Ladybird, Ladybird

Well I just found this one in my draft posts!!  Seems I forgot to share a card made with that fab Navy Linen card that was a special offer recently over at Papermill Direct.  (it has sold out now but do pop over and take a look at the other offers link here ).  Anyway the weather is really grey at the moment, lots of rain and not much chance to enjoy the garden, so I thought this card is a reminder that the weather WAS nice recently and I did get into the garden, I didn't imagine it!!

I made an easy card base by scoring and folding the Navy linen card, it scores lovely and is a nice weight of card.

Added a die-cut fancy square from rich cream linen, keeping the linen texture as the theme and stamped my ladybird image direct to the panel.

Whilst looking through my stamps, I had found a set that had this cute ladybird, I'm not sure who the manufacturer is as it was out of it's packaging, but suspect it could be a Nitwits stamp set?

Anyway I thought it would be fun to stamp and paper-piece the design.  I choose red card for the paper-piecing and attached the wing elements with 3D foam pads to give depth to the design.  The spots and little heart & flower were coloured with Sakura Glaze pens.

Die cut wording from the blue linen card and matted & layered onto a strip of the cream linen and red card.  Keeping a simple colour theme of Navy, Cream & Red.

Finishing touches were 4 little Card Candi rounds which had a little flower design on them which matched the shape of the flower on the ladybird.  Simple card to make,  I thought it only fitting that a ladybird should be out in the garden amongst the flowers and enjoying the sun.  I had fun balancing in the rockery trying to take the pics though :-D

This one turned out to be a simple yet fun card and very striking with it's splashes of red.

Materials List: 
Navy Linen card
Rich Cream Linen, and Christmas Red card - Papermill Direct
Lady Bird Stamp
Card Candi - Craftwork Cards
Sakura Glaze pens

Tying The Knot!! with this Papermill Offer!!

Hello, wow doesn't a week go fast!!  It's Thursday already and that means the launch of another fab new offer from Papermill Direct, this week it is a White card 265gsm and  available in small boxes £5.00, midi boxes £13.50 and mega boxes £32.50, This is the link to the Special Offers.(materials used and challenges entered links at bottom of post).


So what did I decide to make with it?  Well I scored & folded the card to make a card base.  I cut another panel and used an embossing folder through my Big Shot to create a swirls pattern, the white card embosses really well.   For my theme the phrase 'Tying the Knot' was something I wanted to play with. I found the sentiment and cut it out with my Cricut Mini from the white card, and a shadow from 'Purple Grape' another of my favourite papermill cards, which I also used to 'mat' the white embossed panel.  Before attaching the embossed panel to the card base, I added a lovely purple satin ribbon and a smaller piece to tie through into a knot.

The sentiment of 'Tying the Knot' was assembled and raised on 3D foam pads before attaching to the front of the card, this gives height and lets the phrase stand out.  Four faux sparkly gems were added to each corner of the panel and a larger one was placed into the 'O' of 'Knot' as i thought it would echo the theme of a sparkly diamond in an Engagement Ring.

Hopefully by keeping the colour palette to 2 shades this makes a simple but elegant Wedding Card, or perhaps even an Engagement card?  

As expected the White Card is great to work with and behaved perfectly with both manual embossing and electronic cutting. I did make another card which I will show another day :)

Materials List:
Plain White 265gsm 'offer' card - papermill direct
Purple Grape card - papermill direct
Purple ribbon
Sparkly faux gems
Sentiment cut using a cricut Mini


Challenges Entered: 
Week 259 Purple Passion - allsorts Challenge Blog
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/week-259-purple-passion.html
Anything Goes - Sisters of Craft Challenge Blog
http://thesistersofcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/sisters-of-craft-launch-of-our-new.html




Why not pop over and see what the other Design Team members got up to this week: 

http://glitterarti1.blogspot.co.uk/

http://sandieshores.blogspot.co.uk/

http://apassionforcards.blogspot.co.uk/

http://designsforoccasions.blogspot.co.uk/

http://papercraftbliss.com/

Gilding the Sapphire

Hello, Today I'm sharing a card that I have made with this weeks special offer, yes another special offer starts over at Papermill Direct.  This week it is 'Sapphire Blue'  a really nice 200gsm card in a lovely very regal shade of dark blue, and  just £4 for a small box.

I decided to put the card through it's paces first by creating an easel card, the 'sapphire blue'  card cuts, scores and folds beautifully and the weight was ideal for my easel card design.  (as always materials list and links at the bottom)

Love dark coloured card as a contrast and thought it would be perfect to show off some gilding flakes.  So I stamped an image of a girls head onto a panel of the Sapphire Blue card with gilding glue, letting it go tacky before applying gilding flakes, then burnishing to remove the excess flakes and polish up the design.  I also dabbed a little gilding glue around the edges of the card panel and added some flake there to frame the image.  I did the same with a sentiment stamp 'Dream'. 

Papermill cardstock in 'Buff' and 'Sky Blue' were the ideal partners for matting and adding accents to the design.  I used a Tonic Border Punch to add a decorative edge to the design to break up the solid colours.  Ruffles of natural coloured seam binding and faux half pearls continue the theme.

Materials Used:
Sapphire Blue Card - Papermill Direct
Buff Card - Papermill Direct
Sky Blue Card - Papermill Direct
Girls head Stamp - Indigo Blu
Gilding Flakes in 'Brighton Pier' - Indigo Blue
Natural rayon seam binding - Chocolate Baroque
faux half pearls - from stash
Baroque Border Punch - Tonic


Challenges Entered:

Challenge #235 Don't be Square - Totally Gorjuss
http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-235-dont-be-square.html#comment-form

Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes
http://thesistersofcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/sisters-of-craft-launch-of-our-new.html

Crafting From The Heart - Challenge #18 Anything Goes
http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-18.html



See what the other Design Team members got up to this week: 

http://glitterarti1.blogspot.co.uk/

http://sandieshores.blogspot.co.uk/

http://apassionforcards.blogspot.co.uk/

http://designsforoccasions.blogspot.co.uk/

http://papercraftbliss.com/

Post Pals

I recently heard about something called 'Post Pals' and joined a group on facebook set up by Claire  the lady that runs Jellypark digital stamps. She has very kindly offered free images to be made into cards and then sent to sick children and / or their siblings.  you can find the group on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/495638457181446/

Post Pals is an award winning charity set up to send cards, letters, emails and little gifts to seriously ill children and their siblings in the UK and is supported by Children in Need and the Princes Trust, you can find out more about their work here http://www.postpals.co.uk/

I thought the whole idea was wonderful and signed up with Claire's group, received my first digi image and got to work on my first Post Pals card.

I printed the image out onto Cream Linen effect card, as I just love that texture, it adds extra interest to the image. 

Coloured with pro-markers and cut around the image, so i could attached it to the main star dimensionally with 3D foam pads.  

I made a card base by scoring & folding Mocha card,
die-cutting stars in various sizes from different colours of card  and added faux stitching with a white pergamano pen.

Die cut some letters to spell out 'hi' and added to one of the stars.  Patterned paper and string of stars from my crafty stash.

Materials List:
Digi Image - Jellypark
Cream Linen, Mocha, Sky Blue, Spring Green, Christmas Red cards - Papermill Direct
White pen - Pergamano
Promarkers & string of card stars from stash

One of the nice things about Post pals is that you can read each child's story, you get to learn a little about them and their world, and choose which child to send your card to.  Some children have siblings and they may also like to receive a card (or gift) too.  I have already chosen the child I'm sending my card to and will be posting it out later to hopefully put a smile on his face.

If you'd like to get involved, why not check out the links above, or comment below and I'll be happy to help.

What to do with White Leather?

What to do with White Leather? Well I suppose that all depends on what the White Leather actually is.  I recently had the chance to play with this gorgeous papermill Leather effect white card.  I looked at the texture and the colour and immediately 'handbag' sprang to mind.  (as always, the materials list & links are at end)

So here is my little white leather handbag shaped card.  I started off with a template which I drew around with a pencil and then hand-cut the outer shape.  I had to use a craft knife and self-healing mat to cut the inside handle and flap detail as it is all one piece, the waste from the handle actually folds down to become the flap.  (You could always add the flap as an extra separate piece of card if you prefer)

I didn't want to obscure too much of the gorgeous leather grain effect, so kept the decorations to a minimum.  I hand-cut another handle part, 2 little corner shapes,  and die-cut a clasp shape from Buff card.  I wanted to create a more textured look to these buff pieces and decided on versamark and clear embossing powder set with my heat gun, it gave the glossy yet textured look I was after. I drew some faux stitching around the bag shape and flap part with a Lyra pen in a reddy brown colour, this just adds a little more definition to the shape and also gives the effect of stitching on the 'leather'.  You could of course use a sewing machine to add some real stitching, I almost did that, perhaps next time.  

Using cosmic shimmer glue to attach the heat embossed handle and corner pieces, I also added some to the top half of the clasp shape and stuck that to the bottom part of the hand bag flap, allowing the bottom half of the clasp to hang.  To create the impression of the clasp closing, you can add a temporary fixing to the bag where the clasp meets it.  i used a small piece of a glue dot, they are not too sticky and so it is easy to open and close the clasp.  2 little faux half pearls add decoration to the clasp.

Next up was the little bag charm, I took a little key shaped charm and a flower charm, and along with some small seed beads, threaded them onto some gold coloured craft wire, the wire enables the beads to be bent into any position, which is useful for looping loosely around the bag handle.

I am pleased with how this little bag shaped card turned out, I think the Leather effect card really helps with the look and the experiment with clear embossing the Buff coloured card went better than I expected, as it gave not only a glossy look but lots of texture too.

Why not try making a bag shaped card yourself, or maybe a shoe card or wallet, I think the White Leather card would be perfect for those.  I already have plans to colour the card next time to make handbags or maybe a shoe card, haven't made a shoe card in ages. 


It is a great time to buy the 'White Leather' as it is currently a 'special offer' at papermill where you can buy it in either a small box £5, midi box £13-50 or mega box for £32-50.
 http://papermilldirect.co.uk/acatalog/special-offers.html

Materials List:
White Leather 230gsm card - Papermill Direct
Buff card 260gsm - Papermill Direct
Versamark Inkpad
Clear Embossing Powder
Lyra Pen
Seed Beads, Craft Wire, Charms 


If you like the look of the White Leather, why not find out more over on the papermill blog and the other DT blogs :

http://glitterarti1.blogspot.co.uk/

http://sandieshores.blogspot.co.uk/

http://apassionforcards.blogspot.co.uk/

http://designsforoccasions.blogspot.co.uk/

http://papercraftbliss.com/

Challenges Entered:

1)  Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes


 http://thesistersofcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/sisters-of-craft-launch-of-our-new.html


Thank you all so much for supporting me by visiting my Blog today, I hope you will join me again soon, Angela 

It's Linen but with a whole new look!!

I'd like to share a new design with you today, this is my very first project as part of the Papermill Design Team.

I made this card  to showcase the beautiful colour and texture of this 'Navy Linen' card. (which is actually on special offer this week, link at end of post)  it is a very rich dark blue and has a delicate linen texture, which I hope you can see in my pics.

I decided to make a shaped standing card using the Navy Linen as the main focus, you can see that it cut brilliantly with my Tonic dies.  I also thought I would try heat embossing for the stamped sentiment.  This can sometimes be tricky to do with a textured card, but it worked a treat on this linen texture.

A length of pastel green ribbon was threaded through the outside detail of the card front,  then I assembled the card by adding a back and front panel  die cut from Baby Pink card, diecut flowers & leaves, sparkly faux gems and the sentiment diecut and 3D mounted to provide the finishing touches. (Materials list at end of post)

I really liked the contrast of the dark blue card against the softer paler colours and think this is a colour combo I will visit again.

The Navy Linen card is currently on special offer over at papermill direct, here is the link to all of the special offers  so it's a perfect time to try this one out for yourself.  

Why not take a look at the papermill blog and the other DT blogs and see what they got up to with this fab card:

http://glitterarti1.blogspot.co.uk/

http://sandieshores.blogspot.co.uk/

http://apassionforcards.blogspot.co.uk/

http://designsforoccasions.blogspot.co.uk/

http://papercraftbliss.com/

Materials List:
Navy linen card  - papermill direct
Baby Pink card - papermill direct
Raspberry Pink Card - papermill direct
Spring Green Card - papermill direct

Visible Image Stamp
Crystal White Inkpad
Silver Pearl Embossing Powder
Tonic Dies - Loopy Lace
Sue Wilson Dies - Faux Quilled Blooms
Ribbon & Faux Gems from my craft stash