Masking with "victorian distress" background

For the delightful Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp!

This card was made using two techniques: Masking (to close off an area to be left clear or filled later) and "victorian distress". Victorian distressing can also be seen on stamptv.com HERE.

Take a piece of scrap cardstock and cut an oval (or shape of choice) from it:

(Grid in cm's)

 Place this mask on your cardstock where you want to keep it clear:

 Stamp your image over the cardstock taking care NOT to move the mask. I stamped the butterflies with Tim Holtz Antique Linen.
 Now use a foam applicator and rub the same distress ink over the cardstock. Hold on tight to the mask (if you didn't adhere it temporarily with a temporary adhesive).
Take a second fitting distress ink (I used Spun Sugar) and go lightly over the same areas to cover any open spaces.
NOTE: When I did this the first time I used a light hand with the first DI but I accidentally dropped an dewdrop ink pad on it and had to re-do it. The second time I spread the DI quite darker that's why the masked area appears brighter on the final card above. (I didn't mind too much, practise makes perfect.)

Stamp a central image in a darker contrasting color in the middle. I used London Fog (see final card).

Rub a darker ink along the edges:

I always use my stamp-a-ma-jig when I do my sentiments and stamped this in London Fog ink (same as the central butterfly.

Lastly I stamped the same butterfly on colorful paper and cut it out, glued the centre to the shadow of it and lifted the wings to give dimension.
I glued the focal piece to orange cardstock, put the ribbon in place and glued to my card base.

Butterfly stamp: GinaK designs "Enjoy the Sunshine"
Sentiment: GinaK designs "Fanciful tags"

Ribbon cards

The following two cards were made for a ribbon theme:

Instruction:
Take a piece of cardstock of a color that fits in with the ribbons used. Since I used dark colors, I used a black piece of cardstock for the base.
Measure each piece of ribbon at least twice the length of the cardbase to make sure you have enough to create the folds.
Put a piece of double-sided tape down the whole length to start the first row. Remove the backing paper.
Lay your ribbon down on top of the tape, only on the edge, but let it overlap the edge by a bit so that it can be folded to the back.
I use my paper piercer which has a long sharp point and held it near the tape and then folded the ribbon over it, pressing the other end onto the tape. This creates the fold. Continue until you've made the folds where you want them. I didn't have folds all the way along the tape but varied their placement.
This sounded a bit confusing when I read this, so I went and took a photo to show you what I mean:

For the next row, put another piece of double-sided tape down the length and repeat the process.
For the sentiment row I cut TWO seperate pieces of ribbon and started them from each end, ending where I wanted the sentiment to go. The sentiment was stamped on a small piece of cardstock, the width of the ribbon. I put this in place on the double-sided tape.
The two ends of the ribbon ared folded back on themselves and adhered with glue-dots.
Once all the rows are completed, add the brads.
Now fold all the ribbon edges sticking out the sides to the back and adhere with double-sided tape to the back.
Adhere the front piece to your cardbase.

Sentiment from GinaK Designs: Fanciful Tags

For the second card, I used ribbons to make flowers:

There are two types of flowers here and here are the links to their instructions (so glad for very clever people out there who share their talents :D)
Back, light-blue flower: http://hopestudios.blogspot.com/2009/03/spring-bouquet-ribbon-flowers-two-ways.html
Front stripey flower:  http://lisapace.com/2007/04/ribbon-flower-tutorial/
For more ribbon flower ideas, see here: http://tipnut.com/ribbon-flowers/
I stuck the two flowers together using my glue gun.

Sentiment from GinaK Designs: Garden Silhouettes

CAS thank you

I'm back after a great holiday! And how nice it was to find my latest delivery from http://www.scrap-a-doodles.co.za/ waiting for me at home :D

I finally got my London Fog ink pad and I just love this color! I made this thank you card using London Fog and a stamp from GinaK Designs, Garden Silhouettes:

Lawnscaping Challenge #15: Distressing

I'm comfortable with CAS cards. Most often I feel better about my CAS cards than any other type (e.g. Vintage, Distress, etc). But I have to admit there's something therapeutic about rubbing or filing the heck out of a piece of paper.
This card is for the current Lawnscaping challenge: Distressing

The DP is from a Prima paperpack "Reflections" and this was distress by rubbing Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany over the edges but also flattening the pad to cross over onto the paper.
The grey Tim Holtz distress paper was filed with a nail file. I laid it flat on my working surface and filed the edges while holding the file pretty flat as well.
The plain white cardstock I used for the base was also distress using Aged Mahogany but I did go over with Antique Linen.
I cut the ribbon (I love this one from my local sewing shop) to fit the length of the card. I then picked at the edges until I unravelled a bit of it. I stuck double-sided tape along the edges on the back-side to catch it from unravelling further. The length was stuck down with double-sided tape as well.
The image and sentiment is from GinaK Designs "Garden Silhouettes" and I did shadow stamping again (my technique of choice this month it seems!). This image was layered on plain kraft.
See below for a close-up of the edges:

If you can't FIX it, FLAUNT it!

You know the saying, "if you can't fix it, flaunt it"? This can not be more true in the case of this card. For the current Monday challenge over at http://www.stamptv.com/, we had to "Break the Rules". You can check the link for the 'rules' we had to follow :D

What I wanted to show you is what I did when I tried to score only TWO lines at the top and sides. Because the card is 9" long (one of the rules we had to break was to get away from the standard size), and my Scor-Buddy is 6" long, the score line did of course not reach the bottom. When I also tried to turn the card the other way to score the other side, I had to guess how far from the top I had to start. Oh dear me, I got the score lines all wrong! So ....

... I made score lines at random lengths to get around it! I rubbed the scored sheet with distress ink to highlight the lines.

The other fault I had to hide is under the bow.  I forgot to put double-sided tape on top of the black ribbon when I put the green one down, so it lifted up a bit. I put a double-sided 3D dot in the middle under the green ribbon and LO and BEHOLD, you could see it stick out slightly. Aaaarrrgghhh. Therefore - a bow.

The sentiment (from GinaK Designs Garden Silhouettes), is stamped on back sheet of the card:

This is also the only way I could figure out how to adhere the back 9" sheet to the front. I guess this is how it's done...

Paper Only!

This August release challenge has us using ONLY PAPER on our cards. And I was SO HAPPY to receive my "Ladies Fashion Buckles" dies (Spellbinders) today! The 6 week wait was worth it. I cut the three buckles with black Bazzil Basics cardstock.

The background image was done using Spellbinders Impressabilities (see technique here).
The three strips of DP (really from my scraps collection) is from Desert Bloom (TrimCraft) and the middle one is from Prima paper.

The sentiment I stamped from GinaK designs' Enjoy the Sunshine (so worth getting this set!). It was cut using Spellbinders Labels 8 and then the top was cut off to nestle against the paper strip. It overlaps the one below it.

Gatefold with paper-scraps background

http://www.stamptv.com/ had a new Release day! Head on over to see what fabulous stamps sets are available.

For the release there are two challenges, and this is the Gatefold Card challenge.  I love these types of cards. They're really easy and very WOW.

The "DP" is actually created by glueing scraps of DP together on one piece of cardstock and then cut to size. There is some Dessert Bloom paperpack (TrimCraft) and Prima paperpacks (Melody and Reflections) in there :-D  See Gina's video on this technique here: http://stamptv.ning.com/video/using-your-scraps-part-1 (Note there is a part 2)

I wanted the focus to stay on the pretty background so kept the oval image very neutral. The stamp is from GinaK Designs Garden Silhouettes, stamped using the Shadow Stamping technique.

And this time I didn't leave the inside blank, but:

Monochromatic Blue

This week's Monday challenge over at www.stamptv.com is to create a monochromatic card. Since my Father-in-law's birthday is coming up I decided to go with a simple layout in blue.

This layout would have been almost impossible without using my new Stamp-a-ma-jig. To see what this is and how it works, look here (origin: http://www.stamptv.com/)



The circle image is from Elegant Elements and the sentiment from Garden Silhouettes

Card gift box

This is the first time I'm making anything like this and it wasn't too difficult!! I did all of it over the course of an afternoon/evening.

It was for the current www.stamptv.com Friday challenge where we had to CASE another design member's cards/projects. And this time around we looked at Carolina's!

Here's MY gift cards and drawer box set:

And this is what hers looked like (so beautiful!!):

Now for the what and where:
All the Barn Red cardstock is Bazzil.

To make the drawer box, I followed the same instructions as Carolina and you can see it here (there's also a video!): http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/drawerbox/

The flower I made by following instructions I saw in a CARDS magazine issue (JULY 2011). I used some of the Bazzil Barn Red cardstock for the bottom base circle. I then cut out 8 circles (SAME size as base!) from double-sided dp (7-Gypsies). You can only do one layer for which you will cut out only 4 circles but I wanted some height on mine. You can of course decide how big or small you want your flower to be depending on the size of the circles.
Fold each circle in half. Then half again. Use sticky dots/double-sided tape to tape this second fold down on the bottom fold.
Glue each quarter on top of the base to cover it. Since I made a double layer, I glued the next layer on top of the first, overlapping where the first quarters' ends met.
Use your fingers to gently fold up the open ends.
Stick a flower or any other embellishment of choice in the middle.  You can even glue a circle with a sentiment in the middle.

Close-up!

I made 6 cards: 3 x Happy Birthday, 2 x Get better soon and 1 x Praying for you.  These sentiments were from Fanciful Tags. The flower bunch from Enjoy the Sunshine.

Bon Voyage Butterfly

I'm entering this card for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, "Anything Goes". And this butterfly sure wants to go!

Butterfly from GinaK "Enjoy the Sunshine" (stamptv.com)
Sentiment from Nina Brackett's "Fanciful Tags" (stamptv.com)

Oh my goodness there's already over 660 entries!! Would LOVE some Simon Says Stamps - they are fantastic!

Cute Card challenge: Circles

I'm not always sure if it's a GOOD thing or a BAD thing when I come across another cool challenge website. I stumbled on Cute Card Thursday today and their current challenge is: Going Round In Circles!

Here's my entry:

The yellow and greenish "cardstock" are actually paint samplers thanks to the local DYI shop!

The beautiful patterned paper is from a Prima paperpack, "Memories".
Sentiment from GinaK "Garden Silhouettes"
Spellbinders die: Petite Circles

Note: Because the card had so many thick layers, I popped the whole front bit onto the cardbase with 1/18" 3D dots.

Stamptv challenge - 10-minute cards

This is the first card I created for the 10-minute-card-challenge. No prizes for guessing the aim of the challenge :D

I first used a foam applicator to rub Antique Linen ink all around the edges. I then used my Scor-Buddy to add some scor-lines as a frame around my card. I didn't even cut the squares (from my scraps-stash) with my square dies but just used my Cricut paper trimmer. I first stamped the sentiment (from Garden Silhouettes, GinaK), then glued the square on its left so that I was able to space the rest of the squares. It was really, really quick.

I then felt inspired to do a second one....

Image & sentiment from Garden Silhouettes (GinaK). Note: The sentiment is stamped on the card base.

Flourishes challenge FLLCJUL01 - Get Sketchy!

Here's a fun challenge from Flourishes, Get Sketchy. And here's the sketch we had to use as our inspiration:

And here's my card:

The embossed background was made using a Spellbinders Impressabilities die and after embossing, rubbing Tim Holtz Spun Sugar and Antique Linen directly over the paper. See GinaK's technique video.

The front pink layer (pink Bazzil cardstock) was layer on top of patterned paper from a Prima paperpack, "Reflections".

The focal image and sentiment are both from GinaK's Enjoy the Sunshine set. The umbrella was first stamped in black on white cardstock and the re-stamped on patterned paper. The 'crown' of the umbrella was cut out and paper-pieced on the line image. The rest of the umbrella was colored using Memento Markers (Lulu Lavendar, Rose Bud, Canteloupe). This was cut out using a Spellbinders Petite Oval and layer on Scalloped Petite Oval in the same pink Bazzil cardstock. This was layered on top of brown Bazzil cardstock (same as back layer). This focal image section was popped up with 1/16" 3D dots.

The pink edging was covered with Sakura Glaze Pen - see close-up below:

Click to enlarge

Stamptv challenge - Kiddies birthday cards

Here are two cards I've entered for the Stamptv challenge, Kid Birthday!

This card is pretty straight forward. I stamped the bicycle in black and colored the frame green (Derwent pencil). The background paper is from a cheap scrapbook paper pack I bought at "Crazy Store" (our version of America's dollar store I guess).

I do NOT know how to color water and although Gina makes it looks easy with Copics, those are way out of my budget. So I just colored them with my artist pencils. I did glitter up the fish though. Background paper from the same cheap scrapbook pack.

Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday #125 (Friend)

Here's my entry for the Timeless Tuesday challenge # 125 from the Flourishes website. We have to make a card with "Friend" on it.

Sentiment: GinaK "Enjoy the Sunshine"

Accordion Flower

I made my first accordion flowers and although it seemed tricky in the beginning, especially the part where you have to fold the accordion flat into the flower shape, I'm sure with more practise it will get easier. To see how to make them, check http://destampincorner.blogspot.com/2009/01/accordion-flower-tutorial.html

Note; I used my glue gun to adhere the accordion flower to the back circle. It sticks quick and you can let go in a couple of seconds.
The sentiment is from GinaK "Enjoy the Sunshine"
Layout: My own (although it might exist somewhere out there too :D )

Direct to Paper technique

This card was made for the www.stamptv.com Challenge "Swipe On! Swipe Off!". It's basically a Direct to Paper technique where you apply your ink pad directly to the paper.

Ink pads used: VersaMagic dew drops (chalk ink)
Colors (as used from bottom to top of focal image):

• Aegean Blue
• Pixie Dust
• Thatched Straw
• Aspen Mist

Black paper was cut using Spellbinders Petite Ovals (largest size) and layered over the focal image. This layer set was cornered using some off-white brads and mounted with 3D dots on the blue layer.

I was in two minds to paper piece the sails but decided to leave it to make it look as if the boat is something of a dream. Hubby says it looks like a glass boat (he likes :D)

Boat image from GinaK Designs "Enjoy the Sunshine" stamp set.

new tools, new techniques

I went and got some new tools / materials today which allows me to create cards using new techniques. Here's two:

Perfect Pearls
See Stamptv technique video: http://stamptv.ning.com/video/glitter-it-up-with-perfect
Here's my card (using one of my new fancy tags!)

Pad-to-Paper using Distress Inks

I went and splurged on my first three Tim Holtz distress inks today. Here I used all three: Antique Linen, Spun Sugar and Aged Mahogany. I used the direct pad-to-paper technique, overlapping Antique Linen and Spun Sugar for the background. I then went along the edge with Aged Mahogany to create the frame.

... and another paper-pieced card (with another of my new fancy tags!)

More on paper piecing

I love paper piecing. It saves you from having to color parts of the stamped image and really lifts the image. But what type of images are best for piecing and what type of paper should you use?

To see the technique of paper piecing, see HERE on a Stamptv.com technique video.

From the technique video you can see that images with larger open areas are ideal to be used for piecing. This way your paper will show best. On very fine, intricate images, the detail of any patterned paper will be lost.

The paper you select could in part be related to the theme of your card. For e.g. shells for an ocean-themed card. But this is not necessary. It could also either be a solid color (see A Day the the Beach where the umbrella and bucket are a solid red) or patterned.

In my previous card, Regatta, I have three sail boats each with a different piece of paper. One is solid, another stripes and the third flowers.

If you select a patterned paper, it is best that the pattern is quite small so that you will actually see it once pieced onto the stamped image.

I have also found that thinner paper piece make work easier than really thick designer paper (cardstock). Normal scrapbooking 12x12 pages are usually ok, but just check that you might not want too high a raised border on the paper piece from the stamped image. (unless that is a special effect you're going for of course :D)

In the card below (a new one for the paper piecing challenge on Stamptv.com 20-06-2011) I have selected three different floral papers to paper piece the umbrellas.

The images and sentiment are from the Enjoy the Sunshine set from GinaK design.

Regatta

I created this card for the StampTV facebook page "Summer Inspiration Challenge". The boat is from the GinaK stamp set: "Enjoy the Sunshine"

I created a mask by stamping one image on top of some scrap paper which I then cut out. I first stamped the first image and then put the mask on top of it. I then stamped the left and right boat without overlapping the first image. The sails are all paper pieced.

The boats themselves were colored using Memento markers and the top of the water as well. The ocean was created by rubbing blue chalk ink onto the paper with a sponge blender. Because I stamped this onto glossy paper I rubbed some of it off with a paper tissue (this effect was actually by accident - whoop!)

The birds were hand drawn with black Memento marker.