A bit late......

I made a couple of commission cards for the shop before Christmas...

...the first one for the customer's hubby- the brief- Christmas colours and vintage cars. I used freebie papers from an old Christmas copy of Creative Cardmaking and I cut the car and name from green and red pearlised cardstock, and the sentiment from red pearlised cardstock. I added some die cut ivy corners to finish.

The second card was for the customer's grandson Finley. The same brief, Christmas colours, only this time she provided me with some honeycomb paper as she wanted a Christmas tree inside the card. I decorated the card front with a simple shaped panel, punched holly leaves and the recipient's  name.....

 and inside, decorated it with more papers, printed ribbon, parcels and a grand Christmas tree!

The paper is very easy to use (but delicate, so you have to be careful when opening it after cutting) All you do is draw half of your design along one of the straight edges then cut out. It opens out into this beautiful honeycomb pattern. I remember having decorations like this hanging from our front room ceiling when I was a kid!

The tree was adhered inside the card along the centre fold. I added a panel for the customer to write a message.

Carts used:

DEREK

Vintage car & DEREK- Art Deco

Sentiment- Christmas Noel

 

FINLEY

Shaped panel (front)- Elegant Edges

FINLEY- Base Camp

Parcels (inside)- Joys Of The Season & Christmas Cheer

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xx 

Rhea.....

Rhea's birthday was a couple of days after Tara's so I used the same 'Let's Party' decoupage & paper pack that I used for Tara's card.

This time I chose a pink palette, again with the dramatic black contrast. I love this 'girl with dalmation' image. I cut a black frame, embossed it, added a smaller pink frame around the aperture then adhered it over the decoupaged image. The whole piece was then adhered to the front of the card with foam tape. 'Rhea' was cut from pink glittercard and shadowed with black, then adhered to the bottom edge of the frame with foam pads. A big, blowsy rose, sheer black bow, a sentiment from the pack and a smattering of black gems completes the card.

Carts used:

Black frame- Elegant Edges

Pink frame- Lyrical Letters

RHEA- Suburbia (Housewife font)

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xx

Tara.......

Crikey! Where did last year go? It's ages since I blogged and I WILL blog more regularly this year- heaven knows I have a ton of cards in my files- so I have no excuse not to. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and great New Year celebrations.

Anita (our niece in previous post) has a younger sister Tara, and it was her birthday at the beginning of October. I made this card using the Papermania 'Let's Party!' collection. I used a lilac and aqua paper with black cardstock for a striking contrast. I love using black on cards. What about you? I matted the paper onto black card, then added a black scalloped frame topped with the fab party girl decoupaged topper. 'Tara' was cut from black glitter card and adhered flat beneath the image. I finished the card with a black, sheer bow, tiny flower, and a sentiment panel from the collection.

Carts used:

Scalloped panel- Elegant Edges

'TARA'- Suburbia

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xxx

An Australian Wedding........

Our beautiful niece Anita married her sweetheart Peter ( a New Zealander) last Friday in Sydney, Australia. Doesn't she look absolutely stunning in her wedding suit? She married in a sari, and wore this beautifully embroidered skirt and blouse for her evening reception. Pete also looks very good in his wedding finery!

Of course I had to make them a keepsake card, which was wrapped in bubble-wrap to protect it in hubby's suitcase on it's long journey.

 This is the front of the card. All papers used in the card were Pink Petticoat downloads printed onto pearlised paper in 'Goldenrod' a lovely soft yellowy gold. The embossed circle holding Anita & Pete's names was adhered to a scalloped circle, then lavishly decorated with WOC roses and lilies, all of which had been pearlised with Glimmer Mist. I also added a jumbo pearl hatpin. The card base consists of two 8" square pieces of cardstock with a concertinaed section that opens out when the card is opened......

...to reveal the first section holding details of the big day...

...then the second section holding a marriage quote.....

.....and the third holding a 'recipe for love' complete with silver spoon...

...and the fourth and final section (a pocket) with an Irish marriage poem...

....into which was tucked a tag with our wishes to the bride & groom....

 ....here is the card, fully opened- please excuse the backdrop of my family room!

...and finally a 'pizza' box to keep it safe

Each page was embellished with die-cut flourishes & flowers, and a smattering of punched flowers too. The lid of the box was embellished with a WOC floral arrangement and a sheer bow with a pearl cabouchon in the centre. All of the sentiments were printed in 70% greyscale on pearlised paper with Lavenderia font.I'm glad to report that they were both thrilled with their card!

Carts used:

Heart on front of box- Love Struck

Scalloped circles, ovals, squares & rectangles- Elegant Edges

Silver spoon- A Child's Year

Fancy corners- Sweethearts

Tag- Picturesque

Phew! Talk about picture heavy! Sorry that the pics aren't brilliant, but I only realised on Saturday that I hadn't taken any pics of this card on my camera. Luckily, I'd taken some on my phone, so unfortunately they don't enlarge too much when you click on them. If you'd like to see the quotes contact me and I'll add them to my next post.

Thanks for dropping by!

Heatherxxxx

Flying Easels......

I've discovered flying easels! I'd seen one on a blog and was challenged by Barbie (one of the ladies who comes to my Wednesday Workshop) to make one, so I made this one at last weeks workshop...

....then, because they are flippin' addictive, I made another one.....

.....and another one!

The gingerbread man is my favourite!

They are so easy to make. I used a 6" square card base folded into a standard easel, decorated in the usual way, except for with these cards you also add paper to the rectangular section above the centre (original) fold of the card as this section will be visible through the frame. Then I cut a frame, placed it on the front of the card, then drew around the inside of the frame. The semi-circular section is then cut away to create a 'bite' out of the front of the card. The frame was decorated with another frame cut from patterned paper (you'll need 3 frames altogether- 2 in cardstock and 1 in paper, the 3rd frame being used to neaten up the back of the card) I then cut an image with a flipped version which was attached to the top of the frame with coloured metallic cord. The frame was then attached to the folded card front with foam tape. The 3rd frame was adhered to the back of the card to neaten. I then decorated the card in the usual manner. You'll still need a 'stop' but it needs to be adhered further up the front of the card to allow the image in the frame to swing freely.

I cut all my frames at 5 1/2" and the images between 2 3/4" and 3". You can put anything in the frame- just make sure that it hangs freely in the aperture. It always helps to do a test cut first.

Carts used:

Snowflake:

Snowflake-December 25th

Frame- Elegant Edges

Let It Snow- Winter Woodland

Bauble:

Bauble- Joys Of The Season

Frame- Elegant Edges

Gingerbread man:

Gingerbread man (Real Dial size ON)- Paper Doll Dress Up

Frame- Elegant Edges

Sweet Winter Wishes- Winter Frolic

Sweeties- Simply Charmed

Make sure that you create a flipped version of your image, then trap the cord in between the two images. This creates a clean finish and the image looks lovely when it spins in the frame!

Thanks for dropping by!

To the ladies coming to the Swarm tomorrow the cards on offer will obviously be Christmas cards so bring all your Christmas papers, ribbons etc. See you then!

Heather xxx

Charlie.....

Krishnan's girlfriend Sofia asked me to make her a card for her adorable little cousin Charlie's second birthday. She didn't exactly give me a lot of time to make it so I had to find something quick. I had some freebie Nit Wits sheets and they were perfect for digger-loving Charlie.

The card base is an 8" square, and I just used papers and elements from the Nit Wit kit matted onto brightly coloured cardstock. I adhered all of the paper elements onto plain cardstock to add stability, then adhered the pieces to the card front with foam pads. 'Charlie is 2' was cut from glittered cardstock then adhered to the card front with small foam pads.

Cart used:

'Charlie is 2'- Lyrical Letters (Jumbo font)

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xx

Anniversary Hearts.....

It was my brother and SIL's wedding anniversary at the beginning of last month. I had seen a card on the internet consisting of two hearts, one suspended inside the other, and really liked it. I was sure that I had a cart with very similar hearts on it, found it and made this card.....

The base card is an 8" square. The lilac backing paper is from an old stack in my stash and the centre square was embossed with a rose embossing folder. The two hearts were cut from the same backing paper (I used just one sheet of 12x12 for the card and the hearts) I punched holes in the top and bottom of each of the hearts. Using a piece of white cord I attached the solid heart to the centre of the hollow heart, then adhered the two hearts to the card front with foam pads. I added a '12' to the solid heart and my brother & SIL's names to the hollow heart using purple glitter card. 'Happy Anniversary' was stamped onto a piece of white card, cut into a pennant shape then adhered under a floral arrangement along with die-cut leaves and fronds. A heart shaped pearl on the solid heart and a smattering of pearls on the hollow heart completes the card.

Carts used:

Hollow & solid hearts- Sweethearts

names and numerals-Suburbia (Housewife font)

Thanks for dropping by!

Heather xx