60th Birthday Card

.... Hello again! This is a very special card - it's for my wonderful husband, Jonathan. He'll be 60 years young on 30 April. Jonathan is a huge Dr Who fan, so I decided to make a postage stamp style card with Dr Who style 'stamps'. Here's his card:

Stamps: Viva Las Vegas - Plate 925 (Dr Who); Kindred Stamps - Dr Who; Gina K - Birthday Sparkle, Post Cards and More; Waffle Flower - Postage Collage Fall; MFT - Vanity License Plate

Inks: Gina K - Key Lime, Blue Raspberry, Soft Stone; Versafine - Onyx Black; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: Waffle Flower - A7 Postage Stamp Collage; Gina K - Birthday Sparkle

Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Pear Pizzazz; Clear Embossing Powder; Copic Markers; Primacolor Pencils; Visible Image Stencils - Ripples, Off the Grid; Waffle Flower - A7 Postage Collage Block Stencil; Stampendous - Tim Holtz THS115 (stars)

I'm submitting this card to Seize the Birthday - STB#281 - I gone with 'any colour and green', Addicted to Stamps and More - ATSM#466, and The Male Room - TMR#185 where they want to see embossing.

I think if you've seen my blog recently, you'll be aware that I just love the postage collage style cards. Waffle Flower have produced dies for all size cards - this card is 5" x 7" and uses the A7 die and stencil. It's great because I can use larger images in the 'stamps'. I die cut the stamp collage from white card, placed the block stencil over the top and used grey, blue and green brush to lightly ink the stamps. I then used three different stencil to create background patterns and inking with a heavier hand. I didn't reink any of the brushes - it was just what was left on the brush. I have two stamp sets that have a Dr Who theme. I used my MISTI to stamp the images. The Statue of Liberty and fish fingers and custard images were stamped with Versafine ink, embossed with clear powder, coloured with Prismacolour pencils and then fussy cut out and adhered to the stamps. The Tardis, Dalek, and Adipose babies were stamped in the MISTI, removed and coloured with Copic markers, restamped with Versafine ink, embossed with clear powder and fussy cut out. I then used various postage stamps to add detail stamping. I found a 60c stamp in Gina's Post Card & More set - so appropriate! I finished the front with a happy birthday sentiment stamped in black ink, die cut and adhered to the card.

Inside the card, I cut a mat layer of green card. On the white panel I stamped a greeting using words from the Kindred Stamps set, and added a cute (!!) Weeping Angel in the corner.

For those who don't know (and why not?) the Weeping Angels are statues that, if they catch you, transport you back in time. There is a catch with them, they can't move if you're looking at them - so 'don't blink'. The Statue of Liberty angel appears in The Angels take Manhattan. This episode always makes me cry. The Daleks have been the Doctor's adversaries since the series started in the 1960s. Google Daleks and you'll find loads of clips. The Adipose babies appear in Partners in Crime (David Tennant and Catherine Tate), one of my favourite episodes. Finally, the bowl of fish fingers and custard come from The Eleventh Hour where the newly regenerated Doctor (Matt Smith) meets Amy for the first time - it's a wonderful scene.

That really is all for today - I had so much fun making this card and I know that Jonathan will love it. See you soon.

Mother's Day Postage Card

... Afternoon!! It's been a really dull day here in Northop Hall - but I've had fun in my craft room working on a card for Mothering Sunday. Here it is:

Stamps: Waffle Flower - Postage Collage Love, Postage Collage Fall, Postage Collage; Gina K - Handmade Holidays, Filled with Sunshine; The Greetery - Sentiment Suite Birthday

Inks: Gina K - Ocean Mist, Powder Blue, Peach Bellini, Sweet Mango, Tangerine Twist, Wild Dandelion; Versafine Clair - Nocturne, Morning Mist

Dies: Waffle Flower - A2 Postage Collage; Gina K - Handmade Holidays

Accessories: White Card; Waffle Flower Stencils - Postage Collage Rose Stencil, Postage Collage Colouring Stencil; Peach Card

I'm submitting this card to Cupcake Inspirations Challenge - CIC#589 - love these colours, and to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#79 where it's always Anything Goes.

I have a stack of these A2 postage stamp die cuts on my desk and I've been working my way through them, I love how different they look. For this card I used the co-ordinating PC Rose stencil - it has three parts (very easy to line up), I did the roses in shades of orange, the leaves in blues and added the starry highlights in yellow ink. I used the additional little stamps sets to add works and prices and franking marks. I layered the finished panel on to pale orange card. I used one of the stencils to add the decoration to the A2 note card and then added the stamped panel. I finished the front with a stamped sentiment.

Inside the card, I cut a couple of pieces of white card. I lightly added orange ink to the larger piece and then edged with an orange marker. On the smaller piece of card, I stamped a greeting and added some tiny flowers.

This card is for my aunty Sue. I lived with them for about 6 months when I was in my early 20s and Sue has always taken good care of me. That's it for today. Bye for now.

Rainbow Postage Birthday Card

.... Hello!! It's been a few days and somehow we're in March already! I'm here to share a birthday card that I've made:

Stamps: Waffle Flower - Postage Collage, Postage Collage Fall; Mama Elephant - Birthday Messages, Mixed Wishes Greetings; Lawn Fawn - Rain or Shine Before 'n' Afters; The Stamping Village - Birthday

Inks: Gina K - Red Hot, Tangerine Twist, Wild Dandelion, Lucky Clover, Ocean Mist, Blue Raspberry, Medium Lilac, Passionate Pink; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: Waffle Flower - Postage Collage Die A2

Accessories: White & Black Card; Waffle Flower Stencil - Postage Collage Colouring Stencil; Copic Markers; Glitter

I'm submitting this card to AAA Colourful - AAAC#01 where we can use the rainbow of colours - this is a new challenge and one I'm delighted to join. I'm also playing along with Seize the Birthday - STB#278 - I've skipping the colour and just joining the anything birthday goes.

The postage stamp style card is so popular and I just love it - it can be made to suit any and all themes. This is a rainbow birthday card. I used a mix of stamps and stencils and Copic markers to add colour to the candles and rainbow. I've also added glitter to the flames, the cake and the end of the rainbow. I layered the finished panel on black card and added the whole lot to the front of an A2 note card. 

Inside the card, I cut a mat layer of black card. On the white panel, I added a fun birthday greeting along with a row of party balloons - coloured rainbow fashion.

This card is for my niece, Catherine, she has her birthday on Saturday - I'm getting it in the post today to make sure it arrives on time. That's all for today - see you again soon.

Floral Birthday Postage Card

... Hello! I've got a birthday card to share with you this morning. This was inspired by Gina K's recent video, although the only Gina K products on the card are the inks!! Here's the card:

Stamps: Altenew - Enjoy Life, Just a Number; Waffle Flower - Postage Collage Fall, Postage Collage; The Greetery - Sentiment Suite Birthday

Inks: Gina K - Lemon Drop, Light Lilac, Medium Lilac, Dark Lilac, Applemint, Lucky Clover; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: Waffle Flower - A2 Postage Collage Die 

Accessories: White Card; Stencils - Waffle Flower Postage Collage Colouring Stencil, Altenew Enjoy Life; Copic Markers

I'm submitting this to Color Hues - CH#81 to use Lilac and Mint, to The Flower Challenge - TFC#88 - to add a heart, and to Never-Before-Used-Schtuff - NBUS#59 - the Postage Collage stencil and stamps have not been used before.

I have the Waffle Flowers postage collage collection and not really used it much. I was watching Gina K's release video where she made a postage stamp card with one of her flower stencils - I loved it. So I decided to use that as the inspiration and mix and match my existing stamps, dies, stencils, etc. I started by cutting the A2 postage collage die in white card. I added masking magic tape to cover the dots and stitched lines and using the first part of the collage colouring stencil, I lightly inked in pale yellow around the edges to define the 'stamps'. I then stamped the floral image onto the panel and used the matching stencils to add colour. I removed the masking magic and using a variety of stamps added words, images and prices to the 'stamps'. I created the border on the A2 note card by using Waffle Flower's Postage Collage Colouring stencil - first in green, then in lilac. I adhered the postage stamp panel to the front of the card.

For the inside, I cut a piece of white card slightly smaller than the note card. I lightly inked the edges of the panel with lilac ink. I stamped a fun greeting in the middle of the panel, and stamped the floral image again and coloured it with Copic markers.

This card is for my aunty Sue. She has her birthday on Saturday - and I'm safe to share it here now as Sue doesn't look at my blog! To be honest, not sure any of my family look at my blog. That's all for today - I'm off to the post office now. See you all soon.

Belated Birthday Card

... Good morning!! It's been a while - my creative mojo has been AWOL!! However, it finally came back last weekend and I made Kat's birthday card. This card is very late - Kat was 22 years old in September, but I was away at a creative weekend at Art from the Heart in Harrogate, so I sent a - shock horror - shop bought card. It wasn't good enough and Kat insisted I make her a card - so it's taken a while, but here it it at last:

Stamps: Waffle Flower - Postage Collage, Postage Collage Fall; Mama Elephant - Inside Birthday Wishes; Avery Elle - Handwritten Notes

Inks: Gina K - Lipstick; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: Waffle Flower - Postage Collage Die

Accessories: White & Red Card; Various Images from Internet; Gina K Stencil - Fizzy

I'm submitting this card to Seize the Birthday - STB#270 where they use one die cut and use it multiple times, and to Never-Before-Used-Schtuff - NBUS#55 - the Waffle Flower postage die and associated stamps.

This is a large card - 8" square. I used the postage collage die to cut out three sets of 'stamps'. Instead of using the matching stencils (I'll be using them soon) I found images of various pop stars and groups  that Kat enjoys. I sized the images to fit the 'stamps', cut them out and adhered them to the 'stamps'. There two 'stamps' on the card that feature Kat with the group New Year's Day - one of her favourite bands. Kat is a huge Taylor Swift fan now, so most of the images on the front feature Taylor. I added some postage details with the matching stamps. I used a stencil to add some interest to the front of the card. I opted for the colour red - a title of one of Taylor's albums, and featured the number 22 - a title of one of Taylor's songs. Inside the card, I cut a mat layer of red card and on the white panel I stamped a birthday greeting, added a verse and a couple more 'stamps'.

I had so much fun making this card. I love the postage collage die and will be using it to make some Christmas and Halloween cards soon - the co-ordinating stencils are adorable. Before I go, here's a picture of our beautiful daughter - Kat:

That's all for today. See you soon. Bye for now.