Love Heart Valentine with papermilldirect and Oakhouse Studio

Waving hello and welcome to this week's +papermilldirect DT post. We are all still busy with our Valentine's Day makes, but before I share mine, I must tell you about this week's special offer card which is a sumptuous 300gsm called 'Teddy Bear Brown' you can get a small box of A4 for just £6!! Do pop over and see what Barbara has created with this offer card, links at the end of this post.

So what did I make this week?  Well I'm not really the pink & white kind of Valentine Girl, Purple is my colour of passion and since I am quite fond of using the papermilldirect black I thought I'd team the two together to create a dramatic Valentine's card.

I have this gorgeous heart stamp from Oak House Studio that I discovered last year and have used it a few times.  I love the detail and it's versatility and so I stamped it using versamark ink onto papermilldirect smooth white card, before gently blending over with a Violet coloured pan pastel to create the main focal point.

I then used the stamp again, this time quickly and randomly onto regular white card and the idea was to not be as precise, to give the background a more out of focus effect.  I then stamped the word 'Love' a few times also in versamark ink before swiping over it all with the violet pan pastel.

I cut mat layers from papermilldirect black card and sprayed with 'Glorious Gold' ink-in-a-bottle and set aside to dry whilst i then sprayed over my pan pastel heart panels.  I sprayed extra onto the main Heart to try and get a few larger 'splodges' of the gold.  This is a fab spray ink and gives lots of shimmery detail.  Love the effect not only on the Violet but the extra dimension it gave to the black card too. I matted again with just a touch of white to set off the centre panel and then mounted everything onto a white card base created by scoring & folding papermilldirect white card.

I just added a sheer antique gold ribbon and metal heart charm to finish. 

Materials Used:  

Black Card - Colours Range - Papermilldirect
White Card Smoth - Essentials Range - Papermilldirect

White Card  - Essentials Range - Papermilldirect 

Walesby Heart Stamp - Oak House Studio Glorious Gold Ink-In-A-Bottle (metallics range) - Oak House Studio

Violet Pan Pastel - Pan Pastels

Ribbon & heart charm from my craft stash
Adhesives - Double Sided Tape, cosmic shimmer glue
Tools - Hougie Board to score card base, guillotine to cut panels

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara  
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon

More Valentines and a Special Offer card - with papermilldirect

Hello again, welcome to another blog post with news of this week's special offer card from +papermilldirect.  This week it is a really nice textured card ' Harvest Buckram Embossed' and is just £4 for 20 A4 sheets.  I think this is such a great cardstock to work with as it not only has a lovely texture and colour, but it lends itself well to electronic cutting, manual cutting and is sure to be a fave for those cute Valentine's makes as well as those classy elegant makes too.

You can see what the rest of the Design Team got up to with this week's card, by clicking the links at the end of the post, but here are my designs for this week:

I was thinking of a simple elegant make that wouldn't be too time consuming or complicated and so I came up with this Valentines Card and Gift Tag.

I created a card base from papermilldirect Post Box Red and cut a mat from the Harvest Buckram card.  The decorative die is from Tattered Lace, and is cut from the smooth cream card.  The alphabet dies are new to the market from First Edition, I cut each letter from Post Box Red card, the script style worked well with the die cut elements.  I simply positioned the letters across the centre of the card spanning the 2 diecut pieces and added 3 faux gems in red to finish.

The gift tag again uses the Harvest Buckram but this time I have used it through the Big Shot to show how easy it die-cuts.  It is the same die as used on the card above, but I have cut into it to remove some sections.  I have kept the colour scheme the same teaming it with Post Box Red card and Cream card.  Antique Gold sheer ribbon to finish.

Materials Used: 
Harvest Buckram card - Special Offer - Papermilldirect  

Post Box Red Card - Colours Range - Papermilldirect
Cream Card Smoth - Essentials Range - Papermilldirect
Script Alphabet dies - First Edition
Double Delights die -Tattered Lace
Ribbon & faux gems from my craft stash
Adhesives - Double Sided Tape, cosmic shimmer glue
Tools - Hougie Board to score card base, and Big Shot for die cutting


Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara  
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon

Love and be Loved!! with Papermill and Visible Image Stamps

We are well into January now and crafters I'm sure will be working on their Valentines projects.  Have you checked out  +papermilldirect's new seasonal landing page 'Valentines'.  Don't forget to also check out the 'Special Offers' section too, a brand new offer has just been added,  20 sheets of 250gsm Black Card for just £4-00

So with the Valentines theme in mind I thought it would be nice to combine some stamping and colouring along with my cricut explore this week. 

The base card was cut on the Explore using papermilldirect white linen card and Post Box Red card.  I love the texture of the linen and along with the red, it's a classic Valentine combo.  Using a grey pen I added some faux stitching detail around the edges of the white card front, sort of stitches with dots that I hoped echoed the rivets on the Tin Man.  Using the sentiment stamp of 'Love and be Loved' from the set, I stamped with black Memento ink into the heart aperture area of the red card.  I then attached the white heart aperture panel to the red card base using 3D foam pads to create depth.

The 'Oz Tin Man' stamp set is really cute  and this was my first chance to play with it.  (there are other characters in this series by +Visible Image which celebrate 75 years of Oz) Using black Memento ink, I stamped the Tin Man and his little clockwork heart onto smooth white card and coloured with Promarkers.  I kept the shades subdued with just a few greys, pale blues and dashes of red shades. (unfortunately it was a dark dull day when i took the pics so I used my daylight lamp and not sure if it washed out the colours a bit but hopefully you can see some colouring :D)  I then carefully cut around the Tin Man and Heart and added them to the card front using 3D foam pads.

For the inside of the card I used the white linen heart shape that was cut from the front panel, it gave a co-ordinated look and was ideal size for the sentiment.  It's nice when you are able to use the shapes that would normally be discarded.

For the finishing touches I added some red faux gems in heart shapes and a little trim of red & white bakers twin tied in a bow.

Materials Used: 
White linen Card, Smooth White Card - Essentials Range - Papermill Direct Post Box Red Card - Colours Range - Papermill Direct  
'Oz Tin Man' stamp set - Visible Image Stamps 
 Promarkers
Grey Glaze Pen - Sakura
Bakers Twine and faux gems from my craft stash
Adhesives - Double Sided Tape, 3 Foam Pads
Tools - Hougie Board to score and Cricut Explore for base.


Challenges Entered: 
I'm going to enter this card in the 'January - Show & Tell' over at Visible Image's facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/visibleimage/photos/

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara  
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon

Oh Baby it's 2015 - with Papermilldirect

So I spent the last days of 2014 and the first days of 2015 in a kind of cold / flu bug hell.  I was so tired and poorly I fell asleep before midnight and totally missed the heralding of a New Year.  Now I'm feeling much better and (fingers crossed) raring to go!!  So to kick off the new year we are celebrating new life over at +papermilldirect our theme is Babies!!  (Why not pop over and check out the Special Offers section, this week there is a rather yummy 'flecked lilac' 240gsm A4 card on offer at just £6 for a small box, along with some other goodies you may have missed)

There's also the launch of a Valentines section which also introduces some brand new Cardmaking Kits!!  

Now back to the theme of 'Babies' and I have seen a few of these block style cards over the years but have never actually got around to making one, so I put that right and here is my first one, it also ties in nicely with the 'Something New to You' Challenge Theme over at Country View Challenges.  I am using a brand new Die Set and also making a new to me style of card, what a great way to start the year.  (as always links and materials lists are at the end of the post).

The base card was created using White Hammered card and the sections were scored using my trusty Hougie board.  I inked around the card and each section using a pale pink distress ink.    Next came the fun part of decorating.  I used dies to cut small scalloped squares and some heart shapes from Baby Pink card & Raspberry Pink card and again inked around edges with pale pink ink, adding a faux stitch detail with a white Pergamano pen.  I used dies to cut alphabet letters to spell BABY from Raspberry Pink card and added them to the Baby Pink card squares.  Squares were then adhered to the blocks card using double sided tape, I used 3D foam to attach the layered heart to give some height.  

The baby girl image was stamped onto Smooth White card and coloured with promarkers, a little glitter glue was added to highlight the lace trim. Then the image was cut around and attached with 3D foam.  Pale pink faux gems & pearls were used to decorate the front squares. 

For the top panels I added 3 more of the Baby Pink scalloped squares and decorated with a button, heart, and a white bow.

I'm quite pleased with the way this first attempt turned out and also the fact that I could actually get 2 of these from 1 sheet of A4 card makes these quite economical to make, as you can decorate with whatever you have to hand. These little blocks cards (I sometimes see them described as Stairs too) can be used for all sorts of occasions and they fold flat to fit into envelopes too, making them ideal for postage.  (just be careful with height of embellishments)  Now I need to make a Baby Boy one or maybe a Twins one, or a Birthday one?  decisions, decisions  :D
 

Materials Used: 
White Hammered Card - Essentials Range - Papermill Direct
Raspberry Pink Card & Baby Pink Card - Colours Range - Papermill Direct
Spun Sugar Distress Ink - Tim Holtz
Baby Stamp (from Die & Stamp Set) Collectibles COL1313 - Marianne Design
Layered Hearts (from Die & Stamp Set) Collectibles COL1307 - Marianne Design
Alphabet Dies - Varsity FEDIE007 - First Edition
Square Dies - Lacy Squares Nestibilities S4-295 - Spellbinders 
Tuxedo Black Ink - Memento
Vanilla, Blush, Pastel Pink, Baby Pink, Blossom - Promarkers
White Pen - Pergamano
White Shimmer Detail Sparkle - Imagination Crafts 
Button, Enamel Dot Hearts,White Bow, & Faux gems - Trimcraft
Adhesives - Double Sided Tape, 3 Foam Pads
Tools - Hougie Board to score and Big Shot to cut dies.


Challenges Entered: 

'Use Something New to You' - Country View Challenges 
I'm using a brand new alphabet die set and a brand new to me style of card :)

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara  
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon