Just a short post as I should really be working on an assignment and doing some business planning. Plus my craft room is getting packed up ready to move to my new place.
Today I am featuring a couple of cards using some gorgeous embossing folders and a mix of different dies.
First up I have used the All Occasions embossing folder which is highly sought after in a Facebook group that I belong to. I managed to get this one through a de-stash page on facebook and I was very happy to get it. I have teamed it up with a Memory Box die Cherry Blossom that I have coloured with copic markers. The tag is from Spellbinders Nestabilities Scallop Circle set and I have used the lovely stamp from the Framed stamp set which is no longer available from CTMH. That has to be one of my most used stamp sets as the sentiments are so versatile. The ribbon is from my stash and the bling is from CTMH. Cardstock used is CTMH White Daisy and Pixie.
Here I have gone back to the white on white theme again with this card. I love the flowers and dragonflies of this embossing folder from Couture Creations – Hearts Ease. I have trimmed a piece of cardstock to fit inside the embossed frame and used my CTMH ruler to make the stitch dots. The butterfly is the Pippi butterfly from Memory Box and the flowers are from Marianne Creatables LR0107. The sparkles are from CTMH along with the sentiment again from the Framed set. Once again I have used White Daisy cardstock from CTMH.
I hope you like my new cards which are for sale at Gift Hutt. My cards are proving very popular there which is great.
I felt this title was really appropriate after being shaken about over the last day or so. We had another big earthquake – this time it was 6.6 yesterday afternoon and then we had a series of aftershocks of over 6 about 5.30 pm. Very unsettling! The aftershocks have continued today and although I don’t feel most of them there are still some good sharp jolts. I am getting to know the light fittings in minute detail as they are a good indicator that we are having another shock.
However, we cannot live waiting for the big one to come so hence the mantra “Keep Calm and Keep Crafting” so I have continued to keep crafting. We are very close to making a special announcement for Make Shift so I have to keep working hard making cards. Today I am going to focus on one card and show you how I have made it.
Here is the completed card:
For the base card I have used a lovely cream linen finish card from www.cardmakers.co.nz.
I then embossed an A5 sheet of cream metallic cardstock with the Nellie Snellen embossing folder HSF005.
The embossed card was then trimmed to 10 cms by 14.5 cms to fit onto the base cardstock with a small edge around it. I find that my CM personal trimmer is great to get a good square cut. The cardstock I buy from the Cardmakers is slightly larger than the A5 cards, which is good as I like the layered look of the embossed card over the base card. It gives it an extra texture and dimension.
I then die cut the lovely oval frame from Marianne Craftables CR1204. This is a beautiful frame that comes with a flower as well. It sits in well with this embossed folder.
I then die cut all the embellishments out of the cream metallic card. I have found a heavier weight of card better for most of these embellishments. I have used Metallic quartz board from Direct Paper 285 gsm for these die cuts. For the roses I have used a lighter weight metallic paper from the local $2 store as this paper is much easier to roll up for the flowers.
The dies I have used are:
Marianne Creatables Branches LR0151
Marianne Creatables Ivy – LR0206
Marianne Creatables English Rose LR0162
To adhere the branch I have used my CM adhesive pen as it has a fine nib but any good adhesive pen would work.
I trimmed the bottom of the branch and placed it to follow the curve of the oval frame.
Unfortunately the photo of this placed on the frame has been corrupted and I am unable to show you this step.
I then placed the ivy over the flourish and here you can see the flourish on the frame.
The rose leaves were then placed over the ivy and branch.
The roses were made by using my quilling tool to roll the die cut flowers into a rose shape and using a quick drying glue to hold them into place.
The roses were then glued into place over the rose leaves and ivy. Here are some close up images.
To finish off the card I have placed a Peelcraft greeting on the oval. Here I have used a ‘happy anniversary’ greeting as I need to make some anniversary cards to add to the range of cards for Make Shift. But an elegant Happy Birthday would be lovely as well.
Once again here is the finished card:
Depending on the greeting used this card could be either a landscape or portrait card.
Before gluing everything together I played around with all the elements to ensure that I ended up with a pleasing arrangement.
I love the simplicity of the cream on cream and the metallic finish makes this card very elegant. It could be suitable for a lot of occasions depending on the greeting and die cutting numbers in gold could personalise this even more. (I am so looking forward to getting my Cricut and CTMH Cricut cartridges to add a greater dimension to my cards – couldn’t resist putting this in as we have a date to start on 1st September).
Here are another couple of variations including a cream and gold card using a gold base card:
The dies have been purchased through www.kalsbeek.co.nz. They have a great range of the Marianne Creatables and Craftables products and many more products to make fabulous cards. I have found their after sales service to be excellent.
Despite a couple of reasonable aftershocks I have finally managed to finish this post so I hope that you have found it useful and easy to follow.
I have just been to the Close to My Heart Opportunity Event in Auckland last week and I am very excited about this opportunity. The career pathway looks great and the products will allow people to be a lot more creative. I have put a Cricut Expressions 2 on layby and can’t wait to get the cartridges from CTMH to play with. They look so cool and it will be nice to be able to make my own embellishments to match my scrapbook layouts and cards. I am also looking to the three dimensional elements on the cartridge and will be looking at doing some workshops at Make Shift when Make Shift gets established. The other thing that is really cool is that I can just do parties online as well as doing parties with people.
We had a little play with some inks, papers and cute glitter embellishments and the papers and cardstock are lovely. It took a while to work out how to use the ink pads, but I have got it sussed now. The stamps are great and easy to use and I will be looking at building up my CTMH stamp kits. I am also looking forward to playing with the alcohol markers as well.
Just as well I have joined a de-stash Facebook site to start clearing out some of my old stock to make room for Close to My Heart.
In the meantime I have got back to basics and will be teaching heat embossing at my card making class tomorrow at the Upper Hutt Library. When I first started doing cards too many years ago to remember I started with heat embossing and I still have my heat tool as well (which is starting to get a little sick and I will finally get a new one once I sign up with CTMH). I remember a lot of hit and misses then, but I have discovered using a embossing buddy (a kind of chalk in a bag) that helps with keeping the card clean and my endeavours are much more successful now. Here are a few of the cards I have made with heat embossing:
I found some papers that I bought years ago as a 6 x 6 paper pack at The Warehouse and they matched perfectly with the pink cardstock from Stampin‘Up. I also like the combination of gold and pink and the result is some very retro looking cards, but some people still like these classic cards so I will be putting them in Make Shift as well. I have coloured the images using a watercolour pen and Stampin’Up inks. I have also used my artist quality paints in the past with good effect as well.
