Place cards

My lovely neice's wedding is fast approaching (31st August) and now I have to start on favours, order of service, menus, place cards, table numbers, table plan and flowers for the tables.

Now I've written it all down it seems like a lot, but I won't panic.....much.

I was playing around with place cards today and have came up with a cuttlebug butterfly. I've used them on the invitations (pic further back on blog) and I'll be using them on the order of service and menu too...

I made a table and worked out the placing of my names,

then cut out, folded and put them through the big shot

using my cuttlebug butterfly. Just remember to keep the

card just under the top of the wings to give a hinge.

My next thought was to make it so it would sit on a wine glass...

so on the back butterfly, I cut a slit up each wing from the bottom

nearly to the top...put a little bit of dst on the big part of each wing,

and made a clip.

This is the view from the back..I've put it onto a bit of card to show how it grips.

Now it's up to Annette to decide whether she wants them to be free standing or on the wine glasses. Of course, it wouldn't be me without a bit of bling ...so I always add a gem to the ladies' place cards.

Easy space saving idea

I buy my dst in bulk and have tried storing it in drawers, on a shelf and in baskets...it just seems to take up too much space for what it is.

So.....I had a strong tube from the inside of my tissue paper (which I also buy in bulk..lol) ...and asked Wullie if he could attach it to the underside of my bottom shelf for me.

He came up with this.

He attached a jubilee clip with piece of wood as a spacer

And all I have to do is clip the tube onto it.

Blog Candy

Bev has some fab blog candy on her amazing blog.
Her cards are an inspiration to everyone who sees them so go along and have a look and leave a comment to be entered for the candy. You won't regret it.

Not one...but two awards.

Wow.....can't believe that I've received two awards....This one is from Bev and Karen ... thanks ladies.

It's the Wylde Women Award and the rules are as follows:

1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you.

Make sure you link to their site in your post.

2. Link back to this blogsite (http://www.tammyvitale.com//) so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women.and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

I'm going to pass this on to:-

Toni

Lizbe

Jak

My second award is from Greta

The Rules

1. Only 5 people allowed

2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog

3.One has to be new or recently new to your blog & live in a different part of the world

4.You must link back to whoever gave you the award

Quite simple really. It's a way of saying thank you to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.

Bev

AnnMarie

Nicky

Been busy

On Monday we went to Dalkeith to Southfield Stationers...as it was a lovely day and my brother was visiting from Bournemouth we took a detour to Rosslyn Chapel, of Da Vinci Code fame.

The architecture is absolutely stunning even although it has been eroded over the past 500 odd years and is definately worth a visit if you are in the area. Even if you don't like architecture, Rosslyn Glen is next to it and the scenery is breathtaking and a walkers' paradise.

Was working all day on Tuesday and spent yesterday doing 13 New Home cards. Wullie works for a housing association and their Director personally gives one of my cards to each new tenant when they move into their new home. I think it's a fab idea...even if I have to make them at short notice.

Today I made two cards for my toughest client...Lisa...my lovely daughter (joking of course). She walked in as I was half way through the first one and just looked at it....and that was enough...she didn't like it. Didn't matter that I wasn't finished it....

Of course...as soon as she went to the gym I ripped it to pieces

and came up with this...

All I changed on it was I ripped off the letters , added the glitter panels and stuck the letters back on.

It's 3 x A4 sheets of a lovely blue shiny card that I've had for years and never used, stuck together and accordian folded to DL size. I added the navy blue card panels and then tried printing onto the pale blue glossy card...it worked a treat and took the print really well and no smudging.

When she came back from the gym she was over the moon with it.

Then she asked if the other one was done.....

So...this is the quickest exploding box that has ever been made.

Well...it took me about two hours....but believe me for me that's quick....I like to let my work develop at it's own pace....not be rushed.

It ended up ok though and she was thrilled with it.

Well it's nearly 4am and I'm up for work at 7 am so I better go to bed.

Night night.

Blog Candy

Marlene has blog candy up for grabs on her fab blog. It's worth looking at even without the candy.
http://mar1ene.wordpress.com/
Hope this link works.

And more blog candy... this time on Donalda's blog
http://donaldas.blogspot.com/

And more....on Andrea's blog this time.
http://andreabrownjohn.blogspot.com/2008/07/magnolia-blog-candy-pauline-from.html
I'm really getting good at this. :)

Gems and things

For anyone who (like me) used lots of gems, pearl hearts, flowers etc., to their cards, Papercellar do a range of 99p boxes.
These wee boxes hold loads and I love them.
I've got them all in colour coded boxes..sad person that I am.
I dropped one the other night and let out a scream.....Wullie came to the glass door and looked in....and came round to the other door with two pieces of card, bent down and scooped them all up....then the wee soul took them through the living room and sorted them all out for me.
Now that's what I call love.
I've put a link to Papercellar in my Special Places list.....haven't a clue what delivery is like because I always get mine in Craftology...think I need to put a link to there too.

Saturday..and it's raining

Well sat up and did my usual 5.30am bedtime...once I get into a card I just can't stop till it's finished and this one took ages.

It's a tri-fold C5 card.... two A4 sheets of card scored and folded in half, then dst on one section and stick the other sheet on top of it.

The lovely off white paper is from Papermania Exquisite collection and the vellum is from a book that I bought at the SECC last time I was there. The butterfly is a Papermania glitter embossed sticker with pearls and wire attached and the rest is peel offs and gems.

The inside is lined with lilac pearlised Payperbox paper and the inserts are on card I got at Arjo Wiggins. The text on the front panels is on vellum that I got from Southfield Stationers shop.

I could probably replicate this card in an hour but because I have to do a bit and then stop and think about it for ages and then add something else it just takes forever.

If you get the chance you should go and have a look at the Southfield Stationers shop in Dalkeith. I'll find a link and add it. I've been going for a couple of years now and even though it's over an hour away we really enjoy it. Janette who works in the shop is so enthusiastic and you smile all the time you are there. She does quite a few workshops now and comes up with some really interesting ideas for them. Wish I could manage to get to them.

The shop is starting to get lots of new stuff in...she has it in two rooms at the moment. When I first started going it was mainly off cuts that they sold. I've got drawers full of gorgeous little bits of card and paper...I'm addicted to buying them..but then they are fab for using with my big shot..and when my sil comes up I always cut her loads of stuff for crafting with her brownies, so it's justified.

We'll be going on Monday for a wee run cos it's our holiday Monday and we always head out that direction. I'm needing envelopes for my next lot of invitations so that's all the excuse I need.

How I got into card making.

I told the story on the post."I've won an award" about the

first thing that I ever made.

I'm re-doing my Wedding Stationery album and thought I would put a photo on to let you see a copy of my first ever venture into paper crafting.

I made them for Lorraine and Andrew first and gave them as a present ...and when a neighbour's son was getting married, I made them for them and gave them as a present too.

Annette's birthday card

And now for something completely different......

This is the card I came up with for my niece Annette.

Lisa had wrapped up her present while I was at work last night and when I saw the wrapping paper...well I just had to try it out for a card.

So the left over wrapping paper and the tag and a bit of ribbon turned into this card.

After I took the photo I added some gems down the white strip in the middle, cos my niece just loves her bling.

Hope she likes it.

Sorry....

I haven't been too good lately and haven't been doing my blog but I promise to try harder.
I'm off work today and tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some stuff done to put on.
I do lots of wedding invitations and to begin with I would make samples up and give them to the client...a couple of times I didn't get my samples back and then strangely enough the bride made her own invitations which looked remarkably like my samples, so I decided to make up a folder with my samples. I got an A4 binder with lots of pockets in it and started to fill it....it's a bit heavy now and I thought it was time to update it ...so I had a nice scrapbook which I haven't got around to doing yet and now it's coming along nicely...I'll let you see when I get it done.
I'm going to make a card for my fav niece Annette now and I'll put it on later.

I've been tagged....

thanks Lizbe....I think....right here we go...don't expect to be surprised cos I'm pretty boring.
What was I up to 10 years ago........
much the same as I am now....just doing it a bit quicker...I was working in Asda (still am) although back then I did trading standards..which basically meant that as long as you had a hat to wear in the fresh areas, you could wander anywhere in the shop for a wee blether. Loved that job. I hadn't started to make cards back then so I probably got a lot more sleep than I do now.
5 Things to do list......................
1. Wash my windows, which I should have done instead of going for lunch with Lisa.
2. Start making my next lot of wedding invitations.
3. Think about arrranging a birthday party for my brother.
4. Go make some cards
5. Catch with my friends on the forum!
Snacks I enjoy....................
Crisps....my major downfall. I eat lots of fruit too in fact sat last night with a box of cherries while I was blogging.
Things I would do if I was a Millionaire.............
That's a hard one, as I have always said that I wouldn't like to have too much money..it never seems to bring happiness with it. But I know I would set my children up with a business and a house each. would definately buy my niece Annette her own hairdressing salon and make sure that I helped out anyone else in the family that needs it. For Wullie and I it would be somewhere nice and quiet to live. I've never been ambitious or money oriented (maybe that's why I don't have any, lol) so I don't think it would make that much difference to my life. Obviously some charities would benefit but I'd be very selective because most charities lose most of their donations to pay wages.
Places I have lived............
Born in the same village I still live in. Moved home twice in my life...the first time I came home from work and my Dad had left a note on the door "Your new address is....". We lived in a prefab and they had built new houses...my Mum was on holiday at my brother's in Aldershot (he was in the army) and when the letter came on the saturday morning with the keys in it, my Dad who was a lorry driver, loaded everything onto the back of his lorry and moved. I think he could teach moving firms a thing or two...all he did was sellotape all the drawers and cupboards shut and moved them with all of the stuff inside. My Mum was distraught when she came home after a two week visit at William's to find that her beloved home had been demolished in her absence. She was even more distraught when she saw her new house....the carpets from the prefab sat in the middle of the floor like a rug...didn't take her long to get the carpet fitters in though. lol.
The only other time I moved was when Wullie and I got married. Like most of us then...we stayed with my parents for the first year while we waited for our Council house and then we moved about a hundred yards to our new home...where we still live...Now that's what I call boring. lol.
Thats all my questions answered, all I have to do now is Tag some people!The people I will Tag are.................

.......................

.......................

still to be decided cos I can't make up my mind lol.

Can't believe I won an award...

Thanks so much Lizbe for nominating me for this award so soon.
After a few attempts I've managed at last to get it on my blog....and very proud I am too.
Now I need to pass this on to the blogs that inspire me, the rules for this award:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.

I'm gorgeous now

Just had my hair done..lol.
My niece Annette has just left and Auntie Margaret looks like a babe again....her words. she has also picked up her wedding invitations....am I glad to see the back of them. I've still to finish off the boxes as I needed her to choose how she wanted them decorated she chose the one on the left with the ribbon on it so it shouldn't take long to get them done.



I said yesterday that I did an ordinary card for Danielle too so I didn't post it....well when I took them to Rosie she was over the moon with it so I think it's good enough to put on here.
I used the swiss dots folder with a die cut dress with some gems on it....some punched out flowers with some gems....a bit of black ribbon with a tiny key brad and a bow.
I embossed the lines with my score board, added a few peel off lines and printed the wording on my pc.


I bought myself two of the new cuttlebug folders today....got the "with love" embossing borders and the "welcome baby" cut & emboss.
Can't wait to use them. In fact I was trying them out while I was waiting for my colour to "cure" LOL.
I've a new baby card to make for a girl in Wullie's work so I'll try them out later.

I think I have to re-think stamping. It was the first thing I ever done when I started card making. A girl in work asked me how to do order of service. I was really into computers but had never tried anything like that...anyway I went out and bought a stamp..(it's Anita's and its a sort of square with a heart in the centre and wedding wrote on it)..silver embossing powder and some card. I have to confess that my first ever stamps...all 80 of them....were embossed using a black and decker paint stripper gun. I don't know how I didn't set the house on fire. lol. She was delighted with them.
The only time I have stamped since is for wedding invitations. I do buy stamps...just never use them.
But looking at Bev's Blog(All the things I love).... (and lots of others) I see all of these fab stamps and I want to try them out...so watch this space.

Successful trip.

Well we went to Aberdeen and found the sunshine waiting there for us.
Went to the Papeterie (ArjoWiggins) and straight to the envelopes....the one's I wanted weren't there...so being a trooper I chose a plain ivory heavy weight one and started counting them. The assistant appeared and I asked her if she had the white gold ones...she went off and searched and ....Result!!! So I got 100 envelopes that exactly match the card stock.
Of course I had to make it worth the drive all the way up there so I filled 4 boxes with card.
It's the big boxes like you used to get in The PaperMill Shop...and it's two for £10....therefore 4 for £20. It's top quality card and paper too. The range I get mostly comes from the Curious Metallics..and it comes in a few different finishes. There's a link to their website in Special Places at the side of the page.
The owner told me today that if you spend £40 or more on line then he will give free delivery...so it's well worth a look.
My boxes averaged out at about 160 sheets in each of them...one of them had paper too so it was more. I also got some more of the 12 x 12 that I used to make the envelope/box for Danielle's card and it was only 20p each. I noticed that the had Bazzill 12 x 12 the ordinary was 50p and the bling was 60p.
I'm off to make the rest of the RSVP's now I've got enough card again.

Quickie

What a nice husband I have....
not only is he delivering the cards (I made an ordinary one too for Rosie's Dad to give to Danielle)but.....
we're going to Aberdeen.
I'm still looking for envelopes for the invitations and they had lovely ones in ArjoWiggins when we went for the card and the paper. Unfortunately they only had 3....the assistant (god love her) searched everywhere.
So I emailed them to see if they had got them back in but haven't had a reply and I don't have any patience.
Thing is...it's nearly a four hour drive there and then the same back......
oh well I better fill some boxes with card while I'm there to make it worth my while....can't have Wullie saying it's a waste of petrol now can I...lol.
Better go and get a quick shower and get off....I'll let you know later how much money I've saved by going all that way.

Good Morning.

I think we may just have a little bit of sun today....I did say a little bit....
I've sat up all night making a couple of cards ordered by my friend Rosie...she gets so excited when she sees her cards that I have to rack my brains to come up with something different every time.
Unfortunately I'm usually rushing at the last minute to get them to her and haven't been getting photos of them which I'm gutted about, because I have done some really nice ones.




Anyway....this one is a gate fold, which opens up to have an accordian card at each side.

This is it closed..it's C5 size... I used Pink leather look card for the base. Then I layered up a beautiful Gold card with sparkle in it which I got from Southfield Stationers in Dalkeith....the next layer is a pink and white stripe paper from dcwv spring matstack. I printed the numbers on the back of the gold card and cut them out, then mounted them with foam tape. I edged the numbers with gold peel offs and added some clear gems to them.





On the inside at the back I printed my greeting onto pink parchment and stuck it on with dst.

I layered my verses at either side with a nice 12 x 12 from the Sharon Ann delightful collection and edged them with peel offs.

I trimmed the bit at the back with a sliver of the same card and peel offs. All I did then was add a few wee flowers here and there.

Then I had to decide what to put it in.

I took another 12 x 12 which I picked up when I was at Arjo Wiggins in Aberdeen...it's an off white waffle type card...the texture is fab....anyway I decided to treat it like an envelope and footered (scottish word) with it until I had an exact sized envelope/box. I made holes in the back and added eyelets and threaded a pink chiffon ribbon through which I will tie in a bow to keep the envelope closed. On the front I used a strip of the 12 x 12 (it's joined in the middle but nobody will ever know ;) ) and made a daisy with the same card and some of the parchment. Finished it off with gems in the centre of the daisy, peel offs along the centre strip and some peel off words.
I'm delighted with it....

now I wonder how I can talk Wullie (my oh) into delivering it for me...;D

Box for Bookatrix card

It's also easy to make boxed for your bookatrix cards....
As before you need 2 A4 sheets of card.
This time you don't need to trim the long side of the cards and only trim 2cm off the short side.
Then as before, trim 1 to 2 mm off the long side and the narrow side to make the bottom. It depends on the thickness of the card you're using.
You now have to adjust your easy peasy box maker....
peel the ruler on the foam pads off the mat and re-position it 3cm from the other ruler.
This will give you a box deep enough for most bookatrix cards unless you've created a florist shop on top of it:)
Hope this is of use to someone.

Easy Peasy Box without a board

Never thought I'd be doing a tut so soon but here goes.

Not everybody has a scoreboard, in fact I only bought one last year and managed to make do for years without it. Here's how I used to make boxes.

To make a C5 box ( to fit an A4 card folded in half) you need two sheets of A4 card.

Trim 1cm from the long side and 3cm from the narrow side of both sheets of card.

Then take one of the sheets and trim another 1-2mm from the top and the side, this makes the bottom of the box.

To make an A6box ( that's normal invitation size) cut an A4 sheet of card in half and trim 2cm from the narrow side of both sheets. Than as before trim 1-2 mm off the top and side of one of the sheets.

You need an old cutting mat, two rulers some double sided tape and some foam pads.

Start off by putting dst on one ruler and stick it to

the bottom of the cutting mat...make sure it's straight.

Then decide how deep you want your box to be....2 cm. is usually ok for a normal card...and stick a piece of foam pad at the very edges of the mat at each side.

Now stick your second ruler to the foam pads....make sure it's dead straight.

You can now slide your card under the rulerand butt it against the bottom ruler.

Using an embossing tool you can then emboss your score lines on all four sides of your card.

Fold along your score lines and then cut along the blue lines...

don't know how clear it is in the photo...

You end up with this....

all you have to do now is put a bit of glue on the bit that's folded in and either press the outside edge onto it or use a paper clip until it sets.

I've discovered that Anita's glue is the best although I used to use dst.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Well, must say I'm surprised by the amount of people who have actually bothered to look at my blog. Can't say if it's going to be of interest to many people but you never know. I know I look at my friends blogs and then you find somebody on their list and have a look at that and before you know it you're off blogging for hours at a time. Never good when I have orders to make.
My printer has been acting up...can't say I blame the poor old thing...it "died" over a year ago and I found a site which lets you reset the counter and it's been overworked ever since. It's starting to flag now though. I've still got my first Epson up in the loft because it also "died" but as it was within it's warranty I had to take it to a nice man to sort it. As I had orders to make before I could get to him I just bought a replacement...and then when I took it to him he gave me a brand new one in it's place...so I have a spare which I think is going to be put to use soon.

Invitations.....at last

Well I've managed to finish the invitations for my niece Annette's wedding. The invitations are all done but I can't make up my mind how to decorate the boxes....yes you read right....the day time invitations are all boxed....I know I'm off my head but I seem to get carried away with my ideas..lol.
The invitations are all c5 gatefold...even the evening ones.....the only difference I've made between the day ones and the evening ones is that the three toppers are all lined with the dark red card the same as the inserts on the day ones...and the butterfly has five gems on the day and only one on the evening and it's facing the opposite way.
The card is all from Arjo Wiggins and is White Gold Fusilier 250gsm with matching white gold paper for the insert. The red is the same Fusilier 25o gsm for the butterflies and the toppers and matching paper for the inserts. The boxes are the same White Gold but this time I got the leather look for the tops and the bases. I'm struggling to get the envelopes to match and think we might have a wee run to Aberdeen at the weekend to get them.....it's only 3 and a half hours there and the same back again.
Poor Wullie....I don't drive so my poor husband has to take me everywhere....mostly without complaining, but everyone has their limit. He might just have reached his. LOL.
The dark red colour I've used is the exact colour of the bridesmaids' dresses.
I had to cut and emboss 120 cuttlebug butterflies for these and I have 230 more to do for the menus, orders of service and place cards. Oh well, it's a labour of love, she's a lovely person.

Well...let's see....as you can see I'm trying to set up this blog.

Being a bit thick it's taking a while.
But watch this space.....