New Year, New Card Ideas

I'm one of those lucky people who get their birthday's not long after Christmas, when I was younger I hated the joint christmas and birthday present fob off, but as I've aged I've become more birthday savvy. Mostly because my birthday occurs during the month when they have sales, I didn't appreciate this fact when I was younger! The items in the photo above I got with birthday money, along with some marvellous post Xmas bargains, like A4 Xmas embossing folders for £5 when a few weeks before they'd been £19.99! I also picked up Xmas sentiments, ribbons and backing papers for a song, so next years Xmas stash is already shaping up nicely :)

I saw the new 'Little Meow' card making papers, decoupage etc and fell in love, I'm a cat fan as are a fair few of my friends, in fact I'm reliably informed that I'm on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady lol! So with my birthday money I treated myself to some of the items for Papermania's 'Little Meow' range and also the XCuts 'Mixed Cats' Die Cut set and both have been put to good use and photos will follow soon. One thing I have noticed about my stash, is I have lots of Xmas themed embossing folders and die-cuts, but not many that are suitable for making birthday cards and cards for other occasions. That I'm working on and will continue to do throughout the year. I've picked up some toppers from Foil Play in their Xmas sale which saved me a pretty penny, and I got some lovely cat toppers as well as some to add to the Xmas stash.

I met the challenge I set myself of making cards for all my friends and family and they went down very well, the last two I made were for my Dad and sister, these ones were larger 8 x 8 cards, the green one has a Bebunni topper I printed out from a CD, the red card is a sticker from a Me To You Glittet Sticker sheet, everything else bar the holly leaves was in my craft stash just waiting to be used. Suffice to say I think the card-making the bug is here to stay and I've decided I won't ever be making mass produced shop cards again! Instead all the cards I send will be made by me, tailored to suit the person I'm sending to and the occasion. I've already made a birthday card for a friend and a surprise card for another friend, I'll post photos once they've received them as they may see them before the special days and that will spoil the surprise.

I'm getting a little bolder with my creations, even though my cards are still pretty basic, but I want to explore some new techniques. I got bought a couple of sets of 'Spectrum Noir' alcohol markers for Christmas, so rubber stamping and colouring will be experimented with, my rubber stamping attempts so far have not been very good, all smudges and blurs. I read that the type of ink you use for the designs matters, so further investigation is required. I'd like to make more use of my printer to create toppers, sentiments and backing papers, and play with textures a lot more. Plus I want to make cards for my herb loving friends, there aren't that many ready made toppers or rubber stamps featuring herbs in the UK, so being able to create my own is a must. I already have some ideas and will be putting them in to practice very soon. Watch this space!

Variations On A Theme Using Toppers

 

As I'm new to card making I'm mostly playing with toppers to make my Christmas cards for friends and family this year, as this is the first year I've made cards I'm not very skilled using rubber stamps and some of the fantastic techniques I've seen on the internet and in magazines. Along with die-cuts and paper pads which have featured in some of my cards, toppers are so easy to use. Plus I love how you can take a basic set of items and depending on card colour, texture and the additional items you choose as accents you can get a whole range of themed cards from one topper sheet, no two cards are ever the same, unless that is you want them to be! The above three cards are made using a topper from Foilplay, its called Mr & Mrs Snowman and is a Kanban design, I love the colours and the gold foil decoration really sets the topper off don't you think?

The cute teddy cards above are made with a Hunkydory design, this one called 'Sending Love at Christmas', and was another foilplay purchase, in fact all the cards in this post are made with toppers that I got from foilplay. These cards were really easy to put together, after I'd embossed the card, all I had to do was attach the topper then I added a few stick on gem stones for some added bling.

The house cards come from another Kanban sheet called 'Christmas Country Houses' it's a little hard to tell from the photo but the landscape card is a decoupage, the topper sheet has enough items to make 1 decoupage card and 2 other cards like the purple one above. I had a scrap of adhesive fuchsia pink ribbon left, but it wasn't long enough for the length of the card, but I wanted to use it, so it occured to me to use the 3 little snowflake circles from the topper sheet left over to disguise the fact that the ribbon wasn't long enough, each snowflake circle has a sparklie gem stone in the centre which was the finishing touch and I think it came out rather well :)

My final card selection is another Kanban topper from foilplay, this one called 'Christmas Fairy Wishes', I have to say I really love this design, one of the cards is going to my niece for Christmas, although I'm not saying which one ;) The topper sheet contains five toppers and was an amazing 99p, an absolute bargain and its made some really pretty cards, with two more to go.

The cards in the photos above bring my card total so far to 43, so I have 21 cards left to make to achieve my target, if I'm honest I didn't think I'd make it, but I have so many toppers and ideas I do believe that I'll exceed my total. Some cards will go to next years stash, others will go to my local Cats Protection to help them raise funds.

I already subscribe to Quick Cards magazine, and this weekend I treated myself to a subscription to  Papercraft Essentials because they were giving away a 10 piece Joanna Sheen Signature Die-Cut Collection which has owls, lacy borders, flowers and butterflies, when you subscribe. All elements that will make excellent items to add to future cards. My xmas craft card making stash is pretty well stocked, and I'm already looking for ideas for birthdays and other celebrations to make cards for friends and family as birthday and non-christmas events are a bot thin on the ground.

I was also lucky this weekend to pick up a copy of Issue 73 of Creative Cardmaking for £2.50 RRP £4.99, it came free with 24 silver foiled toppers and a paper stack with some of the papers also foiled. I think they will be used in some of tomorrow's creations, although I still have lots of kanban toppers I want to play with. Problem is I'm falling in love with my creations, hence taking photos, if I don't I'm not sure I'll be giving them away. I did give one card to one of my oldest friends and she loved it, which has given me courage, because I was really worried about giving homemade cards!

29 Cards To Go!

So when I decided to make homemade cards for everybody this year I didn't realise how many I'd need, I made my list today and yes I've checked it twice ;) But I need 64 cards to achieve my goal, that's easy I thought, surely I have enough now? I counted the cards made and nope I only have 35 that I can send, so I have 29 more to make!!!

So I've been making cards this afternoon, the above two cards have homemade toppers printed out on my PC one is a Bebunni design the other is Party Paws Christmas. Both are laid on embossed cards and finished with different elements from my craft stash. The edging strip on the Bebunni card is scrap from a Hunkdory topper, but as it was a knitted effect I thought it went well with this card.

These two quick makes use different embossing folders, the 'Happy Christmas' card using a Kanban topper from Foilplay and some snowflake diecuts and gems. The 'Merry  & Bright' card uses another topper printed out on my PC on a shiny metallic blue die-cut shape as a background. I really do think that embossing the card really adds to my designs and I love the way you can pick elements of the embossed design out like with the snowflakes.



I'm also busy die-cutting and embossing the pieces to make 25 gift bags for putting homemade sweets in as gifts for the family. I've made matching tags and co-ordinated cards from some free Hunkydory toppers that came with November 2014's issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine. Each bag takes 2 sheets of A4 card stock, I'm using the Xcut "Gift Bag Die Set" and Crafter's Companion "Vintage Music" A4 embossing folder from the Vintage Christmas Collection to decorate the bags. Hopefully all bags will be ready to assemble by the time I need them at Christmas and the cards will be finished so I can get them in the post by the middle of next week. Next year I'll start earlier!!!

Bitten By The Card Making Bug

I know I've not blogged as much as I intended to this year, its been a rather odd year that has seen me suffering from anxiety and mild depression, that all started back in January when I hit 50, I got a case of the female mid-life crisis methinks when the menopause kicked in! I've kept a brave face on publicly, but I have had some gloomy days where I felt like giving up, but that isn't an option, so I've been trying various ways to not turn in to a basket case for several days every month, and card making and St John's Wort seem to be doing the trick.

I've been saying I'll make my own cards for years now and over time I've been collecting card making stash, magazines, card blanks, ribbons, buttons, glitter and lots of ideas and they just went in to boxes under the bed. A good friend makes cards to deal with her stress levels and thanks to her gentle encouragement I realised that maybe card making was an option for me.

Simon treated me to a Sizzix Big Shot die cutting and embossing machine and I made my very first card, aptly a birthday card for my card making friend Kat, and after that I was hooked. I acquired more embossing folders and dies and have been making a lot of cards, this year as well as home made sweeties, the family and friends are getting homemade cards. The cards below are for Simon's family and we're making matching bags and tags to put the homemade sweets in that we're giving for Xmas.

The first photo in this posts shows cards using items from my craft stash, metallic A5 cards, coloured cards, adhesive gems and some of my new embossing folders. I love my embossing folders, they instantly add texture and subtle decoration to my cards. I think the die-cut machine and all its possibilities are one of the reasons I've really got in to the hobby now. The 'Dress' card is made using a topper from a Hunkydory set that came free with Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine in November.

The trio of cards above this paragraph also use toppers from the freebie, the two centre cards in image 1 come from a free CD from Crafters Companion Crafter's Inspiration: Issue 5 Christmas Edition and were printed out via my computer and cut to shape with die-cuts. The images are from the Bebunni range and I have to say I'd fallen in love with the Bebunni characters. They're turning up a lot in the cards I'm making for Christmas and will be featuring in cards I'm making for other events like birthdays and special occasions.

The next batch above, again are using toppers and embossing folders, I got some amazing toppers at bargain prices from Foil Play, Gill the lady that runs Foil Play is lovely, she offers free postage over £10, free topper for each £20 spent and excellent service, she also has regular competitions and a lovely little facebook group that I'm now a member of. Above photo also has toppers from Crafter's Companion and Hunkydory and the 'Let it Snow' card is a mix of an embossed by me card with a Sheena Douglas 'Ornamental Snowflakes' embossing folder, starry paper from my craft stash and a topper that was also in my stash.

The glittery 'Let it Snow' bauble is done using an X-Cut 'Christmas Sayings' die and snowflake are done using die-cuts with sticky back glitter foam. The snowflake die was free with a magazine, but I can't remember which one! I've also used the sticky back glitter foam to make a frame for the Bebunni card on the end, this time in silver. I realise that I'm using lots of pre-bought toppers at the moment but they work for me whilst I learn how to successfully use rubber stamps and play with other techniques.

For today, my last photo shows my first attempts at decoupage, I've made these cards for my nephews, again the background of the card uses the Ornamental Snowflakes embossing folder, but this time in landscape. There's another Bebunni card using Crafter's Companion toppers and finally the gingerbread man card which is made using a free embossing border from a special Christmas mag that Cardmaking & Papercraft but out every year called Make Christmas Cards it was a tad expensive at £7.99 but you got two embossing folder borders, lots of papers, toppers and stamps as well as the magazine. The gingerbread man is another die-cut this time from the X-Cut 'Christmas Medley' set, backing paper is from the craft stash. I stamped the gingerbread man out of ginger biscuit coloured craft foam from The Range, which has a good selection of base colours like brown, flesh, biscuit, white and black.

I guess you can say that I've been bitten by the card making bug in a big way, it's something I'll be doing for a long while to come, I love making cards, taking a set of basic items and turning them in to something unique. Some of my very first efforts were a learning curve, there have been some mistakes, but I've filed them for future reference as to what NOT to do. I've also decided that if I make more cards than I need, then the local Cat's Protection can make good use of them to sell to raise funds. I have lots of ideas for cards to make and a lot of stash to make them with. Some of them I may share on the blog here in the future. It's certainly a very therapeutic hobby and its certainly helping me when I have a down day :)

Spiced Apple & Cider Sauce

I have to admit to getting really lazy over the past few years and turning to jars or ready made stuff like mint sauce and apple sauce to save time. What I forgot was in saving that time I was losing out on flavour and that sense of satisfaction from doing something for yourself. The irony is it didn't actually take that long to make either! I'd bought bramley apples to make a cake and there was some left over, we had roast pork for dinner yesterday so I decided on a whim to make some apple sauce.

It's true that the 'Simple Things' in life really do make all the difference, the apple sauce I made was soooo tasty beating shop bought hands down. I made enough for 2 and there was enough to save some for eating with some sausages or pork chops later in the week.

Ingredients

• 2 Bramley Apples - About 500g in weight it prior to peeling and coring, peeled, cored and evenly chopped
• 100ml Cider - I use sweet cider but you can use any kind.
• 1 Sml Cinnamon Stick
• 30g Golden Castor Sugar - This gives in a slight toffee flavour. Plus 1 teaspoon for when cooked.
• ¼ Tsp Mixed Spice
• ¼ Tsp Lemon Juice - Optional but it does stop the apples going brown

Method:

1. Once you have the desired texture stir in 1 teaspoon of golden castor sugar, more if you like a really sweet apple sauce.
2. Put the apple pieces, cider, sugar spices and lemon juice in a pan and bring the liquid to the boil. Once at boiling turn down the heat, but a lid on the pan and leave to simmer for about 10 minutes.
    
3. After 10 minutes remove the lid from the pan and allow to simmer stirring occasionally to allow the liquid to evaporate. By this time the apple sauce should be the consistency of the photo above, it doesn't matter if there are a few chunky bits left, they will be soft, if you want an overall smooth sauce then use a potato masher to further break down the apple pieces. I like a bit of texture. Make sure you remove the cinnamon stick before serving.
4. Allow to cool before storing, or serving.
   

Finding Private Barry

The centre name of the above photo is that of my Great Grandad William John Barry, he was born in 1874 and died sometime in late 1916 aged 42, his name here is inscribed on the memorial at St. John the Divine Church at Lytham St. Anne's to honour those that lost their lives in WWI. The thing is my Great Grandad doesn't appear to have left the UK, he was discharged from the army in 1916 as being 'no longer fit for service', but there is no grave for him in St John the Divine, my Great Grandma is there, but not my Great Grandad. So where was he buried?

I knew very little about my Great Grandparents on my Dad's side of the family and only recall a little about my Great Grandad Rowe, my Mum's Grandad. It was the 100th anniversary of WWI that set me looking for him after I came across the photo I'd taken back in 2006 when I went to find the house that my Nanna grew up in as a girl in Lytham St Anne's. To be honest having a relative in WWI never really registered, I knew my Grandad had served in WWII but I had no 'connection' with WWI or very little knowledge about it come to that, which is odd given that the event happened just 50 years before I was born.

I have a lot to uncover yet but so far the little I've discovered has been rather interesting, he was 5ft 5", had light brown hair which faded to grey as he got older and he had grey eyes. That was a eureka moment, for decades I've been teased by my father that I was "the milk man's" because unlike the rest of my family and my grandparents, I have light hair and grey-blue eyes, everyone else is dark haired and brown eyed. So I was elated to discover that my Great Grandad is the reason I have light brown hair and grey eyes, no more teasing Dad, its genetics :p

With the help of a facebook friend who has access to some WWI archive material I've found GG Barry's war pension allocation to my Great Grandma, using census records I discovered that my Nanna had an older sister, and brother that we didn't know about who went to live in America after WWII. I also learnt that for some reason the army 'lost' Great Grandad Barry when he was being discharged! How he died remains a mystery, I know it was sometime in the 4th quarter of 1916, I've ordered his death certificate and when it arrives I'll know when and where he died and hopefully, what he died of. I did attempt researching family history a while back and was given a bag of photos and documents and when I dug them out at weekend to reinvestigate I discovered a photo of Great Grandad Barry in his uniform, what a dashing man he was.

Finding the photo has made my Great Grandad more than a name, I can see my Nanna and me in him and when my youngest brother saw the photo he declared he's inherited his ears lol! It's amazing to think that he's a part of my family line and without him I wouldn't be here today, but until recently I knew very little about him. I'll be posting more about him as I find things out and about the voyage to discover the rest of my family tree, made a little progress on that when I found the grave of my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother the parents of my Dad's dad, my Grandad Webster. I'm hoping that my searches will find extended family and that they may have some pieces of family history to share, you never know, I may get lucky! For now I'm happy with what I've discovered so far and I'm looking forward to the death certificate turning up to give me more clues. Watch this space!