Challenge #20 for Angie's Digital Stamps

With no optional theme this week at Angie's Digital Stamps, I was able to make a birthday card for a friend. He's a bit older than me and totally into cars (though more MGs rather than VDubs). Inside I've printed "You're a CLASSIC! Happy Birthday".
 

The background was created in a Word document with an assortment of fonts all saying "Classic". I used a range of colours for the printing from a very pale blue for the background colour, aqua, teal and dark navy. I also stencilled a strip of herringbone brickwork using a mixture of black texture paste and some Anna Griffin/Couture Creations Mix & Match Pigment powders (white and silver) that I wanted to match my Graphite Viva Decor Ferro Texture Paste that went hard in the container on me. I hate that - when you are going to use something and then you find out it's "gone off"!

If you haven't used the Mix & Match Pigment powders, they are amazing! They can be used to colour a wide range of media (eg gesso, texture/embossing paste, acrylic paint, Dimensional Glaze, etc), as well as providing a lovely shimmer to it all. They can also be used for painting (by mixing with water), misting (a little in a spray bottle of water) and added to glue with glitter to add "a dash of flash" to any surface. With these, you almost can just have white everything and just colour where and when needed. Talk about great economy! I find them similar to Pearl EX, Perfect Pearls and Cosmic Shimmer, but the colours are so vibrant you only need a tiny amount of powder to achieve a rich colour.  

I coloured Angie's super cute digi stamp car using my trusty Copic markers; with a little silver and clear Wink of Stella Brushes for the metallic areas and glass.

I tried styling the photo, but Darryl's grungy old car keys don't really match in. (I should have at least given them a scrub first.) Hahaha!

Anyway, head on over to Angie's Digital stamps and join in the fun. There's some great inspiration from the Design Team, as well as super amazing contributions from our subscribers. 

Bye for now.

Love,

Lots of blue

How slack am I?

I forgot to post this Design Team entry for Get Creative Challenges' Challenge #44 - Lots of Blue. OOHMAH!!! (Sorry Angie.) 

My card used a cutie digi from our sponsor Karleigh Sue's Digital Stamps.

                                                                       
My best friend's hubby has his birthday a week after mine, so I thought he'd appreciate this little beauty. I used Copic markers to colour it, which I thought turned out nicely. (I went heavy on her makeup to go with her occupation.  hahaha  ) I used a star background that I designed for my ScanNCut. (If you'd like a copy of the file, let me know in the comments below and I'll email it to you.) It was adhered to some double-sided sheet and then clear glitter sprinkled over the top. Nice sparkle! The main sentiment was die cut from gold foiled cardstock and layered with matching black die cuts.

Unfortunately this challenge has just closed, but you can still pop over and see what great projects everyone made. 

Bye for now.

Love,

Janelle

Happy Easter

First of all I'd like to wish everyone a happy and safe Easter. Hope the Easter bunny comes to you all.

Yesterday (Good Friday) was my father's 80th birthday. I'm posting the card I made for him using my new Mini Minc machine. 

I foiled the background using the Signature 12x12" paper pack with some Teal foil. The Charming Themed card was also foiled with the teal foil. The sentiment was foiled in gold onto a sheet of toner paper and then die cut using MFT Brushstroke Birthday Greetings die set. The 80 came from the Ephemera pack and was also foiled in gold. These were  layered onto a 14x14cm white card blank and decorated with some teal sequins. 

(OMG! It's so hot as I'm typing this - sweat is running down the sides of my face.)

The photo is terrible as I quickly took it before we drove to Dad's place for a birthday lunch. The glue has also shown up in the photo, but IRL you can't see it at all where I smudged it gluing the sentiment in place. You also can't see the colour properly. It really looked so stunning IRL.

Dad's not the sort of person who really cares about cards, but it was an excuse to play with my Minc. I'm loving it and learning a lot about it, as I've just finished a commission for Practical Publishing about the Minc machine (doing a review and cards).

One thing I've found out, though, is that, while it may be more economical to print a sheet of toner paper using a laser printer, you don't get the quality of finish as you do with the Minc Toner paper. If it's just for a background mat, the laser toner paper would suffice, but if you can see most of it, then you really need to go with the Minc toner paper. I also tried out the Minc toner pen and, while it's great for adding strokes and swirls to your paper for an artistic effect, it is NO good for colouring in sentiments etc to cover with foil (uneven and smudgy result). Also if you're die cutting a sheet of cardstock you've already foiled, leave the plastic cover sheet in place and die cut through it. You'll get less scratching of the foil.

My favourite technique to do is double foiling. I'll post a couple of cards using this technique in a couple of days. You'll love it too.

Anyway, bye for now.

Love,
Janelle

Time for something new

I'm back with a card I just made for my brother-in-law's birthday. 

Ever since I got this die, I've been planning how to use it and I finally got around to using it. The die is called Birthday Cloud from Memory Box. As you can see, the cloud is stuck to the card using foam pads (those little bits were a touch fiddly to apply - I left the loops in the top of the b and h off - they were just too small.)

I adhered some glittered alphas onto acetate, fussy cut around them, stuck it on the top of the cloud and finished with the wooden hot-air balloon.

I think the balloon really makes the cloud really look like a cloud and the white dotted background is just fun.

Bye for now.
Love, 
         Janelle 

Has anyone heard of Mine Craft?

I have to share with you a card I had to make for my son's best friend (who, like my son, is obsessed with the internet game of Mine Craft). His party was this afternoon and at 10.00am today I still hadn't thought of what card to make for him. Alex had rejected my idea of a robot and said I should make a Endertron 9000. Wahh???? We settled on a "Creeper" face from Mine Craft. You can see my result below.

While I'll be the first to say it's nothing great, from all accounts, he thought it was cool and especially liked his present, which was - you guessed it - a Mine Craft Beginner's Handbook!

Anyway, bye for now.

Janelle
  :)

Hubby's 50th Birthday Ho Hum!

I can't believe my husband sometimes!

Today was his 50th birthday, so as he gets up for work so much earlier than I need to get up, I left his birthday card on the table in his place, so he'd see it first up. When he phoned later, I asked him how he liked his card. "Whaa???" was his reply. He'd just simply pushed it aside this morning without even giving it a look! ARGHHH!

Then as part of dinner, after he'd unwrapped his presents, etc, I had a cheesecake for his birthday cake (as he doesn't like sponge cake much and I'd gone to the Cheesecake Shop to especially buy his favourite as well as a special 50th candle). Anyway, while I was finishing my dinner, he got up and got himself a yoghurt for his dessert. "But what about your cake?" I asked.   "Oh, I'm too full to eat anything more now." ARGHHH! ARGHHH!

Why do I try?

The card was based (strongly) on a card by Biggan I've pinned on my Pinterest board. Since I had no ideas - it was great to browse through ideas I had selected and choose one that I felt was right. What is it called when you pay homage to a fellow crafter by copying their work - but also remembering to acknowledge where it came from? I know "scraplift" is used for scrapbookers, but is there a specific term for cardmakers as well?

Anyway, bye for now.
Janelle

WOW A Burst of Creativity!

It's been a while since I created three cards in 24 hours (other than when I'm doing a commission or cards for the Mother's Day Stall - which reminds me I need to get a go on with them!)

I've made a card for a friends' son' birthday. I thought I'd post it in the latest Annabelle Stamps Challenge, which is a sketch challenge. 

I used some really cute stamps from The Greeting Farm My Guy Ian set and coloured with my Copic Markers. This time I think I did a good job of colouring. The frame came from a Kaisercraft set. I don't often have such simple cards, but with the sketch it was easy to follow.

My second card is for the Muse Challenge #10. I wasn't able to participate for the past two weeks, as I was busy doing a commission. But this week's challenge has some beautiful colours and a fun design. This week's card was created by Ardyth Percy-Robb, whose blog I accidently came across last weekend and I enjoyed looking at her cards so much I signed up as a follower straight away.

I love how her circles are inked like fireworks, and the design is so vibrant, yet simple.

My card uses Ardyth's layout, but I've covered more of the card with the flowers and the sentiment. I thought I had used all of her colours, but I realise now I've forgotten the pink. (You can't tell it was a mistake, can you?)

The sentiment stamp is from Hampton Art Cling Word Borders and the flower is from a HOTP set called Wildflowers. I love the rhinestone border as it lifts the sentiment and makes it stand out, without the trouble of foam mounting etc.

Anyway, I've cleared out the old cupboards from my craft room, ready to build the new one tomorrow, but I've still got to vacuum the carpet in there, so I'll go now.

See ya!

Janelle

P.S. Did anyone notice the changes I've made to my blog?

Annabelle Stamps Challenge AC157

This is just a quick post to show a card I made for the Annabelle Stamps blog Sketch Challenge AC157. Details here.

Using the sketch as inspiration, I created this card, so that the fine corrugated cardstock framed the card and then I added the die cut tag, rather than a rectangle like in the sketch. I then stamped the sentiment with frames from Annamelle Stamps Boy's Party stamp set. I finished with the plane from Alley Way stamp set Priceless Joy, that I coloured using Copic markers. 

I made this for one of my son's friends, whose party is on Sunday. I'll have to run it by Allie to make sure it's suitable. For a kid he has a lot of instinct for this sort of stuff.

Anyway, bye for now.
Janelle 

A doily card

I'm posting a card made with one of my mum's mini doilies. It's for my niece's 19th birthday, so I wanted it to be bright and cheerful, feminine without being too fussy, but still modern. I hope she likes it. I made it a while ago and held off posting on my blog until I gave it to her, but I haven't seen her for ages (and if she's reading this - I know it's late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!)

I used some free Raspberry Road Designs paper from the English Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine (can't remember which issue) which was a lovely set with pretty floral designs and fresh colours. The FabScraps Journal Tags are fast becoming a favourite with their range of colours and designs in the book. I also tried out my Papermania Brad Making kit which allowed me to personalise the brad using one of the blooms on the paper.  The embossing powder used on the sentiment is Stampendous Shabby Pink and I love the glitter bits in it as well as the slightly chunky white and copper bits. While it doesn't give a defined result, it sure is interesting and fun. The stamp comes from the Hot Off The Press Birthday Greetings set. 

I also made a card for my nephew (the twin of my niece) which was a variation on the masculine card I made for my last post.

Bye for now,

Janelle

Masculine Cards

I don't know about you, but I always find it difficult to create interesting cards for the men in my life. I saw an interesting idea by Kristina Werner for using washi tape and since I'd just got some from Paper Wishes, thought I'd give it a shot.

I made two - one for a friend and the other for a brother-in-law. I love the strong lines in it and masculine colours - but it's not boring because the circles on the paper and the big wooden buttons add extra dimension.
Materials used:  10.5x14cm cream card blank
                        cre8tiv 12x12" Specialty paper - dark brown
                        We R Memory Keepers Vintage Blue collection - Sugar Plum
                             Cloud 9 Design Sparkle Celebration Bubbles paper - Cinnamon Stick
                        We R Memory Keepers washi Tape - black, blue, brown, aqua and red
                             Martha Stewart Diamond Fence Deep Couble Edge punch
                        FabScraps and Prima wooden buttons
                        Fundamentals alphabet stickers

July is always a really busy season for birthdays, so I've got a lot more cards to make.

Bye for now,
Janelle

PS Check out Kristina's blog as she has some delightful cards and her how-to videos are interesting and informative.

I'm back...!

Phew!!! I'm sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I had a commission for Practical Publishing to do, plus I've been sleeping a lot lately. CFS again.

 Anyway, last year I entered the PPI Card Maker of the Year Competition. I mentioned last entry that I was one of the runner-ups - these are the cards that were my entry.

 This first card was made using my eCraft electronic cutter. Everything (except the big butterfly stamp) was cut or drawn on it. I drew over the filigree lines (on the front) with an embossing pen and then heat set bronze powder, but my Cutie drew the lines in the first place using a true font frame called Calligraphic Frames font (from dafont.com). It was quite a challenge to create a card shape using the frame.

 This second card used the Kaisercraft Bonjour Collection. So sweet! Some weeks later I made up a set of other cards using the same collection and sent them in for consideration. To my astonishment, they were accepted and published early this year.

My third card used aspects of the Hot Off The Press Steampunk collection as well as a stamp from Kaisercraft called Tic Toc, that I heat embossed in copper for my background.

I love Hot Off The Press products and their website (http://www.paperwishes.com/) is wonderful for ideas, especially their webisodes. Check it out if you haven't yet. They have some very inspirational designers.

If you would like more details about what materials I used, etc, drop me a comment and I'll get them to you.

Bye for now,
Janelle