Greeting Card Museum - How it all Began

Hand made cards, where did it all begin? well I have had a favorite site for many years it takes you through the history of Postcards & Greeting cards and has some of the most beautiful examples that I have ever seen.

This is the site Postcard & Greeting Card Museum

Some of the designs are so intricate it is hard to believe they were created so long ago.

I think it is nice to look at a bit of our past and understand where we get the tradition of card making and sending from.

Stamped Christmas Bauble

This rubber stamp is by Elusive Images, it come as a set of 3 baubles in different sizes, I have used this set before but I coloured them and used it as a friendship card see here.

This time I decided to do it in monochromatic colours I just love black and white.

I stamped the bauble onto black card stock using versamark then used a white detail embossing powder and gave it a blast with the heat gun. I stamped the DMC border using Versafine Black Onyx ink.

The bauble was cut out and added to the card with craft foam pads and a pretty bow was attached to finish.

Family Scrapbook Pages

More scrapbook layouts,I thought it was time to introduce you to some more of my family so I've added 3 scrapbook pages from my treasures for you to see.

This scrapbook page is one of my favorites, it is my Mam and she is elegant as the words state, I love the old photo's.

The page already had a butterfly on it so it was traced with a glue pen and left to go tacky then golf leaf was brushed over it to make the butterfly pop.

Donkey Derby, my Brother Alan at Butlins holiday camp.

This layout left me quite nervous cutting a precious photograph so instead it was scanned and printed then cut.

I really must get around to finishing my Scrapbook, in this layout you just have to check out the pushchair, This is my Mam and Dad and my Brother Alan is the little one in the pushchair.

The gift tags were coloured with distress inks, a couple of die cut keys and some rich patterned Scrapbook paper and lots of layers.

Designer Fashion Card

Lets talk stick on toppers, anyone who knows me will also know that I don't do stick ons, anything that is ready made I struggle to call craft, I tend to like to work at my cards.

So today 9th of December is my Niece Amy's 20th Birthday and contrary to my two daughters she loves the designer clothes and definitely follow fashion.

However, I set to making her a card, then, I spotted something that oozed Amy's name at my place of work yep it was toppers. Not the normal type and not cheap either but very well put together and finished beautifully.

So I gave in counted to 10 and bought 2 lots of pre-made stick on toppers.

This one is in brown and gold the other set I bought is black and white.

I used a DL sized card and a slightly smaller piece of luxurious chocolate card and embossed it using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, I cut out the scalloped rectangle with the nestibilities die and mounted it all together tying a ribbon around the base of the chocolate card.

Lastly I placed the self adhesive toppers onto the card and said 3 Hail Mary's for my sins.

Rubber Stamping with Lemon Juice

After receiving a wonderful Christmas Card from my very talented friend Claire made by stamping with lemon juice then using a heat gun to scorch where the juice stamped image is I thought I'd give it a whirl.
I found myself wasting lots of card and even a watercolour paper until I found the correct absorbency and weight that I needed the other thing I found was the thicker the card the longer you needed to use the heat gun and I managed to melt the end of my gun then a brain wave I turned on the cooker grill and grilled the paper in half the time.
On my card it is the snowflake background that has been stamped in the lemon juice and the wording and the Bird was stamped using the Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink.