Alfie and Puppy Card

Evening Folks

Hope you are having a great weekend. It's been not a bad day here, made all the better for seeing Jay And Alliona's jive on Strictly Come Dancing this evening ... fabulous fun!

I have another card made from rediscovered stash to share today.

This cute little digital topper and matching papers were printed out from a My Craft Studio disc, Alfie, so long ago I can't remember when.

To make the card I created an A6 buff coloured card base, matted and layered the topper, backing paper, belly band and sentiment on baby blue cardstock. The blue gingham ribbon was wrapped round the belly band and a knotted to one side. Both the topper and sentiment are edged with blue glitter glue and enamel dots were added to the corners.

The insert was also printed from the CD.

Materials used:

• My Craft Studio CD, Alfie
• Printer Paper - digital smooth and copy paper
• Cardstock - Buff & Sky Blue 240gsm 
• Ribbon - blue/white gingham 
• Glitter glue - Stickles Baby Blue
• Enamel dots - Docrafts Denim Blue

I think this card will be perfect for my little great-grandson's birthday next month ... he'll love the puppy :)

There's going to be more cards made from long forgotten stash - I have quite a pile to work my way through.

The Boss is telling me I should get to bed now, and she knows what's good for me so I better do as I'm told :)

I wish you all a very happy Sunday.

Daffodils Just For You - Card and Matching Bookmark

Hello Everyone

Spring really does seem to have arrived up here in Ayrshire in the last few days. Not only have we had sunshine but the temperature is definitely gone up a couple of degrees so my latest makes are very timely.

First up is this card with matching bookmark set made for this month's UKPC swap ... the theme, of course, is Daffodils. The patterned paper, topper, insert and greeting were printed from an old CD, Aroma Notes, from Card Creations Plus. This CD was sold in support of a very good cause, Macmillan Cancer Support. I printed the topper on glossy photo paper instead of paper. The patterned paper was intended to be notepaper but trimmed down it was the perfect size for the front of this A5 card. Decorations are mauve card candi and a tiny bow made from mauve organza ribbon - also used on the bookmark.

Inside with insert and back with tiny topper.

Front and back of the bookmark. The verse reads:

Daffodils .....
A carpet of gold heralds spring,
Heads held high, a magnificent
thing ......
              ... Hazel J Bainbridge ...

With just the addition of a few snippets of card for matting the toppers - mauve for one, green for the other, plus deep yellow for the tiny punched butterflies - I was able to make these two cards using leftover bits and bobs from the print outs. The butterflies are decorated with Stickle yellow glitter glue.

I'm submitting the cards to the following challenges:
The first card to Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge - P is for Patterned Paper - front and insert are daffodil patterned.
The second and third cards to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 168 - snippets are, as mentioned before, the matting and the butterflies.

Many thanks for visiting. I hope you are well and enjoying some of this better weather wherever you are.

Happy Crafting,

Steampunk Train Birthday Card

Hello Everyone

I hope this finds you well and having a really good Thursday.

It's all go here at Casa Worthington. The painting of the hall ... delayed, if you recall, due to a back injury preventing the EM from finishing the job he had already started ... has recommenced. After months of painkillers and physiotherapy, I'm happy to report he is now back to full health, albeit still having to take things a little easier than before ... in other words, pace himself!!! It also means that my time in the craft room is limited ... ladders everywhere means access has been denied much of the time. So, I have very little to share at the moment but here is the card made for my SIL's 50th birthday.

With his main interests being football, cars and model railways I looked for a stamp that I thought would encompass some, if not all, of these and settled on this really quirky one from Lost Coast, Steampunk Grasshopper Train.

I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured it with a mix of ProMarkers and Sharpie pens, picking out some of the colours in the background patterned paper ... printed from a My Craft Studio CD, Tinkering with Steampunk. Red and blue mirror card was used for matting and layering. Printed ribbon (Ribbonbox) bought at the Hobbycraft Show in Glasgow, as far back as last October especially with this birthday in mind, and toning card candy were used for embellishments.


Inside and back were, as usual, decorated with leftover strips of the patterned paper.

One of the reasons that the stamp felt appropriate was because there is similar old-fashioned trains on the cushions I made for the birthday boy's train shed - you may have seen them in an earlier post here.

Time I made a quick exit. Another good reason for staying well away from the area being painted is that the fumes from the paint have triggered an asthma attack. Normal service will be resumed once the job is completed and all the fumes have dissipated.

Thanks for looking, comments are always appreciated ... if only to let me know that I'm not alone in cyberland :)

Take care, see you soon and, as always, happy crafting,

Rudolph Day

Hi Everyone,

Because I missed Rudolph Day over at Sarn's (Stamping For Pleasure) last month, I was determined to make a couple of cards for this one. Otherwise I'll be desperately making cards right up to the last posting day and that would never do!!

That said, I have two different cards ... it's a character flaw I'm sure, but I really struggle to make two cards exactly the same!  However, what both cards do have in common is that the toppers and patterned paper sheets were printed from a CD, and oldie but a goodie, Magical Christmas Moments from cupcakecrafting.co.uk.

First, a Christmas bauble with a cute snowy scene on it. To the topper and patterned paper from the CD I've added some pale blue cardstock for matting and layering, some blue card candy and a bow made from a snippet of blue seam binding. I used a Tonic punch to create the diamond patterned strip of card that I've used to decorate the panel.

I'm not sure what you call this type of layering, it's not decoupage but the technique is similar, as is the effect.

The inside and back of the card are decorated using a sheet of matching insert paper from the CD plus some strips of paper left over from decorating the front.

The second card has a wee kitten sheltering from the snow - cute or what :) I've added red textured card (Papermania) and a NBUS, white snowflake embossed paper that I've been hoarding for a very long time - so long I've forgotten where it came from - more card candy, red this time, and gingham ribbon. Sparkle has been added using Stickles Xmas Red on the holly (behind the kitten) and the sentiment, and Crystal on the coloured beads hanging on the cord.

The inside was decorated with the insert paper to match the design and a smaller image, and for the back I've used a strip of the plaid pattern with the smallest image from the topper sheet.

As well as submitting this to Sarn's Rudolph Day Challenge - July 2014 I'm submitting it to the following challenges:
CHNC challenge 187: Cute - donkeys, kittens, and a puppy dog - couldn't be cuter.

CHNC challenge extra for July 2014

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper July challenge

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 135 - that snippet of blue seam binding must surely count.

The little kitten sheltering from the snow looks just as I imagine Bonnie looked when she was tiny ... as she was about 9 years old when we adopted her I'll never know for certain. 

That's me done for this evening. I'll just publish and link this post to the challenges and then I'm off to bed. 

Goodnight dear friends, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite - want to know the origin and meaning of this phrase - check this link out here :)

Edited Note: I forgot to mention that the greetings on both cards are also digital, from Pink Petticoat's Traditional Christmas Greetings printed onto white lightweight card - my printer can't cope with anything heavier.

Lavender Wishes

Hi Folks

I'm still following through on my decision to use the leftovers up immediately, instead of chucking them on to the snippet mountain to be used some day, never ... so here's a card made from the bits left over from the lavender card and bookmark set posted a couple of days ago. This is definitely one for Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground :)

The topper sheet printed from the Pamela West CD has enough images for two cards - this is the second, layered up on to some snippets of background paper, and simply added to a white scalloped edge card base. A few embellishments for the finishing touch, et voila! we have a card.

Inside and back were decorated with leftovers too.
 
Material used: 

• white scalloped edged base card
• leftover images and papers printed from Pamela West CD
• black ProMarker - run round the edges of the layers to add definition
• Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad and Greeting stamp from a Docrafts set, name unknown
• lilac organza ribbon, purple Vintage Berries card candi from stash 

Weather update - it's been dreadful! Lots of heavy showers and the temperature is definitely a few degrees less than it was.

Garden update - everything is looking a bit sorry for itself after the deluge :(

Project life album update - it's coming along nicely, definitely a speedier option than trying to scrap every photo in my collection. And I like the flexibility of the process, e.g. important documents can be put in page protectors and slipped in close to relevant photos and 12 x 12 scrap pages can be created and also be inserted alongside the photos. It's going to provide a comprehensive family history once it's complete.

Aha! The EM has just brewed so I'm off to have a cuppa. 

Hope you are enjoying better weather wherever you are. Take care and happy crafting,