Happy Birthday Caroline......

This card was one of three in a commission for a lady who orders lots of cards from us (Jendenink Craftworks). The other two were for her son and daughter-in-law. this one is for her daughter. She asked for a fun card, in shades of blue and with either a cooking or gardening theme. I chose to go with a cooking theme as I had just the right cartridge. The papers are from a 6x6 pad by Melissa Frances called 'Kitchsy Kitchen' from Dunelm Mill. As the card is C5 size I had to piece the papers together to fit the front of the card. I covered the join in the papers with a border cut from a piece of contrasting paper wrapped with ribbon with an added bow. All the elements on the card were cut from blue, white & silver mirri card with a little glittercard thrown in for some bling. The sentiment was adhered to a large panel off-set on the card front, with the recipients name adhered beneath, and the apron, oven glove and retro mixer were adhered around the edge with foam pads.

Carts used:

Mixer, apron & oven gloves- Nifty Fifties

Happy Birthday- Wild Card

50th & Caroline- Lyrical Letters

Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy the glorious weather this weekend 'cos it won't last forever!!

Heather xxx

On the Christmas Card bandwagon......

 ....well, everyone else is at it so why not me?!! I don't normally show Christmas cards (well not many) on my blog because most of the cards that I make are destined for Workshops or Swarms, but I was so chuffed with these that I wanted you to see them. For my faithful ladies, they will be available to make at the next Workshop/Swarm, and you will get the usual instructions! Now, the two C5 cards can be made on the Expression & Create (using the portrait function) but not the Original Bug (the frames will cut too small), but the square card with the circular aperture frame CAN be made on the OB. Not many of my ladies have the OB but I still like to make a version that they can create too.
The gold card on the right was cut from gold mirri and plain white cardstock (the front of the card is mirri, the back, white) The white card was scored across the scallops and adhered to the mirri card to make the base card. I added a frame with oval aperture cut from red mirri and Papermania paper. Red satin ribbon was adhered to the bottom of the frame before it was fixed over a contrasting piece of patterned paper adhered to the front of the card, with foam tape. The top of the aperture was decorated with punched poinsettas, white 'helibores' created from small Papermania punches, mini 'helibores' created in the same way, and holly & ivy leaves (punched again with Woodware/Dovecraft punches). Yellow pearls were added to the centres of all the flowers and holly berries (pearls coloured red with a permenant marker) were adhered below the helibores.

The 'Holly & The Ivy' sentiment was computer generated onto Safmat using CAC Pinafore font (free from Dafont.com),carefully cut out and adhered inside the aperture. You could replace my choice of sentiment with one of your choice. Mine was chosen to go with the papers & embellishments. All the frames were decorated the same.

Carts used:

Gold card base- Just Because Cards (there is an almost identical one on A Child's Year)

Oval aperture frame/circular aperture frame- Ashlyn's Alphabet

Before I sign off, could I just make an appeal to any ladies coming to my next Swarm on October 6th? If anyone has the Batman cartridge could they please bring it with them as one of the ladies would like to borrow it to make a Batman card for a little boy who wants to be Batman when he grows up!

Thanks!

Heather xxx

A car for Louie...

 One of the little BoyzNextDoor had a birthday on Saturday, and this is the card that I made for him. He had Robots last year, this year Disney Cars. The card base is a side fold horizontal C5 made with a piece of A3 cardstock cut to size. I like tent fold C5 cards but they can collapse under the weight of heavy embellishments, so I like to make them so that they fold at the side. They are much more stable. I cut McQueen from red, black, white, orange, yellow & silver cardstock. I made sure that he would almost fill the front of the card as I wanted to make a cut-away card. When I had adhered all the pieces together (why are these Disney cuts so flamin' fiddly?!) I adhered McQueen to the card front with foam pads, then cut around him leaving a small border. The inside back of the card was covered with a red/black mat with rounded corners.

'Happy Birthday' was cut from black cardstock and adhered flat. 'Louie' was cut from holographic cardstock then adhered with foam pads. I added a speed embellishment to finish (sorry for the fuzzy photo!)
                                                                         Carts used:

McQueen & 'Speed'- Disney Cars

Happy Birthday- A Child's Year

Louie-Robots

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Paige.....

My hubby called me on Monday and said "Speak to Debbie" (she's one of his secretaries)" she needs a birthday card...." So I speak to Debbie and she wants an 18th Birthday card for her daughter for FRIDAY!!! (today). Bearing in mind that the card had to go to Slough in Berkshire that was a pretty big ask!

Anyhow, she gave me all the deets and this is what I came up with. It was in the post Tuesday morning!

I used My Mind's Eye ' 'Penny Lane' papers on an A4 card base. Paige is a fashion design student so I thought that the dress form was rather appropriate. I added some dark teal satin ribbon, a deep pink Prima bloom and some pearls coloured with permanent pens to match the pink mats.

Carts used:

Dress form & dress- Formal Occasions

Happy Birthday- Wild Card

18th & 'Paige'- Lyrical Letters

I've yet to hear whether Debbie & Paige liked the card. I'll let you know!

Have a great weekend!

Heather xxx

Beautiful......

Here's another of the heads from the Art Nouveau cart. I altered this one a bit, as there was a HUGE flower joining the head to the outer ring. I didn't like it so I carefully cut the flower from each of the cut pieces and replaced it with a romanesque pearl headdress and a WOC bloom. Now I like it!  I added some teeny punched leaves and flowers to the circle frame as a finishing touch. The punched border is a Dovecraft punch, wrapped with pink satin ribbon topped with a bow. 'Beautiful' was cut from green shimmer cardstock, shadowed with white. A smattering of pearls completes the card.

Carts used:

Head- Art Nouveau

'Beautiful'-Home Decor

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

Lovely......

Here's another beautiful image from the Art Nouveau cart. She's one of four standing/sitting figures. I cut her from pearlised cardstock and adhered her with foam pads to an embossed panel. The card was created by cutting 1" from the front of a C5 card then punching the edge with this lovely Woodware Border Punch . I backed the punched edge with more pearlised cardstock then trimmed away the excess. The papers are from DCWV Mango stack. 'Lovely' was cut from pearlised cardstock using Font 1 on the cart and adhered flat to the inside back of the card. I finished the card off with some pearls and a WOC bloom.

Cart used:

Figure & 'Lovely'- Art Nouveau

Thanks for looking!

Heather xxx

Beautiful dreamer.....

This dreamy card was made with my latest aquisition, Art Nouveau. OMG! This cart is TO DIE FOR!!!

I can't tell you how I've wished for a cart with these kind of images on, and I have to tell you they are stunning. They are very easy to cut out and put together. I've made three cards so far with this image, and another one with a different head. Besides the heads (there are four in all)  there are four standing/sitting figures, numerous images including a dragonfly and scarab beetle, William Morris style flowers and two fonts! I have made two Christmas cards using this image and they are very easy to adapt. I'll show you those at a later date as they are for my Christmas Workshop, and my ladies get first look! I used Papermania's Rose Garden (??) papers for the card base which measures 8" x 5", and shimmer cardstock for the image. I prettied up the headdress with a Prima mini rose and some punched mini leaves. I added more punched leaves and teeny punched flowers to the circle frame. The pretty punched border is a Woodware border punch, which was embellished with pink satin ribbon and a bow with a jewelled hat pin pushed through it- I always stick a silver bugle bead on the end of the pins to make them safe to post- and a small Prima rose. 'Dream' was cut from pink shimmer cardstock, adhered to cream shimmer cardstock, then hand cut to create a shadow. It was adhered to the card with foam pads. A smattering of pearls completes the card. The Art Nouveau cart is available from craftsulove.co.uk and costs £49.99. They have sold out once and have re-stocked but I wouldn't wait too long if you want to get it as I can see it flying off the shelves again!

Carts used:

Art Nouveau Head- Art Nouveau

Dream- Graphically Speaking

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx