iris folding for men

This picture shows how different the design can look when alternative papers are used. These are taken from a Dovecraft range called "Masculine" which comprises of blue green and brown shades. The card itself is still a gatefold with a topper but there is more room on the tag because this time the pattern was enlarged even more than before.

There are a lot of lovely patterns in this book and I am looking forward to doing more of them in future. Incidentally, there are even some papers at the back of the book as well but I want to practise a bit more before I use them.

Wedding couple

This is a small recess card which features a wedding couple in decoupage, my first love! I hope it looks as though the bride and groom are stepping out of the picture. The card measures 11.7 c.m. square and has a half a c.m.spine. The centre recess measures 4.7 c.m. across (both ways) It makes a nice change to make a small card for a special occasion but Im hoping to show you some larger creations in the future. Watch this space!

Butterfly imaging

I bought this Papermania stamp last year for a special occasion but it seemed a bit limiting after the event. So I decided to try to decoupage it instead.

I stamped 2 images in fawn-coloured ink and cut them up, following the pattern lines to create the butterfly card, shown above. I made an oval with a scalloped edge and inked that with the same pad as well. This was then mounted onto a white background and a piece of dark brown card (which was also scalloped-edged) before attatching to an A5 card blank. I stuck the butterflies at an angle to each other on the oval piece of card and added the sentiment. The other embelishments were the corners and half-circle shapes which looked like brads. (peel-offs coloured with permanent markers) If you don't have this stamp but would like to try the technique something simular could be achieved with another mandala-style stamp or perhaps a mandala style peel-off.( I might even try that myself)

Happy crafting!

Just been playing with some of the new dovecraft stamps! I really enjoyed creating this "slider" card. It was suprisingly simple too. I just made a topper with a cloud-shaped edge and chalked the sides. I stamped flowers and leaves across the bottom and some extra ones on a spare piece of card so that I could decoupage them later. I cut a slit 1cm above the tallest flower and 2cm less than the width of the topper each side. I then cut a half moon shape on the left hand side of the slit and constructed the slider mechanism. All of the stamping was coloured using pencil crayons. I rendered some of the flowers and leaves in 3d as well as the "fly" character. It was then stuck to the slider and I added the bee, "Happy Birthday"and a few z's for effect. Hope you like it and that it will inspire you to try something different when you are stamping! Bye for now!

Butterfly Window

For this design, I punched out lots of differnt sized daisies. Some of them are single and some are double. I embossed them to make the petals stand up and then arranged them into a crescent shape. It left quite a space on the right-hand side though, so I added a peel-off butterfly which had been stuck on acetate. I thought the crescent looked a bit like a "moon" so I decided to use an arch-shaped card, to create a window. I used green and white coloured papers throughout, because I thought it produced a more subtle effect.
I can't bear to sell this card at the moment because I like it so much, and it has inspired me to look at punches differently in future! I hope it will do the same for you!

It could be some time before I'm able to put another photo on this blog because I'm still learning to do it! My daughter Helen has kindly helped me upload the last card design (and one that's comming up in a mo) but she's in the middle of packing for a 3 month trip abroad. I'm sure she'll have a great time and have lots to talk about when she gets back (not to mention the golden tan!)

New take on an old design

Can't believe I've finally got a card on my blog!
I know that this is an old project from Red Hot Bed but I just wanted to share it with you. The original picture was attatched to the middle of the card, then I extended the image with chalks outlined in ink. It sounds a bit arty, I know, but it was easier than I thought it would be, and I was really pleased with the effect! Hope you will like it too and try it for yourself. By the way, the door in the middle of the card still opens up to reveal a cooking pot over an open fire and rocking chair by the hearth.