Dreaming of a Pink Christmas - Step by Step Tutorial with neon card

Hello I'm back again to share a +Papermilldirect  DT card design with you.  This week I thought it would be fun to try out some of the new Papermilldirect neon paper colours and create a Christmas card that is bright, modern and a bit zingy.  If you were a fan of the Pink Petticoat download papers and images then you will be thrilled to learn that they are slowly coming back under ‘The Lovely Studio’ name alongside new releases.  I have chosen the fun ‘Festive Flamingos’ to work with, Flamingos have been extremely popular this year and are sure to be a hit at Christmas too.

STEP BY STEP:
Visit the link and download the image set, (all designs are currently just £1-50) there are 4 images with sentiment and 4 without. Print off onto PMD White Linen card, you’ll get 4 different images on an A4 sheet.

Colour your image/ images – I’ve chosen ‘I’m dreaming of a Pink Christmas’ and have coloured in using alcohol marker pens in shades of pink and grey, with hints of green for the holly, etc.  You don’t need to be an expert colourist as this is a simple image and the texture of the linen card adds interest.  Don’t forget to outline your image with the lightest grey marker to help define it and add a little squiggle along the bottom to ‘ground it’.
Cut out your image using shaped nesting dies, I’m using a circle die and using a small piece of washi tape to secure in place before running through the die cutter to stop it slipping.

 

Next cut some mats and layers for your design – I cut a slightly larger circle of PMD Intensive Pink card and slightly larger again scalloped circle of Neon Kiwi Green paper, using d/s tape & glue to adhere the layers on top of each other.
Next create a card base by scoring & folding an A4 sheet of PMD Grey Pearlised card.  Trimming it down to create a square card base that will be just under 6”x6”.

Cut mats for your base – a large square of PMD Neon Kiwi Green paper slightly smaller than card front. A square of PMD White Linen card approx. 4 ¾” square, and a square of Neon Raspberry Pink paper slightly larger.  Mat the three layers together one on top of each other using d/s tape and glue.

Assemble card by adding the square mat panel to card front using d/s tape.  Add the circular matted image panel to the centre using 3D foam to give a little height.

I have added extra details to the image with a white gel pen, just some dots to add texture and some dashes for highlights.

Die cut snowflakes from PMD White Linen card and add adhesive pink gems to the centres.  Add to card front by gluing the small ones flat and adding the larger ones with 3D foam.  To finish add a trio of small adhesive gems to top left and bottom right of white linen square.

I love the bright neon papers and being 80gsm they are perfect to add as layers to your designs without adding too much weight.  The bright colours are really modern and work well for a fun theme such as the flamingos. 

Products Used:
White Linen 255gsm – Papermilldirect
Intensive Pink 160gsm  - Papermilldirect
Neon Raspberry Pink 80gsm – Papermilldirect
Neon Kiwi Green 80gsm – Papermilldirect
Grey Pearlised 300gsm – Papermilldirect
Festive Flamingos digi downloads - Pink Petticoat Portfolio - Thelovelystudio.co.uk
Snowflake Dies – DCDIE057X16 – Dovecraft
Circle Framelits dies – 657551 – Sizzix
Scalloped Circle dies – FEDIE071 –First Edition
Alcohol Markers, white pen
Adhesive gems – Whiz Kids collection
D/S Tape, Clear drying glue, 3D foam pads / tape

A Sweet Little Girl.....back to basics New Baby card with Papermilldirect

Hello, welcome to this weeks +papermilldirect  post and it's a bit of a back to basics card project.  This one is ideal for those that may not have Electronic cutting machines or manual die-cutters or punches.  It is also ideal for those that are maybe not as confident with inks and stamping and the colouring is easy with no tricky shading.  Or perhaps like me, you just fancy doing something simpler for a change.  The card is a simple design and you could of course colour your image using pencils or even paper-piecing if you prefer.  The design can also make use of any ribbons, buttons or flowers you may already have in your craft stash.
I started by printing off the downloaded Image set (details at end of post) onto Papermilldirect White Linen Paper, You could also use the White Linen Card if preferred.  The image set I chose prints 4 to an A4 sheet, so plenty to practice on if you want to test your colour combos. 
My Chosen Elephant image was coloured with alcohol marker pens in shades of pink by block colouring each section, so no shading to worry about.  I used 3 shades of pink for the elephant and a touch of yellow for the bow and inside the white flower.  The grass area was created by simply dotting randomly with the tips of 2 different green shades of marker.  I allowed the marker pens to dry fully before adding some extra details with a white gel pen.  It’s easy to add simple polka dots to areas such as the legs, tail and inside ears, for the body I doodled simple flower shapes, the white became brighter and more noticeable as the white ink dried and I added some to the white flower the elephant is holding.

 I trimmed the completed image panel down to approx. 3 ¾ “x 4 ¾ “and matted & layered it first onto a slightly larger piece of PMD Raspberry Pink card and then again onto a slightly larger panel of PMD Daffodil Yellow card using a combination of clear drying glue and double sided tape.  To complete the panel a pink ribbon was attached across the bottom and the ends secured onto the back using double sided tape.  A pale yellow felt flower was glued to the right hand side and topped with a pink button threaded with twine tied in a bow. 
To create the card blank, I took an A4 sheet PMD White Linen card in portrait position and cut down at approx. 5”, then scored and folded the piece in half to give a 5” x 5 ¾” card base.  The completed layered panel was then attached to the front using 3D foam pads.
I really liked the colour combination of pink and yellow teamed with the bright white of the card base.  Using Linen paper and card added texture and interest and Linen always gives such a lovely quality finish to your projects.

For more Baby Card inspiration using Papermilldirect cardstocks check my Blog Links (HERE)



Materials Used:
Baby Elephant – Digital Image set £1 – Pink Petticoat
http://www.pinkpetticoat.co.uk/digi_stamps_boutique/digi_stamps_baby_elephant/baby_elephant.php
(Download prints 4 elephants to a page or single images, includes with sentiments and without sentiments, Sentiments are ‘A Sweet Little Girl’, ‘A Sweet Little Boy’ and ‘Welcome Little One’)

White Linen Paper - Papermilldirect
White Linen Card - Papermilldirect
Raspberry Pink Card – Papermilldirect
Daffodil Yellow Card – Papermilldirect

Pink, Yellow & Green Markers - First Edition
(Sorbet (43) Candy (44) Pale Pink (46) Lemon (38) Pistachio (25) Jade (26))
White Gel Pen 0.7 – Pergamano
‘With Love’ Sentiment Ribbon – Belle & Boo
Felt Flower, Button, & Twine from stash
Adhesives:  Cosmic Shimmer Clear Drying Glue, 3D Foam Pads, Double Sided Tape

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 
• Ruth 
• Sylvia 
• Sandie
• Nessa 
• Nicole
• Papermilldirect Inspire Blog  

Click Logo to go direct to papermill

Thinking of You...

Thinking of You... a sentiment that can be used for many different occasions both joyful and sad and is useful when we may not be sure of what to say but want the recipient to know we are thinking of them.

 This weeks special offer card from papermill direct a 230gsm 'Ivory Lightly Embossed' card (a small box is just £5 Link Here)  has a delicate embossing on it which I thought would be perfect to print onto with this fabulous downloaded paper which has a water-colour effect.  Now I have one of those printers that can be a bit temperamental with printing onto card as it has the front tray loader, But it seems happy to take all the papermill cards I have tried so far through it and this weeks special offer is no exception, it whizzed through perfectly first time.  I really like the the colours of this patterned paper and how it blended with the texture of the cardstock to make a lovely water-coloury (I know that's not a real word :D) and tactile mat for my card.

 If you've been following my blog so far, you will know that I do like to test out the cardstocks in different ways, it is important to not only have good quality materials but also ones that are versatile, that can 'multi-task'.  So here I not only tested it out with direct printing but i also stamped the sentiment with a dew drop ink pad, it stamped lovely on the textured surface first time and no loss of image.  I also tested the card with a Martha Stewart punch. It punched through crisply as you can see.  (I have also tested this particular cardstock by electronic cutting with my Cricut Mini - please see other blog post for that one :))

 The colours of the pattern paper were easy to match within the Papermill Direct range of card colours.  Raspberry Pink and Lime Green being the obvious partners.  I added a couple of Card Candis and a bow of lime green ribbon and my design was finished.



Materials Used:
230gsm Light Ivory Embossed 'offer' Card - Papermill Direct
Lime Green card, Raspberry Pink card  - Papermill Direct
Martha Stewart Doily Punch. 
'Sweet Little Sentiments' Stamp Set from Clearly Besotted. 
Dew Drop Ink Pad in 'Pearlescent orchid'. 
Card Candi & Ribbon from my craft stash. 
Papers are downloads from Pink Petticoat's new range 'Strawberry Blooms' the design used is called 'Fresh Blooms' which I chose for it's watercolour effect that worked well with the embossed texture of the offer card.

Challenges Entered:

Why not pop over and see what my fabulous papermill teamies have got up to this week too?:
 
Barbara

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

Lisa

http://papercraftbliss.com/

 
Ruth

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

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

Sandie

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

Sharon  

http://theothersideofmerevitalised.blogspot.co.uk/