stewart punched flowers, Cosmic Shimmer decorative PVA glues and gem stones. I completed the card with a Hunkydory border strip placed across the centre of the card and Good Luck Topper.

Boxed altered Stationary set for Retirement gift

For this gift I purchased a reasonably priced notebook and some pens and pencil and decided to embellish the notebook with some items in my stash then make a box to compliment it.
The outside of the notebook as you can see was very pretty but the inside was very plain other than a plain bookmark ribbon. I had some mini postcards, tags and metal decorations from A My Craft Studios Embellishment Attic kit as well as Craftwork Cards Postcards from Paris papers that I knew would compliment this perfectly.

Firstly I added a length of crochet ribbon down the length of the left hand side and using Silicone glue attached the metal gold leaf embellishment. Next I attached some mini postcards to the cover of the book and placed 2 mini tags back to back at the base of the bookmark ribbon

 I chose 3 sheets of paper from this pad, 1 each of the roses with the Eiffel Tower, the mini postcards and the mirror. Two of them I used for the inside covers of the notebook and one would be used later.

I covered the inside cover with the mirror paper and attached a larger Embellishment attic postcard to the right hand side. I used this to personalise the book.

 

 

I added the Eiffel Tower backing paper to the back inside cover.

Next I used my Crafters Companion Ultimate Pro boxer board to create a box with sections to hold the various items. Firstly I cut two pieces of card to 10" x 11" and using the first one I made a  box base that was  8" x 9" with a 1" depth. For the long dividing strip I cut a piece of card 1" x 11" long and then made a score line 1" from each end. To create the holders for the pens and pencil I cut two pieces of card to 1" x  4" long and then scored every 1/2"

I then glued them in place using Cosmic Shimmer PVA firstly checking each area was spaced right.

I then made the box base using the remaining piece of cardstock. I decorated the front of the box lid with the mini postcards paper and a left over strip of the Eiffel tower paper. To complete the box I added some paper roses, pink crochet ribbon bow, tag and Hunkydory  die cut Sentiment.

Decorative candle Retirement gift

For this I used a tall white pillar candle, red crochet ribbon, two tone blue wide striped gros grain ribbon, red ribbon bows, pearl stems, cabochons, clear gemstones, red berry stems, silk leaves, paper flowers in shades of blue and red, ultra fine crystal glitter and foiled die cut sentiments.

 Although you can't see them in this picture (because they are covered by the flowers) the first thing I did was to stick a length of the blue ribbon and crochet ribbon around the centre of the candle. Making sure that the joins were at the front of the candle then they would be hidden under the floral embellishments. I then stuck a congratulations foiled sentiment to the top of the candle. Next I created my floral centre piece using the large blooms and tucking leaves, berries, pearls and rose buds in between. I then highlighted some of the flowers using a quickie glue pen and crystal glitter.

 With the candle sideways you can see the red crochet ribbon and 2 tone blue gros grain ribbon.

To make the back as pretty as the front I embellished with pale blue cabochons and red ribbon bows.

 

 I used the Crafters Companion Sweet Treats milk carton board  to create a large milk carton.

Once completed I decorated with patterned papers in shades of red and pale blue, paper flowers, silk leaves, decorative pegs, ribbon bows, red crochet ribbon and spellbinders tag and sentiment.

 

Birthday Present for a friend part 2

As a teaching assistant my friend is always writing down notes so I decided a personalised notebook would be perfect for her second gift.
I purchased a notebook that already had a pretty floral design in shades of pale green, baby pink, brown and turquoise.
First I cut 16 various coloured and patterned pieces of ribbon to 2" long and tied 1 of each to the ring bound spine of the notebook as shown.

 

Next I stamped a butterfly using Versamark onto a piece of Centura pearl card.  I had created an inked background on to this first using the Big and Juicy waterfall inkpad. I then heat embossed the image with silver pearl embossing powder, before cutting out. I attached this as shown using Pinflair glue gel. I then cut a small piece of co-ordinating rose paper and spelt out notebook using silver peel off letters. I stuck this to the front as shown using extra strong double sided tape. Next I took a selection of ready made paper roses and cut the wires off all but 2 of them. Using a pokey tool I curled the wires of these before sticking them all to the front with Pinflair.

Next using 2 different sizes of bunting die I cut 4 patterned and 4 co-ordinating plain bunting pieces. I matted these together using Cosmic Shimmer glue and then added the letters to spell Lynn. I attached them to a narrow strip of ribbon and then glued to the front as shown with a small amount of Pinflair glue gel so that they were quite flat to the notebook. I completed the look with some more paper roses, again stuck with Pinflair.

 The finished personalised notebook. Whats great about this is because it is ring bound the embellishments do not stop the book open properly or laying correctly whilst in use.

 

 

 

Making the most out of your stash

One set of papers 2 cards and 2 tags

I hate throwing away even the tiniest scrap of paper and have 10 different bit bags. So with this in mind I decided to see what I could create with the leftovers after making a card.

From my crafty stash I collected together the following:-

1  8" x 8" pre scored royal blue card blank
1 5" x 5" pre scored white card blank
1 sheet of yellow A3 card
1 12" x 12" sheet of siver mirror board (create and craft)
1 A4 sheet of blue spots paper (printed from the Bebunni baby cd rom)
1 A5 sheet of blue spot paper (printed from the Bebunni baby cd rom)
2 pieces of ribbon-1 blue gingham and one baby blue grosgrain
selection of blue and yellow buttons (Hobbycrafts brights selection)
Bebunni inserts x 2 of the same design
Bebunni Bundle of Joy stamps-stiched sentiment plaque and it's a boy message
Die cut words Little One (cut using Cricut Create and New Arrival cartridge)
small circle topper from Bebunni Baby die cut card kit

I also used:-

 Collall all purpose and 3d glue gel
ultimate pro trimmer/small rock-a-block
scissors
distress marker-Bundled Sage
Crafters Companion tape pen

Main card

Firstly I took the yellow A4 plus card and trimmed down to 1 piece of 7.5" x 7.5" and 2 pieces of 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" then set the rest aside.
Next I took the printed paper and cut down to 1 piece of  7" x 7" and 2 pieces of 3.5" x 3.5" then put the rest aside.
Then the silver mirror board which I cut too 1 piece of 6.5" x 6.5" and 2 pieces of 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" and as with the other two I put the leftovers to one side.

Using the distress marker I drew faux stitching around all 4 sides of the 3 yellow pieces. Using all purpose glue I glued the largest of the yellow pieces to the front of my card blank followed by the largest of the spot pieces.
Taking the two smaller pieces of yellow card I then glued the two smaller spot papers on to them.
Next I threaded a button onto gingham ribbon and then taking the largest topper I first wrapped the grosgrain ribbon and then the gingham around the base of it. I also wrapped the smaller toppers with a length of gingham ribbon at the base, and finished them off with a couple of buttons and added a bow to one of them.
The next step was to mat all 3 toppers on to the appropriate sized piece of silver mirror board using 3d glue gel and then I attached the largest one to the front of the card.

I then took the two inserts and chopped them down to 7.5" x 7.5" each removing the side with Bebunni on from each one and set aside.

 

Using the tape pen I attached 1 to each side of the inside of the card, I was not worried that they had sentiments on them both as my plan was to cover them over anyway.

I then took the piece of yellow card and printed paper I had set aside earlier and cut the yellow card to 7.5" x 3 3/4" (leaving a piece of  8 3/4" x 3 3/4") and the A5 spot paper to 7" x 3" leaving a piece of (1 1/4" x 2.5") along with the mini circle topper and one of the small square toppers I had made and used them to further decorate the inside of the card.

I first drew faux stitching around the yellow card as with the square toppers previously. I then matted the spot paper onto the yellow card with tape pen before attaching this to the left hand side of the card about 2" from the bottom ensuring that it covered the wording already printed on the card. Next using 3d glue gel I added the small circle topper to the bottom left hand corner of the left leaf of the card and the die cut words 'little one' to the border strip. Then on the right leaf of the card I attached the small square topper.

Next using the stamps I created my little sentiment plaque and using 3d glue gel attached to the front of the card along with some buttons. The finishing touch I tied a little piece of gingham around the other piece to make a little knot/bow.

 

So what did I have left???

Well I had 2 strips of insert that I had cut from the ones used in the main card

 2 pieces of silver mirror board measuring 5.5" x 12" and 2 1/4" x 5.5"

 A piece of yellow card measuring 3 3/4" x 16.5"

A piece of spot paper measuring 1 1/4" x 11.5" 

  A 5" x 5" white card blank

 1 small competed square topper

1 piece of grosgrain ribbon approx. 8" long

 

I decided I would use some mirror board, one of the strips of insert, the topper and card blank.

I cut the larger strip of mirror board into 2 squares 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

 

 

 

Then I cut one of the insert strips that were left over into two pieces measuring 4" x 4" 

Next I matted the pieces of insert onto the mirror board using the tape pen before attaching these to the inside of the card also using tape pen. Making sure the one with Bebunni on was on the left so there would be room to write a message on the card.

 

 

Finally using 3d glue gel I attached the small square topper to the card front.

 

 

So now I had two complete cards but was it possible to make anything else???

 

I still had one strip of insert

 some grosgrain ribbon

 A piece of mirror board measuring 5.5" x 2 1/4"

  A piece of yellow card measuring 3 3/4" x 16.5"

A piece of spot paper measuring  3/4" x 1 3/4"

 

I took the piece of yellow card and trimmed to 4 pieces measuring 3 3/4" x 3 3/4"

I took the piece of spot paper and cut 4 squares measuring 3/4" x 3/4" then cut them diagonally in half to create 8 triangle pieces

I cut the strip of insert into 2 pieces measuring 4" x 4"

I cut the piece of ribbon in half approx. 4" long each

 

Using the tape pen I attached the 2 pieces of insert to 2 pieces of  the yellow card and then added a triangle to each of the corners using all purpose glue.

Next using strong double sided tape I attached the ribbon to the back of them.

To hide the ribbon on the back I then covered the back of each one with the 3rd and 4th piece of yellow card

 

 

2 perfect little matching gift tags

 

So in answer to my question I not only managed to create 2 new baby cards but also 2 gift tags leaving nothing left over other than the tiniest trimmings of card!!

Personalised card-Emma

Seems my chocolate brown and blue obsession is not going anywhere as this card reminded me!!
I made this card a while ago using those colours and still today it features largely in my card and altered art projects (my very recent A4 notebook being one example)
To be honest I think the co-ordination of these two colours works so well I don't think I want it too anywhere.

So this card was made for a friend Emma's Birthday (talk about state the obvious!!)

 

For this card I used the following craft items

 

3 pre scored decorative card blanks from Hunkydory

3 A4 sheets of Anna-Marie designs Ice blue card stock

3 A4 sheets of Anna-Marie designs chocolate brown card stock

Spellbinders nestabilities classic circle dies

Spellbinders nestabilities scalloped circle dies

Spellbinders shapeabilities rose creations dies

Spellbinders Fleur de lis motifs dies

American crafts ribbons (white with brown and blue circles and orange, brown and blue stripe)

Flat back self adhesive pearls

Uppercase alphabet stencil

Grand Calibur

Collall 3d glue gel

Crafters Companion tape pen

cosmic shimmer glue

scissors

pokey tool

Preparation

Firstly using the tape pen I joined the 3 card blanks together to create 1 concertina card.

Then using the Grand Calibur  and the Spellbinders dies I cut the following:-

2 x scalloped circles in ice blue (largest die)

2 x scalloped circles in chocolate brown (largest die)

2 x classic circles in ice blue (largest die)

2 x classic circles in chocolate brown (largest die)

2 x fleur de lis corner in ice blue

2 x fleur de lis corner in chocolate brown

1 complete set of rose creations dies in ice blue

1 complete set of rose creations dies in chocolate brown

Next using cosmic shimmer glue I layered up the scalloped and classic circles in the following combinations:- ice blue scalloped circle with chocolate brown classic circle and chocolate brown scalloped circle with ice blue classic circle. When complete I had 2 each of both combinations.

There were a total of 10 flowers that I had cut with the rose die so I used the same principle layering alternate colours but created two 3 layer roses as well as 2 layer ones.

Finally I drew and cut out the letters needed (E and M  in choc brown and M and A in ice blue)

 

Assembling the card

First of all using 3d glue gel I stuck the four layered circle toppers to the card panels(approx 1 inch down from the top on panels 1 & 3 then approx 2" down on panels 2 & 4)  alternating them (panel 1 brown/blue, panel 2 blue/brown, panel 3 brown/blue and panel 4 blue/brown)

Then using cosmic shimmer glue I stuck the letters to the centre of each of the circle toppers.

Next using the tape pen on panels 1 and 3 I stuck a length of the stripped ribbon (approx 1.5" from the bottom of the panel) and then added a 3 layered rose.

Then on panels 2 and 4 using 3d glue I attached a bow made from the circle ribbon to the top of the circle and a 2 layer rose towards the top of the panel.

Finally using cosmic shimmer glue I added a fleur de lis corner to each panel (panel 1 blue, panel 2 brown, panel 3 blue and panel 4 brown) and finished off the roses by adding a flat back pearl to the centre of each.

 

 

 

 

 

I love that by just changing the letters for die cut toppers or stamped and coloured images this card could be used for any occasion, and by changing the colour scheme could be used for anyone.

 

 

 

Well decided that for the next couple of design team pieces I would go with cards that not only used stamping but also colouring as well as printed elements from cd roms whilst still incorporating all my favourite bits and pieces such as die cuts, coloured PVA's and ribbon. Not to mention lots and lots of beautiful cardstocks.

Floral Shoe Card

For this card I used an 8"x 8" pre scored black textured card blank from Anna-Marie designs
as well as her dottie card in olive green,lime green and wine red and shabby gingham in true red and salt and pepper. I also used her die cut birthday messages and lastly her Blooming shoe acrylic stamp set.
 
The shoe was stamped using black momento ink pad and coloured in using alcohol markers
I used Promarkers-Berry Red, Lipstick Red,Grass and flexmarker Antique White.

The card was embellished using assorted paper flowers and leaf sprigs including floradoodles from petaloo and some which were die cut from true red gingham to co-ordinate with the rest of the card. Also used was a piece of tri colour striped ribbon, red and green raffia and Cosmic Shimmer pearlescent PVA glue in Olympic Gold.
The inside of the card was decorated to compliment the outside using the same cardstocks, more floral embellishments and a further message.

A BLOOMING lovely card for any lady!!

 I love the fact that this card is not over fussy but still has lots of bright cheerful colours

 

New Baby Card

I hope no one I know has a baby very soon as I feel reluctant to give this to anyone!!

I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to go with a traditional blue for a boy card or to make it a green theme. So I decided I would not make myself choose and found a way to combine both lovely pastel shades in a wonderfully cute creation.

 

The amount of things I used for this card seemed to be endless so hopefully I will not miss anything!!

Card and Papers

Neenah,A3 centura pearl and various backing papers printed from the Bebunni Baby cd rom from Crafters Companion. Pastel glitter card from Create and Craft in green and baby blue and scraps of pastel blue and green card from my bit box.

Dies

Spellbinders Card Creator die-Diamond Effects using Grand Calibur and various items cut from New Arrivals Cricut cartridge using cricut create

Stamps

Bebunni-New Arrival,Bundle of Joy and Baby stamp sets

 

other items used were paper roses,green ribbon, brights buttons selection from Hobbycraft (I used blues and Greens), Collall 3d glue gel, Collall all purpose glue as well as distress inkpad in Broken China, distress marker in Bundled Sage and memento black inkpad.

 

Using my ultimate I marked out and then trimmed a piece of A3 centura pearl to create an 8" x 8" card blank

I then trimmed the following pieces of card and paper

Green glitter card-7 3/4" x 7 3/4"

Blue patchwork paper from Bebunni cd rom-7 1/2" x 7 1/2"

Green glitter card-7" x 3 1/4"

Blue patchwork paper (as above)-6 3/4" x 3"

Blue glitter card-5 1/4" x 7 1/4"

Green patchwork paper from Bebunni cd rom-5" x 7"

Then 2 pieces of Neenah cardstock to 5" x 7"

 

Using the distress marker I drew stitched detail around both pieces of blue patchwork paper and then matted these using glue gel onto the correct sized pieces of green glitter card. I then wrapped a piece of green ribbon around the border piece leaving two long pieces to the left to tie into a bow.

 

Next I stamped the main images from Bebunni New Arrival and Bundle of Joy onto the Neenah card pieces and coloured them using a selection of alcohol pens in shades of green, grey and blues.

I used the following brands and colours of pens:-

 Promarkers in -grass,leaf green, cyan, arctic blue, pastel blue, cool grey 3, cool grey 4

 

Flexmarkers-blue grey 1, celestial blue, soft aqua, cadet blue and aquamarine.

 

Maarvy Leplume-grey blue 691, blue 717, cool grey 894 and cool grey 892

I also used a Promarker blender pen

 

When I had finished colouring the images I used the Diamond Effects die to cut out the New Arrival image and then free hand cut around the Bundle of Joy Image.

 

The die cut image was matted 1st onto green patchwork and then onto blue glitter card.

The card front was given finishing touches by adding messages stamped from the new arrival and baby stamp sets, buttons, paper roses, die cut images, mini pegs and teal sky PVA. TE inside of the card was created by cutting down a Bebunni baby insert to 7 3/4" x 7 3/4" then adding the cut out stamped bundle of joy image and other small die cuts.

 Completed card front-with Bebunni stamped image New Arrival

 Close up of mini die cut images cut using Cricut Create and New Arival Cricut cartridge

 Bebunni getting his close up-he's so adorable who could resist another look??

 Stamped using Bebunni Baby stamp set and embellished with buttons from Hobbycrafts

 A little peek of Bebunni but a closer look at those lovely paper roses. Even baby boys cards can't escape my flower addiction!!

 Cute little sentiment stamped from the Bebunni New Arrival stamp set and that lovely two tone satin ribbon with bow.

 awwwwww Bebunni nice close up of his adorable face.

 The inside of the card complete with co-ordinating insert and another stamped and coloured image

 A close up of the stamped and coloured Bebunni Bundle of Joy stamped image in the inside

And the whole card front again because with Bebunni once is never enough!!!