Orange, Blue and Green

Was going great guns with this when suddenly realised I had an appointment at Podiatry at 1 pm so had to stop at 12.30 to get ready - and all I had to do was upload the card!

This is my entry for the Play Date Cafe challenge this week, set by my friend Sarah. At first I thought it would be difficult to include the colours she had chosen, I love blue and orange, love blues and greens - but thought "all three!" I love Sarah's journal page where she got the idea from, but then I love all of Sarah's journalling.

Anyway, with the bauble from Elusive Images I managed to get all of the colours in and I stamped and embossed it in a dark blue. You would not believe all the shades of orange I used with my Twinkling H2o's. Eight of them, and in case you wonder what they were here is the list: Persimmon, Gold Dust, Ginger Peach, Mandarin Blush, Yellow Rose, Deep Coral, Dreamsicle and Orange Peel.

Mounted on two different shades of blue with a background created with blues and greens, a thin mount of silver and finally on a dark green main card, (I managed to get my squares cut perfectly because I used my Spellbinders dies) and it was complete. Had to guess the fine silver mount as they don't "step" so finely. For once my cutting with a scalpel went well.

One more card for sending - must get those envelopes done as I got my first two Christmas cards when I came back from Podiatry ... and only one was from overseas!

Another Christmas Card

I couldn't sleep so I got up in the early hours and did some 'playing' about in my craft room. First I got my Alcohol Inks out and made a couple of backgrounds with Butterscotch, Caramel and Terra Cotta. Then I used this Tim Holtz stamp with Black Archival Ink - one of my favourite stamps - and used the 'Merry Christmas' stamp as well.

I am hopeless at putting colours together and never seem to have papers that can be used (how I envy all those crafters who make those delightful cards like the ones you see with, say, Magnolia stamps) anyway, I spent far too much time looking for papers to go with my AI background. This is what I came up with in the end. The brown stripe is a satin ribbon and the stars are punched out of the same gold cardstock as is behind the main image.

I had lots of my AI background glossy left over so am making some cards using it - perhaps they will get posted tomorrow.

Following on from Last Posting - more instructions

This makes a slightly larger card - still the same width but longer. The "RED" is the tablecloth and nothing to do with the card, it is the same shape as the red one below.

The diagram below shows that you need a piece of cardstock 12" x 4" (or thick scrapbook paper which is what I used because I don't have any 12 x 12 cardstock)

• You make your cut this time 1 1/4" (one and a quarter inches) from the left hand side and 3" from the right hand side 1 1/2" (one and a half inches) from the top.
• Putting your ruler across the cardstock mark folds as shown at 1 1/4" (one and a quarter inches), 2 3/8" (two and three eighth inches), 4 1/8" (four and one eighth inches), 6" and 9" which leaves you with 3" at the right hand side.
• Make Mountain and Valley folds as indicated.
• Decorate.

Hope you can follow this and you enjoy making some cards this way.

By the way, I have written some measurements out because I found them rather confusing with the blog not changing them to fractions.

Fancy Folds

This is a slightly different folded card to the one I put up yesterday. This one is a 4" x 4" step card with a longer side. To decorate it I used my Spellbinders Fancy Tag for the word stamp which is embossed in Gold and I used a small Flourish (again Spellbinders) on the base of the card because it is only 3/4" deep and I did not want any more words on.

One or two of my friends have asked me to put instructions on my blog to make these so I hope you can follow them. It is easier to make one with me at one of my workshops but they are all booked up at the moment.

• The cardstock you need is 4" x 8". (If you fold your cardstock in half (to make two 4" x 4" sections) you will get your first fold. I find this the easiest way to do it but you may prefer to just follow the diagram)
• You need to mark a slit 1 1/2" (one and a half inches) down from the top edge and 3/4" (three quarters of an inch) from the left hand side and 2" from the right as shown on the diagram below. Cut this slit very carefully.
• Now score vertically, from the cut downwards, at 3/4" (three quarters of an inch), 1 1/2" (one and a half inches), 2 3/4" (two and three quarters of an inch), 4" (unless you folded already - you will see from the diagram this is the only fold which goes along the top bit above the cut) and 6"
• Fold with mountain and valley folds as shown on diagram below.
• Decorate.

I find, when doing these cards that the most difficult bit is selecting the images to go on them. I try not to have them a mixture of styles.

TIP: Try it out on a piece of scrap paper first.

This is only a very small card and I have worked out sizes to make one which fits in the normal envelope but so you don't get confused I will post this one later. Try this small one first to get the hang of it.

My next card I call the Double Diamond Fold. A bit more fiddly when folding than the one above but well worth it - if you have cardstock that is 12" wide. I used some thick scrapbook paper that I have and as these cards are going abroad it will save on postage because of the weight anyway.

Cut your cardstock to 12" x 5"

Score in half horizontally (across long side)

Score vertically 2 1/2" (two and a half inches) from both left and right hand sides.

At the top and bottom edges make a mark 4 3/16" (four and three sixteenth inches) from the left and right edges.

Mark the centre scored line at 3 1/8" (three and one eighth inches) from the left and right edges.

Score between these points as shown on the diagram.

Carefully fold into Mountain or Valley folds as shown on the diagram.

Decorate.

It can be a bit awkward the first time you do it to get it to fold but if you make sure your folds are well creased as below you will find it pops into the correct shape.

I hope you can follow these diagrams and have success with your cards. Hope I have not made any boobs with my instructions either - no doubt someone will tell me if I have.

I am entering these two cards (or one if Hilda just wants to put one up) in the Lots to Do Challenge this week which is a free choice.

Photos - Bah Humbug!

A bad workman blames his tools, or so they say, but honestly I cannot take a decent closeup photograph of any of my cards. Sorry for this being slightly blurred.

This is one of those step cards (if that is what they are called) similar to the ones I made in America for my friend Mary to use in her workshop. I was especially pleased to hear from her that my cream and gold one had been "the hit of the day - everyone loved it". Don't have a photograph of it to put on here so I made one today in the colours "Purple, Blue, White and Silver" which just happen to be the colours for the challenge on Play Date Cafe at the moment.

Just in case (doubtful) someone has not seen how it is here is a side view.

First of all I used Purple cardstock to make the base of the card, I think it may have looked better in Lilac but Purple was the colour required for this challenge. The cardstock was cut at 26 cm x 14 1/2 cm and folds were made at 3, 6, 10, 15 and 20 cm along the long side. These were then made into mountain and valley folds as shown below.

The images were stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue and I used Spellbinders Labels Seven to cut out the shapes. For this image (a PSX stamp) I used the largest die to cut out the blue mount and the next one down for the image.

The next image (again PSX) was cut out and mounted on the next size die down.

Finally the book. I used the next to the smallest die and cut three pieces out of paper, not cardstock. These were edged with a Silver Dabber and the words "Merry Christmas" were stamped in the same Brilliance ink. Only the right hand pages were stuck to one another and the 'book' was then stuck, again only the right side, to the main card. A blue gem was added to the top left hand corner for a bit of interest.

To finish off I put some silver stars on the main card and added a white, edged with silver, ribbon and bow.

I now need to do a red and gold one for my son and his partner. Andy loved my original card but Sam has definite views on what she wants and didn't want this shape of card as it won't hang up. I thought if I did one in her chosen colours for this year she might display it on the mantlepiece or something. We'll have to see.

Going to the Wire

A last minute third entry for the Lots to Do Challenge. How I wished I had some molds that were not hollow. I wanted to run one through my Cuttlebug.

Not to be deterred I used a Cuttlebug Folder instead - Rough Diamonds (one of my favourites). I put some copper on a chipboard tag and ran it through my folder and then played around with some of the tools on the side.

Next I tried various images in frames, slide mounts etc but none of them looked right so I put some watch pieces on. All of this was done between watching Pudsey on the tv so probably what I will do tomorrow is cut some lettering and put that on - probably "TIME" or something similar. Would like to put "tick, tock, tick" on but I don't think it will fit.

Ah well, Sam, I made it before midnight. But you certainly got me playing around with metal embossing - watch out for more ...

Just in Time

I wanted to do another entry for the Lots to Do Challenge but this time use some metal embossing. So I got my Ten Second Studio molds out and had a play. Had not done any for quite a while and so I had forgotten how it made my hand ache pressing so hard with my paper stump.

Anyway, I did this panel and made it into a bookmark - put some Alcohol Inks on and then when the inks had dried I rubbed it down with a buffer. The card is using images from Non Sequitur and the masking technique. I decided to leave the main image white and used chalks to colour the background.

This shows the bookmark before it was rubbed down - the inks I used were Lettuce, Butterscotch and Rust.
This is after I rubbed it with the buffer.
It is going to be a birthday card for one of my friends who loves Egypt and missed out on a visit last year. I am sure she will be going in 2010. Hope she likes it.

If I get some time later in the day I think I might do a bit more metalwork and this time use some of the wheels to pattern the sides. Watch this space!