Mother's Day Card Number 2

Here's the second of my two Mother's Day cards for this year:

"Happy Mother's Day"

This card has an acetate tunnel construction (for details of the construction method, see my tutorial under the heading Project three - fish tank). The back has patterned paper, and the front is stamped with distress inks to match.

"Deer"

An antlered deer was cut from patterned papers and adhered to the acetate, and a Graphics Fairy image was cut up to make the deer's family in the background.

"Images"

Images were cut from the patterned papers, shaped and adhered using Pinflair. Lace edging was coloured to match using distress inks and fixed to the top and bottom of the card with glossy accents.

"Butterfly"

The butterflies are stamped in clear versamark and heat-embossed in gold before colouring with distress inks, cutting out, shaping, and gluing in place with Pinflair.

"Box"

The box is made from kraft & stamped to match the card using Distress inks.

Ingredients:

Kaisercraft Secret Bird Society 6" x 6" paper pad
Sizzix Framelits: Circles

Graphics Fairy image

Meadow stamp set (can't remember who made this, if anyone recognises it please let me know and I'll edit!)

Butterflies stamps

Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, Tumbled Gladd, Bundled Sage

cardstock: white, thick

acetate

lace

sentiment "Happy Mother's Day" from a swap

Entered for the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp and Show... Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Mother's Day
Dream Valley - Mother's Day
Pan Pastel - Girly / Mother's Day
Penny Black Allsorts - Springtime
The Stamp Man - Vintage
Joanna Sheen - Spring / Easter
Crafty Ribbons - Celebrate your Mum
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Vintage / Shabby Chic

Christmas with dimension & vintage images

Here's a quick dimensional card with lots of fabulous Graphics Fairy images.

"Snowballs"

This little chap throwing snowballs is just great. I added some snowflakes punched from scraps of vintage backing papers and tiny pearls, and distressed the edges of the card with Bundled Sage.

"Inside"

This tunnel card has the usual concertina construction. The sentiments are from a sheet of vintage sentiments found in the local craft shop. The main sentiment was mounted onto a couple of die-cut ovals, backed onto strips of greenery punched with a MS double edge punch, and decorated with more snowflakes.

"Tunnel"

More punched branches and leaves were used to simulate a holly wreath around the tunnel apertures, and tiny red pearls added for berries.

Entered for the following challenge:
Dream Valley Challenge - Christmas

Christmas with dimension

The front of this card features a free image and separate frame from Magic Moonlight Studio. The image was printed a few times, cut out and built up in layers for extra depth. The frame was cut separately and lined with acetate, which gives the impression of a picture frame.

"Front"

I love the little robin at the bottom of this frame :). The rest of the card has a concertina tunnel construction (see my blog post "Tunnel Cards 2") with layers of silver mirri card with concentric die-cut apertures

 and plenty of diecut and punched silver & holographic silver snowflakes to make a snow tunnel.

"Inside"

"Inside"

Yes, that is a family of deer you can see nestled into the back of that tunnel! Thanks to the Graphics Fairy once again for the fab deer images.

"Top view showing construction"

This card will be sent to my Mum - hope you like it :)

Entered for the following challenges:
Samuel Taylors - Christmas
ABC Christmas Challenge - W is for Winter Sports

Winter Wonderland

As soon as I saw this image the Graphics Fairy posted last week, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it! So beautiful, it makes a wonderful decoupaged picture.

"Wonderland"

A tunnel box was constructed from Tim Holtz' Lost and Found cardstock and decorated with distress inks & picket fence distress stain, but I didn't hide the image behind acetate on this occasion. A large, scalloped oval Nestability was used to die cut the aperture in the front of the card, and a ribbon tag die cut for the sentiment (part of an old Papermania Christmas stamp set), which was stamped with charcoal versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.

The gathered lace at the bottom of the card looks like a flurry of snow, and the vintage-style lace at the top is reminiscent of winter garlands.

"Close-up main image"

That forest is just fabulous with all the snow-laden boughs and thick-coated reindeer. A fair bit of holographic glitter glue adds lots of sparkle (a little hard to see in my photos which were taken during this long Winter night in Northern Ireland).

"View down through top of card showing construction"

A view through the top of the card gives a better view of the layers that went into the decoupage. It was a labour of love cutting and shaping each of the snowy branches and adding dimensional glue to stick each part in place.

"Back of card showing panel for handwritten message"

The cutout from the aperture was reversed and attached to the back of the card to provide a space for a handwritten message. The photo also proves that the lace continues around the back of the card! :-)

Being suitable for Christmas, this card would also make a very suitable non-religious Winter holiday card, or even a December birthday card.

Entered for the following challenges:
Samuel Taylors November Blog Challenge
Winter Wonderland

Robin and the Blue Tits

Robin and the Blue Tits. Sounds like the name of a 60s band.

"Robin - front of card"

But no, it's a Christmas card using Graphics Fairy images...

"Blue tits - inside of card"

and a tunnel of die-cut glitter card snowflakes.

"Top of card showing construction"

Hope you like it!

entered for the following challenges:
Winter Wonderland

The Bat Cave

Alizabethy left a comment on my Horrible Hallowe'en card that gave me the inspiration for this card. She called it a "bat cave" and I thought, "that gives me an idea..." :)

"The Bat Cave - front of card"

The front of the card features a free Graphics Fairy image with some orange glitter on the moon for extra sparkle, and a little purple glitter around the edges of the silhouette to help it stand out from the background (pearlescent black card).  The lettering uses the Vintage Market Sizzix alphabet strip, with my usual two sets of letters cut (this time in silver and orange) to add dimension.

Enter if you dare...

"The Bat Cave"

This card has the concertina-type tunnel card construction with apertures cut using Spellbinders label dies and liberal sprinklings of Graphics Fairy bats of all shapes and sizes, including two bat ladies!

"The Bat Cave - top of card showing construction"

Sleep well :)

Entered for the following challenges:
Clear it Out
Everybody Art
Scrap Creations
My Time to Craft
Shopping Our Stash
Craft Spot By Kimberly
Stamps & Fun = Creativity
Victorine Stamps

Not too scary - another Hallowe'en tunnel card

Just a quickie this evening. I made this "not too scary" Hallowe'en card for my m-i-l. The cat looks so like our little one, I just love it! The image is from the Graphics Fairy, and the other embellishments are from a pack of stickers I bought in a Supermarket last year. mil wants me to add a nose :)

"Not too scary Hallowe'en tunnel card"



Sleep well and I'll upload a scary one tomorrow :)

Happy Birthday Rose - 100 today!

A friend asked me to make a card for a lady she goes to visit in a Nursing home who is 100 years old today! This card was such a joy to make. Every minute I was making it I kept thinking about what it would have been like to have been born 100 years ago, when Lloyd George was Prime Minister and there were hardly any cars on the roads.

"Box for Rose's card"

I thought I'd start by showing you the finished box. It is made from cream card decorated in shabby chic style with resist roses, distress inks and Perfect Pearls and finished off with lots of organza ribbon.

"Box for Rose's card with ribbon removed"

Just to add a little suspense, here's the box without the ribbon. The central bunch of roses is stamped in barndoor distress ink and coloured with promarkers.

"Box detail showing stamped roses"

Here's a detail from the box lid showing the resist roses and coloured roses - the stamps are from an old Papermania set. OK, time to open the box...

"Rose's 100th birthday card - front"

It's funny, but I had the design all worked out and the card half-made before I found out Rose's name. Serendipity!

"Rose's 100th birthday card - inside"

Well, there had to be a big "100" in there somewhere.

Happy 100th birthday Rose! What changes you have seen in your lifetime. I wonder what the world will be like in another 100 years.

Metamorphosis

A sea of cogs and gears metamorphose into colourful butterflies.

"Metamorphosis"

The butterflies are cut from either blue foil card or a sheet of silver mirror card decorated with Adirondack alcohol inks. Some were embossed with silver cogs from a Creative Expressions stamp set.

"Metamorphosis"

The background is a sea of cogs and gears die-cut in silver mirri card using the Spellbinders' "Sprightly Sprocket" and Tim Holtz' "Gadget Gears" sets.

"Metamorphosis rhs view"

The lettering is die cut from offcuts of the same coloured card as the butterflies.

"Metamorphosis lhs view"

The acetate tunnel-card construction aids the 3-dimensional illusion of butterflies emerging from the middle and flying off the edge of the card.

Horrible Hallowe'en - a tunnel card in pictures

It's October, so it must be time for a Hallowe'en card! First up in our perfectly putrid plethora of horrible Hallowe'en h h h... oh, I give up - this illiteration is harder than it looks! Anyway, here's a card:

"Hallowe'en Tunnel Card"

This card is made up from two pieces of black card and one piece of acetate, cut as described in my blog "Tunnel Cards 1".

"Two pieces of card, one piece of acetate"

It's hard to see the acetate, but it's there on the right hand side if you look closely! Next, make the image for the back of the tunnel:

"Image for back of card showing decoupaged layers"

The vintage castle image from the Graphics Fairy's blog was printed five times and cut into layers, then decoupaged using Pinflair glue gel to give a 3-dimensional look.

"Image glued into place in back of card"

The decoupaged castle image is glued into the back of the card using PVA.

"Card with acetate layer added"

The acetate layer is then glued with the acetate edges facing downwards within the edges of the back card.

Just the edges are glued using PVA, which dries clear.

"Card with acetate layer showing embellishments"

It's easier to add embellishments to the acetate layer before gluing the top card layer in place. The images were all free and taken from the Magic Moonlight blog and the Graphics Fairy blog.  The smaller bat on the bottom layer helps with the depth illusion.

"Card with top layer added"

The top layer of card with the aperture is added, with the edges glued around the card of the bottom layer, holding everything in place.

"Top of card showing the three layers glued in place"

Finally, embellishments are added to the top layer. I've gone completely over the top with bats, skeletons and a bat lady, and the finished version even has some cobwebs drawn on with a white gel pen.

"Finished card showing left hand side"

Even the sides have been decorated.

"Finished card showing right hand side"

Well, you couldn't have Hallowe'en without a black cat...

Scary, huh?

Entered for the following challenge:

http://samueltaylors.blogspot.com/2011/09/october-challenge.html (prize is a fab Tim Holtz configurations box!)

Tunnel cards 1 - Fish, a Mermaid and a Meadow

There are a number of different types of tunnel cards, but the cards featured today are based on a design from Craft Stamper magazine.

The method is fairly easy: cut two pieces of card the same size, and a piece of acetate the same height but 3cm narrower. Score two vertical lines in each piece of card: one 3cm in from the left edge and one 3cm in from the right edge. Similarly, score two vertical lines in the acetate 1.5cm in from the left and right edges. Fold all the edges in. The acetate sits between the two pieces of card, which form a "box" around the acetate. The front piece of card has an aperture cut into it. This gives three layers for decorating. Wait until after decorating to glue the edges together. Glue the acetate edges to the inside of the back piece of card. Glue the edges of the front piece of card around the edges of the back piece of card. PVA dries clear and provides a good, strong bond.

"Mermaid card"

The mermaid card uses a free image from the Graphics Fairy's blog for the front of the card, and the aperture was cut with a craft knife. Fish were stamped onto the front of the acetate using archival ink, and gel pens used to colour the back of the acetate. The back of the card has a piece of blue holographic card added to look like water, and more fish were stamped onto the holographic card and coloured as before.

"Fish card"

The aperture for the fish card was die-cut and a scene created in a similar way (it's a shame but the photo doesn't show the fish very well). This time, a Martha Stewart deep edge punch was used to create the "fronds" from different coloured scraps of card. A couple of extra fish were stamped onto acetate and cut out, then placed as if swimming into and out of the fronds.

"Meadow card"

The meadow card was created in a similar way, but the background was formed from cream card inked & stamped with distress inks, then the scene created with a sticker sheet. The sentiment is from docrafts and reads "Watch where you tread in life as true happiness can be found growing at our feet". These cards are great for using up those sheets of stickers you've had lying around for ages :)