Sweet Peas

The latest design in store is this little sprig of sweet pea flowers, which are a surprisingly popular blossom with many of you requesting them.  I remember these lovely little flowers from my Grandmother's garden, to me they've always seemed wonderfully old fashioned and delicate.

Here is Vivien's beautiful card.  As you can see, she coloured the flowers in a lovely soft shade of lavender and embellished with a co-ordinating card mat and some large diecut swirls.  Stop by Viv's blog to see more of her gorgeous creations as well as her adorable little grandsons!

Rachael coloured the blossoms in a bold and vibrant shade of purple then added some highlights with a high gloss medium.  Visit Rachael's blog to see more of her work as well as some exciting photos of a visit from Rachel Greig!

24 Hours To Go!

Don't miss out on uploading a picture of your card for the April Challenge!

You can see all the details here.

Tutorial - Diagonal Trifold Card

I know I have said it lots of times before, but my favourite cards are those that have a lot of WOW without all the hard work and I think these diagonal trifold cards fit the bill perfectly.

1.  We'll be making a square card today so start with a piece of cardboard measuring 51/2" x 11".  Score in the centre and fold.

2.  With the card facing you, take the top right hand corner of the card front and fold it down to the bottom left corner as shown in the picture below.  Press the fold firmly with a bone folder or scoring tool.

3.  Adhere a contrasting piece of cardstock measuring 5" x 5" to the centre inside of the card.  Alternatively, you could use a piece of patterned paper.

4.  Adhere a 41/2" x 41/2" piece of cardstock to the front diagonal piece of cardstock, taking care to keep the adhesive only on the sections you are joining - be careful not to glue your card closed (says the voice of experience!)

5.  Decorate a piece of cardstock measuring 4" x 4".  You should use a design or image that can be viewed either vertically or horizontally as the front of the card will pivot when the card is opened.  Notice how I have stamped my sentiment sideways on the right hand side.  If you look at the card when it is opened (bottom picture) you will notice that the sentiment is now the right way up!

April Challenge

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON APRIL 1ST
This month's challenge is all about chocolate! Using any of the Beccy's Place designs, create a paper craft project using chocolate-coloured papers, trims and embellishments. Feel free to add other splashes of colour here and there too! Post your project on your blog then link the specific post back here. A random winner will be chosen at the end of the month. Up for grabs are three free images from my online store.

Here's a little bit of inspiration to get you started.  The image I used for this card is called Flower Bear - he's a freebie on my blog.  I coloured him using copic markers and a white pen then added some brown cardstock and a scattering of flowers and pearls.

Tulips

Available in store now.

Viv's Card

Rachael's Card

Lest We Forget

Altered Clock

I have a before and after photo to share today...  This clock, which is a standard cheapie from one of those run-of-the-mill stores that are in every shopping centre, was a discard by my young son who found it too noisy for his bedroom.  It has been hanging on the wall in my studio for about a year and a half and on the weekend I decided it was time to give it a face lift!

Lilies

Mother's Day is just a few weeks away, which means it's time to bring out the flowers!  These lilies can be coloured in just about every shade imaginable, so it won't be hard to make a custom designed card that your mother will be thrilled to receive.  Of course, they are also good for a wide variety of other cards since lilies are fairly universal in their appeal.

Available in store now!

(Includes black and white line drawing and full colour image)

Here are the cards we created with this image.

Rachael

Vivien

Beccy

Beccy

Happy Birthday Freebie

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Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Tutorial - Cascade Card - 2 piece

Considering how complicated this card looks when it's completed, I was actually surprised (and pleased) by how simple it really is.  It's actually two card blanks, cut on an angle, and joined together by a couple of slits.  It folds flat for easy postage and can easily be made in different sizes depending on your envelope.

1. Start with two card blanks measuring 6" tall x 8" long.

2.  Lay each piece horizontally (landscape) on your score board and score at 4", which will be the centre fold.

3.  Now cut a diagonal section from the top of each piece of cardstock, starting at one of the top corners.  It doesn't matter how steep your angle or how much you cut off as long as it's the same amount on both pieces of cardstock.  On one sheet, begin the cut from the top left corner, and on the other sheet begin the cut from the top right corner.  (For interest sake, my cut goes from the top corner to 3" down the side.)

4.  This next part is a little bit tricky... 2" from either end, rule a vertical line down each piece of card then measure and mark the centre of each of those lines.  I found the easiest way to do this was to use a centering ruler and pencil.

5.  Use a craft knife and ruler to cut from the centre mark down to the BOTTOM on ONE piece of card.  Then cut from the centre mark up to the TOP on the other piece of card.  These are the slits that will join the card together.  Erase the lines.

6.  Fold along the score lines you made in step 2... then have a quick go at slotting the two pieces together.  You may need to adjust your cuts if the two pieces don't line up properly.

7.  Use co-ordinating papers to decorate the front and inside of the card pieces.  Don't forget to cut the slits back in once you have added the patterned paper.

8.  Add some pretty punched borders, again remembering to cut the slits where necessary.

9.  Fit the pieces back together and then add another strip of punched cardstock along the bottom.  This will help support the card since it goes over both pieces of cardstock.

10.  Make a tag measuring 33/4" wide x 41/2" tall and add a punched strip along the top.  This will slide nicely inside the card and is perfect for a sentiment and a message to your recipient.

11.  Now decorate your card as desired.  Have fun!

Old Barrow Set

My friend Penny suggested I design a wheel barrow image with various items that can be added depending on the type of card you wish to create... thus the Old Barrow set was born!  This set contains 8 black and white line drawings plus another 6 coloured images (shown below).  Each image can be used separately or can be mixed and matched with any of the others to create a whole scene.

Available in store now.

These are the gorgeous cards that Vivien created with the Old Barrow set.  The first card features the wheel barrow and the terracotta pots, while the second card uses just the gifts.

Rachael used the wheelbarrow and pumpkin sign as her base image and then built the scene up using the pumpkins.

These are the cards I created using the different elements from the set.  The sentiments on each card are various stamps I have in my collection - the first and second are from Hero Arts, the third is a Stampin' Up sentiment stamp, and on the last card I simply hand wrote the message.