Easter cards

A traditional feel to my Easter cards this year with florals by Anna Griffin to decorate them.

I used her cardstock in pastels cut out with stitched rectangular dies.

The die cut Easter was cut from white heavyweight card and layered to give the appearance of chipboard.

Simon Says Stamp tiny sentiments finished the message along with some sequins.

The last card has a cross and sentiment stamped with an Anna Griffin spring stamp set.

What Were You Thinking?

Not all scrapbook layouts should be about days out, birthdays and 'best days ever'.  I have always been interested in politics, so when Trump won the election for the Presidency of the USA back in November, I was horrified.  I am not American, but I could see that this result would have a global impact, so I wanted to record my feelings on the event.

I used Anna Griffin papers, these are designed for 4th of July projects, a bit ironic really when I didn't write journalling in any way supportive of Trump.

I found the photos online, the one of Obama is an iconic image designed by the artist Shepard Fairley
which came to represent his 2008 campaign.  The Trump version appeared recently; I don't think he would be too happy about the image it portrays. :D

The arrows and title letters are die cut, title from glitter foam, arrows from cardstock with added Nuvo glitter drops in red.

I also added pinked circles, die cut and layered as embellishments. And my only hope for the USA? That Trump lives up to expectations about his behaviour and is impeached before the end of his term.

Updo

A page about the lovely hairdo of my friend at her January wedding. My friend is very sporty, so it was lovely to see her looking so glamorous on her big day.

I love the birds in the Paradise Crush papers, it took a long time to cut them out (I spent a whole afternoon in front of the TV with scissors in hand!), but now I have a bag full of birds, butterflies and flowers ready for the next time I use this paper pad.

The background papers are mostly Anna Griffin, but I added a tropical touch with lots of embellishments cut from Paradise Crush Dovecraft papers. 

The 'lovely' detail is die cut from rose gold card using an Ali Edwards die. Only got a few wedding layouts to make for my scrapbook now.

Another wedding layout.

The venue for my friend's wedding back in January was absolutely lovely, a Victorian orangery within a Leicestershire hotel.

I took a good few photos of the venue, making this page with the same details as the other wedding ages, to tie all the designs together.

The background papers are Anna Griffin, as are the floral embellishments.
 

The diamond is die cut from rose gold card, along with the roses and the title. It will make a nice facing page for the cutting the cake page in my album.

Mother's Day

To make the cards for my mum and Kevin's mum, I used a die set by Anna Griffin, along with some of her stamps.

The dies come from the flip card kit, I decided not to make up one of the more simple pre-cut cards, but to make mine from scratch.

 I do like the sentiments, and that they fit exactly into the die cut images. The ones on the outside were stamped using my MISTI as the frame and sentiment were separate, then cut out.
I hope they like them.

Memories of the Louvre

I took these photos of the sumptuous interiors of the Louvre museum in Paris that Napoleon used for his state apartments while in the capital.

 As he felt that 'more was more' with interior decorating (or I assume he did looking at these rooms!), there was only one paper range that I thought would be appropriate.  The Anna Griffin 'Grace' range along with a 6x4 Amelie journalling card really set off the pictures.  I also used a little yellow from a Papermania floral range to back the photos and as a punched border to the roses paper.
Although the papers are very busy, the amount of detail on the photos still stand out.

To make the title I used two die cuts layered, and added a little brush script under the flag to match the rest of the font used on the layout.

I finished off with layered roses, some gold die-cuts and gold glitter Nuvo crystal drops.

Happy Easter!

We are at home for Easter, but my Mum, dad and sister are away, so I made them cards for the day.
Again I have been using my Anna Griffin embossing folders with the mix and match sentiments.

 The papers are from a floral set by Papermania, they go really well with the AG designs.

 I used a set of decoupage flowers to decorate the front of the cards, and the little cross was cut using a very old Sizzlits die.

 I do have another really plain cross, but despite searching though my stash I couldn't find it. Never mind, the celtic design seemed to go quite well instead.

Maybe I will find the one I wanted by next Easter!
Have a good Easter holiday everyone!

First Communion

I seem to have been making lots of cards recently, and while I had my card making stash out for Easter I decided to produce this one to fulfil a request my Mum had made for a first holy communion card.

The background is an Anna Griffin embossing folder, inked, along with an embossed and sanded oval sentiment.

The cross is the same one I used on my Easter cards, cut with a Sizzlits die, and I added punched flowers, a bird and a label with a hand written message. Finally, a green doily completed the background.  I hope she likes it!

New Baby

I got busy this weekend making cards, a few for Easter and a couple of others too.
A friend of mine at work gave birth to a baby girl this week; her second child.  I made her a card using an Anna Griffin embossing folder and sentiment. the image is stamped onto a circle with a die cut scalloped circle in the background.

The stamps are from a set called 'Little Sprout' by Unity, I stamped them and coloured them with Artiste pens...my colouring skills are not great but I hope Michelle likes the personal touch as the stamped family matches her own.

Inside the card, I wrote a message using one of my brushscript pens...it was one I remember being on a card we were given when I had our second baby.

Looking at the card reminds me how time has flown as I joined the school I worked in 6 years ago. Michelle was the other Year 4 teacher with me, so she really helped me to settle in and to get through Ofsted. At the time she was a 'Miss', and in six years she has married and is now a mum of two. You can say one thing about teaching, time doesn't stand still in the job.

Mothering Sunday

More stamped Anna Griffin cards for Mother's day, one for my Mum and the other for my Mother in Law.

 These both have stamped borders, Cuttlebug die cuts using pearlescent papers and decoupaged flowers.

The sentiments are both stamped too in the pretty ink colours from the AG ink pads. We are going out for a celebratory lunch for both Mother's day and my Dad's birthday which is next week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made a card using die cuts for my husband this year.  I also chopped up some of my newly arrived Anna Griffin paper 'For the Boys'. I have had many paper pads over the 12 years I have been scrapbooking, but I have to say, these are some of the best in terms of quality and design I have bought!

The pear die cut is an old Basic Grey design for Sizzix, and I added a Tim Holtz banner with some of my own brush script at the bottom.

Inside the card I added more brush script, and a pair of socks cut from a catalogue design from one of the papers.  Hope he likes it.

More Anna Griffin cards

Here are more of the cards I made at the weekend.
The tag is from a set I picked up in Ikea, the butterflies are decoupaged and the setiment is from an Anna Griffin set.

Some are more suited for men.  The papers are from a set from a magazine, more Ikea tags and the rest of the images were stamped and cut out.  Sentiments are from the chalkboard set (one of my favourites)

Now my card box is full again I need to get back to scrapbooking.

Embossed cards

I took a look in the box I store my cards in at the weekend and noticed that some looked a little tatty or out of date, so spent the weekend putting together a few more to top up the box for the months ahead.

 I really like the Anna Griffin embossing folders I bought last year with the interchangeable sentiments, so made use of these along with Papermania floral papers and some stamped and decoupaged embellishments. The embossed images were cut out with scissors as I sat in front of the TV, and then sanded to allow the white core of the card to make the image show.

Here are some close ups of my favourites, the tiger lily is a brighter Anna Griffin offering,

and I really love the blousy peony. More cards later in the week.