Garden Trimmings

This one has been done in a relative hurry, using a digi-file from Lili Of The Valley. It comes already coloured, called 'Simply Print'. This one is called 'The Gardener'. I wanted something quick for my neighbour who very kindly did some hedge and bush trimming for me over the weekend, and wouldn't accept anything, not even fuel money to take the trimmings to the dump. So he's getting a card instead! I hope he likes it.

Apart from the image, it's just simple matting and layering, with a layer of recycled cardboard under the final layer to raise it a smidge, and there are mini gold bradlets in the corners. The sentiment is computer-generated and also raised a tiny bit in my usual manner. The green leaves are Crealies die-cuts, and the 'shears' are from a set of garden-related die-cuts I ordered on-line.

Green Butterfly

From 2008, this was an entry for a sketch challenge at 2Sketches4You. This one uses three different colour-co-ordinated digi-papers from the 'It's Funky Too' CD-Rom from the now out of business Funky Hand, embellished with various stamps, inks, chalks and an embossing folder here or there!

Cardstock: Bazzill

Papers: 'It's Funky Too' CD-Rom from Funky hand
Cuttlebug folder: Fantasy Flower

Stamps: HOTP swirls, MSE 'Thank You'

Inks: Versafine Onyx black, Versacolor Olive green

Chalks: Pebbles Inc 'I Kan-Dee'

Embellishments: Butterfly template free with the (then) current issue of 'Papercraft Essentials', 'I Kan-dee' frame

Ribbon, ball chain, glitter peel-offs and embossed metal corner all from stash

Green Thank You card

2008 vintage, this one uses HOTP (Hot Off The Press) flourish stamps, and digi-papers from Funky Hand's 'It's Funky Too' CD-Rom, sadly no longer available. Wired ribbon, Prima flowers, fabric leaves, a few pearls and a stamped 'Thank You' complete the design.

Rose Thank You

From the archives, 2010. I needed a quick 'thank you' card, and this is what happened..

It's a 6" square card. The rose is by PSX, stamped three times and coloured with Koh-i-Noor pencils and Zest-It, blended with paper stumps, then Stickled. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's 'Wonderful Words' set, using Versafine Onyx ink and clear embossing. The panel is raised on 3D pads and embellished with a little pink faux gem. I shaded with pencil to ground the roses, but not sure I would do that if I were making it again now. The 'cf' monogram is a bit pretentious, too. Not needed. 

Thank You card for Gunhild

I made this card in 2008 to thank Gunhild Bay, the founder and massively talented designer from Norway behind Stempelglede, her stamp company. The thanks were for the amazing blog candy prize I was blessed to win.. her Grunge Collection stamp set (on the right), which - out of the hundreds (probably thousands!) of stamps I have - remains one of my top ten favourites.

It is A5 size (5" x 7"), I made up and printed the words panel at the back directly onto the card in light grey in a vintage typewriter font from a scrapbooking CD-rom that came with a book by Lisa Bearnson. I've stamped leaves with a leaf spray stamp by Hero Arts, a flourish from the Grunge Collection and a 'Thank You' from a cheap foam stamp - also a favourite. I laid a strip of lace across which has been coloured with blue ink, and blue satin ribbon. The frame is hand-drawn and cut, then glittered with Stardust Stickles. The flowers are stamped from the Grunge Collection, and then punched and fussy-cut. (Tutorial by Gunhild HERE.) Other decorations include diamentés on the ribbon, a bow in the same ribbon tucked under the flowers, a string bow and heart charm* and beaded headpin.

The *heart charm started out brass with 'made with love' engraved on it, but I altered it with Versamark ink and silver embossing powder.

Here, again, is Gunhild's flower tutorial (click HERE), and the picture below is her photograph.

The Grunge Collection stamp set from Stempelglede pictured below. (Stempelglede is currently closed until January 2020 because of illness.)

Thank You card

Lovely paper on brown Bazzill cardstock, inked edges, faux stitching, stamped flourishes (Rhonna Farrer's Elegant Flourishes), stamped foliage, gold ribbon and crochet lace across the card, brown and gold layers, stamped dandelion heads (or aliums, possibly?) in blue with Stickles dabbed on to give a subtle sparkle, that of course you can't see in this pic! The card around the flowers has been chalked in brown to knock back the starkness of the white and bring it more in keeping with the rest of the card. Part of a large fabric flower is tucked behind the focal image, and brown maple leaf brads and photo turns complete the design.

Floral Thank You

Apologies for the poor quality photo. Again, simple. The decorative papers are cardstock weight and glittery. The blue ribbon embellishments are created by making a bow and folding it in half, then gluing it under the flower. The folded bows will (ideally) either need to be tied with cotton or fine craft wire, or glued thoroughly to stop the strands from springing open. Maybe with a hot glue gun? I've not used one so I don't know. It just takes a bit more time and care, and I think it's worth it.

Volunteer Driver Thank You

This was a commission from a Christian friend who had been using their local volunteer transport service in the March area in Cambridgeshire. She wanted a card to say 'thank you' to the drivers who volunteer their time to help people who would otherwise be housebound. I think it's fairly obvious how it was made, but I'm always happy to receive questions. x

Love Is A Fruit In Season (2)

Mottled lavender cardstock for the cardblank (UK A5 size), torn stripey paper across, a few different stamps, but the only one I remember is the Hero Arts 'Thank You' circle.. sorry! I will add the info when I find the stamps as I clear out my spare room! Here's where I'm at right now:

Love Is A Fruit In Season

A monochrome card in greyscale. Torn rose paper, overstamped (lots of times!) with the Thank You text in silver Encore metallic ink. The 'Love is a fruit in season' quote is stamped in grey, and the white rosebud with silver bow completes a very simple design.

Butterfly Thank Yous

I made these two cards for two friends who took me out to afternoon tea at a posh hotel on my birthday. I used a Memory Box die: Floral Square, Ref: 98284 (3” x 3”), and a Memory Box Darla Butterfly die, Ref: 98264, with string bows and stamped 'Thank You's. 

Rucksack Card

I thought this image of the little girl with a rucksack almost as big as she is was so cute! I hand-cut and doodled the white scallops on the side of the pic to echo the scallops on the decorative paper, and mounted the focal image onto a panel of silver mirri card. I punched daisies across the bottom and used the punched daisies as embellishments. The colourful paper is Basic Grey. I've used ribbon crossed under the focal image, and I've used various other embellishments.. flowers, stars, and a metal heart charm.

Red Gold & Green Thank You

Very simple again.. red rosebud with a clear glass bead under the calyx and a leaf attached to a panel embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and layered onto gold mirror card. Red satin ribbon, faux gems and a shiny peel-off 'Thank You' complete the design.

Wedding Thank You

The word 'Wedding' was randomly stamped repeatedly in green, with a few done in silver Encore metallic ink on the top layer. It showed better in real life, than it does in the photo!

Purple Thanks

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

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.

Pink Splash Thank You

Another family Thank You card, and also fresh from my craft desk today! You can probably tell; it's very similar to the black one below... the same IndigoBlu script stamp, this time over a Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide blend with an AALL & Create splatters stencil. I've used the same Thank You die from Cheery Lynn, and the lace border die from Card Making Magic, and the leaves from Crealies.

Black Rose Thank You

Fresh from my craft desk! A family thank you, using an IndigoBlu script stamp and Elzybells Sugar Candy white pigment ink, a Card Making Magic lace border die, coloured with a Broken China Distress Ink pad (direct to paper). The 'Thank You' die is by Cheery Lynn, plus various flowers, Basic Grey button, waxed cord and Crealies foliage.

Thank You Rosebuds

 

This is a fresh one.. just a few days old! I have been blessed recently with an abundance of what we call RAKs in the crafting world, as you probably know, and this is one in a series of 'thank you's that I owe for RAKs I've received. I know it has been received, so I can share it with you now.

It is an A6 card (6" x 4"), embossed with a Cuttlebug folder full of 'thank you's of different kinds. The 'Thank You' die is from Cheery Lynn Designs, ref: B213. Rosebuds and a string bow complete the design. (Inside, I've used a stamp from Penny Black: "The fragrance of roses stays on the hand of the one who gives them away" - Chinese proverb. (Ref: 2708F)

Red Sun Thank You

This was made for a chap in my office, about ten years ago. He had come across a beautiful, heavy, embossed leather-bound journal-type book, with heavy quality handmade paper in it, just begging to become an art journal, and he gave it to me, knowing I would appreciate it. How sweet is that?

Anyway, this uses Basic Grey papers, some faux stitchery around the edges. my lovely Inkadinkado flourish stamp, handmade-with-my-computer/printer letters for the sentiment, inked and grunged up a bit, a Sizzix die-cut star, embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, some wax cord and Making Memories gold square brads.