Blue Iris

Hi

It’s another late entry, I completely forgot until hubby asked what card had I put on my blog today, it’s a 1^st because like most men he doesn’t generally take much notice!!!

Its my good friend Ann’s birthday today – Happy Birthday Ann, and I decided to make her a card that is similar to lots of others I make – just because she always comments on them and says how nice she thinks they are.

I have used the Cupcake Crafting Bloomilicious cd – so now you know where I am coming from you should know what to expect!

This is set 7 the blue and lemon flowers – I think they may be Iris but if I am wrong please correct me.

I cut the centre from the insert, removed the printed white borders then folded into half and both sides in half again for the gatefold. I used a full sheet of backing paper to cover the inside of the card then added the insert which left a border along the left and right edges. I used some fine metallic thread and secured it at top and bottom of the insert centre and used 2 pretty lemon circular sentiments back to back with the thread running through it.

For the card front I used a deckle edged blade to cut a piece of backing paper to fit, stuck this in place using double sided tape.

Then I cut out a mat from lemon adorable scorable using an X-Cut die, this was stuck to the card front slightly over to the right as I used some beautiful lemon organza ribbon, I went around the spine with it and secured in the centre, and tied a lovely double bow and this was stuck over the join using a large sticky dot.

My decoupage was carefully cut out and built up using Pinflair gel I believe, the top most pieces were shaped before putting into place.

I struggled to find a suitable sentiment, I have lots of general sentiments in a rainbow of colours thanks to the fab parcel that arrived from Dianne Jackson of Diannes Diecuts, but I couldn’t quite match up with the flow of the card so my bumped box of all manner of sentiments, mainly what have been left over from sheets and kits or printed from cds, and I came across a sheet of butterfly shaped foiled sentiments – what could be better – a butterfly to go with the flowers!!!

And it was in the right colour too, that was glued to the bottom right hand corner with Cosmic Shimmer pva glue. 3 clear ab gems were glues to the bottom corner under the butterfly

And that completed the birthday card, I enjoyed the cutting out and they always look lovely with the cut out centres.

Right then friends, that’s me finished for tonight, time to turn off the craft room lights for another day!

But as always I will be here again tomorrow, hopefully at a better time too!

Hugs

Angie

x

Ukando Caz to Angie Challenge!

Hello

I just have to show you the fab card I had in the past a day or so ago.

You may recall I had made a card as part of my craft forum challenge, I was sent a kit to create something with and I made the card and shared it on here – it was called the Ukando challenge I believe...well I made up a kit and sent it off to a talented lady Caz to see what she could do with it

I sent out the topper, backing paper, a bit of ribbon, gems and some other bits I really can’t recall now.

I knew having Caz as my partner I would be getting a grand card back and I did!!!

She has matted the backing paper onto silver mirri card leaving a narrow border all round, the corners have been cut in rather than out which looks great.

The whole card has been through an embossing folder then the matted paper stuck on top – and then used more silver mirri, put that through an embossing folder then matted the image on top and tied a bow along side of it.

Caz has created a sentiment to match the colour scheme and matted it onto silver mirri card. A shaped border of silver mirri has been embossed and a length of purple spotty ribbon has been laid across it then the sentiment is on top.

Caz has used large pink AB gems in the corners of the panel and also on the spotty ribbon. Pretty white flower shaped gems have been stuck to flower heads on the backing paper.

And if that wasn’t good enough, Caz had imported the backing paper i sent into Greeting Card Factory and created a double page patterned insert with a super verse added.

I am sure you will all agree with me when I say this is a wonderful card and so creative to be made from a handful of basic card making bits.

Thank you Caz – I really do love it!!!

Be back again tomorrow with another new card

Hugs

Angie

x

Room With A View The Flower Shop

Good morning everyone

It’s wet and yakky so a good opportunity to catch up on some swaps until I go to class this evening.

Last night I had a call from my bestie asking for help with a card she was doing, and that reminded me I had bought a kit along the same lines so had to print and make it up

The kit is by Sue Douglas and it’s called 3d room with a view The Flower Shop.

After printing out the 6 sheets I cut away the pieces that didn’t need sticking to card, which really wasn’t many pieces, as always I used Crafters Companion Stick & Stay, I have found if you do small sprays rather than one long whoosh I don’t have problems with the paper peeling away from the card – I just wish I could come up with a way of uising it and not getting it over my fingers or nails as its hard to get off even with sticky stuff removers.

All the pieces were cut out and on the side pieces are lots of slots that need to be cut away for the supports to go through so I used a scalpel with a new blade for each side, no point taking all the time to cut it out and make a mess of the sides.

I used a selection of glues on this card, double sided tape, both red and normal, in 3 different widths, Cosmic Shimmer pva and the good old Pritt stick.

As I have made up lots of these cards before I didn’t need to refer to the instructions but having browsed them while waiting for the printing I can see how some parts are confusing....then again I must have used the instructions when I made my 1^st one and managed.

The card really has the WOW factor, and the doors push closed so it fits in an 8x8 envelope.

There really isn’t much more I can say about the card and making it up – other than it went together perfectly 1^st time and I just love the theme of it too.

My biggest problem was what sentiment to use – there were 16 in all covering almost every occasions so I took a safe option and used Just For You and stamped a basic verse to the back, I can use this card for Birthday, Get Well, Thank You...the list is endless, and if anyone wanted to buy it they will see it for whatever occasion too.

The verse was by Flower Soft, and fitted the panel perfectly as I forgot to add a verse before I printed it and didn’t want to waste the page

And that’s your lot for today

But I have something nice just waiting to be shared tomorrow so be sure to call back

Hugs

Angie

x

Pop Up Box for CAZ

Hello

Well the weather here today has been lovely, at one stage I was sat outside in a sun top for half an hour while my floors dried...good excuse not that I need one – for those who know me the minute the sun is out so am I...

Again today’s project isn’t a card – it’s one of the pop up boxes which is a mystery as to where it came from or even who designed it, it was another thing I found on my pc when looking for something else! You should all have a go at this, go to your Start/Windows button and click, this will open up a new window with a search box – type a word in the box then click on see more results, this brings up everything on your pc that has that word in it...sometimes when I am stuck for what to do I do that and spend a couple of hours sometimes looking at it all.

So as I said this is a pop up box which I made for a lovely lady who is a member of my online forum and also comes to our annual craft retreat – Caz...its her birthday today and I know she has received this as she replied to a message I sent her this morning.

I printed out the 3 sheets, and as I do when a sheet needs some strength I roughly cut around the pieces and used stick & stay to hold the paper to the card, then cut it out properly, a little hint here – if you have to score card, and especially card that has a printed paper stuck to it, score gently on the right side 3 or 4 times then turn the sheet over and score again a few times but a little harder this time, this should stop the card from splitting.

So now I have my main pop up box, backing paper stuck on the inside, all cut out and scored so I used strong double sided tape to hold it in place.

The 2 pieces of card that are used inside the box to hold decorations in place was also attached using strong tape.

Next I added the printed panels to the flaps of the box, I used normal double sided tape for this as these panels are for decoration not support.

There were just 2 pieces of decoration, both flowers so I stuck them to card the cut them both out. Before sticking inside the box I added a blob of pva to the centre of the flower and covered with cerise glitter. The next flower had the same treatment but with gold glitter.

While they were drying I cut out the 3 sentiment tags that were part of the kit, they had been backed onto card, I punched a hole in them all and added a dark red eyelet then slotted a length of pink and white butchers twine through the tags, I then punched a hole in the back panel, top left corner and tied the twine through it.

The glitter was dry on the flowers so I added strong tape across the bottom of each and stuck then to the supports I added earlier.

I also printed the envelope which I made up to send the card in – but had no actual postage stamps so had to use my online account and print off the address label and postage – doesn’t half spoil a pretty envelope, but it got there and the box was in tact so job done!

Happy Birthday Caz and my good friend Katie

More from me tomorrow

Hugs

Angie

x

Hard Card To Make

Hello

Today is a card we all dread having to make, a sympathy card.

If I had more time I would have had a good look through all my files and folders as I have collected quite a few now, but I needed to get one made and posted so used a lovely cd by Kraftyhands called In Sympathy

The cd offers card making sets, 2 part toppers, tag toppers, backing papers and verse gallery.

I chose the card making set, this was sheet 1 & 2 if you like it.

The set is to fit a square card, I believe it’s 5.5x5.5 but its a gatefold design so to start I use an unfolded sheet of card. I tend to stick the main part in the centre of the card, then I score either side of it, then stick the inside gatefold fold sheets in place.

I bend both sides towards the centre to make sure I don’t end up with a gap.

Next I add the side pieces first, they are a good fit so no measuring is needed. Now I am on to the topper, to start with I stuck it to a piece of card for support then I cut it out and added strong double sided tape to the left half only and stuck it centrally to my card front

And that is the card finished.

As I said it’s not the nicest card to have to make but I like this cd because it’s not the normal cross or lilies, and the inside panel has a lovely verse incorporated into the design.

See you again tomorrow

Hugs

Angie

x

Plaque Challenge

Hi

I have had another good day in the craft room so plenty of cards stacked up to share when I don’t get any made

I was undecided as to which I would show today but once the post arrived I just had to show you what arrived

You may remember I made a plaque for my friend as we set challenges, well I posted mine on the blog and now I am showing you Paula’s to me

I just love the colours, is it aqua or light blue – I don’t know

Paula has painted the plaque then I think repainted sections, in the centre she has stamped a text in black ink, it doesn’t say anything, just looks nice.

She has used flowers which are coloured to match the plaque and have outsize darker blue pearls in the centres. She has added some pearls which are attached to a strip of nylon – there is a name for these but I just can’t think of it...

Randomly across the whole of the plaque tiny ab gems have been stuck to give a shimmering effect.

A die cut corner has been coloured in blue and is in the bottom left corner...

Paula has used a raffia to create the hanger which is a fab idea...must remember for future use!

Under one of the flowers she has hooped a piece of ribbon and hung a charm from it, sadly the charm arrived worse for wear but I have all the pieces so will certainly repair it.

And then the keyring!!

A fab steampunk type keyring with an owl watch, I haven’t seen anything like this before...its brilliant!!!

Thank you so much Paula, this will definitely be hanging in my craft room...

I hope you like this plaque...if any of you fancy having a go at one of the plaques, let me know and we can do a 1-2-1 challenge...I can supply the plaque

See you again tomorrow

Hugs

Angie

x

Taking Shelter

Hi

I am sharing with you a card that I really did enjoy putting together. I wanted to set myself a challenge so I wrote down the following....

rich colours – use a die – fabric – big dimension

And I think I got it all in the card of the day!

The cd I used for my image was Octavia Moonfly by Polka Doodles

The gorgeous backing paper came from Pretty Pastels cd by Dreamees

My card was made up of an A4 sheet of navy blue textured card which was folded to create my A5 card blank. I used a scallop blade in the Woodware Finger Guard Paper Trimmer and cut all four sides to leave a very narrow border.

I had a scrap piece of kraft card so used a Martha Stewart deep edge border punch and punched the border along one side, then along the other side leaving a 1cm plain panel across the centre. This was then attached across the centre of my card using pva glue, I took the border right to the edge of the card at both sides.

My image appealed to me as it jumped off the page – I loved all the deep rich colours which suited the image perfectly. I printed the image 2 to a page as I thought about maybe decoupaging it but opted for the single layer in the end.

Rather than just cutting the panel into a rectangle I laid it on my desk and tried around 16 different dies to see which worked with the image. In the end I had 2 to choose from, so cut out both images and the one I used just suited the die, I used a size bigger to cut out a mat of burgundy card which almost filled the front of my card. I used a promarker in pale blue to edge the image before sticking it to the mat using double sided tape.

The matted image was now stuck to the card using foam tape, I didn’t add the foam across the centre where the punched border was as it would have created a bulge in the topper.

I wished I had tried some lace across the border before my image was in place as I think that might have gone well but I didn’t so instead I looked at ribbon which I would have been able to slip under the panel, but that didn’t work either so in the end I opted for a couple of beautiful cream lace flowers and attached one at either side of the main panel, and in the centre I stuck a pretty AB deep blue pointed gem, the colour worked with mat and image

I have just bought a set of lovely rolled rose dies by Die-namics so cut 4 large and 4 small flowers from a lovely brown shiny paper, I used a quilling tool to roll them from the outside in and added a blob of pva to hold the flower, once I had rolled the 8 I stuck them randomly in the bottom right hand corner.

The centre of the rolled roses was quite big so I knew a gem would drop to the bottom so I decided to be brave and try something new to me – I filled the centre of the roses with Cosmic Shimmer sparkle pearl pva in Holly Sparkle, and just before it set I dropped in a clear AB pointed gem.

And to finish I simply added a lovely greeny blue oval sentiment with Happy Birthday in Silver foil, this was stuck in the top left corner. These sentiments are in pretty pastel shades and cover birthday, best wishes, congratulations etc and at just £1 a pack from Poundland they are excellent value and worth having in.

I do hope you like this card, it’s not often I make a card that I don’t decoupage, but after this one I can see me doing it more often, plus I need to start using my dies as I tend to forget about them.

Ok I will be back again tomorrow with another card

Stay warm

Hugs

Angie

x

Daisy Daisy

Morning

Today I was determined I would make at least one card to share and I have done just that!

I decided to use the new cd by Katy Sue, Shabby Chic as I love the art work and the shabby chic look is my kind of look.

And because this is all flowery I am going to enter it to the CD Sunday Challenge Blog as the theme is still Floral Frenzy - unless it has closed but never mind

I printed off a sheet of pale blue daisy backing paper that has distressed patches, this was trimmed and stuck to my A5 palest lemon adorable scorable card using double sided tape.

The sheet I chose was assorted toppers and I cut the wide border and stuck that across the card at the bottom. The heart shaped topper was cut out and stuck at an angle at the top of the card, I cut out the 3 postage style toppers but trimmed away the edges leaving rectangles so I nipped the corners with the punch then stuck onto a scrap of cream card and cut them out to leave a border all round. One of these was stuck on the border and the other 2 one on top of the other and placed alongside the heart.

The sheet had 4 sentiment tapes so I cut out all 4 and stuck to scraps of card then cut them out and positioned them at an angle working down  the right hand side of the card – this is so out of my comfort zone and I’m not sure if it works or not.

And to finish I added a black peel off Happy to the Birthday tape and then added pva to the centre of the daisies on the toppers and border then covered with a glitter mix, it was gold with red and orange flecks but it looked pretty, or I think it does!

And that’s the card finished – quick, easy, pretty and flat to go in the post!

More tomorrow

Hugs

Angie

x

The Book Shop

Hello

This card was made as a challenge with my friend Ann who I made the plaque for that I shared yesterday, she is a card maker herself with no confidence in her work so when she saw the Tea Cup Tea Shop card she asked to buy it, instead I said I would print out 2 kits and send her one to make up as a challenge, cannot think what kit I sent to her but I hung on to the Book Shop, and here it is!!

All the shop front kits are the same to make up, so I printed the 4 sheets, trimmed them down so had 4 pieces that needed to be glued to card

I used white 300gsm card and Crafters Companion Stick & Stay to glue the pieces to the card.

There really isn’t much more I can say about the kit that I didn’t say a few days ago except if you look closely at the book shop windows you will see one side is for gardening and the other side for cookery – that is amazing attention to detail, or I think it is!

So that’s that!! Card finished – description cut short, and Lucy Beale’s killer revealed! Sorry couldn’t help myself, had to add that statement.

So I will be back again tomorrow, I am hoping to get a few new cards made up to share with you too

Have a lovely weekend

Hugs

Angie

x

Bugs In A Jar

Hello

I am certainly late today, but at least I have made it before midnight which was my New Year Resolution – to post a card a day!

Not a card again today but a mini plaque, the plaque came as a set of 4 from ebay, in case you fancy having a go, this is the link....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271733125335?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I painted the plaque a few times and after the last coat dried I scuffed it with fine sandpaper especially along the edge where it went back to the mdf in places. As this was going to be a surprise gift for my friend Ann I knew she loved pinks and purples so I used Vintage Plum Metallic Gilding Wax by Creative Expressions, I simply used a cloth to pick up the colour and dabbed it here and there, and in some places I dragged the cloth to add more colour, when I was happy with the colouring I used another soft cloth to buff the wax and give a shine.

Free in a recent magazine were a set of stamps that I just loved, it had a small jar and lid, and lots of bugs, butterflies and flowers. I stamped the jar at an angle and the lid at the bottom so it looked as though the lid had just fallen off the jar. I randomly stamped the bugs around the top of the plaque; I also stamped a few inside the jar, and added the word Bug!!! Inside the jar and near the bottom right hand corner.

The jar was covered with Cosmic Shimmer clear varnish lacquer and set to a side to dry thoroughly.

Using my big alphabet letters I stamped out Ann onto white card then used a swirly stamp and bright orange ink and randomly stamped over the letters, cut them out, then dabbed a versamark ink pad over the letter covered with clear embossing powder, tapped away the excess and heated, I did this a further 2 times which gave me a very high gloss finish, the letters were set aside to cool down and set.

After a full day I picked up the plaque to finish it off and as I held it I was rather heavy handed and managed to put a thumb print in the middle of the jar, it wasn’t dry in the middle so I had a mess there...quick thinking, quick fix, I stamped another couple of bugs, and stuck then on the jar – it was ok...only ok!!!

On the back of the plaque I started by using a cube versamark ink pad and patted it all around the edges of the back of the plaque then covered with copper metal magic by Debbi Moore and tipped away the excess then heated up carefully so as not to blow off the grainy powder, once it was done I went around in places where the powder had blow off and repeated.

One of my favourite rubber stamp messages was stamped onto the left side of the plaque “one can never have too many hugs or laugh too often” it was stamped in Sepia Versafine and very slightly to the right of the sentiment I stamped an owlet which I love, this was bought from the Barn Owl Trust and was again stamped in Sepia ink.

I used Pinflare gel to hold the letters in place, and got so agitated with them that in the end I piled anything and everything heavy on top of it. It only took around 15 minutes to be set in place.

Butchers twine was threaded from the back at the right, and butterfly charms were added before threading the twine back through the hold at the left.

Before tying the holes at the back I added a Hope ribbon to one end and tied a knot then trimmed off the excess, at the other side I added a small heart inscribed with best friend.

The finishing touch was the date which I wrote in brown promarker so it blended in with everything else on the reverse side...

Had a message from Ann this afternoon to say the plaque had arrived and was now hung above her desk...I love to make and send things to Ann as she gets so excited with them, and I know she keeps everything

It’s just 6 minutes to midnight so see you again tomorrow

Angie

xx