Pop up 6th birthday card

Another day and a new card style for me today - a pop up card.

My friend C's little boy is 6 next week and loves his lego, so I thought I would make a card featuring the characters he plays with.

I've seen pop up cards online and thought they looked good and made a prototype using some stamped flowers that worked so then moved on to the real thing.  The only question was, where would I get the images of the characters?

Then I remembered that I had a book of stickers that I had bought some time ago and hadn't given away/used and I thought I would have a go at making it with them.

The card itself is easy to make, all from one A4 sheet of card and goes into a 6 x 6 envelope.

The trickiest part was sticking the characters inside so that they don't over hang the edges - when it is in the box shape it's not always obvious!

So how is it done?

Well, I have thought about doing this card at one of my classes (probably in February) so wrote out some instructions when making the prototype card and these  have now been typed up and can be seen below.

The main card is 6" x A4 length, and is scored at 2.75 inches intervals along the long edge, and at 3 inches on the short edge. 

There is about 1/2 inch left on the length when all the scoring is done - I cut the top part off and left the bottom half as the glue tab.

The spokes inside are made using a 1" x 8" strip of card, scored at 1/2 inch, 1 1/2 inch, 4 1/4, 5 1/4,  leaving 2 1/4 at the end.  Fold all score lines and stick the 1/2 inch tab to the other end to form a rectangle shape.  This gets stuck inside the main box.

Challenge 125 - it's only words...

Somebody said to me the other day that we are now in the middle of October, so there are only 12 weeks to Christmas.  This is undeniable - so it had to be faced, the Christmas Card project has failed miserably and I need to get a wiggle on!

This week the Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers & More... is It's only words - all about the sentiment.  I thought this card would fit the bill admirably - and serve as one more for my Christmas Card stash!

I used a scalloped edge base card from my stash, and layered onto that some fancy gold card from the bit box.  I got a couple of packs of the red card in A3 side so used some of that to stamp the sentiment (from Woodware) onto.

I wanted to use gilding flakes, but didn't really want to cut all the letter parts out and stick onto double sided adhesive (possible but a bit of a nightmare) so I just used some of the creative expressions glitter and flake glue (like a little nail varnish bottle) to fill the letters in.

When the glue went clear, I put the gilding flakes (not sure which brand - just assorted gold) onto it and buffed off the excess.  I used a gold pen to go round the black parts of the lettering.  The wording at the bottom was part of the stamp set.  I used a punch to punch out the holly leaves, and stuck them on with glue, and used a gold nail head coloured red with a promarker to set them off.

The last touch was the border peel off from my stash (I'm trying to use them up before they dry out completely!) around the edge of the red card.

One down, 23 to go!

Male birthday card - going for a hike

I'm what I call a hybrid crafter - I mix and match traditional with cyber crafting all the time.  This comes in useful when your commission is for obscure things - like "he likes walking, New Zealand and beer"

I defy anyone to include all that without using the internet or photos!

So, this was my effort.  As a number of people would be signing the card, I made the base A5 portrait.

I downloaded and printed an excerpt of a map of New Zealand that included the Kitakita falls (a favourite spot, apparently) and distressed the edges using distress inks (vintage photo/walnut stain) and mounted it first onto brown and then onto a lighter beige cardstock.  Onto the base I stuck a photo of a tray of beers (after a long walk, surely welcome) and a photo of a rucksack and boots. Using my My Memories software I removed the names from a photo of a signpost and added my greetings to the spokes, then stuck that onto the map too.

Before mounting the whole thing onto the card base, I wrapped some string around it, which was tied in a knot.

The final touches were the peel off photo corners, which I stuck on the corners of the map page.

Dolphins...

My friend S's husband is mad about dolphins and she asked me for a very quick card for his birthday.

As it happened, I had only just been reviewing my cd collection, and had spotted these images on a Debbi Moore cd!

I used some card from a hunkydory kit for the base card and just used a couple of toppers and some cut out dolphinsfrom the cd.

One very quick card!

Challenge 123 at Crafty Cardmakers & More - Ribbons/Lace and Pearls

I am hosting the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers & more today and my theme is 'Ribbons/Lace and Pearls', so I would like to see ribbons or lace, {or both} AND pearls on your creations.

For my project, I made a candle holder from a "shaped crisp tin" (aka pringles, or the generic equivalent!)

For information, the authentic pringles tins are better for longer candles because the Aldi ones (which I used) were about an inch and a half shorter.  However, don't discard them, because they are perfect for storing the small scented tealights!

I used some papermania capsule collection papers (3 patterns) trimmed to around 10" x 5" in black, some satin and organza ribbon, some black and white paper roses, some small formed leaves and lace offcuts and some pearls on a string from my stash,  and a creative expressions blingy gem for the centre of the bow.

So how was it done?

1.  Wrap the first patterned paper around the bottom half of the tin and glue in place.
2. Then wrap the second patterned paper around the top half of the tin, meeting the top line  of the bottom paper, again, gluing in place.
3. Wrap the third piece of patterned paper which has been trimmed so it leaves a gap in the centre around the top of the tin, but only glue the bottom and around the top from an inch in from the centre edges. 
4. Curl back the edges as shown and glue in place. (Double sided paper is nice for this one)
5. Add the lace around the top and bottom of the tin, nudging it up against the metal rims.
6. Add lace and ribbon around the centre, covering the paper joins.
7. Add the pearl trim at this point to the exposed centre panel.  (Don't go right up to the top, as it will stop the lid going on).
8. Cut some ribbon strips and stick to the centre front, over where the ribbon around the middle of the tin is joined.
9. Glue ribbon bow over the top of the strips.
10. Glue flowers and leaves along the side of the rolled edges - I used a hot glue gun for this part as it guaranteed instant stick!
11. Squirt some silicon or pinflair glue gel into the opening at the top of the rolled back sides and push in ornate pins/gems.
12. Decorate lid by cutting out two 3 inch diameter circles from the patterned paper of your choice, and glue one to the top of the lid and one on the inside.
13. Finally, glue lace/trimming around the side of the lid.  Glossy accents worked well with this!
14. I filled my tin with a combination of small candles and tealights - and because they were scented, it hid the smell of cheese and chives - which remained despite the tin being washed out!!

 I hope you enjoyed finding out how my tin was made - why not now visit my teamie's blogs to see more detail on the projects they made? You just need to click on the link above the pictures on the Crafty Cardmakers & more blog.  And if you are inspired, please join in with the fun and submit your own entries.

We are sponsored by

WOODWARE CRAFT COLLECTION

 With a prize of £12.00 to spend at your favourite Woodware Stockist, either in store or on line. 

Woodware are a Yorkshire based family owned business, as well as distributing Dreamweaver Stencils and Stampendous Stamps we have a wonderful range of stamps designed for us by Francoise Read and Jane Gill. We also scour the world for new and innovative products for the crafty card maker, and have a great range of punches and tools of the trade, to find stockists in your area or to see the range visit the website www.woodware.co.uk.

 

The Woodware design team are playing along with the challenge so check out our blog, which is there for inspiration at www.woodware.co.uk/blog.

A polkadoodles cutie... male birthday card

So my new Polkadoodles CD arrived today, and it totally distracted me from my planned "To Do" list (not hard when that's mainly housework!)

I'm not usually a lover of "cute" but this little fisher bear was just perfect for a 70th birthday card I have been commissioned to make for my friend J to send.

It's on my favourite 6 x 6 card base, and every single thing else (except the twine, of course) came from the decoupage design sheet printed from the cd.  Oh, plus one of the kraft backing sheets and some layering card (cream and kraft) from my "bits bin")

There are 4 layers on that bear in a boat!! I did it with pinflair glue gel though, as foam pads would have raised it too much and it is still postable.

I glossed the buttons and the bear's nose with glossy accents and it finished it off perfectly.

I am entering this card into the following challenge:

Through the craftroom door - anything goes

A Christmas gift box with tag

 I hate to admit it, but the C word is coming up fast, and so I have been thinking about my cards and gifts and panicking slightly...

This is the gift box I have come up with for the girls in work - very easy to make, just two sheets of 8 x 8 card with embellishments largely bought ones for speed.



Originally, I was going with the battery operated candle as in the picture, but am now going to put inside the box a mug, with a sachet of hot chocolate and a small poly bag of mini marshmallows.

The focal point of the box though, is the neat tag with my very favourite snowpeople image stamped on it - not sure where it's from (I'm so bad at keeping my records!) - which I coloured with my trusty promarkers and wink of stella clear pen.

Despite the fact I am a wee bit disappointed in the cardstock (as I noticed now that there is bleeding from the hat) I am entering this tag into the challenge this time at

I love promarkers - it's all about tags

ATCs

A new venture for me quite recently has been ATC card swapping.   It's quite a challenge to make this tiny work of art - a lot of my stamps are just too big, for instance.   This month in the swap I joined in with,  the theme was travel - and I had a lightbulb moment for what I could do with that leftover piece of Sheena Douglass faux leather I made - turn it into a suitcase for my ATCs!!  

The suitcase was made with Kraft card - 2 small boxes 4" x 3" x 1/2" and covered with the faux leather in one piece to form the case and allow it to be hinged.  I folded some more of the faux leather in a strip to make the handle and the tab, which was secured with velcro.  I used my cropodile to make the eyelet holes for the tab holder. 

We do 2 ATCs each time - so in line with the theme I scanned the front cover of my passport and resized it so that folded, it would fit the ATC card requirements. 

But it was too flimsy, and needed some support... so I printed off a sentiment onto 160gsm paper, cut it to size and then using my distress inks and a crackle stamp, created the background to the card which was stuck in the inside of the "passport".   

On the other side of the passport front, I used some docrafts stamps to make it less stark.  The whole thing was then stuck onto a standard ATC card blank.

For the second card, I used a piece of scrap 160 gsm paper which I coloured randomly with distress inks.  Over the top of the colours, I stamped a map (papermania, possibly) in walnut ink.  I  covered a standard ATC card blank, wrapping my map around it. 

I used a sentiment and two images from a serif digikit, resized and distressed around the edges to overlay the map.  The finishing touch was 4 small AB gems to go in each corner.

Crafty cardmakers and more challenge 122 - make an impression

It's challenge time again at Crafty Cardmakers and more!

We were asked to make a card using dry impressing (rather than heat embossing), and I think this monochrome effort really fits the bill.

I used my favourite 6 x 6 inch card base in white, with the edges rounded.  I used a tonic square deckled edge die to cut my black base layer out, and layered onto that a slightly smaller square in white, which I ran through my calibre in a creative expressions folder.

My ribbon strips were cut using a Sue Wilson Bow die - they weren't quite long enough to go over the whole card, but the bow neatly disguised that!

I cut the bow tails out with the die, but used a sue wilson stamp on white card for the bow itself, which I covered with double sided adhesive sheet and then applied micro beads to it, before making it up.  This gives a lovely effect - I really like it.

I traced the birdhouse pattern onto parchment paper and embossed it using a ball tool.  I cut out the centre panel and backed the aperture with a piece of white card stamped with the bow stamp pattern.  This was also covered with double sided adhesive mounted onto black card and the whole birdhouse was stuck onto the top so that the glue did not show through. I covered the double sided adhesive in the centre panel with the backing sheet while I cut round the birdhouse shape, and then removed it to apply the micro beads.

The final touch was the Happy anniversary cartouche.

Challenge 121 - A world of Fantasy

Before I explain about today's challenge, there is some exciting news, because Lin, who runs CC&M will shortly be opening a brand new mixed media/altered art style of challenge blog.  The new venture will be launching on September 5th, so if messy paint and use of different media and techniques on surfaces other than card is your thing, why not check out The Mirror Crack'd.   Also, we are running a Design Team call for Crafty Cardmakers & More, and if you think you might be interested in joining us, can you add DT at the end of your name in your entry in the linky on the blog.      

Lin is hosting our challenge today, and has chosen 'A world of Fantasy' as her theme. 

She would like to see a fairy, dragon, unicorn, goblin etc, as the MAIN focus of your creation.

Just recently I have been trying to get to grips with my Serif Craft Artist2 software, and thought I would use some of the backgrounds and digi stamps that they had on one of the sets I bought - Fantasy Medieval and fairies. First I chose a stone doorway from the backgrounds section. 

 As I wanted my card to be 7x5, I made the work surface that dimension and just dragged it across. I used some stamps from Sheena Douglass (A little bit magical - Enchanted Doorway and The Quest sets) to make some foliage on the side and on the floor of my background image.   You can manipulate the size of the images easily in CA2, so I made my "Legolas" Elf and the Dragon fit in proportion with the doorway.

 
I printed him and the dragon onto 160gsm paper, so that it was able to take the promarkers successfully.  The images already had shaded areas on them, so it made it a lot easier to colour!  I tried to keep all the tones the same, mainly olive/lime green.  

I cut both images out when they were coloured in, leaving a slight edge around the Elf so make him stand out more.  Both were then stuck onto the background image, (which I had  trimmed down slightly before putting the card together,  as I wanted a black layer to go behind it on the base card to make it "pop") with pinflair glue.

To add a bit of sparkle to the metallic elements of the image, I used my old stand by the gellyroll stardust pen. 

Finally, I used a sentiment scroll from the serif programme to which I added the Best Wishes text before printing,  and then cut it out and stuck it to my  card.

For this challenge, we are sponsored by

HOBBY ART STAMPS

With this fabulous prize

As a family business we're a friendly, helpful, bunch at Hobby Art.  All our stamps are designed by us and manufactured in Britain.
Look at the gallery on my blog - jennymayes.com - for lots of card ideas using the Hobby Art range. 
We're pleased to sponsor the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge and look forward to seeing the entries.   Good luck everyone.  Jenny and all. X 

and also by

DI'S DIGISTAMPS

With a $12 gift certificate

I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with likeminded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. Long may it continue!

 

Challenge 120 at Crafty Cardmakers & More - Fancy Folds

It's a new challenge for the next couple of weeks at Crafty Cardmakers and More - and this time it is 'Fancy Folds', which basically means anything with fancy folds on it!  Why not pop over to have a look, and take part.  

 

We are sponsored by

THE STAMPING BOUTIQUE

With 3 Images of the Winner's Choice. If, however, the winner has used a Stamping Boutique Image they will received 4 images of their choice 

Thank you so much for having us as your sponsor at CRAFTY CARDMAKERS. We at TSB are very proud to offer original digital images and artwork to you. Thank you for giving us a few minutes of your valuable time to look over the store at http://thestampingboutique.com/ Good luck in the challenge and we hope to see you over at our TSB Community network. http://thestampingboutique.ning.com/ 

 

We are also going to be having a DT Call soon - keep an eye out on the blog for details!

Crafty Cardmakers challenge 119 - Under the sea

Julie is hosting our challenge today and she has chosen 'Under the Sea', so she would like you to create something with Mermaids, Turtles, Fish or other dwellers beneath the waves. Whichever you chose it should be a prominent part of the design and not just a small piece of seaweed or a tiny fish in one corner!

I have to say, mermaids are not really my thing, and for a while I was a bit stumped as to what to do.  I was ok for backgrounds, because I have recently been playing with some docrafts Spritzing ink, and the practice sheets looked remarkably underwater like.  So I had a base, but the question was what next?

My first effort was a rubbish scene with fish - not successful and quickly discarded.  Then I remembered I had some Serif digi images and chose one of those mermaids to colour in.   

 








I used my promarkers to colour her,  and I used some green and gold gilding flakes for the tail highlights, after going over the lines and dots with a quickie glue pen (my favourite for small areas).  I used glossy accents to cover the hair, because I wanted it to stand out and look wet.

I stamped some "weed" using grasses and branches stamps in green ink to make a sea bed, and stuck the coral image in the centre for my mermaid to sit on.  I added the sentiment onto the top right of the page, using a Crafters Companion sentiment.  I'm not sure what I am going to use this card for at the moment, so I didn't want to make it too obviously one for a birthday.  There is still room in the top left corner to add a further greeting on an angle when I decide.

However, I felt there was still something missing, so I added a gold die cut anchor (from Couture Creations) to sit in front of the coral (also printed from a serif image) she was sitting on.  Happy now!

For interest, the spritzing inks I used were:

• Forest Green
• Mint
• Cardinal Red
• Ocean Blue
• Aubergine and 
• Gold Stone

 Also, some clear mica spray on the coral stone to make it sparkle.

For this challenge we are sponsored by

SIR STAMPALOT

 With this fabulous prize

Sir Stampalot is a retail shop and online website that specialises in stamps, die cutting and paper-crafting goodies.  We try to offer exceptional delivery times on your orders as well as keeping our stock fresh, new and exciting!  Our dedicated team of card makers means we have a wonderful, inspirational online card gallery with many more cards still to upload!  Sir Stampalot ships internationally as well as domestic so why not check us out if you haven’t already – www.sirstampalot.co.uk.   Happy Crafting!

and also by 

DI'S DIGISTAMPS

 with a $12 gift certificate

I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with like-minded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. Long may it continue!

Crafty Cardmakers and more challenge 117 - Going round in circles

Marie is hosting the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and more today, and she has chosen 'Going Round in Circles' as her theme. So basically she would like to see Circular cards or at least one circle (of an obvious size please, buttons DO NOT COUNT) on your project 

I chose to make a rocker card this time.  I didn't have a large plain circle die, so I drew around the edge of one of my grand nestie dies and cut it by hand, overhanging the fold line by about 1/2 inch.  I distressed the edge using some distress ink to take the starkness off of it.

Then I die cut two circles of coordinating nitwit papers that I had got free in a magazine this month, and layered them onto my base card.  I used a tonic die to cut the plain centre circle, that I wrapped some white chiffon ribbon round.  I used foam pads to attach this circle to the centre of my card.  I used a die lite medallion die to cut out the filigree edge from some left over pink basill card, and stuck that in the centre of the plain circle, covering the ribbon.  Finally, I used a smaller tonic die to cut out the topper, which I had printed out from my Crafters Companion Barkley cd.  I finished it off with some AB gems, stuck at each corner of the filigree backer.

I used the same chiffon ribbon to make a bow, and using my hot glue gun, stuck that on the top of the patterned circle.  The last touch was the sentiment, which was an offcut from another dielite die, and was stamped using some Phill Martin sentiment stamps. 

We are sponsored by 

HOBBY ART STAMPS

 with this fabulous prize

As a family business we're a friendly, helpful, bunch at Hobby Art.  All our stamps are designed by us and manufactured in Britain.
Look at the gallery on my blog - jennymayes.com - for lots of card ideas using the Hobby Art range. 
We're pleased to sponsor the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge and look forward to seeing the entries.   Good luck everyone.  Jenny and all. X

and also by

DI'S DIGISTAMPS

With a $12 gift certificate

I have been drawing since a child and studied graphics at College many years ago, I now work as a Medical photographer part time but my love was always drawing. I started cardmaking about 4yrs ago when I bought my daughter a cardmaking kit which we did together, but I’m afraid I got the bug! My daughter preferred scrapbooking. I then started looking online at other blogs and this then became my passion and I loved sharing my cards with like-minded people.
I love stamping and loved finding images, but sometimes I could not find what I wanted so I started to draw myself.
This then has become my second addiction and I have never looked back, I love thinking of new images, and its just fabulous to see others take them and make them into beautiful works of art. Long may it continue!