On your (Book) Marks, get set, Blog!!

 Hello!!  I'm back in blogland after an extended break, lots of things going on here, summer holidays, daughter's 18th,  and poorly family members meant I didn't quite get around to blogging, however I am now pleased to be back and raring to go.  I have quite a few projects to blog about over the coming days and I do hope you will join me for those, but first I will start with this week's +papermilldirect  post. 

This week the Special Offer is a 230gsm Black Card and for just £3-50 you can snaffle up a small box containing approx. 80 sheets!!  Black card is very useful, I like it to add subtle definition to designs but also it can have great impact and contrast, it's a colour that should be in every crafters stash and especially so with Halloween coming up, so I'd grab this one whilst it's still around at this special price. (link here :)

This week PMD Design Team have been working on the theme of Bookmarks and you will find lots of ideas over on the Inspire Blog and on the Teamies own blogs, we also have a new member Nicole joining us and we look forward to seeing more of her beautiful creations  (Blog links below).  

I have created a Fairy Tale themed bookmark using my Cricut Explore and images from within the subscription (mostly 3 birds on Parade for those who use the cartridge based machines).  I cut a simple book mark shape from papermilldirect White Hammed card to measure approx. 2 3/8" wide x 6" long  (you could of course make any size to suit the books).  I like using the hammered effect card as this adds texture and interest and creates a sturdy base to add elements to.

I chose the Fairy Tale sentiment layered image and the fairy bird with a crown and wand, using the onscreen mat to help me size them to fit onto the bookmark shape.  I also searched the images for star themed photo corners as these would fit the theme.  I made use of the star shaped 'waste' too by adding them around the bird. 

The decorative elements have been cut from various shades within the papermilldirect colours range.  All the PMD colours work really well together and cut perfectly on the Explore being 240gsm they are a great weight for layered images too,  I chose to use Daffodil Yellow, Raspberry Pink, New Lilac, Baby Pink, Purple Grape for this project.  Assembling the layers with Cosmic Shimmer clear drying glue helps to give a neat mess free finish and allows a little 'wriggle room' to help get things lined up, very important if you are doing a quick last minute make late at night as I was :D

Once the images were layered I added them to the front of the bookmark, again using Cosmic Shimmer glue.  I then added extra sparkle with White Shimmer Detail Sparkle glue and the stars have extra shimmer in the form of Glitter Jewels in Iced Snow which i sprinkle into the wet glitter glue before shaking off the excess and leaving to dry.

To finish, I made a hole in the top of the book mark and threaded through some silver ric-rac ribbon and sheer pink ribbon tied in a bow.  This made a pretty, feminine bookmark, you could make an alternative version featuring characters such as pirates, wizards or popular cartoon characters, these would be ideal to accompany a gift of a book too.  Although I have used my Explore to help with this project, bookmarks can easily be made by using any crafty stash you have to hand, card and paper scraps, dies, stamps, templates, maybe drawing your own designs, they are fun to make and you can theme them to match the style of books. 

Materials Used:

White hammered Card
Coloured card: Daffodil Yellow, Raspberry Pink, New Lilac, Baby Pink, Purple Grape
Cosmic Shimmer Clear drying Glue - Creative Expressions
White Shimmer Detail Sparkle - Imagination Crafts
Iced Snow Glitter Jewels - Creative Expressions
Silver Ric-Rac & Sheer Ribbon from stash

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 

• Barbara 
• Lisa 
• Ruth 
• Sylvia 
• Sandie
• Nessa 
• Nicole
• Papermilldirect Inspire Blog 

Click Logo to go direct to papermill

Wedding ideas with papermill card

Hello, and welcome to my weekly papermill DT post.  This week our theme is Wedding Stationery and to go with that papermill have a special offer on their lovely Ivory Felt card across small, midi & mega box sizes, starting at just £6-50 per box.  The Ivory Felt card is a sumptuous 300gsm and perfect for lots of designs. 

Now I must confess that Wedding Stationery is not something I have much experience of, but I thought it would be fun to make some 'Save The Date' cards and 'RSVP's using some of the other fabulous card stocks from  +papermilldirect.  I will first apologise for the photos, the weather was horrible this week and the light not good, so the pics do not do the cards or the beautiful card stock used justice.

First up is a Bird themed RSVP card that would be great to use as an invite.  I have created the card base from papermill's Sky Blue card and have embossed the front flap only through my Big Shot using a swirls design embossing folder.  The layered Bird has been cut from Papermill White Linen card, which I also used to die cut the letters for 'RSVP'.  A little faux pearl for the eye to complete it.  These little cards don't use much card or expensive materials and so would be perfect for those on a budget.  Just add your computer printed details inside.  Cut using a cricut mini they could be made in batches and the embossing could be left off for quicker makes.  

My second design is a 'Save The Date' card with a heart theme in my favourite colour of course. I have also cut this with a cricut mini using papermill's White Hammered card to form the card base. 

The heart motif is cut from my favourite papermill Purple Grape card. The 'Save the Date' phrase has been cut from white hammered card and lightly coloured with pan pastels, attached to a shadow base of papermill grey card. A purple ribbon and faux pearls to finish.  

Just add an insert with your details inside to complete. I printed these off on my computer and then die-cut with a scalloped square die. Again if making in large quantities, you could always omit the pan pastel colouring and perhaps the grey card shadow layer to the sentiment.

So there are my 2 projects this week, if you pop by the other papermill DT ladies' blogs (links at bottom of post) you will find lots of other ideas for cards and Wedding Stationery.

Thank you for popping by and as always I am happy to help with any questions you may have, and I do love reading your comments too, so please don't be shy, say hi!!  :-)

Materials List: 
White Linen Card - Papermill Direct
Sky Blue Card - Papermill Direct
White Hammered Card - Papermill Direct
Purple Grape Card - Papermill Direct
Grey Card - Papermill Direct
Faux pearls, ribbon, pan pastels 
(optional) Embossing Folder, dies, 
cricut mini 

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week:  
Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon