L.O.V.E......

I picked up a new 8x8 First Edition paper pad from The Range last week, called 'Dreamcatcher'. It is absolutely gorgeous with foiled, glittered and un-embellished papers in shades of purple, lavender and pink. I love this foiled paper with dreamcatchers and feathers on it. I teamed it with an un-embellished patterned paper, silver mirri and lilac cardstock. For the central panels I cut and layered shaped 'labels', embossing the lilac panel and topping it with a silver mirri frame. the LOVE word art was cut from more silver mirri and adhered with foam pads. I added a satin bow, a WOC floral arrangement and a smattering of pearls.

Carts used:

LOVE word art/shaped panels/frame- Lacy Labels

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Peace.......

This is a card that I made for my Christmas workshops- I don't normally show my workshop cards but they are nearly over now, just a couple and a Swarm left, so I thought I'd show you a few. This is obviously a shaped card, and what a shape it is! It looks quite complicated to put together but as long as you follow a few simple rules, fancy shaped cards are easy to make. I've discovered that some shapes may look exactly alike, but when you come to put them together they stubbornly won't fit together properly- scallop-edged shapes especially- so the trick is to cut everything first and then stick it together. This card was made by cutting two shadow shapes in cardstock and one in paper. Now, you can stick the two cardstock shapes together by hinging them, but if you use a patterned paper (especially a script) and you put the paper the wrong way round on the mat prior to cutting, when you put the cut paper piece onto the base card shape you may find that the hinge is in the wrong place and the pattern on the paper runs the wrong way. So I adhere the patterned paper onto one of the cardstock pieces THEN adhere the two cardstock pieces together with a hinge, usually after a fair bit of juggling to get the scallops to match up perfectly. This way is practically fool-proof and a time and paper saver too!

Now, back to today's card. I cut the card base as described above and adhered green paper to the base card, then added the gold mirri fancy layer. I cut a script-patterned paper oval and a striped oval. I cut the striped oval in half and punched the straight edge with a MS punch. I wrapped gold ribbon around the oval below the punched border then adhered it to the fancy layer. I made a smaller panel in the same way as the base card and cut the word 'Peace' from gold mirri and adhered it to the smaller panel with foam pads. I added a gold bow, a trio of red pearls and a punched-flower arrangement to the smaller panel.

Carts used:

Shaped card & small shaped panel- Lacy Labels

Peace- Winter Woodland

Ovals- George

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend!

Heather xxx

Warmest Wishes and please send my mojo back!........

I got fed up with making Christmas cards (I'm making them for workshops and Swarms so I need a constant supply of new cards!) so I took a break and made some everyday cards for my stash, and this is one of them. It's nice to make a guy's card every now and then if only to step outside your comfort zone and keep the old mojo going- mine's taken a hike at the moment and it's driving me nuts! I've started so many cards these last few days- got half-way then chucked 'em in a drawer because I can't think what to do next with them! MOJO, COME BAAAAACCKK!! I NEED YOU!!

Anyway, back to the card. I really like the autumnal colours in this card- quite appropriate for the time of year I think. I used DCWV papers from the Neutral stack, in a really simple layout. The heron was cut from textured cardstock and adhered to a shaped, embossed panel. I added some ribbon (yes, you can put ribbon a guy's card!) but instead of a bow I threaded a small piece under the ribbon and tied it in a knot. I added the sentiment, cut from brown cardstock and adhered flat, and a trio of Card Candi to finish.

Carts used:

Heron- Art Nouveau

Shaped panel- Lacy Labels

Warmest Wishes- Wild Card

Thanks for dropping by today!

Heather xxx

Bliss......

Isn't this humming bird beautiful?!

I cut it from cardstock in jewel colours with just a little brown for the underneath of the wing feathers. I added glitter to the completed bird and some fab multi-coloured Stickle-type glitter to the 'Bliss' sentiment. The bird and sentiment were adhered to an embossed panel matted onto glossy green patterned paper. All patterned papers are from a DCWV stack. I added a sheer ribbon bow and a layered bloom to finish.

Carts used:

Hummingbird- Art Nouveau

Shaped panel & 'Bliss'- Lacy Labels

THanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Incredible!........

I won a couple of carts on Ebay last week- woohoo!- Batman and Best Of Pixar, and this fab image of Mr. Incredible beckoned to me! I love The Incredibles, it's such a great movie and Mr Incredible is a hoot! He's a mild mannered Insurance clerk, married  to Mrs. Incredible (aka Elastogirl) with three children, Violet, Dash & Jak-Jak. Even the children have special powers!

Unlike the Disney carts which are really faffy to put together, the images on this cart are easy-peasy with minimal little bits.

I cut 'Bob' (his real name) from textured cardstock, and adhered all the pieces flat. I picked up a fab embossing folder which looks like a brick wall last week, so I embossed a piece of white cardstock and cut away some of the bricks to make a hole. I adhered a piece of black cardstock behind it and then adhered Bob over it with foam pads, so that it looks as though he's punched a hole in the wall! I added a 'POW!' cut from textured cardstock and adhered with foam pads, and a computer-generated sentiment. I kept the layout and materials simple, because I wanted the image to really pop, and I think I've achieved that! What do you think?

Cart used:

Bob (Mr. Incredible) & 'POW!'- Best Of Pixar

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Rock On!......

My brother Andrew hit the big 50 last Friday so I made and sent him a card, but not this one! I forgot to photograph it before I posted it, but luckily I'd made another almost identical one (Andrew's had a '50' and his name on it). I used foiled paper from the DCWV Rock Star stack and silver and black mirri card with some holographic card for the keyboard and the sentiment. The guitarist was cut from black mirri and I added a scrap of holographic card behind the guitar. The keyboard was cut from black mirri then adhered to a piece of holographic cardstock which was then trimmed to shape by hand. Both cut elements were adhered to an embossed mirri card panel with foam pads. 'Happy Birthday' was cut from holographic cardstock and adhered with foam pads below the panel. A smattering of punched black mirri stars and a couple of musical notes completes the card.

Carts used:

Guitarist/keyboard & musical notes- Quarternote

Happy Birthday- Stamping Solutions

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

Acorn best wishes.........

I have bought three new First Edition paper pads from The Range over the last couple of weeks and I made this card with one of them, New Leaf. It's full of lovely autumnal colours with leaves and flowers and some lovely toning fabric-look plains. I thought that this leaf paper would make a great masculine card. I used a square fold-back card base, with a shaped panel on the front. I also added a smaller script embossed panel to hold the acorn cluster and sentiment which were cut from textured cardstock. They were both adhered to the shaped panel with foam pads. The inside back of the card was covered with a fabric-look plain paper in a grey-green colour. Card Candi in the same colours as the leaves on the paper completes the card.

Carts used:

Acorn cluster-Art Nouveau

Shaped panels & Best Wishes- Lacy Labels

Is it me or does that 'b' in the Best Wishes look a bit wonky?!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Heather xxx

Wisteria..with love...

My late Dad planted a fabulous wisteria outside the front-room window of my parent's house, and year after year it has blossomed to give a glorious display of 'weeping' lavender coloured blooms, pretty much like the one on the front of this card. I loved this image as soon as I saw it and knew just how I was going to use it...as a frame. The bloom was cut from Papermania Shimmer Cardstock, layered up and adhered with foam pads to an embossed panel, wrapped with olive green ribbon and a bow. The embossed panel was, in turn, adhered to a slightly larger panel with a punched end. The card base was created by cutting a couple of inches off the front of an A5 card. The papers are from an old issue of Creative Cardmaking. The decorated panel was adhered to the front of the card with foam pads, adhereing the left-hand side only. The sentiment was cut from more shimmer cardstock and adhered with foam pads. A smattering of pearls completes the card.
Carts used:
Wisteria bloom- Art Nouveau
With Love-Sentimentals
Thanks for looking!
Heather xxx

Proud as a Peacock.......

When I saw this peacock on the Art Nouveau cartridge I just knew that it would be gorgeous when cut and assembled- and I wasn't wrong! It's beautiful, especially when cut in shimmer cardstock as this was. I chose two shades of aqua and a deep peacock (!!) blue for the body and tail, and cream and brown for the wing under-feathers. The 'eyes' of the tail feathers and the head crest were blinged up with some Stickles and a black gem added for the bird's eye. The completed Peacock was adhered to an embossed oval, which in turn was adhered to a large tag. The card base is an A5 tent fold, and the papers are from the First Edition New Leaf pad. The pink patterned paper was edged with an EK Success punch.I added some narrow satin ribbon, a bow, some WOC cherry blossom blooms and a smattering of pearls.The sentiment was cut from more shimmer cardstock and adhered with foam pads.
Carts used:
Peacock & tag- Art Nouveau
Ovals- George
Sentiment-Phrases
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx

Blessings......

I just LOVE this card so much!! It was so easy to put together and it is so pretty. The paper, would you believe, is Christmas paper- Papermania Apple & Cranberry collection- but I think it looks great on this card and not at all Christmassy!

The card base is a 6" square and the front was covered completely with the Cranberry paper and a square of white textured cardstock matted onto red then white cardstock, wrapped with red satin ribbon, was adhered to the centre of the card with foam pads. The beautiful William Morris style rose was cut from textured cardstock and adhered to a layered semi-circle mat. The completed image was adhered above the ribbon border with foam pads. Below the border, the word 'Blessings' was cut from red textured cardstock and adhered flat. Some red Stickles on the roses completes the card.

So simple and so pretty! Gotta love it!

Carts used:

Rose and semi-circular mat- Art Nouveau

Blessings- Inspired Heart

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

David......

My nephew David was 23 last Wednesday, and this is the card that I made for him. This MP3 player/I-Pod (whichever!!) looks a bit non-descript in the booklet- I think it's something to do with the colours used- but I wanted to cut it to put on David's card. So I went with black & white mirri card, added a few little extras, not on the cart i.e the navigation symbols on the dial, and I think that it looks really good! The papers are  from a veeerrry old DCWV stack. The silver mirri panel was embossed with musical notes, and I added a silver glittercard '23' shadowed with black and adhered with foam pads. The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment and 'David' was cut from black mirri and adhered flat. Some holgraphic Card Candi completes the card.
Carts used:
MP3 player- Paisley
'23' & 'Davis'- Don Juan
Happy Birthday- Stamping Solutions
Thanks for dropping by!
Heather xxx