40th Birthday Card

This card is 13.5cm x 13.5cm and I used:
Bazzill Basics light blue card
Bazzill Basics dark blue polkadot embossed card
Silver mirri card
Stampin Up Cherry on Top paper pack (a sheet of the candle paper)
13.5cm square card blank with matching envelope from Card Blanks Direct (love their card blanks)
Stampin up silver glitter
Stampin up heat and stick embossing powder
Eboss-it Pen (clear)
Cricut Explore
PVA Glue

I cut the silver mirri to 13.4cm square and stuck this on the card (I did it a little smaller than the card so there was no hang-over)

I cut the candle paper to 13.1cm square (so there would be a think silver boarder) and stuck this to the mirri.

I used the Cricut to cut the dark blue card to 12.8 cm square and cut the numbers out of this (using Monogram Motifs), and I also cut a flag out and using the write feature on the Cricut wrote 'Birthday Wishes' in All Mixed Up font with a Pilot V5 pen in the Cricut.

To give it a bit of 'bling' I went round the edges of the flag with the embossing pen, then dipped it in the heat and stick embossing powder, heated it with my heat gun, sprinkled it in glitter, then heated it again to set it.

I then assembled it all with PVA glue. I would have used 3D foam however as it was going in the post I didn't want it to get squished or damaged.

Envelope glue

I've been making a few envelopes recently, mainly where I've made a card and I've not had an envelope to match (or the cards quite 3D and I've needed a deeper envelope). When I've made envelopes for myself I've used either glue, a tape runner or double sided tape, however when making cards for others I want them to look professional. 

I was looking at getting some envelope glue and was advised you can make it yourself with gelatine, I brought gelatine (6 or 7 months ago) and just haven't got round to making it. While buying some craft items recently I saw the envelope glue so decided to finally give in and buy some. 

I made my envelope on my Crafts Companion Ultimate Pro. 

I used Collall tacky glue for the three permanent flaps. 

I then went to use the envelope glue and it wouldn't come out and saw it said to push it down, I did this but kind of too hard....

I spreaded it out, however due to the moisture from the glue puddle it made the envelope a bit wet and crinkly 

Once dry, I licked it (it tasted fine by the way) to remoisen and stick the envelope flap down.

It held well however the edges did curl up a bit so I think I need to practice a bit more. 

Anniversary Card

This is a anniversary card which I made for my parents wedding anniversary last week.

I took a 10 x 5 inch piece on Centura pearl card and scored and folded it. I then took a 5 x 5 piece and cut the heart outline from it on my Cricut explore and also got it to write the sentiment. I stuck this to the card front . Next I cut the heart with all the detail from glitter card (the heart was from the Valentine's Day cartridge) I then put the heart in the gap I had cut.

I love how simple but pretty this card is

Cricut Happy Birthday Pop Up Card

I decided to try one of the Cricut Explore Make It Now projects as spotted a birthday pop up card which looked perfect for my father-in-laws birthday next week. It also gave me a chance to try out more of the cardstock I purchased.

The project was really simple to cut and used 1 12x12 sheet for the envelope, 2 12x6 sheets and a little scrap of white card (for behind the candles) and a little glue. 

It was really easy to put together but it was a tiny bit tricky folding the scorelines and I creased the A from Happy but it doesn't show too much due to the linen effect card. The card I used was from First Edition.

The only thing I'll do to this card now is add something to the front as its pretty plain if not but by adding a print and cut image I'm sure it will look perfect.

Chi Chi Memories Hip Hop Girl

Chi Chi Memories have this great little digi this month called Hip Hop girl. 

Rather than make a card I decided to make a gift bag that could be used for a goodie bag full of sweets or a small gift.

I started by getting a gift bag up on on my computer using Craft Artist 2 and decorating it adding in the digi stamp where I wanted it. I printed this on Centura Pearl card (so it was glittery) and then printed out the digi on it's own as in order to colour with Spectrum Noirs you need to print in grey scale or the ink bleeds with the Spectrum Noirs. I put together to bag following the instructions on the print out which was mega easy. I then coloured the greyscale Hip Hop girl with Spectrum Noirs and cut her out and stuck her to the bag. I finished with some organza ribbon. 

I hope you enjoy! 

Robot Boy - Chi Chi Memories

For this card I used Robot Boyfrom Chi Chi Memories. He can be brought on her own or as part of Costume Set 2.

 

I used Spectrum Noir pens to colour him in and used some technology themed backing card and sentiment from my stash. I layered him up ontop of some metallic card.  

I love this image as it is so cute! 

Robot Girl - Chi Chi Memories

For this card I used Robot Girl from Chi Chi Memories. She can be brought on her own or as part of Costume Set 2.

I took a A5 card and went over it with my Spectrum Noir blender pen then used pens in the PP, PL, BP and LV groups from Spectrum Noir to make the background. I then cut and embossed some silver card and added the Robot Girl image which I coloured in Spectrum Noirs. To finish I used the Robot Girl sentiment and cut round it with zig-zag scissors and to make it stand out and matted it onto some black card and cut that out too with the zig-zag scissors.

I love this image as it is so sweet and as the sentiment says 'cuteness overload!'

Finished Sewing Projects!

After getting my material order this morning in the post from The Makery (see previous post) I set about making a new cushion cover for my seat cushion. 

I also made a new cushion cover for a small cushion as the current cover got a small tear in. I unstitched the old zip to use in my new cushion which was really easy. 

I also used the small piece or fabric from the goody bag to make a cube for Spike (our Pygmy hedgehog) to play with. 

This is Spike (looking right into the camera)

Here he is asleep on my lap - aww

The finished play cube!

I'll find out in the morning if he has played with it (he likes moving thing around at night in his cage) - update...we've not caught him with it but it's certainly being played with

It was nice playing with my sewing machine again as I haven't got it out since before Christmas. I still have some fabric left from my order and lots of fat quarters in my stash so I'm going to start some other projects and also get round to making hubby's pj trousers from the Great British Sewing Bee book (made my Dad a pair last summer but not got round to Lee's)

Embossing - Through The Purple Haze Challenge #29

This weeks challenge at Through The Purple Haze is Embossing. 

The sponsor for this challenge is:

http:// www.mymumscraftshop.co.uk

I've actually made two cards this week - one with dry embossing and one using heat embossing.

Dry Embossing Card

I made this card using my own hand-made embossing sheet (you can see how to do this on my last blog post.) I embossed some core-dinations card stock and layered it onto some already embossed Bazille Basics pink card. I added Tilda ribbon and this lovely digi from Polkadoodle Etsy shop - it's so sweet! I coloured this using my Spectrum Noir pens. The sentiment was part of the digi and I just stamped a doily stamp over the top so it wasn't on stark white card.

Heat Embossing Card

I decided to go for 'heat embossing' as I have the tools but don't do it much (mostly because it use to be such a pain to plug in my heat tool before I re-arranged it). My card is quite differet to my normal colour pallette but I decided to use things which I don't usually use and step out of my comfort zone a bit and this is the finished card.

I used backing paper from Kaisercraft Miss Empire Collection in Realm and matted and layered using kraft card (I love that stuff but don't use it much). I then took some orangey peach coloured paper from Craft Creations and stamped on it using Versa Mark and a rose pattern stamp I got free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine and then I used a white embossing powder. I also stamped the roses on the same paper (but elsewhere) with Distress Ink (Tattered Rose).

I cut the stamped and embossing pieces into 3 inch squares, rounded off the corners and then added them to kraft card. I stamped a sentiment onto kraft card and heat embossed that too (the sentiment was from a Kanban Sugar Buttons stamp set).

Stamped with distress ink

Stamped and embossed

I finished the card by wrapping twine around the card twice and tying a knot.

I hope you like my cards - I'm usually more into bright cards using pinks, blues and purples but enjoyed trying something different with my heat embossing card and using bits and pieces I hadn't used in a while.

Go over to Through The Purple Haze Challenge Blog to see what the other Design Team members have made and why not have a go yourself

 

http://www.throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ 

I'm entering this card in the below challenges:
http://avenue613.blogspot.co.uk/ - #59
http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/  - #200 Use a Digi
http://pileitonchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Pile it On #7 Sentiment as the focus 
http://www.scribbleandscrapcrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ - #12 Anything Goes
http://doodlepantryblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/DPDC - #43 Any Digi Goes
http://emergencycrafterschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Pink or Red
http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/challenge-173-embossing.html 
http://craftyhandsdevon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/heatdry-embossed-background8th-challenge.html

http://heather-bittenbythebug2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/cricut-cut-as-stencil-challenge.html?m=1 - used Cricut to make as email and used this to emboss my background

Anything Goes Challenge With Through The Purple Haze

This is my first challenge for Through The Purple Haze and I've really loved making this card. 

The challenge this week is sponsored by Crafty Sentiments.

http://www.craftysentimentsdesigns.co.uk

The theme this week is 'Anything Goes' and we were given some lovely digis from Crafty Sentiments with a Manga theme. Now I LOVE Manga and brought a book on how to draw Manga while I was on holiday in Bath. I chose this girl digi as dressing up in cute outfits/costumes is a big thing in Manga and I loved the sailor style outfit.

 I coloured her in using Spectrum Noirs and chose to colour her hair purple (using PL1, 2, 3 and 4). I wanted to try a new technique for me and went for the shiney hair look.

 When it came to putting the card together I didn't want to add too many layers (making the card heavy in weight) so I ran the chisel tip of a Spectrum Noir Pen (PL1) around the edge to give a faux matting look. I then layered some pattern card onto purple co-ordinations card stock and then layered it all up in a jaunty angle on the card.

I added some paper roses to my card. These were left over from a felt gingerbread couple I made for a friend and had wire attached but I snipped it off with scissors to make the backs flat.

I finished off matting and layering a 'Happy Birthday' sentiment onto the card.

I loved making this card and it was so fun to colour hair in a bright 'unnatural' colour.

Head over to Through The Purple Haze Challenge Blog to see some of the other cards and take part in this challenge yourself.

 

http://www.throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/  

 I have entered this card into: 

Polkadoodles - Digi Choosday Challenge...Wk 1 Anything ://polkadoodle.blogspot.ca/2014/01/digi-choosday-challengewk-1-anything.html?m=1

Challenges for Everybody - Challenge #37 - Anything Goes - http://polkadoodle.blogspot.ca/2014/01/digi-choosday-challengewk-1-anything.html?m=1

Suzy Bee's Bloomin Challenge # 11 Cute and Sweet...... - http://suzypantssmarty.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/suzy-bees-bloomin-challenge-11-cute-and.html?m=1

613 Avenue Connect - it's Party Time - http://avenue613.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/its-party-time.html?m=1

Hiding In My Craftroom - HIMCR #132 - SUPER Scraps Saturday - http://avenue613.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/its-party-time.html?m=1

CMC# 38 Anything Goes - http://cardmaniachallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/cmc-38-anything-goes.html?m=1

TTCRD challenge January 14-January 20 - http://ttcrd.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/ttcrd-challenge-january-14-january-20.html?m=1

Birthday Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the blog hop for Anita's birthday!

 

I've made this card for Anita (co-ordinator of Through The Purple Haze Challenge Blog) using some butterfly birthday papers and sentiment I had in my craft stash. I folded some squares of the patterned paper to make butterfly wings and adorned the butterfly with some sequins. I added some glitter glue to make butterfly trails in the background. A nice bright card to break up the weather at this time of year.

The pictures looked really good on my phone but after uploading them (and posting the card in the postbox) they look a bit blury so I do apologise. 

Happy Birthday Anita!

I'm the last stop on the blog hop as the newby at Through The Purple Haze but if you've not had chance to look at the other blogs go to Through The Purple Haze Challenge blog to view the full list.

 http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Playtime with My Cricut Mini (Finally!)

So I broke the blade on my Cricut Mini on Christmas evening......and didn't realise but wondered why the Cricut Mini didn't seem to cut as good as I thought it should. I did it due to tiredness and because I used Adorable Scorable Card thinking that was suitable (I did notice the blade get caught on the card at the time but didn't notice any chipped blade).

Yesterday (Thursday) my replacement blades arrived (having ordered them on eBay on Boxing Day so I had spares). The only problem was I thought they were the wrong ones, then had a little hissy fit until my husband told me the green bits were covers covering the blade (he is so helpful when I get stressed due to crafting).

So Friday night.....I'm a 27 year hold I'm sitting in my craft room armed with a Disney Cricut cartridge, with a glass of non-alcoholic shandy in my dressing gown....and WOW does the new blade make a difference! I have guides printed on the wall with the blade depth, pressure and speed for each cutting material so they really helped and I even managed to cut glitter card! The only thing I need to work on though is my sticking down the pieces when I do my Disney characters, or at least Ariel with her mass of red hair.

Here are a few bits I made tonight while playing with my Cricut Mini PROPERLY with an unbroken blade! I used Disney Happily Ever After Cricut Cartridge, and Damask Decor cartridge.

 
Ariel was my first attempt. She cut fine but my sticking abilities were stretched here. Her hair was the problem because it was so big with lots of cuts in and I think it stretched a little with the glue and I just couldn't get it in the right place. I used 'Anitas Tacky Glue' which was too tacky and stuck fast. She looks more Amy Childs that Ariel to me (I think it's the lips). I'll try again but this was my first project with my Cricut.

 This Flounder card was my second project and I was so pleased with it! My glue skills improved (and it helped he didn't have a mass of flowing hair). I used an apeture card I recieved in a bundle when my card was featured in Papercraft Inspirations Magazine.

 The 'THANKS' was cut from glitter card stock I brought in Home Bargains last year. This is my last sheet of it and it cut so lovely I'm going to try and track down some similar as Home Bargains always change their stock.

I played around with my glues and used Tacky PVA, Collall All Purpose, glue pen and glue stick depending on the area needed to cover, and where they were going (I used the glue stick for the base layer of both Ariel and Flounder and then on the first cupcake card below)

The below cards I made using the Damask Decor cartridge. The top one is the cake design and when it cut, it cut so lovely that the 'waste' was perfectly cut too and I didn't want to bin it, but as it was glitter card I knew it wouldn't be any good as a stencil as it would be too rough and shed glitter so I cut it out and used it in the bottom card. The design is a bit hard to see in these photos but in real life its so glittery it does stand out.  The backing papers were free with the current Simply Homemade Magazine (Issue 38).

I just need to add a sentiment and some extra bits to the bottom card though as the background looks a bit bare.

After all that excitement I'm off to bed (after I peal the PVA off my fingers). I will post a review of the Cricut machine once I've played with it some more. I've definately picked up a few things since I've started playing with it....mostly that I won't be rushing to put Adorable Scorable in the Cricut and time soon!

Christmas Crackers

After buying the Tonic cracker die in August and having issues with the paper it came with (it kept tearing while putting the crackers together) I decided to just make my crackers from scratch myself. I used Centura pearl card stock for the main cracker and used the template from Simply Homemade magazine to draw then out the design. I added a wrap of silver adorable scorable plus some DoCraft sticky back fabric. I added cracker snaps from Hobbycraft, personalised the crackers with names and sprayed the whole thing with Crafters Companion Spray and Sparkle. 

I've not completely done them up yet as my Dad is doing the jokes for them and my Mum is putting a present in my cracker so I don't know what it is. Each cracker has a handmade hat, handmade personalised gift and another little gift. To stop the presents falling out or going missing I've wrapped them in a little parcel paper (I can't say what they are or it will spoil the surprise)

I'm really please with how these have come out and hope everyone enjoys them. 

Merry Christmas

Crafty Creatives Christmas Box

Recently I've had an awful chest infection which seems to have gone on forever, but I got something lovely in the post last week....the Crafty Creatives Christmas Box! I'd ordered this back in September for £20 plus p&p - although I stopped my Crafty Creatives subscription this was a one off box and I thought I'd treat myself as I love Christmas crafting.

The box arrived Wednesday morning while I waited for my oven to be installed (after 6 weeks without an oven) and was so excited when my Mum brought in my post (she came round to help when the oven was delivered). The box came in a red bag instead of the normal pink bag and was packed with goodies - so much so that you couldn't get it back in the box to shut it properly!

Here is a Vine or the unpacking (I hope this works ok, I've never tried adding these before):

The box included:
Wooden snowflakes
Tree shaped beads
Christmas cameo
Stix2 Wrapping Seals (see my post http://www.saraleighuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/christmas-wrapping-and-using-some-bits.html for a review of these)
Three cardboard cones which fitted together like a Christmas tree (like the Decopatch models)
Christmas tree stickers
Christmas papers
Card blanks and envelopes
Mini coloured bells
2 gift boxes to cut and assemble (assembled below

The contents of the box also included three kits. I don't usually like the kits but these looked quite good including lip scrub (with 5 little tubs), a felt decoration and a beaded bauble.

I've not made the lip scrub yet but ended up using the items from the felt decoration and beaded bauble kits in other ways. I used the felt from the felt decoration kit, along with the two small wreath rings to make wreaths to go round the bottom of candles. I'm a bit addicted to die cutting small flowers out of felt to decorate things with at the moment so I covered the wreaths with wool (wrapping it round) and then layered the ring up with felt flowers and adding some glitter. I used the felt from the kit as well as some of my own. I then did the same to the Christmas tree/cardboard cones.

With the bauble I put the beads in my stash and decorated the bauble with some glittered snowflake stickers (our Christmas tree is black with black, white and silver decorations so decorated it in this way so it stays in keeping with our theme).

With the Christmas tree beads I coloured them with my Spectrum Noir pens to make them red and deep purple to stick with my wrapping theme and then glittered them up. I've used them on some of my Christmas tags and will be using them on Christmas crackers too