Cardmaking-Companion-Blog

card making embellishments and much more surrounded me yesterday when I had a really great day out visiting the Card Making & Creative Stitching Exhibition at Manchester Central Exhibition Hall.

As you can see from the photgraph it was reallly busy and everyone was busy hunting for either a bargain or something just that little bit different.

I normally go to 3 or 4 exhibitions a year and I really enjoy them. Normally I'm there when the doors open and stay until they close!

Yesterday I wanted to replenish my stock of Card Making Embellishments and especially get some new ribbon.

A great stall which I always look out for at exhibitions is MeiFlower as they have some really different embellishments.

I stocked up on the new ribbon, fabric butterflies, chiffon flowers, metal charms, and rubber moulded images. Now I just can't wait to get started using them and hopefully you'll see some of the results on future posts.

By the time I got home, after having got caught in rush hour traffic, I spent the night doing what I'm sure many of the day's visitors would have been doing - I lovingly unpacked all my items and spread them all around me and gazed at them fondly!

So I'm off to get on with some card making - I'll let you know how I get on soon.

Susan from Cardmaking-Companion.

Technorati Tags: card making, card making embellishments, cardmaking, cardmaking embellishments

You may be looking at this Handmade Wedding Invitation and be wondering what is so unusual about it?

It looks like a fairly standard 6" by 6" square card which has been covered with a heart covered background paper.

The plain white feature heart is cut from a Nestability layered onto a pink scalloped heart. (The pink picks up the hint of pink which is in the background paper.)

The heart has been embellished with mini pink heart jewels and then, using 3D foam. has been mounted on top of a pale pink organza bow. The tails of the bow are actually pinned down by the heart which creates quite a nice effect.

So what is so unusual about this card? Well it has nothing to do with the actual make-up of the card, it's to do with the reason why I made it.....

....Last weekend a young friend of ours came round to the house to give us an invitation to his wedding in August, later this year.

He knew I made handmade cards and he asked me to create an invitation for him to send to his fiancee, basically inviting her to her own wedding!

 Now I have to admit this is the first time I've ever heard of this, let alone be asked to make one. However our friend, Stewie thought it would be a romantic gesture and would make his fiancee feel special.

As I've said before I'm a hopeless romantic at heart  so no matter how unusual the request was I couldn't say "no"!

For the inside of the card I made a pale lilac insert which toned nicely with the pink and brown on the card's front.

At the outside edges of the insert I used a nice flourish punch which has a central heart. This is a very simple thing to do but I think it always adds a lot to the overall look and feel of the card.

I left the insert blank because I thought it would be nice for Stewie to write in his own words and feelings.

  On the front of the heart I just printed in a nice script "For Lisa With All My Love".

I gave the card to Stewie today and he was already in trouble for being late going home to Lisa - I just hope that she liked the card as much as Stewie did!

Susan from Cardmaking-Companion

Technorati Tags: card making, Cardmaking-Companion, handmade cards, handmade wedding invitation

 For me Valentine's Day conjures up a picture of Romance from a bygone age.

I suppose at heart I'm just an incurable romantic and the latest range of Vintage Valentine Card Toppers from Cardmaking-Ideas captures the feeling perfectly.

Valentine's Day as we know it dates from the 19th Century and it is a tradition that shows no sign of dying out. Infact each year there seems to be more and more cards sent.

I love these vintage images for a number of reasons - for me they just ooze romance and some of them are very sensual; and you can make a card with them very quickly and easily. This is a definite plus point if you are making a number of cards for sale.

This particular image is in the running to be my favourite - I love the Art Deco feel to it and the colour scheme.

The image comes with a choice of 2 different colour borders and I have chosen to use the one wth the purple frame. I have then matt and layered it onto a lilac and then burgundy card.

These are not normally colours you would think work well together but they fit perfectly with this image. To set off the intense colours I have used a white pearlised base card.

The set comes with 2 different coloured sentiments and I have used the purple one and have again matt and layered it onto the lilac and burgundy card. I have mounted it using the 3D foam pads to raise it off the base of the card.

You could dress this card up with other card making embellishments but I feel that the image is powerful enough to carry the card.

Now the only decision is who do I send it to? Should I send it to my husband, or tease one of my sons and send it to him?

Technorati Tags: card making embellishments, handmade Valentine's Day card, vintage Valentine's images

  Des is the lead pastor at Longton Community Church and today is his 40th birthday!

So to mark the occasion here is the handmade birthday card which I made for him.

Des enjoys a game of golf so this led me to pick one of Cardmaking-Ideas' Argyle patterns for the background paper (this one is in silver and dark blue).

I matt and layered this onto a pale blue card and then silver mirror card.

The numbers and the sentiment were cut out from the George cartridge on the Cricut using another Cardmaking-Ideas paper - the grey textured pattern. I again matt and layered these onto the silver mirror card.

Have you noticed that a lot of the shop bought cards use the 3D foam pads for their embellishments and then seem to double the price of the card?

Well there's no reason why we can't do that with our own handmade birthday cards.

Although you can't see it in this photgraph the numbers have been affixed to the card using 3D sticky foam pads to give the card dimension.

And finally just remember:

"The first forty years of life give us the text: the next thirty supply the commentary!" Arthur Schopenhauer.

Technorati Tags: card making, Cardmaking Ideas, Handmade Birthday Cards

Great news that I've just got to share with you - Cardmaking-Companion's sister site, Cardmaking-Ideas is now open!

Cardmaking-Ideas is packed full of wonderful downloadable printables suitable for both card making and scrapbooking. There are wonderful background papers, card toppers and card making embellishments.

The vast majority of the papers on the site are exclusive to us so you won't find them on anyone else's web site.

Using digital downloads is a cost effective way to build up a library of versatile papers and images which you can have at hand whenever you're in the mood for card making!

New items are being added to the site almost daily at present so don't forget to bookmark the site and keep checking out all the different ranges.

Happy crafting!

Technorati Tags: card making, card making embellishments, card toppers, Cardmaking Ideas, digital papers, downloadable papers

  Carrying on the "dotty" theme from the last post -I hope you like my "dotty butterflies" handmade card.

As soon as I saw these spotted butterfly embellishments with their pink jewels this card sprang to life in my mind.

I've used a bright pink micro dot paper from Cardmaking-Ideas over a white card blank.

Using a large Nestability Circle I cut a window in the micro dot paper before affixing it to the card.

The window border is cut from a complimentary pink cardstock using both  Scallop and Circle Nestability dies through my Cuttlebug machine.

The spotty black ribbon, complimenting the butterflies, was the finishing touch

Like most of Britain we've had our fair share of snow here in Longton.

It's been so cold that our dog has refused to go on his normal morning walk - he put his anchors on and wouldn't budge! However I decided to take a stroll down to the Brickcroft to see how it looked in  the snow.

This photo doesn't do it justice - it was eerily quiet and beautiful. 

The pond is actually frozen and all the ducks, geese and swans were huddled along the banks.

The weathermen say this cold spell is in for a bit longer but isn't that a wonderful excuse for staying snug inside and getting on with more Card Making!

Technorati Tags: card making, Cardmaking Ideas, Cuttlebug machine, Handmade Card

 A Happy Card Making New Year to You All!

I've just issued January's copy of "News and Views" which is Cardmaking-Companion's free newsletter and I thought I'd share with you one of the cards I've featured in it.

Each month with "News and Views" you get free digital downloads and an example of what you can make with them.

This card uses 3 of the free elements - the mottled lilac background paper, the lilac middle sized dotty paper and the "Sister" sentiment. The flowers are from my stash of card making embellishments.

These papers are exclusive to Cardmaking-Companion and will shortly be available from our sister site Cardmaking-Ideas which is due to be launched this month.

If you haven't already signed up for "News and Views" all you need to do is complete the name and e-mail address box at Cardmaking-Companion and we'll do the rest.

So 2010 has arrived, the start of a new decade - let's make it a wonderful Card Making year!

Technorati Tags: background paper, card making, card making embellishments, free digital downloads