Stampin Chic, Forever Friends & 365 Cards

Lucky me, I have made this card and managed to get it to tie up with 3 different challenges.

The challenge this week at Forever Friends was to make a card of a different than normal shape. I decided I wanted to make a flower shaped card as I haven't done one before. I used a template from Mel Stampz blog to cut the card shape from a Papermania blank and then resized it to make the 2 smaller outlines.

The challenge at Stampin' Chic this week was to include stitching of some sort, whether real or faux. I used one of the outlines to add faux stitching with a gel pen. The spotted paper is from the Papermania Clare Curd Signature range.  I used rubber stamps from the same range to make the flowers. I just stamped onto some offcuts of card and shaped the smaller flowers to add dimension. The FF bear is a clear sticker mounted onto white card which came free with a magazine. The with love sentiment has been matted onto white card and I have put little dots around the edge to add definition. The flower is from the same sticker sheet. The sister sentiment is cut from a FF decoupage sheet by Papermania.  I have added stickles glue to the flower centres and random dots on the paper. 

The challenge for day 65 at 365 Cards was to make a Mothers Day Card or to make a card to honour a woman in your life. I had intended this card to be sent to my secret sister (she doesn't ead my blog, I'm safe !!) hence the sister heading. However, when I showed it to my hubby he asked if it was for his sister's birthday later this month !!! How organised am I getting, making a card so many weeks in advance. 

Sketches by Tamara # 80 - Grandma's Birthday

This is the last of the 7 cards that I made on my crafty day with the girls on Saturday. It's Paul's Grandma's birthday on Wednesday and I made this for her using sketch #80 on Tamara's blog

The papers are from the Papermania Scrumptious pack. I used my Martha Stewart punch for the scalloped edges and inked the central strip for definition. The brads are also Papermania from a pack of pink assorted designs, the butterfly is a freebie pack of elements that one of my very bestest friends sent me :) Thank you very much Sarn xxx The sentiment is recycled from a greetings card.

I love this card as it is so pretty and of course it has a butterfly on it. That punch just seems to lift any card and make it more special. It has to be one of my most used items at the moment.

Sketches by Tamara # 60

This birthday card was made using the latest sketch from Tamara.

This is only the 2nd time I have done one of these sketches and this time I will have made the deadline to get it featured on the blog - woohoo!

The papers use are from a magazine freebie the same as the last card. The grossgrain ribbon is from my stash, the Colorbok/QVC chipboard shape was coloured using Perfect Pearls and has a gorgeous lustre to it. The sentiment was recycled from an old greetings card. Liberal amounts of matting and layering were courtesy of my scraps bag!

Kazan's Sketch #8 - Birthday Card

It's our neighbour Donna's 22nd Birthday today so I have made this card using Kazan's latest sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You.

I am absolutely loving these sketches! It makes it so much easier to put a card together. A lot of the time I know what I want to use on a card, but know know the best way to lay it out and sketches make it sooooo much easier for design challenged people like moi. Thanks Kazan & Laura!

The starting point for this card was the dress die cut which was recycled from an old greetings card. It is really sparkly as all the flowers are glittered and was way too nice to throw away in the recycled paper box, so I recycled it myself! Love freebies :) I just dressed it up with a little bit of ribbon and a tiny bow. Gok Wan would be proud of me!

The backing card is a glossy pink, the PP is from a DCWV drawer set from QVC. The black ribbon is Doodlebug, the buckle from Ebay and the sentiment is recyled from an old card and matted a couple of times to make it pop.

Going to pop it round to her a bit later.

Di Hickman August #2

I have a lot of family birthdays coming up so rather unlike me I am trying to get ahead of myself and not leave them to the last minute.

I was going through some bits and found the spotty border which is a funky foam one I have had for ages. When I saw the latest Di Hickman sketch I thought of this and immediately knew it would make a good design for a card for the little girl next door. She is a proper girly girl and likes anything pink.

The main pink paper and floral paper are from a Inspire Me pack I won from a draw on their website. The central panel is from a Dovecrafts Retro Floral pack, the sentiment is from my stash. The princess word is from recycled plastic packaging and the likkle girl is from a kids hair scrunchie. For definition I have used ink edging, loads of sakura clear glitter pen and layered using 3D foam.

Well that's one down and about 10 more to go !

21st Birthday

I was commissioned by one of my colleagues to make a card for a 21st Birthday.

The young lady in question is very girly and loves all my cards so I used one of my favourite Sizzix dies to make the dress, handbag shoes and gift box. The paper is from an Amethyst Papermania pad. I accented the swirls with a Sakura glitter pen. The embellishments are also Papermania. The swirl at the side is a long Sizzlits die and is cut from self adhesive metallic paper with a texture. It was the first time I have used this die and I am pleased with the results.

The 21 is chipboard from a QVC TSV and the Happy Birthday banner is a 3d embellishment which was a magazine freebie.

I am very pleased with how this turned out and love the swirls :)

Luvvy Duvvy Birthday card

Whilst in the middle of a very busy week commission wise one for my work colleagues asked me to make a card for his wife's birthday and I had one day's notice !! My goodness did I give him stick about that. He said he din't think I would be that busy !!

I used a rubber stamped image by Penny Black which was coloured in with Marvy le Plume pens and a clear Sakura glitter pen. The brad is from a Dovecraft assorted embellishment pack.

The paper at the bottom is from Paperchase and the red hearts are flocked so feel lovely. Paperchase do some lovely wrapping papers and I find they can transfer very well to being used for cards. The sentiment at the bottom is recycled from an old birthday card. I have a few friends who give me their old cards to use anything I can from them. It's a great way to get some nice little bits and also recycling is good fot the environment isn't it ?

The ribbon is from Anita's and ribbon brad is Papermania. The card banner is from my stash.

Jill's Birthday

This card was made for my Sister in Laws birthday and heralds a years worth of blogging as I started when I did her card last year.



I made it on the same principles as the chipboard book templates by Colour My World.

I bought the baby one for an upcoming project and thought it would make a great birthday card idea for people with short names. I set to making a paper template first to see if it would work and was really pleased that it did.



I then needed to choose the papers and wanted each page to contrast so the letters would stand out.

I had just purchased the DCWV 2 drawer TSV from QVC and it arrived on the day I started making it. Some of the papers were ideal as my SIL is mad about shoes !



Page 1 papers are Dovecraft Glamour pack + DCWV Peeking Posies. The heart chipboard is from the DCWV TSV.

Page 2 paper is DCWV TSV and the sentiment is a vellum one from a DCWV scrap stack.

Page 3 paper is Dovecraft. Happy Birthday cardstock sticker from Docrafts, candles sticker from DCWV TSV


Page 4 paper is DCWV TSV. Vellum sentiment from DCWV scrap stack, cardstock stickers Docrafts.

Ribbons to tie are scraps from stash.

Jill loved it and said she had never seen anything like it before.

Happy Birthday Mom

It's Paul's Mom's birthday on the 13th and we will miss it as we will be in Amsterdam. Paul asked her if she minded if we didn't see her on the day and she said she didn't. We will make it up to her at the weekend but Paul popped in to see her today and she will have her card to open on the day itself and we'll call or text her whilst we are away.

I made this card using supplies and inspiration from an issue of Making Cards magazine. This was on the from cover and was perfect for Mom. The paper, flower and sentiment square all came from the material pack which came with the mag. The brad flower centre is a HOTP big brad with a rub on, the ribbon is Papermania, as is the green Happy birthday sentiment. the Mom lettering is from my stash, manufacturer unknown.

This card is so pretty and bright and perfect for cheering Mum up with the awful weather we are having at the moment.

Happy Birthday Harrison's Nanny

The cardI made from Harrison to his Nanny was made using an image from Pink Petticoat which I printed onto glossy photo paper. This was mounted onto some more of the metallic cardstock from Craftwork Cards. This was real bargain in their sale as I got 50 sheets for £5.

The base card is from a Let's Make Cards pack. The quality of them isn't too bad although I do find that sometimes the way they are packaged actually damages the cards which is a shame.

The image was embellished with a Crayola permanent metallic marker and a bit of Stickles glitter glue. The patterned paper, ribbon and peel offs are all Papermania.

Both cards were made to be flatter than I would normally do so he could post them both in the same envelope, so no 3d foam on these designs !

I do like the PP designs. To be honest I keep forgetting I have them and when I print onto photo paper I try to use the rest of the sheet at the same time so I am making a concerted effort to keep printing them out ready to use for future projects.

Happy Birthday Andy's Mum

My work colleague Andy asked me to make 2 cards for his Mum's Birthday - one from him and the other from his son

For his I used paper that is a sheet of giftwrap from Paperchase with loads of girly images on it.

The dress is a Papermania peeloff from a QVC TSV that was placed on velvet paper and some of the detail was coloured in using a permanent metallic marker. This was then mounted onto pink metallic card from Craftwork Cards.

The card was then accented using other Papermania peeloffs and velvet letter stickers from Poundland