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Saturday 27 October 2007

RAK Card

This card was made for a forum friend who is going through a tough time at present. I found this sentiment as a free download on Melanie's blog and thought it was appropriate to her. (Check out this blog, there are some wonderful word art freebie's on here)

The backing paper is a freebie from a magazine. The sentiment is printed on photo paper and matted onto silver card from my scraps box. The stars are from the Prima Christmas baubles and I highlighted the large stars on the sentiment with a fine glue pen and glitter.

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Di Hickman Challenge October #3

This card was made using the latest template from Di Hickman. The butterfly image is a decoupage that I downloaded from a very talented lady called Valita Reynolds quite a while ago. I've had it printed on semi gloss photo paper for about a month now and made it for a forum friend.

The image has 5 layers in some places but I have used low profile 3D foam tape to reduce the bulk for posting.

The black and gold cards used for layering are from my scraps box, the vellum I have had for about 3 years and never used ! The large flower is Papermania, the small one is a Prima. The gems are from Paperchase and the sentiment is a DCWV rub-on.

This is a very sophisticated card for me, not my usual style LOL. Also there is a lot of blank card I really had to fight the urge to put something there ! But I think it looks a lot better that I didn't !

Sunday 21 October 2007

Christmas Gift Tags

Another challenge on Just Bex is to make 3 gift tags, and you could do it 3 times to get a maximum of 3 points.

This first batch are from some Margaret Sherry decoupage that came free with one of the magazines last year. I have recently gone through all my free papers to pull out the Christmas ones to try and start using them so this was a good place to start.

I may use these on Christmas cards yet, I haven't decided.

These ones are simple Christmas Tree die cuts wrapped with tinsel.

The irridescent tinsel is from Boots, the red and green was from hair scrunchies that I took apart.
I spent 50p and got yards and yards of the stuff.

These ones were made from a pack of cheap Christmas cards I got in the January sales. The images were chunky and bold and I thought they would be nice to decoupage. I have added a bit of bling to the holly for berries.

The girls on the forum have made some lovely ones so far which are great for special people. The ones I have made are quite basic, but suitable for the bunch of people who don't even bother looking at them and certainly wouldn't realise they have been hand made !

Swing Card

Another Just Bex challenge to make a 'swing' card. One of the members Sadie had uploaded drawings and instructions of how to make this style of card and it was really easy to make as long as your measurements are accurate.

I have often admired this style of card thinking it would be difficult, but it isn't at all, and it looks fantastic. I think I may be making more of these.....

The paper is DCWV 2006 stack, more red from my scraps and Papermania stickers for the sentiment and snowflakes.

The snowman is another freebie scrapbooking printable.

Friday Night Challenge - Santa Baby


Friday Night Challenge for the 19th October on Just Bex was to make 5 cards with Santa on them.

This card was made using DCWV paper from 2006 stack. The image was from an old Christmas Card and the red paper was from my scraps box, which I am desparately trying to use some of.

This card was made using a Cuttlebug embossing folder which I inked in red to highlight the embossing. I coloured in his hat with a glitter gel pen. The white trim is applique embossing fluid which is raised and has a nice shine to it. The beard is a glitter snow writer pen, but I didn't think it was glitter enough so added more ! Santa is layered onto one of those Kanban pop out frames.

The paper is from a scrap paper kit from Home Bargains last year and is holographic.

The top and bottom edge of the card have a dotted line using the gel pen but it hasn't scanned in as shimmery as it is in real life.


This card was made using DCWV 2006 pad again, Papermania ribbon. The santa image is cut from a magazine advert.





This card was made using another Cuttlebug image, a large embossing folder for the background paper highlighted with silver ink. The sentiment is a recycled Christmas card matted onto a silver scrap of card.


Cuttlebug embossing folder has made an outing on this one as well, highlgted with a blue ink. Santa is a layered Sizzlits diecut, the sentiment is an old card and the patterned paper is from some gift bags I spotted in Asda yesterday. I have lots of little pieces so you will see it popping up regularly.

Loving doing these challenges, getting my Christmas cards made early for a change.

Big Challenge Polka Dot Spots

It's Big Challenge weekend on Just Bex and there are oodles & oodles of challenges. I don't think I will have time to be able to do them all, but I am having fun just the same and getting some more Christmas Cards made.

This challenge was to make a card with polka dots or spots on.

The paper is DCWV 2006 stack, the letters were cut from a magazine article and the snowflake is from an old Christmas card.

Old & New Challenge

Recent challenge on Just Bex is to make 2 projects, one using old paper that you don't like and don't want to use - the other using new paper (that you probably don't want to use either !lol)

Now I ABSOLUTELY HATE pointsettias, I honestly don't know why but I cannot stand them. Last years Christmas DCWV stack had this image x loads of sheets. I had managed to get rid of some of them in a paper swap, but was still haunted by the remaining 2 every time I dipped into this pad.

I therefore decided that I would make a card with them for this challenge and ged rid once and for all. I used one as the base and the other I painstakingly cut out and decoupaged with the leaves at different heights to show better dimension. At one point I actually wished I'd got another sheet as it felt a bit stingy with 2 layers, but I think it has worked really well and you can see so much depth to it.

I accented the veins in the leaves with my Sakura fine tipped glue pen and glitter.

I'm in 2 minds whether to put a sentiment on it or not as I think it might spoil it if I do.

For the new one I have used a lovely design from the new DCWV Christmas stack, it's a totally different kind of paper for me but I really like it.

The sentiment is a freebie scrapbooking printable I've collected from goodness knows where. It is printed on photo paper so looks a bit shiny. The flowers are more of those lovely Primas, with glitterglue and gold glass beads in the centre.

I really like how fresh this design looks and very modern.

I am enjoying doing these challenges as it really makes me think about different styles and designs and I am sure some of it must sink in somewhere :)

Memorial Bookatrix

One of my colleagues had asked me to make a very special bookatrix but it needed to be waterproof as it is being used as a memorial plaque at a service next week. Family from the UK & Australia are attending and she wanted something special to commemorate the special people who died.

I made the bookatrix pages as usual and laminated them. I hadn't got a clue whether it would work or not but I am really pleased that it did.

The floral embellishment is Prima Pointsettias and the other embellishments are Papermania brads. The green stick is so that it can be pushed into the ground and this is made from wooden dowel and covered with florist's crepe tape. This is stuck on the back with a liberal amount of glue from a hot glue gun.

Saturday 20 October 2007

1st Birthday Card

I have been commissioned by a colleague at work to make a card for a 1 year old and the brief was aeroplanes.

I bought the Cuttlebug die and thought I would have a go at making a larger version with Captain Jai flying it. (thanks you to computers and printers it was an easy task to make a template)

Items used were Papermania rub on's, scraps of card and paper and Cuttlebug die. The white plane looked a bit bland so I used little star peel offs to decorate.

I am really pleased with the result, I hope Sobia is too.

The Dreaded Lurgy

Have been suffering with a cold this week which has floored me to be honest. I've not had a good year with colds and flu, something that rarely happens. Over the last week I've alternated between good days and bad days where then symptoms seem better and then come back with a vengeance.

I've been drinking honey and lemon in hot water and that has really helped soothe my throat, but I hate the taste of honey !

On Wednesday I'd had so little sleep the night before that my husband told me I should stay at home as I wasn't safe to drive. It was only when he point blank refused to get in the car with me that I thought maybe I should go back to bed. I realised after having been asleep most of Wednesday that he was right, but it really hurt at the time.

All this lurgy has left me with no time for crafting so catching up this weekend.

Mary Poppins

Let's Go Fly a Kite, Up to the highest height... come on sing a long with me if you know the words.

My wonderful hubby bought tickets for us to go the theatre in London last Saturday and we had a wonderful time. I loved the film and have seen it many times, but the musical was just MAGICAL !

I was crying pretty much all the way through, some sadness (Feed the Birds gets me every time!) and sheer happiness at how wonderful the whole thing was.

There were loads of kids there and they were really well behaved, but y0u could tell the difference in the ages by the oohs and ahhs. The likkle kids loved it, the big kids were too cool to care either way. This big kid enjoyed every single blooming minute of it and at the end Mary Poppins flew over the audience, was not expecting it and it was truly wonderful.

We'd had a walk around Covent Garden beforehand and had a look at the little craft stalls. I was amazed at how expensive some of it was, purely for the benefit of the foreign tourists I think. We went and had some lunch whilst listening to classical music being played outside. It was lovely just to spend some quality time with my baby to celebrate out 6th wedding anniversary.

Unfortunately coming back on the train my throat was getting very sore. One of the manager's at work has had a pretty bad cold and it was looking like I was getting it too. By the time we got home I was just wanting to get to my bed, where unfortunately I spent most of Sunday.........

Monday 8 October 2007

Sports Car

This is the card I have made for our friend Hazel who likes sporty cars.

I used a template from Papercraft Inspirations for the car with vellum windows.

The wheels are Papercellar chipboard circles with silver marker and I used HOTP big brad flower transfers for the wheel spokes and Paperchase gems for the middles.

The sentiment was just the back one in the middle but layered it twice to make it stand out better.

F1 Themed Card

One of our very good friends had asked me to make a card based on Formula 1 for his girlfriend.

I made the background paper by listing all the constructors and drivers in the current season and separating them with a car from a wingding alphabet.

I printed off various pictures of F1 drivers past and present onto photo paper and used a banner for the sentiment.

Sunday 7 October 2007

World Card Making Day + Di Hickman Sketch

Apparently the 1st Saturday in October is World Card Making Day - how cool is that?

Now I was extremely busy yesterday shopping in Birmingham with OH and we were in Starbucks having a caramel Frappucino (heaven......) and sharing a blueberry cheesecake and I found out that we were going out that night for a curry with some friends who couldn't make my birthday the week before.

All of a sudden my indulgent card making evening had disappeared ! I couldn't possibly pass up the chance to make a card for such a prestigious day so I started it before I went out and then carried on when I got home.

It just happened to coincide with the latest sketch challenge on Di Hickman's blog. Funny that !!

So I made the card to give to my husband to thank him for being such a kind considerate man and for giving me lovely birthday gifts and surprises.

Saturday 6 October 2007

Leaving to Have a Baby Scrapbook

I have been Commissioned by my work colleagues to make a card for one of the girls who is leaving to have a baby and decided I was going to do something a bit different.

I have ended up making a scrapbook style book where there are plenty of spaces left to write messages inside.

I used one of those little scrapbooks from Poundland as the basis for my book and embellished it using paper, stickers, ribbons and rub-on sentiments.

I have created a slideshow to show all the pages of the book.