Lili of the Valley Bunny Cards

If you've followed me for a while you're probably aware I have a great love of bunnies! So when I saw this range from Lili of the Valley in their eBay store I couldn't resist adding some to my collection.

They've made some lovely Birthday cards mounted on various papers from my stash, as well as cards just to say hello. (Btw, if anyone recognises the green and lilac tartan in the card below could you let me know? This was my last piece and I would love some more!)

I also made a rather cute wedding anniversary card with some amazing hand marbled paper I received from my Dad. Having a contact in the world of printing and book binding has sure helped build my stash!

Wedding Anniversary Card

A simple card for my parents-in-law's wedding anniversary. A pearly gold paper, topped with hammered ivory paper. I added some gold liquid pearl dots for interest. The two hearts are cut using my own template from different shades and textures of red card. A corrugated maroon that I love, and a brighter red with a near-spongey texture. A card doesn't need to be fancy to convey beauty and meaning.

Hearts Card with White Embossing and Watercolours

It's been a while since I did any white embossing, but this post from Paper Mill Direct reminded me of it's existence and I had to get back to it. I love that the outline is more subtle but that it encloses the watercolour, and it allows for a much softer finish.

The hearts stamp (from See-D's Love Collection, 50509) and the ivory hammered card came from the wonderful stash I inherited last year, and everything else was from my own stock, a lot of which has come from Alexander Paper Supplies. I used a water filled brush to apply the paint, as I love how easy it is to pick up and go. And yes, my watercolour palette is always this messy!

Tin Inspired Tenth Wedding Anniversary Card

I'm a hoarder. The first step to recovery is admission, right?! As a hoarder, when I knew my sister's 10th wedding anniversary was approaching, and I found out the theme was tin, I knew I would have something lying around that would be appropriate! And sure enough, in one of my many boxes I have a stash of old foil trays from shop bought pies - you never know when you might need something ;) I recently got my personal collection of templates organised, so (once I'd remembered where I'd decided to store it) I was able to quickly grab a heart shape and use it to cut a heart out of "tin". I decorated the heart by simply indenting using a sharp pencil, and mounted it on some maroon and cream cards I have. I added the number '10' using silver peel-offs - it's always handy to have some in stock!

Cream and Gold Kusudama

This marvelous ball of flowers made from folded paper is called a Kusudama. I am not at all knowledgeable about it, but it is beautiful! It is relatively simple to make, though quite time consuming - that tends to be the way with origami! The tutorial I originally followed was on a site called Folding Trees, however this appears to have been replaced by a new site, PlanetJune. The basic petal/flower tutorial is still available here, but a donation is now required to view the full instructions. I suspect a Google about how to assemble an origami kusudama could help you find your way :)

I made this kusudama with half cream flowers and half gold flowers. because my gold paper was single sided, and thus had white edges, I applied gold ink to the centre folds for more colour and sparkle. I hung the kusudama using organza ribbon and some lovely complimentary beads from my stash. If you're wondering about adhesives, I used pritt stick to form the petals, double sided sticky tapes to form the flowers, and then my glue gun for final assembly. Despite it being a rather larger task than I anticipated, I already have another one in the works! Here it is on the Christmas tree:

Wedding Card

I love making cards for weddings. I feel like it's a chance to do something a bit exciting, and play around with the concepts of love, and two becoming one.

pearl heart beads from Singapore • pearl thread • pink beads • grey hexagonal beads

pearl paint • cream linen paper • metallic charcoal paper • pink parchment paper