Gift bag and a seal of approval from Thomas

Who doesn't love a posh little bag as much as the presents inside?  Well I do! So when a friend requests 'no presents' at their birthday then it is really hard to obey orders. So I decided a small bag of thorntons and a hand cream didn't really count as a present and wanted to make it look a bit special. So how about this:

I was using up some free goodies from Stampin Up from the sale-a-bration event so that even more counts as 'no presents' :-). It was quite a tall bag, using a full sheet of 12x12 paper, with a simple ribbon tie and tag:

The beauty of the paper is that it also has a snazzy inside:

And one of my little friends had to come and give his seal of approval. Thanks Thomas x

Hope you like it as much as Thomas.


Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A few more everyday cards

Very simple buttons and sentiment with some faux stitching.

I found this topper I'd embossed ages ago. Loving the ribbon!

Craftwork cards flowers and candy with a patterned Kate Knight paper inside. Oh and trios of liquid pearls again.

That's it. Short and sweet but glad the crafting bug is continuing. Hope you are in and keeping warm in this dreadful weather.

Helen x

An Irish Blessing

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I love this saying.  Living in Oxford means that a lot of people come here for a short time and then move away, and a good friend of mine was leaving this weekend for Scotland. I wanted an understated but stylish card suitable for a man so the challenge was on. Having been ill for a few months, which has kept me out of the craft room, I was dying to get my fingers all inky again!

Kraft cards couldn't be better for me as they fit well with my nature themes, and appropriately this card has turned out quite autumnal.  The background is stamped with a stampin' up set. I loved the transparency of the skeleton leaves, as well as the 'splodge' stamp which made it look like water drops had splattered on the surface. I used distress inks in walnut stain, vintage photo, and bundled sage.  Here's a little close up, along with buttons (bargain pack from The Works!) which are the perfect non-blingy embelishment for the guys.

The main image has been built up using Claritystamp  products, and techniques demonstrated by the wonderful Barbara Gray.

I purposely kept the background quite stark so the words would be the part to draw the eye. As a first foray into the inky world for some time, and being in a bit of a rush, I was quite happy with how this turned out. Wouldn't mind having a play with the stamps again to see how I could improve things. So you never know I might have a new post up again soon.

Helen x

Delightful Daisies

 

So the name of blog kind of gives it away, but I kind of love daisies!  My favourite little flower especially the little tiny, find them in the middle of your lawn type.  Anyway, these daisies are probably never going to be found in your garden.  But they are crazy and colourful and cheerful which I love.  From Craftwork Cards of course.

 I used an 8x8 scalloped blank, and tried to make the daisies stand out which you can see from the side view. And again totally loving the buttons. So perfect for the flower centres.

So the daisies and dandelions in my lawn still need sorting but can't bear mowing them down. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I'll be back soon.

Helen x

Boy oh boy

Why is it so hard to make cards for men?  For me I really want to make something that is special, and is appreciated, but sometimes they just miss a bit of the zing you can put into girl cards.  I've always been a bit of a sucker for pink and frills (just ask my family about the pink dress!).  So most of the male cards I've made or you see in the shops just seem a bit bland.  But then along came kraft, buttons and bakers twine, and for some reason I'm liking the boy cards again.  So here's one I made earlier:

This uses two pieces of 6x6 Kraft card, cropodile-punched down the edge and threaded with twine. The trees are Clarity Stamps, which I just love.  I actually stamped this ages ago but was never inspired enough to know how to showcase it until now.

Pretty aren't they, in a very masculine sort of way of course!  I tried putting a sentiment on it but couldn't get it in the right place and in the end decided it looked better without for a change. Well once finished it needed the male focus group to approve or not. Thankfully Thomas decided to show his approval :-)

Hope you like it. You never know there may be more boy cards appearing here in the future now.

Helen x

Birdcages, bows and roses

I love the trend of vintage birdcages (even though caged birds make me sad) so when craftwork cards brought out some pretty little birdcage diecuts I had to indulge...  And this is what I came up with when the creative juices were in full swing:

I think this is one of the prettiest little cards I've made (not even going to try to be humble as I love it!).  I inked the birdcage with a flexmarker, shaped it so it was domed, and added some gorgeous little paper flowers, some punched leaves, and of course the obligatory ribbon. You can see how it is domed a bit better here:

This time the ribbon is seam binding that had been dyed subtle greens and pinks with distress inks.  I'm loving adding buttons at the moment, and if you are short on supplies HobbyCraft do a massive bag of odd buttons in their value range. The top patterned paper is Laura Ashley and the base hunkydory.

There is a bit of gorgeous washi tape behind the cage that you can just about see peeking through.

This was another card that was reluctantly given away but I know my friend would love it as she really appreciates all things pretty and handcrafted.  I need to get making some male cards as there has been an overabundance of twee on this blog for some time :-).  Hope you don't mind.

Helen x

More Everyday Cards

My crafting bug has been running on overdrive recently.  Like the previous post I've been trying to use up some prepared toppers.  Here are a few of the cards I have scrambled together. Always useful for the emergency box when I forget a birthday or need a 'thinking of you' kind of card!

Notice any recurring themes?  Green and pink perhaps, and always a bit nature inspired? At least it looks like I'm developing a signature style! Like Karen's blog is called Stamping in Pink maybe I should have been 'nature crafting with green and pink' - not that catchy though... Keep on the lookout for some crochet creations that might be appearing here soon as well. Yes there is another new craft creeping into my obsessions :-)


Let me know which card you like best if you have a moment. Love the comments!

Helen x