Wednesday 30 March 2016

A Dutch Open Sea

I recently discovered a fun fold that I hadn't seen before so I had to try it!  It's called a Double Dutch fold and there's a great tutorial for it at Splitcoaststampers.

I needed a masculine card so I combined elements from The Open Sea and Going Global stamp sets with nautical colours - Marina Mist and Pacific Point.
SU, Double Dutch fold, Masculine card, The Open Sea, Going Global, In the Meadow, Happy Home
The anchors are coloured with Smoky Slate and Soft Suede markers
For the tag, I used the largest die in the Tags & Labels Framelit set and the second largest of the Lots of Labels Framelits.  The image is coloured with Pacific Point and Marina Mist markers.Everything is sponged with Marina Mist ink. 

The greeting is from Watercolour Wings, stamped in Basic Black and cut out with the banner die from the Large Numbers Framelits.  I sponged the banner with Marina Mist and Pacific Point inks.

The background piece is stamped with elements from The Open Sea using Marina Mist ink and then sponged over with Marina Mist ink.
SU, Double Dutch fold, Masculine card, The Open Sea, Going Global, In the Meadow, Happy Home
The mostly blank top panel provides a place to write a note or greeting.
The mountains in the background are from the In the Meadow stamp set, as are the sprigs of grass in the foreground.

The hilly cliff edge in the foreground was created with one of the stamps in the Happy Home set - I used a Pear Pizzazz marker to ink up only the hill, omitting the bench and clouds.

The ship is from The Open Sea.  I used a black marker to ink up the ship, leaving out the sea part of the stamp.

I sponged the grass with Pear Pizzazz and Mossy Meadow.  The  sea and sky are sponged with Soft Sky, Marina Mist and Pacific Point and I used a Marina Mist Stampin' Write marker to create ripples in the sea.

I sponged the distant mountains with Wisteria Wonder and a little Elegant Eggplant and deepened the shadows on the waterline with an Elegant Eggplant marker.  Then I added a little Wisteria Wonder into the sea as a bit of a reflection.  

At the end, I touched up the sails with a bit of Whisper White Craft Ink and a brush and used a Real Red marker on the little flag at the top of mast.

Thank you for looking at my card.

'Til next time
Stephanie

As always, if you'd like to make a purchase, click on a product image below to link to my online shop.

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Monday 28 March 2016

Swallowtail Tri-fold

Today I'm continuing my journey with the gorgeous Fancy Foil Designer Vellum and I've paired it with the Swallowtail stamp - which always adds instant wow!  And - who doesn't love a Tri-fold card?

SU, Swallowtail, Butterfly, Tri-fold card, Trifold card, Tri fold shutter card, Fancy Foil vellum
The Fancy Foil Vellum adds interest and richness to a simple design

I've taken the dot and diagonal themes a step further by using the Large Polka Dot and Stylish Stripes embossing folders.

SU, Swallowtail, Butterfly, Tri-fold card, Trifold card, Tri fold shutter card, Fancy Foil vellum
The dots and diagonals are continued in the embossed panels

The greeting is from the That Thing You Did stamp set, stamped in Basic Black. I used the Out of the Box technique to cut out the butterfly using one of the Chalk Talk framelits.  The edges are inked with Lost Lagoon ink.

SU, Swallowtail, Butterfly, Tri-fold card, Trifold card, Tri fold shutter card, Fancy Foil vellum
The greeting is suitable for many occasions

The colours I used are Lost Lagoon, Island Indigo, Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Soft Sky, Tip Top Taupe and Chocolate Chip.

Thank you for visiting today, I hope you like the card.

'Til next time
Stephanie

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Sunday 27 March 2016

Black, Gold & Velllum

Click on the image to visit Anna's blog
I was following the Mediterranean Cruise Achievers blog hop and was stopped in my tracks by this beauty by Anna Wheaton at Nudge Nudge Ink Ink.

It got me thinking about the Botanical Builder dies and metallics as well as prompting me to make more use of my vellum.

So - I pulled out my Fancy Foil Designer Vellum, Gold Foil Sheets and some Basic Black cardstock and this is what I came up with.

SU, Botanical Builder, Fancy Foil Vellum, Black and Gold, hand crafted card, #thecraftythinker
I achieved the checked pattern with two layers of Fancy Foil Vellum

It was my original intention to use Basic Black Candy Dots for the centres of the two smaller flowers but I had run out!  (Guess what I'll be ordering next!).  Once I'd stopped kicking myself, I used the Owl Builder punch to punch a couple of little black dots and used the Fine Tipped Glue Pen to put them in the centre of the flowers.

I used an Antique Brad (I love those things!) in the centre of the large flower.

SU, Botanical Builder, Fancy Foil Vellum, Black and Gold, hand crafted card, #thecraftythinker
The Botanical Builder elements are so much fun to mix and match!

One of the quickest, simplest cards I've ever made but it still has wow.  

And another card with no ink!

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time.
Stephanie

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Friday 25 March 2016

The Wilderness Awaits card gift set


SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
The Wilderness Awaits card set
From 8 pm AEDT, this project will be included here in the Crazy Crafters Team Project Highlights.  Do visit to see all the wonderful projects highlighted this week and you can vote for your favourites (including mine!)
SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
The belly band has a greeting from the Tag Talk stamp set
From time to time I like to make a set of cards to present as a gift.  I decided, this week, to make a masculine set of cards as a gift for a friend, that she can use for any occasion..

The main elements of the set are The Wilderness Awaits stamp set and Botanical Gardens DSP.

SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
The set comprises four cards and envelopes
I stamped each of the animals onto Shimmery White cardstock with Basic Black ink and then watercoloured them.  The inks I used were: Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Delightful Dijon, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate and Basic Gray.

I then layered the images onto the cards using a variety of patterns from the Botanical Gardens DSP pack and Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze and Pear Pizzazz cardstock.

I used an A4 sheet of Pear Pizzazz cardstock to create a wallet to hold the cards and envelopes and I'll include instructions at the end of this blog.

SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
The dog is coloured with Delightful Dijon and Soft Suede inks.
When colouring the images, I started with the sky.  I "painted" around the animal with a clean, wet brush, then painted with Soft Sky ink.
SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
The fox is also coloured with Delightful Dijon and Soft Suede inks.  I left his nose & tip of his tail unpainted.

I dried the sky before painting the animal.

SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
I googled some duck photographs before I started colouring this one!

The last area I coloured was the ground .... or water!
SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
The stag is mostly coloured with Soft Suede.  The antlers are crumb cake and Soft Suede.
I don't get full marks for the colouring on this one!

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time.
Stephanie
SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
The inside of the finished wallet
More about the wallet for the card set.
My four cards are A5 folded in half and there are four C6 size envelopes.  I made my wallet to fit.
I used an A4 sheet of card and, with the short side at the top of the scoreboard, I scored at 1 3/4".
I then rotated the card and scored along the long side at 1 3/4", 5 5/8", 5 7/8" and 10 3/4"
With the horizontal score line towards the bottom, I used a round corner punch on the top two corners.
I folded in the two sides and, with a pair of snips, cut from the score line to the corner to trim away some of the excess card.
I used Fast Fuse to stick down these side pieces.
I then folded up the bottom section and, with a very thin line of glue, adhered it at the sides.
The belly band is 12" x 2 1/2"

To decorate the front of the wallet, I cut a piece of DSP to 4 3/4" x 6 3/8" and added a strip of contrasting strip of DSP cut to 1" x 6 3/8"

SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
I'm sorry for the poor quality photo, taken on the run!
SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
I think the round cornering looks a bit neater.
SU, The Wilderness Awaits, Masculine Card, Gift Pack of Cards, Hand crafted, wallet
A card set suitable for any occasion makes a great gift

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