Origami shirt - P*skarteluhaaste #11

A superquick post since I already should be somewhere else, here's my entry for P*skarteluhaaste #11. This weeks challenge was to make a card for man/father, and since I had 5 cards to make for Father's Day, I chose somenthing quick: origami shirt with embossed greeting.

Papers: Tiimari / DCWV
Ribbon: Reprint
Stamp: Finnstamper

1, 2, 3 - P*skarteluhaaste #10

Now, this definitely is not cool. Had such a busy week filled with action through and trough that I had practically no time to craft at all. If working's like this then I might as well give up... well, perhaps not, but I'm not happy with the current situation. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, either I'm neglecting crafting or I'm neglecting everything else (freetime, family, friends, housework (which I'm neglecting all the same...)). Not cool, not one bit. Where could I get some more hours to a day? Anyone?

Managed to squeeze in just a tiniest bit of crafting, though, my ever-so-patient better half had a birthday and I just needed to make a card for him. Bought him a Transformers robot (yes, we're both grown-ups, at least by the years...), so of course the card needed a robot, too. I was inspired by robots in Finnstamper's Sari's blog, but I tried not to copy (now, how many different ways can you make a robot?!). This is also my entry for P*skarteluhaaste #10, where the recipe was to use 1 patterned paper, 2 ribbons and 3 brads. Nobody said anything about using embossed metal or corrugated card, though. I used ball chain as my second ribbon and added screw-shaped brads for a bit of a tech/mech feeling.

Stamp: Finnstamper
Ribbon: Artemio
Brads: You Do

Drunken pike - Mojo Monday #105

This card was a sum of happy accidents. When I saw this week's sketch at Mojo Monday, I immediately thought "Fish scales!". Then I realised I needed a card for an eager fisherman. And finally, I accidentally finally bought alcohol inks last weekend, perfect for colouring some fish scales for my card. I aimed for the pike here, using mainly yellow and green, and added some scalish texture by rubbing the circles with a bone folder on wire mesh (need to practice that a bit more). Of course, I needed to practice with the inks and see the colours for real, so I used kitchen foil for that, and later punched a square from it to back my rub-on. I first tried to fit the rub-on to a square of cream paper but it simply wouldn't fit, totally the wrong shape for that, so I just rubbed it onto the paper and cut it out. Trickiest part was to find the right ribbon for the card as my stash failed me again, but in the end I managed to come up with a decent option, the dots on the ribbon remind of the spots on trout's back and sides.

Paper: Karen Foster Design 'Green Fish Pattern'
Snakeskin paper: Sinelli
Square punch: Craftime
Sheet metal: Folia
Alcohol inks: Adirondack 'Meadow Green', 'Butterscotch', 'Ginger'
Rub-on: Royal & Langnickel Brush Mfg. 'Fishing Collage'
Dotted ribbon: Tiimari

Have a goth day

I've been saying over and over again that I'm not too keen on 3D decoupage, but when I saw this one at my local craft shops's window I took it all back (at least for these designs). This time I even took the trouble of hiding cut edges with a black marker and even bending the pieces a little (normally I don't bother, but with people it's useful).

As a proper goth should, I went for a monochrome look. I wanted something bit rugged for the card, so I used a piece of bubble wrap to stamp a background for the boy and tore and chalked the edges (I used grey). Since straight edges would have looked dull on the stripy paper, I took the liberty to cut them with scalloped scissors (although it's not especially goth) and inked them with a white Cat Eye (like I did to the black card blank as well. Dymo was ideal for the greeting but I needed to make it pop from the card, so I backed it with white scraps from the decoupage sheet (a bit of recycling here as well :) ). Since a goth needs his studs, I fixed a piece of ribbon with silver brads.

3D sheet: Card Deco(?)
Paper: DCWV Black & White Prints paper stack
Scissors: Fiskars
Chalks: Pebbles Inc.
Inks: ColorBox Cat Eyes, Versamark
Ribbon: Reprint
Brads: Tiimari

Neon Knights

I think that the present that accompanied this card was tickets to Heaven and Hell's gig, so matching the card with the present was a good starting point for the design. I'm not 100% sure that the present actually was the ticket, but I know I matched the card with it somehow...

I tried to match the colours with this 70's photo (from the internet), so ended up using this stripy paper and used a photo corner punch to a) help with the retro feeling and b) fix the photo easily. I wiped brown ink on the edges of the photo to distress it a bit and slotted it in the panel. To break the straight lines and to add some interest, I fixed a couple of flowers onto the card (and the brads echo the stripes really nicely). I think any metal-loving birthday boy would approve them :)

Paper: Dovecraft Blush
Punch: Fiskars
Flowers: Prima Esprit
Brads: Lakeland

A band of fools

I made this card for a friend who's a Beatles fan. Don't really know why but these fellows by Paper Artsy somehow remind me of them (and no, the title isn't my opinion on the Beatles).

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.

Fisherman's friend

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.

Mystery man

This card started with the gift, the small box of mints. Since the gift was would be sent along with the card, I decided to include it in the card design.

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.

Monochrome birthday

I actually did ponder for a while whether goths have or celebrate birthdays. Of course they do, so here's at least a dark if not handsome card for a goth.

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.

Birthday pilot

My brother is a student pilot, so this teddy with the balloons gave me immediate inspiration for his birthday card.

The picture is from a swap, so I just coloured it in with watercolour pencils. The movement lines were a bit too bold, but a waterbrushing helped a little. I mounted the picture on bright primary colours and added brads to keep the masculine but cheery feel. The strip behind the image is actually a length of coarse fibre ribbon, it has really nice colours and texture. The Dymo greeting wasn't too hard to come up with...

You rock!

Well, perhaps the card isn't as much rock than folk or country... Anyhow, it does have a guitar, making it perfect for a music fan (or a player of Guitar Hero, although they might prefer a rougher look).

I cut and assembled the 3D picture, this time even folding the uppermost layer a bit (I usually don't bother). I left out the rectangular background layer because the picture worked far better on a CD without it. I had come across this amazing lacquer that you can add on paper (not sure if the paper has to be non-porous like in this case) and it gave lifelike finish to the guitar. I attached a piece of note-patterned white vellum on the card blank, glued the CD onto the card with PVA glue (it did buckle the card a bit so probably not the best way) and topped it with the 3D picture.

Three little piggies

I made a card for a friend whose a passionate Pink Floyd fan. At first I thought to use a snippet of lyrics, but when I came across the album Animals, the song titles were just perfect.


I coloured the stamped image (from a swap) in with Derwent watercolour pencils and softened them a little with waterbrush, but not too much as I wanted the colours to remain intense. I matted the image onto a piece of Turnowsky gift wrap (I just love those papers and cards!), inked the edges and mounted it on a card blank. For the greeting, I printed the banners with Word and chalked them.

Something fishy

I can't remember how I came by these nice fish buttons, but they were perfect for a true fisherman's card.

Simple is the usual choice of design for male cards, and I followed the suit. I tied pieces of green embroidery floss through the button holes and glued the buttons on a green-speckled tag. I mounted the first tag onto a dark green bigger tag, fixed an eyelet through both of the tags and tied a piece of hessian yarn through it. I fixed the tags on the textured card blank and stamped the greeting below it with olive green Fluid Chalk. The recipient obviously liked the card as it ended up as a bookmark...

Time flies...

Oh dear, it seems that my addiction to words and puns is getting worse. Please excuse me, I just can't help myself. And I'm afraid that the worst puns are still to come... Aren't butterflies flies as well? (Although I'm not sure whether these critters are butterflies.)

A surprisingly simple birthday card and also one-sided, which is not usual for me. The blots on the violet (the colours are a bit on the blue side) patterned paper just begged to be stamped upon, so who was I to argue? To keep the card at least gender-neutral (if not masculine), I chose the doodled insect stamp, I'm not sure whether I used blue or lilac ink.

In thruth, the strip of striped paper would have looked better if placed a bit to the left, but I let the insects to decide. A blue and a white skeleton leaves and the recipient's age in peel-offs provided the finishing touches.