God Jul

It's time for another challenge at 613 Avenue Create!  This month, the optional twist is 

Fancy Folds and Cuts 

I've created a Flip Card.  There are dies available for this and yes I did buy them but I then realized that they're not necessary!  All you really need is a frame die which is symmetrical.  I have loads of Spellbinders Label dies which could have worked but in the end I went with a circle!

Unfortunately, I didn't take step by step photos and I don't believe in measurements so I'll just describe the basic idea behind this card - that way you can make them up in any size you like and you can make your flipping frame any shape you want!   If you have any questions, leave them in the comments box and I'll do my best to answer them.  

1. Fold your base card in half as you would normally if the card base didn't come pre-folded;
2. Fold one of the halves in half again so that you have a short flap - this will be the front;
3. Choose a symmetrical frame die such that half of it will fit on this front flap;
4. I find it useful to mark on the die where the mid point is (for the circle I cut a circle from scrap paper, folded it in half and lay the folded circle back into to the die, turned it over and marked the places at the top and bottom of the die where the fold line was);
5. Open up your card base and lay it on your die cutting plate face up, making sure it's square with the front flap to the top 
6. Place your frame die over the front flap so that the centre of the frame die lines up with the fold line;
7. Place the edge of your top cutting plate so that it does NOT go past this midline;
8. Run it though the machine.
9. You're left with a semi circular cut-out - there's a foldline right down the middle of your circle but that's ok, you won't see this fold line once you placed a decorated circle of the same size on either side;
10. Decorate the various panels

Here's the card in its various stages of opening

For this card I've chosen an image and sentiments from one of my favourite Christmas stamp sets - Waltzing Mouse Alpine Christmas.  I've also tried to create an Edelwyss flower using the MFT Sunflower.  I had a snippet left over of a background I had stamped previously using WMS Cabin Plaid in redand teamed it with this spotted blue DP to try for a Swiss/Nordic vibe!

I’d like to enter the following challenges

Happy Little Stampers November Christmas Challenge without the optional Santa;

 Krafty Chicks Challenge #636 - Stamp Act;

Crafty Hazelnut’s Challenge #619

Why not give this fancy fold or another, and enter your card in the 613 Avenue Create!  Or just play along without the twist!  We love to see your creations!

I'm thrilled you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and perhaps we can get better acquainted!  

Kate

Glossy Accident - Almost

A friend of mine asked if I could make an anniversary card for some Scottish friends who will be celebrating their silver wedding anniversary.  Luckily it happened to coincide with a NBUS Challenge over at Darnell's Blog so I wanted to post it before to closed.  In my haste to get it photographed, I didn't wait until the glossy accents dried.

Do you see what I mean.  Fortunately I noticed before too much damage was done - phew!  It's going to lay flat for any future photo shoots.   

Unfortunately the silver detail on the hearts isn't visible in this photo because of the extra thick coat of glossy accents I had to reapply.  I stamped and embossed the heart from  WMS Celtic Heritage in silver on navy card.  I then used the heart die from the WMS My Heart die set (though any open heart die would do) and ended up with a celtic patterned heart.  

Here's a closer look at the hearts - boo boo and all!!!

The Cheery Lynn die is NBUS.  I had tried to use it before but the die cut is quite long and won't fit on a card front - if you try to truncate the die cut the middle bits fall out because of the design.  I had a light bulb moment and partially die cut one end, repositioned the die cut in the other end of the die and partially cut the other end.  Now there are three links instead of five so it fits on an A6 card front and the middle bits are intact.

Do pop over to Darnell's blog - you're sure to have a giggle !!! 

So glad you stopped by, your visits and comments always brighten my day,

Kate

Thoughtful Tree

A friend asked me to make her a sympathy card and I asked her if she had any preferences.  "Love that tree" was her reply and I knew exactly which tree she meant.  This tree from the WMS Asian Gardens is one of my favourites.  It's really not that much trouble to fussy cut some extra foliage and the results are definitely worth it.

The leaves were inked up with green and ochre chalk inks.  I used the largest Spellbinders Label 2 Nestie to mount the tree, and added a little blue shading (Salty Ocean DI) on the top half and a little green (Peeled Paint DI) on the bottom half while still in the nestie die to finish off the panel and ground the image.

Naturally while the stamp was out and all inked up, I couldn't resist stamping the envelope as well.

Did I mention there's a Waltzing Mouse Pyjama Party going on tonight/today.  You have only 24 hours to link up so hurry over to the WMS Blog.  

When I was making the card, I didn't have access to the sketch and was working from memory, hence the liberties taken with the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Cozy Christmas Tote

In this month's WMS Pyjama Party Claire has challenged us to create some gift wrapping/gift bag or box with a cozy feel to it. 

I've created this little tote bag with my Cameo.  The panels have been stamped with WMS Vintage Christmas Backgrounder in Versafine Red Satin.  I layered a red Snowflake #3 and white glitter Snowflake #2 to adorn the bag.

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Red Robin Tags

I made up these tags for the WMS Pyjama Party Scandi Tags category.  They're not very Scandinavian with their French sentiments and distressed edges, but Claire said red and white would probably pass muster so here they are.

The WMS Stitched Tags have been stamped with a sentiment from the WMS Say it Loud Winter Holiday set in Festive Berry Distress Ink.  The little Memory Box Meadow Bird was cut from red glitter card as was the grommet for the tag.  The To and From on the back are from the WMS Ornate Ornaments set.

Thanks for stopping by
Kate

Colourful Mess

One of Simon's friends is having a birthday party this weekend.  She wants a kit for card making for her birthday so I had this idea for her birthday card using the Waltzing Mouse Splat That set and this freebie stamp from Craft Stamper.  

I was going to save it up for the WMS Pyjama Party on Friday night because I was inspired by the Bedtime Story Sketch.  However when I saw the colours in WMS Fanatics Challenge 30 (two of which are Jessie's favourites), I thought I'd enter it there instead.

When I loaded the photos I realised the problem with colour challenges and indoor photography.  Those murky crimson splats are actually stamped with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and are purple IRL and the Shabby Shutters Distress Ink looks more yellow here than green.  At least the Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers resemble their true colours.  

I punched 1" squares in matching colours and assembled them on another piece of card.  I then stamped the image on this panel.  I stamped it again in white and fussy cut out the jar and utensils, painted them with one of those water pens and the same inks I had used for the background.  You can't see it in the photo but I applied Glossy Accents to the jar.  I mounted this panel on a black Spellbinders Postage Square.

The sentiment is from the Waltzing Mouse Big Day - Today set.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Seeing Triple

Keep it Simple has the fun challenge of Three.  So I added 3 WMS Simple Sprigs to this Congratulations card I made for a friend.  Of course once I had added 3 sprigs I had to add 3 of the roses to each sprig in 3 different colours.   I only hope this card still qualifies for Simple.

I used the sketch from CAS Challenge #95, and added a Memory Box Tessatina strip to ground the sprigs and added the gorgeous Clearly Besotted Word Die Congrats for the sentiment.

As an afterthought, I added Royal Coat to each of the roses.  Disaster struck of course as is often the case when dealing with sticky things and afterthoughts, and the Royal Coat ran off one of the roses and was spreading across the lower part of the card.  I cleaned the resulting mess up as best I could but in the end I used a Sizzix Mini Butterfly to hide said mess.  This Royal Coat takes ages to dry.  You may notice some of the roses are still milky.  They should be perfectly clear by this afternoon though (I hope) !!!

Here's a side view so you can see the effect of the Royal Coat.  I added glitter to the butterfly while it was still wet and some crystals down the length of the body.  I only did this this morning so it's still very wet and hence milky - again should be clear by this afternoon.

Here's the whole card

Since I've used Waltzing Mouse Stamps and cut files, I'm also entering this card in WMS Fanatics Challenge #28 which is Anything Goes.  

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Twin Girls

A simple card for twin girls using the stork and 2 bundles cut using Little B Baby Elements set.  The Pennants were cut with Spellbinders Nested Pennants and overstamped with letters from an alphabet set I bought years ago and had forgotten I had.  The packaging wasn't intact so I can't tell you what brand it was but the size of the lowercase letters worked well with the banners.  

The "string" and knots were stamped with the WMS Bitty Banners set and the frame and names of the twins were computer generated. 

It looked a little bare when I had finished and my son James suggested adding some hearts.  I die cut these hearts using the Cuttlebug Small Paisley set - all my other hearts were too big.

A smattering of beads and voila !!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Ritzy Easel Card

I was asked to make a 40th birthday card for a friend's brother.  He's a party organizer so images and sentiments from the WMS Putting on the Ritz set and it's companion WMS Art Deco set were obvious choices.  I decided to make it a bit more special by going with an easel card.  The Spellbinders Nested Pennants were used to create the iconic Art Deco motif.  The 40 was die cut with the Sizzix Go Slim numbers die from white glitter card.  It seemed a shame to waste the negative pieces so I put them on the envelope.

 I've used Mojo Monday 357 as inspiration for the design !

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Tagged Teacher Thank You

A super quick card for Simon's class teacher.  The background had already been stamped with WMS Cabin Plaid Backgrounder.  I usually do a couple of these large background stamps in a sitting as they always come in handy.  The tags and grommet were cut with the largest of the WMS Stitched Tag set. One was embossed with numbers and the other with letters using the M-Bossabilities Numbers and Letters embossing folder.  The background had been stamped with Adirondack Peach Bellini and I used it to highlight the embossing on the tags as well.

Once again I was inspired by Seize the Sketch #24,

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Tweet Farewell

Simon finished  music solfège classes yesterday and I made this card for his teacher who has had him for 4 years now.  She has always been so patient with him, understanding the difficulties that he faces  and also recognising the love and gift for music that he has.

The MFT Homespun Bird House elements were cut from scraps of card which had been stamped with WMS Cabin Plaid backgrounder, WMS Gingham and Co., WMS My Island, Green Room Design Heirloom Patterns (also from Waltzing Mouse) and de Stempelwinkel musical score.

The sign was computer generated and I stamped a little frame around it and fussy cut it out.

The current sketch at  Fusion Card Challenge (I've rotated it 180°) gave me the idea to use the bird house with its A-line roof as an "Ecole de Musique" with Simon's "teacher" sitting on the roof seeing him off.

I am also entering this in the current Waltzing Mouse Fanatics Challenge

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate

Football Spinner

Just sharing a card I made for one of Simon's classmates - a penny spinner.  The cute little dude is from WMS Half Pint Heroes Additions.  The sentiment is from the Half Pint Heroes set.  The football was downloaded from the internet and cut with a spellbinder circle die.  The track was cut using my Cameo (I just made a rounded rectangle the length and height I wanted it).

Simon had great fun making the football roll along the pitch.  The party is tomorrow - hope Raphael is as impressed as Simon was !!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Sunday,

Kate

Sea-soned Birthday Wishes

I'm off the Australia next Saturday and I thought I'd better leave some birthday love for my husband who will have his birthday while I'm away.   He loves the open sea and I'm sure he'll appreciate this card.

The sentiments and images are all from the WMS Ocean Bound set and the images were all cut on the Silhouette from cut files provided by Waltzing Mouse.  The Chevron background stamp and Mini Pinstripe are also from Waltzing Mouse Stamps.

I'm entering this in the Dynamic Duos #88.  The colours are perfect as my husband has just received news that he now has dual Australian/Luxembourgish nationality, and these colours are very close to the Luxembourgish flag colours.

Once again I was inspired by the sketch at Mojo Monday.

I am also entering this in Seize the Birthday where the Topping is Chevrons.

Stamps : WMS Ocean Bound, WMS Mini Pinstripe, WMS Zig Zag Backgrounder
Ink : VersaMark, Versafine Satin Red, VersaColor Lagoon Blue,
Accessories : Sizzix Framelits Banners, Clear embossing powder, White embossing powder, Silhouette Cameo and WMS Ocean Bound Cut files.


Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your week
Kate

Alpine Christmas Wishes

While trawling blog land for inspiration yesterday, this neat sketch at Mojo Monday caught my eye. 

I thought I could use it to showcase the new Alpine Christmas set from WMS.  I had to rejig it a bit because the sentiment wouldn't fit where it should have but I was quite happy with the end result.

The sentiment is also from this set.  The chalet was embossed with WOW Earthtone Blueberry embossing Powder - first time I've used it and I have to say I'm hooked.  Most embossing powders have a glossy shine but this has a lovely matte finish. 

The tartan background was stamped with the WMS Cabin Plaid Backgrounder.  

The designer paper was from the Papermania Persimmon Collection. 

Thanks for stopping by :)

A Beautifully Clipped Clipper

Notice how beautifully trimmed this clipper image from WMS Ocean Bound is.  This is my first serious attempt with stamping on images cut with my Cameo, using the matching cut files for this set.  I AM SMITTEN !!!!  I now have a desk full of nautical images just waiting to be put to use.  It was so easy to line up the images perfectly and I'm pretty fussy !!!

I added a sentiment from WMS Safe Harbour Sentiments and used the WMS Zig Zag Backgrounder to create a background and added some "waves" cut with a WPUS9 scallop die. I also added a little light blue gem to the lantern to tie in with the light blue wave.  Et voila !!! 

Thanks for stopping by :)

Flipping Flapper

I just bought a Sizzix Flip-it die and I have to admit it was a bit disappointing - so glad I didn't pay full price for it or I would have been really flipping out.  Anyway while searching on the internet how to use it I realised you don't actually need it to make flip it cards - you can get the same effect from your normal thin cut dies. So I thought I'd try this technique out with the fabulous Waltzing Mouse Opera Tags set which I think co-ordinate perfectly with this Flapper Girl image from Waltzing Mouse Putting on the Ritz set (which I could absolutely not say no to when it came out last month - it took every ounce of resolve to wait 5 days so it would go on the next month's Master Card bill).

This is the most basic of the flip it cards so a good one to start with and works with any size card that will fit through your machine.  I've used an A6 card here which was pre scored.  I just created another score line half way between the middle fold and the left end of the card (or just fold the front of the card back on itself if your card stock is not too stiff).  With the two folds on your left (mountain and valley) place your die so that it's centred on the left fold line (this is only really necessary if your die has a centre line like the one I've used here does) and position the bottom edge of your cutting pad on this line as well.  Send it through your cutting machine so you only get a cut on the left half of the die.  You will have a fold line through your flipping section but this is easily hidden behind complete die cuts added to the front and back of this flipping section.  And that's all there is to it, seriously how easy is this and if like me you have a couple of Spellbinders sets in your stash the possibilities are huge.  And such a fun interactive card.

The sentiment on the back of the flip it section is also from the Puttin' on the Ritz set.  

I just decorated the card with some pretty paper, a bit of bling and a WPLUS9 scalloped border in black glitter.  Don't forget to stamp before you assemble - you'll find it tricker afterwards.

I'm entering this is card in the Make My Monday Challenge, where the theme this week is Elegant Ladies.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have fun with this technique.

No time for snoozin' tonight !

It's the end of the month and that means another WMS pyjama party.  Earlier this month Claire released some fabulous new stamps which I just had to buy of course and this week I've been getting them inky in preparation for tonight's PJ party.  There are 4 challenges plus the bedtime sketch.  So far I've created 3 cards but the night is still young so I'm hoping to get at least one more done before I retire for the evening, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the bedtime sketch will be.

This month there is a colour challenge - don't you just love this palette, and here's my card.

I used some distressed kraft card that I made some time ago using crackle coating, gesso and blue acrylic paint.  Although it looks like the paint is all cracked and peeling off, it is in fact quite smooth and perfect for overstamping.  I cut the piece into narrow "plank" strips and a larger panel.  I overstamped the larger panel with an image and a sentiment from one of last year's sets "North Shore", and the boards with the rope border from "Tying the Knot".  I am entering this card in Challenge 1 "Tie a Knot in it" and Challenge 3 Colour Inspiration.  

My second card is a baby boy card.  When I took delivery of the new Pinstripe and Zig-Zag Background stamps I sat down and made a whole bunch of backgrounds.  I then had to put them to use and I had been meaning to make a baby boy card with a nautical theme for some time now - finally had an excuse if not a reason!!!

I stamped the string and knots from the WMS Bitty Banners, curving the rope slightly on the acrylic block.  The base of the boat was made by cutting a Spellbinders circle in two and the sails were made by cut using the bottom half of a Sizzix Kite Framelit - simple but effective I think.  I cut a "porthole" in the striped background and raised it up for some dimension.  A Sizzlit anchor and a few gems finished it off.  The envelope was stamped with a very old PSX anchor stamp - one of the the first I ever owned. I am entering this card in Challenge 1 - Tie a Knot in it (I'm being cheeky here but there are two knots stamped on the top), Challenge 2 - Get Nauty and Challenge 4 - Golden Oldies (the PSX anchor).

My last card for this post is another Nautical Number.  Yesterday my good friend Ruth asked if I could make a card for her Aunt and Uncle who are celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary next week.  I immediately thought of thistles and tartan (they're Scottish) but I couldn't believe my luck when she told me her uncle had been in the Navy for 25 years, and this beautiful heart-shaped rope knot from Tying the Knot seemed perfect.  Again I cut a port hole in the pinstriped background, this time to frame a gold embossed thistle.  I masked the background card before stamping the pinstripe background - leaving a blank space for the ropes.  I used a celtic font on the middle pennant and stamped the inside of the card with Happy Anniversary from the Celtic Heritage set (embossed in gold of course) as well as the rope from Tying the Knot.  The back of the envelope was also stamped with the Heart rope knot.  The more I look at it the more I think I'll redo the banners stamped with the pennant frame from Bitty Banners, which will set off the initials and the dates - they look a little bare at the moment.
I'm entering this card in Challenge 1 - Tying the Knot and Challenge 2 - Getting Nauty.

Thanks for stopping by :), hope you enjoy the PJ Party