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