Card in a Box

Well it's all systems go in our house with the reno's amd it was time to pack up the craft studio last week ready for  new paint, carpet and a much needed redesigning of my storage!  But just before the big pack up I managed to get in there and play with some paper and dies.

I have seen a lot of "Cards in a Box" designed by some talented Stampin Up ladies on Pintrest and on You Tube. So I decided to have a go at creating some of my own for some special birthdays.

The actual process of creating the card base was so easy and then the fun really starts with the embellishment and theming.  Can I say I think I am addicted and can't wait to get back into my refurbished craft studio to make some more.

So here is what I created:

The debut card was for gorgeous Great Niece for her first birthday and the second and slightly larger one was for my dear friend Angie for her 50th.

I must say I did like the slightly larger version as I had a little more area to work with and could incorporate some larger die cut elements.

So here are some close ups of the two cards:

Elsie's 1st Birthday

Angie's 50th Card

It was so much fun creating these cards using some of my favourite Echo Park and My Minds Eye papers, MFT die-namics, Elizabeth Design dies and Simon Says Stamps and Dies.

Here are the links to the tutorials I used to get started:

Blog link - http://dianebarnes.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/cupcake-pop-up-card-in-box-with-template.html
Thanks Diane for the awesome tutorial

You tube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dXZFeFMPsw
Thank you to Brianna for the fabulous video

Thanks for stopping by and I will be back when the craft studio reno is complete!

Embossing Paste

Today while the builder and tiler are working hard on our house renovations I have been having some fun in the craft studio playing with embossing/texture paste and I LOVE it!

The product I used was Studio 40 Wendy Vecchi Embossing/Texture Paste - Crackle Finish.

And I drew some sketch inspiration from one of my favourite card makers - Amy ShefferThis was the card she created -

 

You can see the post of her card - here

And this is my card:

 

 

 

I loved Amy's clean design but decided to add my own touch of shabby chic to the card along the way.

 

Initially I used a prima stencil and the paste to create the background and whilst this was drying I set about creating the elements to layer on top. Some of you may have seen the post of this on my facebook page - A Little Bit of Shabby.

 

 

The paste was so easy to spread with a palette knife and dries really quickly.  As it is crackle paste each chevron dries with a series of cracks and lumps through it which I loved!

 

I also added foam tape to some of the layers to add some dimension and allow the layering of the elements to stand out more clearly and spritzed on some Mr Hueys to add a random and subtle shine bit to the card.

 

The other new product I played with today was my new Happy Sentiments die and stamps from Simon Says Stamp.  I just adore the fine die cut word and the accompanying stamps in the set.

 

 

 

 



 

The papers were some of the left over scraps from my previous project.

 

I really loved the effect of the texture past and hope to find some time to play again real soon...........

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Few Cards to Share

I was asked to make some cards for some 90th birthdays and just a general birthday card so here is what I created!

 

 

Papers are from MME The Sweetest Thing Collection.  Rolled flowers and doily were made with dies from MFT and butterflies and foliage were made from punches by Martha Stewart.

 

 

 
Papers are from Graphic 45 Baby 2 Bride Collection, rolled flowers and doily were made with dies from MFT and butterflies and foliage were made from punches by Martha Stewart.

Papers are from MME Lost and Found 2. Rolled flowers are from Green Tara. The doily was made using a die from MFT and butterflies were made using a Martha Stewart punch.  Foliage was made from a Carl punch.  Banners are hand cut.

Scrapmatts Guest Designer - Christmas in July

It was my turn to post again over at Scrapmatts so as promised here is a corresponding post with some additional pics.

Wow I can’t believe it’s the middle of July already …… time flies when you are playing with Scrapmatts goodies.   I really love the Scrapmatts Christmas themed pieces so for this post I decided to create some “Christmas in July” projects.  Keeping in mind it’s cold and chilly in Melbourne I decided to include some of the snowflakes on my projects as well as using papers with a cool wintery feel to them.

Gift Box  – Merry Christmas

 

You know when you have a creative vision and you start playing and your project just takes on a whole new direction?? Well believe it or not this little angel made from the sewing inspired collection initially was going to be an angel card.  As I began to make it I just decided it would be more fun to make a decorative gift box that can also double as a Christmas decoration/ornament. 

 

The wings are painted and glittered and the backing piece was covered with patterned paper.  I then placed them in between the two dress form pieces.  The bodice of the dress form was punched from a Martha Stewart heart punch which gave you the perfect neckline to add bling to.
 

 

 

 

  

The box was painted and papered then I added some of the other sewing set pieces to finish it all off.

Scrapmatts products used:

CB1194 Sewing 02

CB1193 Sewing 01

CB1052 Words 07 Merry Christmas

CB6037 Dress Form 02

CB1120 Wings 01

 

 

Card – Merry Christmas Window (double)

 

We lived and worked for two years in the US and one of my fondest memories was spotting a red cardinal outside our family room window one snowy morning just after Christmas.  This memory inspired me to make this card.  The tiny little bird was inked and the frames were painted and used as the window.  The Merry Christmas sentiment was also painted.

 

 

The fronds were punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

 

Papers by Doddlebug.

 

Scrapmatts products used:

CB1052 Words 07 Merry Christmas

MC1028 Micro Chips 20

CB1163 Ornate Frames 14

 

 

Tag – Merry Christmas Window

 I love the versatility of the ornate frames in the Scrapmatts collection.  This tag features the single square frame (which I used as another window) in the white coloured chipboard along with the inked Merry Christmas sentiment piece.  I couldn’t resist adding some of my rolled flowers and the green inked leafy spay Scrapmatts chipboard were tucked in behind them with some punched fronds.  I love the way you can layer the Scrapmatts chipboard with punched leaves to give some texture and depth to a project.

 

Papers from Authentique and digital image by Iralmajay.

 

Scrapmatts products used:

CB1052 Words 07 Merry Christmas

CB1146 Leaf Spray 01

CB1163 Ornate Frames 14

CB3004 Tags 02

 

Card – Snowflakes

 

Even though there is never a white Christmas in Australia I still love the cards you can create with wintery feel.  More often than not our American friends are the recipients of these cards that I create.  I love how the snowflakes that Scrapmatts have are just so delicate and intricately cut and the one that I chose for this card was white and I just added some liquid glitter to it.  Each snowflake on the patterned paper was also trimmed with a miniature rhinestone to add to the frosty feel.  Couldn’t resist adding some of my favourite border pieces as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papers by My Minds Eye, bling from Kaisercraft and Mollossi.

 

Scrapmatts products used:

CB1181 Snowflakes 04

CB4060 Ornate Frames 17

CB1052 Words 07 Merry Christmas

 

This was my last official post as a Scrapmatts Guest Designer so I just wanted to thank everyone over at Scrapmatts for making me feel so welcome and for all the lovely comments you made on my posts. 

 

Thank you to Sofie and Andrew for the opportunity to be a guest designer.  I love love love Scrapmatts products and felt very honoured to be invited to be part of the Scrapmatts community.   

Thank you again for having me - I have loved every minute of it!

 

 

Birthday Fun with DS99

We have another special birthday to celebrate this week so I have used the latest Deconstructed Sketch as inspiration.  I wanted to create a card that had a grungy feel to it and decided to use some heavy inking, random free hand stamping and spritzing techniques that the talented Finnabair shared with us at Scrappy Hollow back in March. I kept the stamping and spritzing quite simple compared to Finnabair's style though.

Here is the sketch from the talented Jen over at the Deconstructed Sketch Blog

And this is my creation!

 

For this card I used some of my 6x6 paper pads - MME Out of the Blue and also Authentique's Journey.   I sanded, distressed and inked the background papers.  I then free hand stamped a Kaisercraft stamp on the pieces using both tea dye distress ink and black ink. 

 

Using dies and punched I created the other elements on the card and continued to sand, distress and inks as I went.

 

 

I added some hand stamped sentiments.

 

A little foam tape added some dimension to the card as well.

To finish off I made up my own misting spray using Luminarte Primary Elements Pigment Powder (Nutmeg) and randomly spritzed the card.

 

Materials

 

Paper

MME Out of the Blue

Authentique Journey

 

Punches/Dies/Stamps

QuicKutz Nesting Flowers Die

MFT By the Numbers Die

EK Success Deco Scallop Punch

Punch Bunch Medium Balloon Punch

Marvy Ukida2 1/2" circle punch

 

Other

MFT Stamps Birthday Greetings stamps

Luminarte Primary Elements Pigment Powder Nutmeg

TH Tea Dye Distress Ink

Versa Color Black

Versa Color Lapilluso

VintageTwine

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

Retro Sketch #95

It's a very busy week for me this week with work, class teaching and designing, Design Team assignments and cards to make for friends/family birthdays.

This week I decided to get some inspiration form the lovely DT over at Retro Sketches.
Here is the sketch they have up this week and you can see their post here.

I have a few male cards to create so here is my "male" take on the sketch:

 

For this card I used one of my favourite MME paper collections - Stella & Rose.  I just love the teal and mustard colours combined with the greys.   I wanted to create a grungy distressed look so out came the edge distressor and the sand paper. 

 

I sanded the edges of the fish tail banner pieces which I cut free hand.  As I cut them I made sure my cuts overlapped so when I sanded the pieces the cuts became more visible and added to the grunge feel.  I also sanded the rub on that I used.  

 

To add some dimension to the card I mounted the banner pieces and solid stars with foam tape. I also added a hint of sparkle to the solid stars with a gel pen.

 

Materials Used:

Paper: MME Stella & Rose 6x6 paper pad and basil cardstock

Dies: MFT Stacking Stars

Other: Button MME Hattie "Remember", Twine from Taylored Expressions, Rub on from The Paper Company Personalized by You range.

 

Thanks for dropping by!