Cardmaking-Companion-Blog

Reaching 40 years of marriage is quite an achievement so when our friends, Bob & Linda , were celebrating their Ruby Wedding recently I wanted to give them a special card.

I didn't have a lot of time to work on the card so I decided to adapt the Golden Wedding Card design. You don't always have to come up with new and exciting designs every time - if you're pushed for time adapt something you've already done which you know works!

So for this one the card blank is, as previously, 8" x 8" with gold mirror card and cream parchment matt and layered onto it.

The centre piece is my good old favourite Sizzix "Forever & Always" embossing folder. Of all the embossing folders I own this is the one I use time and time again!

I tried many different ribbons on this card but decided to use this satin red polka dot one. Note that I fixed the strip to the parchment matt before sticking the parchment onto the mirror card - this enables the ends to be safely secured between the layers so there is no chance of fraying.

Ten paper red roses form the bouquet tied with the matching ribbon. I'm not very good at ribbon tying and it took me half a dozen attempts to get this one to sit correctly.

I slipped a silver heart charm onto the wire stems of the bouquet, twisting the wire to ensure that the charm does not fall off.

For the insert I went a bit over the top! I used a pearlised gold A4 sheet and then using a Martha Stewart border punched a lace edging out in ruby red card.

It's been a number of weeks since the Ruby Wedding but Bob says the card is still sat on their mantlepiece!

Recently at Longton Community Church we held a Promise Auction in aid of the Mission Work we are doing in Uganda and Macedonia. I "promised " 2 lots, each of 10 Handmade Christmas Cards. Both lots sold well but after the auction one of the bidders asked could she alter her 10 to a mix of everyday cards. I didn't have a problem with this and she duly presented me with a list of upcoming occasions - the first of which is a wedding.

Now handmade wedding cards are not something I tend to make a lot of, but I have to say I am rather pleased as to how this one has turned out.

The card blank is my usual "specials" size of 8" x 8" and I've covered it with a sheet of paper from the do crafts Papermania Confetti pad. I love all the sentiments on this paper, and although I did toy with  the idea of putting a sentiment embellishment in the bottom left hand corner I decided the card worked just as well without it.

The 2 hearts have been cut using Nestabilities from a piece of left overpale pink  background paper which has a manuscript design on it.

The scalloped edge is also from a Nestability, cut from a pearlescent pink paper.

The cardmaking embellishments are from a sheet of wedding card embellishments which I picked up from a sale bucket. When I see sheets of embellishments in sale buckets I tend to buy them by the handful as I always find they come in useful.

I also added a heart shape jewel stick on to each heart  and to compliment the pink rose embellishment on the bottom heart I added a pink paper rose to the top heart.

Each of the hearts has been stuck to the card using 3 dimensional foam pads to add more depth to the card.

The insert (not shown) is pink with a heart punch out in the bottom right hand corner and down each inside outer edge of the card I have stuck 4 punched hearts.

If you have any wedding cards which you'd like to share with myself and other readers of Cardmaking-Companion just go to the Readers' Gallery on Cardmaking-Companion, follow the simple instructions and upload your card photo.

In a recent Promise Auction to help raise funds for a Mission  Trip to Uganda I offered to make 10 cards, as and when, they were required by the bidder.

The successful bidder has just asked me to make a card for a 15 year old teenage "girly" girl.

Well I have to confess I've really struggled with this one - it's due to be handed over tomorrow and I've sat for ages trying to decide what to do.

Ideally I would have liked to have put a rubber stamped image onto the card but despite having boxes of stamps I soon discovered none of them were really suitable - so this is my finished result.

I've used a white 8" x 8" card blank and after searching through my stash I found this girly birthday paper.

After matting it onto some pink Mirri card I wasn't sure what to do next!

Finally I decided to cut out 3 of the pictures from another piece of the same paper and mounted each of them onto an inverted pink Mirri scallop cut with Nestability dies. I mounted them over the original pictures using 3D fixing pads.

To give the card a bit more "umph" I've embellished parts of the individual pictures with stick on jewels. I toyed with the idea of putting a lilac ribbon over the top of the parcel picture but after trying it decided it was too much. As usual I don't think the photo does the card justice!

For the inside I cut up another paper from the same pad and put a border of girls along the outside edges before using a pink insert with a punched heart in the bottom right hand corner.

I just hope the bidder likes it!

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.

Way back in January I wrote about an Unusual Wedding Invitation which I had made for Stewie to give to his bride to be, Lisa. Well the Wedding Day finally came last Sunday and we had a lovely day at their wedding.

However, as usual, my life has been really hectic so I had absolutely no time left to make them a Wedding Card myself. I frantically searched through all the card boxes of the cards we sell at Church. Luckily Anita had recently made this delightful card so I dutifully purchased it, but before writing it, decided it was so nice I had to share it with you.

The card is a landscape with scalloped edges. I hope you can just make out the pale white and grey backing paper which Anita has used as a base mat. Onto this she has rubber stamped a delightful wedding image from Lili of the Valley which she had bought from one of the craft shows we have been to, and a simple sentiment.

The stamped image has been mounted onto silver Mirri card and the finishing touch is a white chiffon ribbon.

I love the way Anita has been quite sparing with her use of colour on this card - the image could have been more heavily coloured but I think this would have distracted from the overall feel of the card.

A little glitter just gives the card the right amount of highlights.

And just in case you're wondering what the happy couple looked like - here is their photo - taken just after they'd exited the Church through a whirl of confetti!

Carrying on from my last post, here are a couple of quick and easy friendship cards, made using Card Toppers.

This background paper is part of a stack I've had for ages and when I spotted this pretty floral topper it seemed as if they were meant to go together!

I simply mounted the topper and the sentiment (which came from the same sheet) onto silver Mirri card.

To add a bit of interest to the design I  punched the lower edge of the bacground paper with the Martha Stewart double loops punch.

The background card is a standard 6" x 6" white card blank.

This took me so little time to make yet it will let someone know how much I care for them.

Using the same background paper and another topper and sentiment from the same sheet I made this other quick card.

Both ideas are simple enough for you to copy using what you already have in your own stash of papers and toppers.

The idea is not to produce an elaborate card but to let someone know how much they mean to you.

Technorati Tags: card toppers

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.

Here's a little something for St Patrick's Day!

Although the theme is St Patrick's Day it would be easy to adapt this idea for any other special day. For a birthday you could substitute a more expenisve bar of chocolate and use some of the lovely papers from Cardmaking-Ideas!

Susan
Cardmaking-companion

Technorati Tags: card making, card making papers

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