Another Special Birthday Card

I made this card for a friend's sister. I had made cards for her previously so I had to look for something special that I knew she would like.  A visit to Bird's Cards proved fruitful. This lady is very generous in creating and allowing us to download her cutting files for free. Worth a visit if you own a digital die cutting machine.

 

 I downloaded the greeting from the site too.  The flowers were made using Tonic punches and the flourishes were cut using my Bigshot and a free die that came with a magazine.The bow stopper which allows the card to stand up was purchased from the Silhouette site. 

I do love CAS cards but enjoy the challenge of making these more complex cards on occasion.

 

Blooming Orchids

I have written before about my love of orchids. I have many around the house that are in varying stages of growth.  Here is my latest graduate!

 

 

I purchased a Cimbidium Orchid PunchBunch punch some time ago but it came without instructions and I was unsure as to how to assemble it into the 3D flower that the illustration promised. However, I decided to use it to make a 50th birthday card that a friend had requested.  So....bull by the horns .......went surfing to find a solution.  I needed to cut a couple of the petals twice...duh...why didn't I think of that?

So this is the card that I created.

 I used water colour pencils to colour the components of the flower, then cut leaves from card before using the pencils to make them more lifelike.

I used a Martha Stewart  Punch around the Page set for the base mat and a Spellbinders die to cut the white mat.

My Silhouette Cameo provided the text.

In the style of....

I have attended many Stampin' Up classes / demos/ events over the years and have always found that most of the cards produced have a certain style. They are generally clean and unfussy, although they can be made of up several elements.
This card that I made today reminds me of that style.

The embossing folder is from Stampin' Up.  I turned it over to the debossed side before mounting it on the base card.  My colour palette was determined by one of my recently made cards - in other words the blue card and the ink pad were on my desk!

The stamped image is one from the Tim Holtz range and one which is a particular favourite of mine at the moment.  It sits happily on its own or as part of a larger collage, so I have found it really useful.
I used a  Fiskars border punch and a corner rounder to make the blue card mat.  It was with some trepidation that I stamped the sentiment on to the debossed surface. I knew that it could go horribly wrong at this stage and I would have to spend ages trying to save it from the bin.

NB. You can see that I used a brad to secure the ribbon tie. It took a great deal of courage to use this from my stash.  I have loads but I rarely use them.  Must be in some way related to my love of buttons and inability to let them go too.

Perfect Postage Stamp

I have lusted (Should I be using this word in this context?) over the Perfect Postage Stamp set and Postage Stamp Punch since using it at a Stampin' Up craft afternoon a couple of months back.  A very naughty friend knew this and gave them to me as a present last week. What can I say? - it wasn't even my birthday.  I know that she will read this so ........thank you again... you shouldn't have.(but I like it.)

I put this card together very quickly so it hasn't turned out well as I had intended. ( It will be a "prototype".) It is similar to one that we made at the above event.   The splattered background was created by flicking ink from a loaded brush.  I do have one of those air brush thingies somewhere which would have created a more refined effect but will have to search for it.  To be fair, it belonged to my son when he was about ten and he is now 34.  I love a good excuse for a tidy up!!!?  The stamped Crafty Individuals script was masked before the spattering took place.

I just love the blackberry stamp from this set. It is so clear. It reminds me of the times that we used to go blackberry picking. Mmmm..... blackberry and apple pie. The punch is a perfect accompaniment. 

Inks used: Adirondack -Currant and Denim. Sentiment - Hero Arts

Fly Away

Took a break from cardmaking (only for today!) and made this small 11 1/2 cm framed butterfly collage. I purchased the frame cheaply, knowing that I would eventually find a use for it. "Eventually" was only three weeks so I am rather pleased that I have saved it from its rather boring original content in record time.

I used a mixture of Martha Stewart and other punches, cutting them from hot pink glitter card.  I debated long and hard about the backing but finally decided to keep to the sparkly theme with white glitter card.

Love it and may keep it.

Butterfly Collage

I made a card the other day for my friend's daughter and son-in-law on the birth of their baby girl. It was this card but in pink.

Recently, to celebrate the birth of a colleague's baby daughter, I gave a gift of an elephant punch collage and I enjoyed making it so much that I decided that I would work on similar lines for this new arrival.

The papers used are just scraps that I have kept in a folder and often wondered why they don't just go in the bin. 

 It's so satisfying to know that I have used every available centimetre of a sheet of paper!!! 

I printed the text on the computer in MSWord and then used a nestabilities circle die as a guide to place the butterflies. I was originally going to cut a circle with the die for this purpose then thought ...duuhh.. why?

Initially, I though that I would only have to place the outer ring of butterflies but I decided to add the smaller ones to give definition to the text.

A Baby Elephant Parade

I have already submitted a card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge - Getting Edgy. But when I looked at the brief again, 

This week we are Getting Edgy! Use your border punches, rip some cardstock, whatever your pleasure to add a fun edge to your Clean And Simple project!

I realised that I could make another card and concentrate more on creating a  "fun edge"
 

I have a friend whose daughter is expecting a baby so I though a new baby card would be an appropriate choice.

 

I have used the Martha Stewart elephant punch several times before( here, here and here ) I love to line them up like this so that they look as if they are holding the tails of the one in front of them.  It just makes me smile. So I hope that this meets the criteria of a "fun edge"
 
I made another one with a white base but the large  elephant looked lost.  This card is slightly textured and a  pale blue/grey.  I purchased the template for it from Craftwork Cards at the SECC Craft fair. £1 well spent.

Finally, I used a silver Congratulations rub on to complete.



Update
Friend's daughter has had her baby.............It's a girl.   Off to make a pink version!

Getting Edgy

This is my first entry for CAS-ual Fridays Challenge.  Just wandering around blogland when I stumbled across  it.  The brief was to..... "Use your border punches, rip some cardstock, whatever your pleasure to add a fun edge to your Clean And Simple project!!"

I had just the card in mind.

I used red for the base card and a large Martha Stewart punch for the border.  The patterned paper is from a K & Company stack that goes on and on forever.  The sentiment is one of the Stampin' Up Wonderful Words.  I wish that I had chosen a bolder sentiment because this one cannot compete with the deep red coloured card.  Never mind .....next time!

Pink Elephants

It's a while since I have made one of these punched collages. I don't know why make them more often.  They are a lovely gift.  This has been given to a colleague on the arrival of a precious baby daughter.

I bought the frame from Tesco and gave it a wash with watered down white acrylic paint.This enables the grain of the wood to show through. It can't be any frame - there has to be a gap between the glass and the base for the punched pieces to sit without being squashed flat.

I keep a ridiculous amount of paper offcuts in the hope that I will find a use for them. All of these elephants have been cut from my stash.  I (strangely) enjoy all of the measuring, positioning and repositioning that has to happen to produce the finished result.

Resources:

Punch - Martha Stewart

           Acrylic Paint 

           Picture frame

Valentine heart

The next date on the cardmaker's calendar is Valentine's Day. (If you don't count Burns' Night - shame on me!) I made some cards after the event last year so I had better try to locate them. I am, at the moment, fighting the urge to make some Christmas cards for this year. So I must have felt the same after the 14th of Feb last year.







This is the first of this year's efforts. Clean and simple.
I used an embossing board that came free with a magazine for the text and the square frame for the heart.

The heart itself is 3 dimensional. I glued patterned paper to card and then punched out 3 heart shapes. These were glued together and I then applied gold Stickles to follow the pattern of the paper.

The following photo gives a better idea of how it was constructed.

Baby Card

I just love the MS elephant punch that I have used on this card. So simple to make too. I know that I can now make another card the same but by changing the colours, make it suitable for a baby boy. No thought process involved!! I like that............especially since it is Sunday I have started to think about what awaits me at work tomorrow.

Butterfly Collage

We recently had our bathroom upgraded .. .............not before time!!! The suite was ( I am so glad to be able to say was and not is) pale golden - "Sun King" if my memory serves me right. Anyway, it is all in the past thank goodness. I looked around the shops for items that would match the green towels and I was not inspired. The solution was to make something myself. I had always wanted to make a butterfly collage since seeing examples in various places on the internet....so that's what I did and here it is.

The deep frame was originally unvarnished wood so I used acrylic paint to make it white. I rubbed some of the paint off to give a textured, distressed look. The butterfly punch is one that I have had for ages and the papers are all K & Co from my wonderful, huge stack that I got from QVC. The butterflies are attached with 3D foam to add even more dimension. Love it!!!

Back to work

My almost daily posts have come to an abrupt end with my return to work. However, I have managed to make a card for Splitcoast Stampers CAS80 challenge. Just another excuse to use the Martha Stewart loop border punch and the 3D elephant punch. No stamping here......for a change. Even the sentiment was created from a rub on.

Same difference

Wasn't 100% satisfied with the first card that I made with the paint sample and I knew that I would have to give it another go before moving on. ( Am I sad or what?) I am much happier with these. The only difference between the two cards is the placement of the sentiment. How odd that such a little adjustment can make a difference...... (See my last post - it's all in the positioning!) I have entered the first card in this week's CAS-tastic Challenge (CWC014) as it requires us to "BLING it Up"". Not a lot of bling here but enough, I think.


I have also reversed the order in which the coloured butterflies are placed. This time I have chosen to put the lightest tone at the top. As I have added dark ribbon to the bottom of the topper, it seemed right to have the darkest shade next to it.

It still tickles me that the butterflies were punched from a paint sample card - the same paint sample card for all three !!! I am going to have to resist the urge to go to B& Q pretending that I am redecorating the whole house and in urgent need of a large amount of these samples.

Butterfly wishes

I am always on the look out for materials that I can use in my crafting that have no cost attached to them. I have several previous posts that have detailed various items that I have recycled. So I was happy to join in with the Cornwall Crafty Stamper Challenge. The theme is Recycling and this is my card.



I used a paint shade card that I had kept from deciding the colour for my bathroom walls and cut butterflies using my MS punch. There is no need to search around for different papers or card that tone with each other. Dulux did it for me! I attached them to a white strip of left over card and then mounted this, using 3D foam pads to a mottled grey piece of card. This had begun life as the backing card from a packet of embellishments - I knew that it would come in handy. The stamp is one that a kind Ebay seller sent me for free when I purchased some stamps from her. I finished it off with a little "bling" in the form of flat backed jewels - I did purchase these . So ...... all in all.......... a very low cost project.


As Crafty Susy has a butterfly themed challenge , I will pop this over on her site too.