80th Birthday..............

Whilst on the theme of numbered birthdays, I remembered this card I forgot to blog.

It was also made for Jennifer for her Uncle a while back.

It's A5 in size and uses papers and products I got from Alexandra Palace earlier this year.

The letters are cut from Grungeboard which I ran through an embossing folder which has clocks on it.

They were painted with green, blue and black acryllic paints then coated with antiquing cream.

When this dries you rub it back with a damp cloth to bring though the colours underneath - I was quite pleased with a first attempt.

I created a scroll for the message and glossed the words - die cut with a sizzlet.

Lots of cogs cut with a Tim Holtz die were added along with some brads.

I tied some cords though the hole in the eight.

It didn't go without injury either as I was cutting the legs of off one of the star brads and cut clean though my index finger - a deep v cut which I had to wear a plaster on for days as it kept bleeding!

The things we do eh?

Have you injured yourself whilst crafting?

Sunflowers.........

I am very lucky that my colleagues at work often commission me to make special cards for them, this is another that I made recently.

Jennifer asked me to make a "Sunflower" card for her Mum and this is it.

The card base is an 8x8" pearlised card from CWC with a deep edge punched cover, Martha Stewart, in white. 

The sunflowers were made using woodware punches which I layered and shaped, the centres are small gems with a generous dusting of Martha Stewart fine glitter.

I punched the base for the message and stamped the greeting, the letters are cut with a Sizzix Cherish alphabet which has been glossed.

The butterflies are two layers of a Martha Stewart & a Stampin Up punch which have been outlined in glitter.

I used the body of a Memory Box butterfly above.

I added lots of stems, fronds and swirls too and, of course, more glitter!

Blossom Babes were Framed!

This is another layout from the Merly Impressions Crop using Mister Fox collection.

I added some stems and fronds to this one plus some punched flowers.

The bazzill was tinted with a chalk based ink.

My butterflies are layers of Martha Stewart and Stampin Up punches with rolled paper bodies. 

This is Chrissy's lovely original.............

I still have a kit not made up yet so watch this space.....

TFL 

x

Keeping up my new years resolution................

Using up the leftovers from the Merly Impressions Honey Chai kit..........

These are all 6x6" with lots of fussy cutting, glitter and some stamping and die-cutting too.

A really generous kit!

Thanks Chrissy!

x

Friends - Another Merly Impressions page..........

 I've just realised that I had not blogged a couple more layouts from the Merly Impressions Retreat, so here they are..........

This one was project 4 using Honey Chai papers.

I used a photo of Lianne with Gemma and Becka taken whilst in Disneyland Paris for her birthday this year.

I used different elements of the papers to cut out for embellishments on this page.

And used lot of pearls and stickles too.

Chrissy's original had a stitched ring but I scribbled mine in black fine-liner and then stuck the thread down.

Here is Chrissy's beautiful original -

Another to follow.............

TFL

x

Scrapology August Card Challenge - Card Three - Songbird

Another request from a work colleague was a birthday card for her sister who works for the RSPB.

I decided to make a couple so she had a choice, this is the first.......

An 8x8" card with my beloved Basic Grey Eva papers.

P

I used a Tim Holtz sizzix die for the cage and bird, keeping them simple in white.

It was hung by some twine into a bow with a ribbon and button.

Lots of punched flowers and leaves plus die-cut fronds were added.

The message is also a sizzlet which I have glossed with Glossy accents. 

Scrapology challenge is open until the 15th September.

The alternative I made was using some decoupaged birds I had in my folder.

The card is 7x5" and I used some lime card from CWC run through a Sheena Douglass embossing folder.

I distressed it a little to dull the brighness then layered with more card and the decoupaged birds.

The greeting is from Lily of the Valley on a Stampin up punch.

I added lots of little gems around the scalloped edge and some cream tape too.

Thanks for taking a look.

x

Scrapology August Card Challenge - Card Two - Wedding Wishes.

Another card I made for this months challenge is a wedding card for a colleague at work's Mum.

She requested cream and blue so I used some Vanilla cardstock plus some blue from my stash (not sure which make of shade)

This one is 8x8" and features a pricked edge again a la Sue Wilson.

The leaves below are the filigree ones designed by Sue too along with my favourite stems from Memory box.

I also added a dimensional bow and ribbon of Sue's.

Seam binding was added along two sides in a ripple.

 

Tiny blue flowers punched with a Martha Stewart hydrangrea punch were dotted around along with some gems.

Check back with Scrapology for the challenge - link here.

Scrapology August Challenge - Sue Wilson.

Our August Scrapology challenge features the lovely Sue Wilson who's blog can be found here.

The challenge was to use dies as a focal point or in an unusual way, this is the first card I made.

I used the Italian collection background mounted onto some peach cardstock which I had pricked a border into. This was then attached to the card with 3d foam.

The rose is made from the floral collection with the base cut with the removable cutouts.

 I added a bow and border - another of Sue's sets along with her filigree leaves.

A good helping of glitter glue and some gems finished it off.

This card was for my niece Cheryl's birthday - hope you had a lovely day :)

This is Sue's card -

Check out the Scrapology challenge here.

Gorgeous George Strikes again.

Our monthly layout challenge at Scrapology features Ingvild Bolme.

I used papers by Kaisercraft from their Honey Chai collection.

I trimmed the edge and distressed it then backed with black bazzill.

The tear was made and edges distressed, along with my fingers as for some stupid reason I ran them along the edge - papercuts ensued :(

I used Clarity word-string stamps to create an extra border around the page and dotted with diamante.

I stitched both ends then set about die-cutting lots of feathers.

Once in place I added lots of little gems.

The paper behind is also Kaisercraft, think from the base coat range (?) with a woodgrain.

to which I added this lovely picture of George.

The word banners are from the name strips of the 12x12 paper.

I added some little letter stickers and outlined them with a fine liner then bigger ones for my title which I have glossed with Crystal lacquer.

Here is Ingvild's original and our sketch.........

Details of the challenge can be found on Scrapology here.

Gerald - a very naughty elephant!

This months challenge over at Merly Impressions is Journalling.

I am working my way through the elephants I collected during the 2010 parade and knew I had to use Gerald as he has a story to tell - here is my page.

I have used papers from Kaisercrafts Chapter One collection.

Afresh was trimmed to 11 1/2 " and mounted onto black bazzill which I had gutted.

Motivate paper was cut in half vertically. I wanted to put my journalling onto this piece but I hate my handwriting so I typed it in Word then printed onto an A4 sheet of paper.

Having placed my patterned paper where I wanted the text (stuck with Herma) I ran it back through the printer and voila - perfectly placed.

The journalling was matted onto black bazzill, the photo has a double mount of Afresh and black bazzill.

I wanted to add leaves and remembered I had a set of stamps from Clarity which would be perfect.

Two sized leaves were used, stamped onto the remaining Afresh using Stampin' Up ink pads.

I cut them out and layered them.

The text above gives the hilarious story of poor Gerald and his demise.

To complete the page I added a die cut branch and leaf (Sizzix strip) which I coloured with the same ink pads plus a few punched butterflies.

Do pop over the to Merly Blog to find out details of the challenge.