2012 unblogged: Sympathy card 1

Hello there,

well I'm still continuing my 2012 unblogged series. Today's installment is the first of two sympathy cards. Hope its cooler where you are!

 

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: My best guess
Stamps: Loving Thoughts
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory
Ink: Old Olive, Basic Grey
Accessories: Argyle embossing folder (SU!), Turning a New Leaf patterned paper, Turning a New Leaf die, Notched Flower dies, Double Ended banner die, Chocolate vintage button (Papertrey Ink), Corner rounder punch (R) SU!, Linen Thread, Doubled sided tape (X Press), Dimensionals

2012 unblogged: Wedding cards Day 3

Hello again,
I am back with the last wedding card, my favourite in fact. I was very pleased with how this one turned out. With no further ado here it is.

 

 

Thanks for visiting. Next installment if all goes to plan will be two sympathy cards.

Kim

Recipe: My best guess
Stamps: One in a million, Everything Eleanor
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Filigree border die (PTI), Twitterpated DSP, Pleated Pink Pirouette satin ribbon (R), Jewels - pearls

Christmas gift card holder

Hello there,

Delys and I compared notes right before Christmas and realised like many other paper crafters we were giving gift cards as Christmas presents, in my case to my teenage nieces and nephews (iTunes) and also to my Dad (books). So we decided to do a joint Just Add Ink post with a couple of ideas for gift card holders. Now the gift card holder I'm going to show is Christmas themed as this was the one I made for my Dad; but all you need to do is change up the paper and add a tag or some other embellishment to the front (instead of Santa) to make it perfect for any other occaision. I first saw the idea for this gift card holder fold on Erica Cerwin's blog here. She has a link in her post that will take you to an instruction pdf. I have also included a mini tutorial below so you can see how to put one together.



First cut yourself a 8 1/2" by 4 1/4" piece of cardstock and lay diagonally on score board with opposite points both on 6" score mark. Then hold in place and score down entire length.

 Fold cardstock on the score line and lay on score board as below. Score at the mid point.

 Now fold on score line and gift card holder is complete. That was easy - wasn't it ;) Next it's time to embellish.

Make yourself a template by tracing around the outside of the folded holder. Then use this to cut your pattern paper to size for embellishing.

 Finished gift card holder open

Close up of inside showing gift card. Decorate the front as you wish. I did find that I needed to add some method of tying the holder closed, so I sticky striped in some narrow grosgrain ribbon inside the folds, which in my case worked perfectly as Santa's belt. I created my Santa using a punch art I spied on pinterest. I can't trace the link back unfortunately but I'll include a list of all the punches below.

Hope you found this fun and useful! Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: none
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black
Ink: Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Candlelight Christmas DSP, Lacy Brocade embossing folder, punches (Ornament, Extra Large Oval, 1/4", 1/2" and 1 3/4" circle, 1" square, 2 step bird punch, slot (R)), White gel pen, Jewels- rhinestone, narrow black grosgrain ribbon (R), Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Sticky strip.

2012 unblogged: Wedding cards Day 2

Hi there,
here is my second 2012 wedding card. The hot pink/ black of the wedding colours made me feel like glamming it up so I played around with adding some glitter and then added a scored diagonal background for a touch of elegance.

The colours are a bit off, as I didn't photograph it in the best light, but you get the idea. And here is the inside.

Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: My best guess
Stamps: Mr and Mrs, Baroque motifs (SU!)
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Basic Black
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Versamark
Accessories: Boho Blossom punch, jewels- rhinestones, Iitty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Timeless Type alphabet sizzlet, Simply scoring board, Black satin ribbon (R), Pink Pirouette pleated satin ribbon (R), Pink fine glitter (R), Mat pack and piercing tool, Black embossing powder, Mat Stack 5 and mat stack 5 layerz dies (PTI) 

2012 unblogged wedding cards Day 1

Hello there,
well Christmas kind of hit me at light speed and I never made it back here (I did make it to the beach however :). So rather than wishing you all a Merry Christmas I'd like to send you my best wishes for 2013.

I decided the way I wanted to end 2012 and begin 2013 was to try and get some of my unblogged work blogged ;). To start off with I have three wedding cards - all commissions. My first commissions in fact - which was wonderful and a bit scary too. If all goes to plan I will add some sympathy cards, a stack of masculine cards and a few other special cards in the weeks to come. So please drop in to have a look. I'll keep the chatter to a minimum, and my recipes will be a bit of guesswork but I hope you enjoy my peek back to 2012.

Here we go - wedding card 1 made for a beach wedding in Fiji I think it was.

Recipe: My best guess
Stamps: Stampin Up! (Loving thoughts) Papertrey Ink(On the farm, Beautiful Butterflies, Background basics Text Style)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pool Party
Ink: Pool Party, Not Quite Navy, Real Red, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Real Red 1 1/4 " striped grosgrain,  Linen and Canvas Impression plate (PTI), Double ended banner die (PTI), mini sliver brads

JAI 148 Just add Christmas

Hello there,

welcome everyone for the last Just Add Ink challenge of the year. We are wrapping up a fabulous year with a very Christmassy challenge - we want you to Just Add Christmas. So pull out your Christmas projects, I'm sure you are working on some ;) I have bits and pieces scattered all over/under/around my crafting space. However the one I'm going to show you today I made to take to the Sydney SU! Heartfelt event back in November. A mini ornament Merry banner (double sided so you can pick your colour to match your Christmas decor). First the blue side.

 The red side

 Used the tag die to create a place to tuck the project recipe into.

A close up

A couple of construction shots. That little bit of tape was used to reinforce the most fragile fold.

 The same blanks now stamped up with the matching ornament.

The idea for this came to me when I was out walking one morning. So I just had to try and fold the cardstock and see if I could cut an ornament chain - and it worked! It was possible to cut 5 layers - just. I had to do just a little fine snipping in some spots where it had heavily embossed rather than cut all the way through. I was pretty pleased with how it came out and even more so once I had added the stamping step. Once that was done - it was time to embellish and for Christmas I couldn't go past adding some bling. Silver glimmer mats for the blue side and champagne for the red side. Of course I had to add my letters, fussy cut using the Broadsheet alphabet.

Some quick construction notes: The doubled sidedness served two purposes - one so you can select the side to suit your Christmas colours ;) but also a more practical one of making it quite sturdy. I adhered the two sides using dimensionals, securing the twine in there at the same time. The twine was used to tie each ornament to the ribbon (red and blue stuck together with doubled sided tape). The twine from each differently coloured pair of ornaments was tied together in a bow over the grosgrain ribbon, and the ribbons tied at either end of the banner. I added my project recipe using the two tag die cut and tied that on with more twine.

Thanks for visiting and if you can join us for our 2012 finale. However don't forget to join us again in 2013, well rested I hope, for our first challenge on Friday January 18th!
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Broadsheet alphabet, Ornament Keepsakes, Perfect Punches, Tiny Tags
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Silver glimmer, Champagne glimmer
Ink: Real Red, Cherry Cobler, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Accessories: Holiday Ornament framelits, 1 1/4" scallop circle punch, 1" circle punch, Scallop Trim border punch, Jewelery Tag punch, Two Tags BigZ die, Candlelight Christmas specialty DSP, Real Red and Night of Navy stitched grosgrain ribbon, Cherry Cobler and Island Indigo twine,  Doubled sided tape (XPress), Dimensionals

JAI 147 Just add balloons

Hello there,
how are you all going with your pre Christmas preparations?I still have a loonnngggg way to go. Not to mention ALOT of Christmas cards to make and then write (yikes!!) I am feeling Christmassy though (despite our recent toasty temperatures). Seeing the kids so excited about getting a Christmas tree up probably has something to do with that ;) OK on to this weeks Just Add Ink challenge which is to Just add balloons - sounds like fun :) Here's what I came up with.

My nephew had a birthday recently and I wanted something fun for him.  I think balloons are always entrancing to watch but how much more fun when they are shaped ones! It was thinking of bright yellow diggers that inspired the colours of my balloons for this card.  To provide a sky background for my balloons I started with a Bashful Blue mat then added an embossed white layer that you get to see peeping through die cut clouds spaces cut in the top Marina Mist layer. I added a subtle embossed pattern to the Marina layer and an embossed sentiment on a cloud to finish the front off. The inside was finished off to match. I'm delighted to say that my nephew loved it :)

Do check out the rest of the DT for some fun balloon ideas. Thanks for visiting,
Kim

Recipe: All SU! unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Little Hot Rod, Everyday Button Bits (PaperTrey Ink), Up Up and Away (SU!)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip, Versamark
Accessories: Little Hot Rod dies, Cloud dies, Linen and Canvas Impression plate (Papertrey Ink), Rellie Rave embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Scallop border punch, Mini brad silver, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Double sided tape (X Press)