Category Archives: card

Dragon fly card

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I was finding it difficult to come up with new ideas for some cards and even after flicking through some old magazines and books I still couldn’t come up with any thing.  But I then started to look back at some previous cards I have made I got an idea from 2 previous designs that I joined together.  This is made using the watercolour technique and stamps where you ink up your stamp and spritz the stamp with water before stamping onto water colour paper.

Inks:  Adirondack Wild plum, Red pepper, Terra cotta, Stream, Lettuce, and Oregano

Card:  water colour paper, old olive card, ivory card

Stamps:  Clarity stamps Dandelion heads, Satampin up Pocket silhouettes, unknown dragonfly stamp, Papertrey ink Out on a limb sentiments

Other:  Stampin up hardware, Tiny mosaic Cranberry, East of India ribbon

Jazz blues card

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I found a great Jazz blues stamp the other day that was just perfect for a  birthday card I wanted to make for a friend who enjoys jazz and blues music.  The background is an image from a Greek magazine (thanks Lizzie) cut down to fit the card.

I think the band is called King Oliver’s Creole Jazz band.

Inks:  Archival cobalt blue, Adirondack sailboat blue

Card:  white card

Stamp:  Graphic45 ‘Curtain call’

Other:  gold peel-offs colour using Faber castell multimark pen.

Zentangle card humbug style

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I caught a little bit of zentangle on a TV show a few weeks back (I think was the lady doing the demo was called Mel) and this was roughly the pattern she was doodling.  Mine isn’t quite the same as I have angled my stripes differently and also the shading.  The pattern reminds me of these old fashioned sweets you used to get that were kind of pyramidal and stripy – humbugs.  I think zentangle lends itself really well to male cards and this one is for Fraser.  Happy birthday Fraser!

Graduation card mortar board style

graduationMortarCardSmlBig congratulations to my niece Erin for graduating this month!  I made this spring fold card with a sort of mortar board on the top.  I have seen similar things before, possibly one of the sample cards at my scrapbook crop, so the idea is not a new one.  The message is on the the back of the card.

Anniversary card

I have been trying to do more single layer (less is more) cards recently and there have been a few articles in past Craft stamper magazines which I have taken my inspiration from.  Here is one of the anniversary cards I have made.  I vary the colour scheme depending on the season and I like to mix and match various flower and foliage stamps.

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Inks:  Distress inks Mowed lawn, Shabby shutters, Tumbled glass, Picked strawberry, Memento black, Stampin up Crumb cake, marker pens.

Card:  white card

Stamps:  Stampin up Pocket silhouettes, Cheer and wishes, Rubber tapestry stamps (various flowers)

Encaustic cards

Just recently someone gave me a hot tray that they no longer used so I had a go at an encaustic art technique that I saw John Buckland using in an encaustic art DVD. Basically you put your card on the hot tray then apply your wax. You then move the melted wax around with various tools or just a piece of scrunched up tissue. The hot plate that John uses is much larger, has a glass top and a thermostat. Mine is just a narrow hot tray with a steel top and only and on/off switch but it was still fun to try. I made 2 A5 pieces which I cut down to make a few cards. Before I cut them however I photographed them so I can now print them and use them as background papers for other projects.

futuristic encaustic art using a hot tray

A6 artwork in card

Encaustic abstract using hot tray

A7 artwork in card

Draw backs of the hot tray I have:

 

  • The top of the hot tray has a slight grain to it which makes it difficult and time consuming  to clean
  • It is long and narrow limiting the size of card
  • No thermostat control so you have to keep turning it off all the time
  • It stays quite hot for quite a while

 

but then it was built for keeping plates and food warm and not for encaustic art.

Puzzle (secret message) card

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I have been watching some youtube videos on how to make these secret message cards and this one I made for Harry’s birthday is an amalgamation of a few.  It is very easy to make but you have to make sure you don’t stick down  the panels that move.  The arrows point to the places to pull open in order to reveal the secret message inside.  Check out this great mission impossible secret message card video as it shows how it is made clearly and what a great idea for wedding invitations.

Card:  Basic Grey patterned card, brown, white.
Ink:  Stampin up Crumb cake and Soft suede
Stamp:  All night media paw print
Other:  computer generated words, arrow mask, Sizzix jigsaw puzzle die

Camel birthday card

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For this card I used an old photo which was not great but I really wanted this image as her gift (gold camel charm for her bracelet)  was to remind Ceara of her trip to Tunisia.  Here Ceara is feeding the camel something like dried cactus.  The original photo was far too bright and once it was scanned ended up with pink and blue stripes across it so I changed the colour of the sky and added a grungy background for a bit of texture and a grungy border.  I did make the centre lighter than the area around it but that didn’t come out too well once it was printed out.

 

Spring fold card

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This is my version of a spring fold card.  It makes a nice change from the normal shaped cards and it stands up well.  They are actually very easy to make and you can find a few tutorials for them on you tube.  I have never seen an X box so I had to look online for an image and there were so many designs to choose from  so I just drew this one as I guess it is a rough likeness.  I used buttons and brads as the controls.

Card:  ivory card, Basic gray patterned card
Inks:  Distress inks Frayed burlap, Stone washed jeans, Adirondak Denim, Memento black.
Other:  buttons, brads, diamond glaze, green thread, rub-on letters/words

New home card

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I made this card for our great friends who have moved into a fabulous house which they are doing up.  I hope the move went well what with all this rotten weather we have been having.  My photo is not great but you get the idea.  I used Cut n dry pen nibs with the ink pads to colour the image.

Card: white card
Inks:  Distress inks Sea-washed glass, Fired brick, Memento black, Stampin up Crumb cake, Old olive and Certainly celery.
Stamps:  Stampin up Polka dot, Crafty secrets Bug’s life, Eline’s Huis EC0121 (home sweet home)