March 2016 Card Group Projects

Here's what I created for my lovely card group ladies to make on our monthly get together last Thursday afternoon.  At our February meeting I didn't exactly promise but I did say there might be a masculine card in March.  Well, I ended up making three cards suitable for men - actually, I think they would be suitable for males or females - but they're definitely not girly, no flowers and butterflies!

The first card uses the lovely SU! 'In the Meadow' set.  I stamped the images in VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink onto a square of watercolour paper using a Stamp-a-Ma-Jig for perfect placement.  I put drops of SU! Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi and Soft Suede inks from re-inker bottles onto a tile and picked up the colour with a water brush.  I used a Soft Suede marker to add colour to the tree trunks and the deer legs and I used a Wild Wasabi marker to add detail to the grass.  I dotted the brush end tip of the Wild Wasabi marker onto the treetops.  I stamped the sentiment and noticed that the 'y' in 'Especially' wasn't stamping completely so I filled in with an Early Espresso marker.  I stamped the sentiment several times onto scrap paper which confirmed my suspicions that the stamp was damaged and so I consigned it to the bin.  On the day, the ladies stamped a 'Just for You' sentiment on a separate piece of Soft Sky CS and cut it out with an oval punch.   I edged the panel with Early Espresso ink, glued the stamped panel to an Early Espresso die cut Rectangle Parenthesis shape, added some Early Espresso baker's twine and glued the label to the front of a Soft Sky A6 card base.  I punched a small Soft Sky circle and added a metallic finish embellishment to complete the card front.

Here's the inside and the envelope.

Card two features the oh, so versatile SU! 'Kinda Eclectic' set and a colour combo of Crumb Cake, Night of Navy and white.  I made an A6 Crumb Cake card base and stamped the dots in Crumb Cake ink several times onto the card front.  The wood grain banner was cut using paper from a 6" x 6" pad, I edged the banner with Crumb Cake ink and glued it to the card base leaving the flagged end unglued to add a bit of dimension.  I stamped the sunburst in Night of Navy ink so the image covered the wood grain banner as well as the card front.  I glued a smaller Night of Navy banner into place and then worked on the sentiment circle.  I stamped the leaves in Lost Lagoon ink after stamping off once first, stamped the sentiment in Night of Navy ink and used a 2" circle punch to cut it out.  I edged the circle with Night of Navy ink and popped up the circle.

Here's the inside and the envelope.

Card number three is quite different for me, not my usual style, I don't often do grunge and I've never seen the appeal of washi tape!  I've been debating whether to get the SU! 'Gorgeous Grunge' set for a long time, I wasn't sure I'd like it all that much.  But then I do keep seeing lovely cards on Pinterest made with the set so  I finally took the plunge and got some washi tape along with the stamp set!   I so enjoyed putting this card together, I loved that the simple stamping was quick, easy - and great fun!  I did have to add an image - a card just doesn't feel complete to me unless there's a "thing" on it, like a flower or butterfly, an object of some sort so I couldn't stamp the grunge elements and a sentiment only - I can't help it, it just doesn't feel right to me!  So after the background stamping, I added a strip of washi tape and stamped the sentiment.  I stamped a leaf in Old Olive ink onto a piece of Very Vanilla CS and used a blender pen to draw the ink from the outline into the leaf to add a touch of colour.  I stamped the speckles and the postmark, then tore around three edges of the panel, inked the edges with Soft Suede ink and glued the panel in place.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I didn't plan on adding washi tape on the inside but there was a gap between my stamped lines which I didn't like so the strip of washi tape proved very useful! 

Supplies for deer pair 'Especially for You' card:
Stamps: SU! 'In the Meadow' set, sentiment from Woodware 'Going to Seed' set
CS: SU! Soft Sky, Early Espresso & Whisper White, watercolour paper
Ink: VersaFine Vintage Sepia, SU! Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi & Soft Suede, SU! Soft Suede & Wild Wasabi markers
Tools: SU! Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, XCut Rectangle Parenthesis 1 die, XCut 3/8"  circle punch, water brush, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Early Espresso baker's twine, Marianne Designs metal adhesive gem

Supplies for 'Sending Wishes Your Way' card:
Stamps: SU! 'Kinda Eclectic' & 'Butterfly Basics' sets
CS: SU! Crumb Cake, Night of Navy & Whisper White
Patterned paper:
Ink: SU! Crumb Cake, Lost Lagoon & Night of Navy
Tools:  SU! 'Banner Triple' punch, MFT 'Fishtail Flags' Stax die, sponge daubers
Embellishments & accessories:  Dimensionals

Supplies for grungy leaf 'Happy Birthday' card:
Stamps: SU! 'Gorgeous Grunge', 'Vintage Leaves' & 'Butterfly Basics' sets, Clearly Besotted 'Happy Birthday' set
CS: PaperMania cream A6 card blank, SU! Very Vanilla
Ink: SU! Soft Suede, Tip Top Taupe & Old Olive
Tools: sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Bohemian Designer Washi Tape, blender pen

February 2016 Card Group Projects

Today I'm sharing the three cards my ladies made at our February card group meeting.  All the cards feature some newly purchased SU! goodies - floral of course!  Using my new gorgeous flower stamps, dies and patterned paper made me very happy indeed!

Whilst browsing on Pinterest I came across these lovely notebooks made by Julie  Davison and used the design as inspiration for a card.

I glued the patterned paper and Mossy Meadow CS strips to the stamped Mint Macaron CS panel, inked the edges with Mossy Meadow ink and glued that to the front of a white A6 sized card base.  I stamped the large floral image onto a scrap of white CS after stamping off once first, punched out a 1 3/4" circle, stamped the dots and sentiment, edged the circle with Mossy Meadow ink and glued it to a 2" Mossy Meadow circle.  The scalloped circle and flag shapes were cut using my MFT 'First Place Award Ribbon' die set.  I finished off with a couple of pearls.

Here's a closer look at the sentiment circle.  Even though the look is very subtle, I'm very fond of layered stamping. 

Here's the inside and envelope.

The 'Rose Wonder' stamp set and matching dies appealed to me as soon as I saw them.  I wanted to make one card using the large rose die and a second card using the large rose stamp.  Originally I planned to make a white on white card with the rose die but I ended up with this bold contrast design instead!  I wanted the rose die cut shape to cover the whole width of the card so I cut a bit off the side from the Real Red A6 card.  I glued the positive die cut shape to the card first, then glued the leftover piece into place, trimmed it accordingly and stamped the sentiment.  I didn't glue the rose completely flat, I bent some petals and leaves up to add a bit of dimension.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I thought my Fiskars Rose punch worked well to decorate the inside and envelope!

Now onto the 3rd card where I used the large rose stamp.  I CASEd a very pretty card made by Jackie Bolhuis.

Jackie had stamped onto SU! Shimmer White CS and watercoloured the rose images.  I took that idea but made a square card, only stamped one rose image and I used grey ink rather than black.  The mat layer was cut from Rose Red CS and I used Rose Red and Wild Wasabi inks to colour the rose image.  I placed drops of ink from re-inker bottles onto a ceramic tile and used a water brush to apply the colours.  I really didn't worry too much about the colouring, opting for a fast and loose approach because I was using Shimmer White CS rather than watercolour paper!  Like Jackie, I added a few speckles using a stamp from the SU! 'Gorgeous Grunge' set.  I absolutely love the label stamp and matching die - they're going to be used a fair bit I'm sure!  I popped up the sentiment label to complete the card front.

Here's the inside and the envelope with just monochrome stamping of the lovely rose image.

A very happy afternoon, I enjoyed it immensely!  Many thanks to Wendy for supplying the blueberry muffins we scoffed with our cuppas!  Because I went for three floral design cards this time I did say that there could be be a masculine card in March.  I didn't promise - but then I do need to ink up my new SU! 'In the Meadow' stamps!

January 2016 Card Group Projects

Owen came home from hospital a few weeks ago - thank goodness!  I'm not getting much spare time so my crafting time is severely limited.  I was determined to carry on with my monthly card group though.  I'm really out of my cardmaking groove and the lack of time means Pinterest is proving invaluable in giving me inspiration and opportunities to CASE!  These three cards are what the group made in January.

A very simple stamped panel was edged with ink and popped up on an A6 white card base.

Here's the inside and the envelope with first and second generation stamping.

Just Rich Razzleberry and white used on this flower trio card - nice and crisp!

Here's the inside and the envelope.

I did manage to come up with this design myself and happily it all came together quite fast once I'd started!  Just simple stamping and die cutting but I'd like to think the colour combo (Island Indigo and Pear Pizzazz) adds a dash of style!  

Here's the inside and the envelope showcasing that fabulous flourish!

It was SO, SO good to be back with my card group ladies - I had a wonderful afternoon!  I'll be spending this afternoon with them as it's our February meeting today.  Hopefully it won't take me a month to share the February cards and I'll get them up here on Flower Sparkle soon!

Another blog break

My husband Owen  is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of our local hospital.  He went in on 1st November with severe pneumonia, he was critically ill.  He also had sepsis (blood poisoning) which meant that some of his organs weren't working as they should.

He is starting to get better but it will be a long process and he'll need lots of help and support before he is back to 100% health.  Whilst I'm concentrating on Owen my crafting must take a back seat.

So this is just an update to let any readers out there know why I'm not posting regularly at the moment.  Crafting is more than a hobby for me, it's almost a therapy.  Going through this anxious time is when I need it most and this is when I have the least amount of time and energy to do it!

I really do hope to be back creating and blogging regularly at some point.  Being realistic, I think it could be the beginning of the new year before that happens though.

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