Teachers Card

I had put off showing this card as it has been a while since school's out here in Ireland, but in other places it is only now finishing up for the summer holidays.

Happy Holidays to all!

This is the card I made for Sonny's principal, as she has been a great help to both Sonny and us during his primary school years.

It is a simple card. The base is a blank Kraft card. I embossed white card using a Cuttlebug EF, Roses, I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the edge and wrapped a ribbon between the embossing and edge.
The sentiment is computer generated and reads "Go raibh maith agat", Thank You Very Much - in Irish.
I cut it out using Labels 4 and layered it onto a large piece of Kraft card also cut out using my Labels 4 die. I used a brad to attach it to the embossed card and then mounted it all on to the blank card. I added a Prima Flower to finish.  And Voila a finished card.

Recipe:
Blank Card: Kraft - DoCraft Papermania
White card - Stash
Ribbon: Local haberdashery
Embossing: Cuttlebug EF
Punch: Martha Stewart - Scallop Dots
Flower: Prima

Hope you like,

Sonny's* 13th birthday...

Yesterday, Sonny celebrated his 13th birthday. Now some people say that when children enter the teenage years they get moody and disagreeable, well I can categorically say that that is not true, he has been like that for the past year! lol
He is a wonderful child teen if a little "independent" at times.

It took me a day and a half to do this card, I had no idea what kind of a card to make at first so I had to search the Internet to see what it would throw out. This is nothing like I found either, it just materialised as I went on.
I wanted to make a different type of card and I like easel cards, this was my starting point. The image is from Kenny K "Cool Kid" it took me two colourings to get it right. The verse and 13 are computer generated. The lightening bolt is a google download which is glittered to an inch of its life using Glamour Dust, - but you cannot see it here. These elements are mounted on Core'dinations card stock, this is a lovely colour, using Nestibilities die cut shapes and the image mount is cut using an xcut die.  The backing paper is a free download from KWB Downloads, (if someone knows more about KWB let me know, as I don't have any other info on them).

Recipe:
Designer paper: KWB Downloads
Image: Kenny K - Cool Kid
Backing paper (mounts): Core'dinations Card Stock - Super Assortments, Earth Elements color.
Colour medium: ProMarkers
Embellishments: Stash.


For the first time in the last 6 years, I made the birthday cake.

It is/was a chocolate biscuit cake with strawberries, Sonny loves strawberries and I love chocolate so that's us sorted, Hubby just had to eat it! It's scrumptious but a little rich. It is an easy cake to make but been the first time I made one, it took me ages. And the amount of washing up afterwards - won't even go there. lol

*Not real name.

Hope you like,

A card for a man in my life!

Morning all,

Today is my Fathers Birthday, "my old Dad", as he says himself.
One morning last year, the Queen was announcing the OBE's (Order of the British Empire) for the year when Dad announces, " I have an OBE" he clarified that by saying "Over Bloody Eighty!" :)

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This is the card I sent him for this year.

The panel on the left, is actually masking tape adhered to card, then inked up with different colour distressed inks. Once the ink was dried, I misted it with some Smooch Spritz just to give it a bit of a sheen. I really cased the idea for here but I did change the dimensions, I used a square Kraft card and just cut the front panel to suit me.

I mounted the inked panel onto cream card than on the front of the card. I die cut out two shapes in cream coloured card, I used the second shape, for the sentiment in the inside. D.A.D. is computer generated, I cut out the letters and coloured them with promarkers than mounted it onto the front of the card. I cut out a larger shape in dark blue and backed it on to the front panel.

I mounted designer paper, from a Papermania pack (I have it so long, I don't have the name of the pack), onto cream card and then onto the Kraft card. I stamped the sentiment onto the second cream die cut shape and mounted it onto the DP hiding it behind the large blue die cut shape.

Recipe:
Designer paper: Papermania.
Die Cut Paper: core'dinations - Super assortment.
Die Cut: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels 4
Distressed Inks: Ranger - spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, antique linen.
Sentiments: DAD computer generated, Happy Birthday - Papermania Sentiment.

Entering into:
Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog - Challenge #54 Dad Daddy Papa

Mothering Sunday

Last Sunday was "Mothering Sunday" here in Ireland and other parts of the world also know as "Mothers Day". Usually I have to post the card to my Mom but this year I was lucky enough to have her come visit us here. This is the card I made her.

I tore the right edge, just for a different look! Than edged it with pink ink.  The backing paper, strip in the middle, is a down load for Pink Petticoat. The pink ribbon I got from my SP (Secret Pal) last year.

The image is a stamp that I have for an age, but don't seem to use much of. I stamped it first with black ink onto a scrap piece of paper, then with watermark ink (I did wipe most of the excess ink off the stamp first, as I did not want to damage the watermark inkpad) and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. That's why the "clear" embossing looks grey. I then coloured the image with ProMarkers. I cut it out with a oval nestibility die cut.

The sentiment, "Joy, Hugs and Smiles" comes from a PaperTrey set. I cut this out using a label 4 nestibility die cut.

Actually it looks much nicer IRL.

Recipe:

Card: Stash.

Backing Paper: Pink Petticoat download.

Image: Papermania - Love Jesse Edwards.

Sentiment: Papertrey - Simple Sunflower.

Colouring medium: ProMarkers.

Ink: Watermark.

Embossing Powder: Clear.

Die Cut: Nestibility-  Classic Oval and Label 4.

Ribbon: Friend - Martha Stewart

Challenge entered:

Card Crafters Circle - Challenge #15 TIC TAC TOE

Hope you like,

 P.S. I have decided to put all post justified to the centre, what do you think, is it better or should I leave itjustified to the left? Let me know what you think, please.

V.

A little Rant....

Spring has arrived here. After many months of having to dry clothes on clotheshorses by the radiator we can now hang them outside to dry. There is such a difference; between drying clothes by the radiators and drying them outside, there is such a fresh outdoors smell from them plus they seem so much softer while clothes dried inside are hard and smell.... well weird!

Now here is the rant; we live in the country, in hill sheep country. And this time of the year when the weather warms (a little) and there has being a few days of dry weather, out come the farmers and start burning the gorse on the hills and mountains. That in itself is okay- they are allowed BUT I have clothes on the clothes line and now they stink of smoke instead of nice fresh breeze dried freshness.This is 2 days in a row it has happened. :(  IT ANNOYS ME. Rant over.

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I have being tiding out my photo files and I have come across this card I made for my Grand-niece on her Christening day.

All the backing papers are from Pink Petticoat in pink. The image is from StitchyBear Design, it is lovely set for Christenings and such. Even though it is called Baby Girl, it could be used on boy baby cards also.  The only embellishment I used with this image, is some glue gel just to highlight the folds of the dress.  I used 2 of the fancy tags set when layering the sentiments. The sentiments themselves are computer generated. I cut out the main image and layering's with Nestibilities Labels 4. The panel on the left of the card is punched with a Martha Stewart punch. Behind it and around the second layer on the image,  I put a satin grey ribbon just for a bit of contrast.

Recipe:

Backing papers: Pink Petticoat.

Image: StitichyBear Digital Stamps.

Die Cuts: Nestibilitie Label 4, and Fancy Tags.

Ribbon: Local Haberdashery Store.

Gems: Papermania Adhesive Gem.

Punch: Martha Stewart - Scollop Dot.

Hope you like,

A Lesson in Irish

I was asked to make a thank you card for someone who very kindly donated to our rugby club. As we live in an Irish speaking part of the county I decided to put the sentiment in Irish.
Mile Buiochas (me'la bua'chuis) meaning a "Thousand Thanks"
The colours of the club are Red, Black and White, I layered the sentiment on black and red using Nestabilities Label 4 just to keep with the Rugby Club theme.
A nice simple card and to the point.

Recipe.

Card and Backing Card: All from stash.

Dies: Nestabilitues Labels 4

Sentiment: Computer generated

Hope you like,

December is here

Happy December.

 I love this month in many ways, I love the excitement of the build up to the big day and the holidays. Then there is the weather, usually grey and dull lots of rain, which I do not like. I don't understand why we put ourselves under so much stress to have the biggest Christmas tree, the biggest turkey with ALL the trimming. To go out every night for the month of December and on into January. Why do we do this?  Christmas to me is about family, friends, a warm and welcoming fire and lots of TV.  Do others really care what size of tree you have or how many different types of vegetables we have on our dinner plate?
I was listening the Christmas FM last night, it is an Irish Charity station that is broadcast only at Christmas (as the name suggests :) ).  Its nice to hear Christmas music again. The first major sign that Christmas is on the way.

Even though it is December I am going to show you a card I made for Halloween, yep nothing like keeping up with the seasons. lol
This is a card I sent to a friend. I must confess that the only scary thing about this card is the color!
I sent one like it to another friend, Bridget, but she never received it, bummer! What is up with the mail these times. Bridget's card had same image but the dress was colored in purple and the backing paper was black. The border on the edge was also purple. The sentiment reads, "Have a Brooming Great" and "Halloween" is on the inside.

Recipe:

Backing Paper: Halloween Crackle Paper,

(it was a freebie that I picked up a few years ago but never kept the source.)

Other Paper: Ordinary card from stash

Image: Bewitched - Sassy Designs.

Coloring Medium: ProMarkers

Die Cut: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4

Border: Martha Stewart - Scollop Dots

Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug - Herringbone

Sentiment: Computer generated

Hope you like,

It's Monday.

It's Monday. So? So it is the beginning of a new work week and I have made a decision regarding my work V craft time. As I pointed out yesterday, I am no where ready for the festive season that is fast approaching so I have decided to divide my day in 3, morning - house work, afternoon - crafting while helping Sonny with his homework and while he is playing, than evening - either crafting or catching up on here.
This is our 6th Christmas since we adopted Sonny and in that time, we have had only one Christmas day here. Other Christmases we have traveled to Limerick to family on Christmas day. It's great, no cooking but it is nice to spend the day here at home. Therefore, I have to do a big clean out of the house, and I detest house-work but it has to be done. :( Anybody care to help?

The following is a card I made.  The verse is one that hangs in my mother home and I seem to read it every time I visit her and I thought it would make a lovely sentiment for a card. I just googled it when I got home and printed it out from there. I had some "fun" trying to line it up so it would appear in the aperture windows created by Spellbinders labels 4. I used MME Wild Asparagus backing paper and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The ribbon is a Martha Stewart ribbon.  The little flourishes are a Waltzing Mouse Stamp from the Very Vintage Labels No. 4 set. I stamped them first in pink than again with a clear embossing pad, sprinkled some clear embossing powder and heat embossed them to give them a little 3D effect. I used some clear gems just for some bling.

Recipe:

Designer Paper: My Minds Eye - Wild Asparagus

Aperture: Spellbinders Label 4 Die Cut

 Cuttlebug Folder: Victoria

Stamp: Waltzing Mouse - Very Vintage Labels No. 4

Ribbon: Martha Stewart

Bling: Clear Gems.

Hope you like,

Back to earth with a bang.....

Well, tomorrow is the start of the school year. Summer is over and Sonny starts his final year in primary school, (please do not ask the equivalent years for other countries as I do not know, but he is 12 that may help)
Today we spent the morning cleaning his room, every week he changes his bed linen and vacuums the room but he never dusts or tidies under the bed or behind stuff. I think I am lucky that he does as much as he does. lol. I had wanted to do this all summer but he never wanted to, naturally, who wants to take their room apart and clean it during the holidays? So today had to be the day, the last day of hols. We had some words about it this morning so hubby and I started, but, eventually he came in little by little to help. Think he was afraid that we would throw out some things he wanted to keep. :) Going to bed tonight he was happy and said that his room smelt clean!
Tomorrow is back to alarm clocks, lunches and getting breakfasts, yep, back to work!

As usual the day before the schools re-open the weather clears up, today was no exception. We had a beautiful sunny warm day. The sky was blue as was the sea and even the breeze was balmy. It is days like today that remind me just how wonderful the place I choose to live in is.

Here is a simple and quick card that I would like to share with you all today.

I tore a square of white card stock than inked the edges with Distress ink. I stamped the lower part of the cardstock with a Waltzingmouse background stamp. The sentiment layer is also stamped with a Waltzingmouse stamp then cut out with Spellbinders Nestability Label 4 tag before layering this on the background I added some lace ribbon.  I then attached it to a square card blank. There is no "bling" on this card, I just wanted a quick and simple card but an elegant one.

Recipe:

Card Blank: Anita's square card blank

Dies: Nestabilities Label 4 Tags

Sentiment: Papermania

Ink: Whispers- Blue Azure and Tim Holtz Old Paper

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Pic-Nik Patterns and Very Vintage Labels No. 4

Ribbon: KaiserCraft - Lace Pack (Natural)

 
Hope you like,

Doodle Dog.

Isn't this image cute, it is of a "Doodle Dog". Now to be honest, I never heard of this breed of dog until very recently but the person I made this card for has a "Doodle" so I looked it up.  They are really cute. They are a cross between a Labrador and a Poodle. Just so cute. awwwwwwww But not as cute as our own little Tiny, (check profile photo).

This is a Tri-fold Shutter Card, here is the tutorial that I used for measurements. I love the paper she used on her card.

Recipe:

Card Stock: Stash

Embossing: Cuttlebug folders

Dies: Nestabilities "Fancy Tags" & "Labels 4"

Ribbon: Recycled from a Chocolate Box

Image: Google

Colors: ProMarkers

Hope you like,

Time lines - whats that?!

A little while ago, when my niece started college I thought I would make her a Recipe Book, where she could record some of her best recipes together, especially, as she was moving away from "Mom's cooking" for the first time. Now, nobody ever told me I was a fast worker and this is especially true for this project. My niece, in question, went off to college last September and it is only today I completed the Recipe Book. I have never done anything like this before and I think that is what delayed me. I had an idea in my head but I always find it hard to get it completed.

Here are a few photos and descriptions of what I did.




This is the cover of the Recipe Book. I had hoped to get screw type hinges but could not find them anywhere so had to use rings. I still put a "binding" edge to the book in case in the future I do come across these hinges. (I know very technical descriptions. lol.)



Most of the pages in the sections are blank so she can write in her own recipes or she can print recipes and just stick them in.

I have divided the book into 3 parts, Breakfasts & Starters, Main courses and Desert & Snacks. I used designer paper as separators and each separator has its own index page. I also "inked" the edges of each page in a different colour just to differentiate the sections more. I used Tim Holtz inks for this.




I have started her off with some different recipes that I hear students like, easy but filling recipes - just like an adult to put that in :lol:



I used Graphic 45 - “Domestic Goddess” as the designer paper. The tabs are cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4 and then folded in half.




The paper I used for the “binding” I also used for the back cover.

The pictures are not all that clear but I hope you get the idea.

The next thing I must do is to post it to her.

Hope you like,