Hero Arts Bird in a circle - a thank you card

Hi blogging friends

Recently I bought some First Edition 6" x 6" designer papers on EBay from a UK seller and ohhhh, I just love them!!  I couldn't wait to make a card with them and today's card uses papers from the Boho Chic collection.  I went for a Vintage style of card - well, my style of vintage - not sure if the purists would call it truly Vintage with no torn bits etc.  I think I am just too much of a neat-freak to do all that although I really love vintage cards that other people make.  Guess it's OK to just "be me" with "my own style of vintage".

I made this card to suit the Splitcoaststampers "Free for All Friday" F4A113 of "Mix n Match" where you are to use at 2 or 3 types of patterned/designer paper.  See THIS link for the deets on the challenge.

This card is a "Thank you" card which I will be giving to my next-door neighbours who have always been so encouraging and enthusiastic about my cardmaking - and most recently, have been such a fantastic support with all that we are going through with caring for our family member.  Our neighbour will just turn up with a batch of fairy cakes or make a dessert, bring in our rubbish bins if we are caught up at hospital and not getting home until late, collect our mail, mow the lawns, feed the cat - they would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it - and we are so grateful for them.

I inked up my Hero Arts 'Bird in a Circle' stamp with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and stamped it twice onto white cardstock so I could cut out an extra layer of the flower petals plus the bird to do some paper tole.   I coloured the image with Prismacolor + Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Odourless Mineral Spirits using paper stumps.  Then, very carefully, I cut out the inside circle of the main panel and discarded it.  It was very delicate work cutting around the flowers and the bird's legs! 

I then used my Blending Tool and Antique Linen Distress Ink around the edges of this panel - then again using Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I did actually cut the image down a little to be a perfect square as well as being a smaller size to layer on my peach designer paper.

Before I attached the 2nd layer of flowers to the bottom layer, I used a stylus on the back of the petals to shape the petals to look more rounded and did the same with the bird's body.  I used an old mouse pad to press down on as it had some give and allowed me to shape the pieces just like I wanted.

I attached the flowers with dimensionals under each petal but not in the middle so I could press down the centre to help make the flowers look a little more realistic.  The bird was also attached with dimensionals.  Here is a close-up of the dimension and fussy-cutting I did on the card:

Using a Lemon Bliss Bic Mark-It texta, I coloured some tiny Prima peach pearls to make them look a bit more yellow (but not bright yellow) and popped them in the centre of the flowers. 

I glued on a narrow piece of peach ric-rac which just added a little 'something' at the bottom of the main panel but not over the top as I wanted the image to be the focal point - then popped this panel up on dimensionals on top of the gorgeous glittery brown designer paper layer. 

The peach base designer paper was diecut using my Big Shot and Go Kreate Scalloped Square die and to add a bit of texture, I ran the paper through my Cuttlebug using my Crafts Too Sweet Flowers embossing folder.  I really love the texture that it added to the card and made such a difference to the look of the card.

Note that I inked around the edges of the peach and brown papers with the same Distress Inks as the white cardstock.

Lastly, I punched a butterfly from the peach designer paper with a Carl Butterfly-A punch and coloured some more Prima pearls with the Lemon Bliss Bic Mark-it texta and popped them in the centre.  I attached just the butterfly's body with dimensionals and bent up the wings then added some Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the wings.

Now that the card front was finished, I simply attached it to a white card base.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #30 of 'Anything Goes' 

One Stop Craft Challenge - Week #180 - Recipe Challenge - 1 image, 2 designer papers, 3 embellishments.  My card uses 2 dp's from the Boho Chic set, 1 stamp (image) and the 3 embellishments are my ric-rac, pearls and the butterfly.

Simons Says Stamp Challenge - 'Anything Goes'

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Hero Arts Bird in a Circle cling-mounted rubber CG181

Ink:  Versafine Vintage Sepia, Tim Holtz Distress inks - Vintage Photo and Antique Linen

Designer paper:  First Edition Boho Chic 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Big Shot, Cuttlebug, Go Kreate Scalloped Square die, dimensionals, Prismacolor pencils, odourless mineral spirits, paper stumps, Ranger Blending tool, Prima peach pearls coloured with Lemon Bliss Bic Mark-it, Crafts Too Sweet Flowers embossing folder, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, peach ric-rac, stylus and old mouse pad, Lemon Bliss Bic-Mark-it texta, Cardstock:  KW Doggett 'Knight' white

Punches:  Carl CP-1 Butterfly-A

A sympathy card and a blog award from Shien Shien

Hi blogging friends

Thank you for your continued fantastic support and comments on my last post - I really appreciated reading each and every one of them and they have been helping me through this difficult time filled with hospitals, specialists and medical appointments which will continue for much of this year - but things are going according to plan at this stage which is what we had hoped and prayed for - and really, we just get through each day with whatever challenges present themselves and not look too far ahead or you drive yourself crazy worrying.

Secondly, I wanted to say a very special "thank you" to Shien Shien in Indonesia from Shien's Paper Arts who recently gave me a blog award - so sweet of you to pass it on to me :-))  I have been following Shien Shien's blog for a few months and I am blown away by her talent for scrapbooking and cardmaking.  I was so pleased that Shien Shien recently joined the Lawnscaping Design Team as I LOVE Shien Shien's Lawn Fawn cards - they are always so beautifully creative and so stylish.  You can check out Shien Shien's blog here.  Due to my current time-constraints and circumstances, instead of passing it onto particular bloggers, I am passing this award onto YOU - all my wonderful followers and encouragers - MWAH :-)) 

Recently, I received news of the passing of a member of my extended family and although it wasn't unexpected, it is still a shock when it happens - and this is the card that I made to send to the immediate family members:

I kept it really simple as I usually do with Sympathy cards but decided to just add a touch of colour with the punched pink glitter cardstock hearts and the pink ribbon just to make it look a little more feminine but not over-the-top.  I punched the hearts using a Martha Stewart Looped Hearts edge punch and are actually the leftover punchies after using the punch; they were just the right size that I needed.  I know the hearts look dark in the photo but they are really a light pink that matches the ribbon.

Just a tip:  when I tie a ribbon bow on the edge of a card that is going in the post, I usually add a few drops of Supaglue to the bow knot so that it doesn't come untied and have the ribbon fall off either in transit or when the card is pulled out of the envelope.  The Supaglue soaks through the bow knot to the ribbon layers and seals it all together and there is no way that it can come undone. Just try not to Supaglue your fingers to the ribbon or the card!  Once I stuck my fingers to the kitchen bench with Supaglue - but that's a story for another day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  'With Sympathy' from Stamp-It Australia cling-mounted rubber sentiment set - siset014

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug Roses embossing folder, Spellbinder Oval Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, pink ribbon, supaglue, cardstock - white, pink glitter

Punches:  Martha Stewart Looped Hearts edge, Stampin' Up! corner punch

Woodware Space Cadet - a boy's birthday card

Hi blogging friends

My nephew has just turned 7 and this is the birthday card I made for him.  I have this "thing" about alien stamps - they just seem so adorable to me for some reason and keep an eye out for them when browsing Internet stores.  It is probably just as well that stamp companies don't make a lot of them or I would have a cupboard full of them - tee hee!

I have had this Woodware 'Space Cadet' clear stamp set for a while and just checked the Woodware UK website and it is still current - not sure what stores stock it though.

I stamped the alien ship onto watercolour paper then stamped the sentiment.  For once I actually remembered to stamp the sentiment before I coloured my image instead of colouring the image then stamping the sentiment later on - which usually ends up being crooked or doesn't stamp cleanly!  Perhaps I am learning from my many cardmaking boo-boos LOL!

I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and after letting it dry overnight, I added some Glossy Accents to the domed glass. I also chalked around the image with blue chalk (not that you can see it in the photo!)   Here is close-up of the image:

And here is a close-up of the glossy accents which I photographed inside on my craft desk under those fluro low-energy globes as there was no sunshine outside and it was as dull as could be and couldn't get the glossy-ness to show in my photos outside.  Sorry that the photo is pretty yuk and the colours are a bit off, but you get the idea of the glossy accents I hope!  It looks pretty cool in real life ;-)

I LOVE this Bo Bunny designer paper - cute, cute and love the colours - and had to have!  I punched a couple of stars from various papers from the pad and popped them up on dimensionals above the image.

Having seen other people use Card Candi on their cards, I bought some last week and they are fabby!  Soooo much easier than poking a hole to put brads through and easy to line up.  I just popped a dimensional underneath and voila!  Of course, now I need them in every colour........lol!

The side panel was dry embossed using a Crafts Too Star embossing folder except that I had the folder back-to-front and de-bossed it instead!  Fortunately, it really didn't matter and looks just fine as it is. I just wanted to add a bit of texture to the card.   Here is a close-up piccy:

I kept thinking I should add glitter somewhere or jazz it up with something else, but in the end, just left it as is.  Didn't want to fuss too much for a boy's card and I am sure my nephew will be more interested in the present than the card!

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes
with the optional extra to have a monotone theme so just one colour range excluding hair and skin.  I obviously didn't do the "optional extra".  

Simons Says Stamp Challenge - Use your favourite tool - mine is my Cuttlebug which I used to diecut my Spellbinders nesties.

Splitcoaststampers - Free for all Friday - F4A105 - Cards with Character

My character is the cute little alien of course!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Woodware Space Cadet FRCL097 clear set

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black

Designer paper:  Bo Bunny Blast Off! 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinder Pinking Circle + Circle Nestabilities, 140lb watercolour paper, Lyra + Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, paintbrush, dimensionals, orange rhinestones by TPC Studio - Sunny Bunny, glossy accents, honeydew twine - The Twinery, Craftworkcards Candi - Prince Charming set, cardstock - sky blue, navy blue

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border, Carl CP-1 star