Masking and Stamping

The above cards were a real joy to make as they were quite 'freehand' and with a bit of preparation they were made in a matter of minutes.

First I selected 3-5 co-ordinating colours of stamp ink. Using a plain card I taped a small section of the card with Washi tape to create a mask effect. Using my chosen stamps I then stamped a variety of colours mainly along the line of the masked area. A bit of a hint here - I use quick drying inks so I could remove the tape quite quickly afterwards so if you are using longer drying inks it might be worth trying this on some scraps of paper to check for bleed through the tape before you use it on your main card.

Once the card was completely dry I started by stamping the sentiment in the space and jazzing up the decoration with some buttons. You can see from the above that you could use this space in a variety of ways such as adding a mock sewing line or simply adding your sentiment to some backing card.

The bottom right hand corners are just made from scraps of paper that I had used on a previous project. I just glued these in place with a tape pen and edged the corners with some sticky backed ribbon. I think these will definitely be designs I use again throughout the year and they are pretty adaptable for all occasions.

Happy New Year!

With the count down to 2015 I thought it would be only right that I created a card to start 2015 with a bang.

What better way to make an eye catching celebration card than with a pop up card. I have watched quite a few tutorials before I decided to create my own and I thought I would put together a step by step guide to creating your own.
For this card I have used a Birthday theme but this is such a versatile card that there are so many ways I will reuse this for various occasions throughout the year.

The hardest part of the card is the basic shell but once you have completed that then adding the adornments is the fun part.

Step 1 - start with an A4 size sheet of paper and trim this to 29.7 cm x 16.5 cm. Keep the excess that you have cut off as this will come in handy later on.

Step 1 - Trim you A4 sheet to size

Step 2 - Score and then Cut your Sheet

Step 2 - Scoring and cutting. Score every 7cm along the longest edge. You will have a centimetre left on the right hand side - don't worry - that is correct!
Measure up 7.5 centimetres and score your middle line. This will give you two rows of boxes with the bottom ones slightly larger than the top boxes.
If you have a look at the image below you will see that I have marked with dots and blue line the areas you need to cut. This will help form the top flaps of your pop up card and create a handy tab for gluing your box together.

Step 3 - creating your box shape

Step 3 - Gluing your box shape together. Using your tab glue your box together. I found it was better to glue the tab at this point rather than after decorating each panel as you could hide the tab better. This is just personal preference so if you want to decorate each panel before gluing together then that should work fine too.
See the below left image on how the undecorated box should look once you have first glued together and the right hand image shows the three top flaps folded down.
** Remember to keep one of the flaps upright as this will form your main back panel ***

Nearly there - how your box should look before folding

Fold down the three flaps - keep one at the back upright 

Step 4 - Making the paper slats ready for decorating.

I used 2 slats in my main card but I am just showing one in the example below to make it a bit easier to see. Using the trimmed paper left over in step 1 measure strips 9cm width and 2cm wide. Score 1cm from one side and 1cm from the other and fold in opposite directions. These little tabs you will use to glue the slat in position. 

Once you have completed your box then you can decorate! For the large square panels at the bottom you will need three 6.5 x 8cm panels and for the three folded top flaps 6.5 x 7cm panels. The large panel that you have not folded will need two panels measuring 6.5 x 16cm. Fix one of these large panels to the inside to cover the gluing tab and one on the back which you can use to write your greeting.

A Simple Christmas Design

This Christmas I tried to make as many of my families cards as possible plus I wanted to keep the design as simple as possible so I relied on my paper stock to do most of the work for me.

The wreath I stamped was from Clearly Besotted 'Hanging Around' pack. Simply stamping the wreath and then adding gems. From the same pack I used the 'Merry Christmas' stamp and embossed this in a coordinating colour in the bottom right hand corner.

I loved the effect and a bonus for keeping the design quite simple meant I could make quite a few in a short space of time.

Now Christmas is over I am looking forward to making some spring inspired and Valentine themed cards.

Paper Inspiration

I love all things paper- from plain to patterns, simple to intricate.

Most of my projects are inspired by a paper pack that has caught my eye.

Originally I started card making after my Aunt started her hobby earlier in 2014 so I'm relatively new to this hobby- but completely enjoy trying new techniques out - not all work out perfectly but it is all a learning curve.

I hope you enjoy some of my attempts!

Happy crafting