85th Birthday

The lady who ordered the Ruby Anniversary card, also wanted a card for her Mothers 85th Birthday, and again I went with an easel design. The base and face of the easel were covered in a rose print paper, and both edged with a silver peeloff border and corners. as the lady seems to be wearing a pale lilac and silver dress, I went with these colours for the card. I cut silver & lilac paper with a deckle edge blade on three sides, then punched a fancy border on the last side. These were layered up, then the photo matted on top. I wrapped White & lilac ribbon around the front and tied in a bow before I mounted it onto the easel. A triple embossed heart in White & silver finished the front. The base uses Nesties Petite scalloped rectangles, again in Silver & lilac with white/lilac roses (Craft Creations) in the corners.The word MOM was cut out with a Quickutz squeeze and Alphabet die. Its been a very long time since I last used that- I’m not even sure if they are still making them! I bought it very early in my crafting, to add names, ages etc to cards, then got annoyed at not having any real choice in size of letters, and that I would constantly have to buy new Alpha sets if I wanted a different style, and still not have much of a size range. So I ended up buying a Silhouette digital cutter- I found them on a really good promotion, loved the fact that I could cut any font on my PC, in any size I wanted. I have had it now for about 7 years, and I have to say it was the best money ever spent, when you consider the cost of Alphabet sets/shape dies for manual machines.

Engagement Congratulations

           I can post this now, its been given out.
The base card is a DL size, and is embossed with straight lines.
 I cut out two hearts from thick card, which works as well as chipboard for this.I inked each one using clear embossing ink and White Pearls embossing powder from Stamp’n’Stuff for the first layer. Then I added two more layers of clear UTEE. I used a swirl stamp-Scroll Pattern,2636K- from Penny Black, inked with Silver Pigment ink, to stamp into the last layer while it was still wet.
 The same stamp & ink was used to stamp onto a scrap of white pearl paper, and this was heat embossed too. I trimmed it down to a square with a deckle edge blade, then cut a slightly larger square of silver card to mat it onto. I mounted this to the top of the card and the hearts were added on top with silicone glue. A strip of the white pearl paper was punched with a Fiskars Hearts border punch for the bottom, and stamped the Congratulations phrase,which is a Whispers Words stamp from Do-crafts, in silver & heat embossed. I added the dots before the word with an Embossing pen, and heat embossed them in silver too. Finally tied a length of silver eyelash wool around the spine. This design could be easily adapted for Weddings, anniversaries etc. I think I may do a few more in different colour combos, as they are quite quick & easy to do- the longest bit is the triple embossing!

New Baby

This card is for a work colleague who is leaving soon to have her first baby.

 First I stamped the Baby Blocks & letters from Elusive Images in Staz-on Teal onto Acetate. I think this set is now discontinued, unfortunately. After the ink was dry, I stuck the acetate onto double sided film. Word of advice here, double check the orientation of the letter ‘B’ before you stick them down-you want them to read the correct way, after you add glitter to the back of the letter. And yes, I found that out the hard way. Oh well.
     Then I cut out the squares, and the letters, remembering to cut out the centres of the A & B’s.

I chose a selection of blue glitters. These were bought loose at either the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC, or via E-bay. I also bought the empty bottles in the same places. Much cheaper way to get a selection of colours. I found it annoying having to keep getting the jars out of the box to find the right colour-as you can see, my solution was a squiggle of pva on the lid, then sprinkled it with glitter from the jar.

In the end, I used the pale blue for the squares and the darkest one for the letters.

I covered half of a linen card base with pale blue gingham vellum, (PDA card & paper), and added a border of punched pale blue mulberry paper. The join was covered with sticky backed ‘It’s a boy’ ribbon.
The four squares were then mounted onto the front of the card with silicone glue.I added the letters to the squares, also with silicone glue.

The finishing touches were a folded bow from blue ribbon, a stork embellishment, and a peeloff greeting, coloured with a blue peeloff pen.

Stampscapes Easel #2

This is one that was on my desk for WOYWW this week. The background was brayered with Adirondack Shell Pink/Watermelon /Cranberry. Stampscapes u/m Nature Sheet  set #6 provided the images: Lakeside Cabin,147F,Reeds lge,068D, Ledge, 054F and Water Pattern sm,231C. The birds are from Lavinia Stamps,  Flight of Ducks. This was matted onto black card, the corners punched with a SW punch, then matted onto Burgundy card.Card base was covered in a Burgundy embroidered paper, then I punched the lace strip using the Martha Stewart String Lace Border punch. A strip of corrugated black card went on top, and the Friend Description, (Stamps Away/Clevercut) stamped in black then cut out with a Nestie petite Scalloped Oval die. I mounted this with silicone glue so I could angle it upwards slightly.

Easel Card 1

This is the first of the Easel cards made with some of the stuff off my desk for WOYWW this week. I thought I would have a go at easels, and they are really very easy & effective. I have put a short tutorial on a page HERE for the folds and construction. The stamped panel was brayered with Adirondack Sandal, Lemonade and Citrus then left to dry. The image is called Aspire by Penny Black, and was stamped three times across the panel. I inked up the stems using Distress Forest Moss, and added the flower colour using Cats Eye Terracotta then the flowers had sparkly embossing powder added and heated. The panel was then cut into three, with the centre one being slightly larger, and matted onto dark red card. I cut my base card to the width of my stamped image, then scored and folded to create the easel.The part the card will stand on was covered in a dark green paper. I trimmed down the offcut from my card to make the panel that is the stopper.A piece of clear vellum was embossed with the D’vine Swirls Embossing Folder, cut down to slightly larger than the card panel, then edge punched with a Fiskars Heart Border punch. I added this to the panel with a small piece of DST in the centre only, where it will be hidden by the sentiment.The sentiment was stamped & heat embossed onto an offcut of the red card, then onto an offcut of the dark green paper. A silver Heart brad was added at either end. The lacy panel was adhered to the card base with foam pads, then the sentiment added to this with silicone glue, so I could angle it upwards slightly. The image panel was then added to the card ‘front’ with DST, and a butterfly made from Fusible Fibres was stuck down with silicone glue.

   TIP: to emboss vellum successfully in a cuttlebug folder, either use a very thick vellum, as it is available in different weights just like card/paper, and PDA card & paper (link in the sidebar) do a nice thick one that works well, OR if your vellum is thinner, use two/three sheets in the folder at the same time- this helps prevent the vellum from tearing, as it does not stretch in the same way card or paper will.

Easel Card 2

A piece of white card was brayered with Adirondack Shell pink, then left to dry completely. The Penny Black stamp ‘Aspire’ 3381K, was stamped 3 times across the panel in Ancient Page Flannel, which is a dark grey, then the flowers only had a little sparkly embossing powder added to them and heated. I cut the image into three panels, with the centre one being wider than the two outer ones and matted them onto a piece of pale mauve card.This was trimmed to leave a narrow border, and a length of dotted mauve ribbon wrapped around and secured on the back with DST. A small bow was made and added with a glue dot.
My base card was cut down to the width of my stamped panel, scored and folded.The part of the card that will form the base it stands on was covered in a Purple lined paper, again adhered with DST.
To make the ‘stopper’, I cut a panel of silver card, and punched two strips of dark purple vellum to make the lacy edge. This was done with a fancy corner punch with the guides removed. The vellum strips were attached either side of the silver panel  with DST. I punched another strip of the purple vellum with a butterflies punch, from X-Cut, and stuck this along the centre of the silver card then edged with silver peeloff border. The whole thing was then trimmed to size and mounted to the base with foam pads. A sentiment was stamped and heat embossed, then cut out using a petite scalloped oval Nestie die. A hole was punched either end, and a small piece of the dotted ribbon threaded through, and mounted with silicone glue.

Easel card 3

This card uses a stamp called Flying Stars, Penny Black 3636K. I stamped in black Versafine twice  onto card that had been brayered with Adirondack Shell Pink, just using one colour to build up over the card. I added an acrylic gem to the centre of each flower, and a small padded butterfly to the top of the image.This was then matted onto black card and trimmed. The actual card was cut to the width of the stamped panel and scored & folded. For the base of the card, I cut a panel of pink flowery vellum, and edged it with a pink peel-off border.To make up the base ‘stopper’, I cut a small panel from the offcut of the base card, and added a punched border  made from white paper using a Dovecraft border punch.I wrapped a length of pink organza ribbon around this then added  a stamped sentiment using an offcut from the brayered pink card. Two Nesties from the Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Small set were used to cut this out & matt onto black card .Silicone glue was used to adhere this over the ribbon, then three acrylic heart gems added to the panel, also with silicone glue.Once the base was complete, I stuck the image to the easel with DST.

Illuminata

Illuminata (1003, Inkadinkado) is stamped in Versafine Black onto white linen effect card, to give a canvas feel. A mixture of blues and purple dye ink was sponged onto the image, then cut into three equal pieces. This was matted onto black card with space between them then trimmed. A piece of calligraphy vellum was torn and stuck to the right side of the card front. A piece of calligraphy paper was punched with a fleur di lis corner punch (with the guides removed) then cut to length and added to the left side of the image. The image was then mounted using foam pads.
NOTE: make sure you punch down the LEFT side of the paper, or your text will be upside down when you add it. Yes, that is the voice of experience,lol.
An offcut of linen card was again sponged with blue & purple ink, then the letters ART from Anna Griffin’s Flourish Alphabet were stamped in black and cut out into tags. Eyelets were added and some fibre threaded through before mounting with silicone glue below the main image.

Whispers in the Wind.

Two more cards made using the crafty Individuals Treeline stamp, again on oil pastel backgrounds.I love this technique, as you never get the same effect twice, and the streakiness gives wonderful ‘Evening sky’ backgrounds.

Sympathy

A return to the same stamp for a sympathy card, this time in shades of purple. Stamped in black stazon, on an oil pastel background, then matted onto black card and trimmed to a narrow border. Two shades of purple vellum punched with a rope border and fixed down the centre of a white card blank. The sentiment is stamped onto an offcut of the background and fixed with foam pads.