Steampunk Card

Bought lots and lots of crafty supplies from a craft fair back in March, one of them being this lovely stamp and though I'd give it the Steampunk treatment :)

Stamp - House of Zandra - "Safari Girl"
Backing Paper  - Creative Imaginations, Marah Johnson - "True"
Dies - Memory Box  - Steampunk Corner
           Cheery Lynn Designs  - Chicken wire
Flowers  - Mirri Satin card
                 EK Success Reto Flower punch
                 Nellie Snellen Floral punch - Stamen 1
                 Cuttlebug embossing folder - Diamond Plate
Sentiment - computer generated and gone over with Atyou Spica glitter pens

Take Care & Keep Smiling :)

Tilda and Edwin friendship card

I made this card for a friend who has been ill and is currantly living in a nursing home. I wanted to make something cheery and bright. I was going to upcycle the Chasing butterflies card I made, but decided the colours weren't bright enough ...

Front image -
Magnolia Chasing Butterflies background and Summer background.
Helloooo - computer generated hand cut and then glazed with Sakura clear glaze pen.
Lace and cross stitch sewn by hand.
Flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts

Inside image -
Magnolia Chasing Butterflies Chasing Tilda, Chasing Edwin and Summer background
Butterfly - Cheery Lynn Designs small exotic butterflies dies coloured with Tim Holtz Mustard Seed and Wild Honey inkpads and sprayed with Glimmer mist Dazzling Diamonds
Flowers - punches from EK Success and Tonic Studios
Foliage - Cheery Lynn mini fanciful flourish die.
Cross stitch - hand sewn

Sentiment page -
Sentiment is computer generated.
Clouds - Memory Box mini clouds die
Cross stitch - hand sewn

All ovals are Spellbinders Grand caliber ovals and scalloped ovals. All images coloured with Derwents coloursoft pencils and Sansodor.
Gingham backing paper made by me on my extremely old graphics program and printed on hessian paper.

Thank you for looking. Take care and keep smiling :)

Hippie 65th Birthday Card

I keep saying I'm not doing any more commissioned cards, but here I am again this time for a lady at work, her husband will be 65. I will only really make a card if it is specific to them (their personality, likes etc.), so when she told me he embraced the 60's with a passion and was about to relive his youth by buying a VW camper van, how could I resist ...

The template for the 65 / ban the bomb sign on the front of the card was designed and hand cut by me, the rest of the images were sourced from the internet and were listed as royalty free. I printed them off, tracedthem and transferred them to card and went over them with a Kuretake waterproof pen and then were coloured with Coloursoft pencils, sansodor, Steadtler felt tip pens and Atyou glitter pens.The flowers were made using EK success punches. The stars and circles are Nestabilities and Grand Nestabilities. All the backing papers are Basic Grey.

Take care and 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.

Vintage Card - Get well - Part 1

Hello, I've gone all vintage AGAIN :o) I love it, and I think I'm slowly getting better at it. It's one of those styles that just about suits everyone, male or female, and as I wanted to make a card for my friend Tracey who's just had a back operation, I thought this style would be perfect. As you can see from the title of this post this is part 1 as there are LOTS of photo's as I not only made a card I also altered a tin to make a gift set. So here we go ....

In this picture the card is in the box I made for it. You might be thinking what are those black lines on the girls faces? Well I scanned the DP I used for the card and through my graphics programme I changed it to black and white, then into a negative and then printed it onto printable acetate, and then used it to make a "window" in the box lid. Below is a picture of the lid with some white paper behind it so as you can see the printed acetate better. You can click on the photo to get a better look if you want to.

1.The main image is from the internet, unfortunately I can't remember who the artist is.

2. The DP or backing paper is from Graphics 45 "Botanicals" range.

3. The flowers were made by me using EK Success medium flower punch and red vellum

4. The torn letter is a rubber stamp by EK Success - "Parchment Script". Stamped onto parchment, which was then screwed up, distressed and aged with Tim Holtz distress inks ( I don't know how I ever lived without these inks)

5. The Butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.

6. The sentiment is computer generated aged as above and then double heat embossed.

7. And if you're wondering, the cherub is a button by Dress It Up.

1. The main DP/backing paper is from a CD by Bearly Mine Designs.

2. The pocket for the postcard was again made with the same printed acetate. The "lace" trim was made with Martha Stewart's Doiley Lace punch and Fiskars Leave it to Weaver punch, aged again with Mr Holtz's inks.

3. I loved the postcard I made for a previous card so I decided to do it again for this card. The Eiffel Tower image again was sourced from the internet.

4. The butterfly was made using Marianne design Creatables Butterfly 3 die.

5. The side of the note was made with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then sponged with the same distress inks.

Lastly here's the back of the postcard. The sentiment is computer generated, the rest of the images are rubber stamps from Clear Art Stamps "French Mail".

Tomorrow I'll post part 2 - the altered tin I made to go with this card. So until then

Take care & keep smiling

How I made the flowers for the Pack a Picnic Gift Box

I had an email from a lady named Diane from South Carolina USA who asked for a little more information on how I made the flowers for the Gift box. Sooooo, I thought I'd have a go at a tutorial LOL. So bear with me as this is my first time (blush).... Oh and small photo's to get them all on, so click on them if you want to see more detail...

Here are the tools I used (ignore the white tool, I used that on another flower, sorry) The card is about the same weight as Bazzil card, but this is two tone - dark pink one side light pink on the other.

1. Punch out two large daisies, two medium daisies and one of the little daisy.

2. With the tear drop punch or any punch that will give you a notch, punch each petal end on both of the large daisies, until you have these...

3. Put the flowers (both large and medium) on the foam mat then with the etching tool (that's the one with the pointy end and the scoop on the other end) or follow this link HERE for tool substitutes, score down the middle of each petal (wrong side of the card or what will be the underneath of the flower), keeping the point as flat to card as possible, and press as hard as the paper or card will allow...

Until you have these...

4. Then glue the flowers together, I used Art Glitter Clear Adhesive, but any quick drying glue will do. I say quick drying because you're going to be moulding them and you don't want them to slip whilst you're doing that...

5. Then with the shape mate (that's the one that looks like an embossing tool) place it in the centre of the flower and with circular movements go round and round the centre until the petals have raised...

6. Take the littlest daisy, again on the foam mat and with the shape mate "stroke" the petals right way up until they have curled...

7. Then glue the little daisy into the center of the large flower and on the foam mat with the Shape Mate really push down into the flower so as all the petals raise up. You may want to do those circular movements again, it really all depends on the thickness of the card/paper you are using...

8. Then with the scoop end of the etching tool I pulled the center petals up and pulled the bottom petals down...

PHEW!!! So there you have it. I got my inspiration from these two ladies. They are what I would call experts at making flowers...

http://joanne-mainlyflowers.blogspot.com/search/label/floral%20punch%20craft

http://peejays-crafty-bits.blogspot.com/search/label/Tutorial - The flower tutorials are towards the bottom of the page.

I made some other flowers that were going to go on the gift box before I decided on which design I was going to go for...

All the flowers were made with Vellum/ parchment paper and EK Success Retro flower punches as were the leaves on the bottom flowers and the leaves on the top flowers is a punch by L-Em. The stamens on the top flowers (big and small) where made with a snowflake punch and a Cuttlebug snowflake die :o) Hope I haven't confused you too much, the links above give much better tutorials.

Right I'm off to catch my breath :o)

Take care & keep smiling