Daughters birthday card

Commissioned card for a daughter.

Coloured with promarkers

Odd request for 2 cards from 1 dog to another

Had an email from a client earlier today asking if he could have 2 cards. Yes not a problem I said, send me the details and I'll get onto it. 

The email dutifully arrives and he wants two cards FROM his dog, Toby. 

One is to go to the dog of the humans that look after Toby from time to time and the other is to the humans that do my clients garden (that's confused you hasn't it lol) 

Anyway, the topper is from Cupcake Crafting Paws for Thought CD's as this is what Toby looks like in real life. I needed a bit of "poetic license" with regards the sentiment as the topper actually has daffodils (as you can see) so had to come up with something to make it "fit".

I took the topper into Serif Craft Artist 2 and added a Santa Claus hat which I then glittered with a Sakura Clear Star pen. The backing paper, ribbon & bow were also done is Craft Artist 2

Skully Santa Xmas card for @jax1369

Morning all and welcome to my blog. I am going to try and embellish my blog posts a bit more as I normally just give a brief description of each card where as when I browse other peoples blogs, I see that they put a lot more information on, so here goes and wish me luck :-) 

If any of you don't tweet or don't understand how friendships can be formed using just 140 characters, then you've not given it a fair chance and you've not met my wonderful Twitter Sister @jax1369. To say we have become firm, long term best mates via twitter is an understatement. We communicate via BlackBerry Messenger every day and now they have the new option of BlackBerry Chat via the service, we can actually speak to each other too - mostly by mistake as one of us has hit the button in error but that's by the by.

Jax has a love of all things Gothic; I've met her husband - he has too. NOOOO, I am not saying Mad Dog is    Gothic - he'd abuse me in an email if I did. I mention it as I needed an image suitable for them both so when I  saw this "Skully Santa" Digistamp which is available here   I knew it was the perfect design.

I opened up Docrafts Designer and used a backing paper from one of the Papermania Capsule Collection cds and used one of the overlays to give the paper an appearance of texture. I added the "Christmas Wishes" digistamp to the bottom of the sheet and printed it out onto a cream coloured linen paper.

I tore the edges of the paper to make it fit onto an 8 x 8 card. Using Tea Dye Distress ink, I edged the paper and bought the colour into the centre of the paper to give it the aged look. The used some "sepia" spritz spray very lightly to add another feature. 

The topper was printed onto Clarity Stamp Theuva card and coloured with promarkers and flexmarkers. Edges were torn after the colouring and again edged with Tea Dye Distress ink pad.

I went around the card blank with the same ink pad, then curled the corners of the backing paper before attaching to the card blank.

I cut the snowflake from a Spellbinders die set onto antique gold mirri card and then dabbed over it with Cranberry alcohol ink. I am pleased with the result as I didn't want a completely covered look.

All in all, I am really pleased with how this card fell together and it was a nice change from doing 'traditional Christmas' designs. Hope you like it too 

'Sugar Nellie' birthday card

I must thank Julia Watts for sending me this image in a box of goodies.

The stamp is a Sarah kay Image and

coloured with promarkers

(almost entirely the Ltd Edition 4 seasons set)

The backing papers and the flower are from Kaisercraft.

The leaf die is from marianne designs 

This card is a commission for a gentleman to send to his niece 

Amendment - my thanks to Julia for putting me right on the stamp image :

Its from Sugar Nellie & called 'sweet & sassy'

thank you Julia xx 

Teenage boy birthday card

This is for a teenage lad who has a birthday just after Christmas

The digistamp is available at Redonkulous Designs 

Coloured with Promarkers & Flexmarkers

The backing paper is from Polka Doodles "Not for the Girls" cd 2

taken into serif craft artist and the wording & fractals added before printing

Birthday card for a grand-daughter

Here is a card made for a gentleman to send to his granddaughter who celebrates her birthday on

Christmas Day.

The digistamp is from a collection called D'Arcy's Diaries

Coloured with ProMarkers

 Kanban KandiCore Card stock

Marianne Creatables flower die

Joy Craft swirl die

I'd like to enter this into 

Polka Doodles wk 50 Blog Challenge 

Commissioned Birthday card

This is for one of my lovely clients who is 90 yrs young on Sunday

It was commissioned by her daughter in law 

Fly Past stamp set by Hobby Arts

"wing wing" Xmas card

Stamp from Wild Rose Studio ( love their stamps)

Coloured with sakura glitter pens (had to blow the dust off them) 

Little boy skating Xmas card

Stamp from Marianne Designs free with Papercraft Essentials magazine

backing papers from Polka Doodles

Spellbinders snowflake die

quickcutz tag die 

promarkers / flexmarkers 

New Home Card Commission

"Good Luck In Your New Home"

Commissioned card

Images from one of Nikky Halls Fantabulous CD's 

(but you'll have to ask her which one cos I have forgotten)

Digihouses coloured with Promarkers

Polka Doodles "here comes Xmas" Card

Digistamp from Polka Doodles "Here comes Christmas" CD

coloured with Promarkers

backing papers from NitWit Collection in my stash

La Pashe Decoupage Xmas Card

Decoupaged card for a man to give to his grandad.

Its from one of the La Pashe cd's - lovely vintage image 

3 "Warm Wishes" Xmas cards

1 free stamp - "Winter Fun" by Marianne Creatables

Free with latest issue of Papercraft Essentials

Layout & design idea from Bev Rochester

Various array of backing papers

All coloured with Promarkers 

Spellbinders snowflake xmas card

Simple card made with spellbinders snowflake die

and word dies from Rob Adams.

Sentiment stamp from papermania 

Mallard Commissioned birthday card

I was asked by a wonderful twitter friend, Cameron Lawton, to make a card for her husbands upcoming birthday. The brief was that he likes steam trains. So what better iconic image to use than the classic Mallard.

The image is from La Pashe and drawn by the very talented Jim Harker and I have coloured it with a mixture of pro & flex markers.

The trellis work on the gold mirri was made using a hougie board.

Now, this isn't a photo of the final card - like an idiot, I deleted the wrong one. All that was added to the final card was the steam clouds coming out of the funnel.


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2 more cards for Grandsons (not mine)

These two are for the brothers of the 2 little girls in the previous post with the penguin cards in.

The top one is made from an image on the 

A-May-Zing by Nigel May

The bottom one is from a digistamp available from JellyPark 

I took the jpeg image into Serif and used the cut out studio so take out the background.

I then prepared the background in Serif and added the wording>

I positioned the snowman digi where I wanted it, added a shadow and printed out the whole design.

Then I discarded everything except the snowman and printed him out.

Coloured him in with Promarkers and cut him out.

And attached him directly over where his "shadow" is so it looks like he is standing out from the page. 

I probably could have coloured him in on the page but I didn't want to 

risk the ink running.

Hope you like it x 

2 pengiun Xmas Cards

2 cards - the same but different :-) 

Acrylic stamp from Wild Rose Studio

coloured with pro & flex markers

Cranberry adirondack inkpad

SWALK "You're the one" birthday card

A fun, bright birthday for a man to give to his wife

Images from SWALK digistamp cd

coloured with promarkers

Background created by stencilling through the waste left behind when die cutting

the marianne leaf design 

lancaster Bomber Birthday Card

I have made this for my lovely client, Jean, who will be celebrating her 90th birthday

on the 15th of December. 

She is a very proud member of the Pathfinder Corp and has a love of Lancaster Bombers so this 

stamp set from HobbyArt will be perfect for her.

I used inkylicious dusters and a mixture of adirondack & distress ink pads.

I cut the hills from a piece of spare doeflex (I had seen the lady from Inkylicious do the same

but with the Stamps Away ink blending mat).

Hope you like it x 

SWALK Digi Birthday Card

All papers from Original SWALK cd

Image from Swalk Digistamps CD

Coloured with promarkers

Teenager Birthday Card

Teenagers - who'd have 'em lol

(especially when trying to decide on an image for a handmade card)

Well, I'm hoping I've hit the right spot with this one

Digistamp available from Redonkulous Designs

Coloured with pro / flex markers following methods learnt from 

Polka Doodles Colour Therapy CD Available here 

All background designed in Serif Craft Artist Pro 

Happy Birthday to Ewe

I was commissioned to make a card for the clients grand-daughter and was told she liked Sheep, amongst other things.

The digistamp is from pinkgemsdesigns.com and is coloured lightly with promarkers.

The foliage die and flower die are both from Marianne designs.

Hope you like it x

Thanks for stopping by x
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

Art Deco Birthday Card

An elegant Art Deco birthday card for you this time.

Stamped image coloured with gold & silver pencils

marabou feathers, black lace, gold mirri card and a couple of

 card candi dots to complete the look

Vintage Butterfly birthday card

Ohh where to start with the recipe with this one ......

Stamp - Papermania Square Urban Stamp - Beautiful Entomologist stamped

with Docrafts Artiste Burnt Orange Dye based ink

Paper - Papermania Capsule Collection - Bexley Black inked with combination of

Docrafts Artiste Burnt Orange Dye based ink and Docrafts Artiste Chocolate dye based ink

Border cut with Spellbinders Asian Accents die

Ribbon tag cut with Spellbinders Asian Accents die

Butterflies cut from Joy Crafts Butterfly set

Cuttlebug "script" embossing folder inked with Docrafts Artiste chocolate ink pad

Another Pin cushion

This one is a GU pot :-) 

These are fun to make 

Pringle tin pin cushion

Yesterday, I was having a browse around YouTube & Pinterest and came across some wonderful quaint pincushions and I looked about my flat to see what I had -- I found a polystyrene ball and I have a few small pringle pots (a lady I clean for saves them for me). I found a scrap of material, cut up an old pillowcase to cover the polystyrene ball , heated up the glue gun and came up with ........................................

Added a few vintage style embellishments and a marabou feather et voila ............

Humphreys Corner Xmas set

6 "Humphrey's Corner" Xmas cards for a raffle prize.

Just got to make a box to put them in now 

Wellington bear birthday card

Commissioned birthday card

PaperMania Wellington Bear DVD used

Bubblewrap card inspired by Julia Watts

After watching  Julia Watts  I thought I would have a go at a random 

background card using a bit of bubblewrap 

I used various inkpads - whatever was closest to hand really

Some mica powders on the tags

a couple of marianne die cut keys inked over with

brilliance copper ink pad

chocolate brown ribbon & a few standard glass headed pins

hope you like it :-) 

@jellypark Digistamp birthday card

Recipe:-

DigiStamp from Jellypark 

Coloured with promarkers 

Large flower - Spellbinders die

Small flowers - Marianne die

Edging - Rob Adams Die 

Foliage - Marianne die 

Just Inklined "Mallard" vintage birthday card

Recipe:

Image from "The Next Big Thing" CD from La Pashe / Just Inklined

Printed out onto cream hammered  paper

Washed over with watered down Artiste Chocolate pigment ink pad

Torn edges inked with above ink pad

Background -  scrumpled cream hammered paper & rubbed over with

chocolate ink pad

3 so far today ...............

This reindeer card is made from a Papermania die cut topper & some card stock from PayPerbox.

I added some promarker colours to the topper & the holly card stock 

"Apple cider" is fast becoming my favourite Promarker colour 

This little cutie is a JellyPark  digi coloured with promarkers.

I messed up her fairy wings - so cut them off and added glittery wings cut from a butterfly die

The ticket sentiment is from PolkaDoodles  Gingerbread twist CD Picknik 2

Card blank is from Papermania & inked with tattered rose distress ink

This digi image is from JellyPark and coloured with promarkers

Backed onto Papermania "paperazzi" glitter card stock

Sakura clear star pen used over the tree trunk (this does not show up on the camera)

Card blank is from Papermania & inked with Docrafts Artiste Chocolate pigment ink pad

Vintage Style Snowman card

Recipe :

Snowman Digistamp from JellyPark 

Coloured with Promarkers from Ltd Edition 24 piece Seasonal Set

Backing papers from Kaisercraft

Tickets from PolkaDoodles  Gingerbread Twist CD

- Inked with Adirondack Cranberry inkpad then over inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink

Leaf die from Marianne Creatables

@craftsite blog challenge entry

8 x 8 scalloped edged card

Lines scored with a Hougie

Poinsettia decoupage sheet 

Tartan Ribbon 

I'd like to enter this into the CraftSite November Challenge blog

#sneots Volunteers needed for daffodil bulb planting

On Saturday 3rd November, St.Neots leisure cycling group are off out to plant daffodils along a section of our local cycling route to make the Spring rides more colourful.

If YOU want to join in, we leave Ambience Cafe on Riverside Park at 10.30am.

Please bring along appropriate bulb planting tools if you have them .


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'Simple snowflake'

Simple snowflake card

Spellbinders snowflake die

tea dye distress ink

'seasons greetings'

Tea dye distress ink

papermania "tree" embossing  folder

papermania "seasons greetings" embossing folder 

Pillow top background

(Search YouTube for video tutorial"

'with love at xmas'

Simple card made with spellbinders snowflake die

Pillow top background (search YouTube for the tutorial from GinaK at StampTV

'Tea dye' Tim Holtz distress ink 

Black archival ink 

Commissioned birthday card

Here is my latest commissioned bespoke birthday card.

"Party Girl" stamp by Papermania

Coloured with promarkers

Marianne dies & Joy Dies used 

To commission YOUR bespoke card visit

iSowcards 

or email sales@isowcards.co.uk

Bespoke Birthday Card commission order

This card is a commission for a gentleman to send to his brother.

Its approx 8 x 8 square with layers on complimenting papers

and a decoupaged pocket watch.

To order YOUR bespoke card, visit

www.iSowcards.co.uk 

or email

sales@isocards.co.uk

to discuss your order 

Jennie Rayment Log Cabin block

Hi everyone. I was waiting with great anticipation from Jennie Payments Quilting Show on Create and Craft on Sunday morning and it was worth the wait (a 2hr show would have been better though).

Having some jelly roll strips left over from a cushion cover I made, I decided to have a go at a Log Cabin block using the techniques Jennie had demonstrated in the show.

My mechanical cat, Pumpkin, had asked me to make him a blankie (oh yes, he talks to me lol) as his little botty was getting cold sat on a wooden table. He wanted to be able to curl up in front of the fire on a cosy blankie.

So, here is what I made him last night. The edges are finished off professionally but Pumpkin doesn't mind :-)

Really enjoyed putting the block together though. I didn't follow a specific colour scheme as it was the technique I was more interested in rather then the finished illusion.

Thank you for reading my Blog
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

The Witches Inn

Black card stock

Creative Expressions "cracked" background embossing folder

Spellbinders Dies

Metallic rub ons

Antique gold jump rings 

Witch silhouette stamp

Jelly Roll cushion instructions

Bear with me as I'm not good at doing instructions (especially for a cushion cover I made up as I went along)

I'll give the basics on how I did the top part, then you can make the rest up however you choose. Mine has been sewn together along the bottom, but you  may wish to put a zip in, poppers, buttons, ribbon ties or whatever.

The cushion pad I had is a 42cm (ish) square so I'll give measurements for that

Cut a 42cm square for the backing.

Using a water soluble pen or a vanishing ink pen, mark ev 1cm up 2 sides.

I used 7 different patterns from my mini jelly roll and I cut 43cm lengths from each one (I got 2 from 1 length and used another matching strip for the 3rd strip)

Fold each strip in half and press.

I layered mine up as follows A,B,C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D,E,F,G

take the first strip and lay the raw edge between the 2cm mark at the bottom of the backing fabric.

stitch straight across

take the 2nd strip and lay it 2cm above with the folded edge laying over the previous piece


(Is this making sense so far ???  Its quicker to make it than write it up lol )

Keep going in this manner until you've used all the strips up and you should (I say should) end up with a "paper pleated" effect

trim the side and there you have it.

PLEASE LAY ALL THE PIECES OUT FIRST TO MAKE SURE I HAVE PUT THE RIGHT GAP IN BETWEEN EACH STRIP

Jelly Roll cushion cover

Me being me, no pattern, no idea, make it up as I go along.

So here is my cushion cover made from 21 stripes of 42cm lengths of jelly roll fabric.

I love it and hope you do too x

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

Pro-marker blog candy

For a chance to win a complete set of promarkers head over to Going Buggy   and follow the instructions x

Good luck everyone xx

Commissioned Birthday card

Commissioned birthday card

Recipe:

Stamps from Polka Doodles

X-cut scalloped circle dies

Nellie's ribbon slider die

Joy crafts butterfly dies

Promarkers & flexmarkers

pink polka dot ribbon

Cuttlebug embossing folders 

Silver mirri board 

Last minute request for anniversary card

Had an email this evening from a gentleman wanting an anniversary card for his wife

& could I take it when I go to their home tomorrow !!

I know the lady of the house loves Oriental things so am hoping this

card fits the bill.

#worldcardmakingday xmas card

Touch of ....Snowflake mask

Stampendous cat stamp

Rob Adams "words" dies

Big & Juicy Waterfall inkpad

Promarkers & various sakura pens