Wonky Tonk Girl birthday card

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and if you're in the UK (or elsewhere) have managed to take advantage of the beautiful weather. If it's too hot for you, just think it's only four weeks or less until the summer holidays so it's BOUND to be grotty weather for then 😉

I thoroughly enjoyed doing last week's challenge over at Passion for Promarkers so I've decided to follow along this week too - it's a sketch challenge and as it's my husband's cousin's birthday tomorrow I decided to use the sketch to make a 16th birthday card.

Probably for the first time ever, I actually chose the patterned paper before I coloured in the image. I used almost a full sheet of 8" x 8" Pick 'n' Mix premium paper by First Edition - there are some gorgeous papers in the pack including two foiled designs, two glitter effect designs and four spot UV designs, the rest of the papers are double sided like the one I used and there are three of each design.  After I had chosen the patterns I wanted and cut them to the right size, I glued them to a 5" x 7" card blank in the positions shown on the sketch. I got a scrap of card out of my stash and stamped a border on it from the 'Georgina' Wonky Tonk stamp set from Which Craft? I coloured over the image completely in Pale Pink then I went over the hearts and the flowers with either Cocktail Pink or Rose Pink Promarkers. I stamped the main image in the stamp set and coloured her in using Blush and Vanilla for her skintones, Violet for her eyes and Pale Pink, Cocktail Pink and Rose Pink for her hair. I edged around the panel using the darkest shade and added it to the card front.

Below is a souped up version of the card which I've sent off, I added a couple of layers of Clear Wink Of Stella to her hair and diecut a 16 out of speciality card which I added to the bottom right of the card- it's actually a coppery colour but I went over it using an Antique Pink Flexmarker so it has pink tones to it which change as you tilt the card. For this souped up version, I also added a stamped sentiment inside which reads "Wishing you a FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY" it's a Sentimentals stamp by Crafters Companion, I stamped it in VersaMark Onyx Black ink and sprinkled it with a holographic embossing powder which turns the letters into rainbow colours after it's been heat set and if you tilt the card into the light. I also stamped the Georgina character inside using Memento Tuxedo Black ink which I left uncoloured.

I really enjoyed this week's challenge over at Passion for Promarkers please click the link for more details http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/week-400sketch.html .

As always if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the usual places and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxxx

A U-Fold Box card for Father's Day

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend, we've been enjoying some beautiful weather here in the UK which is lovely apart from my tiny crudy is very stuffy and almost too hot to craft in! However, I managed to spend a couple of hours in there last night to make a special Father's Day card for my dad-in-law. I saw this new to me card fold on YouTube about a month ago and originally I was planning on making one for  a baby card with the flap part becoming a changing table but ended up making a double Z fold card instead. I still wanted to make one of these cards though and what better occasion than Father's Day. Men's cards are quite difficult to make but I've noticed that kinetic cards are popular with men  especially so I try to make them for my dad-in-law time permitting. My dad-in-law is a very keen gardener and loves his shed so I thought I'd make him a potting shed card. I have a set of cacti dies by Spellbinders called Succulent Garden which has a plant pot die included so I combined this die set with some paper from the Mr Mister papers and diecut collection to make the following card.

The card folds flat for posting

The top middle panel is should be pushed down when the card is opened to form the work bench

The card opens to form a U and the front panel rests on a card bracket

Closer view of the work bench area

Close up of the succulents

I'll have to admit that this is quite a tricky card to make - I followed the instructions of the YouTube video and a blog post carefully but my first attempt just wouldn't fold flat and even my second attempt stubbornly refused to stay flat enough to put in an envelope so I ended up tweaking the measurements a bit.  Here is a link to the original video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI1y-Es7rN8&t=75s - I think I went wrong because I used the measurements provided on her blog post which had one of the pieces as being 5cm by 19.5cm (on the video she gives both metric and imperial so I went on her blog just to jot down the measurements because it was getting a bit confusing) whereas if you watch the video it should be 5cm by 21cm and believe me that 1.5cm makes a huge difference! Before I checked both her blog and video for the measurements I just left my strip longer than I needed and cut the excess off. Anyway it was third time lucky and the card turned out fine. As there is already someone else's YouTube and Blog post already out there I won't bother adding a tutorial on here (to be honest it's so hot I just want to finish this post as quickly as possible so I can lay somewhere cool), if you click on the link it will take you to Ink Responsibly's video and there is a link to her blog in the description - it doesn't take you directly there so you'll have to scroll down a couple of pages - not a hardship though as she has some cute puppy photos on her blog posts 😍

I nearly forgot to say - the flower pots were die cut out of kraft card and edged with some walnut stain distress ink, for most of them I die cut them twice and cut off the top part to layer on the rim  to give it more dimension but I ran out of kraft card so I couldn't do them all. The succulents were die cut out of white card stock and coloured in using Flexmarkers, I also used one of the brown shades (think it may have been rosewood) to go over the edges of the card as the white card base showed through especially so when the work bench is folded down, I think I'd use kraft card stock for card base if I make another one. The sentiment was one out of the pack of Mr Mister papers and die cuts.

I'd like to enter this card for the Blog Challenge over at Passion For Promarkers  http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/week-399add-sentiment.html - the challenge this week is Add a Sentiment and I coloured in the succulents with Grass, Bright Green, Herb Green and Forest Green (I think!) I also used Rosewood Flexmarker.

I hope you like my latest make, it was a lot of fun to make and it's great to have such a dimensional card that folds flat enough to post - it fits in a 4 1/2" x 8" envelope, I made my own using my WRMK envelope punch board. As always if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the usual places and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

A Few Labours of Love part two

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! As I mentioned yesterday there were two very important events in May, the first was my sister's wedding and the second was the arrival of my beautiful new God-Daughter on the 17th of May. I don't want to share any personal details without her parents consent but I'm sure they won't mind me sharing the card I made to celebrate her birth. Like my sister, they've had to wait a few weeks to receive the card but thanks to a lovely email from them I know they've got it and love it which pleases me no end. *huge grin*

This card was a huge undertaking but very fun to make. I'd seen a slightly similar card on Pinterest and loved the idea of having the second Z of a double Z-Fold card at the top instead of at the bottom and I loved the idea of having a pop up cot element but didn't own  a cot die. However when I looked at the cot I realised I could make something similar using tag dies and a fence die. The heart die cut at the very top of the card was made using a Crafter's Companion die but all the rest of the diecut images and elements were made using dies purchased from eBay. The lacy border of the top Z was made using a Tonic Studio punch, the footprints and sentiment stamps were a WRMK mini stamp set and the chest of drawers were stamped then coloured and fussy cut out - I can't recall what brand the stamp set was but if I remember I'll add it to the post at a later date. The metal knobs on the chest of drawers are actually nail art pieces from eBay - I've discovered that a lot of craft supplies can be sourced cheaper if they are classed as 'beauty products' such as pear shaped sponges, mini glue brushes (made for adding false eyelashes but brilliant for adding tiny dabs of glue to thin die cuts) and dotting tools which can be used for adding paint details to projects or even better to use as embossing ball tools!The wall paper is taken from the 'Sweet Paris' 8" x 8" paperstack by Dovecraft. The pink strips and hearts were made out of Centura Pearl card stock but everything else was made using plain white card coloured with Flexmarkers. I went over the footprints on the front piece with Dovecraft glitter glue. The card does actually fold down to fit into a 5 1/2" x 7" envelope but I forgot to take a photo of it folded flat.

I'd like to enter this card into the Kinetic Card challenge over at Passion for Promarkers blog (Double Z-Fold card with pop up cot and baby mobile elements - coloured with Flexmarkers)  http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/week-397make-kinetic-card.html

I hope you like my latest make, as always if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the usual places and until next time - keep crafting!

Crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

p.s. here's a link to the card that inspired me on Pinterest via Google Images  https://goo.gl/images/8lmQ05

Hello...You make me Smile.

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! As promised here is the second card I've been working on this week.

This week's challenge over at Passion For Promarkers is 'make us smile'. Please click the link here to join in http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/week-361make-us-smile.html . Ladybirds always make me smile (I love them!) and when I saw the price of the Little Lady Bug stamp by Saturated Canary (£2.50 from Craft Stash - currently out of stock though) I certainly smiled because I've wanted a cute girl/ladybird stamp for ages and other places have had them on their website only for it to be out of stock after I've placed the order (I shall name no names but I've stopped buying stamps from one particular website after either having my order cancelled completely or having to order replacement stamps 4 times in a row!) This isn't a big stamp but it has quite a bit of detail and was a joy to colour in. As I usually do, I coloured it in with my Flexmarkers - I'm particularly pleased with how the hair came out as I used a colour combo that was new to me - Gold for the base of the highlighted area, Terracotta and Rosewood for the mid and dark tones - I think I used Spice as well to blend over the Gold into the Terracotta. The skin was coloured using Antique White and Tea Rose. The dress and wings were coloured using a variety of reds (Molton Red, Chilli Red and one other which I can't recall). The planet head things were coloured with Cloud Blue and Pastel Blue and I used the same colours to do her eyes. I added some Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay brush marker over her dress and went over the highlights in her eyes with a Signo Uniball white gel pen (a bit pricey but oh my goodness it's fantastic especially compared to my Inksentials white gel pen which stops working after a few letters!)

I die cut this out using the largest ticket frame in a set by Spellbinders and layered it onto a piece of matt black card. I die cut the hello tab twice out of red and black card and added the black letters to the negative space on the red piece using a bit of  tape behind it to stop the letters falling out. I added this to the side of the topper as shown then added a thin piece of Funky Foam a little bit smaller than the topper so it would be raised above the foiled piece. I put this aside while I made the rest of the card. I cut some red foil to fit my embossing folder and ran it through my Big Shot using a Darice Large Dots embossing folder - this is one of 17 new folders I got from Crafters' Companion during their Summer Sizzler sale a few weeks back. I deliberately put my card stock upside down so it de-bossed instead of embossing as I wanted the dots to be recessed instead of raised. Once it was de-bossed I added black Card Candi over some of the recessed dots using thin foam squares as shown. I added my topper to the left hand corner and added partial Card Candies as shown so it looks like they carry on under the topper. Adding the black dots to the foil piece took almost as long as colouring the image but I love how it turned out. I layered this onto a piece of silver foil card leaving a very thin strip of it showing before adding the finished topper to a black card blank.

Isn't she sweet?

Dotty debossed background

Hope she makes you smile :)

How can you resist those eyes???

I've thoroughly enjoyed this week's challenge and I love this image - I will have to see if I can get some similar stamps as they are very easy to colour (you may notice I accidentally coloured over one of her ears though - oops!) I'm the first to admit that I'm not brilliant at colouring (it's a work in progress) but by following the example on the packaging I found this quite easy to do and I had a lot of fun doing it. The finished card is probably my most favourite one of the year so far and I'm thinking about framing it and putting it over my desk so it can inspire me as I craft.

I hope you've enjoyed my latest creation, I appreciate you taking the time to read this (and other) blog post. If you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the usual places as I love reading what people have to say (and learning handy tips etc). Don't forget to check out the challenge over at Passion for Promarkers - even if you don't take part it's always fun to see what other people make and it might spark off your own creativity. Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Make it digital...

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've all had a good week so far. It's nearly the bank holiday weekend so we know what that means - more crafting! Please excuse any typos my 'dear' cat Jinx is on the desk in front of me and he keeps pressing keys - I hate to imagine what gobbledigook will end up on this post, I do try to proof read my blog posts but occasionally the odd typo will creep under my radar and end up in the final version.

This week's challenge over at Passion For Promarkers is to make it digital i.e. use digitally produced digi stamps, papers or sentiments please click the link for more details  http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/week-360make-it-digital.html . I'm not a huge fan of digitally produced cards either from CD ROMS or downloadable items so this week's challenge was a hard one. But as I had my printer out anyway to print out the eBook from week two of the Colorista Adult Colouring Course and the homework practice sheets, I decided to finally print out a digital image I got free after signing up for the Greetings Farm newsletter. I'm not sure if this image is actually an Anya though she does have the rag doll like arms as I can't recall what this image is called but it seems similar to one and is very cute. Mermaids are the new unicorns at the moment lol, and I do have two mermaid images in my stamp collection but like the unicorns that are still popular the mermaids currently doing the rounds are very cutesy images and the two I own are either too dark (Mirebelle Mergirl) or too realistic (Prima Dolls Mermaid - which I wanted so much then used it once!). Pretty much everyone is giving their mermaids either Ariel hair (bright red) or rainbow hair which is really nice but I'd worry about them being easily spotted by fishermen and ending up in a zoo or similar. *okay I know there's no such things as mermaids (as far as we know!) but I can't help think that they'd blend into their environment to help them keep safe from predators* With that in mind I've coloured my mermaids using greens or muted colours so they can hide in seaweed etc.

This wasn't the easiest of challenges for me to take part in not least because I've never actually used a digi stamp before. I did like the fact I could alter the size of the image - this one nearly fills a 4 1/4" x 5" panel so I printed 4 out onto a sheet of  A4 Sheena Douglass stamping card - I'm not even sure if that's the right card to use for digi images but I tried it first onto matte photo paper and Promarkers just don't blend on it so I worked with that I'm used to. The main problem I had was it took nearly five hours to print out my eBook and the mermaid sheets, I don't know if that's because the PC is rather old, or if it's because I'm not using Cannon ink cartridges and my printer is sulking or if it just didn't like printing out on cardstock but whatever it was that caused the delay it certainly didn't make me like digital images any more than I did. I used Flex Markers to colour this image apart from the grey background and bubble which is a Spectrum Noir BG01 marker and colour less blender (sorry Promarkers!) TBH I only used the Spectrum Noir markers because my greys have all dried out in my Flexmarkers (I prefer ordinary Promarkers because they seem jucier then the Flex markers but the FM were nearer to me!) I really like how the bubbles came out especially when I added a white highlight to each one - I just wish I'd placed them slightly differently because it looks a bit like the mermaid is well, farting lol.  Once I'd coloured the image in I added it to a panel of Centura Pearl green card from the Darks collection. I added Clear Shimmer Marker and Glossy Accents to the mermaid's tail and to the starfish in her hair. I diecut the shell, starfish and seaweed using a variety of thin dies out of scraps of the stamping card and coloured the seaweed using a Real Color Brush Marker and a bit of water and the starfish in with Flexmarkers (Gold and Amber) I arranged them on the bottom left corner and stuck them down using a glue pen. I added some gold holographic sequins from a pack of Dovecraft Glad Tidings sequins as shown using dots of Dovecraft 3D Pearl Effects in clear which is a really strong adhesive, the sequin near Anya's face is actually there because I accidentally smudged a bit of green real brush marker on her arm and face and it still showed through more skin tone pen (think I used Antique White which is flesh coloured). Here are some more photos and a darker skinned and hair version (which my hubs prefers).

Sorry there's so many photos but I wanted all the details (like the glittery glossy tails) to be highlighted. I'm thinking about framing these two mermaids because I really like how they've turned out. I was half expecting the printer ink to react with the alcohol ink in the Flexmarkers so it was a peasant surprise to find it didn't - I did allow the printed pages to dry overnight though so I'm not sure if a digi image can be coloured as soon as it pops out of the printer. I would like to print this image out on my super smooth card stock because the card I used seemed to suck the ink into itself rather quickly and although there wasn't any bleeding outside the lines the ink went straight through to the back of the card something I've not really noticed using my super smooth card.

If you are into digital crafting or just want to challenge yourself out of your crafting comfort zone like I have, then please click on the link at the top of this post for more details on the Passion For Promarkers Blog. As always if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the usual places as I love to read them. I hope you all have a fantastic bank holiday weekend - hopefully the weather will improve (it's chucking it down here!) but if not rain's perfect crafting weather!  Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Rainbow Cupcake Card

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you've all had a brilliant week, do you have any crafty plans for this weekend? I got a small order from The Works click and collect today so I'm looking forward to playing with my new Dovecraft dies. I'm not sure if you've seen but Dovecraft have brought out a range of basic dies including a really gorgeous painted style Happy Birthday which I really wish I'd ordered as I didn't see it on the website last time I looked. I ordered two sets - a cat with a paw print and a banners die, they only cost £3 each which I think is the usual price. I also got a pack of mirror card (£1 for 6 mixed sheets) and a pack of six different style and coloured holographic card. I've found most own brand cardstock to be of an excellent quality from The Works and this is no exception.

This week's challenge over at Passion For Promarkers is "Food and Drink". For more details and to check out what the design team have come up with please click on this link http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/week-350food-and-drink.html .   I decided to use one of the Verity Rose stamps by Crafter's Companion - Cupcake for my card. I'll be totally honest, Cupcake was actually the last of the Verity Rose stamps that I bought because it's not an image that really thrilled me (unlike the others) but I've found it to be a really useful image to have because lots of people like cupcakes. Here is the card I came up with.

Rainbow cupcake card

Slightly better photo of the card

Close up of Cupcake image

I wish I could take a photo that actually shows how sparkly these cupcakes are!

Hello Cupcake!

In addition to the main Cupcake image, I used the companion stamp set and matching dies for the cupcakes. I found it easier to diecut the shape first then stamp the image onto it. I used the same cupcake stamp to decorate the black panel. I used clear Versamark ink to stamp the image on the black card then dusted over the watermarks with mica powders using a spare blusher brush (I don't wear blusher so it's always a brush that goes spare if I get any make up brushes given) I've not used this technique much before but I think that next time I'll use an anti static bag first before stamping as the powder is quite hard to get off the card (you can't really see in the photos but the black card has a thin coating of the mica powder all over it and not just on the watermarks as I wanted). I coloured all the images using Promarkers and added Dovecraft pink glitter glue to some of the cupcake toppings and Clear Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents to the rest. I also added the WOS and Glossy Accents to the gems in Cupcake's hair band. I should probably point out that I diecut the scalloped oval before adding the stamped image but that was only after I'd already finished one topper only to have the die shift as I was running it through the Big Shot and accidentally chopped the side of her face off. I really should have used more tape to stick it down! The scalloped oval dies are from Creative Dies. The paper layers are from an A4 paper pad I got from the Pound Land a few years ago. I've not added a sentiment to this card because I'm not sure who I shall give it to but I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out, I really like how the mica coated cupcakes almost change colour as they hit the light (another thing that's hard to show in photos) and it's definitely a technique I'd like to do more of.

I hope you like my latest creation, I need to practice doing brown eyes next as I'm tending to stick with greens or blues at the moment so hopefully I'll have a brown eyed beauty card to share with you soon. As always if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the usual places. I hope you all have a brilliant weekend and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

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