Bind It All - Postcard Diary/Scrapbook

I made this funny looking book using my Bind It All. I’ve used blank postcards for the pages, with the idea of using it as a sort of Travel Journal.

I’m going to write notes on the printed side – perhaps adding a small picture over the stamp part and doodling a sort of postmark over it.

On the reverse side, I will add a collage of smaller photographs of the trip/holiday (printed on my computer)

I LOVE my Bind it All, which I got it a while back at Hobbycrafts,  NEC. When I first tried to use it I thought, what have I bought and I am afraid that it stayed on the shelf, unused, for many months until I tried it again.  There is a knack to keeping the rings nice and round, a light touch is needed – I am notoriously heavy handed, hence squashed rings at the start.

It’s a brilliant piece of kit, I could have a full time job just making blank books – as you can alter the basic designs for so many different ideas, i.e size and shape, colour and texture of paper, number of pages etc. It’s DEAD GOOD!

Patchwork Elephant Birthday Card

 
I used the Poundland stickers I bought in Bristol  a while back on these cards.  There were two sheets of bubble type stickers in a pack, so that’s pretty good value.

The only trouble was, I didn’t like the amount of surplus edging there was on each sticker, so in the end I carefully trimmed it off.

This didn’t give me much surface on which to put any glue, but I used a very fine applicator and I am chuffed with the results.

The card is finished off with a bit of doodling and a handwritten sentiment.

A Quandary

I have these items on my desk, a laundry bag for putting washing powder tablets in and one of my husbands cigar tins. ….. I am sure there is something I could do with them, but at the moment I just can’t think what.

I bet Linda http://acraftingjourney.blogspot.com/ would make something wonderful with the tin (it comes in a double layer size too) all Tim Holtzy, that would make me sooooo green with envy.  It seems an awful waste to keep throwing them away, but I really am at a loss creatively……..

What’s On My Desk Wednesday

Hmmmm, I’ve been shopping and indulged myself, I ADORE Gisela Graham and when I saw these birds I JUST had to have them….

They were not cheap - £11.99 for 8, so that’s £1.50 each.

But, if I can bear to let any of them go, I plan to give them as little gifts instead of a cards with a note saying …. “A little bird told me …..”

This box of hearts is also by Gisela Graham – again not cheap at £9.99 for 9 – so that’s £1.11 each, but they are so lovely, how could I resist? The frame is made from wood and the heart from a shabby metal.  I am thinking “Christmas” – I may add a tiny red gem in the centre of each flower, again to give instead of cards, which are usually thrown away and forgotten, hopefully these will be a lasting reminder and perhaps will be hung on a tree year after year.

  

I found these bonnets in a pile of Easter sale items in a local garden centre, reduced from £1.99 to 99p.  They have a little clip on the bottom to attach them to things.  I saw an idea (goodness knows where) for little boxes embellished with a little hat just like these – I am thinking weddings,Ascot or other "lady occassions", I only wish I had bought a couple more packets.

Geisha Girls Birthday Card

These Geisha Girl stickers from Accessorize are so sweet.  I’ve tried to make them stand out by keeping these cards very simple and plain.

I’ve just placed them along the top of a square card adding a tiny clear flat gem on their dresses and at the end of the lines. less is more.

Cakes on a Cake Stand Birthday Card

Hmmmm ……  I am a bit disappointed with this card – I was going for the less is more effect, but less isn’t quite enough, if that makes sense?

There is a suggestion box on the Quickutz Silhouette download site where you can ask for new designs, I asked for a cake stand, as they are so "in" at the moment and got one!

It does look rather stark, I wonder if it wouldn’t have looked a little softer if I had used puffy stickers instead of these quite harsh plastic cake embellishments and then perhaps  placed the design on a bit of mat and layering ………….

As it happens .... I put the card in my staffroom box and it was one of the first to go, I'm just to critical!

School Satchel Card

This is a copy of a card I made for an old schoolmistress a little while ago.

I’d got an old satchel in the loft, so I looked at the basic shapes it was made up of and cut templates, putting them all together for the finished card. It was a bit fiddle farty getting them to look right but after several attempts it all looked in proportion.

I made an A5 card in a red/brown colour and then added another piece ever so slightly wider to make the top of the satchel. To be honest the faux stitching makes the card and any blemish on it helps to give it a more realistic battered effect.

Wedding Card

This is a card I made for a colleague, I am disappointed in the way the colours have photographed, as the flowers look more red than the bright fuchsia pink they really are!

I made the card using  colours from  the wedding colour scheme, white, black and fuchsia

All the flowers and leaves are made using a variety of punches.

Manchester City Newspaper Birthday Card

I made this card for my sisters friend Barbara using my Birthday Times template.

I have made very simple decoupage layers to give extra dimension.

Adding my own bits and pieces to some of the pictures!

I have used three layers on the picture of Mancini, hmmmm I could have cut his finger out a little better – close up photos are very unforgiving.

A card like this can take a couple of hours, finding just the right pictures and then fitting them altogether with the text.

I like to add a few stars here and there to fill in some of the white space and to add a bit of birthday sparkle.

Daisy Birthday Card

 
A very simple card. 

I just love the effect of flowers on a background of printed words.

This took just minutes to make.

What’s On My Kitchen Table Wednesday

No shopping today, and no room in my craft room for this mammoth project ……

I foolishly agreed to make 100 favour bags (plus a few extra) for a friends wedding … mouth, brain, engage?????

Fortunately, my lovely sister Jan has agreed to help me.  In our first session we achieved  lot more than we anticipated, managing to punch out all the shapes we needed, (400 of everything!)  and even managed to stick a few bits together.

The idea is to have four covered mints in each packet, two of each colour way.  The colour scheme is blue and ivory, one set of mints will be covered as below, the other set will be in the opposite order - i.e. cream flower on blue circle etc.

They will be put in a tall, slim cello pretzel bag, with a blue bow and cream tag.  In the centre of each flower will be a clear flat backed gem. I will post again when we have moved on a stage.  We must be stark staring mad!!!!

Stampin’ Up Bird Punch Card

My new Stampin’ Up Bird Punch has arrived,  it’s just so beautiful. I’ve wanted it desperately since Lisa showed it to me in a a preview brochure.

This is my first play with it, I’ve kept it very simple, I am not sure it really needs the pearls or if they are in the right place.  …. the handwriting is mine.

I am going to set aside an afternoon when all I do is try to come up with lots of other ideas on how to use it.

I can’t believe the beautiful punches that you can get now, when I started crafting they were very basic, I just wonder what other fantastic ideas we will see in the coming years.

For Stampin’ Up products check out my mate Lisa’s blog http://stampincraftfairy.blogspot.com/

More Information …..

I left a question on UK Scrappers in the hope that someone would know who makes these peel offs, well Weaselwise came up trumps who has told me that they are produced by Magenta, they are called Birdie (POM 3396) and Woodware import them. All we need to know now is where to get some more from ….

Gone Fishing Birthday Card

 

I’ve never bought any decoupage stuff until now ……. my mate Lisa bought the ‘SMIRK For Him’ decoupage pad at NEC Hobbycrafts in March, I was unimpressed ….. until I saw how hers turned out ….

And now I’ve just had to buy a pad too.  I find coming up with cards for men really hard, but I am thrilled with how this card has turned out.  I have used Dovecraft Masculine 6 x 6 papers (DCDP58) - £2.99  as the  background .

And then added a real fishing fly to the gentleman's hat, a tiny button on his waistcoat and a small black sticker to the fishes eye.

Little Ali Stamp

I have had a couple more queries – the stamp I used in the “Little Girl Looking at The Mona Lisa” post is by Stamps Away - called Little Ali (D1114) – I got it from NEC Hobbycrafts show about 2 years ago – it is a clear stamp and would have cost no more than £3.00.

I don’t have a clue who made the black bird peel offs, it was an impulse buy at NEC Hobbycrafts in March – I wish I knew, as I would like to buy more! 

Where possible I try and put the name of the manufactures or where I bought the products but sometimes I use stuff I have had for years but just leave a comment if you have a query and I will try my best to help.

I Don’t Do Peel-Offs ……..

I don’t do peel–offs but I just couldn’t resist this set of little birds, how cute are they?  I just love the effect, maybe because they are black and not the usual silver and gold. My opinion has been changed and I shall certainly look more closely at other  black peel-offs in future.

Newspaper Card Queries

 

I have had a couple of questions about making my newspaper cards, I will do my best to answer them:-

“The Birthday Times” is in Old English MT, size 52  “Exclusive” is in Arial Black – size 48 and the date is Times New  Roman – size 22, I usually do all the other text in Arial Black but the size varies to suit the pictures and/or embellishments.

I always do the “Exclusive” as a simple decoupage layer so that it stands out.

Once you have the top right you are most of the way there, as that part tends to stay pretty much the same.

I design each card on A4 Portrait in Publisher and when I am happy with it, save a copy as a jpeg.  I then open a new page in Publisher in Landscape and insert the jpeg of the design, sizing it to approximately half the page (A5)

I then copy and paste the design several times, cropping the parts I want to make into  simple decoupage layers, until I get a printed sheet as below.

I mat and layer the main design on silver and mount it on an A5 sized card (I cut my all own cards)  adding the layers and other embellishments like stars, glitter or Anita’s 3D gloss finish.

This may seem a little long winded but it works for me.

Butterfly Birthday Card

I think this style/design of card has been done many, many times before, but I thought I would have a go too.

It’s made using the Martha Stewart punch I got at the NEC in March.

The papers come from a double sided mini stack which meant that all the patterns were in proportion to the punch and all the colours matched already – which saved me a lot of time.

I’ve added two small matching Anita’s gems to the middle of each butterfly for extra sparkle.

Simple, quick and very effective.