Wedding rocker card with pillow effect embossing.

Good afternoon to everyone,

What a beautiful afternoon it is too. Had my first craft fair of the season last week and I have to say, it was lovely. It was a fund raiser for a choir in my area called 'A Handful of Harmonies.' What a great crowd they were and I had a fairly successful day, but I do think the wedding season may be upon us because I now have three orders for wedding cards.

Although I had three different cards on my stall to choose from, the one everyone went for was my 'Wedding Rocker', which can be found here. So it would seem simple white is the order of the day, so with that thought in mind I decided to design another similar card.

I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while and was planning to do it in double sided printed papers, then the curls on the topper would be a contrasting colour. For this design I decided to use some pearlized card I bought to print on, but it was unsuitable. I have to say though, it's PERFECT for this card. It looks like royal icing. Yum.

The dies I used are the grand large scalloped ovals from Spellbinders. These dies are perfect for rocker cards. I have to admit to going to town a bit on this card, it took ages, but I think the end result is worth it. The largest die was used for the rocker base. It was cut twice, then one was folded lengthways to create the rocker and the second used as the base layer. The second layer, made with die no2, was embossed at 1cm intervals in a crisscross design. The effect is lovely, it looks cushioned, but I have to admit, my favourite part is the topper.

First, I cut two shapes using the no5 die. Onto the bottom layer I printed and embossed 'Wedding' in silver, using my Clarity word chain stamp. This one is in set no1, I love the typography type arty font, I'm so into this style at the moment. I then marked the centre of the second layer and cut the cross using a craft knife. I curled the edges with my bone folder before sticking onto the bottom layer with wet glue to allow a bit of manoeuvrability. Before sticking I cut  the embossed edge from the bottom layer to make it smaller, then you don't have to be so precise.

The flower was made using the spellbinders daisy die and floral flourishes die to add some more detail. It was secured with a large pearl brad from my stash. A couple of pearls on the topper and I decided to stop there. What, no ribbon? I hear you say. I don't think it needed it, I love it just as it is, what do you think?


I am entering this card in the following challenges :-

Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge Blog - WOW challenge.

The ABC Challenge - J is for just as you like. 

Love To Create Challenge Blog - Vintage Romance.

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything goes.

Challenges 4 everybody - Anything goes.

Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything goes  
Artistic Inspirations - Monochrome / anything goes.
The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge Blog - Die cuts or embossing.
 

 

Thank you for visiting my blog and do come again.


Love

Tilda with daisy saying thank you.

Hi guys',

How the devil is everyone? Seems ages since I posted, did I mention I was going away in my camper ;)  Anyway, thought I'd best catch up. It was a hard decision, mow the meadow, do the washing, or CRAFT. ( sorry about the shouty caps ) Guess what won. 

So.... on with today's card. It's yet another thank you card. There seems to be a lot of grateful people around at the mo.  

The image is Tilda with daisy, which has been coloured with promarkers. She is mounted onto a spellbinder parisian motif mat, which has been distressed with Tim Holtz Antique Linen. Both backing papers are by clipartfairy. I used a Martha Stewart wild flowers punch to add some detail to the gingham paper. The same paper was used to make the flower, using the spellbinder daisy topper die. I added a blue button to the centre to keep with the theme.

To finish off, I made a faux bow with some wired ribbon from my stash and added a Hunkidory sentiment. Hope you like it.

I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

Polka Doodles Challenge Blog - Summer.

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Hey Girl.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Make your own. ( Flower )

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything goes.

Inky Impressions Challenges - Use dies or punches.

ABC Challenge - T for two. ( two designer papers )

Thank you for stopping by and hope you enjoyed my blog. 

Jools.  xxx

Pretty in Purple with Butterfly Fairy.

Hellooooo,

Still soggy here in (not so sunny ) Spalding. I'm about 300yds away from one of the huge drainage channels built after the 1952 floods and so far it's doing its job. It's as big as a river, so I've got my fingers and toes crossed, if it bursts its banks we're doomed.  A few years ago we had a similar situation and the sluice gates were opened to lower the flood channels. Spalding was saved, but others weren't so lucky, a lot of villages in the Boston area were flooded. Still, we're still luckier than lots, some are already flooded. Think I should have bought a boat instead of a camper.

Anyway, enough doom and gloom, on with today's card. Yes, you guessed, number three thank you card. It's safe to post now because it's arrived at it's destination. The colours on this one are more vibrant than the other two. I love purple and lilac, so striking.

The card shape and all the mats have been made using the spellbinder grand labels eleven dies. That's the big plus about the grand dies, you can use them to make lovely shaped cards. The base is cut from white linen 240gsm card and the backing paper is  papermania, from the rich purple designer paper pack. The dies easily cut through both layers of the 240gsm card , you just have to pass it through a couple of times. I tried thicker card and it wasn't as successful.

My image is a digi from the clipartfairy butterfly fairies range. Is it my imagination or are fairies very in vogue at the moment? She's been coloured using promarkers and her wings have been glittered to add some sparkle. Some faux stitching has been added for detail, before being matted onto purple core-dinations card.   A daisy topper flower, floral flourishes and a Hunkidory sentiment complete the card.


I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

Digital Tuesday - Kids.

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything goes.

Oo La La creations challenge Blog - Mystical magic.

Thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate your support. Hope you liked my blog and do come again.

Cheers,

Jools.  xxx

Thank You Card with Saturated Canary's Whispy Fairy Digi.

Good afternoon fellow crafters and bloggers,

It's been a while, so I thought I'd better catch up. I don't know how I found the time to work before I retired, it's great. Talking of retiring, my  lovely friends took me out for a fab meal last Friday and presented me with the most wonderful gift. A Pandora bracelet and charms. It made me realise what a lovely bunch of people I used to work with, so to say thank you I decided to make some special cards, starting with todays.

It's a saturated canary digi  stamp called 'Whispy'. Isn't she lovely. Krista is a very talented young lady, go take a look.   I coloured her with  promarkers and added some glamour dust to her wings to make them sparkle. She was then mounted with foam onto a spellbinder grand big oval scallop, which has been layered onto a faux mat using coredinations cardstock. I'm pleased with the colour match, it matches Whispy's dress perfectly.

The spellbinder floral flourishes and the daisy flower topper were made with the same cardstock and the backing papers and border are from my tatty ted cd. Add a HUGE bow and a Hunkidory sentiment and there you have it. It reminds me of a strawberry and vanilla sundae, or am I just a bit strange.


I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-

Panpastells UK Challenge - Use a digi.

Papertake Weekly Challenge Blog - Anything goes.

Fab N Funky Challenge - Cute n girly.

I Love Promarkers - Anything goes.

Polka Doodles - Fairies and fantasies.

Allsorts Challenge Blog - In bloom.

Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog - Summer daze.

Oo La La Creations -  Mystical magic.
Bunny Zoe's Challenge Blog - Girls, girls, girls.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you liked my blog and do come again.

 Have a good 'un,

Jools.  xxxx

Thank You Cards for a Boy and a Girl.

Hi Guys',

Seems ages since I last posted, but firstly I'd like to give a great big welcome to my new followers.

I've been a bit busy celebrating my BIG birthday this week and what a fantastic week it's been. The celebrations started wednesday and finished on Saturday, with a show in London, courtesy of my lovely Son  and Daughter. I was thoroughly spoiled and so todays cards are to say 'Thank you' to them for such a fabulous treat. 'Phantom' was awesome.

The first one is a nice girly one for my daughter Tracy, because she is girly. I used a lilac theme throughout, for this card.

The backing papers are all from the Docrafts 'Especially For You' CD, all coloured in the lilac theme, using the colour changer. I used lots of different shapes for this card and added faux stitching around the top two layers. The digi topper is a pink gem design from the Jodie and Josh range, coloured with promarkers. I'm loving these designs, they're so cute.

I haven't added a sentiment to this card, because the Dovecraft ribbon actually has 'Thank you' printed on it. I layered the ribbon over some lilac rafia lace from my stash. To finish I cut swirls and a flower, in the same backing papers, using the spellbinder floral flourishes and daisy topper dies. Next, a lilac button and twine to the centre of the flower to finish. All the shapes were distressed with Tim Holtz milled lavender, to add detail and definition.



I'm entering this card into the following challenges :-

Fab 'N' Funky Challenges - Using fabric.

Glitter Geeks Blog Challenge - Polka dots.

Panpastels UK Challenge - Pastel colours.

I Love Promarkers - Anything goes.

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Buttons and bows.

Oo La La Creations - Ribbon and twine.

Bunny Zoe's Challenge Blog - Anything goes.

 

My second card would appear to be a lot more simple, but is infact quite complex. I had a nice play with this one. 

The topper is a technique that Barbara Gray did on her last C&C show. I first cut a shape with spellbinder labels twenty-two and double sided adhesive sheet. I took off the white protective layer  and stamped directly onto the adhesive with  black Stazon ink. The stamp is Woodware, from the Egyptian Treasures collection.  Onto the adhesive (on the stamped side) was added a piece of acetate,  cut into the same shape as the adhesive sheet. I coloured the image from the back with gel pens and then added  'Lancashire Rose' gilding flakes to the whole thing. The next die was too large for a mat, so I made a faux mat in gold mirri, by drawing round the same die and cutting it out. The topper is mounted with foam to give dimension.

The backgroung was created using Panpastels, with a quick spray of cheap hairspray to set them. Have you succumbed yet? They really are great to use. The sentiment is a stamp from my stash, stamped again with black Stazon ink.  To finish I wound some bakers twine around the spine and added some card candy.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:-

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Clean and simple.

I hope they like them, and I hope they don't look at my blog tonight. They don't usually, but it's that law of sod, isn't it?


Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed my blog. Do leave a comment, then I'll know you popped by and then I can visit yours.

Cheers,

Jools. xxx

Tilda say's 'just for you' so charmingly in orange.

Hi buddies and bloggers,

Is it afternoon already? Amazing how time flies when you're having fun. Getting a few girly cards in before I have to do BOY ones again. ( 2 more, ahhh ) Today's card is similar to a rocker but isn't!!  It's one of my new spellbinder shapes that I bought last week and haven't got round to playing with yet. I got to use one of my multiple coloured Tilda's from a few weeks ago too.

The die is Grand Labels Eleven. I used the largest size to make a landsacape card with a piece of white A3 card. None of my card blanks were big enough, even the 8x8 ones. The rest of the dies I used in portrait. The backing paper is from the Craftartist spring in your step digikit. There are some beautiful papers in the digikits and the thing I love about Craftartist is that you can choose which colours you want, without having to troll through every single backing paper. I printed this mat on supersmooth 220gsm, because it's at the back and needs to support the rest of the layers. The smallest mat is textured white card, distressed with Tim Holtz shabby shutters and then matted onto core'dinations just peachy.

I made the flowers with the spellbinder daisy topper die using both the backing paper and just peachy card. The centres are material covered button brads from my stash. The floral flourishes were made in the same cards and two pearl hat pins were placed in between the layers, to hide the sharp points. Tilda was coloured with promarkers.

To add the finishing touch,  I used some peach ribbon with a faux bow and threaded an orange craftime charm onto some jump rings, which I put through the knot.

I haven't made a support bar with this card, I'm not sure if it needs one. It seems more stable than the rocker cards, but the jury is still out on that one. I was left a comment on one of my posts about my liberal glittering and it made me smile. Yes, I own up, I am a liberal glitterer, all over the card, me, my craft table, the floor, the whole house.........

I am entering this card into the following challenges :-

Ladybugs Craft Ink TLT Challenge - Anything but square.

I Love Promarkers Challenge Blog - Hat pins and charms.

The ABC Challenge - O for orange.

Joanna Sheens Challenge Blog - Flower power.

Fab 'N' Funky - Buttons and bows.

Thanks for dropping by and do come again soon.

Bye......

Jools. xxxxx

Pan Pastel labels and gilding flake teaser.

Good afternoon blogging buddies,

Well it's taken me a while to create anything half decent, but here they are (as promised Eileen)  My first publicised attempts at using Pan Pastels. My bin is full to the brim with failed attemps, my craft room is a tip and my fingers are covered in ink and stuff,  but I have to say, I really enjoyed myself. They're not perfect, I like to call them a work in progress, but hey. This first one is my favourite, probably because it's the best. :)

 

I decided to follow the lead of quite a few crafters out there and do my first ones on labels. I can decide what to do with them later. I must admit though, they are quite effective, especially while I'm practicing. I stamped with versamark and a floral swirl for a resist effect background using blue and lemon pan pastels from the tints range. I must say, they go on like a dream. The image is a magenta stamp that I picked up in a craft outlet shop. I used Versafine ink and then clear embossed before colouring with promarkers. The butterflies are spellbinder Wonderful Wings , with the same resist effect as the main image.

This next one is done in more vibrant colours and I learned a valuable lesson doing this one. If you use strong coloured pan pastells you can't then use promarkers, it doesn't cover, just transfers onto the promarker.

So what I did instead was to glitter the areas I wanted to highlight, with a quickie glue pen and glamour dust. I think it's quite effective. I might have a go at using gilding flakes instead. The flower is the spellbinder   daisy die, coloured with the same pan pastells and a fancy button in the centre to finish off.  ( Over inked a bit on this one, but you didn't notice did you?) Hope you like 'em.

Now for my little tease. I've had gilding flakes for a while now and not really done much with them, so I went onto youtube to see what I could find. Look at this beautiful technique.

All you need is a piece of double sided sticky sheet cut to the size you need, strips of backing paper and gilding flakes.  I made this one last night.

Can you guess what I'll be doing for the rest of the day?

I will be entering these pieces of work into the following challenges.

Colour Create Challenge - Yellow, blue and white.

Joanna Sheen challenge blog -  To someone special.

Thank you for visiting, hope to see you again soon. Do leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Jools. xx