Three of a Kind ....

Today I've been playing with one of my die sets that gives this lovely oval border. Each of these cards has the intricate border cut out of a yummy chocolate glitter card and backed with a gold sparkle card.

Each card then has a wooden embellishment of butterfly, bird or guitar

 and then different sentiments and backing papers - for 3 similar but different square birthday cards

Inking Up Old Stamps

Whilst rummaging through my large collection of stamps I realised there where so many that I hadn't used before.

These are all from the sets free with Creative Stamping Magazine - one of my favourites, as they have such a great selection with each issue

I must make the effort to used all the stamps -not just one or two each time!

Age and Glasses of Wine should never be Counted!

One of the Honey Doo stamp sets that I picked up at the car boot sale last week is called 'Just the One' and is great for wine lovers!

I think these birthday cards could be suitable for many of my friends!

Two Weddings and an Anniversary ....

Following on from yesterdays post I made 2 wedding cards with the Bride and Groom Silhouette die

Then finished off with a wedding anniversary card that features one of the Honey Doo stamps embossing in silver and coloured with watered down distress oxide inks to give it a delicate feel

Today's Car Boot Bargains

I visited my first car boot sale of the year this morning and picked up a big pile of crafting goodies from a lady who was having a clear out ( to make room for more stash!)

There was a box of 16 stamp sets from Honey Doo crafts (usually £8 a set) -sentiments, snowflakes, numbers and lots of flowers, 6 different distress oxide ink pads (at least £5 each new), several dies including a tonic Fairy (£11) and 2 ink duster brushes. I paid £18 for the lot and was very pleased with these additions to my craft room

I haven't got any Honey Doo Crafts stamps, so decided to try some out with a bit of heat embossing

So, these are my first makes from my new stamps - a couple of Sympathy cards and a Christening card. Really pleased with the quality of the stamps, now off back to the craft room for some more stamping!

Scrapbooking Mojo returns

There are some lovely 12 x 12 papers in with the Faerie Dust package so I though I would try and match one to a photo taken at the Magic Kingdom in Florida last year

Cinderellas castle at dusk looks fabulous when all lit up!

It also inspired me then to set out some older photos that I've been meaning to scrapbook for ages

These are both WIP (Works In Progress), that's the fun of scrapbooking, you can just keep coming back and adding more til you are satisfied!

Faerie Mojo

Last February I won a  massive parcel of Faerie Dust papers and embellishments from Graphic 45. 

I made and blogged about a few cards and then put the parcel to one side. Well, I have just re-discovered it whilst putting away all the Christmas card making stuff and feel inspired to sprinkle a bit more faerie dust around on my cards!

Certainly helps to brighten a dull and wet weekend!

Card Making Magic Stars!

Last year I mentioned about the Masculine dies and stamps I won from Christina Griffiths  & Card Making Magic

Well, I have now got around to using the stars die from that set and have made 3 of a kind birthday cards for men, using different colour schemes and backing papers

They were quick makes, so I must remember them in future if I need to produce a card in a hurry!

Creative Stamping Magazine Issue 67

I am a big fan of Creative Stamping Magazine because of their great freebie stamps and this months issue is a cracker! A wide range of  fab vintage images.

Couldn't wait to get started and felt so inspired by them!

Made a few non birthday cards for a change

And this is work in progress with brushos  and gilding wax for the backgrounds

More Hibiscus Wreaths from Tattered Lace

Following on from yesterdays post, here are a couple more cards made from the different colourways of the hibiscus wreath that you can download from Tattered Lace - the cream one works well for sympathy cards.

Tattered Lace Magazine Issue 62

I don't often buy this magazine as it is rather expensive at £12.99, but I decided to treat myself this month, as I really like the Hibiscus flower wreath die that comes with it.

It also came with some tropical  Flamingo papers that I matched up with this bird that was cut from a freebie die from another magazine last year

As with all Tattered Lace magazines you can download the images that fit the die in lots of different shades, so that you can produce these wreaths over and over again.

And of course, you can use the die on plain card as well, here I just softened it with a little dusky pink ink around the edges

Golden Snippet Christmas Cards

I saw a post over on Tiny Roses blog about making snippet cards using leftover strips of papers and she inspired me to make these two cards.

I hope to make some more at the weekend using different contrasting papers!

Upcycling Your Christmas Cards

Several people save all their Christmas cards and hand them over to me, as I love cutting them up and re-using them. It is such a shame to throw away some of those lovely designs. I often take off any embellishments such as sentiments, bows and charms to re-use too

 

Here I have several cards that I am going to die cut using some bauble and snowflake dies. Snowflakes can be really tricky to get out in one piece and this die is a favourite as it cuts so cleanly.

This stag bauble die was a cheapie, only £2.55 from China - see more cards made with it back in 2017 here

I've even used the cut out as a negative to make some more cards.

The ribbons were originally from the Christmas crackers!

All the scraps can be put into the recycling - unless they have glitter on them, then my local Council won't take them, so I tend to use the backs for shopping lists etc

All these will be put away until Autumn when I will start to make Christmas cards again!

My New Cat Die !

I bought this trio of peaking cat die from AliExpress - it cost only $2.16 including postage!

It did, however take a month to arrive from China.

So I couldn't wait to make some cute cards with it using different coloured cardstock

I even added balloons from another die I had bought from AliExpress back in August

More Hunkydory Under the sea cards

Some more birthday cards made with the Hunkydory papers and stamps I mentioned yesterday

Plus this one has a blue lobster on it!

 Happy New Year and I hope  2019 brings you health, wealth and plenty of time to craft!