I am an on-the-side and increasingly up front papercrafter who loves nothing more than getting inky and creating pretty things with paper and stamps!
I am also a wife to lovely hubby and mummy to a wonderful 14yr old princess.
I’ve made six cute little slimline cards and I’m really chuffed with them as they are so cute.
I went to my stash of random 6×6 papers (I think I was gifted these three) and picked out some that coordinated and I was drawn to work with. It turned out that they also coordinated with retired colours of cardstock that I have on my desk and am trying to use up!
I created the card blanks … they are 7cm x 14.9cm … using the Pretty Peacock, Magenta Madness and Cinnamon Cider.
I cut two of the papers into panels … ome of these I mounted onto the card blanks directly, others I mat them onto cardstock panels.
The final piece of dsp had some of the floral images that I could fussy cut out to create embellishments.
I then took some of the remaining cardstock and embossed in silver the thanks sentiment from the Artistically Inked stamp set. I then fussy cut each of these out and adhered them to the cards.
I really love how these all turned out. I’ll be using them over the next few weeks as I am still trying to get rid of old stash I don’t use anymore so like to send a little card with the package to say thanks… along with the paper bags I am still making up with scraps off the desk… talking of which there is still a little of this paper left so no doubt it will get used to make up some bags over the next few weeks.
Another card made using leftovers from another project …
These were all bits just sitting on the craft table waiting to be used… I added the brad as and extra otherwise they were literally just sitting there waiting to be put together!
Today I have a Happy Little Stampers Design Team contribution to share with you. I will admit I made this quite some time ago but stored it ready to post now as it was such a special card I didn’t want to just blog it on its own.
So the card is one I made for my cousin to celebrate receiving her OBE. She was awarded it quite a while ago but as a result of Covid restrictions had to wait quite some time for the actual ceremony. Again due to restrictions (maybe they have always done this though I am not sure) only one guest was allowed to accompany her and my Uncle was the one who picked the name out of the hat so he got to go with her.
Anyway, the weekend after it happened I made this card, inspired by her pink and navy outfit.
Now the card came together after I had sat and turned lots of scraps of cardstock into pretty flowers and leaves. I do this quite often, save my scraps up and then have a massive die cutting session. This time I concentrated on the Pierced Blooms die set as these flowers and leaves always come in handy as embellishments. I ended up (after 2+ hours diecutting) with a big pile and a sore arm!
So I chose from the pile a selection of pink and purple flowers and pale green leaves that I could use to make a special card. I knew I wanted a bigger card so I chose a 7×7 card blank from the stash.
I cut a piece of white linen cardstock into a 6.25″ square and started creating a background. I used the gorgeous text stamp from Very Versailles, some of the splatter stamps from Gorgeous Grunge and also splashed some ink too. I then grabbed a leaf stencil, masked off some areas and added some leaf images to the background with the fabulous blending brush. I also edged the panel with the blending brush too.
Next I started inking the die cut leaves and flowers to add some depth to the colour. I also added some stamped splatters to the green.
Then started adhering them so that there would be a less populated area for me to add the sentiment.
The sentiment I went for the Playful Alphabets dies and die cut CONGRATS out twice from each colour. I stacked the dies and then using a ruler to line them up I added them so they were off the edge of the strip of cardstock I had prepared. I also added a very thin strip of Oh So Ombre paper to the panel. I stacked a few layers of cardstock behind the panel to lift it up and then added the navy ribbon behind it to frame the sentiment. I added wink of Stella to each of the letters to give them some shimmer.
When I stuck this in place I thought the background needed a little blue so added some splashes of ink. I also added the pink ribbon bow to finish off to sentiment strip.
I decided to go a bit mad with lots of pearls dotted around … but hey… it was a very special card after all!
Inside I took the sentiment from the In Bloom stamp set and added some panels of the Oh So Ombre paper to create some interest. I also added a flower and leaf cluster… after all I had got LOTS already die cut. This finished off the inside of the card.
I know I normally do something with the envelope too but this time I didn’t remember to do it, plus it was being posted to Scotland so I didn’t want loose bits getting caught in the post office machinery.
So there you go… my special OTT card for my cousin. So proud her achievements have been recognised.
I wanted to play along with #sheetloadofcards for June which had a template for making joy fold cards using 3 pieces of dsp .. so I chose my 6×6 but then realised the template was for 12×12 … so made them half size!
Kept them all the same in terms of base cardstock and the strawberry focal image and the hello sentiment … but obviously each is different as moved the papers round so none were the same.
Love how these came out.
Very difficult to photograph though as they don’t want to stay flat and closed!
I had a piece of cardstock cut and prepped to make a bookbind fold card that I never got round to making so decided to use it today. Pretty sure it is Granite Grey. Chose a piece of 6×6 Butterfly Bijoux paper and the now retired Terracotta Tile for my layering and die cutting.
To be honest this was a simple card to make… I just added an element of fussiness with the handsewing of the vellum torn piece as I hate seeing adhesive through vellum.
I embossed the sentiment and then fussy cut that out too.
Inside I added another strip of the paper and cardstock and another die cut flower.
Those gold flowers I’ve had a long time and no idea what kit they came from … but pretty sure it was a kit.
Decided to use up the bits on the desk from yesterday’s slimline card and made this cute little note card.
I did have to stamp one more larger flower and one of the double leaves and fussy cut them out… otherwise this is everything I had already got out and already cut ready for yesterday’s card. The card base itself is also leftover cardstock from the slimline card.
Decided to have a little playtime with the Artistically Inked stamps and made a slimline card.
Chose the gorgeous (now retired) Purple posy cardstock and Wisteria Wonder ink along with Soft Sea Foam for my colours. Then started stamping.
I decided to make a slimline card … 7cm x 21cm and the top panel is 1 cm smaller to give a nice border as these seem to be very popular at the moment and not something I often make.
I stamped the alcohol ink like background 4 times on the panel and then stamped the more circular flower three times onto white cardstock. I also stamped the leaves a few times using soft sea foam.
I decided rather than using the dies to have a bit of chill out time and did fussy cutting instead.
I then layered up the flowers and the sentiment with foam between the top flower and the bottom flowers for dimension. I then added the little dew drop style embellishments for some shine.
Styled the photograph as professionals like Martin Stone do … lots of work but it looks good as a result.
Love the final card. A nice and simple card. I did think when I saw this in the catalogue when it first came out, that I would use this stamp set lots but to be honest I’ve not used it as much as I thought. It is gorgeous though so maybe should make more of an effort to use it.
Hello! Thanks for popping along to my blog to visit.
Today I have a design team contribution for Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge and the theme for this month is …. HUGS!
So before I set off down the route of showing you what I made let’s quickly revisit the rules for the CAS challenge…
Clean and Simple design with one focal point, lots of white (or open) space and minimal layers and embellishments
Now I do this partly because I have recently been a more is more kind of cardmaker rather than CAS so I love this challenge and the fact it makes me reign it in a little even if it is only for one project a month!
I did take inspiration from Martin at Martin’s Mayhem mainly because I happened to have been binge watching his videos on YouTube recently, I love his style. So this was probably mainly inspired by this video. But I used the Butterfly papers that came with Butterfly Brilliance and then the Oh So Lovely stamps for the hugs.
So a few extra details like the sewing and the splatters to make it special but don’t think I went too over the top on this one.
Inside the card, more paper and another stamped Hugs!
So what do you think? CAS enough? I love these butterflies and it was nice to find I still had a little bit of the paper left in my stash!
When I was messing around with (attempting to tidy up but failing!) old papers I found some gorgeous mandala papers from Making Cards magazine and decided to use one of the pages of the kit to make a tag. In my drawer I then found a large Art by Marlene tag and it seemed perfect for the job!
I cut the mandala out and then also cut the second one, but only the central part. I sandwiched a doily between the two layers for some added texture and then went to town with the sewing machine.
I decided to use some bright orange and pink cardstock to then create some fun elements and of course it needed some stamping for the UK stampers forum swap so I stamped and embossed Cottage Rose onto the orange, and then stamped and embossed the sentiment strips. These sentiment strips are so cute from a set by Funky Fossil.
I decided to die cut the letters (heffy doodle dies) for the best wishes and stack them to give more dimension. I also added foam under the flower to lift that up. On the wishes letters I added glossy accents to give it more shine.
I added some white posca paint pen dots for the edge and round the mandala element and then some card candi to embellish. The pom pom trim went perfectly with the tag so had to staple that onto the top.
Don’t think I’ve ever done this big a tag for UK stampers forum swap before… probably won’t again because I know this will cost more to post, but on this occasion I think it is worth it!
Once again I played with patterned paper for the design team for Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog using old Making Cards magazine stash. I decided to use some pretty greens and florals and also got the sewing machine out to add some sewn and fabric elements too.
I played with layers and sewing machine stitches and generally had fun making these. I decided to use die cuts from Pierced Blooms as embellishments and a button too.
The sentiments came from an old Creative Stamping magazine set and decided to add them on kraft in gold embossing. That was mainly inspired by the gold leaves on the second card.
Inside the cards I went for another gold sentiment and a strip of the paper.
And the envelopes, more paper and one of the other images from the kit that I fussy cut.
Very pretty, and textured cards … and with the pops of gold I think they turned into pretty special birthday cards too.
Inkyfingeredcat 