Colours Squared!

This card didn't turn out quite how I expected it to! The picture I had in my head was very different! Like the card in my last post, I wanted to use bright, vibrant colours while still using my scraps.

To create this card I cut all my pieces of cardstock down into 1.5" squares. I put a few strips of non-permanent adhesive onto a scrap of paper, then arranged them in the order I wanted, with a gap in between each one. Once I had them arrange, I stamped the sentiment in the bottom right hand corner, then stamped the butterflies randomly on the squares.

The non-permanent adhesive is great for projects like this because the elements of your project don't move unless you want to move them!

Life goes on...

Hello again!

I'm back and just want to say a big thank you to everyone for their care and concern over our recent sad news about our dear little Bobby.

Bobby's passing was unexpected and came as a total shock to us. I think this made it harder for us to deal with. I miss him a lot. He had a lovely whistle, and always gave me pleasure to listen to him whistling away to himself. My husband and I would often giggle to ourselves as we lay in bed in the mornings listening to our cute Bobby as he whistled his little tune! The house is very quite since he's been gone.

This photo was taken of Bobby a few months ago. He loved being near me during the day, and here you can see him sitting on the chair in my craft room as I work. He loved nibbling on paper (anything actually), so he always got my small scraps to play with. It was a bit of a running joke actually – that we both loved paper!

He was a cheeky, but lovable pet, and our lives are richer for having him in them, despite our feelings of hurt and loss now!

This post wasn't meant to be all about Bobby, but I guess now it has turned into a bit of a tribute.

I will be back later with more cards, but for now, I will leave you with a bright and lively card, that I created using some scraps.

The flowers were cut using the Ezy-Press, which is a great way to use up small bits of cardstock! These colours are lovely and vibrant together - look out for more cards with a similar colour scheme!

The sentiment reads " Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

Farewell Bobby. We will miss you.

Hold on posts for a few days...

I will be back next week with new posts.
We've just had some sad news about our cockatiel, Bobby.
He was sick yesterday, so I rushed him to the vet, who kept him in over night, but unfortunately, he didn't make it.
Bobby was a very loved bird, and will be sadly missed.

Using those scraps!

I've recently done a bit of a cleanout of my old cardstock and papers, but I didn't want to throw out the scrap peices I thought were still usable. The problem is, I tend to collect scraps! I can't bear to throw them out, so I keep them, and soon my scrap pile is bigger than the rest of my stash! So, I've decided to make use of my scraps!

In my mind, using scraps feels like I'm not giving my all for the card I'm making, but my thoughts are begining to change. Using your scraps has many advantages, including being a wise use of your money! In addition, I find that my creativity is stretched when I force myself to use scraps as the basis of my cards. New colour combinations emerge that have previously been alien to me. New designs, new shapes!

If your scraps are too small to add to a card, why not use punches on them, and keep the punch-outs. You can keep them by shape, or colour, and they'll be ready to use on your next card, or to take with you when you're cardmaking on the go (carrying punches around is exhausting)!

This week I'll be posting some of the cards I've made using my scraps. It's been a bit of a personal challenge, but sometimes we need to set ourselves personal challenges to make sure we continue to grow!

Red, Black and Vanilla Anniversary Card

My original idea for this card was Vanilla and Black, with maybe a splash of red.


To start off with, I stamped the background images in each of the four corners (and once on the bottom left hand corner of the envelope) in black Crafters Ink. I added some sticky backed pearls, and waited for the images to dry while also waiting for inspiration to strike!


I decided I'd like to have a peice of vellum wrapped around the front of the card, with the 'Happy Anniversary' sentiment in the middle. I stamped the 'HAPPY' sentiment in Fired Brick Distress Ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I added the 'Anniversary' using alphabet stickers, but thought it still looked a bit plain, so I wrapped the vellum around a peice of Crimson cardstock, with both edges scalloped. Yup, it was starting to take shape! Some red organdy ribbon one one side almost completed the card.


Then it hit me (not literally)! A couple of cute little love hearts on the other side to even it out, and symbolising the two hearts involved in a wedding anniversary. I had some chipboard hearts in my stash, so I inked them in the Red Brick, and added some Ice Stickles. The Red Brick added the exact colour I needed to co-ordinate with the rest of my card, but adding the Ice Stickles wasn't quite the effect I was looking for, so I poured some sparkly red glitter on top (the Ice Stickles acting like glue to hold the glitter). Perfect! Now, the Ice Stickles step wasn't needed, but I didn't realise that when I was colouring the love hearts. After inking, I could've added Glossy Accents to the chipboard and then poured the glitter on top. For a more 'natural' look, I could've skipped the inking step. Each of these three steps are great for altering chipboard.

Simply Adorable Baby Shower Card

This card was so much fun to make, that I had to share it with you! 

To be honest, it's really quite a basic card. That's one thing that I love about cardmaking - it doesn't have to be fancy to be fancy! What I mean is, you don't have to spend hours and use every technique known to cardmakers to make a nice looking card.

Alphapbet Stickers

In a post earlier this week, I mentioned using alphabet stickers to add to your cards, and wanted to share a few examples.

Alphabet stickers are very versatile because you can create your own sentiment for your cards, add to an existing stamped sentiment and mix and match different kinds of stickers together. Having this kind of flexibility makes your cards even more personalised!



 For this baby shower card, I first stamped and embossed the letters to spell out 'BABY', then added the rest of the sentiment around those letters. I will do another post in the next few days on how I created this card.

This baby shower card uses alphabet stickers in a slightly different way. The front of the card says 'baby', but the concealed panel then uses alphabet stickers for the rest of the message 'for your shower'.

When I went to create this Sympathy card, I realised, somehow, I didn't have a 'With Sympathy' stamp I could use. Thankfully with the use of alphabet stickers, I was stil able to create a Sympathy card, without the stamp.

On this Anniversary card, I used alphabet stickers to help create the sentiment. I didn't have a 'Happy Anniversary' stamp I could use, but I did have a 'HAPPY' stamp, so I used that, and spelt 'Anniversary' using the stickers to complete the sentiment. Stay tuned for more details on how I created this card.



How do you use alphabet stickers on your projects?