Pink Card

A while ago, I made two "kits" using scraps of papers. I used the first one quickly but only now attacked the second kit, which has mostly pink/green with a touch of cream and black:

This was inspired by a layout by Wilna Furstenberg in the Pop Of the Page class I am taking.

The layout is lovely but the page was looking a bit boring until I added the butterflies which I punched from tracing paper. Still not a patch on the original but much better.

Have a good weekend!

Gold and Teal

I love this combination!

A layered card

I am doing a class in Studio Calico, Pop Off The Page, and it is all about layering.  That's something I am really bad at, so I signed for the course straight away.

It is great to make something a bit different from my normal style, but at the same it I struggle with chance, so I took a easy option and started with a card instead of a scrapbook page:

Confessions of a paper hoarder - Part 1

We, crafters, are like magpies, attracted to shiny, beautiful things. The problem is when we start accumulating more beautiful things that we are able to use.

For the last couple of years, I haven't bought much - I cancelled my scrapbooking kit subscription and have been very economic with my purchases. But still, my pile of stuff doesn't seem to get any smaller, because I have a hoarder. I keep papers I don't like much (either I gone off them or it came in a kit), tiny paper scraps, letters stickers sheets when there's probably not enough letters to make a word out if it :-) the list is endless.

Ridiculous, I know.  I am trying to get my craft supplies to a manageable level by using what is usable and hopefully throwing away what is not.

I am hoping to have a regular "column" in my blog keeping track of the progress I am making in using or recycling my junk.  Like any addiction, it is a lifetime battle to keep the stash levels under control.

This month I started with my papers scraps. Paper scraps are great to make cards, because they are the right size and also because I can make cards much faster than scrapbook pages. (I am a slow scrapper).

What works for me is to make a kit, that is, put together a set of papers which goes together well and making cards using these papers. This is the kit I put together:

Yellow, orange and blues.

It is embarassing to show the size of scraps I keep...

Anyway, can I show you how many cards I made from these papers?

Paper candles - great way to use scraps!

For the candle body I rolled up a piece of paper around a pencil. The flame is a leaf punch which I inked or coloured with red. I think the inking looks best. The little framed buttons are the inspiration for my kit. Something i made for PaperPlay Challenges a while ago.

Then I got star struck:

Using paper strips in this one:

Even the Mami Doodles image was one I had printed ages ago and had half coloured it. So I finished it and used it.

By then I thought I was done, but there was this cute butterfly in the kit which deserved to be used so I made yet another one:

You probably can't see but I used the sewing machine in 4 or the cards, the stitching finished the cards really well.

Thanks for looking!

Guest Designer for DYSU

Today I am the Guest Designer for DYSU.  The challenge subject is very close to my heart: FOOD! Or should I say stomach...

The challenge is been sponsored by Rhoda Design Studio, which kindly shared the fun image of the teacup seen in my card.

* Digital Image: Rhoda Design Studio

* Font:  Keep Calm and Carry On

* Stamps: Papertrey Ink

* Ink: Tsukineko (Versafine, Versamagic)

Check all the amazing entries here!

I was very honoured to be asked, thank you!

A quick card

I am doing an online class on stamping; Studio Calico's Summer Stamp Class. The first lesson covered stamping off, which is to stamp several times with same stamp without reinking in between. I have still to produce a good result but am having lots of fun!

* Stamps: Studio Calico

* Ink: Tsukineko (versafine, versamagic, versamark)

* Embossing Powder: American Crafts

*Other: Cardstock and button

I am not great at stamping so this is a way to work on my skills and also to try to use them in scrapbooking.

When I had a chance to get into a rubbers stamp shop in London I bought a couple of versafine inkpads and am converted to them. They really give a good impression and it is the only one which worked well for this technique.

Father's Day cards

Do your children make Father's Day card in school? I seem to remember that we always made either a card or an "arty thing" for Mother and Father's Day, but it doesn't seem to be the case in my children's school.

I particularly remember a necklace that we made for our mothers, it was made of pasta and beads which we varnished once finished. The (uncooked, of course) pasta shapes were those that we put in minestroni, little rings and stars and now I can imagine how the poor mothers had to wear these prickly necklaces for months to make us happy.

Usually I get the children to draw their own cards, but this year I had an idea of having them posing with handwritten speech bubbles and making a card out of it.

My son decided to write something a bit nonsensical "daddy call me maybe" (after the song), and when I argued that it didn't had anything to do with Father's Day, he completely lost interest and asked my daughter to write something for him. I regretted that I opened my mouth, as the point was having something with his own handwriting.

Here's my son's card, closed:

open:

My daughter's closed:

open:

 She came up with this:
"Every Dad needs a cheer.
That's why father's Day is here!"

Love it!

The font is Blackout, I tend to use typewriter like fonts and Century Gothic, but this one really made the cards!

The bubbles are part of the preset shapes in PSE, and I just added a coloured border to it. Here it is in case you want to download. Click to get the right size and then right click to save.

TFL!

Blue cards

I am still obsessed with the idea of using stencil or silhouette shapes in cards, like the bird card I made a while ago.

This time I used another dingbat, HFF Aqua Stencil. I made a few for boy's birthday cards but it would suit a baby card too, I think.

I sprayed a bit of a shiny mist over the blue cardstock, which looks nice in real life, but doesn't photography well.


And with scraps, a masculine birthday card:

From pin to execution

My two obsessions at the moment are the Silhouette Cameo and pinterest. Hardly anything I am making so far doesn't use the first one or is inspired by something I pinned/found in pinterest.

The first one is because I think it allows me to make things I always wanted but never had the inclination to cut by hand. The second is a fantastic repository of ideas, and from the beginning I am trying to only pin things that truly inspire me. Even if I love something I won't pin it unless I think I could make something similar or I could use as a springboard to something.

Here are two pins which I used to make my own stuff:

This origami dress, at 59 repins, is probably the most popular thing I pinned.

Source: howaboutorange.blogspot.com via Elisa on Pinterest

It is a very simple card, but very striking. The dress itself is not hard to make, while it might take a while for a novice to remember all the folds, once you learn, you could do it while watching TV at the same time. The excelent video tutorial for the origami, by noorinaya is here.

Here's my take:

And in this version, I ysed a border punch on the hemline:

This one is is another beauty:

Source: omiyageblogs.blogspot.com via Elisa on Pinterest

Now, it one takes much longer to make. I made several of them and oh, boy, it took a looong time to finish them. I wanted to make something special for a special bunch of girls and it was worth it, as they turned out as I wished them to. According to the source website they're called  shiori ningyo which means bookmark dolls.

I placed my ningyos inside acetate pockets in the front of my cards:

Now I see I started with the Silhouette but nothing in this post uses it, but it's getting late and I'll leave it to my next post. Good night!

TFL!

Yet more cards

I am still in a card mood; I made some for some upcoming birthdays and some to send to Barbara, who in turn sells them for charity.

I am still doing the photo a day project but not uploading my photo every day as I used to do at the beginning.

A new toy

My husband got me an eletronic cutting tool; the Silhouette Cameo.

I am still struggling with it as depending on the thickness of the material it needs to be set differently, and I've had occasions where the same settings didn't work for the exactly the same paper.

But when it works it is lots of fun. My first idea is based on Lisa Andersson's card shown here. After a few trial and errors I got the shape more or less right and combined with a snowflake shape which came with the machine to make this card:

TFL!

Break for cards

Even though I still have a 2010 layout to share, I thought I'd post some cards for a chanhe. I went through my paper scraps and made 4 mini-kits out of them. I figure I'd be able to get one or two cards using each kit
.

As I started, I'd worked out a few "rules" for the cards:

1. Try to use mostly the papers in the pack.
2. You can look for more papers if needed, but it has to be from the scrap box.
3. You're allowed to use embellishments, stamps, punches from your stash.
4. Continue until you finish everything from the kit.


Can you believe I got 7 cards out of it?! Ok, they're not brilliant - I am no stamper, I am lazy about colouring and my cards won't get any prizes, but still...

I digitally coloured one of my images then added a bit of stickles on the bubbles.

Another one using the same coloured image:

One of my favourites.

I wanted to make at least one girlie card, so I added the red cardstock and the flowers.

Something a little different:

That's 6 cards, the last one need the final touches...

Leaves in a card

Found this really cute leaf punch in Cara Craft Supplies and had to use it. It is smaller than I thought it would be but so cute.

(inside)

A baby card (hybrid)

Using this little cute digital kit, I made a baby card. I first printed the two little boys in pyjamas and a cat on white cardstock and cut them out. Then I printed the rest of the design on a light coloured patterned paper and adhered my little guys into it using foam pads in one of them.

The tooth fairy

Lucy lost her first tooth 3 weeks ago. She left the tooth under her pillow (in a tooth shaped box, courtesy of Air France, go figure!) and of course the tooth fairy came, took the tooth and left a few coins. She also left this card:



I made some inquiries and apparently the image was a freebie from Pati, no longer available, but she still have some cute ones here.