18th Birthday Celebrations

 Obviously not mine ...

I thought the Toread nymph 'Comge' from a stamp set by Crafter's Companion would be quite nice for a card for a lovely young lady. 'Comge' just has such a cute and slightly cheeky facial impression. I decided on a lilac/purple colour scheme and coloured her in using Spectrum Noir pens. Other 'ingredients' for this card are:

* Shaped card blank by Crafter's Companion
* White glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield
* Coloured textured cardstock
* Round and decorative round cutting dies
* Leaf die by Marianne Designs
* Britannia dies
* Cherry blossoms by Wild Orchid Crafts
* Paper rosebuds
* Adhesive gems

Have a good weekend everybody!

Party Weekend

What a month! It seems to be full of celebrations of one kind or another.

First of all we needed a 40th birthday card. I opted for a white, pink and silver colour scheme and a Strawberry Kisses image. White linen cardstock by Southfield, Hunkydory cardstock, silver mirri card and white glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield are the basics of this project. Sepllbinders dies, Britannia sentiment and number dies and a Marianne leaf die as well as flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts and some tulle are contributing to the design.

I also needed to make a wedding card. I built this up around one of my trusted images by Crafty Stamps - the large wedding cake stamp WD160KI. I combined it with white Centura Pearl cardstock, gold mirri card, paper flowers and rosebuds, organza ribbon and heart pins. The 8" x 8" embossing folder used for this card and the decorative frame are by Die'sire, the sentiment is created using a Britannia die.

Poppy Time

The Poppy Appeal and wearing a poppy at this time of the year is something that is very close to our hearts. But when I picked up my poppy the other day I began to wonder, if it could not look a bit prettier. And yesterday morning I just started to customise it.

I applied Clear Accents to both sides of the poppy and distributed it with a paint brush. I then attached three fabric leaves with silicone glue and brushed on Clear Accents on the front of the leaves. The black centre is covered in Clear Accents (it was my all round helper for this project) and added black adhesive gems. Clear Accents just helps to secure the gems a bit better. Stickles glitter glue in' Frosted Lace' provides a bit of sparkle and a slight wintery touch. The final step was then to attach a brooch bar to the back of the poppy using silicone glue.

The only problem is now that I am hooked and need to organise more brooch bars urgently, so that I can customise some more poppies. But I think I should be able to cope with that ... ;)

Merry Xmas ...

... although it is only relating to the card designs at the moment. But it is scary that we have already nearly reached the end of October and Christmas is not really that far away.

A lovely designed Christmas sentiment of a good size can also be a beautiful focal point of cards. And the large candle and holly merry Christmas image (XM137HF) by Crafty Stamps is just perfect for this. For this card I opted for a mainly monochrome design with splashes of colour introduced by paper roses and the candle and holy image within the stamped image, which I coloured in using Spectrum Noir pens.

For the topper I used a Spellbinders label die. The main feature of the panel underneath is black cardstock with a white core, which I embossed using a Snowflake embossing folder and sanded using a Tim Holtz sanding grip. A quick wipe with a Dust Buddy by Core'dinations then brought out the colours nicely.

For the holly die-cuts I used a Cheery Lynn die. The holly sections underneath the paper roses are created with the same die, but I trimmed off the end sections. A snow writer by DecoArt helped to give the snow on the letters more of a 3D feel. Clear adhesive gems and Stickles glitter glue in 'Frosted Lace' applied to the paper roses provided the finishing touches.

And Crafty Stamps/Stamper's Grove (that is their craft shop in Edinburgh) will also be at the Hobbycraft show at the SECC in Glasgow from 25 to 28 October 2012. If you are going, perhaps pop along to their stand C26 and say hello to Emma. Loads of gorgeous stamps are already packed up and ready for the trip to Glasgow.

A Sleigh with Presents

The first card that I would like to share with you today is again a Christmas card - and this time one that is a bit more colourful. It is built around gorgeous glittered paper from the First Edition paper pad 'Stocking Fillers' (a Trimcraft product) and mainly held in a vibrant red and the light and soft green tone featured in the paper design.

My image of choice is from the new Christmas collection by Crafty Stamps - the large sleigh (XM141F), a quality grey rubber stamp mounted onto kling-on, so it is ready for use with an acrylic block. I coloured in the images using Spectrum Noir pens. To create the topper I opted for Spellbinders octagon dies and arranged the die-cuts in an angle. I added it to the card using the large 3D foam squares by Trimcraft - one of absolute craft essentials.

For the border along the left-hand side I used a die by Die'sire, but pretty much any border die or border punch that can cope with cardstock would do the trick. Paper poinsettias, white paper roses in two sizes (10mm and 15mm) enhanced with a bit of Stickles glitter glue in 'Frosted Lace' as well as clear adhesive gems in two sizes are completing the card.

Large Champagne and Cracker

Large champagne? Oh, that is so me. Alright, alright, it does not need to be champagne. Normal sparkling wine would do.

And you are probably not surprised to hear that I just could not resist the large champagne and cracker image (XM138F) from the new Christmas collection by Crafty Stamps. And as their stamps are quality rubber stamps, which are already cling mounted, we crafters can use the stamps straight out of the package without the need for preparations. And we all know how impatient we crafters can be when it comes to craft goodies ...

And here is a list of the other 'ingredients' that I used for this blue and gold Christmas card:

* Ivory linen card by Southfield (the card is based on a 15cm square card blank)
* Ivory glass-smooth card by Southfield
* Dark blue pearlescent card
* Gold mirri card
* Black Memento ink pad
* Spectrum Noir pens
* Snowflake embossing folder by Darice
* Embossing folder from the Snowman collection by Crafter's Companion
* Rub-on sentiment from the Snowman collection by Crafter's Companion
* Gold metallic card
* Paper roses and rosebuds
* Candi with a gold mirri finish

Cheeky Season's Greetings

Mistletoe Kisses

Today I have got cards with a completely different style of images for you. Not so much elegant, but cheeky and humorous. And after working with these new images by Crafty Stamps for a while I have come to absolutely LOVE them.

For the card above I used the stamp 'Mistletoe Kisses' (XM136F) and coloured it in using ProMarker pens with ultra-fine nibs. My cardstock of choice was ivory glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield, kraft card and Core'dinations cardstock. I used octagon nesting dies by Spellbinders, star nesting dies by QuicKutz and mistletoe dies by Marianne Designs. The embellishments are paper roses and rosebuds, a rub-on sentiment from the Snowman collection by Crafter's Companion and Liquid Pearls in 'Bisque' for the berries on the mistletoe branches.

Happy Festive Couple

The New Year's card features the stamp 'Happy Festive Couple' (XM134F) and the sentiments XM115S (the words come as individual stamps, so a number of options are possible - very clever!) For the colouring I used again ProMarkers with ultra-fine nibs. The card is created with white glass-smooth cardstock from Southfield, white linen card from Southfield, purple mirri card and pink mirri card. The dies are by Spellbinders and the paper flowers by Wild Orchid Crafts. I finished the card off by adding Stickles glitter glue in 'Frosted Lace' to the champagne glasses, the earring and the flowers as well as plenty of adhesive gems.