Again a quickie (I seem to be always making cards in a hurry...), this time for a name giving party. I used rub-ons to spell the name on a ready-made tag with trains and inked the edges. I looped blue ribbon and orange ric rac through the hole and fixed the tag onto coordinating paper with a foam pad. The little duck button gives a "childish" feel to the card.
I stamped the sunflower on rectangle of white card and coloured it in. I glued a piece of yellow gingham ribbon on the panel and wound coordinating threads around it. Black would have been too stark for the colours so I matted the image onto dark brown paper instead. The patchwork paper cheered the card up nicely. I wrote my greeting onto a small plastic tag with a black marker and tied it to the knot of ribbons with wire (still no jump rings).
Again a simple and quick card. I stamped the heart with wisteria Fluid Chalk and back it with a darker shade. The lilac scroll card was just the right size for a card blank. I attached a piece of purple organdy ribbon on the card with metal spirals and secured it with glue which I hid behind the image. For finish, I spelled the message with alphabet bubble stickers.
I layered two paper flowers and fixed then with a large lilac gem brad. I wrapped a length of silver embroidery floss to criss cross the brad to add some sparkle. I backed the flower with a piece of white card, deckled the edge and added colour with blue chalk. I mounted the flower panel onto light blue scroll card and cut the numbers with Cricut from silver card (didn't have suitable number stickers or peel-offs, but realised that hey, I can make my own :) )
I wanted to use these patterned papers, but since the other one had a gaping hole to its side, I needed something wide enough to cover it up. I didn't have any nice cheery ribbons that would've been wide enough, so I had to use this white grosgrain ribbon. Because it was a bit boring on its own, I jazzed it up with some funny hat and pressie stickers that had been sitting in my stash for ages. Since the upper paper already had greetings more than enough, I didn't bother to make one more for the card, I just simply doodled a border to highlight one of the existing ones.
The original house was a bit too small for my taste (I wanted to include a window above the door) so I enlarged the house and card blank (since it needed to accommodate to the increased height of the house). I first thought of making the windows with six panes or a half-circle top pane, but it would've been too fiddly and not as good as the more simpler four-pane window. I also thought of adding details like holes in the roof, missing tiles, cobwebs or cracks in the wall, but I'm no good in drawing and the results weren't very good so I gave up and only added some outlines with white gel pen. I also would've wanted to make better door with a ghost peeking behind it, but again lacked the skills for these and just glued a piece of orange cardstock and a spider sticker to the doorway.
I made slight incisions near the spine and threaded a ribbon through them to go around the card for tying it up. For added Halloween feel, I cut a couple of bats from black paper and attached them to the bow with thread so that they hang loosely in the air.
This card started with the lion embellishment and the crocheted lace. I wanted something to balance lace's texture so I mounted the lion on corrugated card. Since I had scraps of paper lying around, I tried a different way of making the scalloped edge and cut narrow strips which I then glued behind the lion panel. The corners were a bit tricky but I think it works alright. I cut a square of light green silk paper and attached the lace to it with double-sided tape. For a neat edge, I mitred the corners of the lace.
I wanted the image to look more like an old photo and not just a stamp, so ordinary paper didn't seem to be the best choice. I think this parchment paper has the right qualities and it even was very easy to stamp onto, so I'll definitely be using it in the future as well. Must remember to try and cut the text away and mat it separately. I backed the image with mulberry paper but got a bit carried away when tearing the edges and ended up with a slightly too small piece, so I turned it askew. The pearlescent card blank, organdy ribbon, gold spiral and peel-off corners glam things up a bit.
This card and stamp mean so much to me that I'd like to write oodles about them, but words fail me here so I give up trying. I stamped the image with black Versamark and took care not to overink it to show all the details. I backed it with fern-patterned handmade paper and added peel-off corners to echo the gold in the paper. The panel needed still something, so I mounted it on a piece of white mulberry paper and plucked it short using a waterbrush, leaving only a narrow fluffy edge. I glued a skeleton leaf on a pearlescent blue card blank to echo the dragonfly wings and attached the image on top of it. To finish, I stuck a length of silver self-adhesive ribbon across the card and fixed a tiny heart charm on it with silver wire.
I took the old-fashioned kitchen tile and made it into a house with a triangle of striped paper for the roof. I tore a piece of light green paper to lift my "house" off the key-patterned paper. For a homely feel, I added a strip of red gingham ribbon which also gave a perfect spot to attach the number tags. To fill up the empty spaces I added the rub-on letters, the key button and the peel-off corners.
A simple and elegant wedding card. I stamped and embossed the rose on a square piece of white card and embossed the edges as well. I wrapped gold embroidery floss around a cabinet-sized card blank and gathered the threads together with double-sided tape. I covered the other side of the tape with a piece of pale pink mulberry paper and layered the stamped image on top with a foam pad.
Cutting the parts for the picture was the time consuming part, otherwise this card was very straigthforward: a pearlescent card blank, piece of coordinating blue grey Canson paper and a strip of self-adhesive ribbon were all that were needed. The flowers on the ribbon echo the peonies nicely.
This was a difficult stamp to use, with parts of the stamp over-inking while others were left out altogether. I had to try several times before got a decent image. For a bit of vintage feel, I decided to stamp it on light brown paper instead of white. I dont usually cut my stamped images out (they look a little odd to me) but here it works well. I first thought of stamping the image again on white with red ink to get red hats for the band but it didn't look very good, nor did coloring them, so I let them be. I covered the card blank with diamond paper to fit the clown theme and glued the band on top. For colour, I stamped the greeting in red, added a chipboard frame on top and glued three red gems to the bottom right corner.
I don't much like this 3D picture but the recipient did and that's the important thing. Although the folded corner doesn't work perfectly here (the picture was a bit too large), it's better than leaving the top right corner bare, as I didn't have a suitable greeting at hand. I took a piece of embroidery floss and sandwiched its ends between the fishes and foam pads, tied a loose knot and "hung" the catch from the big brad fixing it in place with the foam pads. I mounted a piece of striped green paper inside the card, since writing on a rough surface like this card blank doesn't look so good and it peeks so nicely behind the folded corner.
I had wanted to use that folded corner design for some time. I left the uneven half of the transferred pattern inside the card front and hid the worst bit behind the polkadot paper on the folded corner. I stamped the texts and added a bit of pink to some letters with a gel pen. The "happy" stamp actually had the word repetead several times, but I snipped the extra away. I matted the texts onto pink cardstock and glued to the card front, the brad is there just for show. I made the round aperture with a coin, inked the edges to hide the white core, glued a circle of polka dot paper inside the card and attached an acrylic sticker on top (it's amazing what you can find from a shop selling fashion accessories...).
So I had a go with twisting the wire into shape and it wasn't too hard. Attaching the wire was another story altogether: I figured that the safest bet would be using a thin layer of PVA glue but the damn thing just kept on coming loose. I guess the bristles kept the wire raised and they were too soft to take a good grip on the glue. Anyhow, there was a high potential of getting glue all over the whole card and wire, but I managed to avoid it. I drew a doodled frame around the panel and added yellow and red flowers to the corners. For one corner, I layered few flowers and fixed an orange brad through their centre.
I found a picture of the mint box from the manufacturer's web site and copied and enlarged it (and probably managed to break some copyright in the process). I printed it, cut it out and used it as a template for the card blank. I left a hinge at the top so that it opens like the box does. I glued the printed picture onto the card blank and embellished it a little: a bit of red glitter to highlight the "SO", peel-off numbers for the age and a rhinestone for the mint. Finally, I glued the mint box onto the card with a large foam pad.
Again, it's a quickie. I could've used the bird in a better way (like carrying a note or something) but the stamp is pretty, so I'll let it pass. I backed it with red paper and cut a deckled edge to it. I mounted it on flowery paper, attached a ribbon across it and secured with a flower brad in the middle. I stamped the greeting onto a white plastic mini tag (I think it's shrink plastic but since I bought them from a craft fair, I can't be sure) with black Stazon, and since I didn't have jump rings, I attached it around the brad with a piece of pink wire.
It took a while to make the templates for the card blanks and they did need a bit of careful tweaking to get the pieces to fit together seamlessly, but I managed to do it. The next question was how to decorate them. I had already decided that since there was two guys and a girl, the girl would be in the middle and the boys at either ends. Since I wanted to carry on with the puzzle theme, I needed paper which design could be aligned from one piece to another. Luckily I had this black and white gift wrap in two versions, they were perfect for these cards, black for the guys and white for the girl. It did take a bit of patience and careful aligning but it was well worth it. I decided to use this Zettiology stamp of three little clowns and decorate different clown with red in each of the cards.
The first one got red eyelets for pompoms...
...the second has nice glitter pompoms (a girl needs a bit of sparkle and bling)...
... and the third got red diamond pompoms (I was running out of things with the same shade of red, would have loved to use pompoms but didn't have small enough).
I love that stamp, but boy it's a tough one to use. It took several attempts to get the amount of ink and and pressure right and to achieve a good image. I stamped it onto slightly ribbed white card (it states in the wrapping that it's meant for business cards, but I doubt I'll ever use it for that purpose) in deep red and cut it into a rectangle. I stamped the greeting onto a scrap of the same card and backed both with red and silver handmade paper. I layered dotted vellum on top the card blank and attached it from the middle with two eyelets. Two pieces of narrow satin ribbon add the finishing touches. I had trouble getting the one at the spine go nicely through all four holes and to get the bow to the front, but it seems I made it in the end (although I can't remember how).
I layered a couple of flowers and fixed them onto a tag with a gem brad. The tag actually had holes at both ends so the flowers helped to conceal the other one. I selected several yarns, looped them through the remaining hole and tousled them a bit to make the tassel look fuller. I backed the tag with a coordinating paper, cut the greeting from another paper and backed it with lime hand-made paper for a bit more texture.
Since the real kitties were grey, I used smokey grey Versafine with the kitty stamps (although it looks like brown, must be the other colours). I do like it (I don't much use other inks nowadays) since it shows the details so well. I coloured the ball of yarn and the other cat's eye with coloured pencils and backed the images with chocolate brown paper. I "hung" the images from the paw print ribbon and mounted them onto brown diamond paper. The small metal spirals are there to add some interest and rhythm.
I stamped the birthday cake with a rainbow inkbad. It took a few trials to see which colours worked best but I did like the effect, I think I should try to use it more often. I inked the edges, glued the oval onto a scrap of purple paper and decided cut the scalloped edge with decorative scissors. Too bad I only found the right shade of purple on this paper since it was bit too soft for my scissors, the edge is a bit rough since the fibres didn't want to break without a fight. I was a bit worried whether I could achieve a neat and even border when cutting by hand, but in that respect the result was very good. The grosgrain ribbon came with a mag and it works really well with the cheerful patterned paper. I was so happy when I found the purple foam star from my stash, since it was just the right size for the peel-off numbers and even same purple as my scalloped background. Besides, I have loads of them and never seem to be finding ways to use them. I decided to have a go at stamping onto the ribbon, but black Versafine didn't work so well on its own. The text did show but only just, so I went over it with a black marker pen. I think I need to practice positioning the stamps more, the text was meant to be in the middle of the ribbon, which it isn't...
I stamped and embossed the butterfly image in gold on white watercolour paper. I coloured parts of the image with chalks: purple and blue for the bigger butterfly, blue for the smaller and mixes of blue, purple, green and light brown for the watches. I also dabbed chalks here and there on the background, but fainter than in the highlighted bits. I first thought of adding the mulberry paper squarely behind the image but after a bit of playing around decided that it looked much better when angled. I fixed the whole thing onto lilac handmade card blank and added a strip of self-adhesive ribbon.
I stamped and embossed four roses in gold onto cream paper and cut them into squares. I backed them with dark blue glitter paper and glued onto medium blue glitter card blank. Nice, quick and easy (and just about counts as crafting).
As it was for a joint 30th birthday, using text seemed the most obvious choice. I cut the numbers from coordinating patterned papers with Cricut and glued them onto cream Canson card (I like their subtle texture). Aligning them would have looked dull, so I tried to avoid it. I layered a couple of Prima flowers and attached them with a gem brad to a spot that looked a bit bare, the doodled symbols took care of a couple of similar places, and the thin border pulls everything together.
I added drops of Glossy Accents to imitate dew drops and edged the panel with gold dimensional paint. I made tiny incisions to the card blank's edges and twined silver embroidery floss around it. I snipped the loop from a heart button with wire cutters and fixed it with a glue dot so that it gathers the threads togehter.
I coloured the image in with watercolour pencils, trying to achieve the watercolour look. The rose worked fine, but I can only hope it's the flash again bleaching the mice, since they would definitely need more colour (I can't believe I'd have left the poor buggers looking so anemic). I heat embossed the deckled edge to add a touch of dignity to the card, and backed it with thick green paper to match the stem of the rose.
Now, if I only remembered to add the shadow more often... The deckled edge is actually chalked with lilac, but the flash has bleached it. Could've added more colour there.
So, nothing fancy here. A ready-made embellishment on scalloped card, backed with fluffy mulberry paper and baby blue polkadots, piece of light blue gingham ribbon, a couple of buttons with embroidery floss and words from Words to Go.
I stamped the sunflower image with black on white card an coloured it in with coloured pencils. I wanted the background to be blue rather than black, so I used the most vibrant blue I had, not a bad result there. The image had a checkered border and I wanted to extend it to the background as well, so I backed it with a gingham napkin. To add some interest, I added a small sunflower embellishment to panels corner.
I chalked the edges of the sticker panel to highlight the torn edges. I chose the patterned papers to coordinate with the sticker but mere browns would have looked dull, so the brighter striped paper with greens and yellows helps to cheer things up and break the horizontal lines. A bit of paw-pattern ribbon and a greeting with orange brads finishes the card nicely.
I stamped the lady with black Versafine on white watercolour paper. It's nice that the stamp frames itself so I only left a narrow white border. I coloured the headscarf and lips with plum and red rub-on colours using cotton buds as applicators. The black and white diamond paper adds a bit of harlequin feeling to the card. I tore a piece of rose-patterned vellum, fixed the stamped image on it and attached the whole thing to the right-hand side. I took a length of black and white ribbon, folded it into L-shape and secured the fold with a white mini heart brad. The bow under the brad is actually from a bra. Since I don't have a gromlet setter, I made the openings for the prongs with a thick needle and folded them flat with fingers. The result: a very nice card, if I may say. I actually didn't realise how much the ribbon looks like film strip until now. I don't mind, though :)
The blue background paper is again flocked (I'm hoarding the remainders of that paper for a special occasion, it's so gorgeous). I stamped the fairy on blue paper with black Versafine and left a narrow border. I used a corner punch to nick the corners and wound a length of embroidery floss around the panel, it looks a bit like moonlight. Then I attached the panel to the flocked paper, knotted the charm onto blue ribbon and fixed everything onto a card blank. The peel-off continues the vine theme to the envelope.
Another simple card, but only by its design. I still couldn't help myself with the ferns and other fiddly bits in the 3D picture but just had to cut them all out. It does look good but boy it takes time and patience. I fixed the finished picture in the card blank, added the age with peel-offs and punched the diamond border with a border punch and added a strip of rose patterned vellum to highlight it. A coloured-in peel-off rose finishes the envelope.
Again a card that barely qualifies as crafting: a ready-made bootie embellishment on diamond patterned paper, punched heart border for the side and three flower stickers with sequins. Just punching and sticking together left for me, so a bit of a bore albeit a quick one.
I've had a collection of handmade papers just sitting on the shelf but now I steeled myself (I DO have a thing for my stash...) and decided to use it as well. Still wondering why I cut the piece from the 12" pad and not from the A4 pad... An Autumn Leaves text stamp with a piece of black ribbon and black and white Prima polkadot flowers secured with brads and voilà, the card is ready. I like the way the white edges of the ribbon echo the pattern on the black paper.
This card was really simple to make since the turqoise flocked paper had so bold a pattern (reminds me of Designers Guild patterns). I layered few flowers and a piece of yellow ric rac and secured them on the paper with a funky flower brad. The largest flower wasn't bright enough so I added a bit more colour with a felt tip, two "coats" boosted the colour nicely. Greeting tile came from a mag, but it looked a bit lonely on its own, so I added a peel-off to lift it off the background.
I coloured the stamped image (from a swap) in with coloured pencils and backed it with orange paper. I punched the corners and attached the panel to a length of orange ribbon. I folded the ribbon and attached it to the card blank with an orange brad and added three star beads to the right with glue dots. The bookplate is attached with orange minibrads and the greeting was the first suitable Words to Go word I came up with. What this card would have still needed is some semblance of border for both the card and the stamped image plus something to back the stars (punched white+contrasting circles would probably work well).
