Sympathy - tree and wreath

Sympathy cards are not always the easiest things to have to make, and even more so if you are making them to give to family or friends who have recently lost loved ones. For this reason I like to make a couple when I  don't really have to and then put them away until they are needed.

Today I have two to show you, both inspired by shop bought cards - it's amazing how inspiration strikes when you least expect it - I was looking at cards we had been given after the loss of my father-in-law and two of them caught my attention, both of them because the designs on the cards reminded me of dies I had in my collection and had never used and so an idea was born.

I loved the symbolism of this card, the single leaf gently falling to the ground,which to me represented the deceased family member gently taking leave of the family.

Die - Tree with w/hearts and leaves - Cottage Cutz (retired)

Digital papers - Petal Fresh - Nitwit Collections

Silver mirri card

X-cut butterfly punch

Pearl and silver card stock

Sentiment computer generated and printed onto pearl paper - Anna Marie

Die - Catalina Wreath - Memory Box

Gems - Meiflower

Thanks for dropping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Bee Mine!

Carrying on with the love theme, today I have a card to show you using another image from Drawn With Character which is called Bee Mine.

I decided that as the image was of bees I would use my Spellbinders nesting Hexagon dies to make a honeycomb effect with patterned papers on a honeycomb shaped card base. I went into my craft room to look for the dies, brought them downstairs so that I could scan them into Photoshop (I like to lay my card out in Photoshop and re-size papers etc., so that the patterns aren't too big for the shapes), I opened the packet grabbed the first die and then realised that I was a total idiot! they weren't hexagons at all, they were octagons LOL! and totally unsuitable for a honeycomb.

I still wanted to use the honeycomb layout so ended up cutting the shapes out by hand.

I also liked the idea of adding a love themed charm to the card but somehow or other ended up with 5 of them, dangling across the card like bunting, (I couldn't decide which one looked best, so decided to use them all, well you know what they say - less is more, but even more is even better hehe!). I also added a small piece of feather to the end of the arrow that is piercing the heart.

Digital Stamp - Bee Mine - Drawn with Character - Etsy (coloured in Photoshop)

Digital Papers and heart with arrow - Hearts Desire kit -Crazy 4 Monograms

Charms and black metallic cord - Meiflower

Thanks for visiting,

hugs,

Colette xx

I love you this much!

It's time to begin the challenges again at Paper Creator after the Christmas break, and for the first one of the year we are going to start off nice and easy with...

Anything Goes

We don't have much in the way of rules, just no back linking, a maximum of 3 entries per challenge and most importantly follow the theme, you don't even have to use Paper Creator products, but if you do, you get a second entry into the random draw to win £10 to spend in store.

Here's my card for the anything goes theme, using a gorgeous new Sassy Cheryl illustration called Come On Get Happy.

Digital illustration - Come on get Happy - Sassy Cheryl at Paper Creator
Digital Papers - Owl always love you digital scrap kit - Just So Scrappy
Go Kreate Large Frame Scallops
Lifestyle nesting circles dies
Die-namics die - Rustic Hearts
X-cut heart punch
Ribbon and charms - Meiflower I used split rings to dangle the heart charm from the O of the love charm

Don't forget to pop over to the Paper Creator challenge blog, check out the inspiration from the rest of my teamies and enter our anything goes challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,
Have a lovely weekend,
hugs,
Colette xx

Oh Baby!

Just a quick post today to show you a baby card I made using the fab Digi Darla image Blessings of Heaven 5. When I made this card HERE I printed the image out in two different sizes and used the larger image on the other card, so I put this card together with the smaller image and the left over papers, usisng the same layout but decorating it differently.

Digital Stamp - Blessings of Heaven 5 - Digi Darla (coloured in Photoshop)

Digital Papers - Bedtime Stories Girl - Crazy 4 Monograms

Lifestyle Alphabet Die - Lemon Drop - Maddy Lisa Crafts

X-cut heart punches large and small

Gingham ribbon, satin rosebud trio, polka dot buttons and heart dazzlers - Meiflower

I am entering the following challenges with this card -

Digi Darla- ABC challenge - (B is for Baby)

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - Must Be Square #19 Make It Feminine - It's got a baby girl, there's pink on it, a bow, flowers and bling so hopefully it counts as feminine?

Papertake Weekly W- Add A Bow & Use A Die

Party Time Tuesdays - #156 Use Ribbon

Through The Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping in and taking a look

hugs,

Colette xx

You go together like.....

...Cheese and wine, bacon and egg, salt and pepper or milk and cookies!

Here's a card made with one of the other digital stamps I purchased from Drawn with Character, I love the quirky humour of this one, and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it. I made it up into an anniversary card for my friend.

Digital stamp - We go together 1- Drawn with Character- Etsy (coloured in Photoshop)

Digital papers - Candy Kisses digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 monograms

Sizzix nesting hearts die

X-cut nesting postage stamp die

Sentiment - computer generated

Ribbon and buttons - Meiflower

I am entering my card into the following challenges

Artistic Inspirations  - Anything Goes / Ribbon

Card Mania -  Anything Goes

Love to Create  - Buttons

Make it Monday  - Always Anything Goes

My Time to Craft – All about Love

My Sheri Crafts -  Use a Digi

Digitally Sweet - Digital images/projects- No. 71 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

You're Tweet!

I recently came across a store selling digital stamps on Etsy called Drawn with Character, and as usually happens with me, found that three of the images just jumped into my basket LOL!

I managed to get them coloured up last week whilst looking after my grandson, (I do so love that couple of hours when he is asleep hehe!) and two of them made into cards, so today I thought I would share one of them with you.

I coloured the image in Photoshop as usual and then printed straight onto Kraft card, printing the image out twice, each time on a different setting, to see which turned out best, as it happened there wasn't much difference between them.

As I had printed two images I decided to make two cards using the same layout for both, but making one with scalloped borders and the other with ribbons (this will be a sample for Meiflower). 

Here are my cards

Digital Image - You're Tweet - Drawn with Character - Etsy

Woodware long reach ribbon slot punch

Grosgrain ribbons and stick on gems - Meiflower

Digital image - as Above

I rubbed a white ink pad around the edges of the Kraft card

Digital Papers - Love You digital scrap kit - Just So Scrappy (can't find it on site to link)

Die-namics Simply Scallops Medium

Ribbon, charm, pearl hearts - Meiflower

Thanks for dropping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Welcome Baby

I seem to be going through a phase of using Kraft card for my card bases at the moment, I hadn't even realised I was doing it until my daughter was looking at today's card and said to me - you seem very fond of that brown stuff (non-crafter LOL!), you're using it a lot lately.

So here's the card she was looking at, it's a baby boy card using Jolly the Jiraffe from Teddy Bo and some of that brown stuff hehe!

Image - JOLLY_001 - Coloured in Photoshop

Papers - Baby Mine Boy digital scrap kit - Just so Scrappy outlet store

X-cut Scalloped Rectangle die

X-cut Border Punch - Scallops

X-cut palm punch - circle large

Ribbon, dummy, polka dot buttons and pearls - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Love is in the air!

This post should have been done on Saturday but for the last couple of days I have had the stinking cold that is going around at the moment, today is the first day that I haven't been aching all over, it's also the first day that I have lost my voice too - made Eric's day LOL! Both Eric and Meg had it first, and then, as usual, once I've looked after them and got them better I come down with it -Eric is back in work, Meg still needs looking after and I've got my youngest grandson Charlie nearly every day this week, so no rest for me.

I have to admit that I've also been distracted by the darts on the telly - the first couple of weeks of the year when the BDO World Darts Championship is shown from the Lakeside Country Club is one of the things I most look forward to after the Christmas break, and have really enjoyed it once again this year.

Anyway back to the cards and with Christmas out of the way, the next big occasion, for us card makers is Valentine's day, and with that in mind I'm giving you a sneak peek at two of  the new Sassy Cheryl illustrations - First love and Smitten - which will be available shortly at Paper Creator.

Sassy Cheryl illustrations First Love and Smitten - Paper Creator

Papers - Lovebirds digital scrapbook kit - Just so Scrappy

Sizzix Hearts dies

X cut heart punch

Sentiment - Computer Generated

Ribbons and gems - Meiflower

If you like to match your papers to the colours in your image, you should check out the First Love ultimate kit from Paper Creator when it becomes available, as well as the image it  also contains papers, a build a topper set, a ready to print card, sentiments and decoupage.

For this card I used the image and a couple of the papers. The card base was made by printing both sides of  A4 Linen card from Papermill Direct with one of the plain papers from the kit, before cutting to size and folding to make a square card.

The card is a sample for Meiflower which is why it is bedecked in pearls and gems, plus I love a bit of bling on a card and couldn't resist encrusting the die cut heart frame with all things sparkly!

Image and Papers - First Love Ultimate kit - Paper Creator

Sizzix Heart dies

X-cut heart punch

Sentiment - Computer Generated

Stick on gems and pearls in various sizes and colours - Meiflower

Thanks for stopping by,

hugs,

Colette xx

Sunglasses Alert!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will know that I don't really do soft muted colours, I would love to, I always think they look so classy whenever I see them used by other people, but my brain just doesn't seem to work like that and no matter how hard I try I always seem to end up with bright colourful cards.

Today my colours are so vivid, you may need to pop on a pair of sunglasses before viewing,

(I will not be held responsible for any damage to your peepers from viewing my card without taking the proper precautions LOL! You have been warned!) 

I had some really bright neon coloured ribbons and wanted to match the papers and my colouring to them, then I matted everything onto black card which really made the colours pop.

Digital stamp - Deidre Mosher at Etsy - Coloured in Photoshop

Digital Papers - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun digital scrap kit - Crazy 4 Monograms

Senitment - Computer Generated

X-cut border punch - Scallops

Lin and Lene  Designs corner die - 1201/0012 (cut down)

Neon coloured satin ribbons and stick on gems - Meiflower 

I printed the image twice, cut the cake from the second print and layered it onto the first with foam pads. The corner die was a lot larger, but I trimmed away the parts I didn't want to make it the right size for my project.

I love that image, they look like they really can't wait to get stuck into that cake.

Thanks for popping in,

hugs,

Colette xx

Couple of quickies!

When I was 11 years old, we moved from Anfield where I was born and grew up, to Huyton where I still live today, this meant changing schools, I had spent a year at grammar school, but after the move the travelling was far too much for me and I moved to what was now my local comprehensive school. On my first day in the new school the teacher sat me next to a girl called Julie Molyneux and told her to look after me, and 40 years later we are still good friends.

Whenever I mention on my blog that I am off to the theatre with my friend and her daughter, that would be Julie, we regularly have trips out to shows and concerts and already for 2014 we have tickets booked for Ghost, the Lion King, Wicked and a 70's music concert featuring the Bay City Rollers, The Osmonds, Showaddywaddy and David Essex, so as you can see we definitely get about.

Julie's son Peter managed to pass his driving test on New Years Eve and then a couple of days later (3rd Jan) celebrated his 20th birthday. I wanted to make him a couple of cards but with everything else going on just didn't have the time to colour, design and put something together so I popped over to Craftusprint, found a couple of suitable designs, downloaded them, printed them and made them up, all on the morning of his birthday. They were both finished by mid afternoon and ready for a quick trip to Julie's to drop them off. 

 The 3D gadgets n gizmos popout card was for his birthday, and although you can't really tell from the photo each layer of gadgets pops out from the previous layer. It was really quick and easy to put together and looked impressive when finished.

The Driving Test Cascade Deluxe card was obviously for passing his driving test LOL!

I made up the card following the instructions then downloaded some pictures of car stuff - AA road atlas, Highway code book, car keys, P plate, sat nav and road signs - from Google images, and then cut them out and added them to the card, once again, quick, easy and quite impressive looking.

Thanks for stopping by today and taking a look,

hugs,

Colette xx

Happy New Year!

The days nearly over, but managed to just slip in LOL!, hope you had a good one, and 2014 brings you, health, wealth and happiness along with all the things you wished for.

Unfortunately Christmas and New Year haven't been too happy for us this time around - my Father-in-law passed away on the 22nd December, and because of the Christmas holidays, his funeral won't take place until the 6th January (the family were offered the 5th January at first, but that's his birthday and nobody wanted that), so the 6th it is. Hopefully once the funeral is over we can start to move on and work towards getting things back to normal.

I had my daughter and grandchildren around for dinner on Christmas Day and we were determined to make it a happy day for the younger family members, which hopefully we managed to do, especially as the jokes in the crackers were pretty good this year LOL!
As well as the sadness of  my father-in-laws passing we had the joy of a new baby, as my friend Donna's third grandchild, (but first granddaughter) Lucia Rose, was born just before 1am on Christmas Day. She kept us all on tenterhooks as her mum was in slow labour for a couple of days - thanks to text messaging I was getting regular updates of how the labour was going (almost felt like I was there LOL!) all day on Christmas Eve and as midnight approached we waited with bated breath, would she be a Christmas eve or Christmas day baby? but she managed to hang in there for a bit longer and Christmas day it was! What a fabulous present for Donna and her family.

and here she is

Lucia Rose with her auntie Chloe.

I made this card for the proud Grandparents.

Digital Stamp - Blessings of Heaven 5 (coloured in Photoshop) - Digi Darla

Digital papers - Bedtime Girl - Crazy 4 Monograms

Sizzix Framelits - Hearts

Spellbinders Mirror die

Gingham Ribbon, satin rosebud trio, waxed cord and pink gems - Meiflower

I scanned the dies into Photoshop and then used them as a guide for the size of the writing. After printing it was just a case of positioning the die correctly over the wording before running through the machine.

I'm hoping to drop the card off at the weekend, but I'm sure Donna will probably see it on here before I get it to her, hope she likes it!

Posting will probably be a bit hit and miss for the next couple of weeks, but hopefully normal service will resume shortly!

Thanks for dropping by,

hugs,

Colette xx