6x6 Holly Wreath Card

Wow, was it really May when I last posted on this blog?!  Time is racing past at an alarming rate, which means that Christmas will be here in the blink of an eye!  So, it seems like a good time to start sharing some Christmas projects.

This is a card that I made last Christmas, but I think that I will make some more this year too.  It's pretty straightforward to make.

You will need:

• 6x6 card blank
• Gold Mirror card in different shades
• Kraft card
• Flat back pearls or Liquid Pearls
• Embossing folder
• Bow or ribbon
• Foam Pads
• Glue

I used my Silhouette Portrait to cut out the holly leaves, but you could use a die, or a punch, or if you have the patience, do it by hand!  I also used the Portrait to cut out a ring about 3 inches (7.5cm) in diameter to act as a base for the holly wreath.

• Start with a 6x6 (15x15cm) card blank.  
• Cut a piece of mirror card to leave about a 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) border around the outside (so 5.5x5.5 inches or 14x14cm) and affix to the centre of the card blank.
• Cut a piece of Kraft card about 5x5 inches (13x13cm) and emboss using an embossing folder of your choice.  I used Sheena Douglass' 7x5 swirls folder (one of my favourites).
• Affix the embossed Kraft card square to the centre of the mirror card mat.
• Cut about 20 holly leaves out of different shades of gold mirror card.  If necessary emboss the veins onto each leaf using a ball tool or blunt pencil.
• Cut out a ring about 3 inches (7.5cm) diameter and 5/8 inch (1.5cm) wide from card for the wreath base.
• Attach the holly leaves to the ring, alternating shades and layering some to add dimension.
• Attach a bow at the bottom of the ring.
• Place flat-back pearls in groups of three around the wreath for berries.
• Attach the wreath to the card with foam pads. 
• Place a pearl in each corner of the embossed Kraft panel.

You could also add a sentiment to the front if you wanted.  This would also look great with traditional green holly leaves with red berries, but you could also try pink leaves with turquoise berries, or purple leaves with gold berries or any colour combination that you like for an alternative look.  Just be sure to match the colour of the mirror mat with the holly leaves.

AAA Cards Game #63 - CAS Shaker

The latest challenge on the AAA Cards blog is to make a CAS shaker card.

I thought it would be fun to use flowers to make the shaker element and I ended up using the Flowers & Vases Thinlits set by Sizzix.

First I cut the stems into some lovely pale pink glitter paper that I recently acquired, then cut the flowers so that they lined up nicely with the stems. I also cut the stems from green paper and paper pieced those back into the pink card, taping them across the back to hold them in place.  After making the shaker compartment around the flower heads I filled with different coloured glitters, which I did very messily! It's a good thing that you can't see the back of the card panel.  TIP: rather than pouring directly from the glitter pot, use a tool to transfer the glitter. Then I cut the vases from grey patterned paper, stuck them in place and added a simple sentiment framed with the same grey paper to tie it all together.  I decided to use the same colour for all the vases because I think that it's more in keeping with the CAS style.  And here it is:

It's a shame the photos don't really show the glitter paper.  It really is delicious.  

I am also entering the Less Is More challenge 274 - Use Designer Paper in a CAS style.

Perching Bird - Free Book Folding Pattern

I first came across book folding a few months ago and although some of the designs looked good, I wasn't really inspired by it.  Then recently I found a website where you could create your own patterns and as I love to do my own thing, I decided to have a go.

Using one of the punches in CraftArtist 2 Professional, I generated the following image, which I then converted into a book folding pattern with the help of the online software.

And here's the finished item:

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, especially as a first attempt. Needless to say I've generated quite a few more patterns, which I hope to be able to share soon.  In the meantime download the Perching Bird book fold pattern here.

CAS Sympathy Card

Sadly, I've had to make a couple of sympathy cards recently.  I've never made one before but I wanted them to be simple and tasteful.  After poring over my stamps for ages, I finally decided to use a die cut and chose the English Rose die by Tattered Lace.

I used linen-textured card for the card blank to add a little bit of interest without domineering the card and then used the die to cut the rose design from plain white card, which I went over a couple times with a clear Spectrum Sparkle pen. This gave a nice, subtle sheen that added some interest to the die cut.  I also had some My Craft Studio sentiment strips that I bought a long time ago and promptly forgot, so I chose the "With Sympathy" sentiment and cut a strip the same width as the card blank.  The die cut was glued in the centre of the card, with the sentiment strip below.  The card was finished off with three aurora borealis-style sequins, which are clear but have a pink or slightly green tinge depending on how they catch the light.

Washi Tape Banner Card

I've amassed so many supplies, but hardly use any of them, including my collection of Washi Tape, so I decided to make a Washi tape card.

I placed strips of Washi tape vertically from the top right corner of the card blank and cut the ends to look like banners. After that I stalled! I couldn't think of how to finish the card. I tried a horizontal layered banner across the bottom, but the layout was really lacking something.  Then I remembered my new Tattered Lace Melded Backgrounds dies and that made all the difference. 

Tattered Lace Melded Backgrounds die set

 I cut the diamond pattern into the bottom left corner and added a pink insert into the card, which really made the pattern pop. I then placed the layered banner back over the top and finished it off with a die cut "Wonderful" (the waste from another die) and a small flower.

It's great how a small feature can really take a card from drab to fab!

The Paper Players #281 - Cats and Dogs

This week on The Paper Players the theme is "Raining Cats & Dogs" - use a cat or dog on your card.

I've put together another digital creation:

I love CraftArtist.  It's such a powerful program considering that it was designed for hobby crafters and scrapbookers.  I didn't have any actual images of cats or dogs, but there are some animal punches that come with the program so I punched out the cats and dogs from various patterned papers and added a black outline to help lift them off the background.  I did the same for the bench.  I really couldn't think of an appropriate sentiment, but it looks like all the animals are hanging out so in the end I went with "Let's Get Together".

White On White

I'm taking part in the Simply Less Is More challenge, with the theme of 'white on white' this week.

I created my card using a Sheena Douglass embossing folder for the background.  I LOVE that swirly pattern. The die cut is the Love Scroll from the new Tattered Lace Melded collection (more on that soon) which I've highlighted with Dovecraft's Crystal glitter glue.  It has pink and green highlights which was really hard to capture on film, so to speak, but does a great job of lifting the die cut from the background.  I also placed a length of ivory ribbon behind the die cut and a trio of pearls in two corners for added interest.

Do What You Love - Love What You Do

I bought the "Frame & Love Set" embossing folders by Sizzix because I loved this sentiment, but it sat unused for quite a long time because I didn't really know what to do with it.  So I started with the basics - I embossed a piece of coloured card with a white core and sanded the embossing back.  Then I highlighted some of the decoration around the word 'LOVE', that looked a bit like foliage and flower buds, with Flowersoft.  Then I added some butterflies and a punched flower.

The butterflies were from a stamp set by Clearly Besotted, which I coloured with Spectrum Noirs.  To help the colours pop I highlighted some of the detail with a white gel pen.  The wings were curled a bit and then propped up with small foam pads to help make the piece look more dynamic,

I punched two flowers, which I layered up, shaped a bit and then added black beads to the centre.  The leafy vine is a Britannia die, which I really love.

Once done I liked the way it looked, but it needed a mat, so I used bright pink card to echo the colour in the larger butterflies.  I then matted the whole thing onto black mirror card which seemed to tie the whole thing together, as it picked up the back from the butterflies as well as the centre of the flower.  I intend to mount the whole thing on grey board and then hang it up somewhere around my craft space.

Well, hello!

The other day I was tempted into buying a set of digikits from Daisytrail that were on special offer.  Looking back over my past orders I realised that I'd collected quite a few. OK, a lot!  The worst thing is I hadn't even downloaded half of them, and the half that I had downloaded had barely seen the light of day.  The Paper Players challenge blog accepts digital submissions, so that seems like a good way to make good use of all that wonderful content that is going unused.

 The theme this week is a Tic Tac Toe challenge:

I chose flowers, die cuts and yellow, and here's my card:

I think it would make a nice Valentine's Day card.  Something a little bit different from the usual hearts and red.  I've used bits and pieces of various digikits and I can't remember where they all came from, except that the sultry lady is from the "Pin Up Starlets" digikit and the "die cuts" are from the "Photo Cutouts" kit.  I had no idea what I was going to do when I started, but it all came together rather well.  Isn't it a wonderful thing, to start off with a blank slate and end up with something lovely?

Sparkle and Shine ATC

It's been a while since I posted and since I entered the Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge.  It's good to be back!  The theme this time is "Make it Sparkle", and here's what I made:

I started with an ATC base made from an old cereal box, which I covered with patterned paper.  I then stamped and die cut the chandelier, and coloured the die cut with a very light off-white, just to soften it a little.  I went over the lights with pastel yellow 3D Pearl Effects, and the jewels on the chandelier with silver glitter glue.  The chandelier was getting lost against the background so I toned the background down with a little gesso and used foam pads to raise the chandelier.  I tried to create a warm glow from the lights with yellow ink on the background.  The words were stamped on white card; "shine" was also embossed in gold (although in hindsight maybe I should have used silver to match the rest of the ATC).  Glitter glue around "sparkle" and a couple of gems on "shine" finished everything off.