Two cards with 'classy and fabulous' women.

Hi Crafty Friends
It was a busy week this week - we made two cards!
I love the die of the woman and it's one where you can use the positive and negative space, so it just had to be two cards.

This one uses the negative space, so it did involve not losing some pretty small pieces so they could be slotted backing the die-cut once it was mounted on black card. I went for a separate frame with a cream pearlescent backing raised up on pads, but most people put the frame straight on the image panel which looked great.
One thing about this die is that it doesn't cut out the rose; it just leaves an embossed shape which is not too attractive, (or, worse, a large hole in the negative space). We covered all this up with a die cut flower - luckily I found some dies to fit.

After the art deco style of the first, I decided on a softer look and got to use my new favourite paper pad, Sweet Paris by Trimcraft.
This uses the positive die-cut which we just mounted on kraft card. There's quite a lot of die cutting and the roses had to be inked, so a bit more work.

Happy crafting
jx

Christmas Pyramid Card

Hi Crafty Friends

I always like to do a pyramid card for Christmas (and at the drop of a hat at any other time of the year!), so this week we did a Christmas version.
I love these red and grey papers, and I was pleased how it came out. It was a popular choice and I think quite a few people are going to be making more at home. Can't wait to see what they do.

Here it is showing the three sides. I was delighted to find the sentiment die exactly fit across the card, even though putting the white letters into the red outline was fiddly - and those microscopic dots in the middles of the 'a' and the 'e'!!!
I used Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen on the reindeer. It gives it a subtly shimmery effect in real life, but too subtle for my feeble photographic skills, I'm afraid.

The button keeps the card closed. But as this may not be obvious to the first time receiver of one of these cards, I did make a little slip to show how it works, which can be tucked in with the card. I've emailed it to everyone, but have no idea if it's any good as my printer isn't speaking to my computer.

Love these spindly trees.

Here's my how-to-display-the-card guide. You wouldn't believe it took three hours to achieve it - finishing at three in the morning!

Best news of the week: on Tuesday, June brought cake, YAY!! 😋
Happy crafting
jxx

Santa in Black and White

Hi Crafty Friends

This week we did two quick and easy Christmas cards. I'd made one similar to the white one years ago, but not shared making it (though you may remember it on an old blog post). They both just involve die cutting and dry embossing so they came together very quickly.

This is a lovely art deco frame, a Tim Holtz skyline and a Britannia Santa. I can't remember the make of the sentiment. It's just part of a larger die which I've had years. We lightly embossed the silver card to knock the blinding out of bling, and job done.

This one features embossed vellum over blue card. I love the look of embossed vellum, but don't often think of doing it. The square dies are unbranded and I can't remember who made the trees (had them ages)

And here's a card I made for a friend. I love these cheerful papers so it was good to use them again.

It's a DL tri-fold card which opens out in landscape format, which is a style I'm very fond of. here it is closed.

This is it with the first flap open.

And this is it with both flaps open.

Happy crafting
Jx

Easy Easel & New Home card

Hi Crafty Friends

This week I thought we'd have a go at an easel card. The main reason I don't normally do them is that often recipients don't know how to make them stand up. However, I found a printable sheet on Pinterest with instructions. So with that problem solved, we just had to make the card.
There's quite a lot of die cutting, and stamping, and colouring come to that, so it was quite full on. Still everyone was pleased with their card, and I have to say the colouring was brilliant (loads better than mine). We used Distress Inks (Dried Marigold and Worn Lipstick, with Mustard Seed in the centre and mowed Lawn on the leaves.)

This week has been quite stressful so I kept myself busy with a colouring marathon, making this new home card for my nephew. As he's moving into a flat in a big city, the usual cottages/houses/bird's nests didn't seem appropriate. Luckily I had this large background stamp I wanted to try out. I stamped it 3 times and decoupaged it. The stamp didn't stamp well (possibly because it was its first outing) and I couldn't get a good impression on watercolour paper, so I had to make do with heavy card stock. I painted it with water colours, then layered it up with thick foam pads. It looks a lot more dimensional in real life than it does here. I added a glittery balloon coming out of one of the flats. Then I had the tricky job of putting the frame on, to hide all the pads. The frame is on double thickness black foam tape so it looks neat viewed from the side.

As you may know (and as you can see here) I'm not great at colouring in, but it was quite absorbing to do. It's in the post as I type. Hope he likes it.

keep crafting

Jx

Snowman card

Hi Crafty Friends

How lovely to have glorious sunny weather on a bank holiday! But a bit less lovely for those trying to craft in a boiling conservatory. On Tuesday, for the first time, we had to cancel because of the weather. Luckily it was more bearable on Wednesday and so we cracked on with Christmas.

Thinking we wouldn't want to move around much or do any strenuous die cutting, I went for a mainly stamped card. The image is two different stamps, so a bit of masking was needed, but apart from that it was very straightforward.

stay cool
happy crafting
jx

Z Fold Man's Card

Hi Crafty Friends

When I made this week's card, I was assuming it would be for a man, but a friend of mine asked for one, for a woman, so here is this week's unisex card 😀

I'm quite fond of a Z fold every now and then, and DLs are a big favourite of mine too. This one uses some lovely paper from The Works. The diecuts on the front are a die from China. We cut two, cut them about and rearranged the bits to fill the space. The border punch (an old Martha Stewart) behaved itself so fancy edges were achieved without drama.

We were a bit light on numbers on Wednesday, which meant I got to do some crafting too, and the weather was kind so we weren't boiled. Happy days!

Chin chin!
Jx

Santa Steppers

Hi Crafty Friends

I'm still not totally into Christmas makes, but I'm mindful people have a lot of Christmas cards to do and want to get on with them. So this week we made a Christmas stepper card. It's one of my favourite folds and this is a new version with different proportions from my previous ones. I wanted it to fit my stash of envelopes and feature my fancy frames, so this is what I came up with.

 Sorry, I'm a rubbish photographer - you can't see the glitter on the leaves (and the gem on the bow appears to have dropped off). Hey ho.

I was ridiculously pleased with myself for working out an easier way of cutting the matting layers, so I may crack on and make a few more Christmas cards after all 😀

happy crafting
jx