Hope......

The good thing about these Easy Easels is that you can use scraps for them, and can also get 2 cards from 1 piece of double sided 12 x 12. I used 1/2 a sheet for this one, along with an MS punch, some organza Papermania ribbon and a layered bloom. The butterfly was cut from blue mirri embossed with a Swiss Dot embossing folder and pink glittercard, then enhanced with wire antennae and some blue pearls.'Hope' was cut from glittercard with a blue mirri shadow. Both the butterfly & 'Hope' were mounted onto scalloped ovals. A smattering of blue pearls complete the card

Carts used:

Butterfly- Sentimentals

Hope- Home Decor Solutions

Scalloped ovals- A Child's Year

Plain ovals- George

Thanks for dropping in!

Heather xxx

Sleigh ride.....

At the moment I have enough cards to alternate between everday and Christmas cards, so it's a Christmas card for you today. Another Easy Easel (I'm afraid that you are going to be seeing a lot of these!) made with Dovecraft papers. I chose traditional colours for this one because the sleigh is quite classic and ornate. I used gold mirri to matt all the panels and for the base of the sleigh. The borders are decorated with an MS Holly punch. I cut the sleigh base once from gold mirri and again from patterned paper ( I cut off the runners) layered them up then added the gold mirri trim along the top. The sleigh was enhanced with a dressmaker's wheel and embellished with a layered poinsetta and punched leaves. The border beneath the sleigh was wrapped with red velvet ribbon and a bow added. The lower border was kept simple with a couple of flourishes and a simple sentiment.
Carts used:
Sleigh- Christmas Noel Solutions
Merry Christmas- Wild Card
Flourishes-Winter Frolics
Have a great weekend & thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Happy Birthday Louie.....

I was flicking through the newest edition of Making Cards at work on Wednesday when I came across a different version of an easel card. It was sent in by a reader but was originally the brainchild of Michelle Marsden from Create & Craft, so I thought I'd have a go at making one. One of the Little Boyz from next door has a birthday today, so out came my little used Robotz cart and this was the result. I used DCWV Boys paper stack which contained 3 or 4 fab robot inspired designs. I used a C5 card and cut off approx. 1/3 of the front (the remaining portion is about 5") folded it like a standard easel, then covered the base with robot paper matted onto red cardstock. The folded section was then covered with lightbulb paper matted onto red cardstock. A stop was created from silver mirri, embossed, and 'Happy Birthday' cut from blue mirri adhered to it. I created a robot from mirri card, added googly eyes then adhered it with foam pads to the folded section. 'Louie' was cut from orange mirri, embossed with a Tim Holtz cogs & wheels embossing folder then adhered vertically with foam pads to the base of the card. I added a border cut with decorative scissors and embellished with red metallic candy dots.
Carts used:
Robot & 'Louie'- Robotz
'Happy Birthday'- Stamping Solutions
Mount for sentiment- George
Thanks for visiting!
Heather xxx

Merry & Bright....

I went with a more traditional look for this Easy Easel, but by using a bright green cardstock and some fun ribbon I think that the result is fresh & funky! 'Merry & Bright' was cut from red & green glittercard, shadowed with white cardstock then mounted onto a tartan scalloped circle. The slight jaunty angle of the sentiment adds to the funky feel of this card. A simple ribbon trim to the punched border and a smattering of poinsettas complete the card.
Carts used:
Scalloped/plain circles- Winter Woodland
'Merry & Bright'- Winter Frolic
Short but sweet today!
Thanks for looking!
Heather xxx

Angels Gather Here.....

Here's a slightly different easel card today. It looks a bit washed out in the photo but the gold mirri and papers are a lot more vibrant IRL. I used an ordinary easel base and added a shaped panel the same size as the card base (the card base is 6 1/2" square and the shaped panel was cut at 6 3/4" to fit) You can make a smaller panel and leave some of the base card showing. I used papers from Dovecraft's NOEL stack, plenty of gold mirri and gold sparkly ribbon. The angel was cut from gold mirri (I flipped the image) with a red blackout. It was adhered to another different shaped panel decorated with a bow and layered poinsetta. 'Angles Gather Here' was cut from red glittercard with a gold shadow and adhered to the border with foam pads. A smattering of gems complete the card.
Carts used:
Shaped panels- Winter Woodland
Angel- Christmas Noel Solutions
Angels Gather Here- Winter Frolics
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Baby's 1st Christmas...

Here's anothe Christmas Occasions card for you...this time for a baby's 1st Christmas. Yet another Easy Easel, this one using Papermania's Festive Frolics papers. The baby was cut twice, from flesh coloured cardstock and patterned paper, then I chopped the head & hands off the patterned piece and adhered it to the card baby. This was adhered to a scalloped circle then mounted with foam pads to the front of the card. 'Baby's First Christmas' was cut from dark aqua glittercard and adhered flat to the border. A layered poinsetta, spotted sheer ribbon, punched snowflakes and a smattering of gems complete the card.

Carts used:

Crawling baby- A Child's Year

Scalloped & plain circle- Winter Woodland

'Baby's First Christmas'- Designer's Calendar

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

All I Want......

I have to admit that when it comes to Christmas cards I much prefer non-traditional colours. There are times when only red & green will do, but there are so many gorgeous 'off the wall' papers around this year that inspire you to think a little outside the box.

For this Easy Easel I used more papers from the Dovecraft 'Penelope & Percy' A4 pack. I went for pink with this one for a girly effect. I used 3 different papers (a couple are glittered) and added Papermania organza glittered ribbon (it's SOOOO pretty!) a layered poinsetta with punched glittercard leaves and a pair of GORGEOUS shoes cut from pink glittercard & mirri. The shoes were adhered with foam pads to a scalloped circle. The sentiment was cut from 2 shades of pink mirri card (only 'cos my Bug ATE the glittercard version!) shadowed with white textured cardstock. This was adhered to the punched border with foam tape.

Carts used:

Scalloped circle/plain circle- Winter Woodland

Shoes- Forever young

All I Want..-Winter Frolics

Thanks for visiting!

Heather xxx

Let It Snow.....

Aaarghhh! Why can't I get out of Christmas Mode??!!! My everyday-mojo has taken a hike and when I look at my everyday stash I can't think of a thing to do with it! My Christmas stash has developed a magnetic attraction and it's still only September...I'm going to be drowning in Christmas cards by the time December arrives!
Oh well..
For today's card I'm showing you another Easy Easel (these are just as ruddy addictive!) made with Dovecraft's Christmas Fancy papers. I cut 'Let It Snow' from aqua glittercard with pink accent letters. This was mounted onto a scalloped circle and adhered to the front of the card over a punched border. I added a ribbon bow to the 'stop' along with some layered snowflakes cut from glittercard and embellished with gems. Snowflakes also adorn the top border and the scalloped circle. The smaller white snowlakes are punched.
Carts used:
Let It Snow- Winter Frolics
Larger snowflakes- When It's Cold Outside
Scalloped circle/plain circle- Winter Woodland
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

A Winter Wedding.....

Here is another Easy Easel Winter Occasion card. I used papers from the Daisy & Dandelion 'Penelope & Percy' A4 pack from Dovecraft. I chose the blue colourway because I wanted an 'icy' look to the card. I punched a border from silver mirri using an MS punch and added a piece of snowflake print paper and some silver edged white ribbon. The border was adhered with foam pads. I cut the heart from white glittercard with a solid mirri background. The silver heart was embossed with a Fiskars Texture Plate, then the glittered heart was adhered to it with foam pads. I added alternate blue & clear gems to the outside edge and a layered snowflake with a gem in the centre to the top of the heart. This was adhered to the card with foam pads. I cut several snowflakes in differing sizes from white & blue glittercard, layering them up and adhering them to the ribbon beside the heart and to the scalloped oval which holds the sentiment.

A smattering of gems complete the card.

Carts used:

Heart- Love Struck

Scalloped ovals- A Child's Year

Sentiment- 'Winter': Winter Frolics 'Wedding': Designer's Calendar

Snowflakes-When It's Cold Outside

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

One man's junk.....

You know what they say.. one man's junk is another man's treasure.... well I found these little treasures last weekend...AT MY LOCAL TIP!!! I'd taken all the grass cuttings etc to the tip and as usual took my purse with me as our Local Recycling Centre sells all the good stuff that people take up there to be chucked. I don't often find anything of interest but my eyes came out on stalks when I saw these. They are Schreiber units and are in really good nick.. Guess how much they were? TWENTY FIVE POUNDS FOR THE PAIR!!!! so I bring them home (no mean feat - we got both of these in the back of a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso) and my Mum - who was visiting at the time- and I gave them a good clean, removed the light strip and Presto!! I now have a really great storage unit for all my Crafty Stash.

All those plastic boxes in the corner used to be stacked where this unit now stands and there were a couple of shelves that were bowed under the weight of all my stash (I took these down)and now everything looks neat & tidy. Now all I need to do is tidy up/chuck out the stuff in a wardrobe full of the boys old toys and my garage/stash room will look great!

Catch you later!

Heather
p.s This ISN'T all the stash that I have! You should see the opposite wall!

A Christmas baby....

Who wouldn't want to celebrate the birth of a Christmas baby with a pram like THIS?!!! I can't get enough of this pram. My Mum had a Silver Cross pram for 3 of us, wearing out and replacing 3 sets of wheels, looking after it really well. She got rid of it then promptly got pregnant with my youngest brother! BUMMER!!!(not the birth of my brother, getting rid of the pram!)
I used an Easy Easel base and Papermania Honey & Hugs Feative Frolics papers. I added red cardstock for the pram and as an accent colour for matting and layering and for the punched border. The pram base was cut from silver mirri and the pram body was cut from red pearlescent cardstock from The Paper Mill. I drew around the body of the pram and the hood then cut it out by hand to save paper (you don't need the wheels)
I added holly leaves (waste from an MS punch) to the hood of the pram along with some red gems for berries and added some punched holly leaves and a Papermania mini poinsetta from last Christmas' stash. A couple of green candy dots on the wheel hubs complete the pram. I mounted the pram onto a shaped panel which was adhered to the card with foam tape. A layered Poinsetta and bow were added to the card beside the pram. 'Little One' was cut from more red pearlescent card and layered with silver mirri. This was adhered to the border along with some punched holly leaves and more gems.
Carts used:
Pram- Mother's Day
Shaped panel- Winter Woodland
'Little One'- Stamping Solutions
Thanks for looking & have a great day!
Heather xxx

A Christmas Day Birthday....

I'm still in Christmas mode,but wanted to make something other than a Christmas card. So I thought..what other occasion could I use Christmas paper for? How about Birthday, Christmas Day baby, winter wedding etc, etc. So here is the first one that I came up with.. a Christmas Day birthday card. I used an Easy Easel base and beautiful Papermania Henbury Lane Poinsetta papers. I added a shaped panel featured on previous cards, cutting out an aperture and adding a layered sticker from last years Christmas stash (the colours just happened to go!) I added punched ivy leaves, red satin ribbon bow, a punched border and a plaque holding the sentiment. 'Happy' & 'birthday' are computer generated onto Safmat by Letraset and 'Christmas Day' was cut from a red peel-off material sheet. A smattering of gems complete the card.

Carts used:

Shaped panels- Winter Woodland

'Christmas Day'- Lyrical Letters

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather

Luke.....

No. 2 son is off to his friend Luke's 18th Birthday party this afternoon and he asked me to make a card. Luke shoots for the country and he is hoping to represent the country at the 2012 Olympics. I decided to use a cartoon figure as the focal point rather than cover the card in guns & bullet holes! I used an Easy Easel base and papers from DCWV Natural stack. I downloaded the hunter from Google Images (a great scource of images if you're stuck!) and printed it out 3 times onto matt photo paper. I decoupaged it using the other two images. I cut the name & number from papers from the stack and 'Happy Birthday' from orange mirri. I shadowed all the elements with brown cardstock. A crosshair was cut from black mirri.The 'stop' was edged with a Fiskars Greek Key border punched and then adhered with foam tape to the card base.The hunter and '18' were adhered with foam pads and 'Happy Birthday', 'Luke' and the crosshair were adhered flat.

Carts used:

'Luke' & '18'- Robotz

'Happy Birthday'- Stamping Solutions

Crosshair- Indie Art

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

Poptastic Birthday!.....

Our No.1 son is twenty tomorrow! Happy Birthday Krishnan! Crikey, how time flies..one minute they're this helpless little thing, then in a blink of an eye they're a legless big thing! He's discovered vinyl LP's (I've got quite a few) and he listens to them when he's home from Uni..so I thought that I'd shelve the guitars that I usually use on his cards and go down the LP route instead.
I used Imaginesce papers and black mirri (I LOVE THIS STUFF!) for the LPs. I layered the paper panels and added some candy dots coloured with a permanent marker to get a near perfect match. The LPs were 3 different sized circles layered on top of each other. I cut 'SON' from holographic card & '20' from blue mirri which I embossed after cutting. These were adhered onto the LP with foam tape.

The inside was decorated with a border, matted sentiment panel and an LP and a '45. 'Happy Birthday' was cut from more black mirri and adhered to the sentiment panel.

Carts used:

LPs & '45- Winter Woodland

'Son' & '20'- Don Juan

'Happy Birthday'- Stamping Solutions

Thanks for visiting!

Heather xxx

Whimsical Toadstool Birthday!.....

Here's yet another shaped easel card for you-the last one for now...PROMISE!!! I'm having to delve into my card archives for things you haven't seen 'cos I've been so busy prepping Christmas cards I haven't had time to make anything else! I'll have something fresh to show you tomorrow. This was another card that was part of my last workshop. It's a really cute card, suitable for a small child or an adult who likes whimsical things. I used Dovecraft papers (this one has little white daisies on a green background so it looks like a field of daisies!) I cut the mushroom from Bazill cardstock scraps and added a cute ladybird to the stalk. Some grass roughly cut from green paper and some teeny-tiny Prima flowers complete the mushroom. I cut 'Happy Birthday' from red card, shadowed with white then adhered to a daisy border cut from white textured cardstock. This was adhered to the base of the card with foam pads. A layered bloom was added to the large white spot on the mushroom, and the finished mushroom was adhered to the front of the card after I drew around it and cut away the excess. A liberal sprinkling of glitter completes the card.

Carts used:

Mushroom- Paisley

Ladybird- Doodlecharms

'Happy Birthday' & daisy border- Stamping Solutions

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Shaped wedding easel.....

Here's another shaped easel card for you..this one was a workshop card...and I'll have another one to show you tomorrow. The white heart was cut from pearlescent card and the heart beneath it was cut from silver mirri & embossed with a Fiskars Texture Plate. The white heart was adhered to the silver heart with foam pads. I drew roughly around the heart onto a square tent-fold card, leaving the fold intact, and then cut it out by hand. I folded the top section of the heart upwards and creased it firmly. The base of the card was covered with patterned paper (Papermania) and trimmed with silver peel-offs. 'Mr & Mrs' was cut from white pearlescent card with a silver shadow, and then adhered to the base of the card with foam pads to create the 'stop'. The white heart was then adhered to the folded top portion of the card with PVA. The heart was trimmed with a sheer spotted bow, a paper rose & some pearl strands.

Carts used:

Wedding heart- Love Struck

Mr & Mrs- Sweethearts

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

Shaped easel cards...

I made these cards a while ago but couldn't post them as they were part of a workshop..that workshop is done so now I can post them! The card base is a 6 1/2" square. I rounded the front corners of the base portion of the card and covered the base with pink spotted paper (DCWV) added a punched border trimmed with paper, ribbon, roses and a layered sentiment cut from Gemstones cardstock and shadowed with silver mirri. The pram was cut once from silver mirri, then I turned it right side down onto the wrong side of a piece of Gemstones cardstock and drew around it omitting the wheels and handle, then repeated this stage for the pram hood only. They were cut out by hand (this minimises wastage-the wheels aren't needed so why waste good cardstock!) I added detail with a dressmaker's wheel on both the pram base and the hood. The hood was trimmed with daisy lace and pearls, and the body with a punched heart and more pearls.

The coloured pram body was adhered to the silver pram with PVA glue and the hood was adhered with foam pads to add dimension. The wheels were embellished with candy dots and pearls (the pearls slipped on the blue pram!) The pram, by itself is not sturdy enough to stand alone so I added a piece of cardstock-weight acetate behind it and then cut away the excess (don't cut away between the spokes and above the wheels). This strengthens the pram and stops it crumpling when stood up. Back to the base card, I folded the front of the card upwards and creased it well, then lay the completed pram against the fold (the base of the body should just rest of the fold) drew around it again and cut away the excess. The pram was then adhered to the shaped portion of the card with PVA.

Carts used:

Pram- Mother's Day

Little One- Stamping Solutions

Thanks for visiting!

Heather xxx

Cupcake birthday........

Here's another bow-front aperture card. I used Dovecraft 'Piece of Cake' papers in yummy pink & brown. The aperture was edged with an embossed scalloped oval and the cupcake, cut from pale pink glittercard & pink mirri with a brown shadow and mirri card cherry, was adhered to an acetate oval. Dotty brown ribbon & a layered bloom were adhered at the top of the oval and 'Happy Birthday',cut from pale pink glitter card with a brown shadow was adhered with foam pads below the aperture.

The inside of the card was decorated with a simple punched border and shaped sentiment panel.

Carts used:

Scalloped oval frame- Ashlyn's Alphabet

Cupcake- Home Decor Solutions

Happy Birthday- Stamping Solutions

Thanks for visiting!

Heather xxx