Vintage Wedding Card

Hello lovely peeps,

I've been busy creating a very special wedding card for a friend. She commissioned it asking for something vintage and that's just my thing. I recently purchased the Roll up Flower die by Sara Davies, from her English Country Garden collection. As soon as I saw it on Hochanda, I knew I had to have it, it would be perfect for so many projects as well as this wedding card.  I love it and after making this my mind has gone in to overdrive with ideas for more projects! There is no hope for me..lol

I've also used the Handwritten Script stamp from the same range by Sara. It was stamped using Memento Rich Cocoa as it was more suitable for the theme and the chosen colours. The foliage was created with Tonic Regal Fern, Sheena's Ivy die and the Briar rose die and I decided it would be nice to hang a key and heart lock from the vines. These were cut out with gold pearlized card and extra shimmer was added with gold gilding wax, this was also rubbed across the die cut lace edge. Butterflies were carefully cut out to make use of the design on the paper, so it seemed to be shaped to them. (It's all about the small details.) The paper is from my Trimcraft winnings, from the other week, I thought it was perfect for this project, as is the pearl brad in the middle of the bow. After building all the layers, as a finishing touch, I used Platinum Stickles on the edges of the wedding sentiments. 

I've really enjoyed making this card and I hope the happy couple love it and I wish them all the very best for a wonderful day and new life together. 

What I used:

From Crafter's Companion

Sara Davies Handwritten Script Stamp from English Country Garden Collection

Roll up flower

Heart dies (from the Gemini machine)

Ivy die by Sheena Douglass

Briar Rose Die by Sheena Douglass

Trimcraft First Edition Mulberry kisses paper pad.

Wedding sentiments from Dovecraft (Trimcraft)

Dovecraft butterfly die

Pearl brads.

Heart lock - X-cut dies

Key - Vintasia die

Lace edge - Joanna Sheen.

Gold Gilding Wax

Pearls and gems

Platinum Stickles.

Adele

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The Language of Flowers cards with Stampendous

Hello everyone,

I hope you are well and have been making the most of the sunshine. It's been a busy week making lots of lovely things, which I can show you in the future. :)

Today, I thought I would share with you some cards I previously taught as a class. I've always loved the Language of Flowers and it inspired me whilst designing these cards.

They were created using Stampendous stamps, Butterfly charms and Frantage flowers, a nice vintage selection. I love Violets, there are some growing in a pot outside. They symbolise love and affection so are a lovely flower to send to someone to let them know how much you care.  We used alcohol pens to colour the blooms and the butterflies were painted with Distress Inks used as watercolour. A aged background paper was also created with Tea Dye Distess Ink and alcohol pens. You can see how this is done on a previous post here. It's a great way to give an aged or burnt look to paper.

http://craftitreasures.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/beautiful-sunflowers-card-tutorial-with.html

The butterflies were randomly stamped on the background and the ribbon wrapped around the middle before adding the layers. I chose a pale lilac vintage script paper to compliment the design as it seemed to fit in well with the theme.

For the second card I wanted to create something reminiscent of Victorian wallpaper and their love of nature. Again, I created an aged background and randomly stamped the flowers and butterflies. They were painted with Distress Inks. The rosette was cut out and layered using Tonic dies, as well as the strip, which a ribbon was threaded through. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these projects. :)  These are what I used to create them. 

Stampendous Perfectly Clear Butterfly Charms and  Frantage Flowers.

Tonic Thinking of you die set 191e

Back with more projects soon.

T.T.F.N

Adele

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A Fairy Merry Christmas with Lavinia Stamps and exciting Sheena news!

Hello crafty peeps!

I hope you are all well. I am still feeling the Christmas vibe so I thought I would share this Fairy card I made last year. I taught this as a class alongside the vintage blue angel Christmas card I posted about previously.

I love Lavinia stamps and this is not really a Christmas stamp but it lent itself to that very well. It's called Fairy House.

The image was stamped on to a panel of white card and the edges were then roughed up with a distressing tool. The sky was created with Colour Cloud ink, not too heavy on colour as I wanted just a hint so it would look like a snow filled sky. The houses were coloured with alcohol pens, a gold pen and red Cosmic Shimmer iridescent paint. Green spots were added by Liquid Pearls. I extended the line underneath the mushrooms with a black liner pen and then applied silver Inca Gold to this section and around the edge of the whole panel. The same way you would use Gilding Wax. This added shine and also made it look like a blizzard was moving in, all very Chrismassy!

Twine was wrapped around the bottom part and attached behind. Tiny little bells, available from Marianne Designs, were added, I love these!  Just like little fairy bells!

It was then mounted on the red glitter card and on to the spotty background,  The snowflake die was from a Sue Wilson collection and the Lavinia sentiment went nicely in the bottom corner. For the finishing touches I then glittered the ground and applied spots of Stickles to suggest snow falling. We all had fun making this card. :)

In other news....

Exciting things are afoot in the world of Sheena! A brilliant idea has been hatched and is now starting to take form. In the following months the Sheena teamies will be blogging about fabulous Sheena projects! We will be offering you inspiration, showing you how you can combine the collections together. They can mix and match so easily (it's as if it was all planned isn't it? ;) )  So amazing things are coming up folks, watch this space!  Every Monday and Thursday a team member will be sharing a project, prepare yourself for many wonderful things! It's very exciting!

Donna has started us off with this gorgeous card. I absolutely love this and it is a perfect example of how all the stamps can work so well together.  The possibilities are endless!

You can see more about this project here...

http://donnaslittlecraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/the-start-of-something-new.html

So many things to plan for now... so anything could happen! You have been warned ..lol.

Adele

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Honoured to be Joining Team Sheena

Hello peeps,

As you may know a few weeks ago Sheena Douglass put a call out for new members to join her amazing team. I've loved Sheena and everything she does for a long time now. It was such a great opportunity, so I felt I had to enter. There were so many wonderful entries and it was fantastic to see what all the talented ladies came up with. Sometimes you have a dream and never believe it may become a reality and in all honesty, it had been a secret wish for me to be able to make things for Sheena and now it has come true!

I am so incredibly honoured to be invited to join her fantastic team, especially when all the creations were so beautiful and clever. To be chosen in the shortlist was exciting and then to go on to be picked as part of her new team members is beyond anything I can put in to words easily.  I have been completely overwhelmed by all the lovely comments and words of support I have received. It really means so very much to me.

This is the canvas I entered for round two of the call out and I thought I would share it with you. I created it using The Briar rose dies and stamps, the pansy stamp and a butterfly stamp. The background was sponged with blue and silver paint to add texture. This was inspired by my hanging baskets and the strange weather we have been experiencing lately, sunshine and showers. I used Glossy Accents to make raindrops on some of the petals and leaves and they were coloured using AquaBlend pencils.

After having an amazing few weeks, which started by winning a competition and has ended with becoming a design team member, I have felt like I am in a bubble (at least for the first few days), I wanted to ask someone to pinch me, but no it is real, I think my brain has processed it now..lol.. although it took a while.. Family and friends have told me that I should buy a lottery ticket but I do feel like I have already won that to some degree (although maybe I should! I need more money for crafty supplies! lol... A crafter's shopping list never ends. ;) )

So a huge thank you to Sheena and Donna for inviting me to join the rest of the team. I am so looking forward to working with these fabulous creative ladies and producing work with all the wonderful future stamp and die collections. I can't wait to see what comes next but I know it will be marvellous, anything by Sheena always is. :)

Adele
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Feeling the Festive Spirit with Christmas Angels

Hello crafty folks,

I'm still feeling the Christmas Spirit as I am watching Sheena Douglass on Hocanda. I absolutely love this new collection and it is right up my street! Vintage and Victorian, what's not to love? They will fit in so well with things I already have in my craft stash.  I soooo need these stamps, (*adds them to an ever growing shopping list*) I have so many ideas for them already and must get my mitts on them soon!... so whilst my brain goes into creativity overload  ;) I will share these Christmas Cards with you (and then I can share this years further down the line.)

These are two of my favourite Christmas projects.

This first card is one I actually taught as a class last year. I love teaching, it's wonderful to spend time with other crafty people who love to create too. It's a real pleasure to show them new things they may not have tried before. With each class I taught them a new technique or introduced another product, this meant that they could build on their skills each time, and incorporate them into their own projects at home.  This class was the Card of bling!  It was Christmas after all.  :)

I wanted to show my lovely ladies not to be afraid to experiment with different textures and embossing powders. They also learnt how to make their own papers with spray inks, it's great fun. It was kept to a limited colour palette, just various shades, to show this can be effective in itself. For this card we used Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, gold sparkle embossing powder, frantage powder from Stampendous and Platinum stickles.  I love this vintage angel stamp set (also from Stampendous) and will be making more things with this in the future. She was painted with Cosmic Shimmer iridescent paints and several gold pen highlights. The snowflake die was from Sue Wilson and I added tiny bells from Marianne Designs. The snowflake panel was created using an embossing folder from Crafter's Companion.  We then rubbed silver Inca Gold onto this. This card was full on glamour and was sure to catch the eye of someone where ever you placed it. It's was like the glitter followed you round the room! ;)

This second one was made for a very special friend and I was thinking tradition vintage Christmas when I created this. Again, I've got a vintage angel image (provided by Kanban). Warm tones were chosen for this one and I wanted all the usual foliage you see during the festive season. I love these tiny poinsettia's from Spellbinders and the trellis is also from them. Luckily, I came across some small wooden snowflakes, silver and gold in a box at Paperchase.  Oooh, lovely, sold! They finished this off a treat and complimented the Kaisercraft background paper. The musical embossing powder was from Crafter's Companion again.

It's been a wonderful week. My prizes arrived from Trimcraft. I say prizes as I wasn't expecting so much! What a lovely surprise! (will be making things with them in the future). I've also been able to help several people with crafting dilemmas, which I always enjoy and it's natural for me to want to help people however I can. So from the lady making things for her wedding, the young man wanting to create something for his girlfriend and to the lady who is going to an orphanage abroad and wanted to take some craft things to make with the children (What a lovely thing to do) I was more than happy to solve any problems. 

And then I saw this picture and it is something I like to live by. I thought it was so lovely I would share it with you. In life you cannot help everyone but you can try your best to help those you meet, I think it's what makes the world go round.  Sprinkle random acts of kindness where ever you go, then we can make it feel like Christmas all year round!

Adele

x

Christmas Snowflake decorations

Hello lovely peeps,

I am going to mention a word now (don't run away).... Christmas!  Yes, I know it's only the start of July but the craft channels have officially dived into the Festive Spirit, so I guess I am allowed now.. ;)

As fellow crafter's will know (and anyone who works in retail) Christmas always begins early for us. There is always lots to make and prepare for. In the bid not to have a November panic this year, where I suddenly make lots of cards but never seem to have enough, I decided I'd start to make this years in the lull between the special day and New Year.  If I remember correctly, I think I made about twelve and then squirrelled them away in a box with the intention to add to them throughout the year. As with some good intentions (and most New Year's resolutions), this plan seemed to evaporate and I got distracted with other projects.  (Never enough hours in a day and all that!)

The thoughts of last years manic card making are returning to me now as I see all the lovely stamps and dies appearing on the TV and it's reminding me, start your cards soon!!  And as some of my friends have said, receiving a card from me is an event in itself, so I can't disappoint them can I?  It would make me a bad friend! lol.  I am especially looking forward to seeing the Christmas Stamps by Sheena.

So...anyhew... I will be sharing cards made in the future but for now I thought I would share with you some tree decorations I made last year.  I once had a beautiful selection of glass snowflakes, I say had because the tree suddenly fell over and smashed them. I was upset as I'd had them a long time, was fond of them, and they had been made by a local crafts person I knew. I love local crafts, it's great to support artists and you know the history of what you have bought and it makes them more special.

A few weeks before I had purchased some wooden snowflakes by docrafts and intended to decorate them at some point. In the end I made them sooner that anticipated. I think I paid £2.50 for the box of them which I thought was a bargain, especially for ten.

The edges were coloured with a silver pen and Wow embossing powders were used, white powder puff and silver sparkle, alongside, Papermania's silver and holographic. They were applied to both sides. Gems and pearls were then added and some were finished with Cosmic Shimmer Polar White Twinkles.

I really enjoyed making these and they looked lovely on my little tree (and had the added benefit of not being smashable.) I think making Christmas decorations brings back fond memories as we have all made them as children and watched them go up on the tree each year.  I'm looking forward to putting the tree up this season, I love all the pretty trimmings and the twinkling lights and seeing all the magical trees, glimmering in the big windows of the local Victorian houses, it always fills me with a warm glow. I know it's only July... but bring on the bling!! That's what I say! 

Adele

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Pretty Wedding card

Hello everyone,

Thought I would share with you a wedding card I made for a special couple a few months ago. Sadly I could not make their special day but I wanted them to have a very special card to mark the occasion.

Again, I turned to my Spellbinders Cascading die frame, combining it with Sara Davies heart dies, as well as other dies and a Sheena Douglass butterfly stamp. I wanted to make something really pretty and a bit vintage for them. Butterflies are always good on a wedding card I think, as they symbolise transformation and what is more beautiful than two people finding love and it changing their lives in a wonderful way. (I'm an old romantic really, can you tell?)

Pastel pinks and smokey blues were chosen with a hint of copper, provided by embossing powder. This background paper is really pretty, I came across it quite by luck and bought a few sheets, it's a delicate print that worked well for this project. I was inspired by a quote I came across (at the time) which said something about finding someone who knows the song in your heart.. (but I can't remember it now, or can find it again, so I do apologise) Anyhew... that's why I thought it would be nice to cut out the hearts in musical card and it fitted in well with the vintage theme.  There are other symbols in here.. can you spot them and guess the reason why?

It's lovely to make something extra special for someone that you know, it's my favourite part of crafting. You are not just giving them a card, you are also giving them a piece of your heart as it contains all the love you have for them and shows them how much you care...

Adele

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Winner of the Trimcraft card of the month June 2016

Hello fellow crafters,

Two posts in one day? Has she gone bonkers I here you cry? No, not fully, at least,  I'm just incredibly excited and had to tell you. I've just found out that I have been chosen as Trimcraft's Card of the Month.

The brief was to make a card purely of paper with no embellishments!  That was a test as I do love an embellishment!  I also like a challenge though, so I thought I would give it a go, to see what I could achieve. As with all competitions there are so many lovely entries, so to be chosen is a real honour. I still can't believe it.

Ooohh. I feel like a giddy kipper now!  I always enjoy making cards but it's nice when people appreciate your work.  It really means a lot to me.

This is my winning card made with Dovecraft Floral Muse papers and Dovecraft dies.  I made the roses myself from scratch and decided to create this as an easel card, tearing the paper so you could see through as if into another world. The greenery was provided by Tonic Regal Fern and a Die-namics Fancy Flourish.

I do love Dovecraft papers and dies. Many of them are vintage, so right up my street and their new range of dies are such a great price! I told Sheila about them as she succumbed to the crafting bug and got a die machine! No going back now... it's all my fault...lol..

Note to self... Must stop smiling face will hurt...

Going to make a cuppa and try to calm down from all the excitement.

Adele

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Pretty Floral Frame card with Crafter's Companion

Hello lovely peeps,

Today I thought I would share with you a card I made with Crafter's Companion dies and stamps.

An 8" card was trimmed to 7.5", so it would allow more room in an envelope after layering up.
I took a fancy corner die and attached the different elements to create a frame. The joints were hidden by a flower or a flourish, so no one would know if you did not tell them. The flowers were cut out in pink pearlized card, the tag die was stamped with a Morgan Fitzsimons stamp (part of the fairy collection.)

A purple square panel was created with Distress Inks as a base for the frame. I then began to add the floral spray. I chose an ornate rich purple paper for the background, layered upon a gold shimming paper. I was thinking of the rich colours and designs you might see at Downton Abbey when I made this. Purple and gold always look so luxurious together.

It was finished by adding gems to the centre of the flowers and pearls to the tag.

I really enjoyed making this card and hope you like it too. :)

Adele

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