Pickwick Papercrafting

My first attempt at an easel card was for the Docrafts November friendship swap - I was matched with PJC1 ( http://passionforpapercraft.blogspot.com/ ). After looking at Pauline's blog I just knew I had pull all the stops out. I decided on the Daisy image which I coloured with my Copic markers and then mounted it onto Papermania Creative Tones paper - Amethyst Infusion. The flowers were punched from coordinating cardstock. After the first one, I just had to make another one and with Christmas on its way I had the perfect opportunity. My parents wanted me to make them a card for their grandson, Finn's, first Christmas. I used papers from my stash and some acetate stickers that I think I bought last year from Poundland

I've seen many samples of this type of card over on the DoCrafts website and just had to have a go. I used the Papermania paper pack - Deck the Halls and combined them with the Forever Friends Elements toppers. I've made this card for my sister and her partner. I've also made my nephew's christmas card, a slider card, using the Patchwork Pals Christmas TSV - I think these characters are so cute!

Up until recently I've had to do my crafting in my conservatory/dining room but not anymore. I've finally got my own craft room cum office so that now when I look out from my lounge I don't see piles of craft "stuff" everywhere! I already had all the furniture, it was just a case of rearranging everything into the one room. As I haven't got a lot of table space, I have to make sure that I put everything away once I've finished with it. You'd think I'd have enough room in the two cupboards but as you can see below, I really have to try to curb my spending!! (Either that or reorganise the cupboards to make more room, hehe!!)

Pop over to http://thehappy-crafter.blogspot.com/ and check out Sarah's fab blog - she also has some blog candy available.

I thought I'd give the bears a rest and give Daisy & Dandelion an outing! Another QVC TSV that I couldn't resist, but this time it was for all occasions, not just Christmas. So far, I've only made the three cards, shown above, using the pyramage sheets. I've combined them with the Papermania Christmas paper pack, Deck the Halls.

Here is another batch of Forever Friends Christmas cards. I absolutely love these images and the QVC TSV was one of my best buys! I made up all the decoupage/pyramage toppers over a few nights and then at the weekend I finally got around to making up the cards by using papers from my stash.

Last weekend I was asked to make two baby girl cards, one for a daughter and the other for a granddaughter. For some reason, I always find baby cards one of the hardest to make! Why that is, I haven't a clue! So, when I was faced with the prospect of having to make two cards, my first reaction was to panic!! But, I looked through my craft "stash" and found the Forever Friends topper and the panic slipped away! I mounted pink/white checked paper on to pink Bazzill cardstock for the background and then did the same thing with a smaller square where I stuck the topper on. The greeting was computer generated. The second card I found some pink spot paper from my stash and again mounted it onto pink Bazzill cardstock and cut a pink scalloped circle from my nestabilities then stamped the Penny Black image "Naptime" (I think that's what it is called) onto a circle (also cut from nestabilities) and coloured it in using watercolour pencils. Once again the sentiment wa

I've only entered a few of the Sketch Saturday challenges but haven't done one for a while, so as I needed to make a card for Brendabee for this month's friendship swap on the DoCrafts forum, I thought I would have another go, http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.com/2009/09/sketch-68-12th-september-sponsored-by.html Brenda has now received her card, so I am safe to upload it. I have made this card using all Papermania products.

Thought I'd have a rest today from making Forever Friends cards but couldn't quite move away from the bear theme! This cute little fellow was free with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine and I couldn't resist using him for some of my Christmas cards this year. I've coloured him in using my Copic Caio pens. The scalloped mount and the snowflakes were cut out using my Cuttlebug and I added glitterations border around the image - the blue perfectly matched the paper and mount. I only managed these two cards today (plus my friendship card (DoCrafts forum) which I can't post until my partner Brendabee has received it) because this afternoon I came down with a cold and sore throat and my head has been pounding, which has made me feel pretty lousy.

I am loving the Forever Friends Christmas TSV - here are some more of my creations. I've used various papers from my stash, mainly Papermania.

Well it's been about a month since I last posted, I really must try harder because it's not as if I haven't been making any cards! As many of you are aware over on the DoCrafts website, Caroljenks organises a monthly friendship swap whereby we are allocated a partner and have to make each other a card. Well this month my partner was Kath R. I decided to use my new rubber stamp that I bought at the Sincerely Yours Papercrafting Show at Wellington, Somerset at the end of May - my first Sugar Nellie stamp. I stamped the image on Bristol Board using my new Memento stamp pad (also purchased at the show) and coloured it in using my Copic Pens. I assembled the card using the Papermania Raspberry Champagne paper pack and some matching Bazzill Bling type card and then finished it off with some Prima flowers. I decorated the inside of the card as well but the photo was all blurred.

I used the same layout as before but this time I downloaded the backing paper from Pink Petticoat Rainbow Doodles & Blooming Doodles - curly. The inside of the card is decorated with balloon peel off stickers. I think decorating the inside of the cards is really effective and it is something that I will continue to do in the future.

Although the photo doesn't really show it, this Forever Friends image came from the "Let's Celebrate" Decoupage Card Kit. I mounted the image onto a panel that I embossed using the Happy Birthday embossing folder. The red and white checked backing paper comes from my stash. After seeing many samples of cards on the DoCrafts gallery, I was inspired to decorate the inside of my card using the same backing paper as the front and the additional strawberry images from the decoupage sheet.

Michelle at http://cardgrotto.blogspot.com/ has this wonderful blog candy on offer to celebrate her birthday 25 May. Why not pop on over to her brilliant blog and leave a comment before 1730 GMT 25 May.

This is the card that I made for the May Friendship swap for Sharon L, over on the DoCrafts forum. Caroljenks, the organiser, issued an optional challenge - to use the sketch (above) and two of the colours. As you can see, I used blue Core dinations card as the base colour along with Papermania Venetian Skies and yellow Pink Petticoat paper. The Forever Friends stamped image was a gift from a member of the DoCrafts forum (I am very sorry but I have forgotten who) - I coloured the bear with my Copic Caio pens and the flowers with Sakura glitter pens and adhered tiny star shaped adhesive stones to the centre of each flower and mounted the image onto a scalloped oval Nestabilities. The finishing touches are a Prima flower with adhesive stone in the middle. Once I had decided to use Carol's layout and colours, it took me ages to decide which colours etc to use but now that it's finished I am really pleased with the outcome. I hope you like it too. Thank you Carol for organising th

I really enjoyed this week's sketch saturday layout that I have made a couple more cards with slight variations, one of which is above. This time I used the Papermania Venetian Skies paper pack and a Dandelion sticker that I received free with the last Creativity magazine. The other card, I can't show you yet because I have made it for my Docraft Friendship swap for this month and as I haven't posted it yet I don't want my partner to see it before she receives it first! Well that's about it for today - I've just finished watching a DVD "Enchanted" - yes I know it's a Disney film but I love all the chick flick/teenage type movies (I guess I just never wanted to grow up!) - anyway it does have Patrick Dempsey in it, so that's as good a reason as any to watch!

I hope you have all had a very Happy Easter. I have had a great day, partly spent crafting! It's my friend's birthday on Wednesday do I decided to use this week's sketch saturday layout ( http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.com/2009/04/email-entries-for-46.html ) to complete her card. I've had the Papermania "Raspberry Champagne" Creative Tones papers for a while but not used them and as they matched some cardstock that I have in my stash - it was meant to be. The image is a Penny Black stickeroo (which I know is cheating but they've got to be used) - I mounted the sticker onto some white pearlescent card and cut it and the mount using my nestabilities on my Cuttlebug.

Well, I've taken the plunge and entered my very first challenge over at sketch saturday http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.com/2009/04/sketch-45-4th-april-tracies-dt-week.html . I needed to make an Easter card for my parents and decided to use the Spring Wishes download from Pink Petticoat. I really like the backing papers from this collection and the bunny images.

Janet at http://pinkgemdesigns.blogspot.com/ is offering blog candy to celebrate the release of her new designs in April. So pop over to her blog and leave a comment before 6pm on 6 April 2009 and you could be in with a chance of winning four stamps of your choice.

..Finley. This is one of my favourite photos so far, taken when he was five days old. (He is now just over three weeks old). As he lives in Australia this is the closest I've got to him although Skype is a wonderful invention!

Well what a difference the hour change made - the weather was quite good today and I did some spring cleaning and what's more I quiet enjoyed it and believe me that doesn't happen very often!! I still managed to make some cards though and thought I ought to do some Easter cards. Last year I downloaded the Pink Petticoat Little Chicks but never got around to using them so I thought this afternoon, it was about time I did. I also used some Papermania Citrus papers from my stash and Prima flowers and adhesive stones. Here is a selection of my efforts and even though I do say so myself, I am pleased with the result and love the bright spring colours. Hope you do too?