Happy 21st Jim!

Our final project from Carolyn's on day SU retreat was to make a mini album based on a design by Andrea Walford.

Although we cut all the papers to decorate the album with, it was left for us to complete at home.

My friend Denise asked me to make a card incorporating lots of photographs for her son Jim's 21st so I decided to use the blank for this. The overall size is 6x6".

The Springtime Vintage was too floral and girly for a male, so I used a different collection of papers, still SU, called Sweet Pea which I got from Zoe (Mrs Wonka) last year.

I kept the front cover simple by using cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart PATP and just adding a line of glitter (silver) and a button.

The album opens like a maze and has many pages which I have shown below:

The inside opens the other way so I fixed down the bottom flap with double sided tape and stitched a button on. The top flap has a ribbon fixed behind the photograph which fastens around the button.

Inside I added some tags with the remainder of the photos.

This is the card I made from me.

A 6x6 CWC card using the same papers as before.

The letters and numbers were cut with the Teardrop Cricut cartridge.

I used distress stickles to highlight and give dimension.

Happy 21st Jim - hope you have a lovely birthday

xxx

Two Challenges in One

As most of you know, I'm not one for a lot of challenges as I'm usually starved for time due to work.

So....having a four day weekend, one just has to make the most of the time! :)

I was blog hopping and came across a challenge site via Kraftin' Kimmie and Quixotic Paperie where this charming stamp came from. It's called CPS-Card Sketches and you can find the challenge here this one is a sketch, see below.

I also checked the Passion for Promarkers site and found their challenge here which is to use a dinosaur stamp.

This is the result.

I know I'm a spoilt brat, but I do own a full set of Promarkers as well as Copics, I like to use them both but for this one used Promarkers as it was part of the challenge.

The card is a 6x6" CWC card and the challenge just called out for BG Archaic papers.

I added some brown bazzil corners and matts plus some brads to finish.

Below is the sketch.

Hope it's OK to submit one card for two challenges but they just worked so well together and I think this will be a perfect card for a little boy.

TFL - 2 posts in one day too!

x

Meet Talullahbelle!

Well, what a day!

We watched the Royal Wedding this morning, it was fantastic to watch history being made.

I love all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds events like that and the choir was outstanding the the Abbey.

My new Kraftin' Kimmie stamps arrived yesterday from Quixotic Paperie and this afternoon I couldn't wait to play with them.

This is Talullahbelle.

A CWC 8x8" card formed the base and papers from my stash were used along with a Martha Stewart PATP floral punch.

Elaine at Quixotic has some tutorials on her blog using Copic pens and although I don't have all the ones she used (I only have the Ciao set) I followed her technique.

I used a copic glitter pen to accent the wings but it doesnt't really show on the image.

Martha Stewart butterfly punches were used on white card which was also coloured with the Copics then gems and stickles added.

The flowers are from a set I got recently on QVC which I have squashed flatter and inked.

The leaves are another Martha Stewart punch.

Thanks for looking

x

You are invited - a bit of fun for a Thursday

This has been on Facebook this week causing a laugh.

What is your name for your Royal Wedding invitation?

Lady (your maternal mothers first name) (your first pets name)-(the street you grew up on)

Boys change it to Lord and paternal grandfather.

Mine is: Lady Maud Willem-Chatto.

What's yours?

Happy Birthday with a Cherry on top.

Last year I managed to buy an SU stamp set featuring these lovely cupcakes on a stand.

Had a play over the weekend as I needed to make a male card and came up with this.

The papers are leftovers from a card which will feature later, they are also from SU and a purchase I made from the lovely Zoe following last years Cardinal Colours retreat. 

The birthday message comes from a set that Lynn bought for me one birthday, it's acrylic and I bent it round to match the shape of the circle.

The image was coloured with Copics this time and I dotted the cherries with glossy accents and the frosting with stickles.

A Royal Greeting.....

Another request from a colleague at work - they are keeping me busy :)

I was asked to make a card for Rob's 50th Birthday and it was suggested that I mention him not getting a telegram from the Queen, so I came up with this:

It's A4 in size, with a photgraph decoupaged onto the front.

Photo's courtesy of Google.

This is the inside.

It made me giggle so I'm hoping they like it too.

Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge

It's been a day of challenges for me, this one is from the Kraftin' Kimmie site here.

The theme was make it frilly so, I used a new shaped card from CWC which is 6x6".

The papers are from Quixotic Paperie as is the stamp, Brigette, from the new releases.

I added several layers of lace one of which had pink ribbon running through it. 

The image was coloured with Promarkers and then sparkled with Stickles.

I created the flower below by layering up a retro daisy punched from embossed card stock (cuttlebug) with a small pointed petal flower to which I spiraled a piece of lace to create a rose like bud.

The centre was punched with a floral stamen then glittered.

I added stickles around the image and matt for extra sparkle too.

Thanks for looking.

x

Passion for Promarker Challenge

Over on the Passion for Promarker site this week, the challenge is "white on white" an all white background with a coloured image.

I chose a CWC 6x6 scalloped card, added a plain square matt then another punched with Martha Stewarts around the page set.

The image is Kraftin' Kimmie - Lucy - which I got recently from Quixotic Paperie.

The embellishments were punched from an embossed sheet of card (cuttlebug) with 2 sizes of retro daisy, a leaf punch and a floral stamen.

White Candi is used for the other two centres.

A close up of Lucy coloured with Promarkers.

TFL, xx

A trip to Arlington

Easter Sunday we headed off to Arlington Bluebell walk.

Here are a few of my favourite photos taken (approx 126!)

The lambs and sheep were being co-operative too.

Happy Easter everyone and a Belated 60th to Keith

You would think that making cards I would never miss a birthday?

Wrong - I really am the worlds worst :(

Denise's partner Keith was 60 a few weeks ago, you may recall my blog entry about her asking for a card at the last minute? Well.....I never got round to making one from us - bad girl I hear you cry!

I've corrected the situation now and made him the following.

Its a CWC 6x6 card with papers and cardstock from SU - Sweet Pea - which I got from the lovely Zoe

at the end of last year.

The letters and numbers are cut with the Teardrop Cricut cartridge and I added glossy accents to the letters and the dots on the 60. The birthday greeting is a peel off.

Its based on an idea I saw Lynn create when her children were 18 last year.

Sorry its late Keith :)

A box of cards

Something else we made at Carolyn's SU day retreat last week was a lovely box of cards.

First Carolyn showed us how to make a customised box from one sheet of cardstock which we then decorated with papers from the Springtime Vintage range of papers and co-ordinating cardstock.

I chose to use the floral side of the paper but if you check out Lynn's blog she used the other side, it's fun to see how different they look. The flower and leaves were cut with Sizzix dies.

We went on to make a set of cards to store inside - what a great idea for a gift for a friend!

These are the cards we made.

They feature various stamps from the SU range, the one below also has the lush buttons included in the kit.

We even stamped the corners of the envelopes.

As previously mentioned, we were given a bag with brooch and bunny, I "borrowed" the following photo from Carolyn's blog to show you.

Thanks again to Carolyn for a lovely day.

On a completely different note, below is a photograpgh of my "easter egg" to me.

Lianne and I had a wander around Next yesterday and we saw this lovely glass bowl with aqua swirls which matches my lounge to perfection. The pot-pourri is Vanilla, my favourite scent, also from Next.

A Birthday card for David

Another request from a colleague at work today.

Charlotte wanted a birthday card for her husbands birthday and sent me the photographs shown.

Mens cards are always a challenge as you cant use flowers etc, so I decided to go with hearts.

I used a CWC 8x8 card and some papers from my stash.

The photos were mounted onto silver mirri card.

The hearts were punched from cardstock and embossed with Cuttlebug folders. I then glittered them with stickles.

A knotted ribbon and some Candi finished the card.

Happy Birthday David!

Still working with the Lorelei kit...

If you could see the boxes and (unopened) boxes of stash I have you would be horrified!

So, I made a resolution that if I opened a kit I would make all the cards up, use all the elements and file nothing back in the box. That said, I am still working on the Kanban Lorelei kit and here are some more made cards......

A CWC 6x6 with a retro daisy punched from some Forever Friends papers (as are the backing papers)

I decorated the insert on this one too.

An A5 CWC pink card.

A lilac DL card from my stash

This one is the same range but I found a die-cut sheet loose and made this easel card.

Background papers from the same FF paper pack.

There is still loads more too, Thanks for looking and for your patience sharing :)

Meet the Grandparents....

Lynn and I had a lovely day out on Saturday at Carolyn's house for a Stampin' Up workshop.

We were greeted with a lovely hand-made bag containing a beautiful broach made from ribbon and a chocolate bunny - mine is safe and sound waiting for lent to end!

We made several things during the day including two 12x12 layouts.

This is the first one.

Our kit contained a lovely array of SU goodies from the new and mini catalogues, the base of this page is Very Vanilla textured card stock which I have fallen in love with. We also had a set of Springtime Vintage papers, a reel of the new seam binding and a whole bag of fabulous buttons.

Below you can see the lovely papers up close and the lush buttons, topped with SU pearls.

I didn't take photographs with me so added them Sunday along with some journalling.

Below you can see a technique which Carolyn showed us, ruffling the seam binding onto double sided tape, I think it's very effective.

This is the second page on which we stamped a circle using the Vintage Vogue vine and small flower.

The tiny flowers were from Itty Bitty Bits collection, a set of which was also included in the kit.

Again, I added the photograph later along with a little journalling block.

I decided not to add titles to these.

Below is a close up of the vine and flowers, the blue ones I stamped onto spare cardstock, cut out and added with 3d foam. Pearls were again used to centre the flowers and buttons.

Carolyn showed us this lovely bird punch from the catalogue so I cut a couple out and added as below.

More ribbon ruffling :)

I really enjoyed the lovely day and "borrowed" the following photo's from Carolyn's blog, why not pop over and have a look here.

More to come - Thanks Carolyn for a super day!