Tuesday 22 December 2020

Out of This World

 


I have made a space themed double Z fold card for my Brother in law's birthday just before Christmas. He loves space and has been to Nasa when on holiday to the USA.

I have used the Out of This World Block image from Bugaboo Stamps. This is coloured with Promarkers and Flexmarkers. The sky is coloured with a technique from Beccy's Place. This is achieved with blending blue together to create a glow around the stars. I have used my new Spectrum Noir glitter pens to add a glittery space suit, shimmering stars and dots to the planet. White gel pen has been added to create smaller stars.

The Rocket is an image from Angie's Digital Stamps. This is coloured with Promarkers and SN glitter pens.

The card base measures 6" x 12" when fully flat. I used some starry blue paper to cover the panels. The offcut has been edged with a border punch that embosses as well. I have used some holographic silver card to cover this. The main image has been matted onto glittery silver card that has been cut with a corner rounding punch to match the digi stamp.

I really like making this shape of card and by mounting the central panel this way it has a completely different look to the ones I have made before.

Card Details -

Size - 6" Square when closed
Punch – Embossed Zig Zag Border (Martha Stewart) & Corner rounder
Colouring Medium – Promarkers & Spectrum Noir glitter markers (Crafter's Companion)

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)









Monday 21 December 2020

Emma With Snowflake Banner



I recently won a challenge at The Outlawz Monday Greetings challenge and have been invited to be a Guest Designer for the 2 December challenges.


The sponsor for December is Paper Nest Dolls
They have some really sweet images in their store and they are lovely to work with.



The challenge for the next 2 weeks is to make a Clean card

The image I chose to work with was Emma With Snowflake Banner. I am still in Christmas card mode and really love this image.

I have used Promarkers to colour the image adding a red glitter gel pen to the hearts and a Sakura clear glitter pen to the snowflakes and hat trims. I love the fine tip on this pen and it is pretty sparkly. The image has been trimmed and matted onto holographic card.

The card base is a sheet of shimmery card. I have added an offcut of a patterned paper with a lovely swirly snowflake pattern. To this I have added the sentiment.

This for me is extremely Clean and Simple. The paper with the pattern on it really helps to stop it being too plain.

There are lots of challenges The Outlawz with many prizes up for grabs every month. If you are not already a member I would highly recommend you take a look. It is a great community to be a part of and there is a fabulous gallery full of inspiration from the Design Teams as well as the members.

Card Details -

Size – A5 

Digital Image – Emma With Snowflake Banner (Paper Nest Dolls)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, red sparkle gel pen, Sakura clear glitter pen


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)









Sunday 13 December 2020

Christmas Light Snowman

 


I was a recent winner of the challenge at The Outlawz Sunday Songs & Rhymes challenge and was invited to be a Guest Designer on the new challenge starting today.


The sponsor for this challenge is KLM Digital Designs




With the Songs & Rhymes Challenge you are given a particular song and you can use the title and/or lyrics to use as inspiration for your project.

The poem this fortnight is Christmas Carol by Sara Teasdale

I was given a number of images to choose from and opted to use the Christmas Light Snowman  set. You get the image and 3 sentiments in the set for only $3.75 which is great value.



 I coloured the image with Promarkers and used a silver gel pen for the lights and a blue Sakura glitter pen for the blue light bulbs. I added some Spectrum Noir clear glitter overlay to the snowman but it hasn't shown up in the photo. The image has been matted onto some blue card to match the waistcoat and I edge this with a silver paint pen.

The card base is a large 8x8" and I added some patterned vellum from the Glittering Snowflakes pad from Crafter's Companion. It has lots of shades of blue and white in it.  I used the recipe of Glitter, Ribbon, Blue & White from C.R.A.F.T.  Challenge to make my card.

The ribbon is so glittery and some does shed when you work with it. I don't mind a bit of glitter so all's good ☺

As the snowman is looking to the sky I thought it would be nice to position him so he is looking at a fabulous snowflake. The main snowflake is  Flurry 4 which is a Sizzlits Thinlit. I saw it a few years ago on someone's blog and had to have it as I love snowflakes,  especially really intricate ones like this. 

The blue snowflake is part of a really old set of Die'Sire dies. The smaller white one, and the 2 pale blue are from the Frosted Window set by Crafter's Companion. I used glitter card to cut the white ones.

The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and I matted it onto a scrap of the same blue cardstock. Finally I added gems to the snowflake centres.

If you are not a member of The Outlawz I would strongly suggest you join the forum. There are challenges for every day of the week and 2 monthly challenges including a progressive freebie.


Card Details -

Size - 8" x 8"

Image - Christmas Light Snowman - KLM Digital Designs
Dies - Flurry 4 (Sizzix Thinlits 663115), Snowflakes (Die'sire), Frosted Window (Crafter's Companion)
Paper - Glittering Snowflakes Vellum (Crafter's Companion)
Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Silver gel pen, Sakura glitter pen, Silver paint pen
Embellishments - self adhesive gems, ribbon


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Thursday 10 December 2020

Photography Themed Birthday




Today is the birthday of my wonderful Husband and this is the card I have made him. The image that started it all off is Aidan Photo from Stamper's Delights. It is such a sweet image and as hubby is a keen amateur photographer I thought it would be perfect for his card.

I decided to make a double Z fold card as it has quite a few places you can add details. I planned it out on scrap paper and then collated the digital bits and pieces to put together on the card. I normally wing it when printing out digital stamps but you have to be a bit more precise with sizes on these sorts of cards or it just won't fit together.

I have some card that came from Lidl which is slightly larger than A4. If you fold it in half you get 17cm, I then cut off the rest of the length to make a square card. The remaining strip is then what you need to make the centre panel. By folding one of the sides in half again you get the Z fold. Then fold the offcut the opposite way. They are so simple to make but really look amazing.

The panels of the card base are covered with a paper Black & White Mini Bangles from Ki Memories. It is dated 2004 on the back of the paper..... I remember buying this at a crafty show at the NEC and cannot believe it was so many years ago. That is scary how quickly the time has gone!

Once the patterned paper was attached I could add the thinner strip. The sentiment on the front is an old freebie from Donna's Digital Creations. I felt was perfect for the current Covid times. Due to so many restrictions in the UK this year we have only been on 2 photography trips, 1 weekend to New Brighton and Liverpool for Valentine's Day and one day trip to Porthcawl mid September. Normally we would go so many different places over the course of the year so hubby and I could take photos and recharge our batteries on Vitamin Sea. 

I have used a Picture Perfect Filmstrip from Word Art World to make the border which frames the sentiment which is an old freebie from now retired Tidbits Trinkets.


On the inside the little smiley face camera from Kate Hadfield Designs has been coloured with Promarkers and a silver gel pen. If you sign up to the newsletter you can get access to loads of freebies of which this is one from the Capturing Fall set. They are so lovely to work with as they print out so crisp and clearly.

The cherish sentiment is from the Sweet Memories set from Graciellie Design. It has a super vintage camera and lots of sentiments in it. The Make a Photograph quote from Ansel Adams is from Word Art World. Hubby watches a lot of YouTube videos and will like this as many landscape photographers he follows are inspired by Ansel Adams. Finally the husband sentiment is a freebie from Tlc Creations. Over the many years I have been following Paulette she has given away so many free images and sentiments. If you don't follow her already I would highly recommend to do so as she is so very generous.

This type of card is so much fun to put together and is so much more than just a card. This was a true labour of love which I hope my husband will like. 

Card Details -

Size – 6.5” x 6.5” When Closed
Digital ImagesAidan Photo (Stamper’s Delights), Picture Perfect Filmstrip (Word Art World), Capturing Fall Camera (Kate Hadfield Designs)
Digital Sentiments - Life Is Like a Camera (Donna's Digital Creations), Happy Birthday (Tidbits Trinkets RETIRED), Sweet Memories set (Graciellie Design), Make a Photograph (Word Art World). To My Wonderful Husband (Tlc Creations)
Paper – Black & White Mini Bangles (Ki Memories)
Colouring Medium – Promarkers, Silver Gel Pen


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

Monday 7 December 2020

Tree Dress Avery



I recently won a challenge at The Outlawz Monday Greetings challenge and have been invited to be a Guest Designer for the next 2 challenges. 


The sponsor for December is Paper Nest Dolls
They have some really sweet images in their store and they are lovely to work with.



The challenge for the next 2 weeks is to use the colours Red, Green & Silver. 
As I am still in Christmas card mode that is very easy to achieve.

The image I have used is Tree Dress Avery. I have coloured it with Promarkers, a silver gel pen & a red glitter pen. I have used some red glitter glue and added some iridescent glitter to the baubles to make them more sparkly. The image has been matted onto some silver mirror card.

I used the latest Stella Says Sketch 820 for the basic layout of the card. The papers are offcuts from other cards I have made. The glittery red snowflake strip has been recycled from an old card I have received and is the perfect accent for the red glittery baubles.


The tree is a die from The Works. I have cut from green card and then matted onto silver so the sentiment shows through from underneath. I fussy cut around this to give a contrasting border around the edge. There is also a star that you can cut separately but as Avery is holding the star in her hand I didn't cut this. The little red gems cover holes that are cut in the die. As a final touch I added some green star shaped gems to the top corner.

There are lots of challenges The Outlawz with many prizes up for grabs every month. If you are not already a member I would highly recommend you take a look. It is a great community to be a part of and there is a fabulous gallery full of inspiration from the Design Teams as well as the members.


Card Details -

Size – A5 

Digital ImageTree Dress Avery (Paper Nest Dolls)

Dies - We Wish You A Merry Christmas Tree (The Works)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Silver gel pen, red sparkle gel pen

Papers - Traditional Christmas (The Works) & miscellaneous offcuts

Embellishments - self adhesive gems, Stickles Glitter glue, Glamour dust loose glitter.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


Friday 4 December 2020

Raymond's Snowman

 


Imagine That Digistamp started to do a Progressive Challenge again last month. If you completed a card using the Digi of the Month you automatically get the following month emailed to you. If not you can purchase that stamp for a reduced price.

The stamp set this month is Raymond's Snowman. You get the cute image and 5 sentiments in both outline stamps and colour if applicable.


I chose to use the image and the Celebrate Winter stamp and coloured them with Promarkers.
I love the sentiment and think it would make a fabulous card used on it's own. The cute little snowmen heads are adorable.

I have used the latest sketch 583 from Tuesday Morning Sketches as the inspiration for the layout. I rotated it to suit the orientation of the image, substituted the 3 dots for the sentiment and added some extra snowflakes for good measure.


Rotated sketch.


The main paper is from a really really old Papermania pack. On this I have used an offcut of darker blue snowflake paper from a really nice paper pad from The Works. I have a lot of Christmas paper and rarely buy any now but this one had lots of natural designs that I had nothing similar. They have some amazing prices on their own brand stuff and these papers are so thick so were a good purchase. The silver snowflake stripe is an offcut that was recycled/rescued from a Christmas card I have received. I added some self adhesive silver borders to it to match the foiling on the pattern.

The best place for the sentiment was where the 3 dots are on the sketch so I added 2 columns of 3 glittery snowflake stickers which have gems in the centre. Did I really need an excuse to add glitter and twinkle to a Christmas card... LOL

If you visit my blog and are not already taking part in the Digi of the month challenge I would urge you to pop over there. Kris' images are really lovely and you get so much in each pack. You can but this one at the reduced price and away you go then.

Card Details -

Size - 8" x 8"
Papers - Contemporary Christmas Colossal pack (Papermania) & Woodland Christmas (The Works
Colouring Medium - Promarkers
Embellishments - Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen, Stickles glitter glue, Letraset peel off sticker silver border, snowflake gem stickers (The Works)


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


Wednesday 2 December 2020

Penguin Tree

 


We have the last challenge of the year over at The Paper Funday.
The Theme is Anything Goes with the optional twist of Christmas. If like me you are on a roll then Christmas will be very easy to do.


We are sponsored by Paper Nest Dolls who have some gorgeous images. It was very hard to choose on to work with as there were so many cute ones.



I decided on this cute image Penguin Tree. I just love the cute little penguins all supporting one another to make a tree shape. I coloured it with Promarkers adding gel pens to the candy canes, a glitter pen to the present with it's Ultra Fine Sharpie pen patterned paper. The gold star is a new Spectrum Noir glitter marker from Crafter's Companion. The sheer amount of glitter in them is amazeballs. I added some glitter glue to the santa hat and is is so sparkly. The image was then fussy cut ready to use.




Around blogland I had seen this shape of card but didn't have a clue what it was called.  After doing some Googling I found out it is called a Teepee card. I found a tutorial HERE on Mixed Up Crafts and could not believe how simple the fold is. It looks so effective and is just 3 pieces of square card. Very clever whoever thought of doing that. Anyhoo, I made a rough one with scrap paper as I wanted to see what it looked like and would it fit into a C5 envelope. By making the squares 6" it fits comfortably into the size of envelope I use for many of my cards ☺

So after practicing I made the card with the base cardstock. It is a shiny navy blue on this side and white inside which is where the sentiment will be written.

The front is the penguin image as that is the main focal point.

Side 2 is the bauble which is a die from Crafter's Companion. I had initially cut it in the same holographic card but it looked too much so I used plain white card and added loads of loose glitter to it. It is really sparkly and so intricate.

The Merry Christmas banner is from The Works. It is a discount bookstore that also does some crafty things. They have started doing their own dies which are super cheap. This was only £4 and is quite big. Definitely good value for money.


Side 3 is a rubber stamp Under The Tree from Crafter's Companion. I was very fortunate to win a Facebook competition on their page and the prise was 4 sentiment stamps which this was part of. I coloured the trunk with a Promarker and added a yellow star gem to emulate the gold one on the penguin tree. I added some silver peel off stars and snowflakes to finish off the card.


The triangle shape is achieved by using velcro dots to keep the insides attached. Once opened it folds flat to go into a larger size envelope. With 3 sides to decorate there is a bit more work involved but the finished results are worth it.

Card Details -

Size - Fits into a C5 Envelope
Digital Image Penguin Tree (Paper Nest Dolls)
Dies – Christmas Bauble (Crafter’s Companion) Merry Christmas Banner (The Works)
Colouring Medium – Promarkers, Gel Pens, Spectrum Noir Glitter marker, Versafine Ink Pad
Embellishments – peel off stickers, star gem, Stickles glitter glue, loose glitter, Velcro dots


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)