Thanks

Hello there

I've just finished a training placement for work. I'm really glad to have finished as the travelling wasn't fun; the early starts; the training in a different place to where I'll actually be working has all taken it's toll on me. The two ladies who were mainly training us though were very kind to us in different ways, so I made them each a card.

One of the cards I made was with the freebie papers from the August issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft. I used some of their inspiration to help lead me in a good direction.

Alot of the time when making cards these days, I like to make sample pieces to test the design out before using good card/paper. This also helps me get sizes right and make a practise layout which can inspire me further with ideas or just confirm what I had planned.

The tags were cut from the Winter Woodland cartridge, 3dBld5 -tag feature, one cut at 9.5cm and I think the other was about 6cm but I forgot to write it down. I didn't say my recording method was foolproof! :-) It's on page 79 of the booklet. The word 'thanks' was cut from the Wildcard cartridge - 'sweep', phrase function at 10cm, page 42 of the booklet. The flowers were cut at three different sizes ranging from 4cm up to 6; they are on the Walk in my Garden cartridge, shadow function, daisy1 - page 82 in the booklet.


I loved that I could use one of my new Spectrum Noir pens to ink the edges of the die-cuts. In the past using an ink pad to edge such intricate shapes was not successful but this is so easy and really made a difference, especially to the word Thanks.

I liked the relative simplicity of making the card, yet the final look I'm also happy with too.

Result!







Take care out there

The Wanted

Hello there

When I asked my daughter about what I could use for inspiration for a birthday card for her friend, I was told that her favourite song at the moment is 'Chasing the sun' by The Wanted. That theme sounded good to me, so off I went a thinking. First of all I did a little hunting around of papers and decided to use a lovely flowery yellow and red paper from a very nice free set of papers from the latest cardmaking & Papercraft  magazine. I also routed around my Cricut and Card magazines for card ideas and thought of a couple of stamps which could be used.

The next step is to blend all the ideas together to make a rough design on plain paper. It took a little bit of playing around to get the concertinas right as I can never remember how wide to make the paper in order for them to work - I used 2cm this time.

Living life on the edge by doing free hand concertina-ing!
No score lines for this little lady :-)

From then on, it just rolls with the punches as such; making decisions dependant on variables such as how a Cricut cut went; could I find the design I liked and did it cut alright; was I left with any remnants which inspired me? I like the almost monochrome look of the yellow and red, as it's fresh, young and summery - perfect for a June birthday, although we've had it very cold and rainy for a couple of weeks now, so this card is about as summery as it gets here at the moment.

I made the mistake of trying some stencilling inside the card and it went wrong, so I had to cover the bottom mistake with a Cricut butterfly cut i.e Home Accents, butterfly one, shift, shadow; which is the shadow version of the same one I did for the front of the card. I put the The Wanted's name on a red card piece to cover the top mistake, so I think I got away with it. There was no way I was throwing the card, after all the messing around I had to do with the two layers of concertina.

I made the box with the same card and decorated it with some remnant bits of Cricut cutting I'd done.

Let's hope it's liked or appreciated at least.

Take care out there

Sometimes I wonder why I bother ...

... and then something just snaps and I KNOW why I bother; 'cos I love it!

Hello there

This morning for example I had a real faff (that means 'a hard time' for all those who don't understand that colloquism) with trying to make an envelope. Nothing was working and even when I tried printing with MyCraftStudio, it kept printing it A6 when I wanted it A4. When I finally phoned up, I was told that Microsoft's latest update has affected alot of software users in this way. The advice given was to 'print to file' and then print from there but my computer was having none of it. I even downloaded a template from '4shared' but that wasn't 5.5in square either despite what it was advertised as.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother with computers but then our lives are so embroiled in them, it's extremely difficult to forget about them. In my crafting, my computer can be extremely useful for printing allsorts of things; using CricutCraftRoom and getting inspiration and instruction too. There are times, I'd gladly throw it out of the window though.

Had enough of my ramblings about computers? Don't blame you. Let's move on.

I had wanted to use some papers out of a special edition 'Weddings' magazine that 'Cardmaking and Papercraft' did last year I think it was but very annoyingly I couldn't find it. They do have a wide selection online that you can download but those were amongst them, of course! I did find this loveheart paper though which I think it quite pretty. I then did a basic layout of what I wanted my card to look like and got printing and searching for stuff in my room.

By the way, the theme for this card is SILVER WEDDING!

It's actually my very very first commission (aaargghh scary!). It's an order from a friend for a friend, so I hope and pray that they both like it.

I cut circles out of the two patterned papers I chose - the largest ones (4)were 2.5in and the smaller scalloped circles (4)were 1.75in. An extra 2.5in circle needs to be cut from card to form a base for the quartered flower I made with the circles. I also put the larger ones through a swiss dots embossing folder to link in with the dots on the design. You just fold the circles in half and then in half again and then glue them onto the card base.

None inked = boring

Inked = now you're talking!

The card blank was cut with Cricutcraftroom in order for it to join properly - flower1 at 15.42 x 28.75 (then folded in half) from Sweet Treats cartridge.
The first mat (dotty mirri board) - 13.48 x 13.55
The top mat - 11.5 x 11.5
Add a button; embroidery thread twirled within an inch of it's life; some text created in CraftArtist; an insert which took me far too long to import into CraftArtist from being a pdf and then fading and you end up with an anniversary card.

 Then came the envelope antics but I got it sorted finally with a few adjustments of measurements using my Ultimate Pro. Before you suggest it, yes I did keep a template. I used to have a few but they've got lost with the house moves. With some cutting out of hearts from the paper as well and hey presto, an envelope appears.

After making that though, I was nervous about whether it would be liked and because I'd had so much bother with it, I decided to make another different card. That post is for another time.

Until then.. take care out there

More Spring Jubilee

Hello there

I'm a happy girl as I've been able to play with the Pink Paislee Spring Jubilee collection again. It's a birthday card for Chris's mum.
The card base was 25 x 14 cm. The blue patterned paper was cut at 5x13.5cm. The yellow paper was cut at 7.5 x 13.5cm. I then used my paper trimmer to cut the wavy line down a thin strip of the blue patterned paper.
The circular flowered mat was supplied with the paper kit.
The flower was cut from Flower Shoppe cartridge - I used the Cricut Craft Room, so not certain of all the sizes but the largest one was about 5cm square. It's the heart2 flower. I used a 8mm pearl brad as the centre.
The leaves are from the same cartridge -exotic5 - size 5.8x5cm.
I added the ribbon, just because I wanted to and I thought the colours went well.
The frame and the sentiment stamps are Stampin' Up but the butterfly one is part of a set I got from Cardmaking and papercraft magazine. I used 'worn lipstick' distress pad to edge and to stamp with.

This will need to go in the post so I was only able to stamp on it - do you like the pretty butterfly arch? :-)

Take care out there

Welcome to Europe

Hello there

Now here's a card I doubt I'll be sending again anytime soon with a sentiment like that but the card and the papers are lovely. The card is for my Australian friend who I haven't seen in over 13 years. She's currently spending two weeks in Italy partly 'studying' an Italian method of early childhood teaching although Lu- Ann has been teaching for a long time now. Unfortunately I still won't be able to meet up but I feel the need to send her a little card.

I got my initial inspiration from the Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine which supplied the paper pad as a freebie along with the gorgeous matching die cut embellishments. The paper is from Pink Paislees 'Spring Jubilee' collection and it's gorgeous with a capital G! This pad is good as there's just 6 designs but 36 sheets, so you get loads of options of what to do with each sheet. I usually get in such a lather if there's a paper I want to use but I'm scared of ruining it since there's usually only one of each design.

I've made the card my own by using my own die-cutting designs. The scalloped circles behind the butterfly circle were cut from 'Sweet Treats' Cricut cartridge at 4.5cm; flower1 with the shadow/blackout feature key. The butterflies were cut with the Paisley cartridge using the umbrella key with layer 2 function key at 8.5cm (the size is so large as it's a design which is meant to be used as a layer not a main feature). I've had that teal coloured organza and raffia ribbon for over two years now and never used it as I forget about it. I was given it as part of a huge box of crafting goodies I was given when I finished work.

Now all that's left to do is hope that Lu-Ann has a great time.

Take care out there

Date of writing- April 11th 2012

Christmas cards

Hello there

Yes, Christmas. I have to say at the offset that Christmas isn't a favourite time of the year for me. There's too much emphasis on possessions which cost money and back in my single parent days, that wasn't something I had alot of; money. I also hate cold weather, so the winter doesn't rate highly with me anyway. I also think people start Christmas far too early, so by the time it actually arrives, alot of the 'magic' has gone. I do love it when it snows and people can make snowmen outside their homes. I also love carol concerts in Churches. I love midnight mass. I loved the Christingle services Maggie's primary school used to do - when they turned the lights off in the Church at the end of concert and all the kids were stood in the aisles with their candles lit on their oranges, it made me cry every time as they sang a traditional carol. I remember making paper chains with Maggie to decorate her room when she was much younger, much to her delight. I like Christmas cake but I always gave the marzipan to someone else as I can't stand it. Noone else likes it in this house now, so I don't bother getting one. The rest of it can pass me by really.

But before you go away thinking the worst of me as everyone is meant to love Christmas, one thing I have also enjoyed over the last few years has been the making of cards and the family calendar. I'm really old fashioned and I love receiving hand made cards and hand written letters, so I work on the premis that other people do too. Besides, I just love making them. It's alot of pressure in many ways as there's so many to be made in one time but that's some of the challenge. I've made some basic ones this weekend but I really enjoyed the process as things seem to just go my way i.e "that small piece of green mirri board is the perfect size for the tree I want on that card"; "the stamp I want to use fits exactly onto that circle I've just cut out" etc. For some of the cards, I used some papers I got from the Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine which my youngest sister subscribed to for me, for my birthday- thanks again Shell xx. I do get a peculiar buzz from using what others would call scraps of paper in a creative way.

None of these cards will win awards for creative expertise but I'm just sharing the joy I suppose. The joy of me making things. The joy of times when things go well. The joy of relaxing. The joy of getting lost in the experience.

Take care out there