Cafe Parisian & Annie

I am continuing my Delectable Annie surge today with this card where I am used the "Sitting Pretty" Annie stamp. This is such a sweet image, I just love her little face.  This time I used the new Cafe Parisian collection by Graphic 45.  I used the paper "Petite Four" for the strip on the left and "Life is Sweet" for the background paper, both from Cafe Parisian. The chipboard "Enjoy the Little Things" is from the same collection and is a piece from the Decorative Chipboard Pack. The clock is from the Kaisercraft Ooh La La Collectable pack.

I coloured Annie and the stool with Copic markers. The stool stamp is also part of the Delectable stamp range, although I used the digital version (not available for sale, only as a stamp) so it is bigger than the stamp.

I cut out a selection of the cakes from the "Petits Four" paper and mounted them on foam pads around Annie.

The frame is a Spellbinders die and the dots on the frame were made with Liquid Pearls "White Opal".

The inside was decorated with "Petits Four" and again I cut out some of the cakes and arranged around the middle:

The Cafe Parisian collection is stunning. Here are a some amazing projects from the graphic 45 design team showcasing this versatile collection:

A little Christmas Inspiration

Hands up how many of you are ready for Christmas. You'll notice my arm forlornly by my side.  Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without those last minute panics for us mums! It all works out and every year things are done in time, hope I'm not becoming complacent!

If you still have cards to make here are some super easy makes.
 

My first card uses an image from one of the Graphic 45 "A Christmas Carol" papers: "Scrooge & Marley". I cut out around the sign, inked with distress ink then used glossy accent on the sign.  

The background paper is from the Kaisercraft "Holy Night" paper pad.

Poinsettia (also with Glossy Accents), acetate corner and Holly is from K&Co. 

The card is finished with a few pearls.

My second card is again using background paper from the Kaisercraft "Holy Night" paper pad. This time a beautiful gold foiled design.  From the same pad I also got the "We wish you a merry christmas" sentiment, which I glossed with Glossy Accents.
Holly and Poinsettia are K&Co. 
I cut out another image from the Graphic 45 "A Christmas Carol" "Scrooge & Marley" paper, this time the open pages of A Christmas Carol. I inked it with distress ink the used glossy accent on the "A".
The little Christmas angel has been inked with red distress ink and then highlighted with metallic gold. I used Glossy Accents on everything  on the image to really bring it to life and dotted the snow with Liquid Pearls.

Inside the card. Sentiment is a Kaisercraft rub-on. A little poinsettia adorn the top of the sentiment, which has been cut with Spellbinders dies. That beautiful gold foiled paper again from the Kaisercraft pad.

My third card uses yet another image from the Graphic 45 "A Christmas Carol""Scrooge & Marley" paper, see how versatile it is?   I cut it out and used Glossy Accent on the flowers. the dots around the edge were emphasised with red Stickles. I took an image from another sheet from the Graphic 45 "A Christmas Carol" collection, called "Figgy Pudding" and cut out the sentiment and the flowers. After inking the edges of the sentiment, it was layered on the first image using foam tape to lift it off the card. I again used Glossy Accents on the flowers.
The two stamps are from the "Scrooge & Marley" paper.

Background paper is another design from  the Kaisercraft "Holy Night" paper pad.
Poinsettia is K&Co. This was again glossed with Glossy Accents
The card is finished with a few pearls

I used yet another sheet of paper from Graphic 45 "A Christmas Carol for an ATC project for our forum. Our monthly ATC swap was themed "Christmas" and I cut out images from the paper "Seasonal Sentiments" for my three cards. If you would like to join our monthly swaps we would love to see you there (sorry but the swaps are UK only).

GRAPHIC 45 CHILDREN'S HOUR

I must just shout about the latest products to land at the Charmed door, namely the fabulous "Children's Story" from Graphic 45. This is a calendar collection at heart but it is so much more. Use for card making, scrapbooking and other paper products. The calendar pages themselves are housed in the paper pads this time, with coordinating designs available in both single sheets and pads. Pop over and take a look.

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 :)

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

Sweet Sentiments....

Good morning weekend :) Hope you have woken up to good weather and good vibes :)

We recived two new collections from Graphic 45: Couture and Sweet Sentiment, last week, and I fell in love with the colours in the Sweet Sentiment range. I had to make a birthday card for a dear friend who has recently suffered a horrendous loss, and didn't want it to be too jolly and cheerful. The mellow and gentle hues of the "Violet Bouquet" paper was perfect for the job. I decided to use a "Silver Fairy" die-cut topper as my centrepiece. These are fabulous and already coloured in, so ready to go, we have lots more HERE.

The turned-down corner is a very simple but effective technique that I have been using for donkeys years. It's lovely with double-sided papers as you simply turn the paper down and fasten it. Put a piece of the main paper at the back of the now exposed corner.

 A coordinating inside, using the same paper, as you can see I used the reverse side to cut strips for both front and inside.  I used Spellbinder dies inside, and the larger die for matting my image on the front:

 I had some berries and used them with "Wedding Day" Roses and sprigs cut from a Spellbinders D-Lites "Sprigs" die. A Prima pin was tucked in there too. The corner is a mixture of pearls and crystals.

Thank you for visiting the Charmed corner. Have a great weekend xxx

Graphic 45

Graphic 45 recently released a new calendar line called "Place in Time". It is amazing and suitable for so many projects that it's a must have for your crafting box. There's a fabulous Place in Time Project tutorial by the G45 team on their blog HERE.

A previous release by G45 was the beautiful A Ladies Diary. I used elements from one of the sheets of paper called "Ageless Beauty" to make the following two cards:

As well as the image form "Ageless Beauty" I used Prima Backing paper - Martha Stewart Deep Edge Punch -  Prima Flowers and Pearls - Prima Vintage Trinkets

 

 The second card uses an image from the same sheet. The backing paper is Prima Zephyr (Paper pad), and the border strip is cut out from the reverse of the G45 Ageless Beauty sheet- Large Prima Rose - Prima Tea Thyme Chipboard - Kaisercraft Rub-On - Prima Crystal

So two simple but elegant cards, with more images for more cards from just one sheet of paper. If you haven't already, go check out the gorgeous Graphic 45 products, they are just amazing.