Category: Using scraps

Challenges, Using scraps

Quilting birthday

Anne S

This card was actually for the previous Craft Roulette challenge that I entered just in the nick of time – but it’s perfect for the Time Out Challenges this week, also just in the nick of time 😉 The challenge was using the photo inspiration of a beautiful sewn zippered pouch, and I automatically went to the sewing/quilting aspects of this die set.

A couple of days late in posting, but the parameters for this card for Craft Roulette were:

  • Project: Birthday card
  • Colours: 3 bright and cheery
  • Element: Pot(s), pan(s), or bowl(s)
  • Random: Block(s)

Supplies used:

  • Geometric Quilt Top dies by Concord & 9th
  • Sew Lovely dies by Concord & 9th
  • In Color 2022-2024 patterned papers by Stampin’ Up!
  • The bowl was created using a coordinating die from Choose Grace and embossed with the Petite Flourish embossing folder, both by Gina K Designs
  • Orchid Oasis and Starry Sky cardstocks by Stampin’ Up!
  • Kraft and silver cardstocks by Gina K Designs
  • Happy birthday hot foil sentiment from Perfect Sentiments by Pinkfresh Studio
Challenges, Using scraps

Inlaid die cut Christmas trees part 1

Anne S

I created the die cut elements a few weeks ago and put the top layer together while I was at a craft retreat. I only just remembered to put them together into the final card versions this week! While I was posting on Instagram it was rightly pointed out that the bottom card is perfect for the current challenge over at the Double Trouble blog! The challenge is to mix plaids, stripes, checks, flowers and polka dots, with an optional twist of paper piecing … it was perfect timing 😀

Supplies used:

  • Christmas Tree cover plate die by Gina K Designs
  • Sentiment from Sparkle and Shine stamp set by Gina K Designs
  • Patterned papers from Stampin’ Up!
    – Boughs of Holly
    – Gingerbread and Peppermint (retired)
  • Ruby Slipper sequins by Gina K Designs
Tutorials, Using scraps

Curvy die cards

Anne S

While scrolling through Pinterest and seeing some alcohol ink background cards, a totally unrelated card idea came to mind – to use some curvy dies and Ink Drops papers from Craft Consortium to make a clean and simple card. To say I’m in love with the results would be an understatement – it’s such a versatile and simple design that has a totally different look depending on the choice of cardstock and papers used. I see many of these in my future, and it’s a perfect way to use up some larger paper scraps!

I’ve also created a quick visual tutorial of how I created the cardfront panels, as I’ve had a few people ask how to do these. I hope this is helpful 🙂

Using Ink Drops Dusk paper pad by Craft Consortium, #9 Borders Etched Dies by PhotoPlay, Harvest dies by Stampin’ Up!
Using Ink Drops Dusk paper pad by Craft Consortium, Quite Curvy dies by Stampin’ Up! (retired), various flower dies by Spellbinders
Using Ink Drops Dusk paper pad by Craft Consortium, Quite Curvy dies by Stampin’ Up! (retired), Eucalyptus 3 die by Paper Rose, edges swinked with Versamark ink and heat embossed with brass embossing powder by Hero Arts
Using Hydrangea Lawns (12×12) paper pad by Dress My Craft, and Quite Curvy dies by Stampin’ Up! (retired)

 

How to create the card front

Supplies needed:

  • Cardstock for the curved layers – I used white in this example
  • Card base – I’m using a US A2 card size
  • Patterned paper or previously created background – I’m using a paper from the Ink Drops – Dusk paper pad by Craft Consortium
  • Curvy die of your choice – I’m using ‘Quite Curvy’ dies by Stampin’ Up! (retired)

Take your piece of cardstock cut to the size of the card front. Place your curvy die in the location where you want the bottom curve to be on your card. In my case I like the curved panel to sit approx 1/3 from the bottom of the card so that’s where I placed my die. I don’t measure at all, just eyeball where I think the die should sit.

Do the same thing with your top curve. I decided I like to have the curves with a bit more ‘movement’ so I flipped my curvy die around so the curve went in the opposite direction at the top – that gave me a mix of wide and narrow parts on the card. You can also keep the die the same way for both cuts and it’ll just give a more consistent wave across the card front. Once again I decided I like my card to have a wider margin of open space towards the top of the card, so I kept the top space a bit larger than the bottom – but there are no rules to the width to use.

Next I took my card base and placed the two die cuts in place – I measured between the width between the top of the die cut spaces to below the bottom of the die cut spaces (make sure to allow for the holes). This is how to work out the height of the paper needed to fill the space. In this example I was able to use a piece of patterned paper 2.5″ high.

After I cut my strip of patterned paper I placed that on the card front. I overlaid the die cut pieces on top so I can be sure that the paper will sit behind the open spaces. Sometimes you need to move the paper around a bit to get the placement right.

Once I’m happy I keep one hand on the paper piece while I move the die cuts out of the way, and I put a small pencil mark at the bottom of the paper strip so I know where to line it up.

Use your adhesive of choice to glue the paper strip to the card base, using the pencil mark as a guide for the bottom edge of the strip.

Glue your bottom die cut in place on top of the card base, aligning the bottom and sides with the card base.

Do the same with the remaining die cut panel at the top of the card front. Then embellish it as you want.

I hope that all makes sense – but if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to answer.

Using scraps

Creating with ugly backgrounds

Anne S

I’ll be honest I created this background maybe 9 months ago, and never really liked it. The colour choices didn’t work for me, and it was too busy for my liking. That’s the great thing about experimenting, though, if we don’t try colour combinations that take us out of our comfort zone we never learn from the experience. In this case I love the stamp set (Sketched Bouquet by Simon Hurley) but I didn’t love the Nuvo shimmer powders I used.

I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, though, even though it was unloved – and over the last few months I’ve noticed other designs just using a portion of busy backgrounds and got the idea to chop up the background for other uses. What was a very ugly (to me) background became three cards I’m pretty happy with overall … it’s a reminder to never give up on something, you just never know what its future holds.

Here’s the original background:

Sketched bouquet by Simon Hurley

And here are the three cards I made out of it:

Here I used Plum Punch (and Ivory) cardstock and a happy birthday die by Gina K Designs – I ink blended the ‘happy’ die cuts with a bit of Plum Punch ink to dark it up slightly. The matte gold cardstock is from Tonic.

I’ve not very good at doing clean and simple cards, so this was a challenge – but I really loved the elegance of the finished card. I’ll add a small sentiment once I’ve decided what to use the card for. I used my Scor-pal to score lines down the sides, then once everything was stuck down I felt it was a bit plain, so I threaded a matte gold strip underneath the boxes and it just finished it off beautifully. I really like this one!

After I’d made the first card, I wished I’d thought of embossing the cardstock first – so I decided to do that with my final strip of the background, and I really like the effect. I kept the sentiment really simple this time around, and I’m pretty happy with the result of this one too. Amazing how different cards can look with just some small changes made to the design! Once again using Plum Punch and Ivory cardstocks and Plum Punch ink by Gina K Designs, and the sentiment is from the Beautiful Butterflies 2 stamp set, also by Gina K Designs. I used the Tin Tile embossing folder (retired) by Stampin’ Up!