Thank You Cards

 I've had to make a few 'Thank You' cards for people with a range of interests.

An image (digital) I coloured and die cut ages ago. I've got a folder on my desktop where I put things like that if I've got no immediate plans for something but like the result. The image was colorured with pencils and the die used was from Spellbinders. The paper is some I've had in my stash for, I suspect, ten years or more, and the butterfly embellishment is even older. 

The one 'male' card I had to make, and it's for someone I don't know well, so that's even more awkward. I started with a background I made using a Clarity media plate. It's another refugee from my 'not needed now' folder. I've added some matting and layering along with a stamped sentiment (stamp and scrollwork are from Creative Stamping Magazine) and I finished it with a die cut bit of scrollwork cut with what I think is a Joanna Sheen die.

These two cards were made for a couple of ladies with an interest in patchwork. The die I used is from Spellbinders. These dies are particularly suitable for batch cardmaking as you can mix and match the patterned paper.

Another image I created a while ago, trying out a different way of using a stained-glass style card. The background in this instance was coloured using Promarkers, and it was definitely easier than 'paper piecing' as that particular die has always been a pain to cut well.

And finally, one for a lady with a keen interest in embroidery. I used some of a Spellbinders die set, along with a die which punces holes to make the swirls you see which I stitched with some metallic thread.

I really enjoyed making/finishing these cards - especially as they all have recipients already chosen. So often, I make cards because I'm trying a specific technique, and that's why I end up with unused bits in a folder!

Recent Projects

 I rarely seem to post anything here any more. Projects which I complete as part of my u3a craft group do find their way on to that blog, but here's a range of things I've made this year.

Hardanger Suncatcher

Special Birthday Card

New Baby Card

Entrelac Baby Blanket

Origami Paper Flowers

New Home card

Thank You Card

Quilled Butterfly using a butterfly cut out of white card for the outline

Quilled Butterfly using the cut out butterfly

Happy New Year

 I've been taking advantage of good buys in the run up to Christmas, and finally have had a chance to play!

This is a stitch die from Spellbinders. I do love stitching on paper, and I've liked this one since I first saw it, so getting it in a pre-Christmas sale was a plus. You don't have to stitch - the holes could equally be used as positioners for liquid pearls or similar. I kept the card itself fairly simple.

Another Spellbinders stitch die. There are other bits I haven't used and I'm not sure the leaves work really well with a 'wheel pattern' stitching. I think I may adapt that when I use it again. I've used a paper doiley that I sprayed with dissolved Brushos (very dilute), a Spellbinders circle die and some paper I found in my scraps collection. I'm not sure where it came from, but suspect it may be one I made by tiling a sample of an image.

And another Spellbinders die. I've got a couple more of these background dies, and while I do like them, it's so irritating that they're not standard-sized. They're too wide for A6, not the right shape for 5 by 7, and have to have an addition when you use my most common card size - 6 by 6. In this instance, I finished it with a border die cut. It's a die I've had for years and I suspect it's a Joanna Sheen design, but I'm really not certain.

All the stitching was done in Sulky Blendables. I'm gradually  increasing my range of these, but it seems only a limited selection is available in the UK and I'm not about to get in to importing and being fleeced for postage and customs charges.

Not Spellbinders this time, but Stamps by Chloe. I haven't bought any of her designs before, although I've got a few stamps that came with Creative Stamping magazine a while ago. In fact, I made a lot of Christmas cards using that set recently. She has a very feminine, frilly style and that's very much to my taste (although I'm not remotely frilly in person!) This was made using a stamp and die set. I used Versafine Clair to stamp the corner four times, cut the flowers from two images and coloured with pencil (a mix of Polychromos and Koh-i-Noor Polychrome). I added some Sakura Stardust clear to the swirls and some stitcky gems. The greeting is also from Chloe and it's another stamp and die combination. There are three dies - I've used the largest of them with the stamped image.

Another Stamps by Chloe stamp and die combination, but this one is a panel. I used similar colouring materials. The background is a panel embossed using an Embossalicious folder which I've dabbed with interference ink. I finished the card with some washi tape and a couple of die cut borders - again, I suspect these are Joanna Sheen but I'm not sure.

It's been lovely to spend some time stamping and colouring - I don't seem to have enough time for those these days! Maybe I should try to make more time for it in the coming months. 

Clarity Stamps and Stencils

 I recently took advantage of a 50% sale at Clarity Stamps and got myself a set of stamps and stencils I admired when I last looked. I've used one of the sets to make a card for a friend.

I stamped the central image and the separate butterfly in Versafine Clair (grey rather than black) and coloured using coloured pencils. The outer area uses Distress Ink in Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet. I added some glitter pen over the two butterflies, and picked out the green stems in fine liner or glitter pen. The flowers were made from die cuts.