Spotlight on border stamps: Elephant Baby Card

Hello!

Sorry for not posting last week.  I had a bad week and just couldn't bring myself to post or even make any cards.  This week things have been much better and I have even decided to do a spotlight on border stamps.  I've had border stamps for a while and I've always had trouble thinking of ways to use them, so I decided to challenge myself and create five cards using five different border stamps!  Here is the first:

Elephant Baby Card - Confessions of a Cardmaker

Gosh that elephant stamp is cute!

Materials:

• White card (Trophee, 240gsm, white linen)
• Black ink (Stazon) and three shades of blue ink (Rosie's Studio)
• Banner border stamp (Creative), elephant stamp and 'baby' sentiment (Fiskars)
• Blue gel pens
• Grey pencil (Faber-Castell)
• Blue glitter glue
• Round edge corner punch (Fiskars)

Directions:

1. Create a top folding card base from the white card.  Cut a medium sized rectangle also from the white card.
2. On the card base, stamp the banner across the width of the card using various shades of blue ink to create the background.  
3. For the rectangular piece, stamp the elephant in black and the baby sentiment in blue.  Colour the elephant with your pencil and punch the corners to round them.  Create a dash line border around the piece with the blue gel pen.  
4. Adhere the pannel to your card base with dimensional foam.  Round all four corners with the punch and apply a small amount of glitter glue to some of the banners for sparkle.

That's it for today!  Come back next week for another card featuring border stamps!

Stacey

P.S. I have added this creation to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge over at:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Shaped Flower Card

Hello!

I have to be honest, this week I've had something of a dead week when it came to creativity.  Yesterday I made a card with a watermelon stamp but I decided I didn't like it so today I sat down and finally found some inspiration.  While I wasn't fully in the card making zone (I got glitter everywhere!) I still had enough momentum to complete a card I was happy with.

Materials:

• Purple card, pink patterned paper, very light purple paper.
• Nesting flower dies (Couture Creations - Daisy)
• Dots stamp (Couture Creations) and a 'thanks a bunch' stamp (Rosie's Studio)
• Embossing ink (Versamark), purple ink (Distress - seedless preserve), gold (Ranger) and sticky (Ranger) embossing powder
• Purple glitter (WOW - eggplant)
• Purple flower gem and gold heart sequins
• Purple and gold gel pens

Directions:

1. Cut two of the flowers from the purple card using the largest of your dies.  Cut one flower from the next sized die from the pink patterned paper.  Finally cut one more flower with the third largest die from the light purple paper.
2. On one of the large purple flowers score a line along what will be the top of the card about and inch down.  On the other purple flower, stamp, emboss and glitterfy it with the dots stamp.  Adhere the two purple flowers together but only above the score line you created.
3. Adhere the pink patterned flower to the card base.  On the smallest flower, stamp and emboss the sentiment in gold.  Sponge around the edge with purple ink.  Adhere to the card with dimensional foam.  Glue on the embellishments.  Use the gold gel pen to add hints of gold to the purple card and the purple gel pen to create stitching lines around the pink flower.

For the envelope:

1. Make the envelope from the light purple paper.  Stamp, emboss and glitterfy the dots stamp onto the front.  
2. Cut a piece of pink patterned paper, round the corners and adhere to the front.  Cut a piece of the purple card, round the corners and adhere.  Use the gel pens to add stitching lines around the pink and purple layer.

There you go! This card turned out to be easier to make than I had anticipated which was great and other than the mishap with the glitter, everything went smoothly.

I'm adding this card to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog.  Check it out at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Till next time.

Stacey

Rosette Wedding Card

Hello!

It is a lovely day here today and I have achieved very little so far!  The good thing about blogging is that no one knows your currently sitting in bed and still in your pj's while you are writing your post.  I haven't really done any crafting over the last week as my desk has become somewhat over run by things.......  So today I'm featuring a card I made a good month ago for a friends wedding.

Yip, someone learnt how to use PicMonkey this week!

Materials:

• White card, sliver glitter paper, pearlised rose patterned paper (Rosie's studio), vellum
• White ribbon and round ribbon charm (Bella Bling)
• Embossing ink (Versamark) and silver embossing powder (Ranger)
• Congratulations stamp (a set from a magazine)

Directions:

1. Cut the white card to form a square card base.  Cut the sliver glitter paper 5mm shorter in both height and width than the base.  Cut the pearlised paper 5mm shorter in height and width than the glitter paper.  Punch or die cut a medium size circle from the middle of the glitter paper for the rosette.  Cut two strips of vellum 4cm wide.
2. Take the two strips of vellum and either score with a scoring board or with an embossing stylus, lines 1cm apart perpendicular to the longest side of the strip.  Accordion fold both pieces along the scored lines.  Adhere the strips together at both ends to form a circle.  Punch a circle out of scrap card and cover with a strong liquid glue.  Holding the rosette together so that there is no gap in the center, place it over the glue covered circle and either hold it or weight it down until the glue dries.
3. Stamp and emboss the congratulations stamp onto a strip of white card.  Use an embossing tool to create scored lines either side of the stamped image so that the strip can sit snugly over the circle of glitter paper.  Create one more scored line on each side 1cm along from the first line.  Fold the strip to form a shape of a banner and cut a small triangle from each end.  Adhere onto the glitter circle with dimensional foam and then adhere the piece to the top of the rosette also with dimensional foam.
4. Cut the ribbon so that you can wrap it around the patterned piece of paper.  Slide on the charm and adhere the ribbon on the back with tape.  Place some adhesive behind the charm to stop it from sliding around.
5. Adhere the glitter paper to the card base, followed by the patterned paper (with a strong adhesive, glitter paper doesn't like to play fair).  Adhere the rosette on top.

There you have it.  Please make sure to use a liquid glue or an adhesive that is strong when adhering both the patterned paper to the glitter paper and the rosette to the card.  I used double sided tape under the patterned paper and it fell off with the weight of the rosette and the glitter paper underneath.  Thankfully this happened well before I gave the card to the happy couple but I did end up sticking it on a bit wonky in the end when I was piecing it back together.

It is certainly not a quick card, but weddings allow you to be fancy and complicated because they demand a certain level of elegance.  I used this card as an excuse to buy some (rather expensive) pretty paper and embellishments I wouldn't normally get and to use them on a card rather than hiding them away (I have a problem with that).

Till next time.

Stacey

Life is wonderful - watercolour card

Hello,

Today I am writing this weeks blog post while I'm visiting my mother for her birthday.  The weather is nice, the food is great, and the company has been even better.  So to tie in this weeks card with the wonder that is Central Otago, I created this:

Life is wonderful - watercolour card.

Materials:

• Watercolour paper, black and blue card, sliver embossed paper
• Flowers, leaves, little dot, and 'life is wonderful' stamp (Couture Creations)
• Black waterproof ink (Stazon), embossing ink (Versamark)
• Sliver embossing powder (Ranger)
• Watercolours and brush

Directions:

1. Cut the black card to form a landscape top folding base.  Cut the watercolour paper to leave a small border of black.  Cut a small strip of silver paper and a wide strip of blue card.
2. Stamp flowers and leaves on to the watercolour paper with the black ink.  Stamp the sentiment on to the blue card and emboss with silver embossing powder.
3. Colour the flowers and leaves with the watercolours and leave to dry.
4. Cut the watercolour panel into two using the blue strip as a guide for your cut.  Adhere the watercolour piece to the top of the card front and the blue strip to the bottom.  Place the silver strip over the join between the two.  You can either keep the remaining watercolour piece for another card or adhere it to the inside of the card.

I shall finish this post with some photos of the wonderful scenery that served as my inspiration.

Till next time.

Stacey

Once again I am adding this post to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.  Check it out: http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Mother's Day Card - One of a kind

Hello!

The cold weather has finally begun to assert its dominance this week so I've been trapped at home for the past few days with a tummy bug leaving me a lot of time to do crafty things.  Seeing as Mother's Day is only a couple of weeks away I have been busy crafting some goodies for my Mother and my Nana.
Here is today's card:

Materials:

• White and dark blue card
• Blue ink (salty ocean and peacock feathers distress ink) and embossing ink (versamark)
• Sponges
• Silver embossing powder (ranger)
• Three doily stamps (couture creations) and a 'one of a kind' stamp (sullivans)
• Glimmer mist (or just pearlized paint mixed with some water in a spray bottle like I used)
• Background stencil (memory box)
• Corner rounding punch (fiskars)

Directions

1. Cut your card base from the white card.  Cut a 2cm wide strip from the blue.
2. Stamp and emboss the three doily stamps on to the blue card and cut them out leaving a small border around the edges.  Stamp and emboss the sentiment on to the strip of blue card.
3. Secure the stencil over the card front with some low tack tape.  Using the two blue inks, sponge the colour through the stencil.  Before you remove the stencil, lightly spray the card front with the 'glimmer mist' (Be careful not to add too much like I did or areas of your stenciled design will run together as distress inks react to water).  Leave to dry or heat set.
4. Adhere one of your doilies to the card base at the bottom center.  Using foam adhesive, place the sentiment strip over the top portion of the first doily.  Adhere the second doily with foam above the sentiment strip, slightly overlapping it.  Add the final doily with foam again on the right side of the sentiment.  Round the top two corners

It didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it to because of the stenciled image running together a bit, in all fairness its only the second time I've worked with distress inks so I'm still learning how to use them. I'm certainly happy with the outcome anyway and I'm still supporting slightly blue fingers because of it!

Don't forget to check out Confessions of a Card Maker on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ConfessionsOfACardMakerBlog

and be sure to check out my Pinterest boards for heaps of inspiration at http://www.pinterest.com/rorystar/

Till next week

Stacey

Yes, you guessed it! Added once again to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ . Check it out!

Sympathy Butterfly Card

Hello

Happy Easter!

Sorry for being a little late in posting today, our internet has been down for a little over a day due to the storm that blew through yesterday.  It is only when you lose something that you realise just how dependent you have become.......

Anyway, today's card is a sympathy card with a pretty rainbow butterfly and an embossed vellum background.

Materials:

• Black and white card, vellum
• Embossing folder (Cuttlebug) and die-cutting machine (Cuttlebug v2)
• Gold embossing powder (Ranger) and embossing ink (Versamark)
• Watercolours
• A 'with sympathy' stamp (Rosie's studio) and large butterfly stamp (Kaisercraft)
• Gold brads

Directions:

1. Cut black card to form a top folding base.  Cut a piece of vellum to leave a small black border.  Emboss the vellum with the folder through a die-cutting machine.  Cut a small strip of black card for the sentiment which is wide enough to cover the width of the vellum piece.
2. Stamp the butterfly with the embossing ink and heat set with the gold powder.  Using a rainbow of colours, add the watercolour to the butterfly and leave to dry.  Stamp and emboss the sentiment on to the strip of black card.  On the vellum piece, stamp the top section of the butterfly and emboss with the powder so you don't have to cut around the antennae. Cut out butterfly.
3. Adhere the butterfly to the vellum lining up with the stamped antennae.  Adhere the black strip towards the bottom of the piece.  Using the brads, attach the vellum piece to the black base adding additional adhesive behind the strip and butterfly if you want to.
   

There you go!  I love the butterfly, it is so pretty and I'm fairly certain I will do many more butterflies like this one in the future!

Till next week!

Stacey

Again this project has been added to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  Check it out at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-animal-antics/

Easter themed Exploding box

Hello

Today instead of a card I have an exploding box!  If you haven't made one of these before you should because they are a lot of fun.  There is heaps of tutorials out there on how to make them so I'm not going to bore you with the exact process.  My box is actually a weird size so I'd just get myself all confused if I tried.

Oh yeah! that's right! mini creme eggs!

Materials needed:

• White and green card, chevron rainbow patterned paper and acetate 
• A rainbow of pastel coloured inks plus embossing ink and black
• Gold embossing powder
• Heat tool
• A egg, flower, butterfly, bee and 'happy easter' stamp
• Colouring pencils
• Mini Easter eggs
• Hot glue

Directions:

1. Create your box from the white card.  Cut the green card slightly smaller than all the sides of your box and the chevron paper slightly smaller again.  Adhere them to the box.  Cut a small strip of acetate about 5mm wide.
2. Stamp the eggs and flowers on to scraps of white card (embossing them with clear powder if you wish) with the selection of coloured inks.  Stamp three eggs in embossing ink and gold emboss.  Stamp the butterfly and bee in black and colour with pencils.  Cut out all the images.  On a piece of white card stamp the 'happy easter' and cut to create a banner end.  Cut two small slits into the base of the box big enough for the acetate strip to slide through.  Make sure you position them parallel to each other and with a sufficient gap in between so that the cup for the eggs can fit in between.  Thread the acetate through and create a fold on both edges about 5mm in then adhere the butterfly to one side and the bee to the other.
3. Make cone for the eggs out of the green card by cutting a two circles, one larger than the other.  Cut from the outside to the center on the largest of the circles, do the same to the smaller circle but cut an additional small circle out of the center.  Adhere the circles in to cone shapes by overlapping on of the cut edges over the other.  Using the hot glue adhere the smaller circle to the underside of the larger circle to form a stable base, then hot glue the whole thing to the base of the box.
4. Decorate the inside of the box with your eggs and flowers reserving one of the gold eggs for the lid.  Adhere this gold egg to the left side of your sentiment banner then adhere the whole thing to the lid.  Hold all the sides together with one hand and slip the lid on top.  Take the lid off and watch your box 'explode'!  Do this as many times as required.......

Till next time,

Stacey

Once again this week I've added this project to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  Go check it out at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/