Kindness Postcards

I love a postcard; they come in all shapes and forms, from a reminder of where you have been to a hello friend, but unfortunately, they are on the decline, like many things, due to the ever increasing postal charges.

So I thought that I would send out 8 postcards randomly from my craft journal, using some of the addresses where I have done craft swaps in the past, too.  One of these cards is slightly different and will be going to a particular friend of mine.

These wonderful images are from Shabby Art Boutique. If you like shabby chic, then take a look at their digital collections; they are beautiful. It would be worth your while to sign up for their newsletter and free printables; they also have tutorials on YouTube.

I have used a selection of their 'Kindness postcards' which are available to download in A4 or letter size.

To make the postcards more durable to go through the post, I gave them a few light coats of Cadence Satin Bond & Seal, just to protect the artwork.

I had been looking at these little postcards for a while, thinking that they were so pretty and really needed to be used.

There is quite a selection of little cards in various genres that are perfect for journals, too, but work so well to send as a card if you are starting off crafting or want to add to your crafty stash.

Hopefully, they will bring a smile to the recipients' day, as it's nice to receive mail in the post that is not a bill or junk mail!

'Kindness is like tea, it soothes the soul '

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges 

A place to start AG/ No squares

CD Sunday Plus - AG

Love to Craft - AG

Mix it Up -AG

Let's Create and Craft -AG

Paper Funday -AG

Crafts Galore AG

Art Deco Birthday cards

 Sharing some Art Deco Birthday cards that I made for some birthdays last month.

I do love a bit of Art Deco, there is something so chic about that era of design and decadence and how the ladies dressed.

For these card I have used the Match It Build a Scene Art Deco Gatsby 2 Paper Pack, along with the matching dies (that I have not shown) from Debbi Moore Designs. This is part of the beautiful Art Deco Collection, one of many.

There are regular deals on her Facebook lives and Website for her products that are worth keeping an eye on too.

The backing papers are mixed and match from one of her Art Deco download collections, and I have a very healthy collection of her designs, which I have been collecting and using for many years.

The toppers and decoupage paper pad come in a selection of colourways, but I particularly like this one and one of the brilliant things about Debbi Moore is that she gives you a forever code that enables you to download the paper pad when it runs out.

The floral paper has been printed onto Debbi Moore's pearlised paper. It is 120gsm, a very pale cream with a pearly finish. Definitely worth having in your crafty stash as it prints beautifully, giving your paper a delicate shimmer.

I normally edge my cards with Sakura twilight gelly roll pens, as they leave a fine iridescent shimmered edge on your layers and are also great for highlighting too.

This particular shaped card has already gone to one of my lovely neighbours for her birthday. It is a lot easier not having to worry about posting your handmade cards, as they rarely arrive in the condition you send them and the cost to pad them out for travel keeps going up.

I have used miri board and foam pads between the layers to add a bit of dimension and cut the border off the background topper (as it was a bit too big for this card), and used it on the box envelope that I made.

My next card was from the same Match It Build a Scene Art Deco Gatsby 2 Paper Pack, but I just chose a different colourway as this was for my sister-in-law.

I decided that I didn't want to use all of the paper on one of the papers that I printed off for my second card, so I  just kept the deep red tiered bordered base and used the border again for the top of the card.

I've used miri board and foam pads on the topper to add some dimension, and both Art Deco ladies have been decoupaged, too. I have also added some crystal gems along the border and some woven braiding instead of ribbon.

I've used some of my shimmer clear glitter pen on the Art Deco ladies, too and made a box for this card, covering the lid with matching backing papers.

There are lots of free digital downloads on Debbi Moore's website if you are looking for inspiration for a crafty project or looking at making a card or two, as well as some gorgeous cardmaking kits and digital ones too.

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Try it on Tuesday - Feminine

A Place to Start - No Squares

CD Sunday Plus - ATG

Creative Creases -Fun Folds

Love to Craft - ATG

Cards Galore  AG

Alphabet Challenge - Volume

A Cut Above - AG with Die Cut

Allys Angels - AG

Birthday card

 I'm sharing a birthday card that I made for a friend's birthday.

Any leftover handmade flowers from my projects go into my flower box below and sometimes I will just sit and make flowers whilst watching TV. This also saves time and makes it easier for me to plan projects when I have some flowers made up.

I would be interested to hear how other crafters file their digital downloads for crafting.

With a paper kit, you can see what each one is, but with a digital download, especially in PDF format, it is just a file with a name that doesn't take up space in your craft room.

I enjoy all the benefits of crafting with digital downloads, but I also want to know what is in each kit without having to open each file to search for a particular paper or topper that I may want to use, especially as I have so many files from various designers.

So, what works for me, as I am a visual person, is that I have a craft journal with a snapshot of each kit. At least that way, I have a pretty good idea where a particular paper topper is without searching my hard drive

Sometimes you forget some of the beautiful designs you collect along the way and just haven't had time to create with.

It may sound like a laborious task, but I have been doing this for quite a while, and each time I get a download kit,  I just add it on.  You can just see part of a page above.

I have also done this with just my flower dies. I cut them out when I buy them and place them on an A5 page, which goes in one of my craft journals. It also encourages me to make more use of what is in my craft stash.

This particular kit I am using today is one of those I have been meaning to use from Opulence by Design Crafts. It was a member's gift for Patreon users and is the Perfect Panels Set Petal Perfection Kit, which was released toward the end of 2024, and it was designed as a card sketch kit.

It's such a pretty kit, and I have only used a few of these papers, which would also look beautiful printed onto rice paper for other projects.

These roses were left over from a previous project, and I used the digital florist - All eyes are on me rose, along with these little flowers from the Steampunk Florals collections - I've added gold Stickles glitter glue to the centres of these blooms.

I thought these flowers would work well with this beautiful kit and die cut the largest panels for my topper. The rest of the panels I have saved for another project.

I used my clear glitter shimmer pen to highlight areas of the backing paper, and also used my Sakura twilight gelly roll pen to edge the layers of my card.  I normally do this as it leaves a fine iridescent shimmered edge on the layers and is also great for highlighting.

I've also made a boxed envelope for my card, which will be hand delivered.

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

Opulence by Design Crafts has a fantastic variety of digital download kits for your crafty needs, as well as a mini blog for inspiration, too. They also have a variety of crafting booklets for those who can not print their crafty designs.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Paper Funday - Pastel colours

A Perfect time to Craft - AG

Beautiful Blossoms -flowers

Crafts Galore - AG

Love to scrap - AG

Decorated Notebook

I thought I'd share a little project that I made before Christmas .  A decorated notebook that I made for someone who needed cheering up.

I used an A5 vinyl backed notebook that I had bought ages ago marked down in the sales and covered it with some rice paper that I had.

For the front of the book,  I chose this fab stamped Festival Dollies image from Dolly Dimples Crafts.  Colouring has never been a strong point for me, but I muddle through.

I do love this stamp set and have used it quite a lot and think 'Hope' is my favourite of the 3 dollies in the set.

I've also sewn some small metallic seed beads to the front of the elastic on the cover.

On the inside cover I added this lovely Mermaid digi image from JMC Designs and paired it up with some stamped images that I have also coloured in.  I thought the stamped sentiment was very apt for the notebook.

Finally, on the inside of the back cover another stamped sentiment.

Hopefully the notebook will come in handy and brighten her day.

Every path in life has a bridge. The journey is crossing over it to the other side.

You are never alone, as someone, somewhere, will leave a light on for you...

You just need to look for it...

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Path of Positivity - AG/New Project

Addicted to stamps - Any occasion

Try it on Tuesday - Add some Text

Pammies Inky Pinkies - AG

Sweet Stamping - Bright & Beautiful 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all, and I hope it's a brighter, kinder one too.

It's been a while since my last post, and since I've crafted too, so I'm starting off with a blog challenge.

I spotted this beautiful image on the Gecko Galz Monthly card challenge this month, which inspired me to use it.  My initial intention was to use it on one of my boxes, as I have one that is the perfect size, but since this is a card challenge and I'm a slow crafter, the box will follow. 

I die cut my flowers from some fancy wallpaper that I acquired from one of those well known hardware stores. I love the texture of wallpaper for making flowers, and I've added some vintage dyed pearls in the centre of my blooms.

I've also layered my image onto gold embossed miri card and added a printed sheet from one of my Tattered Lace download collections.

Finally, adding a hint of shimmer to my image with a clear glitter pen. I like the Spectum Noir pens as they don't flood the brush with glitter.

One of the bonuses of digital downloads is that they mix & match with whatever you have in your craft collection, and you can also resize them to condense that design.

I've missed not having a printer, and I can tell you that I'm happy with my new Canon Mega Tank Inkjet so far, which has replaced my Epson EcoTank.  It's certainly an improvement on the old one.

I enjoy participating in these challenges, and think that I just need to be a bit more organised in my crafting head. I appreciate all the creative, inspirational content that these blogs and challenges continually provide, so I will endeavour to support them more.

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

GeckoGalz - Monthly card challenge  - Winner

C.R.A.F.T - ATG

Creative inspirations - ATG

CD SundayPlus - ATG - Winner

Crafts Galore - ATG

Love to Craft - ATG

Christmas Cards

I thought I'd share a few of the Christmas cards that I have finished making.

I don't make many cards for the festive season and these ones won't be going in the post.

I love foxes and opted for this ever so cute Festive Friends topper digital download from Opulence by Design Crafts. There are 4 toppers to a sheet with sentiments and I layered this with mirror card and added a sheet of Festive Grunge backing paper which you can just see peeping out from behind my card. This is a beautiful design that would make a fabulous festive card on its own.

I die cut my poinsettia from some faintly patterned vellum that I found in my craft stash and also embellished with the easy cut ivy  leaves  and some extra die cuts.

For this card I have just used a festive Spellbinders embossing folder and added a few leaves from another download collection. These always come in so handy for other projects and I'm always looking for foliage to accompany my blooms. These leaves were from the Chalky Wonders Clematis collection also from Opulence by Design Crafts.

For my third card I used Amelia the topper and sentiment download from one of the Pom Pom & Posies collections. She is my favourite from their Christmas collection. I've added some die cut frames and repeated the layout as before.

I have also used a clear overlay glitter pen on my poinsettia to lift the red cardstock and add some shimmer.

I've also added it to the background of the toppers as its soft enough to add shimmer without overpowering and used my gel pens to highlight.

My last card is a different colourway but I have used the same format as before and  added a white gel pen to highlight on the topper. The downloadable topper sheet comes with 4 beautiful toppers and sentiments and these would also work perfectly on winter birthday cards too.

All my cards also have personalised inserts inside and I've made box envelopes for them too.

Thanks for stopping by today to view my little crafty space.

If you want more inspiration from Opulence by Design, follow the links below

They have a beautiful selection of digital kits and crafting sheets that can be mixed and matched with your crafty stash.

 opulencebydesign - YouTube

or Instagram Opulence ByDesigns

Have a great week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

Festive Friday - bright colours/ephemera/patterned paper   Festive Friday Favs

Try it on Tuesday - Get ready for Christmas   Top 5

Allsorts - Christmas Cards  Top 7

CD Sunday Plus -Christmas

Little Red Wagon - Gold  Featured Project

Halloween Card

I'm sharing a Halloween card that I made for a friend

I used this cool Spooky Girl stamp from IndigoBlu and coloured her in with alcohol markers.

For the background, I used distress inks and added some second generation stamping around the edges with some Visible Image stamps.

My pumpkin is already sitting my garden (with an LED tea light inside this evening) much to the interest of all the birds today.

Have a great rest of the week, whatever you have planned for yourself.

Happy Crafting

Challenges

A Place to start - pump it up for pumpkins  Rising Star

Make it Monday - Halloween Colours  Special Mention

Pammies Inky Pinkies - ATG

Stamps&Fun - Halloween

Crafty Calendar - Halloween   Top 3

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - S is for Spooky

Crafty Catz - Halloween 

Crafty Rocket - Halloween

Park Hopping My Happy Place - Halloween  Top 3