Starlet Circles Gatefold Card and A Handy Hint

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you're all having a brilliant week, I've been making some cards for family birthdays which I can't share just yet so I decided to take part in this week's Passion for Promarkers Blog challenge. I haven't been able to take part since their anniversary blog challenge so I was really pleased when I saw that this week's theme is "anything but square" - though it's actually quite rare for me to make a square card so maybe it would be more of a challenge to make a square one lol. If you would like to join in this week's blog challenge or you are just curious about what the design team have come up with, then please click on the link http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/week-349anything-but-square.html .

Starlet Circle Gatefold Card

 I don't have an occasion in mind for this card so I've used my current favourite stamp - CC Verity Rose 'Starlet'. I decided to make another circle gatefold card as it's about as far away from being a square as you can get plus I really enjoy making this style of card. I made the card blank first out of a sheet of Sheena's stamping card cut to 4 1/4" x 11". I scored it at 2.5", 4", 7", 8.5" and die cut it using my 4" Sizzix Bigz die - you really need a Bigz die if you are using card above 250gsm (you will need to run your thinner dies and card a couple of times as they have to cut through three thicknesses of the card to make this card blank). I die cut another piece of stamping card using the same die and also a black circle. I used the biggest of my large circles nesting dies by Spellbinders to turn the circle into a frame and used the waste circle for my right hand panel, I centred a Creative Dies nesting star die on this black circle and ran it through my Big Shot machine. I then die cut the same sized star out of silver mirror card. I die cut five small stars out of the silver card waste and put them to one side, then I die cut the next size up star out of another piece of silver mirror card. I stamped the 'Starlet' image out onto the stamping card circle and coloured her in using Flexmakers. I added the black circle frame over the stamped image using a Stick It! Glue pen then went around the edge with a black marker to cover up any white areas showing. I placed the silver star into the die cut space inside the smaller black circle and stuck a white card circle to the back so the star wouldn't fall out or show when the card's open and added it to the right hand half circle panel of the card blank. You have to add this piece first before the main image. I closed the card blank so the star circle was centred over both halves and added a thin line of glue around the circle panel of the left hand half circle then added the main topper to this glued area. You need to hold it in place for a few minutes until the glue sets firmly. I tucked the inner right hand panel behind the front panel in the 'pocket' that was formed by only gluing the outside part of the topper to check that it was placed correctly. I added the silver single star to the black star with glue then added this double star to the middle section of the card blank. I added the five small stars around the large silver as shown.

Close up of the left panel

Open Circle Gatefold Card

Right hand 'gate' with inset star and raised mini stars

Centre double star

I really enjoyed making this card, there was a lot of die cutting but my job was made a lot easier using this:-

Not just a tool holder!

You're probably wondering why I decided to share my tool caddy and the reason is those two black strips on the front of the plastic pot. The strips are actually magnetic tape and I use them to keep my dies safe while I'm die cutting. The tape is self adhesive but I added Scotch Glue to the back because the strips kept falling off to begin with but since I've stuck them with glue, they've not shifted. Sizzix have recently come up with a tool caddy that attaches to the side of Big Shot machine - I think it's partly magnetic but it inspired me to make my own magnetic storage for when I'm die cutting. My machine isn't on my desk as I don't have room for it so I line my dies up at my desk then take the pieces to be die cut at the machine. It made sense for me to have the tape on my desk so I can put the dies I'm not using straight away on the strips to keep them safe for when I do want to use them.  Here are the magnetic strips in action.

No more losing dies for me!

Since taking these photos I've added a third strip of magnetic tape so it can hold bigger/more dies. I bought the magnetic tape from Amazon and it was very cheap - I would recommend adding a stronger adhesive to the back of it if you use this idea as it it rather annoying for the strips to fall off with the dies attached (and defeats the purpose!) I'd love to see what you come up with if you make your own so please leave a link in the comments section if you do. As always I'd love to hear from you so please leave any questions or comments in the section below and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx