A card for Aunt Beulah . . .

I heard that another of the cards I’d made for a blogging friend who lives in the USA arrived on time for Christmas and so I can now share the card with you.

I know that to some of you, you might think that I’ve made the same card that I sent to someone else, (Rabbit, at The Rabbit Patch),  but I haven’t.  (see below) 

I made a card for Rabbit at The Rabbit Patch – which had a similar look about it – but it was different, and the insides were completely different from each other too.  This was the card I made for Rabbit – which I shared with you a few weeks ago:

… this (above) was the card I made for Rabbit – at The Rabbit Patch – but it’s completely different from the card for Aunt Beulah.  The flowers, the pearls, the leaves, the backgrounds – everything is different.  Even the hanging hearts are different.  😀

But this (below) is the card I made for Aunt Beulah . . .

All the cards I made for blogging friends were made using things which had something from my home about them.  On this, Aunt Beulah’s card, – the little Pine Cones – came from my garden, where the four 100 foot tall pine trees in my garden had dropped their cones.  (I reckon those trees are in a competition with each other to see which one of them can trip me up and leave me flat out on the decking!  tsk tsk).  Of course – I had the professional help of my assistant,  Little Cobs,  in the collecting of the pine cones, and he was paid his pocket-money for helping.  (He’s going to end up with more money in his money-box than I’ve got, at this rate!)

The background, wooden planks ‘look’ paper …. well now that’s actually cut from a spare roll of wallpaper.  I have this wallpaper on the wall behind my big wooden bed in the bedroom.  I kept around half a roll of the wallpaper  *just in case of some accident or other* – and I wanted to ensure that I sent a little bit of ‘me’ in the card,  so I cut a square of the paper to make the card look like it was a timber wall.  It’s great paper, as it has a texture of old wood.  Very soft and gentle, but it does have that look about it.  (I have no other wallpaper in my home – just that on the one wall.  I saw it and fell in love, so ordered it there and then!).

The hearts were all handmade by me out of very light weight clay, and coloured up using Buff-it,  which is made by Pinflair. (Highly recommend this product – I would use it on every card if I could – I love it soooo much!)

The string of red pearls are pearls that I used to use on one of my own Christmas Trees, but every time someone walked too close to the tree, those pearls would jump off the branches in an attempt to make an escape bid for the floor … so I said ‘no more’ and decided that I wouldn’t use them again.  I didn’t know what I was going to do with them, but I took them to my craft room and squirreled them away in there, knowing that at some point, I would use them.  And … I did.  For the first time – I cut a length off the long string and decorated the card for Aunt Beulah with them.  I antiqued them up a little using some silver wax – which I simply rubbed on with my finger, to give the pearls a shimmer.

The flowers, red and white berries and the dried corn …. etc,  all came from my stash of flowers, and I touched them with a little ‘snow’ and dusted them with ice crystals to make them twinkle.

Finally … I stamped the sentiment onto a length of card which I manipulated so that it bent and ‘travelled’ over the page in a pretty way,  – popped it into a memo pick and fixed it to the card.

And that’s all there was to it!

I was SO relieved to hear that the card had made its way to Aunt Beulah, and that she liked it.  If you would like to find out why I love this fabulous lady so much, please just click on her name and her blog will open up in a new window for you.

Aunt Beulah ~ thank you for the wonderful reads that I find on your blog.  Thank you for the thoughts, the smiles, the joy and sometimes even the tears.  Thank you for being the person you are, for the person you are is totally incredible.  Sending you much love for the New Year, and wishing for you – contentment.  May a blanket of contentment come to rest upon your home and wrap itself around your heart and life. ~ love ~ Cobs. xxx

Thank you too, reader, for being who you are.  I thank you for coming and spending time here with me on this blog and hopefully enjoying the read too.

Happy Tuesday.  May your day be bright and may the sun shine enough to melt any snow that’s hanging around, and melt the ice on your car windows.  May you find something to smile about, and may love wrap itself around your heart and keep you warm inside.  Even if it’s only the love I send you here….  because love is love is love.  It’s all good!

Take care out there …  much love and plenty of squidges ~

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Wishes of Joy, Love and Peace via a Christmas Card!

I received an email telling me that another of my cards, which I’d made and sent to the USA, had arrived!  I cannot begin to tell you how filled with gratitude I am when I hear that something has arrived.  I think maybe it’s more of a joy to me when I’ve actually made something and put all my love into making that item for a special person.

This card was made for my most favourite of Rabbits.  Rabbit of  Rabbit Patch Diaries.  She’s a wonderful writer and has this magical way of picking me up and carrying me along with her as I read her posts.  Aww, I love her to pieces.

I wanted to make her a card for Christmas and send it to her, so I asked if I could, and she said yes!  I went to work and this is the card I made especially for my fabulous Rabbit blogging friend….

The hearts, reading Joy, Love and Peace, are hearts I made myself, from a very lightweight, white clay.  Once they were dry (I always leave it for 24 hours), I coloured up the hearts using ‘Buff It’ (made by Pinflair).  The ‘Joy’ heart was done in Gold Buff It.  The middle (Love) heart was coloured using Red Buff It, and the ‘Peace’ heart was coloured using Pearl Buff It.

The Poinsettia flowers are handmade, with yellow glass beads at their centres, and they were kissed by the snow.  (Or rather: stuff I used as pretend snow).

Behind the flowers and leaves is a little muslin, some loofah strands, green moss, and some twigs – which are from my garden.  I was helped in the collection of said twigs, by Little Cobs.  He wasn’t quite as selective with the size of the twigs as he was with the collection of “tiny pine cones”, which I told you about a couple of days ago.  I was getting what could only be described as branches.  Large branches.  The type you’d make a fire with, but not the type you’d glue to a card.  Bless him.

There are pine cones fixed to the card, and you can just about see them in the photographs.  These pine cones were collected by Little Cobs, in his tin bucket, from the garden.

Finally …  I added a string of creamy pearls in different sizes.  Just to add a touch of ladylike glamour to the card.  What can I say….  I’m a twin set and pearls sort of gal.  And then I ended the card making session with ‘snow’.  (The same ‘snow’ which kissed the poinsettia flowers earlier on).

And that’s all there was to it!   😀

The card was my way of saying ‘Thank You’ to Rabbit for all the enjoyment I get from reading her posts.  So .. Thank You Rabbit.

The joy I receive from your blog posts is beyond measure.  Each post is book ended with love, and, when I get to the end of each post, it leaves me both filled with peace, and not wanting it to end.  Almost like a book that one is enjoying so much, that one doesn’t want the books final page to arrive.

Thank you Rabbit, for the wonderful reads, and ….oh,  for so, so much more.  May God Bless and keep you, my friend.

And … Thank You  my lovely reader, so much for coming and sharing some time with me.  It’s especially lovely to see you here I think because it’s Christmas.  It’s always so lovely to see friends at any time, but to see them at Christmas time is like a gift.  You  and your time, are as a gift to me.  So thank you, from my heart, for coming and spending some of your time with me.

Sending love, squidges and Christmas wishes ~

 

 

Guess How Much I Love You

Well now that Valentines Day has been done and dusted I can finally share the ‘card‘ I made and has now been given and proudly on display.

It’s not actually a card though.  This year I thought I’d start a new ‘thing’ for us.   A new Chez Cobs tradition.  A Memory Book for each Valentines Day  – and this is the first one.

It’s made in the same tried and trusted way I make mini Albums – but with just a few ‘pages’, as it’s meant to be a Valentines Card/Memory Book. so it has to cover the dual aspect  –  if you get what I mean.

Rather than try to explain how I made it, I took photo’s of each step of the making so that you can see how it comes together…

Using 12″x 12″  Chipboard, I cut three sections – measurements for my ‘book’ are as in the photo above – but you can make an album/memory book in any size you want.

Pieces cut, and placed in position so you can see how they go together.  I’ve written on the individual parts in pencil so that it just makes everything doubly easy.

Cover the front and back in your chosen papers.  All the papers used here are from the First Edition Papers, by Trim Craft, in the Love Story 12″x12″ pad and cut to size.

The ‘spine’ is covered in Card – by Anna Marie, and some plain red papers which I had in my stash.  Each of these were decoratively cut using 2 different Spellbinders Dies, which work together and come in the same set.

Fixing the ‘spine’ to the book covers.  I’d fix the spine chipboard to the papers/card first,  once in place,  you can then fix that whole spine section to the covers.  Make sure that you leave enough space for the book to open and close.

Outside done …. now for the inside.

For my Card/Memory Book I took three 6×6″ ready scored and folded card blanks, then fixed them together using red tape and glue.  I then fixed the very back page of those now glued cards to the back, inside cover (which I’d already fixed decorative papers to in readiness).

Then basically, you’ve got your ‘book’.  Now you just have to go to town and make it pretty and put into it what you visioned it was going to be!

I decorated each ‘set’ of pages in pairs.  Each page which faced another page was decorated in the same paper.  That way they kind of ‘spoke’ to each other.  BUT … you can decorate you pages in any way you want to.  Different colours, looks, designs etc on each page if you wish.  It’s your book.

On some pages I just had a sentiment and some decoration.  On others, as in the above photo,  I fixed a little envelope which had a little ‘billet doux’ (love letter) hidden inside it.  I made sure that there was plenty of blank space on the envelope for it to be addressed to the receiver.

There are hidden tags (see the page on the left as you look at the above picture);  places for a photograph – either one already taken, or one taken on  *that*  day;  and tags fixed into place which held their own message, but one which could be added to in order to personalise that particular message in some way or another.

A Blackboard, in the shape of a heart, on which a personalised message could be written.  Bunting ‘strung’ across two pages saying:  ‘HAPPY  ❤  DAY’ (happy hearts day – or happy valentines day) …  and a set of golden keys.

As you can see in the above photo, there are places all over the Memory Book where you can write little messages.

There are hidden tags, and tags which show you where they are.  The tags are of a size that you can write messages or memories on them, and also fix photographs to them – so that all the messages and memories all come together inside the Memory Book.

And finally …  I decorated the outside.  I knew exactly what I wanted the front to look like, and because of that, I left it till last so that I didn’t crush the roses or accidentally pull something off!  (I’m such a klutz and knew I’d do it, so took precautions and decorated it last of all).

I was so thrilled at how this came together and so pleased that, although filled with love, it wasn’t ‘mushy’,  but had a charm and clearly showed a true friendship,  which spoke volumes.  Oh… and I can happily tell you that the Memory Book/Valentines Card was very well received and is being proudly displayed on the dresser.  😀

I hope your Tuesday was a lovely day – whether you celebrated Valentines Day or not.  It was just a day which happened to be the 14th February.

Did you know:  That academic studies have shown similarities between falling in love and obsessive compulsive disorder, taking cocaine or eating chocolate?

And ….  Research (in 2012) showed that when a loving couple stare into each other’s eyes for three minutes, their heart rates synchronise. 

oh … and:  Research also suggests that the average person will fall in love seven times before marriage.

Also:  A recent survey reported that two per cent of couples have fallen in love in a supermarket.

And finally …..  Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary defined love as, “A temporary insanity curable by marriage”.

See?  You didn’t know that you didn’t know that did you?  And there you are again!  PROOF … as if proof were needed, …  that The Cobweborium Emporium (i.e. this ‘ere blog)  is very much an educational tool.  You get educationalmalised every time you pay a visit!  Bit like reading a book while you’re on the loo!  LOL

And now we’ve reached the depths of my sense of humour,  I shall send you love and plenty of happy squidges.

Have a truly wonderful Wednesday,   with love    ❤    from  ~

 

This Little Piggy is a Valentine Little Piggy!

When I first saw Hunkydory Box Pops (last year) I fell in love with them and bought two sets.  Farm and Jungle.  And … I bought them just to make for my Grandson, Little Cobs.

I made him one at Christmas (and forgot to share it with you!  tsk) – a Christmas Crocodile – in a clear box, to which I’d added a bundle of ‘snowballs’ – and he loved it.  (Who says you can only make Christmas cards for children with Rudolph or Santa on them?)

You can make these Box Pops as simple or as complicated as you like, and can use them for almost any occasion too!  For Children, they fit the bill and work perfectly.  But … I can actually see that they could work for adults.  They inject an element of fun into a card.

You make up your chosen animal using the die cut elements.  Then you can either press it flat and put it into an envelope (envelopes come supplied with the die cuts), or you can make an Acetate box and pop your card into it so that the recipient can keep the card held inside the box after they’ve displayed it – or you can seal the box shut so that the card will be held inside the box and protected.  (If you’re not good at making boxes then there are boxes, cut to size and ready scored, from Hunkydory).

In the above photo – I tried to light piggy so that you could see the folds of the ‘box’ which make the body of the pig.  Hence the reason they’re called ‘box pops’.

Once made up, you can simply press your animal flat and put it in an envelope – but it will pop back up when the recipient opens it up when they receive it.  The head is fixed to the body by a folded piece of acetate, which gives the card ‘nodding dog’ look. (or in this case nodding pig).  So cute!

This Little Piggy Loves You.  (Well it would ….  after all, it’s a Valentines Pig!)

I made the lid of the box out of acetate, so that the pig can be viewed from the sides and the top.  And … the funny thing is … when you look at piggy through the sides, he’s looking at you.  But when you view piggy from above …  he’s still looking at you!  How does that happen?  Is it magic?  Maybe piggy is  Super Pig  –  (like Super Man).

I added hearts and stars which I sprinkled around the inside, and finally added a ribbon handle, and ribbon around the base and the lid, and VOILA!  One Valentines Card, from a Grammy to her 5-year-old Grandson.

So ….  Happy Monday! 

I know Mondays can be drab sometimes, but give it chance.  You know they nearly always get better, even if you don’t feel the ‘happy’ straight away.  Give the day chance to show you the warmth, the smiles, and even the love.  Allow yourself to have a lovey day!

Most of all . . . whatever you’re doing today,  be good to yourself  …  and to each other.  It helps the world go around and makes life so much enjoyable and pleasant.  And the world could do with a lot more enjoyable and pleasant in it.

Have a truly blessed day.  Heaps of love and squidges from my corner, to yours …

 

Just to let you know … I don’t receive anything in the way of payment or remuneration from any suppliers mentioned in this post or any other post.  I will only recommend to you items which I’ve used and work for me and ones I’m impressed with. 

The Hunkydory products talked about in this post were bought by me.  No items were gifted from companies, and I have received no payment in any way or form, for chatting with you about them.

A Scrap of Love can be a wonderful thing sometimes!

Like all – or many – crafters who papercraft, I have a ‘scrap drawer’.  A place where all those bits of card and paper go to live after a project has been completed.  If there’s enough card and paper left over, most crafters save it to perhaps use it for a sentiment or a little die cutting etc.  My scrap drawer is getting fuller than I like, so I decided to make a card from some of the scraps.

I already had the base card stock – white 6″ x 6″, die cut and scored – so I chose three bits of scraps – the wordy one and the red papers which you can see have been used for the hearts and the fluttering confetti.   Although I had stamps with the word  ‘love’  on them – they were too small, so printed the ‘love’ word directly onto the card stock by putting it through my printer.

Next, I embossed a scrap of red paper from the drawer, and then die cut two hearts – one larger than the other, and glued those to the card.  I then cut up another piece of red scrap, into really tiny confetti, and spread some glue (one which dries clear) onto the card, around the hearts, and sprinkled the confetti onto the glue, and gently pressed it flat with my hand.  I also at this point added a few shakes of red glitter – just to give the card a few twinkly highlights.  I then added some tiny buttons, a pretty insert and voila!  A  Scrap of Love  was born.

I love this card.  Such a simple idea and so incredibly easy to make –  and it only cost pennies!

It would work as a card for a man or a woman.  For  Birthday;  Anniversary;  Just Because;  Wedding;  Mothers Day; Fathers Day;  Thank You card  ..  …  It would even work for Christmas too!

I really like this versatile card, and hope you do too!

Thank you so much for visiting.  Please stay a while and have a look around the blog.  It has some really great things on here!  (See the menu over to the right, nearer to the top.  Just click on any category and you’ll be taken directly to it)

Have a fabulous rest of your day, dear reader!