My Favourite Stamp

I made this card for a card swap with the theme 'My Favourite Stamp'.  The stamp I have used is Hobby Art's 'Floral Display'.  I have used this stamp for my Get Well Soon and Just wanted to say ... cards on this blog - and many more cards as well.  It's so quick and easy to get a pretty image.

I stamped the image onto white Centura pearl card and die cut it into a circle, this was then attached to a scalloped circle of lavender card.  I used lilac/dark lilac coloured pencils for the flowers, two shades of green for the leaves and gold for the flower centres.  I attached a square of lavender card to the card blank and then attached a square of Raspberry Road lilac stripe paper.  I used my Woodware Crafty Edger with the Antique Floral cassette to cut a length of green paper.  This was attached to the bottom of the card.  I attached the die cut circle to the top left of the card.  I then used Versafine Imperial Purple ink to stamp the greeting - the sentiment is from Hobby Art's General Greetings set.  To finish I attached two lilac rhinestones to the top right and two to the bottom left of the card.

Kath x

Wishing you Happy Tomorrows

This card was made for a sketch card swap - I followed the sketch and used some Nancy Watt papers and toppers which were a magazine freebie.

I used a Denim Blue Promarker to ink the edges of a piece of blue spotty paper and attached it to the card blank.  I cut a strip of striped paper from the same collection and used the same blue Promarker to ink the edges and then attached it to the right of the card.  The edges of the sentiment topper was edged in a Buttercup Promarker and I attached it to the centre of the card.   As the flowers were on single sided paper, I glued them to co-ordinating spotty paper and then cut out two large and two small yellow flowers and one large and one small blue flower.   I shaped the petals, used the Promarkers to ink the edges and then attached them to the card.   The flower centres were also cut from the same papers.  After attaching them to the flowers I used Glossy Accents to make them look like pearls.

Kath x

Buddleia Birthday Card

I saw the Making Cards Vintage Collection magazine when I was on holiday and loved the freebie papers - they are so pretty.  I made this quick card for a friend's birthday.

I cut a square of dark pink Moondust card slightly smaller than my card blank and attached a square of buddleia backing paper with the flowers in the top left.   I tied a pink spot ribbon around the right side of the card and tied a bow around the ribbon.   This was then attached to the front of my card blank.  The sentiment is from Hobby Art's General Greetings set and I used Versafine Imperial Purple ink to stamp it onto a piece of the pink backing paper.   This was attached to dark pink card before being attached to the card with foam pads.  To finish, I put a spot of Diamond Stickles in the centres of each of the buddleia flowers to add a little sparkle.

Kath x

I've passed Unit Five - and I'm going on holiday!

I've heard from assessor Jackie that I've received a Pass Credit for Unit Five, this is for my Baby Girl Gift Cot, Bird Box and Butterfly Magic Box.  Thank you to everyone who has left feedback for me!

We're going on holiday tomorrow - off to Norfolk and Suffolk for two weeks.   Hopefully the weather will be better than it is in Devon at the moment!

Kath x

Butterfly Magic Box

For my final 3D object for the Certificate in Papercraft I've made a Butterfly Magic Box.  I made this following the tutorial on the Magic Boxes website. 

I cut two squares from an A4 sheet of Moondust card, one of 190mm for the box and one of 82mm for the box lid.  I then scored the larger box 74mm from each side and the smaller box 20mm from each side.  I cut the corners from the larger box and folded along the scorelines.   To make the lid I snipped all four corners, trimmed the excess and fastened the corners with tacky glue.  To decorate the inside and outside of the box (both are the same) I used a turquoise and red Hot off the Press paper (a magazine freebie) and attached this to a 300gsm card to make the box sides heavy - this weight helps the drop when the lid is removed.  I stamped the butterflies onto thin white card and coloured them with Pastel Green, Amethyst and Antique Pink Promarkers.  After cutting out the butterflies I stamped the reverse.   They butterflies were attached to the end of a thin strip of acetate - the other end of the acetate was slotted through slits in the square patterned base.   When I was happy with the height of the butterflies I cut off the acetate under the patterned base and attached the ends with tape.   This was then attached to the inside of the magic box.  I then used Diamond Stickles on the butterflies so they will catch the light when the box is opened.

As this is to submitted for the Certificate I would welcome feedback or suggestions for improvement, please.

Kath x

Bird Box

I made a Bird Box for the 3D unit of the Certificate in Papercraft - this was using a template which is designed and created by Nicole Heady.

I printed the template onto cream Centura Pearl card and covered the base section in Hot off the Press Soft Nostalgia lemon/pink flower paper.   The roof was made from brown paper from the same collection which was also glued to the Centura Pearl card.  I used my Buttercup Promarker to distress the edges of the bird house before assembling it with Tacky Glue and then used my Walnut Promarker to distress the edges of the roof.   I used my Nestablilities to cut a scalloped circle to decorate the hole in the front of the bird house and made a loop from pink/white baker's twine which I coloured with an Ivory Promarker - this was attached through two small slits in the roof section.  I attached one side of the roof to the bird box with Tacky Glue - the other side was left unattached so a gift can be placed inside the box - small pieces of velcro fastened the roof section.

I used a topper from Making Cards magazine to decorate the roof.   To make the flowers I used my Woodware 1" circle punch and cut this into a spiral.  I used my quilling tool to roll this and then used Tacky Glue to attach it to a small blossom shape - also made with a Woodware punch.  The leaves were punched from a scrap of turquoise paper using my Woodware grass punch.   I made flowers and leaves to decorate both the roof and the front of the bird box.

As I am going to submit this for assessment, I would welcome feedback, please.

Kath x

Me to You Birthday Card

I wanted to make a birthday card for a young girl and decided to use the Me to You papers which were a magazine freebie.   I have also entered the card into this week's Less is More challenge to make a card for a baby or child.

I attached a strip of patterned paper to a piece of purple card and then tied a lilac spot ribbon around the bottom.   This was then attached to the left of a white square card blank.   I used foam pads to attach a teddy chipboard to the patterned paper.   To finish the card, I attached a small dragonfly to the bottom of the card.

Kath x

Floral Inchies

I made some floral inchies for a swap - this was to make four inchies with the theme of 'flowers'.

I cut four one inch squares from a scrap of green card.  I then stamped a large flower onto pink rose paper from Raspberry Road Designs - the stamp is from Hobby Art's 'Anna's Collection - Special Wishes' set.  I cut around the edge of the flower and cut it into quarters - these were then attached to each of the green squares.  I then used a Sakura gold metallic gelly roll pen to make dots on the flower stamens.  I attached all four squares to a larger square of white card before sending my swap, so it's ready to be placed onto a card.

Kath x

Baby Girl Gift Cot

I've just finished making the first item for my 3D unit of the Certificate in Papercrafts - a baby girl gift cot.

I used a template available to students of the Craft Qualification Centre and printed it onto Centura Pearl card.  I covered the ends of the cot with pink flower paper from a Fizzy Moon paper pack and I coloured the inside of the cot with Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink pad to co-ordinate with the flower paper.  I inked the edges of the cot shape with the Orchid ink pad - this not only covered the white edges but will also draw the eye away from any less than perfect cutting!  I used Fizzy Moon toppers and glitter ribbon to decorate the cot and also added two small lemon brads to the ribbon.

The box section was covered in lemon/pink spot paper and then assembled following the instructions with the template.  I used a lemon brad as a handle for the drawer.   This was then attached to the cot sides.  I used lemon/pink flower paper from the same Fizzy Moon paper pad as a 'blanket' on the cot and cut the edges with Fiskars Victorian paper edgers.

Kath x

Just wanted to say ...

I enjoyed making my One Layer Card, so I've made another one to submit to the Less is More Challenge.  As I don't have many stamps, one of the biggest challenges was finding three stamps which worked together, but this is what I made.

I used white Centura Pearl to make my card blank.  All the stamps are Hobby Art - I used Floral Display (one of my favourite stamps) as the main image and added a sentiment from the General Greetings set and a small butterfly from Anna's Collection - Special Wishes.    I used coloured pencils to colour the flowers and butterfly so the pearlescent card showed through the images.

Kath x

Less is More - Use Three Stamps

It's time to start entering challenges!   This week's challenge on Less is More is to Use Three Stamps on a One Layer Card.   This is a real challenge for me as I'm not too confident with my stamping and rarely stamp directly onto a card.

I stamped the flowers from Woodware's Floral Doodles stamp set onto a square white card blank.   The sentiment is from Woodware's Salutations stamp set and my third stamp was a small 'doodle' from the first set.   I then coloured these with Orchid, Leaf Green and Gold Promarkers.  I was pleased with the result and may submit another card before the end of the week!

Kath x

I've passed Unit Three!

I've had a message from assessor Jackie - I've been awarded a Pass Credit for Unit Three!  This was for the Get Well Soon, Floral Doodles Woodware Challenge and Bear on Motorbike cards.

Thank you to everyone for feedback on these designs.

Kath x