Embossed Stenciled Card

Hello!

Yes a post on Monday! I'm hoping to make this a regular thing by using Monday's to post up my entry to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog instead of trying to fit my usual cards into the theme.  So this weeks challenge on the blog is to create a card that features embossing, including dry, wet and embossing paste.  I love embossing so I had fun with this one.

Embossed Stenciled card

Materials:

• Black card (Kasdak, 210gsm, Raven Black), maroon card (Rosie's studio)
• Stencil (Memory Box, Raymelle)
• Embossing ink (Versamark)
• Gold Embossing powder (Ranger, Queen's Gold)
• "Happy Birthday" stamp (Couture Creations)
• Nesting flower dies (Couture Creations, Daisy)
• Flourish die 
• Yellow/Gold gem

Directions:

1. Create a top folding card base from the black card.  Cut from the black card; one flourish, one of the smallest flower die and two of the next size up flower die.
2. Place the stencil over the maroon card and secure it with some low-tack tape.  Squish your embossing ink pad over the top of the stencil until the paper underneath becomes completely covered.  Carefully remove the stencil and apply the embossing powder over the card.  Heat set and trim around the edge of the image.
3. Stamp and emboss the "Happy Birthday" sentiment vertically along the left side of the card.  Using this as a guide, trim down the maroon piece to fit.  Adhere it on to the card with dimensional foam.
4. To make the flower, gently curl the petals of one of the larger flowers.  Taking the other larger flower, cut to the middle from the join between two of the petals, do this to the smallest flower as well.  At the cut, move one petal to overlap the one on the other side of the cut so that the paper makes a cone shape, secure with tape on the back.  Do this for both the cut flowers then curl the petals.  Using hot glue, secure the smallest flower into the cut larger one and then on to the uncut largest one.  Glue the gem into the center.  Adhere the flower over top of the flourish and on to the card.

This card took me a long time to make as I couldn't decide how to use the wonderful embossed background I had created without covering too much of it up.  I got there eventually and I'm super happy with how it turned out.

You can visit the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog here: http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Till next time

Stacey

Spotlight on patterned paper: Hello card

Hello,

This card is the fourth installment in my series featuring patterned paper.  I have to apologize for not posting yesterday,  there was a party the night before and you can probably guess the rest.  I don't often make cards that are just to say hello, so I thought I'd shake things up a bit and create one.

Spotlight on patterned paper: Hello Card

Materials:

• White card (Trophee, 240gsm, white linen), patterned paper, yellow paper
• Flower nesting dies (Couture creations, Daisy)
• Circle nesting dies (Couture creations)
• Alphabet stamps (Cre8tiv)
• Red (Rosie's studio) and gold (Martha Stewart) ink
• Blue ribbon

Directions:

1. Create a top folding card base from the white card.  Cut the patterned paper to leave a small border of white.  Using the nesting dies, cut a flower from the yellow paper and a circle from some white card.
2. Stamp 'hello' with the red ink onto the circle.  Sponge the edge of the circle with red ink.  For the flower, sponge the gold ink around the edge.
3. Adhere the blue ribbon to the patterned piece with some double sided tape and then adhere the circle to the flower and the flower to the ribbon.  Adhere the panel to the card base.

It is a very simple card which could be easily massed produced and the sentiment changed to reflect many different occasions.  That's it for today's post, see you next time!

Stacey

Spotlight on patterned paper: Peacock Sympathy Card

Hello!

Today I am continuing with my patterned paper mini series with a sympathy card.  Sympathy cards can be tricky to make as you need to create a card where the appearance doesn't overpower the sentiment.  Losing someone is never easy and your card must convey your feelings, not your card making skills.

Materials:

• Black (Kasdak, 210gsm, raven black) and purple (Rosie's studio) card
• Peacock patterned paper (Rosie's studio)
• Peacock embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
• Embossing ink pad (Versamark)
• Gold embossing powder (Ranger)
• "With Sympathy" sentiment stamp (Couture Creations)
• Corner rounding punch (Fiskars)

Directions:

1. Create the card base from the black card.  Cut a piece of the purple card to create a layer 0.5cm smaller than the card base.  Cut the patterned piece 0.5cm smaller than the purple piece.  Create another purple layer this time 2cm smaller than the patterned paper.
2. Apply Versamark ink to the raised side of the embossing folder being careful not to get the ink on other sections.  Gently press the smaller of the two purple pieces over the embossing folder to pick up the ink.  Cover with the powder and heat set.  On a scrap piece of black card stamp and emboss the sentiment.  Cut it down and create a flag detail on one end.
3. Round the corners of all your layers with the punch.  Begin adhering them together starting with the smallest purple piece on to the patterned piece then on to the second purple piece.  Adhere the whole panel to the card base.  Using dimensional foam, adhere the sentiment towards the bottom right of the card.

There you have it.  A sympathy card that uses an embossing folder in a different capacity than usual.  Stay tuned for next weeks installment in the patterned paper mini series.

Stacey

Spotlight on patterned paper: Masculine Birthday Card with Watercolour

Hello

Today I am presenting a masculine card as part of my mini series on patterned paper.  Patterned papers are really handy for masculine cards as you can get so many designs in every colour you can think of.

Materials:

• Black (Kasdak, 210gsm, raven black) and white (Trophee, 240gsm, white linen) card.  Plus watercolour paper and black square patterned paper (Cre8tiv).
• Distress ink pads in mowed lawn, salty ocean and black soot.
• Alphabet stamps (I used two sets one from Rosie's Studio the other by Cre8tiv)
• Black and light blue ink
• Homemade enamel dots

Directions:

1. Cut your card base from the black card.  Cut a piece of watercolour paper larger than the front of the card base.  Trim the patterned paper so that it is 1cm shorter on each side than the card base.  
2. Create the watercolour background by pressing the distress ink pads in a random pattern over a piece of plastic or a craft sheet.  Spray with water to get the ink to pool up and press the watercolour piece into it moving it around to blend the colours together.  Repeat if desired. Leave to dry.  
3. Cut down the watercolour piece so that it is 0.5 cm shorter than the card base.  Adhere the patterned piece on top and then the two pieces to the card base.
4. Stamp the word "birthday" with the large alphabet stamps in the light blue ink on to the white card.  Using the distress inks again colour over the letters using a damp brush.  Stamp 'it's your' above the birthday in black ink.  Cut down the piece and adhere it to the card front.  Add a few enamel dots.

That's it for today's card, if you want to know how to make your own enamel dots go have a search on you tube for a video tutorial.

Join me next week for the continuation of the mini series!

Stacey

Spotlight on patterned paper: Birthday Owl Shaker Card

Hello!

This week begins a new mini series featuring patterned paper.  Once again I will create five cards showcasing patterned papers.  Patterned papers come in all different colours and designs from the bright and bold to the subtle and elegant.  I tend to buy my patterned paper in pads in both the small 6" x 6" and the large 12" x 12" sizes (and a few variants in between).  Using patterned paper for cards is an easy way to introduce colour and pattern and can provide a quick and easy background or focal image.  This weeks card uses a section of a large 12" x 12" sheet which has a total of nine of these cute owl images in boxes (so in theory you can create nine of these cards using just the one piece of patterned paper), as the focal image of the card.

Materials:

• White (Trophee, 240 gsm, white linen) and purple (Rosie's Studio) card
• A piece of acetate or plastic packaging
• Owl patterned paper (Sugar and Spice Studio)
• Various gems, sequins and glitter
• 'Who loves you' stamp set by Hampton Arts
• Pink, purple and green ink (Rosie's Studio)
• Purple gel pen

Directions:

1. Create a 12.7cm square card base from the white card.  Cut a 12.7cm square from the purple card.  Cut out the owl image from the patterned paper.  Using the image as a guide cut a slightly smaller square from the middle of the purple piece.
2. Use the gel pen to create a scalloped border around the window and a dash line border around the outer edge of the purple piece.  Adhere the acetate to the back of the purple card and apply dimensional foam around the window on top of the acetate piece making sure there is no gaps for glitter to fall out of.
3. Place your gems and glitter over top of the owl image and adhere the window panel over top (you may want to adhere a piece of computer paper behind the owl so there is more for the adhesive to stick to when you apply the window).  Adhere the piece to the card base.
4. Stamp the sentiment in pink on to a scrap of white card.  Cut out and create a banner on the left end.  Adhere to the card using dimensional foam towards the bottom right corner.
5. Stamp an owl in purple on the inside of the card, add a hat in green and your sentiment in pink.

Inside of the card

That's it for this week, making shaker cards isn't that tricky so long as you pick a shape with strait edges!  Join me next time for the second installment of the patterned paper mini series.

Stacey

P.S This project has been added to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog.  Check it out at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ .

Ice cream card

Hello

This week I thought I would prove to you all that I used one of my examples from lasts week's post on recycled craft.  I used the panel I created with paint and a milk bottle top as the main focal point on my card.  Here is a picture to refresh your memories:

My milk bottle top creation

After I had made the panel and shown it to a few people we all came to the same conclusion, it reminded us of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  So why fight a good thing?

Materials:

• White (Trophee, 240gsm, white linen) and black card (Kaskad, 225gsm, raven black)
• Black ink (Stazon, jet black)
• Green and black paint
• Gold gel pen
• An ice cream stamp and a 'you're the sweetest' sentiment stamp (Fiskars, the sweet life)
• Colouring pencils
• Corner rounding punch (Fiskars)

Directions:

1. Cut  the black card for a side folding card base.  Cut the white card for the panel and sentiment strip.
2. Stamp the ice cream on a piece of scrap white, the sentiment on to the sentiment strip and then create the panel with the paint and milk bottle top.
3. Colour the ice cream and cut it out leaving a small white border. Round the corners on the sentiment strip and create gold dash lines around the edge.
4. Adhere the main panel and use the gel pen to create a gold line on left.  Round the corners on outer edge of the card base.
5. Adhere the ice cream image with dimensional foam onto the sentiment strip and then the strip to the card base also with dimensional foam.
6. Cut a panel for the inside of the card and round all the corners (I tend to use ordinary computer paper for this).  Create a flag shape from the left over panel and adhere to the top right corner.

Inside of the card

That's it for today's card, join me next week for the beginning of another mini series!

Stacey

P.S: I have again added this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.  Don't forget to check it out at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Spotlight on border stamps: Rainbow Stair Birthday Card

Hello

This is the final post for my one year anniversary and also my final post in my mini series on border stamps.  Today I have a card that uses a border stamp to create a rainbow effect up one side of the card.  In order to keep the background the main focal point I made the placed the sentiment off to one side using gold as a contrasting colour.

Materials:

• White card (Trophee, 240gsm, white linen)
• A selection of inks in rainbow colours
• Gold embossing powder (Ranger)
• Embossing ink (Versamark)
• A border stamp (Cre8tiv) and a 'make a wish' stamp (Rosie's studio)
• Gold gel pen

Directions:

1. Make a top folding card base from the white card.  Cut a piece of white card big enough for the sentiment.
2. Stamp border stamp beginning from the bottom with red ink, clean your stamp and repeat the image in orange above the red and a step off to the left.  Repeat this with the rest of the rainbow colours moving up and to the left each time.  Stamp and emboss sentiment on the small piece of white card, cut into banner shape at the bottom end.
3. Adhere the sentiment to the top right hand side of the card using dimensional foam.  Use the gel pen to add dash lines around the banner and across the top of the card.

I love how colourful this card turned out.  I think it would be an easy card to mass produce even though it does use several colours of ink, you would just stamp all cards with the one colour before moving on to the next.  I also think that instead of rainbow you could do an ombre effect with several shades of one colour fading up the card.

Thank you for joining me during this very special week of posts!  Feel free to follow me on pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/rorystar/ or like me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/ConfessionsOfACardMakerBlog? .

Till next week

Stacey