Giftcard/ cash holder card

 

It's a been a while since I  created a post  here due to having to go back to work after lockdown.  I have to say it was tough going back after 6 months off. I have been so tired, I haven't had the time or energy to spend in my craft room to make cards.

Anyway, you may remember I made some  6x4 versions of this card during lockdown. This time I have scaled it up to a 7 x 5 card and made it a masculine card.

I made my own background paper for these cards by putting my son's jeans in the photocopier and printing. I have done this before for papers for scrapbooking. I was scrapbooking my son's baptism day and I didn't have a suitable paper, so I photocopied the floral dress I was wearing in the photos. It looked great and I loved the end result. 

Whiskey Business.

This set is a new set by Stampin' Up .It's called Whiskey Business... Two people sprung to mind  as soon as I saw it , so I just had to buy it.   

Coloured with Copics and mounted onto  Cajun Craze card stock and Cajun Craze DSP. 

I love the sentiments in this set too. Not Gushy or overly sentimental.

A  hint of humour on this one.

 Hubby says the Whiskey is too dark on this one.

 Maybe I was thinking of the bottle of Brandy sat in the kitchen or maybe it's just that my  honey coloured pen has run out of ink and had to make do with the colours I have.  

Part the appeal of this set is the fact the Decanter and glass are separate stamps making it more versatile. So you can have as many glasses as you want in any arrangement. 

This set will be great for Father's Day  cards as well as masculine birthday cards.

Hubby's birthday card .

This was Hubby's birthday card this year. It was kind of inspired by the waistcoat I bought hubby and a card I found on Pinterest . It was a very easy card to make

. I used Stampin up Truly Tailored DSP.

Masculine card for the DIY guy.

I didn't intend for this card to look like this when I started it. After I had coloured this gorgeous Lily of the Valley  digital image,  I spilled coffee on the top half of the image. 

 I didn't notice the coffee stain until long after it had dried, so there was no way I could mop up the coffee before it stained .

The only way I could save  my coloured image was to cut away the stained section and mount  it on to a new piece of card. I chose black card  so this little guy would stand out.

Masculine card

This stamp was a very popular stamp for men's cards  some years ago. I don't know the make of the stamp but I can tell you it is a polymer stamp  and  surprisingly, one I can actually use.
regular readers will know, I fail big time with polymer stamps.

A few weeks ago I was digging through my stamps looking for some images I could  stamp off then colour while watching TV. 

I like to do something while watching TV, then I don't feel I have completely wasted the evening.

When I need to make a quick card I have a whole host of images coloured in ready to use.






Here is a picture of just a few of the images I've coloured in while watching TV.  
I have small box full of images ready to go. 
By colouring  images in advance I save loads of time when it comes to constructing  a card. 

Gilded Flying Scotsman

It's been a while since I have updated my blog, that's because I haven't done any crafting for a while. The reasons for that being  four weeks ago,  I fell down the stairs and badly sprained both ankles. 
Hubby took me to hospital some hours later, when the pain got so bad I could barely stand, let alone walk.
Hubby found a wheelchair and wheeled me into A&E, where we sat and waited for hours to be assessed & Xrayed and finally to be seen by a male nurse, who not only gave me a pair of crutches, but he also gave me his cough when he coughed in my face and continued cough over me through out the whole consultation. I knew I wasn't going to escape getting his bug from the first cough. 
Sure enough, two days later I started coughing,  I coughed so much and so hard I gave myself the headache from hell and had pulled all the muscles around my ribs. 
After a few more days things went from bad to worse, I lost my voice and became feverish and I really felt like crap. So I spent the next few days and nights camped out on the sofa. So as not to give it to the rest of the household or keep them up all night. 
The annoying thing was, I couldn't use the crutches for more than a couple of minutes as  it put too much strain on the shoulder I injured when I fell over at the end of last year and had recently finished a course of physio for. 
Once the ankles had recovered enough for me to walk, my brother in law took me to the doctors, she told me I had a chest infection and signed me off work and gave me some pills. 
So now you know why I haven't been up to crafting a blogging for a while.
But I have certainly made up for it the last couple of days.
I am sure  you haven't come to  y blog to read all about my health issues, so I'll get on with with my first crafty post.

My first post this evening is a card I made for my dad. It had to be a simple card as I am not fully recovered for my illness and injury.

I bought this Robert Addams die at the Make it show this year. It's called the Flying Scotsman.
It's easier to make up than his motorbike die. 
Robert had samples of the die made up in gold  Mirri board and in coloured card which looked great, but I wanted to try something a little different with it.

So I made up the train in black card,  then applied gilding wax over the card. I think it's very effective.

The Age Awareness sentiment is from
a stamp set with the same name.
I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed it  then used gilding wax over the  heat embossed sentiment to tie it in with the train and background.

The world map is an embossing folder available from stampin' Up.  Sorry I can't remember the name of it.

A Couple of Masculine Cards.

It was a poor nights viewing  on the TV last night,  so it was a good time to sit down a down and do a spot of colouring.

So I  stamped off a dozen images from a variety of SU stamp sets and sat down down with a big box of markers and began colouring.

This morning I had a nice little stack of coloured images ready to be turned into cards.

The first card is a tent style card and was made using the duck from  the Wilderness Awaits stamp set.
I was pleased with my efforts on this image.    The colours are a little stronger in reality than in this photo.

For base of the card, Instead of using lots of layers for the background. I used my square dies to create a Night of Navy card frame and a Pool Party square that fits exactly inside the navy frame.
This saves on card and reduces the overall weight of the card.
I did mount the duck onto a square of Navy for the panel.
For my second card I used the dog from the same stamp set.
You can't see it very well but the image is mounted on a piece of night of Navy card stock, then onto a piece of Night of Navy designer paper. The sentiment is from a stamp set called Riveting, the stamp has a small flower in the centre, which was not appropriate for this card, so I punched out a small circle of the DSP to cover the the flower.

Robert Addams Motorbike Die

Last Sunday Ange and I trotted off to Farnborough  to the Make It Show.
Going on a Sunday has it's advantages and disadvantages.  One disadvantage being the stall holders  tend to sell out of certain products.

But the advantages are, .. if they ain't got it you can't buy it, so you save money.

The main advantage being is that it is much quieter so you don't have to fight for a space to watch demos  or fight to get to the stalls, it's much more relaxed and some of the stall holder will give you a little discount on the last day.

Robert Addams had a stand there selling his massive range of dies. I didn't realise he had so many dies in his range. I knew he did a few wordy dies  and the motorbike, mini and campervan dies  (all of which are on my wish list). 

But I had no idea his range was so vast. I fell in love with the puppies, the kittens, the fisherman, the clock face the coggs and so many more.

 I was very good and only bought the motorbike die as I wanted to see how I got on with this type of die. 
Robert did tell me that the Motorbike die is fiddly but well worth the effort.

Well, my first attempt at assembling all the pieces had me in a bit of a tizzy which later turned into pure rage the more frustrated I got. 
I am sure the air turned blue as the  foul language flowed from my mouth. Thank goodness I was the only person home  that afternoon.

I got to the point where I was so despondent I was going to put all the bits in an envelope with a card   and send them to my brother with a message saying " here's the kit,  make your own bloody birthday  card." 
As a biker at least he would have the advantage of knowing where all the bits  should go.


I have to say that my frustration and anger was all due to my lack of patience and not watching the Video Tutorial on assembling  this motorbike first.
Having watched the video.....

My second attempted went like a dream.... and I now have a couple of tips to share with you.


1.  Watch the video tutorial before you even start working with this die.

2. Some of the pieces are very tiny  so be very careful to collect all 
the pieces and put them in a pot as soon as you cut them.

3. Watch video again after you have cut out all those tiny pieces.

4.If possible.. Watch video as you assemble the bike.

5. Use a black card with a sheen on it for the frame and wheels. 
It reflects the light giving a more realistic look and the debossed detail stands out more.

4. Ink the edges of the card used for the tank and mud guards. Use a slightly darker shade of ink in the same colour as the card you choose. It will add depth and give a more curved impression to the tank and mud flaps.

5 . Take your time this is not one to be rushed.

Now I have Just enough time to to stick down the mud flap and  then I must get this in the post for my Brothers Birthday. I do hope he appreciates all the effort that went into making this card.  In fact I may just send him a set of all the pieces  to make up just  for fun.

I'll post Robert's  video here too.

Traveller Meets World Map

The ship on this card was going to be in a circle on this base card.

 But I kind if misjudged my paper size then I messed up my inked background. 

Rather than start again, it was a case of how much of my work could I salvage.

Out came the circle dies  and I managed to save enough of my work to to create this corner section. So then I needed to fill the dead space on the card.

What better than the world map background stamp.

 I heat embossed the map with black embossing powder and sponged ink over it with Old olive , Bashful blue and Hello honey  inks. 

Then I  did  the same with the sentiment.

I used very thin foam pads to raise the ship from the background slightly but I stuck the sentiment  directly onto the background with Tombow glue.Then mounted the piece of work onto brown card and then onto my base card of Hello Honey cardstock.

I forgot to say the ship is from the New 2015  Stampin Up Catalogue and the set is called Traveler. Yep!  you read that right,  it is Traveler with One L.

 I do find these spelling differences  very  annoying as I have to remember to spell things wrong.

 You'd think they'd change the spelling for the English market.  

Time to take the dogs out now so Cheerio until next time . LOL.

Horse Frontier card

 After my last attempt at this card and the major mistake I made I just had to do this card again, but with some changes. firstly  you'll notice I changed the colours of the DSP (background paper)  making this a more masculine card.

I didn't put the ribbon on this card  either and I have changed the positioning of the feathers and sentiment.
Other that,  it's exactly the same. I think I prefer this one.

Work of Art

As usual I left making my father's day cards to last possible minute. I was somewhat lacking in imagination and this was about all I could come up with.
Inspired by a card I made  similar to this a few years ago, but then I used the tiny ink spot pads to swipe the colour onto my card this new brushstroke  stamp certainly made this easier and the ink has been more evenly distributed. 

The new brushstroke stamp will be available to the general public next month when Stampin up launch the new  2014 -15 catalogue . It comes from a new set called Work of Art it contains  11 different stamps  brushstrokes, a distressed looking heart, and a circle plus a few  sentiments stamps.

I stamped the circle stamps  and onto the envelope in the same colours  as on this card to look like traffic lights.The motorcycle stamp has long since been retired but I couldn't resist using it as both my dad and my step father like motor bikes.

Hubby's Birthday Card.

It was  Hubby's birthday last week and I had left his card to the last possible minute.  Not through lack of time, I had plenty of time for a change. 
I just didn't have  any idea's at all that would fit him.

The night before I suddenly  remembered he used to have a thing about watches. Arh!!!! I have the Dapper dad stamp set and the Well Worn DSP which is a lovely masculine paper.....but what on earth am I going to do with them.


I tried several things but didn't like the results.
 At around midnight on the eve of his birthday I finally came up with this  7 X 5  card.

I stamped and heat embossed the watch in gold embossing powder.
 Stamped it a gain in black craft ink and allowed the craft ink to dry thoroughly then punched out the clock face with the 1" circle punch and stuck it onto of the gold clock face.




I added a  1" resin  bubble/ domed circle thingy... ( what are these things called?????)over the clock face then set about cutting my layers.

Using  oval dies I cut out some layers to mount the watch on. 
I used some thin sticky  foam pads in between the scalloped layer and the card to bring the watch forward a little.











I love this  sheet of designer series paper it's my favourite in  the Well Worn pack.
But it was  to plain for this card.  

 So I dragged out the  retired,  Sense of Time stamp set and used the cog stamp and black ink pad  to add a little more interest to the background.
Besides I really like over stamping on printed paper, heat embossing is even better.


I stamped, punched and sponged  my greeting and glued it in place.

For the inside   I made up an A4 sheet of paper  on the PC  with quotes and sayings that all related to time .  I printed it off then over stamped with the large clock faces  from the Sense of Time  stamp set.
It was then cut to size and stuck into the card with some narrow DS tape ..... All ready for the morning.

Greg's Birthday Card

Yesterday was our son's birthday and I was stuck for ideas for a card for him. .  My mojo  has definitely been hiding from me this last week or so. 
Time to get some inspiration from the internet.

After some time trawling certain facebook sites I came a cross a  very similar card to this created by Paula Knall which  took my fancy. 
So I went into case mode and recreated her card,  but with a couple of differences.
 I added the word son were  Paula's had a number and the sentiment is different as I don't have the stamp she used. I think this works.
The stamp set  used for the ink splatters and lines are from the Stampin' Up set Gorgeous Grunge and the chevron stripes were created with the chevron punch also from Stampin' Up.
 Fortunately  for me this card was very quick to make as I only had and hour  to do the card, create an insert for it and cook dinner, before rushing round to deliver the card.

World Map Card

A bit of CASE ing going on here I saw  Brenda Keenan s version of this card and  I  loved it so much I had to CASE it for my Dad.
 Brenda used a different sentiment and tags. I don't own those so had to improvise on that bit.
 I especially liked the fact that Yemen  is just above the tag.  This is because my dad was in the RAF and we lived in Yemen / Aden as it was then for two years. My brother was born there but a short time after his birth we had to come back to the UK as the heat was too much for my baby brother and the doctors thought  he would die if he stayed there. So my brother went back to the UK with our mother and I flew back with my dad  a bit later.

 I guess this card would suit my brother too, if not more so.

The colours I used were more mustard, wild wasabi and ballet blue sponged randomly over  the heat embossed in black embossing powder over world map image which was stamped with Versamark ink.

Open Sea Card

I used the Open Sea stamp set to create this card. Using Night of navy and  bashful blue inks. Night of navy  and whisper white card stock.  I don't think I need to give instructions for this one as it's all pretty obvious . But should you have any questions I would be happy to  answer them.

                    

Motorcycle Card

This card was inspired and almosted cased from another demonstrator. I loved the way she had swiped the ink over the cardstock and then just stamped over it. So simple, yet so effective. The colours used were  Stampin' up's old olive, pumpkin pie and marina mist with a hint of night of navy mixed in. I am loving this combination of colours. I would never of thought of putting blue with orange and green. 

Black and white plane card

A simple black and white card using a strip of S.U.'s designer series paper from the neutrals collection and the plane from the plane and simple stamp set.
This stamp set is is from the mini catalogue that was launched earlier this month. Boy!!!! have I spent a fortune on stuff from the mini.

Okay, now I going to make you think I am a complete Idiot. This is a father's day card. I know the background says thank you, but I kind of forgot what sort of card I was making. But I have some very good excuses, and to cut a long story short it has been a very stressful day, that has left me with a stiff neck and a headache from the tension caused by various so called professional people that cannot do their jobs properly.Starting with the postman that delivered my mail this morning. Stupid man folds my mail to put it through the letter box. He has ruined the die cuts I bought and a really nice Easter card we were sent. I chased after him to complain, but he disappeared. I'll be waiting for him tomorrow. hee hee.

The day got worse as it went along as more incompetent people stressed me out. Here's hoping for better day tomorrow.

Anyway that's enough moaning, back to the card . I guess this one could say" Thanks for being my dad , " or "thanks for being the greatest Dad ever", so this is not a total disaster.

To create the corners I used a small circle punch and just snipped of the corners as evenly as I could.

Plane and Simple

Another card using the Plane from the plane and simple stamp set. You are going to be so bored by the end of todays blog entries. lol This one is Black and white, No camera or lighting tricks on this one.
I really don't think I need to explain or give in instructions it really is Plane and Simple.
Notice the polka dot back ground, I got my new embossing folder last night. The Greeting was stamped using with S.U's white craft ink onto black card.

Another card using Plane and Simple stamp set

This a card I have cased, I really like this one. Mind you I don't case cards I don't like. So If you are the original designer Well Done and thanks for sharing.
I used the plane and simple stamp set again this time with Vanilla, Early Expresso and Soft Suede card stock and Early expresso ink, all from stampin' up.