J is for Jack Russel Terrier...s, lots of them!

People who are owned by Jack Russel Terries never live a dull life, I'm told. Well, maybe we all should enjoy life to the fullest in the here and now - live like somebody left the gate open, so to speak :-)
Anyway, a few examples of Jack Russel themed cards coming up.

 This is the latest (not even delivered yet!) - a regular 12" cardstock (pink!) folded in half, with a matching striped paper back and front. I found some really cute pictures that just woofed to be toppers, layered them on black and there you are..
Recently bought some really pretty paper orchids that were just perfect for this, with a pink bow to match.

Another birthday, photos of the fourlegged family members. Regular easel card, spring colors, flowers, photos and matting (white and black) cut into ovals.

This is a decoupage for a special friend, using one of the gorgeous images of the Joanna Sheen Giordano Kittens and Puppies CDrom. Blue cardstock, layered decoupage image, a ribbon, a little bling and a sentiment.

 Below two cards I made at the same time (a "thanks for your help"-commission), also from the Giordano CDrom. One twisted easel card with a heart-shaped doily, and the other a regular 12" fold. Ribbons, bow, flowers and liquid pearls for finishing touches.

Steampunk Hat Trick

One of the biggest steampunk accessories apart from goggles seems, when googling, to be hats. 

So, when asked to do a steampunk-themed birthday card I thought a hat would fit the bill best. 

Quite pleased with the result too.

This is the finished hat from one side (feathers, dies, metal flower and cute scissors plus a bit of organza, glitter and pearl bling). The actual hat is dark brown, then lined on the outside with dotted purple/brownish cardstock.

This is the other side, with the congrats embossed in copper on a nicely steampunky hot air balloon cardstock (plus various cogs), cut out after the cloud shapes on the cardstock.

 I had seen plenty of steampunk corsets and corset linings, even on hats, so decided to have that as well, hence this back.

Having scoured the 'net for suitable bling I finally contented myself with decorating using copper pearl and glitter wands from Joanna Sheen (gorgeous sheen and easy to apply!), a few heart-shaped steampunk dies plus metal flowers and cogs ,,

 and of course feathers! Mainly pearl hen feathers, both natural and colored.
Now actually getting the feathers to stick nicely to a hat took quite a lot of glue gel and patience as both feathers and fingers quickly got sticky and uncooperative but we got there in the end.

The actual hat shape came from a die, Sue Wilson's Austrian Collection - Salzburg, that made up the top and bottom ovals. "In between" is a 4-5" wide strip of regular cardstock, 12" long, which turned out to be a perfect length to go around the top oval.
The bottom oval was too small as a brim (or rather I should have made the crown bigger near the top and smaller near the brim) and since I was lining the outside anyway I made a bigger brim to match.

Craft Dies from Joanna Sheen, of course :)

Hot chick, steampunk style

A friend requested Steampunk cards for her 40th birthday. Even though I like the genre I hadn't exactly tried making stuff myself before but hey, there's a time for everything, right?

Steampunk might be the new steamy hot .. diverse and brilliantly victorian with a twist. Try googling it, or check out my pinterest page for some of my favorites. 

First of all an easy start using one of the excellent artwork from craftsuprint.com - they have lots and lots of designs and mini-kits from a huge number of talented people. Now this was originally veeeeeeery pink and my friend isn't exactly pinkish-fond so I had to turn it slightly more purple before printing.

Lilac card base, regular 12" cardstock folded in half, matted the design on black background paper and taped it in place. The actual design came with a verse, a choice of banners and various decoupage options which made it a cute easily-assembled card. 

Next up the actual birthday "card" - a steampunk hat..