Happy New Year and final Christmas card of 2010....

In the words of John Lennon..'another year over, and a new one just begun....' well almost!As promised this is my final Christmas card (finished by the skin of my teeth!)made for my hubby. As yesterdays card it is a shortfall front card made with DCWV Winter Stack papers.I really love this icy blue palette and continued it with sparkly reindeer. The snow on the front panel was cut from white glittercard and adhered to a panel cut strategically to incorporate a snowflake design. I added a jingle bell to the deer's neck with silver cord, then adhered the deer (ha!ha!) to the panel with foam pads. I computer generated the sentiments onto Safmat then adhered the sentiments to blue paper matted onto royal blue cardstock. I edged the sentiment panels with Cosmic Shimmer crushed glass glitter (love that stuff!) They were adhered to the panel with foam pads. A gem 'eye' on the deer and some gems in the top right hand corner of the card add a finishing touch. I computer generated a sentiment (not shown 'cos it's private!)and adhered it to the inside back of the card
Cart used:
Reindeer- Christmas/Noel
Happy New Year everyone, and I look forward to sharing with you in 2011
Heather xxx

Vintage Christmas.....

Last but one Christmas card..I promise! This is the card that I made for my Mum. I used a shortfall front card and papers from Dovecraft.I added a border to the front of the card, punched from gold mirri then wrapped with thin green ribbon. The vintage picture was downloaded from a freebie site on the web and printed onto white Bazzill which gives an amazing finish.I cut a segment from each corner of the picture using scalloped scissors then mounted the picture onto a piece of gold mirri. A brad was added to three of the corners then the panel was adhered to a piece of green paper and more mirri card.The completed panel was adhered to the front of the card with foam tape. I created two flower arrangements for the panel from full roses and buds and added some punched ivy leaves and some pearl strands. I cut a tag from pearlised card and added a sentiment computer generated onto Safmat. 'Mum' and a fancy corner were cut from gold mirri and adhered above and below the panel on the inside back of the card.
Carts used:
Tag-George
Fancy corner-Heritage
Mum-Beyond Birthdays
Well, I've just launched myself into non-Christmas mode, which I have to say is hard to get out of, but new ideas with new carts are flowing. Some I'll be able to show, others will be for my workshops starting in the New Year so they'll be delayed in posting, but I look forward to sharing with you!
TTFN
Heather xxx

Boxing Day Birthday.......

The eldest daughter of some very good friends of ours had her birthday on Boxing Day. This is the card that I made for her.The card base is a z-fold and the papers are from an 8x8 stack called 'Sweet Owl' by First Edition Paper. I cut a model from brown cardstock and dressed her in a chocolate brown polka dot dress with a pearl necklace and brown handbag and shoes all mounted with foam pads onto a scalloped rectangle.
I punched out 2 fancy borders using a large EK Success punch and adhered a strip of thin ribbon along the length of the border before adhereing them to the inside back of the card.'PIA' and 'Happy Birthday' was cut from chocolate polka dot paper and shadowed with pink card then adhered between the borders with foam pads.

A layered bloom with a cordorouy brad in the centre was added to the lower border to complete the card.
Carts used:
Model, shoes & handbag-Forever Young
Scalloped rectangle-Just Because Cards (there is also a scalloped rectangle similar
to this one on A Child's Year
PIA-Ashlyn's Alphabet
Happy Birthday-Stamping Solutions
Back to ordinary cards(woohoo!) now although I do have a couple more Christmas cards to show you.
TTFN
Heatherxxx

Seasons Greetings!......

Merry Christmas everyone! No card today but I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous 2011. Thank you all for visiting my little bit of Blogland.. I hope that you gain inspiration from my posts (as I do from the many fantastic blogs out there) and get as much pleasure from this great craft as I do.
Hugz and have a great day!
Heather xxx

Theatre fan 18th birthday.....

This card was made for a Commission. The brief was for a girl who loves pink (the colour, not the singer!)Billy Elliot, for an 18th birthday & A4 in size. 'Billy Elliot?!' says I...how am I going to pull that off? So I headed for trusty Google Images and downloaded a Billy Elliot poster. I printed it twice onto photo paper, cutting away the Billy character and I decoupaged him onto the complete picture. I placed the poster behind a large frame and adhered it with foam pads to the front of the card over a piece of DCWV paper matted onto pink cardstock.The frame was enhanced with a dressmaker's wheel. I cut a pair of shoes (which I think look like a pair of men's dance shoes) from black mirri card. I threaded some 6-stranded embroidery thread through the lace holes and suspended the shoes from the top left hand corner of the frame. I adhered a pink sheer bow over the laces.'18' was cut from pale pink glittercard and adhered to the card with foam pads. I embellished the numbers with pink gem stones.
As a finishing touch I added a bunch of pink roses and some ferns tied with a pink bow to the bottom right hand corner of the frame.
Carts used:
Frame-Wild Card (RDS on)
18-Winter Woodland
Shoes- Sweethearts (cut one on 'Flip')
Hope you are all ready for The Big Day!
Heather xxx

Go Girl!........

Well, I didn't get up to my Mum's on Saturday-the white stuff put paid to that!Didn't do much else really which is bad considering how close to The Big Day we are. Still, what isn't done will just have to stay undone! It won't do my blood pressure any good to stress over it all!
Anyhow, onto the card. This one is more or less the same as the previous post, same shape, size etc, but with a few tweaks. I changed the colours to a softer palette using Born To Shop papers.The fab figure is called Kim. The colours that I used are almost the same as in the manual except that I changed her hair colour. I sparkled up her top, skirt and very 70's eyeshadow, and if you look closely she has a belly button stud! Crikey! I cut the sentiment from blue glittercard with a pink shadow which was adhered to the card with foam pads. A ribbon bow, layered bloom and a few pearls complete the outside of the card.

The inside is similar to the previous post except that I covered the inside of the card with coloured paper, then added a punched border and a smaller octagonal panel for a sentiment ( yes, I know that these are OCTAGONAL cards not hexagonal! I never was any good at maths!)
Carts used:
Card base-George
Kim figure & sentiment-Rock Princess
Thanks for visiting today!
Heather xxx

Karaoke Queen.......

I picked up Rock Princess recently and I figured this little lady would make a great card for a karaoke fan. I made a hexagonal card base, cutting 2 shapes and adhereing them together down one side. I covered the card front with hot pink card, then added a smaller hexagon cut from foiled paper from DCWV Rock Star pack. A smaller, matted hexagon with a punched border added was adhered to the card front with foam pads. I added some music print ribbon and a layered bloom.
Now to the little figure...I cut her and assembled her 3 times before I was satisified with the finished result. I have come to the conclusion that it was WAY easier to cut the figure out several times in different colours, then chop the pieces up and assemble her, rather than cut all the itty bitty pieces,lose half of them, cut the beggars out again blah, blah blah......
So I cut the base cut in black,pale pink, & flesh,then assembled her with the addition of the hair and face. I added a heart to the front of the dress (I didn't like the skull that should have been there) and glittered her tights and boots. 'Karaoke' was cut from black glittercard and adhered flat, 'Queen' was cut from silver glittercard, shadowed with black and adhered with foam pads. A smattering of pearls complete the card

The inside of the card was embellished with more foiled paper on a punched border.
Carts used:
Card base- George
Karaoke singer & sentiment-Rock Princess
Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend and I hope the snow stays away! I'm hoping to visit my Mum in the Midlands tomorrow but I'm not sure I'll be able to go if the snow arrives.
Heatherxxx

Dance with your heart......

I told you that I was going to have fun with Nifty Fifties, and I did have fun making this card. I love this jiving girl (there's a boy too!)and I think she looks great in her full spotty skirt with her frilly petticoat underneath!I used Bo-Bunny double-sided paper and a z-fold card. I positioned the girl on a shaped panel which I embossed with a Swiss Dots folder. The front panel was edged with a punched border and the shaped panel adhered over it with foam pads then embellished with a layered bloom and some pearls.

The inside back of the card was decorated with a punched border wrapped with striped ribbon,the sentiment cut from from cream glittercard and brown paper and a punched heart cut from patterned paper. 'Dance' and the heart were adhered with foam pads.I added a plain panel to write a greeting on.
Carts used:
Jive girl-Nifty Fifties
Dance-Wall Decor & more
'with your'-Wall Decor font
Thanks for visiting today!
Heatherxxx

Game on!!.....

Here's a simple card for the gamer in your life! I used a different fold for this card that is really simple to make. Just take a square card (mine is 6 1/4" square) and add a 'zig-zag'piece to it. The zig-zag was made from a strip of cardstock as wide as the base card and scored at 4,8,14 & 20cms plus 1/2 cm for attaching to the base card- see photo below for finished effect. You can make the zig-zags any size to fit your base card..it's up to you!

The game controller was cut from 3 different colours of textured cardstock-black,dark & mid grey-then layered up. Using No2 son's X-Box controller as a guide I added coloured buttons cut from scraps of mirri card. The finished controller was adhered to the second panel with foam pads. I cut 'Game On!'& 'Happy Birthday' from black cardstock shadowed on dark aqua then adhered them with foam pads to the remaining panels. I glittered them up with some black Stickles for a bit of boy-bling! You could add a name to the smallest panel along with the happy birthday if you wanted to.The papers I used are really old Dovecraft papers which fitted the bill nicely!
Carts used:
Game Controller-Wrap It Up!
Game on!-Sports Mania
Happy Birthday-Stamping Solutions
Thanks for visiting!
Heatherxxx

18th Birthday duo.....

First off let me apologise for the quality of the photos..I rushed these cards through on Saturday afternoon and by the time I'd finished them (and changed the name on one of 'em because I'd got it wrong!)it was 4pm and the light was fading fast! I think,though, that you can see enough detail on them.
I used z-fold card bases & DCWV Natural Stack papers. I made them both the same (for speed purposes!) with subtle changes on each card.I used plenty of brown/orange mirri card alternating the colours for matting & layering. The mirri panels holding the numbers were embossed with Cuttlebug embossing folders and I added a 'No Limits' plaque (because when you hit 18 there aren't any are there?!)with foam pads. Some card candy below the names complete the cards.
Carts used:
'18' & names-Nifty Fifties
Happy Birthday-Stamping Solutions
'No Limits' plaques-Graphically Speaking
Thanks for visiting today!
Heatherxxx

Baby-in-a-blanket.....

Here's a couple of baby cards to start the week.I used one sheet of double sided paper for each card (with plenty left over!)along with white textured cardstock from Papermania's Capsule Collection and white glittercard.On the cartridge the gingham blanket holds a rather ugly baby so I cut the blanket on the shift and hand cut a baby (a very simple shape-just head and feet) by placing the blanket on a piece of peach coloured cardstock and drawing around it to create an outline, then I sketched in a baby's head and feet. This was then cut out and the blanket adhered onto it. I embossed a scrap of the pink side of the paper with a baby words embossing folder, which was then adhered to a scalloped panel. The baby-in-a-blanket was then adhered to the panel with foam pads, and then the whole thing was adhered to the front of the card (more foam pads). The inside back of the card was adorned with a gingham, ribbon wrapped and punched border.The sentiment was cut from white glittercard and adhered to the front of the card. Some matt white adhesive 'brads' and a miniature paper rose on the blanket knot complete the cards.
Carts used:
Blanket-New Arrival
Scalloped frame-Just Because Cards
Sentiment-Nursery Rhymes
Thanks for dropping by!
Heatherxxx

Extreme skiing!.....

It's my youngest brother's birthday today! Happy Birthday Nick! Nick used to work in France at a Ski resort a good few years ago, and still skis now, so I thought that as he has a Winter birthday I'd theme my card around winter sports. I used DCWV papers in icy blues and used tones of grey shimmer card for the skier. I used a z-fold card base and positioned the skier so that he is slightly off the front of the card. The skier was shadowed with silver mirri and I used more silver for 'Nick' which was embossed and adhered to the card with foam pads. I added some white glittercard to the blue panel on the front of the card to give the appearance of snow along with the word 'Extreme' cut from 2 shades of grey shimmer card and shadowed with mirri. This was adhered with foam pads.'Happy Birthday' was cut from grey shimmer card and shadowed with silver mirri.I added some silver card candy to complete the card.
Carts used:
Skier & 'Extreme'-Dude Cricut Lite
Happy Birthday-Stamping Solutions
'Nick'- Nifty Fifties
Thanks for visiting today!
Heather xxx

Our li'l guy.......

I make a lot of new baby cards but not many cards for kiddies (except for the girlyz and boyz next door and my great-nieces!)and when I got my mitts on a boy themed paper pack (which included letters & tags) I was inspired to make a little boys card. The paper is from the 'Playtime' collection from Three Bugs In A Rug and I chose to use the truck printed paper.
The card base is a Z-fold card. The back of the card was covered with the truck print paper and the front with stripe. I added a square panel with a spotted frame adhered to it- I added a piece of striped paper behind the frame aperture. I cut the lorry from various colours of mirri card, adding detail with a dressmaker's wheel. The truck was adhered to the square panel with foam pads. I used a tag from the collection and a ribbon bow to decorate the corner of the frame. A road was cut from black Bazzil, white lines added, and then adhered to the back of the card. The sentiment was cut from mirri card, part of it was adhered flat and the rest raised on foam pads.
Carts used:
Lorry-Everday Paper Dolls
Sentiment-Robotz
Thanks for visiting!
Heather xxx

2011.......

I know I've jumped the gun just a tad, but the paper on this screamed out to me 'New Year Card!, New Year card!....' so I gave it what it wanted! I don't usually make, or send, New Year cards but I wanted to see what I could do with this beautiful paper,Elegance A4 pack from DoCrafts. I used a Z-fold card base- like Holli's card- some pearlescent 'dull gold' & bright gold card and 3 patterned papers.
The clock face was cut from the dull gold card and mounted onto a brighter gold blackout which I embossed. The letters were glittered and the hands, cut from gold mirri card, were adhered with slivers of foam pads. The numbers were cut from bright gold card matted onto dull gold card then adhered to the card with foam pads. 'Happy New Year' was cut from bright gold card and adhered flat.
Some sparkly gold ribbon and gold gems complete the card.
Carts used:
Clock face-Wall Decor & More
Hands & clock face blackout- Graphically Speaking
'2011'-Winter Woodland
'Happy New Year'-Wild Card (RDS on)
Thanks for visiting today!
Heather xxx

Hello Kitty for Holli......

My great-niece Holli is 2 today. Happy Birthday Holli! I wanted to make her a Hello Kitty card but what can a gal do when she don't have the cart?! Well, she turns to t'internet and SCAL that's what she does! I put 'Hello Kitty free font' into Google and the Hello Kitty website came up with 2 free fonts-an image and a font- which I downloaded into my laptop and I used it to create the Kitty with balloons. I cut it once in outline in black then in blackout in white (I paperpieced the clothes & balloons)She's approximately 5 x 4" in size but of course with SCAL you can make her any size you want. I downloaded a Simpsons font too so I'll have to see what I can do with that!
The card base is a z-fold made from a piece of A2 card cut in half length wise. I then folded it in half,then folded the front of the card back on itself. I used Dovecraft papers for decoration and a floral circle embossing folder for the pink panel. I cut a large no 2 from pink star paper and shadowed it with dark pink pearlised card.This was adhered flat to the card. Happy birthday was cut from pearlised card and 'HOLLI' from pink glittercard. 'Holli' was adhered to the no 2 with foam pads.I added a flower to Kitty's bow to complete the card.
Carts used:
Kitty- Hello Kitty font downloaded from the official Hello Kitty site and cut out with SCAL on my Expression
Happy Birthday-A Child's Year
Holli & '2'- Robotz
Thanks for looking!
Heather xxx

Helibore Candle Holder.....

I had a great time on Saturday at our Bi-Monthly Swarm (as usual)with a great bunch of ladies, some super cards and great chat! This was the project that I prepared for them and their resulting candle holders were fantastic. Well done ladies!
I used pearlised paper and cardstock for this project with a splash of colour from the flower centres and leaves. I cut a scalloped hexagonal base twice, and six large flowers and six small ones. I roughed the flowers up with a large ball tool which also shaped the petals and made the finished flowers look more natural. I added punched yellow centres and a gem. The flowers were made up of two large flowers and one small one(three flowers in total) and three small ones used as 'fillers'. I took one of the bases drew around the candle and cut out the centre of the circle. I added a punched strip around the aperture fixing it on the underneath. I then adhered the second base to it to hide all the raw edges. The flowers were then arranged around the candle holder and fixed with silicone glue. Some punched leaves were added as fillers. I punched some snowflakes from white glittercard and pinned them onto the candle with lil pins.As a responsible blogger I must remind you NOT to light the candle, it's is for decorative purposes ONLY!!!!
Carts used:
Candle holder base- Winter Woodland
Flowers- StoryBook
Thanks for looking!
Heather xxx

Feliz Navidad.....

Which I believe is Spanish for Merry (Happy) Christmas! I was blog hopping yesterday and came across Anita's blog where I found her fab snowglobe tags, and I liked them so much that I decided to make one too but as a card. I cut the snowglobe at 6 1/4" on blackout from white card and hinged them at the top of the clobe. I cut another globe (blackout) from silver mirri, embossed the stand portion with a Cuttlebug folder,and added detail with a dressmaker's wheel.I embellished the silver base with glittery blue ribbon, a layered flower dipped in crushed glass glitter and some clear acrylic snowflakes coloured with a permanant marker. The silver globe was adhered to the card with foam pads. I cut the blue globe from patterned paper then adhered it to the silver globe. The deer was cut from white glittercard at 4 1/4", and I wrapped a piece of tinsel ribbon around his neck and added a blue gem eye. He was then adhered to the globe with foam pads. The sentiment was drawn onto white pearlescent card with a Cri-Kit pen and coloured in. I cut it into an oval with a Colluzzle template then adhered it to a scrap of blue paper. I cut around it by hand then adhered it to a scalloped oval. I added some crushed glass glitter around the edge then adhered it to the card with foam pads.
Carts used:
Snowglobe-Doodlecharms
Deer-Christmas/Noel
Feliz Navidad-Ashlyn's Alphabet (drawn with a Cri-Kit pen)
Scalloped oval-A Child's Year
Thanks for visiting, have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing my lovely ladies tomorrow for The Swarm!
Heather xxx
p.s I hate it when my Comment page is hijacked by advertisers!

I went for a square base for this card and a very simple layout. I used 2 paper designs, some embossed & punched pearlised card, sparkly Papermania ribbon and gems. The bauble was cut from pale pink glittercard and purple mirri. The glittery bauble was adhered to the mirri blackout with foam pads then adhered to the front of the card with the same.I didn't add a sentiment because the script paper says its all!
Carts used:
Bauble-Trim The Tree
Thanks for visiting!
Heather xxx
ps Thank you Chrissy for your kind comment, I'm back to my old (non-timeoflife self!)thanks!

Something completely different!......

Hallelujia!!!! I'm soooo much better today! I thought that I'd show you something different today...a little felt Rudolph! Do you recognise the cut? What cut I hear you ask...well it's the little reindeer from Doodlecharms! I used the cart to make a paper pattern, cut it out from felt, stitched it all together with simple blanket stitch, stuffed it, added beads and a fluffy pompom and Hey Presto! A cute reindeer. The great thing about using the Bug to cut patterns is that you can do them any size you like! There are lots of carts that you can use to make these cute characters..Doodlecharms..Paisley..New Arrival......I'll be making more!
I'll be back with a card tomorrow
Cart used:
Doodlecharms
Thanks for visiting today!
Heather xxx

Cr***y day..pretty card....

I've had ONE CRAPPY DAY TODAY!!!! I woke up with a fierce headache at 5am (took 2 Panadol-no effect) went back to bed..got up at 6 'cos I couldn't sleep..2 more Panadol at 8am..still no effect...said Hello to the big white telephone (YUK!)..laid on the sofa feeling like hell. I'd had enough by 11am so I called the surgery,spoke to the triage nurse and she got me an appointment at 11.1o! Doctor tells me I've got 'time of life' Migraine!!! Hells Bells! I've never had a Migraine in my life let alone a 'time of life one! I wasn't even aware I'd got to that 'time of life' yet! I've also got high blood pressure (had it for 2 yrs-that's why I was worried about the headache & vomiting) so I've got to have an ECG and blood tests..it never rains but it pours!
Anyway less medical matters more cardmaking....
This is another shortfall-front card. I just love the pattern/colour combo on this card. I matted striped glittery paper and polka dot paper (DCWV) onto silver mirri and adhered the pieces to the back and front of the card. I added another panel to the front of the card with a punched trim,script paper, silver ribbon and a white poinsetta with snowflake centre. The bauble was cut from white glittercard and backed with a silver mirri embossed blackout. I added blue gems and a teeny ribbon bow. The sentiment was drawn with a blue Cri-Kit pen then coloured in with silver and blue glitter pens. A scattering of gems complete the card.
Carts used:
Bauble- Trim The Tree Seasonal Cart
Sentiment- Winter Frolic
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Nan's Cat.........

It's my Mum's birthday today (Monday)...Happy Birthday Mum!.....and these are the cards that I made for her. She has two beautiful cats-Milly & Molly-so I thought that a cat themed card would be appreciated. I used a pop-up stepper for the base card, Melody Ross-Lydia Collection papers by g.c.d,glittercard for the pussycat and some punched flowers. The sentiment is by Pink Petticoat...

For the card from hubby & me I used a bow front aperture card, Papermania papers, a beautiful full blown Prima rose,pearl strands and a verse printed onto Safmat to go inside the aperture.

Carts used:

Nan's Cat:

Cat & Bird on spade-A Child's Year

Scalloped circle & 'NAN'- Winter Woodland

Flourishes on side panels-Winter Frolic

Bow Front Aperture:

Scalloped oval frame-Ashlyn's Alphabet

'Mum'-Beyond Birthdays

Corner Flourishes-Heritage

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

Candle-lit Christmas......

I've got another short-fall card for you today. I used that troublesome cartridge again...it's not often that I wish that I hadn't bought a cartridge but maybe this is one of them! If you don't use a relatively new mat, all the curly wurly bits get chewed up and you have to start again....and you can bet your bottom dollar that the chewin' up starts when the cut is almost complete, so you have to start again! Grrrr!!!!
Anway, back to the card. I cut the front down to 3 1/2" then adhered paper to the front and back. I cut a smaller rectangular panel and adhered the fillagree candle to it. The candle was cut (at the 3rd attempt!) from gold mirri, and I cut 2 more candles in pearlescent gold and red mirri card. I chopped them apart and adhered them to the back of the gold mirri candle. This was adhered to the smaller panel with foam pads. See that sentiment panel? If you look closer (click on the picture) you'll see that the sentiment was actually DRAWN! Some cuts don't survive if they are too intricate and being cut small. I have some Cri-Kit pens from Scappy-Go-Lucky UK , they are like mini gel pens, and you take the blade housing out, put the magnetic pen holder with the pen in it in it's place and press 'CUT'. The resultant image can then be cut by re-inserting the blade housing or (as I did) coloured in. I added some red Stickles to 'wishes' then adhered it to the card front. Some sumptuous ribbon, a poinsetta and some punched holly leaves complete the card.
Carts used:
Candle-Trim The Tree
Christmas Wishes (drawn with Cri-kit pens)-Winter Frolics
Thanks for visiting & have a great weekend!
Heather xxx

Rockin' robin.....

Here's a cheeky chappie for you! This little chap is not a robin in the cartridge handbook, but I turned him into one! I cut him from brown, bronze and red glittercard and gave him a googly eye. He was then mounted with foam pads onto an embossed panel matted onto a scalloped rectangle. The sentiment was cut from red card then glittered. The papers are Papermania Festive Frolics (see how the robin looks like those on the paper!) I added a spotty bow, a poinsetta and a smattering of red gems to complete the card.
Carts used:
Robin & sentiment-Simply Charmed
Scalloped frame-A Child's Year
Thanks for visiting today!
Heather xxx

Welcome Little One......

Just a quick one this morning 'cos I'm off to work later.... I haven't made a pop-out stepper for a while..these were the last two that I made..when I make baby cards I HAVE to make one for a boy and one for a girl. I used a variety of papers from my stash,gingham ribbon,layered blooms and an MS punch.

Some punched hearts and a smattering of pearls complete the cards.

Carts used:

Scalloped/plain circles-Winter Woodland

Nappy Pin-New Arrival

Dummy & sentiment-Simply Charmed

I cut the 'Welcome' part of the sentiment apart to allow it to curve around the edge of the circle.

Thanks for visiting today!

Heather xxx

Fillagree tree......

Here's the other card made from the Trim The Tree seasonal cartridge, and I can tell you this cut was trouble! I tried glittercard (didn't want to know!) several times I tried mirri card (didn't like the curly-wurly bits!) and had to use a brand new mat (grrrrr!) to get a usable cut. Then the blackout didn't look right- the left hand side of the tree towards the bottom didn't match the right hand side. At first I thought that the cartridge was faulty 'til I looked at the leaflet that came with the cart- it was missing on that too! Well I didn't like it like that and quite frankly couldn't think why it should be like that. So I adhered the blackout anyway and added a piece of mirri to the 'missing' portion then cut around it so that it matched! Now I'm happy with it. I added some red gems to the stars on the cut then adhered it to the embossed panel (the card base is made in exactly the same way as yesterday's by the way) with foam pads.
Carts used:
Tree- Trim The Tree Seasonal cart
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Ring out the bells tonight.......

Crikey! This card is SO simple and quick! I made a couple (I'll show you the other one tomorrow). The only thing that takes time is getting all the ruddy bits out of the cut! This one wasn't too bad- but tomorrow's-don't even go there!

I used pearlised card throughout for this card, except for the blackout behind the bell which is mirri. I cut a piece of pearlised card slightly smaller than the card front, then matted it onto gold pearlised card and adhered it flat. A smaller white panel was cut, run through a Cuttlebug folder, then matted again onto more pearlised gold card. This piece was adhered with foam pads. A trim was made for the embossed panel with some foiled paper on a punched border wrapped with sheer ribbon. The bell was cut from champagne coloured pearlised card, then the blackout was cut twice from 2 colours of mirri. I cut the bow section off the red bell and adhered it to the complete gold blackout bell, then adhered the pearlised bell to it. The bell was then adhered to the embossed panel with foam pads. Simples!! A sheer bow and some gems on the stars on the bell complete the card.

Cart used:

Bell-Trim The Tree Seasonal Cartridge

ps You need the patience of a blummin' saint with this cart but it's worth it!

See ya later!!

Heather xxx

pps It's not Sunday (date at top of post) it's 7am on Monday!

Oh so classy.......

I've got another 'non-Christmas' card for you today. This one is a shortfall card (the front is narrower than the back) I cut the front of the card to 3 1/2" and punched the edge with an EK Success punch. I then matted some paper from Design Objectives Born To Shop, Bubbles A4 pad onto blue card and adhered it to the inside back and the front of the card. I then cut a panel of blue card, matted it onto white, then adhered a piece of star patterned paper to the blue panel. This was then trimmed with a punched piece of cardstock with blue striped paper adhered to it. I wrapped blue velvet ribbon around the striped paper and added a bow and a large Prima bloom.
I cut a dress form from black cardstock, adding a dress cut from pink card and rose-patterned paper. The completed form was adhered with foam pads to the left hand side of the panel. I cut a scalloped oval from blue cardstock, added a white oval with the sentiment 'Oh so classy' created with rub-ons (oh so) and black cardstock, then adhered it to the top right of the dress form slightly overhanging the front of the card. A smattering of pearls complete the front of the card.

The inside of the card has a simple piece of white card matted onto blue cardstock for a sentiment panel.

Carts used:

Dress form & dress- Nifty Fifties

Scalloped oval-A Child's Year

Plain oval-George

'Classy'-Forever Young

Thanks for visiting today!

Heather xxx

Green Fingers........

Men's cards are always few and far between on blogs that I visit..even mine, I like flowers and ribbon too much and you can't put too much 'frippery' on men's cards can you?...but occasionally, for a change, I'll make a man's card as a challenge more than anything! There aren't too many Cricut cartridges out there that are 'male' related (Sports Mania, Handyman,Dude, Billionaire- PROVOCRAFT PLEASE TAKE NOTE!) and you have to trawl through other carts for something to adapt. I came up with card with elements from an unlikely source (see end of post). The base card is a pop-out stepper decorated with papers from the Dovecraft Woodland Folk A4 pack. I added some knotted 'manly' striped ribbon to the horizontal panel, a wheelbarrow,rake,watering can,garden tools,fence,grass and a handcut flowerpot with a sunflower. The sentiment panel is a piece of ripped cream card mounted onto brown card, bradded at the corners, and the sentiment was created with Cricut generated letters and 'Heidi' rub-ons. The sentiment panel was then adhered with foam pads to complete the card.
Carts used:
'Green'-Lyrical Letters
Sunflower stem-Just Because Cards
Grass & Fence-Paper Doll Dress Up
All other cuts-Everyday Paper Dolls
Thanks for visiting and don't be scared to leave a comment!
Heather xxx

From The Heart......

I'm just loving these Prima roses at the moment (what's not to love?!) and I'm using this particular arrangement quite a lot. There isn't too much to this card because the paper is so pretty. The side panels have no embellishment on them as the paper alone is too pretty to cover up! I just added some glitter randomly. A EK Success Chain border punch was used for the horizontal panel, I just added some lilac ribbon across the centre of the ribbon, a bow to one side & white pearls to the other. The shaped panel was cut from more patterned paper with a lilac shadow then adhered with foam pads to the large centre panel. I added an arrangment of Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts roses and some pearl sprays (also WOC). The sentiment was cut from Purple glitter paper and adhered flat. A smattering of white pearls complete the card.

Carts used:

Shaped panel- Winter Woodland

Sentiment- Stamping Solutions

Thanks for dropping in!

Heather xxx

Never Give Up......

My Christmas card making has come to a halt (except for additions to my workshop samples) as I've been busying myself with general greetings cards. For this card, I used the floral spray in the corner of the front panel as inspiration. The papers are by DCWV and I used two papers, the pale blue floral paper and aqua polka dot for the other panels. All the panels were matted onto chocolate brown cardstock then adhered with foam tape. I added brown polka dot ribbon to the long panel along with a gorgeous Prima bloom. I cut vines for the side panels (one with Flip function enabled) and added brown glittercard flutterbys and punched flowers with gem centres. I added another flutterby to the centre panel along with the glittercard sentiment which was shadowed with more brown card. The sentiment was adhered with foam pads. The punched edge of the centre panel was created with an X-Cut border punch.

Carts used:

Sentiment-Wall Decor & More

Vines-Winter Frolic

Flutterbys-Stamping Solutions

Thanks for visiting!

Heather xxx

I'd rather be shopping!.....

...Not! I hate shopping! Unless it's for Crafty Stash...then I can shop for England! This card looks pink (must be the light!) but it's actually lilac. The papers are from the new Woodland Folk A4 paper pack by DoCrafts. I used a floral and a teeny polka dot print (which is double sided) The card base is a pop-up stepper. I adhered matted polka dot paper to the side and horizontal panels and matted floral paper to the large centre panel. I used the reverse side of the polka dot paper (which I embossed) to make further, smaller panels which were adhered with foam pads. I downloaded a picture of credit cards from Google Images,printed them onto glossy paper, cut them out and adhered them to the side panels with foam pads. The bag was cut from floral paper with pink mirri card trim. The sentiment was cut from pink glittercard with a purple shadow. This was then adhered below the bag. I added ribbon trim on a punched EK Success border, ribbon bows,layered blooms and a gorgeous Prima flower with some punched leaves to finish the card.

Carts used:

Bag-Doodlecharms

Sentiment-Wall Decor & More

Thanks for visiting today!

Heather xxx

Believe......

I must be going down with something!!! I actually made a bog-standard card! I really don't know what came over me, but I had an urge to make a normal card. I've had this gorgeous stamp forever...now I'm definately NOT a stamper...but I make an exception for this stamp. The image is very intricate, with lots of swirls and snowflakes, and the Santa has a pair of specs balanced on his nose. I stamped him in green ink onto cream textured cardstock, cut around it and matted it onto red card. I added some glue with a Quickie glue pen to parts of the image and sprinkled it with glamour dust for a subtle twinkle. The papers on this card are by Dovecraft. 'Believe' was cut from green glittercard with a red shadow, then adhered with foam pads below the image. I added a bow made with fab red & green ribbon, a poinsetta and some punched leaves. A smattering of gems complete the card.

Carts used:

'Believe'-Wall Decor & More

Thanks for looking & have a great weekend!

Heather xxx

Juke Box Birthday.....

It's not only Rememberance Day today ( I have to say I had a tear or two in my eye at 11am), it's my brother Andrew's birthday. My brother's always been musical, teaching himself to play keyboards and guitar and he was an enormous Queen fan. He gigs with my nephew David (his card also had a musical theme-a few posts back) at one of his local pubs, so when I saw this FAB juke box I knew I wanted to use it on his card. I used a pop-up stepper for the base, then covered the base front entirely with black card (re-doing the cuts and scores) Holographic card was used for the panels. They were all adhered with foam tape. The juke box was cut from several different colours of mirror card the assembled with PVA, and foam pads to some parts. The completed juke box was adhered to the front panel with foam pads. 45rpm 'vinyl' records were cut from black watermarked mirri with coloured mirri labels, 'Happy Birthday' was cut from gold mirri with black shadow, and 'Andrew' was cut from red mirri with black shadow. The words 'gig' & 'band' and a smattering of black mirricard notes complete the card.
Carts used:
Happy Birthday-Stamping Solutions
All other cuts- Nifty Fifties
Thanks for looking today
Heather xxx

Oh Christmas Tree......

I told you that I prefer 'off-the wall' colours for Christmas cards diddle I? I really love this pretty lickle card! I used a pop-up stepper for the base and papers from Daisy & Dandelion. Both papers have glittery elements on them. I matted the panels onto pink cardstock then adhered them in place with foam tape. The centre panel is a little longer on this card to accomodate the punched border at the bottom. I wrapped the border with pretty snowflake print ribbon. The stylised tree was cut from white glittercard and varying colours of pearls were added as baubles. I punched a star from dark pink glittercard and adhered it to the top of the tree with silicone glue (only because I wanted it raised, otherwise I use PVA)

'Christmas' was cut twice from pink glittercard with a white shadow, then adhered with foam pads. A few more punched stars with pearl centres complete the card.

Carts used:

Tree & 'Christmas'-Designer's Calendar

Thanks for dropping in!

Heather xxx

A partridge in a pear tree.......

I have another pop-up stepper card for you today. I struggled with this one because it's in traditional colours- I prefer 'off-the-wall' colours for my Christmas cards, but I persevered with it and have to say I'm quite pleased with the finished result. I used Papermania papers (1 double-sided sheet actually) red card for matting & layering, green ribbon and an MS border punch. The reverse spotty side of the paper was used for the side and horizontal panel and the main side Partridge print was used for the main centre panel. I cut a couple of the partridge images out by hand and mounted them onto scalloped circles, then adhered them to the side panels with foam pads. The tree was cut from green card (the cut has baubles not pears) and the partridge from dull gold card. The partridge was adhered to the tree with foam pads. I cut 6 small pears from gold card and adhered them over the baubles. The finished tree was adhered to a white embossed circle, which was adhered flat to a scalloped circle. The wording around the circle was created with teeny peel-off letters coloured black with a permanent marker.The whole thing was adhered to the front of the card with foam pads. A green satin bow adhered beneath the panel, and a smattering of pearls complete the card.

Carts used:

Partridge & tree- Winter Frolic

Scalloped/plain circles-Winter Woodland

Pears-Joys Of The Season

Thanks for visiting today!

Heather xxx

Kenny K's new Kittenz....

I don't stamp but I thought I'd have a go at naming a couple of Kenny's new Kittenz. You can join in the fun here.
I chose Kitten J- Ammara & Kitten L- Shazzamm
Have a go, but it's not easy 'cos they are some hot chicks!!
Heather xxx

Girl with parasol......

' Which cartridge does that cut come from?' I hear you ask. Well, I have to confess..NONE! This is my first card made with a cut using SCAL2 (Sure Cuts A Lot) It's a computer program, something similar to Design Studio, but WAY less fiddly to use! The only drawback with this program is that you CAN'T use it with your carts. You download fonts, dingbats etc from the internet (or you can use fonts on Windows Word etc) then apply the design to the mat on the program, attach your Bug with a USB cable, press cut and, Bob's your Uncle!
The cuts look odd and slightly bumpy on the screen, and cut out realllllllllly slowly but the end result is well worth the wait! If you want to get hold of SCAL2 you can buy it from www.scrappygolucky.com. This 'cut' was downloaded from the internet (I think it's called Wonderful). To find fonts and dingbats type, 'Free fonts & dingbats' into a search engine. www.dafonts.com is a good one to try.
Back to the card. I used a pop-up stepper as my base card, paper from Papermania and an EK Success chain-border punch. The lady with parasol was cut from Gemstones cardstock with a pealised white card blackout, which was embossed. The completed oval was adhered to the card with foam pads. I added some large roses from Wild Orchid Crafts (see previous post for a link), glittery Papermania ribbon & a smattering of pearls. I haven't decided what sentiment to put on it yet but the sentiment will go on a scalloped oval at her feet.
Carts used:
NONE!
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Gatefold tree....

I've used a popular kind of fold for this card- a standard gatefold, but I went a little further with this one and punched the short edges of the cardstock with an EK Success border punch before I scored and folded it. I matted some script paper (Papermania) onto some gold mirri and adhered it each of the fronts. I then cut a shaped panel from gold spotted red paper (Papermania) with a gold mirri mat. I wrapped ribbon around it, then adhered another shaped mat, this time embossed, onto it with foam pads. I found the tree on Designer's Calendar and cut it from gold lirri, then added self-adhesive pearls for baubles. The completed tree was adhered with foam pads to the embossed panel.
I glittered a Helibore flower from here and along with some punched gold leaves and a couple of red roses adhered them with silicone glue to the top corner of the panel.
To finish the inside of the card I matted a piece of deep red paper onto gold mirri and added a shaped sentiment panel.
Carts used:
Shaped panels- Winter Woodland
Tree-Designer's Calendar
Thanks for taking a look today!
Heather xxx