Naturally Eclectic Card Overlays

Hello, Crafters. 

I hope you've enjoyed a great weekend.

Yesterday I decided to make a card using the Naturally Eclectic Card Overlays I received from my team leader, Natalie, as a small gift for being the top recruiter in the  team in December!

I've never used overlays before, and I really wasn't sure what to do with them! So I did the sensible thing and went onto Pinterest for inspiration! 

I only found about six cards, which indicated to me that I wasn't the only one who wasn't sure what to do them!
I'm not easily defeated, so I thought I'd have a go and see where it takes me. 

I'm not totally pleased with my finished card, but I recognise what's not quite right, and what I could have done, which would have made it better. However, as this was my first attempt, I'm not going to beat myself up about it; so let me explain what I did! 

The pack of overlays come in a pack of twelve, that's three different designs, with two gold and two white overlays for each design. 

I decided to go with one of the gold designs first as I prefer the white, and felt that if I was going to waste one, I'd rather waste gold!

I chose to use the bouquest of flowers in the Southern Serenade Stamp Set, and stamped it in the centre of a Whisper White Cardstock (CS) layer, using Basic Black Archival Ink.

I coloured the leaves and the calyx using my Wild Wasabi Marker Pen. Next I coloured the flowers with my Sweet Sugarplum Marker Pen, by painting around the inside edge of each petal twice, then a light colouring over the white centres of the petals. I finished the flowers by colouring the stamens with my Daffodil Delight Marker Pen. 

I stamped the sentiment off to the right of the flower, rather than directly above the bouquet as I didn't want my card loooking as if I was building a tower!

I took a card base of Whisper White CS, two Sweet Sugarplum layers - one for inside and one for outside the card - and one more top Whisper White CS layer for the inside. 

I decorated this by heat embossing the "lace" border stamp, as well as the single flower on a stem using Gold Embossing Powder.

The Card Overlays come with protective sheets back and front, which is an excellent idea!  

Leaving the protective sheets in place, I put  the overlay onto the image layer and marked where I needed to trim it down.

I cut these edges off, removed the protective sheet from the back of the overlay, and put a tiny dot of Tombow on each leaf. 

I dabbed the dots that I felt were a bit too large with a piece of kitchen roll, and adhered the overlay to the top layer. 

I went back to my guillotine to cut off small amounts that were coming over the edge.
Next I adhered this to the cardbase.

I finished off with a gold heat embossed bow from the Holly Berry Happiness Stamp Set, which I painted with a gold Sharpie pen and then I fussy cut it. I adhered it to the overlay using Dimensionals.  

Now I need to have another go at using overlays! If you've used overlays, and can offer me any hints or tips, please leave a comment in the box below! ☺☺☺

That's about it from me today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Seasonal Layers

Hello, Crafters.

As I knew hubby would be home late last night - he went to his company's Christmas dinner and dance - I worked on a project I've been toying with for quite some time!

I'll share it with you on Sunday.

Unfortunately, it was something like 11:00 pm by the time I'd finished it, and I hadn't made a card to share with you today. 
 
I decided the easy option was to CASE a card,so I went to the office to check out Pinterest, but then I had a lightbulb moment! 

I went down to the sitting room where all the Christmas cards we've received were hanging. 

We have three large stars, like amazingly strong fancy wire coat hangers, which we display our cards on. 

One of the stars is reserved for handmade cards only, and I picked the card I received from a favourite cousin of mine. 

B lives about an hour and a half drive away from me, and goes to classes run by her local Stampin' Up! demonstrator. 


Her Christmas cards always scream SU, and are the clean and simple style I love. 

This year is a prime example of this, and was very quick and easy to CASE. 

I started with a cardbase of Elegant Eggplant Cardstock (CS), with a layer of Whisper White CS and a top layer of Elegant Eggplant.

Before I adhered the top layer to the card, I gently wiped the bottom right-hand corner with my  Embossing Buddy. 

I stamped the sentiment, which is from the Hang Your Stocking Stamp Set, using Versamark. 

After I'd sprinkled it with Whisper White Embossing Powder, I heat set it using my Heat Tool. 

Then I used some Whisper White CS, and die cut the branch and three snowflakes from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies.

I adhered them to the front layer of the card using Tombow. 

Then I added the three snowflakes, and drew a dotted line connecting them to the branch using a ruler and a white gel pen!

I attached this layer to the front of my card and added a large Basic Rhinestone in the centre of each snowflake.

Inside the card I added a layer of Whisper CS and a layer of Elegant Eggplant CS. 

I heat embossed the sentiment, which is from the Holly Berry Happiness Stamp Set, using the same Whisper White Embossing Powder, and the same method as I did on the front of the card.

Beautiful cards don't get much easier than this! 

Many thanks to B for my card, and also to B's SU demonstrator!

I'm off to the hospital this afternoon to be fitted with a 24-hour heart monitor. 

It's nothing serious, I have regular check ups because I had a bad experience several years ago! 

That's about it until tomorrow. Until then, happy crafting.

JanB.

Watercolour Christmas

Hello, Crafters.

When I started to think about today's card, I had two ideas in my mind. 

Firstly I wanted to create a card around a sentiment, and secondly, I wanted to use some Designer Series Paper (DSP).

Choosing the DSP was easy, it's called Be Merry, but the sentiment was more of a challenge! 
 
We have quite a lot of stamp sets which have sentiments that lend themselves to this style of card. 

I chose Merriest Christmas Wishes because I guessed it would be easy to colour using two different coloured Marker Pens.

I started with a card base of Garden Green Cardstock (CS) and, using Garden Green Ink, I stamped two holly branches across the top of the card front. 

The stamps were from the Holly Berry Happiness stamp set, which is a two step stamp set. 
 
For the infill stamp to colour the holly, I stamped off once, and although I have used this set countless times, I found it quite a challenge to get it lined up properly!

I should have expected it because Garden Green is quite a dark colour, which meant the outline stamp didn't show up as much as usual!

The real challenge was with the infill stamp for the bow, and I didn't do as well as I know I can, but hey-ho, I can live with it as it is!

Next I adhered the DSP onto a Whisper White CS layer, and then onto the card base. 

I used the Cherry Cobbler and Garden Green Marker Pens to paint the sentiment, and I stamped it onto a piece of Whisper White CS.

Using the largest Stitched Shapes circle die, I die cut the sentiment, and layered it using Dimensionals, onto a scalloped circle die cut using the largest scallop circle in the Layering Circles Framelits Dies. 

Then I adhered this to the card front, also using Dimensionals.

Using two dies from the Christmas Staircase Thinlits, I die cut four fir branches in Garden Green CS.

Next I used Tombow, and adhered them all behind the sentiment. 

The final touch for the front of the card was to add small Basic Pearls along the holly branches, and a larger one in the centre of the bow.

To decorate the inside of the card, using Garden Green Ink, I stamped two holly branches in the same design as I did on the top of the card front. 

I added the bow in the centre, and finished by adding berries coloured in freehand using my Cherry Cobbler Marker Pen.

This isn't one of my favoured clean and simple cards, but I'm very pleased with the result!

That's it from me today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.
 
JanB.

Season Like Christmas

Hello, Crafters.

Yesterday I had my first play with the Season Like Christmas Stamp Set.

This is a four-step stamping set and will be even easier with the new Stamparatus when it arrives!

It took me a few practice goes to decide on a suitable colour combo, and I've decided it's best to use two similar greens, and stamp the bigger tree stamp in the lighter green first.

I started with Pear Pizzazz and then moved onto Wild Wasabi. 

For the tree trunk I used Soft Suede and Real Red for the berries.

It was so easy and I was really pleased with the results. 

Both cards have a Real Red Cardstock (CS) card base, with a layer of Whisper White CS and a top layer of Merry Music Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP). 

The two different designs of DSP I have used on these cards are on the reverse of each other.

Apart from having a go at the four-step stamping, I also wanted to have a play with the Fine Tip Glue Pen. 

On the first tree, I put a small blob of glue on to each berry and put it to one side to see if it would dry as a blob, or if it would flatten out.

On the second tree, I put a small amount of glue on each berry to see what that would look like dried.

I did the same on the third tree, but sprinkled some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter over it very lightly.

As I was working on the sentiments, I dropped a piece of paper on the first tree, which was the one I wanted to see if they'd stay as blobs or become flattened as they dried.

I found out if a piece of paper is dropped on them, they flatten! Grrr! 

Rather than just allowing the glue to dry in a very indiscrimate manner, I covered the whole tree in Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. 

I gave it several seconds for the glue to adhere to as much glitter as possible, and then shook off the excess.

I used my pointed tweezers to manouvre the glitter back onto the berries, or I removed it off the card altogether. 

I was pleased with the level of success I had doing this, but I was very disappointed that the berries on the first tree were looking very pink!

I finished off two cards with tree two in the diamond shape, and card three in the oval.

Instead of adding ribbon to the two cards, I adhered two or three narrow strands of Real Red CS across the front of the card and  beneath the tree image.

I chose the sentiment from the Holly Berry Happiness Stamp Set, and coloured it by painting with my Marker Pens in Real Red and Wild Wasabi. 

After I had fussy cut them both, I adhered them to the card front using Dimensionals.

On the sentiment on the card with tree two, I went over the letters with the Fine Tip Glue Pen sparingly and allowed to dry.

I won't be trying that idea again! LOL!

Inside both cards, I adhered a layer of Whisper White CS, and added a punched bow, which I'd stamped in Real Red Ink on Real Red CS - the stamp was from Holly Berry Happiness Stamp Set.

The last photograph shows the tree with the pink berries, and I have no idea what to do with it at the moment! Any suggestions?

Yesterday evening, hubby and I had a super dinner at out favourite Singaporean restaurant, which is called Singapore Orchid - the food there is amazing.

I hope you have a great weekend, and until tomorrow, happy crafting. 

JanB.

NOEL Eclipse Card

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you've had a great weekend.
 
My class on Saturday went really well. 

The thing I like most about my classes is that it's just like having a few friends round for a bit of crafting, chatter and a giggle or two!

The eclipse card seems to be the most popular style of card I've seen on Facebook recently, so I just had to give it a go. 

All the ladies were exceptionally pleased with this project, with all of them being very surprised at how easy it was!

When I first started on this technique, I made the Elegant Eggplant Cardstock (CS) card shown in the last photograph.

I'd seen this design on Pinterest and found several videos on YouTube.

I think this is a fabulous design, but I wanted my own design for my class. 

I used the Holly Berry Happiness Stamp Set, which has been brought forward from last year, to design my card. 

In class we used Wild Wasabi as our accent colour, and for the card I made yesterday, I changed to Real Red.

I started by stamping one of the sentiments from the stamp set, towards the bottom of the top layer. 

I used my Real Red and Wild Wasabi Marker Pens to ink the stamp. 

The sentiment we used in class was from the Christmas Pines Stamp Set, which is another set that has been brought forward from last year.

Then I used the long branches of holly, one towards the top left hand corner, and one to the bottom right hand corner. 

I checked with the Large Letter Dies to make sure the stamping just fitted into where the letters would be cut out! 

I used Wld Wasabi Ink, first generation stamping for the leaves outlines, and then Wild Wasabi Ink stamped off once for the infill stamp.

I lined the letters up on my Magnetic Platform on my Big Shot, and used a ruler to gently push them into a straight line. 

When I was happy, I put the second cutting mat on top and cranked it through. 

I removed the die cuts from the dies and also kept the centre of the O. 
 
Next I put the top layer into the Softly Falling Embossing Folder, and carefully put the centre of the O, inside the O in the embossing folder. 

I feel dry embossing the top layer really finished off the final look. 

Next I started to put my card together by adhering the top layer onto the Real Red CS layer. 

Using my tweezers I placed the letter O inside the die cut O. 

Card without dry embossing

After applying some Tombow to the inside of the centre of the O, I adhered it on to the red layer placing it very carefully into the centre of the O! 

Then I removed the O die cut, and applied some of our Foam Adhesive Strips on the backs of all the letters. 

Night in Bethlehem in Elegant Eggplant and So Saffron

These strips are twice as high as the Dimensionals and are absolutely great for this technique! 

I know there are plenty of videos on YouTube demonstrating how this technique is done, buut I'll be making my own so I can share what I have learned! 
If you haven't tried this technique, I certainly recommend giving it a try, not just for Christmas but birthday's, too. 

As long as the recipient has a short name, how easy to personalise a card, or maybe use Mum, Dad, Love, etc.

If you want to use a longer name or word, all you need to do is to make a bigger card!

That's it from me today. I hope you have a great week, and until tomorrow, happy crafting! 

JanB.

Merry Little Labels Video

Hello, Crafters.

This morning I uploaded my video showing how I made yesterday's Merry Little Tags Christmas card. 

As I said I would on my blog yesterday, I played with this card yesterday afternoon, and put the bow where I'd planned it to go originally. 

 
Now that I've seen both cards side by side, I don't think one's any better than the other; I like them both!

Before making the video, I decided to make three more cards, using Fresh Fig Cardstock (CS) but changing the colour of the Foil Snowflakes. 

This meant also changing the Embossing Powder, and layering cardstock. 

I've shared photographs here, but still feel the gold and silver are too dark like this. 

They look fabulous when moved to catch the light, but not so good when sitting on the shelf, unless they are positioned to catch the light.

For the card I made in the video, instead of spending time adhering several of the little cut outs inside the card, I stamped three of the bows to match the front of the card.
 In the last four photographs, the cardstock used for the gold and silver Foil Snowflakes look like three totally different colours, but they are all Fresh Fig CS!


This morning I'm off to the hairdressers, and feeling really pleased as I received an advertising email from them yesterday offering 30% off colour! Timing is so important! LOL!

I hope you have a lovely day, and until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Merry Little Labels

Hello, Crafters.

Today's card took a lot of experimenting with colours yesterday, and eventually I ran out of time!

As much as I like today's card, it just doesn't pop, so I may have another play with it today, depending on how things go!

When I first started my card I knew I wanted to use a Silver Foil Snowflake as well as the Let It Snow tag, and I wanted Elegant Eggplant for my colour. 

I die cut the top layer of Elegant Eggplant Cardstock (CS) using the Card Front Builder Thinlits and put it over a layer of Silver Foil.

I changed this to a layer of Smokey Slate CS because I felt it looked too dark, and the difference was amazing..........it looked brilliant! 

Next I took a scrap of Elegant Eggplant CS, and wiped over it with my Embossing Buddy. 

I stamped the sentiment tag in Versamark, and covered it with Silver Embossing Powder. After I'd removed the excess powder, I heat set the image using my Heat Tool, and then punched it out using the co-ordinating Everyday Label Punch. 

I laid all the pieces of my card in position and felt it all looked rather dark! 
 
I heat embossed another tag using White Embossing Powder, and swapped it over with the silver embossed tag. 

At this point I decided the Smokey Slate layer should be Whisper White to pick up the white embossing, but felt white was too stark, and the silver Snowflake was the only silver on the card! 

From this point, I started going round in ever decreasing circles!

I decided to use the reverse side of the Snowflake which is quite a creamy colour, and I changed the Whisper White CS layer to Very Vanilla CS. 

Now it was slowly coming together, or so I thought! 

I adhered the card together but I was left with quite a large expanse of plain cardstock at the bottom of the front of the card. 

It was too late to tie some ribbon around it so I found two thin strips of Very Vanilla CS and adhered them across the lower half of the card, which helped to balance the elements I'd used, but it still needed something. 

I felt a ribbon bow would be too much, so I used Elegant Eggplant Ink and stamped the bow from the Holly Berry Happiness Stamp set. 

I punched it out using the Holly Berry Builder Punch, but cut around the edges when I found it was too big to sit on the two thin strips, without the tails of the bow protruding off the bottom of the card. 

Once I'd made the bow smaller, I didn't feel it looked right, and adhered it above the tag, on the Snowflake; it looks OK!

I adhered a layer of Very Vanilla CS inside my card, and my plan was to adhere all the cut outs from the Card Front Builder Thinlits back in the same position as on the front of the card - I'd very carefully kept all the pieces in their correct position so I'd know where everything went! 

By the time I'd reached this stage, my patience had gone, so I settled for a small arrangement of them in the bottom right hand corner.

One of the most pleasing elements of this card is to be able to use the reverse side of the Snowflake. In fact, as I'm writing, I make this into a video, I'll see how today goes!

That's it from me today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting!

JanB.