Floral fluffiness

We have four more fluffy little chicks at Bally Farm - woohoo! The older ones have gone out to their new accomodation in the greenhouse and are happy as larry in all the space, and the spare room now has the four tiny tweeters who are just gorgeous little balls of fluff. It's amazing how quickly they grow, but great to enjoy them while they're so tiny :-) Anyway, if you want to read any more about our flock, you should check out Tom's blog Bally Poultry for all the latest news.

All this chick hatching just keeps inspiring me to make Spring cards. Forget the bad weather and think of all the flowers! This one is for my little sis:

"Happy Birthday Kimberley"

You might recognise some of the flowers from my good mate Lee's blog. She makes fab flowers and has lots of tutorials. She made the pink fabric flowers on the bottom and the two big white ones with pearl centres on the main panel, and was kind enough to send them to me (thanks Lee!). The others are all from my flower box - there's a handmade organza one, a Tim Holtz rosette with a frilly lace edging dyed with distress ink, a small lace flower with a pearl centre that I made using one of Lee's tutorials, some pink paper ones made using the Tattered Florals die and distress inks, and a couple of tiny pink ones from a small bunch from "The Works".

"Front view"

The stems are made with lace fixed to the background with glossy accents, and the backing papers are gorgeous "Websters Pages" that came free with a mag this month. I cut an extra layer of flowers from a second copy of the top paper and decoupaged it onto the first, but its hard to make out in the photo.

"Card in box"

Of course, every dimensional card needs a box, so this is one I rustled up from some strong white card, more Websters pages, lace and distress inks. If you make your easel card 6" x 6" and not too dimensional, so that's it's only 1" thick when folded, then you can make the box from A4 card. Just cut two squares, one  8 1/4 " and the other 8 1/8" and put creases in 1" from the edges.

Ingredients
Sizzix Decorative Strip Die: Tim Holtz' Rosette

X-Cut round corner punch

Lace

Distress Inks: Victorian Velvet, Tattered Rose

Websters Pages (free with Simply Cards & Papercraft 94)

Sister Sentiment (free with Simply Cards & Papercraft 94)
Other Sentiments from Henbury Lane decoupage packs

Cardstock: white, 300gsm

Tim Holtz Seasonal paper pad (to cut rosette flower & for matching backing card)

Lots of scrummy flowers

Adhesives: glossy accents (for box & lace), PVA (for matting), Pinflair (for flowers & decoupage)

Entered for the following challenge:

Joanna Sheen - Spring / Easter
S J Crafts - Flowers
Let's Ink it Up - Show Us Your Flowers (there are stamped swirls on my pink card flowers)
CES Challenges - Flower Frenzy

Free bird

Just about everything on this card has Tim Holtz' name on it in one way or another, from the inks, to the stamps, embossing folder, diecuts, and even the distress stickles.

"Free bird"

I love playing with these birdcages (a big thankyou to Lee (Craftyloops) for sending me the birdcage & bird diecuts), but I don't like trapping the bird in the cage, so inevitably end up with the bird peeping in (he's usually looking for his mate, or a bit of food!).  It's a bit of a sad day for us because one of our hens died last night, but I like to think that she's free now. Mind you, our hens have the life of Riley with Tom to look after them! He's still updating his blog with news of our flock and we have some more little ones due to hatch next Monday, but I digress...I've made this quite a detailed account of how to make the card for any beginners who happen to be reading this. If you're an expert, you can just skip the text and look at the pretty pictures :-)

"Distressed & stamped blue background with Perfect Pearls"

There is so much going on with this card it's hard to know where to start, but I'll start at the back and work my way forward. The blank card is decorated with blue distress inks and overstamped with various meadow stamps in brushed corduroy before brushing with Perfect Pearls. It's important to let the background dry completely before using Perfect Pearls on stamping, otherwise it will just adhere to everything.

"Embossed & inked tag with distress stickles"

To colour the tag diecut (another present from Lee - thankyou!), swipe Brushed Corduroy distress inks over the top side of the wood embossing folder before passing through a roller-type machine - this puts plenty of colour neatly into the grooves in the embossing. Next, use foam to work a few other colours into the tag (I used antique linen, crushed olive & walnut stain). Distress the outer edges (I even tore the edges a little), then stain with walnut stain. Finally, the entire tag was covered with a layer of rock candy distrss stickles by wiping it on with a finger.

The birdcage was swiped with clear versamark ink, sprinkled with silver embossing powder, then heat-embossed. This was repeated until a good, even texture was achieved. The birdcage was then shaped out in the middle for some dimension, and fixed to the tag with Pinflair dimensional glue (I find this glue is forgiving and allows some flexibility).

"Hello little birdy!"

The diecut bird was inked with blue, overstamped in brown, dried, then covered in distress stickles. The branch was coloured with brown distress inks. The wing was coloured in the same way and attached to the bird with Pinflair dimensional glue.

"Butterfly"

This little butterfly was stamped with clear versamark ink and heat-embossed in gold, then cut out and coloured with distress ink to match the background. I tend to make a whole sheet of these in one go with a few different stamps, then cut them out in the evening when watching TV. Kept in a little pot on the craft desk, they can then be coloured to match your project.

"Journalling ticket"

If you want your stamping to be neat and clear, then archival or memento inks are brilliant, but you sometimes want a smudgy, grungy stamp, and distress inks are ideal for this. They seem to "splodge" a bit better (and of course, they are ideal for Perfect Pearls powders). When stamping with distress ink, it is important to do any background inking first (you don't want to blend your stamp into the background!).

To make this ticket, first cut a rough rectangle of white card and ink it with blue distress inks. Next, stamp the journalling ticket with a brown distress ink. Allow to dry, then cut out. Distress the edges of the ticket, then take a piece of cut n dry foam and use it to work some brushed corduroy distress ink around the edges. If you want your ticket to look even more distressed, add some walnut stain ink. Stamp the sentiment nice and clearly with black archival ink. Finally, add a hole with a punch and tie to the top of the tag with some ribbon, setting the ticket at an angle.

"Organza flower with button centre"

To make an organza flower, diecut organza using the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die. Taking each diecut in turn, hold the flower on a heatproof mat (use a tool with a wooden handle like an embossing tool or similar and NOT your fingers or you will burn them), and gently heat the edges with a heat tool on its lowest setting. If you heat too much, the fabric will just melt. You just want to curl the edges. Once you have a set of diecuts (one of each is sufficient), you can just fix them together with a brad, or sew them together as I have done here, and fix a button to the centre. These were just cheap, black, plastic buttons that I coloured by dabbing with Adirondack alcohol inks in blue and silver.

Goodness, if you read all that I hope you're not cross-eyed!!

Entered for the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp and Show...Torn Edges, Distress Inks, a Button and some Wings!

Anniversary cards - a Balloon, a Pop-up Heart, Two Swans and lots of Love!

I got a bit carried away on our last wedding aniversary. Couldn't decide which card I liked best and ended up giving my husband not one, but three cards! I just love the image on the front of this card, yet another free one from the Graphics Fairy.

"Anniversary card number 1 - front"

The flowers are from organza cut with Tim Holtz' Tattered Florals die and then singed around the edges with a heat tool before layering together with brads. You need to use the cheap organza, not the real silk fabric, or you don't get the right affect. I use a pokey tool or embossing tool to hold the fabric down onto a heatproof mat while I heat the edges. Work quickly and bring the heat in from the outside in, or you'll just end up with a lump of molten plastic! Probably best to keep the windows open too - you never know what nasty fumes you'll get from heating plastics.

"Anniversary card 1 - inside pop-up heart"

My husband must get bored saying how nice my latest card is, so I try to give him a "Wow" on the inside of the cards when I can. I was in a "love you so much it hurts" mood when I made this one :). The die cuts are Spellbinders "Fallen Angel" set.

"Anniversary card 2 - True Love"

Swans mate for life. I was lucky enough to meet my soul-mate and we have been married for over twenty years now. I just love this Kanban topper and the way the swans' necks form a heart.

"Anniversary Card 3 - Love"

The basic design for the third card was a blatant rip-off of a card featured in an article in "Craft Stamper" magazine, but whilst their card was carefully stamped & embossed, mine used up a sheet of red & gold heart-themed peel-offs, and I had some unusual embellishments for the tag inside the card:

"Anniversary card 3 - tag"

Yes, you see correctly - there's a tea caddy spoon attached to the key! I thought it was a nice variation on the "love spoon".

"Anniversary card 3 - inside"

The unusual part of this card is the integral box of chocolates with a heart-shaped aperture covered in acetate to stop the chocs falling out (as you can see, most of the choccies have been eaten :)).

Hope you all have a good weekend x