Cards for My Sister's Birthday

Today it is my sister's birthday. The first card in this post was made over a week ago. My mum asked me to make it so she could give it to my sister. I delivered it by hand last week and she was very pleased with it. I have held off blogging about it until now for obvious reasons.
The only detail requested was a basket of flowers. I found some paper that had a basket weave look and cut it from a template I made. The flowers are the same flowers I bought from the 99p shop. Great value and great effects.

I made two layers for the basket using the basket weave pattern paper and black paper to go on the back. I secured the flowers using sellotape making sure the ends did not stick out of the bottom of the basket.
I cut some strips of green paper and using my scissors (closed!) I made the paper curl to represent foliage and added them to the basket by sticking them to the basket with a glue stick.
The sentiment was made using heat embossing with which I had a few problems. I found using a stamp pad did not help me as I kept leaving smudges around the text. I made three before I was satisfied finally using my craft mat instead of the stamp pad to stamp the embossing ink. A little silver hat charm completed the sentiment label.

I took a picture at this point as I thought it finished. Then I stood it up on the table and looked at it for a moment. What do you think? It needed a little something more but what? Gems? No. Sequins? No. Then it came to me... A little ribbon and it was now a completed card. She loves it by the way!!

The second card was made just a few days ago after work. Inspired by my friend Louise's Easter card, I made my first gatefold card. I used the crop-a-dile to add detail to one side and a string of seed beads on the other. So my sister received two handmade cards today. I wish her all the best and wonderful celebrations.

Handmade Card Exchange - Happy Easter!

This post about two handmade cards, one made by me and the other made by my friend Louise. I met Louise when she became a member of my Facebook group 'I Love Handcrafted Cards' and it was she who suggested the ATC swap we had last year. She has given herself a goal of making 100 cards so she on a real card making buzz right now. I wish her all the best in reaching her goal.

Last month she offered to make cards for her Facebook friends and I agreed on the proviso that I also make one for her. This the card I mentioned at the end of my previous blog post.

Louise's card arrived this morning. It brought a bit of sunshine to the cold and grey day. Not that I mind the rain. I was pleased as my garden was in need of some moisture. Flowers are the theme of these cards from the background paper to the embellishments. I particularly like the large flowers on the front. The two fold front is one that I have not tried before but one I recently saw demonstrated on the Create and Craft TV channel. She also provided the little card stand. Never seen those before!

The card I made also reflects the flower theme. I chose the colour because Louise is expecting a baby boy who is due to arrive any day now. With blue as my base I also created a template to make a large egg. Louise had asked for a decorated egg. I chose the papers to match with the blue base. I created the first egg using my template and the flower background paper and stuck it to the striped paper before cutting it out. I repeated the process with blue card.

Then I added a string of beads on craft wire and a fitting ribbon found in my ribbon stash. After completion of the egg I added some paper to the card blank some of which came from my scraps of background paper and the rest from a pad of papers in many colours given to me by my brother. There is a whole rainbow of papers and they are thin enough for me to try an idea.

I got this idea from watching a YouTube video on quilling. Using a pencil I made spirals of paper cut into thin strips. I used these to complete the decoration of the egg and you can see the result in the picture. I had to make a box for it as I realised that it would not travel well in an envelope.

We are thinking about making this exchange a monthly thing. With a little one on the way Louise is not thinking of slowing down on making cards at all. I wish her all the best and thank her for her inspiration.

Thanks for reading. Happy Easter everyone!

Easter Cards on the Wire!

These cards are the first Easter cards made by me. The embellishments come from magazine kits which I actually bought last year! The designs are not planned in advanced - there are no card sketches. I simply choose a base colour, go through my collection of papers and embellishments and go from there.

It can happen that no ideas come to me or I am not inspired by my craft stash. This is thankfully not a common occurence but what I do on those occasions is browse my magazines and card design booklets. Usually only takes a few minutes before I think of something fortunately. It would not be much fun if I struggled for ideas all the time.

These cards rely heavily on making use of the die-cuts that have been around for a year. The design part really came in the choice of papers and another element which was lying so far unused in my embellishment stash.



I bought the roll of craft wire when I was planning to complete a card design from a You Can Craft magazine template (this card still remains unfinished!). Today I used this craft wire for the first time to add beads to the designs. I'm not sure how clearly they show up in the photos but I think they are a really nice touch and plan to make more use of these in future designs.

I actually made three cards today but I am holding one design back as I have put it in the mail to my friend. She also makes cards but more about that in a future post.

Smile! It's An Award!

I arrived home weary from a hard days work to discover I'd received this wonderful award from Carolyn. Please visit her site and see her work. I especially like the Highland cow card!

It is now my turn to share this award with my ten favourite handmade blogs.

Suzie of Card Ideas for the Not-So-Crafty.

Vanessa the Paper Chick who has a beautiful site.

This Home Sweet Home - this is a blog with useful advice and tips as well as wonderful things handmade.

Create Something Everyday - this site inspires me.

Crafting Diva Designs - I love the cards made from the sketches in every post.

At Extreme Cards learn how to make pop-up cards and more.

Candle Junkie makes scented candles and is a mother with a young family. I love reading her posts.

Heather's Scrap Around the Globe is one of my fave scrapbooking blogs.

Martine's The Craft Table has recently moved to and I have followed.

...and last not by no means least is a site that I regularly visit looking forward to each new creation, my friend Julie the Gingerbread Knitter.

Thank you Carolyn!