Sarah loves shoes.

Hi there,

Don't fall over in shock that there is a 2nd post within the week! I have another 30th party on, though I sadly can't go as I didn't get the shift off as I had requested :-( We won't mention rosters, as we are getting a new rostering system that gives us no requests, no choice, essentially no life. "Not happy, Jan!"

Anyway, back to the card. Sarah is well known for her love of shoes and has a shoe theme for her party. I searched high & low for a shoe stamp to no avail, so thought of looking for a digi-stamp image. Boy did I hit the jackpot (IMHO LOL). I found this amazing sketch image. I didn't mean to copy it so completely, thought about doing in in blues, but my Purely Pomegranate (retired, sob) & Rich Razzleberry were calling to me. The original is coloured in Copics, which I don't own, so I printed it onto watercolour paper and used inks and an aquapainter. I added glitter using a 2-way glue pen. I must admit, I am very chuffed with the result. The wonderful Keesh did a fabulous easel card tutorial on her blog this week (just scroll down within this post) , so that leant the final touch. Thanks Keesh!

Here is a side view to show how the easel stands up:

Don't you just love that scrummy Purely Pomegranate ribbon? Sadly there is only a little left on my roll. I can't wait til the new catty comes out, there are, finally, lovely stick on pearls & rhinestones, definitely on my wish list (oh, my wish list is sooo long!!!). The 'Happy Birthday' is a sneak peak from the new catty. It is from a stamp set that we got as a surprise freebie at convention.

I better get going,

Have a great day,

Love Fi xox

ETA this was meant to be a scheduled post for Tues, oh well. I hit the wrong button, DUH!

The birthdays keep a-coming!

Hi,

It's been a while again. What with spending my days off making cards there is no time to edit & blog them. Also I was sick last week and Mum had an op this week (Hi Mum, MWAH!) so life has been rather busy. I work tonight but woke up early so have been madly loading pics to my computer. This will be a quick post but thought that was better than my usual 'no-post' LOL.

Firstly, Mum's b'dy card. I finally borrowed it from her. The photo is not vey good as I took it tonight, but it gives you the idea. I CASEd it from the fabulous Nancy Riley who unfortunately is taking a break from blogging as her daughter was in an accident. Thoughts and prayers to you Nancy!

This was a labour of love as you know how much I love cutting out (not!). I want a punch for these flowers! Mum likes the colours in the Cottage Garden DSP (as do I, will miss it so much when it retires) so I stuck with that. I love the 'Vintage Vogue' set too, hope it hangs around for the next few years. The sentiment is from 'Well Scripted' a US SU set. I love the Little Leaves Sizzlet die. My Big Shot has been used so much more since we got the SU dies over here :-)

My good friend Ang turned 30 in August and she made me a beautiful card for my birthday. I agonised over her card, wanting something special. Ang seems to make cupcakes for all their occasions and made her 1yo a giant cupcake for her b'day, so went with that for inspiration. I made a Side-step card, based on ones I found on Splitcoast, esp this one which directs you to a great tutorial, and this one.

And this pic shows it more side-on so you can see the 'steps'.

Sorry, the pics have come out a bit dark, problem with quick editing! I am going to miss this Sweet Always DSP, it is especially great for girly cards. Maybe I should order one last pack before it retires (in 9 days!!). I used the lovely 'Crazy for Cupcakes' stamp set & the cupcake wheel. The numbers are chipboard inked in Regal Rose & then liberally covered in glitter. Does anyone else find that they are as sparkly as the project after using this gorgeous glitter??? I added 2 little tags using 'Teeny Tiny Wishes' and the little tag punch. Love these little tags, you can add them to any project.

Anyway, this has turned out rather long for a 'quick' post so I better get moving. Hope you've had a great weekend. I am hopefully getting to catch up with the lovely Lavonne (my US stamp 'dealer' LOL) tomorrow. She is out here visiting her family. It is always wonderful to catch up with her.

Cheers, Fi xox

Birthdays keep on coming

Hi again,

Thought I'd better show some more cards before the pile becomes insurmountable. One of my best friends, Jenn, has a daughter who turned 12 on the 3rd. I saw this card by Andrea Walford & knew I wanted to CASE it. I didn't have the patience to do multi-coloured glitter and as we don't have the icecream stamps, I used my old faithful 'Crazy for Cupcakes'.

Am thinking some chunky glitter might have been better than the 3 'sprinkles' on the cake but all in all I was really happy with it. The DSP is from 'Sweet Always', the scallop edge is from a US only punch (but hope it is in our new catty) and the sentiment is from the 'Heard from the Heart' set (Autumn mini). The glitter is sprinkled over a piece of 'Sticky Strip', cool idea. The numbers are cut using my Big Shot & the alphabet die from the Autumn mini & then covered with glitter glue. A 12 y.o. can never have too much bling!

Next card is for my friend Pete's 30th, which is on Thursday. Once again I have CASEd Andrea. She makes great cards. Her original is far better than my CASE, would love to have a go using the 'Cottage garden' DSP but think of my mate as a blue rather than mauve sort of girl.

I have used the gorgeous, but sadly retired, 'Parisian Breeze' DSP and the co-ordinating colours of Kraft (soon to known as Crumb Cake), Baja Breeze and Close to Cocoa. The stamp sets are Vintage Vogue & a non-SU Happy Birthday. I added non-SU rhinestones. Once again I cut the numbers using my Big Shot (it is so handy!!!) only this time I covered them in Crystal Effects. A touch of Kraft taffeta ribbon & it was done.

I hope they like them,

Cheers,

Fi xox

More birthday cards!

Hi Guys,

And the aforementioned cards still aren't the gorgeous ones I received, must get those pics taken.

My Aunt's birthday is the day after mine (and Mum's is two weeks before, the nephew who turned 16 is 2 days before, and another Aunt 3 days before that, crazy time!) and I always think of her liking rich colours. I have some of the gorgeous 'Razzleberry Lemonade' DSP (am hoping we get the matching 'Blueberry Crisp' in our new catty, actually, I want ALL the new DSP's, lets face it!) so decided to CASE this card that I saw on Splitcoast. I love the rock n roll technique to give some interest to a solid image, & I love the colours.

Here is my attempt:

I cheated with the colours. I don't have any of the Curry CS but did have the markers, so created a faux layer by drawing around the edge of the white layer. It does not look as even as I thought now that I can see the pic, oops. I added some RR ribbon, love it, and some bling with a Rhinestone Brad. The sentiment is non-SU, and I just layered it using the word window and small oval punches.

The background DSPs in some of these photos do not do the cards justice, comes from taking pics in a hurry & grabbing whatever was at hand. However, I was pretty happy with how this card turned out, looks much better IRL.

The next card is one that I made for my Dad to give to my Mum. I made two & let him choose which he preferred. Mum hasn't seen the other option yet. I forgot to take a pic of the card I made for her from me, have had a post in the 'edit' section for a few weeks waiting for me to go & take a pic.

For this card I used a technique that is all over Splitcoast. It is embossing with the Manhattan Flowers die using the Big Shot, cutting around the image & adding it the front of a card.

Terrible description, here is the pic:

I stamped the rose image from '5th Avenue Floral' in white ink onto Rich razzleberry CS. I embossed a piece of 'Cottage Garden DSP', it seemed to work better than using card stock. I then stamped the rose in RR ink onto the DSP. Mum seemed to really like it. I used my punches for the sentiment, which is from a non-SU set.

There are still more birthday cards to come, and still at least two to make. July & Aug sure are birthday rich. Now I think about it, there are at least 4 in Sept too, heck!!!

Must go & clean, yuck. My place is still in disarray after my party. I bought the stuff home & dumped it everywhere, must go clean & tidy.

Have a great day,

Fi xox