Crafty Wednesday – cards for young ladies

Welcome to another Crafty Wednesday! Sorry I missed posting last week. It was such a whirlwind day, I just didn’t have time, with some necessary shopping in the morning, lunch with friends and a board meeting in the evening. I really need to start organizing my posts ahead of time so they’re ready at the push of a button. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I thought I’d make up for last week by adding a few more cards than I would normally show you. Above, you’ll see a couple of cards I made using the Close To My Heart‘s stamp set called Fashionista, which includes 4 different ladies, the background and 3 sentiments, including ‘Beautiful’. I used black embossing powder for the ‘Beautiful’ sentiment, girls and background stamps from the set, as well as the ‘Happy Birthday’. I used my shiny paints to add a bit of colour to the silhouettes before cutting around them. I used a 2″ round paper punch to cut out the ‘Happy Birthday’ and a 2-1/2″ scalloped circle punch for the colourful flower behind the sentiment. I added a bit of bling in all the swirly parts of the sentiment, too. The background can vary, as you can see, depending on your whims. These cards both began with 1/2 a sheet of card stock with the backgrounds cut 1″ smaller than the bases. I sponged around the edges with complimentary inks.

We also had a graduate in the family, this year, so I made my niece the card above. I embossed the front of the base card (5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″) with Sissix‘s Butterflies & Dragonflies embossing plate. I cut the pink polka dot background to 3-1/2″ x 2-1/4″, allowing the embossing to show around it. The numbers were black embossed using CTMH‘s Varsity Alphabet stamp set. I used the small letters of the Trinity Alphabet, also by CTMH, to stamp & emboss ‘class of’. The embellishments are stickers that can be found almost anywhere.

The card above is for the second youngest little lady in our family. The base of the card is yellow card stock (8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″, folded in half). I cut a sheet of orange paper 4-1/2″ x 3-1/4″ and yellow gingham paper 3-1/2″ x 2-1/4″. I attached the yellow gingham to the orange paper, then wrapped red & white bakers twine around them. I used CTMH‘s Varsity Alphabet stamp #1 to stamp & emboss in black, carefully cut it out, then attached it at the centre where the twine crossed using small 3-D sticky squares.

My sister-in-law has a cute pair of stamps – this little girl and a little boy, which I will use on a different card at a later date. I stamped & embossed the girl, then added colour with my shiny paints.  I cut her out and attached her with 3-D sticky squares. For the ‘YOU ARE’, I used self-adhesive foam letters.

Finally, this card was made for a special young-at-heart lady who recently retired from SAM (Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba). She was an integral part of the non-profit organization, in charge of the crafty fundraising ladies who sew, knit and crochet items that are sold at many of their social functions & available for sale at the SAM office.

Now that she’s 90 something, she figured it was time to retire! I had only met her once when I was asked to make her card. Fortunately, I came across this dress-makers paper that I thought would make a great background for her card. I cut the dress-makers piece 4-1/2″ x 3-1/4″, the yellow card stock 5″ x 3-3/4″ and the green card stock base 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″, which I folded in half. I trimmed all the corners with my corner punch and sponged all the edges with green ink. I used Sookwang to attach the papers and card stock. The ‘Happy Retirement’ sentiment was stamped in black ink with a backing of yellow card stock. These, too, had their corners trimmed and edges sponged. I added the green polka dot brown ribbon, attaching it with wide Sookwang double-sided tape. I found 3 khaki-coloured buttons and attached them with sticky dots. I cut out a spool-shape out of cream-coloured card stock and wrapped green thread around it, attaching it with a 3-D sticky square.

Well, that’s it for this week. Hope you have a great ‘Hump Day’! 🙂

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Crafty Wednesday – Spellbinder Pendants

Welcome to the first Crafty Wednesday of the new month! Now, those of you who are really into fantasy realms, this is nothing like that! Spellbinders is a trademark name for a brand of die-cutting equipment, similar to the Cuttlebug devices put out by Provo Craft, or the Big Shot products by Sissix. The trick, if you don’t have a Spellbinders machine, is figuring out how to use the much thinner cutting blades on the other machines. I didn’t have a ‘C’ plate for my Cuttlebug, so added layers of corrugated cardboard until the blades cut all the way through the paper. For this anniversary card, I used the ‘Shapeabilities Pendant’ set of 4 cutters with an embossing feature.

I needed to add 4 pieces of corrugated cardboard to cut out the pieces and removed one piece of cardboard, so I could run it through my Cuttlebug again to emboss the piece.

To add a different colour to the embossed area, leave the paper piece attached to the cutting blade and sponge over the exposed section(s) with the desired colour, so it looks like this:

I cut out 2 different-coloured large pendants (above shape), 1 each of the two smaller pendants in different colours, and 2 of the curly accent pieces. I sponged the lighter coloured pieces in the same red, and the small accent pieces in a lighter pigment-based ink, like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the dark red piece of card stock (5″ x 3-3/4″) from which I cut the accent pieces as the main background for my card. For the base of the card, I used plain white card stock (8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″ folded in half). I sponged the edges of the card front and the inside with the same dark red ink.

I centered the dark red card stock onto the card base and placed the large pendant at the top. In the center of the large pendant I added the consecutively smaller pendant pieces, like this:

At the bottom where I had cut out the accent pieces, I used pop-up squares to raise up the red pieces so the white background showed around them.

To finish off the front, I took two of the heart-shaped pieces that were cut from the large pendant and hooked them together like linked hearts. I pressed them against sticky dot paper to pick up the sticky dots, and placed them at the bottom between the accent pieces. I stamped the ‘Happy Anniversary’, carefully cut it out and placed it beneath the large pendant.

On the inside, I used the second large pendant as the background for the sentiment (Stampin’ Up‘s Curvy Phrases), which I cut out using a 2″ circle punch and sponged around the edges using the same dark red ink. And there you have it!

Hope this Crafty Wednesday was worth the wait! 🙂

Crafty Wednesday

Well, it’s Crafty Wednesday again, but not just any Crafty Wednesday – it’s the 4th of July, so hope all my American friends are having a great holiday!

As I look at my list of birthdays and anniversaries coming up, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. Our HUGE family gathering is coming up in a month and I will have to have over 30 cards made, so I will have lots to show you over the next little while!

Today, we’ll start with this card for a woman who loves spending time at her cottage. I started with a piece of pale blue card stock, 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ and folded it in half. I cut a piece from some cloud-design printer paper that was 1 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ for the sky. I cut a piece of blue paper 2 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, then cut a wavy edge on one of the long sides. I cut a piece of light brown card stock 1 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ and covered one side with a same-sized piece of Sookwang double-sided tape. I took off the backing, leaving the tacky side exposed, then sprinkled yellow glitter onto it, rubbing it all around until there was no sticky places left and the piece was covered in glitter. I then shook off the excess glitter and attached it to the bottom of the card front with double-sided tape. I attached the sky piece with a glue runner.

I embossed the middle blue piece using a hand-embossing tool and the Sizzix embossing plate entitled ‘Distressed‘. As you can see, the blue tool has three small ball bearing things on the bottom. I put the paper on the embossing plate and rubbed it with the tool in a circular motion so that a rippled effect was created on the paper. I lightly brushed on silver ink with a sponge (one of those triangular spongy make-up applicators). Now the paper looks like water. 🙂

I used the Close To My Heart stamp set from the ‘Footloose’ Workshop on the Go package to make the embellishments. ‘PARADISE’ was stamped with Versa Mark onto white card stock, heat embossed using black embossing powder and carefully cut out. The sand dollar was stamped with brown ink onto sand-coloured paper and cut out. The shell was stamped with the same brown ink onto white card stock and cut out. The fish was stamped with olive-coloured ink onto white card stock and cut out. In order for it to look like the fish was jumping out of the water, I cut a slit in the blue paper with an X-acto knife, slipped the fish partway through then taped it on the back so it would not slip out. I then attached the entire ‘lake’ onto the card, overlapping the ‘sand’, using double-sided tape. For the flying goose, I used the stamp from the CTMH ‘Brave Adventure’ stamp set – black ink on white card stock and cut it out, attaching it to the ‘sky’ with sticky dots. I attached both the shell and the sand dollar to the ‘sand’ using large raised Glue Dots.

Next, comes the card for the ex-biker. No, he wasn’t in a gang. He’s my hubby’s longest and best friend. He was also the best man at our wedding. Both he and Hubby used to ride motorcycles so I thought it would be fun to use my CTMH ‘Born To Ride’ stamp set.

Grace’s Frame embossing folder for the Cuttlebug

I started by cutting dark green card stock 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ and folding it in half. I cut a piece of lighter green paper 5″ x 3 3/4″. I embossed the green paper by placing it in the ‘Grace’s Frame‘ embossing folder and running it through my Cuttlebug. I then attached it to the centre of the card with a glue runner. I cut a piece of yellow card stock with my 3 1/2″ (diagonal) scalloped square punch and attached it to the centre of the card with a glue runner.

The motorcycle was first stamped with Versa Mark and then heat embossed with black embossing powder. For the ‘Feel the WInd’ and flames I used Copper-coloured embossing powder. I then used my yellow shiny paint to add more colour to the flames.

My next project is for Best Man’s Wife. Both He and She will be celebrating their birthdays on the coming weekend. His birthday was actually the day before Grandson’s birthday and his Wife’s is next week. Since they’re so close together, they usually celebrate them both at the same time. Anyway, I started Her card by cutting a piece of burgundy card stock 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ and folded it in half.

I embossed it using the Big Shot’s edging embossing folder. I then did the same to the bottom of a 5 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ white piece of card stock using the same folder. Then I cut around the edge of the design and trimmed the white card stock by about 1/4″ on each side and 1/2″ on the top. I cut a ribbon to fit one edge of the white card stock and attached it with double-sided tape. On the right-hand side, I used the chrysanthemum from the Stampin’ Up ‘Confucious‘ stamp set, stamping the pattern right onto the white card stock with black ink. I painted the flowers with my shiny paints to give it a sheen. (No, not a Charlie Sheen!)

I stamped the dragonfly from the same set, but used the same brown ink from the beach card . I used SU‘s ‘Happy Birthday’ wood stamp to create the sentiment. I stamped it first with the Versa Mark sticky pad and heat embossed it using black embossing powder. I dug into my supply of coloured ‘jewels’ and found 7 purple ones, which I glued into the swirls of the happy birthday sentiment.

Well, that about does it for this afternoon. Now, it’s time to make dinner!