What’s a Sentiment between friends? (~a handmade card for lots of reasons!~)

I wanted to make a ‘versatile’ card.  A card for almost any occasion.  So … I knew I’d have to be able to change the sentiment on the card in order to make the card versatile.  So this is the ‘story’ of one card, and,  just for the photos – four different sentiments.

Hello …. friend?  Maybe?  Haven’t seen you for ages?  How are you?  Or maybe  ‘Hello’ on the front, and ‘Get well’ inside?  Or ….  Hello,  Happy Birthday?

Made on a 6″x 6″ white card, and using Dovecraft  ‘Couture du Jour‘  papers and decoupage pad as a background paper, and for the pocket (for the tags).

I decoupaged the main focal image, and it has 5 layers in total.

“With Love” …. because you’re not feeling too well?   “With Love”  because … I love you?  “With Love”  …  just because?   “With Love” … on your Birthday?

The tags (in the pocket on the front) were stamped on plain white card, using stamps by Viva Decor.  They’re really fabulous crisp images which stamp clearly from the word go.

The tags were then ‘vintaged’ and layered on some green print paper, again from the Couture du Jour papers by Dovecraft.  I used some pastel chalks on the tags, in various places – on the one tag, I turned the stamped image of a bird into a blue bird.  And on the other tag, I coloured up the stamped image of a rose, using three different colours of chalks.

These are chalks I’ve had for … y.e.a.r.s!   I have two large sets of them – both made by Dovecraft.  They give a lovely soft, fuzzy sort of colour to things.  I really like them.

“Thinking of You”  . . .   well this one speaks for itself.

The heart hat pins are ones which are generally available.  I think I bought mine on Ebay years ago.  I wanted some red ones, but had to buy a whole set in order to get the red ones.  tsk tsk.  No wonder my craft room has no space … it’s filled with ‘left overs’!  lol.  🙂

“Just for You” . . .   because you deserve it.  “Just for You” because you’re amazing.  “Just for You”  . . . to say thank you for looking after out house while we were on holiday?   “Just for You” … because you’re a great help to me?  “Just for You” … just because.   . . .  or for a million other reasons.

The dragonfly over on the right (about a quarter of the way down) is from a selection by Anitas,  and the peg with the pink heart on it – down in the bottom left corner, is from the Santoro range.  And it’s this mini peg which enables me to change the sentiment on the card.  Virtually any sentiment can be held by that peg and it makes the card suitable for pretty much anyone.  I’ve just stamped four different sentiments to show you … and added some really pretty glitter – but you could stamp anything you wanted.

And that, as they say ….  is all there was to it!  Ta daaaaah!

Anyhoo ….. Happy Tuesday, 13th June.

Could someone please tell me who stole January to May?  And do the police know about this major robbery?

Do you know what’s made me a bit cross and fed up?  Create and Craft are having their CHRISTMAS  IN  [fricken]  JUNE  event.   Ho, Ho  bl**dy  Ho!

Now they  (Create & Craft)  say  (on their website)  that it’s only till the 25th June …  however, I remember last year and the year before … they said the same sort of thing, and Christmas never went away after their Christmas Event, so I have no hope that they’re going to change their ways and make Christmas in June, July, August, September, or October disappear.  [grouch, grouch, grump]

Ah well… I’m sure we’ll survive it.  I just won’t be buying anything from them until they stop the madness.  🙂

Wishing you a terrific Tuesday.  May the wind be a lazy breeze.  May any rains be soft, and feel like a caress as it touches your skin.  May the skies be a beautiful blue,  and may your day be free of anything which makes your heart ache.

Have a truly blessed Tuesday, all  ~

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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  ~

 

Happy Anniversary!

Well my goodness, it’s been quiet around this blog for the last month, hasn’t it!  I won’t bore you with the details, suffice to say:  Life sometimes gets in the way and it can take up valuable crafting time.  How dare it! 

“What a darn cheek”, I hear you say.   I agree.  How VERY dare it, indeed!

I’ve been trying to fit a little crafting time in, and one of the things which was on the list of ‘To Do’, was an anniversary card for my truly lovely neighbours.  Big M  (aka Mr. Cobs)  learnt that they were going on a fabulous holiday to celebrate their wedding anniversary, so he shared the news with me and of course … I instantly went into ‘must make a card’ mode, and this, dear readers, is what this lovely blog post is about.

I’ll put in as many details as possible in case this card inspires you to make something similar for someone you know.  But if I leave anything out, please feel free to ask in a comment.  Comments are moderated (to delete ‘spam’ before it gets onto the blog) – so your ‘question’ or comment won’t appear on the blog straight away.  But I will reply asap, I promise, cross my heart, hold up my pinky finger and say “Honour Bright”.  (yerrsss….  Shirley Temple was a part of my growing up.  My mother loved the films).

Anyway … let’s get on with it, shall we?

The ‘base’ card I used was a 5×5″ ready scored card (by Craftwork Cards), in a beautiful soft biscuit colour, with white polka dots.  I began by cutting half of the front of the card off, diagonally, and then on the reverse of the cut off piece of card, I sprayed it with plain cold water from a very fine mist spray.  I let the water penetrate the card and after a moment or two, I curled the card round a little tube, to give it that lovely curve you see in the photograph above.  If you do this – hold the card there for a moment, to kind of ‘set’ the curve and give it a memory of where you want it to be.  Then set it on one side to dry while you get your papers chosen and cut to size.

For this project I chose papers from Docrafts ‘Papermania’ in their Parisienne Blue range.  The doily is also from this range.  I cut a 12×12 into 6″ squares, then cut one square diagonally, and also cut a doily in the same way.

I fixed the triangle of paper and the doily to the curved piece of card first, (you might find this easier to do if you drape the curved card over the edge of your desk and work with it that way),  then fixed a 6×6 sheet of the paper to the card, as shown.

I attached the curve back onto the card again, and using strong red tape, I taped it down to the front of the card. I then punched two holes through the curved piece of card, and the card front (now attached, beneath it) and then ensured the curve stayed exactly where I wanted it to be by using a tie of thin organza ribbon through the punched holes.

My attention then turned to the back, and I made a card stand for the back, so that the wallet card would stand up when it was finished.  (Imagine a school photograph, which has one of those stiff fold out bits on the reverse, enabling you to stand the photo up without a frame.  The card stands I make are the same sort of thing).  I then finally fixed the ‘loose’ front in place, along the inner bottom, thereby creating a wallet style card.

I added some metal, vintage style corners in place, using some strong glue and my craft clamps.  (Bought some time ago from The Range for next to nothing.  I HIGHLY recommend them!)

Corners fixed in place and not moving, ….  then came the fun stuff!

The Roses came from my stash.  I buy flowers anywhere I find them.  If I see flowers which I know would work perfectly on cards (or albums etc), I buy them straight away.  Finding the right flowers when you need them can be a task and a half sometimes, so I try to have a selection already in the craft room so that I have them when I need them.

The roses I chose for this card are a kind of delicate to touch, silky flowers and I fell in love with them because of their softly folded petals and the way they curled at the edges.   I tucked them into the curve of the card and added silky green leaves wherever I thought they were needed.

I made a big bow using some wide, pretty blue Organza and added a satin ribbon from the Parisienne Blue range on top, to layer,  and also tie the biscuity colour of the card into the ribbons, and finally, I added a large rose to the centre of the ribbons and fixed it in place.

Next came the tags which I wanted to tuck into the pocket.  I used some beautiful royalty free images and also stamped a ‘post card’  onto some card, then vintaged it up using a warm brown ink pad and duster brush.

All around the edges of the tags I kind of sprinkly, embossed some very fine, golden embossing powder to give them a bit of pizzazz.  The stamped message that you can just about see on the tag behind the postcard above reads: 

Marriage
1. A legal commitment to live as
husband and wife
2. Wedlock
3. A close and intimate association
4. A pledge.

Which kind of sums it all up in a few words, doesn’t it?.  I loved it!  It was perfect for this tag.

And finally …  this card would never have fit into a regular envelope, so I made it a matching box, which I lined with contrasting papers from the same Papermania Parisienne Blue range …

The card was ready and waiting for my neighbours when they came home from their holiday.

Thank you so much for coming and spending some time with me.  I’m sorry that it’s been a bit quiet around here, Thank you to those of you who so kindly kept me in your prayers and sent me messages.  You touched my heart in so many ways and kept me plodding along.  Thank you.  I want to say I love you, for it.  And I do – but not in a creepy way you understand!    . . . aw, you know what I mean.  (chuckling to myself here).

Have a truly blessed rest of your day.  I hope your weekend is fabulous and that the sun shines warm upon your face  …. just not so hot that it melts you though!

Heaps of love and squishy stuff …

Delivering: A Bunch of Roses – via a vintage style card!

Although I know it’s a little early for Roses to be popping up in the garden (at least, it is here, in England) I simply couldn’t resist these papers any longer and had to get my hands on them.

The papers  – beautifully named: “You Were Never Lovelier” – are acid and lignin free scrapbooking papers.  All of them are of the ‘oooooOOooo’ and the ‘aaaaaaAAaahh’ type of paper!

I knew I wanted to make a cross-over type card, so set to work with my cardstock and guillotine.  I LOVE cross-over cards – I think because it enables me to really ‘dress up’ a card.  I also adore embellishments, and I particularly love making tags, so making a cross-over card gives me chance to almost have a party with embellishments strewn all over my desk!

Once the basic shape was built, I cut and added the papers and the beautiful vintage, crocheted lace.

The card itself has three large soft, pink, (fabric-type) roses, some paper roses, and some filler flowers.  The little wooden bird-cage (available in almost all crafty outlets) I painted with Gesso and then tinted over the top of it.  The string of pearls which winds itself along the card and around the flowers – are just ‘craft pearls’ on a string, and you can buy these for very little, again in lots of place, but I recently saw some in The Range (here in the UK) in a bag filled with a choice of either white or cream; LOTS of pearls and I’m almost sure that they were less than £2 (English pounds).   To fix these pearls into place – I use Cosmic Shimmer glue – sparingly.  You don’t need tons of glue.  Just a bit here and there.  (You can click to view the photographs in a larger size – but don’t forget to click ‘back’ so that you can come back to continue reading).

The crocheted cotton lace I used on the card is genuinely vintage lace.  I bought it as part of a bag full of lace on Ebay about five years ago.  The lady I bought it from was parting with some of her Grandmothers sewing stuff after Grandma had been called home.   She told me that her Grandmother used to keep any lace from things which had worn out, got damaged etc, and due to be thrown away (or used as dusters/cleaning cloths etc.), and she would use the lace on other clothes or all sorts of things.  But the Granddaughter wasn’t a sewing gal and had no room to keep things, so she put the bag filled with lace on eBay and I was lucky enough to win it.  (I was thrilled down to my toes when it arrived and wrote a thank you email to the lady who I’d bought it off, telling her how wonderful the lace was and how honoured I was to be the new owner of Grandma’s lace.).

I made three inserts for this card, and all three can be ‘viewed’ on both sides.   You can see one side of the tags in the photograph above, and the other side of the tags in the photo below:

The long, tall tag in the centre of the photo above is a bookmark.  The little tag laying to the right hand side of the photo (on your right as you look at the photo) is a postcard on both sides of the card.  And the final tag – the large one at the right of the centre – has an ’empty’ postcard on the one side – which is blank so that  a message can be written from the sender of the card – and on the reverse side it has a beautiful poem by Helen Steiner Rice – which I ‘built’ on the computer using the fabulous image of the roses and the poem.

close up of the large ‘fabric type’ roses

Close up of the butterfly. I hand stamped onto some cardstock then glazed & once dry I added the tiny gems.

The tags fit neatly inside the fold over card, and the card itself has a stand on the back of it, (die cut on my Big Shot) – which stands the card in the same way children’s school photographs stand up.  They have that fold out stand on the back, with a little curved piece which folds down and holds the stand firmly so that the card stands up apparently without any help!  (I looks just like a magic trick when you see one of these cards standing up all by itself.  All it’s missing is the flick of the wrist and swish of the wand! Oh … and  ‘abracadabra‘!  lol)

Obviously the card couldn’t go into a regular envelope, so I made it a box:

The sentiment on the little tag in the top right corner, was stamped – firstly with brown ink, then with black – which helped to give it a more vintage feel.

The card fits perfectly into the box . . .

This would be a lovely card for Mothers Day – or a Birthday, or a ‘hello’ card, a ‘cheer you up’ card, anniversary card,  or an ‘I love you and wanted to show you’  type of card!  It’s one of those cards which fits all the regular types of ‘card days’.

The big ribbon bow on the front of the card … isn’t tied into an ‘un-equal bow’, – it’s very much a balanced bow, but the angle of the card,  combined with the angle I’ve taken the photographs at,  has made it look like the bottom loop of the bow isn’t as generous as the top loop.  It’s sadly a trick of the camera/eye.  (and the nutcase holding the camera who’s rubbish at taking photographs!  <sigh> tsk tsk). lol

But … if I may be serious for a moment: 

I know the blog has been a bit quiet over the past couple of weeks.  Apologies for that.  Poor health is to blame, – but I’m hoping that my doctor will, this week, get the results of a gazillion tests and x-rays I had to have done, and that he will finally be able to tell me what the heck is causing this horrible  ‘chest infection’  (or whatever it is) and will be able to ‘fix’ me once and for all!

Thank you so much for coming to share this card with me.  I’m thrilled that you do.  Honestly.  But …  what really brings me out in fun bumps (aka: goosebumps) are ‘comments’.  It’s such a joy to put a name to a visitor, so please, don’t be shy.  Do tap your fingers on your keyboard and say hello!  :o)

Sending crafting love your way,  and wishing you . . . .  a truly blessed rest of your day!

I’m entering this card into the following challenges:

• http://ribbongirls.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/march-card-challenge.html?m=1
• http://eclecticellapu.blogspot.co.uk/   – in the Go Green category

We’re all mad here!

Happy Friday!  My first card of the New Year is a birthday card which I made for my Son-in-laws birthday last week.  I knew I wanted to make something which was very different from a regular ‘Happy Birthday’ type card, because he’s a very different kind of chap and I love him to the moon and back, so wanted to make him a card which would make him smile right from the start.  So … I made him a Mad Hatter card!   Not because he’s mad, nor because he’s a hatter – but purely because  “We’re all mad here” – it speaks of ‘us’ as a family.  (not me of course.  I’m the sane one [cough])

The papers I used for this card are made by Tinker n Co – who I discovered via Ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/tinkernco/m.html?item=110970808057&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562) .

The over-sized playing card on top of the box is from a collection of cards I had already – but they aren’t Tinker &Co – however, you can buy these really easily all over the place (including eBay).

card, large and medium-sized tags and small tag shaped money wallet

The card itself is a Cross-Over card, which I stuck down the ‘flaps’ to make it a big pocket so that I could tuck tags and a money wallet inside the card. (if you don’t know what a ‘cross over’ card is just let me know and I’ll try to help).   I made a stand for the back of the card so that it could stand up independently.

There are three hat pins tucked into the ribbon – upper right hand side of the card (from the Mad Hatters top hat);  a tiny glass bottle in which there is a mystical blue ‘liquid’ on the left of the card – (set glue which I tinted blue and added a few tiny flakes of gilding flakes) with a little tag on it saying ‘drink me’;   a tiny brass cake charm with a tag saying ‘eat me’ hanging from it,  and a beautiful large round brad with a top hat picture held behind resin, which I added to the lower right corner.

All the little pictures of the Mad Hatter were fussy cut and mounted onto black card stock, – and I printed out a little sign to tuck behind the three hat pins which reads:  ‘In this style, 10/6’ – which is the price tag which the Mad Hatter has tucked into the ribbon of his top hat.

The ribbon I used for this card is a black and cream striped Grosgrain ribbon, which I wrapped around the centre of the card and simply tied.  (I also used this ribbon to make a rosette rose on the lid of the card box).   The two larger of the tags have two ribbon loops fixed to the top through which I threaded a short length of bamboo – (cut down bamboo skewers).

Each of the three tags have a front and back.  The long, slim tag has the poem:  “You Are Old,  Father William” on the one side,  which was recited by Alice (in Alice in Wonderland) – and it’s a nod to my son-in-law having a birthday and getting old(er).

The shadows in this photo makes the bamboo pole on the larger tag three times thicker than it is .. this is just the shadow from the pole on the back drop behind the tags. The pole is very slim, and it threads through the two ribbon loops.

The back of the large tag has quotes from Alice in Wonderland along with a fob watch charm which I nex sat to the quote:  “No wonder you’re late. Why this watch is exactly two days slow!” (said by the Mad Hatter).   The back of the long slim tag has a picture of Alice chatting to the Caterpillar, and the space above the picture is so I could hand write a Birthday greeting (‘to’ and ‘from’).

Yes – I think we just might be!

The ‘money wallet’ was made from black cardstock.  Shown here  ↑  with a Cobweborium card tucked into the pocket so that you can see where the gift of birthday money will sit.

All three tags sit nicely into the pocket, and the whole card and tags fits into a hand-made 6×6″ white card box, which I decorated the lid of to match the card.

I was thrilled to pieces that my Son-in-law loved his card.  My daughter (his wife) phoned me after she’d sat reading the card and tags, and said it was the best card I’d ever made.  Coo …  I was beside myself with happiness right there and then!

Thank you so much for coming and spending some time with me, and taking a peep at my latest card.  I really enjoy your company – it can get a little lonely in Blog land sometimes.  So thank you for popping by.

Have a truly wonderful weekend all,  ~