Stamping

I'm just airing some of my thoughts with my ongoing battle with it (The best stamping I do is with my foot on the floor in frustration )

I'm not really into stamping, not because I don't like it,  it's just something I seem to have difficulty with
Either because of actually stamping the image and not having enough ink on the pad so bits are missed or smudged,  I'm never sure which type of ink pad should be used when and what with, then personally for me on the rare occasion when I do manage to get the image stamped properly there is the added nightmare of colouring them in  it always looks like a 3 year old has done it.

Every so often I try again but have never stamped and coloured anything that I have been completely happy with My thoughts then turned to digi stamping, having heard the name here and there but not knowing anything about it I had a look around a few sites,  there were some really nice images but as with stamping that "Spark" just wasn't there  It just feels like colouring in a picture.

As with other things there are pro's and con's  but I think that Digi stamping is the way to go for me for now - If I can overcome my battle with the colouring in  then I will be more ready to face the battle with actual stamping.

To be continued ...................

Fathers Day Containers

Fathers Day is not too far away  (20th June in UK)  

I thought it would be nice to do something other than a card

I used a couple of small empty crisp tubes
and a couple of the older backing papers we have on Free Craft Downloads
Nuts and Bolts
No 1 Dad
Nuts and Bolts Tags
No 1 Dad Tags

I printed out the backing papers on paper and the Tags on to white card
I stuck them on the tubes with double sided tape  (Because the No 1 Dad one was "portrait"  I had to piece it to fit around the tube but it was well matched and you can't see the join)
I cut out a couple of the tags and stuck one on the top of the tube and attached one around the middle with ribbon

The nuts and bolts one can be used for Dads to store their bits and pieces in the shed. You could make a few so he could have a set

The No1 Dad one I put Dads favourite cookies on the tag - you can make him some cookies and put them in the container.  (see recipe below)

You could use one of the fishing papers and make a container for fishing bits and pieces

Easy recipe for Chocolate chip cookies

75g. (3oz) Butter
50g (2oz) Sugar
125g (4oz) Self-raising flour
50g (2oz) chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy
Fold in the flour, then the choc chips
Roll the dough into small balls and put them on a greased baking tray
flatten them slightly
Put in a preheated oven 180 C,  350 F,  Gas 4
and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown

Makes approx 12 - 14 biscuits depending on size

You can substitute the choc chips for something else cherries, nuts etc

A Quick Thank You Card

Better late than never (I won't go into the reasons for this appearing later than I had hoped)

I think the embossed backing paper in the central window has shown up quite well  in the picture

For this card I just used up some bits and pieces
I used a 3 windowed aperture card
a couple of die cut mulberry tulips I found at the bottom of my bits and pieces box
and a mini card embellishment
some pink and lilac square gems
and a Thank You peel off and some fine line silver peel offs

In the top and bottom apertures I stuck some lilac mulberry paper and added the die cut tulips
In the centre one I stuck a piece of lilac pearl paper which I had embossed using Sonia's idea which you can find here  I added the mini card embellishment in the centre  inside the mini card I put an insert saying "for your kindness"
Around the edge of each of the windows I put a silver fine line peel off and a small gem in each of the 4 corners  I put lilac on the top and bottom ones and pink around the central one


If you don't have the double do machine to try out Sonia's idea  you could still make the grid and use an embossing tool to emboss the dots

Craft Questions

I thought you may like to know about this New Site Craft Questions One of the Sister sites to Free Craft Downloads.
Pop over and have a look when you have time and share the link with your crafting friends.
Feel Free to join and Ask and or Answer Questions on there.
Can't think of a question now then save the site in your Favourites

Hello

Thought I would say a quick Hello and hope you have enjoyed your Easter Holidays
I know some schools are still off this week but my daughter went back to school today

I didn't get much crafting done over the holidays Megan wasn't in crafting mode either but we did enjoy lots of fun together.

I want to dig out my Double Do Embossing - Die Cutting Machine  out sometime this week I haven't used it for so long and want to have a go at something a fellow crafting friend has come up with 
You can find the idea HERE on her Blog I thought I would try it out and use it on a card and will probably put it on here

Happy Easter

Megan has made this Easter Card to wish you all a Happy Easter

Hope you like it 

Birthday Bunny Card

After making the Easter Bunny Card in the post below this one   I thought the rabbit decoupage would look nice on a birthday card for a young child
So what I did was substituted the "egg"  for a "Present" and made a Birthday Card

I used the rabbit decoupage sheet from Free Craft Downloads again
I also used a couple of the older papers we have on there
Clouds 3  
Grass
Scrabble tiles

I used a 5x7 cream card as my base card and printed the cloud, grass, decoupage and scrabble tiles sheets all in A5 size

I stuck the cloud paper to the base card and cut a jagged edge along the grass paper to make it look a bit like long grass when I was happy with it I stuck it to the bottom of the card.

In this picture you will see that on the 2nd layer of decoupage I have stuck a small foil present over the egg  it does cover the paws of the rabbit a bit but the next layer will make it "right" again

I have coloured in the rabbits ears with a clear glitter pen  used cotton for the whiskers again but this time left the eyes as they were I didn't add the wobbly eyes
as you can see the rabbit is holding a present now instead of an egg

I cut out and stuck on the scrabble tiles to make "Happy Birthday"

Here if you wanted to you could use tiles to spell out the childs name

I stuck the rabbit slightly behind the grass  which I think looked better than sticking it on the grass










Hope you like this card and it's a nice way of using the decoupage sheet - year round not just for Easter
Another thought is to substitute the egg  (like I did with the present) for a Heart and use different backing papers and use it as a Valentine card

Easter Bunny Card

I really like this Easter Bunny Decoupage sheet from Free Craft Downloads this week
It is so cute I couldn't wait to use it

This is the card I made with it I also used one of the new Easter egg templates as well

"Hoppy Easter"

To make this card I used

Easter Bunny Decoupage sheet
Easter Egg Template
Painted eggs backing paper
1 sheet of A4 size Purple Card
2 Wobbly eyes
Some Black embroidery thread
"waste dots" off a gold peel off sheet
gold peel off letters and borders

I printed the Easter egg template on some purple card  then cut around the edges (I chose Purple to go with the purple easter egg the rabbit was holding )

 When cutting out the decoupage sheet I decided to "cut off" the rabbits whiskers - they are quite narrow but they are cuttable with a good eye and steady hand but instead I chose to add some black embroidery thread for whiskers I assembled the decoupage rabbit but before adding the last "face" layer (bit with the blue line on which was for cutting purposes ) using a cocktail stick I put some small amounts of silicone glue where the whiskers should be then stuck the thread on to them then put the last face layer on top when dry I trimmed the whiskers to a better size  I also added some wobbly eyes to the rabbit and let them dryI stuck on some of the small waste dots from a peel off sheet to the egg he was holding.

I printed the painted eggs sheet A5 size - This is one of our older papers but thought it was nice to use with this card I cut out an oval shape in this paper and stuck it on to the purple base card
I edged it with a gold border peel off I also added a peel off to the edge of the purple card

When the silicone was dry on the rabbit  I stuck him to the centre of the painted eggs oval  added a gold bow in the centre of  the bottom of the card

 I added "Hoppy Easter" .........well he is a bunny and they do hop

Easter Gift Tags

I made these Easter gift tags with the remaining rabbits from the rabbit sheet  which was one of the Free downloadable sheets on Free Craft Downloads last week

I used one of the rabbits to make the card on the previous post on here  then thought rather than use the others to make another card or two I would use them up by making some gift tags to add to the Easter eggs I give to people

They were very easy to make all I did was cut the rabbits out with fancy edged scissors then stuck them to some small pieces of card which had been folded in half   (a good way of using up some scraps of card as well )
I punched a hole in the top left corner of each one so a ribbon can be threaded through them.

Happy Easter

Easter is not very far away now

I thought I would make an Easter Card with some of this weeks papers from Free Craft Downloads

The papers I have used are
A Green Chick Backing paper
Yellow Chick Border
Rabbit decoupage Part 1 and Part 2
Small piece of yellow card
Gold letter peel offs

I printed out the backing paper 8x10 size and stuck it to the front of a 5x7 size card then trimmed the edges
(easier to do it that way incase there is a slight difference in the 5x7 size and saves ink)
I printed out the border 5x7 and cut it out
This was then stuck to the backing paper raised up on double sided foam pads
I printed out both sheets of the decoupage  I chose the yellowish colour from sheet 2 as my base then cut out the rest of the decoupage from sheet 1 and assembled it
I stuck it to the lower part of the inside of the border
Then stuck Happy Easter lettering in Gold Peel offs on the small piece of yellow card trimmed it and added that above the decoupage
The remaining pictures from sheet 1 can be used to make other cards
If I get more time during the week I will add another one here

A Cross Card

This card could be used as an Easter Card or as a Sympathy card

It is very quick and easy to make

I used one of the Cross Backing Papers from Free Craft Downloads 

To make the card I used
Cross_006  Backing paper
 A4 Cross  Front Template
A piece of gold textured mirror card
Some gold fine line peel offs
5 small cream roses ( I chose cream as I thought they went with the gold better than white)
Some double sided sticky pads
Small amount of silicone glue

I printed the cross backing paper on to a sheet of A4 white card
Then I ran the card back through the printer and printed the cross template
I cut out the cross from the middle and saved it to one side

Behind the cross I fixed an A5 sheet of Gold textured mirror card

The cross I cut from the middle I measured in 0.5cm all around and cut it to make it smaller
To the back of this I added some double sided sticky pads

I stuck the smaller cross in the centre of the Gold cross
Then added some fine line gold peel offs around the edges of both crosses

I put the 5 cream small roses together and twisted one of the wire stems around the rest to hold them all in place
with the rest of the stems I curled them around an embossing tool to make a "spring"
These were then stuck with silicone glue to the centre of the cross and left to dry





I chose not to add a greeting to the card as I preferred it plain
You could add  Thinking of you, Happy Easter, or With Sympathy or another of your choice

I did think of using silver card and peel offs  instead of gold but decided the gold brought the colour of the small crosses out better on the backing paper

Welsh Cakes and Gift Bags

I made these ready for St. Davids Day

  

They make lovely little gifts

I made a Template for a small gift bag, tag and handle
You will find it here if you want to use it
Just cut around the edges then fold the solid lines of the bag
Glue the strip on the side then fold in the bottom then glue
Add the handle either by glueing or using brads (I glued mine)
Fold the tag in half and punch a hole in the top left corner write inside as necessary
Inside mine I wrote "Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus"  (Happy St. David's Day)
I threaded a ribbon through the hole and attached it to the handle of the bag

To make the Welsh Cakes you will need

225 g Self - raising flour
1 teaspoon of mixed spice
100g  butter
75 g Sugar
100 g sultanas or currants (or half and half)
1 egg (beaten)


Sift the flour and mixed spice into a bowl add the butter and rub in  until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
Add the sugar and sultanas/currants and the beaten egg  then mix together until it forms a dough
This can be quite sticky so if you prefer to use a spoon instead of your hands it's ok
Using a rolling pin roll the dough to about 1/2cm thick then using a cutter (6-7 cm) cut into rounds
This mixture makes approx 14 -15 Welsh Cakes
Slowly heat a Griddle pan - if you don't have one you can use a frying pan then add the welsh cakes to cook cook on a low to medium heat  when one side is cooked turn over and cook the other side
These can be served warm with butter on
You can sprinkle with castor sugar while warm if you want

Wrap a couple of Welsh cakes in a serviette / doiley then pop into the gift bag

St David's Day Card

A card for St. Davids Day

March 1st.

 

Have you ever tried buying a  card for St. David's day? It's near to impossible!

With Backing Papers and decoupage suitable for these cards we have on Free Craft Downloads  you don't have to 

You will be able to make your own

You can find some Welsh Dragon, Daffodil  and Leek decoupage in the Other and Floral sections
Also a Welsh Flag section with backing papers inserts and tags

To make the card I used
A Leek backing paper
Welsh Flag Pyramid decoupage
Daffodil Pyramid decoupage
and Welsh Dragon backing paper

Both the Leek and Welsh Dragon papers were printed A4 size enabling me to use the remainder of them for other cards
The Daffodil pyramid sheet was printed on A5 size paper (2 were needed for this card)

I cut out and assembled the decoupage/pyramid designs and while the silicone was starting to dry I set to work on the base card
I used a 12.7 x 17.8 cm  (5x7ins) size  greeting card  for the base to which I stuck the leek backing paper and trimmed around it
I cut a few strips off the Welsh Flag backing paper and attached double sided tape to the back of them and added these to the outer edge of the card as a border
When the silicone had dried a bit on the decoupage I stuck the Welsh dragon decoupage in the centre of the card and the 2 2daffodil ones to either side of it
From the computer I printed  Dydd Dewi Sant Hapus   - Happy St. David's Day   in both Welsh and English then and stuck them to the card as well

 This is one  of the cards I made for St. David's day last year





Over on Free Craft Stuff we have a Special Occasion section  in that you will find a St. David's Day section with ideas for Crafts / Things to make and do

Floral Decoupage Card

This card was made from a Public domain image of a flower which I then uploaded into the Tile Maker that we have on Free Craft Downloads
To make the card
I used a 15cm x 15cm  (5.5ins x5.5ins)  square card
Beige029 Backing Paper from Free Craft Downloads
Floral decoupage sheet 
A piece of brown pearl paper from my bits and pieces box
Some gold corner and border peel offs
5 small square gems

I cut out and made up the decoupage sheet then when dry I highlighted some of the darker brown areas with a clear glitter pen
I printed the backing paper (borderless) on an A5 size sheet of paper and stuck it to the front of the base card
I stuck the decoupage onto a piece of brown pearl paper 10cm x 10cm (4ins x 4ins)
This was then stuck to the base card
I chose not to put it square which you could do if you wanted to.
To the edge of the decoupage design I added some gold fine line border peel offs
To the edge of the pearl paper I added a patterned border peel off
To each of the 4 corners I added a Gold corner peel off
To the centre of the decoupage and the 4 points on the brown pearl paper I added a small square green gem

I chose not to add a greeting / occasion to the front of the card I prefer it as it is and then could also be used for any occasion

Thank You Card

I have used some of this weeks set of premium papers from Free Craft Downloads  to make my Thank You card
This is a very large set of papers available as a zip file which can be found on the Modern flowers premium set posting in the forum on Free Craft Downloads or if you prefer you can browse through the general papers via the link in the same forum posting

To make the card I used
modern flowers 2 light  printed on an A5 sheet of paper
mod striped 3  printed on an A5 sheet of paper
decoupage modern flowers  2 sets printed on A5 size glossy photo paper
 1 5x7 size Cream Blank greeting card
4 small strips of green ribbon
1 Silver Thank You peel off
Silver border peel offs
Double sided tape
Silicone glue
4 small amber coloured gems

I used the 5x7 size card cut a strip (approx 3.5 cm) from the right hand edge on the front only
I covered the front of the card with the flower paper and trimmed the edges
I cut a strip from the striped paper and stuck it to the outside edge of the card

I cut out and assembled one sheet of the decoupage flowers and I cut out a vase shape from the striped paper

The 2nd set of decoupage flowers I cut out the complete flower only to use and added an amber coloured gem to the centre of each flower

These flowers I stuck down the Stripe on the inside of the card

Leaving the top part unstuck I stuck the vase shape in the centre near the bottom 

I stuck 4 different lengths of thin green ribbon from under the vase then stuck down the top of the vase
I stuck on the decoupaged flowers at the top of the strips of ribbon








I hope you like this finished card  The set of premium papers can be used for Mothers day cards but having just lost my Mum I couldn't bring myself to make a Mothers day card so chose to make a Thank you card instead  hopefully showing that the papers can be used for one of several different occasions

A sad time

Those of you who follow the forum @ Free Craft Downloads will know why I haven't been blogging lately but for those of you who don't  it is because My Mother had been ill and passed away a couple of weeks ago, this was only 4 months after my Dad passing away as well as trying to cope with this  I have been having to sort out their house etc
After this weekend I am hoping to be able to start crafting again something I have missed doing  - at least this is some part of my life that can go back to normal

I don't like to put too many "personal" postings on here I try to keep this just for my crafts but with not putting anything on here for a while I thought it only fair to let you know why
Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully I can have a new project on here next week

A Challenge Card I made

I thought I would share with you this Card I made

 

It was a Challenge card  

On Free Craft Downloads we have a section in the Gallery where Forum Members can post decoupage / backing sheets they have made (Images used must be in the Public Domain, Your own art work or used with permission)

To make this card I used

1 A4 sheet of White card

Challenge sheet 1

Challenge sheet 2

Gold peel offs

1 A5 sheet of acetate

A Cupid backing Paper from FCD (A5 size)

I printed & cut out the decoupage sheets,

I assembled sheet 1 and 2 seperately

While they were drying I set to work on the card

I folded the White card in half  and cut out a rectangular aperture in the centre I measured the base of the decoupage picture and cut the aperture slightly larger so the backing paper could just be seen as well

In this picture you can see I used the cupid backing paper on the inside of the card  I closed the card and stuck the challenge 1 decoupage sheet in the centre of the aperture this way it ensured that when the card was open / closed the design could be seen in the correct position

I then stuck the sheet of acetate to the back of the open aperture

In this picture you can see that I stuck "challenge sheet 2" decoupage to the acetate I did this by closing the card and lining up the decoupage with the decoupage on the inside of the card   I also stuck a Gold border peel off around the aperture edges and some gold peel off leaves to both bottom sides

This picture shows the card slightly open so you can hopefully see the decoupage on the acetate and the back of the card

I would like to say Thank you to Suan - It was her that set us the challenge using her decoupage sheets

She has no objections to people using her decoupage sheets for Projects / Card making but the sheets are not to be sold or put on CD's to be sold

I used the cupid backing paper on the card because I thought the colour went well with the dress the lady was wearing  I chose not to add a greeting to the card - another forum member said it would make a nice Valentine card - Thanks Barb   a nice idea

Valentine's Day

We are only just getting over Christmas and New Year and thoughts are turning to Valentines day
It may be a bit early for some to be thinking of this now but for some Crafters they will already be making Valentine Cards

This card I have made combines one of this weeks New Papers from Free Craft Downloads with one of the Older ones on there and the Decoupage sheet I have put in the Decoupage and Backing Sheets (made by forum members) section in the  Gallery on there

I used
1 Sheet A4 white card
1 Sheet A4 Matt  photo paper
1 "love" fabric embellishment
2 Gold heart embellishments
Red alphabet peel offs
4 Heart corner peel offs (coloured with pens)
Double sided tape
Silicone Glue
1 A5 size piece of acetate
Be mine teddy decoupage
Cupid - Pink (light) backing paper
Valentines day13 backing paper
A4  side heart Template

 I printed the "Valentines day" backing paper on the A4 sheet of White card, I then ran this back through the printer and printed the A4 Heart template on the reverse (white) side
I cut around the edges and around the Heart shapes on the sides

 I printed the cupid backing paper on the A4 sheet of white paper
I cut this to fit the central inside section of the card.
I attached it with Double sided tape and trimmed the edges

This is how the card looks when folded  it opens as a gatefold card  (A5 size)

Behind the cut heart part on the front of the card I have added some acetate
and at the top of the card I have put a gold fabric "Love" embellishment
which is stuck to the left hand side of the card only (Letters L&O)

This is the inside of the card - I stuck the teddy decoupage down with double sided tape so that when the front is colsed over the design is in the centre of the heart
I added some heart corner peel offs which were coloured red with peel off pens

This is how the finished card looks
I stuck the 2 gold hearts to the bottom front "inner" corners
As an example I added ME and YOU red peel offs on to the acetate You could add a persons name there if you wishe  or just leave blank







I decided to go with a softer pink look for this card rather than the "Bright Red" a lot of Valentine cards are
Hope you like it

Teddy Bear Aperture Card

I made this card from a "Premium Set" of papers

  

More of these sets will become available soon on Free Craft Downloads "Premium Papers" will be for members (people who are subscribed to the newsletter) 
This "Test set" can be found here  It is a Zip file which includes
4 backing papers
8 Inserts
1 each of decoupage / pyramid / reverse pyramid
2 frames
2 tags

To make the card in the picture I used
The Teddy insert_03_A6 insert ( printed on a sheet of A5 white card)
The teddy background _02 (Printed on an A5 sheet of paper)
The teddy_pyramid_01 (2 of these printed on A5 card)

I cut the white centre away from the insert and edged this with a Gold border peel off (a quick way to make an aperture card)
Then to the inside back of the card I stuck on the background paper and trimmed the edges
I cut out the pyramid sheets and assembled using silicone glue
when these were dry I stuck a short length of beading wire on the back of one and stuck the other to it so when it was suspended in the aperture  the teddy design was back to back.
I chose not to add a greeting to this card but will add one at a later date when I decide what the card will be used for

Decoupaged Fan Card

I made this card using a Fan Decoupage sheet From Free Craft Downloads

  

To make the card I used 

A slimline DL card in pale blue

Fan decoupage sheet (printed  three times on sheets of 6x4 photo paper)

Gold fancy border peel offs

2. Small gold fan peel offs

3. Small gems one each of Blue, Green and Purple (to co-ordinate with the colours in the fan)

I cut out and assembled the fan decoupage sheets

While the silicone glue was drying I worked on the base card

I put the gold fancy edged peel offs around the edges of the card

Then added the gold peel offs - one to the top left corner the other to the bottom right corner

when the  fans were dry enough to handle  I stuck them to the base card centrally down the length of the card and stuck the coloured gems on the base of each fan

I chose not to add a greeting to this card  this will be added at a later date when I have decided what occasion it will be for.

Log CabinCard

This card was made using a Pyramid decoupage  sheet I made up from a Public domain image

I used the following
1 piece of A4 silver card
Log cabin pyramid sheet
Log cabin backing paper (printed on  6x4  paper)
White border and corner and greeting peel offs
White ribbon with silver edging
3. Silver foil flowers  (2 large 1 small)
7 small clear gems

I printed, cut out and assembled the Log cabin pyramid decoupage
I folded the silver card in half to make an A5 size base card
To each of the four corners I added a white corner peel off and stuck a small clear gem on them
I then stuck the white ribbon across the middle of the card
When the assembled pyramid design was dry (I used silicone glue) I put it on a piece of the backing paper then cut it leaving a border of approx  1cm all around I then stuck white corner and border peel offs to the backing paper
This was then stuck on the white ribbon on the left hand side
I stuck the silver foil flowers on the right side of the ribbon the larger ones on the outsides and the smaller one in the centre  I then added a small clear gem to the centre of each of these
Just below the central flower  I stuck a "With Love" white peel off on the silver base card

A Quick Hello

I just wanted to say a quick hello and apologise for not having many projects on here for a couple of weeks or so 
I have been busy looking after My Mother who is not too well so have not had a lot of time for Crafting. 
She is in Hospital at the moment  so  I am able to do a bit of crafting now  - Hopefully in the next day or two  I will put a couple of cards on here
Thank you for continuing to visit Our Blog   I hope you have all enjoyed Christmas and are now looking forward to the coming New Year

Janet

Craft 4 Charity 2

The 2nd Craft 4 Charity disc is launched today and is available to purchase HERE

This year the theme is Music

You will find lots of great designs on the CD which have been kindly donated by some very well known and some new designers.

The people behind Craft 4 Charity  are special friends of mine and again I wish them every success with this fund-raising project as I know how much it means to them.  Once again the money raised will go to the Rett syndrome associationUK

Some of you may remember at the beginning of this year I did a blog posting showing you some cards I made from the 1st CD launched last year  (If you didn't buy last years disc check out the special offer for purchasing both discs at the bottom of the purchase page of the C4C site) This year I was asked to make some step by step card samples to be included on the disc

Here are the pictures of the cards I made details of papers used and how they were made can be found on the disc

This card was made from  a Funky Bears Contribution

This card was made from a Free Craft Downloads Contribution

This card was made from a Sharon Duncans Contribution

This card was made from a Diane Dorwards Contribution

This card was made from a DebBees Contribution

This card was made from  an Ohh La La Contribution

The next 2 cards are not included on the disc but are made from papers/ images on the disc

Another one made from a DebBees Contribution

Another one made from an Ohh La La Contribution

  

I hope these card examples encourage you to buy the disc It is not "just another craft CD"  but a very special one with monies raised going to a very worthwhile cause