Personalised Thank You Cards

Hi there!

Today I wanted to share with you some personalised thank you cards that I made for some of the placement students at work that were leaving!

I love this design of card and it's one I go to time and time again when I want to add a name to a card. I simply add the sentiments onto a stitched circle and add the person's name onto a banner that stretched across the bottom of the card.

The main products I used for these cards are:

• Avery Elle Simply Said Thank You Die
• Lawn Fawn Large Stitched Circles
• Xcut Wedding Ever After Alphabet & Numbers Die Set

Here is the sketch of the card that I designed for you to use as inspiration!

Avery Elle | Seal-abrate

Hello! Popping back on today to share with you my second batch of Seal-abrate cards. I made a set of these a few weeks ago and they went down so well that I ran out, what can I say, people love a pun! So I thought it was about time I made some more.

I already had a lot of the seals coloured in because I like to do my colouring in batches when I get the time, so all I had to do was cut out a few circles and backing papers and stick everything together!

Do you like a pun as much as I do? Let me know what your favourite is in the comments!

Until next time,

Hayley Q

Captain America - Have a Super Birthday

Hello there! It's been a while since I shared a card with you and I went a card making binge so I have a few new ones to share.

The first one was inspired by a trip to the cinema to see Captain America: Civil War. I took my circle dies and cut out some circles in red, white and blue card and layered them together with a white star to create Captain's shield. 

I then used Avery Elle - Elle's Alphas stamps, Clearly Besotted Mini Basic Banners stamps and my new Lawn Fawn Dye Ink in lobster to create the sentiments. 

I cut out the banner with the coordinating die and then used Clearly Besotted Tag Along die collection to create the rounded banners. 

These cards would be perfect for any Marvel fan and are so quick to make. 

Hope you enjoyed this card and I will be back soon with some more!

Thanks, 

Hayley :)

p.s. I recently joined inlinkz so that I can easily list all the products that I used on each post. We'll see how I get on!

Docrafts Nesting Dies, Circle (Pack of 5)	Xcut Handheld Paper Card Shape Craft Cutter Small Palm Punch - Traditional Star	A4 Papermania Textured Colour Cardstock 75 Sheet Assortment - Capsule Colossal	Avery Elle Elle's Alphas 2
Mini Basic Banners	Mini Basic Banners Die	50 White Greeting Cards - 5 x 7 Inches	Lawn Fawn - Lobster Dye Ink
White Premium Smooth Card A4 100 Pack 300gsm	Double Sided Sticky Tape 1.2 cm x 25 m	Cuttlebug V2 Die Cutter and Embosser

InLinkz.com

Avery Elle | Party Animal

Hello there! Thought I'd pop in this evening with a new card. This is a bit of a different style for me with all the bright colours but I think it worked out quite well. 

I started by stamping out the balloon dog and bunny lots of times from the stamp sets Party Animal & Party Bunny by Avery Elle using the Avery Elle Pigment Inks in colours Lemon Grass, Raspberry, Fizz & Aquamarine.

I fussy cut out all of the balloon animals and then adhered them to my card base with my rediscovered hot glue gun. I rearranged the animals on my card base first before gluing them down to make sure I had an even spread of the colours and that as much white space was covered as possible. 

Because the background was so colourful, I wanted the sentiment piece to be quite plain. To create my sentiment I used the Simon Says Stamp Happy Bubble Stamps and Dies. I cut the bubble out of some white card and stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I adhered this to the card using 3D foam pads to raise it from the background. 

Products I used:

• Avery Elle Party Animal Stamp Set
• Avery Elle Party Bunny Stamp Set
• Avery Elle Pigment Inks - Lemon Grass, Raspberry, Fizz, Aquamarine
• Simon Says Stamp - Happy Bubble Stamps and Dies
• White Card
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
• 3d Foam Pads
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed this card!

Hayley :)

An Irish Thank You

Hello there! 

Today I have a card I made for a friend to give to her Irish dancing teacher. I took some papers from my stash and cut a layer for the base of my card and then made my sentiment panel using MFT rounded rectangle dies. 

I cut the sentiment out of some green card using the Avery Elle Thank You Die and adhered using Multi Medium Matte by Ranger. 

I created the little clover by cutting 3 hearts out of the same green card and attaching with tiny foam squares and putting a tiny green rhinestone in the centre. I cut the stalk out just using my scissors. 

That's my card for today, I hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for stopping by :)

My 2015 Favourites: Inks & Pens

Welcome to Day 3 of My 2015 Favourites series. Today I will be talking you through my favourite inks and pens of the year! Let's get started.

Inks

• Memento Tuxedo Black
• This is by far my favourite black ink of all time. I have tried a few over the years and have finally found one that sticks. It doesn't bleed with alcohol markers, it doesn't stain stamps, it cleans off really easily and it dries quickly.

• Versamark Ink
• I use this ink solely for embossing. It is a great sticky ink that takes a while to dry so is perfect for attracting embossing powder. 

• Distress Inks - Gathered Twigs, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade
• Distress inks are great for blending and water colouring. I usually use the ink pads for creating an ink blended background and spritzing with a bit of water to help it blend even better. I have picked out a few of my favourites. Gathered Twigs is great for edging to help distinguish between layers or creating an aged look. The other three are some of favourite colours. 

• Avery Elle Pigment Inks
• These inks are great for solid image stamping or adding a pop of colour to your sentiment. They stamp nice and evenly and you can also use these inks for embossing as they take longer to dry too. They are great for stamping a sentiment and then embossing with clear embossing powder for an added shine.

Pens

• Distress Markers
• These are the pen version of the Distress Ink pads and I mainly use these for a quick and easy water colouring. I tend to colour my image in with these and then add a touch of water to give a nice water coloured effect. 

• Spectrum Noir Alcohol markers
• These are the marker pens that I do all of my colouring with. I found them a really great option for my budget. There is a great range of colours and they also blend really nicely. 

• Wink of Stella Clear Brush Pen
• I've classed this as a pen because it looks like one. Its basically really fine glitter in a brush pen. I use this when I want to add a little touch of shine to my coloured images. Its brilliant! The best thing is, when its run out, you can open it up and refill with water to get a second life out of it!

Thanks again for tuning in for my third installment of My 2015 Favourites. Pop back again tomorrow to see the next chapter, My 2015 Favourites: Tools! 

Let me know in the comments what your favourite inks and pens are.

Thanks for reading, 

Hayley :)

My 2015 Favourites: Dies

Welcome to Day 2 of 'My 2015 Favourites'. Today I am going to be showing you my favourite dies and die sets of the year.

Nesting Dies

• Mama Elephant - Femme Frames
• First up is the two most useful dies I have ever bought. They are the perfect for a card front and creating your scenes on. I love the scallops and the stitching on both frames and they are great for layering. I usually cut the scallop in a patterned paper and the stitched in a plain cardstock. 

• Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Duo 1, 2, 3, Stitched film strip
• These are another 4 die sets that I use very often. They are great for a focal point on your cards and for using with your critter stamps to have them poking through the holes. I also love that stitching!

• My Favorite Things (MFT) Die Namics - Rounded Rectangles
• This is a good example of some stitched nesting dies. I love the rounded rectangle look, they make great toppers and you get a good range of sizes.

• Little B - Scallops 
• The Little B dies are brilliant. They come in their own magnetic storage folder and they have the outer edge shape separate from the decorative part so you can have the shapes with or without the decoration.

• Lawn Fawn Small & Large Stitched Rectangles, Squares and Circles
• These die sets are a staple for any die collection, they come in handy for any card, whether that be to create a card base or a topper. 

Word Dies

• Clearly Besotted Word Dies
• The word dies from clearly besotted are great. They cut out so fine and are a great font! 

• Avery Elle - Simply Said Word Dies
• I also love the Avery Elle word dies. They are a slightly thicker font and are bigger than the Clearly Besotted dies which makes them a great addition to your collection. 

• Avery Elle Numbered Balloons Elle-ments
• These balloon numbers are such a great alternative to regular number dies. You can get creative with string to make them look like real balloons or draw lines with pen. Either way, they look great on a card. 

•  Lawn Fawn Scripty For You
• Lawn Fawn also do some really great word dies. I like this one in particular because it fits perfectly into a circle die cut. 

Border Dies

• Avery Elle Dotted Borders Elle-ments Dies
• This was the first border set that I bought and I love it. The decorative edges look great down one edge of a card and the landscape lines are great for creating hills or a snow drift. 

• Lawn Fawn Grassy Border Die
• I heard lots of good things about this die so I added it to my collection and I'm very glad I did. It is such a great grass border!

Shapes/Other

• Avery Elle You're Invited Elle-ments Die
• I've featured this die set here mainly for the outer label shape. Although I do love the word die for creating invitations, I have had so much use out of the outer die on its own. One thing I like about it is that it has stitching on either side of the cutting line so you can either use the solid shape or create an aperture. 

• Avery Elle Balloons Elle-ments Dies
• Everybody should have some balloon dies in their stash and these are a great choice. You get lots of different sizes and extras and they also co-ordinate with the Balloons stamp set that I featured yesterday.

• Avery Elle Wine & Margarita Shaker Elle-Ments Dies
• These dies are perfect for creating a shaker card with a difference. If you don't just want a rectangle or square shaker window you can go for these dies and get a bit more creative. There is also a coordinating stamp set that has lots of great sentiments in it that you can purchase separately.

• MFT Die Namics - Game Controller
• My Favourite Things always come out with great companion sets that consist of a die set (normally the main image) and coordinating stamp set (normally full of sentiments). I like these dies in particular as I have a few gamers in my life that this set is great for! It's also great for creating generic male cards. I also love the stamp set that goes with these (MFT - Level Up).

• Clearly Besotted Tag Along Die Collection
• Last but not least is this lovely little collection from Clearly Besotted. Although I do love the little tags in this set, my favourite piece is the fishtail banner. It comes in so handy for just stamping a sentiment onto and adding to a card. 

So that's it for today, all of my favourite dies of the year. I hope you have enjoyed this post and will join me again tomorrow for "My 2015 Favourites: Inks & Pens" :)

Let me know what some of your favourite dies are in the comments so that I can check them out!

Thanks for stopping by, 

Hayley