MUM

3D cardboard letters decorated for my mum for Mother's day... they were slightly late, but at least I finished them :D

I started off by drawing, in pencil, outlines of patches, I then used 2 tester pots from Wickes to paint it, it was Fushia and lime green (just like my CS) but I did add a bit of white acrylic in to tone them down slightly... It needed a couple of coats to give a good colour. I then used some of the docrafts tissue paper with music and script on to add detail, I also used the matt varnish to stick this on as I didn't want a shiny finish! it works really well as a glue :) and then I added a few partially stamped images in pink and green too and varnished the whole thing:) Then I used some docrafts bloomers, some tatty teddy springtime papers to make flowers and I used my favorite little butterfly again as it was the perfect size :D I used some docrafts glimmer dots in the middle of some flowers, I'd had them for ages, from a goody bag and didn't realize how amazing they look!! I also added some odd buttons and gems... and then the micro-beads which were from a nail art set from poundland, I did this by doubling over a piece of double sided and using a hole punch to get a circle and then stuck it on, pulled the backing off and tipped some beads on... these letters were very experimental with things I'd wanted to try for a while, and mum loved them :D 

Two Globe Cards

 A simple circular easel card up-cycling an old encyclopaedia

I found a really old World atlas encyclopaedia which I didn’t particularly want any more, and I turned to a few pages in and saw these small circular maps of the world showing both sides. They were showing different things such as population etc… And I thought they would look perfect as a circular easel card, and just by luck, the largest Xcut nesting die fitted perfectly :D So firstly to get the base easel card I placed my largest circle die on a pre-folded A6 card blank, hanging the edge of the die off the card so that a spine would be left attaching the two sides. I then used the same size circle to cut out the globes from the pages of the atlas, and then cut another circle out of a further A6 card blank to stick to the back of the map for the top globe so that it was sturdier as the upright part of the card. I also inked the edges of the globes just to get rid of the harsh edge (on one card I used green ink and on the other card I used blue). I scored across the middle of the top circle of the card parallel to the spine to create the easel, and then I attached the strengthened globe to the folded circle and the second globe to the base of the easel card. Then I spelt out my sentiment ‘Enjoy your Trip’ curving the letters on an acrylic block and stamped it onto a scrap piece of some happy days paper and I cut around the letters in a curved forked tail banner shape. I then used another scrap of paper for a butterfly, which is from one of the bookprint stamp sets (it has to be my favourite butterfly ever!) Then I finished it off with a few gems for the body of the butterfly, a single tiny gem to prop up the easel and a trio of tiny gems to balance the top right of the circle :D I really love the final look of these cards, I just need to find someone to give them to :D Also on one of them, it looked a bit empty, so I used a couple of the docrafts all abroad stamps :D 

Tilly Daydream

I had great fun in my Easter break making a few Tilly Day dream cards with the Ultimate die-cut set... This was the first chance I'd had to play with it since I'd brought it..

Again similar to the others :D  I really love this range, and will hopefully be making a lot more with it over the summer :D

Tilly Daydream

I had great fun in my Easter break making a few Tilly Day dream cards with the Ultimate die-cut set... This was the first chance I'd had to play with it since I'd brought it...

In the same sort of style as the others... the "ribbon" is a piece off an 8x8" piece of canvas with a tape measure washi tape on top :D 

Tilly Daydream

I had great fun in my Easter break making a few Tilly Day dream cards with the Ultimate die-cut set... This was the first chance I'd had to play with it since I'd brought it...

First I started by using my dovecraft piercing ruler around 3 edges of this card, as this range has a very patchworky theme I thought it'd be perfect. I scruffed all the edges of the matts and layers and topper with some scissors and added some tares in and inked the edges with a brown ink to keep in the theme of it looking like canvas or even weave.... I punched a few extra hearts out of the paper with a heart punch, and I used a few hexagons from the patchwork paper behind the topper.... the threads along the border near the bottom were from an 8x8" canvas square.. There's a few more cards with this range coming...  This one actually ended up being a thank you card, after I'd photographed it I added a thank you stamp on the bottom of the topper :D

Tilly Daydream

I had great fun in my Easter break making a few Tilly Day dream cards with the Ultimate die-cut set... This was the first chance I'd had to play with it since I'd brought it...

Also similar to the others, and in those lovely autumn tones too :D I also used some scraps from the hexagon patchwork paper on this one to punch out some little leaves to dot around the topper :D 

Tilly Daydream

I had great fun in my Easter break making a few Tilly Day dream cards with the Ultimate die-cut set... This was the first chance I'd had to play with it since I'd brought it...

I love these autumn colours in this range... this card was using one of the decoupage toppers in the pack, but I only used a few of the layers... I love that the decoupage is now on matt paper!! I means you can add inks and it stays and doesn't smudge :D Again I pierced all the edges of the card, I think this effect goes really well with this range... and I also used some of the patchwork hexagons too, its really made me want to start the patchwork cushions I've been meaning to do... can't wait till summer :D I also used some bakers twine on this card, I think its from the spots and stripes bright collection :D 

Filefolder Style

 I keep seeing an American crafting trend of using file folders... and they're quite expensive to get sent over here... so I made my own using the kraftnotes designstax

I started by getting a piece of scrap paper and drawing a parenthesis bracket shape on one side I then cut this out and folded the paper to the size of card i wanted, then traced the reverse onto the other side to make a template... I now re-did this with a card blank so its stronger... I then traced round this to get the shape and cut it out, these papers are perfect because being 200gsm they can stand as a card blank and even hold embellishments... I used one of the toppers on a sheet in the designstax, as it was the perfect size, and then I continued to decorate with the matching ribbons and bows and the little cream buttons are those gorjuss ones which were free on the docrafts mag ages ago :D 

The top image shows the outside of the card folded flat, and the image to the left shows the inside, so you can see the parenthesis shaped tab :D