Die-cut Butterfly Cards

Welcome back to a short and simple post today.

The earthquakes have settled down and I have continued to make some more cards while waiting for the launch of Close to My Heart in New Zealand on the 1st September, and the opening of Make Shift.

Today my theme for cards is the lovely Marianne Craftables CR1205 butterfly.  I have tried to use a lot of different colours and techniques with these cards to show off the gorgeous butterfly.

Butterfly magic Butterfly magic Butterfly magic Butterfly magic Butterfly magicThe materials I have used here are:

Mariannes Craftables CR1205

Cuttlebug and embossing folder – Swiss Dots

Marianne Creatables Branches LR0151

Marianne Creatables LR0107

Fiskers small and medium flower punch

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System  – ovals

Kaisercrafts greeting stamps

Close to My Heart Pink Glitter Gems

Kaisercraft Blue Pearls

Metallic paper from the local Variety Plus shop

Bazzill Bling cardstock – Diva

Peelcraft stickers

Scrap paper and cardstock from my stash

Base cards from http://www.cardmakers.co.nz

Marianne dies from http://www.kalsbeek.co.nz

I thought I might leave a couple of cards without greetings so people can use the card for whatever reason they need.

I hope you enjoy my offerings.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Stay Calm and Keep Crafting!

Hello there

I  felt this title was really appropriate after being shaken about over the last day or so.  We had another big earthquake – this time it was 6.6 yesterday afternoon and then we had a series of aftershocks of over 6 about 5.30 pm.  Very unsettling!  The aftershocks have continued today and although I don’t feel most of them there are still some good sharp jolts.  I am getting to know the light fittings in minute detail as they are a good indicator that we are having another shock.

However, we cannot live waiting for the big one to come so hence the mantra “Keep Calm and Keep Crafting”  so I have continued to keep crafting.  We are very close to making a special announcement for Make Shift so I have to keep working hard making cards.  Today I am going to focus on one card  and show you how I have made it.

Here is the completed card:

Elegant Anniversary Card

 

For the base card I have used a lovely cream linen finish card from www.cardmakers.co.nz.

I then embossed an A5 sheet of cream metallic cardstock with the Nellie Snellen embossing folder HSF005.

Embossed cardstock before trimming

 

The embossed card was then trimmed to  10 cms by 14.5 cms to fit onto the base cardstock with a small edge around it.  I find that my CM personal trimmer is great to get a good square cut.  The cardstock I buy from the Cardmakers is slightly larger than the A5 cards, which is good as I like the layered look of the embossed card over the base card.  It gives it an extra texture and dimension.

Trimmed embossed card on the base card

 

I then die cut the lovely oval frame from Marianne Craftables CR1204.  This is a beautiful frame that comes with a flower as well.  It sits in well with this embossed folder.

Die cut oval frame

 

Die cut adhered onto the card

 

I then die cut all the embellishments out of the cream metallic card.  I have found a heavier weight of card better for most of these embellishments.  I have used Metallic quartz board from Direct Paper 285 gsm for these die cuts.  For the roses I have used a lighter weight metallic paper from the local $2 store as this paper is much easier to roll up for the flowers.

Die cut embellishments for the card

 

The dies I have used are:

Marianne Creatables Branches LR0151

Marianne Creatables Ivy – LR0206

Marianne Creatables English Rose  LR0162

To adhere the branch I have used my CM adhesive pen as it has a fine nib but any good adhesive pen would work.

Die cut flourish with dots of glue on the back to adhere to the card

I trimmed the bottom of the branch and placed it to follow the curve of the oval frame.

Unfortunately the photo of this placed on the frame has been corrupted and I am unable to show you this step.

I then placed the ivy over the flourish and here you can see the flourish on the frame.

Ivy placed on the card

The rose leaves were then placed over the ivy and branch.

Rose petals adhered to the base of the card above the other die cuts

 

The roses were made by using my quilling tool to roll the die cut flowers into a rose shape and using a quick drying glue to hold them into place.

Die cut rosesThe roses were then glued into place over the rose leaves and ivy.  Here are some close up images.

Roses on the card Roses glued onto the card

 

To finish off the card I have placed a Peelcraft greeting on the oval.  Here I have used a ‘happy anniversary’ greeting as I need to make some anniversary cards to add to the range of cards for Make Shift.  But an elegant Happy Birthday would be lovely as well.

Once again here is the finished card:

Elegant Anniversary Card

 

Depending on the greeting used this card could be either a landscape or portrait card.

Before gluing everything together I played around with all the elements to ensure that I ended up with a pleasing arrangement.

I love the simplicity of the cream on cream and the metallic finish makes this card very elegant.  It could be suitable for a lot of occasions depending on the greeting and die cutting numbers in gold could personalise this even more.  (I am so looking forward to getting my Cricut and CTMH Cricut cartridges to add a greater dimension to my cards – couldn’t resist putting this in as we have a date to start on 1st September).

Here are another couple of variations including a cream and gold card using a gold base card:

Elegant Anniversary Card Elegant gold and cream Anniversary Card

The dies have been purchased through www.kalsbeek.co.nz.  They have a great range of the Marianne Creatables and Craftables products and many more products to make fabulous cards.  I have found their after sales service to be excellent.

Despite a couple of reasonable aftershocks I have finally managed to finish this post so I hope that you have found it useful and easy to follow.

So don’t forget to Stay Calm and Keep Crafting

Patricia

 

 

Special cards for the Special person

Welcome back to my blog and thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and leave comments.  I really enjoy getting your feedback.

Here is some more cards for Make Shift and this time I tried to keep to a very simple colour theme.  I love the look of cream on cream, gold and cream and white on white with lots of different textures and shapes. Plus I have added a little bling with some gold glitter cardstock to add some sparkle to a few cards.  My Cuttlebug has had a good workout with the embossing folders and die cuts to create the different textures and patterns.  I have also purchased some dies to make my own flowers and find that they add a different dimension to my cards.

Gold and cream birthday card Cream and gold card Cream and gold card Cream and gold card Cream on cream card Cream on cream card Cream on cream card

 

I have used a few different companies to create these cards and the materials I have used are:

Memory Box dies – Cherry Blossom, Chloe, Pippi Butterfly

Spellbinders dies -Fantastic Flourish One, Fancy Framed Tag Two

Fiskar punch – flower

Marianne Creatables – English Rose (LRO162), Branches (LRO151), Ivy (LRO206), Lord and Lady (LRO211)

Marianne Craftables – CR1204

Embossing Folders – Nellie Snellen – HSF004 (oval frame) and HSF005 (rectangle frame)

Peelcraft Stickers

Kaisercraft pearls

Stampin’Up greetings

Ribbon from my stash

I hope that I have remembered all the materials I have used.  As I have said before I am working through all my stash so that I can start fresh with Close to My Heart products.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

A solution to the Creative Memories pages and protectors dilemma

Welcome back.

This is a quick post is for all those people out there (like me) who have Creative Memories albums but not enough pages or protectors.  The very resourceful new CTMH Consultants in Australia have discovered a solution to your dilemma.  You can convert the CTMH page protectors to use in your CM albums and save a lot of money instead of trawling through Trade Me or Ebay and paying exorbitant prices.  It looks to be very easy to do and the CTMH pages are really good quality and will protect your photos in many years to come.  I am really hanging out until the time I can sign up as a Close to My Heart Consultant in New Zealand.  Hopefully it will be early next month.

Please check out this YouTube video for further information and details:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5rIJlpQEpY&feature=youtu.be

I hope you find this useful during this transition from Creative Memories to Close to My Heart.

Happy scrapping

Patricia

A whole new world coming to New Zealand with Close to My Heart

Welcome

I have just been to the Close to My Heart Opportunity Event in Auckland last week and I am very excited about this opportunity.  The career pathway looks great and the products will allow people to be a lot more creative.  I have put a Cricut Expressions 2 on layby and can’t wait to get the cartridges from CTMH to play with.  They look so cool and it will be nice to be able to make my own embellishments to match my scrapbook layouts and cards.  I am also looking to the three dimensional elements on the cartridge and will be looking at doing some workshops at Make Shift when Make Shift gets established.  The other thing that is really cool is that I can just do parties online as well as doing parties with people.

We had a little play with some inks, papers and cute glitter embellishments and the papers and cardstock are lovely.  It took a while to work out how to use the ink pads, but I have got it sussed now.  The stamps are great and easy to use and I will be looking at building up my CTMH stamp kits.  I am also looking forward to playing with the alcohol markers as well.

Just as well I have joined a de-stash Facebook site to start clearing out some of my old stock to make room for Close to My Heart.

In the meantime I have got back to basics and will be teaching heat embossing at my card making class tomorrow at the Upper Hutt Library.  When I first started doing cards too many years ago to remember I started with heat embossing and I still have my heat tool as well (which is starting to get a little sick and I will finally get a new one once I sign up with CTMH).  I remember a lot of hit and misses then, but I have discovered using a embossing buddy (a kind of chalk in a bag) that helps with keeping the card clean and my endeavours are much more successful now.  Here are a few of the cards I have made with heat embossing:

Embossed flowers card Embossed flowers Embossed flowers Embossed flowers

 

I found some papers that I bought years ago as a 6 x 6 paper pack at The Warehouse and they matched perfectly with the pink cardstock from Stampin‘Up.  I also like the combination of gold and pink and the result is some very retro looking cards, but some people still like these classic cards so I will be putting them in Make Shift as well.  I have coloured the images using a watercolour pen and Stampin’Up inks.  I have also used my artist quality paints in the past with good effect as well.

The materials I have used here are:

Stampin’Up Cardstock – pink

Stampin’Up ribbon – Light Pink

Stampin’Up inks – Old Olive, Artichoke, Regal Rose, So Saffron, More Mustard

Kaisercraft stamps

Kaisercraft rhinestones

Peelcraft stickers

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System – ovals

Creative Memories Border Maker – Twinkle Chain Cartridge

Cuttlebug and embossing folders – Swiss Dots and Edges

Cuttlebug Die – Whimsy

For the heat embossing I have used a versamark ink pad and the powder is Ultra Detail Embossing Powder – gold.

I hope the ladies tomorrow get inspired to branch out and do more with their stamps and inks.

I am now going to look at doing some digital scrapbooking to get put onto canvases for Make Shift to sell.

Happy crafting

Patricia

 

 

 

Special cards for the budding ballerina

Welcome back.

I have been busy going through all my stash and found these gorgeous papers that I bought years ago when I first starting scrapbooking.  They are from K & Company and the pack is called Hopscotch.  I have no idea if they are still available, but the papers make beautiful cards.  I have already done a couple of layouts of my ballet forms from many years ago and will perhaps keep a couple of papers for layouts for my daughter for when she did ballet.  I managed to match up the colours with various cardstock that I had already and I am really pleased with how they turned out.  For most of these cards I have distressed the edges and that has helped with making the different papers stand out more from the backgrounds.  The little pictures of flowers, butterflies and tutus have been fussy cut out from the paper.  These cards have been easy as the paper and colour coordination was made easy by using the same range of papers.

I am sure these will go down a treat at Make Shift.

Here they are:

Ballet card Ballet card Ballet card Ballet card Ballet card Ballet cardMaterials used for these cards:

K & Company Hopscotch 12 x 12 pad

Creative Memories Cardstock – Pink Shimmer

Bazzill Cardstock – Bling (sorry not sure of the name)

Peelcraft stickers

Kaisercraft pink pearls

Stampin‘Up greeting

Versamark stamp pad

Gold embossing powder

Creative Memories Place-n-Punch – Blossom

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System – circles.

Tim Holtz Distressing Ink – Victorian Velvet

I am really excited to be going to Auckland tomorrow to find out more about Close to My Heart and also get my hands on some of the products.  I can’t wait to join up and start having workshops at Make Shift.

I hope you all keep well and safe and Happy Crafting

Patricia

Bi-Colour Cards

Welcome back.

I am looking through all my stash to try to either use it up or put it on a de-stash facebook page before I start with Close to My Heart.  I have a mix of different products from different companies and lots and lots of different papers so I will probably take some of these to use up at my Crafty Angels group when we do some papercrafts next term.

With these cards I have used a burgundy card from Stampin’Up (sorry I don’t know the name of the colour as it came in a pack that was on special – I have been told it is Rich Razzleberry by my Stampin’Up friend Julie Butler) and white cardstock and used embossing folders and Memory Box dies to create these cards. I even sneaked in some stamping as well.  I took these cards to the library where I take a card making session and sold a couple of cards before I could even get them put aside for Make Shift.

Here they are:

Handcrafted card Handcrafted get well card Handcrafted sympathy card Handcrafted sympathy card Handcrafted thank you card Handcrafted thank you card

Materials used:

Memory Box dies – Cherry Blossom, Phloe, Pippi Butterfly

Dienamics Die – Fancy Flourish

Stampin-Up Stamps – Cottage Garden

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System – ovals

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder – Elegant Frame, Swiss Dots

Peelcraft stickers

Purchased sympathy stickers.

White ribbon and button from my stash

I have just purchased a Cricut Expressions 2 and put it on layby so won’t be picking it up for a while.  I am not sure how long I can hold out with this as it is going to expand my creative horizons so much!   I have been watching videos on You-Tube and can’t wait to get started.  Next week I am off to Auckland to learn more about Close to My Heart and  get the chance to get my hands on some of the CTMH products which I am really looking forward to.  We have been really fortunate that we have got this opportunity to move forward with.  I really feel for the CM Consultants in Canada and the United States who may not have the same opportunities.

Have a good day and Happy Crafting.

Patricia

Baby Cards for Make Shift

Hi there

Here is just a small selection of baby cards that I have made for Make Shift.  At the moment I have just done blue and pink cards, but will look at doing some different colours like yellow, green and purple.

Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card

 

I have used a variety of materials and tools in these cards:

Creative Memories Pink Shimmer Cardstock

Creative Memories Border Maker – scallop cartridge and twinkle chain cartridge

Creative Memories Fabulous Tone on Tone paper

Creative Memories rotary trimmer – scallop edge

Bazzill Cardstock

Cuttlebug embossing folders – Swiss dots and Welcome Baby, buttons strip

Memory Box dies – Pram

Kaisercraft pink bling

These cards have been very quick and easy to complete.  Once we have Make Shift up and running I hope to be able to run workshops teaching cardmaking and will also look to having some quick make and takes when I am working in the shop.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

Pretty Please Pat Me!

Pretty Please Pat Me! by Patricia Manhire
Pretty Please Pat Me!, a photo by Patricia Manhire on Flickr.

The weather has not been great lately and I have not had a chance to go out with the camera. So my cat Sox has been a good subject for me. Here is another photo of him looking like he wants a pat. I like the light on him and it gives him a much softer face as well. He is a very cute and very demanding cat and at times very photogenic!
I am still making cards and will upload some more shortly.
I hope everyone has a great week and I will catch up with you shortly.
Patricia

 

Join the Make Shift Journey

Hello there.

I am so excited about sharing this new venture with you.  I am part of a Collective of talented and dare I say it crazy craft people who will be opening a pop up shop in the Lower Hutt CBD.  This is part of a Hutt City Council initiative to revitalise the CBD and they have been fantastic in their support with this venture – Thanks Cyndi Christensen.

Please check out our Facebook page and like us to follow our journey to opening the shop and beyond.

https://www.facebook.com/MakeShiftShop/posts/345234165604842?notif_t=like

There will be a wide range of products for sale and we are starting to advertise on Facebook for craftspeople to sell their products through the shop.  The interest so far on our Facebook page has been phenomenal.  We are still working through the Terms and Conditions and the application form but they are not far away and will be posted on our Facebook  page.

I am still really busy making cards for Make Shift and have really struggled to make cards for young children.  There are not a lot of cute and funky stamps for children so I popped down to the local $2 shop and bought some stickers that I thought were suitable.  I have also used bright primary colours together for a striking effect.  I am particularly pleased with how the circus cards turned out.

Here they are:

Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's birthday card Child's bithday card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card Handcrafted card

 

I have used a range of products here:

Cardstock -some Bazzill and some Stampin‘Up and some I had in my scrap drawer.

Stampin’Up stamps and inks

Hastings Rubber Stamp greeting

Creative Memories Shape Maker System – jigsaw

Creative Memories Custom Cutting System – circles

Creative Memories Rotary Trimmer

Creative Memories Tape Runner (this is only while my stocks last)

Circus and car stickers.

Thank you for visiting and come back often as I will keep you posted on our progress with Make Shift.

Have a great day and Keep Crafting

Patricia