...a thank you card

This is a thank you card for my very best friend Bob who very kindly let us stay in her tent over the weekend. They were camping in Sligo and we went down to visit Bob and her family for the day and didn't go home!! We had a great time - our kids are all friends - and the craic was great. Edit - craic here refers to the banter/chat/fun that people have when they get together - i'm kinda scared to ask what it means in the US... I had to change the post because i spelled it as it sounds earlier and aparently that means something I don't want to be associated with!!

I'm going to give this card to her later today but there's just a chance she might see it here before I get to her house! lol, she sometimes reads my blog - so if you're there Bob - a big thank you from all of us - we loved camping with you!!!

I stamped the red squirrel from the My Punny Valentine onto shrink plastic and roasted it with the heat gun (on loan from Bob ). I made the background patterned paper using the PTI Guidelines set and a stamp from the Faux ribbon set. The Guidelines set is so good - I spent a while playing around with it and the possibilities are endless.

The sentiment is from Year round Puns - also PTI - stamped on a little square cut with scalloped nestabilities. I used a making memories slot punch tool to cut the tiny flaps to hold the square in place. Plain brads hold the chocolate ribbons on.

Hope you like your red squirrel Bob. see ya later.

...another christmas card

ED - actually - as Donna just spotted the smallest snowflake stamp was not from the Believe set but from the Holiday treats set (Also PTI) - tried to contact you Donna, can't find your contact details.

I'm just grabbing five mins while the family are out to put up this christmas card I made - the snowflakes are from PTI stamps from the set Snowflake serenade, I arranged them into one big snowflake and then embossed them. Then I stamped around them with a wee snowflake from the Believe set (also PTI), these are stamped in versamark - finished with a bit of chocolate brown ribbon and a sentiment (It's also PTI). I can't wait for all the chocolatey goodies coming up on the PTI website next tuesday!!

I didn't intend to put the sentiment over the centre of the large snowflake but I just thought it looked better that way.

Phew! - I am struggling at the moment with how long it takes me to make a card - I seem to be only able to make one in an evening and I can't craft every evening - I bet that's real slow compared to everyone else. There is the problem of having to unpack all my supplies and then pack them away again when I'm finished -i'm finding this a major chore - wish I could win the lottery and build a craft room!!

Anyhow, have a lovely weekend - i'm hoping to have some new pics of Ireland to post next week

...cards with Boards and Beams

... and an award
My PTI box arrived on the 4th of July and I've been in it all weekend, here's what I've come up with, all christmas of course. The moment I saw this set on the PTI website I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I love wee houses - I used to carve them out of clay years ago and what a treat it was to see this set - It is my idea of perfection. - I can't wait to see what the next release will be.

The first card uses 'selective' embossing with white embossing powder to make it look as if the house is covered in snow/frost, the idea is that it's night time and the winter moon is highlighting the frosty house. I have made up a mini tutorial to show how I did this incase anyone wants to know. I used a large spot from polka dot basics to make the moon.

I coloured the shadows with watercolour paints and pencil and I added fine glitter to give a snowy sparkle.

Both cards have snow (glitter) on the roof and one 'lighted' window each.

In the second card Santa flies high above the house in the moonlight. I curved the Believe stamp on my acrylic block before stamping it in white on the card - I like the way it echoes the tiny shape of Santa on his Sleigh, I had to paint this on, but I would just love it if Nichole of PapertreyInk decided to include a teeny Santa and sleigh in her intended Christmas add-ons for this set.


Selective Embossing Tutorial
I made up this wee tutorial in case anyone wanted to know how I did the card. I'm sure this is probably a well known technique to all you pro's out there but I thought I was pretty nifty when I thought of doing this.

Step 1. Stamp the house in Indigo ink - pour over white embossing powder. Stamp and powder the fence on either side.

Steps 2 and 3. Take a very fine brush and start to brush the powder off in the areas that would be in the shadows - for example under the front porch, and a little off the fence under where the trees will be. Don't forget the eaves and to the right of the windows. Use the heat gun to emboss the remaining powder. Indigo ink will show where you brushed powder off - this is good.

Step 4. Make a mask of the fence using scratch paper.

Step 5. Stamp and powder the tree. Repeat on the other side.

Step 6. Use your brush to dislodge a little powder on the underside of the trees to make shadows. Stamp and powder a moon - I used a large dot from the polka dot basics stamp set (bear in mind the final size of the card you are making when deciding where to set the moon.). Use the heat gun to emboss the remaining powder.

Step 7. Use the colouring method of your choice to add depth to the shadows.

Step 8. Cut out the windows - I cut the bottom windows out completely and just the panes out of the top three windows so that the snowy window sashes remain.

Step 9. Stamp the windows from the bottom of the house onto your window material - I used sparkly vellum in a grey/blue. Cut out the window material so that there is enough vellum to cover the 4 bottom windows.

Step 10. Adhere the windows to the reverse of the house ensuring that the bottom two windows are in the correct place. Stick a piece of yellow card behind the top window. Add glitter to your image as you please.

Your image is now ready to be trimmed and added to your card.

If you click on the image it should get bigger.


awardI want to take the opportunity to Thank Emily Davis of Ems closet for giving me an award. http://inemscloset.blogspot.com
Emily has been extremely positive about all my work and I am very grateful. It gives me great encouragement to continue posting my stuff. I haven't seen this before so please forgive me if it takes a few days to pass it on.

...a 4th of July card

Happy 4th of July to all you ladies from the PTI forum and also to my pal Bob who sometimes reads this blog.

I used stamps from the Holiday Treats (nugget label stamp) set, Believe (star) and the Spooky sweets set (star in an oval) as I don't have any actual 4th July stamp sets . Cut the number 4 with sizzix - stamped 'Happy' using spooky sweets stamp and wrote 'of July' with a pen. lined the card with red paper.

Hope you all have a great 4th weekend - I'll be sitting here...twiddling my thumbs... waiting for a PTI parcel...lol.

...a few cards

The first card is a 'greetings from Ireland card' - This card was made with all you ladies from the PTI forum in mind - I have enjoyed all your kind words of encouragement and I am inspired by all your creations daily.

I didn't have the appropriate sentiment so I fudged "greetings" and "from" together from PTI stamp sets and wrote the word Ireland. I made the shamrock using nestabilities heart shapes, scalloped and plain and I used an pair of oval nestabilities to make the stalk.



The second card is a CASE - I think that's right - of a card that was made by Heather Nichols - It's in the Inkpad gallery - you can find it quicker if you go to the PTI online store, view snowflake serenade stamp set and click on the ideas link.

I have really admired that card (among many others) and wanted to make a version - I really wish I had designed it first, lol!!!

The third card was a trial at A2 size - haven't made one this size before - It's not earth shattering but it'll do. lol.