A couple of Spaniels

Sorry for the dark images (and the shiny reflections too!). My camera for some reason made these look very dark and I used a flash! Plus I had put them into cellophane and then decided I wanted to take photos of them because I liked them so much! Really must stop doing that! The envelope is also behind them in the cellophane so they don't just have uneven white backgrounds! The card stops where the gold mirror board is!

As a dog lover I think these images are beautiful particularly the King Charles Spaniel. When I was little I had two pet dogs; a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Pepe and then when she was getting a bit old and grumpy we got a very gorgeous and excitable Westie puppy called Dougal to keep her company/annoy her! Unfortunately as I now live in a flat I am not allowed any pets, but I do get to see by best friends gorgeous dogs and have plenty of cuddles with them! They have got 8, yes 8, long haired chihuahuas. Some photos of one of them (Yoda) as a puppy are in a recent post on a New Arrivals card.

I love dogs and I am definitely not a cat person, mainly because I am fiercely allergic to them so stroking them is completely out and even being in the same room as one makes me suffer with itchy eyes and skin, and a runny nose! A shame really as their fur looks so soft and silky. However I am fine with dogs and I love watching them as they all have their own personalities and make me laugh! So I am always drawn to dog images on cards.

These cards are decoupage but they are stackable decoupage or "pyramage". Although I love decoupage, I have to confess I am not a big fan of pyramage as I think it distorts the image. However I thought these pyramage images worked very well and didn't effect the overall image. This was possibly to do with the fact that I used much thinner foam pads to create the layers so the gaps between them were not as deep. I think if I had used my usual foam pads the images would have distorted in some way. I used an orange gingham patterned paper for the background, layered on gold mirror card. The border strips came with the pyramage. I think all the colours and patterns work well together and because of the orange, almost sepia colours and the gingham pattern, the cards works as both a male and a female cards.

A bit of crafting to make me feel better!

Not been feeling too great the last few days but still managed to make a few cards, which did make me feel a little bit better!
Quite a mix of different cards and styles as I was just being led by what looked fun to do! Really love this dog card. Its simple but I love the brightness of the colours and it reminds me a bit of a cartoon from my childhood called Pigeon Street. The animation seemed to look a bit like this if my memory is correct!

I enjoyed making this card as the topper and bunting are very summery. I really like the effect from the bunting, although it was a bit fiddly trying to get them all in the right line and looking ok. These are toppers from a Hunkydory set. All the images had beach and summer themes.

Here are some more cards using the summer beach toppers from Hunkydory. Still have a few toppers left to use up. I really like the colours used in the deck chair and the Punch & Judy images. With the Spring sunshine shinning in through the window while I was making these it almost felt like Summer! 

These are two card kits from a recent Docrafts range. I think its the new Belissima range. This is not normally a design of card I make, but they appealed to me because they are different to what I normally do. I also bought some of the decoupage sheets that go with this range so I am hoping to make a few more cards in this design. By the way apologises for the shininess of some of the images. I had already put them in cellophane bags and then remembered I hadn't taken photographs of them! Also the white bits behind them are the envelopes. Its not that my cards are all off centre with white backgrounds!!!

  

This is a stepper card using another Docrafts range Diggity Dog. I quite like doing stepper cards although they are not very easy to photograph! I think this has come out quite well although I wasn't sure if dancing frogs went with a ballerina mouse with fairy wings balancing on a cupcake! But I decided to try it! They are dancing frogs after all!

As any card maker will tell you making male birthday cards is really hard. Most of the stuff available is very girly and female. Trying to make cards for little boys and male teenagers is even harder. So when I see anything that can be used for a potential male card I have to have it if my bank account can be coerced into agreeing! This is a decoupage, topper and card set from Hunkdory. I was pleased how it turned out as it stands out among my other cards, particularly because of the bright colours again. I am hoping it will go to a good home! I also bought similar sets for rock stars with electric guitars and pirates but not had a chance to make them yet as I keep getting distracted by new stuff! Still need to make some new baby cards too, but just haven't been in the right frame of mind for that!! Tee hee!

Barkley!

I love Barkley!! This has got to be one of my most favourite ranges of the last few years. He is up there with Humphrey, Bebunni, Brambley Hedge, and Gorjuss! Barkley is one of the lovely licensed ranges from Crafters Companion. I love this cute little dog and his cat friend Purdey (love their names too!).

I have almost all of the everyday stamps from this collection and a good few from the Christmas collection too. I was also able to get hold of the papercrafting kit and these concept cards are from that kit. I still have more toppers and papers/card to use and quite a few packs of the decoupage sheets! The imagery is just stunning and as a dog lover they definitely appeal to me!

A few cards from the weekend

I didn't get as much crafting done this weekend as I would have liked. Instead it was spent sorting out craft stuff, which is more enjoyable than sorting out other sorts of stuff but not as nice as crafting!

However I did manage to get a few cards made using decoupage sheets from the Anita range and some of my lovely 12 x 12 paper pads which I rediscovered when sorting out my craft stuff. (I am sure I have more stuff than I can remember, and its always a nice surprise when you find something you had forgotten about! Its like buying it all over again!!).

I really loved the green paper with the white swirls on and I thought it went very well with the decoupage. So although there wasn't as much made as I had wanted, I am very happy with the few I did!

Christmas Cards ... in February??

Yes I know its not that time of year yet ...thankfully! I also can't lie and say I am being ultra efficient and already starting on Christmas cards for Christmas 2015! However as this is still a very new blog I wanted to catch up by sharing some of my Christmas Card makes from the last few years. Some were on the old blog but most of them were not. I also put a few Christmas cards in my last post when talking about concept cards and kits so hopefully it will be ok!!

These are some of my favourite cards and were made using collections from my favourite suppliers Hunkydory, DoCrafts and Crafters Companion  as well as a few others!

Snowman Christmas Decoupage and cards from Crafters Companion

More Snowman decoupage

A Country Companions Easel Christmas Card from Do Crafts

Hunkydory monochrome Christmas toppers and papers

Another Hunkydory monochrome Christmas topper and papers. Loved this collection. So different.

A Kanban Christmas Rocker Card. Really loved these. This was my favourite design.

I think this was decoupage from Craft Creations. It went down very well with the Classic Car fans locally.

Love these guys! Toreads from Crafters Companion. Have both the Christmas and Everyday kits (as well as the Moreads Christmas and Everyday decoupage sheets, and my beloved Humphrey decoupage sheets). Only made a few of these so far as they are precious and only made for special people!

Tulip Christmas decoupage from DoCrafts. Tulip is one of my DoCraft favourites along with Diggity Dog, Gorjuss, Country Companions, Wellington and Forever Friends.

Gorjuss Christmas Decoupage. Love the Gorjuss range too.

Another of my favourite Tulip cards

This a topper from a Hunkydory Christmas toppers kit.

More Hunkydory Christmas toppers and papers

A cute Pug Christmas card made from a Hunkydory topper and papers kit.

This fun decoupage was taken from The Wrinkles Christmas CD Rom

More decoupage from The Wrinkles Christmas CD Rom.

Concepts & Kits!

I love the freedom that crafting offers. Even using decoupage sheets where the image already exists, still allows for creativity as to how you use it and how you compose the card. I find decoupage extremely relaxing and I can turn my brain off for a few minutes until I have to think about the rest of the card! Its the same with colouring in. You can just let your brain slow down and wander while you colour. Its a perfect hobby ... well apart from the fact I never have any money!

However as much as its nice to have the freedom to do what you want, sometimes I do like a bit more guidance. Particularly if its a style of card I have never done before or I am in a rush and I don't have time to think out a design I just need to put it together!! This is when I love kit cards and concept cards! My three favourite suppliers, Crafters Companion, DoCrafts and Hunkydory, all do brilliant ranges of kits or concept cards, and I regularly lack the will power to resist buying them!! Here are some of my favourites that I had time to photograph before I sent them!

This lovely Forever Friends A4 card was perfect for one of my best friend's (Andy) 30th Birthday. He use to have a little red card -not a Mini though - when we were at uni so it was a great card for him. I think he liked it!

I made this card for my Mum's Birthday last year from the Bellissma card range. It was an A5 kit, and really came out well. My Mum loved it as I normally send her character based cards, so it was the first time I sent her something like this!

Here are some Christmas card kits and concept cards. Funny time of year to share images of Christmas cards but they do fit under the theme!

New Baby Cards

I am currently trying to build up stock for the Spring Fairs which are coming up in a few months time and New Baby Cards are an absolute necessity as my stock of these was completed depleted at the Craft Fairs before Christmas. I also need to add Engagement, Wedding and Anniversary Cards as they have all gone too! So much to do and yet I keep getting side tracked by new crafty goodness which I have been buying!! Whoops!

Anyway to try to get the creative juices flowing I have been looking at some of the photos of other New Baby cards I have made in the past. I don't photograph every single card, but I do keep a variety! I also found some good anniversary cards too (well they sold quickly!). I thought I would share them on my blog so here they are.












I really love the little knitted booties on the cards. It was a bit fiddly getting them to lay the right way round and stick to the card but I got there in the end!The ribbon makes them look even better too.

Here are the Anniversary Cards!