Some Birthdays

Good Evening ! Weekend came and gone and another new week is on the roll ! For those who work on weekends and holidays like myself, weekends are just ordinary days. Some have to offer their services and we have to appreciate the work these people do, with  lack of time they spend away from their families. So here I am today having  on my desk, dedicating some time to my blog which I have neglected a bit lately.

This  post is about a womans and a male birthday. For the womans card I used some flowers which I learned how to make from some tutorials on You Tube. The background  is just plain paper with  stamping on, dusted with  perfect pearls  and also some liquid pearls. Then  laid a paper doily to give it that vintage look which after realized I should have dyed with coffee to give it an aged look.  At the bottom layered on some lace with some ribbon over and some pearl braid. Then finally layered of the design with the flowers.  

For this card all I just used was 4 different types of stamps and some bronze chain.

For the background used distress inks more than one colour to be exact but on the same shades. After distressing the background, sprayed water on to the paint to make the paper look like aged and then stamped on the calligraphy. 

Another Sewing card

Hello J oh my... how I had fallen  behind in my posts!!  It’s been a while since I posted something although I kept doing some jobs. We are in middle of summer and it is scorching temp of 35° and over, till the point that leaves you lethargic and at times out of breath... to be honest I feel that we are being roasted alive. Am not a summer person anymore, when I was younger used to hang out days by the beach. The more I grew up, I become conscious about being sun burnt and also with the high rates of skin cancers.  It’s not worth it for me anymore, for every day spent by the beach end up  applying creams days after and screaming ouch ouch ha-ha  J  So yes  the rest of my summer between my job is going to be at home feeling fresh, eating healthy salads, summer fruits, and plenty of refreshing showers. I am hoping to catch on some projects and not forgetting to spend special time with my family and friends.

One weekend I planned to meet an old school friend, while discussing where to eat out, her idea was to go to our sister island Gozo.So we ventured on to have a meal out at Gozo. Don't call us crazy ha-ha J  actually it turned out to be a very enjoying eve crossing the channel at night. When  it comes to food we were very satisfied, especially the restaurant situated next to the shore, feeling the fresh breeze coming up straight from our Mediterranean sea. I love this island, with  it's impeccable beauty especially in winter with all that greenery from the countryside. It’s not so dense like Malta; there are many places of interest from cultural to sightseeing and especially many diving spots. Good food by the sea is never an exception while  Gozo lace is abundant for those who love artisan work .

As this saying says “The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations. - Eli Khamarov”

Soon I have to pull my socks up, as my youngest brother is getting married next May and many projects in the pipline wink ;)

So today’s card was for a person whom is a seamstress. It was her 60^th  birthday and this was specially done for her.

Supplies List:

• Dictionary paper
• A4 card stock
• Rubber stamps
• Sizzix On the Edge Die - Sewing Edge
• Flowers -I Am Roses
• Thread
• Buttons
• Ribbon
• Lace

The dress maker form dressed it up with a pleated skirt, with a bow at the waist and a crocheted flower at the bottom of the skirt. The skirt was pleated in a fan shape and inked a bit at the edges of the pleats with distress ink. If you notice  machine stiching  was used on the back ground. 

Mother Theresa Frame

Recently I done another frame with a quote from Mother Theresa and must say I am so very happy with the outcome.J

Knowing that one of my best buddies at work Melissa is going to missionary work in Ethiopia with the Living Waters, decided to make her something for fundraising. So I got her into choosing a quote as resectly she was reading her biography and  looking at her FB status you always find a good quote that make you reflect.

The work that this mission is doing is incredible, children having schools, people having a home with fresh clean water in the villages and mostly the word of God. All this is with the kind help of the Maltese people nation which is very generous and kind in every situation. I am so proud of her that she is leaving everything behind  for 5 weeks, to make a difference in these poor people lives.

Many times we complain for going to work or for finding something different to eat on our table than we expected ... while we complain and grumble about everyday simplest things, let us be grateful for all that we have...to have a roof on your head and money in your pocket to buy everyday simplest necessities is already a blessing. We are already lucky enough to have schools, so we can educate ourselves, let us not waste that positive energy. 

Have a great day dears xx.

Supplies List

• A frame A4 size is perfect
• Card for backing
• Stamps 
• Distress Ink Pads
• Ink pads
• Embellishments
• Old Dictionary paper
• Seam Binding Ribbon
• Paper flowers by I am Roses
• Washi tape
• Faber Castell - pitt artist pen Manga black set

For the backing effect with lines no stamp was needed. Some time ago i saw a crafter somewhere on You Tube using an old credit card. Simple to do, dip one side on an ink pad and then stamp it on the card in the desired angle, and voilà there you have an interesting background without spending money on stamp.

After cutting 6 layers of petals for the flower colour them with distress ink and marked close the edges with a fine tip. Finally done the stamping on the flower petals. To make the center of the flower used a clock stamp.

Let us always meet each other

with smile, for the smile is the

beginning of love.

Mother Theresa

Tick... Tock... Time is Ticking

Hello dear friends Good Morning  J how are you?

Finally I have some time to sit down here and dedicate  couple of hours to my blog!  How I just wish I had more time to work more on cards and also jewelry as it’s something I also love doing. That gastric virus threw spanner in my wheels but thank god I am back to normal and mind bit focused on work.

Lately I had been working on plenty of cards and some Holy Communion stuff which later on I will post on this blog.

So for this card the motive behind it was sweet and lovely. The bride to be wanted to remind her fiancee that in a years time they are going get married... hehe better remind him and get him prepared ;) … sorry guys I am being a bit cheeky here J.

Supplies list

• A4 ivory card
• Dictionary paper
• Distress ink pads
• Black - Adirondack Ink Pad
• Ribbon
• Various rubber stamps by Tim Holtz, Visible Image & Prima and other brands which I don’t remember
• Lid from a jar
• Old visa card
• Ranger Crackle Accents

For this card I used mainly plenty of different stamps. For the back ground  used a calligraphy stamp after inking and distressing edges. With an old visa made like fine lines vertical and horizontal, and circles with the lid. At the bottom applied the flowery stamp design and followed up by stamping the clocks on various types of papers. Next step was cut them out and embellish some of them with Crackle Accents and left them to dry out.

After the clocks were set in place, the next step was the calendar.

At one other side of the card made a mini calendar, which I downloaded from this site http://www.calendarlabs.com/ and really found it very useful. Glued it all together and made a little book mark with a piece of ribbon to mark the month, also marked their wedding date and finally attached it to the card. Once I had the setting done, added some more stamping. 

Above the calendar stamped the famous “Keep Calm and Carry On” I just love it and it goes back to the beginning of the Second World War to keep the morale high of the British public.

Around the clocks applied the wording tick tock to show that time is ticking up  to their wedding day and finally their names ... and yes, now the bride and groom started the countdown for their special big day J

 

Christening Cards

Good evening or good night, as for me it`s already bedtime. These few days I haven`t been too well, seems some viral thing is  up in the air with all this sudden weather changing. I had to make an effort to sit down a bit in here drop a few lines and don’t want to fall behind with my posts.  While I Hope you all had a happy a Sunday J wish you plenty you lots of love and laughter xx

These are two christening cards i done recently for a relative of mine.

On the first card I kept the neutral colours and creamy look and for the second one based it with shades of pink.

Supplies List

• Lace ribbon
• Satin ribbon
• Gauze ribbon
• Satin & lace material
• Pearls & rhinestones
• Buttons
• Embossing powder
• Rubber stamps
• Acrylic paint
• Flowers
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Tattered Florals

The flower was cut with Sizzix tattered flowers and the center was made with 3 circles smaller than each other. Then I burnt out slightly the edges with a candle to give it that crumble edge.

For the background after stamping with some calligraphy, applied some pearlised pink acrylic paint. Just some light brush strokes, vertical and horizontal. The butterflies stamped and embossed with white embossing powder and cut around and gave them that 3D look.

At the end arranged the flowers in the desired design. 

Easter Cards

As Easter came and passed so fast and I was busy too with some cards. This is my first ever cards I done for Easter and honestly they are the best of my favourite cards I done so far. Easter reminds about birds chirping in their nests, the air starts to get a bit warm and the flowers starting to bloom. Usually I used to take my first swim at Easter like many others.  We also do have our traditional food for Easter like the "Figolla". It`s a sweet pastry cut in a character and filled with almond mixture and the top decorated with icing paste and on top of it an Easter egg.

Now let’s get back to the real subject as sweets are my biggest distraction. J  For these cards i tried to experiment as much as possible and I am quite satisfied. I always try to experiment and mess about in crafts.

Supplies List

• A4 card stock
• Dictionary and old book pages
• Perfect Pearls mist
• Embossing powder
• Charcoal pencil
• Distress ink pads
• Lace
• White gesso
• Mod podge
• Stamps
• Stencils
• Flowers
• Liquid pearls
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Caged Bird
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Tattered Florals
• Acrylic paints 

The leaves were cut free hand from an old dictionary book, sketched the edges and inside of the leaf  with a charcoal pencil.

The flower was made from and old book and water coloured and edges inked with brown distress ink.  Then glued all the petal layers 6 in all and misted on perfect pearls. When all dry, normally I use a heat gun to hurry up the process, added a button to the center of the flower.

For the background applied pieces of book pages then applied gesso and then the acrylic paints. For stamping I used distress ink pads and on some of the stamping applied embossing powder

For the largest flower I recycled a coffee cup heat protector J  as long I don’t get any free coffee no adverts in here… hehe 

Don’t be afraid to mess about with the paint brush as you can really create fabulous textures. I do have any art experience except a little bit of art lessons at school.  For the cage gave it a little of embossing powder. 

Wish you all  a great day whether the sun is shining or not ! J

Carmen xx

Symphaty Card

Good morning Sunshine’s!! The weekend is gone and another week is starting to roll over J

Although I do enjoy making cards, this was one of those cards that you don’t enjoy doing at all. It made me sad while also shocked, at the tragic loss of this young man. More over when this person is a relative of one of your closest work mates. May his soul rest in peace!

While doing this, had some time to ponder and reflect... that life is too short to worry about and waste… every second from our precious life is worth like a million years and every day is a new beginning. Do what you like doing; be with the ones you love, that bring joy and happiness into yours. Don’t waste time hating the people that move away from you. When things are meant to be, happen when you least expect them. Things always happen for a reason, even from the most negative situation something positive comes out. Love yourself and give love back... mostly to the ones that hurt you, even if they don’t even notice…   Always forgive as you like to be forgiven!!

Most of all be grateful for all the people you have in your life and everything that surrounds you…

I wanted to keep this card simple as possible and preferred to focus on the message. So I went for a verse from the bible.  Next to the wording stamped 2 sparrows and at the bottom I made a gate with some flowers on and the title of the card. For colour I preferred to stay on my usual soft tone.

Lots of love Carmen xx

Blessed are those who mourn, 

for they shall be comforted. 

Matthew 5:4