The Story of my punches

 This was the first little punch I ever bought. It came from a shop called Kozo in Belfast and I loved it. I didn't have many craft supplies at the time and couldn't justify spending too much money on them so this little punch had to work hard. I used the flowers, the apertures, left them flat and twisted them etc! Eventually, I enjoyed using the punch so much that I bought some more....and some more!

 Some Woodware punches. I generally kept to basic shapes which could be adapted. The 3 different sized circle punches ion the centre of the photo are always beside me, even now :)

 Some tiny Woodware punches and some very large lever punches. That large oval at the top is a very handy one!

 The border punches were a real treat for me -I loved threading ribbon through them and placing different coloured card behind them for different effects.

I mostly still use the hole punches at the bottom for tags but also used the waste as confetti. They work well with foam as you can see below.

 I punched the foam and glued temporarily to an acrylic block,

 then used it as a stamp for the background.

 Some Xcut punches

 Martha Stewart border punches

 Dovecraft punches

 This little set of mini alphabet punches was used over and over again! I used the X as faux stitching on numerous projects.

Corner punches - still used often in my card making.

 Now this is where it all changed course! I saw this Tonic Studios border system demonstrated at a show in Belfast, David bought them for me and I was hooked!

Some regular boot punches which can also be used with the border system. To the right is the most used punch of them all - the Intrica Butterfly!

 These are amazing geared punches. Back in the day when Tonic Studios was only making tools and punches, these geared punches were developed and could punch through cardstock of up to 400gsm!

 Hefty big Tonic Studios punches!

 Petal Pairs, designed by Susan Niner Janes for Tonic Studios. These had interlocking petals and could be layered up to great effect.

 These were once the staple of all my cards. Geared border punches! Some were border and some strip punches and worked so well together. There's even a couple in this pile which were never actually mass produced. I was given them to try when I was demoing at a trade show for Tonic Studios but they never became available to the public.

 I had so much fun designing these four sets of punches, complete with coordinating stamps and a little stamping cylinder. I must have made thousands of flowers with these and loved demonstrating them around the country :)

 Large Intrica punches by Tonic Studios

 More large Intrica punches :)

 Mini punches which are always in use. I keep them handy in a little takeaway container. 

The last one I bought. It seemed like everyone had this or needed it so I treated myself but only used it once or twice - unlike all my other punches :). By this stage I had moved on to using dies and only really used my smaller punches with them.

Tonic Studios - Butterfly Tuxedo Card Creator Gate fold Card

 A gatefold card made with the Butterfly Tuxedo Card Creator die. I used the little strips for the floating butterflies/flowers to hold the fronts of the card together. I used Craft Perfect Navy Dazzle Pearlised and Cream Weave Textured card with Bonnie Blue Nuvo Vintage Drops.

This die set is primarily used to make a tuxedo box style card but I have glued the back together and split the fronts to make a gate fold card, then layered up all te little single butterflies in the set.

 I have only die cut the pattern into the top of the inside panels to leave room to write a message.

Pullout tag card tutorial - Trimcraft "Forever Free" paper

You can follow the steps below to create this pocket style card with a pull out tag, using Trimcraft's "Forever Free" papers and some Dovecraft embellishments. I hope you enjoy making it :)

 You will need:

Trimcraft First Edition "Forever Free" 8x8 paper pad

Trimcraft First Edition Sentiment dies FEDIE269

Dovecraft 5x7 square aperture card

Dovecraft A4 Heat Resistant Acetate

Dovecraft A4 Luxury Heavyweight White Card

Dovecraft "Make a Wish" paper doilies

Dovecraft "Sweet Moments" Accordion Stickers

Dot & Dab double sided tape

Dovecraft Crystal Glitter Glue

Simply Creative Ivory 3mm Pearls

 Twine

Hole Punch

Die cutting Machine

How to make it:

 1. Cut a piece of orange patterned paper measuring 12cm x 17cm and attach to the card front with double sided tape. Turn inside out and cut out the aperture from the paper with a craft knife, following the lines of the aperture in the card.

 2. Attach a 12cm x 17cm piece of floral patterned paper to the inside right of the card with double sided tape and add another layer of double sided tape around the two sides and the bottom to form a pocket when closed. Mark the centre of the top of the card front and remove a small semi circle of the card and paper together.

 3. Cut a 9cm x 9cm square of acetate and attach behind the aperture with double sided tape.

4. Cut out the Happy Birthday from the paper pad and glue to the inside of the card, using the aperture on the front as a guide to centre it.

 5. Close the front over and adhere to the double sided tape to form a pocket. Cut a 9.5cm x 15cm rectangle of white card and attach a 9cm x 14.5cm of stag patterned paper with double sided tape. Punch a hole at the top. Make a tassel from twine and attach with a loop of twine through the punched hole.

6. Cover the pother side of the insert with  floral paper. Cut out the floral tag from the paper pad and glue to the bottom.

 7.  Cut a 4.5cm x 6cm piece of floral paper and snip out a v at the bottom to form a tail. Glue below the aperture. Cut a doily in half, fold a tiny piece over at the top to conceal the raw edge and glue over the tail.

8. Die cut the "Celebrate"from white card, glue onto pink paper and cut out. Glue to the top of the aperture. Add a accordion heart to the doily.

9. Add a fine line of glitter glue around the aperture and around the cut out semi circle at the top. Glue a length of twine to each side of the heart and some tiny pearls to the doily.

Origami dress card - Trimcraft "Forever Free" paper pad

Can you even imagine wearing a summer dress today?? It's got to be the darkest, dreariest day of the year so far and I can't even get good photos , so this is another one I made earlier.
I used Trimcraft's Forever Free paper pad and did some paper folding to maker the dress and also on the inside of the card.

 I also added lots of Simply Creative pearls to the patterned paper.

Peace and Joy

 Good morning :) I'm starting the week with some Peace and Joy!

This is a card I made earlier with Trimcraft's "All that Glistens" paper pad and the First Edition "Faith Themed" dies FEDIE248x18

I used A4 card and made it gatefold, then folded the inside paper to add some dimension.

Just to Say - Trimcraft's Forever Free papers

 Just to say - have a lovely weekend!

I used the recent Forever Free paper pad from Trimcraft and enjoyed doing a lot of ripping and distressing. I love the bright pinks and corals of this collection. I also used the sentiment stickers, mini bunting, washi tape stickers, sequins, printed pegs and tiny heart die from the latest V&A collection with paper blossoms from the Make a Wish collection. It's great that so many elements from the different collections can be mixed and matched :) The Jewels are Simply Creative :) As with most of my cards, they are not quite complete until they receive a good dose of Dovecraft glitter glue!

Ringing the Bell!

Last Friday marked a milestone in David's treatment! It was the end of 5 weeks of daily radiotherapy. He's also been having chemo for  the past 6 months and it is almost finished too :). Now it's time to let him relax at home with lots of pampering and TLC. 

Trifold Explosion Card - Trimcraft's Mariposa papers tutorial

I used a Dovecraft 6x6 Trifold card as the base for this explosion card along with Trimcraft First Edition "Mariposa" papers.

You will need:

Trimcraft First Edition 12 x 12 Mariposa paper pad

Dovecraft 6x6 Trifold card

Dovecraft Luxury Heavyweight card (white) 

Trimcraft First Edition Sentiment Dies FEDIE269

Dovecraft Gold Glitter Glue

Simply Creative 3mm and 6mm Gold Gems

Dot & Dab White Glue

Dot & Dab double sided tape

Circle layering dies 

How to Make it:

 1. This is the template for cutting and folding the inside of the card. Transfer these measurements onto a piece of double sided paper measuring 12" x 6" then fold as shown.

 2. Glue the centre diamond shape into the centre of the trifold card and  then glue the two larger triangles on each side to the left and right fronts of the card. leaving the mountain folded triangles free as shown.

 3. Cut 2 pieces of purple patterned paper measuring 7cm x 14.5cm and 2 pieces of bird patterned paper measuring 6.5cm x 14cm. Attach the patterned paper to the purple paper with double sided tape and then attach to the fronts of the card.

4. Cut 2 strips from a sheet of 12 x 12  double sided paper, one measuring 

4.5cm wide and the other 5cm wide.

 5. Fold the wider strip evenly around the card making sure that you do not make it too tight.. 

6. Add glue to the parts shown on the narrower strip and glue on top of the wider strip.

7. Die cut, or draw and cut a 6cm diameter circle of white card and glue to the "belly band" to join it together. Fussy cut 2 butterflies from the paper pad and glue on top . Cut 2 tails of purple paper measuring 2cm x 3cm and glue to the bottom of the circle. Add gold glitter glue details to the tails, flower and patterned paper edge and gems to the flower and butterflies.

8. Die cut  a 7.5cm white circle and glue to the inside of the card. Die cut "With Love" from purple paper and glue to  the white circle with some fussy cut butterflies. Add tails below the white circle. Add gold glitter glue details.

9. Die cut 2 x 5cm diameter purple circles and glue to the left and right insides of the card with fussy cut flowers, butterflies and glitter glue.