Birthdays...

These cards were for the birthday swaps over on CraftTelly.com... First using some La Blanche 6x6 papers I got a few years back from QVC: The same design is repeated 3 time in the kit, one plain printed image, one with foiled highlights and a further plain print but on vellum rather than paper. This meant I could decoupage elements where I wanted: and also have a little play with dimension of central image by using the vellum version highlighted with a little Sakura pen glitter. This card was made using a HunkyDory kit with which I decided to have a little more fun: I chopped the front off one of the pre-printed card designs from their Floral Enchantment Blossoming Flowers Exploding insert kit & made a shaker section within the die cut aperture. It's been quite a while since I made a shaker card & I managed to get myself into all sorts of trouble by making it up in the wrong order - beads all over the place LOL. Anyway, once I'd finish making a mountain out of a mole hill I matted the whole thing onto an 8x8 card using a piece of co-ordinating paper from HOTP My apologies for the layout of this post - I don't seem to be able to get Blogger to recognise when I've inserted a paragraph *sigh*

Finally got some more pics to share!

I have now spent some more time getting to grips with the new PhotoBucket editing programme & made it work - Whoop! Whoop! I shall start sharing them with you... So, first off, the card I made for my FIL's birthday this year. I reckon hubby was trying to catch me out cos he didn't give me any clues as to what the card should be like & the night before I was about to just make my own design when hubby suddenly says "Have you got any lawn mowers?" Turns out that the joint pressie from him & his twin was money towards getting their dad's lawn mower fixed. But you can't catch me out that easily LOL I dug about in my peel off box (well, one of them!) & found a sheet of garden themed peel offs, which enabled me to come up with this 8x8 card: I die cut some squares (Spellbinders nesties) & used the peel off as a mask to ink over with Distress Ink ink Bundled Sage & Tea Dye (I think it was Tea Dye, it was a couple of months back). I also ran a couple through an Tim Holtz embossing folder (Artful Muse Texture Fades triple set)

The back ground was again inked with Bundled Sage & Tea Dye then I repeat stamped using a Papermania clear 'Dad' stamp & a little 'Happy Birthday' wood mounted stamp (that I've had for years & can't remember the manufacturer). I was rather pleased with the finished card & hubby was suitably impressed that I managed to follow his brief LOL. I have no idea what FIL thought...I did make a Grandad card from the kids at the same time, using strips of acetate & stuff, but it was a bit pants, so I didn't want a pic!

Currently editing...

I up loaded some pics to Photobucket a couple of days back, but they've decided to upgrade their editing programme, so I'm just working my way round that before I can post pics to here, just hang on while I work out how to make it do what I want & should be able to get some stuff up...

Pirate's ahoy!

Right, I'm going to start off topic LOL It was my own birthday a couple of weeks ago & I'm the proud recipient of some fabulous cards as a result of belonging to a couple of birthday swaps on CraftTelly. I posted pictures of my cards on the forum earlier - please have a look if you have chance.

March in our family is a bit busy. Or to phrase it another way, totally loony tunes bonkers. We have umpteen birthdays & anniversaries for which of course I make the cards. In the interests of balance, having shared DD's card, I also want to share DS's card.

One of his current obessions is the 'Pirates of the Carribean' franchise so his request was for a pirate card...



These are Tanda stamps which I preferred for the realistic designs rather than the cutsie cartoons I'd found elsewhere & I'm hoping to be able to use them on other cards for boys.

Must admit that it ended up a bit rushed cos I'd been ill & only managed to make it the night before his birthday, so I'm not 100% happy with the overall outcome. I had a vague plan in my head which didn't quite materialise as I worked, but sadly I didn't have the time or the energy after being ill to play further & pull together something I was more happy with.

On top of the overall design not quite coming together, the triple embossing technique didn't work as well as I'd have liked. The image impression isn't defined enough - a combination of using an image not quite suitable for the technique (it's a little detailed, IMHO bolder images work better); not pressing it down evenly & the melted powder not being very deep in the centre of the panel cos the card bowed in the heat & it flowed off to the sides (you can see the ridge round the edges - oops!). I have to be honest & say that if the card had been for anyone else I would have done something else - my UTEE is in short supply (really must get a big jar!) so I couldn't have done the whole thing again anyway.

It's an OK card, but certainly not one of my better ones. Having said all of this, DS seemed to like it - in as much as he's liked any card I've made for him, ie, he doesn't take much notice LOL

Hello....Kitty...

A trio of cards with the same design tweeked:

1)


2)


3)


They are in chronological order of making - card #1 was for DS's girlfriend's 9th birthday back in February. I asked him what he'd like on the card & was told she likes Hello Kitty & her preferred colour is blue. It's a Craftwork cards Elegance shaped card (6x6). The Hello Kitty is a Sissix Embosslit bought from a forum member on CraftTelly & cut was from Core'dinations Whitewash card. The layers are Spellbinders nesties - Eyelet Squares - & the flowers are again Spellbinders, from the Floral Doily motifs set. I spent a while arranging & re-arranging & was looking for that little something to finish it off. I leant on the table & the waste from the holes from the holographic layer stuck to my hand - BINGO! Sometimes being an untidy crafter pays off LOL As a result of embossing the card in the die before I pushed all the waste out, the dots had little raised centres so which made them look a bit more funky once I stuck them to the card (rather than just like bits of punched out card!)

Card #2 was a direct copy of the design but in pink - this time made for a friend on CraftTelly who's a little bit older than 9 but has a penchant for HK. And pink. Win/win really tee hee. Whilst I was making this one, DD spotted it & made a direct request for the same card for her up-coming (as was at the time) birthday.

I was also part way through making a birthday for my MIL (pic will appear sometime when I've worked out how to get it from hubby's account to mine) which involved a random feather. So she also asked for feathers on her card. Oh & could she also have the flowers I'd made up from the QVC Kanban Chelsea kit..? So DD got card #3, which is 8x8. She liked it!

Tag swap!

I had a lovely time making some tags for a recent swap on (you guessed it!) CraftTelly.

First time I've done tags & I rather enjoyed just having a play with stamps from different companies, rather than going for a 'theme' across all 3. I used Ranger Inkssentials tags (size 8) in manilla for all of them:



So this one is Kanban stamps:



The background is of course Distress Inks (Tea Dye & Black Soot) with cogs from the Jasper stamp set using black Archival. Jasper himself was paper-pieced using various HOTP papers (from a QVC TSV several years ago) & I lifted ink from the 'face' & base with water.

The next is Indigo Blu:



I fell in love with the Wild Meadow set when it was first aired on C&C a couple of months back; the beautiful dandelion stamp in particular. On this tag I've embossed it using some glitter EP after making a background with DIs in Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmelade & Bundled Sage.



I also used the grasses 'border' stamp from the same set along the bottom of the tag, again using Bundled Sage which I then supplemented with a couple of strokes using a Distress Marker (Pine Needles I think...I can't recall which ones I have ATM!)

And finally a stamp plate from Elusive Images as was (now Chocolate Baroque):



It's DL plate called Flora Bella which is about to be withdrawn. I decided to have a play with the new Ranger Distress Markers for this one - Pine Needles, Fired Brick & a touch of Brushed Corduroy. All the images were made from a single application of ink, repeatedly huffed & stamped: the amount of pigment in these pens is amazing!

More catch up.

This'll take you back a couple of months - some of the Christmas cards I made LOL:



I actually didn't make a huge amount of Christmas cards cos as usual I left it late, but I made a batch of 11 of these one evening. I used a combination of Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans, leaving a paler patch towards the centre. Then used my fave water splash technique to lift some of the ink back up. Next I borrowed an idea from Jenny Meyes (the lovely lady from Hobby Art) which is basically sprinkling a little white embossing powder across the card & heating from below so as not to blow it off as it's not stuck to anything before it melts



The effect it to leave little speckles across the card which also have some texture. I also chucked on glitter embossing powder for a bit of bling. I was going for a snow storm type of feel...The sentiment is a HOTP stamp. TBH, I was only intending to have it in silver, but I went with Cosmic Shimmer mica powder on versamark & it didn't show up very well, so I ended up overstamping in Faded Jeans as well.

Was rather chuffed with them, even if my wrist ached for a good day after from applying all that ink LOL

These are a couple of cards I made in January using what has become my favourite Kanban kit - Chelsea. Or if you didn't see it till it was aired on C&C, Carte Postale!

The first was a birthday card for one of my forum pals on CraftTelly



And this double easel was for another member of the forum who sadly isn't feeling so good at the moment:



Both cards have a little added ribbon-age & bling-age, plus TH tissue tape to cover the base of the card (one of the roles in the Sketchbook pack)

I should apologise for the quality of the pics as these were taken on my phone which doesn't have the best camera, but as mentioned below, hubby managed to 'hide' the digital camera in a coat pocket on New Years Eve.