A Year in Cards

Phew, I've just finished my biggest project to date. It's a birthday book - a book with a page for each month to record birthdays (or cards that I need to make) and a pocket in which to store those cards once I've made them. I'm not going to admit just how long it did take to make, but at last it's finished.

To stay with a consistent theme, I decided to go with a limited colour palette and just one range of stamps. For colour, I began with red - my favourite colour - as the base, to which I added accents of gold, copper and orange. There are also some touches of yellow for the summer months. Yellow is my least favourite colour, so I chose to use up some yellow base card by altering it with spray inks in red, orange, gold and copper. For the autumn and winter months, I managed to disguise some orange base card by covering it entirely with spray inks in darker red shades, together with more gold and copper.

All of the stamps that I used are from the Damask Delights range from Elusive Images. I just adore these stamps, and I really enjoyed using them for this project.

OK, here is the grand unveiling of the cover:


I covered some A4 pieces of chipboard (Tip: You never know when the packaging from your online shopping will come in useful) with some gorgeous red and gold handmade paper that I bought a few years ago at the most wonderful paper shop that we found in Southern Spain. The stamped flower image has been foiled by using the absolutely amazing Stickum powder by Sparkle 'n Sprinkle. I've tried so many ways of getting a really good foil effect, and I cannot recommend this product too highly. Just in case you're wondering,I bought mine from Joanna Sheen. I think I'll be using this much more, especially for Christmas cards.

The letters are made with some thin craft metal that I cut out with my Cuttlebug. I backed the metal with double-sided tape before I cut it out, as I have learned from experience that's the easiest way to stick die-cut letters.

The butterflies are also die cut and embossed with the Cuttlebug, using more gold coloured metal and some off-cuts from the sprayed yellow card.

Finally, I added a few flourishes that I cut from various pieces of gold paper with my Whale of a Punch.

I hope you like it enough to come back and see the next few pages.......