Lexie and Anne-Marie's Birthday

Today we celebrate the birthdays of my other Grand-daughter Lexie

(you may recall it was Ellie's birthday on the 4th!)

and my baby Sister Anne-Marie.

Here's the card I made for Lexie

It's another Eclipse card, but once again as the "Festive Birthday" DSP

(now retired) was very busy, I inked the edges of the letters

once they were raised up on adhesive  strip for more definition.

The DSP was matted onto Melon Mambo card, on a white card base, 

after the letters had been  cut out from the DSP, 

using the Large Letters Framelits dies .

Then the letters raised on adhesive  strips and outlined with

 a Melon Mambo Stampin' Write Marker.

Thought this was a nice bright and colourful card for our Lexie.

I'll show you Anne-Marie's card tomorrow.

Have a fabulous Birthday Lexie, see you later.

Snowflake Sentiments Z fold Card

Heres a card that I made on Monday when I  had a great time following

the video instructions from Sue Vine on how to make it.

It took several hours to make, but it was worth it in the end

Open view standing

Open view flat

standing - display view

Folded flat for posting

If you would like to make this card you watch the video

where you can find the instructions on

SUE'S BLOG HERE

Enjoy!!

Soft Sky Noel

Here's another coloured version of my Noel card,

this one is done using Soft Sky cardstock and 

Silver Glimmer paper for the letters and snowflakes.

Front view standing

Card flat

Think this is my favourite - can't think why!

Pete’s Birthday

Today it’s one of our golfing friends, Pete’s Birthday.

I just had to make him a funny golfer card didn’t I?

I really need to source some more funny golfer stamps -
if you know of any please let me know!

More Merry Patterns

Chris and I had a play yesterday with the free Merry Patterns stamp set,

which was offered free as a hostess gift with a qualifying order during September and October.
We tried two different ways of colouring the image.

Here's the card that I made .....

Stamp coloured using marker pens to produce the image

And this is Chris's card

Stag stamped separately to sweater and both cut out, then sweater stuck on top

Not sure which I like best, but they are both effective and make a fun, festive card.

Ellie's birthday

Today is the birthday of my first grand-daughter Ellie

who will be 24 today!  I can't believe she has grown up so quick!

Here's the card I made for her

K

it's not what I intended to do, but its how it finished up!

It started life as an Eclipse card,

using the Year of Cheer Speciality DSP that looks so luxurious in White and Copper,

and I cut out ELLIE using the Large Letters Thinlits

and I layered this onto a mat of the fabulous Copper Foil Card.

I then used adhesive strip on the back of the cut out letters

and stuck them back in place.

I used Versamark and Copper Embossing Powder to heat emboss

the greeting using stamps from the  Big on Birthdays stamp set.

At this stage it looked like this

But... I just wasn't happy with it, because of the reflection on the

patterned DSP, it was difficult to see that it actually said ELLIE

on it - so I cut ELLIE out again using Copper Foil and stuck it on top

 of the original raised letters.

What do you think?

Anyhow, Happy Birthday my darling Ellie,

hope you have a lovely day and will see you Sunday - tomorrow!!

My grand-daughters Lexie and Ellie

Jan's Birthday Card

You may have noticed that I seem to have a few friends who have the same name.

Today it's the birthday of my golfing friend Jan

(who was my Vice Captain at my Old Golf Club  - Sandhill)

Not to be mistaken from my crafting friend Jan,

 whose cards I share with you from time to time!

.....and here is Jan's Birthday card.

As you can see its another Eclipse card (which I quite enjoy making

as they are not too difficult to make.)

If Jan sees this, she will say that it's not her card, 

but because it was posted, before I had taken a photo of it,

I had to make another one so that I remembered the design!!

I have used the Beautiful Fresh Florals DSP

on a mat of Berry Burst card stock, on a white base card.

The word HAPPY is die cut out of the DSP, using the Large Letter Framelits dies

then the letters are raised up on Adhesive strips, to give the Eclipse effect.

The word Birthday is stamped using the Stylized Birthday stamp,

on white card which is layered onto a Berry Burst mat.

Hope you have a fabulous Birthday Jan

see you soon xx

Chris's Noel Card

Here's the card that I should have posted yesterday, but I had a busy day 

crafting with Chris, then I had my Wednesday evening Craft class.

I was a bit tired after that, so I watched The Apprentice (which I had recorded earlier),

then I went straight to bed!

Had a lovely day out catching up with my ex-work colleague Jo

(as opposed to my golfing friend Jo!) and we went

out for lunch, accompanied by Jo's mum and had a lovely time.

We spent an hour or so around a few shops, then back home.

My Craft class starts in a few minutes, so I had better crack on!

Here's Chris's version of my Noel card, hers is in red!!

Front view standing.

Card viewed flat.

Chris had a colour combo of Real Red, Garden Green and Very Vanilla,
with Real Red Glimmer Paper for the snowflakes and letters.

Lovely don't you think?

I'll show you my Blue version later this weekend.

Cards for Causes - Contact the Elderly

Our Team of Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, Julie's Jems,

share our love of card making, by regularly choosing a Charity,

that would benefit from receiving our hand made cards.

Whether it be to sell the cards to raise money,  or to send Thank you cards

to people who have made a difference in the lives of others, Charity Volunteers etc,

 Our Team, send cards off to these organisations for them to use as they see fit.

This most recent one involves sending Thank you cards to

"Contact the Elderly", who organise regular tea parties for the over 75s

 and these are held in the homes of volunteers.  

They currently support over 700 tea party groups all across the country!

Here is just a small selection of the cards that Chris and I have made between us, 

and posted today- 80 in total!

Jo's Birthday

Today is my good friend and fellow golfer, Jo's birthday

and here's the card I have made her.

It's one of those cards that I have made a few of, 

this one I personalised with some  glitzy letters that I found in my stash

that were just the right size for the card.

Colour Combo is Blushing Bride and White, 

sentiment from Rose Wonder stamped in Smoky Slate.

Sparkle Textured Impressions Embossing folder used to de-boss .

Eastern Medallions Thinlits  used to cut Medallion and Flower.

I'm quite pleased with this version!!

Happy Birthday Jo - have a great day!

xxxxx

Hearts Come Home

Here is a card that I have made, cased from my fellow Jems team member

and  good friend Amanda, who made the original version of this card

as a swap for our all day training.

Front view

View from above, showing construction.

Very CAS really, very effective though in Night of Navy and White,
using only the Hometown  Greetings Edgelits Dies and the sentiment from
the Bundle - Hearts Come Home stamp set.
It looks far more complicated than it looks, and I think that
it looks a million Dollars!!
Thanks Amanda for your beautiful swap, I hope I have done it justice!!

See Amanda's original version

HERE

and this also includes a tutorial in case you want to have a go too!!

Ladies wot lunch - Sue's Birthday

I belong to a group of ladies, who lunch out on a regular basis, every 4 to 6 weeks or so.

Today is the birthday of one of these ladies, Sue, and here is the card I made for her.

It's  one that I have done in class, so I hope none of

 the other ladies have sent her this one!!

A really CAS card, where the butterfly is stamped using the baby wipe ink pad technique.

The gold splatters are done with the gold Wink of Stella.

Noel

Today I had a whole day to myself, so after prepping for tomorrow

 morning's workshop, I made this screen fold Christmas card.

Front view standing

The photo below shows the detail a little better.

View flat

Lots of Labels Framelits were used to make the base card.

then the same dies were used to make the label panels.

Versamark was used to stamp the snowflake border

using the small snowflake from Colourful Seasons stamp set,

which co-ordinates with the Seasonal Layers Thinlits,

which were used to cut the small snowflakes in Glimmer Paper.

The Large Letters Thinlits were used to cut NOEL also in Glimmer Paper.

The little "jewels" were the waste from the snowflakes that were 

left behind, but obviously they match perfectly!!

This was just the prototype to test out how it would look,

so now I will try it in various colours, 

I'll show you the results.

A Christmas card of Chris's

I am sure you know by now, that my sister-in-law Chris and I, get together most Wednesdays,

at each other's homes to spend most of the day crafting.

You probably know that Chris doesn't do a blog anymore, 

so from time to time I share cards that she has made.

Here's one that she's happy to share with you!

Don't you just love those doggies!!
I know someone who has two dachsies and would love this card for Christmas
so watch this space for my version - but don't hold your breath!!
Chris has used the Ready for Christmas Stamp set
with the Christmas Staircase Thinlits dies.
Notice that one of the doggies is facing right?
Well there isn't a stamp with a right facing doggie,
so Christ stamped onto Acetate film with Stazon, then used this
piece of acetate to reverse stamp to create him .
Great technique for yu there.

Thanks for sharing Chris
xx

More Wise Men from Afar!!

Another cased  card from Pinterest.

This time the inspiration came from Jennifer Brum

you can find her card on her blog

HERE

and my slightly different version below

A really clean and simple card with a colour combo of

Black, Gold and White.

The Wise Men, Palm Tree and Star  were stamped in Versamark

 and heat embossed with Gold embossing Powder, as was the sentiment.

Layering Circles Framelits dies were used for the Wise Men image frame.

The Palm tree was fussy cut.

I shall make more of these, using Silver and Copper embossing powder.

Will show you them once they are done.

Night in Bethlehem

Today's  card is another Christmas card, of which I am aiming to 

do one a day.  If I can do this I will be 2/3 of the way there by Christmas Day!

Maybe I shall have to do a few batch Christmas cards.

Anyhow.... today's card is another religious card, and I do love 

these just as much as the contemporary ones, even if I 

use contemporary colours!!  I do love my Blue Christmas cards

(much to Barry's disdain!!)

This was inspired by a card made by Maria Kandylas,

who made a die cut version of it,  and I have cased her card,

 but only used the stamps and once again the emboss resist

technique for the sky.

You can visit her blog and see her version

HERE

Inks used - Marina Mist, Memento Black, Smoky Slate, and Sahara Sand.

Stamp set Night in Bethlehem

Embossing Folder Softly Falling.

Wise Men from Afar - emboss resist

I must admit that when I ordered this stamp set I couldn't wait to use it,

but inspiration failed me, and I have had to resort to Pinterest, where I

found a card by Norah Marin, but have been unable to find her blog.

This is my card that I have cased from Norah's.

Using Versamark, I stamped the 3 Wise Men,  then with Black embossing powder,   heat embossed.

The stars were inked with versamark, then  heat embossed with White embossing powder.

Palm trees  and sand dunes stamped with Soft Suede ink.

Sand sponged with Sahara Sand ink.

Sky sponged with Night of Navy

Space in between sponged with Real Red and  So Saffron.

-----

Thanks for the inspiration Norah, couldn't have done this without you!

Tony's 50th Birthday

My friend Pat asked me if I could make a personalised card for 

her son Tony who will be 50 this weekend.

Here's what I made

I am quite safe posting this before the date as I know with certainty

that Tony won't be viewing my blog!!

Amanda's Wreath card

Amanda has designed this card (which I have cased here)

using the Painted Harvest Stamp set and the matching Leaf Punch.

This is my version

The sentiment is from Snowflake Sentiments.

Colour combination, Copper, Champagne and Cajun Craze.

As the copper and champagne foil leaves are simply punched, it doesn't take an age 

to make this card, but it does take time to arrange them

neatly in a circle. I think mine looks too regimented.

I like Amanda's better, but it is my first effort.

Will have another go later!!

Pop round and take a look at Amanda's

HERE

Wine !!

Here's another Eclipse card - this one I made at Chris's last week.

Really clean and simple, suitable for any occasion that's being celebrated -

so it's quite useful to have in your standby box of cards!

This uses the Half Full stamp set

and the Tuscan Vineyard stamp set.

Cheers!!