70th Birthday

This is for a very good friend of ours whose 70th Birthday was yesterday.  She doesn't like cute images but she does love gardening so I chose this Hunkydory image.  The card is 7" square and the paper is First Edition Forever Free.  I added a square doily, flowers from Wild Orchid and a butterfly from Poundland.  The leaves were cut using a Joy die.  Numbers are American Thickers.

I rarely use this many colours on a card but wanted to echo the colours in the image with my embellishments.  I think I must challenge myself to use more colours on a card as I tend to stick to two main colours.

As I made this card I realised what a long time it is since I bought from Wild Orchid.  It must be at least two years and I still have lots of their flowers. I didn't buy much craft stuff at all this year but there is still an awful lot of stuff in my craft room, like most crafters I think.

 

Off to the pub

Another commissioned card.  The image is Hunkydory and the denim papers are We R Memory keepers which I bought in America years ago and forgot I had. The sentiment is LOTV and I added some wooden chevrons.  

Now what do you do when you have made the card and check your order list and find she wanted special Uncle on it. Well I thought where is that going to fit? I decided to print it vertically as theta was the only place it would fit without spoiling the layout.  I really like the effect.

 

60th Birthday

Another commissioned card.  Thank goodness for coloured images as it meant I could get her order completed in time as I didn't get a lot of notice.  The image is Hunkydory and the papers are First Edition butterfly kisses.  They haven't photographed that well due to the foil butterflies.  The wooden butterfly is also from that range.

 

Second Mother's Day card

This is the second of the ordered Mother's Day cards. I have a number of these Hunkydory toppers and messaged her a few photos of images I thought she might like for the cards she wanted. She chose this one for her Nan. The papers are Craftwork cards, embroidered ribbon from The Range and lace from Crafty Ribbons. 

I wanted to pick up on the orange from the image to liven up the yellow and blue so searched through my flowers and found this lovely spotted paper rose I bought in America. I teamed it with some yellow cherry blossom from Wild Orchid and diecut a butterfly using Memory Box dies.  Two cards done two more  to make.

Getting an allotment

I was asked to make a retirement card for someone who is getting an allotment and as luck would have it I found a Hunkydory topper which was perfect. I won a set of toppers ages ago from a magazine and some of them have come in useful although they are rather large for 6" cards.

I used First Edition Gardenia paper and added a piece of diecut fence using a Marianne die and a burlap butterfly. The sentiment was computer generated. The large topper didn't leave much room for embellishing.

 

Football

The lady who keeps ordering cards from me asked for another 9 cards.  She has been off work sick for some time and I assume isn't going out. She must send a lot of cards as these are for August. Luckily I had 7 suitable ones in my stock, just adding ages to a couple. I had to make a couple though. This is a 7x7 for her hubby.

I used a Hunkydory topper along with the old Docrafts Mr Mister papers. I picked out the green from the topper for the backing card and I found a matching leather strip in my stash.

We are off to visit my Mum today and take her to a local garden centre for a look round and to have some lunch, It will be her first outing since lockdown, apart from the occasional walk to the hairdresser or shops so I know she is looking forward to it. 

Another 90th Birthday card

This is the second of the 90th Birthday cards I was asked to make. I used another Hunkydory topper as I was asked for a large card with a floral theme. The papers are LOTV romance and roses. I added some gupuire lace from Wild Orchid, some narrow ribbon, various flowers, pearl trim and a butterfly from Poundland.

And another Hunkydory topper

Yes I am afraid it is yet another card using a Hunkydory topper. This is a 7" card I was asked to make. The paper is from the same pad I used before from The Works. I added some of the beautiful gupuire lace from Wild Orchid. I wanted to add a few embellishments but not oo much and decide on some different sized butterflies. The paper one is from Poundland and I found various wooden ones in my stash which I coloured with Nuvo glitter markers.

Well that's another week gone by. Enjoy your weekend, whatever you are doing. If you are like us that will be staying at home apart from a walk.

Carrie's Potting shed

Another commission was to make a plaque with this title and lots of pink. I found the perfect image amongst my Hunkydory toppers. The paper is from an old LOTV pad romance and roses.  I coloured a wooden birdhouse  and the handle of the spade with Zig wood pen and used a silver sparkle pen on the other part.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid and the butterfly is from a pack I bought in America a while ago.

Hello I'm back on my blog

Well I think that may be the longest I have ever left my blog without posting as my last post was Friday. I don't know where the time goes some days. I have been very busy with a few orders. Luckily I had some of the cards which were suitable in stock so I just had to personalise a few of them. I have been making others though like this one. In fact I have sold more this last week than I do at some craft fairs!

I was asked to make two large floral cards for a lady who used to live locally but now lives in Cyprus. There is no postal service there to the UK at the moment so I typed messages in the cards and posted them to the care home for her. I was so pleased that she loves the cards and says the recipient will love them too.

I have some Hunkydory toppers which are lovely but quite big so making an 8" card enable me to use them. The paper is from a 12x12 pack from The Works. I punched and diecut some leaves and used some flowers I have had in my stash for a long time. The wooden bird is from Hobbycraft.

Back tomorrow with something different.

Football and exciting news

I was asked to make a card for someone who is a huge football fan and and I remembered I had this Hunkydory topper amongst the male pack I was asked to review for them. I made a 7x7 card as the topper is so large and simply added some football ribbon and some boots which I found amongst my old stash. There was also a football on foam pads so I added that to the image.

I was delighted to be invited to join the new design team for Lee Holland Illustrations as I love his cute digis. You can see my D badge and link to Lee's shop in my sidebar. 

Love gardening

I made this one for a friend's Birthday. He loves pottering in the garden so I thought this Hunkydory topper was perfect for him. The paper is MFT and the sentiment is from an old LOTV stamp set. I used a Memory Box snail, grass and Whimsy fence dies

Thanks for all your get well wishes. It hasn’t turned into a cold, just a horrendous cough and very sore throat. Keeping me awake a lot and last night I couldn’t get my breath at times. Went to the walk in centre this morning, thankfully chest is clear. A day indoors again, keeping warm and plenty of fluids. I hope you enjoy your Saturday whatever you are doing.

Some for the ladies

You may have seen the cards for men I posted last week which were made using Hunkydory toppers. When they asked me to review some of their products I also chose the Amethyst Dreams papers and  The Little Book of Garden Treasures. I used both of those to create these 7x7 cards.

I am often asked for cards without cute images, suitable for older ladies. Now my Mum loves cute images but they are not for everyone and these beautiful images really don't need too much embellishing especially if they are used for smaller cards.

The papers are absolutely stunning. However I have to be honest and say the only thing I am not so keen on is that they are shiny and I really prefer matte papers. I have enjoyed working with these and thank Hunkydory for asking me to review them.

I shall be at the hospital craft fair today so a very early start.  Up at 5.15 to get ready and load up the car as we get there about 7.30 to set up. 

More for men

Two more cards for men using those Hunkydory toppers I told you about yesterday. The Little Book of Magnificent Men is a really useful addition to anyone's collection. Both these cards would suit my hubby. I kept this one really simple again using MFT Free Spirit papers. I simply used the offcuts of paper, reversing the stripes and added a sentiment.  The topper was bigger than I needed so I just cut off some of the sky.

This one would actually be suitable for females too and the sentiment I used is actually from the female teenage sentiments from LOTV. I used the same paper pad. This time I used the two pieces of music paper that I cut off the top and bottom of the image and added some punched musical notes.

I have some lovely purple papers and garden toppers to use and will be reviewing those soon.

All at sea

I was delighted to receive an email from Hunkydory inviting me to review some of their products. I could choose which products I wanted to use and the first ones I am reviewing are the Magnificent Men Toppers. I get asked a lot for cards for men as opposed to boys and people usually want them for the man's particular interest. This pack contains so many different hobbies/pastimes/activities/sports that are going to be very useful.

The images are quite big and I wanted to make a 6x6 card so I cut off the top and bottom. I love the sketchbook and watercoloured style of this nautical image.  I used MFT free spirit papers, added a Cheery Lynn diecut lighthouse and a Go Kreate diecut gull. The little banners were cut from a scrap from the same paper pad using a Fiskars tag punch. I will be back with two more cards I made from them tomorrow.

Baby at the fair

This is one of two cards I was commissioned to make for Papercraft Inspirations. The theme was rainbow baby cards and I was asked to use a Hunkydory stamp set with Bo Bunny papers. I coloured all the images with Copics, used MFT pierced banner and stitched scallop border and stitched cloud dies. The sentiment is from Stamposaurus. 

Challenges

Penny Black and more at Allsorts I spy something beginning with B (baby card, bear, balloons, bow, blue, brown, big wheel)

Happy Birthday to my Mum today.

Lovely lady

We were so pleased that our first time selling on our own at the hospital shop was a great success, better than we hoped for and February isn't the best of months for customers buying so onwards and upwards I hope. I haven't had a lot of crafting time this week, and most of what I have been doing lately I can't sure with you as it was a magazine commission and something new for LOTV. Being out all day Monday, seeing my Mum yesterday and supporting our friends through their bereavement hasn't left time for much crafting to share. 

So on Wednesday evening I popped into the craftroom for a while and used a Hunkydory topper to make a 7x7 card. I won a whole book of toppers and whilst many of them didn't appeal I kept some which did including this lovely lady.  The paper and sentiment are LOTV, lace from crafty Ribbons, flowers from Wild Orchid. I also added some cheesecloth from The Ribbon Girl and a wooden birdcage along with Viva pearl pen dots.

I would like to enter this into the favourite way to add a sentiment challenge at As you like it.  Although I do love diecut sentiments my favourite and most used sentiments are stamped, sometimes onto the image particularly for cas cards but mostly as a separate embellishment, adding interest to the card.

Baking

A very kind crafting friend received a pack of Hunkydory toppers for Christmas and messaged me to ask if I would like some. When I saw they featured the cute characters which were previously LOTV and Sugar Nellie stamps I said yes please. They are so cute and most of the images I haven't seen as stamps including this cute baking image. Of course as they are pre coloured they make quicker cards too which is very helpful when making cards to sell.

I made a 7x7 card as this is a large topper. The papers are Craftwork Cards and I used various dies including a new Taylored Expressions baking border. The other baking dies are First Edition and the stitched scalloped border is MFT.  The sentiment is an old one.

Challenges

Simon Says new (topper and baking border die) 

Allsorts new (topper and baking border die) 

Creative Inspirations new (topper and baking border die)

Snowglobe Santa

I am sharing another of the Hunkydory cards I made for Papercrater magazine. This one is decoupaged and the card, sentiment and Santa all come from the pack. I added a Joy diecut border and a Memory Box die cut star.

How is your Christmas cardmaking going? I have a few orders and lots still to make for us to send so best crack on with a few more today after the ironing.

Challenges

Deep Ocean use die cuts or punches 

The Paper Shelter card for a child 

Craftyhazelnut anything Christmas goes

Owls and a Selfie

Today I am sharing two of the eight Hunkydory cards I made for  Papercrafter magazine. For the top one all the elements came from the kit apart from the baker's twine.

This is such a fun topper. Backing paper and sentiment strip are from the kit and I simply added some Joy diecut trees cut from white glitter card.

I am selling at the hospital shop today so an early start for me.

Check out my new candy page, closes 15th October.