Valentine's Day Inspirations

Just posting a couple of Valentine's Day cards that I made for my nieces. As usual, the inspiration was found in many places:

Card 1 (Elephant):

• Cute Card Thursday - challenge #98 - spots & dots
• ABC challenge - "N" is for new - use some new stash (the digi is new and the paper came from a new magazine)
• Doodle Dragon Studio - challenge #2, provided the sketch

Card 2 (Girl):

• Copic Creations - challenge 21, use feathering technique
• Crazy 4 Challenges - challenge 23, create a Valentine

I played around with Dustin Pike's sketch quite a bit because I really wanted to make a wiper card. The picture doesn't show it well but basically the little Suzy's Zoo angel pops up when the card is opened. I left the side of the card purposefully blank so that I can write in a mushy, lovey-dovey message (which I will not inflict on you) to my niece. I absolutely adore the elephant image which is (of course) from Dustin Pike. The polka dot paper was a freebie from a card making magazine.

This card also uses a Dustin Pike image - isn't she adorable? I used more of the card making magazine free paper as well as some scrap ribbon. I have to do more practicing, but I also tried a new technique called "feathering" on the skirt. This was in answer to a challenge on Copic Creations. Check out Marianne Walker's great tutorial to learn more about using this cool method of combining colours!

Halloween Cards

Trick or Treat Everyone!

This is a record, 2 blog posts in one day but this will be a quick one. I just wanted to post my Halloween cards before Halloween is actually here!


This first card is my very favorite - the bats & stars are altered with glitter and glossy accents and then connected with orange wire. The stamp is from the Recollections "Halloween" set. And thanks to Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge for the "Hocus Pocus" inspiration. I just love the witch on this stamp since the spray of stars following her tones down the "scary" and pushes up the "whimsy" (kind of like the movie). I wanted to add some dimension to the card so in addition to layering the papers, I also added punched bats and stars that were embellished with glossy accents and attached to orange wire.




This card is totally thanks to my friend Jacqui since I used her stamps (another Recollections set). The images are coloured in with Copics and then cut out and mounted with pop dots.




This card is another favorite from this year. I used a Penny Black stamp along with the Cuttlebug web embossing folder. The bats are punched with Martha Stewart bat punch and then glossy accents added for shine. And, of course, I used my Copics to colour everything in.




I got the idea for this card from a UK paper-crafting magazine. Pulling gently on the sides of the card causes the stamped witch legs and ghost to pop up. The stamp on front is a Stampin' Up image that I pulled off a make & take. The paper is super distressed to give the entire card a spooooky look.

Pop-up Princess Card

I've recently discovered a British crafting magazine called "Papercraft Essentials" (http://www.papercraftessentials.co.uk). Each issue comes with freebies (papers plus some sort of embellishments). I don't particularly like the style of most of the cards shown but the techniques and explanations are just excellent!

I wanted to make a special birthday card for my son's friend and I found the perfect project in the magazine, issue #43. Not only is the card pretty impressive but it also made use of severl of my favorite things - cricut, cuttlebug, and glitter. The card closes flat and is held shut with a chain, but when opened the castle inside pops up.



So, how to make this fun & impressive card?

Step by step (all measurements metric):

1. Create your card base by scoring a 15x30cm piece of cardstock at 5cm, 9.5cm, 10cm, 20cm, 20.5cm and 25cm.

2. Create a pop-up using cricut Design Studio software and the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge. Select the castle and stretch to 10.472cm by 5.527cm, and cut. I then embossed the castle using the Fiskars stone texture plate and my cuttlebug. Score-fold at 5cm, 7.5cm and 10cm on either side of the centre.

3. Concertina-fold each side so the centre section sticks out to the front, then glue the ends to the card (careful to line up the folds).

4. Decorate as desired. I used the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge to cut out a paper doll, clothes and accessories. I added some glitter and bling to the crown and dress and stamped a cute little pumpkin carriage (Snag 'Em Stamps) behind the castle.