Lavender & Lace

Lavender and Lilac colours are my absolute favourites and this card is my June birthday card for a Birthday Card Swap that I run, so I hope it is well received.

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Rubber Stampede
Colouring Mediums: Memento London Fog, Promarker Pens
Paper & Card: K & Company, Stardream, Nenaah
Tools: Martha Stewart Punches, Sizzlit, Quickutz, Big Shot
Embellishments: Lace, hand-made lace flower, handmade felt heart motif, hand-made Pearl & Crystal Hat Pins, mulberry flowers

To make the card base I punched “around the page” using a Martha Stewart PAP set and inked the edges. Onto this I mounted a background page from K & Company, and used a second page to cut out the butterfly and hydrangea to decoupage up.

I stamped the Rubber Stampede Lavender image onto Joanna Sheen's Elegance Satin cardstock using Memento ink in London Fog, which gives a softer result that using black. This was coloured in with Promarkers and then I hand-stitched the border with a lavender glitter-metallic fibre.

And so to the element that is so my style: lots of hand-made embellishments! On this card, they include:

• Hand-pleated, delicate lace border on the stamped image
• Hand-made felt heart motif, cut using sizzlit dies primitive heart and embellished with mother of pearl buttons, satin ribbon and hand stitching
• Hand-made lace flower
• Hand-made butterfly hat-pin with bicone beads

To finish, I added die-cut flourishes, my decoupage flowers and butterfly, all embellished with flat-back pearls and crystals. On went my lace flower, mulberry paper flowers, felt heart motif and hatpins. I do love a lot of detail, and hope you do too!

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Damask Diva - Shaking her tail feathers!

Oh-La-La – this is a very theatrical card for a work colleague who is involved in Amateur Dramatics! There are lots of layers creating texture and, I hope, interest.

Card Recipe:

Stamp: Kanban
Colouring Mediums: Brilliance Black Pigment Ink, Promarker Pens
Paper & Card: DCWV, Centura Pearl Ivory, Stardream Black, Neenah stamping card
Tools: Silhouette Cameo, Spellbinders, BigShot Pro, The Crafter’s Workshop Mask
Embellishments: Feathers, Mulberry Gardenia, Cherry Blossoms & Rose Bud flowers, Satin Edge Sheer Ribbon 25mm, hand-made beaded Hat Pin, Crystals


I started this card making good use of my Silhouette Cameo; I made the A4 shaped card base (this is one of my favourite techniques now I have the extra long cutting mat) from Black stardream card along with the scroll frame and key. I used the mat tool to cut mats for the scroll and key from centura pearl, and I then embossed both of these in my Big Shot Pro with a 12” Crafter’s Workshop Mask.

My image is from Kanban’s Damask Divas stamp set and is one that I really love, stamped in Brilliance Black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I couloured the main image with Promarkers, but I also stamped the bodice onto an offcut of flocked DCWV card and cut this out. To this, I then attached a fibre thread as the lacing and black feathers at the base, then mounted the bodice to my main image. I cannot lie, this was very fiddly to do, but I was pleased with the effect!


To ensemble, I mounted the scroll frame and scroll key onto their respective embossed mats and decorated with rhinestone crystals. I threaded a lovely wide cream satin edge sheer ribbon around the card base, and mounted up all the layers. The stamped image was mounted onto the paper-pieced mat, and this was mounted onto the card, ensuring that the picot edge ribbon on the mat aligned with the same ribbon on the card. The card was finished with mulberry flowers, a hand-made hat pin and ribbon bow.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Bunny Zoe's Crafts Challenge - Girls, girls, girls


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Ship Ahoy!

With Father’s Day fast approaching, I thought I would share my card for my dear Dad. Now my Poppy will actually be arriving in New York on the Queen Mary2 on Father’s Day (that’s the way to spend Father’s Day in my book, just wish I was there too) so a nautical theme seemed appropriate!

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Kanban
Colouring Mediums: Memento Ink Paris Dusk, Promarker Pens, white gel pen
Paper & Card: Deni Mechelle Design for PaperWhite, Elegance Satin


Tools: Spellbinders, BigShot, Martha Stewart Punch, Tim Holtz RulerEmbellishments: Raffia, miniature bottle, starfish, shells, sand

I stamped the Kanban Stamp nautical image in Memento Ink Paris Dusk onto Elegance Satin card and coloured in with Promarker Pens. I then cut the image out with a spellbinders circle die but with 2 sections coming outside the die. This was mounted onto a spellbinders scallop circle, which I then doodled a faux-stitched effect to the outer edge with white gel pen.However my needle and thread came out for real when I hand-stitched the background textured pearl card. The larger mat had one edge punched with Martha Stewart Bubbles punch to compoliment the nautical theme.

I had the perfect papers in my stash for this card, a series of nautical designs by Deni Michelle for PaperWhite.

To finish the card off, I added a “Happy Father’s Day” message to the miniature bottle (an Ebay find) part filled with sand from Dunelm Mill. The shells were also from Dunelm Mill and the starfish was also in my stash along with my raffia.


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On Your Retirement

My Mother asked me to make a “special” card for a friend of her’s that is retiring.

Special’s my kind of card making, and I love to make a coordinating box, with the card nestling in layers of tissue paper for that extra special touch.



This is also my first play with my extended Cameo Silhouette cutting mat – I used to the cut the fancy edge card blank with the matching frame. Very happy with the result. I will be using this technique again on other shapes – it was a doddle to do.




Card Recipe:
Stamp: Kanban
Colouring Mediums: Momento Ink Pad Cocoa, Brown Pigment Ink, Promarker Pens, Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz
Paper & Card: Kanban Printed Cardstock, Stardream Opal, Opalescent Vellum
Tools: Spellbinders, Silhouette Cameo, BigShot Pro, Quickutz
Embellishments: double satin ribbon 10mm & 3mm, hand-made beaded Hat Pins, pearls, mulberry roses, gardenia & cheery blossom.

To make this card, using my Silhouette Cameo, I cut the card base from stardream cardstock, the frame from Kanban Printed Cardstock and the flourish background from Opalescent Vellum. Additional swirls were die-cut from a Quickutz die in my Big-Shot Pro from both the Kanban Printed Cardstock and Opalescent Vellum.

I then embossed an offcut of stardream card through my Big-Shot Pro using a spellbinders embossing folder. Once embossed, this offcut was paper-pieced together with an offcut of coordinating Kanban Printed Cardstock and the join was covered by a strip of double satin ribbon, then die-cut with Spellbinders Labels 1.

My brown pigment ink was not as deep as I wanted so I inked up the stamp first with a layer of Momento Cocoa and then added a layer of brown pigment ink. This was then embossed with clear powder and coloured with promarker pens. The finished image was then cut from the smaller Labels 1 die, using the ‘outside the die’ technique so that the tassle came below the cut line of the die.

I printed my greeting onto an offcut of Kanban Printed Cardstock and die-cut it out.





To ensemble, I mounted the flourish background onto the backing card, topped off with the frame and inked all the edges. The mounted stamped image and greeting were added . To embellish, I used mulberry paper rosebuds, gardenia & cheery blossom flowers, handmade HatPins, flat-backed pearls and a double-satin ribbon bow. Finally, the entire project was spritzed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz, for a subtle shimmer.

Hope you like this; do leave a comment if this has pleased you. Pin It Now!

Keep Calm & Have a Bath!

And Relaxxxxxx! Girly and feminine, this card is for all ladies who love a pampering soak (and that most definitely includes me)! This multi-dimensional card also features a hidden message tab, slotted into the folds.

Card Recipe:

Stamp: Kanban

Colouring Mediums: Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink, Promarker Pens

Paper & Card: Kanban Printed Cardstock, Kanban Foiled Cardstock, Stardream Opal, plain burgundy

Tools: Spellbinders, BigShot Pro, Tim Holtz Ruler, Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page, Heat Gun, Guillotine

Embellishments: Satin-edge sheer ribbon 10mm, hand-made Pearl & Crystal Hat Pin, mulberry flowers, Pearl Brad, crystals

To make this card, using my Guillotine, I cut the card base from stardream cardstock, and the mats from Kanban printed and foiled cardstock and plain card. The hidden tab was punched out using Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page. To echo this on the front of the card, I used my Tim Holtz Ruler to pierce holes all around the edge of the top cardstock layer.

The lovely bath stamp is by Kanban image, which I inked up Brilliance Pigment and then embossed the image with clear embossing powder and a heat gun. I then coloured the image with Promarkers.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Bunny Zoe's Challenge - Ribbon or Twine
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Feminine
Stampin for the Weekend - Layers
Dream Valley Challenges - For a Special Lady
Oldie But Goodie - Dies & Punches
Crafts&Me - Favourite Colour Combo

I love to read your comments, they are a highlight of my day, so do let me know what you think of this or if you have any questions.  Thank You!

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How to Make Felt Flower Pins/Brooches

This tutorial covers how to make these simple felt flower embellishments, which can be used on cards or scrapbooks, but also turned into a brooch or hairgrip.

To make the first brooch from the left, I cut:
  From Spellbinders Rose Creations:
      2 midnight blue felt flowers, 1 printed cotton flower, 1 felt leaf and 1 linen leaf
  From Spellbinders Nested Circles and Scalloped Circles:
      1 printed cotton circle and 1 felt scalloped circle

Using a contrasting thread, I used a running stitch to attach the cotton circle to the scallop felt circle. They great thing about using spellbinders dies for this is that they leave a faint embossed edge, which is a useful guide for stitching. I ran the same outlining stitch around both leaves and then stitched them to the brooch base.

I also stitched an outline on the base midnight blue felt flower before layering the three flowers, then used a pearl brad to hold them together.

 I glued the flowers to the brooch base with Pinflair gel glue. As I’m using my flower on a card, that was my project finished, but if you want to make this into a brooch, cut 1 additional scallop circle from felt, stitch on a brooch fixing and glue to the back of the flower, to hide all the “workings”.

For this broooch, simply:
cut 2 midnight blue felt flowers, 1 printed cotton flower, 1 felt leaf and 1 linen leaf from Spellbinders Rose Creations, and 1 printed cotton circle and 1 felt scalloped circle from Spellbinders Nested Circles and Scalloped Circles.
Contrast stitch with backstitch the leaves, large felt flower and cotton circle.
Make up a coordinating Hat Pin (see my tutorial on Creating Hat Pins for more instructions on this)
Stitch flower to backing mat, then add glass pearls to centre, and finally push hat pin into place.

For this broooch, simply:

cut flowers from midnight blue felt, printed cotton and mushroom felt leaf, plus leaves in printed cotton and mushroom felt Spellbinders Rose Creations, and 1 printed cotton circle and 1 felt scalloped circle from Spellbinders Nested Circles and Scalloped Circles.
Use a running stitch around the circle and leaves.  Attach 3mm satin ribbon loops to thr leaves, and layer onto backing mat with flower.  Finally stitch a mother of pearl button to the centre.

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Simply Special

Hello and today’s card features a number of different techniques, but hopefully combined into an elegant, classy card – as that’s was my aim! So can you spot all the techniques? Look for:

Paper piecing ● Ribbon threading ● Distressing ● Embossing ● Digital Die Cutting ● Manual Die Cutting ● Glittering ● Spritzing ● Flower embellishing ● Accenting ● and (of course) Hat Pin Making!!!!

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Kanban
Colouring Mediums: Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink Blue, Brilliance Black Pigment Ink, Promarker Pens, Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz
Paper & Card: K&Company Elegance Shimmer, Stardream Opal
Tools: Spellbinders, Silhouette Cameo, BigShot Pro, Anna Griffin Ribbon Punch, The Crafter’s Workshop Mask
Embellishments: Berisford satin picot ribbon 10mm, Berisford double satin ribbon 10mm & 3mm, hand-made beaded Hat Pins, crystals, pearls, mulberry cherry blossoms, pearl-ended stamen

To make this card, using my Silhouette Cameo, I cut the card base from stardream cardstock, and the flourish background & birdcage on K&Company Elegance Shimmer. This is the first time I have tried an entire background die-cut, it was a bit fiddly to then marry the flourish with the backing card shape but worth it.  The ribbon-edged border was cut from more K&Company Elegance Shimmer with an Anna Griffin ribbon punch and threaded with 3mm double satin.

I then embossed an offcut of stardream card through my Big-Shot Pro using my Crafter’s Workshop Paradise Mask as an embossing folder. Once embossed, this offcut was paper-pieced together with an offcut of coordinating K&Company Elegance Shimmer patterned paper and the join was covered by a strip of picot edge satin ribbon, then die-cut with Spellbinders Labels 1.

I didn’t have the right colour ink to coordinate with the soft greys in my patterned papers, so I first stamped my Kanban image with Brilliance Pigment Black onto spare paper, and (without cleaning the stamp), re-inked with Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink Blue. The residual black toned the blue down to a soft blue-grey – perfect! The stamp image was then faux cut from the smaller Labels 1 die.

To ensemble, I mounted the flourish background onto the backing card and inked the edges with Pro-markers. Next, a strip of picot-edged ribbon went across the lower middle horizontally and the threaded ribbon border was added vertically and the edges trimmed to shape. The stamped image was mounted onto the paper-pieced mat, and this was mounted onto the card, ensuring that the picot edge ribbon on the mat aligned with the same ribbon on the card.

The bird-cage was distressed with Promarkers, glittered and embellished with a rhinestone crystal before being tucked behind the mat along with hand-made hat pins.

I added cherry blossom flowers, rosebuds, pearl-ended stamen, flat-backed crystals and pearls and a double-satin ribbon bow. Finally, the entire project was spritzed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz, for a subtle shimmer.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Ribbon or Twine
 Hope you like this; do leave a comment if this has pleased you.

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Decorative Hat Pins - Next Steps

In my Tutorial, Creating Hat Pins, I covered the basics of making your own Hat Pin embellishments (You can view a video demonstration on Creating Hatpins on my Youtube channel here linkS to youtube.)
I know that many of you have enjoyed the pleasure of making these lovelies, so I would now to take you through a little more advanced techniques, although these are still so very easy to make. 

In this tutorial, using 3 different Hat Pin "Recipes", we will look at:

• Different types of pins, including domed-head, pearl-head and rhinestone head
• Using a variety of beads including pearl, crackle glass and rhinestone rondelles
• Using Bead Caps and Spacer Beads
So we will be looking at the “Recipes” for making the following Hat Pins

Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Hat Pins

For more detailed instructions on Creating Hat Pins, visit my Step-By-Step guide or watch my video 

However, a quick reprise:- gather your materials plus clear glue, a toothpick, an egg cup and a small piece of waxed paper. Dab small dots of glue to the pin and thread on your beads. Leave to dry.
To make more detailed Hat Pins, all you need to do is widen the variety of materials used, and then think about texture, colour and composition in the making of your Hat Pins.

 Recipe 1 – Pretty In Pinks

• AB Rhinestone Headed Florist Pin

• Round Tibetan Silver Spacer Bead

• Tibetan Silver Bead Cap

• Dusky Pink 8mm Glass Pearl Bead

• Tibetan Silver Bead Cap

• 8mm Rhinestone Rondelle Spacer Bead

• 4mm Dusky Pink Glass Pearl Bead

• 4mm Pale Pink Glass Pearl Bead

• Clear Crystal Spacer Bead

Recipe 2 – Blues & Teals

• Silver Tone Dome Headed Pin

• Round Tibetan Silver Spacer Bead

• Tibetan Silver Bead Cap

• 8mm Blue Crackle Glass Bead

• Tibetan Silver Bead Cap

• Round Tibetan Silver Spacer Bead

• 4mm Teal Glass Bead

• Square Tibetan Silver Spacer Bead

• 4mm Teal Bicone Bead

Recipe 3 - Bridal

• Bridal White Tear Drop Pearl Headed Pin

• Round Tibetan Silver Spacer Bead

• Champagne 4mm Glass Pearl Bead

• Tibetan Silver Bead Cap

• 8mm White Glass Pearl Bead

• Tibetan Silver Bead Cap

• 4mm Champagne Glass Pearl Bead

• Silver Mini Bead Cap

• 6mm Champagne Glass Pearl Bead

• Silver Mini Bead Cap

• 2 x 4mm White Glass Pearl Bead

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Dressed In Roses Card

Today’s card features my Dressed In Roses stamp from Hampton Art Stamps, which is such a lovely fresh and summery image. The colour theme of the card was inspired by the pretty Sangria Afterglow Floral papers from Karen Neuburger which coordinated perfectly with my all time favourite Präsent cherry blossom woven ribbon.

More often than not, a card from me has to have a beaded hat pin and this card was no different, and this one combines pearls, crystals and tumbled beads. The frosted flowers are also a favourite, with their beaded stamens. The swirly flourishes (quickutz) are embellished with pink crystals - yum!

Card Recipe:

Stamp: Hampton Art Stamps Dressed in Roses

Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, ColorBox Cat's Eye Fluid Chalk Ink

Paper & Card: Paper Adventures Karen Neuburger Sangria Afterglow Floral, Stardream Serpentine, Elegance Satin
Tools: Spellbinders, Quickutz, Crafters Companion

Embellishments: Präsent ribbon, hand-made beaded Hat Pins, crystals, mulberry cherry blossoms, beaded frosted acrylic flowers, Dovecraft gem brad.

Please do let me know what you think, I love to read your comments.

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Woven Easter Basket Project

Spring is definitely in the air with this lovely Woven Easter Basket project!

You will need:
Double-sided Card Stock
Paper Trimmer
Border Edger punches
Daisy Punch – medium and small
Butterfly embellishment
Twisted Flower embellishment
Ribbon
Rhinestone Crystals
Ultra Strong Tape
Dries-clear glue






To start, cut 14-16 2cmx30.5cm strips of double-sided cardstock, from 2 co-ordinating patterns (my cardstock was patterned on one-side and plain on the other).







Place 4 strips flush to each other horizontally. Weave in 2 strips vertically, move these strips over to be central to the horizontal strips. Check everything is flush and the edges are aligned, then weave in 4 more strips, two from the left and two from the right. Spend time adjusting and straightening your strips and then glue down the outer weaved edges. Leave to dry for 20mins.

If you have a pattern on your cardstock that you want facing out, turn your project so the outer pattern is facing down. Use a steel edge ruler and score tool, to score the base of your basket, then fold in each stake and burnish the score with a bone folder to achieve a sharp finish.

Now start the upper weaving. Taking a 2cm strip, place a small strip of ultra sticky tape to one end and anchor this to the inside of one the stakes. Weave all the way around. You will need to extend the strip with about 12.5cm cut from one of the remaining 2cm strips, but wait until you have woven your first strip and then measure how much of an extension you will need, as this is dependent on how tightly you weave as you go. Secure end pieces in place with another a small strip of ultra sticky tape. Now weave three more rows.

When you have woven all four rows, secure the spokes with of ultra sticky tape, then trim any excess spokes flush to the forth row. This will still look slightly “unfinished” so you will need to hide the raw edge.

You can do this with a ribbon trim, but I made a cardstock trim. Measure the four sides of your basket and decide how deep you want your trim to be, then add 1.5cm of depth. Cut your four edging pieces to size and, if wished, punch a decorative edge. Score the length of each border, 1.5cm in from the opposite side to the decorative edge, fold and burnish with a bone folder. Ink the decorative edges, then stick your trim to your basket, to hide the raw edges.






Cut a piece of cardstock 5.5cmx30.5cm, decorate with border punches and ribbon. Attach to your basket with brads or ultra sticky tape.

You will have various off-cuts left, use these to punch out daisy flowers. Layer these up and adorn with rhinestone crystals (from Wild Orchid Crafts). Decorate your basket with your embellishments in a way that pleases your eye. I’ve used one of my Ribbon Flowers with a Twist (visit my tutorial if you would like to find out how to make one too).















Fill your basket with pretty foiled wrapped eggs, and think how sweet!

Thank you for looking, please do leave a comment if you've enjoyed this project. Pin It Now!