Birthday

Papers are very old Chatterbox
Flower dies from ebay
Large birthday die is by Crafter's Companion
Happy die is (I think) Clearly Besotted

Birthday

Sentiment stamp by Clearly Besotted, I've used copper embossing powder

Embossing folder is SU

Tag has a thick vellum overlay and was on an item of clothing, it was too nice to bin.

Peony

Stamp and matching dies are from a set by Crafters Companion (Peony).
I really like these sets and think they're pretty good value, I'm trying to decide which Christmas ones to get...

Part of the appeal is that the finished card isn't too bulky so should hopefully be okay to post on a normal stamp, plus they're so quick and easy to do.

Sentiment is a stamp by Clearly Besotted.

Sneakers

Main stamp is by Woodware, sentiment is by Clearly Besotted
I've added silver Wink of Stella to the soles and coloured the rest with Promarkers.
Card is 7 x 7 inches.

Sweet

Patterned papers are DCWV
Sentiment is by Clearly Besotted, a recent magazine freebie.
Die is Die-namics, strawberry charm from stash

Another of the handmade cards I received for my birthday. This one is from one of my card club ladies and she wrote a lovely message inside, thanks Margaret!

Birthday

This is very unlike me - actually making a card days in advance and not the night before it's needed.

It's for someone whose birthday falls on St Patrick's Day so the Graphic 45 paper is perfect, I just needed to chop and re-arrange it to make sure the appropriate panels were visible.
I can't remember actually buying the paper so assume it was a magazine freebie.

I've used a Sue Wilson stitched tag die, Clearly Besotted sentiment dies, and SU Gorgeous Grunge stamps. The card is 7 x 7 inches.

Thanks

Sentiment die is Clearly Besotted
Daisies die is Sizzix

Tall box

A kind lady at my craft club has been baking birthday cakes for the other members recently.
I wanted to make her a small gift to say 'thank you'.

I know there are a million box-making tutorials out there but I like to make a box for a specific item rather than make a random box and then have to search high and low for something to fit in it.
I use Stampin' Up! grid paper to size out my boxes, the squares make it easier to see how many centimetres I need to measure out.

I cut a piece of card-stock down to 26 x 20cm then scored it at 6, 12, 18, and 24cm.
On the long side I scored at 3cm. I then cut away the small corner and decorated with some panels of SU patterned paper before assembling the box, the base just needs taping too (not shown on the photos but I'm sure you can figure it out).

Red ultra-sticky tape is on offer this weekend at Affixit Craft, it's a bargain price anyway but until midnight on Sunday everything is Buy-One-Get-One-Free. That works out at 40 rolls for £12.98, less than 33p per roll. Their 'Super Sticky Kit' is also really good value.

To make the lid I cut a piece of card-stock to 14cm square and scored it at 4cm all round.

 If I am making a lid I don't butt the card-stock all the way into the left-side of my scoring board, I pull it away about 1 or 2mm, if you don't do this you'd need to cut the card just slightly larger than 14cm.

I made a small hole in the centre of the card-stock before sticking the lid together.

I bought these biscuit sticks in Tesco, another BOGOF, they fit perfectly in the finished box which is about 17cm by 6cm.

Hopefully you can see why I made the hole in the centre of the lid. I wanted the lid to be held tight to the box so instead of tying ribbon over it I wrapped the ribbon up two sides of the box and then brought the ends up through the inside of the lid, before tying in a bow.

It is much more secure than if I'd just tied the ribbon round the outside, there's no way it's coming off!
This will work with any size box/ lid and if you've got plenty of ribbon you can bring it up all four sides and tie in double bows.

I finished the box off with a die-cut from a Clearly Besotted die, I think these are really good value at £2.50 each, cute font, I just trimmed the edges slightly to fit.

Gift Bag

I posted a man's card recently and decided to make a gift bag to match.
Bag and embossing folder are Papermania
Stamps are HOTP and Clearly Besotted.

Fairy Dreams

Background coloured with distress inks
Fairy text stamp is very old PSX (these used to go for silly money on ebay, £30+)
Sentiment stamp is Clearly Besotted
I've entered this in the Silhouette challenge on CM&P.

Bon Voyage

This is for a challenge on Cardmaking & Papercraft, the theme is silhouettes.
I've used distress inks for the background, Memory Box dies, and the sentiment is by Clearly Besotted stamps.

Friend

Sequins by Doodlebug
Stamp by Clearly Besotted.

I'm not entirely happy with the placement of the sentiment, should have gone a bit lower I think?
Anyway, I'm going to enter it in Clearly Besotted's "Anything Goes" challenge

Dreams

I am a fan of Debby Hughes' work, her fab blog is here

This is my very-influenced-by-Debby card (small peg + twine + sequins + angled layers), I hope she doesn't mind!

Sentiment stamp by Clearly Besotted, punch by SU
Sequins are Doodlebug and the tiny dots are the inner bits - I used a cocktail stick to dab a teeny amount of Glossy Accents direct to the card and then dropped the dot on top.

Small peg I have had about a decade and that is not an exaggeration, used to make 'washing line' cards with them many years ago...

Sentiment stamp is by Clearly Besotted, I've used it with white embossing powder to create the background.
Plane paper is Echo Park.

Thanks

Same as the previous post really, cheeky recycling of a gift tag from Clearly Besotted. Embossing folder is Cuttlebug.

Many Thanks

Bit of a cheeky one here; I recently bought some stamps from Clearly Besotted and included in the package was a small card and tag. So basically this card is the small card but matted and layered onto something bigger.

Incidentally I can recommend Clearly Besotted for prompt delivery and a nice selection of stamps, plus some have matching dies.