Where did 7 years go??

 I can hardly believe that so much time has passed without adding anything to my blog! We’ve had a wedding, two grandchildren another engagement and a house move in that time!!

I am determined to do more crafting and will hopefully post much more regularly.

Sarah's Prom : First page

Ok so this is something new for me…using masks and texture paste!!

We were at crop in Stoke Poges run by the lovely Kate from Bellaboo, when I spied a 12 x 12 stencil by Prima with lots of lovely words on it .. …."you could use that on Sarah's prom layout"  

said Tracy ( Craftings my Threrapy)…...

I had printed my picture of Sarah on adhesive photo paper and then cut round her image…I do this a lot!!

I stuck it down on my patterned paper :-Pink Paislee London Market Royal Charm, from Bellaboo as per usual for all my fab papers!! making sure that it was placed to get maximum effect from the stencil.

I placed the stencil, taping it down with a bit of micropore tape, then using my Nectar rewards card and some modelling paste that I got for about £2 from The Works I was off!!…

This was a slightly scary process for me…would I ruin my lovely paper & my beautiful photo…..

no…what a fab result…once the paste had dried I inked with Distress Ink :- Broken China, then when that had dried I layer the stencil back on & spritzed all over with Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist for an all over pearlescent shimmer. 

I distressed the edges of the page and inked with Antique Linen and Broken China Distress Inks. 

Then layered with a plain Bazzil 12 x 12  from Bellaboo

I used one of my usual pearl flourishes from Creative Expressions. 

I coloured my Faux Silk blue ribbon ( Bellaboo) with an aqua Pro Marker to give a better colour match. The flowers were from Hobbycraft, again I used  Broken China Distress Ink to colour them.

 The little round embellishment is from K & Co 

Its a Grand Adhesions Dimensional Sticker by Barbara Walton

This embellishment was a combination of an old K & Co grand adhesion, a pearlised brad and a Wooden ticket from the Prima Zephyr range of embellishments at Bellaboo. 

I had to take  the butterfly off then glue it back on in a better position over the top of the ticket.

All in all I was very pleased with this layout & especially pleased with my first foray into the world of paste and stencils….

Thank you Tracy…I never would have tried this if it hadn't been for your inspiration!!!

I'll definitely be doing some more!!

Mrs H's birthday card

So this card started life as an a6 size ATC style topper that I made following a tutorial from Tammy Tutterow…..what a fab lady .
Her blog is full of wonderful tutorials and wonderful inspiration!!

Tracy (Craftings My Therapy) is always stamping, dusting & making her own wonderful backgrounds!! I'm more of a patterned paper type of girl but thought I'd have a go at using some of the huge stash of stamps that I own (even though I don't stamp!!!) and get full use of my distress inks, stains and paints.

This is the final card. I added my usual Craft Expressions Pearl flourish.
The background paper was from a 12 x 12 stack from K & Co that I bought  in the USA some years ago….I really am getting good at letting stuff go!! 
( depends who its for of course!!)

The tickets are Tim Holtz I think, inked and distressed of course. 
The ribbon on the topper is my usual faux silk from Bellaboo made on my Bowdabra.

The sentiment comes from a pack that I found in a little craft shop called Craft to the Max in Burnham when on a craft run with Tracy. Sadly the shop has now closed. 

The flower middle is an old earring.

I coloured the flowers and went a bit overboard on the water, & was quite worried about the fact that they had gone a bit soggy and lost their shape but I think the have ended up with a nice vintage look.

The trellis and butterflies are from a  Papermania
scrapbook page border. ( I used the rest on Nellies scrapbook page on an earlier post)

I took a chunk out from the edge of my background paper and slid part of a doily behind it.
I normally put my pearl flourishes behind any embellishments, but this time I went over the top of the tickets, it gives a softer look I think. 

I really enjoyed following Tammy's tutorial and was so glad that I could give Tracy a card that I feel 

I put my heart & soul into. 

xxxx Happy Birthday My Lovely xxxx

Happy Birthday Nicole!!

My sisters twins were 18 on Friday & my niece Nicole had requested that she really would like "one of your nice cards" …how could I resist!!

I had an idea for an "off the page design" something that she really could keep.

I had bought a wooden die cut birdcage from Anna Marie Crafts some time ago………could I bear to part with it?? Of course I could for such a Gorgeous Girlie!!

 First I painted the whole thing with White Distress Paint, probably 3 coats in all.

Then I spritzed the whole Birdcage with Ranger Perfect Pearls in white. Next, I stamped all over with an Indigo Blue background Script stamp in Versa Mark Gold ink.

I cut lots of foliage from my trusty Memory Box Fairytale Border die intermingled with a few Marianne swirls.

I gave them all a light dusting with Peeled Paint Distress Ink.

The roses are all from Hobbycraft.

This number 18 was from a Thickers Alphabet.

I cut the mini rosebud heads off the wires and glued onto the foliage.

 

The bird was painted and spritzed in the the same way as as the cage was.
I cut a flower into 2 and layered with some green feathers I found in my cupboard.
The flourishes are bits from a couple of Memory Box Bingham Hearts that I had previously cut out in two shades of pink I placed them on the wing to hide an ugly straight edge!!

For the tail I used the remaining bits of feathers and the smallest pre-made rose in my flower box!!

Tah Dah!!!

Welcome Baby Hollie

Sam & Mels good friends had a baby girl and I offered to do a card……very happy with how this turned out.

Background paper was from Bellaboo -:

Kitschy Kitchen Everything Nice.

The pink mount card and flourishes were Bazzil, the flourishes were cut using my Marianne die.
The baby embellishments were from Hobbycraft I think as were the ribbon roses.
The hearts I cut from the background paper and acetate using an old Sizzix die.
 I hole punched with my Cropadile…….the single most expensive hole puncher I've ever bought!!!

I printed all the info on safmat then stuck it onto the acetate hearts. Inked the edges with Pink Lipstick Distress Ink. Cut the word girl using a sizzles die. Mini paper roses from my stash. I wanted the hearts to dangle so used jump rings & tied ribbon onto them. I fixed the ribbon under mini bows made with my Bowdabra. 

Finally a pink diamante on each heart…..every girl needs a bit of bling no matter how small!!

Mels Aunt 80th Birthday

This was a card for a lady who loved Spring flowers. 

I bought the image from The Old Design Shop on Etsy.

The background paper is K & Co.

Mounts and flourishes assorted bazzil card stock  from Bellaboo.

I used my trusty Spellbinders die…much easier to use since I put some release foam on it for the dark green flourishes on the sides of the picture.

I generally offset these rather than try to match them up and they look wonky!!

The leaves under the bow were from a Memory Box die. The ribbon from a selection bought from Hazel Crafts on e-bay- they do great mixed bags of toning ribbons.

The sentiment is from my now dwindling stash from Craftwork Cards, and I layered it onto some flowers. The pearl edging was bought in the USA some years ago now.

The little embellishment on the bow was an old earring that I cut the back off. 

I really do not throw anything away these days!!.

Fionas birthday card

Time for a card…….

Fiona loves Chocolate and France so I couldn't believe it when I saw this paper from a Papermania  collection…….Mdme Chambourd I think??

My Embellishments are a Creative Expressions metal corner & pearl flourishes. I coloured the flourishes with a Versa mark ink pad to tone them down a bit. 

The flowers were from Hobbycraft, the sentiment from Craftwork Cards, the little round embellishment was K & Co and the metal pin holder is King Tims!!