Sunday 20 December 2009

Merry & Bright!

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
Merry Christmas to one and all! These cards are my Christmas 2009 design and I’ve now made about 30 of them. Those of you who make big batches of cards know how much work this can entail, but these were relatively quick – I think it took about 5 hours to make all 30. This sounds like a lot of time - and it’s true, it would’ve been a lot faster without cutting out the 3 trees on each card - but it was worth it as they were too cute not to use! All of the patterned papers come from My Mind’s Eye “Wonderful Winter” 12 x 12 glittered paper collection. You get 3 sheets of each pattern. I used about 1.5 sheets of each design to create all my cards. Great value for money!
<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>The ‘Merry & Bright’ stamp was made from my own design using the ImagePac stamp making kit and 3 different fonts. I love this kit, having the versatility to create whatever stamp design I like!

Using this size of card, I was able to create 3 top-folding portrait cards from each piece of 12 x 12 Bazzill Kraft cardstock. Also, for the strip of patterned papers at the bottom of the card, I was able to create 3 cards’ worth from each 12” strip. This is a really quick way of creating a ‘conveyor belt’ of cards to make a big batch of the same design.

Below is the video and as usual, please view it in HQ (click on the button in the bottom right-hand corner) and go over to my YT channel to rate & subscribe! Thanks for watching & Merry Christmas!! ;0)

Sunday 22 November 2009

Angelic Christmas!

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
Well, it’s that time of year again! Every year I say I will make all of my Christmas cards in October, and even get some batches made up to sell, but every year, time gets ahead of me and I end up running around like a mad woman trying to fit everything in!! Work has gone crazy busy at the moment too, so it’s been really difficult to get to my craft desk at all, let alone get some video tutorials done! But I had great fun doing this card, so I really must try to fit some more in this week ;0)

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>My little angel was printed onto gesso prepared c.s. which enabled me to hit the ink with clear e.p. before it dried, but unfortunately, the gesso didn’t quite agree with my copic markers. That’s to say, they’re not damaged in any way, but they just didn’t blend as nicely on the gesso as they would’ve on the gel acrylic prepared c.s. So, note to self – only use matte gel medium for preparing c.s. in future, just use gesso for texture!

I just love all the glitter on this card. I’m not usually one for lots of glitter, but Christmas is a great time to really go for it on the glitter…

The video is below. Now, I’ve asked Santa for an HD Camcorder this year (Santa is otherwise known as my Hubby!!) so these videos will potentially be higher quality in the New Year, enabling me to zoom in more on the detail. But for now, I hope this is enough for you to see what I’m doing. Please hop over to my YT Channel to rate and subscribe!

Thanks for watching!

Sunday 1 November 2009

Card Design/Sketch Booklets

 <Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
Today’s video is for something a bit different. I got fed up of having all my card designs/sketches all on random post-it notes or scrap bits of paper all over the place, so I decided to create a little booklet that I can take with me wherever I go, to jot down the designs whenever I get them. Which can be at absolutely any random time or place, let me assure you! LOL!
<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>I’d been thinking about creating something like this for ages, and then Kristina Werner created something similar for herself, which gave me the incentive to stop being lazy and get to it! Kristina’s design wasn’t quite what I had in mind, nor did it make best use of the A4 paper size we have here in the UK, so I took the plunge and designed my own. Click here for the PDF of my inserts (from A4 paper).

Both booklets have ‘flat’ designs on the front cover, so when you’re doodling on the inside left-hand pages, you’re not drawing over the lumps and bumps of 3d design work on the cover. Also, this booklet will be travelling about in my handbag a lot, therefore, it needs to be durable! I have also considered covering the whole cover in sticky plastic to give that extra durability.

Below is the video and as usual, please view it in HQ (click on the button in the bottom right-hand corner) and go over to my YT channel to rate & subscribe! Thanks for watching! ;0)

Tuesday 27 October 2009

30 Today to a special friend

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
I spent quite a lot of time on this card as it was for a very special friend. I specifically didn’t video it, as I wanted to play about with my new distress inks and not have a camera above me watching every move I made. I quite enjoyed not having the distraction – it was nice to just go to my craft room and craft! Total enjoyment…
<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
And I really did have loads of fun making this card. It’s one of my most favourite cards that I’ve made of late! The background started out as a plain sheet of white card and I just built up the pattern with clear e.p and distress inks. Same with the ‘30’ topper.

The flower I made from scratch from a 6” strip of patterned paper. The pink strip was a pattered piece of paper I added to using distress inks and white gen pen doodling.
We had a great day celebrating Liz’s birthday with her – loadsa love to you Liz!! xx

Sunday 25 October 2009

Good Old Grandad!

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
I had done a video for this card…but it’s never made it to the editing stage. But I figured I can’t make a video for every card I create – there’s just not enough time! So I will just talk you through what I did instead.

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
This area of the card has been embossed with a cuttlebug folder, but I added a twist. Before placing the patterned paper into the folder, I rubbed one side of the folder with some versamark ink. This ensured that all of the none embossed bits (i.e. not the raised stuff) got inked, meaning that when I took it out of the cuttlebug I could hit it with some clear e.p and heat emboss it. The overall effect was that the depressed bits looked almost wet where the e.p had ‘pooled’. You could increase this effect by using UTEE.

I then cut this to size, added another contrasting piece of patterned paper from the same paper stack and stuck to the base card, inking in orange around the top patterned paper. I tied a thick piece of ribbon around the join and tied it off the edge of the card using string.
The sentiment was a combination of chipboard letters and white gel pen handwriting on card cut using the Labels1 Nestibilities dies, adhered to another slightly larger label from the same set and mounted onto the card using 3d foam stickers. The addition of 3 green eyelets to balance the card and the card is complete.

Friday 23 October 2009

Quick Triangle Box tutorial

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
These boxes are so popular at the moment, and I can totally see why – they are so ridiculously simple and easy to make! You don’t even need a template to cut around, just a rectangle of your favourite patterned cardstock and a few score lines as shown below:Box template (any size)
Dead easy! I've used papers from MyGrafico - (Tyka Patterns & Chocolate Mint Papers) they also have a great selection of Halloween and Christmas papers, making this project a great way to wrap a simple gift like sweeties or even something more personal, like jewellery. Digi papers are great because you can print them out on exactly the right weight cardstock/paper for the project you're doing. This was perfect for this box as the rigidity is necessary to protect the gift. Most patterned paper just wouldn’t cut the mustard for this ;0)

You could also be more adventurous and cut out a window and cover with acetate on the inside before assembling. This would give a great ‘peep-hole’ if you were filling with sweets. You could also print on both sides of the cardstock if you were doing this, so that the colour would show through the window.
The tutorial video is below. If you enjoyed this tutorial, I’d love if you could leave a comment or a link to a project that this has inspired you to make – it would be great to see what you’ve made! Please hop over to my YT channel to rate & subscribe. Thanks for watching! ;0)

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Monochrome Wedding Card

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
Wedding card are such lovely cards to make! I just love all the romance and happy tears at the ceremony ;0)
<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>Today’s card is for a wedding I went to a while back. I’ve just been a little slow in getting the video edited and published!! Mainly cos I went to the wedding as part of my holiday to Gibraltar and I’ve been a little busy catching up ever since I got back…

This is a super simple card. It really did not take long at all! And I’m loving the monochrome feel (quite popular at weddings these days – but not this one, they had a purple theme). I didn’t know the colour scheme at the time, so I went for safety colours of black and white. This could be altered to say “two hearts” or “I *heart* U” to make it less formal. But for a wedding card, I chose “love” as the sentiment.

  <Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
Here’s a picture of the happy couple on their big day…

Below is the video. As usual, please click on the HQ button in the right hand corner after pressing play to see it in its highest quality. If you enjoy the video, it would be great if you can hop over to YT to rate and subscribe to my channel!
Thanks for watching! ;0)


Saturday 3 October 2009

Metallic Masculine Card

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
Today's card is a VERY masculine card. It's for my brother who celebrated his 32nd birthday this week. He's really into all things metal - he's always tinkering with cars in the garage and he likes everything to be 'just so' - hence the card I've created for him is very balanced/symmetrical, very metallic and no-frills. It's not necessarily my kind of card (if I'm truly honest, it's really not my thing!) but it just know he'll love it. I hope you will like it too, but I understand if you don't as this is not everyone's cup of tea ;0)

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630> The card incorporates real metal, from a Pepsi can I (very carefully!) cut up, flattened, punched out several squares and cuttlebugged using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. I've used thin chipboard squares to create a chess board effect alongside the metal squares. I stapled the chipboard squares in a cross just to add to the metal theme. I then had to run these through the Cuttlebug to flatten the staples to allow me to adhere them down to the project. I did this by stacking my A plate, an embossing folder (with nothing inside it - this is just to pad out the stack), then a B plate (embossing plate), a piece of card to cushion the staples and a final B plate (cutting plate).

Sounds complicated, but essentially all I've done is create a stack thick enough to compress the staples, without causing damage to my machine ;0) You may need to vary this stack as each machine may differ. DON'T FORCE your machine, just remove a layer of c.s. if it's too difficult to turn the handle.

The sentiment part of the card uses a Fun Doodle Tags stamp set from MyGrafico.com (no longer available from MG, the link to the designer's website, Pixels&IceCream, can be found here). I just *HEART* this stamp set! It has so many uses! I'm always flapping around trying to find something suitable to stamp my sentiment onto, so this a great stamp set that's a must-have for everyone's crafting stash. And don't forget, as it's digital, you can resize any of the 8 tags to fit any width of sentiment, and therefore to suit any project - so that makes it great for scrapbooking too.

So, the video is below. I hope you enjoy watching me make this card - if you do, please hop over to YT to rate and subscribe. Your comments are always appreciated and I hope it inspires you to be ever more creative with those pesky masculine cards!! ;0)

Friday 2 October 2009

Join the fun at MyGrafico!

GROUPHOP 

Don’t forget to visit the MyGrafico shop to claim your 40% discount tomorrow! NB: they’re 4 hours behind us in the UK, so the sale won’t start here until 11pm…a little late, but well worth the wait ;0)

Thursday 1 October 2009

Seriously Amazing Blog Candy!!

Wow – this has got to be the most generous blog candy ever!!!

Do you want one of these?:

Silhouette

What a ridiculous question. Of course you do!!!! So go to this post and follow the instructions…this is a UK only blog candy (hurrah for us!) but even if you’re not signing up for this scrumptious candy, Jak’s blog is definitely worth a look around.

I am now back from my wonderful holiday and have finally caught up with myself, so I’ll be back tomorrow with a new project and tutorial, so watch this space…;0)

Monday 7 September 2009

How to cut out foam-backed rubber stamps

Hi – I just wanted to share with you my eagerly awaited “Miss Anya” stamps and I thought I’d film the process of me cutting them out as a quick tutorial for you all. They don’t come with instructions on how to prepare the stamps, so I thought it’d be a great opportunity to show you how I recommend you do it…
This is a popular new way of selling rubber stamps to save on precious craft storage/space, so it's important we know how to prepare them for the best stamping experience!! This technique uses stamps that come prepared on mounting foam such as 'EZ Mount', which is perfect for temporarily adhering to acrylic blocks in a similar way that acrylic stamps do. If your stamps just come as just the rubber, you can easily adhere them to something like EZ Mount then follow this same process. DO NOT CUT OUT your rubber stamps until they are fully adhered to some sort of mounting foam such as EZ Mount. Trust me, you’ll be in a world of pain if you do…
I hope you find this tutorial informative - please pop over to my YT channel to rate & subscribe. Thanks for watching!

Sunday 6 September 2009

Butterfly Garden

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
I wanted to have a play around with something 3d for this card…so I used vellum to create this really vibrant colourful butterfly. I’ve used some digital stamps and clipart from MyGrafico. First off, I prepared the vellum with 4 or 5 layers of acrylic matte gel medium. This was to strengthen the vellum, so it would be able to stand up to being the 3d focal point of this card without going flat/creased or (worse still) tearing, due to the vellum being so delicate. I used gel medium because it dries matte and clear. If you’re on a budget, you can always use PVA glue on the reverse of the design as this will do the same thing, but of course it will dry shiny not matte.

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>I used clear embossing powder to ‘set’ the digital print out on the vellum, but then I re-heated the clear embossing powder and whacked some black e.p. over the top. Doing it this way instead of hitting it with the black e.p. first off, gives you a much messier, splotchy effect.

Depending on what you’re going for depends which way you approach this. I liked the effect – after all, butterflies don’t tend to be subtle, pastel coloured things – they’re usually vibrant and gorgeous in their brilliance. I like the fact that this butterfly STANDS <Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630> OUT but doesn’t overpower the card. Shame I forget its antennae…was going to add some twisted wire, but I forgot. Oops!

The video below shows you the card from start to finish. I hope it’s informative and shows you how great the digi stamps and clip arts can be when combined in a project. I just love playing about with them – in fact the only thing that is holding me back now is my printer’s run out of ink! ;0)

Please hop over to YT to rate and subscribe…thanks for watching!

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Decoupage flower building & using flower cut-out to create patterned background

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
So here is the card I hinted at yesterday! An exceptionally quick card to put together, with lovely rich summery colours…the weather here isn’t being very obliging, so I’m putting some sunshine in my craft room instead ;0)

Using pre-cut decoupage flowers, I’ll show you how to build the flower, and use the discarded cut-out shape to create your own background on your base card. This is a super-fast card, and super effective, especially when you consider how easy it is to create and achieve this effect!

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630> <Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
The flower papers I used are medium weight – just perfect for being strong enough not to tear and malleable enough to be teased into the shape you want. These papers are (unusually!) UK only papers, but I’m sure there are other just as delectable papers out there in other countries for you to try this technique.

The video below is shorter than normal, reflecting how quick this card was to create. I hope you enjoy watching this, and would love to hear any comments or questions that you may have. If you nip over to YouTube you can subscribe to my channel and rate the video to let other’s know what you thought of it.

Thanks for watching! ;0)

Tuesday 25 August 2009

A Sneak Peak…

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>

Here’s a sneak peak of my next project…I am currently editing the video, so hopefully will publish the whole project plus video tomorrow. Watch this space!!

Sunday 23 August 2009

Circle of Friends Award from the lovely Jane

circle-of-friends-award

The terms of this particular award are:-

1. Make reference to award and publish it on your blog
2. Share 5 things you like to do
3. And share with 10 blogs
4. Inform each blog

 


Ok the 5 things I like to do (in no particular order) are:

1. Designing & making cards (of course!)
2. Watching a film/going to the cinema with my husband & best friends
3. Visiting my Mom & Dad
4. Reading. I’ve always got my nose in some book or another ;0)
5. Going on holiday somewhere warm: sun, sea & sand…

And the 10 fantastic blogs I’d like to share this award with are:

Mel's, Julie’s, Zoe’s, Monica’s, Andrea’s, Mujka’s, Anthonette’s, Kath’s, Michelle’s, and last but certainly not least Kerry’s.

I regularly visit all of these people’s blogs and just love what I see, so I hope you all take this as a big thanks from me as an appreciation of your talent and dedication to sharing your work with the crafting world! Cheers to you all! ;0)

Enjoy…today’s cake day!



<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>This tiny but scrumptious looking Forever Friends iced bun stamp was calling to be used on a card. I couldn’t think of any way of fitting it into a card without it being the main focal point, so I made a smallish 4” x 4” card so as not to overwhelm the stamped image.

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
I also recycled some lavender cardstock that I’d made a mistake on creating another card. It was not quite big enough for the base card for this card, so I added another bit of lilac cardstock on the bottom and decorated it. This way it fit into my design for the card and used up some ‘mistakes’ from previously.

I have also done a video tutorial on creating this card, below. It is a very fast card, especially if you keep the base card whole (with the right size cardstock!) so this basic design could easily be reproduced for Christmas cards, substituting the iced bun/cupcake and colours for something Christmassy!

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
You could get 20 done in no time at all, by creating the competent pieces en masse then assembling all 20 at the end.

Don’t forget to click on the HQ button in the right hand corner after pressing play. Hope you enjoy the video, please hop over to YouTube to rate & subscribe. Thanks for watching ;0)

Saturday 22 August 2009

Creating a background using digital stamps

<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
This card was inspired by a recent card I saw on Kristina's blog. I know it looks nothing like her card, but as soon as I saw hers, the design and colour scheme for this card came straight to mind, and this is almost exactly how I imagined it, apart from the pink heart. I don’t like the pink heart a whole lot, but I thought I’d show you guys the finished result anyway…

I think if I was making this again, I would probably print out another, larger heart onto the lavender cardstock, embossing in silver, then layer beneath the smaller dark purple heart. I may even change this card to reflect that as I’m really not feeling that pink heart. Or just stick with the single dark purple heart as the whole focal piece?
<Digimax S600 / Kenox S600 / Digimax Cyber 630>
Anyway, the whole point of this was to use Mujka’s digital design for the background left hand side (above), as this is what sprang to mind when watching Kristina make her card I talked about earlier.

I simply love this ornate pattern, which was originally designed for wedding RSVPs and invites etc. So that’s why I think it works well on this love themed card. You can download this for free at MyGrafico once their new site is up and running again. I’m already looking forward to it as I’m sure it’s going to be great! :0)
Tonight I sat and planned about 8 cards in my sketchbook (!) so I have a load to get making, and a rare day to myself tomorrow, so I will have fun playing & get a few of them videoed to show over the next few weeks.

Thursday 20 August 2009

MIA

I just wanted to let you guys know that I’m back from my short break, hence the total lack of posts – heck, I couldn’t even get a mobile phone signal when I was on holiday. Weird, but peaceful. And this is where we were….beautiful, doncha think?

Wales 2009 030 Wales 2009 031

I’ll be back at my craft desk shortly, so watch this space! ;0)

Sunday 9 August 2009

Head above the rest!

Silly me, I posted my video up on YouTube on Thursday, but I forgot to post it here on my blog - d'oh! I've had a busy weekend in the garden so nothing new since then either...but I thought I'd share this card with you in more detail.

I went fully digital for this card, and that includes the background - this is printed straight from Photoshop. I've always wondered how to do a repetitive background, without having to draw each and every bit of it, and I came across this video which showed me how to use the grid/tile function in CS4 - brilliant! So it was dead easy, and very quick too, once you know how!


Then I printed out the giraffe from MyGrafico.com using these digital stamps onto specially prepared paper. This is a great technique I learnt from Mel (one of many of her brilliant ideas) and it makes embossing digital images a whizz.

First, paint your card (patterned/coloured/plain) with a thin coat of acrylic gel medium (in matte) and leave to dry, or force-dry with a heat gun. Print onto this as normal, but be ready to hit it with your clear embossing powder AS SOON AS it comes out of the printer. Then just emboss like a normal rubber/acrylic stamp. This means that the ink is 'set' and will not smudge/smear as you colour the image in. The gel medium also dries completely clear, so you can totally go to town with this technique using patterned paper and embossing resist techniques.

I used my spangly new copic markers and I love the way they colour on this card coated in gel medium (it's different to colouring on normal cardstock, but it's very effective - I'd say it's even easier and quicker this way!).

So, hope you like the card, the video is below. As usual, don't forget to click on the HQ button in the right hand corner after pressing play. Please head over to YT to rate & subscribe - thanks for watching ;0)

Monday 3 August 2009

A little birdie told me...

Hi! No video tutorial today I'm afraid...I wanted to get my first copic marker card up on this blog so I was in with a chance of winning copic markers - THE MOST FANTASTIC blog candy ever!! Whoever wins this will be soooo lucky, cos copic markers are just awesome....I've put off buying some for ages, cos they're so expensive and I thought "You know, what's all the fuss about" so I ordered a couple from Click on Crafts (£1.99 each plus £1.50 postage for 8 of the little beauties).

And I'm so glad I did....it was so much fun playing around with these things; why oh why didn't I get some before?? I am now an official worshipper of these beauties.....still wish they were cheaper, but hey, a gals gotta treat herself occasionally, right?

I'll be back later in the week to show a similar card to demonstrate this copic marker technique using digital stamps. For some absolutely gorgeous digital stamping techniques, hop over to Mel's blog - she really is the Queen of Digi stamping techniques ;0)

Friday 31 July 2009

Circle Acetate Window card

I wanted to have a go at doing some acetate windows in a card, so I thought this DCWV Latte cardstock would be perfect for the job. I picked the wildest patterned paper in the set, because I knew that having the cut-out windows would need something strong around it to balance the card.

If you don't have any suitable patterned paper, you can always stamp a repetitive background, or try printing some of your own paper using digital stamps - there's some nice freebies on MyGrafico.com - but you can make your own patterned paper too by just being inventive with the stamps you already own.


I chose the word 'smile' for this card, because it was for a friend (now family!) who was getting married on their actual birthday - BIG day. She had lots to smile about on that day and she looked stunning (bless you, Vicky!).

As usual, I did loads of faux stitching, but it worked really well on this card. I also decorated the envelope with some of the circle cut outs that I'd taken from the card base and from the purple & blue window frames.

A pretty labour-intensive card, but it was just right for who I needed it for, so was worth the effort.

Below is the card tutorial, as usual, don't forget to click on the HQ button in the right hand corner after pressing play....please head over to my YouTube channel to rate & subscribe. Thanks for watching ;0)

Wednesday 29 July 2009

MyGrafico.com digital stamps tutorial

The lovely people at MyGrafico very kindly asked me to do a video tutorial for them to show their viewers how easy it is to download and use digital stamps. And, having never used digi stamps myself, I thought "Why not - it'd be a great opportunity to demonstrate from one beginner to another!". And it really is easy, great fun and they're very versatile.

I'm not saying I'm going to throw out all my acrylic and rubber stamps just yet (never!!!) - I still love using stamps cos there's something satisfying about physically stamping, but I really enjoyed using the digi stamps too, as it's a different approach to stamping. There are positive's and negative's for both of course, as with all things.

But for this project, I also tried some sewing. I've always been put off by how time consuming it appeared, but actually it wasn't too bad. This flower took me about 10 minutes, and it's a nice touch to a handmade card. I'm an embroidery lover anyway (when I find the time) so it was nice to encorporate my hobbies.

I have to give credit for the ribbon stapling technique - Kristina Werner came up with this brilliant idea, and I love it! Thanks Kristina!

Below is the video tutorial. Don't forget to click on the HQ button - after pressing play, it's in the bottom right hand corner. Take a look at MyGrafico.com - they've got some GREAT freebies (yes I said freebies!!) so there's no excuse not to give digital stamping a go....


Wednesday 22 July 2009

The Big day!


I wanted to make a wedding card with a BIG flower on it. So I made one that nearly didn't fit in the envelope it was so big!!!

Seriously, I've made this with some leftover tissue paper in bright pink. It's a really simple process explained in detail in the video below, but essentially, it's loads of circles (in two different sizes) scrunched up, then held together with a brad. I have embossed a pattern onto the tissue paper before assembling it, but this is completely optional. It's hard to see in the photo's but in real life it adds a nice 'twinkle' to the flower.

I originally wanted to use a rub on in the circle cut out on the right, but unfortunately, the rub on refused to rub onto the paper...so much so that I trashed the base card by rubbing so hard I practically embossed a hole in the card! But it was fortunate, cos in the end I preferred the kraft coloured base card!

...and no faux stitching! This must be a record for me! ;0)

Anyway, please have a look at the video below. I hope it inspires you to make a tissue paper flower, cos they're so quick and so much fun. This idea was my own take on a combination of a few ideas I've seen on blogs recently - there are some really good recycling ideas out there at the moment!

As usual, please click on the HQ button in the corner of the video after pressing play, this will give you a much better quality viewing. Please hop over to YouTube to rate & subscribe, and leave a comment over there or on my blog. Thanks for watching! ;0)

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Welcome Baby Girl!

Well, I fancied a bit of a change with this card...so I drew a scallop/cloud effect on the top of the front of the card and cut around it. To emphasise this, I doodled a border all around the edge of the card, using a repeat pattern of circle-dash-circle-dash just to have some variation on the usual faux stitching I favour.

The 'baby' stamp was done using a super cheap stamp set I picked up from a seaside bucket and spade shop of all places, for only £2! Even on holiday I'm looking for a crafting bargain ;0)

I also tried to make a faux button, simply using a circle punch out of a bit of pink card, and several layers of ultra thick embossing powder (UTEE). I really liked this effect, but when I do this again, I will definitely do some dry embossing on the card to begin with to make the starting piece have a more '3d' effect like a button normally does. I'd do this by debossing a slightly smaller circle in the centre of the button, just outside of the two punched holes. I'll be trying this soon and show it on video so you can get a better idea - it's really hard to explain without pictures/video!

Here is a close up of the 'button' - trust me, it looks better in real life, and it was worth doing, cos it was a lot of fun to play about with!

Below as usual is the video tutorial. Don't forget to watch it in high quality (press play and click on the 'HQ' button in the right hand corner of the video). Please head over to YouTube to rate and subscribe. I love hearing from you guys, so feel free to email me with any requests/comments/questions either below or over at YT. Thanks for watching! ;0)

Monday 29 June 2009

And finally....a Prima Flower Card


Have you ever wondered where sequins come from? Answer: From a sheet of brightly coloured foil/metal, machine punched out in a repeated dot pattern. This punch-out is then sold on as ribbon. This is recycling at its best and is cheap as chips ;0)
So I was looking at this stuff (which isn't very inspiring to say the least), trying to think of a use for it on a card that wouldn't look too gaudy, and it got me thinking. So I had a bit of a play and came up with the border for this card. It was double the fun, cos I got to use spray paint and play like a kid, and I got a nice chocolate brown coloured bit of sequin punch-out that I can use on another project too!


This project is simple, because that's the way I like it. I am making no more excuses - I don't 'do' faffy cards, my style is definitely simple: I like 'em simple! A big 'prima' style flower, a funky label-type design cut out and stamped for the sentiment, border at the bottom then a ribbon to finish. And, as I finally got the editing done on the video, and got the thing published (pat on back for me), here it is below. Don't forget to click on the HQ button in the bottom right hand corner after pressing play. It really does make all the difference seeing it in higher quality.
Don't forget to hop over to YouTube and rate & subscribe!! Thanks so much for watching!

Tuesday 23 June 2009

MIA!

Hi - just a quick update to let you know that I'm still here! Just been extra super busy...all the weddings at the weekends and working long hours in the week, then I've had a sore throat over the last couple of days, and all I've felt like doing is sleeping....but I have filmed another card tutorial, I just haven't had chance to edit and publish it, mainly cos I've had no voice to do the voice-over (LOL!) so here's a taster of the final card; the tutorial of which will be done over the next few days....

Sunday 7 June 2009

Square Frames Card

I made this card a few weeks back, but have only just got around to editing the video for it this weekend. Life's crazy busy at the moment, which is great, but it doesn't give me a whole lot of time to be sitting at my PC publishing videos!

I have four weddings to go to this year, and all the hen nights associated with them, so it will be a very busy summer! But don't worry, I'll try to do as many tutorials as I can ;0)


This card was an idea I had just staring out of a window....frames within frames....

I think it would be a great card for a man (perhaps without the salmon pink!) but the basic idea would be great if you're stuck for ideas for Father's day!

As you can see, some of the frames are raised using 3d stickers and some are flat to the base card. This was just to give some added interest so the card wasn't completely flat, however, it would be fine if they were all stuck flat too. I am just incapable of making a card without the use of some dimensionals! In fact the only card I have made that was completely flat, I hated, and refused to publish online ;0)

Anyhoo, here's the video below, don't forget to watch it on HQ....please head over to YouTube to rate & subscribe - thanks!

Thursday 28 May 2009

Thank you...!

I have been meaning to try out my woodgrain effect stamp for about a month, so I thought a design that incorporates woody colours would be perfect for its trial run!

I made the stamp using my Imagepac stamp kit. I have raved about it before and this is no exception. Would you believe I made this stamp from a photograph of an old bit of wood? Well it's true - I did! I played around with it in Photoshop for a while, but essentially, I got this design with very little effort at a fraction of the prices being charged for similar designs from the big stamp companies.

I like this card, because it is simple. It would be fairly easy to replicate for several thank you  cards, by making them in a conveyor belt fashion. Especially if you had the oval and oval scalloped nestibilities...which I don't (but would love) so I've had to make to with hand cutting the scallops with my scalloped edging scissors and cutting the oval out using the centre bit that you would normally discard from an oval 'bookplate' die from Sizzix. This worked for me.

And of course, the obligatory white gel pen 

doodling....I'm really digging this effect at the moment, so expect more of a similar vein!

Anyhoo, here's the video, hope you enjoy it, as usual, please nip over to YouTube to rate & subscribe. Click on the HQ button in the bottom right hand corner for a better quality video - it's definitely worth the wait ;0)


Sunday 24 May 2009

Sending a hug your way...

This card was made for a friend who has just lost his mom. I always feel sympathy cards should be simple and not too invasive - you are after all, expressing your sympathy over someones loss, not 'showcasing' your work on their mantelpiece!

So for this card I kept it super simple and just said what needed saying. I've handwritten the sentiment, having no 'sympathy' stamps to work with, but it's the same 
sort of effect.

I've done a quick video tutorial for those of you who're interested in watching me struggle with the ribbon - it's in real time as this was such a quick card.

Don't forget to click on the HQ button in the corner of the video for a better quality picture. 

Thanks for watching - please rate and subscribe over at YouTube!

Thanks for your support! ;0)

Thursday 30 April 2009

Smile! Kristina's 50th CIC!!

Wow! 50 colour challenges!!! That's some serious dedication to the blogging world, and we all love and appreciate Kristina's inspirational designs. She dedicates a serious amount of time to her blogging and YouTube folllowers and I can only live in awe...I'm lucky if I get to post once a week, and I've only managed to take part in one of Kristina's colour challenges before (see this post).
I decided to do another circular card and add some big scallops around the edge.  I added some doodling - in brown ink - so no rules broken!! ;0) just to give the edge a little more more interest. 
I also loved Kristina's idea of stapling and folding ribbon as she beautifully demonstrates on her card here.  It was a bit fiddly at first, but I soon got used to it and I loved the effect! I will definitely be using this technique again!

I jazzed up a bit of plain vellum by staining it with the same yellow colour as the yellow base card. I love the way this gives off a yellow 'shadow' when the light shines through it.

Below is the video tutorial of me making this card. It is best viewed in high quality, so press play, then click on the HQ button in the bottom right of the video. If you enjoy it, please go over to my YouTube page and rate & subscribe. Thanks for watching ;0)