It's a Boy!

I was holding off adding another picture until I'd sorted out my watermarking but as I haven't found 5 minutes to do that yet - here is a baby card from last week so you all know I am still here!

This was a request from work.  I initially looked out images of all the baby cards I have done and stamps I have not used yet - seem to have quite a lot!

The choice made was for this 8x8" card.

The base has a square of blue card with some lovely patterned vellum on top attached with brads.

Some Forever Friends decoupage and then a Congratulations peel off mounted at the top.

Peel offs also used to add the date and weight and this circle is mounted on a blue scalloped circle which I have used with silver thread to make a spirelli shape.

Quilled Anniversaries

A couple of commissions today and I have finally done some quilling.

Quilling has been very neglected this year, something which I must definitely make up for next year.

These two cards were for 2 different people and I resurrected a design I haven't done for ages.

The design uses a little filigree, some fringed flowers, folded roses and some little 'normal' quilled flowers and leaves in between.

The Ruby anniversary obviously has touches of red and some matching strips added to the edge of the card.

The Silver anniversary has silver bells and the white flowers are edged with silver too.  The middle of the fringed flowers are tight coils that I have dabbed with silver ink but the folded roses are made using grey paper.  Silver paper has been added down the side of the card like the ruby card.

Peel offs used for the sentiment in both cases.

For a spot of diversity tonight I have just made my first Ferrari/Alonso birthday card - to follow soon!

Fathers Day Card

Not such a demand for mens cards at work, and therefore Fathers Day, as I mainly sell cards to men for wife's birthdays & wedding anniversaries - not a bad thing though as got far too much to do at the moment!

I made a card for my father in law though and you may not be surprised to know - I made a box card!!

The cover is made with some lovely pearlescent black card from Craftwork Cards.

I have kept the front simple.  The square layers have been edged with SU scallop trim border and corner punch (I've just noticed you can't get the corner punch any more - that is criminal!).

Simple oval scallop punch on top with 'Dad' added in peel offs and mounted with 3D pads.

Instead of ribbon on this I've used some of the fab, but now discontinued, elastic silver cord from SU (of course).

Scallop border punch also used for the box element inside.

The image is DOCrafts Wellington Bear from the ultimate die cut pack - the picture doesn't really do the layers justice.

Layered on a bit of black for a highlight.

Sentiment from old American set 'And Many Mower' (watch out for more of this set soon), punched out with SU word window and layered on modern label.

The recipient was thrilled and really interested in how long it took and how it was made - all secret of course!

Boofle '50'

A birthday card for my aunt today.

I've used DoCrafts Digital Designer and printed out the 'Birthday' word which has Boofle sat on it.

The card is 5x7".  All the letters were cut out a second time for dimension and Boofle himself has several layers.

I also printed out the 50th and added them with 3D pads to the card which I added a layer of yellow paper from the stash too.

Simply finished with a few peel offs.

Drums

Another commission from recently.

I was asked if I could rustle up a card with a set of drums on - including a name and age.

I found this great iris folding pattern on craftsuprint.

I already had some strips of wrapping paper cut up in blue and silver that I thought would work really well on this.  As on the pattern I then added some peel off borders to bring the design to life, cut a cymbal from gold paper and finished off with peel offs on punched shapes for name, age and sentiment.

What a lovely day it has been today - my face feels like it is on fire after all day outside at a bike race.
Apologies in advance for the slow down in posts over the next couple of weeks, trying to catch up with myself and dabble in some quilling that I can't preview yet!

Quilled veggies

After yesterday's card was delivered at speed this prompted another family member to put in a request!  (not done as rapidly this time!).

This chap is the 'Mr Rabbit' version of the Helz Cuppleditch stamp I used recently.  I stamped him on the left side of a piece of A5 card and coloured with copics.  I then used a copic multiliner and the same earth colours to extend the ground all the way across the card.

I had a run on quilled carrots last year but the mushrooms & cauliflower are taken from Angela Herring's Quilling Plus pattern book, available from Elderberry Crafts.  I think they are very effective.
The tomatoes are from Elizabeth Moad's book Thrilling Quilling.

I had a die cut wheelbarrow in my stash that I used as a template to make the one on this card and added a quilled tight coil for the wheel.

Chalks used for the sky and the sun is inked through a punched circle.

Little label from a new Papermania Home to Nest set with '80' added and layered peel-off sentiment to finish.

Cricket Birthday

This is a card that I actually made quite a few weeks ago even though the Birthday was not until this weekend.

It was a commission for someone I didn't think I would easily see for a bit so was also done rather speedily!

I was given a couple of subjects and chose the cricket option with this lovely Papermania nostalgia stamp designed by John Byars.

I stamped it in Memento rich cocoa which I also sponged round the edge of the cut out image.  I stamped the image a second time and cut the cricketer & ball out and mounted on 3D pads for some more dimension.  I then used some polychromos pencils in matching shades to define the stamp a little.

Finished off with some layering, card candi and peel off sentiment all mounted on an A5 kraft card.
(Only a couple of days until the heart project is completed!).

More cycling

Another last minute request from recently.

A friend asked if I could make a card for her husband.
I never like to say no and these are the friends I made the wedding stationery for at the end of last year and they had also just had their album delivered.

As they live in Burnham I had a quick turnaround on this one so I could drop it in when I visited Weston on my workshop the other week (also had tea, cake & a look at the lovely pics).

This image from justinklined was chosen and coloured in copics. Some of the colours are relevant to the recipients bike, shoes etc and the card became red, white and blue to tie it all in.

Peel off sentiments and a splash of card candi to finish.

A Dogs Life

Finally caught up (for a moment) on requests.

For this card I showed some pictures of cards I've made in the past to my 'client' and this is how this card came about.

The dog with the sign is an image from Digistamp Boutique which I've coloured with copics and cut the sign and present out of a second image for a 3D effect.

The other dogs are from a Woodware stamp set called 'A Dogs Life'  These were also coloured with copics.  All mounted and layered on to some card which I was asked to punch with paw prints (an EK punch).

I've punched a couple of paw prints and then punched out using circle punches and added a requested sentiment in peel offs.  Much more fun that a shop bought card!

Rabbit

And another request ...

This is a lovely Woodland Folk rabbit from the decoupage set.

I've mounted him in a scalloped circle and added to a card which I've covered using a piece of paper from a Papermania pad.  

Using Stampin' Up Punch Potpourri I've stamped the flowers and punched out with the matching Boho Blossoms punch.

Peel offs layered on to matching card for a greeting.
Mainly on to Quilling now for many events in September - amazing how many other things you suddenly find you want to do when you should be doing something else!

Retirements

A bit of a run on retirements at work this week with the end of the voluntary redundancy period!

I made this a few weeks ago (so would now colour the trousers a little differently) for someone I've worked with that left this week.

The backing paper and stamp are papermania. I stamped the chair on paper and cut out to match the card, coloured with copics and added a very large peel off greeting!

Robin

Well, last night I finally finished the last of the cards I had promised people for Christmas which spookily was my 400th sale of the year!

After the iris folded booties the other week I had a request for a Robin. I downloaded this craft from craftsuprint, not sure I will be mass-producing them though.

It was the most realistic robin I found but also the most complicated. It involved some double and corner folds and I'm afraid it was rather experimental but it looks like a robin so we'll stick with it.

It is mounted on red and gold card to make it stand out, some peel off embellishments and a greeting and the card is A4.

Just a few family cards to do now before my rest!

More Emerald!

Another Emerald card.

Managed a quick bit of quilling. Some flowers made from teardrops with little leaves and some scrolls between.

Couple of quilled hearts and a solid coil to place a '55' on.

Number and greeting were peel offs that I coloured to match the theme.

The flowers are made with lovely dutch paper that is edged with shiny green.

Time is flying by, still behind with my quilling and many commission requests keep flooding which I never like to turn away.

Never mind, just another week before I can have a rest!

Quilled flowers

Hooray - a touch more quilling!

I made a smaller sample of this card at the last quilling evening I went to. This card was made for a crafty friend at work who is retiring this week - hi Marsha if you are reading this!

The petals are marquise shapes (made with my fab new tool), with some folded loops for a centre. The large leafs are wheatears formed using the 'prongs' on an onion holder with a standard leaf shape to finish.

The stems are strips stuck on their side.

Peel off greeting added and a touch of card candy to tie the colours in with a bit of sparkle.

I have quilled a pile of butterflies and flowers this week I hope to add to some cards this weekend and will make more of this card in different colours (really must use less purple) for my demo. Roll on a long weekend.

Quilling

I finally made a quilled card! Got the bug again now after an evening at Woolavington with my quilling chums too.

This Anniversary card was another work request. The yellow flowers are 'folded roses', a bit fiddly but worth the effort. The gold bells and filigree add to the anniversary feel and golden theme and just some leaves and tendrils to finish off.

The peel offs hopefully explain it all! Not much else to say really on that.

Blogging is back (already!)

Aha - a bit of playtime and I've managed to do some stuff - genius!

I usually scan my cards in but made one the other day when we were in between technology so this is a photo taken rather late at night.

It was a card for a colleague's relation who is nearly 2. The Noddy design is a sheet of wrapping paper which I matted for the bottom layer, then cut a second image, stuck it on card and cut round it and sticky padded it for a 3D effect. A few peel off balloons to complete made it quite a cheery card.

I have a few requests in the offing, think the only thing stopping me now is too much playing on the Mac finding all the things it can do!

Smirk Christmas

Todays entry (so Janet doesn't complain again!!) is a bestseller for this year!!

It uses one of the rather amusing Smirk Christmas clear stamps. I have simply stamped this and cut out with an oval punch, then coloured with copics and used Anita's gems for the baubles.

The card has a few versamark snowflakes on and a peel-off to finish.

Hopefully this one will make people smile! I'll add another one of my Smirk cards tomorrow (when I have a picture that isn't wonky!).