24 Days Of Books – Iris’s Alternative Advent Calendar

I’ve seen this idea several times now on the internet and thought what a wonderful idea it would be for Iris, who already loves books …….

So I’ve been nipping in to the charity shops of Wolverhampton and Evesham looking for books with a Christmas story or a wintery, snowy tale featuring penguins, stars, polar bears etc., so her little brain isn’t entirely swamped by all things Christmas, but hope to find a nice copy of the “Night before Christmas” for Christmas Eve.

When I have gathered a pile of 24 books, I will wrap them all up separately in different papers, attaching a big number tag on each, so that we can have fun searching for the right story for the right day in December. If I have time, I would like to embellish each tag to make them just that little bit more special ….. but that all depends on how the time goes.

After Christmas, the books and tags can be put away for the following year and hopefully many more Christmas’s to come. I would love think that perhaps the tradition will continue until Iris has her own children, but we will see! 

…….. As I write this, one idea leads to another, I am thinking that perhaps I should find a sturdy wooden box and decorate it suitably to keep the books safe from year to year …… hmmmmmmm

Random Lettered Men's Birthday Card

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

This card is a bit of a dogs breakfast because I needed to make it in a hurry and it looks like I have thrown everything at it!  I know I could have just gone out and bought one, but I am being very tight at the moment and why spend a stupid amount on quite a plain an ordinary shop bought one, when I have a room full of bits to make one ….. so, in the end my meanness made me find the time!!!

I used a plain blue paper for the background and simply edged it with faux stitching using a white gel pen.  The self adhesive letters are just a random selection from my box of alphabets, quickly assembled in the hope that I could fit them across the card when backed on the Papermania text printed paper, it was a squeeze, but I managed it without too much fiddle fart!

Once the letters were placed, the “empty space” annoyed me ….. stars were an obvious choice, but large metallic ones looked flat and lacked texture, so in the end I plumped for some wooden stars from Paperchase, and then added the small metallic stars after, which I think worked.

With a little more time, I think I could have done it a little better, some of the letter colours are a little bland and sort of blend into the background …… I think I could have possibly gone round them with a black fine liner pen to make them stand out a little more ……. but as I said, time was of the essence!

Sandcastle Holiday Birthday Card

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

Lucy and I are always on holiday when it’s her birthday in July and so most of the birthday cards I have made her in the past have had a holiday/beach theme, and my 2015 effort is no exception.

I had a rummage in my drawers and found some old tags that I thought would pass muster for holiday colours and some felt, self adhesive seaside theme stickers I’ve had for ages, I can’t remember where they were originally from, but would not have cost be more than £1, but saying that they are really excellent quality, as you can see from the close up pictures, having been machine stitched, slightly padded, with button embellishment and other extra bits.

I mat and layered the background on plain blue and blue gingham papers and then edged it all with faux stitching and a few random doodled shapes.
The plastic, self adhesive letters, came from E-bay and I think they originally were meant for putting on cars (??) but always come in useful when I want to make a card on the hoof.

I guess in all, this card took me about half an hour to put together, and as per usual it’s always the working out where to place everything  first so the card looks balanced that takes up at least 60% of that time!

“Happy Days” Leaving Card

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

Another of my big, blousy cards today, even the person I gave it to was a little taken aback by how in your face it was, after being, in the past, a recipient of my usual restrained, less is more affairs  ….. but when it comes to making cards at the moment it’s still all about trying to use up as many of my self adhesive alphabets as I can !!!

I decided on the “Happy Days” sentiment to celebrate Sarah’s leaving teaching to help her artist husband with his admin and the birth of her first grandchild …… “Happy Days” indeed!

Over a pale green gingham background, I added the word plaques and then embellished with flowers and leaves using my EK Success Retro Daisy punches and Woodware “LeafMakeBeech” punch, which also embosses the veins on the leaves.

I’ve then gone totally over the top with the faux stitching, and assorted flat backed gems ….. but if you can’t got over the top for two such occasions rolled into one, when can you?

We’re Going To Miss You – Leaving Card

This card is A5 in size and is made by simply scoring and then folding a sheet of white linen effect card.

Ooooooowwfffffff, nothing subtle or less is more about my last “Leaving Card”, it’s well, very erm…… very pink!!!! It was made for one of the many staff at school who were leaving at the end of the summer term and to help pay off my “staffroom dues”, as well as to help use up just a small part of my vast pile of self adhesive alphabets! 

I had perhaps one of the leaving English staff in mind when I chose to use the printed text paper as a background and for the flower centres. To bring the design together, I’ll be honest, I think  I’ve gone into  pink “overkill” using a little too much Bazzill for the layered punched flowers with flat backed gem centres, and some of the  mat and layering!!!!! A little faux stitching and strategically groups of three dots helps to finish off the design ….. but it just too over the top foe me  …..  looking at the pictures with fresh eyes, I wish I had substituted a little lime green for some of that pink!!!!

Happy Birthday Card

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

Please forgive the quality of the pictures in this post, I didn’t realise that there was a smudge on the camera lens until I went to edit them.

This was the card I made for my Brother in Laws birthday.  The pictures makes the colour of the letters look a little pastel, but in real life I think they looked much more “masculine”!

I like the idea of using lots of texture, hence the corrugated card, mat and layered on silver to help accentuate and define the edges.

My self adhesive alphabet stash is going down …… if only on the vowel front, I am going to have to start being more inventive when it come to the making up of words for other cards, if I am going to make any more headway in using up the other consonants, as Marc keeps on telling me, time to get my Silhouette out.

I’ve added coloured wooden stars from Paperchase and tiny silver confetti stars here and there.  I put metallic brads in the corner of each word plaque but I am not sure if they add anything.

I don’t use brads enough, and have got quite a few that really do need using up, any ideas on how to use them on a card in bulk?

Card For A Newly Qualified Pharmacist

This card measures 5.5 x 5.5ins and is made using a linen effect, hand cut blank.

Please excuse quality of photos, there was a smear on my camera lens, that I didn’t notice at the time and is now driving me mad!!!

My niece had recently qualified as a Pharmacist and this is the card I made to congratulate her. 

I found the sentiment on Google and changed it ever so slightly to suit the occasion.  I then typed it out using a variety of fonts and printed it on a green gingham card, followed by a bit of mat and layering on silver.

The addition of the capsules was a moment of inspiration when I couldn’t find anything that looked like pills amongst all my embellishments, and I was too lazy to make some using fimo!

I suddenly remembered these small, plastic “time capsules” I got from a company called Silver Crow in the US about ten years ago ….. filled with glitter, they were perfect!!!  I am now wondering if there are any other ways I can use them again.

Card For A Fashionista

This card measures 5.5ins x 5.5ins and is made using a white linen effect, hand cut card blank.
Please excuse the poor quality of the photos, I didn’t realise that there was a smudge on the lens until I edited the pictures……. doh!

This card was made for my nephew’s girlfriend to congratulate her on gaining a “first” for her fashion degree.  My first ideas were over complicated and nothing came out right …… so I Googled for a while, which is what I always do when I am stuck for an idea, and then after about five minutes the word “fashionista” jumped into my head  ……..

…… and as I was running out of time and still desperately trying to use up my thousands of self adhesive letters, I decided to keep the idea very simple, but that said it all!!

So …… with just a handful of Papermania self adhesive letters, a bit of mat and layering on silver mirror card and a smattering of silver stars and clear flat backed gems, I think I pulled it off!

Dinosaur Nine Square Patchwork Card

This card measure 5ins x 5ins and is made using a white linen effect, hand cut card blank.

What, more dinosaurs?  I can’t believe just how many packets of stickers I have found squirreled away, however I am determined to use every last one, so my apologies if you are bored of my dinosaur cards, but dinosaurs never go out of fashion!  These stickers cost me 60p a pack from a market stall, goodness knows where, and goodness knows how long ago!!!!!

Instead of punching the Bazzill background squares, I cut them on my small X-Cut guillotine because the dinosaurs were a little too big for my 1in punch, this in turn created a sort of patchwork effect.

I am not sure about the overall design though, which is why I only made one, something is missing, but I am not sure what? Perhaps I need to add more detail to the background of each square?

Russian Doll Nine Square Cards

These cards all measure 5ins x 5ins are made using a white linen effect hand cut blank.

The stash busting continues, as it has since January (and it’s unbelievably September already)  ……. this time using my packets of Russian Doll stickers from Accessorize from goodness knows when!

So, it was a matter of just keep going until every single sticker was gone ….. so lots of mat and layering and punching of 1in scalloped squares in contrasting colours and a little faux stitching and doodled dots…….

……. and viola …… and yet another “tiny” pile of stash bites the dust!!!!

We’re Going To Miss You – Leaving Card

This card is A5 in size and is made by simply scoring and then folding a sheet of white linen effect card in half.

Yet another of my “Leaving Cards” and part of my  evil plan to use as many of my vast piles of adhesive alphabets as I can. I’ll be honest, when I was making this card I wasn’t too sure about the combination of colours, but looking at it now with fresh eyes, it’s OK!!!

As the term progressed I had a good idea of some of the people who would be leaving at the end of the school year, and this was made with Sarah the Geography teacher in mind, as I used part of an old map that I scavenged earlier on in the year when they were having a “chuck out!  The map I used was actually of an area the department visited and studied every year, but whether she will spot the fact remains to be seen! The background largely uses the sea area …. and the flowers are taken from towns and the foliage, well it had to be forest/woods didn’t it?

The flowers are made using three layers of large and medium sized punched flowers with flat backed gem centres, the foliage was also punched. A touch of faux stitching round the edges of the mat and layering brings it all together. Again, very over the top for me, but I think it works, despite my initial reservations!

Handbag Birthday Card (40th Birthday Card)

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

Aghhhhhh this card! Made to order (and no, I won’t ever do it again, my making cards to order days are well and truly over!!!). Would it come together?  Would it my Aunt Fanny!!!!!!

I cut the card blank (A5) and then added the mat and layered gingham background ….. then, I made the sentiment and embellished panels with no real plan as to how they would come together!! Big mistake!

The self adhesive, 3D handbags came from Papercellar, so I reckon I’d had them for a least five years, they were made of silk and all I added were a few tiny faux pearls and matching clear flat backed gems for extra bling.

The self adhesive letters were from a Christmas range from Papermania. and had a touch of glitter about them.

When I started to put the card all together it soon became obvious that both mat and layered panels would have to go on the card at a “jaunty” angle to fit on the card …. and that was the problem, and yes…… in the end I did have to do them again to make them fit ….. and I HATE doing that!

Once the jaunty angle was sorted, I thought that there was too much empty space, some empty space on a card is good, but no every little space needs to be filled in, it’s a balancing act and in this case the two panels balance or come “together” …….. aghhhh

In the end I punched tiny flowers first for the background panel …. and then saw that a few more were needed on the sentiment panel ….. with added tiny flat backed gems ……… and finally faux stitching!

As I said I will never, ever, ever make another card to order ……. the time and angst just aren’t worth what I tend to charge!  If I took into consideration time, materials and effort you’d be looking at a £20 card and no one would ever pay that!!!!

Simple Wedding Card

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

I have to admit that I made this card in a panic and a rush.  I don’t usually make cards for other people anymore as I don’t like the pressure of meeting other peoples expectations, but on this occasion I relented with only a days notice, but for the first half hour or so whatever I tried was wrong …….

But in the end I decided to start again, and started with a wooden heart and wrote the sentiment …… the back hides my first effort where I didn’t think the spacing was quite right.

I add the faux stitching using a black fine liner pen, the wood appears to be polished and so didn’t absorb the ink, but I made sure it was dry before centring it on the card.  Two small, blue, flat backed gems complete the something blue theme, as well as the two matting layers.  Simple and quite less is more, however if I was doing it again, perhaps I might miss out the faux stitching on the layers.

I wish that they did an inexpensive, long lasting, grey fine liner pen, sometimes black can be a little bit harsh and obvious, but there again I could always do my faux stitching lightly with a pencil!!!

Dinosaur Shaker Cards

I have used Royal  & Langnickel 3ins x 8ins aperture cards and bubble fronts for these dinosaur cards,  however, I have had them for some many years  I am afraid that they may no longer be available except perhaps on e-bay.

I bought the card blanks and bubble fronts because I loved the thought of cards with three dimensional scenes, but I’ll be honest, most of them ended up in the bin because although I tried, I never seemed to do any good with them, the end effect always seemed lumpy and the folds not crisp enough, whatever I did  looked tatty! But since I am now on a major stash busting mission, I have had one last go …. and finally, after all this time, I am happy with the results.

I was determined to put them together as carefully as I could using double sided tape, as I had invested too much time putting the dinosaur “scenes” together to go in the bubbles to waste them. 

The dinosaurs came from a market stall (again, ages and ages ago) and cost just 60p a pack. I have quite a collection of dinosaur stickers (so expect to see them quite frequently now I am desperately trying to downsize), and although “never out of fashion” I haven’t used them as much as I should.

I put together three 2ins square scenes for each card, with two or three dinosaurs in each, depending on their size and then doodled a few trees and a bit of grass, nothing too artistic, just to add a little more interest.

A shaker card absolutely need sprinkles ….. and for these I used tiny polystyrene balls and I am thrilled with finished results …… finally!!!!! Perhaps, they might even start a new theory that the dinosaurs were killed by of a giant snowstorm!

I now have five aperture cards left, but ten bubble fronts ….. it seems pretty obvious that I should make five cards featuring fish …….. but what do I do with the other bubble windows …….. I am not sure how neat I can be with a craft knife …… hmmmmmm!

Plundered Old Maps

When I was at work, the Geography Department was throwing away all the old maps that were no longer relevant to the new schemes of work, oh my life,  sacrilege ………..believe me, I was round there pretty dam fast, work had to wait that day!!!!

I know it doesn’t look like much here, but I managed to salvage a huge bin bag of the little beauties, I would have taken the lot, but I had to be sensible!  My initial reaction was “Well, that’s some of my Christmas paper sorted for this year!” ….. if I can come up with some sort of Santa on his sleigh type tags and add some cartoony flourishes to look like movement, I think I can get away with saying that the wrapping is representative of Santa’s journey around the world on Christmas night!!! It will also make quite good birthday wrapping paper too!

There’s also the prospect of perhaps covering an old suitcase or two …… and if I were staying at Castle Greysquirrel I would almost certainly paper the walls of my shed with a good few of them …… not to mention smaller projects like covering travel journals and as backgrounds for cards etc.

I have also looked on Pinterest and found no end of inspiration there, so it looks like I will be very busy with my plundered treasure with many exciting projects already mapped out!

https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=old%20maps

Card/Notelet With Bookplate Embellishment.

This card measures 5.5 ins x 5.5ins and is made using a manufactured Kraft card blank.  I am afraid the picture doesn’t really do them justice, my lighting is pants at the moment!

I have to admit, this is the sort of card I would love to receive. I cut a 5in square piece of scrap card and then stuck 1in strips of vintage print papers on to it, adding a little faux stitching, but when I make more of this design I am going to run them through with my small, battery operated sewing machine, without any thread and then join the holes up with a fine liner pen, for a “proper” faux stitching effect.  The panel was also mat and layered on gold mirror card.

I then added a gold tone bookplate, an effect I love, but have only used once before. The font I used for the sentiment is Edwardian Script ITC, font size 26, which was a perfect fit.  Two matching brads keep the bookplate in place.

The die cut, cardstock ephemera embellishments (double sided) are from K & Co, I have had them for a few years now, loved them, but didn’t have a clue what to do with them….. but, on this card they were perfect with a little translucent glitter added here and there.

I am so pleased with the results that I am going to make a whole lot more, now I don’t work and I am on a very tight budget these will be brilliant put in sets of eight (and in a decorated box) to give as notelet sets as Christmas presents.