Welcome

by Craftybabs // April 6, 2015 // Comments off

Update 28th March 2020

To all visitors, followers and newsletter subscribers, I hope you are keeping safe and well in these difficult and uncertain times. Crafting is a good means of keeping occupied and distracted whilst we are all staying at home. You may notice that all passwords have now been removed from the tutorials and I’m not envisaging using passwords in the future. Take care, stay safe and keep well xxx Babs

Hi there, welcome to my website which is my way of sharing my crafting journey with the world. I have been a creative person for virtually all of my life, and, like many, have had a go a pretty much every form of creative craft at one time or another. Nowadays I am predominantly a paper crafter making bespoke cards for friends and family and their friends. My passion is die cutting. I am lucky to have a number of different die cutting machines and thousands of dies. I also, when the mood takes me, like to write the odd verse or two. I also share pictures of my makes on Pinterest and on my Facebook page, both of which you will find by clicking on the links.

Although I do take commissions, this site is not set up for selling and I don’t take commissions from overseas. I don’t keep a stock of pre-made cards, every one is hand-made to order. If you did want to commission a card please contact me via email.

PLEASE NOTE, DURING THE CURRENT CORONA CRISIS I AM ONLY TAKING COMMISSIONS FROM FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO CAN COLLECT IN PERSON.

If you like what you see, then why not sign up for my newsletter. You’ll be first to know when new cards and tutorials are added to the galleries. Your email address will only be used to send you the newsletter or respond to any questions you ask. It will not be shared in any way with any other party and you will not be sent any marketing, advertising or other material.

N.B. If you’ve signed up for the newsletter, you’ll need to add me to your accepted/address list as some people are finding them going into their Spam/Trash Folders

Once, Twice, Three Times a Birthday – 3 same but different cards for June birthdays

by Craftybabs // June 23, 2020 // No Comments

I had a few cards to make for June birthdays and wanted to try out some new dies. I ended up making all the cards the same but changed up the colour of card used and flipped the layout for one of them. I used my favourite Z fold for the cards, it’s a fold that guaranteed to give maximum mantlepiece appeal. I really love the Bright Rosa sentiment dies I used for these, I bought quite a few from Craftstash when they were on offer, they make such a statement on card fronts that not much else is needed apart from the flowers of course. The flowers are the Gemini double sided flower dies. I don’t have a gemini machine so only bought this one to try out on my Sizzix Big Shot. I found that by removing the wafer thin die adapter they cut just fine. I used older cutting plates just in case as the dies cut into both cutting plates. I’m really pleased with how they turned out and may add some more to my collection soon.

Don’t Worry, Bee Happy

by Craftybabs // June 23, 2020 // No Comments

How have you been during lock down? I found it difficult to concentrate in the early weeks and consequently found crafting difficult. I managed to get my mojo back a little by making rainbows for my windows and happy mail to send to friends and family. They were easy to make and were really well received. I printed rainbow ‘Thank You’s’ and laminated them so I could attach one to each of my wheelie bins. It was just what I needed to help me gain a bit more positivity. Have you made any special projects during lock down?

2 – 4 – 1 – Two First Birthday Cards For One Special Boy

by Craftybabs // May 10, 2020 // No Comments

I was asked to make birthday cards for my friend and her daughter to send to a very special Grandson & Nephew on his first birthday. It’s tough at the moment as they can’t see him up close or cuddle him while we are in lockdown. They wanted something special that would be familiar to him. It’s sometimes a challenge making more than one card for the same recipient, to end up with different cards. In this case all the more so as they both requested the same theme of his favourite show. Another challenge was create familiar images that he would recognise and yet not be exactly the same. I usually list the dies I have used to create my cards but in this case, not all of the dies are listed, especially for the 8″ x 8″ version as I lost count and track of which dies I used during my lengthy process of trial and error. Though I did use dies, there was quite a bit of snipping and reshaping to end up with the desired effect. My friend and her daughter were delighted with the end results and the birthday boy loved them and even recognised some of the characters.

Sister’s Lockdown Birthday – It’s All White

by Craftybabs // May 3, 2020 // No Comments

Well this is now the third ‘Lockdown’ birthday card I’ve made. This time it’s for my sister who is my craft buddy sharing in my addiction to all things paper, card, die cutting and stamping. I always try to do something different and/or a bit more special for her using dies she’s not seen before. When you make cards for crafters you always know they’ll be more appreciated as they know what goes into making them. I used 2 different types of pearlescent card for this. The card base was made from single side hi pearl card. I thought it would be a shame to cover up the lovely finish on this so chose to use the Tim Holtz mixed media die as it cuts a lovely design and allowed the pearl finish of the base card to show through. This then dictated my theme for the card. To layer up with I used a more subtle pearl finish which contrasted well with the card base and was the same tone. For full size pictures and details of the dies used, as usual, just click on any of the images. Z fold cards are my favourite card fold at the moment, they somehow seem to make the card that bit more special. I struggled to find an appropriate verse for this so ended up writing my own which was relevant to us and to the times we’re living in at the moment. I have made some other lockdown birthday cards but can’t post pictures until after the birthday so watch this space. Here’s hoping that that by the next card making occasion we’ll be out of lockdown, until then stay safe and keep well.

This year your birthday’s different,

as we can’t go to the pub.

We can’t all meet together,

for some drinks at the Con club.

So we’ll celebrate by quizzing,

all together using ‘Zoom’.

A big night in on screen feels like

we’re all in the same room.

Us girls on Vodkas, G&T’s,

the lads can have their beers.

We can all sing ‘Happy Birthday’,

raise a glass and say three cheers.

But though things aren’t quite normal,

one thing always will be true…

You’re a very special sister and

we think the world of you.

So Happy Birthday Susan,

hope you have a lovely day.

Let’s look forward to the time,

when we can dance the night away.

Shaken Not Stirred – Birthday Card For My James Bond and Aston Martin Fan Husband

by Craftybabs // May 2, 2020 // No Comments

Having a birthday while in lockdown is not quite the same so had to make an effort with hubby’s card. He loves James Bond and also the cars in the movie. I tried to incorporate both themes in his card and used the Crealies Create a card set 1 to create an accordion style card. I used images from a La Pashe CD Rom to create the decoupaged cars and added glossy accents to the finished cars. For full size pictures and details of all the dies used to create this, just click on any of the images.

Saints Alive It’s Your Birthday

by Craftybabs // April 23, 2020 // No Comments

Happy St George’s Day Folks. My friend asked me to make a card for her cousin’s 50th Birthday. As his birthday is on St George’s Day I decided to go with the George and The Dragon Theme. The addition of a swear box is a private joke between my friend and her cousin. This is a good example of why having a handmade card means you send a unique and personal greeting on those extra special occasions.

Happy Birthday Two Shoes

by Craftybabs // April 13, 2020 // No Comments

Gatefold birthday card made for my Brother-in-law’s April birthday. I used a Tattered Lace Magazine gift die as the main focus for this, it came with issue 55 of The Tattered Lace Magazine, I also used the Charisma that was included in the magazine adding glossy accents to the shirt buttons, shoes, watch, belt and umbrella handle and mounting on foam pads. I used the colour scheme of the Charisma for the rest of the card adding cute shoe die cuts made using an unbranded shoes die set to echo the main focal topper. For details of the dies used just click on the image.

65th Birthday – That’s Music To My Ears

by Craftybabs // April 10, 2020 // No Comments

Guitar themed birthday card made for our friend’s 65th birthday this month. Sadly Due to lock down we were unable to celebrate with him but managed to make sure he still had a special card and present. I hand drew the template for the guitar and used Nesting circle dies, an ‘oval’ die (actually the body of a teddy bear) and a label die for various elements. The strings were threaded using button thread. Am happy to say he was delighted and we are looking forward to a big celebration when we’re all out the other side of these difficult times. Take care and keep safe and most importantly STAY AT HOME.

Up The Blues – Happy Birthday To You

by Craftybabs // April 10, 2020 // No Comments

Unusually, I was asked by my friend to make a 60th Birthday card for her sister in law who is nuts about Manchester City Football Club. Apologies for the picture, I forgot to take a proper one before giving it to my friend. But hopefully you can get a good idea from the one picture I have which is not quite finished, I added crystal gems to the centre of the flowers and also added the ‘th’ and a ‘sister in law’ sentiment on the front. The flowers were stamped and die cut using Spellbinders Sun kissed fleur stamp and die, then coloured and shaped. I made the background by glueing strips of card together. I die cut the logo from one of the leaflets my hubby got in the packaging with his MCFC season ticket.

Oh Boy – A New Baby

by Craftybabs // April 10, 2020 // No Comments

Baby keepsake parcel cards are by far my most popular make. I love making these and adding all of the special personalised details that make them something to be treasured forever. If you want to have a go at making one, why not check out my Tutorial which takes you through the process with pictures and step by step instructions. I’ve made the same type of card for baby births, confirmations, special birthdays and other occasions too. I don’t always have the photographs to insert when making these and leave an open pocket in the centre so that the recipient can insert photos of their choice but on this occasion I did have the pictures.