Christmas Camper

I was having a look round the Polkadoodles website a few days ago when I spotted a brilliant digi stamp of a Christmas Campervan. It's basically a vw camper with a Christmas tree on top. It's great. It was only something daft like £2 so I ordered it and being a digi, it arrived instantly. This is the first card I've made using it and I absolutely love it!

I started by printing the digi image twice onto a normal sheet of copier paper. I then decided which pieces I wanted to paper piece and used low tack tape to attach my chosen papers onto the print out. I then put the paper (with patterned paper on top) back into the printer and printed again so that the design was on the patterned paper. I did this for the tree, the body of the camper & the windows. I cut out the pieces and laid them onto a plain version printed on thin card.

I used my Promarkers to colour the parts of the design that were not to be paper pieced and then used small amounts of glue to attach the paper pieces. I carefully trimmed out the design leaving a small white border.

I then chose a 12x12 DCWV patterned paper that graduates from dark to light- I think it's perfect as the bottom looks like snow for the camper to sit on. I cut it down to mat onto the 8x8 card base and attached with double sided tape. I then used a double layer of foam pads to attach the camper van. The finishing touches were to add the 3 die-cut snowflakes (with a single layer of 3d foam) to the card, embellishing them with large gems. I then added the peel off message and then used Stickles glitter glue to highlight the fairy lights on the tree.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Polkadoodles 'anything goes' 2/2
Digi Choosday 'anything goes' 30/1
Crafting for all Seasons 'for the girls' 3/2

one in a million

Another SWALK card today using toppers from the cd and a message I've created myself using the verse writer. I'm really loving the designs from this cd at the moment- I've been colouring my own images and using the pre-coloured ones from the 'Pawfect Pals' cd.

For this card, I inked the edge of the topper & the message with 'picked raspberry' distress ink and then mounted them onto silver mirror board. I chose a piece of A4 pink card, and folded it to make an A5 card blank and then used a piece of Kanban patterned card as the background. I added my toppers and then placed some small holographic circle stickers into the centre of the flowers to add extra sparkle.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Totally Gorjuss 'furry friends' 31/1
Cute Card Thursday 'so sweet' 29/1
Paper Shelter 'digit image & sentiment' 28/1
Crafting for all Seasons 'for the girls' 3/2
The Pink Elephant 'pink &/or red' 27/1

Loud Music

Before Christmas, I was lucky enough to win a £100 voucher to spend at Create & Craft. It was surprisingly difficult to find things to spend that much money on, even though I never seem to struggle when I don't have a voucher!

One of the things I bought was a brilliant Indigo Blu A5 stamp set called 'Loud Music'. It has a wide range of stamps fitting many different music styles e.g. flowing notes, a guitar, a tape & some fun sentiments. I've already used the set once to make a birthday card for a musical man at work and thought it was about time I did another.

It's a mix between chalkboard & grunge...

I started with a piece of A4 white card which I folded to make an A5 card blank. I cut a piece of black card 2.5cm smaller on each side than the base card and stamped it with the Indigo Blu stamps using white Brilliance Ink. Before the ink had a chance to dry, I rubbed each image gently with some distress ink foam to blur the edges and look like the chalk had rubbed off slightly. When I had finished stamping, I mounted the black card onto some silver mirror board.

I then used 2 off cuts of black stripe paper (left over from my 'pretty grunge' card) in 2 opposite corners of the card and used Black Soot distress ink in the other 2. To finish the card I then used black memento ink and an Inkadinkado star stamp over the top of the distress ink.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Craft Your Passion 'music' 27/1
Crafty Cardmakers 'black & white' 2/2
Crafty Catz 'monochrome' 30/1
Daring Cardmakers 'stripes' 31/1

Present time!

I'm still doing quite well in my Christmas Card quest for 2014 and have managed to make another one today. It's a CAS style card and was very quick to make.

I started with the topper (pre-coloured image from Lili of the Valley) and mounted it onto silver mirror card. I then chose a blue snowflake pattern paper from the Forever Friends Kraft Notes range and mounted them all onto a white 6x6 card blank. To finish the card, I used a bow and 3 buttons, all from the Papermania Festive Spots & Stripes collection.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Christmas Card Challenges 'anything goes' 1/2
Catch the Bug 'photo challenge- penguins' 1/2
Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas Challenges ' trees' 31/1
Craft Room Challenge 'water' 3/2 (ice is just frozen water after all)
Cutie Pie Challenges 'cute blue' 1/2
Love to Create 'buttons' 26/1
Creative Inspirations 'ribbon' 28/1

Christmas sparkle

I've managed to make another Christmas card today. That makes 3 so far for January- it won't last!

Here it is...

I started with a 6x6 white card blank and to make sure my topper matched perfectly colour-wise, I cut down another card blank to make the layer (I'd saved one that I'd messed up the embossing on ages ago so I used the back of that). I chose my stencil (Imagination Crafts) and used double sided tape to stop it moving. I firstly, inked the branch using 'gathered twigs' distress ink and then used an embossing pen to ink the snowflakes. I used 4 different shades of blue mica powders (also Imagination Crafts) to colour them. I also used the mica powders to dust all over the background.

Finishing touches were to add the gems and then mount it onto a blue mirror card mat and then onto the card. I will probably add a message before I send it though. Unfortunately, the beautiful shine of the mica doesn't show up very well on the photo but this one does show the blingyness (good word!) of the gems I've used...

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafty Hazlenut's Christmas 'shades of blue' 24/1
Paper Shelter 'winter blues' 21/1
Crafters Cafe 'bling' 22/1
Christmas Cards '1 layer' 26/1
Imagination Crafts 'anything goes' 31/1

Rock God!

Today's card uses a few old favourites that I always know I'll use at some point and one of those things that I should use more often but just don't seem to!

The background card is an 8x8 base card, inked with 'tea stain' distress ink. The 2 backing papers are both from DCWV 'Rockstar' 8x8 & matstack pads. Rockstar was my first DCWV stack and it is still my favourite. I use it for so many scrapbook pages too. The topper is printed from 'Just Ink'lined' best of 2012 cd-rom which is a disk I've has since the end of 2012 but don't use that often. This topper was perfect for what I wanted though.

I coloured it with mainly Spectrum Noirs today but with an odd bit of Promarker. I wanted to make the topper look as if the posters & drum kit were old & the guitar was the shiny new toy so after colouring the posters & drum kit using slightly subtle shades, I went over the top of it all with a light brown to tone down all of the colours and add that vintage look. I then coloured the guitar in a totally different colour palette and added some glossy accents to the body of the guitar.

I used 1 8x8 DCWV paper as the background and then trimmed down a matstack piece for the element in the corner. I wanted to pick out the 'rock and roll' part of the paper so I glued it with a quickie glue pen and then foiled it. This is something I've tried before on a scrapbook page and it worked really well.

I tore the edge of the topper and inked it with 'tea stain' distress ink too before using 3d foam to add it to the card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Polkadoodles Digi Choosday 'for the boys' 23/1
Clear It Out '2+ papers' 21/1
Creative Inspirations 'anything goes' 21/1

Mod Podge

I have Mod Podge! The world is not safe!

winter wonderland

This card uses another topper that I coloured a while ago but ran out of time to make into a card. I've finally got round to using it, and it means that I've made 2 Christmas cards so far in January!!!

I coloured the topper using both Spectrum Noirs & Promarkers and then used a Kanban mat as a stencil to cut it into the decorative shape. I added a, hand cut, blue mirror card mat and a larger mat cut from Dovecraft 'Merry & Bright' snowman paper. To add extra detail to the 6x6 elegant edge Craftwork Cards card blank, I ran it through my grand callibur with a snowflake mask, and then gently rubbed on some pale blue chalk with my finger.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Christmas Card Challenges 'anything goes with option of polka dots' 19/1
Catch the Bug 'winter wonderland' 18/1
Crafty-Hazlenut's Christmas Challenge 'winter weather' 17/1
Cute Card Thursday 'cold & frosty' 15/1
Creatalicious Challenges 'turquoise winter' 13/2

Pretty Grunge!

Today's card is one that I absolutely love- this normally happens with my newest cards being my favourite, but this one more than ever. It's a mix of old & new stuff and uses some ideas that I've never done before.

Here it is..

I haven't done any colouring for quite a while so I went back to one of my favourite Saturated Canary digi stamps and coloured her using a mix of Promarkers & Spectrum Noirs. I stuck to a pallette of pinks & greys but glittered the boots with some doodlebug glitter (to make them like a pair I'm lucky enough to have!)

I used a Kanban die-cut mat to draw a template for the shape of the topper which I cut out by hand, inked gently with Black Soot distress ink, and then matted it onto a co-ordinating die-cut layer. It was originally black & white so I used my Picked Raspberry distress ink to tie the colour in with the digi image.

I wanted to go for a slightly grungy/distressed look, so for the background, I took a piece of grey & white striped cardstock (new 'Mambi'  (Me & My Big Ideas) cardstock pad- bargain from TK Maxx) and cut it as a mat for the topper. I then took an offcut and attached it to the bottom of the original piece of card with the stripes going in the opposite direction. I then inked around the edges with the same Picked Raspberry distress ink that I used on the topper mat. To add to the 'grunge' look, I used my ScorPal scoreboard to score & fold some lines across different parts of the card.

I then took a piece of A4 pink cardstock and again inked the edges with Black Soot distress ink before adding the cardstock & topper. I folded some of the lines I had scored on the striped cardstock so that they stood out and only put the double sided tape in the centre. I used 2 layers of 3d foam to attach the topper so that it didn't squash the edges of the cardstock.

Here's a photo to show how it stands out...

I'm really pleased with how the grungy/pretty look has worked and I think that I'll try the folded distressed background thing again!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Crafting Musketeers 'grunge' 29/1

Graph' It 'anything goes' 12/1

Cards Galore 'anything goes' 28/1

Polkadoodles 'anything goes' 12/1

Crafty Catz 'pretty in pink' 16/1

Polkadoodles 'girly, girly, girly' 19/1
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'anything goes' 14/1

Crafters Cafe 'anything goes' 14/1

Papertake weekly 'anything goes' 14/1

Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes' 31/1

Let's Celebrate

Another new card today- again using some new products!

I love most of the DoCrafts/Papermania range and always look forward to their new releases every 2 months (new GORJUSS stuff in March!) and this recent update to the Art Deco range is no exception. The new silver, black & pale green colour scheme is beautiful. I picked up the 'Ultimate Die-Cut & Paper pack' which is always such a bargain as it contains toppers, decoupage, backing papers, messages- everything you could need. This is the first card I've made from the kit and all I've added to it is the 8x8 base card and 3 feathers in co-ordinating colours.

It was a really quick & simple card too...

I started with the 8x8 card blank and 2 backing papers from the kit (the middle layer one is black with silver foil so it didn't photograph well but is stunning in real life). I chose my topper that I wanted to use and then used a fancy edge corner punch on all 4 layers. I layered the card together using double sided tape apart from the main topper which I used 3d foam on. Because I wanted to secure the feathers behind the topper, I didn't put a foam pad in the top left corner so that I could place the feathers after the topper was in place. I attached the feathers by putting a small amount of pva glue onto the end of each one and then carefully placing it behind the topper.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Creative Inspirations 'celebrate' 7/1
Crafty Calendar 'celebrate' 31/1

Christmas 2014!

As I mentioned, in a previous post, my New Year's Resolution is to keep making Christmas cards all year round (so I don't have to try and make 14 in one night!). My plan is to try and make 2 a month and, so far, I'm on track- I've made one and we're only a few days into January! I'm really pleased with it too...

Pretty much everything on this card is brand new or something that I've had for a while but not used yet.

I started with the Stag design which is a Sweet Poppy metal stencil. It is a beautiful design with so much detail to it. I simply inked the design onto the kraft card using a stencil brush & Brilliance 'Pearlescent Crimson' ink pad. I then edged the design with the same ink pad before mounting it onto green mirror board.

I wanted a tartan background to match the Scottish theme of the stag but I didn't have anything in the colour scheme I needed so I decided to make my own. I took a piece of 8x8 kraft card and masked stripes with low tack tape. I inked the remaining kraft card with the 'pearlescent crimson' ink used for the stag. I carefully removed the tape and then re-attached it to the card the opposite way (to create stripes in both horizontal & vertical) and inked again. I then repeated this process but using Brilliance 'pearlescent olive' ink. The olive colour seemed to take a while to dry so I carefully removed the tape and left it for a few minutes to dry. I then trimmed the kraft card slightly so it would fit onto an 8x8 card.

To finish the card,  I wrapped some 'metallic copper' raffia around my background 3 times before I attached it to my 8x8 base card and then attached the topper.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Christmas Card Challenges 'anything goes' 5/1
Craft Your Passion 'new' 6/1
Crafters Cafe 'animals' 8/1
Pink Elephant 'anything goes' 5/1
Crafty Hazlenut Extra 'anything xmas' 31/1