How is that possible?? The impossible card!

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you are all having/had a brilliant weekend, it's been rather foggy here on the Yorkshire coast but the weather's supposed to be improving next week, just in time for the kids going back to school - it's always the way isn't it! My husband was very brave and went out to meet some friends from his past on Friday the 13th (dum, dum, DUM!!!) so I spend a quiet evening catching up on a bit of housework then watched some lovely TV. He came back at half past midnight proclaiming his love and clutching a takeaway bag in his hand. Unfortunately he'd decided to 'treat' me to a Spanish omelette which true is one of my favourites but not exactly the food of midnight feasts especially if you're prone to indigestion after late night eating (I'm part Mogwai - never ever feed me after midnight, ok 8pm if I'm honest!! Unless of course you want me miserable and bad tempered lol). As a result I didn't get much sleep and I've spent most of the weekend half zombied as a result. So all in all not a huge amount of cleaning's actually got done even though that was my plan for this weekend - smh. Still I did manage to find a new card style to try - the impossible card! I saw it on Facebook, I think it might have been a post by Trimcraft but I'm not positive. It didn't give much details on the post so I did a search on YouTube and came up with two videos, the first one was by MayMayMadeIt but at nearly 30 minutes long, I decided to watch the tutorial by Mixed Up Craft - here's the link to the video I watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgGYZSr4zV0 . For an even shorter tutorial click the link to view the Trimcraft video tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWFwaKNVrig .

Here is my version using a piece of 5" x 7" smooth white card stock to make the base.

I used smooth silver glitter card to make the base layer of mats and then added another layer using Sheena's stamping card stamped with a beautiful dragonfly which came free with the fairy stamps in a recent magazine subscription that came last week. It includes a die for the wings, a tiny flower and a toadstool for the fairy to sit on but with a bit of masking I decided to have my blue fairy sitting on the tree branch instead. The die cut butterflies are some I cut out ages ago and kept in my scraps folder - I wanted something a bit different to decorate the edge and these seemed perfect. The dragonflies on the base panel pieces were stamped out using a new mini ink cube that came free with the latest issue of Creative Stamping magazine and is a lovely emerald green. The thin strip under the sentiment was stamped out using Broken China Distress Oxide ink which gives a soft chalky look to the finish but has the drawback of smudging quite easily. I coloured the stamped images on the stick up panel using FlexMarkers and added shimmery highlights with a Gelli Roll stardust pen in clear.

I really like this style of card, it looks complicated (especially in real life where you can pick it up and try to see how it works - how is it possible to have a stick up panel that's larger than the gaps??) but it's actually quite easy to make once you get past the cut and fold lines, tbh the hardest part is probably adding the panels and I will admit my first glitter panel was actually the wrong way to fit on the L shapes and I used it as a template for the next one I cut, I'll keep it as a template for future cards. It was my own fault though as I didn't bother writing the panel measurements down as I thought I could 'wing' it instead! The great thing about this card is that it will fold flat for postage even though the panel sticks up without support and if you you don't decorate the top edge it's easy enough to find an envelope to fit it or even better make your own with the WRMK envelope punch board (probably the best investment I've ever made craftwise - it's so handy!)

I'm not sure how long this card style has been around but the fact I could only find three videos in total (though I didn't scroll through the hundreds of impossible playing card tutorials on YT!) suggests that it's a fairly new style though it could just be one that's been re-named from years back.

I hope you like my quick card share, the video tutorials probably explain it a lot clearer than I have but if you have any questions about it or anything crafty in general then please leave your questions and comments in the usual places. I shall be making a few more of these card types once I've tackled my Spring Cleaning (yep it's mucking out time again lol) and I'm quite happy to do a step by step photo tutorial to accompany my next post featuring the impossible card if anyone would like to see one, just let me know. Until next time - keep crafting (and spring cleaning!)!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Another sprinkling of fairy dust...

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! First of let me apologise for any typos that may occur on this post, I'm slowly recovering from a migraine that's laid me low for the last couple of days and as I still have the residue of it I'm trying not to look at the screen too often so I don't trigger it again - thank goodness for learning how to touch type, I'm practically doing this with my eyes closed! I've decided not to enter the Passion for Promarkers challenge this week but will be concentrating on making cards for birthdays in December so I can get them sent before the post gets clogged up with the Christmas cards etc. With that in mind I have one card to share today - another fairy sprinkles card, this time for my sister Teresa.

Fairy sprinkles Birthday Card

As you can see this card is very similar to the one I made for my sister-in-law last week. Ideally I would have liked to have made the fairy into a steampunk fairy but wasn't sure how to go about it with only very limited stamps (tbh I was afraid to start stamping gears in case I totally ruined it - I think this card is really pretty!) The main differences are the distress ink blending colours and I've layered the fairy topper onto gold holographic card instead of silver. Oh and I stamped the fairy sprinkles in black ink instead of the white I used last time which turned out to be a tactical error as it wasn't as easy to colour over the sprinkles with the jelly gel pens.

PRODUCTS USED

Lavinia Fairy Stamps free with papercraft essentials magazine

Distress Inks in: Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Fired Brick

Blending tool and blending pads

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Clear Wink of Stella Brush marker

Cream card 300gsm

Black card (The Works)

Gold holographic card (the Works)

Black Holographic Glitter card (The Works)

8" x 8" 300gsm Card blank Craft UK Limited (local craft shop £7.20 for 25 with envelopes)

Sikorea 10 colour Jelly Gel Glitter Pens

Lol just noticed a really big difference to this card and the one I did for Sue - I've forgotten to add the butterfly rub-ons! I may add them later - I quite like the card as it is.

Well that's all my craft news for now, I have a card for my nephew to make and I'm thinking Aliens or Robots would be a good choice. So until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

A sprinkle of fairy dust....

Hello crafty peeps - welcome to my crafty nook! This week I need two cards for two special people - my sister-in-law Susan and my dear friend Jean. I've made a card for Sue and I'd like to share it with you.

Birthday card for my Sister-In-Law who's celebrating a significant birthday on Friday!

Originally this card was only 5" x 5" but I managed to mess up the verse inside so cut the card front off with a pair of scissors (next time I'd use a paper trimmer cos this is wonky!) I started off by colouring the card using Salty Ocean distress ink and a blender tool then added Dusty Concord until I had the desired effect. I stamped the main fairy image from a Lavinia Stamps set that I got free with papercraft essentials magazine sometime this year. I also stamped the three toadstools and the fairy dust twice using Memento Tuxedo black ink. The fairy wishes sentiment on the bottom right hand side came from a fairy stamp set that I got through the post yesterday with Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine (may not be available quite yet in the shops - subbies get it early). I coloured over the fairy wings with clear Wink of Stella and as it's a water colour and distress inks are water reactive, it bleached the wings as well as making them shimmer which I really like. I added some WOS to the toadstool caps too for added interest and shimmer. I coloured the fairy dust using some jelly gel glitter pens by Sikorea (not a spelling error, just a knock off brand from a pound shop type of place but actually really sparkly!). The butterflies are rub-ons from Crafters' Companion - a range called "Fairyopolis" (*I checked my packaging and I got the name wrong - this is the correct spelling, sorry for any confusion caused!) and it's hard to see on this photo but I added WOS to their wings too. Actually please excuse the quality of this photo, it really doesn't do this card justice (my camera is quite old and falling to bits - I have the battery fastened on with washi tape!). I mounted this finished panel onto black holographic glitter card then mounted this panel onto a 6" x 6" piece of Dovecraft "Fantasy" designer papers which features fairies and dragons, I've had it for years and wish I'd bought two packs as the dragons would look fantastic on a "Game of Thrones" themed card. I mounted this panel onto some more black holographic glitter card and added this panel to some silver holographic card. I matted this onto some plain black card which I added some clear WOS to as this card just screams to be blinged up. Finally I cut a piece of cream card stock to 7.5" x 7.5" and blended Salty Ocean and Dusty Concord distress inks onto it until I got a smooth blended effect. I added clear WOS to the edges of the card then centred the main panel onto it before sticking the finished topper onto a scalloped edged 8" x 8" card blank.

Here are a few more photos of the card.

PRODUCTS USED:

Lavinia Stamps "The Clouds Are Lined With Silver.."

Dovecraft 6" x 6" "Fantasy" Designer Paper Pack (DCDP72) copyright 2007 (blimey I have had these a long time!)

Crafters' Companion *"Fairyopolis"*  (see note in main text) rub-ons

Sikorea 10 Colour Jelly Gel glitter pens

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Tim Holtz Distress inks in Salty Ocean & Dusty Concord

Blending tool and pads

Clear Wink of Stella (WOS) brush marker

cream card stock

Black holographic glitter card (The Works)

Silver holographic card (The Works)

Black card stock (the Works)

Scalloped Edged 8" x 8" card blank and envelope (from local craft shop)

I hope you've enjoyed my latest card, as always please leave any comments or questions below and I'll answer them as soon as I can both here and on your blogs if you have them. I will add another post once I've made the birthday card for Jean (I have an idea or two!) and if I enter the Passion for ProMarkers Challenge on Tuesday. So until then - keep crafting!

With love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx