The Other Side Of Me

At last I'm able to start showing you the cards I've made recently, as there have been a cluster of birthdays this past week but I've had to hold back on what I've made. So here is the first one: This is for one of the members of the card swap group, Zoe Tant.  You can see her inspiring blog here .  I saw a card on Pinterest that inspired my creation, but I can't find the original artist, so if anyone knows, please let me know so I can credit them. I have a feeling the base card in the original is early espresso, but I thought it might look nice using basic gray.  The next layer is some of the beautiful blushing bride paper from the Twitterpated dsp.  (Can't wait for this colour to come back, can you?) I've stamped the delicate branch from the Simply Soft set in basic gray.  I'm amazed at how many times I still reach for this stamp set. I stamped the delicate image in basic gray in different directions on the white cardstock pieces (6cm x 4cm)...

Hello peeps, it's all go here, as usual! I didn't realise how many days had gone by since I last posted. I realised I'd completely forgotten to show you this little creation: I made it for Victoria Jefferies' birthday back in early April. She's one of the members of the card swap group I'm running, and a very talented crafter.  I don't think I've ever sat down at my desk and whipped something up so quickly (because I am an incompetant oaf who should have taken more notice of the date in the first place!) I literally finished making it and put it straight in the post so it's quite nice to revisit it again. Here are the deets: The card base is Baja (boo hoo!) Breeze, 5x7" Layer 1 is Basic Black cardstock. Layer 2 is just plain white cardstock, run through a 5x7 ef and trimmed to size. Layer 3 is So Saffron cut with the 3rd largest labels framelit Layer 4 A stamp from the Apothecary Art stamp set (luvs youuuuu!) which isn't colour...

My lovely Auntie Rose was 70 this month.  To me she will always be about 45, which is ridiculous, as I'm older than that now myself!  She lives right down on the south coast, so I sent her some flowers.  Of course I had to make a card to go with it, and here it is: The dsp is from a Prima set called Botanicals and it's full of these beautifully soft colours.  The cardstock is Crumb Cake and I stamped my dress form image on it in Soft Suede ink.  I then stamped the same image onto a piece of the same dsp and cut it out.  It looks beautiful on the Crumb Cake.  Before that I ran the cardstock through the Bigshot in the oval designer frames embossing folder.  This came out beautifully smooth and so I punched out an oval of the dsp and aded it to the centre.  I stamped 'Happiest Birthday' from the Apothecary Art set and cut it into a nice long banner shape.  I've propped the centre of it up on sticky fixers to give it a bit of dimension...

Good morning crafty peeps!  At last we have some sunshine and I have a day off.  I have bought some new crafty goodies and am looking forward to doing some work with them later today, but in the meantime, here is a card I made recently: I saw a card like this on Pinterest and decided I really must have a go, as I obviously have this paper, from the Twitterpated set.  This set of dsp is actually quite diverse, isn't it?  Most of it is flowery, then this pops up.  This is the first time I've used any Basic Gray cardstock, too, which I really enjoyed.  I am fascinated by the yellow and grey combination, and want to explore this further, as one of the residents at work has a little box with grey and yellow flowers on, and every time I see it it makes me want to run home and start stamping! The original card doesn't have the section of embossed cardstock that I stuck down the front, but that's because I picked up the card as it was, and got grease on it!...

I am slowly but surely falling in love with this years in-colours, after a bit of a slow start.  I've been looking around for stamp sets that really make the most of these colours.  I came across a fab card by a lovely lady who you may know as naturecoastcrafter on Splitcoast, and you can see her original card here .  It was only later, when I looked more closely, that I realised she hadn't even used the stamp set I thought, and the one I used to make my card, the lovely Summer Silhouettes.  Come and have a look: I have heard a lot of people saying they didn't like Summer Starfruit at first, but it is the colour from the new set that appealed to me instantly, I couldn't wait to start using it, but I wanted to really show it off, and this card seemed like an excellent way of doing it.  It works beautifully with its cousin Gumball Green, used here.  I have to say the quality of this ink is nothing short of awesome.  In real life the leaves here look...

My daughter's birthday was at the end of last month, and this is what I made for her: This is my first real go at a card using the Pennant Parade stamp set.  I think it's more that I'm nervous about how the string will work, whether I'll get it in place, etc.  I've been cruising around on Pinterest recently (isn't it awesome?!) and found a card very similar to this by Ruth M.  I saw it and fell in love, instantly, and had to have a go.  The card base is a DL card in pool party.  This is my first go with whisper white cardstock, too, which was lovely to work with.  I dusted over it with bashful blue, which you can't really see in the photo.  Then I had fun stamping the banners in melon mambo, marina mist and lucky limeade.  The sentiment is from the Apothecary Art set, perfect for this card. The little birds are from an old Hero Arts set. The baker's twine was free with a magazine a while ago. I used a tiny flower punch to make the flower...

I've been asked to make cards for the residents at work for all the staff to sign as various birthdays come up.  I'm a bit sad as I've missed an opportunity to make a card for a lady of 103!  I mean, how often are you going to be asked to do that?!  Unfortunately it was a bit too short notice, so I couldn't do it, which is a shame. BUT I have recently made a card for a lady who is 90.  Check out what I did: This card was inspired by one made by Vicky Hayes recently.  You all know how talented she is (and if you haven't been to her blog, what on earth are you waiting for, get over there now !) I really had to rummage around for some gold cardstock, as it's not something I often use these days, but I felt that a 90th birthday warranted something special.  I played about with silver as well, but plumped for the gold in the end. The base is a white 5x7" card, but I've used my new 5x7" embossing folder, trimmed it slightly, then stuck it on ...

Goodness me, such busy days!  And when I'm not working I'm glued to the Olympics.  I thought I'd better pop in today to show you a card I made recently. I made this for the lovely Michelle, who's blog you can see here .  I've used a white 5x7 card base, followed by a slightly smaller layer of Pool Party card.  The dsp, I'm sure you'll recognise, is from the Everyday Enchantment dsp.  I actually ended up with two packs of this!  I'm still at the stroking stage with it, so it's a wonder I've made a card with it at all!  But my new favourite thing is the new Apothecary Art stamp set used with the framelits labels collection.  There is something so thrilling about stamping and colouring this and then cutting it totally accurately with the die.  It's such an interesting shape to use, too.  I've coloured the image with Pool Party and Calypso Coral pens. I've cut a slightly bigger piece in Pool Party and used a very sweet embossing...