Count the Stars.....Spellblogger for Spellbinders

I love this Spellbinders set called Count the Stars by Debi Adams. Find it in the store HERE - I like the fact that you could make cards personal for any age, and the style lends itself really well to those male cards

I chose to make a couple of cards for children, and just cut a bunch of colourful numbers out - the spares are all in a little bag ready for the next quick and easy card! 

This next card just had the numbers cut out of the navy paper, which was layered on top of the teal card, I saved the little pieces to add to the 8, 6, etc

Here is the set - you get the stamp sentiment (love the font), the numbers and two star dies

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and emails about the wedding post, and for your good wishes for Mike - unfortunately, he is still unwell, but the doctors and hospital have been great, and we are hoping he will be better soon. In the meantime, my craftroom is my haven and 'chatting' to you brightens my day......x

Wedding! A day to remember..........

Sharing with you some photos of Alex and Declan's special day. After months of planning, it was a beautiful day - didn't Alex look gorgeous?

I had to show you my outfit - and the shoes!

Molly had a bit of a starring role - she spent the ceremony beaming and waving at everyone over my shoulder.......

Sadly, a shadow was cast over the day by the fact that Mike, my husband wasn't well enough to attend. It clearly was a sadness, Alex was 'given away' by her elder brother James. It also meant that I had to give the traditional 'father of the bride' speech - gulp!

In this next photo my new son in law is telling me he will always be my favourite son in law - fair comment as we only have one daughter!

On to some of the little details. We had a 
Candy Bar, stocked with lots of handmade goodies - lots of homemade fudge, truffles, peppermint creams, coconut Ice....the little green decorated fudge at the front of the table was Irish Cream Fudge, decorated with shamrocks, to welcome Dec's family from Ireland.......I made the little candy tree as well

I found someone to make the little sign on eBay, and I filled a wicker basket with little kraft treat bags decorated with twine and punched hearts, for people to fill with sweets/candy to take home with them

We wanted a natural rustic sort of look with simple flower arrangements - they were put into jars (the florist was still working when I took these photos, the second jar hadn't been filled). Instead of sparkly table confetti, I ordered a bunch of little wooden hearts and scattered those around the table. We wanted wood slices, boy, are they expensive. So I contacted a local tree feller, and asked him to cut me some slices, leaving the bark on. They cost me a fraction of any others I found. We sanded them down and gave them a coat of matt varnish 

 These were rustic little jars that I filled with scrolls and a pen that looked like a slice of wood, and a label asking people to write a message for them to open on their first wedding anniversary - much more fun than a guest book!

 They decided to use places that were special to them for table names, so the table plan, set on an easel was printed saying 'Where in the world am I?' - it looked cute! 

 I used a large birdcage that I already owned as a post box for their cards. I found some large wooden hearts in Hobbycraft, cut out some vinyl letters on my Cricut, and tied them onto the birdcage with twine 

The civil ceremony was held in a separate building, and again, we kept the decoration simple, a froth of gypsophilia (baby's breath) on alternate aisle chairs.......and wicker hearts on the others. A scattering of rose petals along the aisle........

I made some programmes for each chair, using a Spellbinders die......

because it was a civil service, the order of service left room for an Itinerary for the day - I was keen to do this, having spent hours at weddings whispering 'what time are we going to eat, I'm starving'

So there you have it, the Cashmore/Harkin wedding in a nutshell. All the planning was worth it, despite Mike not being there, it was a wonderful day, and all that's left to say on this post is wishing Alex and Dec all the love in the world and best wishes for a long and happy life together xx

Snowflakes for Daring Cardmakers and Spellbloggers

Today over on Daring Cardmakers, Dawn sets the challenge. She is celebrating her 40th birthday this month (happy birthday Dawn!) and wants to see four elements on the project.

I decided to use the Create a Flake Six die set by Spellbinders for my card. I cut four snowflakes out of Vellum, and cut one out of card, which I used as a stencil to make a background 

To tell you the truth, it went against the grain for me to use four snowflakes, I always have a design rule to use an odd number of elements on a card, it always looks better. But I think this snowflake card worked because of the stencilled background to balance it

As you read this, we are now two days away from Alex's wedding, things are hotting up!  Tomorrow evening we have a get together here for about 70 people, an informal pig roast. Then the wedding on Sunday. Be prepared for photos next week, and wish us luck and sunshine for Sunday

Triple Flip Birthday Card - for Spellbinders Spellbloggers

Another Triple Flip card today, looking very different to yesterdays. This time I used very bright papers for an explosion of colour, and the Flight 2 die set for the hot air balloon and the clouds........

 The sentiment is from the Special Birthday Sentiments stamp set by Spellbinders.....

 I did a shot from above, to try and show how the card opens, almost like a book

and for all of you intrigued by this die, here it is, a simple square, which cuts and scores all in one pass of your die cutting machine. The die measures 6 x 6"

So much fun! I am planning Christmas cards for the children made with this, they will love flipping through it to see little Christmas scenes on each layer

Triple Flip Card for Spellbinders Spellbloggers

I love this die! Called the Triple Flip Card Creator,  the resulting card is just such a lot of fun and so versatile. Just one pass of the die cuts out a 6 x 6 card front with cute little opening windows, a bit like a book. You can go crazy with the decorations as well.......

I used the Square Pierced Shapes dies to cut various frames for the layers, and added pretty accents from the Braided Grace Square and Luscious Labels One die sets. You can find all the dies used HERE

Pop back tomorrow for another take on the Triple Flip card - this time, much more casual.......See you then x

Bookworms - for Daring Cardmakers

Today, over on Daring Cardmakers, the challenge is Literacy. So I used these cute stamps from Clearly Besotted to make some bookmarks. I made them a double layer, held together with a decorative staple, so that one layer slips behind the page you want to mark...... 

The little bookworms were easy to colour - nothing
fancy needed, I added some glossy accents to the
glasses, which doesn't show up in the photos  

Be sure to pop over to the Daring Cardmakers blog to see all the fabulous creations the design team have come up with

My reading habits have changed dramatically in the past couple of years. I used to haunt charity shop for paperbacks, now I am totally wedded to my Kindle. I probably read a book a week, usually two or three chapters last thing at night before I go to sleep. I have always been a big reader, and feel happy that my kids all love reading for pleasure as adults. 

What about you? Paperback or electronic?

Autumn Leaves - Spellblogger for Spellbinders

Although my favourite season is summer - I love hot weather (if we are lucky enough to get it here in the UK) - there is something about Autumn..........those early morning mists, the gorgeous colours of Autumn leaves, the thought of cosy winter evenings to come, in front of a flickering fire.....hot chocolate....the start of having vague random thoughts about Christmas....

So I enjoyed making these cards. With Autumn leaves, my go to way of colouring them is always to cut in white, and add colour with distress inks, somehow it captures those shaded oranges, reds and yellows perfectly. I used the Fall Foliage set of Shapeabilities dies by Spellbinders. This set is going to be so useful, it doesn't just have a variety of beautiful leaves, there are acorns and pinecone dies as well, so I will be using it for Christmas

I used the new Stitched Hemstitch Rectangle dies to cut a frame, and used the negative shape from the die cut  maple leaf to ink a background, adding a spray of leaves to the frame. The sentiment is from the Phrase Two die set - I cut it in white, inked the die cut with versamark, and used WOW embossing powder to give a burnished look.....

This next card also used the stitched rectangles, this time in kraft cardstock which I put onto a white card base. I added a variety of my coloured leaves and a couple of little pinecones. The sentiment is by Woodware