For my ornaments I have used last month’s Stamp of the Month set Scandinavian Wishes heart image and lots of different colour inks. Here is my efforts:
They are really easy to do and the hardest part was picking colours to stamp with. Here is a quick tutorial for you to make your own.
1) Using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge cut out the heart shapes at 2 inches. I have used the fill option to fill the entire sheet and cut out 25 hearts.
2) Stamp the heart image on four shapes.
3) I used my Fiskars trimmer scoring blade (but you can use a ruler and scoring blade or whatever you have available) score down the middle of the heart and then fold the heart in half with the stamped image towards the middle.
4) On one half of a heart use a good strong glue – I have used CTMH Bonding Memories glue which bonds really quickly and then put the 2nd heart onto it and try to get it matching as much as you can.
5) Glue the other half of the heart and place the third heart onto the ornament.
6) Glue the last two sides and place the final heart onto it and making sure that you get it as close as possible to the centre of the hearts.
7) Using a piercing tool pierce a hole at the top of the hearts and then using a needle thread your string through (I have used bakers twine) and tie a knot at the base of the heart and one at the end of the twine to enable you to hang your ornament on your Christmas tree.
Voila a Christmas tree ornament!
It is so easy and I hope that you can give it a go as well.
Next week will be our next Australasian blog hop featuring this month’s Stamp of the Month Set – ‘Illuminate’. I can’t wait to see what everyone has done with this stamp set.
It is that time of the week again for another post and I have gone back to Split Coast Stampers to get some more inspiration for a card. There are so many great tutorials there that it is going to take me quite a while to go through them all. I am enjoying the challenge of stretching myself to do something different every week.
This week I have done a side spring card and the link to the tutorial is here:
I have discovered that it is a lot easier to practice with scrap paper first, otherwise a lot of cardstock can be wasted. It took me some time to work it out, but once I did it did not take me long to complete the card.
I have used the Close to My Heart Scandinavian Wishes Stamp of the Month set. This is a very cute and whimsical stamp set and a lot of the stamps will be really useful for other occasions – like the heart is going to be really good for Valentine’s Day. This stamp set is only $5 when you spend $75. You only have a few days left to purchase this gorgeous stamp set so be in quick to get your order here.
I have cut out the heart according to the size of the stamp – 2 inches and then for the background heart in ruby cardstock I have cut it at 2.25 inches.
I am loving the Sparkle and Shine papers from the Holidays from the Heart Catalogue as they are beautiful colours and have a lovely sheen to them. The photo does not do justice to the beautiful silver coloured paper.
I hope that you enjoy my latest efforts and I would love to see what you can do with this card.
Now I have to put my thinking cap on again as we have another blog hop coming up for next month’s Stamp of the Month set – Illuminate. I was really impressed with all the participants entries and it was very impressive going through all the blogs. CTMH really does make it easy to be so creative and inventive.
I apologise for being tardy with this blog post but Make Shift is now open and looking fabulous, even better than I had imagined.
As promised today’s post is cardmaking 101. While I have been making paper crafting for many years using a lot of different techniques, including stamping, I have become aware that a lot of the new Close to My Heart Consultants in New Zealand are more familiar with scrapbooking and have never done any cards or stamping. So after talking to a fellow CTMH consultant I decided to do this basic cardmaking tutorial for her and them. This is a really basic card layout that I tend to go back to when I need a card in a hurry, or I am lacking some imagination that day to make something different. I also love mixing and matching coloured paper and cardstock and of course CTMH make it so easy.
Here is the finished card we will be making:
The basic materials required for cardmaking are:
A good cutting trimmer – I have now got the new Fiskars Surecut Paper Trimmer and I have found it to be really good. The markings are very clear and the wire line is great for lining up for accurate cuts. It is also much easier using inches rather than centimetres as it is easier using 1/8’s of inches instead of 10 mms or 20 mms. Plus most of the materials we use are in inches.
Adhesive – I love using tape runners as they are so easy to use and have less mess. Sometimes my hands are very sore and the tape runners mean I can still make at least one card. I am loving the Tombow adhesives from CTMH as you can still reposition if you are quick but it gives a good ‘fix’ as well. The Memory Book Glue Dots are also great to use to place your embellishments on your card – they come in two sizes to suit the size of the embellishments. And the Liquid Glass is excellent for gluing things really quickly – it was excellent for rolling up flowers and giving a lovely finish.
A sharp pair of scissors. Sometimes you need to trim or fussy cut (by fussy cutting I mean to trim close to the edge of an image) and a good sharp pair of scissors means you end up with a nice clean cut. The Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors from CTMH are excellent and I don’t get sticky ends of tape etc on the ends which makes it so much easier to cut.
Inks – I love the CTMH ink pads as they do not go dry very quickly and give a great impression.
Stamp scrubber and spritz cleaner – I use this after every stamping. A quick spray of the spritz on the scrubber is all you need to keep your stamps clean and at the end of the day I rinse with warm water to keep the scrubber clean for the next session. Always clean your stamps after each use.
Stamps – I have said this before but I am loving the My Acrylix stamps as they are so great and easy to use. I have always preferred clear stamps as I can see where I am going and I find that I am not making so many mistakes that I have to cover up.
Anyway lets start making a card!
1) Cut a piece of 6 x 12 cardstock out of a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock.
2) Then on the long side of the cut piece cut at 8 inches
3) Score this piece at 4 inches to give you a 6 x 4 card base.
You will end up with 2 cards out of the one 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock with some card left over to stamp images on. We now have base cards and envelopes available through CTMH but this is still useful if you want a coloured base card. You can also get 3 cards out of one 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock and the instructions are on this blog: http://scraphappywithbrenda.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/3-cards-from-12×12-base.html
It is really important to remember the dimensions of your card base as it make it a lot easier to trim down other papers and cardstock and keep the matting even. I used to use a pencil and my eye but using a good trimmer like the Fiskars one makes it quicker and easier – especially when I don’t have to keep searching for my pencil.
Place the card to one side to keep it clean while you work on the decoration of the card – especially keep it away from ink pads and other dirty items. (I am just saying this out of experience – lol).
3) Trim a piece of coloured cardstock to 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 – this will give you a 1/4 inch margin on the base card.
3) Trim a piece of patterned paper to 3 inches x 5 inches – once again leaving a 1/2 inch margin for your matting. Here I have cut the patterned paper in half prior to putting on the coloured cardstock.
4) Adhere the patterned paper on the coloured cardstock. You can use a mat with lines on it to help you line up your paper and get it straight.
5) Cut a strip of the patterned paper to 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inches (here I have used a piece of scrap paper to get this strip – I never throw out useful pieces of paper.
6) Cut a strip of coloured cardstock 1 x 3 1/3 to mat the patterned paper on.
7) Adhere the patterned paper onto the coloured cardstock and then adhere this strip over the join in the paper. I have placed the strip lower down so I have space for my stamped sentiment on the top of the card.
8) Cut a small piece of the base cardstock to 2 inches x 1 1/2 inches. Here I have used the stamp to help measure up exactly how much I need.
9) Stamp your image onto the piece of card.
10) Cut a mat 1 3/4 x 2 1/4 for this stamped image out of the coloured cardstock. For this matting there is only 1/8 inch trim. Adhere the stamped image on the coloured mat.
11) Adhere the matted sentiment on the top half of the card.
12) Finally finish off the card with any embellishment that you think is suitable. Remember though that less is more. Once again here is the finished card.
I hope that this tutorial is useful for you and that it gives you some inspiration to make your own cards with your own twists. I look forward to seeing some of them on Facebook.
I am going to look at doing another type of architectural card (probably a Christmas one – eek Christmas is not far away!) for my next post so watch this space… Always good to challenge myself further.
Well the America’s Cup is finally finished and unfortunately New Zealand did not win but congratulations to Oracle for pulling off an amazing win.
As promised in my last post here are some nautical themed cards that I have just completed. My son, James, is very keen on anything maritime and the Tommy Reflections range from Close to My Heart was perfect to make a card for his birthday next month. I have also got the Workshop on the Go (WOTG) kit to scrapbook the photos he took on his trip to Japan when he was 15 years old. He was really happy with this and I will try and post some photos of the layouts at another time.
For this set of cards I used only coordinating card stock from the basics colour palette, two colours of ink and two sets of stamps. The limited colour palette created a very harmonious and subdued look that I felt suited the masculine cards really well.
I was really pleased how I was able to create a band with the anchors and tiny flag border on the bottom card- it reminded me of nautical braiding from when I was young. I like to use a lot of edging, strips and borders in my cards, and by using stamps I was able to create the same effect with little effort. The little boats were easy to fussy cut and apply with some foam tape to give some more dimension to the cards.
I am really enjoying using the products and especially the stamps and inks. Because the stamps are clear it makes it so easy to position the image exactly where I want them. The inks are beautiful as well and leave a great impression on beautiful smooth cardstock. My cardmaking is definitely moving up another level with these products.
Masculine cards are so difficult to make at times but Close to My Heart have the men in your life covered so well. Even teenage boys are catered for and I will be looking at getting the tech themed stamps and papers to make some cards for teenagers. Watch this space…
Now I just have to decide what card to give to James and the rest will be for sale at Make Shift. I am sure he will love whatever I give him.
I hope you enjoy my latest offerings. My next post will be a cardmaking 101 for those new to cardmaking.
Hello everyone and another special welcome to my new followers.
I was looking at Pinterest yesterday and came across instructions for a trifold card. I have never really done these cards before, preferring to just do standard cards as they are so quick and easy. However, when I saw the instructions and how easy they are to do I was inspired to try with some scraps of my Chantilly papers and I had purchased a pack of 12 x 12 Colonial White cardstock so it was a lot easier to cut up the card and get the creases right.
This month there is a special deal for National Stamping Month where if you spend $75 you can get the ‘You are My Happy’ stamp set for just $15. This is really great value as the set normally costs $77 and along with the stamp of the month set at $5 you can get all these stamps for $20 with a value of over $100. I can’t believe how generous Close to My Heart is! Anyway the images in this stamp set are cute and quirky and fitted in really well with this card. I have also used a sentiment from the same set on the front of the card and the birthday greeting is from the Card Chatter – Birthday set. I am really loving these stamps as they give a nice crisp image and are so easy to place just where you want to put them.
If you would like to purchase these stamps or any other Close to My Heart products you can visit my website here
I am very excited to announce that Close to My Heart has arrived in New Zealand. I am now an independent Close to My Heart Consultant and my new website is up and running at:
Please pop in and check it out – you are able to purchase directly from the site. There is an extensive range of products with the promise of more to come in January with a new product launch guide.
A Christmas catalogue is due to come out shortly which should also be exciting. I realise that the scrapbooking products are different, compared to what Creative Memories offered, and I will be looking to go around some craft fairs introducing the new products for you to touch and see.
There is only a couple of days left to receive the A Chocolate Affair Stamp of the Month set for FREE. I can’t wait to get my set and can see some luscious cards coming up when I get my set. Here is the link for more details:
I am still making a lot of Christmas cards. This time I have used some old watercolour paintings that were rubbish and then stamped on them and used my custom cutting set to cut out the images. I am quite pleased with the results.
For this card I have used a landscape painting with hills and far trees and stamped my tree on the top. For the snow effect I have used Liquid Applique and dusted this with fine glitter for a touch of sparkle. I then cut out an oval of dark green card and placed it over my image. I then used Peelcraft stickers for the corners and edges.
This another card using a watercolour background. This one used a plain sky background that I had painted years ago. I have used the Liquid Applique and glitter again to create the snow effect. My custom cutting system is great for cutting out the matted image as well as cutting out the green card in the foreground. A Peelcraft Christmas greeting finishes off this card.
For this card I have stamped a Santa image onto a plain slightly watercoloured background. I painted the Santa image with my watercolour paints. The Santa beard has had flock applied for a fluffy effect and for the trim on the coat and hat I have used Liquid Applique and glitter. I have used a combination of red and green scraps for the background, matted greeting and the ribbon. The touch of bling is from the Enchanted epoxy stickers.
This card has another stamped image on a lightly coloured watercolour background. I have painted the stamp with my watercolours and then I have matted it on a green card using my custom cutting system. The base of the image needed to be covered hence I have placed the band across the card. For the grey card I have used my zigzig blade on my rotary trimmer for the fancy edge. I then placed the blue card on top and finished with a strip of green ribbon from the Noel range of products from Creative Memories. I have put three stickers from the Enchanted epoxy stickers on the ribbon. Finally I placed a Peelcraft sticker onto the card.
This rather simple card also has another tree stamped onto a watercolour background. I managed to get some hills in the background to create some depth to the image. Once again I have used the Liquid Applique and glitter to create snow on the tree. This time I have stamped Merry Christmas onto the image and then cut it out using my custom cutting system. I used a scrap of green patterned paper for the background and then finished of with a strip of ribbon from the Noel range (which sadly is being discontinued, but the new range of Nordic and Be Merry is just as good) with some bling from the Enchanted epoxy stickers.
I love the blue and grey tones on this card. I have stamped the tree with blue (actually it was not meant to happen but still turned out great) ink onto a lovely watercolour hill paper. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to stamp it evenly so covered the blank areas with the stamp of Peace and a flower from the Reminisce range from CM and with a black sticker from the Enchanted epoxy range. I then cut out the image and matted it with blue card using the custom cutting system. The lacey edge is made from using a punch from Fiskers and layed using a lovely cream metallic paper and a silver grey card that I had in my scrap drawer. I then cut a piece of the same blue card approximately 1 inch in diameter and topped it off with a piece of the metallic paper using the deckle blade on my rotary trimmer. To finish of I have stamped the greeting and then placed some Kaisercraft blue rhinestones.
Materials used in these products:
Creative Memories rotary trimmer, custom custom cutting system, Noel range of ribbons, Enchanted epoxy stickers Reminisce flower
Kaisercraft Christmas Sentiments and Turtle Dove stamps
StampinUp green and blue papers
Happy crafting and catch you again soon.
Trisha
Green and blue card stock from Timbrels in Upper Hutt
They are really easy to do and the hardest part was picking colours to stamp with. Here is a quick tutorial for you to make your own.
2) Stamp the heart image on four shapes.
3) I used my Fiskars trimmer scoring blade (but you can use a ruler and scoring blade or whatever you have available) score down the middle of the heart and then fold the heart in half with the stamped image towards the middle.
4) On one half of a heart use a good strong glue – I have used CTMH Bonding Memories glue which bonds really quickly and then put the 2nd heart onto it and try to get it matching as much as you can.
5) Glue the other half of the heart and place the third heart onto the ornament.
6) Glue the last two sides and place the final heart onto it and making sure that you get it as close as possible to the centre of the hearts.
7) Using a piercing tool pierce a hole at the top of the hearts and then using a needle thread your string through (I have used bakers twine) and tie a knot at the base of the heart and one at the end of the twine to enable you to hang your ornament on your Christmas tree. 
Voila a Christmas tree ornament!
