Butterflies & Flowers

Well this week I am sharing with you another card.  We had a lovely young lady run the Reading Half Marathon in aid of Reading Association for the Blind, the Charity I manage.

I thought it would be nice to make her a special thank you card as she put so much effort into raising money, which was nearly £1,000.

For this card I used some cardstock from the Crafters Companion Shabby Chic range, where I distressed the edges and used Tea Dye distress ink to edge it.   For the top sheet of card I inked through a stencil to give me the star effect, which just adds a little bit more detail

I used the embossing folder from the same range at the top and bottom of the layered card - I was pleasantly surprised by how this came out as it looks quite lacy.

I then cut a lacy die (again from

the same range!) to add some detail to the right of the card, and again distressed this with Tea Dye ink.

I placed a small rip into the base cardstock, inked this up  and curled it back to add a bit more of a distressed look.  I then placed some pearls and a strip of hessian to enhance it.

To finish the card off I made a small flower arrangement in the left hand corner, starting with some natural fibre on the base, added a few leaves which I edged and shaped, with a few flowers that I edged with the tea dye distress ink and finished it

off with some curly foam embellishments (not quite sure what to call them!) and some bronze pearls which added some depth to the card.

Apart from the green leaves, all of the flowers etc were white when I started and I just inked them up, again with Tea Dye distress ink, and built the colour up to get the end effect.

I felt that the card needed just something else so added a lovely butterfly die which I then added clear sparkle from the sparkle pen range.

I really hope that Kerry likes her card and you do too.

With love and crafty hugs, until next time ........

Ginny xx

You are my cup of tea!

This was another project done with Anna-Marie. It uses a number of different techniques.

We started by painting the whole mdf piece with chalky white paint which was followed by placing a large stencil over the kettle and used texture paste to add texture and depth.  This was then left to set and when it had dried we used brown patina wax all over the kettle to add some colour and distressing.  This was then buffed off to leave the raised stencil areas white. I really liked the effect that this created.

Crackle medium was added to add more texture.  Anna-Marie had to spend time with me to get the crackle effect right as I was being a bit too gentle with it, but I got there in the end!

The handle was just coloured with a little bit of the patina wax as well as the mdf sentiment 'you are my cup of tea'

We finished off with a flower arrangement.  I am really getting into these now and am learning how to arrange them all.  I especially like the use of natural fibre as this just seems to lighten everything.

Well that was quite a quick review of this project this week, as have been really busy working with lambs - I currently have 11 orphans who are bottle fed 3 times a day, as well as an additional  2 who need a bottle twice a day to top them up as their mum does not have enough milk!

Until next time, love and crafty hugs

Ginny xx

Boxed Birthday Wishes

This is another card from my Anna-Marie weekend, but this time we made the card and then decorated a wooden box to place the card in, so this makes a really extra special gift 😄

This is the box with the card in-situ.  I think this is such a nice gift as after the birthday occasion you are left with the box for storage

We started with the card where we distressed the cardstock and then cut down a section of the card and curled it back, again distressing the section that was curled back.  We cut a long piece of cardstock and folded it over and then stuck the stamens into this before placing it into the curled back section, and placing another piece of card behind to make it look like it has been layered up.  Then we worked on the flower arrangement using a variety and of satin roses and paper flowers, interspersed with leaves, twigs and moss.  The final piece we added was the sentiment.

The card box is made out of MDF, and the top was completed in

pretty much the same way as the card, but before doing this we painted the box with white chalky paint both inside and out and then distressed the outside and placed a piece of cardstock in the base of the box.

The next project I will share is not card related at all and uses lots of different techniques, so watch this space 😊

Until next time, love and crafty hugs.

Ginny xx

Happy Birthday Grapes!

Well I have just returned from another amazing weekend away with Anna-Marie Designs.  I stayed in a lovely hotel in Stow on the Wold and it was sheer bliss for a couple of days.

Anna-Marie has a very distinctive style which is so stylish, I absolutely adore her makes.  She was on Create & Craft today so hopefully some of you may have caught that, or you could watch it on catch up.

One of my favourite makes of the weekend (of which there were many!) was a birthday card with a cluster of purple grapes!

For the grapes we used purple microbeaded berries, which were interspersed with beads from the pearl strands to make the grape!  We cut the larger pearls from the strands to place onto the grape and then used the smaller elements throughout the layers of cardstock.  The berries and pearls were stuck down with pinflair glue and then dusted with crushed ice glitter to give the sparkly effect.  The top of the bunch of grapes was a twig.

We used maple leaves which were distressed and we layered up the background with cardstock that was torn to give a real ragged effect.  For the distressing we used gathered twigs distress ink.

I hope you like this card as much as I do!  I think this is one that I will do again as I think it is quite nice as a mans card, as it is quite neutral and not too girly.

I have a few more projects to share with you, so until next time . .. .

With love and crafty hugs

Ginny xx

Thank You

This is a stamped card but I do like it and really like the colour scheme.  The stamp set is by Stampin' Up! and was always one of my favourites.  Unfortunately I cannot remember what the stamp set is called so please feel free to let me know if you know what it is!  The stamp is one that builds up and it really does a good dimension to the flower.

The cardstock was the blackberry bliss which was also one of my favourites, and I had a good supply of this when I gave up being a SU demo!  I used some burlap from my stash which finishes it off in quite a rustic way.

Another card that is winging its way to Wales!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog, until next time . . . . . . .

love and crafty hugs

Ginny x

Penblwydd Hapus!

Or in English 'Happy Birthday'!

I decided that I needed to invest in some welsh stamps and dies as many of my cards are ending up in North Wales, so you are likely to see some of these appearing in the coming weeks!



For this card I used teal and coconut white foundation card and the Creative Expressions Paper Cuts Butterfly Circle.  This is such a simple die but looks so beautiful - I am sure I will be using this one quite a lot!  I love using all things with butterflies and liked the elements that come separate to the main die - especially the little ladybird.  It was finished off with just a few pearls and the sentiment, which is all I felt it needed.


It is not the best photograph in the world and I really do need to sort out my photography, but you get the gist 😏

Thanks for visiting my blog and please feel free to leave a comment, I really appreciate you stopping by.

With love and crafty hugs until next time,

Ginny x

You Are Sew Special

Well this weeks card is something a little different once again!  As I have been busy making cards for my son-in-law I have dug out a couple of magazines and made up some of the cards from their free gifts, and have to admit that I really like this one!  Just goes to show that I actually enjoyed doing something that I shy away from as I don't tend to like making up these types of card 😊

I really liked the colour scheme for this and is particularly suitable for someone who enjoys sewing or tapestry.  The only bit I added was the white bow!  I hope you like it. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to visit my blog, please feel free to leave a comment.

Until next time, love and crafty hugs

Ginny x