"Let It Snow" .....

Hi,

Given the temperatures we've got in the south of the UK at the moment, snow is definitely wishful thinking! But maybe my latest project will help you cool down a little. :o)  I've made this gorgeous little Gift Tag for the present I'm buying for my office "Secret Santa" lucky dip.

My base card is from Kraft card, which was actually a pre-made card blank purchased from Hobbycraft. I chose the tag shape on the Teddy Surprise and Butterflies Embossing Board together with my Ultimate Pro (both from Crafter's Companion) and embossed the largest size and it's border onto my Kraft card. I then embossed the border size onto my Mat and Layer card. For this I used a sheet of Centura Pearl 300gsm card in the shade Christmas Red. This came from the Christmas pack which is available from Crafter's Companion. I just love the pearly sheen on this card, so I decided not to use any extra backing papers.

This lovely snowman is a Digi Stamp which was one of the goodies in Paulette's Create with TLC December Club . Unfortunately this offer has now finished, but I can thoroughly recommend following Paulette's blog and signing up for this club next autumn. I used my Spectrum Noir Pens (from Crafter's Companion) in the following colours to bring my snowman to life:

Hat - 96,91,48

Nose - 24

Scarf - 14,11

Jacket - 48,43

Star - 34

Outline - CG1

I then cut carefully around my image and mounted it onto the red card using sticky pads. My TOP TIP here is to cut in an anti-clockwise direction if you're right handed (clockwise for left handers) and then you can always see the border/line you're cutting out. This will minimise the risk of cutting the wrong part of your image!

My sentiment is another digi-goodie from the Create with TLC December Club which I sized to go with my tag and the ribbon is beautiful double satin called Holiday Green - this came from Fantastic Ribbons and was part of Annette's Birthday Blog Candy which I won last month. Thanks Annette! :o) I mounted the sentiment onto the ribbon so it will swing and then used the bow maker part of my Ultimate Pro to make the gorgeous little bow, which I then fixed to the ribbon above the sentiment. I completed my project by tying a further length of the ribbon through a hole which I had punched in the top of the gift tag.

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges:

• Challenge #84 "Let It Snow" at Craft Your Passion Challenges
• Challenge #60 - Tags at Top Tip Tuesday
• "When is a card not a card. When it's a ..." Gift Tag at Papertake Weekly Challenge
• Challenge #120 Tic Tac Toe (Bingo) at Incy Wincy Designs I've got a diagonal of Red, Any Christmas Sentiment and Ribbons
• Monthly Challenge of Holiday/Winter Projects at The Stamping Boutique Challenge Blog
• Challenge #83 Colour Combo of Red and Green at Digi Doodle Shop Challenges
• Challenge 18 "Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow" at Crafter's Companion Monthly Challenge
• Challenge 148 Festive Cheer - Traditional Colours (Red & Green) at The Crafty Pad

I hope you like my project.
Hugs,
Helen

I'm so excited ..... !

Hi,

Why am I so excited? Because I've just received an e-mail from Jenn at Craft Your Passion Challenges inviting me to be a Guest Design Team Member for their Holiday Havoc Blog Hop on 17th and 18th December 2011.        :o) - BIG smiles here!!!!

I can't tell you anything else about it just yet, but please put these dates in your diary and watch this space!

I'm really looking forward to sharing this event with you.

Hugs,
Helen x

Another Wedding Card - this one's got TLC!

Hi,

I'm on a roll this week with my second blog post in 3 days ... but this is only because my blogging can't keep up with my card making! ROFL :o) Do you remember my post about my first easel card which was accepting the invitation to my brother's Wedding Celebrations? This is the card I made for him and his new wife, who got married in Cyprus during October.

My base card is a Centura Pearl 300gsm card (slightly lighter than the Blackcurrant shade) which I bought at Hobbycraft. I used 2 sheets of card to make an 8 inch square card base, and a triangular side to the card. The sentiment is one I made using the word processing package on my computer. I used one of the embossing shapes on my Ultimate Pro in the right angled corner of the triangle to add detail, and finished the front of the card with 3 gems from my french stash.

The sentiment comes from set called "Simply Put", by Paulette of Create with TLC. You can find her store here. I imported this piece of word art into my word processing package and resized it so that it fitted in a triangular insert for the card. 

This lovely image is also one of Paulette's. It's one of her vintage pictures and is called "Happy Dance" and was a freebie in September. If you haven't discovered Paulette's blog yet, you simply must as she shares a great piece of Word Art for free (and in return for plenty of blog love) every day, and sometimes she shares other goodies with her followers too!

My image is coloured using my Spectrum Noirs in the following shades:

Bride:                                                                             Groom:

Skin - 132, 133, 135                                                       Skin - 133, 142

Hair - 104, 100                                                               Hair - 100, 92

Dress - 196, 137 109, colourless blender                       Suit - CG3, CG5, CG7

Shoes - 120                                                                     Shoes - 120

I added a floral sequin in pearlescent pink as a detail to the bride's hair, and finished the card off by adding a bow made with white satin edged, organza ribbon and 3 more gems.

Paulette has been kind enough to showcase my card on one of her "Creations" posts - click here to see the wonderful projects made by my fellow 'Creators' . I would also like to enter this card into the following challenge:

•  #136 Anything Goes at Digital Tuesday Challenge

I hope you like this card.
Hugs, Helen

A Wedding Card

Hi,

This is my latest creation, a "classy" wedding card:

My base card is 300gsm Centura Pearl in Blackcurrant from the Crafter's Companion Darks pack which I folded into a 6 inch square card with the coloured card inside. I then folded one half back on itself so that the lovely rich coloured card can be seen!

The sentiment on this front part of the card is one I genereated using my computer's word processing package - the font is Kristen ITC. The ribbon is a satin edged organza ribbon which I tied into a lovely bow using the bow-maker on my Ultimate Crafter's Companion. The gems at the bottom came from the bumper bag I bought whilst on holiday in France.

The sentiment comes from a package called "Simply Put" which is sold by the wonderfully talented Paulette at Create with TLC. The image of a bride and groom came from Papercraft Inspirations and was coloured using my Spectrum Noir Pens from Crafter's Companion. The bride's bouquet had been intentionally left blank for crafters to embellish as they pleased. I chose to add pink sequins to the bouquet, and also small pink flower sequins to some of the larger flowers on her dress and those tumbling around the happy couple. These also give the card some depth as well.

All my pieces of white card were treated to a glittery coating of Iridescent Spray and Shine (Crafter's Companion) before they were fixed to my card base.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
* Challenge #82 BINGO at Craft your Passion - a diagonal of Flowers (sequin embellishments), Free Square (ribbon and/or glitter) and Bling (gems)
* Anything Goes (plus a bit of bling if you want) at Papertake Weekly

I would like to apologise firstly for the poor quality of the photos but they were taken in holiday accomodation which didn't have the best light and also for not adding links into this post - I've been tweaking with my blog layout and have obviously done something rather silly!

Hope you like this card.

PS: Monday evening - I've now sat at my computer and have sorted out my "link" issues! Tee hee, of course it was 'user error'! :D  Got it sussed now, and have reinstated my prettier blog layout.

Create-d with TLC

Hi,

This is my latest creation and it has been made with TLC: tender loving care as it is for my daughter's 10th birthday on Tuesday, and I also used a sentiment from the wonderfully generous Paulette at Create with TLC

My base card is a 6 inch square 220gsm embossed white card which I bought from an independent local craft shop. My image is of the world famous Hello Kitty  (© Sanrio Co. Ltd.). This picture is one I found by doing an internet search for Hello Kitty colouring sheets. My backing paper is from a set called Country Girls Birthday which I got from Card Making Downloads - I got the detailed edge on the paper by cutting it into the right sized rectangle and then used one of the embossing borders on my Ultimate Pro (Crafter's Companion) to shape the edge, which I then cut out. The ribbon is white organza with a satin edge on each side. I've tied this into a bow which is then mounted sideways on the card, and I tucked the ends inside. The pale blue gems came from a bag of assorted gems which I bought in a french supermarket whilst on holiday in the summer ... I knew they'd come in handy!

To bring this little cutie to life I have used my Spectrum Noir pens (also from Crafter's Companion) in the following shades:

Fur: 109, CG1
Nose: 37
Bow & Dress: 183, 72
Drink: 137, 8, 15, CG0.5
Grass: 163, 175, 42



I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:

• Show Your Stuff Saturday at Create with TLC and, yes, I do know it's Sunday but this "Show 'n' Tell Blog Hop" is still running! :o) The sentiment was yesterday's freebie from Paulette, and I recoloured it in blue to tie in with the colours of the dress and set it into an oval of the same colour.

I've just now got to keep both the card and this post safely hidden until Tuesday morning when the birthday girl will receive her card!

Blog Hop-tastic!

There are 2 great Blog Hops on this weekend.

The first is with Crafter's Companion - you know I suffer from CC-itis! Is there anything I can take for this do you know? LOL!!!! This coming Friday (14th October) at midday, they are launching their latest collection - SWALK Winter Cheer. To celebrate the launch, they are offering one lucky bloghopper the chance to win the new set of 12 stamps and CD-Rom! Check out the Crafter's Companion Blog here for all the details and to start the "hop"!

The second is with the wonderfully talented and generous Paulette at Create with TLC. If you haven't visited Paulette's Blog before then you should, because she offers a great piece of Word Art every day for free. Today though, she is really treating us because she's introducing her new Design Team through a Blog Hop, and each 'teamie' is giving away a free, vintage image on their blog. So, what are waiting for? You need to click here to start this "hop" and check out those talented DT members!

Happy Hopping!

Cute Anniversary Card

Hi,

Last weekend saw us celebrating our Wedding Anniversary. I knew he was expecting a hand-made card, so I couldn't disappoint him could I? This is what I made:

The digital stamp is called Roger Bear, and he came from Card Making Downloads . Everything else came from Crafters Companion - it really is a 'one stop shop'! Roger was coloured in with my Spectrum Noir Pens in shades of Cool Grey and the heart on his paw is shade 11, just to add a highlight. My base card is the green from the Centura Pearl Brights pack which I cut and folded in a 6" square card. The papers were a freebie (from the member's section) and are aptly entitled Valentine Project! I used my normal word processing package to produce the sentiment - the font is Tempus Sans and I really like this on the front of cards.

I wanted to make the inside of the card a bit special too, so I made it into a pop-out card. I used the embossing board Springtime Sweets and Cupcake Treats to go with my Ultimate Pro from (where else but) Crafters Companion . The pop-out heart is the middle sized one on the board. I also embossed and cut out the smallest one in the same green card as my base and then suspended this in the larger heart using a gold thread.

The sentiment is from the wonderfully generous Paulette at Create With TLC and says brilliantly what I'm not very good at telling my other half! The sentiment is matted onto the same backing paper as my image in order to tie the inside and outside of my card together.

  

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• Challenge #9 Happy Anniversary! at Kelley Kids Challenges
• World Cardmaking Day Impromptu Blog Hop at Create With TLC - sorry that it's only the sentiment Paulette!

Happy World Cardmaking Day everyone!

5/10/2011 - UPDATE!!!!

I've just found out that this card was Runner Up at Kelley Kids Challenges. Whoop whoop whoop and smiles all round! :o)