CD Sunday - P is for..........

I love Christmas and could have gone for lots of Christmas themed P's but changed my mind and went with P is for Pink for the CD Sunday challenge this fortnight.

I've made a card that could be used for an engagement, wedding or anniversary. The card base is from a very old (2007?) QVC kit by Carol Wilson. It already had the rose bud background, white embossed frame and aperture. I printed onto vellum using a paper from a Creative Crafting World CD - Perfect Papercrafting Companions, disc 2. It's a linen effect paper which can be seen clearly in real life but doesn't show so well on the photo. I've attached the vellum with pink pearl brads after gluing a silhouette die cut behind the aperture - the die is from Tonic. 

Inside the card I glued a heart shaped embellishment (also from the kit) that was positioned so that it could be seen through the vellum when the card is closed.

I made this card for an elderly couple who live in one of the care homes I work for. December 4th would have been their 71st wedding anniversary. Sadly the wife died a couple of days ago - they were such a devoted couple. 

The CD Sunday challenge runs until Saturday 29th November so still plenty of time to get your cards made and entered. 

CD Sunday - Coffee, Peach and Cream number 2!

Unusually for me I've managed a second card for the CD Sunday challenge.
This is only a small card measuring 5 x 5 inches. It's for a work colleague who I've become great friends with. When our work shifts combine we travel home together on two buses and talk all the way home - the other bus users must be glad when we get off LOL!
I've created the coffee coloured mat in My Craft Studio and added the roses which I've recoloured. These and the backing paper are from MCS Quintessential Country Garden. I've used several dies - Sue Wilson for the bow, Tattered Lace for the sentiment and the corners are Cheery Lyn. I've finished the card off with some cream pearls and an adhesive backed ribbon that I've had for many years!

CD Sunday - Coffee, Peach and Cream

I was asked by a work colleague to make a 60th birthday card for their aunt and managed to make one that fitted the theme at CD Sunday.
I've used a new die and embossing folder set from Tonic where the die cut sits snuggly into the embossed design. I've also used a Sue Wilson die (bow), an X-cut die (60) and Tattered Lace dies (sentiment). I finished off the card with some peach flowers and a hat pin that I've made.
The CD element is the insert which I made in Serif Craft Artist but I can't remember which digi kit the alphabet came from.

I know most crafters will be busy making Christmas cards at the moment and this theme may not fit in with that but at the moment only a handful of people have entered the challenge. There's still another week to go before it closes on Saturday 15th November so why not join in - you may just be selected for the top three!

CD Sunday - Christmas is Coming!

For the Christmas is Coming theme at CD Sunday I've had to a really quick card. I opened Serif Craft Artist and put together a 'living room' scene using various digikits. The scene has been printed off flat and stuck to the front of a card blank. All the snow has had a silver/glittery gel pen added to it to make it sparkle. A real quicky this time - sorry CD Sunday ladies!

I used several digikits to make this scene:

The window is from Paper Christmas

Christmas tree – Deck the Halls

Fireplace – Night Before Christmas

Presents – Under The Tree, Very Very Christmas, Santa’s Little Helpers

The ‘wallpaper’ is a material from the Victoriana digikit

And the floor is also a material from Christmas Wonderland.

A card or a decorated box?

Sometimes when we paper crafters need to make a card for someone it needs to be really special. So for my husband's uncle's 80th birthday I decided a simple card just wasn't good enough. Uncle Jim is a very special man and means a lot to hubby and I. He used to love gardening but has had to do less and less due to health issues. He still has a garden shed and greenhouse and does a small amount of gardening.

I've taken several photos in order to show his birthday card from all angles.

The shed is from a Debbi Moore CD called Through the Window - Tools of the Trade. The inner part (fourth picture) is supposed to be glued inside the 'box' but I knew uncle would have trouble seeing all the detail so left it so it could be taken out. The door has acetate that has raindrops printed onto it but it was impossible to get a picture of it. I also used a wheelbarrow and garden seat die to decorate the outside of the shed. And some of the items inside were decoupaged - the 'Blooming Lovely' sign was from my stash. It took me days to make this card but it was worth all the time and effort.
I'm entering it into the CD Sunday challenge which has a theme of 'A birthday card for a male'. The challenge ends on Saturday 4th October.

I came third with the above card.

CD Sunday - Happily Ever After

A short but sweet blog post today as I'm going out to buy a new printer. My much loved, and used, printer is slowly giving up the ghost and it has to go I'm afraid. So don't look too closely at the photo as you'll see lines across the image!
The CD Sunday Challenge this time is Happily Ever After and as it's my wedding anniversary in a few weeks I've made hubby's card (it's never been ready so early LOL!)
I seem drawn to the DoCrafts Digital Designer range at the moment and have used 2 papers from the Forever Friends Black and Gold CD plus a main image.

The card is finished off with some mats cut using Marianne designs dies, a Sue Wilson die (the tiny ribbon strip) and the sentiments are Tattered Lace dies.

The challenge finishes today at 1 pm so you'll need to be quick if you want to enter this one but there'll be a new theme tomorrow which will last 2 weeks.

I came third with the above card (and hubby loved his anniversary card LOL!)

CD Sunday - Get Well

I wasn't going to enter the Cd Sunday challenge this time as the theme was Get Well and I didn't think I had anything suitable. Then I started looking at the toppers and papers on the DoCrafts Digital Designer for something else I was making. When I saw the topper on the Tulip and Friends CD I knew I had to make a card with it! The green/pink stripy BP is also from that Cd and the sentiment is from the Woodland Friends - Everyday CD (DoCrafts again!). The pink stripy mats were made from a freebie in a magazine that I've had for ages.

I finished the card off with a piece of pleated card (bought from C&C) and matted a border cut using a Tattered Lace die which was then embellished with pink 'rainbow drops' in 2 different sizes (again I've had these years). Finally I used some card candy in matching shades in 2 of the corners. I don't normally embellish a card as much as this but I thought if it was someone who wasn't feeling well it might lift their spirits.

My favourite part is the sentiment - my little puss cat is called Snuggles! 

I'm still having trouble uploading photos if I'm using Internet Explorer. The only way I can do it is if I swap over to Google. I think it may have something to do with the online graphics course I'm doing. We've had to download lots of plug ins and it's only since adding them that I've had a problem.

Quilted Fun at the CD Sunday Blog.

I'm actually a day early with my entry for the CD Sunday Challenge of Quilted Fun! I'm usually entering with about 10 minutes left that's if I manage to finish a card in time at all!

I've enjoyed this theme that was picked by Jocelyn although it looks as if I'm in the minority as only a handful of people have entered this time.

I've recently bought a new crafting CD from Creative Crafting World (formerly Cup Cake Crafting) and wanted to use it for my card. It's a double CD called Perfect Floral Companions, it only has backing papers on but they're lovely papers - 1200 papers in 75 colours! It's the third CD in a series but it's the first one I've bought .......................... until today LOL! They have a sale on at the moment so I've bought the other two - all the backing papers come in the same 75 colours so they can all be used together. OK so enough of the advertising, on to my card!
I searched YouTube for a video on how to make a quilted card and found the instructions for this card. The 'quilted' bit is made up of 4 squares and 4 circles (cut into quarters), all glued together and run through an embossing folder.

The blog challenge is open until Saturday 23rd August and closes at 1 pm so if you want to join in you need to be quick!

I came second with the above card.

Welsh images backing paper

I'm doing an online graphics course run by Bob at Craftsville and recently we learnt how to design our own backing papers. One of my brothers had a birthday coming up and as he misses living in Wales I designed a paper using 3 Welsh images.
I used it to make his card and topped it with a fabric Welsh flag.

                     

                           
I wanted to emboss the top page of the insert but I don't have any Welsh themed embossing folders so I put some small die cut dragons (bought) under the paper and run them through my die cutting machine. I was quite impressed with how well the embossing showed up!

And my brother was delighted with his birthday card!

Backdated blog challenge LOL!

I've been having terrible trouble trying to upload photos to my blog. After many hours of trying I went to Blogger Help and it suggested changing my browser - and it worked LOL!
So the following is a post I wrote on 26th July 2014 but have only now been able to publish. The challenge at CD Sunday has long closed and the current theme is 'Food, Glorious Food' and ends tomorrow - Saturday 9th August at 1pm.


After a long break (far too long) I'm entering the CD Sunday Challenge! They've now changed to a two weekly challenge and the theme is Kind and Caring Thoughts.
I thought I'd have a go at a new (to me) card design and I knew straight away who would receive the card.

The papers I used were from DoCrafts Digital designer - Papermania Capsule Collection. I chose four coordinating papers in the same shade of blue. The sentiment in the middle twirls around on the twine. I had to email my entry as I was unable to load photos.

Lothian Crafts February Challenge

Sorry - I'm quite late blogging my DT card this month for Lothian Crafts.

The theme for February is 'Love' and you must use dies on your card. The prize this month is a set of Crafts Too cutting and embossing dies called Frame 11.

Not a very inspiring name but the dies look lovely. I own a couple of Crafts Too dies and they cut really well.

I decided to take advantage of Lothian Crafts' generous January discount offer and bought some heart dies to make my card, While I was waiting for them to come I made a card in Serif's Crafts Artist and printed it out. I cut out a mat using Marianne Design Creatables - Large Oval then cut the middle out to make a frame and placed it over the Victorian couple.

When my new dies arrived I knew they would go well with gilding flakes. For the base card I used kraft card and put a line of gilding flakes down each side. I then cut a square from a chocolate box lid and used it for a mat (cream and gold wavy lines). The plain cream card and the white paper with a brown pattern are also from the chocolate box! I cut a small square from kraft card and run it through a ribbler to make a mat for one of the hearts. I then die cut 2 different hearts and used gilding flakes on them. 

The dies I've used are:

Marianne Design Creatables - Large Oval LR0240

Marianne Design Craftables - Heart CR1225

Marianne Design Creatables - Decorative Hearts LR0159

The challenge runs until 28th February and you must you dies on your card - good luck!

Lothian Crafts January challenge

Mid way through January is the 80th birthday of an aunt of my husband's. We've always been quite close to her - she treats me more like her daughter than her nephew's wife. And she's now the only remaining family member of my late father-in-law so she's pretty special to us both. So when Elaine from Lothian Crafts told me January's theme was 'a birthday card for a female' I thought I'd have a trial run at making auntie Eileen's card.

I've used a Marianne rose border die down the two sides of an 'A' frame card and highlighted the roses with lilac chalk. I then cut a border from purple Centura pearl card using a Marianne ribbon border and placed it along the bottom edge of the card. From the same purple card a cut a Marianne oval die. I then printed the '80' onto white card and die cut it into a scalloped oval and glued it to the purple oval. The card was finished with Happy Birthday peel offs, a paper flower and clear gems. I also glued a light green paper to the inside of the card to show through the cut outs of the rose border die.
The dies I used are:
Marianne Design Creatables - Ribbon 5 LR0161
Marianne Design Craftables - Oval CR1204


Also Marianne Designs Creatables - Anja Border LR0212
Spellbinders - scalloped oval

The challenge runs until 31st January, you must use dies on your card and link back to Lothian Crafts.
The prize is a £10 voucher to spend at Lothian Crafts Online. Good Luck!

I'd also like to enter this card into the Marianne's Design Divas challenge 'Anything Goes'.

I Won!

The last time I posted on my blog was to mention a giveaway a fellow blogger was doing to mark her 100th blog post. Well I only went and won! The prize was donated by Tonic and it's 4 sets of corner dies. I've been in a state of shock since receiving the email - I'm looking forward to the postie coming now! Thanks to Dips for having the giveaway and Tonic for the prize.