Lucy’s Birthday Card 2014

This card is A5 in size.

We were on holiday in Greece for Lucy’s 30th Birthday and this is the card I made for her, which I squirrelled away in my suitcase. Nothing fancy and very, very simple, but setting the mood and holiday theme. Believe me, Lucy wouldn’t  have thanked me if I had plastered 30 all over it!

The letters are self adhesive and from my huge collection of alphabets   …. and the embellishments, well sometimes you just can’t beat a pack of 3D stickers (UK Discounts 2 for £1) to make a very quick but effective card!

Cow Cards

These cards measure 6ins x 6ins.

Marc nearly took these wooden cow embellishment back with him after his visit for “his girls” to craft with. I’d tried in the past to do something with them but nothing looked quite right ….. and so after they’d been lying unused for at least four/five years I thought it was time to pass them on ….. but then Marc said …. “Nooooooooo,  you could make a “sorry for being a cow cards” and that got me thinking all over again!

So, first of all I dressed the cows up, adding googly eyes, tiny flat backed gems and flowers, eyelashes and rouged cheeks, plus arms and hands (using a leather thread and black wooden beads), and a handbag.

I then sat and googled “cow cards” to see what sort of sentiments I could write on the front of the cards …… I couldn’t believe how many there were …… so I must have a different one for each cow.

Putting the card together the was a doddle, all I had to do was to glue the cow to a card blank with a little doodling, and then the sentiment ….. simples, and I am afraid Marc’s ladies loss!

Papermania Capsule Collection–Parisienne Blue Birthday Card

This card measures 6” x 6” and is made using a blue, plain texture hand cut card blank.

I have had this Papermania pack for ages and shamefully hadn’t even opened the packet …. but now I have ….. the papers are all beautiful and I hang my head for not having used them before.

I am also not a great user of gold on cards, but since I have almost run out of my silver circle Craftwork Card sentiments and am on a tight budget the gold ones have got to be used up too, so expect to see much more gold over the coming months. 

Forever Friends Card Kit

I saw this card kit in The Works and at £1.49 it would have been rude not to buy it and give it a try!

…… it turned out OK, just like on the packet, I feel the need to add something else, but just don’t have a clue what …… there’s too much blue space, but that’s me!!! It would be a brilliant kit for a child to make a “professional” looking card if they didn’t have a lot of card making paraphernalia. There was a sheet of pink background paper, three sheets of press out die cuts, including a lot of sentiments, plus some felt shapes, a length of string and about four buttons in the pack.

I thought I would set myself a challenge and see how many cards I could make, but to be honest, I only managed another one, as the words were a bit random, so I chucked them, but kept the picture panels, “just in case”, however, as I said before, a child would have a wonderful time for just £1.49.

I did “decorate” the inside of the second card to use a few more bits up, something I don’t really do enough of ….. but which always a nice touch.

The Wellington Papercraft Range

Two more cards using toppers made from the Wellington A4 die cut decoupage 2 pack – Time Out from which you can make four cards.

If I was really being persnickety, I wish there was a little more background to each of the decoupage toppers, which I made up before I had really planned what I was going to do with them …. I used everything up on the sheet …. but something seems to be missing. I know I could have bought the The Wellington paper pads but they just didn't appeal. 

….. Without a little more background image, for me, the toppers appeared to be look alone surrounded by a white space, which I felt needed to be filled and as a result I may have over egged the pudding, if that makes sense?

http://www.docrafts.com/articleviewer.aspx?articleId=1073&articleTitle=TheWellingtonPapercraftRange

Cross Eyed Teddy Card

OMG …. if this card doesn’t make you cry with laughter nothing will ……. just look at it’s crossed eyes!!!  ……

I’ve had these teddy heads for years, whatever possessed me (or possesses the poor bear??) !!  But seriously, just a shake and the bear will take on a perfectly normal expression.

The only way I could think of finally using these bears, (after them being in my drawers for at least four years) was to make them a body in a matching Bazzill paper and then add a simple decoupage layer for his body. I just hope it doesn’t given anyone nightmares on their birthday!!!!

Hello Kitty Birthday Cards

Each of these cards measures 4ins x 4ins.

Three more cards today using the cardboard stickers I bought from a cheap and cheerful seaside shop a few weeks ago and lots of paper scraps, corners, faux stitching and flat backed gems

Crabby Birthday Card

This card measures 5.5 x 5.5 inches and is made using white linen effect card.

This card is just a bit of fun, made it for the Duke's birthday last year as he had the most amazing marine fish tank which included crabs, so it became a bit of a running theme in my cards for him!

The background paper came from a free pull out in a card making magazine and the crab and other creatures are spongy, self adhesive foam shapes from Poundworld with googly eyes added to them. 

Awful Cupcake Card …. Acceptable Cupcake Card!

The cards in this post measure 5ins x 5ins and are made using a white linen effect hand cut card blank.
I made this card first………

…. but when I started to blog it and looked at the picture properly I realised it was total pants, everything was wrong with it, what was I thinking? So I went back to the drawing board, got my Nestabilities out and started again. I don’t use my BigShot enough, it’s on a shelf with other things piled on top, and I’m just too lazy to get it down to use it!!  

However, I now realise that it should be moved permanently to the table adjoining  my  craft desk because using a scalloped square die cut has completely transformed the card.

The cupcake was from a pack of six from The Range.  I’m always attracted to small cute stickers, but often, in the clear light of day they are a devil to use, mainly due to their size and being quite hard to match up to use with other embellishments. It’s a lesson I should have learned by now!

Blue Angry Bird Birthday Card

I’ve had another go at punch art, this time to make a Blue Angry Bird topper for a birthday card.

I’ve used a variety of punches, but the shapes need a bit of trimming to get the overall effect right

I also used a picture of the Blue Angry Bird  found on Google for reference .

And hope the photos give you an idea of how I put it all together.

Googly eyes and a little outlining complete the design.

Done and dusted and ready to fly!!

Birthday Candle Card

This card measures 11cms x 11cms and is made using white linen effect card.

 

I’ve used quite large puffy crystal stickers from HobbyCraft for this card, I think they cost about £1.99 a packet and a scattering of hologram stars, simples

Docrafts Boofle Birthday Card

The card measures 8ins x 4ins and is made using a white linen effect hand cut card blank.

Well, this card takes me right out of my comfort zone, I can’t remember the last time I made an large oblong type card! I’ve simply made up the decoupage from a two sheet A4 Docrafts pack, which contains six sets of images.  The background is just scraps leftover from my Boofle 6ins x 6ins paper pack,  with a bit of bunting to continue the celebratory theme.  Done and dusted!

An Angry Fish Birthday Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using a hand cut blank with linen effect card.

I thought I would have a go at “doing” a punched art fish …….. a sort of Angry Fish based on the Angry Birds!!

I am dead chuffed!  The card is finished off with punched aquatic leaves, flat backed gems and a Craftwork Cards die cut sentiment.

Docrafts Boofle Cards

Two cards today both measuring 6ins x 4.5ins and made using a white linen effect card.

I’ve made up the images from one of several Docrafts A4 decoupage sheet packs (£2.00) plus papers from either the matching Boofle  or  Papermania birthday paper packs, circle sentiments from Craftwork Cards, Paper Cellar glittered photo corners and a few tiny buttons and felt flower embellishments…….

…….. not to mention a bit of faux stitching, phew!

Simple Flower Cards

Each of these cards measures

I have had these card embellishments from The Range for ages (99p per pack of 5) and as my quest to use all the stuff I have instead of adding more continues I was determined to finally use them…

but …. the patterns were a blasted nightmare to match up … so in the end I decided that the only way to go was via the  less is more route …..

….. and simply just add a stem, punched leaves and a sentiment.  Done and dusted…..

….. and another pile of stash disappears!!

One Direction Card Made Using Craft Artist Professional

This card is A5 in size and is made using a hand cut white linen effect card.

My niece is One Direction mad, she loves each and every one of them and always refers to them as her “future husbands”

So ……. for this card I have used my Craft Artist Professional programme which the lovely Marc sent me and is always “nagging” me to use, and all the nagging has paid off because it I’m pretty pleased with the results. Although, I will admit that before adding the photo to the Craft Artist programme I did a bit of jiggery pokery in Paint and Publisher to alter the cards the boys are holding up.

For the final finishing touches I have taken a couple of rosettes and made simple decoupage layers with them, and then added a few tiny punched hearts and flat backed gems.

Concertina Flower Cards

Each of these cards measures 5ins x 5ins and are made using hand cut white linen effect card blanks.

Not a lot to these cards at all, I just finally used the two packs of American Crafts concertina flowers I bought in the QVC outlet shop in Shrewsbury a while back.

All I’ve added are the stems and punched hearts leaves made using Bazzill paper and  sentiments from a pack I found in The Works (99p).

Less is more I hope!

QVC Outlet Shop :- 45 Darwin Centre, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1BP

Hello Kitty Cards

Each of these cards measure 4ins x 4ins.

These are the last of my Hello Kitty cards, made using a pack of twenty-four card stickers that cost me £1.50 from a cheap and cheerful shop in Exeter.

I didn’t use them all, some were just too small,  but from that one pack I managed to eke out nine cards and four wooden gift tags …. so I certainly got value for my money.

Cadbury Miniature Birthday Card

These cards measure 10.5cm x 14.5cms and are made using white linen effect card.

I made a special card using Cadbury Chocolate Miniatures a few weeks ago and thought I would try to make a “cut price” version!

I much prefer the top card, it looks much fresher and cleaner. I tried to accentuate the chocolate theme with the second card by using brown paper, I think I’ve over egged the pudding and it just doesn’t work!