imake giveaway ....

The imake give away is now up and running ... So to be in with a chance to win a selection of Evelyn Mae cards, check out the blog and leave your comment....

imake

Good luck everyone!

A passion for papertrey challenge ....

I was very excited today, as my parcel that I had been waiting for from the States arrived!  It contained a very special delivery of the Botanical Silhouettes special edition stamp set.  Its a stamp set only available to those who purchase certain amounts from Papertrey ink and it happens to be one of my favourite releases of theirs.  So I was so happy when I won a set on ebay ....

Once it arrived I got straight to making a little thank you notelet to send to a lady called Mary who was kind enough to send it to me, and who also die cut me some shapes to stamp on.   I decided to tie it into a blog challenge that I came across recently, after another friendly American pointed me in the right blog direction!

Over at the A passion for papertrey blog, they have set the challenge of using borders, and this is my take....

I used some recycled navy blue card from a promotional booklet - the card is great quality and has a linen effect, and so is brilliant for matting and layering.  I then used one of the gifted die cuts from mary in cream cardstock, with the 'Thank You' sentiment from the Papertrey Botanical Silhouettes stamp set, which I stamped in midnight blue versamagic chalk ink.  I then embossed it with clear embossing powder, and set the border off with cream satin ribbon, and two copper eyelets.

I love the simplicity of the card, and I like that it could be easy to make as a gents card by just removing the ribbon.

A simple card, for a simple message of thanks!

Creating for gents ...

Good morning everyone!  This is just a short post to share with you my creative exploits from the past few days.  I have been working on some gents cards- one for a 12th birthday, and for a 70th!

The 70th card was so much fun, and really rewarding in the I managed to be really creative for a customer, and that it was viable from a business perspective.  All too often the business requirements don't allow for intricate work when you are doing crafting professionally.  However, this did work, and I was so pleased.

I printed a '70' in a large front from the PC, and traced the shape onto the card, so that I could use my scalpel  to cut out the shape.  The larger the wording, the better as you have easier lines to cut, but this seemed to work well.  It was on a beautiful pearlescent clue card, so after affixing the 7 diamante gems, I didn't think it needed any more.

Inside was a small pocket ready for the personal message of the customer, and another silver '70'.  I love the colours in the card, and I love how the simple design really worked.

Also this week, was a 12th birthday card ....

Our nephew was 12 this week, and I was hoping to make a card that just unleashed my creativity, and didn't think at all about budget!  I saw this card over at the a passion for papertrey blog and I loved the design - so i based my nephews card on it.  It uses recycled navy card stock, hessian, recycled plastic backing from an old booklet, and an old pair of jeans.  I liked that I used so many reused items on the card, and that it worked well for a young gentleman- enough rustic materials, and not a ribbon in sight!!

It took some time to do, as I stitched the number 12 by hand, using the worn bit of jeans, and hessian is so fibrous that it took some time making this tidy.  But I think that the card came together, and in the end looked very different than the card I used for inspiration!

imake blog giveaway ....

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the blog over at imake would be running a giveaway with some Evelyn Mae goodies. So, I thought I would share with you the prize itself before the giveaway goes live this week ....

It is a set of four masculine birthday cards, measuring 5x5 inches, made on white card stock.

I'll let you know when the competition begins....

guest blog at Imake ...

As I mentioned towards the beginning of the week, I have been working hard writing towards the great blog over at Imake; I can now announce that the post went live last night, and you can view the post here. 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”…

At the age of 7, a friend and I would sit with our array of felt tip markers, and in our lunch breaks draw greetings cards.  We called ourselves ‘Rainbow cards’ and we gave them to anyone who would take them! I was always using sequins and scrap paper, glue and string, and as many egg boxes that my mum could provide me with.  My parents’ loft is covered in glittered angels and cotton wool snowmen, and I still have teddy bears with holey little knitted jumpers that I made them.  I loved to perform; I was a tap dancer, and I took singing and acting classes.  At 7 I got my first role in a play as a caterpillar, and that was it, I was going to be a professional actress.  And indeed I was, for a number of years.  I continued performing with a passion right up until a few years ago.

So you could say that I was creative.  I had lots of other interests too, many completely unrelated to the creative arts, but the artistic interests predominated.   I went on to study at art school, followed by musical theatre, a Degree in music and finally a Masters in Theatre.  During these years I undertook a post as a lecturer at a college, I loved sharing my passion by teaching performance skills.  And from there, I went on to carve out my career as a professional actress. 

I say all this to highlight that I had another career all mapped out, creative, yes, but a totally different career none the less.  I was determined to succeed, and sometimes I did.  I had a variety of engagements, within a variety of genres, and I loved it.  However, the down side of a career in performing is that a great deal of the time, you are out of work.  The phrase ‘resting’ is completely misleading; although you are not acting, you are job hunting and doing admin.  And it’s tough; the actual time being creative is so slim, and no amount of additional dance classes or vocal sessions make you feel more creative, as they only highlight the fact you are not working!!

During the later years, I became increasingly aware that I was waiting for my life to start, instead of living the one I had.  I was heading for 30. I was also very sad that because of the nature of the job I couldn’t commit to big events like weddings and holidays as I might just get the job.  On top of that, I had made some sacrifices; I was still living at home, and not at all in a position to support myself financially.  So, returning to one of my first loves, I went back to making cards, in the hopes that I could fill my day with creativity while I was hunting for that dream acting job.

In fact, what actually happened was that it was like lighting a candle in the early evening-you don’t even know it has got dark until you light it… I found the passion that I had long since lost, each day had a product at the end of it, each day had a purpose and I could see what I was achieving. I could talk for hours about crafting. (My husband could testify to that!)  I found myself wanting to stay in making cards, rather than going out! At 28!!  This certainly gave me a whole lot to think about.

A year later having kept up acting, diving headfirst into card making and continuing a job working in a kitchen, I met a chap who was to become my husband. He had a job lined up in Margate, and once we were married we would be moving.  So I had a new home, husband and a new city.  A time of natural reassessment I suppose, and I decided, after a few years of thinking and deliberating with friends over tea and cheesecake, and not a lot of doing, I would have a break from performing. 

And so Evelyn Mae was born. I was lucky in that we had space for me to have a workshop in our house, and a husband who has been completely supportive in me becoming a designer as a profession.  It has not been straight forward, although it has been exciting and totally fulfilling.  Dealing with tax returns is something I had experience in with performing, but Company’s house, customer accounts, online selling and Paypal buttons were all alien! 

I love to learn, but there is a tendency that when new stuff goes in, old stuff goes out! And sometimes, old stuff goes out and the new stuff still will not go in!  So it has not been without its challenges, but having said that, it has been very rewarding.  My craft business is not a job; it’s a vocation- I’m sure many of you will relate to this!  It pervades day to day life, inspiration for projects doesn’t just happen within ‘work hours’, and nor does the creative spark to make something! Sometimes I end up in bed with a note pad so as not to forget a design, or getting up at 6.30am to work on the computer putting together an invoice or a blog post!

I write all this to share with you my passions and my journey; to share with you my choice- one which I am happy with, every single day.  I still cannot watch x-factor without shouting at the feedback, but my decision to pursue crafting has been the best one I have made.  I think the trick is to find a way to make every day a creative day.  Whatever job you may do, however crafting fits into your life, if you can make everyday have a little productivity and fun, creativity and friendship, tea and cheesecake, then I think you are on the right path.

Martine at Imake will be doing a give-away towards the end of the week- you will be able to leave a comment  on her blog and be in with a chance to win a prize of four handmade greetings cards, so watch this space for news.

Shelly X

reflections ....

Hi all,

Sometime soon, I will be guest blogging on Imake, a blog and podcast for crafters.  So my absence has been due to preparing a blog that is a little more in depth than my usual fare.

I am hoping to share this guest blog with you in the next few weeks, so, keep your eyes peeled on facebook for a link, or visit here to find it once it has been published.

I'll be back soon!! ........

Boxed Envelope card tutorial

 This week I thought I would bring you a tutorial on how to make a boxed envelope card.  The last tutorial I did was Christmas, so I thought its about time to share!!

You will need to begin with a 12x12 paper, which is doubled sided.  On the side which will become your inside, you will need to light mark the design in pencil.  Once you get the hang of it, you can do this using dots as markers, but for your first few, I would use light pencil to make it nice and clear.

You need to mark four parallel lines:  at 2.8 inches, 3.2 inches, 8.8 inches and 9.2  inches.  Turn your paper round and do the same again, so you end up with cris-crossed lines as in the diagram below.

Then, on each of the four sides mark 4 inches and 8 inches. Once this is done you can join up the 4 and 8 inch lines to the previous ones, which will leave you with the design below.  As you can see, the pieces which will become flaps are now apparent.

 

 This next step is slightly more tricky- you need to cut along the two diagonal edges (your 4 and 8 inch lines)  and the the small little box shape. This gives you the base, the box sides, and the flaps of the envelope top.  You should be left with a shape like this:

And four spare bits like this .....

To decorate the inside you can design it however you like now the structure of the box is completed.  What i did was a square white card base, with Natalie: Happy Birthday written on the top.  I glued with double sided tape and hi-tack glue a 'u' shape on the front...

And stuck down plain card to make some little pockets.  I love the put pockets in cards so that I can fill them with little notelets!

After embellishing with ribbon and more patterned paper, I adhered the square into the box.

And the added a little insert where I wrote my birthday message ...

I then folded the box up, and used a Tim Holtz die cut on the front and stamped 'sweet birthday wishes'  in black ink

And lastly,  I added a glittered flower and a few diamante gems.

This is one of those projects that takes a little focus to begin with, but once you have made one, you will find it so much easier to go on and make more!!!

I hope you enjoyed the boxed envelope card tutorial; I love making envelope cards, and this one turned out really well.  And the recipient- my Auntie Natalie really liked it too!!

Now, to bring my blog post to a close, I'll leave by reminding you that I had a competition running on my facebook site, that the first person to leave me a comment on the blog would get a greetings card sent to them, so if you are the first person to leave the message, please e-mail me your postal address at:

evelynmae@post.com

Thanks for stopping by, I look forward to reading all your comments soon.

Love Shelly X