Card for Niece

I haven't done any cards in a long time but needed one for my niece. They had a destination wedding and the girls wore shades of peach and orange so that gave me a direction to go in with this card. I used my KNK for the lettering and cuttlebug folders in my Wizard for the embossing. It took a lot longer than normal, I am quite out of practice.

More Christmas cards

These cards are made with images from the new Oxford Impressions Christmas plate Sleigh Bells. This card expresses my wish for peace this Christmas.





This quote seems made for these boys.




This card makes use of the masking technique. The quote is from the St. Nicholas collection.






I was so happy to see this formerly retired image back in this collection. She is one of my favourites. The snowflake was cut on my KNK electronic die cutter.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Deep Sea Voyage

Suzanne at Oxford Impressions has been doing plates that are steampunk in feel. These cards are done using images from The Deep plate, based on Jules Verne type sea images. The gentleman is from the Steampunk Elements plate. My version of a diving bell was done using my Klik N Kut to cut out the basic shape from cardstock. I covered it with metal tape and added dimension using Ten Seconds Studios metal tools and acrylic paint. The background was done with Ranger Colour Washes. The fish were stamped on cardstock, coloured with Copic markers and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I used prismacolour pencils for the sea weeds and corals.



Taking a cue from the ladies that use Stampscape stamped images in conjunction with photos, the diver was stamped onto a photo from a recent snorkelling trip. The porthole was cut and embossed with my Wizard and circular dies. I used the copic airbrush to create the wood look. Pencil crayon defines the individual boards.

80th birthday card

A few months ago, Ileana Russell, I Scrap Designs ,shared this great cutter file. I just knew it would be perfect for my dad's 80th birthday. It was a little hard to photograph, because I used mirror card to get the chrome look. It tends to either reflect the light everywhere or show the photographer in the pic. Oh well, I think you get the idea anyways.


This was cut with my KNK cutter, using black cardstock, mirror card and a cream cardstock that I antiqued with distress inks. I used my Scor-it to do the embossing on the mirror card. It was a big hit at my dad's party.

3rd birthday card

It's hard to believe that my granddaughter is now three. She still loves Elmo but has also developed an interest in the princesses and fairies. So this year's card is more girly than the previous ones. She is cut out of cardstock using my KNK cutter and an EPS image from Brands of the World. I shaded with chalks to give dimension and added glitter to the wings. The word phrases are cut from vinyl.

Some Valentine cards

I like the simplicity of this. The decorative paper pulls this all together very well. The stamped image is coloured with waterbased markers applied by paintbrush.
The images are all Oxford Impressions.




This card is coloured with both Copic markers and the airbrush and overstamped with distress inks. The hearts are made on my KNK electronic diecutter, using a file by Mary. All stamps are Oxford Impressions.




I really like this image for the haunting quality she has. The stamped image is coloured with waterbased markers, applied as paint. All stamped images are by Oxford Impressions.




This girl is so Parisian, I thought she was perfect for outside the candy shop. She is coloured with waterbased markers, used as paint. The store image is coloured with Copic markers. All stamps are Oxford Impressions.

Christmas card for gd

I don't normally do cute, it's just not my style. That said, I am having great fun doing cards for my granddaughter. Given she is under 3, cute it has to be. I also enjoy using my cutter for cards for her. This card features her favourite red guy, and no, it's not Santa. The tree is a KNK file shared on Sandy's blog here , done by Bryan and Cara. The font for the greeting is hiccups.

Thanks card

It's always a bit more difficult to design a card that is for many individuals, both male and female. Fortunately the thanks card was for people who assisted in a Christmas project so I could use holiday colours. The word is done on my KNK digital die cutter using an erasable pen, so that I could emboss the image with gold detail embossing powder. I used a stardust pen to fill in the letters. The thanks phrase and the white card base are edged with gold brilliance ink. The label layers are gold and silver, as the background paper has gold and silver glitter in it. Then came the fun of trying to photograph it. Metal papers are notorious for causing reflections that are distracting, but hopefully the picture gives you a good idea of the effect.


Supplies used: White cardstock, gold and silver metallic papers, KNK, font PassionsConflictRob, gold embossing powder, stardust pen, ribbon, brad, Prima poinsettia, japanese paper

Birthday cards

Sometimes the simpler cards can be quite effective. These cards use Spellbinders dies for their design elements. I used the renaissance heart border, as well as the ovals and scalloped ovals. The edges are accented with teal chalk ink and distress inks. The monogram letters were cut on my KNK digital cutter, using a file from Ginny's Happy Cuts, available at Paperthreads. The embossed line edge on the D card was done using the Scor-it.

Flower card

This card was done using my KNK electronic die cut machine and a lovely file from Ginny's Happy Cuts at Paperthreads. I have tried to have the photo show the lovely sheen on the white incandescent paper from the Paper Temptress. The flowers are accented with glimmer chalks and the papers distressed a bit with the splatter stamp from SU , using Brilliance inks in gold and sky blue. The edges are inked with Frescoes blue grotto and Antiquities Topiary.

Supplies used- KNK, file by Ginny at Paperthreads, all papers and cardstock are from Paper Temptress, Glimmer chalks, Frescoes ink blue grotto, Antiquities ink Topiary, Brilliance inks in gold and sky blue, stamp and punch from SU, brad, gold detail embossing powder.

Road Trip

I really like this image from the Lucy plate from the Stampsmith. I'm sure most of us have memories of similar car trips, with special friends or family. The image is stamped with Memories black on glossy cardstock and coloured with watercolour markers, applied with a paint brush. The travel scrapbooking paper is aged with vintage photo and walnut stain. The edges of all layers are antiqued with Ranger distress inks in walnut stain, vintage photo and black soot. The word phrases were cut on my Klik N Kut electronic die cutter.

Supplies used- Stampsmith stamp, Memories black ink, glossy cardstock, scrapbooking paper DCWV, various cardstocks, Ranger distress inks, KNK, font used- thwack

A vibrant wedding card

Recently I was invited to a Hindu wedding and needed to make a special card. As their traditional wedding colours are gold and red, this made for a much more vibrant colour combination than is normally used for a wedding card.

I used cardstocks from the Paper Temptress' Christmas collection for this. The phrases were done using an erasable pen in my KNK electronic die cutter, and embossed with gold detail powder. The word layer and the gold one were done using my Wizard and Spellbinders Labels 4. I airbrushed them with Copic marker R27. Aged Mahogany distress ink was used to edge the card. The roses were cut on my KNK using a really interesting paper called red plastic that cut really well and has a kind of suede like texture. I used Charcoal Pallette ink on the edges of the petals for extra definition. The file for the roses is by Jennie Bean Crafts and is available from Paperthreads. I had great fun doing this non-traditional wedding card and love the rich feel of it.

Supplies used- Paper Temptress cardstocks and papers- red pepper column, gold metallic, red plastic, parchment, KNK, file from Jennie Bean Crafts at Paperthreads, Wizard and labels 4 die, Copic airbrush and marker, ribbon, gold detail embossing powder, font used is Passions Conflict Rob, distress ink

Child's Birthday Card

My granddaughter just turned two and she is an enormous fan of Elmo. So her birthday card had to feature the furry red guy. I used my Klik N Kut electronic diecutter to cut out the character and the words. I shaded the character using Art Stix and stamped red and green dots on the yellow birthday word. I used distress inks to outline the word shadow and the card itself. It was a real hit with my granddaughter.

Supplies used: KNK diecutter, distress inks, scrapbooking paper, cardstock, dots stamp SU, Prismacolor Art Stix

Making your own masks

This card uses some techniques that Tim Holtz used in his latest 12 tags of Christmas, posted to his blog. I have made quite a few of these, with different card bases. If I were doing one special card, particularly if it didn't need to be mailed, I would have also added additional embellishments.

Instead of using one of his masks, I made my own using my Klik n Kut digital cutter. I cut the snowflakes out of clear contact paper. The background was created by smooshing broken china and weathered wood distress inks on a craft sheet, then smooshing the cardstock into the ink. I ironed the cardstock to dry it. I applied my snowflake masks and sponged on faded jeans distress ink over the masked area. Because the contact paper was clear, I could see how much in I needed to apply to get the effect I wanted. The word stamp is embossed in black and the card front mounted on a silver cardstock layer, then onto the pale blue card base. The card is a little hard to photograph because both the embossing and the silver background layer wanted to reflect the light. In real life the black is darker and more intense.

Although I used my cutter for the images, you could cut them out with scissors. You do have to be careful weeding out the waste contact vinyl and I did stick my masks carefully onto my jeans at least 3 times to remove some of the tackiness so that it wouldn't tear my cardstock when I removed them. These are not as substantial as the purchased masks but I really liked being able to use the design that I wanted, and in the size I needed for the card.

Supplies used- distress inks, cardstock, contact paper, KNK, stamp by Stampington and Co.,versamark ink, black embossing powder.

Card for my granddaughter

My granddaughter absolutely loves this furry red guy, so this card is specially for her. I cut him out on my Klik n Kut, and used Prismacolor Art Stix to colour and shade him for depth. The wings were cut on gold cardstock using a Spellbinders die in my Wizard. Most of this card uses leftover materials. The oval window card was a leftover piece of cardstock from another card that used the spellbinders ovals as a backing, the greeting was one that did not work on another card, the ribbon was a scrap. I am trying to challenge myself to use up more of my bits and pieces.

Supplies used- cardstock, ribbon, various inks, KNK, spellbinders wizard and dies, stamps by G Studio and Paper Inspirations.

Happy Halloween

I thought I would post a couple of cards that I did for Suzanne , using her new plates for Halloween- Trick or Treat and Wicked. The main images were stamped with Memento ink, which is becoming my favourite for images stamped on matte cardstock. The images were coloured with Copic markers and some parts highlighted with the Inkssentials white pen. The background on the skeleton card was done with various distress inks. Hope you enjoy them.

I would also like to mention that Suzanne at Oxford Impressions is currently having a competition to select some new members for her design team. All the details are posted on her site, if this is something that interests you.

Supplies used-stamps from Oxford Impressions, distress inks, Memento ink, adirondack inks, ribbon, KNK for spider web (file done using the tutorial on Sandy McCauley's blog), vinyl, various other inks, patterned paper, Copic markers, Inkssentials white pen

Card for wedding

This card uses the same basic format and papers as the one that I did for my brother's wedding, but the feel is very different with the darker main colour choice. The bride and groom are Chinese, so I used a much stronger colour. The burgundy is the same colour as their wedding invites and the dresses of the bridemaids. The words were done on my KNK with a papermate erasable pen and embossed with gold detail powder.

Supplies used- paper, cardstock, KNK, gold embossing powder, cuttlebug folder, spellbinders die, distress ink, ArtQuest paint, ribbon

Rosemary

Wedding card

Sometimes the simplest things work the best. This card is for my brother's wedding. His fiance loves pink so that determined the colour choices here. The paper was textured in a cuttlebug folder, using my wizard, and the dots and birds highlighted with Lumieres paint. The lettering was done on my KNK using an erasable papermate pen, then embossed with gold embossing powder. I used an oval scallop nestabilities die to cut out the medallion and inked the edges with distress ink.

Supplies uses- KNK, erasable papermate pen, gold detail embossing powder, pearl white lumiere paint, antique linen distress ink, organdy ribbon, spellbinders wizard, scalloped oval nestabilities die, patterned paper, cuttlebug folder, card stock, foam dots

Rosemary

More metallic texture

This journal was made for my brother's fiance. It also uses the metallic heating and air conditioning tape. The die cut was done on my KNK. The tape was textured with Ten Seconds Studio's tools and antiqued with acrylic paint. It was a little hard to photograph, without getting too much reflection, and has a much shinier appearance in real life.

Supplies used - notebook, metallic tape, acrylic paint, KNK, card stock, Ten Seconds Studio's metal tools

Rosemary

Metallic textures

I created this card a couple of months ago for Suzanne at Oxford Impressions and it uses one of the images from the Country Girl plate. I thought I would share it here as it uses an easily found item to create a metallic textured look that is easy to do and light weight enough to be used on a card that could be mailed. The letters were cut out of card stock on my KNK and adhered to a card stock base. ( Any die cut letters or shapes could be used.) These were then covered with a strip of shiny heating/air conditioning tape that you can get at Home Depot, or other home improvement store or sometimes at your local dollar store. I brayered the tape with a soft rubber brayer and outlined the letters with a paper stump. (This is an adaptation of a technique that Tim Holtz used on one of his DVD's, and of techniques from Ten Seconds Studio.) I textured several pieces of the tape with Ten Seconds Studio's metal tools and applied them to the base. Acrylic paint was used to give the tape an antique appearance. The image is stamped on glossy card stock and coloured with markers (applied with a paint brush), chalk and distress ink. Screw brads compliment the metal frame. This technique is a great way to get wonderful metal effects without the extra weight of actual metal.

Supplies used- stamp Oxford Impressions, metal tape, Ten Seconds Studio metal tools, KNK, waterbased markers, chalk, distress ink, glossy card stock and regular card stock, metal screw brads.

Rosemary