Cute Little Valentine

I wasn't thinking of any particular occasion while creating this card, but once it was all put together I realised it would be great for Valentine's Day. The various shades of pink and red, combined with the hearts and sweet sentiment are the perfect combination for a cute little Valentine.

Stamps:

The Button Collector

Cute As A Button - with Kathy

We've got buttons as far as the eye can see over at Kathy's place.

She's been busy whipping up these adorable cards full of colour, embellishments and cute paper.

In the photo above, you can see that Kathy has used a piece of yellow vellum, cut to shape, to form the fabric top for the jar of buttons. Since the vellum is translucent, you can still see the lines from the image below. Kathy has added a few additional lines with a white gel pen to accentuate the puffy shape of the lid.

This cute baby card has a removable tag with a space for a photo of baby.

Wouldn't these make adorable birth announcements?

For more inspiration visit:

Kathy's Blog

Button Collector

I have LOTS of buttons at my place, mostly for crafting, but some are just for decoration. My favourite way to display them is in old jars with rusty tin lids or textured corks. Although I sort most of my buttons into colour families, I do have one really big bottle that is about 1/3 filled with vintage style buttons in all shapes, sizes and colours. It sits on a shelf in our entry way among a collection of other items that have a country vibe. 

Stamps:

The Button Collector

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Truly Great Friends

To create this card, I adhered the flowers and leaves to the very bottom of my 6" x 4" tent fold card blank, taking care to position the pieces almost to the edges on both sides. With a pair of sharp scissors, I then fussy cut around the bottom section of the card front, leaving about 1/8" as a little border. Red card stock glued on the inside panel gives a fabulous contrast to the image.

Stamps:
Painted Blooms

Poppy Fields of Home

Karin has chosen to use the poppies from the new Painted Blooms digital stamp set for the collection of cards she's sharing with us today. The poppies hold special meaning for Karin because she has fond childhood memories of Remembrance Day services in Ypres, the city of her birth, where cascades of poppies were released from the top of the Menin Gate to the moving tune of The Last Post.

Karin used Derwent Coloursoft pencils to colour each of her cards and she kindly included two colouring guides for those who are curious about the exact colours she chose - thanks Karin!

Karin's Blog

Roses with Embossing

I was really inspired by the way Jackie used the new Painted Blooms set in her recent projects, creating fabulous backgrounds and building up dimension with layered images. I decided to have a go myself and printed out the single rose three times at different sizes and with one of the images flipped so they wouldn't all look exactly the same. About 15 minutes of fussy cutting later and I had all the elements ready for my layered card.

Stamps:
Painted Blooms

Garden Sale

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Colour

Bright and cheery colours plus a hint of sparkle makes a sweet little card. This one was quick and easy to make - print the image, colour with a selection of copic markers and finish with a layer of clear Wink of Stella.

Stamps:

The Button Collector

Everything Papercraft - Layering

Layering is a technique that most of us do without knowing it’s an actual paper crafting technique.  Basically, it’s the construction of a project using different layers of paper or card, often with further techniques or embellishments applied to each layer. White on white cards rely on different layers and textures, rather than colour, to distinguish between the different areas.

Layering is also a technique many colourists use, but rather than layers of paper, they will lay down layers of colour. If you watch colouring or painting videos, you will notice that the artist never stops at just one application of a medium. Rather, they build up the intensity and depth of colour gradually, often mixing different tones and tints to achieve shape and dimension.

Bright and Colourful - with Judy

Are you ready for a feast of colour?!

Judy has created an amazing collection of projects using the most beautiful mix of colours.  She has done such a great job with her colouring that all the little buttons look real, as if they are ready to be sewn on to a pretty dress or colourful shirt. Happily for us, Judy has kindly shared her colour palette!

A gorgeous easel card featuring some of the individual button

images from the set as embellishments for the inside of the card.

Two fabulous tags that are sure to brighten up any gift.

For more inspiration visit:

Judy's Blog

Tutorial - Squash Book Card

If you're looking for a cute little card that will fold out to give you plenty of room for messages, then today's tutorial might just be the answer. Squash Book Cards fold out to reveal lots of space for photos, embellishments, stamps, sentiments... whatever you wish to add! Perfect for those special occasions when you need a group card to hold lots of signatures, or as a little memento filled with photos of a memorable event.

1. You'll need three square pieces of heavy double-sided patterned paper or card stock. My pieces are 6" square, which will give me a finished, folded card that measures 3" x 3". I've also printed some images and sentiments and trimmed them down to 23/4" x 23/4" to embellish my finished card.

2. Place one of the pieces of patterned paper on your score board and score at 3". Rotate it 90 degrees and score again at 3" so you have score lines forming a cross in the middle of your patterned paper.

3. Score the paper diagonally from corner to corner. You only need to do this once.

4. Now fold and burnish along each score line.

5. Fold your patterned paper by pushing the diagonal folds inward and squeezing the two square sections together as shown in the photo below.

6. Repeat steps 2 - 5 for the other two pieces of patterned paper.

7. The next step is to adhere the squares together so that the diagonal score lines are vertical and the two end pieces are on top of the centre piece as shown below.

8. Use glue or strong double sided tape to adhere the pieces together, taking care not to cover the score lines so that your card folds freely.

9. Time to decorate! I used an image and some of the sentiments from the Button Collector digital stamp set. I also added some hand drawn borders around the other sections of the card.

10. As this is a bulky card, I decided to add a piece of twine to hold it closed. You could also add ribbon or a belly band if you prefer.

11. Secure the twine ONLY on the front of the folded card with glue or very strong tape. I used a combination of both so that the tape would hold the twine in place while the glue dried.

12. Add some foam tape on either side of the twine to hold a sentiment or image panel. You can add some additional glue on the back of the sentiment to ensure the twine is ultra secure.

Stamps: