Paper cuts...

So after thoroughly enjoying working through the DIY paper cutting kit from Paper Panda I decided to give myself a challenging project.

With the knowledge that our 1 yr wedding anniversary is approaching (October) I thought I would do a paper cut as a pressie for hubby - according to tradition the present for 1 year should be paper. Perfect!!!

On my journeys across the world wide web searching for inspiration I came across a design that literally couldn’t have been more perfect – it was a cut that incorporated part of ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton - we had this beautiful reading at our wedding

I changed the initials and date and started to cut....

And cut...

And cut...

And cut!!

I must admit - I'm bloody proud of myself!!! It looks fantastic - and looks like lace!! I will be cutting it again as I feel my lines are smoother now and I could get a cleaner finish but I'm super chuffed with how it looks!!

Once the final copy is finished and framed I will post a picture of the whole thing. 

I'm back!!!!!! (Again!)

Its been a while! About 18 months! Can't believe how fast time has gone!! 

Well, It's been almost 6 months since my wedding - and I know it's a cliche and that EVERY bride says it, but it was the best day of my life! Hand on heart I can honestly say that nothing went wrong!!

It goes without saying that I made all my own stationary and paper based items for the big day, as well as a few non paper bits too! so I'll let you take a gander at some of my hard work! 

Magnetic Save the dates:

We didn't know the colour scheme at this point so kept it simple!

Invites:

Silver pocketfolds with teal and navy matting. Ivory embossed dress, pearl necklace, ribbon belt, teal satin tie with a tiny real black button on the tux!!

Order of service:

Place cards:

Menu cards:

On the reverse of the table names.

Table names:

On the reverse if the menus.

Table plan:

On the reverse if out chalkboard!

Chalkboard signs:

I also made my own fimo cake toppers:

Fry, Leela and nibbler from futurama.

My Harry Potter ring 'pillow':

On chapter 6 as we were in our 6th year together when he proposed!

Grandparent Charms for my bouquet:

Post wedding - A decoration for our Xmas tree using hubby's dried buttonhole and some of our confetti:

I also made reserved signs, 'please take the flowers' signs, special thankyou cards for both sets of parents, my husband and bridesmaids, I made my two tier veil and beaded my own veil comb.

It was super important to me that I could include handmade elements into our day as that is a big part of who I am. The futurama cake toppers were a surprise for my husband, he LOVES futurama so I did these in secret and revealed them on the big day. He loved them!! Little did I know that he was going to call me his 'leela' in his speech!! Awwww. We are also massive movie geeks - our music was movie themed, as was my ring holder and the table names too!! (There were 2 more but they got taken home by guests!!) Gold stars to anyone who can name where the pub/bar names are from!!

Well, that's the crafty side of the wedding recapped with a quick look at the crafty things that I made. I'm planning on blogging more regularly now I haven't got a wedding to prep for, so prepare to hear from me more often! Lol!! 

Thanks for reading!! I'd love to hear hat you think of everything I made! Speak soon!!!xx

Bits and Bobs...

Its been a bit all over the place recently on the card making front, I have done a wedding invitation order, am working on quite a few male birthday cards and have had ALOT of fun with some digi stamps from Saturated Canary.

The invites were a joy to make - it was lovely to be able to work on some wedding stationary that wasn't mine tbh!!! I was given the brief of black and white damask with dark red as an accent colour. I made a range of different styled invites for the couple to look through and then from those they picked the invite they wanted. After a lot of emails and messages back and forth between me and the bride we finalised the font, wording and layout to exactly how she wanted. 

The black, white and red combo looked stunning on the final design, definitely a combo I'd like to work with again.

The male birthday cards are still works in progress so once they are finished i will post some piccys - working on two 80ths (for the same man) and an 18th card. I always find male cards quite difficult to do, so this is a challenge for me to say the least!! A fun challenge though!!

I had my eyes opened to the beautiful world of Saturated Canary by a friend this past week, who alerted me to a free digi stamp on the website. The digis are gorgeous!! - and SOOOOO fun to colour!!

I have 4 digis from them and I had a bit of a play with them today!

(I apologise for the crappy lighting in the photos!! NEED to get a decent light in here!!)

i used the circle framelit as a template to curve the clear stamp sentiment. 

thought this would make a beautiful card for a bridesmaid to give to a bride...or visa versa!!

am COMPLETELY in love with this digi!! everything about her is gorgeous!! including her cute kitty!!

I have used glossy accents on the balloon to give it dimension and shine. 

the HUGE eyes make these girls SO pretty!! and the quirky clothes allow you to go wild with the colour! I need more of these digi's in my life.....and so starts an unhealthy obsession with Saturated Canary digi stamps!! there are so many on the website - you can check them out HERE.

so thats what i have been up to recently! think I'm going to go and print some more of these digis off and colour some more :) - might work on colouring hair, haven't got the hang of it yet!!

By for now - speak soon.xxxx

I said YES!!!

Hi guys!

I have the most wonderful news!!! My boyfriend of 6 and a half years proposed to me on the 25th October - and I said YES!!!! I can't believe it!!! Even though I have the world's most beautiful ring on my finger - it still doesn't feel real! I'm sure once we start having to pay for expensive things like venues and flowers then it will all start feeling scarily real :)

I get to make my own wedding stationary!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! Ever since I made those 1st wedding invites (for who is now my soon to be sister in law!!!) I have dreamed of making my own. I always knew exactly what I wanted (I didn't know what colours but I knew the style) but now its official and I am ACTUALLY gonna get married.....I have NO idea what I want!!! lol. There is SOOOO many ideas to choose from!! 

I LOVE the typography 'carnival' style stationary that's out there atm... but I also like the classic simple look aswell.... then there is are colours to think about.... and a theme!!!! OMG. I feel like a kid at Christmas... but also like my head is gonna explode with all this planning to do. Got another couple of years to do it in though - looking at setting the date around autumn time 2013.

oh well, I'm sure there will be many more wedding related ramblings before then :)

so, I've had a couple of weeks to myself to celebrate getting engaged, now I'm gonna get my bum in gear and get cracking with some crafting! :) I've been working hard at the Christmas cards, i am now in reach of my 100 card target. Very proud of myself. Hopefully I will get them done with time to spare so I can knock out some 'non Christmas' cards to take aswell!

well that's it for now lovelies! keep your eyes peeled for the next post - will have sneak peeks of some of my Christmas stock coming soon!!!xxx

Butterflies and BRILLIANT NEWS!!!

I have been meaning to write on my blog for the past few days. Unfortunately there always seems to be something UBER important that needs to be done. This week that thing has been the wedding name cards for a customer order.

THAY ARE FINISHED!! I am pretty happy how they have turned out actually - I went against all my better judgement and did a non standard size place card - main reason for this was the Butterfly punch.

It's a Tonic Studios punch; I lusted after it for months! it is a little expensive for what it is but it is SOOOO pretty!! Although I love this punch SOOOO much it is a bit of a pain in the bum - it doesn't punch very far into the paper. I could have punched the butterflies and then cut them out and restuck them on but I REALLY liked the effect with the butterfly punched in the cardstock and then the card folded down behind it. To have the butterfly central meant the card had to be a bit of a random size but I don't think that matters too much.

I used 3 different sized gems to form the body of the butterfly; navy 5mm, aqua 4mm and clear 3mm. the dark blue card that the names are mounted onto is just stock card I had from hobbycraft.

I wanted to make the Bride and Groom cards a bit different and a bit more special so I added the accent gems onto where the names are printed.

My sister has fallen in love with this design, so as and when she gets married I can go nuts and do all her wedding stationary in this style!!! looking forward to it!!!

On a completely different note, I have some FANTASTIC news - I will be selling my cards at the Vintage and Handmade fair in Wolverton, Milton Keynes... IM SO EXCITED!!!!! this will be my 1st fair ever!!! (and hopefully not my last!)

I'm getting all giddy like a kid at Christmas - have been searching the internet for images and tips of what a good stall should be like. Also been looking into getting some business cards. It finally feels like things are starting to go my way!! about time I reckon! :) so plan for the next 108 days.... get busy making some stock for the fair!!!

Well, i think that might be the OH home from work - so i best go put the dinner on!! :)

Speak Soon.

xxxxx