Shine a light

A friend found this template to make a tealight card. and I just had to make one. The instructions are here.
It's like anything, the first one takes ages to make and sometimes you need to hide a few mistakes but after that you can be on a roll.

Then another

So if you need a little gift why not give it a try.

Home Sweet Home

Just a quick card for my niece who has moved into her new home.

Thanks for popping by.

Sandwich anyone?

I saw this design on my friend Jo's blog . She designed this sandwich board card and she kindly shared the instructions. The insert dangles and it was so simple to make. I can see that this will a popular design this year.

So easy to make. You can use any size card. Just make sure the fold is at the top.
Make a slit 1cm in from each edge. This will hold the insert. Cut out your aperture and decorate the front of your card.
Cut your insert the same size as the front of the card and punch out a decorative edge. This edge will form the tab that hangs through the slit. 

 Now trim the edges of the insert by 1cn on each edge. DO NOT cut into the punched edge or your insert will not hang on the fold of your card DOH. When finished the insert will be T shaped.

 Decorate your insert.  If you are planning to put any depth on your insert such as decoupage or 3d foam then you need to slide the insert through the fold frst.

These gorgeous papers are from3Djean
Just love this design hope you do too.

A Sister is a special person

Especially mine. Our Mum died over 40 years ago and my sister has been like a mother to me.
She's the one who always sees the bright side of things. She's always ready for a shopping day or a cup of coffee (and cake) Sh e's lent me her car, her home and the odd £10 note lol. She often tells me how excited she was when I was born as she had two brothers and she wanted a sister. She's always there for me. So when it's a special persons birthday you need a special card and here's mine.

Happy Birthday Margaret my special sister.

Oh boy

Like many of you I struggle with men/boys cards but this one came to me in a flash. It was inspired by Joanne's article in the Craft Stamper. She made some lovely tent cards with a hidden messsage. It was the tent shape that got me thinking. I've made tent cards before but I've always stuck the concertina base inside the card. I didn't see that you could use the fold that was already on your card to form the concertina. Strange how people see things that you miss but that's what's so good about crafting. Someone (not usually me!) is always thinking outside the box. Anyway I had a go at this quicker method and made this.

 Colouring courtesy of my Distress Inks.
Then I thought I'd have a go at making one with a pull out message but I forgot to photo the message so you will just have to believe me when I say the butterfly pulls up and says "with love" .....honest.

And then another

and another

and then I stopped otherwise I would have a campsite full!!

Back to my roots

I don't do this often enough...getting inky. I love making my own backgrounds but I'm usually in a rush and just reach out for a 6x6 pad of paper. But this time I spent a while brayering Distress ink onto white card until ......it was white no longer. Then I've overstamped with a range of stamps, Tim Holtz and Crafty Individuals. The card is grandly called a Tri Fold Cascade.  It took a bit of time to make but I'm really pleased with the result.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

Acetate...friend or foe

I'm not a great fan of acetate but that could be because I haven't used it very much, plus I'm way too messy. But when one of my students brought in a natty concertina card. It had a concertina base with an acetate sleeve. How cute I thought maybe I could adapt it to my style (not sure what my style is lol). So here's what I made. Not sure how good the photos are as acetate is a devil to photograph. 

I've used Hero Arts stamps which I've paper pieced. The sentiment is Lily of the Valley.

 This one has a Crafty Individuals image mounted on a nestie heart. This sentiment is from Verve stamps.
Maybe I will give acetate another go.