LOTV James the Bear Christmas Cards

And so my obsession with Lily of the Valley continues. I bought these Merry Beary Christmas card toppers for my Christmas cards this year. I just fell in love with James the Bear, he is SO gorgeous. I realised a flaw though - I'm sending these to hang in other people's houses, but I want some beary goodness in our house! I will have to see if I can make some Christmas decs. Maybe bunting?!

I spent a while trawling the internet for free printable papers, specifically red and Christmassy. I found lots, and printed my few favourites out to pair up as appropriate. (A Google search will lead you to plenty!) I've organised all my free printable papers on my computer now, so I can search for what I want by colour/texture/theme - really useful!

I also pulled some cream card and various different gold cards from my stash. Confession: I used to really dislike the colour gold, but this year I've really come round to it. I think I even like it.

And of course, it's me, so the cards needed some extra sparkle! The top card, with the yellow star, got some pearly paint. Most of the cards got Stickles glitter on the furry trim and pom pom of the hat - so cute! And this little one above got lots of red glitter all over his tinsel.

Oh, and I mounted the James the Bear toppers with 3D foam, just so he stood out a little bit more. Doesn't he look cute all wrapped up in the snow?

Happy Birthday Papercut Card

I was recently gifted a Cricut Explore Air 2, and one of the first things I had to try was this complex Happy Birthday papercut. I cut it out from a dark blue card which has a slight metallic gold sheen, and it worked so well! I mounted it on one of these printable marble papers by TwigsandTwineArt - they make such beautiful backgrounds. This one reminds me a bit of a galaxy. The circle is then mounted with 3D foam tape on to some dark purple card and a white card back, with some Liquid Pearl embellishments.

The Perfect Cup of Tea [Card]

How beautiful is this cup of tea?! I found it in a series of free printables of British biscuits here. It includes watercolour illustrations of (my favourite) party rings, custard creams, and this gorgeous cup and saucer. I mounted the cup and saucer on some cream hammer card, and pink polka dot paper which is included in the printables. I used Liquid Pearls for the added details - you know I can't resist a bit of shimmer or sparkle! A lovely, pretty, summery card. I think I'll be using these downloads a bit more in the future!

Totally Turquoise

When I was very young, I was convinced the word "turquoise" had the letter 'b' in it. Odd, I know.

Anyway. Have you ever finished several card making sessions only to realise all the cards you have made are in the same colour scheme? That was my accident last month. Not that I'm complaining, they're rather pretty! Turquoise is a lovely colour, it's soft without being overtly feminine, and it's fresh without being garishly bright.

I found that this embellishment was a great size to use with my circle punch. The great thing about printables is that you can adjust the scale when printing if it's not quite fitting right! I layered it up with some other circles, including some I cut from a silver glitter tape that I love and some small gems.

I forgot to properly photograph this card, so I'm afraid this is just a snap from my phone. I used an amazing glitter embossing powder which happened to match perfectly with my pearlised deep turquoise paper! These mini gems are great for adding extra detail to cards, and rather than mounting the stamped card on top, I punched through the turquoise to see the flower below - it's a small difference but it made a nice change for me!

Turquoise carries the neutral tones of grey, brown and cream beautifully, and this time I added some "bling" with Liquid Pearls. This is another great product for adding to cards, especially when you want a thin card to travel through the post!

I used the glitter tape again with this card. By simply sticking lengths of it to a piece of card, it becomes something you can use as a paper, for example with punches. It's so sparkly the joins aren't obvious! I love how this card plays with different scales of the same pattern.

I think most of the imagery I've used in these cards, for example the embellishments and patterned papers, were all free printables found online. I'm not sure of exactly where, but Sizzix is definitely worth checking out :)

Easter Greetings!

Just a couple of quick Easter cards I made! I want to really helpfully share the source I used for the imagery, as I found them online as free printables. Uselessly, I cannot find the source. I will update if I stumble upon it again!

Happy Easter :)