Cards by Helen

Amelie's birthday card

2009-06-23T14:49:00.003+01:00

Amelie turned two on Sunday and we had a party for her on Saturday. For some reason I decided to make her cake myself - a pile of "building blocks" with the letters of her name on:

I also did her a digital card, which just happens to tie in with this week's Papertake challenge of using downloaded items on a card - in this case, the papers are from Scrap Girls' "Birthday Party" collection and the main image is one of the Numberjacks (one of Amelie's favourite TV shows) downloaded from the CBeebies website and coloured in on Photoshop.

And last, but by no means least, here's a pic of the birthday girl herself at her party. When I've got time I'll put some more party pics up on Facebook for those of you who are interested!

Thanks for looking,

A card at last!!

2009-06-10T14:58:00.004+01:00

This is the first card I've made for a couple of months now - I'm ashamed to say I've bought cards for most birthdays and other occasions so far this year :( I've just been too busy, and have got out of the habit. I've tidied up my card making area now, and now work has quietened down a bit I'm hoping to start making cards again.

This card is for one of Amelie's little friends, Jacob. He was the first born to the group of five of us who met at antenatal classes and still keep in touch. It's his party this afternoon - a hall full of toddlers sounds like the recipe for a headache, so wish me luck!

The cat die-cut is Moggi from Lili of the Valley. The paper is from a stack I've had in the drawer for ages but haven't used! I've sparkled the card up a bit with some glitter glue on the number 2 (which is cut with my Sizzlits "Round-A-Bout" alphabet set), the candles and the centres of the circles on the patterned paper.

Thanks for looking!

Mum- no peeking!!!

2009-03-18T12:32:00.002Z

This is my mum's birthday card - it's her birthday on Saturday (the day before Mother's day, so I've got to come up with another card to post at the same time - help!!), but I'm posting it today to qualify for the Cute Card Thursday challenge. The challenge was to create a celebration card following a sketch by Katharina. I know mum reads my blog, but I've texted her to tell her not to peek before Saturday LOL!!

It's a hybrid card made with Photoshop (Scr ap Girls supplies). Once I'd printed it, I printed the tag again and the flower again twice and I've decoupaged those to add some depth to the card, and added some diamond glaze to the centre of the flower.

Now I've just got to do the Mother's Day card (plus one for my MIL), and a birthday card for mum's hubby, whose birthday is on Friday!! I just hope Amelie has a nice long sleep this lunchtime LOL!!

Thanks for looking,

I've won a prize :)

2009-03-03T12:11:00.002Z

I'm very chuffed as the scrapbook layout I posted the other day has been selected by Scrap Girls as one of their two "layouts of the week" and showcased in their newsletter. Seeing as there are hundreds of layouts uploaded to their galleries every week, I never thought mine would be picked as a winner. As a bonus, I get a gift certificate to spend at the site :) If you're into digital scrapbooking and haven't signed up for their newsletter, it's well worth it - they include beautiful layouts by their professional designers for inspiration and lots of useful software tips.

My favourite place scrapbook page

2009-02-24T10:01:00.004Z

Again, apologies for the lack of activity here. The new year hasn't started out particularly well, as I've had three bouts of tonsillitis so far :( Amelie's not sleeping either, waking us up every night at about 2:30am and then up for the day at about 6am, so I'm a bit of a zombie! I've also started an OU course on web design for work, which is taking up quite a bit of time! All in all, it means that crafting has taken a back seat. In fact, I haven't made a proper card so far this year and seem to have lost my mojo. I have done a bit of digi scrapbooking though, as it's easy to potter around with that on the laptop in front of the telly - no clearing up, you just save the file and close down when you're done, and you can change your mind as often as you like without wasting stash!! This page was the perfect antidote to a miserable February day - photos from our last holiday to the Maldives the year before Amelie was born. The supplies are from Scrap Girls.

Thanks for looking,

A digital card

2009-01-19T20:03:00.003Z

I've created this card using Photoshop rather than traditional paper methods as I just didn't have anything in my stash that suited and my desk is such a mess at the moment that the PC is the only usable thing!! It's for my Dad's birthday in a couple of weeks, and I'm also entering it for this week's Sketch Saturday challenge - I hope a digital card is ok for this! I'll print it out on heavyweight cardstock nearer the time and may well add a bit of embossing powder using my embossing pen to add a bit of texture. The papers and image are from Scrap Girls' freebie Refresh kit and the embellishment is from them as well. I've used various PSE tools from Scrap Girls such as drop shadows and inked edges to try and make the card look a bit less flat.

Thanks for looking,

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #14 - Not a Card!

2009-01-16T21:20:00.001Z

My first challenge entry of the year, for the Secret Crafter Challenge - the theme this week is "Anything but a Card", which suits me quite well as I was doing this digital scrapbook page anyway!

All the supplies are from Scrap Girls, and the photos are of Amelie on Xmas Day with her three favourite presents - the ones that she's played with every day since. The real surprise was the hat and scarf set - she absolutely loves it and walks round the house in it all the time LOL!

Thanks for looking,

Happy New Year and a new Digital Scrapbook Layout

2009-01-07T14:06:00.003Z

Happy New Year and apologies for the lack of activity here over the holidays - I've just been too busy to craft :( I seem to have lost my cardmaking mojo at the moment too - maybe because my craft area is a complete state, and I had to rush to finish xmas cards and didn't really enjoy doing it! Hopefully I'll get a bit more organised at the weekend and will try to enter a challenge!

What I have been into recently is digital scrapbooking - something I've dabbled with for a while, but I've really got into in the last month or so when I've had to learn to use Photoshop properly for teaching it! I've discovered a couple of fab websites - Scrap Girls and Designer Digitals - who have both had sales on over the last few weeks, and I've loaded up with supplies! I particularly love the paper and embellishment templates that Scrap Girls do, as well as their Photoshop tools, and I'm completely in love with brushes!

We decided to let Amelie get messy on New Year's Eve, seeing as there were two of us and she was getting very bored stuck indoors. The photos just begged to be scrapbooked, so here is the finished page:

The layout above uses a multiple frame from Designer Digitals, along with papers I created myself using Scrap Girls paper templates and brushes. The date seal is from a Scrap Girls embellishment template. The font is one I bought from Lettering Delights a while ago.

Thanks for looking,

Amelie's First Xmas Card!!

2008-12-24T12:33:00.003Z

There's nothing like starting them young! This is Amelie this morning, making her Daddy's Christmas card - she loves colouring and gluing, and glitter was very popular!

And this is the finished card - not bad for an 18 month old, although she did have a bit of help from Mummy!

I've still not quite finished my Christmas cards yet - hopefully now she's asleep, I can make the last couple!

Thanks for looking,

Mum's Xmas Card!

2008-12-22T13:35:00.003Z

I know my mum reads my blog, so hadn't originally posted this card - however, I missed the post collection on Saturday (official last posting day) so I have no idea if it'll make it by Christmas! Therefore, I've posted it here so Mum can at least see it before then LOL!! I'm also entering it at the last minute for the Papertake Challenge, which is monochrome. The embossing folder is the Cuttlebug Lace Tree, highlighted with gold glitter and a gold ribbon on white pearl card that has a hint of gold to it.

Thanks for looking,

New baby card

2008-12-14T19:03:00.004Z

This card is for my friend Katie, who had a little girl, Isla Rose, almost two weeks ago. We met at antenatal classes, so her little boy, Jacob, is three weeks older than Amelie. The thought of having an 18 month old and a newborn to look after is more than I could cope with, but Katie's doing amazingly! I saw Isla today and she's still so tiny - she weighed 7lb 2oz when born on Monday 1st December, so is probably still smaller than Amelie was at birth, as she was 8lb 15oz!

As well as being a card for Katie, this also ticks off two challenges for the week. I love this week's sketch for Sketch Saturday and think I'll be using it a lot. The Penny Black challenge this week was a recipe - the card had to include three flowers, two papers and one ribbon, as well as a PB image. I adore this hedgehog and making the card brought back memories as I used this image for Amelie's birth announcement/thank you cards. The papers are from the Papermania "Raspberry Champagne" pack, as are the three flowers - I punched them from the pink paper I've used in the card.

Thanks for looking,

A new card at last!

2008-12-12T21:55:00.002Z

It's been such a hectic week, what with covering extra hours at work, having loads of lessons to prep for my own modules and now Amelie being poorly, that I haven't really had any time for crafting :( Still, as I couldn't go to work today as Amelie was too poorly for creche, I managed to (almost) make a card while she had her nap and I've finished it off this evening. Apologies for the rubbish photo - I'll replace it tomorrow if I can get a better one in daylight! The layout is for Sketch Saturday, and I've incorporated two other challenges too. Cute Card Thursday's challenge is using punches - the snowflake embellishments are made with x-cut punches - and Secret Crafter is to use either dry or heat embossing, in this case the lilac part of the card is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Thanks for looking,

New digital scrapbook layout

2008-12-03T21:58:00.004Z

I've been playing around with Photoshop a lot recently, mainly because I'm teaching it from Friday, and partly because I want to do something with the hundreds of photos I have on my hard disk that never see the light of day. This page is based on a template I bought from Designer Digitals - once you've learnt how to clip and merge layers, they're so easy to use. The digital papers and alphabet are from a Shabby Princess free kit (Sweet Serenity), although I've recoloured the letters to match the page. I love this set of images of Amelie, taken in July this year, playing with a tunnel her Nannie bought her from a car boot sale. The fact that her top matches the colour of the tunnel was just a happy coincidence, but it made the layout colour scheme much easier!

Thanks for looking,

Card for a male friend

2008-12-03T21:14:00.002Z

I must admit that I find men's cards the most difficult to make, especially when you can't use boats, cars or sports! I started one card for this friend then abandoned it half way through as it was too dull (greens and neutrals) and tried this one instead. Both sides of the card front are covered in matching patterned paper in reversed colour schemes, from the Papermania "For Him" pack, with a different paper on the inside of the card. The inside has a pocket made from the same paper and a tag, also covered with that paper, with a peel off on the front and the hand-written message on the back. I hope it goes down well! I'm hunting for stamps that I can use for men's cards but I'm not having much luck finding anything that doesn't revolve around boats, cars or sports, or shirts which has always seemed a strange theme for a card to me! If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to have them!

Thanks for looking,

Apologies and a quick challenge card

2008-12-01T13:40:00.004Z

First of all, sorry for the lack of cards recently! I've been snowed under with work and just too tired when I do have some free time to do much :( I've been given an award by Joanne too, which is fab and I promise I'll post it up as soon as I get time to work out who to pass it on to!

This card is for Sketch Saturday using Lili of the Valley die-cuts and papers, so was quick enough to do in between the washing and ironing while Amelie's asleep! Unfortunately, the new spray adhesive I bought the other day has stained through the papers and turned them dirty yellow in places :( I've tried to clean up the picture a bit in Photoshop, but think the card is destined for the bin unless it dries clear. It's annoying as it's specifically sold as a craft spray adhesive suitable for paper - I guess I should have tested it out first!

Thanks for looking,

Same stamp, different card!

2008-11-24T18:49:00.003Z

I've used the same snow couple stamp here, but with a very different colour scheme. In what I think is a record for me, I've managed to combine four challenges into one card!! I'd love to have the time to make individual cards for all the challenges, but I'm just too busy at the moment, so have to combine if I want to enter more than one! Anyway, the challenges are: Penny Black (funky Christmas - an xmas card using a non-traditional, modern colour scheme), Secret Crafter (decoupage - although the photo doesn't show it that well, the stamped image has three decoupage layers), Cute Card Thursday (snowflakes) and Sketch Saturday (the layout sketch).

Thanks for looking,

Triple Challenge Christmas Card!

2008-11-19T12:41:00.003Z

Wow, I think I managed to combine three challenges in one card! The theme is "Let it snow" for Papertake, the layout follows the sketch for Saturday Sketchers and the colour scheme is monochromatic (well, almost, as the papers have a touch of yellow and the snow couple's noses are orange!) for the Penny Black challenge. The snow couple stamp is PB and coloured with watercolour pencils and a touch of pearlescent chalk to give the snow some sparkle and the papers are from Dovecraft's Winter Wonderland pack. I've used the wording on the paper in place of an extra sentiment as I don't think I need to add anything else.

Thanks for looking,

Another double challenge card

2008-11-15T12:41:00.002Z

My Christmas card for this week and another card that covers two challenges - Papertake, which is a sketch this week, and the new Forever Friends challenge blog - their challenge this week was to use three different papers in a card. The papers I've used are all from the FF Christmas Snow pack. The central paper includes the image of the bear, and I've then used two extra sheets of that paper to decoupage the bear to give him a bit of depth.

Thanks for looking,

Double challenge and a new technique!

2008-11-12T12:45:00.002Z

I love trying new techniques, and when I saw this one described on the Cuttlebug challenge blog I knew I had to try it! It involves inking the inside of a Cuttlebug embossing folder, so that when you emboss the card, the non-embossed areas of the card take on the ink colour, and the embossed areas stay the colour of the base card. I've used the DeVine swirls folder with this technique for the four backing panels on this card. The ink pad was a Distress Ink in Tattered Rose, which I've also used direct-to-paper for the coloured panels. The fairy is an Anita's outline sticker, coloured with watercolour pencils.

The double challenge is for Secret Crafter (the layout sketch) and Cute Card Thursday, whose theme was "fairies and angels".

Thanks for looking,

Baby Girl sparkly card

2008-11-08T20:06:00.005Z

My step-sister Kathryn had her baby girl, Darcey Kate, on Thursday morning, weighing in at a health 8lb 2oz, a little sister to Dougie who'll be four in January, so this card is for her and her family. It also qualifies for two challenges, Daring Cardmakers and Papertake, both of whose theme for this week is sparkle!

The letters were die-cut from plain white on my cuttlebug using my Sizzlits Round-a-bout alphabet set. I then passed them through my xyron sticker maker upside-down and coated the sticky surface with Pink Champagne glitter. I added two thick coats of dimensional glaze to give an epoxy effect. I then passed them back through my xyron the right way up to stick them onto the card - the xyron is great for sticking awkward shapes as it just puts a layer all over the back and it's a lot stronger than wet glue. The main card photo hasn't picked up the colours or glossy finish very well, so here's a slightly better close-up!

Thanks for looking,

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #5

2008-11-05T12:45:00.003Z

Now half term is over I've not got as much time to craft, hence the lack of activity here so far this week :( However, I have been able to make one card today while Amelie's been asleep, and here it is! It's for the Secret Crafter challenge, which is a sketch with a twist - the card colour scheme has to be pink, white and brown. Pink and white didn't pose a challenge, but brown did - can you believe I don't have any brown patterned paper? I think that's a situation that needs rectifying LOL! I've decided to go with Fluffles again too as he's quite quick to stamp and colour, and I never know how long I've got until Amelie wakes up!

Thanks for looking,

Sketch Saturday No 22

2008-10-31T20:21:00.003Z

A quick card to scrape into this week's Sketch Saturday challenge - I love this sketch and really wanted to do a card for it, but time ran away from me until today. This card uses Forever Friends stickers that arrived yesterday - I adore FF and I'm so glad they have a craft range now! As promised, now with better photo that actually reflects the colours used a bit better :)

Thanks for looking,

This week's Christmas card!

2008-10-29T13:02:00.004Z

I've managed to use the last of the three Penny Black cat in a wreath images that I stamped and coloured in last month for this week's Secret Crafter challenge. This week's challenge is a sketch, which I've rotated to suit the shape of the stamp. The little wreath embellishment I made myself, using two Nestability dies (a scalloped circle and plain circle) inside each other - I put them both on the cutting plate together to make lining it up easier. I then embossed the cut-out wreath with a section of the cuttlebug Lacy Tree folder. The greeting is hand-written with a brush marker, and is the one bit of the card I'm not happy with, but I didn't have a stamp small enough to fit inside the wreath!

Thanks for looking,

Ellie the Elephant for Friday Sketchers

2008-10-28T12:46:00.003Z

I've been waiting for an opportunity to use this stamp, part of a set I bought from Stamposaurus at Ally Pally last month. They're absolutely adorable :) The layout is for Friday Sketchers - in addition to following the sketch, the challenge was to use a horizontal image and not take it outside the horizontal backing paper (see the sketch for a better explanation!!). Ellie herself is coloured with fun flock, so she feels all velvety. It's the first time I've used flock but don't think it will be the last, as I love the effect. I just need to expand my colour collection beyond grey ;)

Thanks for looking,

Another digital scrapbook page!

2008-10-27T13:26:00.003Z

Wow, Amelie's been asleep for 2 hours and 20 minutes so far - something of a miracle!! It means I've had more time to play around with the Shabby Princess stuff I downloaded :) This page is using their "Harvest Spice" kit, which comprises of digital papers, elements and an alphabet, so the layout is my own design this time. This picture of Amelie in her wellies and waterproof was also taken last month, out for a walk on our local common.

Thanks for looking,