Merry Christmas!

My lovely husband and I are going away over Christmas, so this is going to be my last post for 2012! And here's one last Christmas card...

 

 

This beautiful Tartan patterned paper is from Basic Grey, and I think it makes the card look really cosy, warm and Christmassy. The stamp is from Kaiser Craft and I used Promarkers to colour-in the image.

 

As always, I have a list of hopes and plans ready for 2013, and one of them is to launch a whole host of new products over on my website. These will include customizable age-specific cards and make your own card packs. I'm really looking forward to it!

 

But before that there's lots of eating and relaxing with friends and family to be done! Thank you all for your support and kind words here on my tiny blog.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a very happy New Year!

 

Sashika x



It's been a while...



More than two weeks since my last visit to blog-land. Oh dear. Thankfully, I am now back at my craft desk and here's what I've been making...

 

 

 

 

I'm entering this set in to the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly Anything Goes Challenge

Cupcake Craft Challenge 222 - Merry Christmas

CRAFT challenge 184

 

 

 

 

 

I think they look fab as gift tags, but I've also hung some up on our tree!

See you again soon x

 

 



Bye Bye Sunshine...

It's not even 5pm and all the lights are on... oh dear. Card making and darkness don't really go together do they? Not to worry, Daylight Lamp at the ready!

 

So here's what I've been making:

 

 

I'm entering this one in to:

retro sketches challenge 38 and
papertake weekly ribbons and pearls challenge

The gorgeous embroidered ribbon is from Sri Lanka!

 

There's more liquid pearls in this one (and I've discovered that over-using it really hurts your hand after a while!)

 

 

 

That's all from me today. See you again soon!

 

 

Hooked on Stickles!

I am officially hooked on Stickles! I have so much fun using it, and the results are just so lovely. So here is yet another card covered in Stickles...

 



 

I am entering this card in to the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday

Craft Creations Christmas Card Challenge

Cards for Men - Anything Goes

 

I have also been having some fun with a little polar bear stamp from Imaginisce...

 

 

Isn't he cute?!

 

Thanks for stopping by - Sashika x

Blue Butterfly

Just wanted to share a card that I made earlier on today. I've been really struggling with ideas over the last couple of weeks, but thankfully it seems to be coming back slowly. I'm off to the NEC tomorrow... I'm sure that will help with inspiration!

 

Anyway, on to the card. I used a Craft Creations black card blank, Basic Grey Kissing Booth papers, and a Hero Arts stamp.

 

I'm entering this card in to the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday challenge

 Basic Grey challenge no.80

Papertake Weekly challenge

 

See you again soon!

 

Glitter, Glitter Everywhere!

I decided that the previous card I made for the Basic Grey Sparkle Challenge was definitely not sparkly enough, so I upped the bling-factor and came up with this one:

 

 

This is the kind of card that will leave glitter on the recipient's face for a whole week!

 

For the next one I used the fab sketch from Sketch Saturday and a beautiful stamp set from Stampendous. Had lots of fun making this one:

 

 

 

All in all, generally quite pleased with today's makes. Hope you like them too.

Sashika x

 

Hello Little Snowman

Two posts in one day! Just wanted to share another Christmas card I made with some gorgeous Basic Grey Jovial papers and a lovely little snowman stamp from Hero Arts.

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:
The Sketch Saturday Challenge 229
The Basic Grey Challenge 79

See you soon!

The Red Poinsettia

Just wanted to share another Poinsettia card that I made today. I absolutely adore this Penny Black stamp so this one was made specifically for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. The Challenge this month is a sketch and I used it to create this card.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and having a look!

Skulls and Skeletons!

Just uploaded some Halloween and Day of the Dead cards on to the website (www.cardsbysashika.com). The Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration that takes place on the 1st of November. Family and friends gather to remember and honour their deceases loved ones. It's a joyous occasion with elaborate altars, traditional food, parades and decorations. One of the main symbols of the Day of the Dead is the skull, and decorated sugar skulls are commonly used to adorn altars.

 

I also made a few smaller cards which I thought would be perfect for invitations...

 

 

The image is simply an altered photograph but I think it's very effective!

More Wedding Cards...

Just wanted to share a couple more wedding cards that I have been making.

 

Aren't these patterns just stunning!

 

 

I'm entering this one for the Papertake Weekly Challenge over on their blog.

See you again soon!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 





Happily Ever After

I made a few wedding cards this week and I had a lot of fun making this one.

 

The sentiment is from an Inkadinkado stamp and when I first saw it it just made me giggle! Hope you like it, see you back here soon!

 

 

 

 



The Autumn Rose

Today I wanted to make a Clean and Simple card. I've had this Rose stamp for absolutely ages and I'm so glad I finally got to use it on this card. It only cost 99p but the detail is absolutely stunning!



 

There is an Autumn challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays so I thought I might enter this one. See you again soon!

Bunny Rabbit

A good friend of mine absolutely adores rabbits and asked me whether I could make a bunny rabbit new baby card. Here's what I came up with.

I didn't have a bunny stamp so I drew this one myself. I really hope she likes it!

 

 

Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine have a 'animal card' challenge on at the moment, so I thought I might enter this one. It was certainly a lot of fun to make!

 

 



Christmas Cards in September!

Apparently some people started making their Christmas cards in July! So, after having a little panic, I started mine yesterday. So here it is- my first Christmas card for 2012.

This gorgeous Poinsettia is a Penny Black Cling stamp. I stamped and embossed it using some white embossing powder. Have a closer look:

And here's another one that I'm very pleased with:

 

 

This lovely stamp is a Woodware stamp, and once again I stamped and embossed the image, this time using gold embossing powder. I paper pieced the Dove and used ivory sequins to create some texture. I hadn't tried this technique before, but I think it works quite well.

 

 



There's lots more on my website www.cardsbysashika.com See you again soon!

Congratulations! You did it!

August is always a good month to make 'Congratulations on passing your exams' cards. I've been busy making a few, and here are two of my favourites.

I have seen this denim-effect paper being used a lot recently and was keen to use it myself. This particular paper is called Denim Paper, and it's made by Crate Paper. The 'stitching' was created using a white gel pen.

This one is a little bit different, but I still like it. I'm clearing out our study at the moment, and came across a huge box of old school note books and folders. I used some of the handouts and worksheets on this card!

The Wonderful Olympic Cauldron

Today I'm posting a card inspired by the fabulous 2012 Olympic Cauldron designed by the UK designer Thomas Heatherwick. Did you see the way those copper 'petals' came together to create the flame? I thought it was absolutely amazing.

To make my card, I hand-cut the 'petals' out of some gold mirror card, and used some StazOn black ink to create a little depth. The octagon border at the base of the card brought in a bit of colour. Octagons and hexagons seem to be in fashion within the world of paper crafting at the moment, so I thought I'd give it a go too.

Hope to see you here again soon,
Sashika

Welcome

Hello and Welcome to my blog. My name is Sashika and I live in the bustling city of Birmingham, England. I design and create handmade cards, gift tags and other paper goods. I am starting this blog so that I can be part of the wonderful web-based community of paper crafters across the world.

Here you will find entries about:

• Items that I have made and details of how I made them.
• Craft products, manufacturers, and places to purchase (within the UK).
• Brief explanations of the most commonly used card making techniques.
• UK designers that interest me.

Thank you for taking the time to have a look.
Sashika

If you are interested in seeing more of my work, please visit www.cardsbysashika.com