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.

For my Mum's Sister

When my Mother remembers that I make cards, I usually offer to make a birthday card for her sister.  As she knew roughly what I was going to make, it did mean that I had to make her a different one.

I had used this pattern before to make an easel card but this time I made the parchment pattern a little smaller and mounted it with small brads on to  a black pearlescent oval card that I cut out with Spellbinders.

I then mounted this onto some snow white Centura card and cut out the sentiment from Britannia dies.

The bow was cut out from the Die'sire Christmas Bow Die onto a Double Sided Self Adhesive Sheet and then put Golden Sand Silk Glitter onto one side and attached it to the card.

When my Mother saw the card she was really pleased so hopefully her sister will be too.

Workshop with Sheena Douglass

As I had not been on a workshop with Sheena for some time, I decided that it was about time that I went on one and so booked myself on her workshop in Milton Keynes.    I was not sure what projects we would be doing but knew that it was not paint fusion and was keen to see what techniques she would teach.

 

We ended up making two projects and a great time was had by all - especially with the appearance of Father Christmas - in a kilt!!  Not sure where Sheena's husband Russ disappeared to when Santa appeared!!

 

The first of the projects was a wall hanging.  We started out by covering a mdf plaque with Pebeo Studio Acrylics gesso in white so that it would take the stamping and then stamped with Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic Sea Scape stamps.  We then coloured the sea, sand and images with Distress inks mixed with Pebeo Matt Gel to ensure that the colours stayed on the plaque. 

We then coloured some Centura Pearl with Luminate silk paint - which is absolutely beautiful - and then stamped and embossed images from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic Sea Shells.  These were then cut out and attached to the plaque which was then finished off with some ribbon.

The second project was a card and this took more time to do as we had to let the modeling paste dry before we could carry on.  We first covered most of the card with   Pebeo Studio Acrylic paint mixed with   Pebeo Gloss gel in three different colours to create the sky.  We then dabbed on Pebeo Studio white paint to create the clouds. 

Pebeo modelling paste was used to create the mountains and this was left to dry for a few hours before continuing with the rest of the card. 

The lake was created using distress ink mixed with the gloss gel.  The pink blossom was created by dabbing pink and white Pebeo studio paint onto the sky.  This was then stamped over with the Sakura stamp from A Little Bit Oriental with Black Stazon.

A lantern was stamped onto black card and embossed in gold, cut out and with 3D glue stuck on.

The card was then layered onto a few other layers.  The metal looking card was created with embossing black card and then adding Pebeo gilding wax which was absolutely lovely to work with and the effect was beautiful.

This was a great workshop and it was good to learn some techniques that I did not think of using but are very effective.