Victorian 60th Birthday Card

Evening All

What a gorgeous day it has been today, I was actually really happy at being able to get some washing out on the line for a change!!

So, what have I been up to?

Well I didn't tidy the craft room on Friday as I posted it was done today instead.  I had managed to find something else to take up my time :o)  A basket and card order which was fab. 

I love having orders and actually having a reason to craft instead of just making things up for markets, I mean I enjoy that as well but its more generic and I tend not to challenge myself.

David purchased some new style baskets and they are lovely looking, I am very pleased with them.

The card I made was 8x8 and its such a great size to work with.  It was required for an older more elegant lady so it was a good opportunity to get away from cute animals and bears etc.

I used a Kraft card as the base, extra strong double sided tape, double sided tape, wet glue, large foam pads, a piece of silver Mirri Card, a piece of lace style card, a piece of rose background paper, a couple of birthday sentiments, a Victorian topper, some cream ribbon with some glass bead droplets, some brown gems, some turquoise gems, a paper flower and some flowers put together using a technique that Ali Reeve from "Stamps Away" used on some background paper for a card she made.

So to make these simply cut out varying sizes of flower shapes from decoupage paper so that they could be layered up when finished.  I then scrunched them up to give a crumpled look.  Popped some coffee in he bottom of a bowl and added just a small amount of water from a hot kettle to dissolve, the flower shapes were then all dipped in and covered in the coffee.  I placed them on a piece of tin foil just to give them someplace safe to dry, before I left them though I sprinkled some more coffee granules on top to give flecks of deeper colour, left them just for a few minutes and then dried them off with a piece of kitchen towel and left to dry.

Once the flowers were fully dry I stuck the layers together with wet glue, shaped them some more, and added gem centres just to add a little sparkle and to tie them in with the rest of the card.  I also cut out leaves and used the same tecnique.  The finished flowers were attached to the card with wet glue and foam pads on the small one to give it a little height.

I was very pleased with the finished card, mainly because it signals the end of my crafty block!!

So thats what I did Friday. 

Saturday I got my things together for the "Granny Would Be Proud" Market held in the Hillhead Bookclub Bar & Restaurant across from Waitrose on Byres Road in Glasgows West End.  It was a great day, met some very lovely crafters as always and had a cupcake to die for made by "The Sweet Hut", oh it was just scrummy!!

Well, thats all for tonight, Happy Crafting xx



To Tidy or Not To Tidy.......

It's Friday everyone!!

I know all you crafters out there will know the dread that comes when you look in the craft room and its just a huge mess that just needs a good tidy.  This week I have done everything to stop myself from tidying it out, I have even done the garden which is not one of my favourite tasks either but obviously the better of the two. 

Today I cannot procrastinate anymore as there are no other jobs I can do instead it is going to be done, really........honest.......I mean I am even writing a blog to delay the inevitable!!

Wish me luck people, may be gone a while!!  If I'm not lost I will end up doing something crafty, actually hoping that cleaning the room will bring back the urge to craft & create stuff again, maybe my mojo is hiding in there someplace?

Anyhoo,

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Happy Crafting :0)

Amanda

Basic Cute Critters Cards

Hello Friends

Just a quick post showing the last of the basic cards that I have put together, just shows that things don't have to be that complicated.

I have received a few Christmas kits and will be trying to make these all different and unique and totally different from what can be bought in store.  Well this is the plan anyway, still not quite got back into things yet.

That's it for tonight. 

I am still doing loads of crochet squares for my blanket, not sure it will be finished for the winter but isn't that always the way!

I have also been doing some Kumihimo Jewellery and keyrings which is so relaxing and takes up no area at all, pictures to follow once I have enough different patterns to show exactly what can be created.

Happy Crafting Everyone!!

Amanda

Basic Cute Critters Cards

Good Day People

I know, two days in a row!!

Just thought I would post some more of the cards I put together over the weekend.  These are all square cards and I used some basic inserts in matching colours but with scalloped edges just to jazz things up a bit.

Again I have used the remainder of the stamped images that I had, layered these up with some matching card, added some peel-offs, ribbon and other embellishments and finished by popping in cello bags. 

Keeping it simple for the moment.

Happy Crafting!!

Amanda

Basic Cute Critters Cards & Die Cut Butterflies

Hey All

I have to apologise for the sheer lack of posts on the Blog front, my crafty block still hasn't lifted.  However, this week I dug out a few wee bits of leftover card & toppers etc and stuck a few different cards together.

In this batch I actually used inserts, just very basic colours to match the cards with a simple verse, it actually makes a huge difference to the finished look of the card and so I am going to aim to do this from now on with all the cards I make.

The cards feature some of the stamps which I coloured right at the very start of the Blog, yip I still have some of these, batch stamping might not be something I do again as it has taken some time to use all of these even though I have decoupaged them up.  It does get slightly samey!!

In a crafty mag that I had delivered through the door a while back there was a section on drawing your own borders and other features on your cards to give them a different kind of look.  I used a black Promarker fine liner and drew two overlapping wavy borders which look great and then coloured these in the colours that were used on the toppers.  The Promarkers give a very seamless finish so they do not look hand coloured.

These are so very simple to pop together, all you need is a die cutting system, maybe a Cricut or even a Cuttlebug or Grand Calibre with the lovely dies to make your bits.  I have cut out some butterflies and simply layered these up and left the wings loose, then use double sided tape to pop onto  contrasting card.  For the glitter strip I again used double sided sticky tape with some cloth embellishments and then sprinkled with the correct coloured glitter and cut into strips to fit, such a quick way to add some sparkle for your cards.

To finish I just pop my stamp on the back and place into a cello bag with an envelope to keep card pristine.

Happy crafting people!!

Amanda