I needed four birthday cards but am away from my craft supplies at present. Fortunately I had just received the Abstract Beauty Suite Collection (click on the name to see it in my online shop) and was able to cobble together some basic cards.
This collection contains lots and lots of cool stuff:
Abstract Beauty Cards & Envelopes
Abstract Beauty (4" x 6") Designer Series Paper
Abstract Beauty Ephemera Pack
Beautiful Shapes Dies
Hello Beautiful Stamp Set
Adhesive-Backed Hexagons
I used the Cards and Envelopes, the Ephemera Pack, the Designer Series Paper, and the Hexagons and created some pretty cards with no-so-pretty sentiments (I had to write them by hand, lol). Here's what I came up with.
The DSP is so pretty and each sheet has gold accents.
You could do worse than getting a hold of this collection and see what YOU can create!
My daughter's fiance, Aidan, turned 30 a few days ago. He's a massive Doctor Who fan, so I'd been thinking of making a TARDIS card for a couple of years but never quite got around to it. But seeing as this one was a major birthday I decided to make the effort (and I remembered early enough to work on the design).
The front of the card has a TARDIS picture printed onto white cardstock and then fussy cut.
I simply Googled "TARDIS" and chose one that suited my purpose.I had to adjust the size before printing so it would fit nicely onto a 4" x 6" card base (I used black cardstock). I used my paper trimmer to cut along the lines so that the doors would open to reveal the Doctor with a birthday message specifically for Aidan.
I wanted to incorporate Aidan's favourite Doctor, so I posted an innocent question on Facebook asking people to say who is their favourite, knowing full well that Aidan would probably respond (and he was the first to do so). His choice is Matt Smith, so I did some more Googling to find an appropriate photo of Matt Smith and the correct internal photo of the TARDIS (it changes sometimes). I settled on this one of Matt.
I then used Paint to add a text box so that it looks like the Doctor is holding the birthday banner.
I even downloaded a Doctor Who font for the writing!
This was sized to fit inside the open doors. I had a little wrinkle (literally) with it though. I glued the Doctor onto the doors before attaching the TARDIS to the card base. But the A and Y of birthday got caught under the door a bit so I used a Journaling Pen to join the A and Y to look like just an A and then add another Y at the end. If you didn't know about it, you probably wouldn't notice but, of course, I knew about it, haha.
Once I had the front put together, I worked on the inside. I decided that I wanted it to be "bigger on the inside", just like the TARDIS! So I chose a photo, made it nice and big to print out on plain copy paper.
It started out about an A4 size
Then I used the Turkish Map Fold technique to make it fit. I think the result is just perfect because when you open the card, the inside opens up to be bigger than the card!
I added a label at the bottom so I could write on the card.
The trickiest bit of making this card was using the Turkish Map Fold on a rectangular piece of paper (you usually use a 12" x 12" sheet of paper). Thankfully I found some instructions online and was able to do it without too much effort. These are the instructions I followed: "Turkish Map Fold with a Rectangular Sheet", obviously I had to orient it to suit my card that open from the bottom up.
I have made other Explosion Cards using the Turkish Map Fold, but I will probably never make another one like this and I'm so glad I did it. Aidan was very happy with it.
Share What You Love Specialty DSP
Painted Glass Stamp Set
Hi folks. Sorry I've been so absent, but life has been a little hectic of late.
Anyway, I have been seeing lots of photos of a card called the Impossible Card, most of them are similar to this one made by the indomitable Dawn Griffith.
Photo used with permission of Dawn Griffith
Mainly these are a single sheet of cardstock with patterned paper added to the panels and a strip of cardstock glued across the front for stability. I loved the look of them but thought they might be rather flimsy, so I decided to make them as a card front and them glue them onto a card base. Also, because I'm somewhat lazy by nature, I decided to use a thicker patterned paper so that I didn't need to cut out strange shapes to glue to the cardstock of the Impossible Card. And this is what I came up with (at the top of the page, and this one).
Broadway Bound Specialty DSP
Perennial Birthday Stamp Set
They are super easy to make, so have a go.
Materials
Plain A4 cardstock (card base and label)
4" x 6" piece of stiff, double-sided patterned paper. If you don't have a stiff DSP, see the alternate instructions at the end.
Equipment
Paper Trimmer
Bone Folder
Adhesive
A label punch
Sentiment Stamp to fit on your label
Ink pad in chosen colour
Embellishments as desired
Instructions
Cut the A4 cardstock 8" x 6", score at 4" on the long side and fold to form the card base.
Stamp the desired sentiment onto some of the leftover cardstock and use your chosen label punch to punch it out.
Take the patterned paper and cut it 5¾" x 3¾". Fold it half longways and open it out again. On one half, cut at 2⅞" from the fold to the edge. On the opposite side cut twice at 1¼" from each end from the centre fold to the edge, as shown below.
Be aware that if you have a pattern that needs to go in a certain direction you will have to choose which side gets which cuts.
Twist the piece so that you have the following shape with a piece that sits up in the middle.
Attach this piece to the card base. The piece can be twisted in either direction so that the gap can be on the left or the right.
Attached the label to the popped-up piece.
Embellish as desired.
This card will fold flat for posting.
Alternate Instructions
If you do not have a stiff patterned paper, you can use plain cardstock and then cut out pieces of patterned paper to adhere as appropriate.
Cut patterned paper 3¾" x 2⅞" and then cut out a piece 1⅞" x 1⅝" to get the desired shape. You will need two of these pieces.
Again, if you are using a patterned paper that has an 'up', you may need to cut out a different corner of the patterned paper so that the pattern is correct.
Adhere the panels as appropriate on the card front.
You can cut out a piece of patterned paper for the popped-up piece, if you want, although the label will cover most of this. The popped-up piece measures 3-3/16" x 1⅞"
I hope you all had a lovely Easter. We had two of our four offspring come to visit (plus the one who lives in the same town as us already), so had lots of family including three grandchildren.
A couple of weeks ago I saw some cute cards made by Kirsten Aitchison and thought I'd have a go. These aren't a fancy fold, just a different use of patterned paper. These are what I came up with.
Each card uses a strip of patterned paper with a mat of white cardstock, then a label or two with a stamped image and/or a sentiment. I was very happy with the look of them. Using coloured cardstock for the card base and coordinated patterned paper as the highlight piece makes them nice and bright. Here are a few close-ups.
For some I used Tuxedo Black Memento Ink for the stamping and my Stampin' Blends for colouring, for others I used Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad and Stampin' Write Markers. I used the fabulous Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies for the large labels. This die set has four different sizes each of squares, ovals and circles, each with a stitch pattern around the outer edge. I love the look of them.
Anyway, that's it, short and sweet. Happy Crafting!
The 2017 Holiday Catalogue is available NOW!! Lots of lovelies in there. I will include some of the new items in my next blog.
I subscribe to Lisa Curcio's You Tube channel. Lisa is a US Stampin' Up! demonstrator and has some great tips and cards. This is one of her cards and we made this one at our Craft Group get-together this week. Lisa has very kindly allowed me to use her card in my blog. The photos used in the instructions are taken from Lisa's video. The video itself is at the bottom.
This is my version of Lisa's card. I forgot to use Dimensionals for the "Birthday" pennant (doh!).
Materials
·Pool Party A4
Cardstock
·Whisper White A4
Cardstock
·Basic Black A4
Cardstock
·Mini Stampin'
Dimensionals
·Multipurpose Liquid Glue
·White Stampin' Chalk Marker
·Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
·Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad
·Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad
Equipment
·Paper trimmer
·Bone folder
·Big Shot
·Balloon
Celebration Photopolymer Stamp Set
·Marquee Messages
Photopolymer Stamp Set
·Happy Birthday
Thinlits Die
·Sponge Daubers
·Paper Snips
·Silicone Craft
Sheet
·Stampin' Sponge
Instructions
1.Cut the
cardstock as below:
·Pool Party
cardstock base is cut 5½" x 8½", score at 4¼" on the long edge
·Basic Black
cardstock layer is cut 3⅞" x 5⅛"
·Whisper White
cardstock layer is cut 3¾" x 5"
·Whisper White
cardstock banner is cut ¾" x 2¾"
2.Using the two solid balloons from the
Balloon Celebration Photopolymer Stamp Set, stamp in Pool Party and Pear
Pizzazz as per the picture, don't forget to stamp the strings as well. Use a Chalk marker to put a "!" on the
top edge of each balloon to give a bit of depth.
3.Using
the Happy Birthday Thinlits Die, die cut the Happy Birthday in Whisper White
and Basic Black. Trim them so you just have the "Happy", or just
place the cardstock so that you only get the "Happy" - some trimming
will probably still be required, however.
4.Mask half of the Whisper White "Happy"
using one or more sticky notes and add colour using a dauber or sponge. Move
the mask and do the same to the bottom. Leave a small amount of the first
colour showing when you set up the second mask so that you don't end up with a
white line across the middle.
5.Adhere
the coloured "Happy" to the black one. A good method for doing this
is to use the Silicon Craft Sheet and a piece of Stampin' Sponge. Place some
Multipurpose Liquid Glue onto a corner of the sheet and then use the sponge to
gently daub the glue onto the back of the coloured "Hello". You won't
need much glue. Store the piece of sponge in an airtight container to prevent
the glue from drying out. You can use this over again whenever you need it.
Place the coloured "Hello" onto the black "Hello"
positioning it slightly off to create a shadow effect. Adhere to the card using
glue or Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.
6.Stamp
the "Birthday!" from the Marquee Messages Photopolymer Stamp Set onto
the small piece of Whisper White cardstock leaving some room on the left to cut the pennant
end. Once the end is cut, adhere to the card with the right side lined up with
the right side of the white mat.
The ladies in the Woomera Craft Group had a fun time making this card. Here we are with our cards.
Ladies of the Woomera Craft Group, l to r: Kara, Amanda, Heather, Kieran and me!
This is Lisa's video
Thanks for reading today's blog. I hope you enjoy making your own version of this card, and thanks again to Lisa Curcio for the inspiration and the permission :)
Last weekend my daughter, Kieran, and I set up a card making table for the SA Rural Women's Retreat in Woomera, SA. We were expecting 4 groups of 10 women but ended up only having 5 women join us (and 4 of those women came twice). It was a little disappointing but the women who took part really enjoyed the cards.
I had made up a set of Christmas cards featuring the Be Merry Designer Series Paper and the Cookie Cutter Builder Punch.
Stamp Set: Better Together
Stamp Set: Cookie Cutter Christmas
Stamp Set: Hang Your Stocking
DSP: Be Merry
Punch: Bell
Punch: Starburst
Punch: Pretty Label
Punch: Cookie Cutter Builder
The ladies enjoyed these but asked for some birthday cards for the second day. So Kieran and I went home that night and whipped up a batch of birthday cards for them to make on Day 2. These were very popular, especially the balloon one.
Stamp Set: Badges & Banners
Stamp Set: Daisy Delight
Stamp Set: Happy Birthday Gorgeous
Stamp Set: Label Me Pretty
DSP: Birthday Memories
DSP: Delightful Daisy
DSP: Naturally Eclectic
DSP: Pick a Pattern
Punch: Balloon Bouquet
Punch: Best Badge
Punch: Daisy
Punch: Everyday Label
Punch: Pretty Label
Punch: Starburst
Embellishment: Gold Faceted Gems
Although a bit disappointing we really enjoyed teaching the ladies some new skills. None of them had EVER made cards before but they picked it up like real champs.
