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

  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

 Are you an organised sort of person who is always on top of things and has all the handmade Christmas cards finished by the beginning of December?

Or are you like me, with 101 things left to do at the last minute?

Well just in case you still haven't completed your cards and are getting desperate, here is the answer - a 2 minute Christmas Card!

These cards are so simple to make yet still have the individual handmade look and feel to them.

I made these from a pack of holographic tags which have been sitting in my "stash" for so many years that I can't remember where I got them from.

The card toppers were free from a cardmaking magazine and were fixed to the gift tag with 3D foam pads to add some dimension to the card.

I used some glitter to add a bit of sparkle to the card toppers and then finished off with a peel off sentiment and a bit of off-cut ribbon. ( Another reason why not to throw anything away, even small off cuts can come in useful!)

The card blank used was a white 3½"  square.

These may not be the most elegant of homemade christmas cards but they are quick, jolly and full of Christmas cheer!

Technorati Tags: card making, card toppers, handmade christmas cards

 My son David is studying for his Masters Degree at Durham which is a beautiful city.

When I found out that they have an annual Christmas Festival it was a great opportunity to kill 2 birds with one stone - visit David and see the Festival.

The Festival was split into 2 sections - the local food fair was in the cloisters of the Cathedral -as pictured on the left.

It was a wonderful setting, especially noticing the signs which warned you to be careful not to step on any young bats which may have fallen from the cloister roof! ( No, I didn't spot any!)

The rest of the Festival was in a large marquee on Palace Green which is in front of the Cathedral.

It was full of stalls selling lots of beautiful items which you never knew you needed!

There were at least 3 stalls there selling handmade cards and card making supplies - I couldn't resist some more winter Cuttlebug embossing folders.

One of the stalls was run by 2 delightful ladies, Shirley & Margaret.

They told me that they are both retired but love card making and do a number of craft fairs every year.

(I took their e-mail addresses but seem to have misplaced them in the hustle and bustle of the fair - so if they are reading this please get in touch through Cardmaking-Companion.)

 Their cards were selling really well and were well presented. If a customer wanted the card personalised they were happy to oblige curtesy of a peel-off. 

So all in all I had a lovely day out, I saw my son and managed to find some wonderful card making!

Technorati Tags: card making, Cuttlebug embossing folders, hand made cards

ife has been so hectic lately that my card making sessions have been few and far between. Anyway hopefully things have quietened down a bit now and I can crank up the card making.

To get started I've been cutting out circles and ovals with Nestabilities and them rubber stamping on them sat in front of the TV.

Last night I started assembling the cards and I thought you'd like to see one of the results.

Materials used:

White base card, Green mirror card, red textured card, Christmas backround paper, Christmas sentiment, red spotted ribbon, white sparkle glitter, red glitter and the rubber stamped image was free with a card making magazine. Coloured using Copic pens.

Here's a close-up of the rubber stamping:

The card and image is a lot sharper in real life - I think I'm going to have to work on my camera skills!

Technorati Tags: card making, Copic Pens, Nestabilities, rubber stamping

I had a superb day last Saturday when a friend and I went to a Rubber Stamping Fair at Port Sunlight. It was a great day out and we were spoilt for choice with the wide variety of different stamps which were for sale.

Obviously Christmas themed stamps dominated the stalls but there were plenty of other stamps as well.

I picked up some lovely Penny Black clear stamps packs which had been discounted by 66% - what a bargain! Hopefully I'll be able to post some of my efforts with them shortly.

I also got another set of Just Rite stamps which I'm itching to use!

We spent the whole day at the Fair and by the time we got home we could hardly stand let alone think about rubber stamping!

I really enjoy going to card making and craft fairs - I like seeing what new products are on offer and always find there's some new tip you can pick up from the demonstrators.

Technorati Tags: card making, Penny Black clear stamps, rubber stamping, rubber stamps for card making