Hibiscus Flowers

I didn't want to wait too long to use the flowers I coloured a couple of days ago. (Things have a way of going missing if I don't use them pretty quickly... stashed in a "safe place"... never to be seen again) I teamed the brightly coloured hibiscus blooms with some lush ferns for a fabulous tropical vibe, perfect for summertime birthdays.

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Just The Flowers

I'm always looking for different ways to use my stamps, dies, and other papercrafting items, and one of the easiest techniques is to selectively stamp parts of your images. There are a few different ways of doing this, such as masking on the paper, masking the stamp or even cutting the stamp into sections. Today I'm using little pieces of cardstock that are big enough for the part of the image I want to use, and then I'll use some small scissors to cut away the excess.

I want just the hibiscus flower from the Girls' Night set of stamps. I'm using water based ink to stamp on blending card so I can colour with my alcohol markers.

Pro-tip, colour around your image with marker before fussing cutting. This gives you a little more margin for error and makes for a tidier cut.

Now I have a collection of pretty flowers ready to add to my cards!

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Flowering Eucalypt

To make my eucalyptus branch look a little fuller, I stamped and coloured a second image, then fussy cut some of the leaves to position on the main branch as well as behind the image panel.

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Day 7 - "F"

I've doubled up on my "F" prompts today with both figgy pudding and fussy cutting in my design. 

YOUR TURN: Create a card using the letter "F" as your prompt.

Click on the link below to add your creation to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

INSPIRATION WORDS:

Family, father Christmas, Feliz Navidad, feast, fir tree, frankincense, Frosty the snowman, fireplace, fruitcake, figgy pudding, festive, fussy cutting, fancy folds, flip flop card, fluorescent, fuchsia, French blue

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Pre-Coloured Digis

Creating three-dimensional paper tole images is a lot simpler with pre-coloured digital stamps. I printed one image, three times, then fussy cut particular sections so I could layer them together to give the illusion of dimension.

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Stay Spooky

I've coloured my witch's hat in shades of purple and red, not all that spooky I guess, but certainly a lot of fun! I tore around the edges of my sentiment to add a little texture and to contrast with all the straight lines.

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Tutorial - Shadow Box Card

With layers of scenery to create depth and dimension, this fold might just be the ultimate in 3D card making. The clever design will even allow the card to collapse to fit into an envelope for posting!

1. To create the base of the card you'll need two 6" squares of card stock, plus one 41/2" x 3/4" and one 41/2" x 1/2" strips of card stock.

2. Place one of the 6" squares of card stock on your score board and score 1" from either side. Repeat with the second 6" square of card stock and fold along the score lines.

3. Cut a window from the middle of one of the 6" squares of card stock. Although the size is up to you, my window measures 3/4" from the top and bottom and 1/2" from either side. If preferred, you could use a cutting die for this step.

4. Add a 6" x 4" piece of patterned or decorated paper between the score lines of the second 6" square of card stock. This will form the background of your scene. (A few of you might remember the aurora background I created a couple of days ago using distress inks and a blending tool... I'm attaching it to the background of my card for a pretty night scene.)

5. Place one of the 41/2" strips horizontally on your score board and score 1/4" from either end. Repeat with the second strip. Fold along the score lines.

6. These two strips will become the structures for holding some of the elements of the card to give the 3D effect. I want mine to look a little like small hills so I'm shaping them gently with a pair of small scissors. Since the strips will be positioned behind the card stock window, there's really no need to cut them any smaller unless you wish to make them part of the design.

7. Add some glue or double sided tape to the tab on the left hand side of the wider strip of card stock.

8. Attach the strip of card stock to the left of the score line, keeping the bottom edge flush with the bottom edge of the card. Before the glue has a chance to dry completely, fold the strip back over the card to make sure everything is lined up.

9. Apply glue to the narrower strip of card stock in the same manner. Position it just to the left of the first strip, again making sure that the edges are flush.

10. Add glue or double sided tape to the tabs on the right hand side of both card stock strips, then fold the card base to the left to secure them in place.

11. You should now have two strips of card stock on which to add your decorative elements. I've fussy cut one of the images from the new A Drover's Life digital set as well as some hand cut cactus plants and a rough stone outcrop. For lots of depth, remember to add smaller elements to the background as though they are off in the distance.

12. Add the smallest elements directly onto the background with glue or tape, then build up the scene by adding larger elements to each of the card stock strips. I used some glue at the base of my cactus plants and on the hoofs of the horse.

13. To frame the scene, I added some large cactus plants on either side of my window. 

14. To complete the card, add glue on the inside of the two outer panels of the card front. Adhere the card front to the outside of the two outer panels of the card base, overlapping the 1" sections.

I hope you'll give this fabulous card fold a go, it's really not too difficult to achieve. Have fun!

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