Organza Flowers

I found  an  old piece of organza in my "Stash" and being the fugal crafter that I am I decided it had to be put to good use.

I washed  and condtioned it to make it smell nice and then I set to work with my Spellbinders.

And so this is how the tutorial for the  Organza Flowers  came about.

The flower has been added to a mix of others from Wild Orchid Crafts 

The centre is a pearl brad  from the  The Hobby House   and that holds all the layers together.

And the  leaves are from the Ash  Branch punch from L-Em

This is a stamped  image from Lili of the Valley   and  they have both  been coloured with Promarkers.

This was in the days prior to me discovering the "Bling" and so there are no pearly bits on either of them.

But I have used the Spellbinders and self adhesive pearls just to soften the look.

At the time I was very  pleased with these cards and the flowers have been re-created many times on other cards that I have made.

Hugs xx

Enamelled Roses

A while ago I added a post and a tutorial to the website, on making Paper Roses for your cards, and it proved to be very popular.

I had many emails about them and lots of photos added to the Gallery  of  how others had made their flowers look.

The tutorial showed you how to create the flowers without any special punches.... just make your own template.

You  could then make them to any colour and paper that you have in your "Stash" and then they would always blend in with your design.

But the next step after this was to enamel them and make them look glossy... and so the video for the Enamelled Rose  came about. 

This process needed some Embossing powder and it needed to be heated until it melted... so not a good idea to use around children.

But the effect was to give the Roses a glass like appearance and they are very strudy once they have cooled.

And certainly made them look different from the paper roses that we started out with.

Hugs xx

Glamour Puss

As part of their Christmas Gift I made for each of our daughters a large decorated box and added cards for all occasions to them so that they would always have cards on hand to give to any of their  throughout the year.

And as it is used up I have promised to replace the cards as needed.

In each box I added about 25 cards of all colours and images and I tried to do it evenly to suit each daughter.

My two daughters have children that are grown up now and so they would need more adult type cards.

But Griffs two daughters each have young  children and so I added cards that they could send to their  friends too.

But in each box I added one of these as I just love the image and the glamorous pose she has.

I know that they would be suitable for most age groups and I am happy to say that the gift was appreciated by all four daughters.

Hugs xx

Pink and Pretty

Today I thought I would make a card in pink  and cream .... just for a change.

 I have added "Congratulations" to the front but this could be for any occasion.

The image, papers and the sentiment are all from the Sugar Plum Daisy CD from   Polkadoodles  and I love it.

There is so much on there and the papers are lovely.

And the beauty of it is that everything matches and blends.

There are lots of little girl images too, ready coloured or line drawings that you can colour in yourself.

But the finishing touch for me is the beautiful pearly swirls and the ornate  "Bling" on the sentiment tag  that make it look extra special.

The sentiment is cut from the Labels 3 and the Bling matches it perfectly.

It is made by Want2Scrap  and there are lots of styles for you to choose.

They ship worldwide too so it is within your grasp, and can make such a difference to the look of a card.


Hugs xx

Pierced Edges

Another easy to do technique that just adds a little bit more to the finished card and I have made    Pierced Edges  into a video for those new to cardmaking.

I have included Spellbinders in the video title because it uses the same set of dies that I introduced in Starting Your Spellbinder Collection

And as many of you have written to tell me that you went out and purchased these dies  we need to make sure that we get as much use from them as we can.

I also like to find ways to add that extra bit to the cards I make. 

So this is piercing and it really adds an extra dimension to any of our projects.

The "Bling" as always is from  Want2Scrap  and it adds a  luxury look to any card. 

It comes in many different colours and finishes and some of the styles match and compliment the Spellbinder shapes

Although I have kept to a monochromatic colour scheme nothing is lost for the lack of colour.

If you haven't got your corners tidy then you can always add in a pearl or flower to disguise the mistake but I think this makes for a very pretty card and I hope you do too ...

Hugs xx