Meljens Racing Rabbit for a Man's Birthday

Hi everyone, popping in to say hello with a super quick post and card, while I am in the process of making a couple of framed pieces. This card is a fairly simple layout, which i think works best for men's cards as men don't appreciate frills and fancy cards most of the time LOL, plus if there's too much going on, it can look a bit OTT!!

This card is using a digi from Meljens Designs. Melissa is sadly not selling digi's through her own website but now as bundles through Etsy, if anyone wants to obtain any. The recipient of this card likes marathons so it was a good image to use ;)

Twine and MFT banner dies used for the bunting and yes the twine is threaded through the bunting. The papers are from Nitwit collections but I cant remember which set arghh.

NItwit Collections inspired Floral 60th Birthday card

Okay so today I have something different - not along the lines of Babies, Communions or Weddings for this post - but a Feminine birthday card, presented in a box.

I used Nitwit collections papers - two sheets from the same digi pack which is called Fine Linen which you can find HERE.

A martha Stewart doily punch for the centre border and some EK success daisy punches and leaf punches for the flowers

The 60 number shapes were cut using Quickutz dies.

Border inside the card to match the cover.

some more photos to show the layering and embossing - kraft coloured cardstock embosses really well and I love the Colorset Suede shade - its very like Kraft card and matches so well.

CraftyCutting DT project - Heart Shaped Valentine Album

It's good to get inking and creating again, have to make up for lost time now.  This post was meant to be up last week but I couldn't finish it, so had to leave it for a bit - very frustrating.

Glad it's done now and I can show it.

CraftyCutting make various size and shape albums which are great fun to alter and this time I get to do a heart shaped one. It's a nice size and good for passport sized photos or a little bigger perhaps. This album measures 4'' x 4''.

I saw the new release from Nitwit collections, called Lovestruck and bought it straight away, knowing I had to use it on something... love the arrow designs on the papers and that fabric feel to the papers as always draws me in! 

Also trying to do more digital work, as this interests me too - not to replace paper crafting or physical paper itself, but to create my own composition, print it and embellish, ink etc is great fun as well.

I only have basic photoscape software, and one of these days I might give CraftArtist a try when I have some free time.

So I used papers and elements from the main Lovestruck Bundle and layered them for the different 'pages' in the album, printed them after fiddling a bit with size and layout. Mental note - don't try and do this again with an odd shape like a heart - a square album would have been a lot easier LOL!  well it's a challenge then and I did okay........

The easiest way I found to decorate album pages is to open the book ring, lay them on the table and plan your design (I numbered mine as it has a little story from start to finish and adding journal elements on opposite pages - had to keep them in some sort of order).
Use your page die cuts as templates to trace a line on the paper you wish to decorate them with, and then cut out the papers just inside the trace line. You might have to trim a bit more here and there.

I inked the edges of the hearts with antique linen distress ink, and the papers as well before adhering them to the heart shaped pages.
Adhere one sheet at a time, taking care to punch out the book ring hole before covering the other side of the page.

Now I guess this album could tell a little story for a special couple and I intend to make an album for my significant other, adding photos from special times, like a photo from where we met, where he popped the question etc etc

Each open double page I have laid out as a journal page on the left and room for photos and other trinkets to be stuck on the right.

Love the new journalling tags and the usual tags from Mary Fran's designs, they are good for all sorts of projects!

This is the back of the album:

To go along with the rustic fabric feel of the papers, I added little fabric hearts, twine and rustic ribbons.

Hope you liked this project - I am looking forward to making lots more different things this year, and will be back with some more posts later in the week.
Wrap up and keep warm everyone, another frosty night ahead, but it's meant to ease soon by the look of the forecast.

Wedding card - Marianne Lord and Lady Silhouettes LR0211

Just popping in to catch up very quickly LOL. Been busy at work and at home, so this post is going to be very quick.

a wedding card using the first release of Marianne silhouette type shapes - the request was young and 'vintagey' with cream and lots of white.

Spellbinders labels and rectangles dies used along with Wild Orchid Crafts Mulberry flowers, a Leone Em fern punch and those Marianne Designs rose leaves, all inked. Also used Magnolia Doo Hickey swirl flourish dies again - when do I NOT use them ha ha!!!

oh and I almost forgot the Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch and the flowers were glittered with glamour dust.

That beautiful paper is from Nitwit collections but I can't remember which pack as I didnt keep in it's folder, silly me, .. which was stamped using a hero arts script stamp.

Hope you enjoyed the photos on this one. Will be back with more in a couple of days..

Another wedding card, with more colour

Hi everyone, am a little later posting this than planned, but was caught with an icky bug and felt rough over the last couple of days :(.  Hopefully this summer cold is heading away to someone else now!

this wedding card is different to my other boxed ones and a little more traditional, with a romantic, traditional feel - I used Fleur de Lis dies and accents from spellbinders dies for this effect.

Lots of pearls and swirly things!

The die shape for the aperture is a Go Kreate die..

The inside of the card also decorated with the same Papers from Nitwit Collections and those spellbinder dies again. The Nitwit Papers are from the Truly Madly Deeply range which I printed on cream card to get a deeper yellowish hue.

Some closeup photos of the mulberry flower arrangement, the Rose septa are also die cuts from Marianne Designs

and a side view of the card...

the bright red pearls were too bright so I 'coloured' them with a deep red promarker - handy tip for your own custom coloured pearls!

Wow that's a few posts and I am not neglecting the blog as much as before woohoo.

Will be popping back with another three new makes over the next few days, using some long neglected stash and punches LOL.

 Keep checking back for more or subscribe to my blog email notifications by using the email subscription box at the top right of my blog home page.

Christmas Workshop makes

Popping in to share makes for this month's Christmas workshops.  We are getting stuck in to all things Christmas with the option of some gift box / packaging ideas for those really special gifts!

Today's post will be about all the cards and tomorrow I will post more versions of the tall gable box and an easel drawer box. I have decided to share these before the workshop this month, which I know some of you will like LOL!

I will be updating the Links to Products page with more info on products used, dies, papers, images etc where this are still available. Just need a little time to put in all the links so please be patient :)

Without further delay then, the first project to share is a matching tag and card (good for a man as no frilly things around!) and a nice way to dress up a bottle

My previous post contains info about an offer over at Meljen's designs where Melissa has a sale until November 30th - the snowmen used on the card and tag different size digi images which come pre coloured, so super quick to make up.

And to follow is a card made with a much loved Sarah Kay Christmas image - the card is slightly narrower than A5 with different sized front panels. 

the image was coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils

The inside of the card:

The next card is quite feminine and has a 'Country Christmas' feel about it - the digi elements were from Nitwit Collections Holiday Bouquet collection which I adore.  and I am addicted to this spellbinder ornament shape on this card as you might notice LOL!

the same papers used on the inside of the card as the front. The papers are subtle enough to line the card inside and still be good to write a message on..

The embossed ornament shape has a different feel embossed. Sorry the photo just doesn't do it justice - I need more practice!

Some more red - it's my favourite Christmas colour after all!!

This little bear is sooo cute... I haven't used bear images in a long while and I couldn't resist that along with lots of glittered edges...

Above shows the easel card closed and below the easel in the standing position

Muted papers for the inside too, and loads of space to write a special Christmas message..  I will post the box version of this card tomorrow ;)

So another colour combo I use often is blue and white, and I love this cornflower shade of blue especially at Christmas time. The doves were the first ever set of Flourishes stamps I bought and the stamp design is simply stunning.

Lots of die cuts and embossing on this one!

Coloured with pencils again (note to self - paints and markers are being neglected..)

Some new snowflake dies from Marianne D..

Used those sentiment Stamps from The Snowman released by Crafters Companion - fabulous sentiment selection for all of your Christmas cards in one pack. Below is how the card will look closed...

Also note the different pressure used embossing the front of the card and the inside with the same embossing folder - the versatility of the Jus Cutz machine is fantastic and no shims used!

Last but not least is a card  using the Spellbinder ornament die - yep the shape lends itself to so many things, including using with stamps which don't specifically fit the die, like the Angel Trail one from Inkadinkado used below:

This card has white embossing powder heat embossed on purple card, dry embossed snowflake corners and stenciling (the die used as a stencil for stamping the image and for using the distress ink.

Will be back tomorrow with the boxes