Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Wedding invitations

A dear friend asked me to help her with her daughters wedding invitations. It was really special doing this as we have been friends, long before we had our children and have seen each other through the joys and heartache that comes with having children and husbands. We still 'summons' easy other for a coffee date when we need a shoulde,r or moral support in our lives. Anyway, over coffee last week I asked I she had any ideas in her head for the invitation and birds, cages and simple, seemed to be foremost in her mind. I had just been playing with all that she had mentioned so I could put it together in my head immediately. I left her and went home and put the following two samples together for her to look at. It was exactly what she wanted. We looked at more paper samples and changed from a background of navy or silver to a shade called Lustre. It's a cross between silver/gold/grey. Quite stunning. I will post a photo of it onto my blog later on.







This is the navy version she thought might work, but changed her mind.









This is the silver version - also changed her mind when she saw Lustre.







The two together.
I used the very same format as my son's wedding invitations last year. It is economical and very easy to put together. The embossing folder is Alfred's Birds. The cage is Poppystamps Vintage Cage. I created a slot on the branch and threaded a ribbon through the card stock and slipped the cage ring onto the ribbon and tied a bow. I anchored the cage at the bottom with a foam square. The insert will hold all the wedding details and as with my sons invitation, the directions map will be on the back of the insert.
Well, another convert to paper crafting - Charmaine went out and bought a Cuttlebug, embossing folders, tools etc. and she has only just started on this amazing journey, that will make everyone happy, most especially the vendors out there!
Happy creating dear friend!!






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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Navaeh


Another Saturated Canary digi today! This darling is Navaeh and I colored her with Copic's and Prisma color pencils. I cut her out with an X-Cut die from Paola and used a sheet of card that Paola had sent me some time ago. I added some of Paola's roses and pearls - perhaps this card should have had the title "Paola" - a couple of butterflys, seam binding from Amelia and lastly a tag from Papertreys Tag collection. The white buckle is from Poppystamps die collection. It is called Tilda Buckle. Lovely die. I'm so in love with Poppystamps and Memory Box dies that my wish list keeps growing with every new release. When will they stop releasing new products and allow me to catch up with what is already out there?








Here is a close up of Naveah.....



I did enjoy making this card. It was for another dear friend, Dorothy, who's birthday was on the 26th of January. I know she would really appreciate the work that went into making this card.






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Friday, January 27, 2012

A Very Special Birthday Card for a Very Special Lady





My very dear friend Sally turns 80 today and I made her this card for the occasion.





I used Martha Stewart punches, Marrianne and Cheery Lynn dies and an embossing folder called Alfred's Birds on this card. It was not my intention to not use stamps, it just kind of went in that direction. I just loves the crispness of the white and red seemed the obvious choice to create an impact.
Maureen and I shared the expense of the gift for Sally and bought her a Spellbinders Motif set of dies as she love using her Cuttlebug and working 
with dies in particular. I could not find any suitable gift wrap in my stash so ended up making this packet for the dies. It started out being an A3 sheet of white card and as I worked on it, it turned into this




I actually used my set of the same dies to embellish the packet together with a Marrianne doily die and numbers from the Cuttlebug Olivia die set. Here is a close up of he medallion




Last Saturday the stamping group gave Sally a surprise party and spoilt her with gifts and lots of lovely food, good friends and laughter. Sally was overwhelmed by it all and had the best time!
I felt really blessed to have shared in this celebration and more blessed to have Sally in my life. Happy. Birthday dearest friend!


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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

21st Birthday Card


I have fallen in love with punched flowers.
I used an embossing folder from Crafts-Too, Damask, for the background and laid a strip of gingham ribbon down the side. I punched out flowers and placed them into an embossing folder I received from my friend Wendy in the USA - thanks again Wendy! - and cranked them through to give the flowers texture.The flowers were then worked over with an embossing tool to cup them and I layered them, using a dab of glue to secure them and popped a pearl in the center. The leaves are either the Pine branch or a Dutch punch and emboss set I got from Joan at Country Crafts. She has all the Dutch punches and much more. Pop over for a visit. 
The 21 was cut using the Cuttlebug Olivia font dies and all was mounted onto a matching pink card and then the main card. I enjoyed this card!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Sweet Valentine


This delightful digi is from Saturated Canary. I have become a huge fan of Krista's art work and really battle to choose one to work on as they are all so gorgeous.
This one I chose so that I could enter it into the Saturated Canary challenge on their blog - theme being Clean and Simple and they have had a sketch to follow as well. Seems I missed the boat again and they have another challenge up - Dies and/or Punches.(Back to the drawing board....lol).
Anyhow, the paper I used is from a local company W & M and I teamed it up with some lovely pink vellum. I coloured the image with Copic's and touched it up with Prisma Color Pencils. The punched hearts were suspended with thread to mimic the hearts in the image. My one big boo-boo was that I colored the crayons in other shades and not reds as used in the hearts!! Too bad, I have forgiven myself ;0)
Do pop over to the Saturated Canary Etsy shop and take a look and do some digi shopping. You will not be able to resist these images, I promise!!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Rain, Rain, go away!

My new love, Digis from Saturated Canary created by the very talented Krista Smith and purchased via her Etsy Shop.
I just love their big sad eyes and whimsical look. Such a lovely range to choose from, makes you want them all!


I'm trying to create a card in the right order these days!
Choose your paper first, then colour the image. Rather difficult  for me as I love to sit in the evenings and colour one image after another, whilst keeping my DH company in front of the TV. So now, I am stacking images I want to colour, with co-ordinating card stock, and am selecting one of them when the urge takes me. 


This lovely image is 'Rainy Day' and the paper I selected is from a pad called Summer Breeze by First Addition. The paper has shimmer and glitter on some of the flowers and is so pretty IRL. I coloured with Copic's and Prismas and cut her out using Spellbinders Lacy Ovals. I kept it very clean and simple so the image received all the attention. The sentiment is from a set that was gifted to my by Paola ages ago and I go back to time and time again. Some pretty gingham ribbon and a die cut flower with a pearl center finished the card off.


Off to do some more card stock selecting with images to colour, to put into the 'to do' folder.


Thanks for popping in.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Stamp and Embossed Cards









Another very versatile set from Hero Arts is this stamp and emboss set called 'Silhouette Vines' bought from Niki at Paperchain.
The first card I used Airondack Pesto to stamp with, embossed with the matching folder and mounted onto a green backing board.  I die cut the sentiment out using the Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio Three and since I could not match up ribbon, but a band out of the backing board and used that instead. 














The second card was stamped with Distress Inks in Wild Honey with a 'tap' or two of "Dried Marigold" for contrast. The butterfly was cut using Cheery Lynn dies and the sentiment was from a new set from Whimsy Stamps, I think called Postmarks. Simple and quick cards, ideal for the shop as I have to consider time & materials versus recoverable values i.e. staying within a reasonable price range.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Birthday 'Gift' Card


A lovely Hero Arts set called 'Dictionary Greetings' teamed up with W & M black and white card stock, a lovely red ribbon to wrap the 'gift' with, creates this simple quick card. I love this stamp set as it has a 'greeting' for 'thank you', 'friend' and 'hello'. Very versatile set and a great addition to the stash.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Picnic Thyme

I have a dear friend who has started a small business called 'Picnic Thyme'. She makes up gourmet picnic baskets and sets the 'scene' at your chosen venue. All you have to do is arrive, relax and enjoy your picnic!
Fabulous idea! She sponsored a picnic for two at a recent charity event and asked me to make up a voucher for her to present to the winners. The basket 'decor' was black and white with little red bows, so I went with the theme and swapped the bow for a flower. I also made up a simple card trying to follow the name 'image', just in case she did not like the other card. I believe she went with the black and white version. Thanks Bridgit, for asking me to do this for you. I enjoyed the challenge!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

First card in 2012

At last I got to make a card! I have been dying (excuse the pun) to use the new Poppystamps die I have had on my desk for awhile. It is the Madison Window die. I sponged a 'sky' background behind the window frame and made a flowerbox to put the little flowers and foilage into. The flowers definately need some more work on them as does the 'arrangement' in the box, but for now I am satisfied. It looks so much better i.r.l.  Another improvement I must make is my photography skills - they stink! So for now, this will have to do.
Another first outing was this awesome Stampin' up embossing folder that my dear friend Wendy bought for me in the States and posted it out to me. It is a fabulous folder and can't wait to use it again and again....
Thanks Wendy, you are amazing! One day I hope to be able to do something special for you too!
So glad I have kick started my mojo this year. I am in the process of catalogueing my stamps - horrendous job, but one that has to be done as I don't know what I have anymore or worst still, where it is! So, I plan to do an hours worth of work on this project 5 out of 7 days in a week. I'll let you know when it is done. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all many hours of happy crafting.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Anniversary flowers

Aren't they gorgeous?


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Last card in 2011

I have a really good friend who is the most awesome hostess and loves spoiling her friends at year end, with a fabulous luncheon, a couple of weeks before Christmas. This is a 'girls only' get together and we all look forward to the amazing food and catch-up with the group.
Each lady brings a gift all beautifully wrapped and  is preferably hand made. Now, some of these ladies are super talented and bring along quilted wall hangings or table runners, exquisite hand made jewellery, beautifully embroidered hand towels or similar and so the list goes on. I have over the years made teddies, but the last two years I have made up a pack of 10 or 12 cards, with envelopes, in a box, as my contribution. I try to give a selection of birthday, thanks, sympathy, get well soon etc. Whilst there are a few stampers in the group, most do not do paper crafts, so this is a very desirable gift to receive - or so I'm told!
We play a game that involves much haggling, passing on and fighting over - sounds uncivilised, but really is not - just great fun and most ladies seem to end up with what they fancy, well some at least get the best gifts. This card was one in the pack I took along this year. I used a Hero Arts butterfly collage stamp and masked the butterflies so I could colour the background with Distress Inks, then went in with Copic's and coloured the butterflies and added Glossy Accents to the big ones. Distressed the edges and swiped with Vintage Photo ink and mounted onto a white card. As I did not want to place a sentiment on it, I thought I would add a leafy flourish to finish it off. I thought it turned out quite a pretty card. So folks, that was my last card for the year, except of a couple of last minute gift tags.....

Monday, January 2, 2012

Bumble and Henry Jonah

I made this bear for Henry Jonah.
Bumble is made out of cotton toweling and was dyed using natural safe products. He is stuffed with fiberfill and plastic pellets and is hand washable, as he is likely to need a scrub after a while!
Because Henry Jonah is of South African/Canadian descent, I thought flags on his foot pads would look good. I managed to find a South African flag, but had to make the Canadian one myself.
I was so delighted when I received these photographs, that I asked permission to share them with you all. It is little things like this, that makes me glad that I have the gift of creating something beautiful, that is appreciated and will be loved, and I cannot think of a nicer little fella to take care of Bumble.
Henry and Jen, thanks for sharing these amazing photo's with us all.
You are truly blessed with your delightful son ~ Enjoy him! 


Oh my! is this for me??

Hmmm.... hand made with love for.....ME?