Crafty Wednesday – more Blue Christmas

The crunch is on! I’ve been getting cards ready for the mail, writing letters about our year, and printing off pictures of the Grandson to send with the cards, which I hope to get to the post office today. I may already be too late getting the two across the sea to my cousins, but at least the thought was there! Anyway, I’ve got a couple more cards in blue to show you.

I found this cute penguin stamp at Michael’s and fell in love with it. I stamped/embossed it in black and filled in the image with markers, this time, to get the more vibrant colours I wanted. I glued on some cotton batting to the fluffy collar and hat trim areas, with mini pompoms on the hat ends. After cutting out the image, I placed them on a 3-1/2″ scalloped circle embossed with the D’vine Swirls plate & the Cuttlebug. I also embossed the base card, added some snowflake ribbon and tacked on the sentiment, stamped onto velum, with two white brads. Inside, I covered the brad backs with snowflakes, added the simple sentiment and stamped/embossed snowflakes (from a tnowflake stamp set byInkadinkado) directly onto the card using Versa Mark & white embossing powder with a bit of glitter.

I ordered the stamp for this card from Stampin’ Up at the end of the season, last year, and finally had the chance to use it. It’s a bit more complicated, needing a lot more painting than some of the other stamps I’ve used but I love the whimsy of all the children gathered around Santa and the sentiment that came with the set. I embossed the base card with the swirls, glued on some blue glitter and added a bit of ribbon. Inside, I stamped the sentiment (from the Polar Bear Holiday set from Close To My Heart) & cut it out using an oval stencil. I placed it on the oval die-cut I made, using the middle-sized Beaded Ovals (Nestibilities) by Spellbinders, which I sponged lightly with blue ink. I added a few stamped/embossed snowflakes, also from the Polar Bear Holiday set.

Next week, I should have a few more of my painted-silk card creations, so stay tuned! 🙂

Oops! Too busy, yesterday, for Crafty Wednesday post

I spent a good part of yesterday searching for a particular item to complete a Christmas card I’m making, but still could not find it. It’s funny, I can find pink, red, and yellow google eyes, but brown? Not possible. I’ll have to settle with black. 😦

I was supposed to visit my sister-in-law, today, to use her Cricut for some Christmas card design elements, but blustery conditions made me hesitant to travel the highway out to her place and the huge snow dump would make traveling the back roads a little precarious. So, instead, I stayed home to compose a Crafty post, even though it’s a day late, that focuses on more traditional green and red cards.

To start the first card, I stamp/embossed the pine embellishment using black embossing powder & Versa Mark.  (The stamp was from a Close To My Heart set called Yuletide Greetings) I painted the boughs with a flat green water colour. The rest was painted with my shiny paints. Once the paint was dry, I carefully cut around the image, making the edges look as feathered as possible to highlight the pine needles. I decided it looked best on a white background, so measured out a rectangle that was just larger than the image and trimmed the corners with a corner-rounding punch. I cut a dark green piece of card stock that was just slightly larger (about 1/8″ more on all sides) than the white, trimming the corners. I recently picked up a 12×12″ Christmas paper pad by Recollections called Sugar Plums with this lovely pale green plaid that I thought would compliment the image. I decided to place it all on a plain white card stock base (1/2 sheet of 8-1/2×11″). Before attaching any of the pieces with a glue runner &/or Sookwang, I sponged around all the edges with green ink. Both the front & inside sentiments were stamp/embossed in black, using Versa Mark and Stampin’ Up‘s Many Merry Messages. The final touch of the front was the red silk bow, attached with Zots sticky dots. Inside, I recreated the pattern of plaid paper, along with the green and white card stock, similar to the front. I also stamp/embossed & painted a holly sprig (by Craft Smart), cut out the image and embellished the swirls with red self-adhesive ‘jewels’.

For the second card, I began with the horn image from Yuletide Greetings, stamped & embossed it with black embossing powder & Versa Mark. Again, I painted the pine needles in a flat water colour and the rest with shiny paint. Once dry, I cut it out and placed it on a 2″ circle punched from music paper. I punched out a 2-3/8″ red scalloped circle and embossed it with my Cuttlebug and the Victoria embossing plate. From the Sugar Plums paper pack, I chose this swirly green-on-green patterned paper, cut to 4 x 5-1/4″ and sponged the edges with green ink. I added a red satin bow to the top left corner, sticking the long ends onto the card with Zots. The ‘Merry Christmas’ was stamp/embossed in black using a stamp from Inky Antics‘ Ornament Birdy onto a 1″ scalloped oval punched from cream-coloured card stock. Inside, I layered the white card stock (stamp/embossed with a sentiment from Many Merry Messages), red paper and swirly green paper after trimming the corners. I also stamped a small holly design on either side of the sentiment using a stamp I bought from the St. James Rubber Stamp Co. here in Winnipeg.

The last card is a little different. I tried the Holiday version of Flower Soft to create the wreath and red flocking powder for the bow. I used a stencil to draw the outlines for each, filled in the designs with white glue and sprinkled on the Flower Soft & flocking powder, respectively, setting them aside to dry. (I left them overnight to make sure I didn’t mash them, which tends to happen when I’m impatient. Another hint I should mention is, I did not press the glue down, but left it puffy so it created a more 3D effect.)

I cut around both the bow image and the wreath, attaching them to a piece of cream & white snowflake-patterned paper with Sookwang, because their weight needed a strong adhesive. I rounded the paper corners with a punch, as well as the solid green behind it and the Christmas paper beneath that. I attached all the papers to the cream-coloured card stock base. (4-1/4 x 5-1/2″). I sponged green ink around the edges of the base. The sentiments, both inside & on the front were stamp/embossed in black using Ornament Birdy stamps. The ornament stamps were from both the Ornament Birdy and Inky Antic‘s Decorating Snowman sets, stamped & embossed in black, then painted. I strung some red & white twine through the sentiment’s green background and used black thread to tie the ornaments onto the twine. The thread was taped to the back of each ornament with Sookwang and stuck onto the card base.

I really liked the way the Flower Soft wreath & flocked bow turned out. What about you? 🙂

Crafty Wednesday – Blue Christmas

Today, I have a couple of very different cards, which both have a blue base or background. I used my D’vine Swirls embossing plate for the first card and Polka Dots for the second, running them through my Cuttlebug. Although the D’vine Swirls plate is the one that came with my machine, I think it’s the one embossing plate that I use the most, especially with winter-themed cards because it looks like swirling snow. The Polka Dots plate looks like snowflakes, so I use it fairly often at this time of year, too.

With this first card, I was experimenting with the packet of Mr. Ellie Pooh’s Elephant Dung Paper I got at the Zoo a couple of summers ago. Each sheet of paper was heart shaped so I was mostly using it for wedding, anniversary and Valentine’s Day cards. However, a blogging friend encouraged me to think outside the box, so I did. Along with the pink poop hearts, there were some sheets that were a cream or off-white colour, which leant themselves to other ideas. Above, the tree was stamped on the cream-colored paper. The polar bears were stamp-embossed on the off-white. The paper is not completely smooth and the texture works really well as fur. You will notice that I added a bit of sparkle to the tree and painted the sweater & scarf with my shiny paints. After adding a piece of sparkly ribbon to one edge and cutting out the sentiment to look like a cloud, the front was done. It might be hard to notice, but I also stamp-embossed snowflakes onto the sentiment ‘cloud’. In case any of you were wondering, the tree is from a stamp set by Stampin’ Up called Christmas Lodge and the polar bears and sentiments were from a Close To My Heart stamp set called Polar Bear Holiday.

The inside, above, shows another of the bears from the CTMH set, along with the sentiment & presents. Again, I used the poop paper for the bear and added the colour with my shiny paints. There is also a splash of sparkle in the way of stamp-embossed snowflakes on either side of the sentiment, which was cut out using a 2″ circle punch.

This card is my favourite. Not only do I love the cute snowman (Decorating Snowman by Inky Antics), who looks very festive in his shiny blue coat, but also because of the surprise on the inside. I stamp-embossed his outline, then filled him in with my shiny paints. I cut him out and placed him on white card stock with red card stock (cut 1/2″ taller & 1/2″ wider than the white) behind it. I stamp-embossed the sentiment on white card stock and placed it on red, cutting it so that 1/4″ showed on all edges. To the sentiment, I added a red ribbon bow, attaching it with a silver brad and paper snowflake before placing it on the card with 3D squares.

Honey POP (by Inky Antics) honeycomb paper is so much fun, because it flares out when you open the card and it’s not all that difficult to do. Last year, I made Christmas trees with the plain green Honey POP. This year, I found Peppermint Strip, a red & white honeycomb paper, which could also be used to make candy canes. For the inside of this card, I stamp-embossed the snowman image directly onto the card, lining him up with where I wanted the ornament to go. I also stamped the ornament hanger and assorted ornaments onto the card, then painted everything. The sentiment was done in a similar manner to that on the front of the card, but I added small ornaments cut out of sparkly paper with a mini Sizzix die-cutter & my Cuttlebug to embellish the sentiment.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’m off to do more crafting as there’s only 4 more weeks until Christmas & I’m only halfway through all the cards I need to make! Hope you’re all having a great day. 🙂

Crafty Wednesday – getting ready for the Christmas post

As you may already know, I married into a huge family and have a lot of friends, which means I have many cards to create, each year, including cards for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, etc. With Christmas just over a month away, I have to make sure I have prepared enough cards and completed in time to be posted and delivered before Christmas Day.

A while back, I showed you the cards I made during a Creative Gathering event and also the painted silk card elements I have prepared for future cards. To date, I have made 26 cards, including the ones I made last weekend, when I completed 10 that were part of the Close To My Heart Frosted card-making kit.

In the kit, one receives paper & card stock, a stamp set, embellishments, & an instruction booklet.

I love the Close To My Heart kits because the instructions are very detailed, from the best way to cut out all the pieces . . .

. . . to the layout.

While I liked the different layouts, I didn’t love them, so I changed things up a bit to better accommodate my personal tastes.

Card 1 demo

The first set of 5 cards (above) required the use of a green paper, stamped with the border stamp that came with the enclosed stamp set. I am not very good at stamping over and over, so thought it would be easier to emboss the pieces with my Cuttlebug. I also did not particularly like the green, so switched it up with some dark teal card stock I had on hand. Also, the stamps were supposed to be in an ink colour I did not have, so I used my Versa Mark sticky pad and blue embossing powder, instead.

my version of card 1

For the next set of cards, I pretty much followed the directions . . . .

. . . but, for some reason, ran out of the brown craft paper, so substituted a different paper for a couple of the cards. Again, I did not have the right ink colour for the background snowflake pattern, so I used a silver ink pad. Here are the two variations:

 The last set of 5 cards that I made used wide strips of coloured paper.

The red bit seemed far too plain for me once it was on the first card, so I decided to emboss it with the medium-sized snowflake stamp that came with the kit, Versa Mark and silver embossing powder. For the next card, I decided to emboss it with the Curly Cuttlebug embossing plate. I found, though, that the card stock had a white core that broke through in places, so I sponged the piece with CTMH‘s White pigment ink pad to disguise the white showing through the paper and make it appear more winter storm-like. The third piece, I thought I would use a red ink on the swirls, which actually brightened up the paper considerably. I then embossed the last two pieces, sponging one with the white, the other with red.

Which of the three variations do you prefer?

Crafty Wednesday – Something new

Hi, Everyone!

I’m very excited to tell you all about last Sunday when a friend and I took a class in silk painting, specifically for turning into cards. Our instructor was Wendy Lee. She is an expert in the art of silk painting. Her website is here, if you’d like to check out some of her beautiful designs.

The materials needed for a project like this:

– Sheer silk material (05 or 10 gauge)
– an embroidery hoop or frame to keep the silk taut

– a pencil or marker like the one above that will completely disappear after 24 hours or so
– cheap brushes for watercolors with rounded tips, not flat
– Dye-Na-Flow silk watercolor dyes

– Water-based Resist (I used one by Jacquard. They come in a variety of colors including clear)
– small squeeze bottle with fine-tipped nozzle
– a card base with a window approximately 3-4″ (I used my Cuttlebug & die-cutters to create the windows)
– a container of clean water for rinsing your paintbrushes
– coarse salt (like for pickling)
– a glue runner for attaching your silk picture to the card
– card stock cut 1/8″ smaller than the front of your card to cover the back of your silk painting and provide stiffness.
– a palette, ice cube tray or small containers to hold a small amount of dye and for mixing colors
– a simple sketch that will fit the card’s window
– whatever you’d like to use for embellishing the card, if desired, such as stamps, contrasting paper or card stock, stickers, etc.

Let’s get started.

 

1. Trace your sketch onto the silk using either a pencil or the disappearing-ink pen

 

 
2. Place your silk in the embroidery hoop or attach to a frame so that it is held taut.

3. Using the squirt bottle with fine nozzle, trace the design with the Resist. This will be the outline for your design, as the dyes will not seep past it. Let it dry completely. Either let it air-dry or use a hair dryer on a low speed so that it will not push the resist where you don’t want it to go. The resist is dry when the glossy appearance is dulled and it is no longer sticky to the touch.

4. Paint as desired. If you want a more crisp and precise outline, you may use a permanent marker on the resist lines once it’s dry.

5. While dye is still wet on your silk, sprinkle a little salt and it will create an intricate pattern, similar to the Northern Lights. The salt draws the color to it and creates a streaky appearance. You can see it more clearly in the other projects I did on Sunday:

6. Allow the dyes to dry completely, usually within a couple hours or you can leave it to dry overnight, just to be sure.

7. Once dry, brush off the salt crystals. Do not re-use as they will absorb the color they were on and transfer it to a new project with, perhaps, unacceptable results.

8. In order to permanently set the color, iron it (without the steam option) for several minutes. You might want to place a clean scrap of material over the painting so the resist does not melt onto your iron.

Completing the card

While my penguin family dries, I thought I would finish off my penguin couple to show you how to attach the silk to the card.

1. Trim the excess silk, so it will not overhang the edges of your card.

2. Run your glue runner (It doesn’t have to be a huge one, like I’m using. Cheap ones can be found at any Dollare Store) around the back edges of your window.

3. Place your painting so that it is positioned the way you want it to be within the window. Once it is in the desired position and taut, run the glue runner along the outer edges of the silk so they will attach to the card, holding the painting securely.

4. Attach the extra card stock with your glue runner, so the silk is completely covered, adding a finished look to the inside of your card.

Embellishing

I decided to add some color and texture to the front of the card, so I cut a piece of pale blue card stock that was a bit smaller than the card front. I used the Cuttlebug to cut out the same sized scalloped oval. It took a bit of fiddling, once the oval was cut out, to make sure the outer edges of the card stock were evenly spaced and that the oval scallops lined up perfectly. It probably would have worked better if I had cut out both the card and the blue card stock at the same time but, unfortunately, I didn’t think that far ahead! I then placed the blue card stock into my Dots embossing folder and ran it through the Cuttlebug.

In order to give some contrast, I used a sponge dauber and Close To My Heart‘s Pacifica ink to sponge around the edges of both the base card and the blue card stock. 

In order to secure the blue onto the card, I only used the glue runner along the top half of the oval and the top back edges of the blue card stock. Carefully lining up the unglued portions I pressed the tops together. Then I glued the bottom parts and pressed firmly.

I stamped the images (CTMH‘s Frosted) of a snowflake and a sentiment using Versa Mark. I sprinkled on black embossing powder and set it with my heat tool. 

I carefully cut around the images and attached them to the card using 3-D sticky squares.

Here’s the final result (sorry it’s a bit blurry):

It’s always fun to learn something new. What is something new that YOU learned lately?

Crafty Wednesday – cards for boys, big and small

Welcome to another Crafty Wednesday. I apologize to my reader/writer friends. I know I’ve been neglecting my duties as a writer, lately, with only sporadic reviews and interviews. I just can’t get my head into that space, these days.

Since I still had a few cards that I haven’t shown you from the summer gathering, I thought I’d get them done, today. Next week, I may be able to give a tutorial on some pretty, pull-out style cards I made, based on a beautiful one my sister-in-law made for me, a while ago.

Let’s begin with the big boy card. I started with a cream-coloured base, 5″ x 7″, pre-cut from a package that included envelopes. I trimmed all the corners with a corner-rounding punch, as I did with all the other rectangular elements. The brown background piece was cut an inch smaller than the base card out of embossed card stock from a paper pack by Tim Holtz. All the embossed card stock from the pack has a white core, which looks very cool when you sand down the top layer. I didn’t do that with this card, though. I attached the brown background to the card base with Sookwang double-sided tape.

The Art Philosophy cartridge for the Cricut (available exclusively through Close To My Heart) had this amazing alphabet graphic that I had to try out while I was at my sister-in-law’s place, since I, myself, don’t own a Cricut. I cut it from turquoise card stock and placed it on a piece of cream patterned paper, then placed it onto the top right-hand corner of the background colour.  I cut a 7″ piece of striped ribbon and secured it over the brown background as well as the background for the alphabet graphic. Onto a small rectangle of cream-coloured card stock, I stamped ‘Birthday wishes’ using one of my sister-in-law’s stamps. (If you wanted to make a similar card any birthday greeting would suffice.) I set it on a beige background with a kind of crackle design and attached it over the ribbon with 3-D squares. The final touch was adding the self-adhesive wooden star (from CTMH) to the top left-hand corner, over the ribbon.

I have two young nephews who both enjoy cars and trucks. For this card, I started with a white card stock base of 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″ (half an 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheet, folded in half). I used one of the thin embossing folders from my Cuttlebug‘s edging set to emboss the top & bottom of the card, then gently sponged blue ink over the raised part of the design. I cut green paper to fit within the embossed areas, allowing a 1/2″ to show on the ends. I attached it to the card with Sookwang.

Close To My Heart has a cool stamp set called Fast and Furious, that includes the race car, a dump truck, various sentiments (including the one I used here) and tire track stamps. For the race car, I stamped its design onto white card stock with Versa Mark, sprinkled the image with blue embossing powder, and heated it until set. I punched out a small circle in which a wrote the #7. Onto a separate piece of white card stock, I stamped and embossed the wheels in black, which I cut out and attached to the car. Before attaching the car, I stamped the ‘tire tracks’ across the green paper all the way to the edges of the card. I used 3-D squares to place the car onto the tracks. I also embossed the sentiment with blue embossing powder & cut it out to place above the car. I stamped two different sized stars, cut them out and placed them on either side of the sentiment.

For this card, I started with the same sized base as above using white card stock. I cut a piece of turquoise card stock two inches smaller than the base card. I used the large tire track stamp from the CTMH set to create the tracks on the turquoise card stock, then attached it to the card with Sookwang. I tried to use the dump truck stamp from the set, but it didn’t turn out too well. (I need to get a dark yellow ink pad so I can stamp it better because the stamp itself is not just an outline.) Instead, I used a the digger and pylon stickers from Darice‘s sticker book called Tough Stuff. The ‘non-STOP-fun’ sign from the stamp set was stamped in red ink onto white card stock, then cut out and placed on a Popsicle stick broken in half. I used white glue to affix the stick onto the card. Finally, I stamped the ‘beep!’s along the right-hand edge of the card.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m off to get ready for a Grandson visit. Hard to believe Daughter will be celebrating her 3rd anniversary, today! 🙂

PS. I just noticed something new that WordPress has added to my site. I apologize for any advertisements that might pop up. It is not something I can control until I decide to purchase the ‘No Ads’ version of my WordPress site. (sigh!)

Crafty Wednesday

Happy ‘Hump Day’ everyone!

It’s been awhile since I shared some of my anniversary designs, so I thought I’d show you a few that I handed out at the family gathering on August 3rd.

The first card is done in the turquoise colour I love so much. I’ve used it a lot and you might recognize the patterned paper when I show off some of my other projects. I think I’m down to the very last of it, unfortunately.

Anyway, I started with a 5-1/2″ x 11″ square base of white card stock, folded in half. I cut the striped paper to match exactly (5-1/2″ x 5-1/2″), attaching it with Sookwang. Using my Cuttlebug and the ‘Fancy Labels’ cut & emboss die, I cut out the label. I sponged the embossed areas and stamped the greeting (which was from a clear acrylic stamp set of sentiments from Recollections) with aquamarine-coloured ink. Using the Spellbinders cut & emboss dies, I cut out the large and small lacy patterns, stamping through the emboss openings with the same ink pad as above.

I cut a piece of blue/green card stock measuring 1″ smaller than the card base and trimmed the corners with my corner punch. Placing the piece in my splatter box, I sprayed it with a white glitter paint to give the card stock a bit of interest. Once it was dry, I began assembling the card, starting with the blue/green card stock on top of the striped paper. I stuck the small lacy bit to the centre of the big lacy piece, attaching it all with Sookwang. The label I attached with 3-D double-sided sticky squares.

For the second anniversary card, I used a standard size base (5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″) folded in half. I attached a 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″ piece of blue/green flowered paper to the front with Sookwang. I like it because it has a bit of glitter to it, although that’s hard to see from the photo. Using my Cuttlebug & Spellbinders lacy oval cut & emboss die, I made the label with blue paper. Instead of inking the open embossing areas, I used an embossing tool to raise the pattern. I traced an oval, using the centre of the Spellbinder die cutter as a guide and cut it out with scissors. I then stamped ‘Happy Anniversary’ on it, using an old Stampin’ Up stamp and a Versa Mark sticky pad. I sprinkled on blue embossing powder, shook off the excess and used my heat tool to set the powder. I used a glue runner to attach the sentiment to the label. Before putting the label on the card, I stuck two wire & mesh butterflies through the holes at the top right hand corner, attaching the wire with Sookwang to the back of the label. I also attached a paper flower to the label with a yellow brad. I used Sookwang to attach the label. Finally, I tied a bow near the end of  a piece of blue & green 1/2″ ribbon and measured the length of the ribbon with the bow so it would fit the width of the card with a bit of an overhang (approximately 6″ long, not including bow). I attached a piece of Sookwang to the back of the ribbon on either side of the bow and a 1/2″ piece to each end of the card where I wanted the ribbon to go so the ends wouldn’t unravel. I stuck glue dots to the bow, then placed the ribbon across the bottom of the card, trimming any overhang.

For the third card, I started with dark blue card stock, cut to the standard size (same as butterfly card). I then used my spatter box and sprayer to get the starry night effect.

While the paint dried, I utilized my Stampin’ Up Owl punch. I cut out 2 of the patterns, one from the cream coloured paper, the other from brown paper. I swapped the colours to make opposite-looking owls, attaching the pieces with either glue runner or glue dots. I also cut out several branches from the ‘Friendship’ punch (also from Stampin’ Up). The label was cut from pale blue card stock using my Cuttlebug and ‘Fancy Labels’ die & emboss plate. I sponged green ink on the exposed areas of the label and stamped ‘Happy Anniversary’ in the same ink. The stamp was the same as I used for the first card. Since I don’t yet have a Cricut to cut out such shapes for me, I used a stencil of a large circle (I think it was 3″ in diameter), which I traced, and carefully cut out the ‘moon’. Once the splatter paint was dry, I assembled the card, starting with the moon, which was attached with Sookwang. I used glue dots to attach the owls, hearts, and branches. I used 3-D squares to attach the label.

Since I did a few cards utilizing my home-made spray box, I probably should give a tutorial on how the splatter patterning is done, but not today. Hope you enjoyed this week’s cards. 🙂

A Late Crafty Wednesday

Sorry the past couple of Wednesdays have been rather busy with various life stuff. Last week, I was expecting my sister-in-law to come over for some crafting and needed to clean up the house and make sure my craft room was in order so we could both work in it. It was great having the space to share it with her! Today, I was chasing all over the city to find a particular shower gift for my niece from her gift registry. I still couldn’t find what I wanted, so I hope she will like what I got, anyway. When I got home, I started working on her card. Then, there was dinner to make, dishes to wash, yadda, yadda, yadda…

Anyway, I thought I would start with this masculine card, 5-1/2″ x 5-1/2″, using brown card stock. I added a strip of multi-coloured paper measuring 5″ x 3″ and a 2″ strip of star-patterned paper that was 5″ in length. I added a 3″ square of brown paper stamped with a handwriting stamp. I cut out a 2-1/2″ orange circle using a punch and stamped small stars around the outer edge in red ink. The label was cut with the Cuttlebug and the ‘Fanciful Labels’ die cutter. Before removing it from the die-cutter, I sponged brown ink over the exposed embossing design to bring up the pattern and stamped ‘Hip hip HOORAY …’ using Close To My Heart’s Birthday Greetings set. I added a tiny star brad to the label. Then, I cut out strips of a circle patterned paper and a 5-1/2″ piece of brown & white striped ribbon. I taped the 3″ & 2″ patterned papers together with cellophane tape on the back. I attached the handwriting paper in the centre of that and wrapped the ribbon over the seam, attaching it with a strip of Sookwang. I also used Sookwang to attach the patterned papers to the base card. I added the circle with pop-up squares, then placed the label over the circle using a glue runner, as well as the circle strips in the upper left hand corner.

The second card is much more feminine. I started with cream-coloured card stock for the base, 5-1/2 x 8-1/2″ folded in half. I added a patterned piece of paper with calendar markings and cut it 1/2″ smaller than the card base. I cut 3 rectangles of different patterned paper measuring 3″ x 1-1/4″, placing them 1/2″ apart. To the yellow rectangle I added three plastic flowers, attaching them with small star brads. To the green rectangle I wrapped a piece of green embroidery thread, strung with 3 flower beads and attached it with Glue Dots. To the brown striped paper I added 3 brass brads. Over that, I added the corset, stamped with a stamp from Stampin’ Up‘s ‘Rue des Fleurs’ set, and a piece of sheet music, punched with a corner punch to get the ‘bites’ all around it.

I still have quite a few cards to finish by the August long weekend, which is when we will be having our family gathering. From June to September, we have 24 birthdays and 6 anniversaries, just on Hubby’s side of the family. That doesn’t include the shower card I need for Sunday and those friends and family on my side who are celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. So, if I don’t get a chance to do another Crafty Wednesday next week, I hope you’ll understand why I didn’t have time. 🙂

Crafty Wednesday – a Mother’s Day tutorial

Since Mother’s Day is coming up, I thought I’d show you how to make a very special card, like the one I made at the Creative Gathering a few weeks ago. It is a beautiful fold-out card that isn’t too hard to do as long as you know how to use a cutter and scorer. Here is the one I made at the Gathering:

closed

‘Double Z-fold card’ open
*Notice the sleeve (on the lower right)
that held the card closed)

Materials List

2 sheets of same-coloured card stock (8-1/2″ x 11″) for base
1 sheet contrasting card stock for sleeve
1 sheets of patterned paper (12″ x 12″) coordinating with card stock base
Paper cutter
Scoring tool
Border punch
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors
Glue runner
Sookwang (or strong, double sided adhesive tape)
Pop-up dots or 3D squares
Embellishments, like small flowers and curly-cues
3″ x 2″ coordinating label

I cut my label using this die-cutter set (‘Decorative Labels, set #4’) from Sizzix for the base, cut out the center from contrasting card stock, and used my 1-1/2″ scalloped oval punch for the centre. I sponged a bit of red ink around the edges of the cream-coloured card stock and stamped ‘for you’ onto the scalloped oval using the same red ink.

 

 

 

Directions

1. For the card base, cut 2 rectangles that are 10″ x 6″ and one strip that is 1/2″ x 3-7/8″. From the contrasting card stock, cut a 9″ x 2″ strip, two strips that are 1/2″ x 5-7/8″, and a 2″ x 3″ rectangle*
*Note: this 2″ x 3″ rectangle is the background for the journaling strip. If you don’t have appropriate stamps or don’t want to write out the sentiment by hand, you could print out a sentiment from your word processor onto cream-coloured card stock and then cut it 1/4″ to 1/2″ smaller than the background colour.

2. On each of the 2 large rectangles, score three lines 2″, 4″ & 6″ from the narrow end & fold accordion style so that the last outside sections meet at the centre of the card. Don’t worry if they don’t meet up exactly. On the 9″ x 2″ strip, make score lines 2-1/4″ from each end.

Directions: follow bottom row of numbers for folds (top numbers are for a larger card)

 

3. On each of the 2 large rectangles, draw a diagonal line starting 1/4″ from first fold down to the outer edge, measuring 2-1/4″ up from the bottom. Using a paper cutter, cut along the diagonal line.

4. With the border punch, clip the diagonal edges of the large rectangles starting at the first fold at the top. Also, punch out the top & bottom edges of the 9″ x 2″ strip and one of the long edges on both the 1/2″ x 5-7/8″ strips and the 1/2″ x 3-7/8″ strip. Trim as necessary.

5. Out of the patterned paper, cut 4 strips that are 1-7/8″ x 5-1/2″, 4 strips that are 1-7/8″ x 4-1/4″ & 4 strips that are 1-7/8″ x 3″ and two* rectangles measuring 5-7/8″ x 3-7/8″.
*Note: If you only have enough paper for one rectangle, you don’t really need to put the patterned paper on the back of the card.

6. Cut off each 1-7/8″ strip’s corner (from top corner down 1-1/4″ to edge), making sure that you have the diagonals of two strips that are opposite to the other pair, as shown above.

7. To begin card assembly, place the wide sections of card base together, making sure that the fold is not blocked by the overlapping segment, and stick securely with Sookwang.

8. Attach strips to corresponding sections of the card, making sure that the top diagonal does not obscure the lacy pattern of the border. If the segment is a fraction too long, it can always be trimmed. Either glue runner or Sookwang can be used to attach the strips. If there is a segment on which you will be attaching a heavy embellishment, I’d recommend the stronger adhesive of the Sookwang, otherwise the glue runner should be sufficient.

Inside with pattern strips attached

9. To the centre segment, add the 1/2″ lacy strips that you punched out earlier. Place the two contrasting colours along each side and the base colour along the top. Affix the sentiment background in the centre.

The lacy borders can face either direction,
depending on your taste

10. Take your 9″ x 2″ strip and wrap loosely around your folded card and attach ends together, making sure the sleeve slides easily over the card. Center the label and affix to the sleeve.

11. Add embellishments to the middle segments of the card and onto the label, as you desire. If you use fabric or paper flowers with a wire stem, instead of cutting the wire short, wrap it around a thin paintbrush handle for a vine-like appearance.

Note the curled wire to the lower left of the flower

Here is the inside of the completed card, including the sentiment, which I printed from my computer. Unfortunately, ink smudged the edges a bit so I had to trim the sentiment a little more than I like.

 

I also cut out the curly embellishments for the top and bottom of the sentiment with my Cuttlebug, using the ‘Vintage’ mini die cutter set.

I hope all you mothers out there have a wonderful Mother’s Day – and all you children, if you still have a mom in your life, show her you appreciate everything she does for you. Take her out for a meal or cook for her. Pamper her or make her something pretty, like this card! 🙂

Crafty Wednesday – some scrappy examples

Hello, Crafty People!

Before we get started, I’d like to WELCOME all my new followers! 🙂

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be crafty to check out some of the things I do here on Wednesdays. Mostly it’s cards, but on occasion, I do display scrapbook pages I have done. It’s all done for fun, so I hope you enjoy what I have to show you. 🙂

Let’s start with the card above. It’s colourful and pink but uses up some of those paper scraps you might have been saving. I started with a base of pink card stock (5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″, folded in half). The banners were made with 1″ strips cut various lengths and I snipped the ‘V’ into the one end, and lined them up rather helter-skelter, attaching them with a glue-runner. I tore a white piece of card stock approximately 1-1/2″ wide and stamped the right hand side with ‘Happy Birthday’ (from a Recollections clear stamp set) in purple ink. Before attaching it to the card, I tied a piece of purple and white ribbon into a bow around the card stock strip. I use Sookwang double-sided adhesive tape to adhere the strip across the banners.

This second card uses much the same process, except I put it on blue card stock to show you that it can also be appropriate for a boy or a man on you birthday card list. I had some fuzzy ribbon that I adhered to the top of the card to hide the edges of the banners. A while ago I picked up a package of self-adhesive foam birthday shapes, including balloons, so I used three of them, tied white embroidery cotton to them and stuck them on the card. I created a label that was cut and embossed using my Cuttlebug and the Fanciful Labels cut & emboss folder. While still in the folder, I lifted the film covering it and sponged navy ink over the exposed areas. The sentiment (Curvy Verses from Stampin’ Up) was then stamped onto the label. I used 3-D sticky squares to affix the label to the card.

For this masculine card, I started with brown card stock this time (same dimensions as above) for the base of the card. I cut three small squares out of white card stock using my Stampin’ Up Postage Stamp punch. The binoculars, plane, and sentiment were stamped in brown ink. The picture designs were from Stampin’ Up‘s Plane and Simple stamp set. The ‘Happy Birthday’ is also from Stampin’ Up, but it’s a single one I got at some point, probably from a bargain bin, somewhere.

While this card did not use scrap strips, I was able to use some left-over brown card stock, which I cut into squares that were just a bit larger than the stamped squares, about 1/4″ more on all sides.  The contrasting strip behind the squares was cut from a wallpaper sample page. I used a turquoise and brown ribbon to embellish the other half of the card.

And there you have it! Three simple cards using paper scraps you probably had lying around the house. Feel free to use these photos like a Sketch Challenge and design your own cards. If you don’t know what a Sketch Challenge is (or forget), click on the link to bring you back to my post where I talk about the Sketch Challenges I took part in at the Fall Creative Gathering last October, where you don’t have to use the same colours at all or the same stamps or ribbon. Be creative! These are just examples of what you crafty folk can try at home, if you are so inclined.

Even if you don’t make your own cards or scrapbook at all, I hope you liked this post. 🙂