Tag: Greeting card

Australasian SOTM Blog Hop – A Happy Hello

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, CTMH SOTM, Stamping33 Comments

1255207_10202500725937312_859120681790975122_nHello and welcome aboard our Stamp of the Month Australasian Close to My Heart Blog Hop. If you have arrived here from Mandy’s Blog, Hall of Indulgence,  then you are in the right place. If you landed here by accident, no problem, please join in by following the link at the end of this post.

Today I would like to share with you some cards which features February SOTM – A Happy Hello which is available exclusively throughout February for NZ$33 or for just NZ$5 when you spend NZ$75.  This stamp set is very versatile and you can mix and match the flower shapes together to make a lot of different flowers and shapes that would look great on cards and also to embellish scrapbook layouts.

As I said in my last post I have had a lot of fun making my own background papers and decided to use the backgrounds for this gorgeous stamp set. For further information on how I have achieved this background please visit here.

 

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For this card I have used the pattern from Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 pattern 28 and turned it around on the side. I have used the Triangle Border Punch to cut the Cotton Candy cardstock and backed it with Canary cardstock with the Brushed diamond patterned paper helped to pull the two strong colours together.  I have mixed and matched the shapes using the 1 1/4″ circle punch (in the while supplies last category) for the round shapes and fussy cut out the top pattern and the large flower on the bottom and used the thin foam tape for some dimension. The gold sequins finished off the flowers nicely.  The sentiment is from the Artfully Sent Just a Note stamp set.

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For this card I have used the ink and pearl paint background technique using Flaxen ink and I then stamped the stem with Desert Sand ink to show up.  I have kept to a simple colour scheme with the rest of the cards – Flaxen and Canary on Colonial White cardstock.  I found this to be quite a restful combination.  For this particular car I have fussy cut all the images and layered them to create some flowers.  The bow is left over from the Ariana complements and just fitted perfectly with this card.  I have again used gold sequins for the centre of the flowers.  The sentiment is from the Artfully Sent Just a Note stamp set.  I used a small sentiment so as not to take away the attention from the flower.

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I just had to use the large half circle stamp and here I have used it as a border and placed a flower in the centre of the middle shape.  I love the tinge of Pixie ink on the top of the background paper and used a piece of Pixie cardstock to balance the colour scheme.  You can see the slight pearlescent sheen on the background and to me the card resembles a lovely old fashioned brocade blind with a trim.  I have finished the card with the sentiment from the A Happy Hello stamp set and some Glitter Gems.

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For this card I have used another piece of Flaxen background paper and stamped the leaves as a background for the flower in Flaxen ink.  For the base of the card I have edged a piece of Flaxen cardstock using the Chevron border punch and then embossed the bottom of the cardstock with the stripe embossing folder.  There is a slit in the middle of the embossing folder to make it so much easier to partially embossing cardstock.  Can you see a small piece of green patterned paper from the Hopscotch papers behind the punched border?  I have fussy cut out the large flower and then using the 1 1/4″ circle punch I stamped the middle of the flower with the stitch stamp and flower stamp.

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Finally for this card I used the Flaxen colour paper from the Whimsy Paper Fundamentals Paper Pack – this has two sides to the paper with one side being tone on tone and the other side being a pattern.  Again I have used the same embossing and punching technique for the Flaxen cardstock and it looks great over the patterned paper and looks a little like a balustrade so I did some random patterns to create the effect of flowers in the front.  The frame for the sentiment is from the Frame Flair stamp set and the sentiment is from Sincere Expressions.  The butterfly is from the Your Own Kind of Wonderful.  I have stamped the base of the butterfly with Canary ink and then using Flaxen ink I have used the outline butterfly stamp  over the base.  I fussy cut out the butterfly and then added some liquid glass to make it stand out.

The Happy Hello stamp is only available until 28 February from your CTMH consultant here.  I’d love you to leave a comment before heading off to the next stop,  the very talented Shaunna’s Blog  Passionate about Pages

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Colonial White, Flaxen, Pixie, Canary

Papers – Whimsy Fundamentals, Hopscotch, Brushed

Inks – Flaxen, Pixie, Canary, Desert Sand

Stamps – A Happy Hello. Artfully Sent Just a Note, Sincere Expressions, Frame Flair, Your Own Kind of Wonderful

Punches – 1 1/4″ and 1″ circle punches, Chevron border punch, Triangle Border Punch

Embossing Folder – Stripe

Gold sequins

Glitter gems

Cricut Cartridge – Art Philosophy

Thin foam tape

Pearl Paint (NLA)

Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

 

CTMH Valentine’s Day cards

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Die Cuts, Paper Crafting, Stamping6 Comments

Welcome back.

I have been busy making Valentine’s Day cards and decorations for selling at Craft Hutt and this time I have kept to the traditional colours of red, pink and white for making them.  I have kept them very simple and used the last of the Sparkle and Shine candy stripped papers and Ruby cardstock.  My Cricut machine had a good workout and I am happy with the way they have come out.

CTMH Valentines Day Card CTMH Valentine's Day card CTMH Valentines Day Card CTMH Valentines Day Card CTMH Valentines Day CardThe materials used are:

Cardstock – Ruby, White Daisy

Paper – Sparkle an Shine B&T Duos

Ink – Ruby

Cricut Cartridge – Artiste, Artbooking

Stamps set – Holiday Tags (D1560)

Bakers twine – Harvest collection

Clear Sparkles

Ruby marker

Scallop punch

Cuttlebug – Swiss Dots,

Here are some decorations that I have made with roses using the Cricut Artiste cartridge and some polystyrene shapes from the local bargain store.

Some heart decorations using CTMH Artiste cartridge and Ruby and Candy Cotton ca

 

The flowers are cut out using the flower from page 54, Accent 1 cut at 2.5″.  These have been rolled using the great quilling tool from CTMH and glued together using the amazing liquid glass and then a hot glue gun was used to stick them onto the heart shapes.  I then used some organza ribbon from my stash to finish them off with a bow and also to have something to hang them with.the mar

Some heart decorations using CTMH Artiste cartridge and Ruby and Candy Cotton ca_0004 Some heart decorations using CTMH Artiste cartridge and Ruby and Candy Cotton ca_0003 Some heart decorations using CTMH Artiste cartridge and Ruby and Candy Cotton ca_0002 Some heart decorations using CTMH Artiste cartridge and Ruby and Candy Cotton ca_0001The materials I have used for these are:

Purchased polystyrene heart shapes

Cardstock – Ruby, Cotton Candy

Cricut Cartridge – Artiste

Liquid glue

Hot glue gun

Ribbon from my stash

 

I hope that you all have a good week and keep safe from all the bizarre weather conditions around the world.

Happy crafting

Patricia

 

Exciting News!

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts17 Comments

Hello there

Today I am really excited to announce that I have won a challenge through diecutcrazymag.com.  The challenge was for any papercraft project which included die cut flowers.  I had a couple of cards that I had done and emailed them off thinking nothing more of it until I got an email from Stephanie Shock from diecutcrazymag.com to say that I had won.  Imagine my surprise and it really didn’t sink in until today when I received my prize which was a Sizzix Susan’s Garden Tool Kit – thanks so much Die Cut Crazy.  I am going to get a lot of use out of this set.  It looks great.

I think this is the winning card that I sent in:

Cream and gold cardI have also been asked to contribute to a magalogue for Kalsbeek Crafts which I was really excited about.  They are looking at putting my cream on cream and white on white cards in their magalogue (a cross between a catalogue and magazine) with instructions on how to complete the cards.  Thank you Toni for asking me to contribute.  You have been great to deal with and your service has been nothing short of fantastic.

This has all happened prior to my joining up to Close to My Heart (CTMH).  Due to the terms and conditions of my contract with CTMH I will only be using CTMH products from now on.  I will be using a Cricut machine and the wonderful cartridges from CTMH to make more cards, scrapbook layouts and great 3D items.  I am really looking forward to these new products and what I can create from them.

Have a good day.

Happy crafting

Patricia

 

Die-cut Butterfly Cards

On By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts, Marianne Craftables, Marianne Creatables5 Comments

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

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The Final Countdown to Close to My Heart New Zealand

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Greetings, Scrapbooking3 Comments

Hello

I would like to welcome all my new followers to my blog and I hope that you enjoy coming on my creative journey with me.  I would also like to thank those who take the time to read my posts and also leave comments as well.  I really appreciate the feed back that I am getting.

I was very excited to receive an email this morning from Close to My Heart informing me that we are very close to the launch in New Zealand – the first week in September to be precise.  I can’t wait to start and am starting to de-stash in order to have space and money for my new CTMH products.  The Cricut cartridges look so awesome and I am very impressed with the cards and scrapbook layouts that are coming through from the Australian consultants.

In the meantime I have been doing some scrapbooking and cards.  I am getting through my son’s album and I am now up to his 3rd birthday.  I have used the It’s a Boy stack pack to complete his second year and I am waiting for the cricut cartridges to make some titles to complete them and then I will post a few pictures on here.  I love the colours of this stack pack and they went very well with the photos of James.  I am looking at doing his next album using the Pro-player WOTG kit.  The colours are great and I love the coordinating stamps and shapes that go with it.  It is more appropriate for an older boy as well.

I have also made some more cards for Make Shift.  I haven’t done many get well cards so I have made these using up some of my stash and am pleased how they have turned out.  I am a little disappointed in my Chloe die from Memory Box though.  The cut shape doesn’t seem to pop out quite as easily as my other dies.  I will keep persevering with it and see how it goes.  Anyway, here are the cards:

Get well card - love this combination of yellow and red Love the combination of red, grey and yellow Love this combination of yellow, white and dots Red and white simplicityMaterials used are:

Fiskars flower punch

Memory Box die – Chloe

Cuttlebug embossing folder – Swiss dots

Stampendous Get Well Stamp

Kaisercraft greeting stamp

Red and Yellow scrap cardstock

Stampin’Up ink – Real Red

Bling from the local $2 store

Marianne Creatables flower and leaf set – sorry I seemed to have mislaid the name of this die.

Coloured paper from my stash

I am pleased with the colour combinations and the simplicity of these cards and I hope that you like them too.

Have a good weekend everyone and Happy Crafting.

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Rugby Father’s Day Cards for Make Shift

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Creative Memories, Greetings3 Comments

Hello

Wow, we are getting so close with Make Shift opening for the public.  It has been a lot of hard work, but it is going to be so worth it.  I would like to thank my fellow Collective Members who have been amazing in their commitment and resourcefulness to help get this dream up and running.  It has been an incredible journey and I would love to think there is far more to come as well.

We have Father’s Day coming up next month and living in a rugby mad country  I have made some special themed cards for Make Shift.  In New Zealand, the All Blacks are our national rugby team and in the process of de-stashing I found some All Black stickers that I had bought to do some All Black layouts after we won the Rugby World Cup in 2011.  (James took so many photos of the victory parade that I ended up doing a photo book instead!)  These stickers became my inspiration for some cards instead and I am pleased how they turned out.  I kept to a simple black and white theme as it emphasised the clean lines of the stickers which meant they were very quick and easy to make.  I have also chosen the sentiments so that the cards could be suitable for both Father’s Day and birthdays.

Here they are:

All Blacks card All Blacks Card All Blacks card All Blacks card All Blacks cardBefore going on to listing the materials used I would like to make a special mention of where I get my base card stock from.  Because I make lots of cards I do not have the time to cut, score and fold all the base cards, so a few years ago I discovered Cardmakers in Christchurch.  Nicky and Joe Arts provide a huge range of basic cards, bulk supplies, die cut cards and many other essential supplies for cardmakers.  They have been amazing with their service, which has been even more remarkable since the earthquakes in Christchurch meant they were unable to access their premises in the Red Zone.  Despite this massive disruption I have always had my cards delivered promptly and they will give you extra cards when you order a bulk supply of cards.  They do deliveries overseas as well so please take the time to support them by visiting their website and checking out their great deals at:

www.cardmakers.co.nz

Materials used for these cards:

Cuttlebug embossing folder – swiss dots

Peelcraft All Blacks stickers

Peelcraft stickers – silver lines

Creative Memories Epoxy stickers – Enchanted

Stampin-Up stamps – Best Dad Ever

Memento ink – black

Black and White Cardstock.

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting

Patricia

 

Special cards for the Special person

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Crafts, Greetings7 Comments

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

 

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Special cards for the budding ballerina

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Children, Crafts, Creative Memories, Greetings, Scrapbooking2 Comments

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

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Baby Cards for Make Shift

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Babies, Cardmaking, Children, Crafts, Creative Memories5 Comments

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

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Cool cards for those difficult to please teenagers

On By patriciamanhireIn Art, Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Creative Memories, Greetings, Photography2 Comments

Hello there.

Welcome to all my new followers and thank you to all those that visit and take the time to comment and like my posts.  I really appreciate the feedback.

I am back to showing some of my cards that will be available at Make Shift when we open.  I don’t know about you but sometimes I find it very difficult to make cards for teenage girls who are not into the flowers or butterflies or all things girly.  So when I was in the local $2 shop I found these really cool layered stickers for these cards.  I have made use of my CM border maker to make some borders as a contrast so the cards are quite edgy and not soft or feminine at all.  I think the contrast between the deep pink and black is kind of cool as well.  Anyway, here they are:

Cool chick handcrafted card Pink and black handcrafted card Pink and black handcrafted card for teenagers Disco ball handcrafted card Rock chick handcrafted card

 

The materials I have used are:

Bazzill card stock

Plain black cardstock

Creative Memories Border Maker – hexagon and banner cartridges

Peelcraft stickers

Stampin‘Up greeting stamps

Couture Creations Drink Me embossing folder

I am really looking forward to going to Auckland in a couple of weeks to check out the launch of Close to My Heart in New Zealand.  I am drooling over the cartridges for the Cricut machine and am scouring Trade Me for some bargains.  I like using my Cuttlebug, but it will be nice to have an accurate cut each time and be able to layer the images and stamps together.  It should add a whole new dimension to my crafting.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and I will catch up soon with some more cards and/or photographs.

Happy crafting

Patricia

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