At the seaside

And back to crafting!

This is a birthday card for my friend Jo.

The card is a lovely speckled cream which I think is from my paper mill stash.

The background images are stamped in memento london fog ink using a lovely set from inkylicious.  I have stamped, cut out and added 3D foam to the shells for some extra dimension.

The beach scene is a Michael Powell stamp from DOCrafts.  I've coloured this using pan pastels for the sky, sea and sand which I haven't really used before (funnily enough the idea for this card wasn't how it panned out at all!).  I've also used copics for the beach huts.

Many thanks to Tracy who very kindly let me borrow her Stampin' up sentiment from the label love set as I 'tidied' mine at the weekend and it is currently residing in a safe place!!  I've punched it out using the matching punch (which I do have to hand) and punched another one to layer behind for contrast and to match the layering on the main image.

Bloom & Grow

This is another Crafty Bunch birthday card, again I had slightly grander plans for it but there we go!

As soon as I saw Sue's name added to the birthday list I thought of this stamp.  Sue opens her lovely garden for the National Garden Scheme and I am hoping to visit again next month (the tea & cake were also pretty good last time).

This is a trimcraft stamp designed by Helz Cuppleditch called Bloom & Grow.  I've stamped it and coloured it in copics.  The sun was 'made' by using a piece of card with a circle punched out of it and daubing ink through the hole.  I had a couple of little birds to add to the sky I remembered after posting the card!

Image double layered on matching card, as is the stamped sentiment.

A5 card base has been covered with a sheet of paper from the new DOCrafts Home to Nest range and a couple of punched pots added at the bottom.

We have actually had a few days of sun now - hope everyone is enjoying it!

Wedding Invitations

Hooray - I finished my 'project'.
The last couple of weeks has included some rather intensive Wedding Invitation making for some friends who booked the last spot at their venue of choice which means rather less notice for sorting everything out.

After going through some options on their choice of white, gold & burgundy this simple, elegant design is where we ended up.

The cards are 5" square and made from Centura Pearl card which has a gold fleck in which fitted in with a touch of sparkle the Bride wanted.  A strip of burgundy ribbon around the top of the card to match a layer of card with the 'Wedding Invitation' added on top stamped in gold and using a stamp from the Forever Friends 'Going to the Chapel' set.

As I do like to make things slightly difficult these invitations are pocketfold!

After much playing (yet again, thank goodness for my Simply Scored) I chose this size as it fitted in a sensible size envelope and it is made out of one piece of A4 card (with some trimmed off the side).  It is cut slightly larger than 5" so that I could trim down again to leave enough for tabs for the pocket.

I have just taken the names off the invite for various reasons.
The actual invite sits at the top, mounted on more of the burgundy card.
The pocket contains an RSVP, reply envelope and a little poem about gifts.
I made 50 invites altogether covering Wedding Day and Evening Invitations.  It was all done a little quicker than would of been preferable but that seems to be how things are done round here and I am really pleased with the result.

There will be some table numbers to follow in a couple of months time!

Pampered Pets

A quick card today that I made using an image from the die-cut pack of Pampered Pets from DOCrafts.


3 layers make up the main image, a matching greeting and some matching roses for the corner to finish.


Fairly simple but effective.


We had a very damp day out today - starting at Castle Drogo where unfortunately we couldn't make the most of the wonderful views or walks in the ground because of the weather, then Torquay to watch a round of the Halfords Tour Series town centre cycling & supporting races.


By 7pm the rain actually stopped and there was some sun but we got very damp getting to that point.
Race highlights on ITV4 tomorrow night so will see if we made the cut!

Creativity Club Day Out

What a great day we had yesterday at DOCrafts HQ for their first ever Creativity Club Members Day.

Thanks to Karen for getting us there - although we did have a little inevitable postcode fun on arrival, quite surprising some workers in the area didn't know where the largest building on the estate was!

After some play-time when we arrived with all the goodies on our table we had a workshop with Sheila Halliwell where we made this lovely Michael Powell card.

The image is stamped twice, the second one is partially coloured and cut out to 3D on to the first image.  We used DOCrafts aqua glass paints which I wouldn't of thought of using before.

The image is layered on to capsule card stock, the yellow layer was also cut with the looped fringe border punch.

Sentiment is cut from a Michael Powell A4 toppers set & layered.

The pinwheels are made from red card stock and placed on mini card springs (this picture doesn't give you the 3D effect of them).

Whole card then finished off with a selection of adhesive dew drops and we were all quite pleased with ourselves so went off to enjoy the BBQ for lunch!

More of our day out tomorrow .....

Box 2!

My second criss-cross box has taken a bit of a food & drink theme.

The papers are from a papermania pad in rather funky colours.

I have used DOCrafts cupcake stamps and an SU stamp set called 'Cheers to you' for this one.

To decorate the cards I used more of the paper from the front of the box and some co-ordinating card. I then punched out the images and shapes to add greetings to using SU punches.

I added 2 of the beer cards to the box so there is something 'for the men' as the other cards are all a bit more girlie.

Craft Superstore

Right, back to it - stamped a few images this week but couldn't decide how to mount them so have been working on that today.

This card is a 'make & take' from a Craft Superstore party I went to on Friday. This is a new venture for them and it was Kate's first party too.

The Forever Friends bear is from a Docrafts set, not quite the colour I would of chosen for him but after picking the stamp it was the only bear related colour.

He was coloured in papermania pens and cut out using a Marianne die on the big shot. Sentiment is also from the stamp set.

Some Christmas paper was edged with a red ink pad (as was the die) and stuck to the base card. A co-ordinating strip of card was then also added as a nice touch with some ribbon stuck behind it so we could tie a bow. A couple of corners were also added to finish - also using the big shot.

The evening was to showcase Craft Superstore products and get everyone to play with some of the items and have a look at the card available etc. Another very enjoyable craft evening!

Woodland Folk

Still building up to doing anything that requires a bit more skill but have now made a few cards after my crafting holiday!

This is from a DOCrafts Woodland Folk die-cut pack. The base picture is layered up with all the lovely animals (even the hedgehog that looks like a teddy bear, he's hiding in this picture - thanks to Michelle for pointing that out!!).

The extra tree layers are added after all the other 3d work by attaching some 'card extensions' so that the trees sit over all the other layers - not necessarily a card for posting!

Bert Badger

A card that anyone that has recently had a birthday will recognise!

For this card I used a very nice pearly green card from the paper mill as a base card and then a piece was used in one of the new Woodland Folk embossing folders to give the tree background.

Bert Badger himself is one of the new layered die cut folders from DoCrafts that I had to try!

It was a bit of an event but fairly pleased with him, although Graeme wondered why I was making a panda card which was a bit disappointing.

The die cuts out MANY different shapes that all layer up for the completed animal so it took a while but fairly pleased with him and will have another play sometime.

Busy Week!

I have made a card this evening but won't post it for a couple of days yet!

To keep up with the blog I thought I would add this one as I keep seeing it on the tv!!!

I made it for a DOCrafts comp a while back, wasn't very pleased with it because I spent too much time thinking in the end and it was a bit quick and not quite what I wanted - I didn't win.

Having said that I happened to catch it on Create & Craft the other week, which i'd just popped past, as a sample card.

Managed to have a splendid migraine Monday so was having another sofa day when I visited again (I rarely watch the channel it is so bizarre) just in time to see the pic on the screen for their pick of the day which was the new Forever Friends CD's. My card was there again, next to all the CD's - I think I need some appearance money!!!

So for not liking it too much it certainly is having a bit of an outing.

No post tomorrow because I've just been asked if I wanted to pop to a Stampin' Up party - couldn't say no obviously, would of been rude!

Owls

Had a very strange moment this morning when I put Create & Craft on the tv one of my cards was on - very random indeed!!

I entered a Forever Friends comp a while back (which I didn't win), at least the card had a small moment of fame!

Anyway, this card I have made a couple of times recently. The backing paper and that used for the oval scallops & large flowers is from a pack called Pocketful of Posies I got cheap somewhere.

The owls are Craftwork Cards with a touch of copic colour to match the papers. Large flowers punched using an SU punch, little flowers, brads and bow from a recent Docrafts goody bag.

I do hope no one got hold of any of my germs after the weekend, feel a bit more like playing today so must be feeling better - bring out the copics!!