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.

Happy Anniversary

29 years together just before Easter, here is the card I made for Kevin

The main image is made from a little set by Altenew called Brownstone. 

I stamped one of the houses in a different shade and added a little glitter pen over the top.  This then matched perfectly with my sentiment ( by Simon Says Stamp).

My Geeky Valentine.

Both being scientists, I couldn't resist the new Atomic die set by Tim Holtz.

Along with the retro background and another much older chemistry set by My Favourite Things, I made this year's Valentine card.

I die cut the small pieces and glued them onto red card, then cutting this with my Original Sizzix Heart#2... the background is die cut and the sentiments inside and out are stamped. Hope he likes it.

This Year's card

I always like this page that includes one of my cards from the year.  As I make my own, it is interesting to compare the different cards I have made over the years. 

I bought a lovely new Tim Holtz die of the three kings, and used it to make the card I included.

Including the whole card is handy as I can include my journalling inside. The papers are by Sizzix, title Paige Evans Thickers (love these) and the tiny sentiment stamp is embossed in white, by Simon Say Stamp.

The Next Step

I started this blog back in 2008, all of my children were at home and under our care.  Ten years on,  they are all adults, and at the end of August the next step in my eldest daughter's life began. She went on  short break with her boyfriend to New York, at the top of the Rockerfeller Tower he proposed and she said yes!

I made them a card to be ready for them when they returned, using altenew stamps and inks, and die cut the 'Congrats' from grey fun-foam using a Sizzix XL die- Deco.

We are hosting an engagement party for them in October and I think they are planning the wedding to be a year from then,

Mother's Day cards.

I used a new Altenew stamp set to make the cards for Mothering Sunday, one for my mum, the other for my mother-in-law.

I used different colours for each card, after stamping the cards I masked them to stamp leaves in both shades of green and aqua.

Each flower has four layers, I used a MISTI to stamp accurately. The centre of the flower has a set of layering stamps too that can be added in contrasting colours, but I chose not to stamp these.

I added wet glue to the middle of the flower and -after searching through my stash- I found microbeads and added them to the wet glue. The cards were finished with a sentiment stamped over the flower in Versafine black.

A Shared Birthday

My daughter and her boyfriend share the same birthday, so I made them both a card to celebrate.

Both are stamped using Altenew stamps, hers a stitched flower, his a cat.

I added sequins to Hannah's, and am loving the new stitched flowers with layers of stamps that lie next to each other to look like a cross stitched design.

Delivery by Stork.

The last of the old Sizzix die cuts on cards today. 

Although I don't know anyone who is expecting a baby, I did make three more cards for a welcome addition to the family using these die cuts. 

They all contain the age-old favourite image of the stork delivering a package on top of a Tim Holtz stitched rectangle along with a few clouds.

The sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn set, stamped onto a Sizzix banner by Pete Hughes. 

One of the cards has pink sequins upon it, and use papers from a Paige Evans set. Not sure if I will be giving these cards to anyone any time soon.

Glasses cards

Sometimes it is hard to come up with ideas for cards for men

. 

This set by Pete Hughes (Looking Dapper) can make interesting cards for them.

I cut out lots of the shapes to make a set of cards. The square stitched, backgrounds are by Tim Holtz and the banner is another Sizzix die.

I stamped a simple birthday greeting in grey using my favourite Versafine ink...

one card has a 'happy' script die cut by Hero Arts.

Happy Valentine's Day

I always make a card for my husband on Valentine's Day, this year is no different.

Red and black are traditional for February 14th, and I chose them for my card too.

The heart die is a very old one, I was sent it by Docrafts when I used to contribute to their magazine.  It cuts beautifully and the tiny hearts that drop out made ideal embellishments to finish the card. The 'love' word is by Toni Darroch, die cut from fun foam.  I added the mini banner with the simple 'you stamped onto it.  Hope he likes it.💓

More Sizzix cards

I found a few baby die cuts in the cupboard last week and made two sets of cards. 

The first set has these little vests with added hangers and decorative shapes.

I made up the little vests and hand drew borders on each in both black and white pen after adding the decorations to the front.  Some of the vests were mounted on Tim Holtz stitched rectangles....

Others onto leftover patterned papers by Paige Evans, The white die-cut 'Congratulations' is an Xcut die.

Other cards have a Lawn Fawn stamped sentiment in grey onto  Pete Hughes Sizzix banner.

My favourite card from the set is this one, I like the colour combinations suitable for both baby boys and girls.

I'm Back!

Sorry about my absence online, but I am back for now!

I had a look in one of my craft cupboards last week and found a bowl full of shapes I had cut from card last year.  I had bought a few new Sizzix dies and wanted to play with them, but decided to make use of the old shapes cut out to make a few cards. I will be posting details over the next week or so.

The first card is made with a peacock designed by Pete Hughes, The little feathers on the tail took a lot of cutting out, but the effort was worth it.
I added sequins and a sentiment stamped in grey Versafine ink, partly direct to the card, and partly on another Pete Hughes banner die.

A Handmade Card

Every year I have to choose one of the cards I have made to go into my journal. 

This also makes for a really fast page as I simply mount the card onto some papers, add a few embellishments and the job is done.  I chose a card made mainly with stamping and a little bit of die cutting this year.  The stamp set came free with a magazine, I was pleased with how it turned out.

Inside the card is the journalling and a sparkly star.

UK Scrappers Christmas Countdown

Welcome along to the 24th of the UK Scrappers Christmas Countdown Projects: A Set of Stamped Cards.

I don't know if you are like me and sometimes find it difficult to come up with card designs you are happy with; I think it is because I am so used to working on a 12x12" canvas that I find a smaller one far trickier.

When I do find a design I'm pleased with, I tend to make a batch of similar cards, just changing up the colours and sentiments.  These cards were made with a set from one of my favourite manufacturers; Altenew, along with many of the dye inks I own.😉

I die cut card fronts as I find them less messy to work with, and if I get ink on the back it will be covered once I glue them to the card base.

I stamped using a MISTI first my background tree, in a light colour.  After cleaning the stamp I changed to another colour family. again the lightest ink and stamped onto a fresh card front.  I continued until I had stamped all of the five lightest images onto 5 cards and then removed this stamp from the platform.  The next image was lined up over the light image on the MISTI and stamped in the next darkest colour in each family, cleaning the stamps each time. I finished each tree with the most detailed stamp, again lined up and stamped with the darkest colour.

Using the colour families allowed me to experiment with unusual choices like pink and even orange.
I completed the stamping with bold scripted sentiments on top of the trees, some were from carols (Altenew) and others were by American stamp company Simon Says Stamp.

I completed the cards with either gems, sequins or Nuvo drops and a small star punched with an Xcut palm punch from gold mirror card.

So, if you have a lot of cards to make and are feeling bereft of inspiration, then just come up with (or lift) one or two designs 😀, and then just make sets of cards on a theme.

And do take a look at UK Scrappers to see what my fellow crafters have been up to this month in preparation for the festive season!  Tomorrow Jayem will be making a seasonal project.

Stag Set of Cards

Lots of stamping on this set of Christmas cards.

The stamp and die set came with free with a magazine, and I liked them so much I decided to make a few cards using them.  The stag was stamped using Vintage Photo Oxide ink and cut out with the accompanying die.  I mounted it onto a shield shape, a Sizzix die.

I then cut a stitched circle from a nesting set, and drew lightly around it onto the die cut square card front.  Then I stamped the wreath over the circle, again using a variety of Oxide inks.  After mounting the stag's head over the wreath, I stamped a small sentiment and punched it out using an EK Success label punch.

More Christmas Cards

When I saw this 'Home for the Holidays' die set by Tim Holtz, I really wanted to make a few of my Christmas cards using it.

There are many pieces to the images. so they did take a while to make, but I loved the cards once I had finished them.

I varied where I put the sentiments, but kept the rest of the cards the same.

To give them a retro look I used wood grain paper for the sides of the cars to give them a real 50s feel.  I have saved one to go into my Christmas journal, after all, they took so long to make I did want to keep one for myself!

Tim Holtz Mini Dies

I spent a Sunday die cutting gluing pieces of card to make these very cute little embellishments to add to both my cards and possibly my JYC later this year.

They did take a while to make, but I did think that (in the main) they were worth the effort.

The only one I would really not bother with was the candy cane, it was difficult to line up the small pieces so the canes didn't look great once made.  I would probably just stamp candy canes, far easier!