Beautiful Iris

Beautiful Iris

This is a sheet from http://www.craftsuprint.co.uk/

The sheet doesnt actually have a name nor a maker but the item number should you wish to look this sheet up is 286777

The whole design is one just one A4 sheet – and once made up makes a large DL card with an overhang too!

I printed the sheet and cut out the patterned panel that is printed with the whole image and background in one...that left just 3 pieces of decoupage that form the flower and a butterfly.

Once the decoupage was cut out I used a shaper tool to give the petals a real curve then attached used blobs of silicone glue.

The card blank was a sheet of A3 lilac card stock, scored and folded to create the large DL – and the flower actually falls onto the blank piece of card which was why it needed A3 rather than A4 – I suppose I could have used A4 and let the flower over hang the card but I felt it may suffer damage that way....

Anyway once the panel was fixed to the card itself and the decoupage was put in place all I had left to do was added the decoupaged butterfly and to cover a larger empty space I just popped a small pop up butterfly.

To decorate I used glossy accents to cover the beautiful purple flower and the pretty butterfly

I haven't used a sentiment yet as not sure what occasion I might want this for...sadly the sheet wasn't supplied with any despite having the lovely scroll type sentiment panel on the card itself...

Thank you as always for stopping by – see you next time I hope

Bye folks.... x ….......

Mini Garden Bouquet

Mini Easel

This is a sheet from http://www.craftsuprint.co.uk/ and is a variation of the lovely Giant Easel Tableau kits – in that its a mini version!

The sheet is called Garden Bouquet Mini Tableau 3d Kit by Valerie Dawes and the item number should you wish to look this sheet up is 245744

The sheet consists of the easel base, the back panel and 2 pop up panels and 4 sentiment tabs

I stuck the whole sheet direct to white card stock using the Crafters Companion Stick and Spray – the cut out all elements

In the base of the easel are printed cut lines – these were cut using a craft knife – and the pop up panels were simply popping into them and secured underneath the base.

For such a pretty and somewhat complicated looking card there is little work involved – I admit that the pop up panels aren’t that easy to cut out but if you take the time its well worth it in the end....

With a choice of the 4 sentiment tabs I chose the Happy Birthday as this really is a lovely card to send to ladies of any age for their birthday

I used a sheet of glossy card to create a base cover for the easel - I decided to use my Alcohol inks to create this lovely pink and gold mottled pattern - the thing with Alcohol inks is you never get the same design twice!!!

Im so sorry this was such a short explanation – but that was what made is so nice – quick and easy but beautiful!

The card when finished measures small enough to fit into an A5 envelope

Thank you as always for stopping by – see you next time I hope

Bye folks.... x ….......

Flowers on a Plate!

This is a sheet from http://www.craftsuprint.co.uk/ and once made it forms a pretty 8x8 card

The sheet is called Mauve Flowers Round Topper & Decoupage by Sandie Burchell the item number should you wish to look this sheet up is 214890

You get the base image and elements on the one sheet so cheap to actually print out and make – even if its just to stock up your last minute cards box!

When I first bought this sheet I couldn’t wait to get it made up – and once made I was

 S T U C K !!!

Right to the make up instructions!

I used a plain 8x8 card and envelope from a pack I bought online from http://www.cupcakecrafting.co.uk/

After cutting out the base image – which happens to be circular – and the small amount of decoupage – the flowers and the bow, I stuck the base to the centre of my white card then added the decoupage using tiny 1mm thick sticky pads.

Then what??

I looked and looked – but really couldn’t see how I was going to finish this card....

So it went in my box of TO BE FINISHED cards...now I will add here that more often than not, I don’t go back to this box other then to bag up the part done cards and pass on to a couple of ladies I know that make and sell cards to raise money for their chosen charities – they welcome these part made cards as they can embellish in their own style and feel they have made the cards...

But I did go back to this card – but really don’t know why! I brought it to the craft room and decided I WOULD finish it this time...

So I got out the box of silver peel off corners – and was delighted to spot I had 2 sheets of one design – they were huge corners and made by Trimcraft – so I added one to each corner with a tiny scroll off the same sheet in between the corners

I was looking for enough bright pink pearls or gems to use on the plate but had nothing suitable in a large quantity – then spotted a full pack of tiny self adhesive clear gems – so found a nice cerise pro marker and happily coloured the gems...perfect!

Next I used a pokey tool to lift the gems over to my card and position the gems – only problem I had was the colour tended to colour my fingers! But I carried on and was quite pleased with the finished look of the gems....

Using a Sakura quickie glue pen I picked out sections on the flowers then sprinkled with iridescent glamour dust and after a rummage in my sentiments drawer I found a small circular greeting with Best Wishes which was lovely as the card is now usable for most occasions!

Hope you like my “2nd” attempt with this card....there is a mistake – can you spot it? If you leave a comment here and spot my mistake – I will send you this card – it is still usable!!!

Bye folks.... x …. x ....

New baby Girl

Hello again

Im safely back from my few days away – and I am so ready to get on and craft – maybe not tonight though as I feel drained! It really was a super few days away – so thank you to Ida & David for sharing their beautiful home with us – to Lynn and friends for the happy chatter and gifts – and finally a HUGE extra special thank you to a wonderful friend JAE – it wouldnt have happened had it not been for you – it was fab been with you!!

So – to the card....

Today I am sharing a beautiful new baby card I made last week for another very special frind Pat and her hubby George who became very proud Great Grandparents to HAYLEY

The kit is from Crafts You Print and is called... Giant Easel Tableau 3D Baby Girl Card Kit by Valerie Dawes

Like most of the giant easel kits it consists of 6 sheets to be printed which is a lot – especially when you see that you need just one element from one of the sheets – but never mind – its well worth it!

I used the Crafters Companion Stick & Stay to attach 2 pages of printing to white card stock – then cut out everything I needed – there is a lot of cutting to do – some of it quite tricky – but again its worth taking your time and doing it properly!

Once the base (easel) was cut out I scored and folded well – I tend to score then fold one way, open it up and fold the opposite way – then back to how I need it!

The plate was next – this was on card to make it sturdier – and I have taken to adding a small square of Velcro tape to the bottom of the plate with the other part of it to the base of the easel – I find this keeps the main image in place as sometimes they are top heavy and fall over...

Anyway – back to the card – I added the decoupage – shaping with a bone folder before sticking in place with 1mm thick sticky pads

I really wasn’t happy with several areas of the card – like one of the stand up panels that had printed flowers but they were so pale and washed out – so I used my Woodware Daisy punches in 3 different sizes to make 5 shades of pink clusters held in place with a white flower shaped brad. They look so much nicer – in my opinion, they were held in place with silicone glue.

Also on the plate the bib and booties were printed ok but the bows on them were hardly visible – so I took a length of very narrow white satin ribbon, chose a promarker that was close to the shade of pink in the decoupage and simply ran the chisel tip nib across the ribbon – perfect pink ribbon!!! I then tied the tiniest of bows and stuck them in place again with silicone glue.

My last few additions – to the balloon sentiment panel I added my chosen text before printing the sheet but I attached a pretty pastel pink dotty ribbon bow to the balloons covering the printed one and also the same ribbon was used to make a bow for around the Teddy Bears neck. I added a few pretty gems to some of the flowers and a flick of glitter here and there

I printed a lovely verse to a sheet of copier paper and cut it out then stuck to the underneath support panel of the easel

I was so pleased with the finished card as was Pat – I think she will be keeping this card along with a few others that she was given in the card class!

Thank you for looking.....any comments or questions – please feel free to ask!

Till the next time.....

Debbees Challenge!

I was sent a link for a new blog and more exciting a blog challenge!!

So head on over to http://debbeescdsblogspot.blogspot.com/ and see for yourself!

I downloaded the fab free sheets and this is what I came up with....

It is an ATC easel

Really easy to make but I think it looks pretty cool if I do say so myself....

And I called my store...B.H.S. or Blog Happy Store

Thanks for looking....

x

Do Not Disturb

Kizzy Dizzy - Do Not Disturb

This card was a lovely kit bought from Kizzy Dizzy Designs.... the website address is www.aimeeasher.com

This kit is called Do Not Disturb

To make this card I printed the main card front, the insert and the decoupage sheet – together with the box base and lid!

I cut out all pieces for the card and the box then stuck the card front to my card blank – that was a sheet of dusty pink card stock that I cut down to the required size – 5x7 in

The insert was folded in half and then the sides folded gate fold – I used Safmat to add the verse as it should have had a verse inserted before printing – never mind!! Then I used double sided tape on the reverse of just one of the gate folds and attached it to the inside of the card leaving just a small border at the edge – once that was secured I did the same at the other side – insert perfect!!

Next I stuck the shoe shape to a piece of scrap card and cut it out – the same was done with the top of the shoe panel – that was then fixed behind the base with strong red double sided tape – the front bowed nicely

I used thick sticky pads on the underneath of the shoe and tripled the thickness in the heel area so it stood out.....

On to the decoupage – not much of it either – so I attached it all with sticky pads and the bow on the show was stuck with tape.

I used different gems for the card – red flowers were added to the inner sole and perfume bottle label, a heart gem was stick to the neck of the large bottle and clear gems to the shoe and bag bows. Tiny black pearls were used on the labels throughout as decoration and then I went crazy with some Debbi Moore pink shabby chic glitter – this was used on the pink stripes and the dots on the bag and top border

The box base and lid went together perfectly first time – I had printed them onto matt photo paper and then used contrasting card to stick the sheet to so when the box was made up you saw the design on the outsides and the card stock on the inside

The box lid was a very tight fit so to help ease it off I used a small circular punch to cut into the sides – and for the tag, I punched a hole then slotted some narrow pale pink ribbon and attached to the box lid with sticky pads.

All in all a great boxed card that took little more than half an hour to complete but looks like hours worth of work went into it

Thank you for looking....

Donkey - hee-haw

Hello and thank you for popping in again...nice to see you as always!

Today's card is something I made from a wonderful new CD collection....by a designer I hadn't heard of - but will most certainly be buying from in the future!!

The CD is called Debbees - An Assortment of Animal - this is a double CD and is available from

http://debbeescds.co.uk/

The CD is a selection of folders - each is a cute animal - I chose to use the Donkey folder....anyway in each folder you get a decoupage sheet, 5 landscape and 5 portrait papers, 2 sheets of toppers, stackers, shakers, tags, teabags etc....

This card used the decoupage sheet and 2 different backing papers, a sheet of A4 white card, an A6 piece of silver mirri card and the cut off white card to punch for the border.

The white card was scored to create an easel card, then I measured 7cms in from the right hand side and cut the panel off leaving the easel at the left side. I then used an EK Success border punch to create the border - then added a length of brown spotty ribbon round the border and put to one side for later.

I used the largest of Labels 8 Mega Nestabilities to cut the silver mirri board and the next size down to cut out the main image....these were then matted together with collall photo glue.

The base of the easel was covered with one of the papers and the folded easel was covered with the other paper. I rounded all the corners of the card with my Corner Chomper

Next the topper was attached to the easel leaving an even border around it, then the very easy to cut decoupage was built up using sticky pads, shaping the top layers.

The sheet came with lots of pretty flowers so I added a few to the bottom left corner and the rest were used to form the easel stopper. I used my favourite chessboard gems in the centre of all the flowers and 2 pretty pearls were put in the centre of the flowers from Donkeys mouth along with some Pink Cosmic Shimmer coloured PVA....

I had a pink glittered butterfly that was punched so added that to the topper...

Lastly the punched border with ribbon was built up on pads and secured to the right hand side of the card - a circular Big Hugs sentiment was coloured pink with distress inks and clear chessboard gems highlighted it and sits on top!

Parts of the face and tail were highlighted with glossy accents as were the eyes and pink of the ears...

The card folds flat to fit nicely into an A5 envelope

Thanks for popping in....tomorrow I will be uploading early in the morning as I am going away for a few days to visit online friends and I cant break my new years resolution - can I???

Bye x

Posy Of Flowers!

Thank you for tuning in for today's project

This is another recent purchase from www.craftsuprint.co.uk and the kit is called a 3d Pop Out Card Kit and was designed by Carol Clarke

This kit has 4 sheets for the card and 2 pieces for the envelope so quite a lot of printing out

I think looking back I would have been better to stick the main frame to card stock but at the time I felt it would be ok just using the matt photo paper - don't get me wrong - it stands up ok but maybe with card stock it would have been stronger...

So to the make up of the card....it has a main front, back and then 3 floral fronts that are staggered heights. The instructions stress you do all scoring BEFORE you start any cutting out

I cut out the decoupage and panels which I did find quite boring as every layered panel was the same...and also sometimes I lost it as there is a white faux lace panel that runs behind the floral border and it was difficult deciding if it was waste or the lace...

So all pieces are cut - and most importantly scored in the correct places - so I folded the tent base which was on the back panel and that attached behind the main front with double sided tape and then the shaped top of the back and the front were stick together - I used cosmic shimmer PVA to do this....

After that it was a case of folding the 3 different sized supports

Starting with the largest layered panel, I attached the support to the reverse of the sheet and then used red double sided tape to stick the support to the front of the main front panel

Next was the middle panel which had the middle sized support and finally down to the smallest front and support

Once they are all in place it was simply a case of lightly pull the smallest panel out and the whole card bowes out - very clever indeed....

The envelope went together fairly straightforward really  and does look pretty....

To finish I simply used chessboard gems as centres for all the flowers and across the Happy Birthday banner and added some up the sides for good measure. As I had printed out the whole kit before thinking about the verse, I ended up adding my verse printed to a piece of Safmat and sticking it in place.....

I love the card and will certainly do it again - but would print a verse direct to the back panel and use card stock for more stability - and as there are several printed banner sentiments as well as a blank one its great for many occasions! And it folds flat for posting!!!!

See you next time....

Rock On

Back to the trend of the moment today....

Steampunk!

This time its a great card for men as it has a rock theme

Bought from www.craftsuprint.com it was designed by Kim Blundred

The official title for the sheet is Steampunk Rock 8x8 card topper and decoupage.

I cut out the decoupage to start and as its my favourite technique at the moment, I used a versamark pad to cover the layers and then covered with clear embossing powder - I did this 3 times and the gloss finish was wonderful - but - the guitar actually curled as it cooled down, so I tried to straighten it and it actually cracked - I did think of reheating it but then I left it as I think it all adds to the steampunk kind of theme....

So back to the card - I took a plain 8x8 card blank and stuck to the base image to it using double sided tape - the image did have to be cut down more than it should have been but that was my choice so I could get a border all around the edges....

The only decoupage for this card were the cogs in the top left corner and the guitar bottom right corner - so I attached these to the card with double sided sticky pads - have to say they do look pretty impressive with that high shine....

And finally the guitar was put in place again with sticky pads - I am still undecided about that cracked glaze but it really is all the go just now....

I did add a Happy Birthday sentiment to the bottom left corner - again I wasn't too sure if it worked or not but then I do like a sentiment on finished cards so took the chance.....

All that was left was the sentiment - so I printed a verse in the centre of the sheet and used one blank A4 sheet - lined then up together and trimmed to fit then stuck in place with double sided tape.

Hope this card is appealing to you as it was to me....

Thanks for viewing!

x

Tri Fold Tag Card

Another kit today but this time its not from Crafts You Print

This kit is designed by Card Buddy's and was bought from www.card-making-downloads.com 

http://www.card-making-downloads.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=542_43&products_id=15649

So in this fab kit there are 5 sheets - that is a front and back for the envelope, a backing paper for the reverse of the tags, the actual tag sheet and finally the decoupage elements sheet.

To start I printed the sheets onto matt photo paper then used stick and stay on the reverse of the tag sheet and the backing paper. I used a sheet of white A4 card and stuck the backing to one side and the tag sheet to the other then cut it out.

Once cut out I scored down the centre lines and folded - this broke the fibres in the paper but it worked out lovely as it left a green tint which all blended with the colour and style of the card.

Then next thing was to cut out the decoupage elements which were the the left and right tags and then the butterflies, words and circular flowers

These were attached to the card using large but thin double sided pads...

Once the elements were in place I set about embellishing the card and started by using my favourite gems, the chessboard ones - this time I went with the amber colour, they were placed in the centres of the flowers at the top of the outer edge tags and in the centre of the larger flowers in the centre tag.

I then changed to small pearls for the remaining flowers and highlighted the butterfly wings with a sakura quickie glue pen and sprinkled with glamour dust. I also added the glitter to the wording.

The last work on the tags was to add lilac buttons to the top left and right tags - I slotted a piece of very narrow purple ribbon through the button, tied a tight knot then cut the remaining ribbon off at an angle - the buttons were attached with silicone.

The envelope went together perfectly - it looks so pretty as it matches completely - and looks as good at the back as it does at the front

I hope you have enjoyed this kit - and I would just like to add that almost all the cards I have made and added to this blog are for sale with all money taken going direct to charity - if you are interested in any please get it touch!

Thanks for visiting - see you tomorrow I hope

x

Lilies & Feathers

Today's project was again a purchase from Crafts You Print

This time it is just a single sheet by June Young

 and the item number should you wish to purchase it is 288557

The finished card size is 8x8

The sheet has just the base image and 3 decoupage elements so fairly easy to cut out - having said that though there are a few tricky areas where care is needed in cutting.

The card blank was from a pack of 20 I bought from www.craftworkcards.co.uk

It was 20 scallop edged cards and envelopes I believe and they cost around £7 so excellent value taking in their size and quality.

I started by colouring the card blank with Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet distress ink pad - I used a blending tool with felt applicator to do this....

Next I attached the image base to the card more to the right hand side - I did find that because I had used the distress ink pad the double sided tape wouldn't stick so used Cosmic Shimmer PVA extra stock hold and it worked fine....

Instead of just adding the decoupage layers I first covered them with a Versamark ink pad then covered with UTEE and heat embossed - I did this 3 times in all to give the high gloss finish.

This was done to the ribbon bow, the iris cluster and the sentiment, then they were positioned and stuck in place with silicone.

As I had a blank space down the left edge I used raspberry coloured card candy - this is something else from www.craftworkcards.co.uk at around £1.65 per bag.

Normally I just pop a small double sided sticky pad at the back of the card candy and place on the card but as with the double sided tape they wouldn't stick so I added a tiny blob of the Cosmic Shimmer PVA to the pad then  pressed in place!

The last thing to be added was the Happy Birthday sentiment which was positioned at an angle in the top left corner.

A really pretty card to make and give - normally lilies are associated with sympathy cards but with the beautiful pink colour of these they are perfect for any occasion - I just chose to use birthday!!

As always - I would appreciate comments please!

x