Daisies

Here are two more cards using flowers made from silk ribbons.

Today's flower is the humble daisy.

For the card below I used fancy edged scissors to give the white paper a wavy edge. I then stuck it over the purple cardstock. The purple cardstock is actually a document file which I chopped up. Loved the colour.

Supplies:

Pattern: Silk Ribbon Greeting Cards by Ann Cox

Cardstock: Pink, Purple nas mottled stone

Ribbon: 2mm silk ribbon in pink and yellow

             Bow: 5cm satin ribbon in pale pink

Green and yellow thread for the french knot in the centre of each flower

Border Punch: Make unknown

Fancy Scissors: wavy edge

Happy Christmas

Photo Credit: Audrey Woolens Urbanic

Happy Christmas. Hope your day is filled to the brim with family, good friends and happy memories.
I pray that you will never loose sight of the real reason for Christmas.

Baby Cards part 2

Earlier this week I showed you four baby cards I made for a charity Part 1. Today I will share the other four designs.

I always enjoy making this pattern. Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea where I acquired it originally, sorry.
I made four cards but only sent the yellow and white ones as part of the charity drive.

This is an old favourite which I have made many times. It is always well received.

The mouse is another free pattern from Berg Kaarten

and finally just for a bit of fun I took my inspiration from Barbara over at AddInktive Designs and made this really cute elephant. He is hand drawn and cut. The word is computer generated and distressed around the edges for definition.

Supplies:

Patterns: Stitching Cards Pram.
              Words 101 Ideas for Embroidery on Paper by Eric Fortgens
              Bergkaarten bottle
Thread: All with unknown brands and numbers except for the gold which is DMC metallic effects in E436 

Blue Button

Green spotted satin ribbon, spotted blue satin ribbon, white, rabbit in yellow and pink. All scraps

Wobbly eye

Paper: Hearts Crafty Ferret
           Swirls in green and blue gingham Paper Pizazz soft tints

           Pink gingham Activity Village
           Yellow interlocking circles Phillip Martin
Cuttle bug embossing folder daisy

Gold Bostick glitter glue

Gold peel offs for edging

Baby cards part 1

Earlier this year an appeal was made at Sharons Kardz Korner for baby cards which where going to be donated to a charity. I was game so made eight different designs which I will show you over two posts.

The brief was to make the cards unisex hence the use of a lot of apricot, yellow and greens.

For the first three cards I used the word baby from a design by Erica Fortgens.

The tags are hand cut and distressed around the edges.

The balloons I designed myself

The next two cards feature free patterns from a blog called Berg Kaarten

This is my all time favourite baby pattern. It looks so calm and serene. 

For this charity I stitched one in pink and one in pale brown to cover all race groups.

Supplies:

Patterns: Words from 101 Ideas for Embroidery on Paper by Erica Fortgens

               bottle and face
Paper: Apricot interlocking circles free download fromPhillip Martin  
            Gingham free down load fromActivity Village
            Swirls Paper Pizazz Soft Tints

Bibs: Satin motive from applique

Flat backed gems in champagne, yellow and green

Ribbon: scarp

Baker's Twine in green and white

Punch: Xcut 4cm Border punch        

I'm away

At the moment I'm away visiting my sister in New Zealand for three weeks and then I'll be spending a week with a friend in Australia so I have scheduled some posts to cover this period.

I hope you'll enjoy viewing the cards I have chosen for you. 

I had a lot of fun making this card as it was a good excuse to try out my new foil art foils. I attached a strip of double sided tape to the wrong side of the foil. That is how I got such a lovely straight line in the left hand corner.

There is a fair amount of layering going on in these cards which is rather unusual for me but I like how they turned out.

... using a different background paper

and a smaller version 7.5cmx6cm.

Supplies:

Pattern: Easy Embroidery on Paper by Joke de Vette

Flat backed gems in blue, pink and clear

Rolfes Metallic marker in blue

Fine liner in black for faux stitching

Paper: Blue Gingham Paper Pizazz in soft tints

           Stripes: Free down load from Google

           Flower paper i blue and pink: scraps source unknown

Sentiment: silver peel offs
Foil Art: Blue

Present time

I am sharing something a little different with you today and that is the gifts which I have wrapped for Christmas this year. I was busy this last weekend and here is the end result.

 I always have some kind of theme for my gifts. This year it was green and white. The idea was to wrap using white paper and decorate with the green ribbon and button tree. Somehow I miss calculated horribly with the white paper and ended up running short. I really needed to get this job finished and not carry it over into the week, so I went scratching in my paper stash in the hope that some white paper was lurching there, but no luck. I did however find this dotty paper which was perfect.

Sorry this photo seems to be a little out of focus.

The little button trees are an idea that I saw on Pintrest. I made a fair dent in my collection of green buttons but as they needed to be specific sizes I ended up having to buy some too.

The stars on the top are beads that I have left over from my jewellery making days. (Am always pleased when I am able to diminish my craft stash in some way.)

Now all I need to do is put them under a Christmas tree. It won't be one in this household as I am away for the celebrations. Hope the gifts survive being packed in a suitcase and flown half way around the world!!!

Happy wrapping everyone

Saying Thank You

This time of the year for me involves a lot of thank yous. So today I am going to share some of the cards I will be using this year.

As you know it was my birthday recently so I'll start with the thank yous for that.

I decided to go with a notelet this time instead of a card and as you can see I stuck to the same colour palette and repeated the butterfly theme. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss a border down the side of the card stock. Quick but pretty I think.

This next card is for my colleagues. It's to say thanks for a great year and wish them all the best for the holidays. (the continued butterfly theme is totally unintentional this time!)

I tried to print the sentiment straight onto the card stock but my printer kept on making it crooked so I cut out the 'mistakes' and stitched them on with my sewing machine.

I was inspired by this lovely card

Edited 23/2/2015: I have entered this card in the butterflies and ribbons challenge over at Butterfly Challenge

Supplies:

Embossing folders: Top card Spellbinders Pebbles and bottom Cuttlebug Swirls

Cuttlebug machine

Sizzix 8 circle die

Martha Steward butterfly punch

small flat backed pearls

Pale green thin satin ribbon

Card stock 160gsm

Envelopes: Activity park

A Bunch of flowers

It was my birthday recently and I received some stunning flowers. An exquisite white orchid from some friends living overseas and several bunches of roses and lisianthks. I love having flowers around the home so was in my element.

Here is a bunch of flowers of a different kind.

I used the smallest circle die and then pricked the flowers ( omitting the centre holes ) once I had cut them out. It was a bit tricky stitching something so small but I felt that this was the most accurate way of getting the flower in the centre of the circle. I used foam dots to pop them up on the base. Added a black flat backed gem to the centre of each one, hand drew the stems in black and the frame in purple and then stuck on a satin ribbon bow.

Here was my inspiration.

Supplies:

Pattern:Stitching Cards Free Bookmark Flower
Thread: scarps in purple, mauve, cerise, peach, aqua and blue

Flat backed gems in black

Black fine liner

Purple gel pen

Mauve and white satin ribbon

Wrapping gifts

I enjoy receiving gifts and I like the suspense just before you open them. I need to be honest and say that I enjoy giving gifts too. Selecting a gift for a loved one is something I take very seriously and wrapping that gift is a ceremony all in itself. I have a box of ribbons and another box of embellishments. I start with the card, which I have made in advance, hopefully. Next I get out my envelopes and gift-wrap and see which can be used together. If nothing matches then I select a white envelope and insert a liner, which complements the card. Finally I open my boxes of ribbon and nick-knacks and try things out until I am happy with my combination. As I said, it’s a whole ceremony and cannot be rushed. 

I have another butterfly card for you today. You know how I love my butterflies!

It was inspired by Lydia over at Understanding Blue
For this design I reduced my pattern to 50% of it's original size. This made the holes very close together so I reinforced them by adding sticky tape to the back of the design. I pencilled in the position of the square cut outs and then pricked the butterflies so that they would be displayed exactly where I wanted them. To finish I added enamel dots. 

Supplies:

Pattern: Stitching Cards free Butterfly
Thread: Variegated in peach, green and blue. Charcoal for body and feelers.

Enamel dots in green, pink and blue

Cuttlebug

Die: Sizzix 8 square die

Card stock 180gsm in white and a strip of cream 

Christmas wreaths

I have been drawn to Christmas wreaths this year so decided to stitch the same pattern in a variety of colours.

Be warned this is a photo heavy post.

All of the envelopes or liners in this post are from Creative Park and I edged the first six with glitter.

To start I have a pale blue one. The rayon thread has a lovely sheen to it.

I used my Brick embossing folder at the base of the card to give it the look of being displayed on an outside wall.

 In real life this white one is lovely. I used rayon thread but unfortunately the sheen doesn't show up very well in the photo.

I used silver and white Bakers Twine for the bow.

I love this aqua one. If I had more aqua ribbon I would definitely have made another one. The ribbon was a piece left over from my gifts last year. I used this lovely card by Genistamps as my inspiration.

 I took my colour combination from this card by Ceedee over at Split Coast Stampers. Scraps of twine where used for the bows and I mixed cream and white flat backed pearls for embellishment. The copper dots are made with Paper Pen and the circles on the left card where made using Texture paint.

 A little more traditional however the shade of green I used gives it a modern take. Once again I used rayon thread. To complete green flat backed gems where added.

This black one is rather unconventional  but was inspired by Terri over at Think outside the Box. I added some brass coloured dots and some copper Paper Pen to complete.

... and to finish a more traditional one in red and green.

I distressed the edges and backed it with paper I got from a free download.

Supplies:

Pattern: Wreath Basics of Embroidery on paper by Erica Fortgens

             Sentiment Form-A-Lines  free greeting words
Flat backed gems in aqua, pale blue, lime green, red and clear.

Flat backed pearls in cream and white.

Silver and white Baler's twine

String in natural

Ribbon in aqua, pale blue, light green ans white

Cuttlebug

Embossing folder in brick pattern

Envelopes and liners: Creative Park winter selection.
Snowflake paper: Phillip Martin
Viva paper Pen No. 903
Glitzin' Glamour Crystalina
Creative Talents Texture Paint

A couple of centimetres

It's amazing the difference a couple of centimetres can make. I have been doing a fair amount of sewing lately and I wasn't happy with the dress I'm working on at the moment. PM (that's my darling Husband) thought it looked "very pretty" but to me it just hung. When I initially tried the bodice on for size it felt a bit tight around the waist so I have let it out by 4cms. Now that I have attached the skirt  it seemed to lack shape, so stifling my irritation I unpicked the waist and took it in by just 2cms and voila I'm a happy camper now. Sometimes it's just worth the effort.

Today's cards weren't any where near as much effort. If fact the first one of the three happened because I was showing a friend how to do hand dry embossing. Once the first butterfly had been embossed it seemed like a waste to throw the card stock away and so this design was born. I liked it so much that I tried two other designs for dry embossing.

Butterflies

Dragonflies

  and tulips.

I added some glitter glue to draw attention to the embossed image.

Supplies:

Pattern: 101 Ideas for Embroidery on paper by Erica Fortgens

Thread: Scraps

Butterfly punch

Stencils: no Brand name just set 3 written on them

Bostick glitter glue in silver or gold

Invitations

It's my birthday soon and so today I am going to share the invites I sent out for my celebratory breakfast.

Each card is slightly different as I punched the butterflies from paint chip card. I kept to tones of mauve, pink, peach, blue and green.

I used my oval die to cut the topper. Next I used satin ribbon to make the woven background and then added liquid pearls to the corners of each overlap.

Lastly I added the butterflies and a pearl in the bottom corner.

I made the envelopes using the Crafter's Companion. I kept to the same colours tones and then lined them in contrasting paper.

Edited 23/2/2015: I am adding this to the butterflies and ribbon challenge over at Butterfly Challenge

Supplies:

Satin Ribbon 1cm in width
paint chips in pastel colours
Liquid pearls in platinum
Flat backed pearl
Cardstock: 200gsm in white
Die: Sizzix 5 oval dies

Ballerinas

I am really enjoying sewing at the moment. There is a lovely selection of fabric out, something which in my opinion hasn't happened for a while, and so I have a couple of pieces stashed away carefully. This month I have got stuck in and sewed two dresses and I have a third cut out. There are always a lot of end of year functions and so this is the perfect oppunity to wear something new.

I love the movement in this pattern, both of the women and their skirts. It has been very cleverly designed. 

 I used verigated pink for the skirts. These woman looked distinctly like ballerinas to me.

 

and a small version (6.5cm x 7cm)

Supplies:
Pattern: Pinbroidery Nine ladies dancing
Thread: various, sorry no numbers or barands available.
Paper: Store bought embossed mauve and cercise, gold for framing and pink swirls from Paper Pizazz Soft Tints

A leaf wreath

Well the concert is finished and it all went extremely well and now I'm on to the next job which is report writing. School closes for the year in just over three weeks. I have managed to do about half of them so far. No prizes for guessing how I spent my weekend?!!!

Today's card is probably one of my favourite from this year. I have had the pattern for a while now but this is the first time I have actually stitched it. At the beginning of the year I set myself a target to make up as many designs as I could which I haven't stitched before. When complete, some of them remind me immediately of why I haven't stitched them before but this one was different. 

I like the delicate nature of the leaves and the colour combination works well for me.

Supplies:
Thread: Olive green
Green flat backed gems
8 green glass beads
Gold paper
Card stock: 160gsm in green and scarp of 200gsm in oatmeal.
Pattern: 101 Ideas for Embroidery on Paper by Erica Fortgens

Ladybird

We are in the middle of a school production of our annual concert at the moment. We have done two matinee shows and tonight is the final one. The boys have done extremely well and all the hard work has been worth it but to be perfectly honest I will be pleased when it's over for another year.

Today's card is for my God child. She has just become a teenager so I guess I'll have to start making more grown up cards from next year.

  

 For this card I CASed a box posted on the Made Marian blog. I used a page out of an old dictionary for the background and distressed the edges. I like to recycle old books as you can see from this envelope. The ribbon was a scrap and three flat backed flower shaped gems completed the design.

Supplies:

Sizzix 8 circle die

Cuttlebug

Flat backed gems in black

Flat backed flower shaped gems in red

Scrap of green ribbon

Page from old dictionary

Wobble eyes.

Another kraft card

I am enjoying working with kraft card stock at the moment. I have tried a couple of different colour combinations and white on kraft and todays combination, pink on kraft, are my favourites. I showed you a small pink christmas card last week and today's card was made as a birthday card for my sister. It was inspired by this lovely one made by Jeanne Jochna.

Here is my card.

As you know I always prick two toppers at the same time and so for the second one I decided to use this lovely variegated orange thread. I think it suited the geometric design perfectly. I stuck a flat backed gem onto the centre of a sequin to finish this design.

Supplies:
Pattern: 101 Ideas for Embroidery on Paper by Erica Fortgens
Thread: white and variegated orange (sorry no make or number available)
Flat backed gems in pink (top) and champagne (bottom)
Gold sequin
Corner punch
Orange paper: Free download from Crafty Ferret

Peacock

I was inspired by this lovely card over at Lime Doodle Designs and this is my take on it. I loved the feather idea but don't have any feather patterns so stitched the Peacock instead.

I was very excited when I realized that my peel off sentiment was the exact right shade of copper.

I distressed the edge of the card and added flat backed gems in orange and champagne to complete the design.

Supplies:

Pattern: Stitching Cards Bookmark Peacock
Copper paper

Card stock: white 200gsm

white thread

peel off sentiments in copper

Colorbox distress pigment in chestnut

Flat backed gems in orange and champagne

Cards for a 14 year old

My niece turned 14 last month. These are the cards I made for my family and my Mom to send her.

This first one was inspired by a lovely card made by Audrey Ann

and this cute one was posted on It's all Fiddle fart.

The Stickers are some cheapies I bought at my local craft/hobby shop. I cut the squares by hand and then used some fancy scissors to neaten the edges. I doodled around to make a large square and added a 3D sentiment.

Supplies:

Pattern:Form-A-Lines Cat and Kitten 
Green Baker's Twine

Fish Punch

Gold glitter glue.

Paw Print Paper: Free download fromPhillip Martin
Card Stock: White 180gsm
Black Fine liner

Non - Traditional Christmas

It's a new month so it's a new challenge over at Split Coast Stampers Christmas card challenge October 2014,  it's also the last challenge of the year. It's been good taking part and I have managed to keep up with my monthly quota so I am all organized for Christmas. Can you believe it's 53 days away, yikes!

Today's card was CASed from Stamping with Klass. I liked the idea of green and black snowmen and this loving couple are too precious. 

This next card is another small one 6cm x 7.5cm. It was CASed from a lovely blog called Soapbox Creations.

Looking back over the cards I have made this year I seem to have made quite a few in non traditional colours. It has been fun doing something slightly different.

I also seem to have had a thing for wreaths this year. Will show you those cards in a future post.

Supplies:

Pattern: Snowmen andSnowflake
Embossing folder: Cuttlebug Swiss dots

Christmas tree charm

Pink flat backed gems in 3 different sizes

Black Fine liner

Card Stock: White and Kraft in 180gsm

Paper: Green and black

Thread: Snowman: Black and 3 shades of green (make and number unknown)

             Snowflake: White in rayon, slightly shiny                  

A Button

This week is a busy week for me birthday wise. There are 6 birthdays I have to make cards for. This one is for my B-I-L. 

I CASed a card displayed at Split Coast Stampers by Cara Denise.
I thought it was perfect for a man. I used my special ruler to get the torn edge accurate.
I added paper to a bought enevelope.

Supplies: 

Sentiment: Computer generated.

Paper: Black and green gingham a free down load from Activity Village
Odd button
String from a local hardware store.
Jef Paper Tear edger
Card Stock in Kraft 180gsm

Flowers for Penny

This is the card which I made for my S-I-L for her birthday. We are in the middle of a postal strike so I hope it makes it's way to her on time. The strike has been going on for 6 weeks now but my understanding is that it's the workers who operate the international depot who aren't working so there is hope for this card, she lives in the same country just 600km away!!!

I CASed this beautiful card from Freshly Noted.
The pattern I used is the same one used for this card.

Supplies:

Pattern: Stitching Cards  Free flower bookmark pattern.
Flat backed pearls

Pink Card stock

Envelope made using Crafter's Companion

Liner: a free download but can't remember the source, apologies!