A step card

Hello

This is my first try to make this kind of step card. It was fun and I will make more of these later on. 

I had to try my latest stamp from the Shop, thanks to Karen. 

So here it is.

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I used the papercollection from Santoro as well as the stamp, this is from the Mirabelle collection and you can find a lot of the products from this collection here.
I love this collection, and now I have to get a couple of the other stamps from this collection as well.
I colored her with my copics.

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So visit the store and grab some from this beautiful collection.
Hope you got inspired to try out some :-)

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Just a note to say hello.

Hello

A while ago I made this card with one of the Land Girls downloads. I really love these girl.

I think see is a perfect match for "joining me for some coffe".

She is colored with copics.

Wish you a great summer. This day has been so far, a perfect hot summer day here in the north of Norway.

Hugs Gunn

DESIGN TEAM CALL 2014

Summer Inspiration

Hello from Norway.

I live in the the north part of Norway, the calender show summer, but yesterday we had snow, quite a bit as well. So I have to admit that I just isn`t really into that summer mood.

But in a couple of days I think we get more summerish weather..... perhaps :-)

Well at Copic Marker Norway we have a summer challenge and I made this card.

Using one of the downloads from the store here.

I used papers from Prima, and some of the  flowers are from Prima too.

Hope you have summer where you are.

Wish you all a great summer!

Card For Dad

It's Father's Day on Sunday! Did you forget? Bet your dh wouldn't LET you forget! :-) Tis the day to pamper all those lovely dad's out there. If you haven't made a card yet, take a look at this very easy tomake card from our DT member Caroline Scattergood. Caroline used Basic Grey Highline to make this fabulous card, which is super for many occasions:

Caroline says:

Monochrome black and white cards look fab when put together with a pop of colour.  I struggle with a more masculine card but this type of colour scheme works really well, and the Basic Grey Highline  has black and white amongst the colour scheme so I was able to do this card, as well as more feminine ones, with just the one set of papers.

I layered up the two yellow papers in the pack and sewed them together.

The stars were cut using a die cut and then were all edged with black ink.  The white stars were covered with a little bit of Stickles-Crystal.  I love a bit of glitter!  I then placed the stars onto the card to create a banner effect and sewed them into place leaving long thread ends either side of the banner.

I then popped two smaller stars in the two top corners.

I then added some buttons, and used a rub-on for the ‘dad’ wording.

I love this colour combination and with the Basic Grey Highline set you can have it all – Pastels, Brights and Black and White.  Couldn’t ask for more from paper really!

Pre Coloured Charmed Digis

Hi there fellow crafters and friends, have you missed me? It's been a heck of a long time hasn't it? I'll be honest with you, life just got really hard over the past month and I have decided to distract myself from it all by immersing myself in creativity - it beats alcohol!
On Saturday I bought myself a much needed printer so I could start to use my digi downloads again so yesterday I tested it out......I wanted to know what the colour print would be like so I browsed through my pre coloured digis from Charmed Cards and Crafts and found one of my old favourites from the pixie collection. You won't believe this but the card I am about to show you took me about 15 minutes yesterday! Take a look...

The Marianne Die and the beautiful picture make it look like it took hours don't they! Honestly I think I am going to print out the pre coloured digis more often!

I will be back with more because I just found some stuff in my camera which I never shared with you!

Bye for now xxxxx

Personalised Cards...

I have previously spoken about using the recipient photograph on the front of cards, and I really think it is a super idea, especially for hard to please teens! Here is a card I made recently for my 16 year old daughter, using a photo of her as the main attraction - and the main attraction was after all exactly what she was on this long-awaited day :)

I used a Marianne Zipper die to create a zip for the top, and the pull is a Prima Rusty Typo Zipper Junkyard Findings. I really love the look, and this is definiately a die I will be using quite a lot. Looking forward to trying it on a scrapbook layout.

The card is quite large, and as I was using 6"x6" paper (from the Santoro Mirabelle 6x6 pad), I cut one piece diagonally and used a coordinating paper from the same pad to fill the gap. These papers are glittered and glossy, so it's a really nice effect. All the papers used on my card are from the Mirabelle pad, apart from the black base card, which is plain cardstock.

Swirls are cut with a Spellbinders die - D-Lites "Sprigs" set
Paper Roses (some Prima some not, but all available at Charmed Cards & Crafts)
Pearls, mini bow and lace are Mirabelle

Wish ticket is from Tim Holtz's Adage Tickets pad
the "Perfect" lace is Prima lace sticker
Bunting cut from Joy Craft Die


Initially I didn't have the "Perfect" lace on the front, I added that at the last moment. Looks nice either way.

 The inside was decorated to coordinate with the front.

 

 You wont believe the amount of writing I managed to pack onto that 3" square LOL All soppy mummy stuff :)

Love that Mirabelle range ♥

Charmed Downloads: Holly & Madison

The downloads from Charmed Cards & Crafts were amongst the first to appear on the craft market, and featured in most leading UK craft magazines. We remain best value, with the cost of an average bundle of lots of digital images (plus often backgrounds and sentiments) being around £5 - £7.50, that works out at mere pence per image! Over the next few weeks I would like to feature some of the cards created with these amazing bundles.

The bundle featured today is the first Holly & Madison created by our Lou. Here are past cards created from the bundle, you can see lots more example cards in the shop.

We are giving away a bundle to two people who leave a comment on the Holly & Madison post on our Facebook page today, plus an extra chance if you leave a comment here.

 

You can find the bundle in the Charmed Cards & Craft shop here.

Santora Mirabelle Inspiration...

 

Santoro London have a superb range of products, and I think that the latest Mirabelle collection is the jewel in the crown. The adorable characters are complimented with a range of high quality products, such as speciality papers and a lovely range of embellishments. We had these in a while ago, and they have proven to be very popular.  On my example card I used only the 6x6 paper pad from the collection, and cut the image from the front of the pad (ensure you cut around the tape holding the pages together as it will otherwise tear the image), but there are beautiful images in the decoupage pad, the glitter stickers, plus the images come in stamp form too (restock of a few of the designs expected early next week).

The character used here is "Pursuit of Happiness", she is just adorable!

 

Card size is 7.25" x 6". I used three of the different sheets from the Mirabelle 6x6 pad for my card, starting with a glossy stripey pattern, then layering with a fabric infused paper (butterflies) and finally a glitter paper; a wonderful mix of textures. 

I used a piece from the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea "Hello Friend" as the base for my sentiment, and added some Crystal Glamour Dust to the rose on there. The sentiment itself is a Kaisercraft rub-on.

The lace is just wonderful, it is from the latest Prima releases. The reel comprises 1.5 yards of these beautiful 5-petal flower lace blossom, but that is about 27 flowers, so it really does go a long way. I topped each lace flower with a pink small open rose.  Butterflies and heart are from the Mirabelle Sticker sheet, and the sugar dots are Prima Princess Gems, the crystals are Prima too. Corners are Spellbinders.

The inside was decorated using the same papers to compliment the front:

If you have never decorated the inside of your cards I highly recommend you give it a go. It creates a wonderfully luxurious card and take it up to another level. 

Keep an eye on our Facebook page this weekend, when we will be giving aways one of the 6x6 Santoro Paper pad and a Mirabelle "Pursuit of Happiness" stamp set.

Have a great weekend

Just a Little Inspiration

Hello my Lovelies, Louise here. It's been so long since I Blogged that I forgot my password and they wouldn't let me on! Well, I'm here now and I've finally made a card that I feel is worth showing (one's mojo has been going through a dry spell!)
 Do any of you ever avoid crafting because you have a fear of sitting at the table and feeling blank then producing something which you feel is totally pants? It's a horrible feeling and one that is often the reason that I don't get any crafting done. Well, I think I have found a solution .....find some blummin inspiration! You all know the places to look right? Blogs are great for a start and we have some fab tutorials and galleries on the Charmed Cards and Crafts website. I guess what I am trying to say is, don't waste the talent you have by avoiding crafting, get inspired and get creating!
I hope this easel card which I have just made will inspire you a little....

Most of what you see, including the Land Girl digital download is from Charmed Cards and Crafts. Take a look you won't leave empty handed!

Using Large Paper Designs on Cards...

Have you seen papers that you love but think they are not suitable for cards because of large patterns? Think again. Most paper companies these days produce 6x6 or 8x8 pads for card makers, but don't dismiss the 12x12's solely because of larger patterns, instead look at them and think "how can I incorporate this into my design".

The paper I am using here is "Gorgeous" from the Graphic 45 Couture collection. This is a larger card, measuring 8" x 6". Cut a fold 12" x 8" piece of plain cardstock into 8" x 6", then measure a piece of the Gorgeous paper slightly smaller to go onto the front, don't glue it on yet.

Create a centrepiece. I used a Wee Stamp topper from the "Hopeful" sheet  on another of the Couture papers "Lovely" (I used the largest image).  Arrange where you want the topper piece to go, then using a craft knife cut around the large flower designs that lie around the edges of your centrepiece, cutting only the areas that are below your design, so that the flowers are still part of the background paper, but will lift in part and sit on top of your topper..

Glue your background paper onto the front of your card, taking care not to glue down the cut areas.

Glue the centrepiece on the card, ensuring you lift the flowers to sit on top. I added a little border strip that I cut from a piece of the reverse side of the Gorgeous pape (it is a double-sided paper). I then cut out various pieces from the remaining sheet, including more flowers and some leaves. TIP: If you are going to pop flowers behind something, cut them in half. The top two roses behind the wee stamp topper is one rose cut in half.

I finished the card with a Prima Resin bird, a few roses, and pearls, but it didn't really need much more; that one sheet of 12x12 paper gave me not just backing paper, but also amazing embellishments for my card.

 The Graphic 45 range often comprises gorgeous larger patterns, I hope I have encouraged you to try using them for your card making :)

Thank You....

Crikey!! The weather we've been having huh!?! Unbelievable! I have never known anything like it. My heart goes out to all of you who have been adversely affected ♥ Let's hope it settles down soon. The US are seeing some incredibly low temperatures with the deep freeze continuing. Again I hope and pray all our American friends are safe ♥

Today's blog inspiration is a little thank you card, bet we all have a few of those to hand out after Christmas!

I used an older Basic Grey pad here, I think it's Wisteria. The background paper was cut all around the page with a Martha Stewart punch set. I then cut around a flower pattern on another one of the sheets from the pad, and layered that on top. The sweet little girl is a Wee Stamps card topper, this one if from the "Silver Fairy" sheet, I showed you a card using one of the other images on that sheet a few posts ago. I inked around the edges with distress ink and mounted it on coordinating cardstock. The little "Thank you" is a Basic Grey rub-on.

Banner was die-cut, I used the back of an empty embellishment pack as paper, waste not want not :-)   The ribbon and bow are actually purple, I just can't get the right light at the moment. Pearls, crystals and a little rose completes the card.

Faux stitching applied with an Inkssential pen all around the edges, then just a little Stickles to highlight the flowers she is carrying.

 Stay warm, stay safe, and see you soon xx

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our lovely crafting pals xxx We hope you arrived safe and sound into 2014. May this year be full of blessings for you xxx

Have you been following our Facebook Give-aways? We have introduced quick give-aways on our Facebook page and did they daily for a few days. We are now settling into a regular Saturday give-away slot and hope you will join us each week.

A little inspiration for 2014. Again I used one of the card toppers I used before, this one is from the "Hopeful" sheet. This is one of the large images and the resulting card is size 8" x 6". I have made this one shabby chic, with layers of distressed and torn patterned paper. I used Graphic 45's Couture paper ("Lovely" and "Style" as well as Bo Bunny The Avenues paper "Home".

I love the Prima resin and have used two of them here:

 I decided on a simple layout inside the card. The ivy here and the two corners on the front are cut from a Marianne Design Ivy die:

A Tim Holtz Distressing tool was used on all the edges for a distressed look and I tore into some of the paper. Also used: Roses - Large Prima Flower -Pearls - Ribbon - Spellbinders dies - Tim Holtz Adage Ticket - Stickles - Button - Imaginisce Polished Pebble Brad