Popping up again

Hello everyone

As the pop-up box cards have grown steadily in popularity and I am regularly asked to personalise them for my customers I realised that being able to allow customers to choose their own sentiment or age at point of sale might be a good idea.  It has taken a bit of time and work on my part but I am getting there!  I chose four particular cards to get the ball rolling and so far it has proved to be very popular.

 The four boxes are "Pink Flowers" (BOXP012), 

Artwork by Polkadoodles

"Green Flowers" (BOXP001),

Artwork by Polkadoodles

 "Butterflies" (BOXP013)

Artwork by DaisyTrail

and "Spring Flowers" (BOXP016).

Artwork by Victoria Nelson

Each box has it's own style of sentiment

Artwork by Polkadoodles

Artwork by DaisyTrail

Artwork by Polkadoodles

Artwork by Victoria Nelson

and I have made and cut out the numbers to colour co-ordinate with each individual box too.

Numbers designed by Tina Fitch

Numbers designed by Tina Fitch

So now when a customer purchases one of these four cards I can add their chosen number

and then their chosen sentiment

without them having to come back the following week to collect it.

Recently I have been asked to make these cards for anniversaries and to add the number too so my pop up box cards are very versatile!

They make super get well cards, particularly for hospital patients, now that flowers are no longer allowed on the wards.

Sometimes I am asked to add names or actual dates onto the box. I can do that too but unfortunately not on the spot so you would need to place an order for this.

I can also make a pop up box card with a special theme like this one with cats and dogs on it

or this one with a fairy theme, which was also personalised with the age and name

All of my pop up box cards are unique to me as I design, print, cut and assemble them myself, using licensed artwork from others.

Other cards in my current range include the following.

Birthday

BOXP004 footballer by MCS

BOXP015 footballer by MCS

BOXP007

Baby

BOXP005A

BOXP006A

BOXP018

And finally, this cute one, using artwork by Kate Hadfield Designs

Artwork by Kate Hadfield

which has a choice of four sentiments

I am constantly thinking of and working on new ideas so look out for new additions to the range.

If you are interested in learning how I make my pop up box cards, then call into The Venue, Manor Walks, Cramlington on a Thursday between 10am and 4pm and watch me at work - you will be very welcome.  I will be there every Thursday in May and June.  For further information about these free demo days have a look at the Lev3l 3 Community Crafters Blog or their Facebook Page.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Catherine x

Handbag Cards

Morning everyone

I hope you are impressed that I am making another blog post already!!!

Following on from my last post where I talked about my customers liking different cards, I decided to make some handbag shaped cards.  I started out by using a template and papers from Fabulous Fashion by Katy Sue (Flowersoft) so this was the first handbag card I made.

Then I decided to try my hand at my own handbag design - and created this in CraftArtist.  This was the very first of my own designs (using papers from Serif).

Other handbag cards followed using this design - this is just one of them.

This is my newest card using this design - the pretty papers I used are by Victoria Nelson, and the bow was made using a template from the very talented Sue Beasley.

Because I handcut my handbag cards using scissors I then decided to try making a new design that I could cut with my Cameo and so a new design was born.  This was the very first one I did (for Mothers' Day 2014)

This one is the newest one (and again I used the bow template from Sue).

My handbag cards have proved to be very popular and I am often asked to personalise them.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Catherine x

Good afternoon to anyone who is reading this!

I posted a detailed update onto my personal blog yesterday but thought I would just add a bit more information about Charlie Cards today.

For anyone who read yesterday's blog post on What Katy Did Next you will already know that I now sell my cards almost exclusively as part of the Lev3l 3 Community Crafters group in Cramlington.  I still have a Facebook business page and have been uploading most of my new cards to that as and when I make them - I am afraid I have been very bad at keeping this blog up to date due to time restrictions.  Sadly I also get very little "playtime" these days - and I love nothing more than doing messy crafting.  There's nothig quite like having inky fingers!

The Venue, Manor Walks, Cramlington

Every Saturday Lev3l 3 Crafters hold a market day in The Venue, Manor Walks, Cramlington - The Venue is situated next to Lloyds Bank and is a shop unit which is used as a community hub.  I was a little worried about the location of The Venue as there is a well established card shop right next door and a national card shop virtually opposite so I need to listen to my customers and find out what they want - and then design and make the cards to fit.  The one answer I always seem to get is "something different" - some like that the artwork on my cards is different from cards available in the shops and other like cards that are a different shape.  They all like that I can personalise my cards.  Here are four examples of personalised cards I have made in recent months:

Made to customer specification for a Ruby Wedding Anniversary

Made to Customer specification for a 101st birthday

Made for a young man who is into boxing

Made to customer specification for a 16th birthday

Something that has become very popular recently is the "pop up box card" and so I now have a selection of them to choose from - and I sometimes feel I spend my whole life making pop up box cards as they are so popular.  Here are just four of them:

Very popular for the boys!

New Baby Girl

Flowers and Butterflies

For the gardener in your life

I will try and keep this blog updated more regularly from now on, promise!

Thank you for visiting.

Catherine x

Can't believe it's so long since I update this blog!

I have just posted a lengthy update onto my personal blog What Katy Did Next so rather than posting it all again here I though I would just post the above link for anyone who is interested.

Thank you.

Catherine x

Peronalising Cards

Well where did all that time go!  I'm pleased to say I have been very busy - but it's a shame I have been too busy to update this blog recently so a bit of a double-edged sword there.

Today I want to tell you all about how I can personalise cards for you.

Personalising a card can mean anything from adding a name, a specific sentiment, an age or making a card with a specific theme/image.  It can also mean using your photographs on the card too.

Here are some examples of cards I have personalised, just to give you all some idea of what I can do.

The first card is one I made to send to my cousin.  To make this card I used two photographs - one taken about 50 years ago and the other one taken earlier this year - both of my cousin.

Earlier this year my sister in law asked me to make a wedding card for her - and to put the names of the happy couple onto it.  This is the card I made for her:

Not only did they get their names on the card but also the date of their special day too.

The same card was adapted to make a Ruby Wedding anniversary card for my cousin and her husband.

Here are more examples of personalised cards:

This was a card I made when our great nephew was born, complete with his name and date of birth.

  I have made many new baby cards for people which have included a photo of the new baby and details of name, date and place of birth on the insert.  Here are a couple of examples (details have been removed to protect privacy)

Both the card front and the insert were personalised on this new baby card

The insert of another new baby card

A couple of examples of children's cards with names added to them:

Name and age added to this card front

Name added to this card front

I was asked to make a card for a couple whose anniversary is at Halloween, and who like bats.  This is the card I made.

I don't suppose it would have been easy to find a mass-produced card to these specifications in the shops!

And this card was one I designed a couple of years ago for my niece who loves hats, tea and Alice in Wonderland:

More information about this card HERE

Earlier this year my son sent me a photograph of a friend and some wording and asked me to turn it into a birthday card for him.  This is the card:

And a birthday card I made for my husband:

The clock on this card started life as a photograph of his own Regulator clock - more info HERE.

And more examples of personalised cards:

First birthday card for our great niece.

New Home card with the surname of the recipients on the sign.

Photograph of pet on front and personalised message inside

18th birthday card with name on front

Birthday card with name on front

Wedding card with names and date on front

Birthday card with name on the front

Birthday card for a dancer with name on front - more information HERE

Birthday card for a tea lover with a photo on front (more info HERE)

Birthday card with name on front

Male birthday card with name on the front - more info HERE

As a large percentage of the cards I make are designed digitally then most cards can be adapted to incorporate names, ages, specific wording/sentiments or designed around a particular theme/topic.

If you are interested in having a personalised card made then please contact me by either completing the contact form at the bottom of this page, messaging me on my FACEBOOK PAGE or emailing me at charliecardscramlington:gmail.com (marking the subject line card enquiry).

For more examples of my work please visit my PERSONAL BLOG.

Thank you for visiting Charlie Cards blog.

Catherine