Xmas Card for Leonie 2009

This is a 10"X8" Christmas card I made for Leonie Pujol, we met her for the first time a couple of months ago at one of her fund raiser events in Harlow, Essex she was as sweet and lovely as she appears on tv.
I kept the card itself quite simple as I wanted my sketch to be the main focal point.
In this photo though the hair shows up a lot darker than it is in reality.
I used thick foam pads to make the image "pop" from the card and she's holding a "Dazzles" Gold peel off bauble that I stuck onto red mirror card and cut out.
I hope she likes it !?
Vince X

Retro Christmas card

I'm not too sure what happened here I was chopping up left over pieces of green paper and this weird shape "emerged" I quite like it though the card looks sort of simple but "retro", now all I have to do is find an odd shaped  envelope to fit it    

Vince X

Card Magazine Papers

A lot of Magazines out there now give away free papers with each issue, these cards were made using papers from  "Creative Cards" Magazine Christmas papers.

They're very time saving, the backing papers and elements are all matching you just need to add a blank card a few bits and bobs - et voila -  you have an almost instant card.

Easy peasy!

Vince X

Nancy Watt's Winter Ladies

I love Nancy Watt's artwork, she is such a wonderfully talented lady and a lovely person to boot, her beautiful images make any card elegant with so little effort.
These are from her "Winter Ladies" series which come printed on paper which I found a bit too flimsy for my liking so I adhered them onto very thin card before cutting and decoupaging them.

The base of this card is from Papermania's "Vintage Christmas" pad, I just added "Dazzles" peel offs and a sentiment, Sakura Clear Sparkle pen highlighted the spray from her hat and parts of her dress.

This card was made using patterned paper, Sakura pens and HOTP "Dazzles" peel offs.

The base of this card was a left over piece from a Kanban kit, I just added "Dazzles" snowflake peel offs and the sentiment

This card was made exactly as the one below except for being backed with gold mirror card.

Here I used a frame of blue snowflake paper which I backed with silver mirror card and mounted it on the base card covered with a matching paper, then just added a peel off snowflake and sentiment.

On this large card I used the whole image of the "Winter Lady" which I decoupaged and mounted on a blue snowflake design paper leaving a white border around the edge of the card.
I then added thin silver peel offs around the edge of the image and added a large ready made sentiment at the bottom.

If you haven't bought them yet, treat yourself to some amazing images which give a sophisticated elegant look to Christmas cards you'll probably want to keep for yourself.

Vince X

Xmas Cards

While going through a box of Christmas Decorations recently I found some xmas cards I made last year that never got sent to anyone.

At least that's 3 I haven't got to make this year! ;0)

Vince X

2 MORE ANGEL CARDS

I made a couple more cards using Sandra Kuck's wonderful angel stamps, available here -

http://www.hobbyhabit.co.uk/

On the above card I extended the column simply by drawing vertical lines on a piece of card and covering with the rose stamps that come with the set.

On the card below I cut off the column altogether and swiveled the image so it looks like she's laying down.

Both were coloured using water colours.

MAGNETIC SHEETS

(Above) Asian Magnet on birthday card

We recently received a packet of A4 Inkjet Magnetic sheets. 

At first I was a bit stumped with what to do with it - then my brain jumped into gear and I crafted like mad.

I had a great time making fridge magnets and thinking of different ways I could use the magnetic sheet, now the fridge is almost full.

If you've never tried this media you HAVE to give it a go!

The soft magnetic sheet is bonded with a layer of high quality matt photo paper on one side that you can ink on, print on with your printer, stamp on etc.

I found that stamping works particularly well and because it is soft and slightly cushioned it gave a perfect image.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality that came out of our old HP printer. (my washed out, blurred photo's on this blog don't do it any justice) the images and colours were very crisp.

The only down side to it is that you can't saturated it with water, although it IS meant to be used on a printer I did try water colours on it and it buckled slightly, Promo Markers and felt pens worked perfectly though.

I used Brenda Pinnick's hardboard frames for a couple of the magnets leaving a boarder around the images to take the weight of the frame and toppers. I covered the frames with gems, sentiments and flowers which I attached using double sided tape and micro dots. although the sheets seem quite flexible and thin it can hold an amazing amount of toppers and embellishments and STILL cling tightly to the fridge metal.

Cutting it into shape is simple you just use your usual scissors or a craft knife, it has the texture of a very soft leather or suede even cutting out those "fiddly" bits was so easy!

You could print out your favourite recipes and have them to the fridge door where you can always find them.

Print off emergency or important phone numbers.

Print out paper dolls and their clothes from the net (there's loads of freebies out there )

Print off a digital scrapbook page of your loved ones or memories.

Print photos and attach to Christmas cards, that gran and gramps can put on display.

Scan in your favourite ATC's, print them off, put them on your fridge and let your visitors admire your artistic talent.

Stamp your favourite stamps on paper, scan them into your computer, enlarge them, print them off - you could colour them either on your computer by hand and you have large A4 sized magnets, you could cover the whole door of your fridge!.

Oooh I've slipped back into gear again, I'm off to make some more!

Vince x

Ooooh ! There's still room on the fridge door for more ;0)

Vince X

Teddy bear and her Dolly

I drew this little bear on a piece of scrap paper while house sitting for a neighbour of ours for and hour or too (I get bored easily)

Most of the doodles I do usually go in the bin but I thought this one was quite cute and so thought I'd upload her in case anyone would like to have a go at doing something with her.

You can click on the picture to download the JPG or on the link below for the PDF file.

Vince X

DOWNLOAD the Teddy PDF file here

MY HEART IS YOURS

This is a card I made for the other half ... for no other reason than ... just because!

you can't tell from the photo but the whole of the background is highlighted using a Sakura Stardust pen.Her lips and nails were also coloured with red Sakura.
The picture is decoupaged with the box having the most layers so that it stood out proud which was then embellished with gems.

The red card reflected the red of the box.

Vince X

ANGEL CARDS

These are 5 cards I made for "Hobby Habbit" using Sandra Kuck Angel Stamps available here

I really enjoyed using them as they seemed to me to be much sturdier than most of our other acrylic stamps they gave a good clean image too.

The cards were all coloured with water colours and watered down Sakura pens.

Vince X

ORIENTAL EMBOSSED CARD

Oriental card using a freebie stamp from Craft Stamper

I stamped the image and painted it using Cherry and yellow H20 Mica pigments, rubbed Blue chalks around the image and backed it with Gold mirror.

I then stamped Japanese text on blood red card using a Gold ink pad and embossed with clear embossing powder to give the card some texture. ( I dabbed slightly on the edge of the inked stamp to take off some ink so that the image faded into the red background) I then over stamped the text with a large flower image twice and backed the whole thing on Gold mirror card.

The card was finished by adding a few Black stickers on and around a circle of Gold mirror card.

Vince X

8"X8" COLLAGE

I went through our "scrap Drawer" yesterday and decided I should try to use up some of the smaller bits of paper.
I cut the scraps into 2" pieces backed each with Black card and played around with some of our stamps using mostly "Vintage Ladies" and "Silhouettes & Shadows" stamps by Hot Off The Press.
I laid the stamped images out and arranged them 'till I was pleased with the layout
then attached them to an 8"X8" piece of Black card using foam pads to lift every other image, this give the whole thing a two dimensional feel.

I think this would make great piece of wall art if I frame it, or else I'll have to invest in some 8"X8" cards and envelopes. ;0)
Vince X

ORIENTAL COLLAGE

I thought I'd have a go at a collage as I've never tried before, as the first set of stamps that came to hand was a Oriental set - so be it ;0)
The background paper was white card rubbed over with ink pads then stamped over with various stamps, the main image was embossed with clear powder.
The coin on the ribbon would have gone better on the right but it covered the stamped fan image.
I enjoyed trying something new and think I'll have another go at it soon.

Vince X

I had a small strip of blue paper in our "scrap drawer" which I had left over from another project (I'm an terrible paper hoarder) which I tore and pasted across a beige lightly patterned 6"X4" card with rounded edges.

Using Charcoal Grey from Sakura's Dark Metallic range I drew along the ragged edge and flicked out branches as I went along.

The "Oriental" birds (by Habico) were stamped with a Black ink pad then I filled in the outline with Black Sakura to make the birds seem in silhouette.

I needed to add another colour and found a few Blue faux gem flowers which I applied after fixing a yellow gem to the center of each.
The card still seemed a bit too "bright" so I blacked around the outside with a Black ink Pad and stamped a sentiment on the bottom left.

I quite like the effect of the silhouetted birds, I think I'll have a look through our other stamps to see if I can do the same to them.

JUMP FOR JOY

I had an idea for a card that went south ... so here are the drawings as a thank you to all you lovely people who visit my blog.

I'm no great artist but I enjoy sketching occasionally, I draw in my drawing pad with pencil (usually while watching tv at the same time) scan it into my computer and "clean it up" using a REALLY old software.

If you can make a card from these I take my hat off to you !

You can either click the picture above for JPG or the link below for the PDF.
DOWNLOAD PDF FILE "Jump for joy" HERE

ONE 12" SHEET = FOUR CARDS.

I set myself a challenge !

I HATE wasting beautiful paper so I cut a 12" sheet of DoveCraft "Victorian Christmas" into four 7"X5" pieces and set about using the pieces to make 4 cards.

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Card 1 -

I first scuffed around the edges of the card with a Brown ink pad, mounted the picture on Beige card cut with decorative scissors and edged it with Brown ink.

A strip of paper which I had left over from card 3 was cut with decorative scissors and also edge inked with Brown.

The snowflakes and sentiment were die cut I lightly dabbed the sentiment with blue and beige ink pads as it was too white.

The snowflakes, picture and sentiment were applied with foam pads.

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Card 2 -
Again I first edged the card with a Brown ink pad, then after stamping "Merry Christmas" on a strip of white card I used re-positionable glue to adhere some small die cut snowflakes.

I rubbed over the whole thing with chalks trying to match it to the paper as best as possible.

I peeled off the die cuts and gently rubbed over the whole thing to blur the effect.

I then backed the strip with a slightly larger piece of Gold mirror card and cut with decorative scissors ( I seem to use these scissors a lot) and topped it off with small "Gold" gems.

The 3 Gingerbread men brads were each pushed through a punched Gold square of mirror card and then pushed into position on the card (1" apart)

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Card 3 -
I measured half way down the card then cut it across horizontally, then measured 1" down from the top of the card and cut again.

(the waste center part of this card went to on make the "strip" on card 1)

A piece of 5"X7" clear acetate was glued inside to the 1" top part of the card using double sided tape.

I then adhered the bottom part of the card onto the front of the acetate using double sided tape.

(you could just use a small strip of acetate inside the card I suppose but I thought that using a whole sheet would stabilise the card more.)

With our new "Crocodile Chomper" I rounded off the card edges. this cut through the acetate and card like a knife through butter!

Now I had a 7"X1 1/2" window to fill ...

I decided to use the same "Merry Christmas" stamp as on card 2 as this filled the area perfectly.

I made 2 small marks with soft pencil on the right inside edge of the card and drew faint lines horizontally across the inside of the card this gave me the position of the window and made positioning the "Merry Christmas" stamp much easier I erased the pencil marks afterwards.

I used thin silver peels offs on the top and bottom edges of the window to cover the "raw" edges.

The 5 girls picture was first applied to white card to make them sturdier then cut out and adhered with thick foam pads.

I wanted snowflakes on this card too but didn't like white ones as they stood out too much, so I rubbed over a piece of White Glitter card with a sponge and different coloured ink pads and then die cut the ink stained Glitter card with the Cuttlebug snow flakes die.

These were also applied with foam pads with some overlapping onto the window.

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Card 4 -

The corners were first rounded off then inked with a Blue ink pad.

On this card I used a quote cut from "Christmas card quotes" by Hot Off The Press.

Using chalks I rubbed around the quote trying not to get too much chalk on the letters.

Using a clear "Stardust" Sakura pen I drew round the "Christmas Greetings" message to make it pop a bit more, cut the whole thing into a rectangle and punched the corners with a decorative corner punch.

I matted this using Gold Mirror card and rounded off the edges.

The sentiment was then added to the card with foam pads.

I glued a length of Blue ribbon to the card using double sided tape and made a bow with more of the same ribbon wrapping a Gold brad around it before adhering it to the card with sticky dots.

3 Gold mirror card die cut snowflakes glued to the bottom right of the card finished it off.

(The Blue ribbon is not as bright as it appears in this photo)

Hhhmmm ! I still have a 2"X2" piece of paper left over !

I'll put that in my "scraps drawer" for another project.

Brown Bunny Swirl

5"X5" Cream and brown "Bunny" birthday card.

The "Bunny" is from one of "The Angel Company" stamps, I coloured him with shades of Brown water colours then cut him out.

I rounded the corners of the card then inked it with a Brown ink pad, cut out three 3"X1" rectangles, a 2"X2" and a 1"X1" square and rounded of the corners on these too, after inking them all I embossed the rectangles using Cuttlebug's "Swirl" embossing folder and inked the pattern over with the same Brown ink pad.

The 2"X2" was stamped with a swirl stamp and topped with the "Bunny" using foam pads.

I stamped ""Birthday Wishes" on the small square then spaced the panels out around the card using foam pads, I then made some small circles using an eyelet puncher from some thick Orangey Brown card and glued the punched circles around the swirls (these matched the "Bunnys" trousers perfectly)

There was a gap to the right of the "bunny" which I wanted to fill by using brads, I had Brown brads but I no Orangey Brown ones so I glued 2 small punched Eyelet circles back to back and used "Glossy Accents" to give them a bit of dimension, when glued to the card they looked and felt exactly like brads.

PLAYING CONKERS

RULES OF THE GAME

If a player misses hitting his/her opponents conker they are allowed 2 more goes.
If the strings get all tangled, the first player to call "strings" gets another go.
If a player hits his/her opponents conker in such a way that it completes a whole circle after being hit (this is called ‘around the world’ that player gets another go.
If a player drops his conker, or it is knocked out of his hand the other player can shout 'stamps' and jump on it; but should its owner first cry 'no stamps' then the conker, hopefully, remains intact.
The game goes on in turns until one or other of the two conkers is completely destroyed.

Another game sadly now banned in most schools in the UK.
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8"X 3 1/2" card covered in my "Conkers" Paper (Included in download below)
I then covered the bottom half in green Gingham vellum rounded off the corners and inked around the whole card first with Chestnut Brown and then Black ink pads.

I then applied a piece of ribbon (a Chestnut Brown colour - but Black or Dark Green looked good too) to cover the vellum edge.

After cutting out the picture I run a Black felt tip pen around it's edge to hide any White still showing.
I mounted the picture using foam pads, printed off "Remember when" on my computer, mounted it on black card and used foam pads to attached this too.

DOWNLOAD "PLAYING CONKERS" PDF FILE HERE.

SCHOOL GIRL GAMES

As a kid growing up in the 1960s-70s I loved playing all the usual boys games, football, rugby, run outs, British Bulldog, Marbles, climbing trees, Knock down Ginger ... etc.

But I was always fascinated when the girls at school sang little rhymes (usually dirty ones) as they skipped in groups or played "ball" against the school walls.

Fab was ill yesterday I had a bit of time on my hands so I used some sketches I had drawn recently and made some cards from them.

I used 5"X7" white card for both.

The "Skipping" card was backed with Burgundy paper, over laid with a strip of green and pink patterned paper and edged top and bottom with white card cut with decorative scissors.

I then printed out on pink card one of the rhymes the girls would sing (the "clean" version of course) while skipping, then cut the base of it with the same scissors this was then attached to the card and edged with thin pale green and burgundy ribbon.

I decoupaged the picture to give it a bit of dimension and backed it with a white oval cut with the same scissors before using foam pads to adhere it.

Two "Kanban" pearls were backed with the same punched burgundy paper and glued in place.


For the "Leap frog" card I first decoupaged the girls (a bit fiddly at first but easier as the parts get smaller)

I punched the lace edge then backed the card with the same green and pink paper as in the card above leaving some of the white card showing on the right, the edge was covered with a very thin green ribbon.

A thicker piece of Ribbon (luckily the same hue) was added to the "center" of the paper and topped with the decoupage.

Finishing touches were a few die cut flowers around the topper, a few pink gems and a strip of pink paper inside the card to show off the lace.


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD - coloured and uncoloured "Leap frog, Skippers and Marbles"

Vince x

MARBLE PLAYERS

I used to love playing Marbles as a kid, I was quite a dab hand at it too and had a HUGE bag of marbles that had all sorts of silly names. You "had to" use the "lingo" while playing and use equal or slightly better quality Marbles to the ones you were trying to win.

This is my little homage 5"X7" card to all men of a certain age that remember playing this game as a kid.

The card was covered in my Marble paper (Included on the download) and covered with a strip of Sage green card that had been run through a "ribber" and backed with black card.

I then used a template to cut out the words, aged them with a brown ink pad and backed them with black card.

After backing the picture and foam padding it to left of the card , I then added the words and dotted some clear round gel stickers to some of the marbles to give it a bit of interest.

I think this is my favourite card so far (it bought back a lot of fond memories for me)

I have a few ideas for more of these type of cards which I'll try to get done in the near future.

CLICK HERE to download "Marble Players" PDF file.

Don't Dream It - Be It

This card I did a while ago using a random butterfly stamp and a "House Mouse" Halloween stamp all mounted on foam pads. it's a pretty basic layout but I do like simple cards. I tried to keep it all the same hue.

It was made it as an inspirational card for our little Niece.

"HELLO" Little Monster

My first attempt at using "Coloursoft" pencils, Fab uses them often but I usually prefer water colour pencils (each to his own) Still it didn't come out too bad.

The snail and it's trail are high lighted with "stardust" Sakura pen (but you can't tell from this picture) and the ribbon looks much brighter here than it really is.
The paper is from "Hot off the Press" Birthday pad and edged with a blue ink pad.


To download 6 uncoloured "Little monsters" click on the link below.

DOWNLOAD "LITTLE MONSTERS" HERE

vince x

A VERY QUICK CARD - THE GARDENER

I wanted to do a birthday card for a friend of ours who is a "no fuss" sort of guy, and a keen gardener to boot.
I didn't have much time as he and his wife were coming over that night, so I drew this funny little man dressed in his straw hat and gardening apron , printed him on white card and decoupaged him.

I covered a 6X6 card with chocolate brown card then embossed a slightly smaller piece of mid blue (white core) which I had embossed on one side and sanded to show the white core.
A piece of "Hot Off The Press" Dotty paper was matted with brown then I used a CLEAR Sakura pen to highlight the dots.
I glued this to the left hand side of the card and stuck on the "Gardener", I then stuck small plastic flowers onto the stems using foam pads.
The Happy Birthday was printed and backed with the same brown as the rest of the card.

I wouldn't usually use flowers on a man's card but he IS a gardener so it was either that or vegetables.

Download the "GARDENER" decoupage here

Vince x

Love Birds Card

I've been experimenting with Fab's new "Personal impressions" stamps.
Fab stuck on the "Love" bling (but ... Hhhmmm I'm not sure now )