A Commission

I was asked by Kate, a friend who I travel daily with on the train, if I could make a card for her daughter Sammy who loved all things theatrical. I was a little stumped until she went on to tell me that Sammy & her friend once starred as Laurel & Hardy. Rummaging through my files of purchased images, I came upon these and made a card out of them.

The background is a sheet of newspaper (the daily Metro free on the train), I chose the theatre page. Glued it to the card with matt gel medium then colour washed it first with Cadmium Yellow Deep Acrylic paint. Once dry I glazed a wash of Red Ochre Acrylic paint over the top. The I simply glued all the images with matt gel medium.

Happy Anniversary

to my sister, Tracy and brother in law, Martin.

By the time this card was finished, the light had gone & the next two days that followed were black and full of rain. I didn't think I would ever get a photo of the card before it had to be posted off. What you will not be able to see is that the 3 butterflies are glued on with silicone so their wings are raised in flight. This had to be taken under artificial lights & I'm lucky the colour came out right!!

I used Heidi Swapp heart stamp & Webster's Pages Butterflies. Masked them, then using Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Victorian Velvet & Fired Brick distress inks I watercoloured over the music stamped background. I used Smokey Grey Versafine for the music. I then stamped & cut out the butterflies again, inked them & glued them on.

ATC Swap

I have agreed to take part in an ATC swap with Penny. Mine have been made & posted off to America. I know they have reached their destination safely and while I can't share them with you yet, I can show you the card I made to send them with.

I made this card using Faded Jeans, Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen & Vintage Photo Distress Inks. I stamped with Paperbag Studios Silences stamp & my other images were from the TH sets Fairytale Frenzy and Visual Artistry.I used my favourite lemon juice & bleach techniques then in some of the bleached areas I gently inked over in Victorian Velvet, Wild Honey & Tumbled Glass Distress Inks.

Forum Birthday

Over on the private forum for the SSG's, it is time for another birthday. It only seems five minutes since I last posted about her birthday, but it Ang's birthday again. Where has the year gone!! I kept the card simple black & white. Threaded black ribbon through the punched holes. Bird stamp from a set by Dovecraft. Greeting from a set by Papermania.

On The Craft Table

I have been working away since Wednesday on Christmas cards. I can't share the completed ones with you as they are designs that will be sent to my craft forum friends and family and as these people read my blog I don't want them getting a sneak preview!!

However, I have decided to make a selection to sell at work and below is a picture of my craft table. I have spent two full hours just creating all these elements to go on the cards. It might be next weekend before they are ready to be shown.

The large blank stars at the top of the picture are a suprise for a few friends.

The small stars & circles have all been die cut. I have stamped them with script & music stamps & inked with the two distress inks. The coloured swirls have been die cut from patterned paper.

I'm just taking a break with a well earned mug of tea, then its back to punching out the tiny circles for another set of cards for some other friends!!

Hope you are all having a productive weekend.

Autumn Has Arrived!

What an awful day it has been today! I don't think it has really been light, it has rained all day. So I quickly got done all the chores I needed to do & after putting fresh clean bedding on and putting up all the winter curtains, I settled down to make some more Christmas Cards :0)

I started on Wednesday and so far I have 25 made!

Now it is getting dark and I have lit all my candles.

Today is Carrie's birthday, but I am not able to share her card with you just yet.

I hope she is having a wonderful day, followed by another one tomorrow because as we all know,

it is the weekend, Whoop!!!

I hope everyone is having a warm weekend, whatever you are up to!!

A Commissioned Card

I was asked by a colleague at work to make a wedding card for his neighbours. He chose this design from some of my past creations. I first made this card on 7th September 2006 and I made it again in September 2011. But, me being me, I vamped it up a bit :0)

I honestly have to say I prefer this version far more than the original

Calendar Pages

Last year I made a perpetual calendar for my desk at the office. I realised this morning that I only ever blogged the pictures up to July/August and then promptly forgot about the last four months. So here are my pages for September and October. I love looking at this every day on my desk, it reminds me of who I am when I'm bogged down under paperwork.

Papers are Studio Calico and Bo Bunny.

Stamps are Paperbag Studios and Crafty Individuals.

Thank You Card

This card has been made to send to the lovely people my sister Tracy & I rented the Gite from during our stay in France. They were wonderful hosts & I hope to see them again one day soon.
I copied this design from the top of my layout further down the blog.
Materials Used;
Prima Documentary Stamp
Scrap of Basic Grey Basics Paper
Scrap of old book paper
Martha Stewart Edger Punch - Doily Lace
White card
Spun Sugar Distress Ink
Antique Linen Distress Ink
Big Shot with Swiss Dot Embossing Folder
Birds on Wire Stamp - CI287
Papermania white flowers overstamped with script
Papermania silver half crystal
Tim Holtz- Visual Artistry (birds in top corner)

Just a note.. stamp Papermania

All paper scraps were hand stitched together with white thread