Tartan pin board card for a sporty man

The vintage "High Striker" connotation with fairground attractions and the winner's cup seemed to go well with the tartan patterned card base which I found a week ago at the local Lidl supermarket. To my surprise they were labelled "Christmas card" - not sure why as there's nothing christmassy about it... they are blank inside, too.

To add an element of surprise, I tarted up the plain kraft inside of the card with an inlay which I gold embossed with the scores of "Happy Birthday to you", that is a DRS stamp.

Altered box for mince pies

This altered box was once containing gravy granules - it comfortably fits 4 mince pies now.

Autumn bird landing

The muted colours of this Thanksgiving card give it an autumn feel. At the moment the card is still "all purpose" - because I'm a little late now I have decided to leave the Happy Thanksgiving sentiment off. I might end up just putting a Thanks on it instead. Sometimes these general cards can be handy to have in your stack, for last minute calls on a card.

Challenges: 

DL.ART Thankful Thursday Ch. Thanksgiving; Craftysue's Easy Peasy "Anything Goes" Ch. next Fri. end of month

Christmas turkey

Christmas time brings a lot to be thankful for - the company of friends or family, a sense of celebration, good food... and who doesn't like a hearty meal when it's cold outside! So a photograph of bushy reeds at the Monterey seaside, looking a little like a shop display of soft, brand new feather dusters arranged to a fan, reminded me of turkey feathers, hence the choice of stamp for this card. I coloured in a free digi from Leigh's Paper Creations which is available here. For the frame I recycled part of a used Christmas card - waste not, want not...


Do you cook? Among the many ways to prepare your Christmas turkey, some can leave you with a rather dry bird... but not the Nigella recipe which involves pricking it and rubbing it in salt, then soaking it over night in orange juice flavoured with fresh parsley, cinnamon and clove. Tried and tested!


Challenges: DRS Designs Ch. #50, Joan's Gardens Weekly Ch. #41, Jingle Belles Ch. next Thu., DL. ART Thankful Thursday Ch. #15,

Fifties inspired birthday card

My inspiration for this retro style birthday card came from a photo of a jar of candy canes. They are part of times long gone. Not that I have ever seen anyone actually eating one - they seem to have lived on for their decorative merits - the cute stripes have become iconic. And I like stripes... so I made the background using this stripey stamp from DRS and accessorized with a decoupaged candle-lit birthday cake, chipboard hearts, a piece of upholstery trim and a fabric that is best described as some sort of faux-crocodile-skin plush.

Christmas: Reuse, recycle...

I had collected those christmas cracker wrappings as they just seemed too pretty to throw away. With some ribbon and a button they found a new use in a christmas card.

Challenges: DL.Art Thankful Thursday Ch. 25 10.11.2012;
Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge #4 Fri; 

2012 Christmas Card Challenge Week #50 Sun; Sketchy Ch. #36 Thu next week, Jingle Belles Allison's Sketch JB:12:23 Thu,

Cascading Easter eggs

A spring theme is what came to mind when looking at those flowery papers in my stash... and what better occasion to use them than Easter, a time when we need to make many cards at once. Can you guess what they are: yes, it's wallpaper samples again!

After cutting out lots of different sized egg shapes, the big question was how to best arrange them on the cards - there are so many possibilities! In the end I took inspiration from a card that Kath created.

What I wanted was a clean & simple Easter card that doesn't take long to do... only this time it didn't turn out quite like that. After many experiments - attempting to shape the eggs and then fill the hollow I created so that they won't look dented after having been in the post - I had to find out the hard way that wallpaper is sometimes just not the best choice of material for card making. I had been trying to use sticky tape on the back which seemed to work fine at first, but the tape partly slid off after a few days, due to the waxy pre-pasted back side of the wallpaper. A bit of a disappointment after all that work!

In the end I ran out of time and decided to return to this fresh and uncomplicated version which is much easier to make ... and it works every time!

Challenges: DL.Art Thankful Thursday Ch. March 22 - Spring flowers - 8.4., Creative Inspirations Paints Ch. - Easter - next Mon., Creative Craft World March Mini Ch. - 20.4. - blue, Cards Paper and Scrapbooks Ch. - CASE - 31.4.