Two more Christmas cards

Here are a couple more cards made using the Woodware clear stamps by Francoise Read. I don't know why, but I'm always drawn to images of the three kings and these ones are great to colour in and cut out. For the first card, I decoupaged the kings and mounted them onto some nice handmade paper that I got in a pack. The second card uses backing paper from the Artylicious Butterfly Bliss CD. Greetings on both cards are from Craftwork Cards.

Rock Hard Fairy

I'm not generally a big fan of decoupage, mainly because I usually lack the patience to do all that intricate cutting out. However, when I was asked to make a card for a teenage Goth, I thought the Rock Hard fairies would provide the ideal solution. Paper from the DCWV RockStar range make an ideal backdrop for these designs, and I couldn't resist a little bit of stamping and the addition of some black gems. Sadly, my scanner doesn't cope very well with cards that are very dimensional, as this one is. Because of the depth of the card, I had to make a box for it, and for this I did a clear acetate lid.

Thanks for looking.

More Fairies

The lovely main image is from a stamp by Joanna Sheen, and I used chalks to colour it, adding just a touch of Sakura clear sparkle pen on the stars and the fairies' wings. The patterned background is from the DCWV Glitter Stack, twinned with a panel embossed with my favourite Cuttlebug folder of hte moment. A bow of grosgrain ribbon finishes off the card.

Wow! I've been given an award!!

Many, many thanks to Anne Campbell for giving me the Arte y Pico award. It was such a lovely surprise to receive this on my return from holiday. As per the rules of the award, I have to choose 5 more blogs to give the award to. I really can't decide right now, so I'll have to go away and have a browse and a think, but right now I'm just so excited to be awarded anything for my crafting that I'm on Cloud 9!!!

Thinking of Christmas in April

I can't believe it - just three days ago I was soaking up the Spanish sunshine, and I wake up this morning to find a covering of snow on the cars and the trees! Suddenly it doesn't feel quite so ridiculous to be making Christmas cards, so here is my latest attempt to get ahead of myself.

I used clear stamps by Francoise Read for Woodware and backing paper from the Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD. Finished off with die cut letters and some Zoomz, which are rapidly becoming some of my favourite embellishments.

Thanks for looking.

All for now!

I won't be adding any new posts to my blog for the next week, as I'm off to Spain for a break and hopefully some sunshine. I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to look at my cards. I'd be really grateful for any comments from viewers - please do let me know if you like my work or if you have any constructive suggestions about how I can improve them.

Thanks again!

No stamping here!

For a quick(ish) birthday card I used Basic Grey paper, a sentiment from a HOTP kit, which I coloured with chalk, and a few Prima flowers, all topped off with a white satin ribbon.

And another one

This card is made using another of the Mackintosh-inspired stamps from Tanda, this time stamped in plain black onto a background that I created with Startburst Stains. Text is a Hero Arts stamp on a scrap of Basic Grey paper, with faux stitching drawn in using a Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The pale yellow vellum panel is held in place with pastel brads.

More Mackintosh

As a long-time admirer of the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, I couldn't resist getting both sets of Mackintosh-inspired stamps by Tanda Stamps, and I have used them here to make a birthday card for a fellow fan. The background and sentiment have been stamped in Versamark and coloured with Moonglow mica powders, while the main image is heat embossed in silver.

Another Christmas Card

As I have a backlog of recent cards which I have completed but not yet had time to scan, today I will feature a card that I made for last Christmas. The background is from the Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD, and the main image is from embossing paste used with a brass stencil and covered with glitter while the paste was still wet. I added a bow of matching satin ribbon and a bauble sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

Damask Delights

For this card I combined papers from the Artylicious Damask Delights CD with one of the complementary stamps from Elusive Images, which is embossed in silver onto blue vellum. I mounted the vellum using tiny eyelets, and once again used the really versatile Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Black and White Criss Cross Card

Made this one for my father-in-law's birthday, using card from the DCWV glitter stack, HOTP clear sentiment stamp and letters die cut on the Cuttlebug. Very simple card really.

Pearly Butterfly

Sadly my scanner doesn't cope very well with cards that have much dimension, so this picture is not very good, but I couldn't resist sharing this card with you. Backing paper is from the Butterfly Bliss CD by Artylicious, and the butterfly is from a Wendie Rhodes stamp. In real life, it's much more shimmery as I used Perfect Pearls on the large butterfly.

Thanks for looking.

Pink and Fluffy

Some time ago, when I was at a show, I had a rush of blood to the head and bought loads of brightly coloured feathers, which I have never known how to put to good use. So, when I got the Wizard fan die, I thought I could use it in conjunction with the feathers, and this is the result. It's a very busy time of year, as most of OH's family have birthdays in March and April, not to mention Mother's Day, etc., so I used this one for my SIL. I love the bright colour, but it is probably not to everyone's taste.

Two Wedding Cards

A very good friend of mine is getting married in May, so I have been trying out some ideas for a card for the occasion.


The first card features stamped images by Paper Artsy, embossed in gold. I cut out the windows from the square and stuck gold vellum behind it, before attaching the hearts on foam squares to raise them a little bit. I stamped Autumn Leaves swirls in gold Brilliance ink onto the base card, and then printed the computer-generated greeting. Tied a ribbon bow to finish.



For the second card, I used gold embossing again on an image by Michael Powell for the English Stamp Company. Another computer-generated greeting and a strip of different gold ribbon complete this one.

Of the two cards, I think I prefer the first one. Though I adore the Michael Powell image, I feel that I haven't yet found a use for it that does it justice. Still, there's still plenty of time before the wedding fo me to continue experimenting.

Thanks for looking.

Stylish Lady

I rencently bought a few of the lovely Erte stamps from Clarity stamps and this is my first card made with them. I have used K&Co printed papers to piece the image and for background pieces, and yet another piece embossed on the Cuttlebug, inked to highlight the relief.

Thinking about Christmas

Every November I make myself a promise that I really will start earlier with my Christmas cards for next year, and that I will try to complete at least ten cards every month so that I don't reach the end of the year in a state of panic again. Well here we are in March and these are my first two Christmas cards for 2008, so I'm only 28 cards behind so far.
Both cards are made from Pink Petticoat downloads, with just a touch of colouring and simply embellished with Zoomz from StampGalaxy.
I did some other images with more colouring, but I thought that the more monochrome look was more effective. I hope you like them.

Funky Fairy

This fairy is from A Christmas set of stamps by Wendie Rhodes, but I couldn't resist using her on a non-seasonal card. I coloured her in with Tombow markers and she's sitting on backing papers from Blonde Moments.

Mackintosh Thank You

I adore the Mackintosh bauble stamps from Elusive Images, and I was especially pleased to discover that the size of this one coincides nicely with one of my Nestabilities dies. Coloured with Prismacolor pencils and mounted simply onto another Cuttlebug embossed background. The text stamp is from a HOTP clear set, embossed in silver which doesn't show very well on the scan.

Thanks for looking.

Mothers Day

This is the card I made for my mother-in-law this year. I used stamps from Elusive Images, heat embossed in gold, and some rose printed vellum that I have been hoarding for ages. The text is foil over some double-sided stickers by Making Memories. The scan doesn't show it very well but the front of the card is folded back, and the heart is not attached to the vellum.