Christmas Poker

gift bag for a poker lover (only Santa and I know what is going in here)

going for a co-ordinated look



Update: My chesty cough is back with a vengeance, but there was a Victorian Christmas Fayre on locally tonight so I wrapped up warm and went with Mr FantabulousMayhem and his Mum.  No Christmas tree up for me yet, I like to leave it to nearer the main event.  It’s not a card but I will be posting this project as my contribution to a Card a Day Blogging, it does include a gift card and tag though.

Inspiration: Pushing on with some practical Christmas makes for family.  Number one son plays poker (and he was in Las Vegas in the summer for a friend’s wedding, lucky him!), so that’s the theme for these gift bags.  I saw the topper sheet at a craft stall while in Whitby and the foiling really caught my eye.  I will never forget the year when number one son came home from university at Christmas, took one look at the Christmas decorations I had put up and said ‘haven’t you heard less is more mum?’  This sums him up, but I do still love him and my decorations.  He doesn’t like a lot of frills but he does seem to appreciate some of the hand crafted cards I have made for him (just not the house lit up like Las Vegas!!).  I am trying to stick with a theme so the gifts look co-ordinated (I have some plain red and kraft wrapping paper with stars that will go well too).

• Products: Kanban topper ‘Large Playing Cards’ PCT9806; Kanban Christmas backing card 900373, 900488, 900492, 900516; plain black card and mirri card from stash; do-crafts kraftstax; do-crafts back to basics gift bags; 3 for a £1 bottle bag; Anita’s Christmas ribbon (red), Dovecraft creative ribbon (green), Raffia from stash; gold fishnet ribbon from stash (bought in a bargain shop); letter tiles from WH Smith (didn’t keep the label so I’m not sure of the brand); cosmic shimmer coloured pearlescent glue; Hunkdory bling; black and white buttons from stash (papermania a few years ago); small heart punch; white peel-offs; white sakura gel pen; rusty hinge and barn door distress ink to ink edges.
• Techniques: Just a decoration job really, but lots of fun in laying things out and deciding what would go where.  I was aiming at a layered, not too busy, random collage look.  I love the quality of the Kanban card and the foiling but I still like to ink the edges, as the card is matt it takes a touch of ink very well.
• Favourites: Kraft card; layers; inked edges; dots and dashes; bit of personalisation.
• Extra bits (just because): tried to keep to a minimum but I do think the cosmic shimmer glue blobs make a nice effect, I do need to practice though as they are not totally regular (and with no ‘e’ in David I could use some of my remaining letter tiles!).  I've used the cosmic shimmer glue to stick on the buttons and to make a faux thread.

Watch this space: itching to do some colouring in, if I can stop coughing long enough but I’ve got a new Funky Hand cd to play with too so I’ve got a real dilemma on my hands.

If you like these decorated bags, you might like this project:

Quirky Monochrome

Queen for the Day

Old Photos on envelope and Queen for the Day on card front

Inside of card with Kanban bits and hand written journaling

Update: I’m having a bit of a duvet day today, doing some preparation for December cards (cutting pips and inking edges).  That doesn’t make a very interesting blog post so I thought I would share a card I made in the summer that I am particularly fond of.

Inspiration: As part of Elizabeth II’s coronation celebrations, my mother in law was crowned the Queen of the Gala in her local town (Clackmannan) when she was twelve.  She is having a tough year so we wanted to make a bit of a fuss of her for no particular reason.  So at the time of Elizabeth’s Jubilee celebrations I made a Queen for the day card and we got her some treats.  The card borrows from scrap booking quite a bit with some old photos of the crowning ceremony, unfortunately the photos we had were not very clear but there is bunting and they have a lovely vintage feel.  Can you see the horse and cart that has been decorated as her carriage?  I think it’s so romantic.

• Products: Kanban Cool Britannia/Jubilee kit; 8” by 8” kraft card blank (I love kraft card but I think it works particularly well with the vintage photos); some paper and ‘Queen for the day’ stamp from ‘Simply Homemade’ magazine; red card from stash; some bling and butcher’s twine from stash.
• Techniques: The toppers and background card from Kanban did most of the work for me setting the scene.  The bunting ties in nicely with the bunting in the background of the old photos.  I’ve framed the photos with some red card and some dots and dashes.  I’ve added some hand written journaling.  I understand from the TV tips by Mel Heaton and Rosemary Berry that this is very important in scrap booking.  As yet I have not done a 12” by 12” scrap book page (that will be changing soon though), but I really like making personalised cards like this.  My husband is a very typical Scottish man and doesn’t do talking about feelings, so in a way this is a gift to him too, to express the feelings he can’t say himself.
• Favourites: Kraft card; faux stitching; extra details inside card and matching envelope.
• Extra bits (I love extra bits): Bling here, there and every-where.  I’ve coloured the union jack in the background of one of the photos.  Clever people can do this sort of thing digitally but I just did it with a red pen and a blue pen.  I like this sort of effect.

Watch this space: Trying to alternate between December cards and other requests.

18 Today

Bit of a cheeky extra blog today. 

Happy Birthday 18 Today

This is a project I completed in the summer but didn’t take photos.  My daughter has kindly just sent me these pictures over to add to my blog.

Matching Box

It was a special request for a friend of my daughter who was turning 18.  I was told she was in to union jacks and minis.  I had just got some suitable Kanban card so I went to town.  I didn’t have any-thing with a mini on it so I used a picture from the internet which I coloured with red and blue pens so it would blend in.





a heart pocket, hearts and buttons

Rather than make a card I made a memory book.  It’s made of two 8” by 8” kraft card blanks stuck together in a concertina giving lots of sides to decorate.  Although you can’t really see in the picture there are lots of hidden pockets and opening sections to add messages, keepsakes or photos.  As well as adding layers, inked edges and faux stitching I have also added a few stamped butterflies and and some hand written words.  My favourite is the legend ‘Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you’ve imagined’.  Thought this was a good sentiment for an eighteen year old starting out in the world.  There’s some brads, gems, ribbon, buttons and butcher’s twine too, the toppers, bunting and butterflies are from the Kanban kit.

I used my crafter’s companion ultimate pro to help me make a box.  There was a decorated gift bag too, but sorry no photos of that.  You may have noticed I like decorating things but it really was so enjoyable I didn’t want to stop.

Time for a Party

A touch of Cabaret, a touch of Chicago and a hint of steampunk

A very special inside, blank for your own message.

Update: Another day, another blog post.  I need to get my skates on today as I have a few things to do in the real world.

Inspiration: I know I have a weakness for adding every-thing but the kitchen sink to my cards, so this is another attempt at a monochrome creation in the hope it adds a bit of class.  It has a touch of ‘Cabaret’, a touch of ‘Chicago’, and just a hint of ‘steampunk’. 

• Products: Kanban - Mackenzie backing card and elements; Kanban Moulin Divas and Steampunk stamps; black and cream card from stash; Spellbinders and Marianne dies; few brads.
• Techniques: Image hand stamped on cream card and coloured with copic pens; layers; sort of collage style.
• Favourites: Kraft card; inked edges; faux stitching; extra details inside card.
• Extra bits (because where’s the fun in making your own cards without adding extra bits: I was well happy with the flowers that have a clock face in the centre, it was bit of an accidental experiment so hope other people like it as much as I do.

Watch this space: juggling between wood nymphs, wedding and Christmas…ooh it’s so tough to decide!

Sophisticated Monochrome

Inspiration:

Moulin Diva

Who doesn’t want to feel sexy and sophisticated on their fortieth birthday, so that was the look I was aiming at here.  Having a bit of a monochrome phase but I think it works here.  Sticking with my favourite card size at the moment it’s another 8” by 8” card, a straight easel this time plus a matching bottle bag (if you are marking such a big occasion you deserve a wee tipple).

40 and Fabulous

I watch too much television for sure but sometimes you pick up a few gems.  I had seen Dawn from Kanban make some cards with feathers and spider web net and I was looking for a project to try out something similar.  I used stamps to give me an excuse to practice my colouring in with copic pens.  It is sooo relaxing and such a buzz when you get a nice effect.  I always think my projects can be improved (much to the frustration of Campbell – that’s Mr. Fantabulous Mayhem) but copic pens do blend wonderfully for that feel good factor and the Moulin Divas stamp is very effective.  It’s becoming rather addictive as it takes me back to my school days (it was shading with pencils then – much harder).
That’s enough blogging for now as I am off for some sophistication of my own.  My mother in law and I are off the see the Phantom of the Opera at the Theatre.  I am sure to come back filled with inspiration for a gothic creation or two.
Key Products Used:
·         Stamps: Moulin Divas (Belle Femme) by Kanban; Numbers from Country Companions by Jayne Nesterenko.
·         Kanban Mackenzie Collection – for monochrome patterned card.
·         Copic pens – Mostly cool greys and flesh tones.
Favourites:
·         Tim Holtz black soot distress ink on edges; Memento rich cocoa to stamp images.  White opaque Sakura pen and black fine liner pen for highlights and faux stitching.
·         Images stamped on Hunkdory ‘Colour Me’ card.
·         Hobbycraft 8” by 8” card blank, plain black, holographic and kraft card for matting and layering.
·         Extra bits: black feathers (Hobbycraft); Spider web net (ebay); Fancy wool & brad from stash.
·         Spellbinders label dies.

Quirky Monochrome

A birthday treat for a very special daughter.

Emily and Steampunk Sarah

Inspiration:
I was looking for something different for my daughter’s birthday creation and found these great stamps from the ‘Off the Wall’ Collection by Lindsay Mason.  I fell in love straight away.  Leanne is all grown up now but still appreciates things that are a bit quirky so I thought these images would fit the bill perfectly.  I like to add as much as I can to my cards and I have went for a collage style but I tried to have a bit of restraint so kept to a fairly monochrome colour scheme. I have a weakness for matching sets so I made a twisted easel card and decorated two gift bags.

Leanne is a maths teacher now so I added the numbers in the background to add a personal touch and the label background design is a very similar style to her favourite tipple too (that just happened to be in the bottle bag).

I am glad to say that they went down well with the birthday girl.

I was delighted to discover that Lindsay Mason has a blog and there are more stamps in the ‘Off the Wall’ range so I have added them to my ever growing wish list and hopefully you will see more creations here later.  I hope to learn some of her ink techniques too.

Key Products Used:

·         Stamp: 'Emily and Steampunk Sarah'– Off the Wall Collection by Lindsay Mason.

·         Kanban Mackenzie Collection – for monochrome patterned card, clocks and butterflies.

·         Copic pens – mostly cool greys.

Favourites:

·         Tim Holtz vintage photo distress ink on edges; Memento rich cocoa to stamp images.  White opaque Sakura pen and black fine liner pen for highlights and faux stitching.

·         Images stamped on Hunkydory ‘Colour Me’ card and some old cream card from stash.
·         Docrafts 8” by 8” Kraft card blanks, black, cream and kraft card for matting and layering.
·         Extra bits: vintage brass key and sacred heart from stash (I think it was a ‘Create and Craft kit); creative expressions screw brads; Papermania mini brads.  Tim Holtz idea-ology sprocket gears.
·         Spellbinders label dies.