Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop

Today I am joining in with the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop which has been organised by Amy Tsuruta for the coffee loving cardmakers group. You can find all the details and other entries here. We were asked to make a card with the theme of Coffee, Tea or Cocoa and a Spring feel to it. I chose to go with tea, since I have more stamps and dies that are tea related than coffee ones. Here is my entry.

I used a 5" x 7" white landscape card blank and added some pretty patterned paper from Graphic 45's Botanical Tea collection. Where the papers joined I covered the seam with some Spring Rain Papertrey card which I had diecut with a Cottage Cutz "Tea Time Border" die. I used some of Ken Oliver's Stick It adhesive before I cut the border and I can highly recommend it as it saves so much fiddling about with glue and is really secure. 

The fancy teapot, cups and saucers and teaspoons were all cut and stamped with My Favourite Things Die-namics "Always Time For Tea" stamp and die set and more of the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea papers. They were added to the card with some clear foam tape for added dimension. Finally the sentiment, also from the same MFT stamp set, was added (appropriately) in Espresso Truffle Memento dye ink.

I decided to make a second card, which was almost identical to the first, apart from the design and position of the tea set. I wanted to ensure that the text on the background paper was visible on each card since it is a quote about tea and friendship and ties in nicely with my chosen sentiment.

There are already over 400 entries in this blog hop - that's an awful lot of beautiful inspiration! Thank you for taking the time to read this far! 

Lynn

Couture Birthday Card

I have just realised that I didn't share the twenty - first card that I made for my daughter back in the summer, so it's time to put that right! Jess is studying Costume as part of her University course - so what better papers to use than the wonderful Graphic 45 Couture collection?

A word of warning though - if you are a fan of clean and simple (CAS) cards please look away now! Clean and simple this is not! In fact I would go as far as to say that this is one of the most elaborate cards that I have ever made and it took me several days to complete. To give you some idea, there were a total of twenty - two different dies used on this card - some of them more than once!

I started off with an A5 card blank, portrait style, with a top fold. I added fleur-de-lis borders to the longer sides, which I had cut from black glitter card using a Spellbinders die. Then came a layer of turquoise pearlescent card, followed by several panels of the Couture papers by Graphic 45. The ric-rac border at the bottom of the card was cut using a Papertrey die and I used a white gel pen to add the faux stitching.

The next two photos show the top of the card, where I wanted to hang bunting to create a party feel. I used three of the dies from JustRite's Buntings and Button dies set with more of the lovely Couture papers to make the pennants and scalloped bunting. These were layered using clear foam tape then tied together with narrow black polka dot ribbon, forming six tiny bows. 

The top pelmet of turquoise hearts was cut from a Memory Box die and topped with a Spellbinders Fleur-de-lis in black glitter card. The photo below shows how I used several black foam dots to raise the centre of the pelmet to give it a curved shape. Two small ribbon bows were added to the ends to make it look like the ribbon had been used to tie up the bunting.

The main stamped image is one of the Prima doll stamps by Julie Nutting, which I stamped, coloured with Copic Markers, paper pieced and decoupaged. I heat embossed the dress portion of the stamp four times onto another of the Couture papers, fussy cut them and decoupaged the layers with clear foam pads at the bust and hemline. I also added some tulle netting gathered at the hemline to make it a real party frock! The party hat, bow belt and shoes were also decoupaged and I painted them with some Tattered Angels Tide Pool Glimmer Glam Glitter paint for added sparkle. Three turquoise gems completed the party crown and some narrow gold beaded trim made the perfect necklace and bracelet - every party girl needs a bit of bling!

The photo below shows the dimension achieved from all the layering on the skirt of the dress (sorry it's a bit out of focus).

The panel for the sentiment was cut from two more Couture papers using Spellbinders labels dies. I added a larger Fleur-de-lis to the top and bottom of the panel and mounted it onto the card with foam tape. The "happy" die cut is from a Simon Says Stamp die and the numbers and letters are all cut using Memory Box Classic number and alphabet dies (both upper and lower case).

The bottom right of the card was finished off with a bouquet of co-ordinating flowers. The white gypsophila, turquoise blossoms and variegated leaves were from Wild Orchid. I made the six other flowers myself using Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms dies and more of the Couture papers. I used a cocktail stick to curl all the petals before securing with glue, then I added either a tiny turquoise pearl or a gem to the centre of each flower. A couple of diecut flourishes completed the arrangement.

The photo below gives you some idea of the dimension added (sorry it's a bit out of focus again).

A final look at the finished card. I was so happy with how this turned out and my daughter loved it too!

Thanks for looking.

Lynn

Cure for the Monday Blues #9

Over on Taheerha Atchia's blog  there is a Monday challenge running - you can check it out here  http://littlemisst-papercraft.blogspot.com/2014/03/cure-for-monday-blues-challenge-9.html  .

Challenge #9 is based on the following photograph -

 

 

Source: Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/pin/75435362482935938/

 

 

I decided to start with a 5" x 7" landscape card blank and added a layer of PTI Pure Poppy card. Then I took a slightly smaller panel of the off-white card (I cut up another card blank to make sure it matched) and added a strip of brown stripey paper (the reverse side of Fields of Flowers from Graphic 45's Botanical Tea collection) to the lower half, to mimic the stripey cushions on the bed. I used my small imperial Score Pal board to score along the top half of the card at half inch intervals - I thought that this looked a little like the wood panelling in the above photo.  Next I added a strip of blue card (PTI's Spring rain card), a narrower strip of the off - white card and a length of red cord, echoing the piped bedding in the inspiration photo. 

Please click on the photo to enlarge it for a better view.

For the main image I used the largest die from the JustRite Custom Die Templates JB - 10025 Nested Oval Medallion Label Dies, which I cut from some of the blue card. The map border image and sailing ship from the Anchors Away stamp set by JustRite (CR - 03710) were then stamped using Rich Cocoa Memento dye ink. I coloured the narrow band around the edge with a Festive Berries Distress Marker to match the piping again and the rope circle was coloured with a Picket Fence Distress Marker (matching the white lifesaving ring in the inspiration photo). The centre panel was then mounted onto the card with foam pads for added dimension. I stamped the small circular anchor motif from the same stamp set onto a scrap of Pure Poppy red card using Memento Espresso Truffle dye ink, cut it out and added it to the card with a foam dot - I was thinking about the red circular item on the bedside table in the inspiration photo at the time. The sentiment is from the Waltzingmouse Stamps Compact Sentiment set and was stamped onto some of the red card with the same Espresso Truffle Memento ink. I trimmed the red card to mimic the shape of the red rug in the bottom left of the inspiration photo, stuck it onto the card and it was finished!

I am really pleased with the finished card as I think it's a reasonable interpretation of the photo provided and looks suitably nautical. I shall be sending this to a former colleague who will be starting a new job soon - I hope he likes it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA, so I'd like to wish all my American friends a very happy Thanksgiving - I am truly thankful for you all!

Earlier this week I made this autumnal themed thank you card for a friend in America who had kindly sent me some lovely crafting goodies.

I started with a square black card blank and added a layer of black and cream paper from Graphic 45's Steampunk Spells Patterns & Solids pad. Another layer of cream card was added with a stamped sentiment from the Waltzingmouse "Blessed By You" stamp set (I actually used parts of two different sentiments to get this particular combination). I embossed a small square of Core'dinations Chocolate Box collection card using a Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades embossing folder by Sizzix and sanded the card to reveal the coloured core inside. The oak and acorn wreath and sprigs from "Peace and plenty" by Waltzingmouse stamps were stamped onto cream card using black Memento ink. I coloured all the images with Copic Ciao markers and cut them out by hand before mounting them onto the card front using foam pads. Finally I highlighted all the acorns by giving them a coat of Ranger's Glossy Accents.

The photo above doesn't really do justice to the card as the colours were much brighter in real life. Poor daylight in the winter in England isn't really conducive to photography! I hope my friend liked it though.

Missing You ...

My sweet daughter is away at University this year, studying Creative Arts for Theatre and Film. She has an aptitude for anything artistic and is really enjoying her course but, although she has made lots of new friends there, she confessed to feeling a little homesick the other week.

To cheer her up I sent her a parcel containing lots of nice fabrics for her Costume Designs and some of her favourite biscuits and chocolate. I also enclosed a hand made card, to let her know that we are missing her too. Now that she has received everything I can show you the card that I made for her.

I started with an A5 card blank and added a layer of "Springtime" patterned paper from Graphic 45's Secret Garden collection. I thought that a sewing theme would be appropriate so I opted to use the Grandma's Attic background stamp from JustRite Stampers http://justritepapercraft.com/search?type=product&q=grandma%27s+attic which I stamped onto cream card using Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I used coloured pencils to add colour to the dressmaker's dummy, cotton reel labels and buttons then I distressed the edges and used a foam blending tool to add a little Antique Linen distress ink around the edges.  The stamping and colouring was repeated twice, before fussy cutting out all the coloured elements and layering them up on foam pads to give a more dimensional look. You can see what a difference the extra layers made in the photo below.

A strip of brown floral washi tape from We R Memory Keepers was added across the bottom of the card, together with some "Wild Saffron" adhesive paper ribbon from K&Company. Then I added a row of "Sugar and Spice"  pink pearls from the Hobby House, alternating between the 3mm and 5mm sizes, to highlight the "lace".  I tied some button twine through a pink button from my stash and added it to the bottom right corner of the stamped image.

I needed to add a sentiment and wanted to balance the layout, so I decided to die cut a label from cream card using one of the smaller dies from the lovely Spellbinders Labels Six set http://www.countryviewcrafts.co.uk/s4-230-spellbinders-nestabilities-labels-six---6-dies-3647-p.asp . Leaving the die in place I sponged Antique Linen distress ink over the label, leaving it paler in the middle. When the die was removed it left a lovely crisp cream border which looked really effective. I used Memento Rich Cocoa ink again to stamp the "Miss You" sentiment and two small flourishes (which reminded me a little of flowers) from the JustRite Stampers Large Fancy Sentiments stamp set http://justritepapercraft.com/products/large-fancy-sentiments-cr-03815 . I added a couple of 3mm pink pearls to the centre of the flourishes, stuck the label to the card using foam pads - and Voila! 

I am really pleased with the finished card and I'm very happy that my daughter loved it too!