A card and altered art.

On boxing day, I made this card for my sister-in-law who is turning 30 in a couple of days. She will be on holiday with her fella, sunning herself on the beaches of Thailand, so I made her this card before she went away. I used the "girls about town" images from charmed cards and carfts... they are so easy to use! I did a little jiggery-pokery to make this card more personal to Jane. I decoupaged the woman, the bags and the shop sign and put glossy accents all over her boots to make them shine!




Now....
This is what I bought from a car boot sale, back in October. A pound this cost me....
"Why did she buy that?!" I hear you ask!?!?.......

I had an idea in mind, and I wanted to have a go. .........




TADAAAA!!!!!!
This is the same item...altered, me-style! Hannahs photo-board!

I took out the glass and the "picture", painted the frame with a couple of coats of white gloss, covered the back board with some fabric I bought that I knew my cousin (Hannah) would like, used my cropodile to put some holes in, then jewel brads to hold the jute string. I die-cut her name and some flowers and added them to the frame. Little wooden pegs hold the photos that I printed off, of her family and friends. The idea is, she changes the photos as often as she likes. ...and she liked!!!! Hannah is 12 and I worried this wouldn't be trendy enough for her, but I can tell you, she LOVED it! So did her Mum and Dad!!!

I'm back!

Hello! Wow...it's such a long time since I blogged last - I'm sorry! I have been so busy... and I'm all ready for christmas! Everything has been bought or made, wrapped and under the tree. The house is clean from top to toe and I can finally show my christmas cards now that I have given my last ones out at school (work) ....which - by the way - does not close until 3:30pm tomorrow...can you believe that?! Utter rubbish!!!! The day before Christmas Eve! Not good.

Anyway...as you can prob tell, I went to town with my new bauble stamp this year. I have had a lot of lovely comments about these from the people who have recieved them, which makes me feel great :) ...

For every single card, I stamped the image and then decoupaged the baubles on top again, and added some sparkles. I made about 50 like these, in browns, blue and black. I was really pleased with them this year. Hope you like them too. xx

Happy halloween!

Well. OK... these gingerbread men aren't quite in keeping with the season... Hubby and I promised ourselves that we would make some gingerbread while of work on holiday this week, we bought in the ingredients and everything, and only got round to it today. The smell and the taste of warm gingerbread is just amazing! Just perfcet for a chilly Sunday afternoon.....


Oh, and we started running out of baking trays for our men, so we made some little round ginger biscuits with a sprinkling of brown sugar on top...boy, these taste good too!



But back onto card crafting...

I was asked by mum Aunt, to make a card for her grand-daughter..."she's 18, can I have her name on? and the word grand-daughter, and something girly...she likes shopping?!" Hmmm... think I just about managed to cover all the aspects she wanted! (I used charmed cards and crafts download - girls about town.) I decoupaged the shop top, and the presents, and put glossy accents on her hair and black boots... its hard to see that in the picture. Hope she likes it!



Yesterday, It was my Grandmas birthday and I made her this card...I love that image and the sentiment. I'm sure you know, it is S.W.A.L.K stamp. The paper is from a HOTP kit I have had for a while and not used much of.

I also made this card as I realised I have hardly any male themed cards in my baskets... and I do like to have a range for when I need one! This is simply some wrapping paper, matted onto card and then I embossed the edges of the card.

Hi.. Just wanted to show you a couple of cards I made yesterday... I used a digi kit to make both of these as I love this birdhouse image! Everything (apart from the punched flower and leaves ) is from the digi kit....backing paper, image, and extras. As you can see, the bottom card is for my friend Jaki, who lives in Canada, and it is winging its way to her as I type! I used a cream card base for both of these...and it really set them off! xx

Yeh!!! Half term!!!

Oooh, It's good to be off work, on holiday! We broke up yesterday and have a week and two days off on half term...yipeee! Just think, the next school holidays will be the christmas holidays! (and we only break up on the Wednesday....christmas day is the Saturday!) I'm not too worried....as I prob have about half my christmas pressies already....been trying to get a few in every weekend for the past few weeks!

Anyway... here is a card I made recently for a friend to give at an evening do...her friend had got married abroad and they were having a "do" back at home, when they got back. I got this embossed frame at Leigh craft show recently....they were a very good buy! It's a pity thoguh, that I can't remember the name of the stall I got them off, as I would like some more....oh well, I may try and make some myself :) So, all I did, was to lightly colour the edges of the card with dusky pink chalk, add a few pearls and more chalk to the flowers and more chalking around the sentiment in the middle. Quick a quick and easy card, once I knew what I was going to do!



On the same stall, I bought these little embossed toppers.... and they even had a foiled sentiment on, too! I matted the topper on mirrorcard, added some gems (and on some of the cards, I added extra flowers around the edge) oe sometimes - instead of gems - I used little blobs of stickles. Quick, and effective.... though I wish I could remember the name of that stall.... :) xx

Finally.... I'm here again!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while...a few things have been happening, and I haven't felt like I wanted to post. But I'm here again! Thought I would show some cards I have made recently...there have been a few birthdays happening, and I had a few cards to make. I haven't uploaded them all yet, so will save the others for another day...

Heres the first one.... I had a session of stamping my little cat, and made a few cards with it. The recipient of this card loved it! I used DCWV paper that I've had for a long time. Also, it was the first time I used my new leaves punch that I bought at Leigh craft show recently.



This next cat card uses dovecraft papers...its the "pets" range of papes, and I don't think I have used these papers before, even though I have had them for a long time! I am into double layering my flowers that I puch out, at the min...gives a little bit of dimension, I think.



I made this card for a chocoholic, using a digi kit I have had for a while. These papers and elements are sooo cute! I used glassy accents on the hersey drops on the wrapper of the chocolate bar, so they look good anough to eat!

Again, I used dovecraft paper to make the main image on this card, and some pale blue and yellow card I had lying around. Just wanted to keep this babyish and boyish. His mum called me and said they loved it :) xx

A mix-bag...

I feel I haven't blogged for a while, so thought I should catch up with myself and upload the pics of cards I have been making in the last week or two.

I LOVE this one... its just that cat! ...His little face!!! I used pink petticoat papers and punched a couple of flowers using the same papers and a plain paper, inked the edges and added some pearls, with a craftwork cards sentiment.



Thought I would have a go at making another handbag... I haven't done one for such a long time! I made it from my own design template, and pink petticoat papers. The only embellishing I did on this after the papers, was a couple of spots of liquid pearls.



A couple of weeks ago, while we were out camping in the Lakes, it was my Hubbys birthday, and this is the card I made him.... I bought the backing sheet and topper at a carft show in Leigh, in March. (It's back on again in October!!) I just did a simple bit of matting and layering with a middle border...he likes old comics and games and stuff, so I tought this would suit him down to the ground. (as well as the fact that he is my superman, my hero, my soulmate and the love of my life.)

I have reently made this card for Hubbys brother...whose birthday is coming up in September, but I always forget the exact day, so thought I would get it ready! I bought this sheet when it was on offer at imag-e-nation. I cut the aperture myself, and handwrote the sentiment around the aperture, too. Thanks for looking and any comments you wish to leave! xx

I got a stamp as a present...

.. from a teacher at work, just before we went onto summer holidays. I thought it was a lovely gift - really thought about!

I knew immediately, as soon as I saw it, what I wanted to do with it. I knew I had used this backing paper before and thought it would go perfectly with this sentiment. She said she had bought this stamp from Hobbycraft - I haven't been there for ages, but I think I should go and have a look at the other stamps like this. I had a go at making the same card with slightly different colour themes, and they all look the same - but different, if you know what I mean!

Another post!

I made this card about 3 months ago and it has just been sat there, waiting to be finished. I knew I wanted a sentiment on it and remembered these lovely peel offs yesterday, so popped one of them on. I love those brown flowers and seem to have been using them quite a bit reently. I am loving brown at the minute!




I made this a couple of days ago, for my friends birthday in a week. This card is for a male. I love this monkey image from pink petticoat, so thought I would use some male dovecraft papers and if you can see, I wrote "happy birthday to you, you live in the zoo, you look like a monkey...and you smell like one too" all around the inside edge of the circle. I think he will find this funny and it might give him a laugh! (I hope!!)



Not sure if this card is finished yet...does it need a sentiment? I thought it would work for a lot of different occassions. It is a fabulous freebie which I found on S.J.Musings . She has a lovely blog, and gives away fabulous freebies (hand-drawn by herself!!) every friday. worth a peep at her, definately!!! I printed this armchair image off twice, and decoupaged the cushion, cat, book and cup of tea. xx

Twice in three days!

What a busy weekend!!!

We had our 6 yr old neice for her first sleepover on fri night... such a cutie!... such a wriggler! I slept most of the night with her bum under my chin and her feet on my knees! hehehehe.....

We were very busy, playing on the park, making cookies, car booting (where she bought books! :) ) and making jelly at 8am on saturday morning!

Anyway - Sunday was a bit quieter...

It was our 5 yr anniversary. My lovely Hubby surprised me with a gorgeous bunch of roses - I never get flowers, so it was a lovely surprise. I made him the card below, using a digi set I have had a while. I have started to use these digi sets quite a lot now, as they are sooo easy to use! I decoupaged the frame and put glossy accents on the stitches and the buttons. He liked it :)




On the same day, it was also my friends birthday. And what a coincidence.... Hubby and I were at a boot sale in the morning, and i couldnt believe it when i saw a bigshot...the black and pink model, boxed, as new (used once by look of cutting plates), and only £30!!! Now,I knew that my friend, whose birthday it was, liked my big shot, so I text her to come and see it. 2 hours later, we were passing the same carboot again, and I hadn't heard from my friend so I thought we'd drop in and see if it was still there. It was! I called my friend as it was almost 10am by now and she was on the other side of the bootsale looking for the stall! I held onto the bigshot till she arrived and haggled the stallholder down to £25. It made my day that she got such a bargain! (and she is absolutely thrilled with it!!)

Anyway - below, is the card I made for her...and she loved it! Again, the image is a digi image. The backing (gold) paper is from pink petticoat. I used glossy accents on the main word "live".
xxx

Half way thru' the summer hols now :(

.... How depressing!!! At least there are 3 crafting weeks left....

As you can see from the card below, it has recently been my mum and dads 40th wedding anniversary - ruby wedding. The last card I made which was similar to this, was loved, so thought I would use the same type of idea. (made it slightly different this time tho!)....
(image is pink petticoat, hearts embossing folder strip in the middle )



I was having a little play with a gorgeous girl and came up with this card...thought it was quite cute. no particular reason for it, just liked the image. (sentiment butterfly is from craftwork cards.)

Below, is a new pink petticoat image that I bought as soon as it was released. I just love dandelion clocks! The paper behind is also pink petticoat too...from the "old fashioned papers" range, I think. Just had a play and came up with two versions of this card....

BTW...

Just a little update on Lily and Timbit - as you remember a couple of posts ago, we got Timbit from a rescue centre (3 weeks ago today!) and he was NOT getting on with Lily...our cat of 8 years. GOOD NEWS... they are great together now! I t has taken a lot of time, work (and tears on my part!) but with a bit of love, catnip bubbles, feliway and bachs rescue remedy (for me AND the cats!!) we are all one happy family now! The hissing seems to have stopped (fingers crossed!) and they often pass each other, stop, and touch noses, or sniff each other...then walk on. Both love attention and purr almost constantly. I am much happier and am feeling much better now!!! Yeeaahh!!! xxxx

Finally...I have been creating...

I have been having a play with some digi kits I have had for a while... I used publisher to set out the papaer and elements ontop. It's great fun to play with these kits, as you can make anything any size you like! I matted and layered the image after printing it out and decoupaging the car and traffic lights.

I used the same kit and made this card....I decoupaged the houses and put glossy accents over the rainbow.

When we were still in the world cup, "Imag-e-nation" had an offer on La Pashe products...so I bought some! I couldn't resist the cheap price they were! Here are a few cards I have made, using the images and actetate behind them, so the background shows through. I didn't have any aperture cards, so thought I would make my own, by using a circle cutter..I think it is the fiskars one. Dead easy, I think. I made the shopping card first, and did the writing around the apreture myself, as I thought it looked too plain when left blank. I liked the effect, so used that on the other La Pashe cards I made, too.....

I've been on summer hols almost a week...

...and I haven't made any cards! Well, here's my excuse.....


We have a new member in our family. His name is Timbit. We got him from the local cats and dogs home on Saturday. He was sooo timid and shy there... hence "tim".... and the timbit comes from some goooorgeous little doughnuts we love, at Tim Hortons, in Canada...called Timbits! He is a 4 yr old mackerel tabby. He's coming right out of his shell now though.... he's in everything! He loves snuggling up with us on the sofa and curls right up close...almost to your face.

We just need him to get on a bit better with Lily...our lovely little girl (cat). They could be a lot worse I suppose, but he does hiss at her sometimes. We are trying to get them to be friends, bit by bit. Wouldn't be without him now though. He's so big and soft!

Anyway - back to a couple of card orders I had recently... This first card (gorjuss girls) I made for a friend who wanted a card for her grand-daughter who did really well in her S.A.T's. She was really pleased with this card! I decoupaged the girl onto some digi paper i printed, along with the sentiment, then I just added some ribbon and a couple of gems.

This next card was made for a couple at hubbys work - who were married last weekend. Sentiment printed onto card from pc, then used pink petticoat papers and ribbon and a few gems to finish. xx