Cornflower Thistle

Click on photos for larger images.

Inspired by Jean's FB Live demo of 24th June: 'Cornflower Card'. Except that I don't have the Cornflower stamps, so I used one of the pair of thistles instead (CI-204, 'Two Scottish Thistles'), which are in a similar box format. I am also without a doily die, so I used scalloped circles instead. Also, the faux bleaching Jean used didn't work very well for me, so I sponged white pigment ink through the AALL & Create 'Rota Vitae' stencil instead. (I did have the stencil!)
I used Crafty Individuals' 'Uplifting Words' text stamp, CI-258 in the background, some scrunched up black cotton thread, some glass cabochons and silver sequins from stash.

Spiral Heart

Another very early card.. you can tell.. I hadn't moved into my rosebud period by then! Ha! Very simple, again, as so many of my cards are. I threaded silver craft wire with beads and pearls and curved both ends into spirals. Pretty sure I used two pieces of wire here, but you could of course use a continuous wire. The heart is covered with glue and dipped into purple microbeads, then stuck onto the centre of the wire on 3D pads. More glue under the beaded part of the wire, but the ends are free for a little bit more dimension. The positioning is a bit off centre, which doesn't quite work, but I like it anyway, even after all these years.

Anniversary Hearts

Another early card from me... a bit of an experiment when I was still learning basic techniques. (I still am!)

The panel is cut from a watercolour background, with hearts hand-drawn with a Versamark pen and heat-embossed in silver, then mounted on 3D foam pads for dimension. The greeting is computer-generated.

Anniversary Commission

This A5 (5" x 7") hammered card was made some years ago for my friend, Pat, to give to her husband, Alan, featuring a photo from their wedding. Her wedding flowers were freesias, so I made a background paper using freesia images, and used a fussy-cut photo of a freesia flower for the front. I printed wedding vows onto vellum and overlaid it on top of the background paper, securing it with heart-shaped silver mini brads. The metal 'dream' word is from Making Memories. Some sparkly thread on the side, some punched silver hearts, a silver spiral clip and a handcut number complete the design.

Congratulations card

Made for a FB group challenge last autumn. It's a watercolour background with splashy bits, the text block (sideways on the card) is computer-generated and stamped over with a Bee Crafty grunge border in Versafine Onyx Black. The silver cord wrapping helps to conceal some stamping 'errors'! The scribbled circle dies are Tim Holtz/Sizzix Thinlits. On a couple of them, I have trimmed off the outer ring, and the eye is extracted from a photo I took, photoshopped and doodled to within an inch of its life! The card above is a version I made yesterday. I decided the original (pic below) needed something in the bottom right corner, and I needed a third circle (ref. the Rule of Three, which is usually about writing but works with artworks, too).

Recycled Purple Rose

Talk about simple... A5 (UK size) mottled lavender cardstock.. Picture of rose cut out from a magazine or gardening brochure, mounted onto white card and then silver holographic card, and embellished with a satin ribbon bow. That's it. Doesn't get easier than that. You could always add a sentiment if you wish. I like it as it is.

Purple Floral

Using recycled images from magazines, matted and layered on purple cardstock (UK A6 size), with pink glittery card and embossed silver card layers and some dried flowers.

Sweet Lilac

This is a blast from the past... one of my very earliest cards from the early noughties when using long, floaty fibres was all the rage! I love purple and green together, lilac as a bush and tartan, so how could I resist? So.. bottom to top.. tartan paper and purple cardstock, punched with a fancy corner punch. The top layer is vellum. I traced through it and embossed it to produce the white words in a lovely script, and went over the embossing with a white crayon. The lilac sprig is a stamp, but I haven't seen it for years, so no idea of the make, sorry. The image is matted onto embossed silver card, with narrow margins around the edge. The little tag has a K&Co flower die-cut. The eyelash fibre and ribbon drape, the silver thread wrap around the focal image and a few purple faux gems complete the design.

Love Is Patient

The verse is a partial print from a large script stamp which has the whole of this scripture from 1 Corinthians 13. It's mainly the verses from 4-7 that are used in wedding ceremonies:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The purple panel is layered onto co-ordinating vellum. The cross is stamped in gold Encore metallic ink and then heat embossed with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel). The words are stamped with the same gold ink.

Viola Birthday

Commissioned by a friend for his wife's birthday. She loves violas, apparently. I had to look them up, and then I printed the central focal image. I used embellishments from my stash to zhuzh it up a bit, and tried to keep the colours 'viola-like'.

Thank you for visiting. Any questions, please do get in touch. x

Fairytale Wedding Invitation

This is not what I normally create for a wedding stationery, nor would I recommend it for anything but the smallest of weddings. It's too complicated and time-consuming for producing in volume.

The words were computer-generated and printed directly onto the card blank. The main focal stamp was from Elzybells, one of my favourite stamp manufacturers, sadly ceased trading at least a decade ago.. I shaded the background, glittered it, coloured the flower and added the gems, tore around and inked the edges, feathered the mulberry paper and glued the panel to it. Then I stamped the stripes in the background (also Elzybells), tied the delicate glittery silver thread wrap and mounted the panel on 3D pads.  A pair of hearts punched out of embossed silver card complete the design.

Mulberry Rosebud wedding invitation

I wasn't sure about posting this one, as it's such a poor quality photo. You will have to use your imaginations a bit... It's a purple rosebud with a clear bead tucked up under the calyx, with a neatly straightened and trimmed stem. The head is glued to a square of embossed silver card, layered onto some feathered purple mulberry paper. The words are stamped in silver Encore metallic ink.

It's very simple, but I love it. You could change the colours and the words for other themes and occasions. I hope you can see through the horrendous photo!

Purple Hope

Well, there's this, with the 'Hope' metal word embellishment by Making Memories, and the silver cross, or you could opt for stopping with the relatively undecorated card version below...

Two Souls wedding invitation

Another thistle. More purple. You can see the verse more clearly in real life: "Two souls but with a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one." I think the stamp is Penny Black, but I'm not sure. That and the Wedding Invitation words are stamped in silver Encore metallic ink. The thistle is my favourite Fred Mullett stamp, and a couple of punched hearts complete the design.

Purple Thanks

Purple card blank, purple pearlescent card panel over glittery purple panel, purple rosebuds and a Making Memories metal word plaque. Ridiculously simple.

Purple Jazz wedding invitation

The only thing I can tell you about this card that isn't obvious and easily sourced is the shadow stamp under the rosebud on the top tag.. I made it by cutting a piece of funky foam with deckle-edged scissors. Ridiculously easy.

Christian Thank You card

Philippians 1:6

This was a thank you card, made some years ago, for the pastor of my church and his wife. We had been studying the book of Philippians, so it seemed appropriate.

The large rose stamp is from Stamps Happen Inc. ~ #80271 English Rose. The bible text was computer-generated, and the Thank You stamp was a lucky find.. a cheapie foam-backed one.

Tulips wedding invitation

This one was achieved using a square punch, capturing partial images of stamped and watercoloured tulips. The word squares were punched from the best parts of repeat overlapping stampings.. first, second and third generations, giving a graduated appearance in colour, but showing different parts of the words so there was no mistaking what they were. The squares were mounted on 3D foam pads onto a large purple square background.

Braveheart wedding invitation

This one is from several years ago. I haven't used peel-offs in years. Not that I'm snooty about them; I just prefer other methods for sentiments now. As with 99% of my wedding designs.. and other designs, come to that..  it's very simple. The hearts are punched out of embossed silver card, and the head of the Fred Mullett thistle stamp is coloured with navy blue and purple art markers.

Purple Daughter

When printing a photo of my daughter about twelve years ago-ish, it came out purple! But I loved it anyway, and decided to Photoshop it a bit to de-personalise it and make a card out of it.. as you see! I traced the word 'Daughter' from a script font using a white pencil crayon on purple vellum. Some sparkly purpley cardstock makes a nice back panel, some embossed silver card provides a pretty border around the photo, a rosebud with a bead and some neat silver threads complete the design.