Vintage Leaves Warm Wishes Shaped Birthday Card

This is the birthday card I made for our friend Alan.  I recently got a set of Grand Labels 1 Nestabilities dies as these larger shaped dies are perfect for making shaped cards - which I love!   The card base was made with Early Espresso  CS and I added in some Old Olive, Kraft and Very Vanilla.  To make the shaped card base I scored a piece of Early Espresso CS in half, folded it, placed the die with the blade slightly outside the fold and ran it through my Big Shot to end up with a card base slightly under 5 3/4" square.  I die cut a Labels 1 shape from Kraft CS, die cut a leaf aperture from the shape, inked the woodgrain folder with Soft Suede ink, embossed the shape, added some screw brads and inked the edges.  I shaped the leaves, glued the larger one inside the aperture, popped up the smaller leaves and also popped up the sentiment oval.

This photo shows the aperture.  I popped up the Kraft label shape to add some dimension.

Here's the inside of the card.

Here's the front of the envelope with more leaves and a popped up name label.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Vintage Leaves' & 'Blooming with Kindness' sets, Personal Impressions 'Medium Everyday Wishes' set
CS: SU! Early Espresso, Old Olive, Very Vanilla & Kraft
Ink: SU! Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso & Soft Suede
Tools: Spellbinders Grand Labels 1 & Labels 1 Nestabilities dies, Petite Oval Nestabilities dies, SU! 'Leaflets' Framelits dies, X Cut 6" x 6" 'Woodgrain' embossing folder, brayer, Sizzix 'Banners, Fancy' die set, small circle punch, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: Woodware Screw Brads, 3D foam tape 

October 2015 Card Group Projects

This post brings me up to date with sharing my card group projects.  In October we made a birthday card, a Christmas card and another memo block and pen gift.

As my crafting time has been very limited I based the birthday card on this one I made back in October 2013 rather than designing a brand new card.  Cheating maybe - but I think it's interesting to revisit a previous design and make it using different colours!  For this original version I used a Pink Pirouette and Primrose Petals colour combo.

This time around I went for blues, opting for Pool Party and Island Indigo.  To get the multi tonal look I first inked the bloom stamp with Pool Party ink and then I dabbed on some Island Indigo ink with a sponge dauber.  It's important to remember to wipe the stamp on a piece of kitchen roll paper between stampings so that the lighter colour ink pad doesn't get contaminated with the darker colour ink.  I then inked the edges of the panel with Island Indigo ink and gave the blooms a touch of sparkle by dotting PVA glue here and there and sprinkling on some ultrafine crystal glitter.  I attached the ribbon, glued the panel to a mat layer of Pool Party CS and that was then glued to the front of an Island Indigo A6 sized card base.  I inked the bloom stamp with Pool Party ink, stamped it onto Pool Party CS and then stamped the sentiment in Island Indigo ink.  I love the layered stamping look!  I die cut the oval, inked the edges and popped the oval up.  As a finishing touch I added a small flower with a gem centre.  Hmmm, a tough call but I think I prefer the blue version!

Here's a closer look at the multi tonal and layered stamping.

Here's the inside and the envelope.

For the Christmas card I stayed with blues and made my own version of a card shown on page 12 of the SU! Autumn/Winter catalogue.  The Sleigh Ride Edgelits dies were another "must have" item for me!  Using ink duster brushes I applied Distress Inks to a piece of Whisper White CS, starting with Tumbled Glass at the bottom, then Faded Jeans and lastly Chipped Sapphire at the top.  I then added some snow using watered down white acrylic paint and a paintbrush.  I dipped the brush into the paint, tapped the brush first over a piece of scrap paper to get rid of the big blobs and then I tapped over the inked panel.   The watered down acrylic paint gives a fab snow effect, the spots are slightly raised so there's a lovely touch of texture.  I cut the sleigh die from Whisper White CS and then cut just the sleigh and horse portion from Night of Navy CS.  I glued the Night of Navy piece behind the white piece, offsetting it slightly so that there is a shadow.  I glued the white piece over the inked panel but didn't apply any glue behind the sleigh and horse - I pulled that portion forward just a wee bit to give some dimension.  A simple stamped sentiment and a punched silver snowflake completed the card.  I have to say I was very happy how this card turned out!  Sue at card group made her card more special by using a mask for a moon which looked beautiful!

Here's the inside and envelope.  I used Lost Lagoon ink to stamp the snowflakes.

The third project was another memo block and pen gift, similar to the one we made back in August.  The ladies had asked to make a version that they could give away as Christmas gifts so I made the trays red and used a Christmassy colour patterned paper.  When I made up the kits I used various papers from a 6" square paper pad and opted for papers that weren't TOO Christmassy in design so that the memo blocks could still be used after the Christmas season.  I halved a memo block, and made the tray to sit the block in from a 5 3/4" square of Real Red CS, scored at 1 1/8" on all four sides and snipped to make tabs.  I tweaked the closure of the bag this time, opting to punch holes in the topper and cello bag so that I could tie the package closed with a ribbon bow - a bit more fancy than staples!

This time around I used a label punch to make the fancy shape hole for the front of the tray rather than a die - much quicker!

Here's the memo block and pen in the tray out of the packaging.

Supplies for Birthday Greetings card:
Stamps: SU! 'Blooming with Kindness' & 'Wetlands'  sets
CS: SU! Island Indigo, Pool Party & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Island Indigo & Pool Party
Tools: Petite Oval Nestabilities die, Woodware flower punch, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Island Indigo cotton ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, rhinestone jewel, Dimensionals

Supplies for Merry Christmas card:
Stamps: Merry Christmas from SU! Seasonal Wishes set, Hero Arts 'Holiday Cheer' set, PSX 'Snowflake Medley'
CS: SU! Night of Navy & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Night of Navy, Ranger Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, & Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks
Tools: SU! 'Sleigh Ride' Edgelits die set, Fiskars snowflake punch, Inkylicious ink duster brushes
Embellishments & accessories: SU! rhinestone jewel, watered down white acrylic paint & a paintbrush

Supplies for memo block & pen gift:
Stamps: 'Just a Note' from Marianne Designs 'Typewriter' dies & stamps combo set
CS: SU! Real Red, Basic Black & Whisper White
Patterned paper: Kaisercraft 'Mistletoe' pad
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black,
Tools: SU! Simply Scored, SU! Decorative Label punch, X Cut corner rounder punch, circle punches, Crop-a-dile
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Real Red satin ribbon, Wilko memo block, Zebra Z Grip mini ballpoint pen, cello bag to fit a 5" x 7" card

September 2015 Card Group Projects

I'm back to blog the three cards we made at our September card group meeting.  There were two Christmas cards and one birthday card.  I just had to use some of my new gorgeous goodies that I'd got from the Stampin' Up! Autumn/Winter catalogue!

A "must have" item for me from the catalogue was the Woodland embossing folder featuring a beautiful birch trees design.  Using a brayer, I inked the inside of the folder with Soft Sky ink, embossed a piece of Whisper White CS, added highlights to the birch trees with a Marina Mist marker pen and adhered the embossed panel to the front of a Garden Green A6 card base.  As the Woodland folder features birch tree trunks I decided to stamp and die cut birch leaves from the Vintage Leaves stamp set.  I stamped in Garden Green ink onto Garden Green CS and popped the leaves up.  I stamped the sentiment onto a die cut banner which I curled a wee bit and I also popped that up.

Here's the inside and the envelope with simple stamping.

This Christmas card was made using the Embellished Ornaments bundle of stamps and dies.  The card has a very simple design and layout but the red foil CS gives a festive touch of luxury I think!  The white card base measures 5 1/4" square and I added a mat layer of Real Red CS.  I die cut a Pear Pizzazz plain ornament and added a fancy red foil CS ornament over the top with a bauble topper.  I threaded the ornament onto a length of gold cord and I taped the ends round the back of the patterned paper square.  I added 3D foam tape underneath the ornament - and also popped up the sentiment oval.  I punched three red foil CS circles and adhered those to the top right of the patterned paper and added three clear gems to the poinsettia in the centre of the ornament.  

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I stamped the holly image in Pear Pizzazz ink and then used a Real Red marker pen to add red to the berries.

This next Christmas card features another new Christmas set - the SU! 'Cozy Christmas' set.  I've paired my new set with an older snow globe stamp from my stash.  I stamped the snowflake background in Lost Lagoon ink onto a panel of Lost Lagoon CS, inked the edges with Early Espresso ink, added a strip of Island Indigo cotton ribbon and glued the panel to the front of an Island Indigo A6 card base.  I stamped The snow globe twice - once on Whisper White CS and once on kraft CS.  I stamped the scene inside the globe and added Smoky Slate marker highlights to give the illusion of glass.  I fussy cut both stamped pieces, inked the edges of the snow globe base and glued it over the top of the white shape.  I added PVA glue to the roof of the house and the ground and then sprinkled on some ultrafine glitter. I stamped the sentiment, fussy cut it, popped it up and also popped up the snow globe.  To complete the front I added two small punched snowflakes to the ribbon and placed a gem in the centre of each snowflake.   

Here's the inside and the envelope which shows off another beautiful sentiment from the Cozy Christmas set and the lovely bells image.  A shame I didn't remember to ink the white panel for the inside of the card - hey ho!

Supplies for With Best Wishes card:
Stamps: SU! 'Vintage Leaves' set, Hobby Art 'Sentiments' clear set
CS: SU! Garden Green, Soft Sky & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Garden Green & Soft Sky, SU! Marina Mist marker
Tools: SU! 'Woodland' embossing folder, SU! 'Leaflets' Framelits die, flagged banner die from MFT 'First Place Award' die set, brayer
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals

Supplies for ornament Christmas card:
Stamps: SU! 'Embellished Ornaments' set
CS: PaperMania white square card blank, SU! Pear Pizzazz, Real Red & Red Foil Sheet 
Patterned paper: SU! 'Season of Cheer' DSP pack
Ink: SU! Pear Pizzazz & Real Red
Tools: SU! 'Delicate Ornament' Thinlits dies, Petite Oval Nestabilities dies, 1/4" circle punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Gold Cording Trim, rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals

Supplies for snow globe Christmas card:
Stamps: SU! 'Cozy Christmas' set, Woodware 'Snowflakes & Sparkles', snow globe from Penny Black 'Sending Love' set
CS: SU! Island Indigo, Lost Lagoon, kraft & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Island Indigo, Lost Lagoon, Pool Party, Early Espresso & Soft Suede, Smoky Slate marker
Tools: X Cut snowflake punch, sponge daubers
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Island Indigo cotton ribbon, crystal ultrafine glitter, SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals

August 2015 Card Group Projects

Well, that was certainly a longer blogging break than I intended!  I was finding it challenging getting the work/leisure balance right.  I wasn't getting as much time to craft and blog, in fact hardly any time at all - nor did I have the energy!  I felt it was right to take a break and see how things were after that.  I definitely won't be crafting as much as I was before I started the job.  However, I've made attempts to carve out more "me" time so I can still craft occasionally - which is better than not at all!

After taking time to reflect and assess what I want and need I realised it's very important for me that I enjoy and get pleasure from my crafting hobby - and I want to be able to create just for me a lot more than I have been.  I really enjoyed sharing and teaching and I met some wonderful, inspiring women.  However, designing and prepping for classes takes a lot of time and energy and can become pressured and less than enjoyable when you're under time constraints.  I've decided to carry on with my monthly card group, I still hope to craft now and then with a couple of crafty buddies but I've decided I won't be running any classes aside from that.  I feel happier having come to a decision and am looking forward to crafting and blogging again - not as often as I used to but at least sometimes!

I managed to keep up with my card group commitments while I took my break and I thought I'd share the projects we made back in August.  I love making fancy shaped cards and dies are such useful tools for that!  I got a set of Grand Labels 11 Nestabilities dies for a great price from ebay.  Although the two largest dies in the set won't go through my Big Shot I can certainly make use of the other dies in the set and the labels are a perfect shape for fancy card bases.  I used a fave combo of Pool Party and Elegant Eggplant and dug out a neglected Hero Arts 'Floral' stamps and dies combo set for this Thinking of You card.  I used Elegant Eggplant and Garden Green markers to ink the flower stamp, I popped up the die cut shape onto the white circle and I also popped up the die cut sentiment shape.  I added three punched and shaped Elegant Eggplant flowers and I placed a pretty, iridescent gem in the centre of each flower.

This photo shows that I scored the Pool Party Grand Labels 11 shape, trimmed off one fancy edge and glued the plain Pool Party section to the back of a panel of white CS in order to form the card base.

Here's the inside - simply decorated with Elegant Eggplant photo corners.

Here's the envelope with a stamped flower on the flap.

The second card was CASEd from this lovely, inspiring card I saw made by Cindy Hall featuring the fabulous 'Butterfly Basics' set.  Cindy used a very elegant combo but I opted for a bold and bright colour scheme for my version.  I added some shine by sprinkling on a few gold sequins.

Here's the inside and the envelope.

The third item was a rare non card project - a memo block and pen gift in a cello bag with a topper.  I used just one half of a 600 sheet 85 mm square memo block and used a 5 3/4" square of black CS to make the tray for the memo block to sit in.  After cutting the 5 3/4" square I scored at 1 1/8" on all four sides, trimmed tabs, die cut a fancy hole from the front section, glued patterned paper panels on three sides and glued the tabs together to form the tray.  I attached a 'Just a Note' tag to some Watermelon Wonder lace ribbon, tied the ribbon in a knot around the tray and added the mini pen.  I scored a length of Watermelon Wonder CS in half to form a topper, glued a strip of the lacy patterned paper to one side, sealed the 6" square cello bag, positioned the topper and stapled it in place to the bag.  

Here's the memo block and pen tray out of the cello bag.

The card group ladies don't always like a non card project so I sneaked this up on them and wasn't 100% sure of the reaction it would get!  I'm very happy to say they all loved it - in fact they wanted to make another one that they could give away as a small Christmas gift!  I duly obliged for the October get together.  I'll share the September card group projects in the next day or so and will follow with the October projects.

I've made a few other cards too while I've been on my blog break and I'm looking forward to sharing those with you soon!

Supplies for Thinking of You card:
Stamps: Hero Arts/Sizzix 'Floral' stamp & die combo set
CS: SU! Pool Party, Elegant Eggplant, & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Elegant Eggplant & Garden Green
Tools: Spellbinders Grand Labels 11 Nestabilities die, circle Nestabilities dies, dies from Hero Arts/Sizzix 'Floral' stamp & die combo set, Woodware flower punch, SU! Photo Corners punch
Embellishments & accessories: iridescent gems, Dimensionals

Supplies for Happy Birthday card:
Stamps: SU! 'Butterfly Basics' set
CS: PaperMania white A6 card blank,SU! Melon Mambo, Pacific Point & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Daffodil Delight, Old Olive & Pacific Point
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Melon Mambo ribbon, gold sequins

Supplies for memo block & pen gift:
Stamps: Hobby Art 'Sentiments' clear set
CS: SU! Basic Black & Watermelon Wonder 
Patterned paper: black & white lacy patterned paper from unknown source
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Tools: SU! Simply Scored, SU! plain & scalloped oval punches, Sizzix 'Banners, Fancy' Framelits die, small hole punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Watermelon Wonder Dotted Lace ribbon, Wilko memo block, Zebra Z Grip mini ballpoint pen, 6" square cello bag