A New Baby Boy!

Ok, so it's not hard to guess the theme here! There seems to be a trend for lots of babies where I work at the moment...
Anyway, I wanted to make something for my friend, so here was the prefect excuse to make a bag charm again! I ordered some baby charms and had fun choosing blue and clear beads to make the charm.





 The card has been made using a Lili of the Valley image coloured with Promarkers as well as one of their funky sentiments. The elements were layered onto Spellbinders Circles Large and Scalloped Circles, as well as a Decorative Labels One die. The stars were cut using my Cricut machine and the Essentials cartridge. A small piece of lace and some buttons were used to bring it all together.

Memory Books for a Friend

Ok, it has been some time since my last post, but I have been busy on what turned out to be a mammoth project! I had a small MDF book with metal book rings. I had the idea that for my best friend's 30th birthday, I wanted to make something for her, other than a card. As we have known each other all our lives, I thought a memory book would be fun to put together in a few pages. Several hours and days of photo hunting later, I had found so many memories that I knew I was going to need more space. The few pages I had planned doubled. Then I needed more space again, and so one project became two books in the end!

If I had planned it properly beforehand, I would have certainly used a 12x12 book, but hey, we live and learn... Anyway, here are some of the pages that I made to celebrate 30 years of friendship, dodgy hairstyles, dubious fashion choices and memories of events past. I managed to organise them in some chronological order so that the books made sense, right up to the present day.

All the papers used were from a First Edition paper pad called 'Sweet Owl' along with some matching pain cardstock. The photos were cut using a range of Spellbinder basic shapes and D'Lites dies. All the other phrases, words, flowers and emblems have been using my Cricut Expression. My Cricut was a Godsend for this project, as it gave me pages of elements very quickly and I could manipulate text using the Design Studio. The main cartridges I used were Storybook, Type Candy Font, American Alphabet, Cindy Loo and Cricut Essentials.
I gave the books to my friend at her surprise 30th birthday party and she really liked it. I am sure however that there were a few cringe moments with some of the photos...!
Overall, it was a project that took far longer than I had envisaged, but I really enjoyed making it for a very special friend.

Golden Wedding Anniversary Cards

Once again a request; a card for a husband to celebrate 50 years together. Not to be traditional, funny and for a couple who love animals and are having 2 mice on the cake... This first card was made using the Cute Companions stamps, one from Summer Stories and one from the original range. The patterned paper is from the Summer Stories CD Rom. The swirls have been cut using Cricut Essentials and the flowers using a punch. The banners were stamped and cut out. The sentiment was printed on my printer and cut with Spellbinders...phew!! Oh, and I have coloured with Promarkers and Scattered Straw Distress inks!

This was option 2, the image is from the Humprey's Corner Crafters Companion's 'All Occasions' decoupage set. I have mounted using Spellbinders Ovals and Scalloped Ovals. The flourishes are from Spellbinders to, the new 'Jewel Fanatasies' dies. I have also used Persian Accents and Motifs dies from Spellbinders and some flowers from my stash to finish it off. In the end both cards were taken, and they were a pleasure to make for a lady who volunteers at the Hospice in the Weald, where my husband works (the lady in questions also regularly supplies us with yummy cakes!)

Lili of the Valley Girlies...

This card has been made as I love this little girl! She reminds me of my daughter! I have used some gorgeous paper from a pad called Dreamcatcher which is full of lovely purples and spring colours. She was actually coloured whilst my family was on holiday and I took some stamps and Promarkers with me! She has been cut out using a Spellbinders Standard Circles Large die and the accompanying Scalloped circle size. I have then layered with Dreamcatcher papers and cut some swirls using my Cricut Essentials cartridge. There are also some lace, pearls and flowers from my stash!

 Variation on a theme....slightly more simple though.

Another one of the LOTV girls and coloured at the same time as the one above! These were actually done in November, but it has taken me this long to get them onto cards! Never mind. Same principle as above; have also used a LOTV sentiment stamp on this one though. No lace on this one but larger flowers! I love using flowers, but am going for the flatter ones at the moment; I hate making boxes for all the raised ones...they never seem to look quite right to me. I do realise that this is user error though...