Elegant Wedding Gift

Well I scheduled this post to go live yesterday and it didn't for some reason. So I'm posting it now and you'll just have to imagine this went live Saturday morning.....

Remember this? Well I did some additional decorating and stamping and made it into a beautiful wedding album for my friend Sarah who is getting married today. My mum gave me a perfectly sized shallow box last week to keep the album in. I wasn't content with just a plain and simple box. So here is how I decorated it to create a suitable wedding gift package.

 I punched the three hearts with my punch from Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper and covered with Crystal Effects (gives them a lovely sheen and smooth finish). The scalloped edge was already part of the box so I measured and cut a width of the matching Elegant Soiree paper and wrapped it around the box. Then finished with retired wide chocolate chip ribbon to keep the box together.

Here is the contents. I wrapped the album with shimmery cream tissue paper and closed with a little flower gem from my stash. And the card can be found here. I had this wedding in mind when I made this little Blueberry Crisp elegant congratulatory card.

Hope you're all enjoying your weekends wherever you are ;0)
-XXX-

A Stampin' Up! hybrid card

This weekend sees a work colleagues little boy turn 1. I cannot believe how quickly that year has gone. It seems like only yesterday I was making this card for his birth ;0)

So I called this a Stampin' Up! hybrid as I used only SU colour cardstock but did very little stamping. Instead I used my SU colours alongside my favourite Cricut cartridge, ZooBalloo to make a suitable 1st birthday card. I used Marina Mist for the letters, Choc Chip and Crumb Cake for the monkey, Old Olive and Wild Wasabi for the alligator and Pumpkin Pie and Cajun Craze for the fox.

 Then for the envelope I used my Party This Way stamp set and Just Perfect alphabet. I almost like the envelope as much as the card ;0)

Happy Friday all ;0) I'm looking forward to a friends wedding tomorrow. I havent been to a wedding for several years and I have three in the next month ;0) I cannot wait. And I have a new Monsoon dress to wear as well (cannot remember the last time I splashed out in Monsoon!). I'll be sharing the wedding gift I have made for my friend in tomorrows post.
-xxx-

A quick thank you

My apologies for the long blogging absence. I've had new beginnings and big changes here which has meant no time for crafting or blogging. Hopefully things will settle down and I'll get some crafting time over the weekend.

I have however got one quick project to share with you. I had a few customer orders to deliver this week so I put together this quick and simple Thank You note using my Just Believe stamp set (and Curly Cute sentiment). I inked the flower stamp with Pear Pizzazz then coloured over bits randomly with Old Olive to give a bit of dimension. To create the flowers I punched Rose Red cardstock and Blushing Bride Designer Series Papers with my Boho Blossoms punch. I layered the two smaller flowers with a Basic Pearl. The sentiment is stamped with Rich Razzleberry.

Please note that this was my first attempt card and I stamped the sentiment a bit wobbly. But I'd sent the other cards out before i took pictures of the non wonky efforts ;0)

I hope you are all having a lovely summer (summer? A loose term considering the weather). Happy summer crafting to you all ;0)
-XX-

Cottage Garden Summer Birthday

Here is a birthday card I made for my partner's Mum. I love the summer feel to this card. This colour combo works so well for this time of year and a summer birthday. I used: Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi.

This card uses:

C/S: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango

DSP: Sunny Garden

Stamp sets: Curly Cute, Cottage Garden, Just Believe

Embellishments: Basic Pearls



Happy Friday to you all. Here is to a lovely weekend ;0)

-XX-

Bright Sweet Card

I struggled coming up with a title for this post. I wasnt quite sure how to explain the design of this card. It is cut from one sheet of A4 and the box folds back in on itself to create a treat box with window as a part of the card itself. Its a cute little design for a childs birthday card and a great way of adding a little bit extra to a card. Although a little tip, the box part does NOT fit a Ferrero Rocher. I tried to fit one in and it just would not go. Which goes to prove my sense of perspective is terrible. The Bendicks chocolate mints fit perfectly ;0)

I created this card using a Daffodil Delight base and decorated with Poppy Parade and Concord Crush Designer Series Paper.

Uses:

Stamp set: Party This Way

C/S: Daffodil Delight

DSP: Concord Crush & Poppy Parade

Ribbon: Daffodil Delight

Punches: Boho Blossom, Oval, Scallop Oval, Tag, Word Window

Embellishments: Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by today. Nearly the weekend *hooray* Come back tomorrow for a gorgeous Cottage Garden Birthday card ;0)

-XX-

Sweet Stitches No Cutting Gift Bag

Here is our 3D item from last months card class. This was inspired by the Sweet Stitches Designer Series Paper and this tutorial. I was going through my 12 x 12 paper box and I found this set of DSP untouched. When the Mini Catalogue came out this was my favourite new product but I think I got distracted by Nature Walk and the Botanical Gazette DSP somewhere along the way.

So here is my Sweet Stitches project. I love the colour combination of Tempting Turquoise and Rose Red. I embellished with the polka dotted frame from Four Frames and the sentiment from Party This Way.

This is a great little gift bag made from one whole sheet of A4. It is scored only and involves no cutting. Its a quick and easy little addition for any gift or table decoration.

Uses:

Inks: Rose Red and Tempting Turquoise
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Designer Series Paper: Sweet Stitches
Stamp sets: Four Frames and Party This Way
Ribbon: Tempting Turqoise Grosgrain

Tomorrow I have a lovely 3D card which fits treats in the card design. Perfect for kids and adults alike.

Happy crafting ;0)

Explore Week Two

So now it seems I am having laptop trouble. The charger for my computer 'popped' over the weekend so I have borrowed my Mums for the day. This is going to make blogging a bit difficult for the foreseeable future. But please bear with me. Normal blogging service will be resumed just as soon as I can get the computer charging issue sorted.

Now on to Week 2 of Shimelle's 'Explore' class. Again I am posting a weeks worth of playbook pages and scrapbooking in one go as I've caught up with my crafting over the weekend.

Prompt 6: Sit, Stand, Sleep.

This prompt encouraged us to think about a self portrait in a new way and to consider where we spend our days (Sitting, Standing, Sleeping). I took photographs of three of my favourite spaces in my house. I found it a bit of a challenge to make my bed/pillow look exciting. But I tried a new angle on the space. I also created a little tag for my journalling which I tucked behind the photos.

Prompt 8: Embellishing and Crafting with Photos

This was a bit of a challenge for me. I struggle with writing or doodling on photos. So for this prompt I deliberately chose photos I knew i had doubles of. So if I creatively destroyed the pictures it wouldnt matter so much. But actually I really enjoyed trying out new techniques for embellishing photos. I had never really considered decorating the picture itself. So I tried out several pens to see which worked best on the glossy surface. I tried doodling, writing, sticking, cutting, tracing.  I think I've banked a few techniques to try using again in the future.

A sunny day at Carisbrooke embellished with drawn stitching, writing, jewels, transfer letters.

I lay a small scrap of vellum over my pic of Carisbrooke and roughly traced and coloured it.

Prompt 7: Memory Sparks

I took a blank piece of A4 paper for this prompt and a mixture of different coloured pens. I then just doodled memories all over the page and saw what things popped up. It was a fun exercise at seeing different perspectives on memory and things that i could be scrapbooking. I decided that rather than show the whole page I would include this kraft envelope in my play book instead. I embellished and tried out some new techniques (i've never used my glimmer mists before and tried them out for this splattered glimmer look) and included quotes/definitions that fitted with the ideas of the class as a whole. I then folded the A4 memory sheet and tucked it inside this envelope. On the reverse of the coloured diagram I also journalled about memories and reflected on the course so far. I also picked one specific memory (as the prompt suggested) and wrote the story out in more detail

More of Prompt 8: Embellishing photos.

I used a pic of a West Wight sunset. I enjoyed this photo even more. I felt like it had a bit more scope for embellishing. And the gold pen worked really well on the gloss surface.  I especially loved adding the boat and whale (dont see many of those in the Solent!!).

Prompt 9: A Day in the Life

I took a simple perspective on recording the details of a day in the life. I simply recorded the day on a blank piece of paper and then transposed these into my playbook. For visual effect I just started in the middle and wrote out. I wanted to include some visible handwriting in the book as most of my journalling has been tucked away in the book so far.

Prompt 10: Photos as Embellishments.

I followed one of the class prompt sketches today to create this scrapbook page. I used a larger print from my stash of New Years Eve 2010 and then printed out the smaller 1 inch square miniatures as embellishments for the page. I had other ideas to fancy the page up a bit but actually like the simplicity of the stars and the smaller photos so kept it relatively unembellished. I'm really pleased with this LO to finish the halfway point of the course.

Right, off to look at Prompt 11 and see what this week has in stores.

Happy crafting and I'll be back online as soon as I can

-xx-