Graduation Day

I am now back off holiday - although with the weather we had, it did not quite have a holiday feel as was quite cold.  We had gone to the Iowa in US for the first few days for my nephew's graduation - or commencement - and had taken my mother with us.  We then headed on to Chicago to catch up with friends and for me to catch a baseball game after.

It doesn't seem like 4 years ago that we had a party to wish him well on his course.  We were really delighted that he managed to get a double major and also graduated Summa Cum Laude which is the equivalent of a First Class with Honours here in UK.

His girlfriend also graduated at the same time and it was great to meet her family.  

I decided that I wanted to make the same card for them both but one with a girl and one with a boy.  I managed to find La-La Land stamps Graduation Luka and Graduation Marci which were ideal for what I wanted but had to order them from Texas.  I coloured them with copics but kept the theme blue and yellow, which are the colours of the University.

I used both Spellbinder dies and Tattered Lace dies to create the background and just typed the sentiment onto some card which I then used my foiling machine to finish.

I also made a mortar board to go inside the card that popped up when opened. 

To finish, I typed a verse onto some card, added a picture of a diploma and mortar board and again foiled it.

I did not put a tassel on the mortar board and I could not get the right colour for Emily as the colour denotes the subject in the US and I just could not get the colour Citron right so left both off. 

Quick Card

I found this card which I had not posted before and thought that I would post it as I am running out of time before my holiday. 

I do have some cards ready to post but cannot post them until  the recipients receive them.  

This card was made quickly delving into my old craft stash - some Quickutz dies that I have had for years and some paper that i had long forgotten about.  I think most if this card was made from paper, card and dies at least 8 years old and I can't remember where I got it from or what any of it was called - I didn't even keep the name if the dies - it is sometimes good to delve into the stash to see what is there as I am sure that I will be adding to it shortly.

It is not my usual card but I just fancied playing when I has a spare few moments  - and that seem rarer than hens teeth lately.  I am hoping that things quieten down a bit when I get back - someone needs to invent a 30 hour day - or at least get rid of the commute to London each day.

New Cardigan for Husband

I decided that my husband needed a new knitted cardigan as the last one that I knitted for him had literally been worn out. He gets one that he likes and does not seem to want to wear anything else.

We had gone to The Cheap Shop in Tiptree at the end of January and he chose the pattern he wanted his new cardigan to be.  They have a good selection of crafts and wool and the quality is very good there. The shop is like an Aladdin's cave - it looks small from the front but just goes on and on in the back.

It is no small feat knitting him a cardigan - I have to use the largest size but at least this one was on large needles and was made with super chunky wool.  It knitted up very quickly.  I had to hang it up to get a photo as that was the only way I could get a photo and I knew it would not be off him long.

The button were the hardest items to get but managed from an online store that ships from Hungary.  I used Knitpro Symfonie needles for this first time and now know why they are so expensive.  I did not think that they would make such a difference but am now hooked on them - to me they are worth every penny.

I found the cable knit on this a little different to usual but was pleased how it turned out.  Just two more left on the list to make now but do need to get back to cardmaking .

1st Workshop of the Year

I attended my first workshop of the year yesterday at a That's Crafty which is a local craft shop near me which had only recently opened as a brick and mortar shop open on a Saturday. 

I hadn't planned on attending the workshop but we had gone there last week to have a look around and my husband saw this workshop and told me I should do it - I think he was trying to get rid of me for the day.

The workshop was with Helen Chilton and was a workshop on using Stampbord. I had never used this before and it was a nice class size of 6.  I thought that it was a really nice workshop and was just the relaxation that I needed.  I only seem to be able to spend the time I want crafting at one of these workshops - at home there is always something that takes priority over my crafting - the travelling to and from work seems to get harder.

The first part of the workshop was spent making 3 ATC size projects which was to give us a taster of what we could do with the stampbord.  We stamped images onto the stampbord and then coloured them with distress inks - using cotton wool balls to put the ink on and blend.  We then etched highlights into the designs. We used Paper artsy's Lynne Perrella stamps as these stamps had enough detail to be able the colour the different areas and also to effectively etch in the designs.  

We then punch eyelets in the corner and embossed around the edges using Stampendous Fran-tage Aged Gold Embossing Enamel.

For our main project, we first stamped image around the outside of some 8 x 8 Heavy Grey-white Board and laying TCW mini quatrefoil stencil over, used distress in in a couple of colours to create the background.  We then added some stampbord in various sizes that we had stamped, coloured and etched.

We then triple embossed some wooden embellishements and also some paper die cuts using the Stampendous Fran-tage Aged Gold Embossing Enamel  and added these to the project.

This was not something that I would usually make but I did enjoy this workshop and am hopefully going to be able to attend another workshop with Helen in June.

Birthday Card for a Football Supporter

This card was one I enjoyed as it was for a fellow Spurs supporter and I thought that I would make good use of my foil applicator again.

 

I first foiled some Centura Pearl with the Spurs badge and then cut this using the Tattered Lace Die Monumental Happy Birthday.  I mounted this onto some blue Stardream card which was then mounted onto Centura Card.

 

I then put his name down the side using some letters that I had in my stash.  The only thing I did not have was an envelope to fit so had to make that as well as this card is not a usual size.  At least I know that no-one else would have got him a card like this.

Two for quickness

I can't believe that it is March tomorrow.  I really cannot believe how quickly the year has gone already.  I really need to try and find more time to craft but it does not seem to be happening this year and it will not be that long before I am going to the US to see my nephew graduate.

I had to make two birthday cards so to make them as quick as possible, I decided to make them both very similar to save time and the two recipients did not know each other.   

The first one was for a commission from work and  was wanted in the colours of the Barbados flag.  I was originally asked for the flag to be on the card but after discussions agreed that the card would be better in just the colours as it was for his mother.  I used the embossing folder Tied Together by Couture Creations for the background on blue card and then attached small yellow pearls.  I used Sue Wilson's Spanish Collection Seville dies to create the topper in blue and yellow and added a yellow pearl again to the corner of the blue card.  I then used a Tattered Lace die sentiment in black to give the final colour of the flag and added Nan down the edge to finish this card.


With the second card, I made this the same but instead of the Seville dies, I used Valencia and made it it purple and pink.

In Sympathy

I never used to make sympathy cards but here I am making another one just a few month after the last.

This one was very quick and easy to make as I used my new Heidi Swapp Minc foil applicator.  I just designed the topper on my computer, printed it with a laser printer onto card and then put it through the machine using silver foil.

I then cut it out and mounted it onto black card.  On the black card I made a cross with black seam binding but it does not show in the photo but wanted the subtleness of black on black.  I then mounted onto white card and rounded the edges.  

I am really pleased with the way it came out and think that the machine is well worth the money - and not too expensive which is even better.  I can see that I will be using this machine a lot to create foiled toppers.