A Girly Card In Peaches & Greens .....and some news that's a real tonic!

I have some news which I'm very thrilled about.  Last week I was contacted by the great craft tool specialists, Tonic Studios, and asked if I would showcase some of their products.  The answer to that would be a resounding "Yes!", they produce fantastic crafting tools and accessories, which are a pleasure to use.

So this week's card is my first project using some of the lovely Tonic Studios tools, and is a very girly card in peaches and greens, especially for the new Make It Girly challenge over at an Oldie But A Goodie Challenge, I hope you'll pop over and join in too!

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Crafter’s Companion
Colouring Mediums: Memento London Fog, Promarker Pens
Paper & Card: Tonic Studios Butterflies Beautiful, Silver texture card from stash
Tools: Spellbinders, Grand Calibur, Tonic Studios:- Daisy Circle Die, Large Butterfly Gift Tag, Petal Pairs Box Set 1, Simplicity Daisy Border 2 Punch, Simplicity Butterfly Strip Punch
Embellishments: Seam Binding, hand-made beaded Hat Pins, crystals, pearls, felt

To make this card, I punched a decorative edge using Simplicity Daisy Border 2 Punch along the short edge of my base card. I then punched a co-ordinating strip from the double-sided patterned Tonic Studios Butterflies Beautiful casrdstock stack and adhered it to the base. I layered the reverse of the Butterflies Beautiful patterned card onto a mat of silver textured card, and stitched this to the decorative front, before embellishing with flatback pearls and seam binding.

If you like the hatpins, take a look at my Creating Hatpins Tutorial, they are so easy to make, but be warned, creating pretty hatpins can become addictive!





The main image is a new Crafter’s Companion Frou Frou Girls stamp and I coloured this by matching my Pro-Marker colours to the colours in my patterned cardstock. I added 3D gloss to the table top.

For me, the test of a good die is whether it can handle fabric as well as cardstock. The Daisy Circle die cut my peach coloured felt like a dream and it retained all the detail including the tiny little punched holes. I was even able to use the “bits” by adding the some of the tiny punched out daisies as accents to the finished card.

I also used the gorgeous Large Butterfly Gift Tag. The base layer is cut from the co-ordinating cardstock blanks that come with the die, which I’ve coloured with Pro-markers. I then cut the Butterfly element again in patterned cardstock, snipped this out of the tag, layered this on and added some lovely crystals..

I do like to add flowers as a finishing touch to my cards, and this time I was able to co-ordinate with the patterned cardstock by using Tonic’s Petal Pairs Box Set 1. My flowers were created using 3 layers in alternating colours of the double-sided cardstock.

My border was created using Simplicity Butterfly Strip Punch.  It can be tricky sticking down a detailed cut-out border such as this one, but it was so easy using Scrapbook Adhesive 12" sheets.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Crafters Companion - Flowers
CountryViewCrafts - Butterflies
Pretty Little Ribbon - Spring is in the Air
Simply Create Too - Use Your Stash

Hope you like this; please do leave a comment, I love to read them! Pin It Now!

Card Presentation Box with Lid Tutorial

This tutorial shows you how to make a presentation box for a card. It makes a double-walled base and a single-walled lid, which makes a stronger box more suited for sending through the post. You also need to make sure that you use a heavy-weight card for box making. I use a 550gsm white box board for the base and use a decorative card such as 290gsm Stardream for the lid

First, you need to measure your card to work out what size to cut your box base and box lid. Your base needs to be card size plus 6.9mm and your base lid needs to be card size plus 3.2mm. 

  For example, if your card is 15cm x 15cm, then you will cut the following:
Card Base = (15+6.9) x (15+6.9) = 21.9cm x 21.9cm
Card Lid = (15+3.2) x (15+3.2) = 18.2cm x 18.2cm
This will make a box base that is 15.5cm x 15.5cm x 2cm and a box lid that is 15.8cm x 15.8 cm x 1.2cm.

 

This also works for rectangles, for example if your card is 21cm x 14.9cm, then you will cut the following:
Card Base = (21+6.9) x (14.9+6.9) = 27.9cm x 21.8cm
Card Lid = (21+3.2) x (14.9+3.2) = 24.2cm x 18.1cm

Having cut your card base and card lid materials to size, you will need to score them. I find this easier using a trimmer fitted with a scoring blade, but if you are using a scoreboard, you may need to mark your measurements in pencil on the inside of the cardstock to see where to score. You are going to score the base twice along each edge but the lid once along each edge.

Starting with the box base, score each side at 1.2cm and 3.2cm from the edge. With the box lid, score each side 1.2cm from the edge. Trim each corner as shown (for the base).

Now use a bone folder to firmly crease each score line.

You are ready to start sticking your box base together. To achieve a lasting result, you need to use a wet glue, NOT sticky tape (not even super sticky tape). Firstly, apply a dab of glue to the back of each tab (as arrowed in picture below) and stick together all four corners. It helps to hold the sticky tab in place for about 30secs for the glue to grab. Do this for all four corners. Your lid will now be complete but there is an extra step for the base, as it is double-walled.

For the base, apply a thin layer of glue along the inside of the top tab. Use your bone folding tool to press this tab down. Don’t panic, it won’t stick immediately. Just keep pressing down and along with your bone folder until the glue “grabs”. Repeat along each side.

Leave your base and lid to dry for 30mins, then it is ready to use.

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Up, Up & Away

Today's card uses a lovely colour combination of coffees, mauves and creams.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Balloon (unkown make), Globe by Do-Crafts
Colouring Mediums: Memento Ink Pad Rich Cocoa, Promarker Pens
Paper & Card: Stardream, K & Company, Kanban Lavender Rose Collection
Tools: Spellbinders, Grand Calibur, Embossalicious Regency Damask Folder, Martha Stewart Border Punch
Embellishments: Double Satin Ribbon, Lace, Bakers Twine, Hand-made Pearl & Crystal Hat Pins, metal charm, mulberry flowers

My Hot Air Balloon stamp was an Ebay find and I stamped it onto an offcut of Kanban script cardstock.  Then to get the embossed cushion effect that you find on a hot air balloon, I first debossed the outline of each section on the right side of the image with a fine ball tool.  Then I turned the image over, and went back over those lines with the ball tool to push the fibres back out again, then I used a larger ball tool to create the cushioned effect.  I was very pleased with the result.
The card blank was cut from a cappuccino stardream cardstock and I embossed the whole card with my new Regency Damask Embossalicious 8" embossing folder.  These folders are my new toys and I love them.

I created the ruffle ribbon trim by sticking a line of 6mm Super Sticky tape down the edge of my mat. I then stuck down a layer of 10mm double satin ribbon, taking care to create a ruffle effect.  This was finished with some tiny rose mulberry flowers.

The Globe Stamp is from their Chronology Range and is one of the best magazine freebies that I've ever had as it came with my copy of Do-Crafts Creativity magazine.

You can see a couple of my own hand made pearl and crystal decorative hat pins peeking out from behind the tags. 
Other finishing touches include using a Martha Stewart punch on the edge of the main tag, lace, ribbon, bakers twine and a sweet little brass clock face charm (another Ebay find).

This card was shortlisted in the following challenges:
Crafty Catz - Swirls & Pearls
Die Cutting Divas - Embossing with Ribbon

I love to read your comments, they are a highlight of my day, so do let me know what you think of this or if you have any questions. Thank You!

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Cute Easter Cameo Silhouette Project

I have some very exciting news, I'm really proud to have joined an Oldie But A Goodie Challenge Design Team.  This is a fortnightly challenge where you have to use something on your project that is at least 6 months old.  I love this challenge as it makes me delve into my stash mountain and to start using it!  So, to celebrate my joining the Oldie But a Goodie Challenge Team, I've made a fun and decorative Easter project on which every item used is over 6 months old!  This project can be used as a Easter Table Decoration or a Door Hanging. 

Project Recipe:
Stamp: Inkadinkadoo
Colouring Mediums: Versamark, Fun Stamps Pearl Blue Embossing Powder
Paper & Card: DCWV, textured card from stash
Tools: Silhouette Cameo, heat gun
Embellishments: Prima Flowers, crystals, organza ribbon, button

I love to use my Silhouette Cameo and often adjust the downloads to suit my own project needs.  For this decorative project, I used as a base a decorative shape called Easter Basket Pockets but I then used the Weld Divide tool to get a basket outline.  I then cut out this shape on some super DCWV glittered cardstock that was from a QVC TSV auto-delivery many moons ago (back in the days when QVC used to have gorgeous, unmissable craft TSVs - those were the days).  All the other shapes were cut on my Silhouette onto some textured

As I do always like to incorporate stamping into my projects, I stamped an Inkadinkadoo flourish repeatedly over the eggs with Versamark ink and then used a lovely subtle Pearl Blue embossing powder.

I sewed a tiny little button onto the yellow organza ribbon bow, and layered Prima flowers together, finishing them with pretty crystals.

To make the project free-standing, I cut a second basket from plain cardstock, scored it about 2cm down from the top and stuck it to the reverse of the glittered basket.  This would look very pretty on an Easter Lunch Table or as a little door hanging.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Fussy & Fancy Friday - Spring Days
Simply Create Too - Easter or Bunnies
Tammy's Scrapin Corner - Easter

I’m always so grateful when someone is kind enough to leave a comment, thank you so much - it makes my day :) Pin It Now!

A Tribute to Kanban - Betsie Bob Cute Girl

I was very sad to learn that one of my favourite UK craft companies, Kanban, has gone into Administration and will be closing down.  Like many UK card makers, Kanban has featured frequently in my craft room purchases.  Kanban are best known for their lovely cardstock and card-topper kits.  However, I am also a really big fan of their range of acrylic stamps and you will find many varied examples of these on my blog, just click on Kanban Stamps in my labels list.  So today's card is a tribute to Kanban, and my thoughts are with all those at Kanban during these troubling times.

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Kanban Betsie Bob Cute Girls
Colouring Mediums: Memento Ink Pad London Fog, Promarker Pens
Paper & Card: Laura Ashley paper pad, Stardream, Hammered, Elegance Satin
Tools: Spellbinders, Grand Calibur,
Embellishments: May Art Floral Vine ribbon, Lace, hand-made pearl Hat Pins, metal corner, mulberry flowers, crystal glitter

I stamped my image with Momento London Fog and coloured with Spring Edition 2012 pro-marker pens.  I rounded the corners of the image and highlighted the edge with a glue pen and crystal glitter.
The card base was cut from a warm yellow hammered cardstock that I had in my stash.  The mounts were cut from stardream card using Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles.  The vertical panel tucked behind the stamped image was created by cutting the largest Romantic Rectangle in half, adding a pretty Laura Ashley paper and then accenting with some Laura Ashley flock rub-ons that I've had in my stash for years.  They are a bit fiddly to use but give a lovely result.   You can just see one in the bottom left of this photo.

To finish the card, I used a glue pen and crystal glitter around the edge of the card to echo the glitter on the stamped image. I trimmed the card with some lucious May Art Floral Vine sheer ribbon which is trimmed with sheer flowers with pearl centres (unbelievably gorgeous), cotton lace, mulberry paper flowers and my own hand made pearl decorative hat pins.
  I love to read your comments, they are a highlight of my day, so do let me know what you think of this or if you have any questions.  Thank You! Pin It Now!

Mother's Day Afternoon Tea Card

This week's blogpost just had to be my Mother's Day card.  As I've invited my Mother over for a lovely Afternoon Tea on Mother's Day, I thought I'd do her card on this theme too.  We also both love having a cup of tea (made properly in a pot and served in a cup not a mug).  So raise a cup (or glass) to all lovely Mums on their special day!

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New Baby Girl Card

If you already seen my NewBaby Girl Cookies post below this one, you’ll know that I became an Aunty at the weekend to the lovely Lucia Isabella.  So this week’s card just had to be the card I made to celebrate her arrival into the world! 

Card Recipe:

Stamp: QVC

Colouring Mediums: Memento Rich Cocoa, Promarker Pens

Paper & Card: Melissa Frances, Elegance Satin,

Tools: Spellbinders, Sizzlit, Grand Calibur

Embellishments: Lace, hand-made Pearl & Crystal Hat Pin, mulberry flowers, pearl swirls, baby shoe charm, ribbon charm, silky crush ribbon

This card shows that you do need to dig about in your long-not-used stash when a new occasion presents itself!  As I don’t go in for much “cute” with my cards, I was struggling to find a stamp suitable for a new baby.  However, I looked in my craft over-flow cupboard where I keep the stash that I no longer use and found a set of naïve stamps that I bought from QVC when I first started rubber stamping.  Within was this cute teddy, just perfect for our new little star!

So I stamped image onto Joanna Sheen’s Elegance Satin cardstock using Memento ink in Rich Cocoa.  This was coloured in with Promarkers and then I accented the image with glue pen , crystal glitter and rhinestones.  I cut it out with Spellbinders basic circle and lightly coloured the debossed edge with pink to achieve a faux mat. This was then mounted onto Spellbinders Vintage Lace motif, from which I hung a little baby shoe charm.  

The paper is from Melissa Frances, which has also been in my craft room for some time!  To finish, I added die-cut Vintage Lace corners and a die-cut heart, accented with glitter and rhinestones.  On went my mulberry paper flowers, handmade hatpin (see my tutorial on how to make hatpins) and a ribbon charm which I altered with Promarkers to emphasising the wording.  I do love a lot of detail, and hope you do too!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Country View Cards - Pick & Mix

LEJ Designs - For a Lovely (little!) Lady

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Swirls and Lace

I love to read your comments, so if you have enjoyed looking at this card (or even if you haven’t), do leave a comment, I do appreciate it!

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New Baby Girl Cookies

This weekend I became an Auntie!  To celebrate the arrival of the very pretty Lucia Isabella, I made these fun baby cookies as a gift to the very proud Mummy & Daddy. No doubt they will have lots of visitors over the coming days, so these will be great to share over a cup of tea or coffee. 

The cookies are organic vanilla shortbreads, made as follows:


To decorate the cookies,  you will need:

• coloured sugarpaste (I used a pretty light pink made with Sugarflair dusty pink paste)
• white sugarpaste
• a small amount of boiled jam (I used yummy raspberry but the flavour choice use your own favourite)
• Cookie Cutters
• small round paste cutter
• small round pastry cutter
• Dresden modelling tool
• miniature modelling ball tool
• tiny Blossom plunge cutters
• blush and white sugar pearls
• water brush
• Pearl Lustre Spray 

To decorate the Pram Cookie, cut out the pram shape from the rolled out pink sugarpaste, and set on top of the cookie.  With your finger, soften the edges.

From rolled out white sugarpaste, cut out the pram hood using the cookie cutter and trimming to size.  Adhere to the cookie with a small amount of water.  Emboss the hood with your Dresden tool.  Cut 2 wheels from white paste and adhere to cookie.  Emboss with Dresden tool.

Cut out 3 tiny Blossoms from pink paste, adhere to cookie.  Add a blush pearl to the blossom on the pram hood.

Follow a similar process for the Duck Cookie and Baby Bottle.

For the final gorgeous touch, spray your decorated cookies with pearl lustre spray.  I packed these all into a lovely Lindy Bowman box lined with wax paper and dollies, which made a very pretty and tasty present.

Welcome to the world, Lucia Isabella, you've made your parents very happy!

Do leave me a comment after visiting, I just love to read what you think of my projects :)

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PSX Botanical Pear Card

Hopefully Spring is now just around the corner, and so to celebrate, my card this week is a fresh design featuring PSX Botanical Pear Stamp.  This card was made for a very dear fellow forumite, Jane, who is in my Birthday Card swap group and who I am so proud to be able to call my friend, she’s an inspiration.

Card Recipe:

Stamp: PSX Botanical Pear

Colouring Mediums: Memento Ink London Fog, Promarker Pens, Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz

Paper & Card: Conqueror, Stardream Opal, First Edition, DCWV
Tools: Spellbinders Venetian Accents and Motifs, Silhouette Cameo, Grand Calibur, Anna Griffin Ribbon Punch

Embellishments: Double satin ribbon 3mm, Cotton Lace, hand-made beaded Hat Pins, crystals, mulberry cherry blossoms, Anna Griffin bubble

To make this card, using my Silhouette Cameo, I cut the card base from stardream cardstock, and the flourish background & tree from DCWV and First Edition patterned card.  The ribbon-edged border was cut from more on K&Company Elegance Shimmer with an Anna Griffin ribbon punch and threaded with 3mm double satin.  I also used my Spellbinders Venetian Accents and Motifs. 

The main image is PSX Botanical Pear Stamp, inked in Memento London Fog and coloured with Promarkers.  I stamped the image twice and decoupaged the Pear and Blossom.  Finally, I cut the image out using a Spellbinder border die and spritzed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Spritz.

To add a bit of interest to the accent pieces, I heat-embossed the filigrees tree with two different embossing powders, one glitter and one pearl.  The effect is very subtle and hard to pick up on the photographs!

To ensemble, I mounted the flourish background onto the backing card.  Next, I attached a layer of cotton lace to the back of the Anna Griffin punched threaded ribbon border.  I used a number of accents pieces from Spellbinders Venetian Accents and Motifs, embellished with rhinestones and an Anna Griffin Botanical dome sticker. Finally, I added a gardenia mulberry flower and a couple of hand made Pearl Hat Pins.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today, I hope you like this card, if so please do leave a comment, I love to read them all!

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Monochrome Chinese New Year Card

Hello and Happy Chinese New Year for Sunday!  This festival gave me the inspiration for this week’s card, which features a beautiful Joanna Sheen Chinese Vase Stamp and Cherry Blossoms cut with my Cameo Silhouette. 

Card Recipe:

Stamp: Joanna Sheen

Colouring Mediums: Versafine Black Ink Pad, Promarker Pens

Paper & Card: Elegance Satin, Stardream Black, Trimcraft patterned paper
Tools: Spellbinders, Silhouette Cameo, Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page

Embellishments: black velvet ribbon 10mm, crystals, mulberry flowers, rhinestone button

To make this card, I stamped and heat-embossed the Joanna Sheen Chinese Vase using Versafine Archival Ink.  I cut one image out using a Spellbinders Nestie and the other I cut out by hand, cutting away the back of the top of the vase, so that when I decoupaged it, the blossom stems would “come out” of the vase with the correct perspective.

For my cherry blossom stems, my Silhouette Cameo did most of the work, but I did use a ball tool to shape the flowers before attaching the black, fine cut detail.  The Cameo also cut out the chrysanthemum decoration which you can see as a background accent across the card.

I didn’t have the right colour mulberry flowers so I used my Pro-marker pens to colour these black to co-ordinate!  Black velvet ribbon provided further texture to this card, and the rhinestone button adds elegance, I think!

The time you take to leave a comment is always very much appreciated and I do love to read them, so MTIA!

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