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.

Shocking!

My eldest daughter reaches 27 today.  I know it's a cliché, but the years seem to fly by as the children have become adults. It's obvious she is grown up now as she asked for new bedding for her birthday!

I made her a card using Altenew layering dies (free with a Papercraft magazine), daffodils are perfect for the early spring...with the weather being unseasonably warm, they are growing quickly this year.

On the plus side, I made lots of flowers, enough to make Easter cards too.

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.

Another birthday layout

I made a second page about my eldest daughter's recent birthday, this time using a pair of silly photos.

Again I used one of the Clear the Scrap Desks prompts by Shimelle as inspiration.  The design is a 'shelf' with the photos, papers and embellishments sitting on top of it and the title and journalling hanging underneath.

The title is cut from funky foam using the Tim Holtz Deco XL die, the stamps are by Ali Edwards.


Most of the chipboard is by MME (Jubilee), and I finished the page with a 4x3" PL card and a scattering of sequins.

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!

Die Cut Cards

I made a start on a few Christmas cards last weekend using a couple of sets of dies and some fun foam. 

The papers are also by Sizzix, a bargain set of 6x12 papers by Brenda Walter I picked up in their sale last year. 

The sentiment dies are by Altenew, I also added gems and enamel dots to finish them off. 

A Project Life Style Double Layout

As I had taken so many photos this year, I wanted to scrapbook some a little more quickly, so I chose a pocket style page for this layout about the beach.

Although speed was my reason for scrapbooking in this way, in the end I spent a huge amount of time making the pages.

Firstly, I decided to use some of the seaside themed dies from my collection.  The layered beach scene is a die by Do Crafts, I had had it a while but was glad to make use of it at last.  I cut papers by Anna Griffin, and plain cardstock by Papermania.

Next, I cut out sea creature dies by Katie Skilton, I had used these before in a layout with very different colours, and although red sea might be seen to be a little odd, the colours of the papers match those in the rest of the pages.

The final bit of die cutting was the title from red funky foam using a Sizzix XL alphabet die, I added an embellishment cut from a sea themed PL card with added washi tape.

I added journalling to 3x2 cards, along with hand cut, punched and die cut embellishments.

Although the pages did take a long time, I think the effort was worth it. 😊

Wedding Card

A friend of ours from church was married in Ireland over the summer.  She is returning home to receive a blessing in our church, so I have made her a card for the day.

One of the benefits of attending a blessing after the wedding, is that I saw photos of the bride and groom on their big day, this gave me ideas for making the card.

I wanted to spotlight stamp sunflowers, but didn't have a suitable stamp set.  Once I searched through my stamp stash, I found a set of daisies by Altenew which would look like sunflowers once coloured in yellow and orange.

After background stamping with the 'sunflowers', I die cut her new name using the Altenew Big Alphabet die set, and only coloured the letters of the name. The 'Mr and Mrs' comes from a Sizzix set.

 I added a few gold sequins to complete the card, along with a nice Anna Griffin sentiment inside.

Knitty Gritty Volume 1

My daughter Katie continues with knitting the over 2000 swatches of varied knitting stitches and storing them into hand made books.  She finished the first volume of 36, but the book was groaning at the seams.  We dismantled it and I found some large book rings to flatten it.

I then helped to die cut the cover letters and I even found a little ball of yarn die to decorate the book.

More information on her blog here.

Water colour card

A friend of mine (another teacher) has been off work recently with stress; I made her a card to let her know I am thinking of her.

The background was coloured with glitter pens in rainbow order onto water colour card; I then took a brush of water and allowed the colours to blend together.  I used the water to move the paint around to make the moon.  The die cuts silhouettes are Wildflowers 2 by Tim Holtz, and the black heate embossed sentiment is by Altenew.  Teaching is a tough job... I should know. 😟

Gothic Splendour

Another page about our visit to Arbury hall here.  This one was made as part of the UKScrappers mini cybercrop, the challenge was to dig into the mountain of washi tape we all have!!

I used a Graphic 45 kraft background, and covered it with trips of washi in vintage shades, along with gold, green and blue. A strip of three photos cover much of the washi (but as I have so much, this didn't bother me!)

The original design called for us to die-cut embellishments (feathers) from washi covered card.

 I decided to use an Xcut die set of woodland tags from both kraft and the washi covered card.

I finished the layout using a Tim Holtx 'Spooky' 12" alphabet die, along with a banner underneath.

French Dressing

When I visited the NEC back in March for the Hobbycraft and Stich and Sew exhibition, I found a french designer in a room along with a series of dresses inspired by clothes of the 17th and 18th centuries.   The designer (Olliver Henry) works from Paris and has made costumes for opera houses across Europe.

 He embroiders and adds beads and ribbons to the garments by hand, close up they were totally incredible...fully deserving of their scrapbook layout.

I added peacock feathers for added glamour, Sizzix die cuts and paper pieced from the papers.

I used Graphic 45 papers to make the layout, the title uses stickers from the paper pack onto a Basics banner by Do Crafts. The rest of the title was die cut using an Xcut script alphabet.
If yu want a closer look at Henry's work, do click on the video link above.

80's Style

I remember this photo being taken when I returned home from University in the eighties for the summer. Holiday.  We were going out as a family and this was one of my favourite dresses at the time.  I made most of my own clothes when I was a  a student, as I had very little money, this outfit included.  When I looked closer, I noticed all the other signs of the decade. ..I think we thought we looked fabulous!.

The papers are by Paige Evans Take Me Away and Simple Stories.  

The title is die cut using Sizzix Deco, and I added more die cut embellishments (clouds and the word love) using Katie Skilton's new Sizzix die sets.

I am making real progress with my old photo from my Book of Me, even though those eighties styles are a little embarrassing!

Any Excuse

I have been working through the photos in my Book of Me; I have the album organised chronologically, and insert the not yet scrapbooked photos in the right places in the album, ready to be included.  This photo was taken back in 1982 when I was supposed to be revising for my A Levels. As you can see, my book was on the floor, and I was simply enjoying myself sunbathing in a deckchair! !

I used a cloud sheet by Maggie Holmes for my background, along with a little vellum from the same paper pad.

Most of the rest of the papers and embellishments are from Paige Evans new range Oh My Heart. The book papers and girlie papers were ideal for a layout about a teenage me, I cut out lots of elements to add as embellishments.

I loved the little shoes (I had a pair just like these in white when I was 17); nail-polish; and the stacks of books.

The bunny, dream and sunshine are Sizzix dies by Katie Skilton.  I added little stamps by Ali Edwards to finish it off.

Richard Garay and Altnew Cards

I picked up a set of Origami stamps, dies and scrapbook papers by Richard Garay back in January, and used them (along with watercoloured backgrounds) and some Altenew stamps to make a set of cards.

This first card has a stamped start lower third, the rainbow strip is left over from the rainbow cards I made here. I stamped and die cut the large stars, using Altenew Halftone Circles to add the dotty background colour.

The next two cards have Altenew Halftone Circles stamped backgrounds with the lovely new ink colours; I especially like the new greens and oranges! The butterflies are stamped onto leftover card made from the post mentioned earlier and have a glittery finish you can't see in the photos.  I used my MISTI as stamping onto watercolour paper can be tricky. I added an unusual Altenew sentiment onto a handcut and doodled banner to finish this one and sent to a colleague who had supported me over my recent illness.

This card is similar to the one above with a different colourway.  The sentiment is stamped onto a punched shape from a favourite EK Sucess punch of mine.

A similar card to the one above with a cute stamped and diecut flamingo.

And my favourite card to finish.  this one was inspired by one I saw by Altenew design team member Lydia Evans...I used a mix of inks in rainbow order from Simon Says Stamp; Altenew and Stampin' Up. it is a one layer card, the splat stamp is by Altenew, a stitched rectangle diecut covers the front of the card and the sentiment is by Richard Garay.

I was tempted to add a sequin or two, but I did resist for that clean and simple look.