Celebration Cake

Hello there!

I'm back with another card to share with you. This one is a fun cake card done in lovely summer sorbet shades.

I found that I didn't have any colours of card stock in the shades I had in mind. I solved this by creating my own with Promarkers. I haven't used my Promarkers for a while, so I thought I would dust them off and get them used.

Even though I have the full range of Copic markers, I find that sometimes they don't have the exact colour I'm looking for. This is where Promarkers come in, they have some beautiful colours, especially the pastel and sorbet shades. So why not mix the two brands?

This is a simple stamped image on a large white banner. I made the coloured background by die cutting strips of white card, shading them in and then arranging them onto some copy paper and sticking down. This was then cut in a panel.

What you need...

Stamps:

Birthday Bash - Paper Smooches

Dies:

Horizontal Stripes - Waffle Flower

A2 Layers

Scalloped Banner Set - Avery Elle

Ink pads:

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Alcohol markers:

Pink Carnation - Promarkers

Peach

Lime Green

Pastel Green

Embellishments:

Crystal Collection-Glass - Little Thing's from Lucy's Cards

Card stock:

White

Extras:

Adhesives

Crystal Clear Shimmer Pen

Tools:

Big Shot - Sizzix

What you do...

1 Die cut the horizontal stripes in white card. Use Promarkers to colour the stripes in the four colours that you want to arrange them.

2 Add double sided adhesive to a piece of white copy/scrap paper and stick down the stripes. Die cut into a panel using the 3¾" x 5" die from the A2 Layers set. 

3 Stamp the cake onto white card with the sentiment lined up underneath. Colour in using Promarkers.

4 Use the pinpoint border banner to cut out the cake image. 

5 Create a 4¼" x 5½" white blank. Mat the striped panel onto it. Add the banner with foam tape. Embellish with some of the Glass gems and highlight the icing on the cake with shimmer pen.

I used one of my old Paper Smooches stamp sets here, but there are so many cute cake stamps on the market along with some adorable sentiments. Use what ever you have in your stash.

This card layout would look good for a lot of occasions. Done in masculine colours with a male oriented image/motif/sentiment would be great. I think I might do a Christmas version.

Sadly I didn't get round to starting my Christmas cards in July. Magazine work always gets hectic at this time of year as deadlines are tighter to get in the extra issue. Hopefully I should be able to get going with the Christmas cards soon. Watch this space as they say.

Just before I go, I just want to mention that as Feedburner no longer supports email subscriptions, I have changed over to follow.it. This means your notification email will look slightly different, but it still does the same job of notifying you when I upload a new post.

If you have a blog that used Feedburner and haven't changed over to a new email subscription service I can highly recommend follow.it. They had reached out to me, but I had already considered using them anyway. It was so easy to set up and the support is great. Click here to find out more.

Thank you for stopping by, I do appreciate it. See you soon!

Easter Bun Buns

Hello there!

I can't believe Easter is upon us already, it only seems like yesterday it was Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I'll be starting Christmas projects for Crafts Beautiful and PaperCrafter soon - eep!

I would like to share with you today, a card I made for my mum. We were chatting on the phone as I made it, so I thought it only fair to post it to her. She loved it. 

This card is slightly different from the usual cutesy, pastel Easter cards and is a more fresh, modern, bold card.

What you need...

Stamps:

#51 - AALL & Create

Dainty Swiss Dots - Altenew

Bunny Hop - Newton's Nook

Dies:

Peek-a-boo Pets - Avery Elle

Heartfelt (660233) - Sizzix

Ink pads:

Mermaid Lagoon - Tim Holtz Distress

Tumbled Glass

Onyx Black - Versafine

Promarker:

Baby Pink

Embellishments:

Black pearl

Washi tape:

Black/white striped

Card stock:

White

Pale pink

Extras:

Masking Magic - Gina K

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Cut a piece of white card 3⅛"x 6¼" (8cm x 15.5cm) mask off 1½" (4.5cm) across the bottom.

2 Stamp the first bunny above the masking in black ink, stamp again onto masking paper and cut out. Apply the mask over the bunny.

3 Stamp the second bunny so he sits just over the first, stamp again on masking paper and cut out. Apply the mask over the bunny. 

4 Die cut a speech bubble from masking paper and position above the bunnies.

5 Blend the Tumbled Glass ink from the top of the card followed by the Mermaid Lagoon. When dry, stamp the Dainty Swiss Dots over the inked surface with black ink.

6 Remove the masks. Use the Baby Pink marker to add colour to the bunnies ears, nose and cheeks. Stamp a sentiment in the speech bubble.

7 Trim the panel to 2⅞" x 6" (7.5cm x 15cm). Add a strip of Washi tape across the base of the blank, under the inked section.

8 Die cut a small heart in pale pink card stock and add to the lower right, overlapping the Washi tape. Add some black pearls to decorate and mat onto a white 3⅛"x 6¼" (8cm x 15.5cm) blank.

As I have quite a lot of American products which are in imperial measurements, I am finding that by making my blanks/panels in inches they are more aesthetically pleasing and easier to work out. If I do use imperial measurements, I will always try to add the nearest measurements in centimeters.

I must admit I do prefer working in imperial anyway. It think this stems from being brought up by my grandparents. Even now, if I do any baking I work in pounds and ounces.

The stamp set with the bunnies unfortunately doesn't have a name. It is packed with the cutest images from the two bunnies, to a panda, racoon, elephant and a bear. It also has some fun sentiments and little add-ons such as party hats, presents and a balloon. The AALL Stamps all seem to just have numbers and not names

I hope you liked this 'different' Easter card. I have one more to share with you which also includes a cute bun bun, but uses mainly dies.

I am entering this make into the Crafty Creations Challenge #419 - Anything goes. Click here to take you to the challenge.

I am also entering this make into the Creative Fingers Challenge #205. Click here to take you to the challenge.

Thank you for stopping by! 

Rainbow Unicorn

Good afternoon blog friends!

I'm back with an adorable make using a stamp and die set that I have been itching to play with. I have had it some time, but a friend asked to make a card for her granddaughter's birthday. As she loves unicorns I thought this was the perfect set to use.

What you need...

Stamps:

Decorate A Cake Stamp Set (CM438) - Hero Arts

Dies:

Decorate A Cake Frame Cuts (D1741) - Hero Arts

Promarkers:

Fresh Bloom*

Magenta

Mandarin

Yellow

Lime Green

Cyan

Cool Aqua

Purple

*Limited Edition

Ink pad:

Obsidian Amalgam Ink Pad - Gina K

Sprinkles:

Let's Polka - Little Things From Lucy's Cards

Patterned paper:

Really Rainbow 6x6 Paper Pad - Lawn Fawn

Card stock:

White

Font:

Enjoy Writing - Khurasan

What you do...

1 Stamp the cake and add the eyes and icing. Stamp the flower cluster, the large flower, the horn and two ears.

2 Colour in the images and cut out using the coordinating dies. Assemble the cake.

3 Create an 11cm x 18cm white card blank. Cover the bottom 6cm with rainbow paper.

4 Print a sentiment, trim and fix to the rainbow section with foam pads. 

5 Attach the unicorn to the top of the blank and add sprinkles around the image.

The font that I used is for personal use only, I must point out that I do not make cards to sell and I did not charge my friend for this card, so the use of this font was for personal use. Free fonts are okay to use for personal use, however if you do sell your cards, then you will have to purchase a commercial use version. To access this and many more by Khurasan check out FontSpace  or dafont.com, 

I decided to go with a tall blank for this make. Tall cards seem to be making a come back at the moment, I remember when tall slim and DL sized card were all the rage. 

I was really pleased with how this card turned out. The photo doesn't really do it justice and it is so cute in 'real life'. Needless to say, my friend was very pleased with it.

Okay, I'm going to sign off for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll be back soon.

Sweetie Pie

Hello there!

I'm back with another card to share with you. This one is in my usual style of clean and simple with oodles of cuteness!

I used stamps from one of my fave companies, Paper Smooches. This is quite a small card, 8.5cm x 12.5cm which makes it ideal for a quick note card or a 'just because' card.

What you need...

Stamps:

Bee Mine - Paper Smooches

Boob Tube - Paper Smooches

Ink pads:

Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Sky Blue #38 - Versacolor

Promarkers:

Berry Red, Champagne*, Ice Grey 3, Lipstick Red, Raw Sienna, Sandstone

Masking paper:

Stamping Mask Paper - Inkadinkado

Card stock:
White, Kraft

*Limited Edition

What you do...

1 Stamp the pie, steam and three hearts onto white card in black ink.

2 Stamp them again onto masking paper and cut out. Place the masks over the corresponding images.

3 Use a blending tool to blend Sky Blue ink over the image, focusing the depth of colour over the actual pie.

4 Remove the masks and colour in the images.

5 Stamp the sentiment underneath the pie.

6 Trim the image to 6.5cm x 9.5cm and mat centrally at the top of a Kraft blank 8.5cm x 12.5cm with foam tape.

There you have it! A cute little note card. Mixing and matching your stamp sets makes them go a lot further with infinite possibilities and they don't have to be the same brand.

I'm going to sign off now, Thank you for popping by and I will see you next time.

Hello Honey

Hello there!

I hope you are all well.

So, I'm back with another make. This one being really cute. It mixes up two sets from Paper Smooches, Bee Mine and Blossoming Buds.

What you need...

Stamps:

Bee Mine - Paper Smooches
Blossoming Buds - Paper Smooches

Ink pads:

Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Dies:
Bee Mine Icons - Paper Smooches

Promarkers:
Pink Pearl*, Cool Aqua, Mandarin, Sand Dune*, Yellow, Sunflower, Lime Green, Ice Grey 1
*Limited Edition Colours

Embellishments:
White pearls

What you do...

1 Stamp the floral cluster onto white card stock and colour in. Stamp the bee onto white card stock, colour in and cut out.

2 Add the bee to the floral panel with foam pads and trim to 10cm square. Stamp the sentiment in the top left corner.

3 Mat onto a 10.5cm square lime card blank. Decorate with some pearls.

I've had my Promarkers for quite a few years now and when Letraset did the limited edition sets I collected them all. It will be a shame when they run out as they are not around anymore. I keep hoping that Winsor & Newton will bring them back.

I like to use both Copic and Promarkers. Even though I have the full range of colours in both brands, there are some shades of colours in one brand that the other doesn't have. I find that when I do use both, they blend together really well. 

I love this little card, it's so bright and cheery. It's perfect to send to someone in these lonely times just to let them know that you are thinking about them.

I don't know what it is about Paper Smooches stamps, the images always bring a smile to my face. They are also a dream to colour in.

Thank you so much for popping by and I'll be back soon with another card. Take care and stay safe!

Fishy Wishes

Hello blog friends!

I do hope that the weather where you are is as bright and sunny as it is here. It's so lovely to see all the plants and trees bursting open with colour.

Talking of colour, I have a fab colourful card with a fishy theme to show you. One of my favourite stamp sets is the That Bites by Avery Elle. I just find the faces of the fish so comical and the images lend themselves to male cards very well.

What you need...

Card stock: aqua, white

Stamps: That Bites - Avery Elle; Birthday Buddies - Paper Smooches

Copic: C1 Cool Grey 1, RV06 Cerise, YG13 Chartreuse, YR16 Apricot

Promarker: Purple

Ink pad: Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Gel pens: Signo White UM-153 - Uni-ball, Glaze Clear #800 - Sakura

Dies: circle 8.5cm

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Stamp the fish over white card with black ink and colour in. Stamp the angler fish, colour in and cut out. Colour over the eyes with the clear glaze pen.

2 Die cut a circle in the centre of aqua card 12cm square.

3 Trim the fish panel to 10.5cm square and mat centrally onto a white blank 12.5cm square.

4 Mat the aqua panel onto the blank with foam tape.

5 Mount the angler fish at the lower left of the circle.

6 Stamp the sentiment in the top right and draw some bubbles with the white gel pen.

There you have it!  A bright, colourful card suitable for anyone of any age. 

I did use this stamp set in a previous post where I masked off the fish and inked the background. This made an effective, yet simple card. Here is the link to that post https://cosmicstrawberry-colette.blogspot.com/2018/04/that-bites.html

Thank you for dropping by, I hope you all have a lovely Easter! 

Much Appreciated

Hello blog friends!

I hope you are all well. I'd like to say a warm welcome to my new followers!

I thought things were going to calm down magazine wise after the extra Christmas and Winter Specials but I'm busier than ever. Not that I mind it keeps me out of trouble, the only thing is I don't get as much time to create for me. Saying that I've managed to get in a cute thank you card for a friend.

I love birds (which is why I have chickens running around the garden) and I love cards which feature birds, especially comical ones, hence this card...

What you need...

Card stock: white

Stamps: Many Thanks - Paper Smooches; Bird Brain - Tha Alley Way Stamps

Patterned paper: Blessed 6.5" Paper Pad - Kaisercraft

Alcohol markers: Honeycomb, Budding Rose*, Rose Pink, Trick or Treat* - Promarkers; Jasper BG57 - Copic Sketch

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

*Limited edition colours

What you do...

1 Stamp four birds on top of each other vertically and colour in. Trim the panel to 3.5cm x 15cm and attach centrally down a top fold A6 blank.

2 Attach two coordinating papers at either side of the stamped panel. Trim away the excess paper and card.

3 Stamp the sentiment onto white card, trim and attached across the bottom of the blank.

I actually extended the length of the legs of the bottom bird with a fine liner. I based this card on the sketch by Retrosketches. Sadly the blog hasn't been updated since December 2016, but you can still access all the sketches. Click here to take you to the sketch I used (RS#184) and many, many more.

Sadly another stamp company that is no longer in business is The Alley Way Stamps. You can use any birdie stamp set that you have in your stash for this project. The one used in the Retrosketch is one bird with very long legs!

I hope you like my fun little make and thank you so much for stopping by. TTFN!

Mr & Mrs

Hi there chums!

My gorgeous and beautiful Zumba instructor Sally got married to Jib (nickname - everyone calls him Jib) yesterday. As I'm not into overdone or mushy cards I wanted to illustrate one for them.

I came up with a simple, yet cute chapel that only used three colours, pale pink, pale green and pale grey.

What you need...

Card stock: white 

Digi stamp: chapel (I used my own)

Promarkers: Pink Carnation, Meadow Green, Ice Grey 1

Gems: clear

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Print the chapel onto white digital card.

2 Colour in the stained glass windows, the door and the trees with the pink and green. Use the grey to colour in the windowsills and add shadows.

3 Hand cut the image out following the line of the border and stick to a 10.5cm x 14.5cm blank. Add some gems to decorate.

And there you have it! I was really pleased with the way this turned out. It's quirky and simple. 

If you would like a free copy of this illustration drop me a line using the 'Contact Me' page and I can email it to you - this will be for a limited time only. The illustration is in PNG format.

Thank you for popping by, see you soon x

Crab Thanks

Hello lovelies!

I want to share with you today a simple little thank you card adorned with a cute crab.

What you need...

Card: white digital

Stamps: Chubby Chum Pals - Paper Smooches; Sketchy Thoughts - Winnie & Walter

Ink pads: Chateau Gray #83 - Versacolor; Onyx Black - Versafine

Copic: R05 Salmon Red, R27 Cadmium Red

Promarker: Ice Grey 1, blender

Punch: corner rounder

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Cover a 10.5cm x 14.5cm top fold blank with white digital card and round off the bottom two corners.

2 Stamp the crab in Onyx Black near the lower left corner and the speech bubble in Chateau Gray near the top right corner.

3 Colour the legs and the top of the crab in Cadmium Red, stipple with the blender pen to add texture. Shade in the bottom of the crab in Salmon Red. Add some shadow around the eyeballs, mouth and underneath the crab with Ice Grey 1.

5 Stamp the sentiment with Onyx Black over the speech bubble.

I adore this cute little fella. Stippling an area with the blender pen gives the look of a 'rough' surface because the blender lifts out the colour. This is perfect for the texture of a crab shell.

The crab is part of a fab set from Paper Smooches which also includes a bear, bird and moose with some little accessories and words.

Hope you like this little card and thanks so much for popping by. See you soon!

Magnificent Magnolia

Hi there lovely people!

I'm back with an elegant card featuring a beautiful magnolia. Our tree in the garden is clinging onto the last few flowers, it's a shame the flowers don't last longer. I'm still enjoying going through my craft stash and using stamps that I haven't used yet or haven't used in a long time.

This magnolia stamp I've had for a while, I think I grabbed it in a sale online.

What you need...

Stamps: Outline Magnolia (CG193) - Hero Arts; Sentiments Stamp (#10105761) - Bo Bunny

Card stock: white, pale pink

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Copic: Begonia Pink (RV14), Macadamia Nut (YR30)

Promarker: Pale Pink

Gems: clear

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Cover a 12.5cm square blank with a 12cm square of pale pink card.

2 Stamp the magnolia onto white card and cover with the embossing powder, heat to melt.

3 Shade in the magnolia.

4 Cut out the magnolia and stick to the lower right of the blank, overlapping the bottom and right edges. Trim away the excess.

5 Stamp the sentiment in the top left corner. Add a few gems to finish.

I know that the magnolia stamp is no longer available, but this card would look lovely with any large outline flower stamp. I've got a few of these floral outline stamps from Hero Arts in various sizes. They make a beautiful simple and elegant card that is quick to make.

I'm going to say ta ta for now, thank you for stopping by!

Spiffingly Good Easter

Hello there!

I'm back with the second card I did for Easter. Again this is a remake of a card I did a couple of years ago. 

In my last post, I changed the colour scheme of the original card but kept the same layout. With this one I have done the card exactly the same as the original because I just love the colours.

What you need...

Stamps: Claudine Hellmuth Doodles, Claudine Hellmuth Nature - Ranger; Cheree the Chicken - The Rubber Stamp Gallery

Embossing folder: Spots & Dots - Cuttlebug

Card stock: white, lime

Promarkers

Ink pads: Key Lime - VersaMagic; Onyx Black - Versafine

Buttons: orange, pink, yellow

Crochet cotton: white

Adhesives

I have the original card with full instructions here. For the sentiment banner, I created the sentiment on the computer, printed it out and then trimmed into a fish tail banner shape. I recommend printing a full sheet of sentiments, so that you have them to hand for future.

I am loving these bright zingy colours for Easter. This card could also be adapted for a birthday and you could use more muted colours for a male card.

I'm going to sign off now. Thank you for popping by and I'll be back soon with the birthday card I did for my husband Simon.

Easter Eggs

Happy Easter all!

I hope you are having a wonderful time and not getting too overstuffed on chocolate! It has been a very wet Easter here in Norfolk and I suspect much of the UK, at least the snow kept away.

I have been going through some old posts/photos of past makes and decided to revamp/redo some of them. I decided to redo two Easter cards, this being the first one. I did exactly the same layout with stamps but changed the colour scheme.

What you need...

Stamps: Picoti Picota - Artemio; Doodles by Claudine Hellmuth - Ranger

Alcohol markers: Promarkers - Cool Aqua, Ice Grey 1, Lime Green, Magenta, Mandarin

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Washi tape: magenta/white dotty

Baker's twine - orange

Easter rub-on sentiment

Adhesives

You can find the original post here with instructions on how to create this little card. Of course you don't have to use the exact same stamps, any chick themed stamps could work. I love the bright zingy colours for Easter, it makes a nice change from the usual pastel shades.

My chicken girlies lay the most lovely pinkish buff or ivory eggs, it would be so much fun if the laid the bright colours on the card. I wouldn't want to crack them open.

Well I'm going to sign off now, enjoy the rest of your Easter and I'll be back soon with the next Easter card. Thanks for stopping by! x 

Exploding Easter Box Card - PaperCrafter Issue 119

Hello again my lovelies!

The new issue of PaperCrafter is out today and I have a couple of projects to share with you. The one I want to show you today is my Easter chick exploding box card. All my digi stamps and templates to create this cute card are available to download for free from PaperCrafter.

Everything you need to create this cute card along with step by step instructions can be found here. You can download the templates here along with lots of other templates, papers and images. You will need to register, but it is free, quick and easy to do.

The beauty of this card is that it will fold flat and fit in an A5 envelope.

I also have an adorable cat shaped card in this issue, so I will be back soon with images and details of that card.

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget to check out the PaperCrafter website for oodles of inspiration and ideas!

Doodle Flowers

Hello peeps!

Dark nights are coming and It's the perfect time to get out your colouring pencils/markers and do a bit of colour therapy. I remembered that I illustrated a cute little flower panel for the Jan 2017 issue of Crafts Beautiful.

Here is the sample card that I did...

What you need...

Free Doodle Flowers download

Colouring mediums

Card stock

I also designed the image with just the outlines of the flowers and border so that you can doodle in your own. You can get these free from the Crafts Beautiful website, click here to take you to the download page. You need to register to be able to download any of the templates or free papers, but it is free, quick and easy.

You don't have to make a card with the doodle, print it off several times and colour it in different colour schemes.

I'm going to head off now and make a few Christmas cards. 

Thanks for popping by! TTFN!