Sunday 31 March 2013

E is for Engineer

Afternoon Everyone!
Today I'm back with a 'manly' card made using the Mo Manning image 'The Engineer'. I used Papermania papers from the older Persimmon line which were perfect for a masculine, non fussy look - along with a strip of K&Co paper mounted onto 'old gold' coloured cardstock. After colouring the image with my Promarkers, I cut him out with a Spellbinders die and added him to my 6x6 card. The only embellishments were some little black brads in each corner and my sentiment. The 'Just for You' stamp was from a Waltzing Mouse stamp plate.


   I hope you like my card - I'd like to enter it into this week's Mo Manning Digital Pencil challenge which this week is 'E for...' - my 'E' is for Engineer...on his little Engine! I'd also like to enter this card in the Charisma Cardz challenge which this week is 'Happy Birthday' .
Thanks for looking - I'll be back soon with some more creations!
Enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend.
Best wishes
Karen x

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Red and Blue - Just for You

   Back again with a card I made today using the digital stamp called 'Georgia' from Mo Manning's digital pencil. This is such a pretty image and I have used it lots of times in a variety of colour schemes but today I chose red and blue. The red spotty paper was from a Forever Friends Christmas pad whilst the blue stripe is from Kaisercraft's Cock a doodle doo - I like mixing papers to see what works together.
   Georgia was coloured in Promarkers and highlighted with a Sakura glitter pen. I then cut one of the Spellbinder tags - extending it to make a frame - to add a decorative mount to my image before finishing off with some tiny pearls, ribbon, a bow and a birthday sentiment.

   I also decorated inside the card and used one of the lovely scrolly words from Waltzing Mouse stamps as a sentiment. The punched corners were made using a Martha Stewart punch.

   This card is made for my auntie so I'd like to enter it in this week's Mo Manning challenge which is 'One for the Women in Our Lives'. I'd also like to enter it into the Simon Says Stamp 'Anything Goes' challenge.
   Anyway, thanks for popping by!
Bye for now
Karen x

Spring Wishes

Hi All.
Yesterday I needed a card for a friend who does not like her cards 'too fussy'...so this is what I came up with using one of the lovely Lili of the Valley stamps of a little bear and his flower.

I used Promarkers to colour him in and mounted the image up on papers from Papermania's Rose Garden collection. Both the stamp and papers were older items from my stash - I decided to get them out and breathe some new life into them. It also gives me the excuse to buy more new stuff! ha! ha! Finally, I added glittery gems and a sentiment and decorated the inside to match.


I'd like to enter this card into the Lili's Little Fairies challenge which this week is Spring Colours.

Thanks for looking.
Best wishes
Karen x

Friday 22 March 2013

Glorious Green

Hi All
Just popped by on this wet, windy and snowy day here in the UK to say I had some fab news today. One of my cards has been featured on the Graphic 45 blog - part of a group of projects showcased by followers of their Ning site. I'm so chuffed to be featured up there with some really talented crafters.
I've included a photo of my card below - created using Tropical Travelogue papers and stamps, Spellbinders dies, satin ribbon and a Martha Stewart punch - but please pop over to the Graphic 45 blog to read more and see the other amazing creations.


I'd like to enter this card in the challenge over at The Ribbon Girl, where the challenge is Green and White and 613 Avenue Create which this week is Anything Goes with an option of St Paddy's Day Green

Thanks for looking!
Best wishes
Karen x

Wednesday 20 March 2013

A Little Darling

Afternoon Everyone!
Here's my second post of the day!

In my last but one post,  I showed some of my projects for my Graphic 45 Design Team Audition. One of those projects was a new baby card I made using the Little Darlings papers. This paper line has some really pretty vintage images and I used one of them to make the focal point of my easel card.
  To create the lacey effect I used a Marianne die and added white flowers and pearls for embellishments. I hope you like this card and if you get chance, please pop along to my last but one post to see the other projects I entered into this audition - I'd love to hear what you think!

In the meantime, I'd like to enter this card into the One Stop Craft Challenge and the Cute Card Thursday Challenge - both of which are this week - Anything Goes!

Thanks for stopping by.
Best wishes
Karen x

Easel Elegance

Hi All!
In my previous post I showed some of my projects for my Graphic 45 Design Team Audition. One of those projects was a gift set - a mini altered chest of drawers and notelets made using the Birdsong papers. With it I created an easel card and I would like to share it with you today and enter it in this week's Totally Papercrafts challenge.

I'd recently bought a Marianne Designs die and thought it was perfect for also making a shaped card. The Graphic 45 papers are so lovely that I simply teamed them up with gold mirri card and red and black card stock before adding ribbon and Glossy Accents to the central image.



I hope you like my card. I've also included photos of the rest of the gift set for you to see. If you get chance, please pop down to my previous post - I'd love to read your comments!
Best wishes and bye for now
Karen x

Saturday 16 March 2013

Graphic 45 Design Team 2013 Audition


Hi Everyone!
I'm a true Graphic 45 - aholic! I love their papers, staples and other goodies so I thought I'd have a go at trying out for their fabulous Design Team. For the First Round, the mission is to show a minimum of six projects, so please scroll down to find examples of my crafty work below. This is a bit of a long, photo heavy post but I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for stopping by!

Birdsong Altered Drawers and Gift Set
Originally in white, I saw these little drawers looking very shabby in a charity shop and decided to give them a new lease of life with the deep, rich colours of the Birdsong papers. I had some Greek Key ribbon which I thought matched the designs and tied the set together. I created mini embossed note cards to go inside the drawers and a covered Post It Note pad before creating a matching easel card (using a Marianne Die) so that I could give the whole set as a gift. I love altering and am really pleased with how they turned out.






Curtain Call Wall Art
Inspired by Lynette Carroll's fabulous Christmas and Fairy Wall Art, I created my own monotone/masculine version with Curtain Call and plenty of fussy cutting.



 


Christmas Gift Set
Using a mix of Christmas Past and Christmas Emporium papers I created this little gift bag, card and gift tube. The card was cut using a Spellbinders Labels 20 die with plenty of paper layering and stamping using a Justrite labels stamp whilst the main Father Christmas image was cut from the tag collection and mounted and glazed onto a domino. The gift tube was made using a one of the cardboard tubes that you can buy sweets in and simply covered to match the bag. It will fit a miniature bottle of your recipient's favourite tipple and two or three chocs! A fab little stocking filler or last minute gift idea.


  




Place in Time - Valentine's Card
After creating a scrapbook page with the February paper in the Place in Time Collection, I still had plenty of elements left to make a Valentine's card.




Communique Canvas
Sometimes its nice to get messy and I enjoyed using inks and paints to create this canvas. The main papers and elements were from the Communique collection - which I love. I'm a writer by day so I created this for myself and have it above my desk. The smaller images are layered onto dominoes to make little tiles and edged in gold pen before covering in Glossy Accents. Distress Stickles and metal embellishments complete the canvas.



 


                                       
Ladies Diary Layout
This layout shows that even with minimum supplies and paper scraps you can create a great project by using the borders and frames from the papers, and fussy cutting and layering smaller elements.


Little Darlings Card
This card shows how easy it is to make a pretty card with just one image and one piece of the patterned papers. I layered white card, patterned papers and die cut cardstock before adding the glittered image, flowers and pearls.







Ladies Diary Altered Note Pad
 At only 29p in our local supermarket, these notepads were just asking to be altered using the Ladies Diary collection, pearls, lace, ribbon and gold card before covering the ladies in the image in Glossy Accents to create a tile effect. These are perfect little stocking fillers or great to accompany a gift card as a birthday present.

                        


Little Darlings Star Card
   I enjoy trying out new card shapes and fancy folds and despite thinking that this would be a difficult card to create it was much easier than I first thought and a great way of using up smaller pieces of your patterned papers. I made it for a baby card but with a change of paper it would make a fab Christmas card too!






Magic of Oz Tag Book and Box
I love tag books and never seem to have anywhere to store them to keep them neat, so I created a little box for this one to slip into by altering one of those note boxes that you keep near to the phone. I shaped all the tag tops using my Spellbinders dies.










Ladies Diary Card and Tag

This is such a pretty paper collection so I created a layered card and altered gift box. This would be great to give on an engagement, wedding or anniversary.





With my leftovers I created the tag by embossing some Kraft cardstock for the a base and making tissue paper pom pom flowers to decorate it.




Hope you're still with me...nearly at the end now!

Tropical Travelogue Stamped Card.
I loved making this monotone card using the Tropical Travelogue stamps and papers. I have since made others in blue colours and peach colours. Using just one colour and black can be really effective.



Tropical Travelogue Gift Box and Pop Up Card Set.
I decorated the box with a rosette made using a Martha Stewart die. For more details of these projects and others I have done, please visit my Youtube Channel - where I'm just about getting the hang of creating my own crafty videos! LOL!





















Ladies Diary Mini Album
I had a lot of fun creating this little mini making lots of hidden pockets and flaps for images and journalling.








Checkerboard Layout with Lift Up Flap for Secret Journalling.

As a real family history addict, I created this layout about my ancestor using the Communique collection, with details of his life and film career under the flap.














Altered Broadwalk Box
Finally, I made this little box to go on my desk as a storage place for my memory sticks. Each stick is numbered and on the back of the box is a lift up flap where I can write roughly what is on each stick. This is my attempt at being organised! LOL!














Thanks for taking the time to look at all my projects - I hope you enjoyed them and are inspired to create your own using Graphic 45's fab paper collections!

Best wishes
Karen x