Paperless Post

Hello blog friends!

My post today is something a little bit different from my usual fare. 

I was approached by the Community Manager of Anagram Interactive to try products from a company called Paperless Post who specialise in online greetings. They offer designs from well known designers and life style companies such as Kate Spade New York, Oscar de la Renta and Rifle Paper Co.

I know my blog posts are usually about hand made cards but we all experience a time when we either forget someone's birthday or simply don't have the time to sit down and create. 

This is where Paperless Post comes in. You can send anything from greetings cards to flyers all of which are fully customisable. You also have the options of adding and envelope, with or without a liner, plus you can also send reply cards. The site is easy to navigate, there are hundreds of designs and combinations to choose from. 

After registering with Paperless Post you purchase 'coins' - in the UK you can buy 25 coins for £8.00 up to 1000 coins for £90.00. 

I decided to send a card to a friend just to say hello.

I chose a cute nature design called Hello Friend (Christian Robinson) by Red Cap Cards. This cost 2 coins.

After I selected my chosen card, I clicked on the customise button which tool me to the next stage. This is where I selected a backdrop. I chose Coldpress - Charterhouse a simple green backdrop to compliment the colours on the card  - 1 coin.

I then edited the text. There are several fonts to choose from and you can alter the size, format and colour. I selected Bodoni Black.

The next stage is choosing my envelope and liner. I selected an envelope in Burnt Caramel and the liner in Airy Dots - Charterhouse - envelope 1 coin - liner 1 coin.

The stamp and postmark stage is next. A free stamp is provided or you can choose a different one. I selected the Paperless Post Black Stamp and the Paperless Post Watermark. Stamp 1 coin - watermark free.

I then changed the design of the reply card. I selected a torn edged effect Papier D'armenie - 1 coin.

The last thing to do was to add the recipient and send. It is as simple as that. The total cost of the card was 7 coins. I also created a BBQ invite, which again was simple to create.

All along the way they keep you up to date on how many coins you have spent for each card. After completion of your card the total amount of coins spent will be per card sent to each recipient. My BBQ card cost 7 coins, if I had sent the invite to 5 people it would cost me a total of 35. You can add as many recipients as you like.

Mr friends who received the BBQ have already responded using the reply card.

I will definitely be using Paperless Post in the future, it will be especially handy to send cards at the last minute or for those far away in another country where you can't always guarantee that they will get a postal card. Plus it also makes sending a personal email much nicer.

The hardest thing I found about the site was which design and colour scheme to choose. Your coins will not expire, so you don't have a time limit on creating and sending your greetings.

Please pop in and check out PaperlessPost by clicking on this link https://www.paperlesspost.com. You won't be disappointed. 

Thanks a Latte

Hello blog friends!

It has been some time since I last posted. We've been on holiday, had a few classic car rallies and I've been busy with magazine work. I've been doing Christmas stuff since May and the last half of the year is always extra busy as we have a couple of extra issues to get out, so that means tighter deadlines.

I made a fun little card for some dear friends, so this is what I want to show you today.

What you need...

Cardstock: Kraft, white

Stamps: Cool Beans ST-17-43 - Avery Elle; Breakfast Club - The Alley Way Stamps; Shadows - Paper Smooches

Dies: Cool Beans Ellements D1743 - Avery Elle, 3 Nested Squares Small 18009 - Gina K; Stitched - Paper Smooches

Ink pads: Smokey Gray, Vintage Sepia - Versafine; Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Copics: E23 Hazelnut, E25 Caribe Cocoa, E27 Milk Chocolate, E29 Burnt Umber, B0000 Pale Celestine, B000 Porcelain Blue, R24 Prawn, R27 Cadmium Red, R29 Lipstick Red

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Stamp the cup, labek, large heart, a double and a single coffee bean in black ink onto white card and colour in.

2 Die cut the stamped images.

3 Die cut the largest of the stitched squares in white card. Stamp a shadow in Smokey Gray at the lower right corner and a coffee stain at the lower left and upper right in Vintage Sepia. Stamp the sentiment in black in the upper left corner.

4 Assemble the coffee cup and fix to the lower right over the shadow, place the coffee beans around the base. 

5 Die cut two stitched lines approximately 1cm and 2cm up from the bottom of an 11cm x 13cm top fold Kraft blank. Fix the coffee panel above.

6 Finish with two coffee stains at the lower right corner.

And there you have it, a perfect card for coffee lovers. Sadly The Alley Way Stamps is no longer in business, so this stamp set is no longer available. You could draw in some coffee stains or dip the base of a small glass or espresso cup into brown ink and 'stamp' the stains.

John & Peter were thrilled with the card as I was thrilled with the handmade chocolates they got me for my birthday.

Well, that's me for now. I will try and post again soon, thanks for stopping by! 

Mwaahaahahaaa!

Hello blog friends!

I hope you are all well! I have a great ghoulish card to share with you today. It's very clean, simple and cute. Plus it's perfect to send to a male recipient.

What you need...

Stamps: Ghoulfriends, Shadows - Paper Smooches

Ink pad: Extreme Black - My Favorite Things; Smokey Gray - Versafine

Cardstock: white, shades of lime green

Gems: black

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Stamp a ghoul in the bottom right corner of a 10.5cm x 14.5cm white blank in black ink and stamp the shadow in Smokey Gray ink. 

2 Stamp another ghoul at the left about half way up the blank and another at the top right.

3 Add a 2cm deep strip of lime card across the middle ghoul so half of him is peeking over the top.

4 Add a 3cm deep strip of paler lime card across the top ghoul just his eyes are peeping over.

5 Stamp the sentiment above the lower ghoul and add gems to each of the eyes. Place a few gems on the green strips.

And there you have it. simple, quick and easy. Ghouls and monster aren't just for Halloween.

Thank you for stopping by and I'll be back soon with another cute make. TTFN!

You're So Sweet - Crafts Beautiful May 2019

Hello blog friends!

It's been a while since I shared with you one of my projects from Crafts Beautiful. This month (May 2019 issue) my masterclass shows you how to do resist stamping using white embossing powder and some fruity, zesty inks along with a cute stamp set featuring citrus fruits.

This month's issue comes with an exclusive free gift from docrafts which contains layering stamps, papers, card blanks and die-cut sheets. On the Crafts Beautiful website there are some projects that I did using the free gift.

This issue is jam packed with some beautiful projects and there are some great makes from my favourite talented designers Tracey Daykin-Jones, Keren Baker and Cathie Shuttleworth.

Of course there are lots of other crafts featured such as sewing, cross stitch and brush lettering. There is also the usual features, hints, tips and how to's.

There are lots more to be found on the Crafts Beautiful website, click here to take you to the home page. If you wish to download any of the templates or free papers you will need to sign up, but it is free.

I hope you like my makes and thank you so much for popping by. Until next time!

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! 

Monster Hugs

Hello blog friends!

Happy Saturday to you all. It is a bright, sunny Spring morning here.

I would like to show you a card I made for a male friend. I purchased a cute monster themed set of stamps and couldn't wait to use them.

What you need...

Card stock: white

Stamps: More Monsters (CS-222) - My Favorite Things

Ink pads: Extreme Black - My Favorite Things; Mermaid, Celery, Fizz - Avery Elle

Patterned paper: Daily Details 12" x 12" (Spooktacular Collection) - Bella Blvd

Dies: circles

Flat back pearls: black

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Stamp the monsters onto white card in the coloured inks, then stamp the faces onto the monsters in black ink.

2 Cut a strip of spotty paper 6.5cm x 10.5cm and die cut three circles across it. Back each circle with a monster.

3 Fix the paper strip to a white landscape blank, leaving enough space at the bottom for the sentiment.

4 Stamp the sentiment and some stars in the lower right corner and add black pearls to each of the eyes.

This stamp set is so cute, each monster has his own unique face that you can over stamp. The faces would look good stamped onto pumpkin motifs. There is also a die set available to go with the stamps.

I think monster cards are fun to give to adult males rather than the generic car, sport and golf cards. Men are all big kids at heart. I've done a monster card for my husband's birthday, so I'll share that with you soon.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you like my little monster card. TTFN!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Hello blog friends!

Happy St Patrick's Day to you all! I sketched, inked and coloured an Irish themed illustration for my dear friends June & Stephen. Stephen is Irish and I send him a card every year - it's tradition.

I wanted to incorporate the wonderful & magic things we associate with Ireland. I finally decided on doing a signpost directing you to things such as the 'End of the Rainbow', 'Leprechauns' and not let us forget the wonderful 'Guinness'. I kept the colours subtle and fresh.

Items I used...

Own illustration

Card stock; white digital

Copic markers: Pale Celestine B0000, Pale Porcelain Blue B000, Mignonette YG11, Chartreuse YG13, Lettuce Green YG09, Cool Greys C-0, C-1, C-2

Gems: clear

Adhesives

What I did...

After sketching out a rough illustration, I then re-did it in pencil. I then scanned it and re-drew it digitally following my original sketch in Photoshop. I added the sentiment at the bottom using a Photoshop font (FF Providence Sans Pro).

I printed it out onto digital cards stock. If you are using alcohol markers, a good tip here is to heat set the image with a heat gun. This helps to stop the ink smudging, though it is always best to test first as some card stock doesn't hold ink well for colouring with alcohol markers.

After colouring, I trimmed the illustration to 10cm x 14cm and matted it onto a white side fold 10.5cm x 14.5cm blank. I finished with three little gems in the top right corner to add that little bit of magic.

I received a text from June & Stephen to say they loved it. You are more than welcome my lovelies x

Hope you like this little make, I think it turned out quite cute.

On another note this blog post has taken me about four attempts as we now have a new 6 month old black kitten adopted from the RSPCA. She loves the laptop! I know it's not craft related but here is a sneaky pic....

I have to temporarily cover the keyboard as she puts me in Flight Mode, Caps Lock, enters gobbledeegook passwords and shuts me down!

She is adorable, but she is completely deaf, so it is hard to tell her no sometimes. If you use hand signals she thinks it's time to play. She has settled really well and we love her to bits. I missed having a cat so much after Bazoo died last November. We have always had black cats and it's great to have one around again.

Anyway, thank you for popping by, I have cute monster card for you next time. TTFN!

Love Kraft

Hello blog friends!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. It is very spring like today. Warm, sunny, buds are out, spring flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. It would be fabulous if it could stay like this, but there is always time for the weather to turn cold and wintry again.

As Valentine's Day has recently passed I thought I would share with you the 'Love' card I created. I'm a firm believer that you don't need one over commercialised day to tell someone you love them. Send them a card anytime!

I decided to keep this non traditional by using cream and Kraft colours.

What you need...

Card stock: Kraft, ivory

Embossing folder: D'Vine Swirls - Cuttlebug

Stamps: Falling For You - Paper Smooches

Ribbon: Bare Basics Jute Ribbon - Papermania

Twine: cream

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Decorative pins: ivory oval, heart

Pearls: ivory

Flower: Bare Basics Burlap Flowers - Papermania

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Hand cut a large heart from Kraft card and emboss. Mat onto ivory card and trim again.

2 Wrap and tie cream twine around the base of the heart, secure in place and attach to a 10.5cm x 14.5cm Kraft blank.

3 Attach a jute ribbon bow over the ivory twine bow, add a flower and two decorative pins. 

4 Stamp the sentiment in the top left corner and add pearls to the heart.

To give it a more shabby feel, I didn't cut the heart or its mat too precisely and I also frayed the ends of the jute ribbon.

This is quite a bulky card, so for posting you could create a matching box or make paper flower for a flatter look.

Well that's my little make for this time. Thank you for popping by and I'll see you soon!

Spring Makes - Crafts Beautiful February Issue 2019

Hello blog friends!

As some of you may know I design every month for Crafts Beautiful and PaperCrafter magazines as well as doing makes for the marketing and promotions department.

In the current issue of Crafts Beautiful (Feb 2019) there is a gorgeous free stamp set worth £9.99. The stamp set is huge and comes mounted on an A4 sheet. The theme is spring animals and there are some adorable images.

Myself and two other designers have come up with lots of ideas in the magazine on how to use your stamps. There are some bonus makes on the CB website, which I'd like to show you today.

Here are my three bonus makes...

Ducks in a row

Piggy

Shimmering Snowdrops

The full instructions for these makes and other bonus makes can be found on the CB website. Click here to take you to the page. You will need to register, but it is quick, easy and free and means you have access to templates, downloads and free papers. 

Don't forget that Crafts Beautiful is packed with all different crafts, hints, tips and techniques and you get a free gift every month. It's a lovely magazine and I really enjoy designing and illustrating for them.

I'll back soon with a Kraft inspired 'Love' card and a cute and fun monster birthday card.

Thanks for popping by!

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!