Vintage or Medieval Christmas Card for my Dad

I am so, so naughty, I didn't finish this card until Christmas morning. But my dad said it was worth waiting for :o)

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Take care & keep smiling :o)

Vintage Christmas Cards for 2010

Here is my Christmas card for 2010. I made several of these for my Dad to send out to family and friends.

Flowers - Flower Fantasy Die Set - Marianne Design Creatables. Stamen - Nellies Choice punch. Foliage - Pine branch - Marianne Design Creatables - Starry Garland Die Set. L Em - Ash Branch Punch. L Em - Evergreen punch.

Merry Christmas Stamp - Penny Black.

Take Care & Keep Smiling :o)

Christmas or Halloween Card ? For my brother

OK, so this may not be everyones idea of a Christmas card, maybe more of a Halloween card, but my brother is a BIG horror film fan, and I always like to make cards reflecting the recipients tastes - interests. So here is my brother's Christmas card for this year, and you have been warned this card is NOT nice ... You can click on the pictures to get more gory detail :o)

The Vampire Santa is "borrowed" from Vampire Wars, a game I play on Facebook. Thank you for looking.

Take care, keep smiling and HAPPY HALLOWEEN ^v^

Double Tri Shutter Card - 21st Birthday

Here is a Double Tri Shutter Card that I made for my Son's girlfriend Pheobe. This card was a lot easier to make than the Tri Shutter card in my last post, but then again this card is a lot less fussy than the last card.

Materials Used -
Stardream card
Bazzill card
Woodware Daisy punches
Brilliance inkpads - Victorian Violet, Mediterranean Blue, and Sky blue.
Crafts -Too Daisy embossing folder.
Nestabilities circles dies - Standard and Small sets
Fiskars border punch - Threading Water
Elusive Designs sentiment rubber stamps
Bling on a Budget gemstone swirls (I got mine from Craft Obsessions)
Rangers Glossy Accents glue.
First of all I cut all the panels for the card then ran them through my Cuttlebug with the embossing folder. Then using the Brilliance ink pads sponged the Daisies and edges.
The 21st center was cut out using a standard size nestablities circles die. I then cut out another standard circle then positioned the small die in the middle of this to get a frame. The number 21 was bought and the gemstone swirls were further embellished with some dark blue rhinestones from my stash.
The daisy flowers were made with Woodware daisy punches and the center of the flowers were coloured using a cotton bud and a Brilliance ink pad. The center of the flowers then had a generous blob of Rangers Glossy accents glue and left to dry for a couple of hours.
The happy birthday sentiment was gone over twice with a Sakura Gelly roll clear glaze pen.
The box center circle was hand cut and the frame was made the same way as the 21st centerpiece.
The acetate was embossed with the same embossing folder as the card.
The edge of the box border again has blobs of Glossy Accents in the holes.
The card is then held shut with some dark blue organza ribbon.
Not sure what my next card is going to be, maybe a double, double tri shutter card :oD Anyway until then ... Take care & keep smiling

Tri Shutter Card - Dads Birthday

Here is my first attempt at a Tri Shutter Card. What a nightmare, cutting out all those panels and then trying to figure out where to put the embellishments so as the card would shut. But I did it and I'm very happy with the result.

The designer paper is by K & Company.

Flourish stamp - Tim Holtz

Butterfly - Marianne Design Creatables Butterflies 3. This was Cut from a lilac Bazzil card and then sponged with Tim Holtz Weathered Wood and Broken China Distress inks and then double heat embossed.

The flowers where made by me using EK Success Daisy punches. Again sponged with Tim Holtz Broken China Distress ink. The stamens I bought. The leaves are made using Nellie's Choice Jumbo leaf punch and embosser.

Metal frame and feather I found in my stash of goodies :o) The postage stamps are from Graphic 45 and the cameo is a Dress it Up button. I cut off the shank removed the cameo ant then sanded and painted the frame (which was black) with Smooch Azure ink. I left this for a couple of hours then wiped off the excess.

Very Best Wishes stamp is by Butterfly Kisses. Stamped with Toffee Versafine. Then the words were painted with Smooch Azure and Molasses. The Azure words were then gone over 3 or 4 times with Sakura Clear glaze gel pen.

Small butterflies are Martha Kay's' Medium Monarch Butterfly punch.

The poem is by Walter De la Mare and is called "The Sleeper", it's actually about Ann watching her mother sleep, but I changed it to father. You might be thinking what has that poem got to do with birthdays. Nothing, it's just that my Dad has a habit of falling asleep in the chair and it seemed appropriate, especially as the "watcher" is named Ann.
The dots around the box sides were made usin my Scor-Pal and Scor-Bug Embosser.

I'll show you how I made the flowers another time, but until then ...

thank you for looking and take care and keep smiling :o)

How to make a paper rose - Tutorial.

I did promise a while back that I would post a tutorial for paper roses. Now let me just make it clear this is NOT my tutorial, I got this from the Magnolia Ink Issue 3- Fun in the Sun magazine. The tutorial was done by Johanna , unfortunatley the rose tutorial is not on her blog (well I couldn't find it, but then I can't speak Swedish LOL ). So here is my version. The pictures are not very good I'm afraid, and I've done them small to fit them all on, so if you need a closer look please click on them :o)

First picture shows the tools used to make the roses. The punches are called Retro Flower and are by EK Success. You'll also need a mister, something sharp to make a hole and a small brad. I didn't have a mister when I first made one of these roses, I just flicked the water instead. Oh and you'll need some double sided paper/card.

You need to punch out - 4 large, 3medium and 3 small flowers. Then I stacked the large flowers together and made a hole in the middle, then did the same with the medium and small. I found it easier doing it that way than stacking them all up and trying to make sure they were all even.

Then load the flowers onto the brad, space out evenly and then fix brad. Then spray or flick water onto the flowers. Depending on the thickness of the paper/card will determine how much water you'll need to use. DON'T completely soak or the paper/card will tear. I tend to spray and then as I lift the petals if I think it needs it I'll spray again.

This piture shows what I mean by lifting the petals. Do it one layer at a time until it looks like this..

Now at this point I like to give it a good squeeze, but only because I like my petals to have a "veined" look, If you want your petals smoother don't squeeze the layers too much as you are lifting. Then VERY carefully peel back the petals one at a time. I say VERY as they can tear if you are to rough. I used the tool for piercing to help peel, but then I haven't got long nails.

Then you should end up with something like this...

Not very elegant, so at this stage I start to shape the petals. Using something like a cocktail stick gently curl back the petals until you are happy. Then leave to dry. I usually leave overnight to make sure it's completely dry and then it will keep it's shape and should look like this...

Johanna didn't do leaves in her tutorial, so I'll show you how I made mine.

The punch and embossing set is by Nellie's Choice and I used Bazzil card stock.

As you can see I sponged the edges of the punched leaves and drew a line down the middle of the leaves with red ink. Then it's time to emboss them...

Now I'm only a small person with little hands, and I found it hard to make a good impression, so I put it on the floor and trod on it with my heel :o) And here's a photo of before and after...

And here are the finished roses that I sprayed with some Glimmer mist.

There, hope I haven't bored you too much. They really are very simple and again I would like to thank Johanna for sharing her lovely roses.

Take care & keep smiling.

Art Deco Birthday card - for a man

Well now for something completely different, instead of vintage, Art Deco. I did the card in this style as I was asked to make this card for a friends' boyfriend, and I'm not very good at making cards for men unless I really know them. Anyway here's my attempt...

The main design in the middle was made by me, here is the template if you wish to use it 

I printed out three times and cut them out like this...

The embossed lines on the silver silk mirri card were made using my Scor-pal. The rhinestone 30 I bought and the only embellishments used were some rhinestone brads and peel offs.

Inside the card the diamond embossing was done using the smallest square Nestabilitie and again the lines were made using the Scor-pal. The poem I found on the web. I'm not sure I like it, but I think that maybe because I didn't distress anything :oD Anyway I hope she likes it. Thank you for looking, oh here's another Art Deco template I made

Take care and keep smiling.

Vintage Golden Wedding Anniversary card and a handmade rose !!!

I was asked to make a Golden Wedding Anniversary card, and in this day and age of "disposable" marriages to have a couple reach such a mile stone is cause for celebration indeed :o)

The backing paper/card was made by me using Hessian embossed card, Tim Holtz Distress inks - Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Frayed Burlap, Spiced Marmalade and Tattered Rose. And then stamped with Inkadinkado Gem Flourish clear stamps using Versafine "Toffee" inkpad. Then sprayed with Glimmer mist Gold.
The roses I bought from a gorgeous new website Wild Orchid Crafts. They too were sprayed with the Glimmermist. The heart is made from 3mm Beech wood that I bought from Button-it when I went to a craft fair at the begining of the year. I haven't been able to fine these hearts on their website but I've no doubt if you emailed them they would be able to help. The heart was sponged with StazOn Metallic Gold and Copper ink and StazOn Timberbrown. The sentiment on the front is computer generated and embossed down the side with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder, and then inked with the same colour combination as the backing paper/card.
The heart in the insert was made using Nestabilities heart die and Cuttle bug embossing folder then hand stitched with gold thread. It was all then sponged with Brilliance inkpads Gold, Beige and Coral. The flourish was made with Sizzix Bigz die "Decorative accent with flower".
My "logo" on the back is hand stamped the other information (sentiments) is computer. generated.
Finally the box was decorated using Nestabilities square die and the embossed using a Cuttlebug Embossing folder and edged with gold peel offs.
I was going to make my own roses, but that would have taken to much time. But here's a picture of one I made a while back

This rose I made following a tutorial given in the Magnolia Ink Magazine edition No.3 2010. And it is VERY simple to make. The lady who gave the tutorial has a Blog but unfortunatley didn't put the tutuorial for this flower on there :o( When I've got time I'll post a tutorial for this rose, but of course ALL recognition will go to the lady who did it first. So until then ...

Take care & keep smiling :o)