Wedding Anniversary Card.

Another Lili of the Valley image.  This time I used the rubber stamp version.
I  had actually bought an anniversary card for hubby, but lost it.  
So I went into panic mode and made  him this card on the day. 

I chose the colour scheme of our wedding  for this very simple card. 
I chose  this image simply  because I had a few of the images coloured in already after making my friend Sharon's wedding card. 

Hubby would not have been impressed if he didn't have a card from me.
You'll have to forgive the frayed Cherry cobbler ribbon, I didn't have time to photograph the card before I gave it to him.
The consequences being,  it's had a couple of months to fray.

Toot toot!

This is another of the Lili of the valley images. This one can be found in the men and boys collection on their website.

I love the cute images they produce. This one I think is called Toot toot.

I have coloured the image using Copic markers and mounted it onto  a piece of S.U. DSP.
The sentiment is from  an S.U stamp set called Rev up the fun.

Gone Fishing

So this summer must be the wettest summer on record. I really can't remember a summer as wet as this. It's really getting me down now. It has stopped me doing all the jobs I have wanted to catch up on this holiday.

I shouldn't be surprised really, there is always something to mess to up my plans. Usually it's something involving me injuring myself and being incapacitated for several weeks.

                                 

I guess the wet weather is a good excuse to stay in a craft, and that's exactly what I have been doing.
For these cards,  I purchased digital stamps from

www.liliofthevalley.co.uk  
(Click on the  link to go to the website.)

You can buy the images as rubber stamps as well as in digital form from the website. 
I usually buy the rubber version when I go to craft shows, but I was in  hurry and the craft show isn't until next year and I wanted something I could colour RIGHT NOW,  so I chose digital stamps. 

The plus side to digital stamps is delivery is almost instant and I didn't have to leave the house to get them, saving me time, postal costs and hubby's fuel. lol. 
If you have never tried digital stamps yet, I recommend you give them a go at least once. The bonus to having digital stamps is you can re size the images to fit any card.
The down side to digital stamps is if you don't back up your pc (like Me) and your pc goes kaput,  you've lost your entire collect of images. 

The background for the two cards above were created by sponging three different coloured inks randomly over the card stock until the card was covered and the colour was quite intense, then I over stamped used a seaweed stamp and the darkest ink of my three. 

I used  Stampin' Up s:  Marina Mist,  Night of Navy and tempting turquoise on the top card.... Bashful Blue , Almost Amethyst and Night of Navy inks on the card card in the middle. I over stamped the sponging using the seaweed stamp from the by the tide stamp set.
The last card I used  printed paper in  masculine colours. I won't add the sentiments until I know who the card is going to and what the occasion  is.

Gorgeous Grunge Cards.

 I enjoyed making these very quick cards.   I used  a selection of the stamps in the "Gorgeous Grunge" set  and  several neutral coloured inks.

Floral Cards

 This card was an experiment to try out my new "Burlap"  background stamp.

I got a little carried away and ended up using stamps from five different sets for this one: Burlap background, You've got this, Riveting, Sharing is caring,  and You've got this.

I coloured the flowers with Copic Markers.

For the  second version, I used the retired Background stamp called
" Friendly".

I haven't added a sentiment to this one yet as I don't know what occasion this will be used for,  or who this card will be sent to.

You've got style

When I saw the "You've got style" stamp set it made me smile so I just had to buy it. I haven't done a much with it though.  
This is a very simple cards just using  a a sheet of background paper and two stamps from the set.
I used copic markers to colour the image.

Sorry for everything.

 I have been playing with post it notes again.
 Sponging various coloured inks over the edges of the post its to form the coloured section.

Leaving the post it's in place,  I  over stamped the coloured section using the French foliage stamp set  and dark brown ink.

The sentiment came from the  "Sorry for everything" stamp set from   S.U.

Sharon and Terry's Wedding Card.

This card measures 8 x 6 inches , I made this one  a while a go for a friends who got married this yesterday.

I used a lily of the valley stamp for the image on this card. I coloured the image with Copic markers and then die cut the image using oval dies.

 The background was created  by using two deep border die by Sue Wilson and running one down each side of a piece of white card stock.

The flowers were purchased from Hobbycraft and the horseshoe die used was from a wedding set of dies by First Edition.



I chose purple and white for this card as they are Sharon's wedding colours.
I did make and decorate a box to house this card, but forgot to  take a photograph of it.

Tasha's baby shower card

 I needed a baby shower card last week, not having much in the way of stamps for this type of card I trawled the internet for a suitable image.

This black and white image  seemed  the most appropriate and nicest for the occasion.
I coloured the image with Copic markers and mounted the image on pink card then onto blue. I added a lacy die cut and adhered it to  some yellow polka dot backing paper.
then added a flower and foliage.
Inside the the card I created a pocket to hold a gift card.
After I took this photo, I added a narrow banner with the words "baby shower"  sprouting out from under flower.

For the envelope I needed more of a box type envelope to get the card in without crushing the flower.
I used the same lace die cut, flower a tag and papers to decorate the envelope.
I used  a strips of magnetic sheet as a closure.

Sympathy Card

 This car was made because  I needed a sympathy card for a friend this week.
I have owned the Spellbinder "Reflective Moments"  die for quite a while and hadn't got round to using it until now.

DIES USED.
Heartfelt Creations die "Delicate Asters" to create the flower  focal point.  Spellbinder's "Reflective Moments" for the base card.

This card is a little different from my usual style and I was a little worried it may not be suitable for the occasion after hubby said it was too fussy.
So I posted a picture on a facebook card making page I am a member of.


I was astounded when it got well over four hundred likes and lots of  truly wonderful comments from the other members.
Of course there were  two or three negative comments. But I can live with that..  We don't all have the same taste after all.
 Amongst all those comments were a few questions,   this post will answer all the questions.
I forgot to take photo's of the construction of the original card, so I have done a mock up in pink to show you the steps in part.


                   For this card to stand well you either need to use a heavy weight card stock for the front and back  die cuts...  or....if you only have thin card,  cut out twice as many as you need and stick the layers together for strength.
I recommend using the extra wide double sided tape to the back of two sheets of card BEFORE you die cut it.   It makes sticking all those skinny scrolls together a cinch.

The next step was to cut  a piece of card twice the length of the solid centre panel and exactly the same width.
9 7/8" x  4 7/8"    scored at 4  7/8ths.

  

Fold the card on the the score line, apply adhesive to one half and  adhere to the back of the die cut lining up the edges with the edges of the centre panel.

Repeat on the back of the card if you wish. The card will stand perfectly well even without the die cut on the back (see photo above).

Cut some layers for the front panel and decorate anyway you like.
I chose to use the aster die and inked the edges after cutting to give more dimension to the flowers.

rainy day card.

I have been a little bored with my stamp collection late, so I thought I'd try something different,.... until the new Stampin' Up catalogue comes out in June that is.

I did a Google search for free digital images and this gorgeous image came up.  So I printed it off  and coloured  it in.  The sentiment is from S.U and is one of the stamps in the "Beautiful You" set.

I think this has worked well as a card.

Stippled Blossoms in black and white.

Today I have a quick and simple two step stamping card.
I used my  all time favourite Stampin' Up  set called Stippled Blossoms to create this card.

I inked the up  solid image  with white craft ink  and stamped  the solid images onto yellow card and allowed the ink to dry. Craft ink takes a  little while longer to dry than than the dye based inks so a little patience is required.
Once dry I over stamped the white areas with the coordinating detail stamp and black Versafine ink and allowed  it to dry thoroughly.
All that was left to do was add a ribbon and mount onto black card then on to a card base.

 I'm not sure why, but I can't help of vintage fabrics when I look at this card.

Giant Dice Table Decorations.

These giant dice  are 6 inches square. They are the stands for the giant martini glasses, which will make up the centre piece of the table decorations for Hubby's surprise  birthday party.

I  used two photos of each Bond actor and adhered them to opposite sides of each dice.

I decided to have tables named after the Bond actors rather than table numbers.
To make the dice I made cube frames from wood and covered each cube with chipboard. I painted three black and three white.




I die cut lots of circles in black and gold for the spots on the dice.
I die cut two photos and two gold mounts for each die.

I had difficulties finding props for the party. So I had to make the gun from gold mirri card.

 I bought black napkins and folded them into bow ties.

The gold bullion favour boxes I bought from a party supply company.

Each table had two little books containing 20 questions on Bond  movies which I downloaded from the internet.


These seemed to be quite popular even though some of the questions were a little hard for some of the guests.

2 inch transparent red dice.

I hunted high and low for one and a half inch transparent red dice.  The only place I could find them was in the USA and they were very pricey at £20 a pair plus shipping.
 I wanted 12 in total, which made my idea for table decorations very expensive.  I had spent such a long time trying to find these dice that the party date crept up on me so quickly there wasn't enough time to ship them here.
The only option left for me was to make them.
 I order some thick sheets of red acetate and set about making one cube.
 This was very time consuming and I wasn't entirely happy with the end result. Then I remembered,  I had some clear acetate gift boxes 2" square I had purchased from  Stampin' Up. They were a little larger than I wanted, but that meant I didn't need as many. So I decided to line each of the gift boxes with the red acetate.
  After cutting the acetate to fit the boxes,  I stuck the dots to red acetate before placing in the gift boxes. This gives me the option to re use the gift boxes.

Hubby's 60th Birthday Celebration Preparations.

 

This is one of the many invitations I have been making for hubby's birthday celebrations.  He doesn't know it yet but I am organizing a surprise party. 

To get him to his own party,  I've had to make one bogus invitation and send it   us.

He thinks,  he is going to a  Pearl Wedding Anniversary party  being hosted by a friend/colleague.

The invitations needed to be quick makes and not too fussy, as I needed quite a few. 

I used the banners die set for the shirt and the bow punch  both  available from Stampin' Up. 

Unfortunately the bows got crushed in the post so they didn't look as good when they arrived

Hubby's Birthday Card This Year.

This is a design I saw on Facebook and loved it.
Just perfect for hubby's birthday this year.
I changed the colours and used patterned paper for the background.
The toilet roll was made by tightly rolling up a long strip of  foiled card  for the holder and glued down the end.

I cut a long strip of   off white textured card  slightly narrower than the silver roll and wound it tightly around the centre of the silver  roll applying a little glue.

to stop the the roll from unravelling.

Using a  1/4" circle punch,
I cut two silver circles and glued one to each end of the silver roll to complete the look of the toilet roll.

Here's hoping he  likes this one.

The image on this card was a big experiment for me and it took most of the day to make this card .
I am not very good at drawing especially drawing detail on a small scale.
So I drew this image on a much larger scale than used on this card. The original drawing almost filled an  A4 sheet of paper.
Once I had finished scribbling,  I scanned the image into my PC and then reduced the image down to a quarter of it's original size. I  printed it off and coloured the image using Copic markers.


The next image was created a little differently.
Instead of drawing the whole image as you see here.  I drew the single rose. On another section of my A3 sketch paper, (nowhere near the single bloom) I drew the bunch of rose buds.
Then I drew a single leaf followed by the little bunch of blue flowers and the Rose hips.
None of the sketches were connected as they are here.

I took a sheet of tracing paper and a fine black pen and began tracing off the rose, then I moved the tracing paper over to the next image and traced over the leaf  placing  several leaves around the rose.   I kept moving the tracing paper over the drawings,  and tracing off  the different pieces until I had an arrangement I quite liked.  The tracing paper was then put into the scanner and then printed off  the final image onto  silky, smooth, thin card using a laser printer.  I chose the laser printer so I don't get any ink smudges when I colour the images.
 I have decided to share my rough drawings after a request on FB.  So if you like the images,  you can print them off , colour them and use the images for your own personal use.
 Click on a picture,  to get larger image then right click on the image and save to your computer. Then you ll be able to  print it off and resize as much as you like.


                                                                                    Image 2

                                                                                 
                                                                                   Image 1

Image 3

Collage of stamps

I thought I would have a go at using lots of random  non  S.U stamps to create a collage for this card.
This is the result, I am loving the way this turned out. I think it maybe the colour combo that does it for me rather than the stamp combination.
Copic markers were used to colour all the images and background.
I can't tell you what stamps I used they are all stamps I have had for many years and have been hidden away in a rarely visited stamp drawer.
I am not entirely sure the sentiment is right on this,  but until I find something more fitting this will suffice.

Easter cards 2

I absolutely love polka dots so this DSP is right up my street and I tend to use a lot of polka dot papers on my cards.
This time I am combining it with the Stampin' round Easter egg wheel stamp.

The first  card is a large card  7"x 5"  and the second card  is just 4"x 4".

 I used Copic markers to colour the eggs.







These are the last of the cards made with this stamp for this year. I hope like them. Thanks for dropping in.

Laura.

Easter Card

Hubby says "you always do circles or squares on your cards, why don't you do other shapes". So this is me trying a different shape.  I then reminded him, I do oval too. So I tried doing something a little  different and out of my comfort zone. I am really not sure about this one though.

I used  the wheel stamp I mentioned in the previous post and coloured the eggs using Copic markers.

Here's a blast from the past.

The stamp I used on this card is one of the  long since retired Stampin' round wheel stamps.
I can't remember the name of this one,  it's been and awful long time since I've used it.
I used Copic markers to colour the eggs.



If you've never seen the wheel stamps here is a photo on the one I used.

You buy the wheel and handles separately, the wheel stamp clicks into the handle and out again so you can change the wheels easily.

You can also buy ink cartridges that slot into the handles, which  means you can roll that wheel around your whole house without running out ink if you desire.  I personally don't recommend you do that though.
It is quite handy to have an ink cartridge or two for larger projects.


I used an ink pad for this project as I only needed small  pieces for these cards.

Hey Chick Easter card.

 "Hey Chick"  This stamp set was one of the free gifts in this years Sale a bration  event  held by Stampin Up.  It has three chickens in the set and a couple of sentiments.
 I love this funky looking chick and have been playing with it quite a bit, trying  him out different colours.  But so far this is the only card I have made using him.

The background I coloured with Copic markers then drew in some grasses  using stamp and write markers.

DSP Candles

I can't take the credit for the design of this card. I CASE'd it from Karen Johnson's blog.

I think Karen used a stamp for the sentiment on her card. I didn't have a sentiment stamp suitable for this design so I created this  very similar greeting on the PC, printed off and die cut it.

The candles are just strips of Stampin' Up's DSP and the flames are the wings from the bird and branch punch.

This card should arrive tomorrow, I do hope he likes it.

Boho Chic meets Summer Silhouettes.

I have to say I have own the Summer Silhouette stamp set by S.U.  for quite some time and have only just got round to  using it.
This years  Mother's Day card  was made and given without photographing it.  So I made another  in different colours... just for my blog and you guys.    It will be quite easy  take the sentiment off and replace it with a sentiment for another occasion, so it won't go to waste.
I used Night of Navy and Crumb Cake inks and card stock for this one. The Embossing folder is called Boho Chic from S.U.

Ladybirds ... love you lots.

If you're a fan of small cards this one should appeal . It measures approximately 3  1/2" x 4 1/2". 
This  Ladybird stamp is from the Stampin' Up  hostess set called  " Love you lots." There are some really cute stamps in this set.

I love this Ladybird stamp despite it's small size, measuring up at  about an inch big.  
 On a larger card they might look  a little lost.  Especially  if you're  using heavily patterned paper or  embellishments.

To make sure the Ladybirds stood out on this card,  I used strong colours to colour the image and increased the  the overall size by drawing in some grasses.
I punched out the image and then die cut a slightly larger circle in grey to mount it on. I stamped the base card using the "Beautiful Baroque  stamp" (now retired)

Water colouring with ink

Last week I shared a card that was sent to me by the very talented Debbie of Arakoola Kard Art.  
Her card inspired me to have a go at the technique she used.

I use insulating tape instead of masking tape because the only width of masking tape I could find was 2 inches wide.  

I did notice that the insulating was less tacky than  the masking tape I have used in the past, that usually ended up with me tearing my work when removing the masking tape.

The insulting tape was slightly narrower and didn't tear the paper as often and you can re use the strips a few times before  having to discard them.
 I used  S.U refill  inks instead of water colours to colour the background.W

I did make a third card  using this technique and  I did photograph it. But I had an issue with my laptop and the photo's were deleted as they were being uploaded.  Hubby had already posted the third card so I couldn't re photograph  that one.

Quick Technique

Here's a technique for creating the quick background paper.
 An ideal technique for those that don't like colouring or if you just need a quick way of adding colour to certain stamps. 

I took the  polymer leaf stamp and stuck it to the acrylic block upside down. Yes,  I did say UPSIDE DOWN. 
I inked up the WRONG side of the stamp with a mid green ink and stamped the solid image multiple times over my paper.  
When the paper was covered,  I flipped the stamp over,  inked up the detail side of the stamp with a darker green  ink and stamped  the detail over all the solid images.

It doesn't work with all stamps. First the stamps have to be polymer and secondly they have to be  symmetrical. 
Also the back of the stamp is larger than the detail side,  so your solid image will be slightly larger than the detail.

Retirement card using French Foliage stamp set

You may remember I made another version of this card a few weeks ago in yellow and green. and made as a sympathy card.
This time I thought  I'd try it again in different colours.

I used some post it notes to mask off the areas I wanted to keep white and sponged various inks randomly over the area between the post it notes. Then over stamped  with the  retired stamp set French Foliage.
The  ink pads I used were Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Hello Honey, Pumpkin Pie, Almost Amethyst  and Early Espresso. 

I stamped the sentiment in black and  the splotches in Crumb Cake.

Birthday Blast

 I needed a card for my brother in laws birthday today.  So this afternoon I got to play with this stamp and die set.


I made three different cards.I love the navy, white  and gold combination so all three are in those colours.


 The first card is using both the stamp and the die.  

The second is using the stamps only.  Heat embossed in gold.







For the third one I used the die as the focal point. I cut the die out twice. Once in navy and once in gold. The gold die cut is under the navy one and off set a little to give just a hint of the gold.

The stars that fell out of the gold die cut,  I used to embellish the rest of the card along with a few tiny gold heat embossed stars.


















I am not sure which of the three I prefer but my brother in law received the card at the top of this post. 

The set is called  Birthday Blast. 
The die and stamp can be bought as a bundle or individually.