How do you like to go up in a swing?........

 I got a new cart today! It's the be-a-oo-ti-ful Victorian Romance (although Provocraft's 'Victorian' images look more Georgian to me!) I loved this girl on a swing image, and it brought to mind the Robert Louis Stevenson verse 'The Swing' so I thought that I'd incorporate it into the card. The scrumptious papers are from Tilda's 'Flowergarden' 12x12 pad. I actually picked this pad up from Croydon Hobbycraft last Saturday (we went to Croydon then on to London for lunch) in readiness for getting this cart. How sad is that??!! Obsessed, I know!
I cut the girl image twice, once from black cardstock, and a second more solid image from patterned paper. I paper pieced the frills on her sleeves, around her neckline and her petticoats from scraps of white cardstock before adhering the images together. I then backed the image with some aqua embossed cardstock trimmed by hand, then adhered it to a panel on the front of a C5 Z-fold card. I added a satin bow, WOC floral spray and a smattering of pearls to complete the front of the card.

I found the verse via Google, printed it out onto white textured cardstock, matted it onto pink cardstock then adhered it to an embossed panel inside the card.

Cart used:

Girl on a swing- Victorian Romance

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

All Dressed Up.....

 ...for the Theatre maybe? Hope you all had a great weekend. I did! Hubby and I met some some friends in a fab Indian Restaurant, Dishoom, just off Leicester Square on Saturday. We stayed for 4 HOURS!!! I thought that they were going to throw us out! We then went on to the Aldwych Theatre to see 'Midnight Tango' starring Flavia and Vincent from Strictly. Wow! What a show! The dancing was fantastic! If my hubby didn't have two left feet and danced like he had a broomstick up his jumper I'd take lessons!!!
Anywho, back to the card! I just love the colour combo and the lace-look paper from the DCWV 'Street Lace' 8x8 pack. The card base is a C5 Z-fold card. I added a scalloped panel to the front of the card, and added a stunning dress cut from black lace paper over hot pink mirri. The front of the card was finished with a black bow, WOC bloom and a trio of pearls.

The inside of the card was finished with a smaller scalloped panel and the 'all dressed up' sentiment cut from black glittercard and adhered flat.

Carts used:

Scalloped frames- Elegant Edges

Dress- Formal Occasion

All Dressed Up- Forever Young

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Non-golden 50th anniversary......

 I think that we can sometimes get a bit bogged down with standard colours for certain special cards, like red, silver and gold for the big three anniversaries, using white and silver for wedding cards and pink and blue for baby cards. Then you end up tearing your hair out because you haven't got the 'right' colour paper for that certain card. Well what's wrong with using unconventional colours for these cards? Nothing!!!! That's what I did for this 50th anniversary card. I had plenty of the 'right' coloured paper but I wanted to see what I could do with other colours. I turned to the First Addition 'Isabelle' 8x8 stack in soft teal and beige. These  photos don't do this card justice- it's much prettier in real life! In fact I sold this card to one of my ladies at at workshop, she liked it,asked if she could have it so off it went.
The '50' was adhered inside a frame decorated with Prima and WOC blooms and a satin bow.

The inside of the card holds a smaller panel and the 'anniversary' word art.

Carts used:

Frame- Elegant Edges

50- Quarternote

Anniversary- Designer's Calendar

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Ride A Cock-Horse......

 I've got a couple of kiddie's cards for you today. I just love these two rocking horse images, I've used them lots of times before, and they are especially fab when you put them on Papermania springs so that they really rock!

The card bases are C5 Z-fold and the papers are Me to You 'Spring Chic' with a little gingham thrown in for good measure. Both images were cut from glittercard and adhered with a spring to a picot edged panel on the front of the card. Both panels were trimmed with ribbon.

For the inside of the cards, I cut another panel slightly smaller than the one on the front. The verses, 'Ride a Cock-Horse' and 'Horsey, Horsey, don't you stop' were computer generated onto Safmat, cut out and applied to the panels, which were then adhered to the inside of the cards. Some Card Candi complete the cards.

Carts used:

Picot-edged panels- Elegant Edges

Girl on horse- A Child's Year

Boy on horse- Nursery Rhymes

Thanks for dropping by today!

Heather  xxx

A Fishy 21st.......

I was commissioned to make this card for the shop and it was one of the hardest cards I've ever made, due to the extensive brief I was given. I gave it my best shot, this is the 2nd attempt, and the customer (or rather her husband because she was ill and couldn't collect it) was chuffed with it. So far we haven't heard anything to the contrary!

The brief for this card was as follows:

For a 21yr old sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy so it should be Naval themed

She's serving on a Patrol boat and going on a Fish Recognition Course so there should be fish on it

The card should be fun!

It was the 'fun' bit that threw me!

I don't mind telling you that the 1st card was CRAP!!! It duly went in the bin!

So after much brain-wracking I came up with this one and I was MUCH happier with it, although I don't think that it's at all feminine! But heyho, the customer gets what the customer wants!

To start with I trawled (ha! ha!) Google Images and found a fish chart which I printed out onto Safmat (that's the fish bit!). I then created a little diarama with sky, waves and a cute whale (thats the 'fun' bit!)and put it into a porthole along with some acetate 'glass'. The diarama is three layers thick so I tidied up the porthole with a strip of cardstock around it's circumference to hide all the foam pads. The completed porthole was adhered to a thin panel of cardstock, then adhered to the front of the card leaving a border around it. The border was filled with fish cut from the Safmat and applied at equal(ish) intervals around the edge of the card. A shimmery '21' and 'Happy Birthday' and four little anchors (that's the Navy bit!) complete the card.

PHEW!!!

Carts used:

Porthole- George (I cut the centre out using a smaller circle as a template 'cos I couldn't get Centre Point to cut a circle centrally out of the larger circle)

Whale-Just Because Cards

21-Quarter Note

Happy Birthday- Wild Card

Anchors- Life's A Beach

I think that I more or less filled the brief don't you?!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather

Rule Britannia!!!!!.....

 How canny were Papermania in releasing Portobello Road this year??!!! The Olympics, The Queen's Diamond Jubilee?? There are so many occasions that you can use these fab papers for, as seen in Sofia's card yesterday. I love this Union Jack paper! It has teeny red roses in the red portions of the flag making it quite feminine, but you could easily make a masculine version of this card by using the blue crown paper (as seen on the front panel) and changing the sentiment to 'King for a day!'
For this card I used a square z-fold base card and the 6x6 paper pack because the flag paper sits better on the 6x6 card, although you could use the 12x12 paper (which I also have!) on an 8x8 square card. I used one piece of the UJ paper on the inside back of the card and a 1/2 sheet for the front after carefully matching and cutting the 2nd piece, so that when closed the front appears to be a complete UJ.
The shaped front panel was cut from red & white cardstock and blue crown paper. A scalloped embossed circle holds a golden crown with a red lining. A few gems give the crown some regal bling!
A plump red sheer ribbon bow and a blue ribbon rose with a gem adhered to the centre of it completes the front of the card.

For the inside of the card I adhered another, slightly smaller red and white panel, adding 'Queen' cut from gold mirri and 'for a day'  which was computer generated onto Safmat.

Carts used:

Shaped panels- Elegant Edges

Crown- Home Decor

Scalloped circle- Winter Woodland

'Queen'- StoryBook

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Sofia......

No 1 son has a very pretty and sweet girlfriend called Sofia. She is of Italian parentage, hence the spelling of her name, and yesterday it was her 21st birthday. Krishnan asked me to make her a card for him to give to her, whilst he was at home for Christmas, and I duly obliged! I used the fabulous new Portobello Road papers from Papermania. The card base is a standard C5. I used three different papers, some navy blue BoBunny ribbon and a ribbon rose as decoration. The shoes and handbag were cut from the papers in differing combinations with teeny buttons as embellishments, and the '21' & 'Sofia' were cut from glitter paper from the Papermania 'Paparazzi' collection. 'Sofia' was adhered flat and the remaining elements were adhered with foam pads to a shaped panel, which was adhered to the card front with foam tape.. A trio of teeny buttons completes the card.

Carts used:

Shaped panel- Elegant Edges

'21' & 'Sofia'- Quarternote

Shoes & handbag- Forever Young

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx