Thank You Cards

 I've had to make a few 'Thank You' cards for people with a range of interests.

An image (digital) I coloured and die cut ages ago. I've got a folder on my desktop where I put things like that if I've got no immediate plans for something but like the result. The image was colorured with pencils and the die used was from Spellbinders. The paper is some I've had in my stash for, I suspect, ten years or more, and the butterfly embellishment is even older. 

The one 'male' card I had to make, and it's for someone I don't know well, so that's even more awkward. I started with a background I made using a Clarity media plate. It's another refugee from my 'not needed now' folder. I've added some matting and layering along with a stamped sentiment (stamp and scrollwork are from Creative Stamping Magazine) and I finished it with a die cut bit of scrollwork cut with what I think is a Joanna Sheen die.

These two cards were made for a couple of ladies with an interest in patchwork. The die I used is from Spellbinders. These dies are particularly suitable for batch cardmaking as you can mix and match the patterned paper.

Another image I created a while ago, trying out a different way of using a stained-glass style card. The background in this instance was coloured using Promarkers, and it was definitely easier than 'paper piecing' as that particular die has always been a pain to cut well.

And finally, one for a lady with a keen interest in embroidery. I used some of a Spellbinders die set, along with a die which punces holes to make the swirls you see which I stitched with some metallic thread.

I really enjoyed making/finishing these cards - especially as they all have recipients already chosen. So often, I make cards because I'm trying a specific technique, and that's why I end up with unused bits in a folder!

Recent Projects

 I rarely seem to post anything here any more. Projects which I complete as part of my u3a craft group do find their way on to that blog, but here's a range of things I've made this year.

Hardanger Suncatcher

Special Birthday Card

New Baby Card

Entrelac Baby Blanket

Origami Paper Flowers

New Home card

Thank You Card

Quilled Butterfly using a butterfly cut out of white card for the outline

Quilled Butterfly using the cut out butterfly

Happy New Year

 I've been taking advantage of good buys in the run up to Christmas, and finally have had a chance to play!

This is a stitch die from Spellbinders. I do love stitching on paper, and I've liked this one since I first saw it, so getting it in a pre-Christmas sale was a plus. You don't have to stitch - the holes could equally be used as positioners for liquid pearls or similar. I kept the card itself fairly simple.

Another Spellbinders stitch die. There are other bits I haven't used and I'm not sure the leaves work really well with a 'wheel pattern' stitching. I think I may adapt that when I use it again. I've used a paper doiley that I sprayed with dissolved Brushos (very dilute), a Spellbinders circle die and some paper I found in my scraps collection. I'm not sure where it came from, but suspect it may be one I made by tiling a sample of an image.

And another Spellbinders die. I've got a couple more of these background dies, and while I do like them, it's so irritating that they're not standard-sized. They're too wide for A6, not the right shape for 5 by 7, and have to have an addition when you use my most common card size - 6 by 6. In this instance, I finished it with a border die cut. It's a die I've had for years and I suspect it's a Joanna Sheen design, but I'm really not certain.

All the stitching was done in Sulky Blendables. I'm gradually  increasing my range of these, but it seems only a limited selection is available in the UK and I'm not about to get in to importing and being fleeced for postage and customs charges.

Not Spellbinders this time, but Stamps by Chloe. I haven't bought any of her designs before, although I've got a few stamps that came with Creative Stamping magazine a while ago. In fact, I made a lot of Christmas cards using that set recently. She has a very feminine, frilly style and that's very much to my taste (although I'm not remotely frilly in person!) This was made using a stamp and die set. I used Versafine Clair to stamp the corner four times, cut the flowers from two images and coloured with pencil (a mix of Polychromos and Koh-i-Noor Polychrome). I added some Sakura Stardust clear to the swirls and some stitcky gems. The greeting is also from Chloe and it's another stamp and die combination. There are three dies - I've used the largest of them with the stamped image.

Another Stamps by Chloe stamp and die combination, but this one is a panel. I used similar colouring materials. The background is a panel embossed using an Embossalicious folder which I've dabbed with interference ink. I finished the card with some washi tape and a couple of die cut borders - again, I suspect these are Joanna Sheen but I'm not sure.

It's been lovely to spend some time stamping and colouring - I don't seem to have enough time for those these days! Maybe I should try to make more time for it in the coming months. 

Hand Made Flowers, Frame and Stitching

 I recently treated myself to a couple of the discontinued Elizabeth Craft/Susan Tierney Cockburn die sets, and I wanted to make something a little different with them. One of the sets is actually an oval nesting set, but with some bigger dies than I have. I got the original sets of Spellbinders Nestibilities, but the problem with them was always that the format was too small. I think their US bias got stuck on that odd 'A2' size card they use which isn't standard anywhere else. So, even for A6 cards, their dies just didn't look quite right. But enough of that.

The first part of the project was to cut out the frame elements. For them, I used an Elizabeth Craft die I've had for some time. It's smaller than I'd like, so I stretched the pieces to approximately 9 and 11 inches long giving me a frame with a 7 by 9 inch aperture. I always get it wrong when I do this - one piece of card ends up in the bin during the process, and this time was no exception.

Because the black card I used isn't the best quality, I reinforced the underside of the front panels with strips of the same black card before pricking out the stitching pattern. The pattern I used came from a book I've had for many years called The Art of Decorative Paper Pricking by Janet Wilson. It's not really intended for stitching, and it's not even one of the patterns in the book - it's actually used as page decoration. But, with a little resizing in Photoshop Elements, I got it to a suitable size, and printed out a strip for each frame edge. I used Sulky Blendables to stitch the pattern.

Another recent (bargain) purchase, is the embossing folder I used here. I don't use A4 embossing folders often, but when you want to emboss a bigger area, smaller ones won't do the job. I got his folder (from Crafts Too) at Crafterama at Ally Pally last weekend. I embossed a bit of Coredinations Whitewash card I've had for ages. (I don't even know if it's still on the market.) I sanded the surface after embossing. I had to add another layer of card behind the Coredinations as it was a bit floppy - especially after embossing.

The next stage was to cut some corners for the frame (Spellbinders die - it's one of their debossing range that never really took off. I definitely found them very hard to cut with - fortunately, there's not much actual cutting needed for this corner die. I then cut another piece of the satin gold card and used the Elizabeth Craft oval die to cut the aperture. I then embossed the gold card using the same folder, and attached it with foam pads doubled up for extra height.

Then, I got to the really fun part. I cut pieces for three dahlias in white card and coloured using Promarkers. I added some striping (white on the shocking pink flower and magenta on the yellow) using fine Posca pens. The peach coloured flower has some added magenta promarker added to the petal tips for a bit of added colour.

That's about that!

A little word about Ally Pally last weekend. It was the first time I've been back since Covid lockdowns, and, of course, since it changed ownership. I think it's a real shame many of the exhibitors who used to go to Ally Pally haven't continued. Craft shops in London are pretty much limited to Hobbycraft - especially since Blade Rubber Stamps closed down. It's strange that such a large conurbation can't support a bigger show than this. I know it's probably more expensive because of generally higher London prices, but it's a real shame. Having said that, I did buy a few bits, and it was lovely to see a stall with just Aall and Create which was definitely something new for me. Unfortunately, my daughter wasn't well enough to come with me :(

A Special Birthday Card

 I had to make a card for a special birthday.  I'd seen someone using the Lavinia Lillium stamp as a partial background recently - I think it was on the Lavinia group on Facebook, but I wasn't planning on using it when I saw it, so I didn't not the originator. Anyway, that's how I started.

I made the card base approximately 8in square, and I've created a vine effect with the Sizzix/Susan Tierney Cockburn Beeblossom die, along with a couple of other branch dies from other Susan Tierney Cockburn set from other manufacturers. I coloured the flowers with Promarkers, adding some detail with Pan Pastel. The leaves were made using olive green card. I stamped the Lillium with Versafine Clair ink, and coloured the blooms with Promarker, then outlined them with an fine Posca pen. You can't see it in the photo, but I finished the flowers by adding a layer of clear glitter marker (Crafter's Companion). I created a suitable sentiment in Photoshop Elements and cut it and a mat with a Spellbinders die set. The stamped area was shaded with Distress Ink in Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar. I added a darker shade around the whole edge using Picked Raspberry (which I originally misread as Pickled Raspberry, and that's how I always think of it!) I've digitally removed the sentiment for the photo.

I made a couple of insert pages using similar techniques.

Beeblossom is quite a dimensional flower, so there's no way this card was going into an envelope. Therefore, the next stage was to make a box. I used 12 by 12 white card to make a basic lid and tray box which I decorated to match the card. Again, I've digitally removed the recipient's name.

I added an oval label area with a mask, and a little background texture with Tattered Rose ink and a Lavinia stencil.

International Art and Soul Challenge 140

 The theme for this fortnight's challenge was set by my team mate Jennie, and she wants to see the Colours of Fruit.

I went for blueberries, oranges, strawberries, grapes, lemons, peaches and maybe some watermelon.

I started with dies designed by Susan Tierney-Cockburn. The button chrysanthemums are a favourite of mine, and I've added some ferns and some forsythia from her original Sizzix range of dies. The dark blue was also cut using a Sizzix die, and the paper was a magazine freebie which seemed to work perfectly with the flowers. (Not too surprising, as it was from a fruit-themed set!)

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 137

 The challenge for this fortnight was set by my team mate Chriss, and she wants to see projects in Red, White and Blue!

I've gone way out of my comfort zone for this, and produced a card with a lot of white space. I was inspired by a video from Eileen Godwin. My version is much simpler and doesn't use Lavinia stamps!

It's a single layer image, stuck directly to a blank greetings card. I've used four inks - Distress Ink in Blueprint Sketch and Festive Berries and Versamark Clair in Tulip Red and Mediaeval Blue. The only other colour is from Posca pens in metallic blue and red.

I began by using Distress Ink and a ruler to create the inky lines. Then, I masked an area and spattered the rest with diluted Distress Ink. I then stamped the flowers (from an issue of Creative Stamping Magazine) and the sentiment (from Spellbinders) using Versafine Clair. I used diluted Distress Ink to fill in the flowers, and a Sharpie pen to add a blue border to the whole sheet. The Posca pens, as an afterthought, provide an edge to the panel.

So, way out of my comfort zone. But, while I have things I'd do differently next time, I'm not unhappy with the result.

I do hope you can join us this time!

International Art and Soul Challenge 134

 It's my turn to choose the challenge theme for this fortnight, and I've gone for one of my favourites, and I hope it'll be something you find fairly easy too. I want you to Say it with Flowers!

I first started following Susan Tierney-Cockburn when I got her book showing how to make realistic flowers from punched shapes. I've still got a box of punches, many of which were bought specifically for that purpose. Snowflakes make pretty good calixes! But dies are much easier, and I've been collecting her dies since her first collection  with Sizzix. I haven't bought too many of her more recent collections largely because there have been a lot of repeats, but the one flower I've been waiting for is the freesia. Not only do I love the perfume from those, but it was my mum's favourite flower. So, when I spotted freesia among the latest Spellbinders collection, I had to get it.

The frame is 12in square, and due to a miscalculation, I've had to leave the glass out as the flowers are a bit too three-dimensional! But the result is intended to be a placeholder until I can finish a piece of blackwork to go with one I've already completed. Anyway...

The background was made using Distress Oxide, and I blended, stencilled and used a rubber texture spatula to create the various effects. The flowers are ll freesia, and I've added some more of Susan's foliage to the arrangement. I used green card for the foliage, but the freesia (and their own leaves) used white card that I'd coloured with Promarkers, and added further detail with Pan Pastels. I love how freesia can have different colours, so that's what I went for here.

I'm looking forward to seeing your flowers, whether they're stamped, drawn, die cut, clay, wire, or however else you want to make some flowers.

A New Home 'Card'

 I decided to make a 'new home' card for my daughter and her partner, but it had to be bigger than the average card, and as a result, it ended up in a 300mm box frame! 

I started with the letters, and given the town they're moving to, and one of the names, it was never going to be small, so I went a bit crazy. I've blanked out the names, but left the rest.

The background was coloured using Distress Ink in a variety of autumnal shades and using a couple of stencils for some texture.

The flowers are from Susan Tierney Cockburn's Spellbinders collection - the button chrysanthemum and daisy chrysanthemum. All the pieces started as white card, and I shaded, again with Distress Ink before shaping and assembling.

I really wanted a natural wood frame, and Hobbycraft used to do one, but I couldn't get one in the largest size so had to compromise on white. I assume they'll put something else in the frame in the future, but that's fine..

International Art and Soul Challenge 116

 This fortnight's challenge is hosted by my team mate Chriss, who's chosen the theme Birthday.

I started with a Nellie Snellen stamp. I liked it when I saw it on a website, and loved it when I stamped it. I coloured it with Promakkers and cut it using a Tonic die and matted it on gold mirror card cut with a Spellbinders die. The sentiment was stamped using a pre-inked stamp I've had for many years and cut with a Sizzix die. The background was created with a gell press background of distress ink. To that, I added some feathers from a Pretty Quick stamp set and added some further texture using a text stamp from Printable Heaven. For that, I used a mixture of Distress ink and Versafine Clair.

I hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 98

 This challenge lasts for four weeks, taking us through the festive season, and it's an easy one - Anything Goes with a Bow! So, what are you waiting for?

I decided to have a go with my new hexagonal frame dies from Tonic. I already have a couple of sets of square/rectangular frame dies from Elizabeth Craft and I like those, but was intrigued by the different shape. I finally got something that worked well enough, but I need to find a way of reliably getting the angles between the sides more accurate.

It looks ok, but I can't line the inside with a decorated background because the angles between the sides aren't quite right. Still, I made the best of it by filling it with some flowers. Apart from some greenery which I cut using a Sue Wilson die set, the rest were cut using various dies from Susan Tierney Cockburn. The doily in the background was cut using a pink die which I think means it's Marianne, but I'm honestly not sure. Both the bucket and the doily were shaded with a variety of Distress Oxide inks, and flower details were achieved with Pan Pastel and Liquid Pearl. The silver decoration on the frame was cut using a very old Spellbinders die, and the bow using a Creative Expressions/Sue Wilson die set.

And that's it. I do hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 259

The theme for this challenge is Masculine and other that that, we'd love to see whatever your creativity comes up with.

I made a couple of birthday cards. The first is for my husband.

I started with a piece of mixed media paper, and added some Brusho ink. Then I stamped a Woodware stamp using Versafine Clair ink and matted the result onto some white card. The blue layer was cut at both sides using a very old Spellbinders border die, and the holes filled with some stick on studs from The Range which I really like as they're decorative but not so blingy as adhesive gems.

I liked the effect so much, I decided to try again with different colours for my daughter's partner.

This time, I kept to just two colours of Brusho, and again I matted on to white. Then, I added two die cuts from another very old Spellbinders die to complete the effect.

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 84

The theme for this fortnight is Humour. Like many things, humour is very much a personal taste - and as a result I rarely use it in the cards I make. So, this is a struggle for me and so the humour is very gentle, and perhaps some people won't even see it as humour.

The bar of chocolate was made using lots of squares, cut using a Spellbinders die. I've layered a base piece of card, then a sticky pad, then a die cut piece, then and other sticky pad and finally a last die cut piece. I attacked the edges of the sticky pads with a Promarker in Umber so the white edges didn't detract from the end result. I finished by wrapping the 'bar' in cooking foil, then tearing off a strip.

The sentiment was computer generated in Photoshop Elements and printed on to kraft card, and the paper is a rather lovely foiled craft paper from The Works.

I do hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 257

The theme for this fortnight is Butterflies. Like flowers, I find butterflies such an easy thing to add to a card; a beautiful embellishment for any occasion.

I started with a Woodware stamp. I've bought quite a few of theirs recently - such lovely designs. I  coloured the butterfly and a couple of small details on the image with Promakrers. Then, to give it a vintage appearance, I shaded the background with Distress Ink before matting on to some mirror card. The background paper is from a pad I bought second-hand from a friend who was giving up cardmaking. I'm not sure whose it was, but it's an odd size of sheet (maybe 6" by 8", so I suspect it was made for the US market. But, the papers are lovely, and the colours gentler than I'm usually drawn to. I finished the card with a die cut butterfly, cut using a couple of Spellbinders dies.

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 83

Our challenge for this fortnight is one I'm sure you'll want to enter. Any project, and colours. It just hast to contain flowers and butterflies.

I made something for my sister when she was feeling down.

I made the frame using an Elizabeth Craft die, embossed the card with an Embossalicious folder and added detail with some gilding wax then finished with some Modge Podge. The backgroudn was created with a couple of stencils, Versamark ink, Perfect Pearl powder and some embossing gloop I've had for many years. The fowers were made using a variety of dies, including ones from the Sizzix Susan's Garden range, Memory Box, Joanna Sheen and shaded with Pan Pastel, and the butterfly used some Spellbinders dies.

I hope you can join us.

International Art and Soul Challenge 81

The challenge for this fortnight is an unusual one: we want you to use a single word sentiment multiple times. I was initially stumped for this one, but looking through my stamp collection, I came across several versions of the word, 'happy', so I decided to see where that took me.

And ... I've finally bought some Brushos. I've seen the results people have got with them, and wondered, and finally decided to splash out. (Although, my initial wish to go straight to the manufacturer failed when their website insisted on using a Captcha that was almost impossible to decipher, resulting in multiple attempts at registering. When I finally did that, I discovered they wouldn't take Paypal. Now, I don't like giving my credit card details to small companies whose security I don't have any information on, so I decided to save myself some money and go to Amazon instead. It's such a shame, but smaller companies that want to compete with the Amazons of this world really need to either do Paypal or Amazon pay. Anyway, back to the card.

I created the background with (mainly) Brushos, although I added a little Perfect Pearl in Interference Red and then some red Pixie Powder too. It's probably slightly more obvious in the next photo.

It did add a little understated sparkle.

The background stamping used stamps by Sweet Dixie and AlteNew. The central stamped sentiment used a stamp from Creative Stamping magazine, and I coloured it with some Brushos dissolved in a little water. The ink used throughout was Versafine Clair.

And then, I cheated (just a little)

The stamp here came from Craftwork Cards. I just couldn't leave it as a single word because that just doesn't make sense to me, at least for the word, 'happy'. But, Happy, happy, happy .... Birthday makes perfect sense to me!

I do hope you can join us this time!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 248

Welcome to the first Crafty Cardmakers challenge of 2020, and to get it off to a really easy start, the theme this fortnight is Anything Goes!

I decided to make a new home card for a friend, but instead of a flat card, I went with a pop up box.

The base die is from Spellbinders, and I covered the panels with paper from a Joanna Sheen box magazine.

I added a tag using a Tonic die. The flowers were made using dies from Crafter's Companion and The Works, I added shading using Pan Pastel and flower centres and the berries using Liquid Enamel.

I do like this style as it's possible to fold them fairly flat for postage, although I used a piece of scrap card inside the envelope to give it a bit of extra rigidity, and am keeping my fingers crossed it arrives safely.

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 246

The challenge for this fortnight is to do away with patterned paper. Leave your stash of pretty papers alone, and other than that, any project is allowed!

I made a card and matching box for a friend who retired last month.

I started with some white card which I coloured with Distress Oxide ink in several of my favourite shades.

Then, I embossed two roughly 8in by 8in pieces using an Embossalicious folder. I then added a little more distress ink on some of the embossed areas and finished with a little gilding wax.

I made some flowers using dies from Sizzix's Susan's Garden range, Elizabeth Craft's Susan's Garden Notes range and finally a die from Printable Heaven along with some greenery cut using a Sue Wilson die. To complete both the box and card, I put together a label in Photoshop Elements which I die cut using Spellbinders dies. After photographing, I removed my friend's name from photos of both the card and box because I don't think it's fair to include that sort of detail in public without permission.

And that's it!

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 67

The theme for this fortnight is Things with Wings. So, birds, insects, fairies, angels ... anything that has wings.

I made an exploding box as an example for my craft group.

The members are not generally papercrafters, so I needed to keep the project fairly basic and not to require many of the tools I take for granted. In the end, they decided they wanted to make a pop up card instead, but I'm sure I'll find a home for this  box.

The papers are from my stash. The butterflies were cut on my Big Shot Pro using dies by Spellbinders. In both cases, the lower layer was cut in card, and the upper, lacy layer in shimmer paper that I bought from Craft Creations when it was based in Cheshunt. Unfortunately, the new version of the company doesn't seem to be stocking the things I regularly bought from the original company, so I'm having to look elsewhere.

And finally, a close up of the butterflies. I used scraps of die packaging (the clear plastic) to support the butterflies, and you can just see a trace of that in this photo.

I do hope you can join us this time.

International Art and Soul Challenge 65

The challenge for this fortnight is an easy one, on the theme of  flowers. So, you can share any project you like, so long as there are some flowers somewhere on it.

I''ve made a baby shower card.

I must say, I don't really get the concept. Yes, people have always given gifts for a new baby, but the idea of having a party for that purpose seems a bit odd to me. I remember my mother being shocked when we actually had the pram for our firstborn delivered before he arrived as she considered that very unlucky. So, I suppose things change, and my sister is doing a shower for my nephew's girlfriend who's expecting a little girl next month.

Nothing too complicated: dies from Marianne, Sue Wilson and Spellbinders, a stamp from Creative Expressions, some embossing powder, Pan Pastel, paper from Lily of the Valley and a few sticky gems. (I don't have a single stamp or die that refers to a baby shower. (Or a bridal shower if it comes t that.) So I had to improvise!

I do hope you'll join us this time, and share your floral creations!