Friday 30 August 2013

Sizzix Pop 'n Cuts Flower Pot 'Hello' Card

 Well I got back from France the day before yesterday, and amazingly made myself unpack and tidy the house before letting myself play with the contents of some exciting packages which were waiting for me, after a month of being away!
Here is a card I made this afternoon, for a lady I haven't met yet, but who I will be visiting through my church. I wanted to send her just a general 'Hello' card first.
 These were the contents of one box! Eileen Hull from Sizzix was lovely enough to send me some beautiful dies from her Picket Fence range... I think the whole range is really gorgeous (the little bird houses in the photo in my blog header are from another die in the same range.) I'm excited to try them out! Thank you Eileen!
 I cut out a plant pot from Eileen's 'Clay Pot' die, and the rim for it. (You can use the die to make a 3D stand-up version, but I just used one layer for this card.) I stuck the pot to the front of Karen Burniston's A2 Pop 'n Cuts card, with the Funky Label insert, which I cut away a bit of, to fit behind the pot.
I used Brenda Walton's 'Summer Florals' decorative strip to cut the flowers (from very old papers from my stash), and another of Eileen Hull's dies - 'Phrase, Bloom & Plant Markers' to make the lovely little 'wooden' sign sticking out from the flowers. The 'Hello' is from Tim Holtz's 'Typeset' die.
The black flower centres are punched with a Kars punch.
 I added a ribbon (sticking various parts down with Beacon's glue, to keep it in its shape), and kept the rest of the card pretty simple, with just a strip of gingham, and a buckle type thing, made using another of the Plant Marker tops, with 2 slits cut in it.
 I wanted room for a message on the front, and cut a journaling piece from two dies from the Majestic labels Sizzix Framelits set, and added another layered flower.
All the edges were inked with Distress Ink.

Some of the products used:


   

Monday 12 August 2013

Pop 'n Cuts Garden Chair Card

 This is a pre-scheduled post, as hopefully I will be in France when this is posted, where I don't yet know how much internet access I'll have.
I wanted to make a card using one of Karen Burniston's 'Imagery' Pop 'n Cuts inserts - this one being the Chair insert, used in the A2 Card base.
I thought I'd make an outdoor chair scene, and as I had such fun making my sister's gnome card, added a mini gnome here too!
Some of Karen's beautiful Pop 'n Cuts inserts to choose from...
 I'm afraid I have rather a lot of pictures!
Here are all the components of the card, ready to have the edges inked with Distress ink, and be assembled.
I didn't end up using all the bits, like the gate or stepping stones, plus I added a few extras, like the mud for the flower border. (Spot the gnome!! I glued him together immediately, because the bits were so ridiculously tiny, I'd lose them.)
I used papers from Basic Grey's 'Mint Julep' 6x6 pad, except for the woodgrain chair, and plain Bazzill papers.
I stuck the larger pieces to the base card first, and had cut out slats in the back of the chair part with a craft knife, before adding that. You can see above that I had to cut some of the chair back away on the floral background. I then added a little grass hill to one side, and some hand cut grass tufts.
 I cut the gnome (and various other elements) from Cricut's 'Freshly Picked' Cartridge. It has some great things on it! This gnome is tiny... 1.5 inches tall! I stuck him to the card base on a folded piece of green card.
 The vegetable bed was dark brown card stock, mottled with lighter brown and black Distress paint. The plants were cut from the same Cricut cartridge, and the bent under parts of them which I stuck them down with, are hidden by extra strips of painted brown card.
The garden fork is also Cricut.
The flower bed was cut from the smaller flowers on Tim Holtz's Tattered Flower Garland die.
 I also added some gardening gloves and a sun hat (Cricut - same cartridge), and I embossed the top layer of the hat with Karen Burniston's Foyer Set embossing folders (in the rug part!)
 I cut the sky part into a 'hills' shape, and added Papertrey Ink Clouds (seem to have used them a lot lately), one of which I cut down to match the hill shape. Finally I just added a few bunting flags, to give it a more summery feel.
Incidentally, talking of bunting, it's been commented on recently that I rather like it... it's true! Here is me outside my tent on my recent camp...

Products used:


   

Saturday 10 August 2013

Country View Crafts 'Quotations and Sayings' Guest Designer spot

I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of Country View Craft blog's Top 3 winners in their June 'Die cuts' challenge.
This month their challenge is 'Quotations and Sayings', and I have been invited to be a guest designer for this challenge.
I chose to make an Accordion Album card, using Karen Burniston's 'Accordion Flip 3-D Album' die, and the accompanying 'Frame & Label, Bracket' die, which cuts perfect sized paper frames to fit on the card base, and the inner layers for the panels.
For my quote, I chose one from Tim Holtz's 'Way with Words' stamp set. I like the quote - it has felt very fitting this past year with some of the challenges our family has faced!
I used papers from Tim Holtz's Craft Resist 12x12 pad, and from Cosmo Cricket's 'Pretty Floral' 6x6 pad, and inked all the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink, using his Ink Blending Tool.
The larger vellum butterfly on the first panel was cut with Memory Box's 'Darla' Butterfly, and the smaller one is a Stampin' Up punch. The adhesive paper lace, metal frame and pearls are from my stash - can't remember which makes.
The second panel has flowers cut with Tim Holtz's 'Tattered Flower Garland' die, and swirls cut from his 'Festive Greenery' die.
For the third panel, I embossed the stamped quote with clear embossing powder, and added a little bird brad from my stash, which I painted with metallic Distress paint, to match the colour of the metal frame.
The last panel has Memory Box's 'Vintage Bird Cage', more flowers from the 'Tattered Flower Garland' die, and some hand cut vellum and paper bunting.

The product links below are for American shops, but for UK people, Country View Crafts is great for the dies and rubber stamps etc. I've used them a lot, and they have free P&P and really fast delivery times.

Products used:


   




Monday 5 August 2013

'Gnome Sweet Gnome' Pop 'n Cuts & Cricut Card

Well I survived camp (and loved it in fact - a cross between a feat of endurance, and the most precious time possible with some wonderful girls and leaders).
Anyway, I wanted to make my sister and her family a card - they just moved this week to Sheffield for my brother-in-law's new job as an eye surgeon.
The card is very tongue in cheek...
I used Karen Burniston's Square Pop 'n Cuts base with Ornate Edges, with the Wavy Frame insert.
I also used the Wavy Label Framelits for the cream layer on the pop-out piece, for the grass piece (which I then finished cutting by hand), for the bit to write on and for the layers on the card front.
 I also used clouds cut with Papertrey Ink dies, and a gnome cut from Cricut's 'Freshly Picked' cartridge. 
I cut the little sign by hand.
All the papers are from Cosmo Cricket's 'Pretty Floral' pad.
The green scallops were cut using Tim Holtz's Scallops On the Edge die, and the heart is from Sizzix Owl #2.
The front, using Hero Art's Printers Lowercase Alphabet stamps, and swirls from the Square Pop 'n Cuts base die.

Products used: