Pink and white anniversary with handmade flowers

So here's that folder again from Crafts Too, available in lots of craft outlets and a bonus being that it's A4 in size.

The flowers on this card were made with Spellbinders / Heartfelt Creations' Posy Patch dies and the image is a polymer Stampavie stamp called Blossom Birds designed by Penny Johnson.

(we will be making these flowers in my September workshops in white and navy)

The leaves are from Marianne Craftables and are product number CR1245

I can recommend the dies to anyone looking to buy a nesting rounded flower in punch or die form - there are 7 sizes and unlike a punch the dies will have a lifetime working guarantee because of their durability, so an very good investment and well worth spending money on.

the centre of the flower was made with a Nellie Snellen Punch and finished off with pearls from Cottage Crafts. the leaves were inked with brown and dark green memento inks.

A side view of the flowers so you can see the dimension...

April Workshop

Hi everyone, hope you are having a relaxing Sunday or doing your favourite thing today, wherever you are! Just posting the cards made in my April workshops, great to see everyone again and have loads of laughs and share any new crafting news and products too!

So the first card is a no-colouring, lots of punched-and-die-cut-shapes card, where we used daubers and templates to ink our own sky background.

the products I used and links are below:

Mairanne's Bicycle die LR0233

Martha Stewart grass punch

EK success leaves punch

Memory box Flower mound Die

Spellbinders labels called Grommet tags

Cheery Lynn fence die

Spellbinders grand oval and grand label dies

Pearls from Jeans range in Cottage Crafts, Co Wexford

 The next card is a coloured image one which is good for a get well soon or cheery spring card or for anyone feeling under the weather - the products used on this one were:

a polymer stamp from Stampavie called Giving Shelter

Martha Stewart frond punch for leaves

EK Success Daisy punched flowers

Faber Castell Polylchromos pencils for colouring

 

Here is a side on view of the flowers and layering:

and the inside of the card decorated to match the front:

 

The other coloured image card for this month - using an Elisabeth Bell stamp (did anyone notice the new DVD of coloured Elisabeth Bell images just released? - let me know if you want more info by leaving a comment if you are interested in getting one)

Stamp called You Make the Grade

Memory Box Butterfly

Spellbinders Grand Ovals and Grand Scalloped Ovals

Charms from eBay (see my where I shop page for Links or HERE)

Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder

Faber Castell Polylchromos pencils for colouring

and below are some close up photos:

  
     

  

To decorate the box, we used a Marianne's key die, LR0193 which was embossed in silver mirri card, and the same colour ribbon used to finish.

A very handy hint is to use promarkers / peel off markers / alcohol based pens to colour your clear gems and  turn them into other colours - the same can be done with white pearls. I used a dark purple coloured promarker to colour mine.

The next card was a 'simply stamped' one, so for those who had never inked and used  stamp before, this was a good introduction of how easy and effective stamping can be!

the flower punch I used was tiny and an old EK success one which I think is now discontinued sadly, but you can find this shape flower in the Spellbinders'/Heartfelt Creations POSY PATCH die set (this set contains an amazing 7 dies all nesting to create amazing flowers you can make yourself with the aid of glue and ball / embossing tools to add shape). I guess that the dies will last longer than any punch will and I have used my set lots already.

The sentiment and branch / flower stamp set are from Stampin Up and are called Hopeful Thoughts, and if you want them, they may be a retired set soon enough so here is a link to the product which you may be able to find on eBay as a second hand /used set.

this is the inside of the card, again using Jeans' Pearls from Cottage Crafts:

The last card for this month was a twisted fold card using images from Fred She Said, called Smelling the Cherry Blossoms - 
These digi's come in precoloured or black and white if you wish to colour yourself, with extra blossoms. The added advantage with digi's is that you can resize to suite your own project! the little girl is also available in the digi set without the background.

this is what the card looks like open:

Some angled photos so you can see the layering:

Other products  used in this card were:

Cuttlebug embossing folder called Floral Screen (on of the early designs!)

Starburst or 'splat' shaped punches for centre of flower

EK success retro flower punch
note - I have the digi artist's permission to use digi images in my workshop

that's all for now, I need to make some more communion cards, so will be back in a few days with some more to show - enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thanks to everyone who attended a workshop this month, and keep on crafting :)

Gillian Roberts Stampavie Teen Girl Card - Texting

Today's post is a card made for a teen - its hard to find suitable images for teens, and I think this one is perfect.

So I was still in the 'brown' mood when I created this one.. it's one of my favourite colours, warm and neutral, and the pearlescent card, a colour called mink from a brand called centura makes it luxurious and lifts the dark brown - I love that cardstock!

The image was coloured with Faber Castell Polychomos pencils and I decided not to blend them on this one, so I stopped at just colouring with the pencil and added no sansador.

The inside was decorated with the same cardstock and papers and a Penny Black sentiment stamp.

Links to the dies and punches for the flowers and leaves can be found below, including those luscious brown pearls from Cottage Crafts.

 

 

Baby book card

Little bit of a change from Christmas cards, this one is a book card to celebrate a New Baby, made in a

 5'' x 7'' size and a Stampavie / Penny Johnson Stamp called Sleeping on the Moon.

here is a side on view, the spine decorated 10mm pearls from Cottage Crafts Jeans' range.

   

The inside of the card is left simple, and decorated with some Memory box cloud die cuts, and is big enough for some little socks or a spoon etc.

The corner dies are spellbinders' Fleur De Lys Doily Accents, and I made the tag below with part of a go create die.

tis the season for love n hugs..

hi everyone and sorry this is so late, am trying to move photos off external hard drives etc and get the posting up to date here on the blog. not as many closeup photos as I would like, but hopefully have things back to normal in next 1 - 2 weeks, how I miss my pc!

Its the season of love, so for those who attended a recent workshop, here is a taste of what we made (tried to use different stamps and as much as I could, and as much embossing as possible this time LOL!!)

PS I will be adding links to products I think people want to source themselves, on my new page from now on, so the posts on the main page can be kept as relevant and full of photos as possible! please be patient as this takes ages to find sometimes when products are in demand..

The first card is using two Penny black hedgie stamps, the blowing bubbles one is from 2002 and the car one from 2012 - imagine that, 10 years between them and they go SO well together.

this is a twisted easel card...

and some close up photos below:

The next card is the second I have made with Di's Digi downloads Tending Snowdrops digi - use the Di's Digi download label to search for more cards and the other card made with this same digi image. 

This one is decorated with a Marianne D die for the green foliage and an EK success daisy punch to make the white flowers, and is coloured with twinkling H2O's.

An easel card again..

The next one is using a Penny Johnson Stampavie Stamp called Blossom Birds - this stamp is ideal for any love theme but also for feminine birthdays and lots of other

occasions. 

 

and here are is a close up of this one too..

... and for a change from stamping a wedding or anniversary image (versatile for both) from Craft Creations - when I can get the camera sorted and able to download, will add some more photos.. check back soon.. oh and the sentiment is a just rite stamp..

on this card the sentiment tag in the pink is made from combining two fleur de lys spellbinder dies.

So the next card has one of my favourite colour combinations for weddings - white and silver, and the stamp is from Sugar Nellie called Happily ever after - shock horror when I found it with no sign of ink and tucked in a box from last year which had half finished cards in it - what a crime, which was soon remedied!!

this card has partial cuttlebug embossing and lots of layering and texture so once again more pics will follow when i get the tech issues sorted .....

this one unlike the others has been coloured with a minimum of pro marker colours and mostly greys..

the bells tinkle too!

The last card to share is another Penny Black stamp called Tom and Tilly from their newest valentine release - again a versatile stamp with such a thought provoking image too awhhhh.

This one was coloured in a quick and 'loose' watercolour technique using twinkling H2O's (its different to the usual smooth blended colouring you might normally see me use and I will be doing a lot more of this technique to show shading a bit more and because it is really exciting when you paint like this - mental note I HAVE to find time to paint again soon).

 hope you like enjoyed these cards and please leave some feedback when you visit, as I receive a lot of traffic and few comments (constructive criticism is useful too lol).

... will be back with another wedding card shortly.. one that's a bit different! ...

Stampavie Penny Johnson's Dearest Deer

Christmas time wouldnt be the same without reindeer, and I really loved this stamp when I first saw it.  We made this card in a recent workshop and I made two samples one coloured with pencils and one with pro markers.

The first sample coloured with pro markers and here are the colours used:

·         Ground - Antique White, Glacier Blue

·         Red Bow - Baby Pink, Carmine, Red, Berry Red, Cardinal Red, Blender

·         Blue Collar - Glacier Blue,  Sky Blue, Cyan, Aegean

·         Bells - Gold

·         Mistletoe - Warm Grey 1, Mint Green, Emerald, Lush Green

·         Antlers - Warm Grey 1, Warm Grey 2, Warm Grey 3, Warm Grey 5, Umber

·         Reindeer 1 - Raw Siena, Terracotta, Ivory

·         Reindeer 2 - Ivory, Tan, Cinnamon, Burnt Siena, Tail - Ivory & Sandstone

and some close ups of the embossing and colouring...

Here is the second sample coloured with pencils and painted with white acrylic paint on the edges - another sunny picture :)