I was recently asked to make two extra large cards for a very special 90th Birthday. The birthday boy loves ‘The Rat Pack’ and also enjoys a ‘Jack Daniels’ whisky, so these became my themes for the two cards. It’s sometimes tricky making more than one card for the same recipient. It’s important that both cards are special but then they need to be different too. I decided to make them both A4 in size with one being orientated landscape as a double Z Fold card and the other orientated portrait wise with a fold back front to enable stability. Larger cards can be a challenge and need to be made from a minimum of 300 gsm card stock of they are to be sturdy enough to stand without bending or falling over. The ‘Rat Pack’ card utilises mostly die cuts with some printed backing papers produced in ‘Word’ and a music themed stamp which is heat embossed. The large vinyl Record was made using black mirror card which is cut with a large circle die and then I used nesting circle dies to emboss the ‘grooves’ of the record. The sentiments and numbers are die cut from glitter card and layered up for dimension. The whisky themed card was created using personalised replica labels created with Craft Artist Professional software superimposed onto photographs of a whisky bottle and whisky glasses. Glossy accents then adds to the realistic ‘glass’ effect. These are positioned on an embossed background which has been inked and gilding wax applied. I then added a ‘Wellington bear topper and some die cut embellishments to finish off. For more details re dies used just click on any of the images.

I was inspired by the wonderful Sam Calcott for the card fold I used for this make up themed birthday card. The addition of some rose gold glitter card, pearlescent card, mirror card and sparkly gems add that extra touch of luxury to make the recipient feel extra special. For details of dies used just click on any of the images.

My sister asked me to make baby keepsake cards for her Nephew in Law on the birth of new new baby daughter and one the same but with different wording for the proud Grandparents. Regular visitors will have seen these cards before. They are such a delight to make and are always well received.

I made this card using a digital card front layout that I created using Craft Artist 2 Professional. The addition of some appropriate die cuts finished this off perfectly. The great thing about hand made cards is, as I’ve always said, the ability to create a very personal, unique, one off greeting for those special occasions.

I was asked to make a special card for a young lady celebrating her 30th birthday. My remit was pink, strictly come dancing and chocolate. I had great fun creating the ‘chocolates’ to go on this and not a calorie in sight. For details of dies used just click on any of the pictures.

This one somehow slipped through the net. I made this for my daughter’s birthday in January. I finally got to use my Tattered Lace Retail Therapy dies and CD Rom. I chose the Florist shop as my daughter loves gardening and enjoys her greenhouse where she grows lots of vegetables from seed. I did think this would be a quick make as I was using the CD Rom to print out all of the elements including the shop. How wrong was I. I had endless problems getting it to print complete sheets and don’t know if that was a fault with my printer or a problem with the Cd. The colour choices were also a little disappointing, so I’m probably not going to use the CD again. Next time I use this set I will probably cut most of the elements from coloured card stock and colour in the flowers or other elements with markers to get nicer and more realistic colour tones. All the same, it did make for a pretty impressive card, the small items are a tad fiddly but I think the end result is worth the fiddle. I did mount mine onto a card base as I felt it stood more securely and would be less likely to fall over.