Hunkydory Christmas Collection

When you make a lot of cards as I do, hoping that you may sell a few at the occasional craft fair, buying sheets of card with matching toppers, sentiments etc is a quick and easy way to build up your collections.  

Over the last few years I have brought many a kit from companies like Kanban and more recently Hunkydory.  Hunkydory have wonderful themed collections. The trouble with buying kits such as these is that you either need a lot of time to construct these cards or a pair of helping hands. Sharing with other members of the family or friends is an ideal way to use these kits especially when there is the promise of making lots of cards from the kits.  Take for example the Christmas Collection I purchased from Hunkydory earlier in the summer.  Well this promised me well over 100 cards for my investment.  Now that's a lot of cards and it isn't any wonder I haven't finished making them yet.

The Christmas Collection consisted of 4 Christmas kits combined into one amazing offer.  Hard to resist when you gotta start somewhere!  Well nearly three months on and I have made up three sets out of the four.  I think I will stop there though as I want to move on to something different.  

Let me know what you think of the Magical Christmas Cards, A Stylish Season

Whispers and Wishes

I am building up a small arsenal of CDs which encompass everything you need to make complete collections of cards and a lot more besides.

Some of my favourites are from My Craft Studio. My Craft Studio is a purpose built graphics program which has been designed by crafters for crafters.  The program gives you the ability to easily change colours and sizes, making you the designer in your own home.  

I would like to share with you some cards I have made using the Whispers and Wishes CD.

These designs are created exclusively for My Craft Studio by renowned artist Lisa Fox.  Wishes and Whispers includes unique fairies, printable handmade papers, notepads, 3D flowers, cupcake wraps, party invitations, cards, backgrounds, toppers and much more.  

Let me know if you also think they are as enchanting as I do.

Pixie Land

If you ever need some craft inspiration then look no further than the Debbie Moore Designs Craft Magazine.  I have already shared with you some of my Shabby Chic Garden Projects but I was distracted by a recent purchase of Issue 13.    This issue features a beautiful Old Venice Collection with 20 Free papers and a Free CD called Pixie Land.    It was the images from the CD that inspired the making of the following cards.

This is a C6 card, quite small but nevertheless "packs a real punch".  I love the strong green colour and the finishing touches of a peeloff used around the diamond shape topper.

I have made an 8x8 card here and printed the background paper on to Glossy Card Stock.

And finally, this card is a 7x5 and I have used some blue vellum to add a bit of interest.  As vellum is translucent I have placed buttons over the areas where I glued the vellum to the backing paper.  Again, a lovely strong blue colour.

Parchment Craft #1

Considering I have spent the last week at home on my hols, I don't know how I didn't find time to write on my blog!  I almost achieved it in so far as putting my thoughts together in my head but that was as far as it actually went.  Despite being at home I found there were other jobs needing my attention including some book keeping for the wheelchair dance group I help run.  We have reached the end of our financial year so the Accounts needed balancing.  Who needs a CSE in maths when Excel can do the maths for you!    Anyway some of the things I planned to do will sit and wait for another occasion.  One thing is for sure I will never run out of crafty things to do.

Whilst on my hols I attended the Stitch, Sew and Hobbycraft event at Westpoint in Exeter. I got to meet Barbara Grey who often runs workshops on Create and Craft TV and I purchased even more of her wonderful Clarity Stamps. Barbara is appearing on Create & Craft TV this Saturday 12th October between 11.00-13.00 to do her “In the classroom” show and then again on Sunday 13th 09.00-11.00, "Stamping with Clarity". I shall be crafting along with you Barbara. I was so thrilled to meet Barbara and show her some of my artwork that I had made during her "live" on air classroom. I also got to meet a few other presenters from other shows but sadly not Debbie Moore.

Whilst at the show I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a short workshop to get me started in Parchment Craft.    Experiencing a fall back in the spring, I had a spell in hospital and whilst there felt bereft from my crafting materials.  I decided then, that I needed a portable hobby.  I had previously been drawn to Parchment Craft when watching Tina Cox on the Create & Craft Show make lovely Christmas Cards.  I had got as far as purchasing her patterns but needed a little encouragement to get me started.   The workshop was very useful and I was able to purchase some grids to get me started.  It seems easy enough to do but does involve close up work so I may need to invest in some magnifying clip on glasses to make it a little easier to see what I am doing. 

I made this card last week which I am really pleased with.  I haven’t finished it off because I haven’t decided on how best to write the sentiment.

Let me know what you think of my first attempt!