A Gorjuss Stepper Card

Earlier in the year I got invited to a Teddy Bears Picnic (they are not just for little girls, although there were quite a few there as well).  The organiser, who happens to be one of my closest friends, had a birthday this month so I just had to use the Gorjuss Girls stamp with the little bear.  So cute!

I added to the image to a stepper card similar to my previous one .  The pretty paper is Kate Knight, and the flowers are craftwork cards (as usual!).

Here's a close up of the flowers on the stepper.

It has been coloured with my trusty Pro&Flex Markers.She's such a nice stamp to colour as the image isn't too fiddly.

Such an embellished card needed an extra special envelope.  So I had to whip out the Enveloplus Board from Crafters Companion. Such an easy tool to use to make super envelopes like this:

At least it made a bit of a first impression and the card was very much appreciated. Hope you like it too!

Helen x

A simple but special engagement

A lovely friend of mine has just got engaged.  It is such a beautiful story a film should be written about it.  I probably don't have permission to tell you (so don't pass it on!) but it involved her doing voluntary work in a mission hospital in a far off place, giving blood in an emergency and fainting into a kind doctor's arms. Totally romantic! Here's the simple card I made for her:

I wanted it clean and simple and for the image to speak more than words.  I used a martha stewart punch for the birds and grounded them on a branch I drew freehand with a sakura glitter pen. It is mounted on a craftwork cards blank and I embossed around the edge to help it stand out.  Here's a close up:

Simple but nice, and here's wishing the happy couple a lifetime of happiness.

Helen x

Ruby, ruby, ruby, ruby

OK back to some papercrafts (I feel a couple of posts coming on so beware...). First off my friend's parents have just celebrated their Ruby Wedding.  In talking to the Dad who doesn't usually send cards, I persuaded him to send one if I made one for him! Hence the following card to 'wife'... It has to be better than the card my Dad sent to my Mum once that said inside 'Masel Tov on your Bat Mitzah' (which he obviously hadn't read!). Needless to say that went down like a ton of bricks...

Pity the red mirri card is a bit too reflective for the camera. Then there was a card I made for them from me.  As they've recently enjoyed some dancing lessons I couldn't resist using some of the Jolly Nation characters I had in my stash. I jazzed up the dress with a bit of red glitter pen to match the glittery background. Totally Strictly! 

Hope they went down well with the happy couple.

I'll be back soon.

Helen x

Knit, knit, knit

Well the little fella has arrived (and is totally adorable).  I won't say more online except to say all is well and I am a very proud auntie, my new nephew is a cute as a button and my sister is a super mummy!

To welcome him into the world I've been knitting some little bits and bobs for him.  Now, I'm no expert knitter to say the least.  I can barely do knit and purl so I am really pleased with how they came out. Anyway, I much prefer plain knits to fancy, fussy knits, especially for a boy. What do you think of them?

 

A little beanie hat - he also has one of these in cream.

 

Some very dinky little booties. A snazzy red pair are in progress!

A little pom pom hat.  

Now very quick tip, if you are making pom poms don't go faffing with all those bit of cardboard circles cut from cereal packets - get yourself a clover pom pom maker - most clever little gadget I've bought in years.  Even my other nephew and brother-in-law were impressed with the mechanics of it! Boys and their toys...

Finally I wanted to make a blanket.  I got the pattern free from here.  I used the Mary's blanket pattern.  As it is for a preemie it is only small but it fits perfect in the moses basket or for wrapping over his little legs in the car seat or when you are holding him.  My sister liked it anyway and it was so satisfying to make it. Here it is folded up:

I think I'll have to make one for their hospital appeal as a thank you for the pattern.

I hope you card-makers out there aren't too bored (I did warn you in my blurby bit that I do like all crafts!).  I'll get back to posting some cards next time as I have a few made up ready to photograph.

Until next time!

Helen x

A parade of baby elephants

So who knew that the collective noun for a group of elephants is a 'parade'? Makes sense when you see them walking all trunk to tail in a dignified row.  So what's this got to do with craft, I hear you say?

Well my lovely sister is soon to have a baby and I've been making her a heap of thank you cards for all the kind people who are showering her with presents already.  Like Christmas cards, I had to keep them quite simple to get the quantity done so I reverted back to my favourite Humphrey stamp and coloured them with promarkers, cut them out with a nestie, stamped a Paula Pascual 'thank you' and stuck it all together et voilà!

 So here they are. Sorry the light is so bad - it was crazy weather yesterday and taking indoors was too dark (I get too much reflection from the flash so prefer outside) and then outside the sun was coming through the willow trees so I was getting a dappled effect.  I so need some photography lessons to get the best piccies I can with my camera!  Anyway, at least the close ups are better.  And I can't complain about the sun shining through the willows.  I'm so privileged to be living next to a canal with beautiful willow trees and wildlife galore.

 I actually really love the simple design so you might be seeing more basic cards in the future! I've not been brilliant health-wise recently so these are a little overdue but at least they have been posted to my sister before the baby has been born!! I'm also working on some Peter Rabbit cards that will be winging their way to her soon as well so keep a look out here for their appearance shortly. 

I am beyond excited about meeting the little munchkin when the time comes... I love being an Aunty.

Sweet Meadow

OK I'm going to put it out there, I love Craftwork Cards! Since the girls at the craft group introduced me to them years ago, I have loved their products especially their card blanks, yummy papers, templates and candi.  Any regular follower of my blog will have seen that most of my projects have used some of their products. But I have amassed so much of their loveliness (too many goody bags bought in their sales!) that I have to start using some of it up. It doesn't help that I won a Privilege Club membership which is enticing me to treat myself to more yumminess as well...

Last week I dug out some of my kits and made up the following cards.  Not having been so well recently, and not having much energy means I only go and play for short periods.  Having all coordinating materials really helps when the brain is a bit fried.  So here are two of the pretty cards made from the Sweet Meadow kit:

 
I love the pink and green colour scheme here - could be my favourite colour combination, and  the lovely Julie Hickey's artwork is fab. You might be seeing a few more of them very soon if I finish some off and get them photographed.
Hopefully won't be as long before a I blog again! 
Helen x

Any excuse for an excess of pink....

So Mothers' Day has loomed thick and fast after my Mum's birthday and had to get my act together to bring a card together.  I'd been inspired by some Lili of the Valley  projects in Papercraft Inspirations this month, especially with the free digi stamp images.  So here is my attempt:

As I said in the title, any excuse for an excess of pink. 

Here are a couple of close-ups of the detail:

 The white flowers have been made from the Tattered Florals die, the little purple ones were a gift from Karen, and as usual the image has been coloured with pro-markers and flexies. What a dinky image hey?!

And finally the card got the seal of approval from Thomas along with a little kiss before it was popped in the post:

Thankfully, Mum loves it, although it did take her about 5 attempts to work out how to stand it up! I'd helpfully drawn a little diagram on a post-it for her, but then forgot to put it in the envelope - typical me... Anyway, hope you like my version of the card.

Helen x