Personalised Christmas Cards 2017

Friday 28 March 2014

Maroon and White Birthday Greetings

 

Hello to all my followers, friends and family popping in to read my Papermill Direct DT post.  Today I have some clean and simple birthday cards using maroon and white, classic colours for both wedding stationery and greetings cards.  Both the white linen and maroon card are from Papermill Direct and the 270gm maroon card is this week's special offer at at only £4.00 for a small box, check it out HERE.

These two cards were made using die cuts, white linen and maroon card.  The dies used are from Memory Box, the small butterflies were cut from the butterfly border.




The card below was made using Papermill white linen card and embossed maroon card, the shoe is stamped on acetate and glitter added to the reverse side to give the sparkle, a technique used some years ago which I thought I would try again, just so I can use up some of the fine glitter I've had for years and try out the fabulous shoe stamp again.




Above is a closer look at the glittery acetate shoe and embossing.  The stamp is Marabou Slipper from Impression Obsession.

Thank you for passing by and for any comments left, they are very much appreciated.

Friday 21 March 2014

Gold Envelopes



A quick post today to let you know about this week's offers over at The Papermilllovely rich gold coloured envelopes size C7 - 50 for only  £2.25. These are ideal for wedding stationary, party invitations and thank you notes.  They are also offering FREE postage on orders over £25 from 5pm today through to 9pm Monday.

More news too, Papermill are looking for a new Design Team Member, check out the details HERE.

 

I made a couple of invitations using Paper Mill Direct natural white pearlescent card, embossed with a freebie embossing folder and gold heat embossed  wording  to match the envelope, I dry embossed the envelope flaps too.

Have a good weekend everyone xx

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Art and Road For This Fortnights Craft Barn Challenge


Beautiful day here today, hope you are all enjoying some sunshine too.  I have been working on  my postcards for the Quotes and Lyrics challenge over at The Craft Barn where the words are "Art" and "Road".  Trying to keep to the 60's for my music choices is difficult but I am enjoying the challenge.

I could only find one song with the word Art, "Mona Lisa" Released by Andy Williams in 1964 ,  Music/Lyrics Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans, on the Album “Call Me Irresponsible”.  This was originally recorded by Nat King Cole in 1950.


I swiped my postcard through various distress stains, stamped Mona Lisa from Stampers Anonymous  mini classics and art words  in black Archival ink .  I printed out part of the song and added it to the card.


Road was an easy choice, "On The Road Again" released in 1968 by Canned Heat Music/Lyrics Floyd Jones and Alan Wilson, this version reached No 8 in the UK Charts.

Stampers Anonymous stamps again, Road Trip and the mixed media, stamped with Archival ink in black and red.  The lyrics were printed out and added to the completed card.

Saturday 15 March 2014

Fluttering by to say Hi!



Hi everyone, what has happened to the sunshine it is dull here today, and the last two days have been foggy.  I have some DT cards using a lovely pigmented white card from The Papermill to show you today.   This is a beautiful card for stamping and has been designed especially for printing, the offer this week is:

Mega Box A4 Pigmented White Plain Card - 270gsm

£35.00

Here are a few butterfly cards using distress inks, stencils, Stampers Anonymous stamps and of course Papermill Pigmented White Card.  This card stamped and coloured beautifully giving a very crisp finish which the photographs don't show very well.  One of my team mates commented that Archival ink didn't dry immediately on the card, I used distress ink for the butterflies and Archival for the greeting on my cards. 



Tim Holtz stencil, tissue tape, "Papillion" stamp, distress marker spritzer were used on this card.  I stamped the butterflies, masked them and sprayed over the stencil with weathered wood, added the tape and a Stampers Anonymous greeting, string and a metal button.





Another two cards usng my favourite stamp set Stampers Anonymous "Papillon".  Wild Honey, broken china and spiced marmalade distress inks were used with a Stampers Anonymous honeycomb stamp and stencil, the butterflies were painted with the DIs and painted over with a gloss varnish to give some shine.  Adding the varnish really lifted the colours although the paler watercolour effect looked good too.  The card on the left uses the pigmented white card, the right is white linen card.



This scrapling from the scrap pigmented white card was created using the distress ink spritzer, I used two stencils "splatters" and "latticework".



And last of all a card for the men in our lives.  Stampers Anonymous "Road Trip", mesh texture and sentiment stamp using black and red Archival ink, and the distress marker spritzer. 

Thursday 13 March 2014

My Take on Tim's Tag for March 2014



Good morning friends, followers and all in blogland, I have been having fun this week playing with my inks and stamps and my new Tim Holtz distress marker spritzer.  I didn't have all the thing required for this month's tag so improvised, but had to buy the spritzer it looked like so much fun.  I didn't know what to expect but so far it has been easy to use and gives a good spritz effect to my cards.  I have my version of Tim's Tag for you today and a few cards using the spritzer later in the week.


I like the vintage feel to this tag, the photograph is a bit pale and does't show it to its best.  I used  two stamps the birds and nest are "Bird Frame" from Stampendous and the eggs down the left hand side are from the set "conservatory"   by 7gypsies.   I didn't have a feather stamp or die but feel the stamp fills the tag nicely (less is more and all that), and didn't tie the string round the base as it would hide the nest.  Loved using the distress marker spritzer and the effect it gave.

Will be back on Friday or Saturday with some more cards using the spritzer.  I am also hoping to get caught up with the Craft Barn Q&L challenge and get round to popping over to see what you have all been getting up to and leaving a few comments xx



Envelope Pocket Book



Good afternoon friends, followers and passers by, today I have my Papermill Direct DT Blog Post for you.   I have a short tutorial for you on how to make an envelope pocket book, ideal for keeping your stamp/digi images, quotes and greetings or for storing tags, ATCs or postcards.




This came about when I had a disastrous envelope run for some wedding invitations.  There were quite a lot of wasted envelopes and I didn't want to throw them away so stuck two envelopes together making a page with a pocket on each side. The envelope pocket is ideal for storing all matter of bits and pieces.




Here are a few photographs to show you how I put everything together. 




Take two envelopes and stick together front to front as above and below




Remove the envelope flaps leaving a double sided pocket




I covered the front of the pockets with patterned paper, a template was made by placing a piece of card into the envelope and drawing round the top of the opening.  Cut out the V shape and trim to fit




This is a fabulous way of using up those freebie paper pads, I slipped a square of paper into the pocket as well as covering the front




Make a cover  for your book using thick card, (I used thick card from The Papermill) cover with paper, paint, stamping or die cuts.  Punch holes in the pockets and cover then fasten together with jump rings, or with a Bind It All machine.




I finished my pockets with a little distress ink and stamped quotes.



A very quick and easy make, and for me a great way to use my wasted envelopes.

Friday 7 March 2014

Dancing and Fluttering in the Breeze - daffodil yellow card


Good morning everyone, spring is on the way, the daffodils have pushed their way through the muddy ground and are flowering nicely, what a beautiful splash of colour to brighten the end of February and take us into March.  Here are a few DT samples using a beautiful daffodil yellow card which is on offer over at the Papermill.


Daffodil Yellow 240gsm card for the bargain price of



There is also a new competition starting today, two Jellypark vouchers are up for grabs in this competition - enter by commenting on the Papermill Facebook post here or leave a comment on the blog (see post here) - winners will be picked on the 14th March!

As Mother's Day and Easter are just around the corner this would be ideal for your Easter/Mother's day cards, here are a few ideas using this fabulous spring coloured card.


A cute bunny Easter card, image and sentiment from Pink Petticoat coloured with watercolour pencils.  A piece of daffodil yellow card was matted onto a white linen card blank, white linen and blue dotty paper from my stash were layered onto the card with the image and some stars.



Playing with distress inks, stencils and resist embossing I made this tag and card.  The flowers were made using the daffodil yellow card and a Tim Holtz tattered florals die, stamped and the edges coloured with DI and I used up the spare scraps of yellow card for the die cuts.



A new baby card using the daffodil yellow as an embossed background with contrasting pale blue and white.  Again the image is from Pink Petticoat,  coloured with Promarkers and highlighted with glossy accents.  All card from The Papermill of course.


My grandchildren have gone off to school and  have until Tuesday to catch up before they are back again, hope to get some commenting done today as I have been neglecting my wonderful followers and friends of late.

Wednesday 5 March 2014

Marriage and Age



Beautiful day here today, hope you are all enjoying some sunshine too.  I have been working on a few things this week but am finding it hard to find time to sit and craft (the grandchildren and my son are staying over on Tuesday and Thursday nights each week for the foreseeable future).  I have managed to finish my postcards for the Quotes and Lyrics challenge over at The Craft Barn though.

The words this fortnight are Marriage and Age, still continuing on with the 60's theme for Marriage I picked "Let's stick together" by Wibert Harrison (1962) which was later changed to "Let's stay together" and re-released by Harrison in 1969.  This song was covered in the UK by Bryan Ferry and Status Quo.  For Age it had to be "Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In" from the musical Hair, which was recorded by 5th Dimension, popular in the States reaching No 1 but only reached No 11 in the UK charts in 1969.

For my Aquarius postcard I used distress inks in vibrant colours, picked raspberry, salty sea, peacock feathers and mowed lawn.  I started by stamping the girl with the funky hair along with some hippy type flowers and embossing in white to give a resist.  The colours were added and some stenciling and 2nd generation stamping.  The words were printed and outlined and coloured with DIs.



My second postcard took some thinking about, I wanted to use a couple getting married and something to represent the vows made.  The nearest thing I had to a bride and groom stamp was was a freebie stamp from Craft Stamper,  I stamped this and added a bow tie to the groom and a bouquet to the bride.  I made a little book with a few wedding words and added my lyrics on top.  A knotted piece of thread was added and a little mustard seed distress ink and stenciling added.

Monday 3 March 2014

It's All About Nature At The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge


Good morning friends, followers and anyone taking  time to check out this post.  It is another month and a new challenge over at The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge.  This month the theme is "NATURE" and our sponsor  is Imagine That Digis By Kris. The design team have been playing around with a few of the new digi kits, pop over and check out what the DT have been up to and join in the fun.

I chose the poppy  and sheep to work with and here is my DT sample using the fabulous poppy and Spellbinder dies.


My card was made using red and white linen card from the Papermill,  the image was printed onto the white linen card and cut out using a Spellbinders die.  A larger die cut was matted onto a red card blank and the image layered using sticky fixers to give a little height.  A quick CAS.  

There are some fabulous new kits out over in the Imagine That  Shop so pop over and have a look.