Place Mat Present: Part 1

I made many of my family's Christmas gifts this year.  For my two sisters I decorated each of them a set of MDF coasters by Creative Expressions.  I made them double sided, so that they had a choice of which side up to show.  This is the first set.

Door Hangers for Boys: Last Part

The final door hanger in the series was for my youngest son, who enjoys writing and is a typical teenage boy!  I initially wasn't going to include the pen; it was a late addition, which is why the stamping is not as well spaced as I would wish.

Door Hangers for Boys Part 3

Going in order of age from oldest to youngest, the third door hanger was for my nephew who is really into cycling.  As I didn't have anything suitable for decorating it, I had to order a couple of items (a stencil and a stamp) to make this, but as I loved the result it didn't really matter.

Door Hangers For Boys Part 2

Today is the turn of my middle son, who runs his own ICT business (uHostPro) from his bedroom.  He takes lots of meetings over Skype so he really needs a door hanger as he keeps strange hours at times!

Door Hangers for Boys

I decided to make my sons and nephew their own personalised door hangers for Christmas.  I already had suitable stamps, so it was just a case of deciding on the background colours.  Today's door hanger was for my eldest son who has several game consoles and supports the local football team; they play in red and white, so the background colour was an easy choice!

Teenage Football Fan

Here's the second of the Christmas birthday cards.  I am heading for the football match later (Stoke v Manchester United) for the early kick off later, so decided to blog early today.  This card is for the young man who sits next to us every match - so Happy Birthday!

Aged To Perfection

The one good thing about having three Christmas birthdays in the space of four days is that you get a break from Christmas crafting.  This card was for my husband's birthday on Christmas Eve.

DIY Christmas Presents

I can't show you what I'm making in case someone in my family decides to check my blog; suffice it to say that I have spent the entire day working on presents for the family.  I decided to make it a home made Christmas this year and I'm still glad that I did - it's a chance to personalise gifts and it means more to me to give my loved ones something that I've hand crafted.  However, next year I shall definitely not be leaving things so much to the last minute.  I did make an early start on one of the gifts (my mother's birthday present for the 27th), but was then ill over the previous school holiday and everything got shoved onto the back burner.  Now it's none stop crafting between now and Thursday (Husband's birthday!) except for a day off tomorrow, which I will spend at the shops for all the extras.  I don't think that I've bitten off more than I can chew; I'm mostly on schedule and have allowed a little wiggle room on my list of jobs.  It might mean an early start for a few days, but I'm sure it will all be worth it when the presents are opened.
I'm sure you'll understand if I don't manage to blog for a few days; I've taken loads of photos as I've been working so will be able to reveal all after Friday.  Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it and Happy Holidays too.

Secret Santa Door Hanger

I was so pleased when I picked the name of the Head of English out of the bag for the Secret Santa at work.  I knew immediately what I wanted to make for her gift.  Every day at our middle school we Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) for 15 minutes at the start of one lesson, so the theme of the door hanger was an easy one to come up with.

Sepia Arches

This card was inspired by a demo that I saw on TV by Sheena Douglass - the designer of the stamps and embossing folder that I used for my main focal points.  She is such a talented designer and crafter that I could watch her for hours.

French Retirement Card

 This card was made for a colleague who was retiring.  Although she taught French and German, she was planning on spending some time in France after she retired, so that became my theme; the colour scheme was therefore an easy one!

Clean and Simple Christmas

When I first started card making, I bought some packs of ready made cards and envelopes.  These days I tend to make my own base cards most of the time, so when I came across these packs of red and green cards in my stash, I decided to create some clean and simple cards and use up some of my scraps. 

DIY Decorative Tape

This card was directly influenced by the 'On Trend Tape' card by Sarah Engels-Greer in the June 2013 edition of Craft Stamper magazine.  I used the same colour scheme, but as I didn't have any of the stamps that were used in the magazine article, I substituted ones that were in my stash.  The other difference was that I used an A5 landscape layout; the original card was square.  I also chose not to machine stitch round the outside edge of the card.

Cricut Anniversary - St. George and the Dragon

Once again I used my favourite Cricut cartridge - Paper Doll Dress Up, to create this card and use up some of my scraps.  It's not just a cartridge that can be used for children's cards.  My sister and brother-in-law were married on April 23rd which is St Georges Day in England (our patron saint), so the theme was an easy one to pick!  Apologies for the quality of the photographs - they were taken on an ancient mobile phone before I got my digital camera.

Cricut Princess

I used to use my Cricut machine a lot more frequently, but I won't let it go because I have so many cartridges; every so often it comes in really useful for a quick card using up scraps from my scrap box.  This card was made several years ago for my Great Niece (she is now four and becoming quite the budding artist).

Butterfly, Butterfly Sympathy Card

This card was made in memory of a fellow crafter who finally lost her battle with cancer after many years of battling the illness.  It is coming up to the anniversary of her death in the new year, so I wanted to share this card in her memory.

Large Pop Out Card - Black and White Cogs

I made this card to say thank you to colleagues when I finished a temporary, two term teaching job at a University Technical College which specialises in Engineering.  I already had the stamps and dies, as I make a lot of men's cards.  I decided to make it a pop out card to add to the engineering theme.

Concertina Card

I remember when these types of card involved lots of measuring, careful cutting and folding; thank goodness for dies that take the hassle out of the whole thing.

 

Happy Anniversary

The actual event, as you can see from the card, was back in June; here's the card I made for my husband, using only dies and peel offs!

 

Same Design - Completely Different Look

I thought I'd put my money where my mouth is.  I knew that yesterday's card design could be used for a multitude of occasions, so I used the same layout for this Christmas card.  What a difference a change of theme and colour scheme makes! 

Welcome to the World

I love using tags on cards; particularly building up layers of interest.  The birth of a colleague's baby gave me the ideal opportunity to use this method.

DIY Tag Book

I like this type of card as it can be easily themed to the occasion; if you need more pages, they are easy to add - I only put three in my book. 

Christmas Bauble Pocket

This card isn't quite finished; it was made using scraps of Christmas papers and card.  I haven't decided whether to add some ribbon for hanging it from a tree, or make a stand to display it like a decorative plate.  What do you think?

Cameo Triple

This is a relatively quick card to make and it fits into a 6" x 6" envelope.  I must admit that I haven't used my Glitter Girl embossing boards for ages; they seem a little old fashioned.  Having said that, some of the images can come in useful and they make some lovely shaped cards if you take the time to cut round the embossed edges neatly - not something that I am particularly good at; these days I tend to use dies.  I'm entering this in the That's Crafty Challenge - Black and White with a Hint

Proud Peacock

The matting and layering of the front of this card looks complicated as there is an aperture involved, but with a little careful planning, it's not as hard as it looks.  I love the peacock stamp; it is from an A4 stamp set by Chocolate Baroque.

Clean and Simple Daisies

As a break from Christmas cards, here is a Clean and Simple design which is suitable for many occasions.  
I'm entering this into the Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

 If you add a matching insert, the daisy panel is more subtle, whereas a piece of backing card to co-ordinate with the centres of the daisies highlights the pattern of the panel.

Hidden Christmas Message

The colour scheme for this card was inspired by the 12" x 12" paper and the organza ribbon.  The 'present' in the centre of the card hides a hidden message.  Although I used a scalloped edge pre-made card blank, I'm not so keen on the finished look and would stick to a plain 20cm x 20cm card blank next time. I'm entering this in the Becky's Place Month of Holiday Cards Challenge.

Word Book Christmas Card

I haven't used my big stencils to create a word book for ages.  I came across them the other day and decided to dust them off.  The Crazy Bird Stamps by Tim Holtz have also been crying out for use.  They are such versatile stamps and I decided to turn them into Robins to keep to the Christmas theme.  This is for Cute Card Thursday and their birds and animals challenge.

Hello Sailor!

This card came about from a piece of ribbon that I had.  A great card for someone serving in the navy, although I know the uniform isn't perfect.  A mixture of dies and alcohol ink on acetate. As it is a nautical theme, I am entering it in the SimonSays Stamp Monday Challenge - Something beginning with N.

Old Style Decoupage

I rarely use decoupage pictures any more; especially if I have to cut them out by hand.  Sometimes, however,  older techniques can be really effective if you are catering for a specific occasion and a person's specific interest to personalize a card.

Shadow Box Card - Christmas Village.

The entire card was made from scratch.  It looks complicated but with some forward planning, careful measuring and a good scoring board, it's not as hard as it looks.

We Will Remember Them.

 It seems suitable today to re share this card.  It was made for a previous birthday for my eldest son, whose birthday is today.  Also, on this Remembrance Sunday it is a way for me to show my respect for all those who have fallen in service to their country and in the name of peace and freedom.

The base card is A5 landscape, made from a piece of black A4 card.  I cut 3 panels of silver mirri card (13.8cm x 6cm) and embossed two of them using the Couture Creations Great Chain Wire embossing folder, and the 3rd using the Large Wire Barbs folder.  The panels were painted over with black acrylic paint and once nearly dry, rubbed back to let the silver show through.

Let it Snow

I've started getting into the spirit of Christmas now that Halloween is out of the way.  I can't face making Christmas cards until now, unless I really have to.
This card started as a request to do something based round a snow globe design - and grew outwards from there.  Between the glossy shine of the mirri card, the acetate and the glittery snow, I decided to enter this card into the SImonSays Stamp Monday Challenge - Glossy

First Anniversary - Rainbow Wedding

One year on from the wedding, I really enjoyed making a bespoke anniversary card; after all the first anniversary is paper!

Box it up - Rainbow Wedding Card

Of course, having spent all that time and effort making the rainbow wedding card, I then had to make a box for it; it certainly wouldn't fit into an envelope!

Violet - Rainbow Wedding Card

Here's the last installment of the rainbow wedding card; my second favourite double page spread - violet.  Once again, I stuck to a pearlescent violet card and the ivory pearl which matched the base card.  The theme this time was butterflies and bubbles.

Indigo - Rainbow Wedding Card

We are getting close to the end of the rainbow wedding card.  This is my favourite double page spread.  For once I used embossing folders as well as die cuts.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

So, here is the blue segment of the rainbow wedding card.

Green - Rainbow Wedding Card

Half way through our rainbow wedding card.  Here's the green double page spread. 

Yellow! Rainbow Wedding Next Installment

This was the only double page spread where I used more than the ivory/colour of the page card.  The reason for this was that the yellow didn't show up against the background ivory as well as I liked, so I chose to use a brown to create a drop shadow effect with the die cuts.

Orange Zing - Rainbow Wedding Card

So here we are with the next installment of the rainbow wedding card.  Today's colour is orange.

Rainbow Wedding - Red for Romance

Here's the first double page spread from the inside of the wedding card that I posted yesterday.  Unusually for me, I mostly used die cuts on the inside, with the occasional embossing folder, rather than any stamping.  I think that I was nervous of making a mistake on the last side of four each time.

One Week Wedding Card - Colours of the Rainbow

This card was made for my niece and her husband on the occasion of their wedding last year.  The colour scheme was the rainbow so I made a card to reflect each of the colours and a wedding/romantic theme.  It was such a big card, that I have decided to showcase it over the next week!

Advent Drawers

This took me ages to make, but I was really pleased with the finished piece; my brother loved his birthday present too.

Christmas Bauble Zentangle

I have been wanting to try the 'cling film' background technique for a while; this seemed like a good opportunity. This technique only works with water based ink so I am entering it in the Monday Challenge on SimonSays Stamp

Fantasy Film Fairy WIngs

I have had the wooden back stamp of this image for ages.  I think it is the perfect image to play around with Fusible Film.  Then all I needed to do was sort out the layout of the card.

Eastern Promise

I love the combination of gold, pink and burgundy.  This card was inspired by the colours of a wedding invitation; I made it as a reply.  As the wedding was to take place at a Sikh temple, the Mandala pattern and love bird theme seemed appropriate.

With Sympathy

Never an easy occasion to make a card for; I prefer to keep things clean and simple.  The words which come with the stamp set also make a very fitting verse for inside the card.