Window Birthday Card

 

Use Stampin Up's Welcoming Window stamp and die set to create this card

This week I needed to make a birthday card for a male member of our family - I find male cards so difficult to make. He likes gardening and often potters in his garden, which made me think of the Welcoming Window stamp set by Stampin Up. The main feature of the stamp and die set is a window but you can decorate it up with a window box, pots and plants.

I started making it in beige and brown colours but just wasn't very happy with the colour combination. I changed to a grey tone and I am really pleased with the end result.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Poppy Card

 

Use some really decorative paper with a simple die cut to make an effective greeting card

I needed to make a birthday card this week and the recipient loves poppies so hence this card. I love the really decorative poppy paper and all of the papers in this pack are double sided with a plainer back to them. I found a matching blue stripe pattern to back the poppy die which makes it pop out. Paper packs are a great way to have corresponding papers for a project.

I really debated with this card to put the die cut poppy on double sided foam pads or the poppy paper that surrounds it. After playing around with them for a while I decided if I raised the paper rather than the poppy, the lovely patterned paper stood out better than gluing it flat onto the blue striped paper. It also then worked well as I shaped the centre of the poppy to give it a bit of a 3d feature.

If you don't have the same dies or paper it really doesn't matter - I'd like to inspire you to make a similar card just with what papers you have and a simple die in a shape within the front of the card. Just adjust the circle you cut out to fit your die cut.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Concertina Flower

 

Create some pretty paper flowers either as decorations or a greeting card

These are versatile little flowers that can be used to decorate many items. They can be made in any colour and you can vary the size too. You can buy special dies to make these flowers that cut and score at the same time, but these instructions show how you can make them with a scoring blade and a guillotine or a score board.

I made three sizes of flowers. My largest ones are about 11 cm in diameter, the middle sized ones are about 8 cm in diameter and the smallest one was about 6 cm in diameter.  The above photo shows two largest flowers and one medium sized.  I used the smallest one to make a greeting card which you can see at the bottom of this blog.

Follow the below link to find out how these flowers were made

Hanging ornament

 

Change a photo or favourite image into a hanging ornament that you can even add to a greeting card

I have some nice photo's that I thought would be lovely to turn into a hanging ornaments. You can either hang them around your house or send them as or in cards.

This is a photo of my puppy when she was really young, chewing a stick in our garden!

I'll show you how to turn a photo into a hanging ornament but you could use any image as long as it's the right size. I do cross-stitch aswell and this can be turned into a hanging ornament using the same process but use felt for the frame and backing and instead of gluing the layers together - sew them (Felt does seem to cut nicely with dies).  There's a photo of one I have done at the bottom of this blog.

The ornaments are made using nesting dies. I use circular ones but you can use any shape nesting dies. You can also adjust the size if you would like a smaller or larger ornament by using different size dies. I use a digital photo, so I will also show you how you can adjust the size before printing it to fit your ornament.

Also, if you wish your photo ornament to last - use acid free card to mount your photo as this will help it stop turning yellow.   Scrapbooking card should be ideal as this has been made especially to protect your photo's.

Follow the below link to find out how the ornament was made

Wrapping Paper Cards

 

5 easy to make cards using wrapping paper.

Do you find yourself watching people opening gifts thinking, that's a really pretty piece of wrapping paper? I am a dreadful hoarder, so I am afraid I do. I open presents neatly to save a beautiful piece of paper for a project. What led to this weeks blog was some absolutely beautiful wrapping paper that we had for mothers day. I then wondered how best to turn small amounts of wrap into a lovely card you'd be pleased to send.

This particular paper came from our local garden centre and was quite thick. You may need to glue some wrapping paper to a piece of card first so it holds it's shape when you cut it. This is particularly important if you intend to raise it off the card with double sided foam pads. I always glue the paper to the card first then cut rather than cut the paper first then glue to card to re-cut as this doesn't always ensure you are glued right to the edges.

My examples below are to give you inspiration as you are unlikely to have the same wrapping paper, however there are lots of really lovely paper out there and you can focus your cutting on particular images or colours in your paper.

Follow the below link to find out how the cards were made