Skylark Wedding Cards

On March 24, 2014March 24, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Cricut, Stamping10 Comments

Welcome back

I do apologise for missing last week’s post but I have had some family issues to deal with, and while they have settled down there is still going to be some problems to work through.

For this post I have been playing around with the last of my Skylark papers and have made some wedding cards. I am really enjoying using a different combination of colours and papers to what I normally use. Here I have used Lagoon and the beautiful Teal shimmer trim to create a pop of colour with the Skylark papers.

For this card I have used the pattern out of the Make It From Your Heart Volume 2 page 46 and used a cut from the Artbooking cartridge (page 48) in Lagoon cardstock for the centre panel which fitted in well. I love using the Perfect Fit – Frames 2 for an accent and the little wedding couple from The Happy Couple stamp set fits perfectly in the middle. The congrats stamp is from the Cricut Artiste Collection Kudos. And I have finished the card with a flower from the Skylark Assortments.

For this card I have again used the Quatrefoil embossing folder to add some interest to the plain cardstock. I love how the papes from Skylark are great for cards as well as for scrapbook layouts and here I have trimmed the corner of the 12 x 12 paper to fit the card base. I have added an extra pennant topped with a blue epoxy bubble and the sentiment is from The Happy Couple stamp set. A very simple yet elegant card.

Again for this card I have manage to trim the patterned paper to fit the card and keep the lovely bird which ties in well with the striped lagoon paper for the bottom of the card. I have cut the lovely ribbon out with the Artbooking Cricut cartridge. I the stamp is from The Happy Couple stamp set. I have finished off with a couple of epoxy bubbles and the Teal shimmer trim.

This card was very quick and easy with the Cricut Artbooking cartridge. I have cut the same image but for a portrait card instead and teamed it with the Lagoon striped paper from Skylark pack and the Teal shimmer trim and just placed a simple sentiment on it matted with Lagoon cardstock. Another simple, yet elegant card.

Materials used:

Cardstock – White Daisy, Lagoon

Paper – Skylark Paper Pack

Ink – Lagoon

Skylark assortment

Green and Blue Epoxy bubbles

Stamps – Cricut Artiste Collection, Kudos (only available as part of the Artiste Cricut Collection, The Happy Couple, Perfect Fit – Frames 2

Cricut Cartridges – Artiste, Art Philosophy and Artbooking

These cards will be available for sale at Craft Hutt, so if you live in Wellington do pop in and say hello and have a look at all the wonderful arts and crafts for sale.

I am going to be busy over the next few days as I have the Australasian CTMH SOTM hop coming up and I have also been invited to another blog hop featuring papers from CTMH.

I hope you all have a good week.

Happy Crafting.

Patricia

Close to My Heart New Zealand

On March 9, 2014March 10, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart9 Comments

Welcome back

I am so impressed with Close to My Heart designing stamp sets for Australia and New Zealand and have had this New Zealand set sitting around for a while waiting for a time to make some cards with them. These stamps encapsulate the essence of New Zealand with lovely detailed images of a sheep, Kiwi and mountain ranges. The sentiments are great as well. I have teamed them with the lovely Timberline papers that evoke the colonial past of New Zealand. And I have used my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge to cut out some tags to do something different from what I normally do. I normally use Desert Sand to distress but today I decided to try Cashmere and I was really pleased with the end result as that colour worked in really well with the Timberline range of papers.

For this card I have distressed the edges the tag with Cashmere ink. The image has been stamped with Black ink and coloured in with Sweet Leaf, Sky and Buttercup alcohol markers. This tag has been matted onto some New England Ivy cardstock that brings out the image really well. I have cut some scrap pieces of tartan paper and dovetailed them using scissors from the Timberline paper pack to create the ribbons for the tag. The sentiment is inked with black and the card has been finished with some green epoxy bubbles.

This card was very quick to make. I have cut the blue paper and woodgrain papers from the Timberline paper pack and distressed the edges with Cashmere ink. I have used the zip strip to thread through the tag and attach to the card. The tag has been distressed with Cashmere ink and the Kiwi and the sentiment was stamped in Chocolate ink and then some sparkles from the Black and Tan sparkles assortment finished off the tags.

This card has been created using the pattern from the Made it From the Heart Volume 2 book page 46. This is such an easy pattern to use for all occasions. I have added some Lagoon cardstock behind the very masculine looking papers to add a pop of colour. The zip strip has been matted with Lagoon and Chocolate cardstock which picks up the colours in the strip. I have again used Cashmere to distress the tag and the kiwi and sentiment has been stamped in Chocolate ink. To finish off I have used a Slate twist tie and some tan epoxy bubbles.

Finally for this card I have used Cashmere cardstock and after cutting to size I have embossed it with the Quatrefoil embossing folder and distressed the edge with Cashmere ink. The blue paper from the Timberline paper packet has been trimmed to size and then distressed with Cashmere ink. I then cut a thin strip of Slate cardstock and using Slate ink I have stamped tone on tone using the arrow stamps from the Catch You Later set to echo the zip strip I later added. I have stamped the sheep and sentiment with Slate ink on the tag and then distressed the tag with Cashmere ink. I have attached the card using grey Bakers Twine and finished off by using some scraps of zip strip ad paper to create some banners to place at the top of the card.

Materials used:

Cardstock – Colonial White, Cashmere, Slate, New England Ivy, Chocolate, Lagoon

Papers -Timberline paper packet

Inks – Slate, Cashmere, Black, Chocolate

Green and Blue epoxy bubbles

Sparkles Black and Tan Assortment

Grey Bakers Twine

Stamps -New Zealand Greetings D1601, Catch You Later D1580

Embossing folder – Quatrefoil

Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

Slate twist ties

Alcohol markers – Sweet Leaf, Sky, Buttercup

For further information please check out my website here or feel free to contact me.

I hope you all have a good week and I will catch up with you next week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Bugs and Hugs Pop-Up Card

On January 20, 2014January 20, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Children, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Paper Crafting, Stamping12 Comments

Welcome back

This week I have decided to do something different with the Laughing Lola papers from CTMH. This is quite a change from my usual pastels and pinks and I have always wanted a bugs and butterfly stamp set and this set is really cute and whimsical. Unfortunately, this set is on the retiring list and will no longer be available at the end of the month so you will need to be in quick.

I have made up this design based on some books that I got out of the library many years ago. I wanted to create the effect of a garden with butterflies and bees using a pop up technique and the Laughing Lola papers were a good match as they have lovely flowers and flourishes.

Normally I make up a card as I go along, but this time I played around with plain paper first to get my measurements correct and the right effect with the pop up. Here is my prototype:

As you can see I have change the sentiment but I still have the general effect that I wanted.

For the base card I have used a piece of 12 x 12 Indian Corn Blue cardstock and cut it to make a 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card. This was distressed with Desert Sand ink. For the front of the card I have then cut a piece of Colonial White cardstock 4″ x 5 1/4″ and distressed it with Desert Sand ink. I then cut out a piece of Laughing Lola patterned paper to try and get the flower and a flourish to allow me to add a bee on it 3 3/4″ x 5″. This was also distressed with Desert Sand ink.

These were put together. I then added a clear flower onto centre of the flower and then stamped the bee image onto the Laughing Lola Gold cardstock and then fussy cut out the bee and using foam tape adhered it to the flower. The sentiment is from Card Chatter – Birthday Wishes and was stamped onto Colonial White Cardstock. After distressing with Desert Sand ink I then placed it on the card front and finished it with some black sparkle from the Black and Grey Sparkles assortment.

For the inside I have cut a piece of Colonial White cardstock 5 1/4″ x 8 “. I had a strip of Laughing Lola paper to break the creamy white expanse and then cut it to fit the length of the Colonial White cardstock. I scored the card in the middle and then folded it with the patterned paper in the inside. On the outside I measured in from the edge and cut three lines on each end of the card as indicated on the photo below. You can vary the length of these cuts to suit your project. I found that the longer cuts were better on the inside rather than the outside.

I then used my trimmer to score the fold lines to help make it easier to fold the creases.

Here is the cards with the cuts and creases done ready to crease.

Here I have taken several angles to show how I have folded this card.

I then stamped several images using Black ink on various coloured cardstock (see list below in the materils used) and then fussy cut them out ready to embellish the card.

For the grass edging I have used the paper piecing technique again to add a little colour to the mushrooms and toadstools and used my alcohol markers to colour in the flowers. The pieces were distressed with Desert Sand ink to add some dimension to the image and then glued to the base image. I then glued the caterpillar on top of the leaves and toadstools.

For the butterflies to stand up and away from the grass I have cut a couple of small strips and adhered them to the butterflies. These were distressed with Desert Sand ink. (A good alternative to use would be acetate but I didn’t have any).

I then adhered these strips to the narrow pop ups on the outside.

The grass and caterpillar image was then adhered to the front of the larger fold. I had to use the long strips to stop the butterflies from being squashed when the card is folded.

I have popped a couple of little ladybirds that I have stamped with Black ink on Ruby cardstock on to finish the garden effect and also to hide the long strip on the left.

To complete the inner card I cut out two pieces of Colonial White Cardstock – one at 3 1/2″ x 1 2/8 ” and stamped the butterfly sentiment on it and the other one at 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ and stamped the Bugs and Hugs sentiment on it. Both pieces of card were distressed and adhered to the inner card. I have finished off by adding some black sparkles on the butterfly sentiment.

Here is the finished inner again.

And here are some close up of the embellishments.

Materials used are all CTMH:

Cardstock – Colonial White, Ruby, Laughing Lola Gold, Laughing Lola Purple, Olive, Desert Sand, Gypsy, Indian Corn Blue (The Laughing Lola Gold and Lauging Lola Purple cardstock is available only with the WOTG sets which is also retiring, but the paper pack will still be available for this Ideas Book.

Laughing Lola paper pack

Ink – Black, Desert Sand

Alcohol Markers – Cotton Candy, Buttercup

Stamp Set – Bugs and Hugs (D1535), Card Chatter – Birthday (D1475) – both are on the retiring list

Clear flower

Sparkles – Black and Grey assortment.

I can’t believe how quickly I have learnt the names of all the colours from the CTMH range. They are beautiful and coordinate so well.

I have just had a sneak peak at the new Ideas Book due to come out next week and it looks really exciting. I can’t wait to get my hands on the new embossing folders and the papers are soooo beautiful. Watch this space…

I hope that everyone has a good week and are keeping warm or cool and safe wherever you are in the world.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Paper Doll Cards Using Paper Piecing

On January 12, 2014 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Children, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Paper Crafting, Stamping6 Comments

Welcome

I would like to pass on my best wishes to all my Facebook and blogging friends who are experiencing extreme weather conditions at the moment. I hope you are all keeping well and safe in either the extreme heat or the very very cold weather.

For my post today I have used the gorgeous Paper Doll (D1547) stamp set which takes me back to my childhood. I loved playing with paper dolls and dressing them up with different clothes and this stamp set is so cute and it is almost like what I had as a child. The good news is that this stamp set is still going to be available in the new product guide coming next month.

I have used a paper piecing technique to create the clothes as well as some colouring in with my alcohol markers. Splitcoaststampers have a tutorial on paper piecing and you can find it on this link.

For these little girls I have stamped the image of the girl on White Daisy cardstock and then I have stamped the outfits onto the some scrap White Daisy cardstock to have a base for the patterned papers. These images have been fussy cut out carefully.

I have used Chantilly papers to create a lovely combination of clothes for my little girl and as it is already so beautifully coordinated it was easy to do. Unfortunately, the Chantilly papers will not be continued with the next product guide. However, I have seen the new Product Guide and I love the new papers coming out. Watch this space…

For this card I have stamped the top onto a piece of yellow patterned paper and then fussy cut it out and adhered it to the base outfit. And for the pants I have used my Pear alcohol markers to colour in the pants and the Cotton Candy alcohol markers for colouring in the bag etc. I then used the little tags to glue the outfit onto the base girl image. The hair has been coloured in using Buttercup alcohol markers. The hat has made by stamping the hat image onto Desert Sand cardstock and then fussy cut. I have coloured the flowers using the above alcohol markers and using a craft knife I have cut along the edge of the hat to allow me to place it on the head of the girl.

To complete the card I have embossed the Cotton Candy cardstock with my Swiss Dots embossing folder from Cuttlebug and stamped the cross stitch from the Stitch Wonder stamp set onto the Buttercup card and adhered it to the base card stock. I have used scrap yellow patterned paper to make some ribbons and finished off by stamping the sentiment from the You are My Happy stamp set onto a piece of White Daisy cardstock.

On the bottom two cards for the dresses I have stamped onto the pink patterned paper and then carefully cut out just the dress and using my Bonded Memories glue stick adhered it onto the base of the clothes. I then stamped the same image onto the green paper for the pants and again cut out the pants carefully and adhered them onto the base with my glue stick. I have used my Cotton Candy and Pear alcohol markers to colour in the flowers on one of the dresses. I then used the little tags to glue the outfit onto the base girl image.The hair has been coloured in using Buttercup alcohol markers. The hat has made by stamping the hat image onto Desert Sand cardstock and then fussy cut. I have coloured the flowers using the above alcohol markers and using a craft knife I have cut along the edge of the hat to allow me to place it on the head of the girl. For the head band I have stamped the image of the head band onto Cotton Candy

For a touch of whimsy I have used the grass from the Bugs and Hugs stamp set which looks quite cute and gives a background for the girl to stand on in the middle card.

On the bottom card I have stamped the lemon image onto Buttercup cardstock and then fussy cut them and then halved them to make the border.

For both cards I have stamped the image of the sign onto Desert Sand cardstock and cut it out and adhered it to the card.

I love the sentiments with this stamp set and for the bottom two cards I have used Outdoor Denim ink to stamp the sentiments on White Daisy cardstock and trimmed them to fit and matted them with Pear cardstock.

To complete the cards I have added a touch of bling with the clear sparkles and epoxy bubbles.

This technique helps to create a little three dimensional feel to the girls and the girls really look like they are about to step out of the cards.

The top card is from a recipe from the Make it From Your Heart Volume 2. This is such a versatile book with lots of great ideas for both scrapbooking and cardmaking. There are a number of different books with lots of ideas available on my website.

Materials used:

Stamp sets – Paper Doll (D1547), Stitch Wonder (C1564), Cricut Artiste Collection Kudos (D1530), Bugs and Hugs (D1535) (retiring), You are My Happy (no longer available)

Cardstock – White Daisy, Desert Sand, Buttercup, Cotton Candy, Pear

Chantilly Paper Pack

Inks – Pear, Cotton Candy, Outdoor Denim

Alcohol Markers – Cotton Candy, Pear, Buttercup

Clear Sparkles

Green and Blue Epoxy Bubbles

Bonding Memories Glue

Pink glitter gems

White Bakers twine

Cuttlebug embossing folder – Swiss Dots

I hope that you all have a great week and I will catch up with you next week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Christmas Cards and Treats

On November 24, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Christmas, Christmas Cards, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts, Holidays, Stamping4 Comments

Welcome back.

Well it is that time of the week for another blog post. This time I am just going to show some Christmas cards and party favours that I have been making while I have been working on a big project for our next blog hop on the 1st November focusing on the December Stamp of the Month – Special Care.

I am loving the papers from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide. They are so beautiful and the colours coordinate so well. I have also done some layouts using the WOTG Sparkle and Shine kit and once I have printed some more photos I will post them on here. I am so pleased with how they turned out as I have used the recipes in the Make it from the Heart series of books. This has made it a lot easier to get good layouts and then I could concentrate on coordinating papers and embellishments to finish off the pages.

Back to the cards. This card recipe is rapidly becoming one of my favourite designs. It is from the Make It from the Heart Volume 1 which is a great source of recipes for both scrapbook layouts and cards and is sooo cheap for quick inspiration (just $12 per book!). So quick and easy to mix and match colours and papers and these patterns go so well together. I have also used different stamp sets and I was really pleased how they turned out and actually did this card in a class last week and they turned out well. I had pre-cut everything and the Cricut has come in so handy – I have used the Artiste cartridge here.

The stamp sets I have used are: Perfect-Fit Birthday Occasions, Perfect-Fit – Frames 2 Occasions and Magical Days Holiday from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide.

I have never really used alphabet stamps before so I am pleased this has turned out well. This is another simple card that did not need special equipment to make – just a good accurate trimmer like the Fiskars Surecut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer that is available from my shop. (Just as an aside I have been doing a lot of cutting and had to get some more blades quickly, and I won’t be doing that again as the blades were more expensive at the local Warehouse Stationary than what I can pay retail through Close to My Heart!). I am using bakers twine more often now and the sparkles add the shine to the card.

The stamp sets I have used are: Urban Alphabet, Scandanavian Wishes – November SOTM.

For this card I have been inspired by a card by a fellow CTMH consultant, Wanda, and here is my take on it. I have used my Cricut (Art Philosophy) to cut out the frame and the holly leaves, berries and the flame. The holly leaves have been embossed by hand to give some shape to the leaves and the edges were distressed with Topiary ink (I have used Olive cardstock). The berries were cut out of Ruby cardstock and I have used my Liquid Glass to create some dimension and make them stand out. The flame was cut using a petal shape and I have stamped the candle on the base of the petal.

The stamp sets I have used are: Scandanavian Wishes (October SOTM) and Illuminate (November SOTM – available for $5 if you spend over $75 – be in quick though as this will no longer be available after the end of the month).

Finally here some party favours that I have made from the Artiste and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridges. I have put little chocolate bars inside them and used them as little thank you gifts for the ladies attending my classes at the Upper Hutt Library.

The stamp sets I have used here are: Banner Wishes Occasions and Santa Claus Holiday – both from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide.

Just a reminder that you can choose one ‘star’ product free for every $150 you spend in both the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide or the 2013 Product Launch Guide. This great deal is available through until the 31st December 2013 or until stocks last.

Please feel free to click on the links to my website to go shopping for any of these products or contact me for further information.

My next blog post will feature the December SOTM – Special Care. I can’t wait to show you what I have been up to.

In the meantime have a great week.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

CTMH Rosette Christmas Tree

On November 17, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Christmas, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Holidays, Stamping7 Comments

Welcome to my blog – especially to all my new followers. I hope that you find some inspiration from my creative endeavours just I find inspiration from other blogs and blog hops.

Today I will be showing my version of the rosette Christmas tree that is shown front of our Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide. Here is the picture on the front of the Holiday Gift Guide.

There are instructions for doing the rosettes with the Artiste Cricut cartridge and Jenny Gilbert has really detailed instructions here. However, I have been asked to teach my friends at Crafty Angels how to make these trees so I have done mine by hand so they are able to go home and do their own.

Here is my version of the tree:

I have adapted the instructions from the archives of Close to My Heart which used a scoring board and a trimmer to make the tree.

The papers that I have used are the Sparkle and Shine papers from the Holidays from the Heart Gift Guide and they pleat so easily.

Before cutting the paper I used my ScorPal to score all the papers at 1/2″ intervals as it made it a lot easier to cut and pleat later.

I have cut the following pieces:

3 strips of 3″ x 12″

3 strips of 2 3/4″ x 12″

2 strips of 2 1/2″ x 12″

2 strips of 2 1/4″ x 12″

2 strips of 2″ x 12″

2 strips of 1 3/4″ x 12″

2 strips of 1 1/2″ x 12″

2 strips of 1 1/4″ x 12″

2 strips of 1″ x 12″

1 strip of 3/4″ x 12″

20 circles – I have used a 1 3/4″ punch for the larger circles and my CCS from CM for cutting two small circles for the top rosette.

As you can see I have reduced the size by 1/4 inch each so make the tree graduate to a point. You could use another small rosette of 3/4″ x 12″ to place at the top of the tree but I have used my Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out snowflakes for the top of the tree as well as smaller snowflakes to decorate the tree. The smaller white snowflakes have had glue applied and I have sprinkled some prisma glitter to give some glitter. I have also stamped the stars from the Sparkle and Shine WOTG stamp set and fussy cut them out and put some sparkles in the middle of them for a bit of ‘sparkle and shine’.

I have not used a hot glue gun as my skin does not heal easily and I still have scars from last Christmas on my fingers! But I have discovered Liquid Glass from CTMH to be a really great adhesive for making the adhesive (and for rolling flowers). The Liquid Glass gives you about a minute to manipulate into place and then it sets really quickly and it did not take me long to do the rosettes. There are lots of videos on YouTube to show you have to form the rosettes (I am sorry but I couldn’t find the particular one that I used). I made sure I had the circles close by to place them on the rosette quickly before I lost the shape. Because the adhesive set very quickly it did not take long. Foam squares have been used in between the rosettes as well for additional height.

To finish I had to purchase some green and red ribbon as I did not have Ruby Chevron ribbon or the ribbon to dye with the re-inkers like they have in America.

The materials I have used are:

Sparkle and Shine B&T Duos

Slate cardstock

Daisy White Cardstock

Juniper Ink

Slate Ink

Ruby Ink

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

Foam squares

Non-stick scissors

Bonding Memories glue

Liquid Glass

Clear Sparkles

Prisma Glitter

Purchased ribbons.

I hope that you are inspired to make your own version of the tree. A shorter version would look great as Christmas place settings with names on them, or doing a group of three different sizes would look nice as decorations together as well.

Have a great week as we spiral onwards towards Christmas.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Christmas is Coming!

On November 4, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Christmas, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Die Cuts, Holidays, Stamping12 Comments

Welcome back.

Today I am doing something completely different from my usual cards and/or scrapbook layouts. Christmas is not too far away and I have been inspired by the lovely ornaments featured in the Product Launch Guide from Close to My Heart on page 44 (Aus/NZ version).

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.

Materials used:

Colonial White cardstock

Pacifica ink

Stamp of the Month set – Scandinavian Wishes

Baker’s twine

Bonding Memories Glue

Piercing tool

Needle

Scissors

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.

Have a good week and see you next weekend.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Close to My Heart Scandinavian Wishes Stamp of the Month

On October 27, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Christmas, Christmas Cards, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Holidays, Stamping5 Comments

Hello again.

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:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/sidespringcard/

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.

Here is my card:

Materials used:

Daisy White Cardstock

Ruby Cardstock

Ruby Ink

Sparkle and Shine paper

Cricut – Art Philosophy cartridge

My Acrylix Scandinavian Wishes Stamp set

White Bakers Twine

Tombow adhesive

Liquid Glass adhesive.

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.

Happy Crafting.

Cardmaking 101

On October 6, 2013September 28, 2016 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts12 Comments

Welcome back

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.

Materials I have used are:

CTMH Chantilly paper

CTMH Chantilly complements

CTMH You are My Happy Stamp set

CTMH Cranberry ink

CTMH Daisy White Cardstock

CTMH Sunset Cardstock

Fiskers Surecut Personal Trimmer

Tombow adhesive

Memory Book Glue Dots

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.

Happy Crafting

Patricia

Nautical Themed Cards for the Men (or women) In Your Lives (patriciamanhire.wordpress.com)

Nautical Themed Cards for the Men (or women) In Your Lives

On September 26, 2013 By patriciamanhireIn Cardmaking, Close to My Heart, Crafts, Stamping9 Comments

Welcome back

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.

The materials I have used are:

Colonial White Cardstock

Champagne Cardstock

Desert Sand Cardstock

Slate Cardstock

Cranberry Ink

Outdoor Denim ink

Desert Sand ink (this is my go to ink to distress as it gives a lovely soft distressed look to my cards)

Stamp sets – Card Chatter – Birthday, Tommy Workshop on the Go (this stamp set is only available when you buy the WOTG

Foam tape

Fiskars SureCut Deluxe Paper Trimmer

Tombow tape runner

Non-stick Micro-Tip Scissors

Ruler – for positioning the anchor stamp

Score-Pal for scoring the lines of the cardstock

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.

Have a great day and

Happy Stamping

Patricia

	patriciamanhire on Merry Christmas
	patriciamanhire on Blue and White Daisy Shaker Bi…
	Helen Gullett on Blue and White Daisy Shaker Bi…
	Sharon Tarpinian on Merry Christmas
	Sue Hart on A Serene Blue, White & Sil…

Patricia's Creative Corner

Tag: Stamping

Skylark Wedding Cards

Like this:

Close to My Heart New Zealand

Like this:

CTMH Bugs and Hugs Pop-Up Card

Like this:

CTMH Paper Doll Cards Using Paper Piecing

Like this:

Christmas Cards and Treats

Like this:

CTMH Rosette Christmas Tree

Like this:

Christmas is Coming!

Like this:

Close to My Heart Scandinavian Wishes Stamp of the Month

Like this:

Cardmaking 101

Like this:

Nautical Themed Cards for the Men (or women) In Your Lives

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: