Fizzy Congratulations

For a while I've wanted to make a wedding card which brings in the tradition of tying tins to the wedding car.

I remember having a few sips of coca cola as a kid and really disliking it, with the result that to this day I've never touched it again. But everyone else in the house likes it and I have to say I do like the coca cola cans, lol! Anyway for this card I printed off some tiny images of the cans, applied Glossy Accents and tied them to the wedding car with thread. The sentiment was embossed and I just did a slight bit of colouring on the car.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Going & Every Day Saying

To personalise the card I printed off initials, stamped the registration plate around them and cut the plate out to adhere to the car. The initials I used are my hubby's and mine. I can't believe we'll be married 18 years this year! So the saying is true, time flies by when you're having fun!



I'm submitting this card into the Stamp It! Cards Congratulations Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Bee Happy

After playing with hexagons the other day for the Hooked on Hexagons Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, I just had to make something else. Can you tell I'm hooked on hexagons?!

To start with I made a hexagon card base, then cut out little hexagons and a hexagon frame - love my Cameo! The little hexagons were cut from white card and I adhered them to a piece of white card and applied mustard seed distress ink. The sentiment was embossed on the frame and I added this and the "honeycomb" to the card base.


Stamp (Hero Arts) - Be Happy

I coloured the little bees and applied diamond stickles to their layered wings. For the hearts I just used a little punch. I'm also submitting this card into Paper Crafts' July Gallery Challenge and the current Hero Arts Challenge.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. I spot a bit of sunshine outside, so I'll have to run out into the garden to make the most of it:)

Make Every Moment Count

Do you ever have an idea in your head for a card that you just have to make? Sometimes I feel that way and the feeling won’t go away until the card is finished. Lol it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a good card, but it’s one I just have to get out of my system.

Well that’s how I felt when I saw Cath’s Hooked on Hexagons Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. A whole jumble of thoughts rushed into my head when I saw the challenge – memories of my first attempt at patchwork (a grandmother’s flower garden table mat, with lots of wonky stitching!) when I was about 10 years old, my dear dad making some of our clothes when we were younger and a visit to a museum in the US years ago, where I spent so much time looking at every last detail of the patchwork quilts there.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Old Letter & Special Time

Some of the quilts in the museum were accompanied by a full history which had been passed down through the generations. However, some quilts had little or no information on their origins. So much time and love had been poured into each and every one of them and the unfinished ones on display really had me wondering what had happened to the people behind them. Also I was fascinated by the little snippets of information that could be gleaned from the back of some of the unfinished paper pieced quilts. Sometimes the backing papers were cut from old newspapers, letters, postcards or whatever was available to these very resourceful quilters who made the most of everything, including their time and supplies.



So I wanted to recreate something like that on my card by using paper, inks (antique linen & walnut stain), a stamp (Linda, thanks again for the Old Letter stamp) and some old floral fabrics. After cutting, inking and stamping the hexagons, I tacked fabric on them and whip stitched the hexagons together. I left the tacking and the end of the piece of thread I had used to sew the hexagons together to add to the unfinished look. The red tacking thread I’ve had for years and is one I use sparingly, as my dad used it and also the thimble in the photo. When I finished the card I realized I hadn’t a clue what sentiment I’d use on it, but as soon as I saw this Hero Arts sentiment in my supplies, I knew it was the one for this card.

Love Bugs

The fireflies and jar in the Hero Arts’ Picnic set reminded me of the first time I ever saw fireflies when I was on summer holidays in New York years ago - I thought they were fascinating and so cool!


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Picnic & Small Variety Alphabet

I stamped the jar and fireflies and as I wanted to make a mini jar card, enlarged the image on a photocopier. Then I adhered the image to a piece of folded card and cut through the layers to form the front and back of the card. After a little bit of colouring, I added some stickles and punched hearts. The sentiment was stamped on a punched tag.

I'm submitting this card into Stamp It! Cards Love Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World , the current Hero Arts Challenge, and Paper Crafts' July Gallery Challenge.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

A Bumpy Road

The current challenge over at the Hero Arts’ blog includes a thinking of you theme. So to symbolise “I’m with you”, I decided to connect two die cut bicycles to form a tandem.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Flourish Background, Envelope Pattern and Everyday Sayings

To start with, I inked a piece of card with tumbled glass distress ink and then stamped the flourish background using the same ink. Then I applied distress inks (shabby shutters, pumice stone and antique linen) to another piece of white card to form the hills and bumpy road. This was stamped with the envelope pattern using shabby shutters distress ink. The bicycles, from Hero Arts, were cut using my new Silhouette Cameo (I’m in love!) and I just did a bit of welding and cutting to form the tandem. To finish I added some heart gems and baker’s twine.

90 Minute Mayhem aka 90 Minute Scramble

It has been too long since I've been able to take part in one of the 90 minute scrambles over at the Hero Arts Flickr group. But today the timing was right and I was able to join in on Janet's fun scramble.

The idea is to design, make, photograph and upload a card to the group in 90 minutes. 90 minutes sounds like a long time but it's amazing how quickly the time flies by. Today for the first time, I actually got to make two cards before time ran out. So please excuse the not so great photos as I was a bit rushed when I was taking them!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Lattice Background and Right at Home

For the first card, I embossed the lattice background and applied distress inks (shabby shutters, faded denim, tumbled glass). The flower is one I had made a while ago and I added a gorgeous heart button from a pack of wood buttons which my friend Linda had sent me. The sentiment was stamped with walnut stain distress ink.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Clouds Background, Woodland Creatures and Picnic

To make the background on the second card, I stamped the clouds on blue card using faded jeans distress ink. Then I added a strip of patterned paper and layered some ribbon (thanks again, Linda!) over it. I paper pieced the kite and coloured the raccoon with colouring pencils.

Hope you are all having a great weekend:)

Celebrate with Style and Crafting Ireland

When I saw all the fun challenges for Card Creations Week over at the Moxie Fab World, I thought I'd try to make a card for each of the five categories, but with the deadline looming tonight, it looks like I'm only going to manage to squeeze a card into three of the challenges!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy, Classic Fabric Background and Birthday Messages

So for this card I went with the Damask and Brocade Challenge. I white embossed the background with the Classic Fabric Background. Then I had some fun making a dress for the dress form using some ribbon, beads and gems. I just added some more ribbon and a big gem to finish.

Recently Nicole Mullen of Crafting Ireland asked if I'd do an interview and pick some of my favourite cards for a feature in the free online magazine. Yikes it was hard to pick favourites and when I was looking back through my cards, I wondered what on earth I was thinking when I made some of them. Yes, the good, the bad and the ugly are all there in my Flickr photostreams and blog! Anyway if you'd like to see some of my favourites, you'll find them in Crafting Ireland Issue 10.



The magazine is brilliant as it's packed full of great tutorials, articles and tips. Also I've realised through reading it how many crafty shops I didn't know existed here - looks like I'll have to plan some more shopping trips!