Cardmaking-Companion-Blog

For those of you who are new to this blog , you may not realise that every month Cardmaking-Companion issues a FREE monthly newsletter called, “News and Views”. With the newsletter comes 7 FREE digital background papers.

It’s very easy to sign up for the newsletter – simply scroll down the right hand margin of this blog and you’ll see the sign up box, or alternatively sign up directly from the main website.

Each month I show a card I have made with one of the free papers, and I thought this month I would share this with you on the blog.

I love this striking grey, pink and black floral paper. It’s quite a busy design but lends itself well to either a plain card or a more elaborate design.

This 6″ x 6″ card blank has been covered with the paper. I have some pre-cut cream hammer finish circles and one of these has formed the centre piece of the card. Onto this I have mounted a scalloped edge circle, cut with a Nestability, from one of Cardmaking-Ideas’ dotty papers.

I made a small bouquet of 3 rose floral embellishments and hand tied them with a pink ribbon, fixing them to the card with some PVA glue.

Around the edge of the circle I punched some butterflies, alternating a plain pink one with a “dotty” one. Small pink pearl embellishments were added to the body of each butterfly.

I decided to leave the card sentiment free but a peel off sticker would have worked in the bottom right hand corner.

Inside the card I used a pink insert and, as usual,  punched a design into the bottom right hand corner.

I have already sent this card to a dear lady called Emma, who is 80 years old, and has just undergone a 7 hour back operation. Thankfully the operation has been a success and Emma is expected to make a full recovery.

Tomorrow is the turn of yet another young couple from our Church to get married (what are they putting in the coffee!) – Rachel and Phil.

Here is the card which I’ve just finished making for them.

I’ve covered a landscape base card with one of our own very pretty heart papers. This was given away with July’ edition of “News and Views” and will shortly be appearing for sale on Cardmaking-Ideas.  I think that it’s a really pretty paper which works so well on a wedding card.

The centre panel is made from a pale pink pearlescent card ( in the photogragh it has lost its pink sheen) and has been embossed using my Cuttlebug and a Sizzix embossing folder.

The cake and wedding bell decoupage embellishments are ones taken from a sheet of wedding day handmade embellishments. These were very reasonably priced and most stores stock similar ones. Two self adhesive pink faux pearls decorate the remaining 2 corners of the panel.

The card was very easy to make and looks better in real life than it does here in the photo.

I just want to share with you this card I made for my friend Margaret who was 60 yesterday.

Margaret is a very special lady so I wanted to make her a very special card. What makes her so special is that she has recently donated one of her kidneys to another member of our Church who was in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

Margaret is not related to the other person but felt directed by God to put herself forward for kidney matching. Now if you are not religious you might say that this is a load of rubbish – I’m not here to argue the semantics or rights of this I’m just reporting to you what Margaret felt she had to do.

None of the recipient’s family were a match but Margaret was so the operation went swiftly ahead.

Margaret has saved the recipient’s life because she was failing to respond to dialysis.

What a selfless act – at 59 years of age Margaret knew the risks and was prepared to take them.

Could I be so selfless? The honest answer is I’m not sure – I would like to think I could be but until faced with the situation I do not know how I would react.

As you can see on the card I have made a little bouquet from the floral embellishments which I got at Port Sunlight and I’ve used lots of pink gemstones to add life to the brown and pink cardstock I’ve used for the Toppers.

The backing paper is a spare sheet I’ve had in my “stash” and I thought the brown and pink made a nice choice rather than standard floral, silver or gold based papers.

The words and numbers are cut from the Cricut George cartridge. The base card is cream and I added a punched pink insert.

Anyway I hope you like it and after telling her story you can see why I think Margaret is so special!

Becuase it is known that I make cards for charity I am lucky enough to sometimes be given card making supplies from different people. Recently I was given a few boxes from an elderly lady who used to own a craft shop.

It was quite exciting rooting through everything – some of the stuff was very old and had discoloured but I found a few sheets of these cute toppers.

The paper they have been printed on is quite flimsy so I mounted them on silver Mirri card, and because the images, although cute, looked a bit flat I aded a sprinkling of glitter. In the photogragh the glitter looks a bit clumpy but on the actual card it adds a delicate highlight.

The landscape card blank has been covered with the blue multi dot paper from cardmaking-Ideas, which picks up the blue from the Topper.

I’ve used a corner punch on the bottom 2 corners to add interest to the card and added  tiny blue gemstones as an embellishment below the punches.

The sentiment is a peel off sticker mounted onto pale blue card, matt and layered onto the Mirri card.

The cream fabric flower tucked behind the Topper adds a finishing touch to the front of the card. This is one of a lot of fabric flowers which I bought at the Port Sunlight Show.  They come in bunches of about 9 flower heads on wire stems and I really like them. The down side is that they do make the card bulky so ideally you need to make a box, rather than an envelope to put the card in.

Finishing touch is the card insert which is in cream to co ordinate with the flower embellishment.

This ballerina topper was also part of my find. It is so sweet that it makes a great card for a young girl.  Again I have mounted it onto silver Mirri card and I’ve highlighted the flowers with a pinch of glitter. The card is covered with Dusky Pink Swirls, from Cardmaking-Ideas, which I think suits the Topper perfectly.

The sentiment has been matt and layered onto the Mirri card and the finishing touch is a dusky pink organza ribbon. Inside the card is a pink insert.

The card on the right has been made using the same Topper and paper but I’ve just altered the layout slightly by only partcovering the white card blank.  A silver peel off edges the paper.

These Ballerina cards were made prior to me going to the Port Sunlight show. Had I been making them now I would also have added some of the flower embellishments which I bought.

Are you ever stuck for a Birthday Card and just want to make something quickly?

Well you can do this easily by crafting a card using a Card Topper, and with a couple of quick additions the card can look really special.

For this card I covered a 12cm x 12cm (approximately 4½” x 4½”) card blank with a mottled green paper. This was a piece of  loose paper I had floating around – remember never get rid of your off cuts – they will always come in handy!

I thought the paper complemented the card topper well.  The card topper is one from a sheet from E – Z Stick On Embellishments.

I tend to buy sheets of these card making embellishments when they are in a sale. I just choose ones I really like and then pop them in my embellishments drawer ready for when I need them.

This topper has a blank space on it for you to write a message but I opted instead to put a small clear “Happy Birthday” sticker onto it.

If I hadn’t bothered to do anything else the card would have looked a little plain so I added a rose pink chiffon bow to it. This complements the lilac on the topper. I experimented with some peel off corners and thought about punching the edge, but in the end decided this was fine.  On a small card I do think you can overdo the decoration sometimes.

For the inside of the card I decided to use a pink card making insert . I chose pink because it is a nice contrast to the green background paper and also matches the ribbon nicely.

To give some interest to the insert I used a small thumbnail punch to punch a butterfly in the bottom right hand corner. Obviously the white of the card blank shows through – a simple and effective way to make your card that bit special!

This card only took a few minutes to make once I had decided what I was going to use but I hope you’ll agree with me that the end result is a pretty Handmade Birthday card!

Susan from Cardmaking-Companion.

Technorati Tags: card making embellishments, Card Making Insert, Card Topper, Hnadmade Birthday Card

In an earlier post this month I spoke about the cards I make to support the children’s village. Well it’s coming into the season when our card making is in full swing – Mother’s Day, a Baptism service and Easter are all big sellers.

Now this type of card making is different from making cards for personal use or as a business proposition.

It costs £1 GBP to feed and school one child in Uganda for one day so when we first started this venture that is what we priced the cards at. The dilemma we face is that although we want to make the cards as attractive as possible we cannot make them too elaborate as they would cost more to make than what we sell them for.

The above two Mother’s Day cards are perfect examples of what people get for their £1.

The blank cards are plain white 6″x6″. The front of the card has been covered with embossed wrapping paper. The blue card has been matt and layered onto silver mirror card and the lilac card has been matt and layered onto purple pearlescent card and silver mirror card.

The Mother’s Day sentiments are silver peel-offs stuck to a pearlescent tag mounted onto the silver mirror card. These are fixed to the cards using 3D double sided sticky pads to give some diemnsion to the card.

Finishing card making embellishments are a blue chiffon bow and a lovely lilac spotted fabric butterfly on the respective cards.

I think they are really good value for £1 but would love to hear what you think!

Susan from Cardmaking-Companion

Technorati Tags: card making, card making embellishments, Mothers Day Cards

Maybe I’m showing my age her but when I made this card the word “funky” just sprang to mind! Is that a word that’s even in use today? Pprobably not, but it does me fine!

 This Home Made Birthday Card would make a great card for  a young teenage girl.

The card developed around the rubber embellishment which was another of the ones I got from the Manchester Show.

I decided to glue the embellishment to the inside back of the card – obviously in normal circumstances this wouldn’t be seen but I used a Zig Zag Circle Nestability to cut an aperture in the front of the card.

 The front of the card has been covered with a Red and Pink Small Checks paper from Cardmaking Ideas.

I’ve had a sheet of pale pink peel offs for absolutely ages and never seem to have found the right card for them but I thought they might be just right for this one.

I used the Happy Birthday sentiment and then decided that the card looked a little bare so I stuck stars from the same peel off sheet around the embellishment on the inside of the card.

In the photgraph on the right you can see what the card looks like when opened up.

Anyway I hope you like this one – it’s easy to make and just that bit different.

Susan

Technorati Tags: card making, card making embellishments, home made birthday card, peel offs

If you have read the “About Us” page on Cardmaking-Companion you will already know that I make cards which I sell to help support a children’s village in Uganda.

 I sell the cards, as part of a team, once a month, at Longton Community Church.

The type of cards which always fly off the stand are the ones with words of encouragement on them, especially when they quote a bible text.

Whilst these cards may not be the most difficult cards to make they are certainly the most appreciated by both those who buy them, and by those who receive them.

This photograph shows some of the latest batch I have made. The card blanks are in a range of pastel shades and have a foiled design on them.

The message has been rubber stamped in black VersaFine ink onto white card, matt and layered onto plain card in a complimentary colour to the card blank.

Most of the cards have no card making embellishments on them, only an occasional jewel as a flower centre.

We as card makers can get carried away with making elaborate creations but sometimes all that someone needs is a simple message of encouragement to help them get through the troubles they are facing.

I leave you with this one thought – could some one you know benefit from a card like this at the moment?

Susan from Cardmaking-Companion

Technorati Tags: card making, cardd making embellishemnts, cardmaking, rubber stamped

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching here is a rather cute Handmade Valentine Card.  The great thing about this card is that it is also suitable for other occasions when you want to tell someone how much they mean to you.

It could be sent to cheer someone up when they are feeling down. In fact one of my friends is going through a hard time at the moment so I might just send it to them.

I’ve used a 5″ by 7″ white card blank which has been partially covered with a red gingham background paper from the Raggedy-Anne collection at Cardmaking-Ideas.com

The heart border has been cut using the edger heart lace puch from Martha Stewart.

The sentiment is one I got awhile ago from Hero Arts  and it has been stamped in a burgundy Versa Color ink.

Finishing touches are the red chiffon bow and a rubber teddy bear card making embellishment. This is one of the embellishments I purchased on my recent trip to the Manchester card show.

I really enjoyed making this card and I have to say I am pleased with the result!

Susan from Cardmaking-Companion

Technorati Tags: card making, card making embellishment, Handmade Valentine Card

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