Neon Birthday Card

I just remembered I haven't put up the neon card I made last week.  I was a bit aprehensive about doing this request as I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.  I had trouble finding neon cardstock and couldn't believe my luck when I found the green one I used.  I bought the pink sparkly card from ebay.  It was called Pink Bubblegum and didn't look neon at all in the photo on the site.  I bought it to use for something else.  However I was quite relieved when it turned out the way it did as I didn't really want to use boring plain neon card that you see advertising "specials" in newsagents windows!

Anyway, this is how it turned out and the recipient and the sender were really pleased.  She left a nice message on my Guest book on my website :-)



If Friends Were Flowers...

My new Gorjuss Girl stamp arrived in the post this morning, so I spent most of today stamping and making cards.  I thought I would show you my favourite, which I have made for my Sister.  I couldn't resist this stamp as it's called Poppy Fields, which is the name of the area I live in :-)

I couldn't resist the paper when I saw it in Hobbycraft last weekend. It's so vibrant and has a sort of vintage feel to it too which I love. It was reduced to 92p for a 12x12" double sided sheet too.  Bargain ;-)

Here's what I used:

Paper: My Mind's Eye - Quite Contrary Mary Mary "Beautiful" So Cute Paper
Cardstock: Coredinations "Tank"
Stamp: Gorjuss Girls "Poppy Fields"
Punches: Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page "Butterflies"
Ribbon: Smirk creative ribbon
Sentiment: Lili of the Valley "Dreamy Days"

I used a mixture of Papermania Watercolour Blenders and Pro markers for the stamped image.

I have just started on some Easter cards and am also going to make a card tonight for the Sugar Bowl Challenge, so I may add some more to my Blog tonight if I have time.  I have also just had an order for another memory box.  This time for a baby girl, so I better get cracking on that too!  Busy busy busy!

Bird Song

Here are a couple of cards I have made this week. I went for a sort of African theme on the orangey one, using the new Bird Song Papers from Papermania.  It was only a quick card that I threw together.  I plan on doing something a bit better when I have more time using the lovely Bird Song filagree papers.

    

 Papermaina Birdsong Papers

For My Groom On Our Wedding Day...

Here is one of my Memory Boxes which I sold this week.  I showed you one of my "Beautiful Butterfly" memory boxes before (here), well this one was for a lady who is getting married in a couple of months to give to her Groom.  I came up with the idea when I got married myself in 2009.  I made one for my Husband and he loved it.  I put in lots of little bits... a hip flask engraved with "So you won't get nervous", some socks with "So you don't get cold feet" written in diamantes, some matching diamante boxer shorts with "Groom" on them, engraved cufflinks and the best one (which he LOVED) a watch engraved with "So you won't be late".  I have these boxes to sell on my website, and also on Folksy and eBay!  I have sold loads on ebay, all with varying colours and personalised with the Groom's name and wedding date.  This one was made using silver lettering.  The picture was taken before the organza ribbon was tied around the edge with really finishes them off nicely.

Well I'm off to make some dinner.  Steak and chips.  Yum!  I never buy steak and only ever eat it in restaurants, so hopefully this will taste just as nice with me cooking it!  Ciao for now! :-)

A Bit Late... Or Very Early??

I was just going through some photos on my laptop and found some of the cards I made at Christmas for my Family and thought I would share some you...

 Very simple, I made this for my Mum and Dad from my Children.

 This one was made for my In-Laws

 This one was made for my Niece, Olivia

This one was made for my Friend's baby's first Christmas.  I used a digi stamp from Pink Gem Designs which is so cute.

Happy Birthday Dad

I spent this evening making this card for my Dad.  It's not his birthday until 17th March, but I thought I would get a head start and I wanted to use the new paper I bought at Hobbycraft at the weekend.

I used an 8x8" card blank from Anita's for this card.  The paper's I used were Blue Awning Blue Polka Dots from K&Co and My Mind's Eye.  The cardstock I used for the circle was Tank from Coredinations.  I used my Sizzix eclips' PIP setting to cut out the circle, and also used it to make the flower on the top right and the lettering.

The embellishments were from Express Yorself at Hobbycraft and suits my Dad down to the ground!  The band across the middle was acheived using Martha Stewart's "Loops" Punch Around the Page punch set.  I finished the card off with a sentiment from Lilli of the Valley.



A sneaky card...

I made a quick card last night so thought I would share.  I am obsessed with this Gorjuss Girl lately!  Hehe.  So she will be appearing again soon!

I was feeling a bit summery after going through some of last year's summer clothes, so I thought I would incorporate some nice bright papers to get me in the mood for summer!  I can't wait!  I hate this cold weather at the moment.  It's so depressing.

So here is my latest Gorjuss Girl sitting atop a bed of sunflowers....

What I used:

Papers and Cardstock: Red swirly paper from a selection at Hobbycraft. Yellow patterned paper from DCWV, The Green Stack.

Rubber Stamp: Sugar Nelly, Gorjuss Girls: Sitting.

Blossoms: from Papermania's Capsule Collection: Petals (sunshine).

I have just bought some Promarkers, so am off to try them out.  I will upload a photo of my project when I've finished it :-)

My First Sugar Bowl Challenge

Being new to the world of Blogging, I found The Sugar Bowl by chance whilst looking for some new Sugar Nellie stamps. 

I saw this month's competition and thought I would give the challenge a go.  This is my first time entering a competition, so wish me luck!

The challenge is to make a card using the template below and use the picture as inspiration for the colour scheme.  I just love this image.  It reminds me of my Nans kitchen when I was a child with all the blue and white china she used to have. 

 

To be eligible for the prize draw, the card must include a Sugar Nellie image, so I used my new Gorjuss girls stamp; Sitting. This is my favourite stamp at the moment.

Sugar Bowl Challenge 53

Here's my finished card....

I loved making this card.  It was the first time I had ever worked to a template.  I normally just place things as I go along on my other cards.  I loved the colour scheme.  It reminded me of teas and the little china cups from my Nan's pantry as a child.  I finished off the card using some die cut swirls, paper blossoms and a tiny gem for my girl's hair.

Here's the materials I used:

Papers: DCWV Nana's Nursery glitter card stack

Cardstock: Coconut Cream from Coredinations and ivory from my stash.

Stamp: Sugar Nellie: Sitting from the Gorjuss Girls collection 

Punch: From Xcut

Flowers: Dovecraft's Tea House Paper Blossoms

Buttons: Papermania Capsule Collection. Mini Buttons: Aqua

Ribbon: Anita's Organza ribbon from my stash

Small gem in hair flower: from my stash (Anitas)

I also used the PIP setting on my Sizzix eClips machine to acheive the scalloped circles and squares.

I can't wait for the next challenge now!

My Wish List

I have just been looking for some new stamps and came across these new Alice in Wonderland Gorjuss Girls sets from Suzanne Woolcott.  I want them soooo much!  Alice in Wonderland is my all time favourite Disney film.  I just love the whole story, maybe because i'm such a dreamer myself!

I can't wait to get stuck in making some cards with these!

My First Ever Blog!!

Well this is my first ever blog!  I have seen lots of blogs over the past few months while researching for inspiration for crafts, looking for products, etc.  But I never thought to do one myself.  Infact I didn't even know how to set one up! So I thought there's no time like the present, I googled "blogs" and found Blogspot :-) I'm not very technically minded; I made my websites more through luck then judgement, so please bear with me as I'm still learning!

I think I will start by showing you some of my creations from the past few months...


My Gorjuss Girls...

These cards were the first ones I ever made using rubber stamps. I fell in love with Sugar Nellie's Gorjuss girls after seeing a decoupage pack in The Range.  I had to get some stamps! So I bought Bumble Bee and Party Princess from Funky Kits. I didn't have a die cut machine or anything at the time.  To obtain the lettering took me aaaages!  I stamped each letter onto paper stock and then cut out each one using scissors and a craft knife!  It took me about 5 hours for each card!

On the "Naomi" card I made a small mistake on the right hand side at the top.. I cut the card too short, so I made the tab with Happy Birthday on it.  I didn't think about how I would fit it in the envelope which proved impossible!  Luckily it was for my lovely friend and I gave it to her in person, so the envelope wasn't needed.  I was so excited about giving her it that I forgot to write in it!!  I put so much work into my cards that writing in them was really an after-thought!  That's the thing with handmade cards. They take so much time, and so much creativity goes into them, they are like a gift in itself.  They come from the heart and shows so much personality through them.

Beautiful Butterflies

After making cards for a while I started to get lots of orders from friends, family and neighbours.  I decided I could no longer make personalised cards the way I was, with the stamping for the letters.  It was taking far too long.  I had also started making memory boxes and had to buy die cut outs from people off the internet to use as decorations as I had no way of doing them myself. I decided it was time to buy myself a Die Cut machine.  There were so many on the market and I really didn't have a clue, so I drove the 30 miles to my nearest Hobbycraft store where I found the new Sizzix eclips being demonstrated.  After looking at many of the others I decided the eclips was more value for money, since you get so many designs on each cartridge.  I was sold!

This Beautiful Butterflies card was made using my eclips on an 8x8 card. For the border I used Martha Stewart's Punch around the page in Butterflies.  I used pink card stock with spotted vellum for the backing.  I finished it off with punched butterflies sitting atop of some papermania flowers.

I was also asked to make another one of these in Burnt orange, so I came up with this one...