Birthday cards

Here are a couple of birthday cards I was asked to make recently.  The first was made using a new Marianne die - I thought it would be useful for male cards.  The card itself and the brown mats are from SU - cherry cobbler and early expresso.  The pale coloured card is a very pale grey and came from the Papermill (- before it closed down).  I stamped all over it with brown ink - a stamp from a clear 'travel' set and a really old 'real' stamp - it originally came from the old drawing office of Harland and Wolff (of Titanic fame!).  The ribbon is SU cherry cobbler and the ovals were cut with Creative Memories oval cutters and then the brown one was embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The 80 was die cut using Quikutz dies and the sentiment was computer generated.

The second card was made using some of the 'bits' I cleared from my desk recently - I have a big pile of decoupage pictures to use up!  The card is SU cherry cobbler again, and the background paper is also from SU a few years ago.  The punches used for the sentiment and the ribbon are also from SU.  The sentiment was computer generated and then I added the little adhesive pearls in the corners to finish it off.

Magnolia birthday card

I decided to take a photograph of my card in daylight today, to see if it would turn out any better than normal, but instead the colours look a bit strange!  The Magnolia challenge this week is to use a doily and I have followed the sketch on the Friday Sketch challenge.  The paper is from a a pack by Dovecraft, called Tea House and the image was coloured with Promarkers and her dress was paper pieced.  The Simon Says challenge is to use three different papers and so I can enter it as well. The flowers do actually match the patterned paper and ribbon - they just look a bit strange in my photo!

Wedding card

Just a quick post - I got this new die for a car recently and thought I would try it out on a wedding card.  I have used ice gold card for embossing (-  in a cuttlebug embossing folder) and a pale pink Bazzil card for the swirls and matting the sentiment.  Mats were cut using Nesties and the swirl is a Sizzix die.  The flowers are punched. I don't know why the photo looks so dark - I had the wee light switched on at the front of the camera, but maybe I should have used the flash - as you'll have realised by now, my photography skills are very poor!

 I was at a SU workshop on Friday night and had intended to post a picture of the things we made - but couldn't find them when I got home.  I have finally located them this evening - I hadn't even brought them home with me at all!  I'll post a picture when I get them with my order - hopefully soon - I have ordered some of the new paper and a couple more reels of ribbon.

Cooking today!

Hannah had to practise a full 'run through' of her Home Economic practical today - she has to prepare, cook and serve a minimum of three dishes in 2 and a half hours.  She does the real thing in school on Thursday, so lets hope it all turns out as well as it did today.  She's making tomato and red pepper soup, bread sticks, chicken and broccoli bake with salad garnish and apple and raspberry pie (although she didn't have raspberries in it today).  It all turned out well, although the chicken and broccoli bake was tricky to get onto the plate without it all breaking up as it was straight from the oven and very hot.  On the day she will garnish the pie with a couple of raspberries and maybe a mint leaf, so it should look a bit more colourful.

Lace and pearls

The Penny Black challenge for this week is lace and pearls - and so I made this birthday card to suit, following the sketch on the Sketchy Challenges.  The paper is from a 6 x 6 Bo Bunny pad - the Sweet Tooth collection. The PB hedgie was coloured using Promarkers and the brown cotton lace is from Panduro.  The little teal pearls are also from Bo Bunny and the brown ones I think I bought at the NEC in November.  The happy birthday sentiment is also by PB.

Golden Anniversary Card

Just a quick anniversary card I have been asked to make.  It was made from 'Ice Gold' card ( it has a shimmery finish) and gold Mirri card.  The panel was embossed using a Craft Concepts embossing folder - 'cottage floral.'  The flowers were punched out of the two types of card and a little pearl added to the centre.  The hearts were die cut using Nesties dies and the wee bells are just a peel off stuck to the ice gold card and cut out.  Photography is even worse than usual - I think it wasn't at quite the right angle for the light to shine on it evenly - but at least it shows up the embossing!

Black and White

I don't normally do black and white - but sure, isn't that what a challenge is all about!  Anyway, that's this weeks challenge on PFP so I had a go - not that sure about the colouring though - I used the cool greys and the black Promarkers, as well as ivory and blush for the skin.  The paper is from a pack by Dovecraft - the first sheet I've used, despite the fact I've had it for years now!  I followed the Sweetstop sketch and used a Nesties die for the scalloped mat, a SU oval punch for the sentiment and a small punch for the flowers.  The stamp is a clear one by Rachelle Anne Millar - I've had it for ages, so it is probably no longer available.

Flower Power!

The challenge on CCT this week is entitled 'Flower Power,' so I thought this paper from MME (Lost and Found) would fit the bill.  I just bought two sheets of this paper recently and have only a small piece left - should have bought more!  It is double sided - the pink gingham is actually the back of the paper and I have matched it up with SU Rose Red.  The ribbon is SU Rose Red seam binding and the scalloped border is a SU punch.  The little hearts are die cut using Nesties dies and I bought the wee flowers at one of the Craft Fairs.  I used Promarkers for the colouring and followed this weeks Sketch and Stash sketch. My stamp is quite an old one and I can't remember where it came from - its a clear one and it doesn't have any label on it.  I will enter it into the Stampavie challenge (Theme - Love) and the Allsorts challenge (Anything Goes).

Quick birthday cards

Here are some of the cards I made to start using up all the 'bits' gathered up after tidying up my craft room.  I have lots of decoupaged pictures, so I decided to start by using some of them to make quick birthday cards. 

The first one was made using card from Stampin Up - Really Rust and Creamy Caramel (now retired I think).  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the background and a couple of SU puches for the sentiment labels.  The fake brads were just circles punched with a regular paper punch and then embossed with an embossing tool.

The next decoupage came from the same die cut decoupage sheet (from Craft UK) and again, I used SU card - Brilliant Blue, Yoyo Yellow and Tempting Turquoise.  I used a couple of clear stamps from a set of 'Travel' themed stamps and a Versamark ink pad to make the background and the same SU punches for the sentiment label.

I think this wee bear on his bicycle was from a Kanban set and the 'knitted' background card came with it.  The blue mat was die cut with a Nestabilities die and the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards.  The bicycle embellishment is die cut using a 'Thin Cuts' die and then the seat, tyres, etc, coloured with a black permanent marker - it doesn't actually have red bits on it IRL - that's just the reflection of the top I was wearing when I took the photo!

The final card was from a Paper Nation decoupage sheet of dogs - this one had to be cut out!  The card for the background is SU Rich Razzleberry and the centre circle was embossed using a Sizzix embossing folder, also from SU, then die cut with a Nestabilities die.  It was mounted on a doily and the flowers are a SU stamp, stamped using Rich Razzleberry and punched out using the matching SU punch.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

WOW!

At last I have a tidy work desk! It hasn't looked like this for a very long time - it had an ever increasing pile of bits on each side and the workspace in the centre had decreased until it was too small to make any more cards, so I thought I should have a major tidy up! I now have a tidy desk but a large box of 'bits' - I think I'll have to try to use something out of the box every week to get rid of it!  It has taken a while and there are still some odds and ends to put away in my craft room, but hopefully I'll get back to making some cards soon.  No doubt the desk will soon be back to 'normal' again!

Purple and grey

The PFP challenge is to use grey and purple - not a combination I would have thought of, but nevertheless, I was quite pleased with the way it turned out.  The sketch was from Friday sketchers and I can also enter it for the Papertake weekly challenge - anything goes, with a 'love' theme.  The paper is from a First Edition pad called Dreamcatcher, the image is LOTV and the ovals were cut using Nesties.  Colouring was done with Promarkers as usual.

Sweet stop birthday card

I made this wee card following the Sweet Stop sketch, using one of the die cut squares from LOTV.  The papers are from the two new pads I bought recently - Prima Alla and MME Stella and Rose - the colours from some of the pages go quite well together.  There are Prima flowers to match as well - although I haven't actually used them yet.  The die cut flower is a Marianne die and I've added some colour to the image using Promarkers, as well as Stickles and Glossy accents.  The aqua card has been embossed using an SU embossing folder and then brushed over with taupe coloured chalk.  Love these colours - same scheme as my craft room!! (and sun room, and kitchen, and utility room,  and, and ...!)

Boys birthday card

On Sketch and stash this week, you can use any of their previous sketches, so I chose this one, sketch 18.  I have used paper from MME Stella and Rose 'Hattie' paper pad - I had noticed it used for a card on somebodys blog and just had to hunt it down.  There is a gorgeous floral pattern in it as well, so it works for male or female cards.  This is my new stash! I have matched it up with SU more mustard card and used x-cut dies to cut out the star shapes and a wee punch for the very small stars. 

I have also used some old 'cute squares' from LOTV, although I have added some colour myself to tone in with the paper - using Promarkers as usual.  I had intended to enter this card for the LOTV challenge this week as well, but I think I am a bit late in getting it uploaded!