Valentines Day Card Making – Basic Grey pb&j & Kelly Purkey Mon Ami Pattern Paper

Valentines Day has been and gone all too quickly. Unfortunately I was working that night and my boyfriend and a football meet that lasted all day so we didn’t do anything special for the day. While I was at work when it was quiet I made a Valentines Day card so that a coworker could give his pregnant girlfriend something nice. That’s the downside with night shift work, it’s hard to get out to the shops to buy cards or presents, so he was grateful he could still manage something special.

He started me off in the right direction by telling me her favourite colour. So I started flipping through my Basic Grey 6 x 6 paper pads.

I decided on a floral pattern paper in blue hues from the pb&j paper pad with a complimentary plain blue paper from the Kelly Purkey Mon Ami paper pad.

I cut the floral pattern paper to fit on a standard size card base.

I cut a strip of the plain blue to use as an accent piece and anchor.

I found a third complimentary pattern paper and cut a rectangle to use as the sentiment banner.

I drew some hearts on the scrap pieces of paper then fussy cut them out.

Using foam squares I adhered them on top of each other to create some cute embellishments and add a bit of pizzazz to the card.

I adhered the floral background to the card base and adhered the plain blue stripe to the right-hand side.

Then I adhered the heart embellishments in the bottom left-hand side corner using the foam squares.

I used the versamark embossing ink pen to write the sentiment (my hand writing is atrocious) and heat set black embossing powder. The sentiment banner was adhered with foam squares also.

My coworker then filled out the inside with his message of love. Hope everyone had a special Valentines Day!

Birthday Card Making – Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine & Paper Smooches Spectrum Card Idea

This card I made for a coworkers birthday.

First I stamped the unicorn from the Paper Smooches Spectrum stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I went over the body using the Memento Tuxedo Black ink pen too make it stand out a bit more.

I stamped the unicorn’s mane onto scrap pieces of paper from the Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine 6 x 6 paper pad. I cut the pieces out so I had a sort of rainbow effect.

I also stamped the unicorn’s tail onto a scrap of rainbow pattern paper and cut that out. I positioned them to check that they all looked good and I was pleased with the result.Then I fussy cut the unicorn from the plain white card stock.

I used another pattern paper from the Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine 6 x 6 paper pad. This paper set is really my go-to papers for birthday cards. All the pages are vibrant and happy. I cut it to fit within the card with about a quarter inch white border and then I adhered it to the page.

Using scrap pieces from the Hello Sunshine papers I cut strips and arranged them on the lower section of the card. I did this as I didn’t want the unicorn to be floating on the paper.

I wrote ‘Happy Birthday’ on a scrap piece of pattern paper using a Versamark embossing ink pen and I used WOW white embossing powder and heat set it with the Heat It Craft Tool for the sentiment. I arranged the unicorn and adhered him to the page using foam squares.

And as the final step I adhered the rainbow tail and the rainbow main. ‘You’re awesome’, the inside sentiment, was stamped from the same Paper Smooches Spectrum stamp set. I was very pleased with the result and how happy the card looks with the bright colours. I would have liked to have coloured the unicorn in, but I was at work and didn’t have have all my craft supplies or my Derwent pencils with me.

Hope you like this card and let me know if you’re inspired! Happy crafting!

Christmas 2014 – Lawn Fawn Snow Day Shaker Card

This card I made for a friend that lives in Japan. I wanted to do a shaker card for her. I measured sheet of red paper with a snowflake pattern to fit within the dimensions of the card and then I cut out a window from that using the Lawn Fawn Large Rectangles Stitched Stackables. This paper is from the Lawn Fawn Snow Day 6×6 paper pack.

From there I measured out background which I thought the pattern paper with the cute bunnies in the snow would be perfect. This is also from the same Lawn Fawn Snow Day paper pack.

Once I had the background measured and cut out I adhered it to the card.

I double checked the pattern papers aligned nicely and there was nothing sticking out from behind the red pattern paper.

Then I cut a strip of white card stock and cut a triangle form one end to make a ribbon banner.

I stamped ‘Merry’ in red and ‘Christmas’ in black from the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Greetings stamp pack. I adhered the ribbon to the pattern paper.

I wanted to jazz it up a bit so I used Christmas Red Stickles to go over the ‘Merry’ sentiment and I added a few accents on the red portions of the pattern paper, such as the heart the bunny is holding and Christmas bauble hanging in the tree.

It took ages to dry! But once the stickles was all set, I put poured some sequins into the centre.

I cut some clear plastic wrap, from a scrap packet that had contained embellishments, to fit the ‘window’. And then I lined it with foam tape. It took a while to peel all the strips off, haha! But once I had, I adhered it on top of the background and the shaker card was all done! Shake, shake, shake!

Birthday Card Making – Paper Smooches Spectrum & Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine Idea

This card I made for my best friend’s husband’s birthday. I started by stamping a large cloud and small cloud from the Paper Smooches Spectrum stamp set onto the grey pattern paper with white polkadots from the Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine 6×6 paper pack.

I gave the clouds a little bit of shading using the Gunmetal Grey colour in the Derwent Studio set of coloured pencils.

I think the clouds look really cute!

I started working on the background for the card. I used the large rectangles stitched stackables Lawn Fawn Die and die cut the blue diagonal-striped pattern paper. I used scrap strips to create the row of papers in the bottom and the ‘oh happy day’ paper I adhered with foam squares.

I used the sun stamp from the Paper Smooches Spectrum stamp set with Memento Tangelo ink on the hello sunshine yellow pattern paper. I cut out the sun.

I tried creating a rainbow just using a stencil and colouring in the stripes with Derwent Studio pencils, but my hand cutting skills are very wobbly and it didn’t look the good. So I thought I’d try attaching them to similar coloured pattern paper and cut wedges. I still wasn’t happy with the look so I tried adding some shading on the left-hand side with Derwent Studio pencils in matching colours, but it didn’t improve the look at all. So then I tried some Rangers Inkessentials Glossy Accents over the top. It looks like a rainbow, but it’s not as crisp and clean as I would have liked. I had time constraints so I wasn’t able to waste a lot of time, otherwise I may have tried making the rainbow again from scratch.

I adhered the rainbow at the edge of the ‘oh happy day’ pattern paper strip and I positioned the clouds on top at either edge of the rainbow and positioned the sun to peek out from behind the larger cloud.

Now it was time for my sentiment, I used versamark ink and stamped the sentiment ‘wishing you sunshine and rainbows’ and then I used the embossing powder and heat set. I quickly found while heat setting that I had used the clear embossing powder instead of the white embossing powder.

After a muttered curse I stamped the sentiment on a scrap piece of the same blue pattern paper and then die cut a small rectangle using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Stackables. I adhered it over my mistake with foam squares and I’m very pleased with the finished result. The inside sentiment I stamped ‘you’re awesome’ also from the Paper Smooches Spectrum stamp set.

I hope this colourful birthday card inspires you! Please leave me a comment, I’d love to hear what you think of this card.

Birthday Card Making – Paper Smooches 9 Lives & Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine Idea

This card I slapped together for a co-worker’s birthday. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped, but I think the finished result still looks fun and happy. I used papers from the Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine card pack.

I cut the multi-coloured spot paper to fit within the card dimensions as the main background then using scrap papers. I cut strips to make the middle orange and blue stripes and I cut balloon shapes. I used Ranger Inkessentials Glossy Accents on the ballons to try and give them a bit more interest and dimension. The paper just kind of curled and looked weird though, haha.

I adhered the balloons to the orange strip of paper and drew the strings in a stitch pattern using a white gel pen. I used a versamark embossing ink pen to write ‘Happy Birthday’ on another scrap bit of paper and then I used embossing powder and heat set the powder with a Heat It Craft Tool.

The happy, cheeky cat is stamp from the Paper Smooches 9 Lives stamp set. I stamped him onto the orange pattern paper and I also stamped his face onto white card stock. I cut the eyes and teeth from the white card stock then adhered it over the orange pattern paper. I adhered the cat using foam squares. I think the cat really ties the card together and makes it look like he’s let the balloons go by running past them.

This was a good card to use up scraps and I’m really surprised by how many cards a 6×6 paper pack can make!

Christmas 2014 – Christmas Card Making – League of Legends Nasus Christmas Card

I wanted to make very personalised Christmas cards for three of my dear friends. This post covers the second of three.

The friend I had in mind for this card used to play a lot of League of Legends with me. I used to play as Nasus mostly but I haven’t played for quite some time. My friend still plays often and now he uses the character Nasus primarily. So that is how I came about the idea of doing a Nasus Christmas card.

I used a similar tact as with the Ma Chao Christmas card and I sketched a chibi style Nasus. I then photocopied the sketch and practiced a few different colouring-in ideas. Then I coloured in the final version. Because Nasus has so much gold, I used a Zig Wink of Stella glitter pen to give all the gold some glittery shine.

This is the link to the reference art: http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Nasus_0.jpg

Because Nasus is a demigod that has dominion over death and time, he’s obviously a little bit of a darker character so I chose darker colours for the colour scheme of the card.

I used an A4 black cardstock sheet and folded it in half using my Martha Stewart Score Board. I had scrap pieces from the Echo Park Christmas Cheer Collection and used two strips of Christmas Phrases pattern paper bordered by the chalkboard black paper from the same Echo Park Christmas Cheer Collection. I also used some plain navy paper from the Simon Says Stamp December 2014 Card Kit.

This card really flowed and came together just as I would like. I adhered the strips onto the black cardstock then cut off the excess with scissors.

I didn’t like Nasus just ‘floating’ on the card and I had drawn him as though he were taking a step forward so I sliced a strip of the chalkboard black plain paper and used foam squares to create a step for Nasus to step onto.

The hardest part was to tie a sentiment between Christmas and all the morbid quotes of Nasus. I finally found a quote to work with “your spirit is hollow” one of his attacking quotes. It was simple to replace ‘hollow’ with ‘merry’ for the Christmas vibe.

I hand wrote the sentiment using a white gel pen on scrap black cardstock and placed that partially behind Nasus’ head. I used oodles of foam squares to get a 3D effect of Nasus taking that step up and also to really make him pop out of the card.

I was super excited with the finished look and all that was needed was a personalised sentiment for Christmas and New Years inside the card and it was ready to gift. I wasn’t giving any material presents this year (due to saving money) but as these three friends are so important I really wanted to give them something special and unique.

Craftsy Courses – Simple Scrapbook Layouts with Kelly Purkey – Project 1

I stumbled across the Craftsy website which has loads of amazing online courses. I’ve taken quite a few courses since then and found many of them to be extremely helpful and informative. Recently I ‘enrolled’ in the ‘Scrapbooking with Style: Clean & Simple Layouts with Kelly Purkey’.

For those that don’t know, Kelly Purkey has been in the industry for ages. She started scrapbooking in high school about 15 years ago. Her scrapbooks are about travel, food & friends. She started as a product designer for American Crafts about 7 years ago and has since then designed for many other companies. This includes my favourite, ‘Basic Grey’, where she has designed the ‘Mon Ami’ range and the ‘Second City’ range.

In this course Kelly Purkey uses the Basic Grey Grand Bazaar range which I was lucky enough to get in my Basic Grey Mystery Box. Kelly Purkey introduces herself in the first portion of the course and states that she will teach ‘creative scrapbooking techniques’, ‘explore design principles’ and ‘show insider tips to creating engaging pages’. All of these boasts I believe she holds true.

I had been scrapbooking for quite a while before taking this course, but I was surprised by how many new techniques I learned so that I feel I got more than my money’s worth. There are seven lessons to the course covering seven layouts. Each layout she teaches more techniques.

The first lesson she calls ‘Tasty & Alder’ after a restaurant she favours and is the subject of the first layout where she teaches foundation techniques.

Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Persia Pattern Paper

To begin with I cut the Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Persia Pattern Paper, which is 12″, down to 8 & 1/2″ by 11″.

Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Byzantine Pattern Paper in bottom third of layout.

Kelly Purkey explains a fundamental design principle and gives more tips for design and balancing layouts. I cut strip of Byzantine Pattern paper and adhered to the bottom of the layout.

Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Hagia Sophia Pattern Paper in middle third of layout.

I cut a strip of Hagia Sophia and adhered it to the middle. Kelly Purkey gives a little insight to colour theory in the video.

Vellum stuck down on top of Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Hagia Sophia Pattern Paper to mute the vibrant tones.

I cut a strip of vellum and adhere it to the page on top of the Hagia Sophia pattern paper.

Strip of Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Persia Pattern Paper to cover gap.

There was a gap between the vellum which showed the vibrant Hagia Sophia paper and it just didn’t look as polished between the Hagia Sophia and the Byzantine pattern papers, so I added a strip of Persia to tie it all together.

Heidi Swapp Stamp & Die Set – Arrows with Memento Dew Drop Ink Potters Clay & Tangelo

Kelly Purkey was using different ink, but I used what I had. At first I couldn’t decide between the brownish orange of the Memento Potter’s Clay and the cheese puff orange of the Memento Tangelo.  So I stamped the arrows from the Heidi Swapp Stamp Set twice.

Heidi Swapp Stamp & Die Set – Arrows

I didn’t use the die even though I had it. I cut them out by hand as Kelly Purkey does in the video. It also means I don’t get the white border around the arrows leaving them all crisp. I like that Kelly Purkey explains that you don’t need exactly the same materials as her as the lesson is mostly about teaching techniques. For example if you can’t track down a set of the Heidi Swapp arrow stamps then another stamp set could be used or you could draw things and cut them out to use as staggered display at the top of the page.

Strip of Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Mediterranean Pattern Paper to cover glue mark on vellum.

I cut a thin strip of Mediterranean pattern paper to border the left-hand side as well as cover one of the glue marks that shows through on the vellum. In the photo above I’m trying to arrange the arrows and their flag poles into a position I’m happy with.

Heidi Swapp Stamp & Die Set – Arrows adhered with foam squares.

Then once I’m happy, I adhere the flagpoles with my tape gun. I use the Scotch Advanced Tape Glider, which I invested in after seeing Kelly Purkey use it in this course. And as she says, it is so economical, easy to use etc. I love it!

Heidi Swapp Stamp & Die Set – Arrows arranged on flagpoles made with strips of Basic Grey Grand Bazaar Byzantine Pattern Paper.

I love the title of this course, ‘clean and simple layouts’. That’s exactly what Kelly Purkey teaches. All the layouts are so crisp and finished. Without her guidance, I am such a messy scrapbooker. So I was really happy to learn all the design principals Kelly Purkey had to offer.

Craftsy Course Simple Scrapbooking Layouts with Kelly Purkey Project 1

So this is the finished project. I went with a similar theme of the favourite food place and I titled the page ‘The Coffee Club’ as my boyfriend and I frequent The Coffee Club. I’m very happy with the final result! I did skip quite a few steps between photos and that was mostly because when I was working on the page, my boyfriend distracted me 😉

Birthday Jigsaw Puzzle Progress – Puzzle 5 of 10 – Complete!

I started the next jigsaw puzzle, the last of the 500 piece puzzles out of the 10 pack and the one I thought would be the hardest.

It actually ended up being the easiest. The speed in which I was completing this puzzle amazed me.

It was a day off and I spent the majority of it at home, but still…

Before I knew it I only had one section left to go.

And voila! A 500 piece puzzle finished in a day. And I still had lots of time to spare to hang out with my boyfriend! 😉

Christmas 2014 – Christmas Card Making – Lawn Fawn Snow Day Christmas Card Idea

This is a quick Christmas card I put together for my Japanese tutor. I used scraps left over from other Christmas cards from the Lawn Fawn Snow Day 6 x 6 Paper Pack.

I layered the large brown rectangle at the bottom with the peacoat pattern paper rectangle on top bordering to the right-hand side and then on top of those I adhered the red coloured snowflake pattern paper at an angle.

From there I adhered the cute Christmas bunny pattern paper at an opposite angle. Then, I sliced the ‘for you’ tag, also a part of the Lawn Fawn Snow Day 6 x 6 paper pack. I punched a hole at the top using the Crop-a-dile Big Bite II and tied a bow using the Lawn Fawn Peppermint twine.

To finish, I stamped ‘Merry’ and ‘Christmas’ using the Simon Says Stamp Happy Holidays stamp pack onto the red snowflake pattern paper and cut out triangles from the end to make a banner.

This card was quick and easy and I really liked the results. I would have liked to use white embossing powder to emboss the ‘Merry Christmas’ sentiment but I didn’t have a heat gun at this time so I had to work with what I had.

Christmas 2014 – Christmas Card Making – Dynasty Warriors Ma Chao

I wanted to make very personalised Christmas cards for three of my dear friends. This post covers one of three.

The friend I had in mind for this card used to play a lot of Dynasty Warriors with me and his favourite character was Ma Chao. In the game, Ma Chao would shout ‘for justice!’ So the idea came together that I would have the sentiment ‘for Christmas!’

The hard part was trying to draw Ma Chao. I had to work within my skills and I’ve done some training drawing Japanese stylized chibi characters in the past. So I gathered my old reference books and brushed up my skills and then went on the prowl online for a good Ma Chao reference. I found one I really liked that I thought would challenge me but be reasonable within my skills.

This is link to the reference art: http://www.zerochan.net/1428910

I sketched him out and when I was happy with the sketch (it took like entire night…), I made some photocopies. I wanted to colour it in with pencils but I didn’t want to ruin the original with a mistake. So I did about two or three test colouring-ins to find which colours I wanted to use on the original sketch.

With Ma Chao and his gallant steed sketched, coloured and cut out, I then got some A4 vanilla cardstock ready to put the card together.

I used my Martha Stewart Score Board to fold the card nicely in half. Ma Chao and his steed were quite large and so I needed a larger than normal size card to fit them on.

Being that he [Ma Chao] was drawn in a manga style I thought it’d be cool to have some action lines and I was flipping through my Christmas pattern papers and I found one I liked that I thought would be very suitable. It was in the Echo Park Christmas Cheer Collection and it is called Festive Stripes. Festive Stripes was so vibrant and busy though that Ma Chao became lost in the background so I needed something else behind him in order to keep the focus on Ma Chao.

I used a coordinating pattern paper in the same Echo Park Christmas Cheer Collection and it was just a plain red in the matching hue of the stripes. I cut that into a strip and placed that in the center of the stripes and placed Ma Chao on top.

I then needed to stamp out the sentiment. I used a Hero Arts lower case letter set (it’s all I had haha!) It was fun stamping the letters. I stamped them onto a scrap piece of vanilla cardstock and placed that at the bottom of the card.

The above picture isn’t actually the final product that is me just testing where everything is going to sit. It seems I omitted to take a final photograph or if I did I lost it. I used lots of foam squares to adhere Ma Chao and the sentiment down. I liked the idea of making the horse look like it was jumping over the sentiment strip. I used foam squares on top of foam squares around the horse and Ma Chao to really try and give the 3D effect of him jumping out of the card.

After that, it was a personalised Christmas message and New Years wish for my friend on the inside and it was all done!