Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas from Cartway Cards :)

Poppy cottage

Very specific request from a customer! Including an image of the happy couples cottage and the poppies in their garden.

New kitty picture

Part of a new picture for the fair this weekend. Come and see us? We'll be at st.Leonard's church this Saturday and Sunday. Lots of other things going on in bridgnorth that weekend if you fancy a day out. :)

Squeezing

Trying to squeeze in a few birthday cards between fair items...

20

Made 20 new little boxes this evening. At £1 each I'm hoping to sell them all! These are four of my favourites.

25!

Made 25 new phone charms for the Christmas craft fair this weekend.

I'll be at The heart of the country, near lichfield, this Saturday and Sunday.

Butterflies

Doing two special cards this evening for a long term customer. This card has 48 pieces of bling. You can never have enough bling :)

Minecraft card

Is the world obsessed enough with minecraft that it'd be worth making a couple of these? Card for Michael, who is apparently never off it :)

Getting back into the swing of things...

...taken me awhile but finally back into card making, have to start on Xmas cards soon!.realised I need a few birthday cards to sell at the fairs too.

New kitty product!

My good friend Toni bought me a badge making machine for my birthday (see earlier rant) and now I've sussed it out I've managed to make a few badges for the next fair. Just got to make them some backing cards now!

Simple Golden Wedding Card

Going to make a couple more of these, quite simple but effective.

Super Badge It! Machine...

Email to Bandai, makers of Super Badge It! Machine.

Dear Bandai,

Thank you for your extensive instructions for the Super Badge It! Machine. I am glad you included a section called "Caution: Please read before playing with toy." I actually read it first, as I guessed it would be useful from the outset. To remind you, it says,

"Do not 1)aim toy at anyone, 2)hit anyone with toy, 3)poke anyone with toy, 4)swing toy at anyone. Be careful not to pinch fingers with hinged part of toy. 5) Do no stand on toy, as it may result in serious injury!"

Thank god you advised me before I got started.

However...

Just the one piece of info I would deem more useful would be -

Super Badge it Machine only works on paper less that 80 gsm! 

- this could have saved me from two hours of my life filled with utter frustration.

Perhaps you could include this on any future instructions you issue with a revamp of the machine?

Thank you very much,

Tired and Vexed Badger.

Starting again...

With new Catnip toys :) looking like a regular craft fair might be happening near bridgnorth! Woot!

Spiral paper roses

Photo of some I made last week to show my friend Su! Easy to make but I'd avoid using vellum to start with, normal paper is much easier. Several demos online don't use a Quilling tool but I've no idea why, it makes it much easier.

Quilling

My first time... Not sure I like the result, but I think its alright for bugs, birds and fish embellishments. Can't decide whether to add a wobbly eye....

Do you think...

....I should post some card making  tutorials on the blog? Am worried people might criticise my technique? ;)  Might choose a simple card to start with.... Like this one! With this design it's handy to make a couple of spares, suitable for most boy babies!

Wedding card...

....for an aqua-aerobic teacher and a cricketer, decided not to make two as perhaps the theme is a bit too specific ;)

New artwork

Starting sketches for new paintings and pastel pictures...

Belated Happy Father's Day

Week before father's day always busy for me. Made some Olympic themed ones for customers and some box ones too. Wondering if "make your own father's day card" would be a good course to run...

Kokeshi love

kokeshi love
Originally uploaded by Eekers!

In the midst of finding card photos to upload I realised I had some other things to post. This is part of my kokeshi collection ( I have a few others too tall for these shelves) which now owns this space in my work room. The Hornsea that was here now has it's own area in the house so it made more room for the dolls. Also here are a few pottery and glass items I love, plus a marble elephant and pottery from my friend Jan in California. It looks a bit different today, I have added things to it already... more clutter ^_^

Paper flowers

Felt fiscally aware when needing to order yet more paper flowers so thought I'd try making some of my own! I quite like deciding the scale and botanical choices beyond roses and cherry blossom. However, it took a fair bit longer than just ordering them. :)

3d window cards.

Got the parts for these cards from the qvc shop. The reviews were awful! I agree, if you want to use them as a stand alone kit they aren't much cop, you need to put in a bit more creativity and adapt! :) I just enjoyed a pre-scored card blank, which sounds a bit sad ;)  Leaves punched using one of Su's punches that she might have forgotten I've got :)

Spring has sprung..

New card, using the folded back flap layout. Have some premade blanks meant for invitations that can be refolded to get this shape. Liliofthevalley stamped image. Copic coloured.

http://www.liliofthevalley.co.uk

Needle felting

My friend Toni very kindly bought me the kit for doing some needle felting for my birthday. First attempt has led to a slightly freaky green cat! :)

Card for me to send...

To my friend Robert. Thought it might be worth a quick blog to show something a bit different :)

Special day!

Special day in the craft room today, new oil cloths for all the craft room tables! Bit of a clean and tidy session too.

Sarah Kay

I must have had something with a Sarah Kay image on as a child, a purse I think, cos I can ignore the cutesyness completely. Like this card, slightly different fold too.

Happy Easter!

Only made a few Easter cards this year and should have made more. It's a good excuse to say hello to friends :)

Blast from the past.

I used to get through tonnes of sequins when I first made cards but abandoned them later for less messy bling. Sometimes there is nothing better when you are aiming for girlie bling.
Incidentally, the sequins are lilac and the bling turquoise, which all proved too much for the camera.

I said I wasn't....

....going to make anymore of these, for fear of becoming a mad nana! But this one snuck in :) ladybear! Not to be confused with ladyboy. ;)

Mother's day

Cracking on with mother's day cards. Got to make two for myself too:)

Sombre sympathy cards.

Making in a batch, its a sobering thought just how many of these I make.

Joanna Sheen orchid stamp, coloured using copics.

Filling card orders

My brother got me a really nice ephemeral kit from Blade Rubber Stamps in Bloomsbury. It was filled with gardening bits and pieces and I used some in this card. Lots left to use, great for inspiration!

Birthday Gwen.

Birthday Gwen.
Originally uploaded by Eekers!

Wanted to do an easel card for this commission, had to make a little instruction leaflet for how it works to go in with the card. It seems no-one gets it, besides other crafters ;) I just think any card fold that stays standing up, needs to be championed!

Up late...

...making bicycle cards again! Trying to make them all as different as possible is getting to be the hardest bit.

Another late night making...

...cycling cards! Got these charms from the new "steam punk" section in hobbycraft. Can we attribute the mainstreaming of steam punk solely to Tim Holtz?

Made a batch of atc's today, part of my craft based new years resolutions. Plural. :)

A better pic.

My friend Wendy asked for a better pic of my last card, so thought I would pop it on here. :) The theme was Elizabeth Taylor and purple.

Final bear...

....for a bit anyway, need to get back to the card making! Panda is wearing my own design of knitted trainers ;)

Trying out some vintage styles

I think I was suffering from card makers block yesterday. My friend Su who was chatting to me whilst I made this card was not impressed by how long it took! I wish I could craft faster and was less ocd about everything having to be perfect :) I never like to issue a card that I am not entirely happy with, and that's the truth. The slow truth ;)

Bumblings.

First go at trying to automatically blog onto Facebook, fingers crossed.

Introducing a new bear to the group, Bumble Bear!

Mary's 83rd.

I worry a bit that decoupage cards are just too dated to make, even for the over eighties. Have tried to make this a bit fresher with the papers and font.

Little bear has...

A new friend! Who still needs some knickers.

Corner Easel Card, one of...

Corner Easel Card
Originally uploaded by Eekers!

another batch I have uploaded today, dating back to July 2011! Think I still have a fair few to go aswell. Clicking the pic will take you towards the others I uploaded today on Flickr.

Finished!

Finished the necklace kit Toni passed to me. Actually looks really pretty on, which I was a bit worried about. Not sure what she's going to do with it.

Upload!

Lili Of the Valley Stamp
Originally uploaded by Eekers!

Doing a bit of uploading, why did I not just upload as I went along eh? *shakes head* got masses of cards to upload, masses of masses. Done a batch now, clicking the pic will take you to this picture and thus the recent uploads.

Seed beads...

Toni has passed me a necklace kit from spellbound beads - It's addictive! Work in progress :)

Little Claire stamps.

Got two new stamps for Xmas, one little dog on presents and one little cat on presents too. Used paper piecing to build the image.
Little Claire stamps.

Repeat prescription.

Quite often get card orders based on previous models, sometimes its v. hard to remember how I made it the first time round. This tiled card is made using two sets of old hero arts stamps, coloured with copics.

A more unusual request.

I really am happy to make any card requested! This was a more unusual one, three witches, watching a stabbing on tv, eighteenth. >_<

Red and green...

...never to be seen? Do you think its a colour scheme just restricted to Christmas? I've used parts of "the gift of love" collection from bo bunny for this anniversary card.

Anniversary card

Enjoying the k & company grand adhesions I had from Su at Christmas!