Monumental Wedding Card

Good morning. This summer I have several friends that are getting married. I wanted to come up with a special card which could be personalised and adapted to suit each couple. I made this one in a romantic wedding style adding some stamping using Mackintosh Beauty stamps from Chocolate Baroque.

The theme for this weeks Simon Says Stamp Blog (Wed) is Anniversary/Wedding – so I have entered this one.

How it was made:

I used one of the Monumental dies from Tattered Lace (Wedding) to create the shaped card blank. This is a massive die which uses a lot of card (28.2cm X 14.5cm). To make it robust I used 1 A4 sheet of Centura Pearl (300gsm) plus plain card lining (220 gms) for the front and 2 sheets of plain card (approx. 220 gsm) plus a thick patterned paper sheet to line and build the back.

From the leftover card I used Tattered Lace dies to cut the sentiment, heart (Pin Dot Hearts), mini hearts (Diamond Fold set), leafy sprigs (Fleurs die) and bunting pennants.

Lettering for personalisation was printed onto copy paper using a laser printer and foiled using Toner Sublimation foil and a Mink foiling machine (could be done with a laminator). The letters were then cut out and glued to the little pennant flags.

The front of the card and pennants were lightly sponged with Distress Ink (Old Paper) and randomly stamped using mulitcoloured (purples/pinks) Archival Brilliance Ink (Brilliance ink dries ok on the shiny pearl card). The pennants were hung from a fine satin ribbon.

The floral heart and a couple of small flower heads were stamped onto a spare scrap of pearl card and cut out. Light colouring was added using a damp brush and Distress Inks (Old Paper, Tattered Rose) and glued to the card using 3D glue gel for added depth.

Finished with a little clear glitter glue added to the flower centres. I really cannot resist a bit of sparkle.

 

I also had to make an envelope as the finished card does not fit any standard envelope sizes. The width of the card is almost full length of A4 so to leave enough space at the sides, and to create gluing tabs, I ended up needing 2 A3 sheets to create an envelope. I decided to use a couple of sheets of thinner white card and used my large score board to make a simple envelope. I used 1 sheet to create the front and flap plus tabs for gluing, and 1 sheet to create the back panel. To make it pretty I used an 8 X 8 inch lacy embossing folder (Doily – Tattered Lace) to add some texture and make the envelope look a little more special. I only embossed the central area on this one but the folder could be slid along to emboss right to the edges if desired.

Fun cards for the guys

Thought that I would give you a short break from all the butterflies posted up earlier.

 

I had 2 male friends with special birthdays this weekend so I came up with a couple of fun cards that would appeal to their sense of humour. Thankfully they loved them and I haven’t damaged my friendships – tee hee.

 

The first is for my friend who was 70 this weekend. We had a great party and he had his guitar out for a sing along too. He has fond memories of the 60’s so I thought that the Day of The Dead Collection from Sheena Douglass would be perfect, done in ‘Flower Power’ style.

 

• The image stamps and dies are from Sheena Douglass (Day of The Dead) coloured with Spectrum Noir Aquatints and Distress Inks.
• I added some foiling bling using a Zig 2 way glue pen and transfer foil. The foiled sentiment was done on the computer with toner sublimation foil and my Minc machine.
• The curved ‘happy birthday’ , shaped card blank and bunting created with dies are from Tattered Lace. The letters cut using Create and Craft Couture dies.

 

The second card is very tongue in cheek. Shall I just say that my friend is renowned for being a bit ‘windy’!

 

 

• I used an Embossalicious folder and coredinations card to create the background – sanding it back to reveal the ‘vintage’ sentiment panel.
• The pipework and beer bottles were cut with dies from Robert Addams, the jug from Heartfelt Creations. The lettering dies are from Create and Craft Couture. The cogs dies are from a variety of sources including Robert Addams, Trimcraft, Sheena Douglass and Tattered Lace.

Butterfly Stepper Card created for Chocolate Baroque

 

Good morning. Today I am sharing another of my show samples using the Breath of Spring stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. The butterfly swirl can be used to make lovely backgrounds but it also works well as the main decorative feature. I used sparkly black embossing powder for added dimension (a bit difficult to see in the pic). I stamped and cut out extra butterflies and used them to embellish this stepper card, along with some die cut swirls and paper punched flowers. I also used a pretty background paper from Crafty Individuals (6 X 6 inch pad – Springtime). Victorian Velvet Distress Ink was used on the card blank and edges.

I cannot wait for more shows coming at the end of the month. Lesley will be bringing us something a little different. My lips are sealed – tee hee x.

Materials:

• Breath of Spring stamp set
• A4 sheet cream hammered card, 6 X 6 patterned paper (Crafty Individuals Springtime), blue and black card
• Inkpads: Versamark and Distress Ink (Victorian Velvet)
• WOW Embossing Powder (Black Glint)
• Stickles glitter glue (Black Diamond)
• Floral punch (Tonic Petal Pairs)
• Tattered Lace Dies: Double Cascading Waterfall (to create stepper card), Stage Card (Happy Birthday), Floral Layers Ivy (swirl)

Butterfly Wreath Card created for Chocolate Baroque Colour Challenge 32

 

Here is my first contribution to Chocolate Baroques Colour Challenge 32 this month.

I came up with this after playing with my Inkadinkadoo stamping gear (circular wheel) – I hope that you like it.

Looking forward to seeing your entries x

 

Materials:

• Sticks & Stones, Just Butterflies, Butterfly Blush, Words to Dazzle & Sparkle stamp sets
• Card: White for card blank, white stamping card and copper mirror card
• Inkadinkadoo stamping gear (circular wheel)
• Inkpads: Versamark, Distress (Forest Moss, Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass), metallic pigment (copper)
• WOW embossing powders: Clear and Copper
• Ink spritzers: pale blue with mica (Lindy’s Stamp Gang)
• Water based sparkle pens (Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens)
• Fine tipped pen (pale blue)
• Glitter glue (copper) and PVA pearls (copper)
• Dies: decorative circles (Tattered Lace – Pin Dot Decorative Circles), twigs (Spellbinders Blossom)

 

How it was made:

1. I created the wreath using the stamping gear and the Sticks & Stones stamp set with green Distress Inks. I stamped the butterflies and sentiment with copper pigment ink and heat embossed with clear powder. Similar can be achieved by drawing a circle and dividing it into 8 sections. Keeping the stamp orientation steady, stamp and turn the card between each stamping, or just work more freely around a circle.
2. The background was spritzed with pale blue ink. I cut out the topper and created a circular card using scalloped circle dies. I used the fine tipped pen to draw faux stitching and edged the card with blue Distress Ink.
3. The butterfly was stamped and embossed with copper powder and coloured with sparkle pens. I cut then cut it out and shaped for added dimension. Twigs were cut from mirror card.
4. I finished with the copper PVA pearls and a few dots of glitter glue for sparkle.

Spring Iris Card created for Chocolate Baroque

 

Good morning. Today I am sharing another of my TV show samples using the Kingfisher Song stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. The new stamps are now available directly from Chocolate Baroque. I hope that you like this Spring themed card.

I so enjoyed the shows and Demos with Lesley Wharton on Hochanda. More shows coming very soon! I am beavering away to finish the next set of samples. I feel hugely privileged to be on the Design Team for Chocolate Baroque. It can be hard work but I get to play with some wonderful stamp sets – yay!

 

Materials:

• Kingfisher Song, Words to Dazzle and Sparkle
• A5 card blank (approx. 21 X 14.5cm), card offcuts (blue, green and white) for die cuts and layers, and white stamping card (Sheena Douglass)
• Ink Spritzers (Lindy’s Stamp Gang – Azure Sea Asters, Opal Sea Oats)
• Versafine (Onyx Black)
• Spectrum Aqua watercolour pens (Crafters Companion – greens, yellow, purple, ochre)
• Spectrum Noir alcohol pens (Crafters Companion – greens, yellow, purples)
• Fine tipped pen (blue)
• Dies: Sweet Pea, Pin Dot Decorative Rectangles, Pearl Pin Dot Rectangles (Tattered Lace), Create an Iris (Spellbinders D-Lites)

 

How to make the Stepper Card blank:

Cut the A5 card blank through both front and back panels starting approx. 8cm in from the left side and stopping 3cm up from the bottom. Score the front and back sections equally, 3 and 6cm in from the edge. ‘Mountain fold’ at the 3cm score line to create the side stepper.

 

How to make the card:

1. Lightly spritz the card blank with blue and gold mica sprays. Tip: if the card curls a bit I tend to pop mine under a stack of die cutting mats while I work on the rest of the card.
2. Cut the blue background panels and glue to the card. Cut the leafy sprig from green card. See below for how to create the die cut Iris.
3. Cut the main panels from stamping card and lightly spritiz with blue mica spray. When dry add faux stitching with the fine tipped pen.
4. Stamp the sentiment and image with Versamark. Colour the Iris image with watercolour pens.
5. Glue the sentiment and image panels to the card using 3D foam for added depth. Glue on the leafy sprig and 3D Iris to finish.

How I created the 3D Iris Flower:

I created this using the Spellbinders ‘Create an Iris’ die. I cut it from approx. 180gsm card and coloured it with Spectrum Noir alcohol pens. I shaped it using ball tools and an embossing mat/foam mat. Colours used: DG3 for leaves, CT2 and 3 for larger petal centres, LV2 and 3 for outer petal edges, LV1 and 2 for inner small petals, and the blender to add highlights.

Kingfisher stepper card created for Chocolate Baroque

 

Good morning. I made this card for a friend using the Kingfisher Song and scene building sets from Chocolate Baroque. These are still exclusive to Hochanda at the moment but will be on the Chocolate Baroque site in a few days.

 

Materials:

• Kingfisher Song, Sticks and Stones, Silhouette Grasses stamp sets
• Hammered card (white), stamping card (white)
• Distress Inkpad (Chipped Sapphire)
• Midi Double Side Stepper die set (Tattered Lace)
• Cattails die (Spellbinders)
• Sentiment printed on a laser printer
• Blue toner foil and Minc foiling machine

Lace Edged Parchment Card created with Tattered Lace Best of 2016 Brother ScanNCut USB

Today I am sharing some instructions, as promised, for my latest TV show samples created for Create & Craft TV and the Brother ScanNCut.

This one is created by embossing on parchment. I have then done a little hand embossing to add some whitework ‘shading’, and some colour with alcohol pens. I love this new feature of the ScanNCut.

This one is another fairly simple make using the Brother ScanNCut USB, Best of 2016 from Tattered Lace (cutting files in FCM format). A fabulous set of files that sold out very quickly. This has to be my favourite set yet. Well worth grabbing a copy when it returns.

Materials:

• Tattered Lace Brother ScanNCut USB 8 – Best of 2016
• 1.5mm embossing tool, embossing tool holder and mat
• Butterfly Garden strip embossing folder (Tattered Lace)
• Hand embossing tool approx. 3mm and parchment embossing mat
• A5 card blank, parchment and card (purple)
• Alcohol markers (light green, brown and pink)
• Pergamano sticky ink
• Extra fine glitter (white/clear) and PVA pearls (Vintage Plum)

How to make it:

1. Load the Lace Edged Rectangle 2 design. Delete all but the outer frame and resize to approx. 6.38 inches high. Load the bow from the All Tied Up set. Cut from purple card. Settings will depend on your card thickness and density (I used speed 5, pressure 1, standard blade depth 5.5).
2. Load the Lace Edged Rectangle 2 frame again, group all the elements together and resize to fit inside your cut purple mat (approx. 6.34 inches high).
3. Next load the Cherry Blossom design. Resize, flip and rotate it to fit inside the Lace Edged design. Using one of the built in machine fonts write the sentiment. Finally group everything together and mirror flip it ready for embossing. You need to do this a designs are always embossed on the back of the parchment.
4. Load the parchment and emboss the design using the 1.5mm ball tool. Again settings will vary depending on the brand of parchment that you use. I used a pressure of -4 and speed 1. If desired emboss again on a higher pressure (-2) to get whiter results (do not unload the mat until fully finished). Note: I rubbed over the parchment with a used tumble dryer sheet before embossing – it helps the tool to glide better.
5. Hand emboss on the back of the design to add ‘whitework’ shading. Add some colour with alcohol pens. It could be cut out using pricking tools and traditional Parchment techniques. I used scissors to cut around the outer embossed line.
6. Note: I find it tricky to cut the parchment on the machine after embossing as it doesn’t stick down well or lay flat on the cutting mat. Probably it would be best to cut out the parchment first, then place on the embossing mat and scan in the mat to work out where to place the embossing design. Not tried this but you would need to leave a bit of extra room around the edge so that the tool doesn’t directly hit or get caught on the embossing mat or edge of the parchment. I need to experiment a bit.
7. Cut the small plain butterfly from parchment (Essential Butterflies) and emboss the texture with the embossing folder. Colour lightly on the back.
8. Glue the parchment to the backing mat using tiny dots of glue behind the flower centres (where it will not show through). Glue to the card front and stick on the bow. I added some little vellum ‘waste’ cut flowers to hide a couple of small tears in my parchment. Glue down the butterfly body leaving the wings free for shaping.
9. Finally finish with glitter (using Pergamano sticky ink) and PVA pearls. Note: sticky ink is not as wet as PVA glue which can cause curling of the parchment.

Pearl Doily Clock created with Tattered Lace best of 2016 Brother ScanNCut USB

 

Today I am sharing some instructions, as promised, for my latest TV show samples created for Create & Craft TV and the Brother ScanNCut.

This one is not a working clock as it was created as a sample – but it could easily be adapted, real clock fixings are readily available to make it into a working piece. I may make another in different colours to fit my décor with an MDF backing. Spray varnish would also protect it and make it into a more durable piece of home furnishing.

This one is another fairly simple make using the Brother ScanNCut USB, Best of 2016 from Tattered Lace (cutting files in FCM format). A fabulous set of files that sold out very quickly. This has to be my favourite set yet. Well worth grabbing a copy when it returns.

Materials:

• Tattered Lace Brother ScanNCut USB 8 – Best of 2016
• Standard pen holder and black pen
• 12 X 12 card and paper: pale pink polka dot paper, cream card, dark grey card and 4 sheets of grey board (recycled from 12 X 12 paper pad back covers)
• Versamark inkpad and clear heat embossing powder
• Glitter pen (gold), alcohol marker (black and light grey)
• Cosmic Shimmer glitter glue (Autumn Twinkles) and PVA pearls (Black)
• Gilding Wax (gold)
• Brad to hold the hands

How to make it:

 

1. Load the Precious Time numbers and clock hands and cut 4 sets from cream card. I created a file to cut all in one go from a sheet of 12 X 12 card. Settings will depend on your card thickness and density (I used speed 5, pressure 1, standard blade depth 5.5).
2. Glue the elements together to make thick ‘chipboard’ components. Use a fast grab wet glue spreading the glue thoroughly so that all layers are well stuck down. Leave to dry.
3. Colour the numbers and clock hands with black alcohol marker. Coat with Versamrk ink and heat emboss with the clear powder. Lightly rub over with a little gilding wax to give a slight aged effect.
4. Glue together the 4 greyboard sheets and leave to dry. This makes a good strong back for the clock.
5. Load the Pearl Doily design, centre on the mat and cut from grey card. Keep the central doily for another project.
6. Load the smaller Doily designs, centre on the mat. Draw the designs onto the pink paper using a black pen and the standard pen holder.
7. Glue the drawn background mat and frame to the base backing. Leave to dry.
8. Hand colour the image with gold glitter pen and grey alcohol marker. Note: the machine does now have a colouring fill function. The way that I have coloured my clock would be a bit tricky to programme into the design as I have coloured negative spaces and just outlined some of the shapes.
9. Punch a hole into the centre of the clock (I used a long reach Cop-A-Dile) and fix the hands with a brad. In a rush for the post, could I locate my brads? No! I ended up using a jeans button with prong fixing as it was all I could find before rushing my samples to the post office – tee hee.
10. Glue down the numbers.
11. Finally finish with glitter glue and PVA pearls, plus a little gilding wax.

Meadow Sweet Card created with the Tattered Lace Best of 2016 Brother ScanNCut USB

 

Today I am sharing some instructions, as promised, for my latest TV show samples created for Create & Craft TV and the Brother ScanNCut.

This one is another fairly simple make using the Brother ScanNCut USB, Best of 2016 from Tattered Lace (cutting files in FCM format). A fabulous set of files that sold out very quickly. This has to be my favourite set yet. Well worth grabbing a copy when it returns.

Materials:

• Tattered Lace Brother ScanNCut USB 8 – Best of 2016
• 8 X 8 inch white card blank, cream and white card, floral background paper (Victoria Nelson – Village Fete)
• Tattered Lace 8 X 8 Rose Garden and Calligraphy Script strip embossing folders
• Glitter glue (clear) and PVA pearls (Cosmic Shimmer)
• Large ball tool and embossing mat to shape flowers
• Distress Ink (Victorian Velvet)

How to make it:

1. Load the Meadow Sweet background mat design and cut from floral paper. Settings will depend on your card thickness and density (I used speed 5, pressure 1, standard blade depth 4.5).
2. Enlarge the mat by approx. half an inch and cut again from cream card (my card needed blade depth 5.5).
3. Edge the mats with Distress ink and glue together, offsetting the cream base mat to create a ‘drop shadow’ effect.
4. Emboss the card front with the Rose embossing folder and a strip of cream card with the script. Lightly apply Distress ink to bring out the texture. Glue the strip in place, then the panel mat using 3D foam pads for added depth.
5. Next load the Meadow Sweet floral frame and sentiment and cut from white card. Lightly shape the flowers with an embossing tool and pull up some of the petal details. I used a thicker stamping card so it would hold its shape (increasing blade depth to 6.5).
6. Finally glue the floral frame and sentiment to the card front and finish with glitter glue and PVA pearls.

Halloween Canvas using the Day Of The Dead Collection from Sheena Douglass

 

Oooh I do love Halloween. I so enjoy making spooky projects. I created this canvas for a couple of my friends. I used Sheena Douglass ‘Day Of The Dead’ stamps and dies, and I coloured the image so it looked like them. I also used Sheena’s Festive Ivy and Christmas Foliage dies to decorate.

Materials:

• Stretched canvas approx. A4 size
• A4 sheet white stamping card (Sheena Douglass)
• Black, white and green card
• Brother ScanNCut CM300 machine
• Silhouette Cameo machine
• Die cutting machine (EBosser)
• Sheena Douglass Day Of The Dead Collection (Eternal Love stamp and Dancing Skeleton, and Pawprint memories dies)
• Sheena Douglass dies (Festive Ivy and Christmas Foliage)
• Other dies: acorn (Spellbinders) and leaves (Tattered Lace)
• ScanNCut files: built in designs for the ‘Happy’ and ‘Halloween’ text
• Silhouette files: JM Rush for spiders (Spider Web Lantern), Bats Flying and Spooky Banner
• Gesso (black)
• Inkpads: Versafine (Tuxedo Black), Distress (Gathered Twigs and Tea Dye)
• Spray and Sparkle (Crafters Companion Diamond Pearl)
• Pebeo Gilding Wax (King Gold)
• Spectrum Aqua watercolour pens (pinks, oranges, greens, teals, turquoises, greys, yellows and reds)
• Brown pencil (to colour bats)
• Black fine tipped marker (to enhance shading & detail to stamped image)
• Stickles glitter glue (Crystal)