Sophisticated Lady

Tomorrow is my beautiful daughter-in-law's birthday and these cards are for her. The card on the left is from me and is of a very sophisticated lady contemplating her bath! The stamp is Scruffy Little Cat - Lola which I have stamped and embossed then coloured with copics. Using an embossing folder resembling bubbles I embossed a piece of white card which I then very lightly distressed with spun sugar and faded jeans distress inks. Mounted this onto red card, cut a shape from the same card and fixed some black lace around the edge with double sided tape. Out of gold card and using Marianne Swirls (CR1245) I added a swirl then added the image on top. I added a few sparkly gems on the red card just to give it a bit of bling.

The other card was achieved using Stampendous Heat and Bond sticky embossing powder and while still sticky press foiling over the top. Any areas missed with the foil I went over with Pearlex powder. The stamp and sentiments are Steampunk Shoes by Stampendous and have been stamped and embossed the same way, then cut out and mounted onto card which has been stamped with a script stamp. 

This card is for my son's two girls to give to her and the message that they wrote inside included 'thank you for being a second mum to us' which I thought was lovely and I know will bring tears to her eyes. Hope she has a great birthday! 

Wedding Day

My son asked me to make a wedding card for his friend who is getting married in June and this is what I came up with. I embossed some white card with a rose folder by Embossalicious and distressed the edges. This was mounted onto an eight by eight card. The very fancy die is Anjas Vintage Decoration by Marianne. I cut two of these and positioned them in the centre of the card leaving a gap in the middle which is where I placed the other two die cuts. This set is by spellbinders and again I distressed the edges. I have used All Occassions Dies for the names. The swirls are by Cheery Lynn and all the flowers are from my stash. The sentiment on the ribbon bow is by LOTV.

Disco Girl

It was my friend Kim's eldest granddaughters birthday last week and I thought this stamp was ideal for a teenager.  It is Creative Expressions Betty  Boots which I stamped and embossed then coloured with  distress inks  and distress markers, tea dye, brushed courdroy, rusty hinge, faded jeans, worn lipstick and preserved berries. Her top and the laces in her shoes  I coloured with clear Wink of Stella. The glitter ball has been stamped using Stazon onto acetate . This was mounted onto double sided sticky sheet and cut out. I then covered the reverse side with silver glitter. The two sentiments which came with the image have been coloured with Sakura gelly roll pens. Two of the background papers are by LOTV and the chequered one is made from scraps of card from my stash. I think you'll agree a swinging card!

Card for teenage girl

It is my friends youngest granddaughters birthday next week and as you can tell from the card she will be a teenager. The stamp is by Sarah Kay which I have coloured with Marvy La Plume pens used as watercolours. Cut image and mount with spellbinder dies. The background paper is LOTV distressed with faded jeans and brushed courdroy distress inks. The swirls are dies by Cheery Lynn and the flowers and leaves are from my stash. Her name and the 13 are from All Occasion Dies.
My blogs are like buses, wait ages for one then several come at once!

Get Well Ged

I love this stamp from Woodware  happy frog it is not only good for birthdays but I have used it a couple of times as a get well card which is what I have done here for my friend who is in hospital again. I stamped and embossed the images on watercolour card to which I have given a wash background using tumbled glass distress ink. For the frogs I used forest moss distress ink and painted them all over. I next went over the spots with bleach. Stamped the hip hop randomly over the background along with the hopping by stamp to which I extended the dots. On the inside I continued the dots then added my message on the end. The whole was mounted onto dark green card. The eyes are squiggly ones from Tesco. 

Sweet Seventeen

Here is the card I made for  my granddaughter. For the background I used Woodware   Graffiti stamped with versafine and embossed. Using distress inks I watercoloured the background and the words. I drew some 17s  in the odd spaces. For the topper I used another Woodware stamp  Just for u. I coloured the letters  in to match the background. Drew some squiggly lines round the outside, some dots around the letters. Mounted on black card.        

Two for one

I made these two cards using a Magnolia die - rocking horse. I first cut the image out from white card. For the first card I cut a heart from the centre then using a Crafts 2 embossing folder of baby feet ran half of the card through the Cuttlebug. I selected a nice dark pink paper with stars on from my stash which I stuck to the inside of the card. I slightly distressed the image with Spun Sugar distress ink and affixed to the centre of the aperture.
For the second card I used the 'waste' after cutting the horse and mounted it onto plain pink card which I then cut out using a 'blossom' shape nestie. I lightly distressed with spun sugar and stuck the tiny hearts, eye and the centre of bottom of the rocker. Again I picked paper from my stash to mount it on. I haven't put any sentiment on either as they can be used for new baby or for my gt. Granddaughters first birthday.

Thank goodness for toppers

What a saviour LOTV toppers have been while my home has been all upside down. They came to the rescue once more on this card for my youngest gt.granddaughter who, as you can see, will be one on Wednesday. I have used a spellbinder nestie to cut it out and sponged it with distress ink Spun Sugar while still in the die. This I have then mounted onto pink card cut out using a decorative die again by Spellbinder. I have used a ready decorated card by Woodware to mount the panels on. Added the sentiment and her name also the number one onto the balloon to which I then added Glossy Accents. These were all cut using All Occasion dies. A couple of pink faux pearls top and bottom to finish

Spotlight Card

It is my big brother's 75th birthday on New Years  eve so I always send his birthday with his Christmas card and then I know he has it in time for his birthday.  As he is ship mad, especially tall ships I thought this Stampendous Navigateur stamp fit the bill. I stamped and embossed the     Image twice. One of them I distressed with a variety of colours, yellow, blue, green and beige by just using squares of 'cut'n'dry and just randomly dabbed onto card. The second card was left uncoloured and I selected an area to punch out. This was edged in blue ink and matched precisely to cover the corresponding area on the coloured card. Thus this then becomes a 'spotlight' card, and, of course, you have the scrap from the punched one that you could make another card from - nothing wasted. The background was from a decoupage sheet of a map of the world which I cut selected pieces out, and lightly distressed edges with stormy sky distress ink. The embellishments are wooden shapes that I have coloured with Versafine and embossed. The 75th and Happy Birthday are All Occasion dies by Robert Addams.    

No apologises

I make no apologises for using my favourite stamp from Stampendous Snowbird it is lovely. In this case I stamped and painted with distress inks barn door and rusty hinge. Once dried I then cut it out. I dry embossed a crafts too folder onto white card blanking a section part way up from the bottom. I dabbed over the snowflakes with a little silver metallic paste. I then scored a line each side of the area left blank. Here I stamped a greeting before fixing the Robin in place using Woodware silicone glue which I swear by.

Rudolph

This is another of the cards I made for my friend to give to her friend!

First I must apologise to Kim for borrowing her inspiration on making a shaker card. I hope she forgives me because my granddaughter now wants one! Typical! 

For this card I used Hobby Art's Santa's Reindeer 

I stamped out the reindeers, Robin  and log and after colouring cut them out. I tore some scrap paper to use for 'drifts', positioned them on 8 x 8 card and sponged with distress ink iced spruce enhancing the sky with a touch of stormy sky. The snow laden fir tree I inked with the iced spruce and using second generation stamping stamped at various heights to give the illusion of distance. Aged white Frantage was used on the front of the card. I cut a piece of circular white card to fit an empty double sided tape reel. On this I stamped the trees and fence from the stamp set and added white glitter to the top of the fence and in the foreground. Next I stuck the log with the Robin perched on in front of the fence. I glued the reel to the front of the card and cut a piece of blue snowflake paper large enough to cover a piece of acetate. White glitter was sprinkled over the little scene and the acetate stuck over the top. This was left to dry overnight. 'Rudolph' was fixed to the edge of the 'window', the other reindeer to the side. Message edged with the iced spruce and snowflake embellishments plus a touch of glossy accents to the red nose to finish. When shaken it makes a lovely little 'snowstorm'.

They all come at once

I hardly made any cards in October as I was sorting out my craft room. It's amazing just how long it takes as you don't realise how much you have accumulated till you start. However it is now done so I'm making up for lost time. Just four days after my granddaughters birthday it's my grandsons birthday (her brother in law). For this card I used Kim's Coppice from Woodware. I first stamped the image twice using second generation stamping. I then stamped again, slightly off centre of the first images and added the sentiment in the corner. I then embossed the entire panel. The background card onto which I mounted the image has been stamped with leaves and the sentiment using Versamark and blasted with a heat gun. I then sponged the card using distress inks. After a few moments I buffed the card so the images would show clearly. I then re-stamped the leaves and sentiment again using darker distress ink.
I originally started this post in November, it is now December. I have been that busy, like fellow crafter, with Christmas cards, I also have six birthdays in December. Just as well I enjoy it😉

Girl from Brazil

1. The girl from Brazil is my lovely granddaughter in law whose birthday it is on Wednesday. The card is a pre-embossed card from my stash which I have sponged in distress ink crushed velvet. The panel is made by using one of Anna's stencils which has been spread with Imagination Crafts Sparkle Gel using a palette knife. After carefully peeling off the stencil the panel was left overnight to dry. 
2. When it was dry I sponged the entire panel with distress inks Milled Lavender and Pumice Stone. While still wet it was flicked with water. Using a wild grass stamp which had been inked up with the Milled Lavender I stamped at random on bottom of panel. With copics I then coloured the stencilled image leaving the tips of the flower buds white. I then mixed some white mica powder with a small amount of water and painted the tips of the buds.

Cutie Robin

I just love this stamp Robin by Stampendous
It's one of my all time favourites, he's so cute
This Christmas card is for my friend, the same one who I made the birthday card for. I stamped two of the images and reversed another one. All were coloured with distress inks barn door and weathered wood. Two of them I cut out. The background papers are from LOTV. I cut out icicle, fir branches and poinsettia dies. The icicles and fir branches I embossed with white sparkling embossing powder which gives a beautiful frosty look. The red poinsettia flowers I edged with glitter glue. The fence and log that the extra robins are sitting on come from a Hobby Art set Reindeer. Painted with weathered wood mixed with barn door, the snow was liquid appliqué in White which was heated and sprinkled with glitter. Sentiment typed out on my computer finishes it off. Hope she likes it.

Spotlight

Making spotlight cards was the subject of my friend Kim's class at Davina's two weeks ago. I made a few toppers of different designs of which I was particularly pleased. For this one we used distress inks and sponges which we put down at random onto white card. On this one I stamped this lovely Stampendous Carnation and then stamped the image on white card. I selected a punch and punched out part of the second image. This was then stuck over the relevant section on the main image matching up exactly.
The card was going to be added to my box for future use. It has come in useful sooner than I thought.
My lovely son-in-law is gravely ill and will not last the weekend, the last thing on my daughter's mind is her brother's wedding on Saturday and our good friend's birthday on Tuesday so I told her I would take care of everything down here (they live in Yorkshire) and then I will be with her a.s.a.p. So I mounted the image onto dark red card then onto an embossed card, added some leaves and tiny flowers, LOTV sentiment and finally 70 peel off.

Rumble in the Jungle

It is my youngest granddaughters birthday on Friday, she will be 9 and she is absolutely mad about all animals, especially wild ones. She has even been saying she would like to work with them when she gets older - time will tell!
However I thought her card just screamed out for this fabulous stamp set by Woodware Jungle Pals

The background is a Darice embossing folder of animal tracks and I have distressed it using tea dye and vintage photo, two favourites. I stamped each of the stamps twice and decoupaged each one just with the animal. I stamped lots of bananas and leaves and put one in the monkey's paw and the remaining ones to resemble a large bunch in the centre. A few extra leaves added on the crocodile, giraffe and monkey, sentiments cheeky monkey, smile crocodile, have fun and rumble in the jungle placed at random. 

I think she will like, I know I do! lol                                            

Back To Normal

Well, holidays are almost over. I spent a week with family in Yorkshire a few weeks back. It was for my latest gt.granddaughter's christening. Then last week I took my two youngest granddaughters on a caravan holiday to Rye. They love caravanning, thinking it a great adventure. We had a wonderful time, full of fun and laughter, that's the beauty of being 70 (well almost) you don't mind making a fool of yourself when playing with children.
However, one of my best friends is 70 just six days before me and this the card I have just made for her.

She loves knitting and doing cross-stitch.
So what could be more appropriate than these house mouse
stamps by  stampendous  Knit Gift.
The second stamp was from an old set by Joanna Sheen
The numbers I have added to embroidery thread bobbins and stuck a sample of the thread inside a wrapper.
I included a wrapper from a ball of baby wool to compliment the sample of knitting on the wooden needles.
All these were mounted onto a spellbinder decorative circle grand nestie die.
This I ran through my ebosser with the purl one A4 embossing folder. This give a perfect likeness of plain and purl knitting. I then coloured it with Spun Sugar distress
ink.
I used 8x8 card onto which I stamped ' birthdays are sew special' and 'enjoy your special day'  also in the Spun Sugar ink.

The other card

This is the second card I've made for the birthday boy who is footie mad although too young to support any team yet! So I thought it called for a LOTV topper which I cut out using a nestie and distressed all round with stormy sky whilst the die was still in place. The background is made up of scraps of paper cut with a Stampin Up hexagon punch. These are then stuck onto double sided adhesive sheet which was then cut with a large nestie.           The lettering is using a X Cut die and just fits nicely into the shapes. The grass die is from Joy Crafts, sentiment from LOTV with rosette from scraps.
This card will be from my son and my granddaughters.

For a lovely 4 year old

In two weeks time it will be my youngest gt.grandson's fourth birthday but as I will be in Yorkshire all next week with the family I thought I would take his cards with me. This first one is from me and my brother. My friend Kim lent me these two wonderful Molly Bloom stamps which I coloured with my ever faithful copic pens. The 'bridge' is fashioned out of paper from my stash which I have distress all round the 'tunnel' with black soot distress ink, very appropriate! I stamped extra puffs of steam which I coloured and cut out and stuck on the front of the tunnel. Some silver peel off cogs in the corner and under the LOTV sentiment. A nice red number 4 to finish.

Clematis

What an afternoon, one minute lovely sunshine, next pouring down with rain, just the afternoon for card making! So that's just what I did!
The background for this card was made during Kim's lesson at Davina's last Saturday. I have sponged the card with distress inks then using an embossing folder created the pattern which I then, very gently, wiped over with black soot distress ink.
The sketch was two ovals, one smaller than the other and mounted above each other, in either order. I chose to put a Woodware sentiment at the top. The bottom stamp is Stampendous Clematis  which I have coloured with copics.
To finish I added a little dragonfly.
I think I will enter this into the Woodware sketch challenge