Gatefold card

We all need a bit of inspiration from time to time and need to hop on to Youtube to find something that  inspires us and kick starts the mojo. Which is exactly what I did before creating this card.

I came across a video by Jo Rice on making this gatefold card. I thought it was very pretty, and  a bit out of my comfort zone, but  I wanted to have a go  at making this card anyway. Especially as I had received the fir tree stamps for Christmas and hadn't yet used them. It was the perfect excuse to get them out and start stamping.   

Once I had made the card, I remembered why I am not a great fan of gatefold cards. I think we waste our time decorating the front panels of this type of card.  The only time you see the front panels are when it's closed, but it won't stand when it's closed, so the side panels are folded out, hiding the artwork, and revealing a fairly plain, uninteresting central panel that's often totally unrelated to the outside artwork. which has also been written on by the sender. Not something I personally would want to put on display. I want to see the beautiful artwork.

I think that's why I was drawn to this card, I loved that Jo decorated the central panel to match her front panels. The sender wouldn't want to write on a beautifully decorated panel and would automatically write their greeting on the back or one of the inner side panels.

As I sit here writing this  I am wondering what it would be like if  I made the two front panels again (excluding the moon) and stick them to the inside panels to create a panoramic scene and maybe just put one scene and a sentiment on the outside...  I think I may try that.

Forest scene treat bags

I said I would do a quick tutorial on how I created my little forest scenes. These images were created on cheap and nasty  6x4 envelopes, which I sealed,  then cut the top end off to create a new opening, and used these as treat bags. 

I blended yellow (S.U. Barely Banana, which is a pale warm yellow, not a citrus yellow)  ink around the edges of the envelope, working my way towards the middle, the yellow was stronger at the edges fading out as I worked towards the centre. I left a white patch in the middle. The yellow needs to be blended carefully, as you get to the middle it needs to be very pale where it meets the white  so you don't have any harsh lines.

Once the yellow was applied I blended in some  pale papaya ink, ( another S.U ink which is a pale orange) working over the yellow edges and the corners, applying less and less ink as I worked inwards. I didn't want to cover all the yellow.

I tore a sheet of copier paper and placed it over the top section of the envelope and blended a lime green ink on the bottom section to create the woodland floor. I also used the edge of the torn paper to create some contours in the ground. You'll see these in the photos below.

I stamped a tree trunk either side of the envelope. I masked off the trunks using the sticky edge of a couple of post it notes.  Then stamped the trunk again diagonally.

Using my stamping platform  I secured my piece of work with the magnets.  I positioned the CLEAN mice stamps, where I wanted them to be on my work and closed the platform to pick up the stamps.

 I inked up the mice stamps using Versafine Clare Nocturn and closed the platform again to transfer the  mice image to my work.

 The mice stamps are from Lavinia stamps.( In fact all the stamps I used on this project were purchased from Lavinia stamps)

The beauty of using a stamping platform is, That if your image doesn't stamp correctly you can ink up the stamps again and stamp over the previously stamped images.  This will fill in any misses perfectly, providing your work hasn't moved at all. Always lift the platform door carefully to ensure your work doesn't move.  Sometimes the stamp will stick to your work, so if you're not careful your work can move.

If you don't have a platform and you get small  misses you can usually fill these in with a small paintbrush and the ink you used for stamping.

Once the mice were stamped  I could start stamping the foliage. I used the leaf creeper stamp to form the overhanging greenery.  I stamped in a yellow and lime green ink.  I finished off with a few stamped in Versafine Clare  Shady lane. I like this ink,  it gives good coverage, especially for silhouettes.

I masked off the tree trunks again, and stamped some wild flowers over the masked off areas, so they appear to be behind the trees. I used red ink for some and dark blue ink for others. I dotted some Posca paint over the top of the flowers in a lighter colour for a little more dimension.

Then stamping some ferns at the base of the trunks in lime green, and shady lady.

I wasn't completely happy with my fern stamping, so when the ferns where dry I stamped a small branch over the bottom of the envelope and up over some of the ferns in brown Versafine Clare.

 Versafine inks take much longer to dry, so I gave it some drying time before dotting  white Posca paint on and around the branches to form buds and flowers, disguising  the areas I wasn't too happy with. I added a few more flowers to the foreground again adding tiny dots of  Posca paint to the blooms.

 After waiting for the paint and inks to dry,  I coloured the tree trunks with Copic markers. If you look at the photo above the lower mouse looks odd, almost as though he is floating. He needs to be grounded.

This is easily done with a piece of torn paper placed over the mouse with his foot poking out  and brushing a tiny amount of a darker ink over the edge of the paper and  his foot.

If you are very confident you could bring this ink shading downwards to form the shadow. I am not that confident, so I added some shadows beneath the mouse with black chalk pastel and a tiny, stiff paint brush. Because I can rub out the chalk pastel if I mess up.

 This is not my normal style, so I did feel a little daunted when I decided to have a go at creating these scenes. But it really didn't take that much effort or time to create these images.  Which is just as well as I need to do 3 bags each week and I don't have vast amounts of time to waste on something that will end up in the bin a few minutes after they sweets have been devoured, ha ha . 

Woodland scenes

 I have been collecting the odd Lavinia stamp for a number of years, just one or two here and there, but over  the last 18months, I've been receiving them as gifts for Christmas and birthdays. I 've even bought a few extra myself, possibly because  I've bought everything I want from this years S.U catalogue. I always  struggle to find something to buy as the catalogue comes to an end.  So it's a good time to try something different using another company's products.

I find it quite a challenge to change style completely. Creating this type of scene takes some forethought and a bit of practise to create something that looks half decent, but it's worth  persevering.   Even though Hubby doesn't like this style of stamping. He says they're  too busy for his liking.

My answer is, woodlands are busy places. He obviously doesn't take in the scenery when he is walking through the woods with the dog. ha ha. I'm going to be in trouble for that one.  lol.

My next post will be on how I create these scenes. So pop back in a few days if you're interested in how I did these.

There are also lots of  video tutorials on  Lavinia stamps website.

Beside me.

 

I 've been playing with this new set again. I really like these images. They are nice to colour as well as being really sweet and relatable images. 

I used Copic markers to colour these images.  

The set contains all three of these images along with the birds and seven sentiments.

DSP Bereavement cards

I have found myself needing to make a few bereavement cards this month, We've lost three family members rather suddenly and unexpectedly in the last three weeks.  For these two cards, I chose to use a pretty DSP from Stampin' up! and combined it with a suitable sentiment  from the kindness and Compassion stamp set again from Stampin up!

 

Octagonal cracker

I have an alternative way of gift wrapping for you today.

It's an octagonal cracker. I say cracker, but there is no  snap or crack in this cracker. I'm not so sure it would tear so well if you tried to pull it as the card is a much better quality than used in shop bought crackers. which is why I am describing this as an alternative gift wrap.

To make this cracker you'll need one sheet of A4 card scored  at 1 inch intervals from top to bottom all the way along.

Then in the landscape position, score  at 1  3/4 ,   2  1/4,  and  2  3/4 inches. 

Turn the card round and score again at the opposite end, using the same measurements.

Using an envelope punchboard, line up the little finger on the punchboard with the first  1 3/4 score line. Then fold the card on the first one inch score line,  reposition in the punchboard and punch again. repeat this action on all the 1 inch score lines. See photo below.

Repeat at both ends.  Fold all three score lines back and forth this will make adding the ribbon easier.

Before joining the sides, It's a good idea to decorate each panel, while the project is still flat 

with a paper of your choice. This does not have to be Christmas themed paper, it could also be used to wrap a gift for any occasion. 

 Join the sides.

Add the ribbon at one end. Now you will notice there is still quite a large hole left,  which a slimline gift could fall out. Now you could scrunch up some tissue paper and block the hole, add the gift, then add  more tissue before tie up the end.

  Another option you could use is to cut a circle of card to drop in the cracker before adding the gift, then add another circle before sealing with the second ribbon. 

  

You'll need two , 2 1/4 inch circles for the second method.

Uplines cards

Here's a card sent to me, from my upline to mark my 13th Stampin' up birthday.

Amanda has used a  strips of  DSP to create this one. I love the DSP she has used on this one.

The card below is another card from my Upline marking my 12th birthday, I found this in my craftroom the other day and realized I hadn't posted it. I am loving those iridescent  sequins, all my favourite colours.

Father's day cards

This stamp is from a new stamp set by Stampin' up, it's called   "Beside me". There are three image stamps in the set along a couple of sentiments. I have used two of the images for this post.

 This set will be great for Masculine cards, especially Father's  Day cards. This is my favourite stamp in the set, it reminds me of my dad teaching my brother to ride a bike.

The image below is from the same stamp set. I teamed this image with raindrop embossing folder.

Mini Christmas Tree

I couldn't resist posting this little tree. It was created with the die set  in the photo.

When I first bought this die I thought the small round dies were snowflake dies. Ha ha ha It wasn't until I put the tree boughs together I realized this round dies forms the top of the tree.

 I guess you could use them as snowflakes if need be.

 I bought the tree die because I wanted to create a snowy tree scene in a lantern.  After making this tree I kind of changed my mind. The reason being  I would need to run each die through the bigshot 18 times for one tree.    I had  3 maybe 5 trees for the scene. That's a lot of die cutting and a lot of picking the die cuts out of the dies, and all for one tree that's only 5 inches tall. That's very tedious work.

 Maybe I'll make one tree a month  until I have enough to complete the project.
 

Wintery cards

This post is a continuation of my previous post. I didn't have photos available to add to the previous post when I wrote it. 

 I just wanted to show that you can change things up to create different cards.  You have many options to change things up to give a different look, while keeping the same theme and style.  If you give packs of cards as gifts,  it's nice if they look like a set.

   

On the  7 x 5 inch card above I used a small rabbit, so there was space for a few more trees in the background. I used the Fern branch stamp set for the overhanging branches. I worked on a smaller panel so the rabbit wouldn't get lost. By adhering the panel to a larger card base meant I could add a larger sentiment.

On the next inch 6x 4 card, I changed the rabbit for deer and the overhanging branches are from the willow set. I didn't bother with the clouds over the moon on this one.

On this one I added pink in the sky instead of yellow. I added another row of trees on the left.

For the next one, I used a  skeleton tree branch and added the crow looking down on the rabbit.

I added a touch of peach to the sky on this one.

I didn't add any over hanging branches on this 5 x 7 card for a more desolate look for the wolf.

There is just a hint of pink in the sky on both the wolf cards. I did add a touch of blue to the horizon on these.

As you can see, these cards are all very similar but all quite different. Just but changing a colour, using a different stamp or two or the size. 

You could also change the orientation.

girls card

 I came across this stamp in my craft room, It's been stashed away for years unused.  So I thought I would try it out as she is such a sweet image. I think it's a Whiff of Joy stamp.

 Coloured with Copic markers.

Wintery cards

A little late for Christmas I know, but these were last minute Christmas cards and I didn't get time to do a post on them before Christmas.  The good news is I have given you plenty of time to recreate cards like this for next Christmas.

I used one of the  new foxes from Lavinia stamps, along with the fern branch set and a tiny little twig stamp also from Lavinia stamps to create this card. The tiny conifer I think I bought from Inkylicious stamps a long time ago, but I think the set is still available.

 I punched out a circle from the sticky edge of a post it note to mask off the moon area and blended in the sky using yellow and grey ink on this one.

Once the sky was inked, I added a couple of clouds by placing a piece of torn paper over the moon and brushing a little ink over the edge of the paper. to make the moon look spherical I brushed a little grey ink around the edges, leaving the centre white.

I added snow drifts using the same technique I used for the clouds going over the moon. You may notice I am using different  backgrounds for this post as I forgot to take photos of each step when working on the yellow and grey version. You may also notice I don't always work in the same order.

Now the  blending work has been completed it's time to do the stamping. Sometimes I'll start by stamping the background trees and sometimes I'll start with the foreground.

 It's a good idea to map out where your focal point is going to be before stamping anything. It's easy to get carried away stamping the trees and then find your animals head gets lost in the background.

You could stamp your animal first if  you are unsure about where to place your trees and foliage.

I stamped the fox in Versafine Clare ink, it's a lovely intense black ink so no need to keep stamping over it to get good coverage. I think, I stamped it twice.  Using  my Stamparatus. (that's a stamping platform for those that don't know, and  it's a tool I wouldn't be without now.) 

When the animal is dry you'll need to ground it. This is easily done by just brushing a little ink underneath the animal. I did this last which is why it doesn't show in the photos. You'll have to go to the last photo to see the light shading beneath the animals. 

 

I used  Posca pens in  brown and yellow and just dotted clusters of three dots on the twiggy bits then added one dot of yellow in the centre of each cluster. Occasionally I did a single dot.

The over hanging branches  are  Lavinia stamps branches. Fern branch on the card above and the header picture.

The branch below is another Lavinia stamp as is the crow and  Pippin the  rabbit.

 I stamped the branches in grey

 Then used a white Posca pen and drew snow on top of each of the branches.

Using the same pen I held it over the work and basically beat the barrel of the pen with the handle of a big paint brush to get it to splatter white paint over the whole piece of work to give the impression of snow.