New Home Card (2)

Hi Crafters, having recently bought a 'Home Sweet Home' die I though I would use it to make a card suitable for someone moving into a new home. 
Most cards are discarded after the event they were given for so I thought it would be good if it had an additional use. With this in mind I made the card so that it can also be used as a wall plaque.

Home Sweet Home card

The body of the house was hand cut from 300gsm card. To save loads of measuring in the future, I have used Microsoft Publisher to save the outline of the house. I then print this onto the 300gsm card and cut it out using a sharp knife and ruler. The shape is then covered with a thinner card or paper with a suitable pattern for your needs and trimmed to the shape of the house with a scalpel. This is easily done by following the outline of the thick card shape with your knife. The card attached to the back is a 5" x 7" 300gsm scalloped edge card that has been cut down to fit as can be seen in the picture below. Some of the scalloped edge was used as weather board trim on the roof.

Inside of card.

The rest of the card construction is straight forward. The cards insert is printed from the computer then cut to size before attaching with a strip of double-sided tape. The text reads:

WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME

Every house where love abides

and friendship is a guest,

is surely home and Home Sweet Home

for there the heart can rest.

Card Materials:
300gsm Card.
Patterned Card/Paper to face house shape.
5" x 7" Scalloped Edge Card.
Parchment Paper for Card Insert.
Brown Gems - Habic Rhinestones (Boyes).
Red Gems - Dovecraft, Merry Magic (Range)
4mm Eyelet
Distress Ink - Tim Holtz, scattered straw.
Distress Ink - Tim Holtz, worn lipstick.
Brown Garden Twine.
Die Cuts:
Daisy Frame - Lea'bilities, Art. nr. 45.0362.
Home Sweet Home - Spellbinders, Die D-Lites S2-086.
Large Butterfly - Cheery Lynn Designs, Exotic Butterfly DL112.
Small Butterfly - Marianne Design, LR0261.
Flourish - Nellie Snellen, Flower Swirl SD 002.
Flowers (inner) - Nellie Snellen, FLP 035.
Flowers (outer) - Nellie Snellen, FLP 013.
Card Insert - Dovecraft Corner Punch.

If you want to make a card of your own and require a template of the card, click on the link shown below and download the PDF document. 

http://goo.gl/s337kq

I hope you like the card/plaque. It isn't a difficult card to make which makes it suitable for anyone new to card making or the more experienced crafter. 

Thank You for taking the time to look.

Happy Crafting

Spellbinders Tool 'n One Review

Hi Crafters, I recently bought myself a Spellbinders Tool 'n One. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a special tool that has been designed to help release the card die-cut from the die and remove all the remaining off-cut bits. 

Spellbinders Tool 'n One

The Tool 'n One is well made and has three removable tools. A spatula, a pricker and a rotating brush. Each of the tools are easily removed or fitted by pulling back the spring loaded collar. Unused tools can be stored inside of the Tool 'n One body which unscrews so they don't get lost.

Tool 'n One - Tool Collar

The only problem I have found was when changing a tool. If the collar is pulled back too far, the ball bearing which is used to locate the tool can fall out. Other than that I found no other problems.

How does it perform?
To give a fair assessment of the Tool 'n One, I used a Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Lattice die (ref:S5-152) and a piece of 240gsm card stock that had been rubbed over with a Tumble Dryer Sheet. 

Example 1: 

The die-cut was removed from the die after cutting without any problems and all the off-cuts were still in place. I then banged the die on my desk 3-4 times which removed about 25% of the off-cuts. The remaining residue was removed using my normal pricking tool. The total time taken was 1m 49secs.

Example 2: 

As in the first example, the die-cut was removed without any problems from the die and all the off-cuts were still in place. I then laid the die face down on a piece of firm foam and rolled the brush of the Tool 'n One over all the die. This removed about 95% of the off-cuts from the die. I then held the die in my hand, ran the brush over it again which removed the remaining bits. The pricker wasn't needed. Total time taken was 36secs.

Conclusion.

Although the pricker wasn't need on this particular die, I think on the more detailed and intricate dies that are available it would be required.
The big difference in time between example 1 and 2 speaks for itself as to whether the Tool 'n One is worth purchasing. I was certainly impressed with it's performance and think it is money well spent. I certainly won't be die cutting without having a Tool 'n One to hand in the future.

If you do a lot of die cutting and are thinking of buying the Spellbinders Tool 'n One, I don't think that you will be disappointed with it. It costs about £13.00 in my local craft stores but if you check on-line you can get it a lot cheaper. You can also get some special soft foam that you are supposed to use in conjunction with the Tool 'n One but I personally don't think it is needed.

Spellbinders Tool 'n One Foam

Note:

For those who are new to Die Cutting, rubbing your dies or card stock prior to use with a Tumble Dryer Sheet greatly helps removal of your die-cut and waste bits. The ones I use are Asda's own brand, £0.99p for a box of 40. They last for ages.

If you think my review has been useful, please let me know by leaving a comment. If enough interest is shown I may post other reviews.

Thank You for taking the time to drop by.

Happy Crafting.

40th Anniversary Card

Hi Fellow Crafters. It was my Ruby Wedding Anniversary a few weeks ago so I thought I would make a card for my wife. It took me a few days to complete it but I think the finished result was worth it. My wife was really pleased with it and said that it is one of the best cards I have made.

Card Materials:
     C5 Scalloped Edge Ivory 270gsm card - Range (Craft UK Limited).
     Background Paper - Harrogate Show.
     Mat & Layered frames, 250gsm Card - Ross Papercraft Show.
     Lace trim - Range.
     Rose - Boyes store.
     Love Brad - Art Accentz, bought cheap set at local store
     Pearls - Bling Bling C301IV, Boyes
Die Cuts:
     Wife Tag - Lea'bilities Art. nr. 45.0362 Daisy Frame die set.
     Heart - Marianne Creatables, LR0159 die set.
     Happy - Cherry Lynn Designs B243
     Anniversary - Cherry Lynn Designs B226
     Lattice - Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Lattice S5-152
     Small Flowers (outer) Nellie Snellen Floral Punch FLP 014, also embosses.
     Small Flowers (centre) Nellie Snellen Floral Punch FLP 035, also embosses.
     Butterfly - Marianne Creatables, LR0261 die set.
     Medallion (behind rose) - Spellbinders D-lites Die Medalion 4 S2-013

The 'for my Wife' and '40 Years' text were printed before die cutting.

Thank You for taking the time to look.

Happy Crafting

Get The Most From Your Punches

One of the most useful tools you have for crafting is your own imagination. How often do you buy something to do a particular job, use it and then put it away without seeing its true potential. 

Butterfly Punch

To show you what I mean I will use a cheap Butterfly Corner Punch that was bought for £3.75 from Hobbycraft. The basic design is shown below.

Basic Design

Using a scalpel or scissors to cut various sections away, a number of different designs can be achieved to give the corner a totally new look as shown below.

Trimmed Corners

Further corner designs can be achieved by adding a contrasting card/paper as can be seen in the pictures below.

Trimmed Corners + Contrasting Card/Paper

You can also extend the versatility of the punch by using it to make Toppers for your cards. A small selection is shown in the pictures below. With a little imagination I could have made lots more different toppers with the addition of ribbon, gems, glitter etc.

Toppers

I have shown you just a little of what can be done with one corner punch. In the example below I have used two different corner punches to make a topper. You may also be able to use your dies in a similar way to get more use out of them.

Topper using two punches

Punch Maintenance:
  - To sharpen the Punch cutting mechanism, punch onto cut out thin aluminium foil.
  - To lubricate the Punch cutting mechanism, punch onto cut out wax paper.

I hope I have encouraged you to take another look at the tools you have. You may be surprised at how versatile they can be.

                                                                 Thanks for taking the time to look.

                                                                                Happy Crafting.

                                                        

Woven Birthday Card

Hi Crafters, I haven't had much time lately for making cards due to other commitments and illness. Anyway, the urge to make a Birthday Card for my sister got the better of me and the finished result is shown here.

       Card Materials:
        6" x 6" 300gsm White Card Blank - Papermania (The Range)
        Frames and Weaving - 250gsm Card (Ross Paper & Card)
        Flower Flourish - Shape Dies SD002 (Harrogate Show)
        Flowers - Xcut (Range)
        Happy Birthday - Free Die from Magazine.
        Pearl Gems: large - Crystal Stickers (Harrogate Show)
                           small - Bling Bling (Boyes)

                                                                                        Happy Crafting                                                                                                                          

Double-slider card (New Home)

Hi everyone,

since making the Flowers Double-slider card shown on my previous post, I have made a few more Double-slider cards. This New Home card was made for a good friend who has recently moved into a new property. When she received it, she said that it was adorable and she absolutely loved it.

Double-slider New Home card - closed



Double-slider New Home card - open



Construction of the card has been improved with each card made to give it a neater appearance. It takes quite a bit of time to make one of these cards but I think you will agree that the results are worth it. I hope you like this card. It is one of my favourites.

If enough interest is shown, I shall attempt to put a tutorial on my blog.

Thanks for taking the time to view my blog.

Happy Crafting.



Time Flies By

Hi Crafters, I've not been making cards all that long but from talking to and seeing other peoples work, it seems to me that not many crafters make cards for men. They seem to concentrate on the more feminine type of cards. If you buy a man card from the shops, they all seem to be themed on either golf, football or cars so I thought I would have a go at making something a but different. I love die cutting so it also gave me an excuse for getting out my Grand Calibur. The resulting card is shown below.

Happy Birthday - Cogs Card

It was a bit time consuming making all the cogs and letters, mainly due to having to paint them all black and then wax them. I also made the clock pointers from scratch and was pleased with how they turned out. If I didn't know otherwise, I would think they were real clock pointers.

Happy Crafting

Double-slider card (Flowers)

Hi everyone,

after doing some shopping with my wife on Saturday afternoon, I remembered that there was a Card-making Demonstration at my local Range store between 10am - 4pm.

It was about 3:20pm by the time we got there. I noticed that Gill O'Donnell (docrafts demonstrator) had made some double-slider cards which fascinated me. I asked her if she could show me how to make one but she didn't have time to complete a full card. Gill kindly had enough time though to tell me the measurements and show me how the mechanics of the card worked.


Double-slider card - closed

This is the first time I have made this type of card. I rushed it a bit, as I was trying to get it done while I could still remember how it was made. It's not perfect but I am still pleased with the results and it worked a treat.





Double-slider card - open



I altered the original measurements I had been given, so that I could use a 4" x 4" card. Once you understand how the mechanics of the card work, it is quite easy to alter the measuements to suit your own needs. Using a card blank for the back of the card instead of just a piece of card means that the card could stand up by itself.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my Blog.

Happy Crafting

Happy New Website card

Hi Fellow Crafter's,

I have recently set up a new Blog for a friend of mine who is fairly new to card-making. Her favourite colour is pink so I used that as the basic colour theme. The Header for the website was designed using bits and pieces that are normally used for making cards. I have tried to keep it pink and girlie for her so hopefully I have achieved that.

Diane was a bit disappointed at being told that I was keeping the original Header myself, so I thought I would make her a 'Happy New Website' card based on her website Header as compensation.

Happy New Website card

Card Materials:
  8" x 8" 300gsm White Card Blank - Papermania (The Range)
  11cm Doily - Free with Crafts Beautiful magazine
  Pink Bouquet - Craft Accessories (The Range)
  Crochet Flower - Craft Shop (The Range)
  Small Butterfly - Marrianne die from LR0261 set (The Craftery)
  Large Butterfly - Cheery Lynn Designs die from DL112 set (Harrogate Show)
  Label - X-Cut die and printed myself (The Range)
  Ribbon - Dovecraft (HobbyCraft)
  Upper Paper - from my stash
  Lower Paper - First Edition Paper, Spring Feast.
  Buttons and other bits - from my stash

Diane's Blog can be viewed at http://dianescardcreations.blogspot.co.uk

At the moment Diane is very busy so doesn't have the time to add to its content. I'm sure it will be worthwhile paying it a visit in the future though.

I hope you like the card I have made for her.

Thank You for reading my Blog

Bargain 6" x 6" Paperstacks

Hi Crafters.

I thought the local crafters near me might be interested in some paperpacks that I bought during the week. They were purchased from the Works shop in Stockton-on-Tees. The shop has a small crafting section with some reasonably priced items. 

The 6" x 6" paperpacks I bought contain approx 32 sheets in 12 different designs. They also have some 12" x 12" paperpacks which were £1.99p I think.

Happy Crafting

Spellbinders 3D M-Bossabilities Folder

Hi fellow crafters, while at The Great Northern Extravaganza at Harrogate in March, I purchased one of the new Spellbinders 3D M-Bossabilities Creative Cogs Embossing Folders.

I love anything to do with cogs, as anyone who knows me and has seen some of my man cards will tell you. I had seen some of the Spellbinders 3D embossing folders being used on Create and Craft and the results achieved looked really good. 



3D Embossed example.



Having found some 240gsm Black Card I embossed it with my Spellbinders Grand Calibur using the Pink Embossing Plate (without the Tan Mat) and the Rasperry Plate. Just to try it out, I only used the top part of the embossing folder. Embossing was straight forward without any problems. Just so you can see the detail better though, I have brightened the picture up a bit.

 

After embossing, I then applied some Gold Wax Gilt to it using my finger. Only apply a small amount at a time. You can always add more later, if needed. The Wax I used was bought many years ago so it really does go a long way.

 

3D Embossed/Waxed and Trimmed example.



I haven't made a card using this folder yet but after seeing the results of the test example I thought you would like to see it. Have a good look at the finished example and see how many levels you can see. I counted at least 5 levels.

They are not the cheapest of embossing folders but after using it and seeing the results for myself, I think it was money well spent. I would certainly recommend them to anyone interested in them and will be adding some more to my collection when I am able to.

A few people have asked me what make of wax I have used, so I have included a picture of it below.

Gold Wax Gilt

Thanks for taking the time to read my Blog.

Happy Crafting. John



Get Well Card

Hi all, not had a very good day today. My wife was taken into hospital and I've been running around like a headless chicken. I did manage to grab 5 mins though and knock her a Get Well card up.




Tulip Get Well card



The cardstock is a small Papermania 4"x4" white card with a strip of Docrafts Backing Paper glued in place. Topper Elements are from the Docrafts Tulip range, purchased from Collectables. Normally £2.00 per pack they have been reduced to .50p a pack or 3 for 2 while stocks last.





Bargain Elements



They have also got some Hot Diggity Dog and Me to You Element packs as well for the same price. The border detail is just drawn on with a glitter pen.

Blog Heading Update

Hi Everyone, just updated my Blog Header. I got stuck in yesterday evening and finished it off but didn't have time to install it. Anyway I think it's looks good and I've had some favourable comments about it from friends.



New Blog Header

Once I had the background worked out, I laid out all the bits and pieces I wanted to incorporate. It was then a matter of moving them about until it looked right to me. It does look a bit busy, as mentioned by a couple of people but they spent quite a few minutes looking at it and that is what I was aiming to achieve. Something that grabs your attention and is a bit different to other peoples headings. Anyway I hope you like the new heading. It would be interesting to know your thoughts on it.

Blog Heading

The Heading of my blog looks a bit plain so I though I would have a go at designing a new one to replace it. Easier said than done though.

I want something a bit out of the ordinary with my own stamp on it that reflects the type of crafter I am. I'm a bit of a magpie and when I make a card I always seem to make extra bits in case I need them to make another card. It soon became apparent after looking through my magpie stash of papers, embellishments and other bits and pieces that I had the makings of a Blog Header.

Rolling up my sleeves, I set to work and soon had a rough design more or less worked out in my head. Before turning in for the night, I had the basic background completed (shown below)  and the heading printed. Punching the border on the ivory cardstock took a few attempts to get it just right. I then blended around the edges with a Tim Holtz Distress Ink - scattered straw.



The middle cardstock was purchased from Touch Of Craft at The Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza at Harrogate. It is really nice and I was going to get some more but after looking on their website and it doesn't seem to be available. The die-cut corner embellishment and ribbon have not been permanently attached at the moment. It's getting quite late so I'm off to bed before I fall asleep. Hopefully I'll finish my Blog Header over the next few days when time permits and get it installed.

Anniversary Card

It's our 38th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow so rather than buy a card I decided to make a special card for my wife. I based the card on the 3D frame card that I have developed because they are so versatile and look so good. They take a bit of making but I think the results makes them worth while.



Anniversary Card - 2013


For those interested the construction details follow:

I have the template as a MS Publisher document stored on my computer. I print it out onto the back of the cardstock I am going to use. For this particular card I used some textured cardstock. For thicker cardstock I tend to use my old Epson DX3800 printer. It seems to handle the thicker cardstock better than the more modern Epson Stylus SX435W that I also have. If enough people are interested, I will try and put a tutorial onto my blog of how to construct the basic card.

Once printed, I cut it out, apply double sided tape or glue to the appropriate areas and fold it into a frame. I then cut a piece of backing card (approx 240gsm) to 11cm x 11cm and glue a suitable patterned backing paper to it. When this backing is glued into place, it helps stiffen the frame quite a bit.

At this point I then blended some Tim Holts Distress Ink - worn lipstick very lightly onto the frame using an applicator for more control. Heart with Birds is a Marianne die LR0186, corners and flowers are Lea'bilities dies Art. nr. 45.8558 and the small butterfly is from the Marianne die set LR0261. Since the photo was taken I have also added Inkssentials Glossy Accents to the Flower and Butterfly detail to give them better definition.

Needless to say, my wife loved the card and hopefully you also like it.

My First Card

I have always been interested in making things since childhood.

In September 2012 after attending a local craft group at Norton, my interest in card making was aroused. I now attend the club regularly and my enthusiasm for card making  has grown. I have now learned new skills from club members, reading magazines and looking on the internet.

This is the first card that I started to make at my local crafting club. I later finished it at home.

The Christmas Tree is hand stitched onto a piece of white card. I then blended the edges of the card with red ink. The snowflakes were stamped with a clear embossing pad and embossed with silver and gold powder. I think I may have gone over the top with the amount of snowflakes.

After adding a backing paper to my blank card I added my Christmas Tree, a bow and 4 gems.

Not the most complicated card but not bad for a first attempt at cardmaking.