Anniversary

I didn't realize just how many cards I hadn't posted last year. Here's last year's anniversary effort for my husband. For some reason I have made food themed cards for him for our anniversary and Valentine's Day for the last three years. I blame the cuteness of Lawn Fawn stamps!

I was really happy with this card because it was my first attempt at Copic colouring and I like how it all came together.

Materials:

Card: Basic Grey, Brushed Gold, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Xpress for Copic markers
Ink: Versamark, Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler, Copic markers - N1, E57
Stamps: Good Fortune, Sophie's Sentiments, both by Lawn Fawn. I don't know the name or brand of the background stamp, sorry.
Tools: Antique Gold embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat tool, dimensionals, Good Fortune Lawncuts by Lawn Fawn.

Valentine's Day

I made this card for my husband for Valentine's Day last year. I just love how cute Lawn Fawn's stamps are!

Materials:
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Brushed Gold, Whisper White
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Versamark, markers - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Basic Grey, Daffodil Delight, Rose Red, Bashful Blue, Real Red
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Backdrops, Love'n Breakfas
Accessories: Raspberry Ripple stitched satin ribbon
Tools: Glossy Accents

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2012 everyone!
This card is for my Mother-in-law who is in hospital again and we will be visiting her tomorrow. It's quite similar to my last card but I tried a few different techniques on this one.

I did consider colouring the flowers in different shades and tints of purple but since this is a 'get well' card, I wanted it to look more colourful than monochromatic.

Materials:
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Concord Crush, Whisper White, Watercolour paper, In-colour 2010-2011 DSP: Concord Crush.
Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Memento's Tuxedo Black, markers - So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Old Olive, Versamark.
Stamps: On The Mend by Lawn Fawn.
Other:  Basic Rhinestones, clear glitter embossing powder, dimensionals, sponge, Pink Sorbet baker's twine by The Twinery.

Tips and Tricks:
1. Bandaid background - I clear embossed the bandaids. If I had distress inks, I would have used them for the background colour but I don't so I used a sponge and ink pad. I also used the same technique on the flower panel.
2. The vase is paper pieced.
3. I used the Pretty in Pink marker to add rosy cheeks to the flowers.

Stuff Ups:
1. The bandaid stamping is pretty terrible - unevenly spaced, overlapping in parts.
2. The embossing is terrible too - I missed bits and smudged the Versamark when I was sponging. Fortunately most of those bits are covered by the flower panel.
3. I seriously need a lamp because the lighting in my craft room sucks!!
4. On my first attempt at making the flower panel I tried watercolouring the flowers but I guess I didn't let the Tuxedo Black ink dry long enough as it started to run when the aquapainter hit it.

Christmas, oh how I love you!

What a month I've had! I did get my preparation done in time for my interview and it certainly paid off as I got the job! I'll be teaching at a brand new school next year that is still being built! It's so exciting! Yay!

I also finished all my Christmas cards yesterday, thank goodness. It's taken me 3 months on and off to get them done. I tried paper piecing and I'm pleased with the results. The colours pop more in real life, I just couldn't get a decent snap of the card today, sigh.

I made 50 plus some spares. I used different patterned paper (as I've posted in a previous entry) so each card is different from the next one.

Materials:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, patterned paper is called December 25th by Kaisercraft.
Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Memento ink in Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker.
Stamps: Ornate Ornaments by Lawn Fawn.
Other: Basic Rhinestones, sponge.

Tips and Tricks:
1. Since I was making so many cards I did it all in stages like an assembly line:

1. Made a prototype.
2. Paper pieced the ornaments.
3. Cut the base cards and card layers.
4. Sponged the edges of the Very Vanilla with Crumb Cake ink.
5. Stamped images on the Very Vanilla.
6. Attached paper pieced ornaments.
7. Stamped sentiments on base cards.
8. Wrote messages in all the cards.
9. Attached layers to card fronts and added rhinestones.
10. Addressed envelopes and now they are ready to post!

2. Paper piecing took a long time! I stamped the baubles on patterned paper and cut them out. I stamped the baubles again on patterned paper and cut out the bands and topper pieces. Then I ran the edge of a Basic Black marker around the edge of each paper piece to hide the cut edge.
3.  I use my scissors to help me attach the sticky back rhinestones accurately. I find it easier than using tweezers.

Stuff Ups:
1. Lots. When making so many cards, mistakes are easy to make. The most mistakes were to do with stamping, the image smudging or not stamping fully, etc, etc.

Cricket Card

I've been needing ideas for manly cards and luckily I had this stamp set. This card was inspired by a card in an old Stampin Up catalogue and since cricket season is here again, I thought it would be the perfect time to make it.

The green cap features special Gel-a-tins Jelly scented embossing powder in 'Pine Fresh' so it smells like a pine forest. The fragrance is supposed to last for three weeks. You can check out Gel-a-tins here and their blog is here.

Materials:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Versamark.
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Just Cricket.
Other: Modern label punch, Early Espresso striped grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, mat pack, paper piercer.
Non Stampin' Up: Gel-a-tin's Jelly Scented embossing powder in Pine Fresh, Bo Bunny Cambridge icandy brads.

Tips and Tricks:
1. This card is really straight forward. As I said, the cap is embossed with green pine scented embossing powder.
2. The grass is cut with my paper snips.
3. The cricket ball is on a dimensional as is the sentiment.

Stuff Ups:
1. The brad placement. I even used my paper piercing guide and still didn't get it right.
2. The ribbon looks a little bit loose and wonky on the right hand side but it seemed fine in real life.
3. Maybe I should have lightly coloured the cricket bat.

Pleasant Surprises:
1. My layering proportions are getting much more accurate.
2. I'm pleased with the way the grass turned out.

Another Male Birthday Card

It wasn't easy to photograph this card and catch all the details but I did my best! This was cased from an old catalogue like my last card but again I have tweaked it a fair amount. The layout of the card is what got my attention - the three strips of colour with a gap in between. I made this for my Father-in-law. It was his birthday last Friday.

Again, a couple of techniques that I wanted to try are on this card.

Materials:
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler.
Ink: Versamark Dazzle: Silver Frost (Non Stampin' Up but normal Versamark would be fine), Cherry Cobbler, Cherry Cobbler marker.
Stamps: French Foliage.
Other: Clear embossing powder.
Non Stampin' Up: Sophie's Sentiments stamp set by Lawn Fawn, Perfect Pearls Mist in Heirloom Gold, Fiskars corner rounder punch, Ranger Perfect Medium Pens, heat tool.

Tips and Tricks:
1. The first technique I tried was lining up my coloured card strips and stamping on them with Versamark. Then I adhered them to the base card with a gap in between.
2. The second technique I tried was stamping the sentiment in a pale colour repeatedly and then stamping it once in a bright colour. I used Versamark to do this and left a gap for the red sentiment. Then, for that red sentiment, I stamped it on the Versamark pad then onto my Cherry Cobbler ink pad before stamping on the card. I coated all the sentiments with clear embossing powder and heated them with my heat tool. You can just see the embossing in the photo.
3. The finished card was too clean for my liking so I spritzed it once with my Perfect Pearls mist. Once it had dried, I wiped over it with a tissue to clean any mist off of the embossed sentiments.

Stuff Ups:
1. The coloured card strips are not perfectly flush with the edges of the card. Some are a fraction shorter and that annoys me.
2. The sentiments are not perfectly aligned but it doesn't annoy me for some reason.
3. Maybe I should have used a different colour for the base (like Crumb Cake) so the sentiments stood out more. Then again I didn't want it to be reminiscent of the 'get well soon' card I made for my husband which features the same colours and stamp set.
4. I also don't like the flimsiness of Very Vanilla and Whisper White when it comes to base cards.
5. I am not convinced that Perfect Pearls mist was the right way to go with this card.
6. Also with the red sentiment, I didn't stamp it properly so I had to touch it up with a Ranger embossing pen and Cherry Cobbler marker.

Dad's Birthday

Tomorrow is Dad's birthday, happy birthday Dad! I wanted to make a card about golf since Dad loves golf. While I was looking for inspiration, I found a card design that I loved! It wasn't a golf card but I used what I had to make it kate-ified. The original design is from Create With Christy.

Materials:
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla.
Stamps: Curly Cute (on the inside as the sentiment).
Inks: Cherry Cobbler classic ink pad.
Other: Big shot machine, Lattice embossing folder, dimensionals, mat pack, paper piercing tool, 2 way glue pen.
Non Stampin' Up: The follow products were bought from Crafty Cards on Garling - golf ball brads (the big, round, white things - the camera doesn't do them justice!), brown grosgrain ribbon, 3D golf stickers by Wishmade. I also used Thickers Fabric chipboard letter stickers in Doll. The bronze brads were from Stampin Stuff. Clear stamps 'Golfer' from http://www.sullivans.net/ though I bought mine from Starfish Lane in Mt Lawley.

Tips and Tricks:
1. On the big tag, I used 2 way glue to adhere the blue cardstock to the red before running it through the big shot machine.
2. The big tag was cut with a paper trimmer. I tried to cut the corners off at right angles to get them even.
3. I used Very Vanilla cardstock to make the white golf balls stand out more. You could substitute that for Whisper White depending on your project.

Stuff Ups:
1. I used the guides that came with the mat pack to align my brads but I still managed to make them look wonky.
2. The tag is too long - if it were shorter, the word 'Dad' would fit better but I made the tag first and forgot to check the height of my letters.

Christmas Part Two

The green card is almost identical to the one in my last post but I just wanted to show how rearranging the layout can make for a more (or less) interesting card. Yes, there is horrible staining on the ribbon of the other card. A lesson was learned there!

Rating: Dodgy ('cause of the staining)

Rating: Decent



These cards are made in the same way and use the same materials as I have listed in my previous post. The only differences are that I have added a thin strip of Jolly Holiday DSP to the right of the green card (I adhered it with 2 way glue) and the base of the other card is Crumb Cake cardstock, I've used Old Olive grosgrain ribbon on it and have coloured the stocking stamp with markers (Old Olive and Real Red).

The staining. The ribbon was popping up a little bit so I used a bit of 2 way glue to stick it down, which it did do but, as you can clearly see, it has stained the ribbon. So you can learn something at my expense - DON'T use a 2 way glue pen for sticking ribbons!!

Christmas is Upon Us!

Here are some of the Christmas cards I have made this year. I say some because I made about 8 different sorts but have sent most of them to friends and family. The design was cased from a google search but modified and morphed into what they are now.

Rating: Decent



Materials:
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Jolly Holiday DSP.
Inks: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip marker, Real Red marker (for Rudolph's nose), Versamark Champagne Frost.
Stamps: A mix of 'Season of Joy' and 'Sparkly and Bright'.
Other: Stampin' Up- Crystal Effects glue, oval punch, scallop oval punch, paper piercer and mat, dimensionals and stick on Rhinestones.
Non Stampin' Up - Embossing powders - Antique Gold and Silver Dollar, embossing buddy, Silver Christmas Tree brads, Heat tool, Fiskars decorative border punch, deep red ribbon (from Stampit Australia)

Tips and Hints:
1. To make lots of cards I broke it down into stages over a few nights- I made all the card bases first, then all the decorative border strips layered with DSP and ribbon, then the scallopped ovals with their sentiments, etc.
2. Use Versamark Champagne Frost to stamp a background on the card bases. It's amazing how much it lifts a card.
3. Also use Versamark over the Christmas tree for a bit of shine and to apply embossing powder to the star at the top.
4. The words 'Merry Christmas' and the star at the top of the Christmas tree are embossed in either gold or silver.
5. I used markers for Rudolph so I could have his body brown and his nose red. Cherry Cobbler wasn't bright enough so I used Real Red. I put a dot of Crystal Effects on his nose to make it shine, however on 90% of the Rudolph cards, the Crystal Effects is dull and almost opaque when dry. Maybe I received a duff batch.
6. Handle the ribbon as little as possible because it frays easily.
7. The rhinestones are used inside the card on the sentiment that says 'May your season be sparkly and bright'. The rhinestone sticks on top of the 'i' in 'bright'.

Stuff Ups:
The Crystal Effects - as I said above plus sometimes I put on too much and it spread.
Embossing - I forgot a few times to use an embossing buddy pillow so some of the embossing was a bit skewiff.
Stampamajig - I should have used this inside the card to get the sentiment straight and non-wobbly.