Buttons Galore!

It's my little niece's first birthday soon and I wanted to share with you a Button Initial Name Picture that I've made for her new bedroom using an inexpensive photoframe and lots of buttons!

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Too Cute to Spook - Halloween Window Card

Every year, I take part in a Halloween Swap on a Craft forum that I belong to, and it's one of my favourite swaps of the year.  However, as Halloween is just once a year, I try to not spend too much cash on craft stash just for that occasion and today's card is a case in point.  The only exclusively Halloween element on this card is the main stamped image, everything else has been adapted "spookify" it!
Card Recipe:
Stamps: Inkadinkadoo, Joanna Sheen's House Mouse
Tools: Tonic Studios Doomed Window Die,  Tonic Studios Window Basket Die  Tonic Studios Label Die, Cameo Silhouette, Grand Calibur
Colouring Mediums: Versmark Ink Pad, Versafine Black Ink Pad, Promarker Pens, Cosmic Shimmer Mist, Moon Glow Embossing Powder, Distress Ink Weathered Wood
Paper and Card: WRMK, Textured, Joanna Sheen's Elegance Satin, Velvet Paper, Opal Vellum
Embellishments: Tooth pick, foliage, silver-tone charm, string, bakers twine, crystals

To create the stamped scene, I cut a piece of stamping card slightly smaller than my window die, and punched out a 1" circle mask from a post-it note. I checked the position of my mask against the window die cut, then lightly coloured the stamping card with weathered wood distress ink.  After removing the mask, I stamped my witch using Versafine black , so that she appeared in silhouette against the moon.  Finally, I spritzed the entire image lightly with cosmic shimmer mist.

As this is a window scene looking from the inside to outdoors, my vellum blind needed to be proud of the window.  I cut the decorative edge with my favourite gothic border punch, and created the velvet "pelmet" by die- cutting some velvet paper and cardstock with the window box die that coordinates with the window die (but turned upside down).

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and as I do like making my own embellishments, and I had fun creating this witchy-broom as a bespoke Halloween decoration.  I used some sprigs of floristry foliage, which I pressed into my Versamark ink pad then coated in gorgeous two-toned moon glow embossing powder (midnight pewter obsidian).  When I heated the embossing powder, my craft room was filled with the scent of pine.

I glued the now midnight-black sprigs to a wooden tooth-pick and wrapped some rough string around the join - et voila - a very witchy broom.  

If you like to see how I created my All Hallows House Mouse, have a look at my original Scary House Mouse blog post.


You can also see how I used my Tied Together embossing folder and Black Soot ink pad to create my Halloween textured "wallpaper" from a piece of purple patterned paper.

The pumpkins were cut on my Cameo Silhouette, I like the curly fronds.  The silver-tone spider was an Ebay find, I just added the crystal to the centre and suspended it from a thread of Halloween Bakers Twine.












Here's one final look at this spooktacular card...

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1 Today Baby Girl Birthday Card

I've been waiting ages to show you this 'Lucia 1 Today' card, so I do hope you think it was worth the wait!

Card Recipe:
Image: Joanna Sheen House Mouse Triple CD
Paper and Card: Textured, DCWV, Stardream
Tools: Tonic Studios Happy Birthday Sentiment Die Set, Layering Squares, Love Arches Punch, Fanciful Flourish Die Set, Grand Calibur, Silhouette Cameo 
Embellishments: lace, seam binding, lace heart, pearls and crystals

I made this card for my parents to give to their first (and only) granddaughter on her first birthday, so it had to be special!

The focal point is this lovely sweet House Mouse digi image from Joanna Sheen''s House Mouse Triple CD.  I die cut with my favourite layering squares dies and mounted it onto a fancy square from the Happy Birthday Sentiment die set on DCWV luxury cardstock.









I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the 'Lucia 1 Today'  motif and  highlighted the 1 with flatback pearls.  The pretty lace heart is from the Tilly Daydream collection.

I'm generally of the view that more is more, I do like fussy and fancy cards, so some of the extra detailing on this card include:
* a cyrstal embellished florish swirl die-cut
* a seam binding bow
* handmade decorative hat-pins
* a lace border, layered with a cardstock border punched out using the Love Arches punch.


If you would like to have a go at making your own decorative hat-pins, I have a tutorial here that is a great starting point. 

I used the Happy Birthday frame as a mount for the message inside the card.




















Here's one final look at this card.

I do really love hat-pins, lace and House Mouse - what about you? Pin It Now!

Pretty Easter Egg Basket

Hoppity hop, the theme this fortnight at an Oldie But a Goodie challenge is Eatser - and here's a pretty handmade basket for the Easter Bunny to use to deliver yummy treats!

Project Recipe:
Tools: Spellbinders Bracket Dies, Silhouette Cameo, Grand Calibur
Paper and Card: Stardream, Linen
Embellishments: flatback crystals, double satin ribbon, lace

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut my Easter Egg shapes.  One of the things I love about my Silhouette Cameo is that you can find a shape for almost any occassion for just a few pence.  So although it is quite an upfront investment, once you've got your Cameo, you really can find a shape for any occassion in their online store or you can quite easily design your own.

You can find more of my Silhouette Cameo projects here.

You can also find a step-by-step photo tutorial on how to make a woven Easter basket here.


The "oldies" I've used on this project are the cardstock, lace, gems and spellbinder dies.  Don't forgot to enter your project into the Oldie But A Goodie Easter Challenge, just make sure you use something that's at least 6 months old.
Hope you all have a lovely Easter,

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Diamond Wedding Anniversary

It's my parent's Diamond Wedding Anniversary in a month and I wanted to make a real show stopper.  This colour combination of platinum, greys and champagne is one of my favourites, and I think it's softer and more elegant than the traditional white and silver.

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Cameo Silhouette Halloween Lantern Votive Holder

Boo!  There are creepy goings-on over at an Oldie But A Goodie, it's new challenge time and the theme is Spooky.  The full rules are over on the challenge blog post, but in a nutshell, you need to create a new project following the theme and use on it at least 1 item that is at least 6 months old (what a great excuse to use up some old stash).

For this challenge, I've made a Spooky Halloween Lantern.

Project Recipe:
Tools: Cameo Silhouette, Spellbinders, Grand Calibur
Colouring Mediums:  Tim Holtz Distress Ink Black Soot
Paper and Card: WRMK, Stardream, Textured Card, pearlescent vellum, coloured vellum
Embellishments: Glittery spider, glitter, rhinestone gems, Prima Got Flowers

I made this project largely using my Cameo Silhoutte, which is great for specialist projects when you may not have readily to hand a lot of subject material.

I've add photos of each side in daylight so that you can see the detail but also with the votive candle lit, so that you can see the effect when in use.  Please remember, if you do a project like this, use only electric candles, not bare flames.  On this side my orange moon is actually an orange vellum circle mounted behind the witch.

Next side features a rather spooky skull.  The Cameo Silhouette shape that I used had lots of detail on it, but I find that this doesn't always cut so well if you've shrunk the shape to a small size.  So I edit my shape before cutting by un-grouping and then removing the very smallest cuts.  I think it's still effective - here I removed the smaller teeth and then re-spaced out the remaining ones.

I love these pumpkins!  I like grown-up Halloween (it's not just about the children) and I think these pumpkins are classy!

Finally, Halloween wouldn't be complete without a Spooky House!  Also, I've previously written a tutorial on how a Poinsettia (Die) is for Life, Not Just For Christmas, and my Halloween Poinsettia is a case in point!

Everything used in this project is over 6 months old (I think some of it's over 6 years old, lol), so it was a great way to use up old stash and hoarded scraps.

Hope you enjoyed this project.  Do come over to an Oldie But A Goodie Challenge and join us for this fortnight's theme of Spooky.  I would like to enter it into the following challenges as well:

Cameo Creations - Spooky/Haunting
Clear it Out - Halloween/Orange
Crafty Calender - Halloween
CountryView - Something Spooky
Use It Tuesday - Scraps, Pieces, Odds and Ends Pin It Now!

Football Men's 70th Birthday Card

This week's card combines a Men's Football 70th Birthday card with a review of the new Loopy Lace Verso Die Set and Punch from Tonic Studio's.

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Crafter's Companion
Tools: Tonic Studios Loopy Lace Die Se, Loopy Lace Border, Grand Calibur, Cameo Silhouette
Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, Momento Ink Pads, Versamark
Paper and Card: HOTP, Neenah, Stardream
Embellishments: Buttons, Metal Corners, Pearl Gold Embossing Powder

Despite this die set being named Loopy Lace, I actually don't think that it's overly froufrou or feminine, so I've used it on a Men's Birthday card (which I find can be a bit tricksy, don't know about you?).

The largest die in the Loopy Lace Die set is approx 11.5cm x 14.5cm, the perfect size to be a frame for many stamped images.  So if like me, you love to stamp your card's focal point, then this die set will prove to be very useful.  I cut the oval of stamping card using my Cameo Silhouette, so was able to create the perfect match for my die cut frame.

This birthday card was a commission for a 70th Birthday Card for an ex-West Ham footballer.  I wanted a football themed image but something a bit fun, not just a football shirt or boots, and Crafter's Companion's Popcorn Bear fitted the bill perfectly!  It has been stamped onto Neenah cardstock and coloured with Promarker Pens.  I also 3D- decoupaged the football, so it looks like it's in-flight.

The medium size die makes a super frame for a sentiment or message, and makes a lovely change from a scalloped circle! And the coordinating border punch is so easy to line up, as per usual from Tonic.  Here I've punched along the top and bottom of an offcut of Startdream cardstock.  You can also see here clearly the difference in result from die cutting (which also gives an embossed finish) and punches (which give a flat finish).  

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the 70 from claret coloured cardstock from my stash.

I don't have a lot of gold-tone embellishments in my stash (and by not a lot, I think I mean none!) - but I wanted something to "finish" the corners of this card.  So I took some white metal star corners, dabbed them with Versamark ink, covered them in pearl gold embossing powder and heat set them (be careful if you do this too, the metal gets very hot under the heat gun, so I did this on my Tonic Glass Mat and left it to cool for a good 5 mins before touching them).  It needed two layers of pearl gold embossing powder to completely hide the underneath colour, but I like the old-gold finish - not too glitzy.



Here's one final peek, I think Tonic Studios have "hit the back of the net" with this lovely die set!

Thank you for visiting and Happy Crafting! Pin It Now!

Pretty Strawberries & Cream Cupcakes

Little baby Lucia came to visit the other day, so what better way to celebrate than with these pretty strawberries and cream cupcakes (which, with Wimbledon approaching, is UK-summer in cupcake form).

Cake Topper Recipe:

Paper & Card: K&Company Sparkly Sweet, pink pearlescent, white textured
Tools: Silhouette Cameo

Embellishments: double satin ribbon 10mm, wooden toothpicks

I used my Silhouette Cameo to make these toppers, cutting the scallop circles and elephant ears in pink pearl card, the circle in white textured card, the elephant in glittered K & Company Sparkly Sweet designer card.  I cut twice the number required of scalloped circles so that I had a front and back.

To ensemble, first make the top layer, stick the ear onto the elephant with PVA glue then use small foam pads to elevate it off the white circle layer.  Use PVA glue to stick the white circle to a pink scallop circle.

Then, attach 3 large foam pads to the back of one of the scallop circles, remove the paper covers and smear each pad with a glue stick.  This means that the pads will have some manoeuvrability when you need to align the two scallop circles together.  Apply a generous blob of PVA glue and place in a toothpick.  Add your topper layer and fiddle to align properly.  Leave aside to dry fully (I left mine overnight).  Finally, tie a small amount of pretty satin ribbon at the top of the toothpick and trim.  

Ta Da – the prettiest little toppers that make any cupcake party-ready!  However, I recommend my delicious Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes - they are light and tasty, here's the recipe.

Challenges I would like to enter are:
Allsorts Challenge - Time for Tea
Divas by Design - Happy Birthday
Thanks for popping by to see me today - you are always welcome - and please do let me know if you like these by leaving a comment.

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Father's Day Gift Tag & Bottle Tag Set

With Father's Day looming, I've made this matching gift tag & bottle tag, to fully co-ordinate with my Bunting & House Mouse Father's Day Card.

Project Recipe:
Stamps: Joanna Sheen House Mouse, LOTV sentiment
Colouring Mediums: Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink Purple, Memento Cocoa, Promarker Pens
Paper & Card: DCWV, Conqueror, Elegance Satin, Textured Pearlescent
Tools: Tonic Studios Butterfly Beautiful Die Set, Grand Calibur, Spellbinders, Silhouette Cameo
Embellishments: Creative Expressions Bakers Twine, Button, Brads, Beads, Wire

To make the Bottle Tag, I created the base shape on my Cameo Silhouette, by merging a circle and rectangle, and then adding another circle, I then used the offset tool to cut out the patterned paper layer. 

I echoed elements from my Father's Day card by using the same Tonic Studio's label die shape and another House Mouse Stamp from the same set as the card.  It tickled my sense of humour that the House Mouse was giving a present of Cheese as a gift on my Bottle Tag - making it a Cheese & Wine Tag (boom, boom!  Ok, pretty "cheesey" joke).  I made the little "Dad" embellishment with some yonks-old alphabet beads, a couple of glass spacer beads and some pretty lilac wire that I twizzled.  I stitched on th button with Baker's Twine using a pretty hefty darning needle.

The gift tag was made from the same Tonic Studio's label die shape, layered up and folded in two.  Again, echoing the main card, I used the same Happy Father's Day stamp, but reversed the colours on the cardstock so that the tag shape was cut from yellow textured card and the stamp mat in lilac.

So, this Gift Tag and Bottle Tag co-ordinate perfectly with my Father's Day Card:

I am entering this project into the following challenges:

ABC Challenge - Open
Anything Goes - Father's Day

Cards For Men - Dad

Craft-room Challenge - Use your Scraps
Crafts & Me - Something Old (Everything apart from Label Die is over 6 months old)

Creative Card Crew - Punches/Dies

CountryViewCrafts - Die Cuts

Fashionable Stamping - Tag Time
House Mouse & Friends - Father's Day
 I ♥ ProMarkers - All Stitched Up
Love to Create - Father's Day
Paper Crafting Journey - Masculine Cards

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Pile it On - Stripes and/or Plaid

Really Reasonable Ribbon - Masculine with Ribbon or Trim

Simon Says Stamp - Father's Day
Simply Create Too - Father's Day

I hope that you like my Father's Day projects, let me know what you think, I love to read your comments!

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House Mouse Love Wreath Happy Couple

It's time for this fortnight's challenge over at an Oldie But A Goodie Challenge, and the theme choosen by Francesa is Weddings.  We're sponsored by The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop, which is just perfect as I ♥ ♥ ♥ pretty ribbon! There's some fabulous inspiration by the Design Team, so have a good rifle through all your old stash (you need to use at least one element that is over 6months old on this challenge and, if you mention it in your post, you could win a fab prize of embellement gorgeousness from The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop) and come and join in!

This is first card using a Digi-Stamp! I realise I’m well behind the curve on this one, but I don’t use on computer a lot in my crafting (spend too long on the PC for work). However, I was so excited about the new House Mouse Triple CD, I just couldn’t wait to start on the digi-stamps included, and chose this so cute Love Wreath image.  Apart from this image, all the other elements on my card are from my existing stash and over 6 months old.

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Joanna Sheen
Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, Flexmarker Pens, Pebble Inc Chalks, Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz
Paper & Card: Chiyogami paper, Stardream Opal, textured pearl card
Tools: Tonic Die, Spellbinder Dies, Dreamweaver Stencil, Silhouette Cameo, Grand Calibur
Embellishments: Präsent Ribbon, hand-made beaded Hat Pins, Pearls, Dome Sticker, hand-made Ruffle Ribbon Flower

I printed the House-Mouse Love Wreath digi-stamp onto Stardream Opal paper and coloured it with Promarkers and Flexmarkers. I really love the Antique White Flexmarker, when you’re using it, you think it’s not laying down any colour, but it does make a beautiful, subtle difference so suited to delicate blossoms.

I picked up on the blossom theme with my embellishments. I used a lovely Dreamweaver Cherry Blossom stencil, which I dry embossed using my Grand Calibur onto an offcut of Stardream Opal cardstock. I then chalked through the stencil to colour the branches and flowers, before spritzing the whole panel with Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz. If you want to see how I made the large ribbon flower, take a look at my Ribbon Flower with a Twist Tutorial.

This gorgeous flourish has been die-cut with my new Tonic Studios Bird on a Branch die set and its blossom detail co-ordinates perfectly. I cut two in textured pearlised cardstock, to create a frame accent around my main image. The little charm was made by stamping and colouring a part of the wreath, then encasing it in an acrylic dome sticker and cutting out. Using my Antique White Flexmarker, I coloured the leaf behind my signature hand-made pearl hatpins. I also stitched glass pearls to the blossom centres on my favourite ribbon in the whole-wide world ever (made by Präsent and ridiculously expensive and lovely at the same time).

I cut my card base and layers using my Silhouette Cameo. My top layer is a Chiyogami paper which is beautiful hand silk-screen printed paper from Japan, using an ancient papermaking art. 

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Crafts & Me - Lots of Layers
Deep Ocean Challenge - Ribbons or Lace
Divas By Design - Friendship
Dream Valley Challenges - Animals
Fab 'n' Funky - Ribbon or Lace
House-Mouse & Friends - Flower Power
I ♥ Promarkers - Anything Goes
LEJ Designs - Dies or Punches
Moving Along with the Times - Embossing
Paper Crafting Journey - Photo Inspiration
Passion For ProMarkers - Anything Goes
Crafty Calender Challenge- Blooms & Blossoms

Hope everyone has a fabulous Bank Holiday weekend.  I'm desperate to get into the garden to do some cutting back, so please let the sun shine!  I do love to read your feedback, so please do leave a comment after visiting!

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Paper Roses Card

It's time for the new challenge on an Oldie but a Goodie Challenge Blog and this fortnight it's inspired by a song.  The classic song Paper Roses has inspired my offering!

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Tonic Studios Chrysanthemum Clear Stamp 
Colouring Mediums: Memento Sweet Plum Ink Pad, Encore Metallic Ink Pad, ColourBox Fluid Chalk Ink Pad, FlexMarker Pens, Promarker Pens, Cosmic Shimmer Angel Mist
Paper & Card: Tonic Butterflies Beautiful, Elegance Satin, Vellum, Textured pearlescent
Tools: Tonic Studios Doily Square Die, Simplicity Doily Strip Punch, Petal Pairs Punch Set 1,Tonic Window Basket Die, Silhouette Cameo, Grand Calibur
Embellishments: double satin ribbon 3mm, crystals, pearl-ended stamen, hatpins

I used a double-masking technique to create the focal point for this card, so that the main stamped image came out as a relief.  After using the masks to colour the background, I then subtly coloured the main image using Promarker and Flexmarker pens.  Finally, I carefully painted gilding seize over the petals of the flower and applied a layer of clear embossing powder.  (Take a look at my step-by-step tutorial on this double masking technique).

The chrysanthemum image was stamped onto a topper cut using the gorgeous Simplicity Doily Square die by Tonic Studios.

I made the Paper Roses using four layers of petals punched from Punched Petal Pairs, and accented them with glue and crystal glitter. You can see my signature hand-made decorative beaded hatpins peeking out from behind the roses. The leaves were cut using the foilage dies that come with the Tonic Window Basket die set.

The pretty border strip was cut using the doily strip punch, through which I've laced 3mm double satin ribbon that I coloured with a promaker.  I then trimmed this with crystals and a satin bow.

The card base, patterned paper mat and vellum scroll background were all cut using my Cameo Silhouette, which, once assembed, I spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer Angel Mist.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Anything Goes - Shaped but not Sqaure
Country View Cards - How Does Your Garden Grow
Deep Ocean Challenge - Let's Sparkle
Dream Valley Challenges - No Squares Allowed
Fab 'n' Funky - Use Beads
Fashionable Stamping - Anything Goes
Fussy & Fancy Friday - Anything Goes
Joanna Sheen - Music Lyrics
LEJ Designs - Summer's Coming
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Paper Playtime - Emboss
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Sparkle, Bling, Ribbon

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Cute Easter Cameo Silhouette Project

I have some very exciting news, I'm really proud to have joined an Oldie But A Goodie Challenge Design Team.  This is a fortnightly challenge where you have to use something on your project that is at least 6 months old.  I love this challenge as it makes me delve into my stash mountain and to start using it!  So, to celebrate my joining the Oldie But a Goodie Challenge Team, I've made a fun and decorative Easter project on which every item used is over 6 months old!  This project can be used as a Easter Table Decoration or a Door Hanging. 

Project Recipe:
Stamp: Inkadinkadoo
Colouring Mediums: Versamark, Fun Stamps Pearl Blue Embossing Powder
Paper & Card: DCWV, textured card from stash
Tools: Silhouette Cameo, heat gun
Embellishments: Prima Flowers, crystals, organza ribbon, button

I love to use my Silhouette Cameo and often adjust the downloads to suit my own project needs.  For this decorative project, I used as a base a decorative shape called Easter Basket Pockets but I then used the Weld Divide tool to get a basket outline.  I then cut out this shape on some super DCWV glittered cardstock that was from a QVC TSV auto-delivery many moons ago (back in the days when QVC used to have gorgeous, unmissable craft TSVs - those were the days).  All the other shapes were cut on my Silhouette onto some textured

As I do always like to incorporate stamping into my projects, I stamped an Inkadinkadoo flourish repeatedly over the eggs with Versamark ink and then used a lovely subtle Pearl Blue embossing powder.

I sewed a tiny little button onto the yellow organza ribbon bow, and layered Prima flowers together, finishing them with pretty crystals.

To make the project free-standing, I cut a second basket from plain cardstock, scored it about 2cm down from the top and stuck it to the reverse of the glittered basket.  This would look very pretty on an Easter Lunch Table or as a little door hanging.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Fussy & Fancy Friday - Spring Days
Simply Create Too - Easter or Bunnies
Tammy's Scrapin Corner - Easter

I’m always so grateful when someone is kind enough to leave a comment, thank you so much - it makes my day :) Pin It Now!