My first Centre-Step birthday card for my Mum

Hi blogging friends

I have felt very, very dry creative-wise in recent weeks and really only made a mess in my Craft Room with nothing to show for it.  One of those phases where you try new techniques but they don't work; nothing appeals to you in your stash and you just get frustrated.   Two of my extended family had birthdays during the past few weeks but I ended up buying cards for them as I just couldn't think of anything to make! 

But, in the last week, I have finally found Mr Mojo and started creating again....phew....I was starting to think I would never make any more cards!  Just as well as my mother's birthday is coming up this week and I wanted to make her an extra-special card as Mum is one of my biggest fans and always so enthusiastic about my cardmaking.  There was no way I wanted to buy a card for my Mum - it wouldn't feel right - and here is what I came up with - which is also my entry for the Incy Wincy Designs Challenge of 'Anything Goes' as well as two Splitcoaststampers Challenges (details and links are near the end of my blog post):

The image is from Craft Creations and is called Birds in Blossom.  I picked it up at the Paperific Show which was held during the last week in August at Ascot Vale (a suburb of Melbourne).

By the way, the show was fantastic and I just loved surrounding myself with other enthusiastic cardmakers and a huge array of cardmaking supplies......crafty heaven!!   I met people who had flown over from Western Australia (which, for my overseas readers, is over 3,400 kilometres one way - more than 2000 miles!) and even some from New Zealand!  It was great to meet my Stampin' Up Demonstrator for the first time and do a Christmas card workshop together.  I came home with lots of goodies as I save up for nearly a year in anticipation of the show - but I do take cash rather than a credit card so I can keep a lid on my spending.  Just to have some solo me-time where I am not thinking about anything medical in relation to my loved one is very soothing for my soul and I really enjoyed being able to have a whole day out.  My husband was looking after our loved one and made dinner as well so when I arrived home about 5:30pm, all I had to do was sit down and have a cuppa and look through all my goodies:  what a wonderful man he is!   Anyway, back to my card.............

Once I had layered up the image using dimensionals (which was very time-consuming!), I was a little stuck with what to do with it as it is quite large.  Then a light-bulb went off when I espied a Centre-Step Card die by Cheery Lynn in my stash which I bought from Fat Cat's Card Corner at the Paperific Show last year.  I remember at the time, Kaaren (who owns the store) said that the die was no longer being made by Cheery Lynn as it was too expensive to manufacture and that once the die was sold out, that was it - there would be no more manufactured.  I didn't pay alot for the die as it was being sold at cost.

Of course, you can make your own Centre-Step cards - you don't need a die - but boy, does the die make it easier because not only does this particular one cut the card base and score where the folds are, but you have separate dies that diecut the panels so your layers are perfectly matched.  And I love that this type of card folds up flat.   I am absolutely hopeless at measuring things correctly which is why most of my cards are just simple cards folded in the centre, so without a die, I personally wouldn't even try making this sort of card base!   You need an extended platform for your Big Shot to use the die as the die is really long.  You are extremely unlikely to find this particular Cheery Lynn die online but Crafts Too are releasing a Step Card die in October.  You can also buy Centre Step Card blanks on EBay Australia as well as a few other places depending on where you live in the world.

I bought an 8" x 8" paper pad of Graphic 45 Botanical Tea at the Paperific Show which I absolutely adore - and they matched the image so perfectly that I did a happy dance  Sometimes I can struggle to find matching papers to a Topper or Decoupage (paper tole) image but in this case, it was a match made in heaven.

The main image was taller than the actual diecut card centre panel but it didn't matter and the card still folds up flat (other than the layering sticking up a little of course).  All the layers are from the Graphic 45 pad and I stuck them down onto a white cardstock diecut Step-Card base.  Here is a slightly different angle so you can see the card shape a little better:

The sentiment was popped up on dimensionals and I added Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds glitter glue to all the flower centres.  Lastly, I added a pink heart Sparklet to the bottom right-hand side.  I didn't really want to do anything more fancy as I just wanted to let the image shine.  I did actually go around the blue panels with Polar Blue ink to hide any white cardstock that was showing and as the blue paper layer around the sentiment was handcut, the inking hid any imperfections in my cutting.  Here is a close-up so you can see more details of the dimension:

I decorated the card inside using the same designer papers and diecut some white cardstock using a Spellbinder Floral Oval Nestabilities die (I used the largest die in the set) then added some Soft Pink rhinestones to the top, bottom, right and left sides in the centre of the flower. The floral designer paper was diecut using one of the Step-Card dies in the set.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

Incy Wincy Designs - Anything Goes 

Splitcoaststampers - Free for All Friday F4A239 - Birds - put a bird anywhere on your project

Splitcoaststampers - Technique Lover's Challenge - TLC190 - Stair Step Fold Card (which is from ages ago but there is no time limit on SCS Challenges)

Thanks for visiting my blog today and for any comments that you care to leave - they are so appreciated!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  None

Ink:  Versacolor Polar Blue pigment

Designer Paper:  Graphic 45 Botanical Tea 8" x 8"

Accessories:  Big Shot, Big Shot Extended Platform and Plates, Cheery Lynn Centre-Step card die (retired), Spellbinder Floral Oval Nestabilities S4-356, dimensionals, Stampin' Up Dazzling Diamonds glitter glue, Craft Creations Birds in Blossom diecut 3D decoupage sheet, Kaisercraft Heart Sparklet RS420, Kaisercraft Soft Pink SB701 rhinestones, white cardstock