July 2012 Card Group Projects

It was our July card group get together today, an afternoon of crafting, chatting and a few chuckles - lovely!  First off I introduced the ladies to the Split Negative technique using Hero Arts stamps and a black, white and red colour combo.  For success with this technique you need to make sure you cut your image panels to the same size and stamp the image in the same place on both panels.  I cut my white and black panels into 4" x 4" squares and before stamping I placed each panel in my Stamp-a-ma-jig handle.  That way my images married up correctly when I cut the panels in half diagonally and arranged the black and white pieces.  I stamped the large Starburst Lace with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder on the black panel and stamped with black ink on the white panel.   I then repeated the process for the smaller circle element using the Starburst stamp - this time I stamped in Real Red ink onto white CS and stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with white powder onto Real Red CS.  I find it easier to add some tape to the back of the two diagonal halves before I mount to a mat layer.  I matted my diagonal pieces onto Real Red 4 1/4" square panels.  For the smaller circle element I punched the circles out with a 1 3/4" circle punch, cut them in half and arranged the red and white halves onto a 2" black punched circle.  I've added a punched black circle to the centre and I popped the 2" black circle up.   I stamped a Best Wishes sentiment for the first card and added punched red and black circles.

I kept the layout the same for the second card - I just changed the orientation of the diagonal panels and used a birthday sentiment rather than Best Wishes.

For the birthday card I added a sentiment and a starburst inside the card.

Onto my second card design and I've used a lovely teacup and saucer image from a clear Kanban set called Coffee Shop.  I was immediately drawn to this set because of the damask designs on the images - oh, and the £4.99 price tag!  I saw a card recently that had paired yellow with teal and I mentally filed it away to have a go at using that combo myself.  The large square panel is SU! Barely Banana CS and I inked the stamps with VersaFine Deep Lagoon ink.  I cut the teacup out - including the inside of the handle - and I popped it up over a doily I'd cut in half.  I thought the Warm Wishes sentiment was perfect to use with the cuppa image!  I've scored embossed lines on the banana panel using the SU! Simply Scored tool and I added square jewels to finish off.  I used this teacup image a few weeks ago as a gift tag, it looks really sweet tied around the handle of a gift bag!

I designed a very quick and easy fourth card which was made using a ready printed, striped Hero Arts card.  I bought the cards in a pack of twelve and the pack came with four wood mounted sentiment stamps.  The cards have a white rectangular space on the front so you can stamp whichever sentiment you want.  The sentiments are 'Thanks for Everything', 'Thinking of You', 'Have a Fantastic Day!' and the one I used on this card, 'Sending Happy Thoughts'.   The stamp and card box set was half price in the Glitter Pot sale - half price Hero Arts sentiments, that's a bargain I couldn't pass up!  I found SU! Cherry Cobbler and Island Indigo colours  matched a couple of the stripes and I used those colours to add a butterfly to the card front.  The larger butterfly was made using a Cuttlebug die which has matching embossing folders.  After embossing the Cherry Cobbler shape I added an Island Indigo small butterfly cut out with a Martha Stewart punch.  I lifted up the wings a bit, added 3 gems to the Island Indigo butterfly and popped the Cherry Cobbler butterfly shape up on the card front.  

Supplies for Split Negative cards:
Stamps: Hero Arts Starburst Lace & Starburst, Best Wishes from Hobby Art, Happy Birthday from SU! Happiest Birthday Wishes set, Lovely Day from Penny Black
CS: PaperMania 5 1/4" square white card blanks, SU! Real Red, Basic Black & Whisper White
 Ink: VersaMark, Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Real Red
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, circle punches
Embellishments & accessories: white embossing powder, 3d foam tape

Supplies for teacup Warm Wishes card:
Stamps: Kanban Coffee Shop clear set, Warm Wishes from SU! Cheer & Wishes set
CS: PaperMania 5 1/4" square white card blank, SU! Barely Banana
Ink: VersaFine Deep Lagoon
Tools: SU! Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Stamp-a-ma-jig
Embellishments & accessories: Dovecraft Tea Party doily, clear square gems, 3d foam tape

Supplies for Sending Happy Thoughts card:
Stamps & CS: Hero Arts Striped Cards with Messages stamp & card box set, SU! Cherry Cobbler & Island Indigo
Ink: SU! Island Indigo
Tools: Cuttlebug butterfly die & embossing folder, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig
Embellishments & accessories: rhinestone jewels, 3d foam pads