Make Believe Update & Crafty Wednesday

Yesterday at J. Keller Ford’s blog, Jenny interviewed her co-author for the Make Believe anthology, Lynda R Young. Today she is interviewing J. A. Belfield, who also wrote The Holloway Pack series. You should drop in to learn more about these amazing writers – and you might find some chocolate there! lol

Ironically, Julie Belfield is interviewing Jenny on her blog, which you can find here. Yesterday, she had a wonderful interview with Terri Rochenski, which I found fascinating. You can find it here.

Today at Scribbler’s Sojourn (I love the name of her blog!), Terri interviewed Jennifer Eaton.

Okay, now on with the crafting: I decided to show you the different ways one can use a particular element in a card. One of my favourite stamps is ‘The Skaters’ from Stampin’ Up‘s Winter Post set. I already showed you the version I made using the Sketch Challenge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the other ways I used them on regular shaped cards, using a half sheet of 8-1/2″ x 11″ card stock as a base, then folding it in half to make the 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″ size card. You can use any colour for your base, all kinds of different embellishments and each card will be unique. Here are some examples:

The patterned green on these two cards is from a wallpaper sample book.

I ran the green card stock through the Cuttlebug using the Victoria embossing folder.

I used holly paper from Stampin’ Up for the background.

The garland was created by sprinkling Vintage Christmas Flower Soft flocking over white glue that dries clear.

 

So, do you have a favourite among them?

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Crafty Wednesday – Honey Pop

Welcome to another Crafty Wednesday. Today I’d like to introduce a fun new product, a honeycomb paper called Honey Pop by Inky Antics. You’ve certainly seen this pop-up product in cards and decorations, such as the bells for wedding and umbrellas for showers. I learned how to use this product while at my scrapbook weekend back in September. I noticed the product while browsing the ‘store’ at the event, which was an area set up by the owner of The Scrapbook Cottage. The stamp set first caught my eye, because it was very cute, and then I noticed the sample card with the pop-up element, so of course I had to buy the green honeycomb paper, too! 🙂

The stamp set was called ‘Ornament Birdy’ – and I’m sure you can see why! The tree and present are from a stamp set I borrowed from my sister-in-law and I’m afraid I don’t know the company or stamp set names. The chick is one of two bird stamps in the set by Inky Antics as is the star on top of the tree.

The inside is the fun part. Start by placing the stamp in the direction indicated on the honeycomb paper. See the arrow printed on the paper? There is a corresponding arrow on the stamp that came with the ‘Ornament Birdy’ stamp set. Ink up your stamp, line up those two lines, and press the stamp onto the paper to give you the outline around which you should cut. The dotted line indicates that it will be on the fold of the card and should be cut along with the other edges of the image.

Once you’ve cut out your tree (or whatever object you might want to pop out of your card), you’ll want to secure it to your card. They suggest glue, but I think that takes too long to dry and could muck up your paper. I used a sheet of Soowkang double-sided tape. I first stamped two of the half-tree images and cut out around them. I removed the backing on one side of the tape and attached it to the honeycomb tree. I did the same to the other side of the tree.

I peeled off the backing on one side of the tree and attached it near, but not quite on, the fold of the card. I then peeled off the backing from the other side, closed the card over it and rubbed the card so the Sookwang stuck evenly to the card. When it opens up, it looks like this:

Of course, I then added all the other elements, too. Please note: The inside of this card is not the one that matches the front of the card above. I made this one to demonstrate the process. Below are the inside & outside of these two cards. They can be mixed and matched any way you like, or you could come up with your own combination.

For the one card, before adding any of the elements, I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the ‘Dots’ embossing folder. On green paper, I heat embossed the tree (from the Stampin’ Up ‘Christmas Lodge’ stamp set) using green glittery embossing powder, then cut it out and attached the star and jewels with craft glue. The ‘Merry Christmas sentiment came from the ‘Ornament Birdy’ stamp set.

For the other card, before I stuck on the tree, I first attached a silver doily as a backdrop for the tree, using the strong Sookwang tape so it wouldn’t pull away from the card base. The other elements, including the sentiment, were from the ‘Ornament Birdy’ set.

Personally, I think I like the plainer inside of the ‘Dots’ card (without the doily) and the swirly tree stamp of the other card. I’ll definitely have to get my hands on that stamp, or borrow it from my Sister-in-law, again! 🙂

What do you think?

Crafty Wednesday – A poinsettia, a reindeer, and a mouse

Welcome to another Crafty Wednesday!

Sorry I haven’t posted too much else over the past week. Where does the time go? It has been busier than usual and I didn’t even have an interview to post last weekend. I had been toying with doing another character interview, but didn’t have time to compile one.

Okay, enough chit-chat. On with the cards! This card is the last one I made for the Sketch Challenges at my October scrapbook weekend. It is a landscape-oriented card, which called for two round-cornered squares on each side in different patterned paper, a fancy label section in the middle with a sentiment and a main element in the centre of the card. In addition, there should be embellishments along the top of the left-hand square and the bottom of the right-hand square.

Now let’s see my interpretation of the Sketch Challenge:

As you can see, I decided not to go with a ‘Partridge-In-A-Pear-Tree’ element but chose instead a poinsettia. You can get these types of flowers from your local craft store. There are four layers to mine – a paper flower, a fine mesh flower shape overlay and two paper leaf shapes held together with a yellow brad. Instead of centering the poinsettia, I decided to off-set it a bit, piercing the edge of the left-hand square before attaching it to the card.

I ran the front of the card base through the Cuttlebug, using the ‘Victoria’ embossing folder before attaching the squares. The label was cut and embossed with the Cuttlebug as well, using the ‘Fanciful Labels’ folder. I used a sponge to brush on a pale green ink to the raised parts of the label and heat-embossed the sentiment (from Close To My Heart‘s ‘Card Chatter – Christmas’ clear acrylic stamp set) with black embossing powder. I just realized I didn’t add the embellishments. I might still do so as I picked up some pearlized self-sticking ‘jewels’ that I could add along the edges of the squares to ‘punch’ it up a bit.

The design was very simple, so I finished the inside of the card in similar style by simply cutting out the label (Sizzix ‘Decorative Labels #4’) and embossing the sentiment across its middle.

The design on the next card was one that came to me in a dream. (Yes, I really do dream about making cards!) I thought it would look like a snow globe. What do you think?

Supplies:

White card stock base (8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″, folded in half).
Red/orange patterned paper as the background (5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″)
Dark green card stock (4-1/4″ x 3″).
2″ circle of white card stock (cut with a circle punch)
Reindeer stamp (I used the one from Stampin’ Up‘s ‘Winter Post’ wood stamp set).
2 – 2″ circles cut from a Sookwang sheet
Dark green ink pad (or black)
White glitter
Tree stamp (I used the one from Stampin’ Up‘s ‘Christmas Lodge’ set)
Close To My Heart‘s ‘Vanilla Cream’ pigment-based ink pad (or something similar that won’t bleed into the card stock)
6-1/2″ length of 1/4″ wide white ribbon tied in a bow
4-1/2″ x 3/4″ scrap of white card stock
Versa Mark sticky pad (or Martha Stewart‘s ‘Glue Pad’)
Black embossing powder
Heat tool
Sticky Dots
1/4″ wide Sookwang double-sided tape
Sharp scissors
Paper cutter

Instructions:

1. Use Sookwang tape to attach red/orange paper to front of the card base
2. To the right-hand side of the green card stock rectangle, stamp the tree using the Vanilla pigment ink pad. NB: Make sure you have scrap paper underneath the project so ink will not transfer to your desk top, since you will only be stamping half the tree. Set aside to allow drying time as the pigment ink takes much longer than normal inks to dry.
3. Stamp reindeer onto white card stock circle.
4. Affix Sookwang circles to both front and back of reindeer circle, but keep the backing on the rear until glitter has been applied.
5. Peel front backing off Sookwang/reindeer circle. Sprinkle on the glitter, rubbing it all around the circle until no sticky parts remain. Shake off extra glitter.
6. Once the tree on the green card stock has completely dried, peel off remaining Sookwang backing and affix sparkly reindeer circle to the centre of green card stock.
7. Using Sticky Dots, attach ribbon bow to the top left-hand corner of the green rectangle, securing the ends to the back of the card stock.
8. Attach green card stock to centre of red/orange patterned paper using Sookwang tape.
9. Stamp the sentiment onto scrap of white card stock using Versa Mark. Sprinkle embossing powder over it, ensuring that all the sentiment has been covered. Use heat tool to set the powder. Once the powder has cooled, cut around sentiment.
10. Affix sentiment to bottom of green card stock and overlapping the red/orange pattern slightly

And you’re done! It always seems more complicated when I write it all out in point form, like this. It really isn’t all that difficult. The main thing you need to remember is how long the pigment ink takes to dry. I’ve often ruined cards because I didn’t wait long enough and the image got smudged.

This final card is very cute, I think. I want to thank my sister-in-law for lending me her stamp. It went very well with the candy cane patterned paper I found.

I stamped the image using a Versa Mark sticky pad and sprinkled the black embossing powder over it, shaking off the extra. I used my heat tool to set the powder, then painted the candy cane, the light chord and the light bulbs with my shiny paints. Using the cotton balls that come with the set, I smudged ‘Pebbles Cream Chalk’  to make the ‘glow’ around the light bulbs and add colour to the mouse. Using my paper cutter, I cut out around the mouse and rounded the corners with a paper punch. I cut out a rectangle of wine-coloured card stock that was about a 1/2 inch larger than the mouse, also punching the rounded corners. I then rubbed the edges with a Versa Mark pen, sprinkled peppermint-scented embossing powder onto the sticky surface and used my heat tool to set it. It became a bit shiny, as you can see, and added that extra ‘Scratch-and-Sniff’ element that goes so well with the candy cane theme.

I attached the mouse to the red card stock and the red card stock to the candy cane patterned paper with a glue runner. I affixed the entire card front to a plain white card stock base (5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″, folded in half) with Sookwang two-sided tape to hold it securely.

There’s only one more card that I made during my crafting weekend, but it involves a brand new product and process which I will show you next time.

In the meantime, happy crafting, everyone! 🙂

Crafty Wednesday – Christmas Cards

I just calculated that there are exactly 7 weeks until Christmas Day, so I will post a couple more Christmas cards for you eager beavers who might want some ideas on hand-crafted cards to hand out to your family and friends. Back in October, after my scrapbook weekend, I posted a couple of cards I’d made based on Sketch Challenges. I thought I’d do some more of those for you.

The first ‘challenge’ I want to cover today is this one. Notice that the main elements of this card are:

1) 5 squares (1-1/4″ each) of differing paper,

2) a ‘ribbon’ of some kind that runs the length of this portrait-oriented card

3) an embellishment (the flower)

4) the sentiment.

5) card stock base

This is a great card to use up any small scraps of paper you might have hanging around, as long as the colours sort of go together. You also will need a corner punch to round off the opposite corners on each square. That pretty much gives you the list of materials you will need, other than the usual, such as scissors, paper cutter and sticky tape/dots to affix your elements.

Option: two small brads

Step 1 – Cut card stock base 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″. Fold in half.
Optional – the centre piece of card stock cut to 3 3/4″ x 5″. (I know pink isn’t a normal Christmas colour, but it complemented the glittery striped card stock that I used for the squares. In retrospect, I should have embossed it the same as the light blue squares)

Step 2 -Before cutting out the light blue squares, run the card stock through the Cuttlebug, embossing them using the ‘Large Snowflake’ folder. Cut out 5 – 1-1/2″ squares, rounding off opposing corners with a punch. Attach to card, as shown, using sticky dots or a glue runner.

Step 3 – Cut  5-1/2″ long piece of 1/2″ wide ribbon. Wrap around card, as shown, and affix ends to back of card with Sookwang or some other permanent double-sided tape. (Since the centre of the ribbon was transparent with small snowflakes, which are very hard to see in the picture, I wrapped three strands of purple chord  around the centre of the ribbon.) The ribbon I used was from a Walmart package of 5 spools, each of differing widths, that I purchased at an end-of-season sale. The package really drew my attention because I’m a magpie who loves glittery things! 🙂

Step 4 – Choose an embellishment no more than 2″ high or wide. Since I was focussing on Seasonal cards, I chose a snowflake as the main embellishment. This one was from a sheet of plastic stickers with metal trim. Other suggestions might be a sticker or stamped version of a snowman, Santa Clause, angel, reindeer, etc. Use your imagination and whatever you have in your craft supplies! 🙂

Step 5 – Centre your embellishment as shown and affix over ribbon. If you use brads to secure your embellishment, be sure to do this before gluing on the cover card.

Step 6 – Measure the distance from your embellishment to the edge of the card and cut a 3/4″ wide strip of white card stock. Stamp your sentiment with black ink or use embossing powder and a heat tool for a more finished look. Attach sentiment with glue runner, sticky dots or brads, as I have done.

Step 7 – If you decided to add the contrasting card stock cover, affix it to the card base, centering it and using a strong adhesive such as Sookwang tape or permanent glue runner.

This second card is a square one, the finished card measuring 5″ x 5″. This card design also uses up a lot of those scraps you might have lying around your craft room. It’s a bit more complicated, using many more elements than the last one, but I liked the way mine turned out.

As you can see, there is:

1) a base – card stock measuring 10″ x 5″, folded in half

2) cover card stock (4-1/2″ square)

3) a 3/4″ wide ribbon, cut to 5″ in length, placed horizontally across the centre

4) an image (stamped or an embellishment of some kind) placed over a ‘mat’, measuring 2″ x 2-3/4″

5) a strip of contrasting paper behind the image measuring 1-1/2″ x 5″

6) a 3-1/4″ x 2-1/4″ rectangle in the upper right-hand corner

7) a half-circle (cut with a 2″ circle punch and trimmed with a paper cutter) below the rectangle

8) the sentiment in the bottom right-hand corner.

Here is my version, The Skaters, from the Stampin’ Up set ‘Winter Post’:

As you can see, after heat embossing the image, I used my shiny paint set to colour the skaters. Once the paint dried, I trimmed the image and glued it to the ‘mat’.

Once you’ve cut out all the elements, it’s just a matter of attaching them to the card. I always make sure I use the most permanent type of glue-runner or Sookwang double-sided tape to affix the bottom elements that have other things stuck to it, as it has the most stress. In this case, that would be the orange square of textured card stock. After the cover card stock (orange square) is attached to the base, glue these on in order:

1) strip of card stock on left-hand side (striped), about 3/4″ from outer edge of card.

2) rectangle in upper right-hand corner, allowing an even spacing around the top and right-hand edges so the cover card stock is visible.

3) Attach the half-circle below the rectangle, partially covering the strip on the left.
Option: emboss the half-circle using the Cuttlebug and whichever folder you prefer. I used ‘Victoria’, one of my favourites. 🙂

4) ribbon, just below the centre mark, covering the bottom of the rectangle.

5) image, allowing about 1/4″ of the rectangle to be visible and overlapping the ribbon, slightly.

6) sentiment in the lower right-hand corner. I used the sentiment from Stampin’ Up‘s ‘Bells and Boughs’ set, which I trimmed with scissors.

Hope you enjoyed this little ‘demo’! 🙂

New cards

I have updated My Crafty Alterego page with some Christmas Card designs by my Stampin’ Up representative, Ashley Sokal. She designed them, I made them. I love her creative mind. If you are interested in crafty things, please check out my page when you get the chance and her blog (in the blogroll, below)