Memory Box Snowflake Ornament die - embossed Christmas card

Hi blogging friends,

Sorry I haven't been around much.  I have been in and out of hospital with my family member like a yo-yo these past 4 weeks and have only been home a couple of days in total.  They have wireless internet at the hospital and I can log into their network via my laptop but frustratingly you cannot view any photographs because the hospital network firewall won't allow you to which means I cannot see anyone's cards that they are blogging - there is just a red 'X' there instead - plus I can't even sign into Google and therefore can't do any blogging or leave comments on people's blogs, catch up on my Google Reader items and cannot access You-Tube. 

I am sure it has been set up that way for security/privacy reasons and I respect that - I guess I just feel a little cut off from the blogging world and it would be lovely to look at your blogs + leave some comments or watch some crafting videos on You-Tube to take my mind off all things medical.......  I have actually been doing some knitting instead as I like to keep my hands busy and have just finished a scarf.  It has been great to do something crafty that I can pick up and put down in a flash if I need to - and as hospital tends to be one giant waiting room, when we go for all our medical appointments, I take my knitting along - and it's amazing how much you can get done when you are waiting!  I have also found it very relaxing and helps me de-stress and often I will do a bit of knitting at all sort of odd hours when I am staying at the hospital.   I promise I will share some photos of my finished scarf soon......

June has now become July and of course, that brings to mind 'Christmas in July'.  Because it is winter here where I live, many of my fellow Aussies celebrate 'Christmas in July' and the thought of sitting down to a nice, hot roast at this time of year is far more appealing than when we celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer!  And, of course, it is the perfect excuse to make some Christmas cards.

After seeing Sue Nelson (from her website Heartprints) use Memory Box dies for embossing, I thought I would give the idea a whirl using one of my Memory Box dies and this is what I came up with:

You can see Sue's card sample at this link HERE.

I love how it looks and it has given me a whole new way of using these dies.  I used my Cuttlebug with the following sandwich (from bottom up):

A plate

B plate

1 piece of scrap cardstock (used as a shim)

Spellbinders Tan embossing mat

Memory Box die face up

white cardstock (that I was embossing)

B plate

which is the same sandwich I use for embossing with my Spellbinder Nestabilities.

Sue Nelson uses a totally different sandwich in her Cuttlebug and uses a Cuttlehug plate as well and I would recommend that if you are going to have a play, that you err on the side of caution with the size of the sandwich - and never, EVER try and force it through.  If the sandwich doesn't start to go through easily, then stop or you might break your Cuttlebug.  I played for about half an hour before I found the sandwich I was happy with - plus my machine is over 3 years old and seen ALOT of use and is quite "loose".  You may not need a shim for your Cuttlebug if it is new.

The die I used is called 'Snowflake Ornament' - so pretty - to which I added 3 silver rhinestones - gotta have some bling somewhere on my card LOL!   The silver cord was added in 2 separate elements, ie: I glued a piece down to the top of the ornament then tied a bow using a separate piece of cord and glued that on top.  I added some Fray Stop to the ends of the cord so it wouldn't fray.

I added a silver Merry Christmas Sticker (haven't used them for quite a few years!).  Just a tip to get the sticker on straight - draw a faint pencil line then align your sticker with it and don't forget to rub out the line afterwards!

I backed the main panel with silver Mirri card (bit hard to capture the silvery-ness with the camera) then onto the white cardstock base which was embossed using one of the snowflakes 5" x 7" folder from the Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set.  Finished card size is metric 127mm x 127mm or imperial 5 inches x 5 inches.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenge -

The Squirrel and the Fox Christmas card - Challenge #21 - Christmas in July

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps, Ink and Designer paper:  None!

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Memory Box Snowflake Ornament die, silver cord, Kaiser silver rhinestones, Snowflakes embossing folder from Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set, silver Merry Christmas sticker, Perfect Layers tools, cardstock:  white, silver mirror

Aaahh, how good it is to be a cat!

Hi blogging friends,

Just had to stop by and share this photo of our cat Ruby lazing in front of the open fire yesterday afternoon.  Doesn't she just look soooooo relaxed? 

Aaah, how good it is to be a cat!!

Thanks so much for stopping by

Jocelyn

Penny Black Garden Friends birthday card

Hi blogging friends  

Long time no blog!   My loved one had another scheduled operation, was home for less than 24 hours and then became very sick with viral gastro so they were admitted to hospital and stayed for quite a while.  Thankfully, they were released yesterday and it is sooooo nice to be home:  there is nothing like your own food, bed and 'stuff'!  I guess it makes you appreciate those things even more when you are away!!  Anyway, it was nice to have a little bit of crafty time today..........

My daughter's 9th birthday isn't until July but the way the time is flying by and my general extra-busyness of running to and from medical appointments, I thought I had better make it whilst I had the opportunity.

I have seen a few cards around blogland that have the main image framed, and in particular, by a white frame so that is what inspired this card.  

I used 3 different Penny Black stamps to create my scene:  the bunny/bird are from the Garden Friends clear set, the butterfly is from the Critter Party clear set and the sentiment is from the Tiny Wishes clear set.  I did actually stamp the butterfly twice:  once on the cardstock base and again on a piece of scrap cardstock which I cut out and popped on top of the base image to give it a little dimension.  I drew in the dotted lines with a Zig Millenium .005 black pigment ink pen. 

All the images were coloured with Prismacolor + Derwent Coloursoft pencils plus Odourless Mineral Spirits using paper stumps.  I added Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the flowers and the butterfly's wings.

I lightly chalked around the image with blue chalk for the sky and green chalk for the grass.

I made my own pink glitter cardstock for the sparkly heart next to the sentiment by using the same colour pink cardstock layer and rubbing a small section of it with a Versamark pad then poured on some Polysparkle clear embossing powder then heat-set it.  Then all I had to do was punch 2 hearts (I have a double layer of hearts just to add a bit of extra-dimension) using a Martha Stewart Looped Hearts edge punch (they are the leftover punchies after using the punch).  To see my tutorial on making your own glitter cardstock, click HERE (just scroll down a little on the post).

Here is a wee close-up:

The white lacey frame was made using a Marianne Craftables die (I cut the inside square with a craft knife) and the large white square scallop frame was made using a Go Kreate Scallop Square die.

I ran the pink cardstock through my Big Shot using the Crafts Too Sweet Flowers embossing folder but by the time I cut it to just the size I wanted and corner-punched it, you could barely see the embossing!  Oh well......it adds a teeny-tiny bit of texture I guess.......

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges - 

Penny Black and more at Allsorts - June Challenge - open theme of using your favourite things (mine is my favourite brand of stamps - Penny Black - diecutting, pencils and dry embossing).

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything goes - with optional extra of making card for Father's Day or for a boy/man (obviously I didn't do that option).

Well, I think I might go and have a nap.  I didn't get much sleep in hospital with all the noise and now that I am home and relaxing, I feel totally exhausted.  It is cold and foggy today (so much for the predicted sunny afternoon) and we have the open fire going so I won't feel a bit guilty curling up on the couch with our cat!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black clear stamp sets - Garden Friends 30-021, Tiny Wishes 30-026, Critter Party 30-013

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black, Versamark Versamagic

Accessories:  Big Shot, Go Kreate Scallop Square die, Marianne Craftables die CR1203, Polysparkle embossing powder, heat-gun, Prismacolor + Derwent Coloursoft pencils, OMS, paper stumps, Zig Millenium .005 black pigment pen, Perfect Layers Tools, Kaisercolour chalks, Kindyglitz Crystalina, cardstock - KW Doggett 'Knight' white, rose pink

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

Penny Black: A Bunch of Love Stickeroos bookmark + card

Hi blogging friends

When I went to a Craft Show late last year, I picked up some gorgeous Penny Black Stickeroos which I have had sitting in my stash and then about a month ago, I picked up a copy of the February edition of the UK mag "Quick Cards made easy" at my local newsagent and was totally inspired by Katina Killey's article on using stickers to make cards.   Katina made 10 cards using the Helz Cuppleditch Neighbourwood sticker collection of foxes, mice, owls etc. Wow - they were so gorgeous! Katina has a blog too called "Katina's Cards and Chat" which I discovered last year and I just LOVE Katina's style of cards.   But the cards Katina does for the mag are not on her blog - you will have to get the mag to see them (not that I could see anyway - correct me if I am wrong).   

I am sure that many of you have stickers sitting in your stash unused but too good to throw away just like me - so go and dig them out and have a play!   I decided to make some quick and easy bookmarks (I will just share one now and the others on another post) and then made a matching card - a fun little gift set which you could use for lots of occasions such as birthday, Mother's Day, friendship, etc.  Once I worked out how to make a bookmark (I have never made one before), it was easy peasy to make a couple in one sitting and I just changed things up a bit with each bookmark by using a different border punch and embellies.   The Penny Black stickers are really great quality stickers and I love how the sticker edges just seem to blend into the cardstock. The sticker sheet that I used has around 17 stickers which is great value for only a few dollars.

I love, love, LOVE the designer paper I used on my projects.  It is by Echo Park:  A Country Drive (6 x 6 pad) and the colours on all the pages are right up my alley.  I will have to try and get a few more pads before they become too scarce!

Bookmark:

I lightly chalked underneath the hedgie sticker with green chalk so it looked like a bit of grass/ground and added Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the flowers. The pink glitter butterfly on the bottom of the bookmark was punched out of pink glitter cardstock using a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and I added some green glitter cardstock underneath.  I used a 1/4" round hole punch to punch a hole at the top then threaded through some scrap threads from balls of yarn plus some Cotton Candy and Limeade twine.  I love the texture that the funky fibres added to the bookmark.  Finished bookmark size is 165mm long x 65mm wide OR imperial 6-1/2" long x 2-9/16" wide.

Card:

I again coloured the ground underneath the sticker with a bit of green chalk and around the sky with blue chalk (not that you can see it all that well - it is subtle) and stamped on the sentiment then added a Hero Arts pearl heart.  The panel was diecut using Spellbinder Square Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug.  I added Kindyglitz to the hedgie's cheek and all the flower petals.  The pink glitter butterfly was punched using a Carl Butterfly-A punch and pink glitter cardstock - I know it looks dark in the photo but it is really a pale pink that matches the pink cardstock.

I grabbed three pieces of twine - Cotton Candy, Lollipop and Limeade and very patiently plaited them together, tied a knot at each end then tied it around the bottom panel - something a bit different to do with twine but I really like how it looks.  The bottom and main image panel are up on dimensionals.  Finished card size is 120mm or 4-3/4" square.

Challenges:

I am entering my card / bookmark in the following challenges -

Papertake Weekly Challenge - In the Garden

Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge IC334 - Rosenberry Rooms - I was struck by the gorgeous pink and green colours on THIS Duvet Cover which was why I chose the designer papers that I used.  I had forgotten how much I loved pink and green together!

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Week 201 - In the Garden

Thanks for stopping by!  And thanks especially to Katina for the inspiration!

Jocelyn


Bookmark and Card Recipe:

Stamps:  'For you' sentiment from Penny Black 'Tiny Wishes' 30-026 clear set

Ink:  Versafine Onyx black

Designer Paper:   Echo Park - A Country Drive 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:   Penny Black Stickeroos 'A Bunch of Love' #10-165, Kaisercolour green and blue chalk, Perfect Layers Tools, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, scraps of wool, Cotton Candy (pale pink) twine by The Twinery, Limeade (green/white twine) + Lollipop (dark pink/white twine) by We R Memory Keepers - Sew Easy Fancy Floss, dimensionals, Hero Arts CH173 Hearts Accent Pearls, cardstock: white, pink, green, pink glitter, green glitter

Punches: Carl CP-1 Butterfly-A, Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly, Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop edge punch

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