I have enjoyed making various look alike cards over the years, they are so much fun and are always well received. I previously have used Quickutz, Tattered Lace and Sizzix doll dies. More recently I treated myself to a number of the Studio Light Missees Die and stamp sets. They are awesome. There are dies to cut basic shapes for heads, torsos, clothes and accessories and lots of stamps to add the characters faces, with lots of different expressions. Mixing and matching the various sets means the possibilities are endless. Admittedly I have bought all the available sets to give me maximum options for designs including the two male versions. Like lots of my crafty stash, they sat there for a while without being used but they are gradually making more of an appearance in my crafting. Here are two cards I’ve made using them, one for my friend who’s the landlady of our local pub and one for my sister who is a fellow crafter and artist. I’ve used my favourite card fold the box easel card as it really showcases these well.

I love it when we get invited to special events, particularly weddings. I get lots of pleasure from creating a special unique card to celebrate the occasion. I add personal details and, wherever possible, link my colour scheme and design to the wedding invitation and, in this case, the wedding venue itself. I used faded out photographs of the actual wedding venue for the front cover image. The double shutter card definitely makes a statement and will take centre stage on the mantle piece measuring 20cm in height and 80cm in width when fully extended. It takes a good amount of card stock to make and the finished card weighs quite a bit too. For details of dies and stamps used just click on this link then click on any of the related thumbnail pics.

We were invited to the christening of our friend’s grandson and I was thinking of a suitable way to mark such a special occasion. I made this little keepsake to double as both card and gift. It includes all the details of the day and has spaces for the parents to add specifics about godparents, guests and gifts received. I love making this as it gives me chance to use some of my cutest dies as well as using some of my vast stash of patterned papers. I used a bought chip board album. I painted the edges of each page with white acrylic paint and covered them with patterned papers on both sides. I used my Cropodile tool and eyelets to reinforce the punched holes. Once decorated, I added ribbons, beads, and charms to the binding rings. To see details of dies used, larger images and other examples just click on this link and then click on the thumbnail picture you want to enlarge. For examples of girls’ versions click this link.

Cards for men are always challenging, especially for men in my family as I’ve made so many cards for them over the years it’s hard to come up with new ideas. I have to confess, this card for my hubby was born more out of wanting to play with unused supplies in my stash than being particularly relevant to him. Although he is very much a ‘Mr fix it’ so it is kind of appropriate. This is a rare venture into the realms of mixed media. If you’re a regular visitor, you’ll know that mixed media is not really my thing ( although I have tons of mixed media stuff in my stash) so I saw this an an opportunity to have a go. Now the real truth is, I had a good old play and then thought to myself, hmmm I need to make hubby’s birthday card, can I use some of the things I’ve made to make his card. Because many of the elements are quite dimensional I decided to make a box frame to stick onto the front of the card and make it look like a framed picture. I used one of the Spellbinders frame making dies.

One of my regular ladies always requests an extra special card for her mum’s birthday and usually wants lovely flowers. I Used the Tattered Lace Retail therapy Shop and florists die sets and the Retail therapy CDRom to create a cute pink and white flower shop. I enhanced the colours of the flowers with promarkers as the printed versions are quite dull dirty looking colours. I rarely make boxes for cads but this was an exception as it was so dimensional it was preferable to have a box to protect it.

I absolutely love the Spellbinders Flower dies especially the large die of the month January 2023 which I was lucky enough to pick up a preloved set on ebay. I’ve since managed to pick the Be Bold Blooms and Holiday blooms sets too which I think will work really well with these. I was playing with the dies using pictures from Pinterest as inspiration and decided to use the fruits of my labours to create two cards, one for my sister and one for my best friend.

My brother in law is a keen cyclist and so cycling has often featured on cards I’ve made him in the past. This year is no exception. I’ve made some ladies cards recently inspired by Jennifer McGuire using cut outs of the recipient’s name with floral elements showing behind the letters and thought I’d try a masculine twist on the same idea using various dies including; Card Making Magic Die Set Solid Alphabet Letter by Christina Griffiths various cogs and chain dies, Tattered lace sentiments 2014 dies, Card Making Magic relatives sentiment dies, Sizzix 3-D Texture Fades Embossing Folder 664760 Typewriter by Tim Holtz. I’m really pleased with how this turned out and will definitely use this idea again in the future. To be effective, this works best with large sized letters which limits the amount you can fit on your card front. in this case my card base is A5 but for longer names I’ve folded the A4 card lengthways to allow more room.

A special friends special day deserves a special card to celebrate. The pop up box card is one of my most regularly requested cards. This one is themed around a favourite tipple enjoyed by the recipient. Glossy accents on the printed bottles and glasses adds that finishing touch.

A good friend of ours celebrated his 60th birthday recently. My Hubby asked me to make him a special card. It can be tricky with cards for men, I chose to include embellishments that reflected his job and his hobbies. I love this style of card, it looks great on the mantlepiece and is always well received. I used a number of different dies to create this including; Sue Wilson essentials dies set Tool box by Creative Expressions, Unbranded beer bottle and crate die set, Tattered Lace George’s wardrobe football kit dies, Quickutz 2″x2″ football dies, Joanna Sheen bowler die, Crealies Cardzz Large number dies, unbranded layered alphabet dies, Apple blossom drinks trolley bottle opener die, and finally Paper Boutique ‘Happy Birthday’ sentiment die. I highlighted some elements with glossy accents.

The beauty of having a handmade card is that it can be tailor made to suit unique individual occasions. In this case the recipient was celebrating his first birthday and his Christening on the same day. By adding personalisation, photographs and specific details, it becomes a unique keepsake of a very special day.