Making a bib for a baby card

Last Sunday - 21st July I got a gorgeous new little great-nephew, Zayn.

I already have 5 very pretty little great-nieces and now we have a little boy in the collection! I had known the baby would be a boy for months now and should have had a card ready for his arrival -but, true to form, it was started but in a box with several others. 

I'm showing you here how I made the little bib on the card- using a circle die and the Tonic Studios Victorian border punch.

 1. Die cut an 8cm circle and punch out the top of it with a 3.5mm circle punch. Then emboss with a dotty embossing folder.

Punch out a border with the Victorian border punch and cut the scallops off individually - you'll need 11 scallops.

 2. Add DST around the edge and stick the scallops to the tape -  starting in the centre.

 3. Add more scallops overlapping slightly and making sure that there is the same size showing on the right side.

 4. Snip off the piece which overlaps at the top of the bib.

5. Repeat on the other side.

Then you can decorate the bib as you like. I have added the baby's name, some faux stitching, ribbon "ties" and 2 buttons.

I've mounted the bib onto the top of my favourite Verso die cut - the Delicate Lattice (Tonic Studios) and used the coordinating border punch in blue and white.

It's arrived!!

The delivery man has just been - I'm sure he wondered why I was so excited to see him today!

I've wanted a Silhouette Cameo for aaaages and I'm so pleased I've got it. Thanks a million to CraftsULove  for great service and all your telephone advice .

I can't wait to get started creating with this machine - you're going to see a lot of it :) :)

Blue Chrysanthemum

I got a card finished at last! I've so many cards etc all "on the go" at the same time I thought I would never get any of them finished..

Anyhow, this is quite a  fresh looking colour scheme and should be good for a Get Well card.

The main image is one of the Chrysanthemum stamps by Tonic Studios which I 've coloured blue for a change. I've die cut it with the 2 largest Delicate Lattice Verso dies and added a double Multi Detail butterflies. The papers are Birds on a Branch and the cardstock used is white felt embossed and kraft from Papermill.

I haven't entered any challenges for months but I noticed that the Allsorts team are looking for KRAFT this week...

22 years ago today

Where have the last 22 years gone? It seems like yesterday (well, the day before!) when our first little son arrived. The Tall Ships were just sailing down Belfast Lough as he was born but obviously I was too busy to watch ;)

Happy Birthday, David.  That's Andrew, our younger son on the left. They're both great "craic" around the house and life would be so dull without them!!

Still no cards.........a couple of nights up north

Late on Sunday night (yes, we're that organised) David said he had the next 3 days free so we should head off for 2-3 days. So, just like that, we booked somewhere to stay. I love this hotel - the Roe Park Resort, Limavady. We used to stay here quite often for short breaks when the boys were younger. It's only about an hour's drive from home.

You'll know by now that I'm no photographer but I do like a few snaps.....these are just a handful of the loads we took over the next 3 days.

Mussenden Temple from Downhill beach.

Getting my feet wet.

That's why it's called Downhill ;)

 We had a walk round Derry/Londonderry on Tuesday - this is the famous Guild Hall

This beautiful thatched cottage is in the middle of the Craft Village just beside the famous city walls.

 Magilligan beach

 Dunseverick harbour

 The locals were friendly :)

 Dunseverick

White Park Bay

September issue of Crafts Beautiful

The September issue of Crafts Beautiful has just arrived on the shelves of your local newsagent :). This month I have some cards in there featuring birds and bird houses. The dies I've used are from the Tonic Studios Watch the Birdy collection along with gingham paper, baker's twine and lots of inking.

I'm going to sit down now with a cup of tea and have a look at the other lovely projects in this issue - looking great :)

Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea......

Ok, no cards today again - just a few photos from our travels today.

The mountains of Mourne from Newcastle promenade

These are the best photos I could get today because of the bright sun - not that I'm complaining!!

Tullymore Forest Park (where we walked for miles today:)  )

The only cool place we could find :)

I'm off to get scrubbed now as I fell in love with a huge dog on the promenade at Newcastle. It was a gorgeous  - but massive - Harlequin Great Dane and, of course I had my arms round it as soon as I saw it but didn't realise until it had gone the state it had left my Tshirt and arm in  ...yeugh.....:(

The Glens of Antrim

 Cushendun

 The Glens of Antrim

 Ballycastle harbour

 Ballycastle Harbour

Ooh, I must have needed that! We went out for the day through the Glens of Antrim to the beach at Whitepark Bay. You've probably seen photos of this area on my blog before - but I just love it and go there a lot :). While I was getting ready David made up a lovely picnic of salmon sandwiches etc ( isn't he a wee pet?) and off we went via the scenic route. As soon as we set out the rug on the beach I lay down and was asleep in less than 2 minutes - great company :(   The good weather is set to continue for a while longer so we'll be off again as soon as we can...

Lime,black and white

Good morning. It's holiday time over here at the moment and although we aren't going away anywhere at the moment because of family commitments we've taken a day off here and there to chill out. The weather is fantastic and Northern Ireland is so beautiful that we are really enjoying whatever days we can. It means there is not much crafting being done - so the cards I'm sharing at the moment are ones I had already made a couple of weeks ago.

This one is a little different from my preferred floral paper style but I like it for a change - I've mixed the petal shapes from two Punch and Stamp sets (Clematis, Lily and Poinsettia with Rose, Pansy, Camelia and Gardenia) and made a few buds by twisting the petal shapes with tweezers. The beautiful diecut at the top of the Trellis wall is from a Branches die and the border punch used is the Diamond Scallop.

I have used Papermill white linen cardstock for the card base, flowers and diecutting. The black and lime green card is also from Papermill.

Crackers :)

It's time for another great offer at Papermill Direct. This time it's beautiful cream leather embossed card.
You can see the offer HERE

I've used the gorgeous new Cracker die from Tonic Studios to make some party crackers (don't just save them for Christmas!) and tied them with raffia. I've used the Tonic Studios Peruvian Lily, Evening Primrose and Corncockle Punch and Stamp set to make the flowers and the Daisy Border 2 onto self adhesive cork  for the decorative edges.

Have a cracker summer! 

Verso dies

The new Tonic Studios Verso dies are just about to hit the shops on Monday so I thought I'd show you another card I made using the Delicate Lattice Ovals set along with lots of other beautiful Tonic Studios products. 

This card is a "complete Tonic" ie everything used is from Tonic Studios (except the white cardstock, which is Felt embossed from Papermill Direct).

The toppers are from the Butterfly Beautiful Bumper Topper and Die set and the paper is the 8x8 luxury card set.

I've used the "waste" from the Christmas cracker die raised on 3D foam pads to create a diamond pattern down the side.

The flowers are made with the Clematis, Lily, Poinsettia Punch and Stamp set...

....and the silver "ribbons" are from the tiny die tag die in the Butterfly Beautiful Bumper Topper and Die set.

Have a lovely weekend.

Ruth :)

New border punch - Celtic Knot

Oops........I was supposed to post this card here a few days ago when the new border punch was released. I even had the post in drafts but forgot to schedule it.

 We're having fantastic weather here at the moment. It was so hot and stuffy inside yesterday that I took my Big Shot etc out to the patio and made some stuff there for a while. I didn't realise until later that I had got my shoulders burnt - so I'll not be doing that today!

Anyhow, today's card is to showcase the beautiful new Celtic Knot border punch which was released by Tonic Studios at the weekend. It would be great on a wedding card but I liked the idea of creating border panels with flowers in the centre.

Both of the patterned papers used are from the Birds on a Branch 8 x8 paper pad and the plain blue, white and lime green are from Papermill.

The flowers were made with Tonic Studios Rose, Pansy, Camelia and Gardenia Punch and Stamp set

Here's a close up of the punched border showing how beautiful it looks with gems in the centre of the knots.