New Sue Wilson Dies

I loved seeing the new Sue Wilson dies on her blog last week and was even lucky enough to win one of the new releases.   I had ordered about a third of them and spent some of the weekend playing with them.  I love the way that Sue has put them all into collections but that they also mix and match.

I started with the Striplet Lattice heart inner die and cut and embossed both ends of some brown card.  I only used the inner die so that the cream coloured card showed underneath.  I then cut out in cream card the largest die from Californian Collection - Basic Frames (Set A).  I then cut out Californian Collection - Hollywood in brown, the second largest dies from Californian Collection - Basic Frames (Set A) in cream, the smallest die from Californian Collection Beverly Hills in brown and finally the smallest die Californian Collection - Napa Valley in cream.  I stamped a greeting on the smallest cut from JustRite - Going Places Vintage Labels stamp set.

I am looking forward to getting the rest of her dies as these cut lovely and really do make some stunning cards as shown on her blog.

Grey Lady

I received the stamp for this image free with a magazine and decided that I would colour it grey to go with a black and white theme. I coloured it with Spectrum Noir pens. I had actually coloured it a week or so before making the card as I had been off work with a torn calf muscle that I got due to a fall so got a fair bit of colouring images done ready to make into cards.

I have made a habit recently of falling and am still wearing some bruises from my latest fall.

After cutting out my image with Spellbinders Resplendent Rectangles, I then cut out a larger size from the same set in Black.  This was mounted onto Black and White Damask paper from The Paper Studio that I bought from Hobby Lobby in the US.  I then mounted this onto Black Stardream Card, Snow White Centura card and then onto some more Black Stardream card.

I added some black glintz and some flourishes from Spellbinders D-Lite Fantastic Flourish 4 to finish, as well as some black ribbon and a bow. 

Mother in Law's Card

I made this card for my Mother-in-law's birthday and decided to use an image from Cottage Flowers from Creative Expressions.  I chose the roses image and coloured it with Spectrum Noir pens.

I cut out the image using Spellbinders Labels 25 and then edged it with a pink Copic pen and then layered it onto Spellbinder Lattice Motif die and then onto Couture Creations Irish Dreams Doily, both using Centura card.

The background was pink Centura Pearl and I used a Martha Stewart punch on the corners to give more detail and ribbon was put along the middle with roses put on each side.  

The 'Mum' in glitter was one that I had in my stash and this finished the card.

Egyptian Birthday Card

I was asked to make a card for a colleague at work and he wanted it for his mother.  It is not a theme that I would usually make but as his mother's middle name was Cleopatra he had asked me to make it with an Egyptian theme as he was unable to get what he wanted in the shops.

I used a decoupage image from a Glitter Girls and Dufex range Egyptian Starlight from a few years ago - although it was not Cleopatra - for my topper. 

I used some gold Stardream card for the background and cut out a small border to around the card from the Decoupage sheet.  It was meant to be a larger border but as I did not have enough, I cut it narrower so that it would go right round.  

I cut out an oval in blue Centura an oval using Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals One die.  I then embossed some gold Stardream card using the Embossalicious Embossing Folder - Birthday Text and cut out another oval from that with the same Spellbinders set but using a smaller die.

I cut out the sentiment with Britannia dies on blue Centura card to finish.  

My colleague was very pleased with it and so was his mother.

Fairies in the Woods

I do not often do decoupage but found this in my stash and thought that I would make use it to make this card.  The decoupage was from the Glitter Girls and Dufex that I had bought some years ago but I do not remember the name.  

I used the Keepsake Open Heart and Tall Stories Embossing board to create the book shape with Stardream card as this card embosses beautifully and is a good weight for these cards.  

I used peels off around the edges of the card and also used pearls in the corners and down the centre.

This is a quick card to make and I did like how it turned out.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This time I thought that I would show some craft that I did not make but certainly love

Last year, whilst in Germany, we fell in love with  the German Candle Arches or "Schwibbogens" that we saw in all the markets.  The best ones were the original ones from Erzgebirge but they were rather expensive and we ended up with a small one from a market that was not from Erzgebirge.

We had told our friends in Germany that we had bought a smaller and cheaper one this summer and then found that in our Christmas Hamper this year that they had included an original Erzgebirge Schwiboggen and this was not small - it is 25.5 inches long.

Needless to say that this has pride of place in our window and looks lovely especially when lit at night.  

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and wish good health and happiness to you and your families.

Parchment Envelope Card

Although this card looks like an envelope, it is in fact a card.  It was made for a wedding card as usually these are rarely stood up. 

I traced the pattern onto plain parchment paper and then embossed the outer edge of the back of the card and also the dots in the pattern on the front.  I also lightly embossed the pattern of the outside front border. 

Then using Gold tinta ink, I drew around the dots and also filled in the pattern of the outside front border and the ring joining the two halves of the pattern. 

Using a grid I perforated where I had filled the pattern in with Gold tinta ink. and also the crosses on the pattern. I also perforated the shape of the card. I then stippled  the border on the front of the card.  Using a star tool, I embossed on the front of the card.

I then cut out the cross and also around the borders to create the shape of the card.  I then coloured the reverse of the parchment paper with Dorso to give the shade of pink that I wanted. 

To finish, I attached a piece of pearlescent paper to the inside slightly smaller than the border.