Useful to Have

I think it is always handy to have a few cards available to be sent to people just to let them know someone is thinking of them and I'm sure the gesture is appreciated.  For this card I've used a piece of script background paper and stamped  some pale blue card using the Hardwood stamp by Stampin' Up - I can see all sorts of potential for using this large stamp and despite being so big it does stamp very nicely.  Deco Labels dies were used to cut out the shaped pieces and one was embossed using a wood-grain embossing folder. There has been a free stamp set available recently which matches the shape of the Deco Labels and one of them was used on this with the addition of some stamped and punched Petite Petals with pearl centres.  The sentiment is from a set of tiny clear sentiment stamps of unknown origin.  Corner die is Victorian Romance from Cheery Lynn.

A Quandary

What is my quandary you might ask?  Well I was tempted to get this Birdhouse embossing folder by Crafter's Companion which I love but the thing is that such a nice design deserves to be seen and I tried various ideas before I came up with this simple one which I'm not entirely happy about.  I used a bird stamp from Stampin' Up Touch of Nature set (now discontinued) and a trellis die from Tim Holtz Frameworks range.  The bird image was cut out using SU Deco Labels dies and the stamped sentiment is a punched label shape (also SU).  I will have to keep the brain working on ways of using this embossing folder and maybe try to curb my tendency to 'buy now - think later'!!  In fact I have to much 'stuff' that I really should avoid the 'Buy Now' buttons altogether.

Faux Leather Technique

A few weeks ago I saw Sheena Douglas demonstrate a faux leather technique using kraft card which can be worked into something which looks and feels very much like the real thing by the use of glycerine and water.  There is a video HERE if you want to see how it is achieved.  Of course at the time I wanted to try it immediately but would you believe that our chemist doesn't sell glycerine so I had to wait until I could visit  a larger 'chain' chemist shop.  This is my first effort which is quite basic and the piece I made has simply been glued onto a purchased notebook - said notebook was too tall for my piece of A5 card so I trimmed it down carefully using a ruler and craft knife.  There are all sorts of possibilities with this technique and it is quite simple to do only requiring glycerine, water, embossing folder, some inks and some kind of sealant such as 'spray and shine' although I used some acrylic wax which I happened to have.  Hopefully you can see the effect - not the easiest thing to photograph

Another Bear

I've used another of the Bingham Bear images to make this card.  Background is embossed using a Sue Wilson folder, image cut out with Sizzix (for Stampin' Up) starburst framelit die and some Spellbinder circles.  The lacy border was cut with Spellbinder border dies and the little stamped flowers are Petite Petals from Stampin' Up with punched centres.  Sentiment is a clear stamp which I curved on the block so that it would fit the Bitty Banner die cut.

A Bingham Bear

This card was made mainly from bits and pieces lying around on my working space - you know how it is you try out a die on an odd piece of card, cut a piece of backing paper, print an image or two and then don't actually make them into anything.  Today I decided to gather some of the bits together, match them up and make a quick card.  The image is from Bingham Bears by Serif, backing paper is from a Debbie Moore CD, corner die is a Spellbinder one, as is the plain kraft circle.  The bear was cut out using a Sizzix thin die (Stampin' Up) and the computer sentiment popped onto a smaller zig-zag circle and a punched label (also SU).  That's a few less odd bits and pieces cluttering up my space!!  I know it is officially spring now but today seems quite chilly to my way of thinking, nothing like as nice as last Sunday.

Make and Take

I've just returned from a Make and Take morning presented by the lovely Jill of Jill Stamps Up where we were shown a selection of Stampin' Up products and used some of them to make this pretty card in Spring-like colours.  The background was stamped using a stamp set which is free at the moment if you spend £45 on SU products (not difficult!!) and other stamps, punches and so on were used to complete the card.  Thanks Jill for some great ideas and thanks to Anne for hosting the morning and providing us with coffee and scrummy cake.

Time Flies...

This saying is so true - where has this week gone??  It is almost a week since my last post here so today I'm sharing a wedding or anniversary card which I made recently using die cuts from Marianne  together with a stamped and punched sentiment from Stampin' Up - what did we do before there were so many lovely dies available??