ATC's to Swap....

Anyone fancy a swap? I have made a few Artist Trading Cards recently so please contact me if you would like to swap any of them.

I really enjoy making these littler pieces of papercraft and they help to use up some of my smaller pieces of stash!

Lily of the Valley

Another vintage style card - this time featuring the beautiful Lily of the Valley flower, that always reminds me of my grandparents home - one whiff of it's scent and I feel like a five year old playing amongst the flowers again!

Gilding Flakes are so Messy!

....but I love the effect they make! You have to be well prepared with the bowl of water to clean the stamps straight away, all the windows shut to keep out the draughts and the doors shut to keep out the cats!!!

These cards were made with Cosmic Shimmer Silver Dream gilding flakes that have just the odd flake of gold as a contrast in them.

 I used a silver, blue and black colour scheme to try to highlight the silver shimmer.

This weeks cards..

I treated myself to a copy of July's edition Making Cards Magazine that I haven't bought for ages - I like the fact that the free papers are now separate and not bound in the magazine! 

Here's a few cards made with the free images and papers

This week I was pleased to sell 6 cards and pick up 2 commissions at work - helps to justify buying more stash, doesn't it?

More Vintage Style Birthday Cards

On a bit of a roll at the moment mojo wise! 

All my cards seem to be of a vintage theme and feature birds, flowers ribbons and butterflies

Can You Smell the Roses?

You can't go wrong with lovely blooms of roses on birthday cards can you? 

I cannot resist sniffing any roses that are by the path, as I walk by people houses. No perfume really captures their fabulous smell!

Three Little Dots ...

I've just realised that so many of my hand made cards have something in common - 3 little dots as embellishments! Usually mine are made from liquid pearls or card candi and I try to use co-ordinating colours.

They seem to finish off a card and stop areas from looking a bit plain. Often I have them in opposite corners to counter balance each other

Can anyone explain why 3 look better than 2 or 4 dots? 

Does anyone else have a' trademark' that appears on most of their cards?

Sew Lovely Cards

I have a big pile of Sew Lovely Papers left over from the Docrafts goodie bag from several months ago - I keep looking at them and putting them away! 

Well, this morning I finally got around to using some of them in these cards. They are teamed up with Craftwork Cards die cut mannequins

and free charms for Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine.

The Car Boot sale I was going to do on Saturday got rained off, so I had to console myself with a visit to The Range, where I tried not to spend too much. The boxes of stuff are sitting in the conservatory and I hope the weather next Saturday will be better!!

Not My Usual Style!

This card is not  the sort I would usually make, but the stamps came free with issue 17 of Creative Stamping Magazine - the set is called the Rose Garden

I enjoyed colouring the topiary trees and its quite a simple card .

I'm off to do a car boot sale tomorrow (weather permitting) and have sorted out some stamps and embossing folders that I'm unlikely to use again. If I sell them then I can justify buying some more craft stuff, can't I!!!

Wedding Bells are Ringing.....

......at least in my head whilst I was making these Wedding Cards! 

I've been asked to make a selection by the shop where I sell some of my cards, so dug out some stamps and suitable embellishments from my stash and had a play.

Using More Freebies!

I subscribe to 3 magazines - Craft Stamper, Cardmaking & Papercraft and Quick Cards Made Easy, plus I often buy one or two more each month depending upon the free gift. 

This means I get lots of ideas and inspiration, a range of different freebies

plus I try to enter lots of the competitions and giveaways too!

This embossing folder and stamp from Cardmaking & Papercraft had been sitting on my desk for a while, so I thought it was about time to try it out. It worked well with  the bright green core'dinations cardstock that was a freebie too from a magazine several months ago!

Bird Cage Embossing

A couple of similar but slightly different cards using the new birdcage and swirl embossing folder that came free with Mays issue of Quick Cards Made Easy Magazine - which lived up to its name, because these cards were very quick and easy to make!

I've got a family 'get together' tomorrow but nothing in the diary for Bank Holiday Monday, so planning for a bit of a crafting session that day - hope you all can get a bit of crafting too this weekend!    Dawn

Pollyanna Pickering

I love the new Pollyanna Pickering card making kits that I found in The Range and thought they would make great cards for the men in my life! They come with loads of toppers, sentiments and backing papers. As they are reduced - I treated myself to the Tiger, Dormouse, Fox and Otter kits!

These are the first few cards of many I hope!

Cheeky Monkey!

A couple of cards for young boys - I know several  who can be cheeky monkeys at times!

A Parliament of Owl Cards!

Not sure why, but I've just realised that I have been making several owl themed cards recently! 



Why not hop over to the Creative Friday Link party and see what others have been up to?

A space of my own.....

As my son has now moved out to be with his girlfriend, we now have a spare bedroom which I have rapidly converted into a craft room! 

It is lovely to have a space of my own - but moving all my papers, embellishments, ribbons, inks, stamps, die cuts, scissors and card blanks in made me realize how much stash I have for this hobby that was supposed to help me save money! I know it looks a bit messy but it is great to have everything to hand.

I have had to invest in a new desk lamp but it is wonderful to be able to keep all my bits and pieces out and not tidy them away after a crafting session. Hopefully it will spur on my creativity so I can make even more cards and atc's!

Something for the boys!

Birthday cards made with the Kanban T Shirt Toppers and some button embellishments - for those 'difficult' teenagers and young men in the family!

Mix and Match ....

Still trying to make a dent in my ever growing pile of stash! 

 I made these 3 cards using a variety of old papers, stamps, ribbon, embellishments and sentiments - none of which are from the same sets. I've used the black card mats to try and tie them all together

Embossed grass ...

These 3 embossing boards were free with Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine and I couldn't wait to use them !

I loved the idea of a black cat stalking through the long grasses, so teamed the embossing background with a Poppy Stamps die cut cat and black spotty Craftwork Cards sentiment to make this simple card.

Simply Cards Magazine ....

Was chuffed to see one of my cards featured in this months Simply Cards & Papercraft Magazine when it popped through the door this morning - it's the black T-shirt card. 

The Kanban T shirt toppers have been great to make up birthday cards for the teenagers and men who don't want to have cars or sports on their cards

!