Some Snowglobe Cards

I made These cards using the snowglobe template we now have on Free Craft Downloads

The first two use some of our Christmas designs on Free Craft Downloads

Christmas Teddy Decoupage
Snow 2 Backing Paper
Dark wood Backing Paper

Santa and Rudolph Decoupage
Snow 1 light backing paper
Light wood backing paper










I made some other cards to show that snowglobes are not just for Christmas

Old flower decoupage
Happy Birthday embossed words backing paper
Light wood backing paper

Hat and broom backing paper
Witches decoupage
Dark wood backing paper

Blue flower Decoupage
Light wood backing paper
Snow 1 light backing paper









Gold border peel offs were used around the outer edges of the cards
Ribbon Merry Christmas used on the Christmas ones
Ribbon bows used on the Best Wishes one
Ribbon flowers used on the Birthday one
Gold peel off letters used for Happy Halloween and Best Wishes wording

Brewster makes his debut

Brewster is making his debut today 

Some of you will have already had a sneaky preview of him but today he is making his debut on Free Craft Downloads as a newspaper vendor



In the example card I made  I announced Brewster's debut  on the board
When you are making your cards with him you can add a persons birthday or  special announcement or personal message for someone etc
Hope you have fun with him

Iris folding card

It has been a while since I have done some iris folding and had forgotten how therapeutic it is
I have recently joined a very helpful support group and earlier today we had the chance to do some iris folding

Here is the card I made

 

It did seem a little strange making a card with materials that were not mine but soon got into it and was quite pleased with how it turned out

I will have to dig out some of the patterns I have here and do some more

My experience with Watercolours and Mandalas

Earlier today  (03-10-10) I was lucky to have a try at watercolour mandala painting, something I was looking forward to but also quite nervous about, At the last moment before leaving home I was feeling that nervous I almost didn't go, I took a deep breath and told myself this was a once in a lifetime chance for me to do this and went and am so glad I did  I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience

The afternoon started with an introduction from Tatiania Overduin who is from Australia, she told us a little about herself and about her watercoloured mandala painting,

We had a powerpoint slideshow about the history of mandalas how they originated from Buddist traditons and the Sanscrit meaning "making one's circular mark on paper"  and were shown various ones from back in time
A lot of the mandalas are geometrical designs / paintings, what we did was "painting from within" our circle could be divided into 2 halves or into 4  it was a spiritual, reflective painting session to meditative music.

The Mandala is a form of creative meditation, an outer representation of the inner self, sometimes you may understand your personal mandala other times you may question your choice of symbols, expressions & colours.

We began our work in a calm environment listening to meditative music travelling our own journey in our minds and letting it flow through to our brushes and onto our paper

As some of you know I have been experiencing difficult times this past year or so and I have to admit I was a bit "scared" of how my painting would turn out, I was quite pleased with the result, to me it showed how I am and have been feeling.

We had some inspirational Bible texts to look at, from these and combined with the music and our feelings  hopefully we would draw some inspiration
The Bible text I was drawn to was
Deuteronomy 2:7
The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert.These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything
Deuteronomy 2:6-8

I looked at the circle I had drawn for my painting and how I was feeling also thinking of  parts of the Bible text " The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. This shows in my love of crafting  and how it helps me   and also  "He has watched over your journey through this vast desert" from the dark times I have experienced this past year I have sometimes felt as though I have been "wandering around lost" not knowing where I was going on my life journey or which path I was  to go down next where were the happy times?   I decided to let my paintbrush take me on that journey and see what happened

Here is my painting  I called it Wandering around lost

Some of you will know I quite often say  My painting looks like a 3 year old could do better and I will forgive you for thinking the same when you first saw my painting here.
After I try to explain it I hope you will see it in the same or similar light I see it
As I said earlier our circle could be divided into 2 halves or into 4  I chose 2 halves which I called past and present
The brown area at the bottom is my dark sad time, moving up to the burning orangish section was my anger and hurt coming out, branching out to the sides were more calmer quieter happier times moving up to the top half to the reddish shades is where I am now  to me the red seems a strong colour, where I am finding the strength to make important life decisions moving out to the outer edges are paler pinks which show me calmness / happiness just on the horizon and that there are good times to come.

If you look closely at the centre of the painting you should be able to see what looks like a little girl this was not intentionally painted in and seemed strange how it appeared. I was happy as a small child then as I got older and various things happened in my life I became unhappy within myself, and just seemed to plod along pleasing others and not caring / bothering about myself  I now feel I want to change this I want to find "me" again and be happy with myself

I hope from that you can now see my painting in a similar light to me

Megan came with me, she really enjoyed the session as well and did a painting, she started off with a geometrical practice sheet - I love the colours she chose for this and how she painted it I have told her I am going to frame it and have it on the wall :)

This is her practice sheet

This is Megans watercolour mandala painting

She called it Meadow

 
She explained her "meadow" painting to me saying that she did a flower because she likes flowers and the green field and blue sky was her feeling happy,  the black edge to the flower was when she was feeling sad with losing her grandparents.

Another Christmas Card

I thought I had better make a start on the Christmas cards so have been busy making some today
I decided I would put this one on here for you to see

 

I bought the Black and Silver  ribbon a few months ago thinking it would come in handy for some Christmas cards

I used 3 silver bell embroidery peel offs , these were stuck to some white paper then sewn with a metallic green thread 

I used a white A5 size card, stuck a strip of the ribbon down the side of the card

I cut a  piece of  black card   7cm wide by 19cm long  this was then stuck centrally on the main part of the card and edged with a silver border peel off

The 3 bell peel offs were stuck onto the black piece of card with foam pads

I added a small silver Happy Christmas peel off above and below the middle bell

Christmas Pudding Card

 I used
Christmas Pudding Template
Snowman decoupage
Brown backing paper
Print the Christmas pudding template twice  once on plain white paper and once on white canvas card
Print the snowman decoupage on to glossy photo paper A5 size
I printed out the brown backing paper A5 size as well
Cut out and made up the decoupage then get on with making the card

Using the  template that I printed on canvas I cut around the pudding shape and folded along the straight line
I then used a red sakura gelly roll pen to colour in the holly berries and a green one to colour in the holly leaves

From the paper template I cut out the bottom of the pudding and used it as a template on the brown backing paper and cut around it

This was then stuck to the bottom  of the card

To finish off the card I added the snowman decoupage to the bottom of the pudding

 * As an afterthought I used a white sakura soufflé pen  to put small dots over the bottom of the pudding to look like snowflakes

Swing Card

Megan made her first swing card today 
On Free Craft Downloads we have started holding Bi-Monthly card challenges for forum members
Septembers is only our 2nd one and it is to make a DL size swing card
Megan asked if she could make one - as she  is not a forum member she can't enter the challenge so she made one to put on here instead
She said she hopes it would help people who don't know how to make one

Cutting out the template

Folding the card

 

Showing the swing

 

Cutting the ribbon

 

Sticking on the ribbon

 

Sticking on some fairy embellishments

 

Writing on the reverse side

 

Showing the finished card from different angles

 

 Hope you like her card

Fleur de Lis card

I made this very quick and simple card from one of this weeks Papers added on Free Craft Downloads

I only  used one sheet of the backing papers to make the card
I chose to use fleurdelis 02
I also used a sheet of black card and some gold peel offs

I cut the card to the size needed to make a DL card  (folded size21cm H by 10cm W)
I added a piece of the backing paper  to it slightly smaller so a black border could be seen  (20cm by 9cm)
I cut a piece of black card to 4.5cm wide by 15cm high and added this to the middle  of the fleur de lis paper
From a spare piece of the backing paper I cut out 3 of the fleur de lis as a diamond shape then stuck them to the piece of black card

I edged the fleur de lis backing paper with some gold border peel offs

Clay vase

Megan went to a Clay craft workshop earlier today

This is a clay vase that she made - She really enjoyed the session - They "learnt" how to mix the clay to produce different colours, and learned that there were different types of clay for different projects etc  and then were able to make something of their choice with some of the clay
Megan chose to make a mosaic effect vase with a flower in
It may be a little difficult to see on the picture  but she has added a caterpillar from one of the leaves going to a petal  and on the side of the vase she has added a butterfly

Front view

Back view

Glass beaded sticker cards

I have managed to make a couple of quick cards tonight so thought I would add them here for you to see

I was very kindly sent the Glass beaded stickers by a friend - it was an unexpected surprise to get them
Where I am there are no local craft shops so I have never seen beaded stickers like these before  They are beautiful  I have had them sitting here on my desk until I had time to use some of them.

Craft CD's

Craft CDs has been recently relaunched by two special friends of mine Bob and Dawn I would like to wish them well. They have many years combined experience in the craft industry working with/for others but this will be a new venture for them together as this is theirs

At the moment they have an opening offer on which is 10% off everything and are building up a good selection of craft cd's available to buy  They run a points scheme on purchases  where these are saved then can be used to buy cd's.  UK postage is free, Orders outside of the UK postage is £5-00 per order.

I could go on explaining more but it is much better for you to visit the site have a good look around and see for yourselves

Craft CDs

Hello again

It seems such a long time ago that I posted on here, I didn't think it would be this long
We had a fantastic time at Bible club week, the children had lots of fun and made some lovely things
If you would like to see some pictures of what Megan made you can see them in "Megans Crafts" in My Gallery on Free Craft Downloads 
Each thing the children made had a space theme and Biblical connection 
I've been catching up on things at home since the end  of Bible Club and spending time with Megan as it is the school summer holiday
Hopefully now  I can catch up on a bit of crafting which I have really missed doing

A very busy time

Apologies for not putting anything new on here in a little while
As some of you know I am preparing for our Church Holiday Bible Club in two weeks time 
This year I have been made "Craft Leader"
I am in the process of preparing a weeks craft activities for (at least) 75 children  age groups 5-6  and 7-8 and 9-10 and 11+
There will be 4 craft sessions per day and 2 crafts per session
so as you can imagine there is a lot to do

I'm waiting on a delivery of 120 wooden 3" star shapes which I have to drill holes in  that is going to be fun    My D.I.Y skills are not brilliant

I am missing my own crafting but just not had time to do any I am hoping I can get something done over this next couple of weeks though so will put it on here when I do

Another Teenage Card

I thought I would show you another card I made using the latest premium sets from Free Craft Downloads

I thought this would be suitable as a Belated Birthday Card

I chose a green A5 base card (tent fold)
I also used one of the older papers for this card  music027  (page curl one)I thought this went well with the other things I've used to make the card
From the Teenage / Young Adult Set I used the Decoupage 01 image
From the Teenage / Young Adult Music Set  I used both Decoupage images 2001 and 2002
Backing paper teenage2_006_ls_l
Teenage2_006_tags  I just used one of them (the rest will keep for other projects)

I printed the music 027 sheet A5 size and stuck it to the front of the green base card
I printed the backing paper A5 size but trimmed it to fit more centrally
With the three decoupage images I chose not to have the backgrounds they had I just cut out the people
I used a graphics program to add the "Sorry I'm Late" wording to one of the speech bubble tags then cut it out, using double sided foam pads stuck it by the central decoupage then stuck the other people on either side
I used a gold border peel off around the teenage2_006_ls_l  backing paper

I quite like mixing some of the older papers with some of the newer ones I hope you agree the older one I chose goes well with the ones I chose from the new sets.

Teenager Card

This card is made using one of this weeks Premium sets from Free Craft Downloads
Both sets this week and the one from last week are ideal for teenage / young adult cards

The Link to download these premium sets can be found on the Free Craft Downloads Forum

When you download the files you need to unzip them which can be done quite easily

To make the card shown here I used set 2 - music
I used Decoupage 2002
Border 5X7_04
Tags teenage2_005_tags
Backing Paper teenage2_005_ls_l

a 5x7 cream base card (tent fold)
I printed the Decoupage and Border frame on Canvas photo paper

I stuck the background paper to the base card and trimmed around the edges

I cut out the Border to use as a frame and stuck it with double sided foam pads to the backing paper on the base card

From the Tag sheet I cut out one of the small oval ones and the small square one
I cut out and assembled the Decoupage this time using some small double sided foam pads

I stuck the tags on to the card
On the square one I added a Gold Happy Birthday Peel Off
I have left the oval one blank with the intention of adding the age of the person there of who the card will be for

Teenagers / Young adults can be a difficult age group to make cards for 

These Premium sets are ideal to use

Dayze of Innocence

This is the name of the latest CD by Debs  which features the artwork of Pamela West

It is very reasonably priced and contains a total of 269 printable pages of various papers / decoupage /toppers / inserts etc and  fabulous acetate decoupage ideal for those who have difficulty cutting out / don't like cutting out  or just don't want to cut out.

I have made a couple of cards from one of the designs on the CD and thought I would put them here for you to see
Both of these cards were made using designs from "Dreams in the distance" folder on the CD The toppers and decoupage were printed on canvas photo paper

I haven't added a greeting to the first card  so it could be used for various occasions  I used three of the toppers and one of the backing papers with a strip of navy card and a couple of small silver peel offs.

The second card I put a get well soon greeting on it I used one of the decoupage designs with one of the backing papers and two of the bonus papers some gold border peel offs and a gold get well soon peel off and some small flowers

I will be making more cards with this CD and will post them on here when I do (I think  I will have a try at the acetate decoupage next )

Glitter Card 2

This is the 2nd card made with the pre printed acetate flowers

The papers I used on the card were from Free Craft Downloads
I used  Green, Gold, Pink and Orange glitter glues
An a6 Size Cream base card (used tent fold)
Gold corner and border peel offs and a Gold Best Wishes one
I coloured in the flower using the glitter glues and left it to dry
I stuck the Leaves 3 paper to the base card (This was a piece I had used from another card I had made )
When the glittered flower was dry I trimmed the edge and stuck it on a piece of pink material paper I had from another card as well (again this had been printed in draft to make it paler)
This was then stuck on the right hand side of the card I put some gold corner peel offs on it and edged around the pink paper with gold border peel offs. to the left hand side I stuck a different border peel off and then in the space I added a vertical best wishes peel off

Glitter Flower Card 1

I found some pre printed acetate flowers I had in one of my bits and pieces box so decided to make some cards up with them   Here is the first one I made

I don't really like using glitter as I always seem to get it everywhere so I use glitter glue instead
The papers I used on the card were from Free Craft Downloads

I used Red, Green, Blue and Gold glitter glue
A 7x5 inch base cream card blank
A Piece of cream ribbon
Small amber and blue gems
Silver Border, and Happy Birthday  peel offs
Backing Paper Mod Square Lt Blue
Backing Paper Blue0191

I coloured in the flower using the glitter glues and left it to dry
I stuck the Mod square backing paper to the front of the base card, then I made a bow from the piece of cream ribbon ~ to this I stuck some amber and blue small gems then left it to dry.
I stuck the Happy Birthday on to a small piece of the Blue 0191 paper
when the glitter blue was dry on the acetate flower I trimmed the edge and stuck it to a piece of the Blue0191 paper I used a small amount of silicone glue in each corner (it doesn't show through ) I put it in the centre of the card near the top and under that I stuck the bow and below that stuck the Happy Birthday

Quite an easy card to make - using up some left over bits and pieces and papers from previous cards made

Acetate Fairy Card

When I had the idea for making this card I was going to  pick up on the purples in the image but last minute chose not to and went with blues now seeing the finished result I'm glad I did
The card was quite easy to make and I'm pleased with the results

I have used a Fantasy fairy decoupage sheet and one of the older backing papers.from Free Craft Downloads

I used ~
1 A4 sheet of white card
Blue backing paper
The main fairy image from fantasy fairy 8 decoupage sheet
1 sheet of printable acetate
rectangle of silvery glittery mirror card
2 blue star gems
silver borders and letters  peel offs
small piece of pale blue pearl effect textured paper
4 tiny blue gems

I printed the blue backing paper "Draft" to get a paler effect
I chose this backing paper because I felt it fitted with the fairy design as she was  looking out to sea and also it's nice to mix old with new
I stuck the backing paper on the base card and trimmed the edges then edged it with silver wavy peel offs  At the top I stuck 3 pale blue star gems on with sillicone glue and left to dry




I cropped the main fairy image and pasted it twice in a new document ( I also did this with the larger oval on the sheet  reason being I now have 4 images to use on 4 different cards and not wasted any of the acetate I printed on )

I left a border of acetate along the 2 longer edges of the rectangle  but scored along the edge of the image I cut the rectangle of silvery glittery mirri card a couple of millimetres smaller than the fairy image, folded along the 2 score lines and using double sided tape stuck the 2 sides to the back of the card.
The "Rough side" of acetate is printed on so I turned it over to have the smooth side showing on the card - the fairy is now facing the other way

This gave a raised effect to the acetate image (like a bubble front )

I tried to show it in this photo by "looking down on it" but it's a bit difficult to see





I made up a small rectangular topper with the piece of pale blue textured paper I used silver letter peel offs to make "Thinking of you" wording then a silver wavy edged one to finish of, then in each of the 4 corners I added a tiny blue gem  (They are a bit fiddly to get the adhesive on so I did it with the edge of a cocktail stick) and left it to dry

I stuck the fairy image in the centre of the card and added the topper underneath









I really liked the effect of the silvery glittery mirri card when it catches the light
It is difficult to see from a picture on here but if you make one of these cards I hope you agree
The effect it has on the fairy's dress and wings looks lovely when it catches the light a certain way and also when it catches the light you can see the full image reflecting in the silver of the card