Reverse Confetti Happy Pretty Panel & Swirlies Card

Here's a card I made a couple of days ago for a friend who had recently moved house and had a birthday. 

I used the Happy Pretty Panel Confetti Cuts from Reverse Confetti, and the Swirlies Confetti Cuts.

The background patterned paper is from Stampin' Up, and I made the flower from a new Sizzix die set - the Mix and Match Flowers Thinlits, with a gingham brad in the centre (an old one from Making Memories).

The 'everything' is a Papertrey Ink stamp from their Wet Paint set, which I stamped in VersaMark ink and used white embossing powder with.

Some of products used:


   

My Favorite Things Birthday Wishes & Balloons Card

I love this card by My Favorite Things DT member Yoonsun Hur, and seeing as I had the same stamp & die sets (the Birthday Wishes and Balloons sets) made my own version of it. 

For the background I used Elizabeth Craft Designs' Soft Finish Cardstock, which is wonderful for blending Distress Ink onto. I added some white spots with Ranger Enamel Accents, and used more Distress Ink to colour the balloon die cuts. I put white shine on the balloons with Signo Uni-ball pen.

I glued on some clear sequin stars, and layered the panel onto black cardstock, which I put on foam pads onto the turquoise card blank.

Product Links:


   

Reverse Confetti Happy Pretty Panel Card

I bought myself some Reverse Confetti products last week, and made this card using the Whole Lotta Happy stamp set, the Happy Pretty Panels Confetti Cuts, and the Big Stripes Cover Panel Confetti Cuts.

For the flower bouquet, I used Stampin' Up punches, Tim Holtz Tattered Flower Garland Decorative Strip, Martha Stewart Frond Punch and an old unbranded stamen punch.

Some of product links:

   

Sizzix Flip-its & Elizabeth Craft Designs Hydrangea & Hollyhocks Card

Some friends and I drove to the beautiful city of Ely today to meet up with another friend, to celebrate our May birthdays. I made this card for her.

From Elizabeth Craft Design's lovely Soft Finish Cardstock, I cut the card base, using the Sizzix Circle Flip-its Card #4 die set. I cut the patterned card layers with the same die set from a Prima 6x6 pad.

I added a Memory Box Darla Butterfly, cut from a mottled pink vellum, and just stuck down in the centre, so the wings lift up.

For the centre of the card, I made a hydrangea, using Susan's Garden Hydrangea die set, from Elizabeth Craft Designs. I used their wonderful quality metal tool kit and molding pad to shape the flowers and put veins on the leaves. I added some colour to the petals and leaves with Susan's Garden PanPastels from Elizabeth Craft Designs too. (The PanPastels are SO nice to use! Really soft and blendable, but not as dusty as normal pastels.)

I used the same equipment along with Elizabeth Craft Design's Hollyhocks die set, for an additional flower on the card. I love how they turned out!

Product Links:


   

Stampin' Up Flower Patch Sizzix Card in a Box

I spent a bit of time stamping and die cutting these flowers and leaves from Stampin' Up's Flower Patch set the other night, then assembled them onto Sizzix's Card in a Box yesterday, for a friend's birthday.

You can make a bit more sense of the card from this angle - I die cut three partitions for inside the 'box', and stuck various flowers on all the surfaces. For a couple of the flowers, I added clear acetate strips to the front partition, and stuck the flowers to the acetate, so the flowers 'float'.

I used another Stampin' Up set for the sentiment and hand cut a tag, using a Crop-o-dile to make a hole and adding a brad.

Another angle to show the layers.

And finally, just to prove that the card can actually fold down flat, ready to fit in an envelope!

(You can see the acetate strip which the smaller coral and pink flowers on the left-hand side are stuck to, in this picture. I also stuck the sentiment label to the same acetate strip.)

I used adhesive foam pads and ATG tape runner to do all the sticking.

Links to some of products:


   

Playing with Calligraphy

I felt like practicing dip pen calligraphy the other day, so copied some calligraphy quotes from Pinterest. 

I used my trusty 'Blue Pumpkin' nib (the Brause No.361 nib or 'Steno' nib) along with an ink reservoir which I took from a Brause Bandzug nib. This increases the time I can write for without re-dipping, by loads. This nib doesn't create lines quite as fine as the popular Brause 66EF nib, but to me it's a much more reliable, smooth nib.

Love wet ink!

Papertrey Ink Cat & Smooched Distress Ink Birthday Card

The third card I made yesterday features a cat die and stamp from Papertrey Ink.

I made the background panel by 'smooching' Distress Inks. To do this, I put a few dabs of ink from the pad onto a non-stick craft sheet, spritzed it with water, and then lifted up some of the ink with a clear acetate sheet. I then dabbed the ink down onto my white cardstock.

I liked doing it this way (rather than just rubbing the white cardstock directly into the ink) because it gives you greater control with where you put the ink, and you can see what's going on.

I did this four times with four separate inks: Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed.

For the cat, I die cut white card, stamped the cat on it, then stamped the cat two more times on patterned paper, and cut round one for the whole body, and another for just the head which I attached with foam pads.

 For the 'Happy Birthday', I put wide double sided tape from Elizabeth Craft Designs onto black cardstock, and die cut it with a Paper Smooches Birthday Words die, and stuck them down, along with a couple of sequins.

I coloured a piece of white cardstock with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, to create the orange border, then stuck this with foam pads to a pink card base.

Product Links:


   

Karen Burniston Cake Pop Up Birthday Card

So I actually managed to make three cards during my crafting session today... (I also made three different curries for dinner - it's been a cards 'n' curry kind of day!) Anyway, for my second card, I used one of Karen Burniston's brilliant die sets, the Cake Pop Up set.

I cut the pop up cake die into some gorgeous My Mind's Eye Jubilee Collection Mint Julep patterned paper with foil hearts, and cut my own shapes for the three cake layers. I used the middle candle support to attach the top cake layer to, and added a larger candle from the Gift Card Accordion die set.

I used the scalloped dies in the set to add icing to the cake layers, and added an extra layer which I had trimmed down, to the top of the cake stand, for dimension.

I used the 'Celebrate' die from the Flourish Gift Frame die set, and one of Karen's older Sizzix dies for the curly borders.

I added sequin trim (from Stampin' Up), and blended on Festive Berries Distress Ink around the edges of the card, which the foil hearts on the patterned paper resisted beautifully.

I then added a string of bunting at the top of the card.

Links to products used:


   

Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Mixed Media Thinlits & Craft Asylum Butterfly Card

I finally set aside some time for crafting today (I have so much Fire Fighting studying to do), and thoroughly enjoyed myself! I bought some Tim Holtz products this week, and had my first go at blending Distress Inks... SO much fun!

I blended an orange/red/pink background first of all, using Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry mini ink pads. (I bought four of the Distress Ink Mini Kits, and bought another eight individual mini pads, to get the colour range I wanted, plus two storage tins.)

I squirted some water from a mini mister into my hand and dropped it into the background to create some texture on it.

I cut another white cardstock panel with one of the Mixed Media Thinlits dies, and coloured it by blending Cracked Pistachio, Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers.

I layered the above two cardstock layers onto a third layer which I coloured with Walnut Stain, for a narrow border.

I bought enough Mini Ink Blending Tool foam pads so that each ink has its own, which I store in the bottom of the ink pad (they fit perfectly).

I cut some white cardstock Sizzix Craft Asylum Meadow Butterfly parts, and had a lovely time blending ink on them! Highly therapeutic!

I cut some turquoise cardstock leaves with Paper Smooches Foliage 1 dies, and layered them underneath a couple of butterflies.

Here are the ink colours I chose...

I absolutely love the vibrant colours of the ink, and the way they blend!

Finally, I added the word 'Hello' from Tim Holtz's Handwritten Celebrate Thinlits die set.

Product Links:


   

Karen Burniston's Oval Landscape Accordion Card, with Crate Paper's Confetti Collection Flowers

I haven't had much time for crafting lately, but I've finished the course now which I've been on all this year (I passed it, and am now an On-Call Fire Fighter!), so have finally had chance to play!

I used Karen Burniston's lovely new Oval Landscape Accordion die set for the four panels, and for the oval layer.

Talking of Karen, I finally got to meet her last month at the Stitches show at the NEC, England!!
 Donna Wright (of Old Red Shed) and I went down for the weekend, and met up with Karen, as well as Caz Counsell, from Karen's Design Team. We had a brilliant weekend and it was so nice to finally meet good friends! 

 Back to the card... I re-cut each of the panels in patterned papers, and used them to decorate the frames. The papers are from My Mind's Eye's 'The Sky's the Limit' 12x12 Collection, and from Stampin' Up.

I used dies from Crate Paper's Confetti Collection 'Flowers' Die Set, for the layered flowers and leaves.

The 'thanks' die is from Mama Elephant.

I attached the flower which overlaps the join between the last two panels, just onto the oval of the last panel, so that when the card is closed the flower can float outwards, and not impede the closing.

I love these flowers!

Product Links:


   

Pop it Ups Hot Air Balloon Card with Tanya Whelan 'Wild Rose' Craft Consortium Papers

I had a lovely package in the post recently - new dies and stamps by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs! 

I thought the Hot Air Balloon die set would look lovely with Tanya Whelan's new 'Wild Rose' papers for Craft Consortium.

The die set includes a die for creating a pop-up step part, dies for the balloon, and extra cloud dies.

(The largest cloud die is by Papertrey Ink.)

I used a Sizzix die for the sentiment, using Elizabeth Craft Design's Soft Finish card stock, with double sided tape on the back.

I hand cut some floral paper into a cloud outline, for the bottom of the card, and added some layers of ribbon, pom-pom trim and glitter card.strips.

The new Hot Air Balloon die set.

Product Links:


   

Sizzix Step-Ups Card with new Craft Consortium Tanya Whelan Papers

I posted yesterday about a lovely new Tanya Whelan paper collection from Craft Consortium, called 'Wild Rose' and today I have another card I made using papers from it. (It's available here and here.)

I used Sizzix's Basic Step-Ups Card die set for the card base and layers, and Sizzix's 'Floral Wreath' Thinlits die set from Brenda Walton for the butterflies, banner and smaller leaves.

The 'thanks' die is from Mama Elephant, and the flowers and larger leaves are from a Crate Paper 'Flowers' die set.

You can see the details of the steps better here. I punched holes and added eyelets, through which I strung Baker's Twine, to hang some bunting.

I stuck on the die cut elements with foam pads, and added two layers of 'thanks' die cuts, to stiffen it up a bit.

The 'Floral Wreath' die set I used.

Product Links:


   

Sizzix Card in a Box with Craft Consortium's Tanya Whelan 'Wild Rose' Papers

I was delighted to receive a beautiful 12x12 paper pad recently from the new UK craft company, Craft Consortium. The collection is called 'Wild Rose' by the wonderful American designer Tanya Whelan, and both the designs and the quality of the papers are simply gorgeous. They're available already from a few places, including here and here. The papers include a variety of finishes and are all double sided.

I made this card using papers from the collection, and Sizzix's Card in a Box die.

The large cardstock roses which I used to decorate the card, also came from the paper pad. The front cover folds open and is printed with lots of glossy roses which you can cut out.

I added three partitions inside the box card, adhering roses to the front and back ones, and a clear acetate panel to the middle partition, to which I adhered the 'Birthday' die cut.

The 'Happy Birthday' dies are from Marianne Designs.

I used an envelope maker to make the envelope with more paper from the pad. The box card folds down flat. (By happy accident my nail polish matches the card! ...Since Christmas I have new hobby - namely Essie nail polishes!)

The bow was made with a Stampin' Up punch.

Product Links:


   

Clint Eastwood Accordion Christmas Card

This card will probably seem a bit random, but my husband chats with an old guy in a wheelchair at church, who thinks Scott looks like Clint Eastwood (I can't say I'd noticed the similarity myself!) Anyway, Scott has gone to visit him today, and wanted to take him a Clint Eastwood Christmas card. We'd had a look on the internet for one, but didn't find very much, so I quickly made this one this morning...

I used Karen Burniston's Gift Card Accordion die set for the card base, and used a rectangle from the Flourish Gift Frame die set to cut out a photo I'd printed of Clint.

For my adaptation of one of his catch phrases, I used the Alpha 1 - Caps set, with double-sided tape on the back, and the 'Christmas' from Karen's Merry Christmas Pop Up set.

I used a punch for the holly leaves, and a snowflake from Crafter's Companion Die'sire Snowflakes die set.

Product links: