Flutterby Cards

Order of Service

2009-06-05T18:36:00.000+01:00

...and the Order of Service! Kindly modelled by Aidan.

Wedding Stationery

2009-06-05T18:33:00.001+01:00

This is the table plan I made for Christine and Paul's wedding. They provided the frame which I think looked perfect!

Hello again

2009-05-29T13:01:00.003+01:00

I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted on here - shame on me. Anyway this is just a note to say Watch This Space as after a year of getting married, getting a new job and moving from the South to the North I am finally getting around to some proper crafting again. I've also expanded and am now exploring the fun that is chipboard shapes, plus continuing with my usual cards and most excitingly have ventured into the world of Wedding Stationery! TBC...

Music notes

2008-04-11T14:29:00.006+01:00

Valentine and any occasion!

2008-02-01T18:10:00.000Z

After a long drought of no time to create, I found my creative spirit last night when I actually had an hour to sit down and do something FUN. So here's the result. Some of the papers were sent to me as a surprise gift this week by Ruth - thank you Ruth!! I've used Basic Grey Mellow papers, Woodware punches and my new circle cutters by X-Cut (thank you Paul!) I hope you like them.

6-year-old Birthday - Pink

2008-02-01T17:27:00.000Z

I made this for my little cousin who turned 6 recently. The papers are perfect for girly stuff!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-30T11:49:00.000Z

Hello and Happy New Year! Sorry it's such a belated one. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas holiday... just thought I'd post a commission I made for someone who's just finished working in a bridal shop and wanted something to say thank you. I was quite chuffed with the result, as I drew and cut out the dress all by myself, and it could have gone disastrously wrong!

Due to a heavy workload and trying to organise our wedding at the same time (less than 6 months to go now!), card-making has had to take a backseat recently... but hopefully when my dissertation deadline has passed I'll get back into it a bit more! Thanks for looking.

Christmas Cards - Noel

2007-12-14T10:03:00.000Z

Contents: Basic Grey Figgy Pudding papers (yummm), Woodware flower pot and tag punches, Tim Holtz Black Soot distress ink.

Engagement Card - heart and button

2007-12-13T17:50:00.000Z

Sorry I haven't posted for so long - I've had a few deadlines at uni which are thankfully over now. Now all I've got to do is my dissertation draft for January 7th! Ha...ha... anyway, here is a commission I just made for an engagement card. I would never have done anything like this a few months ago but DCM and others have inspired me and I'm pretty happy with the result!

Contents: Basic Grey Mellow papers, button and ribbon, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo, Old Paper and Black Soot distress inks, Woodware heart punch and WH Smith glitter pens!

Something a bit different

2007-12-03T12:06:00.000Z

Hello again, hope you all had a good weekend. I managed to brave the Bullring on Saturday to get some Christmas shopping done, and didn't get too stressed :) I thought I'd try something a bit different (and quicker!) for some cards for friends and family, and here's the result. I quite like these and I'm loving my new inks, especially on this colour card. Punches all by Woodware and inks by Tim Holtz.

Christmas Card - new design

2007-11-24T10:39:00.000Z

Finally used my BG Figgy Pudding papers and managed to set part of it on fire on a candle! It was a very small fire though so not much harm done... actually looked quite cool in a very non-cool way. Anyway, hope you like this one, more to follow. Other papers by Dovecraft, 'Tis the Season' and just printed out the letters and cut them out.

Cards for friends and relatives

2007-11-23T19:39:00.000Z

These are a couple of cards that I made for a friend and my mum for their birthdays. The 'Twenty-One' card is based on the idea of the Celebrate card but with a different colour scheme. The prima flower was kindly given to me by Ruth - I've not got any of my own yet but I do think they are pretty. Papers by Dovecraft.

Christmas - Let it Snow

2007-11-22T11:27:00.000Z

Guess what - I bought some inks!! Woohoo! As you can see I used them asap, my technique may need refining but it was fun! Did this on a similar theme to the 'Love Joy Peace' one but added a crystal gem and some glittery mini-bauble stickers. The paper are scraps left over from other cards by Dovecraft, 'Christmas Blues'.

Christmas Cards - red, gold and green (Part 2)

2007-11-20T22:39:00.000Z

Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures but here are the rest of the cards I've made with the red and gold embellishments I had. I've kept the style much the same with a few minor variations.

Contents: Tis the Season paper by Dovecraft, etc. etc..

Belated Birthday Card - red, black and white

2007-11-20T19:40:00.000Z

I love this! Think the idea of big letters is an inspiration that will make its way onto a few Christmas cards as well! Another tip I worked out doing this as well, is to hole punch the unused edges of your peeloff paper, then you have a sticky circle that I've used for the inside of the flowers. I used a black ink pen to shade the words on the top and bob's your uncle.

Contents: Dovecraft black and white papers, Woodware flower punch, etc. etc..

A White Christmas??

2007-11-19T09:19:00.000Z

Students love snow, and the fact that several of the Birmingham variety all posted Facebook albums called 'Snow!' in the last 12 hours can only mean one thing: it has snowed in Birmingham. Can you believe it? I can't remember the last time it snowed so early - usually we have to wait till January or February! Who knows, it could be a white Christmas after all. Anyway I took some artsy fartsy shots of it, using the reflection from my bedroom window. I particularly like the fact that, as my friend pointed out, 'The Enemy Within' is placed just above 'Thatcherism' with a charming pic of the Iron Lady herself. Not deliberate, I assure you... but possibly Freudian.

Daring Cardmakers Challenge - Christmas Cards Red Gold and Green

2007-11-16T16:59:00.000Z

Here's around half a series of red, gold and green Christmas Cards I'm doing, using some lovely shapes that my friend's mum bought me for Christmas crafting! I'm really pleased with the effect here. I don't as yet have any inks so I shaded the edges of the papers for definition. Then I cut out squares using the cloud scissors and glued the trees and star onto these, in the cases of the trees using green card for the background. I then threaded ribbon through the top and punched out some mini snowflakes and gold circles to embellish. Hope you like it as much as I do! :)

Pringles Competition - please VOTE!!

2007-11-16T11:07:00.001Z

I've just entered a Pringles Christmas competition with some friends - please vote!!! It would sort our honeymoon out! And you might have a good giggle watching the video.

Here it is:

Leave Pringles By My Christmas Tree

Vote for this video at the Pringles Jingles site!

Please go HERE to vote.

Thank you!!

Christmas - Love Joy Peace

2007-11-13T02:20:00.000Z

Christmas Joy - smudge

2007-11-12T17:37:00.000Z

Christmas Joy - blue and cream

2007-11-12T16:16:00.000Z

Christmas Joy - blue and white

2007-11-12T15:20:00.000Z

I really like this! Gonna try and make a few of them now. Doing the ribbons on the tags was a bit fiddly but I really like the end result.

Contents: Woodware mini and regular snowflake, tag punches, ribbon, Dovecraft Christmas Blues paper, Eggshell paper from The Papermill Shop, foam pads, pencil for shading.

Christmas Card 3

2007-11-12T01:26:00.000Z

Just trying to find a design that's fairly quick and easy to do so I can mass-produce it. What do you think of this one? There's room for improvement but I like the general idea.

Contents: Tis the Season paper by Dovecraft, ribbon by CraftsUDo, Card by The Papermill Shop, Woodware tag punch, WHS glitter pen!

Daring Cardmakers Challenge 3 - Getting Corrugated

2007-11-09T21:35:00.000Z

Here's the challenge:

My dare this week is to use some corrugated card on your card - it could be corrugated craft card or an old box etc. taken to pieces :) You could make the card blank from it or die cut shapes etc...

Here's my effort - a birthday card for a friend of mine who, you've guessed it, is called Jen. Unfortunately it was done in a bit of a rush so could be better finished! I've used corrugated card for the background circle cut with cloud scissors, the flowerpot and the mounting card for the sentiment (card all by The Papermill Shop).

Daring Cardmakers Challenge 2 - and CUT!

2007-11-08T23:42:00.000Z

Well, this is probably the latest entry but here it is: my and CUT challenge for DCM this week - to make a card with something on it that you've handcut. Well I handcut both these two flower shapes and then mounted them to be one big flower. Pretty much as simple as cardmaking gets: it's made out of wrapping paper!

All quiet on the Northern front...

2007-11-06T14:31:00.000Z

Told you I'd be quiet this week - due to a sojourn in the northern country. Have been getting some uni work done and planning some wedding stuff, including the wording on the invitations - whoever thought decisions about fonts could be so fascinating :)

I am very much looking forward to seeing my good friend Ruth from artful ramblings next week for an inspiration session as she is going to make my tiara and maybe some other wedding-related jewellery... check out her blog ORNAMENTAL to see her gorgeous creations!

My entry on Daring Cardmakers is gonna be pretty late this week as well, but I'm looking forward to having another go at it! Watch this space...

More baptism cards cont...

2007-11-04T23:41:00.000Z

These are 2 commissions I made for a baptism tonight. The first picture is bad quality but I'll upload a better one when I get home (I'm away at the moment, so the posts might be few and far between this week!). Since these pictures were taken I added another butterfly to the right hand side of the red one to balance it up a bit! I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out. More importantly, the baptism was brilliant!

Contents: CraftsUdo ribbon, Hobbycraft mulberry paper, papers from The Papermill Shop, Woodware butterfly, dragonfly and circle punches, etc. etc.!

More baptism cards

2007-11-04T23:36:00.000Z

More it's up to you!

2007-11-02T09:48:00.000Z

Here's a couple I made last night... I'm really happy with them, they were pretty simple to make too. The centres of the flowers are hole punched out of silver, gold and red card; even the mundane hole punch can make pretty things!

Contents: Dovecraft paper, Die cuts with a View mulberry paper, papers from The Papermill Shop, Woodware flower punch.

Christmas Card 2

2007-11-01T14:14:00.000Z

Here is another Christmas card... I am now rationing myself to making 1 card per day and only after I have read my dose on Thatcherism for my dissertation. I really don't like this card that much, I'm posting it to see if it's just my taste it doesn't appeal to, or everyone else's as well! It's just too "busy" - sometimes I think my cards are too bare so I tried to redress the balance but I think I've overcompensated! Anyway, let me know what you think.

Contents: Woodware snowflake and circle punches, green card from The Papermill Shop, green ribbon from CraftsuDo, Dovecraft Christmas Blues papers, silver peeloff.

Personalised Birthday Card

2007-10-30T16:54:00.000Z

I made this for a friend (you may have guessed his name is Mike) whose 22nd birthday it is today. It gave me an opportunity to put to good use some scraps of paper that were lying unused in my bits and pieces bag! Contents: Dovecraft Abstract paper, cloud scissors, gold letter peel-offs, Woodware circle, dragonfly, wine glass and wine bottle punches, J. S. Bach writing paper, gold and red glitter pens, foam pads, glue.

Daring Cardmakers Ribbon Challenge

2007-10-30T13:20:00.000Z

*EDIT* I have now turned the bow on the ribbon round after receiving the below comments!

Well, I thought I'd take the plunge and do my first DCM challenge... and this week it was to make a Christmas card using lots of ribbon. I used my new Dovecraft Christmas Blues paper and holepunched it to weave some green ribbon into the card. I then used my Woodware circle and mini snowflake punches and mounted these on the top and bottom of the card. I'm fairly pleased with it, especially the use of the ribbon, but I have to say those colours don't look too Christmassy! But it was fun to have a focus while making a card, so I'll definitely have a go at some more DCM challenges. :)

Christmas Cards!

2007-10-30T00:15:00.000Z

Very excitingly half of my order for a batch of Christmassy stuff came today (Royal Mail, for a change, could not succeed in delaying it!) so I'll be starting on the Christmas cards soon. Keep looking and you might catch some special Yuletide deals as well. Ahh, sometimes I wish I could just quit my degree and spend all day making pretty things.

Invitation rough design

2007-10-29T00:11:00.000Z

Here is a rough version of what is probably going to be the final design of the invitations. Sorry but as per usual my camera has distorted the picture so it doesn't look like the card is actually rectangular, but it is! It's simple because we need to make around 100 of them, and then match the theme for orders of service, name cards etc... but I really like the crisp green and white colours together (although we may change the colours slightly when we buy all the card), and the use of the ribbon. The holes have been done with a hole punch so they are way too big! We'll probably outline the white card the butterflies are mounted on with silver to match the writing. Does anyone know of any subtle but elegant border embossing punches we could perhaps use? Or have any other ideas? Thanks!

Wedding Invitations

2007-10-26T17:18:00.000+01:00

Today marks 9 months until I get married to my fiancé Aidan! We are currently trying to design our wedding invitations. The colour scheme is green and butterflies are part of the theme (does that surprise you?!) Has anyone got any good tips for easy-to-mass-produce cards, little touches that subtly make things look elegant, or design brainwaves? I'll post a few of the ideas we've come up with next week and leave them for your comments. :)

Baptism Card - blue and white

2007-10-26T17:14:00.000+01:00

This is a baptism card I made for my cousin Joel who is getting baptised this Sunday! I made another one with an ivory background for another lad who is getting baptised at the same time, but didn't want to duplicate the pictures.

Contents: amazing textured dark blue card and blue paper from The Papermill Shop, Hobbycraft beautiful blue mulberry paper, Woodware circle punch, CraftsUDo white ribbon, glue, foam pads, scissors, cloud scissors, craft knife and metal ruler.

Missing You (ivory and wine)

2007-10-25T12:23:00.000+01:00

The idea for this one came to me when I was dozing off one night and I couldn't resist making it - it might be a bit cheesy but I think it's cute! Gives me a good excuse to use the jigsaw puzzle punch as well which is one of my favourites. I also love this Dovecraft paper by Kelly Harwood - Abstract Prints. Also a big thank you to Allison at 'Stampin' When I Can' for linking to me.

Contents: Dovecraft 6x6 paper by Kelly Harwood, Woodware jigsaw and circle punches, gold peeloffs, cloud scissors, wine red mulberry paper, red glitter pen, glue, foam pads.

Pictures

2007-10-24T11:31:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the recent problem uploading pictures - it seems to have been resolved now! Thanks for your comments.

It's up to you! Butterflies and dragonflies lilac

2007-10-23T19:03:00.000+01:00

One that 'can be used for owt' as some would say! Contents: Dovecraft 6x6 paper, thepapermillshop lilac card, cloud scissors, purple mulberry paper, Woodware heart, butterfly and dragonfly punches, Hobbycraft purple sequins, silver peeloffs, Artwork purple mounted flower, glue, foam mounting pads.

Celebrate! Black and White

2007-10-23T02:25:00.000+01:00

Contents: Dovecraft 6x6 paper, jewels taken from an old birthday card!, black mulberry paper, cloud scissors, foam mounting pads, Woodware evening dress, shoes and butterfly punch, silver peeloffs, craft knife, silver glitter pen and black pen, white card blank.

Congratulations! Butterflies and flowers

2007-10-23T02:20:00.001+01:00

Contents: Dovecraft 6x6 Designer paper, white ribbon, Die Cuts with a View mulberry paper, Woodware heart and butterfly punches, flower punch, 3mmx5mmx5mm foam mounting pads, green and silver card, silver glitter pen, white card blank.

With Thanks (lilac)

2007-10-23T02:18:00.000+01:00

Contents: Dovecraft 6x6 paper, flower punch, Woodware flowerpot, butterfly and circle punches, ribbon, Hobbycraft purple sequins, cloud scissors, foam pads, purple glitter pen, glue.

Happy Birthday! Man

2007-10-23T02:12:00.000+01:00

This is a card I made for a colleague at work for everyone to sign. Don't ask me what the jigsaw pieces symbolised, I just think it's a really cute punch!

Contents: Dovecraft 6x6 Designer Paper, Woodware jigsaw, wine glass and wine bottle punches, Tie and gold line peeloff, Die Cuts with a View wine-red mulberry paper, foam mounting pads, glue, white card blank, gold glitter pen.

Welcome to Flutterby Cards...

2007-10-23T01:45:00.000+01:00

...and thank you for visiting. I'm fairly new to the crafting world and as such don't have much equipment as yet, but what I do have I try to make the most of. All these cards are made with acid- and lignin- free paper. Other than that, it's mostly just a few punches, ribbon, scissors, adhesives, pens and a lot of imagination! I hope you will agree that this blog is proof that you don't need to spend hundreds on die cuts, toppers, decoupage etc. to make something pretty. Let me know what you like and what you don't like, what you'd like to see more of and what you think I can improve - your constructive criticism is welcome.

I'll also try to link to other blogs you might find of interest, when I get the time!