June Card Class Project - A Photo Wallet

Hey everyone! Hope this frosty morning finds you all well.

I've posted this project before but I wanted to share again - including what we are making for the class. This project was sourced from Splitcoaststampers. It's a really simple way to share a few photos with friends and family.

So here are the two different versions we are making this month.









The second version:






The flower on the front came from Paper Loves Glue. It's super easy and soooo effective! Here is a side on photo to give you an idea of the dimension:



You will also notice I chose to go with a Velcro fastener and not a belly band. I found that the band kind of takes over if you are using patterned paper.

The projects are made using KaiserCraft and Prima papers. I used Stampin' Up and Distress ink to ink the edges of the paper and stamp the sentiments. Stamps are from Hero Arts, Bo Bunny and KaiserCraft.

xoxo

- Kim

The Book Card

So, my one of my besties had a Finally Forty party last week and I wanted to make her something special because it was a big birthday! I wish I could say I invented this card but, alas, such is not the case. I found it at Gramma's House of Cards. It's called a book card.




As you can see, it sort of looks like a book. It looks really intricate but the hardest part is the accordion frame inside. Before I make this again, I'll be buying a scoring board! So here is the front:



I used Bo Bunny Country Garden paper and embellishments plus a little Stickles and a few rhinestones. The inside is more of the same:



I printed the poem and greeting onto cardstock and inked the edges of the patterned paper. I also added ribbon and corner fasteners to the top of the "shadow box". Here are some close ups and different angles:









In this part of the card, I placed the different items at different levels of the accordion folds to give a 3D effect.

It's a fabulous card that is sure to get lots of admiration if you are keen to give it a try!

- Kim

The Never Ending Card

Much like the Never Ending Story, this card just keeps on going! It's almost mesmerising. You just want to keep turning it.

The main thing to remember with this card is not to put bulky embellishments on it as it needs to be able to fold through all the faces without getting stuck. I found an excellent set of instructions here (remember, no point reinventing the wheel).

So here is an example I made while at MUFOG:


This is the front of the card - the start if you like.


This is position 2 - the first set of fold backs.


This is position 3 - the second set of folds


And position 4 - the last set of folds before you get back to the beginning!

I again recommend that you use one line of paper so that all the panels match and a 6 x 6 paper pad works beautifully here. If you get a single line of product, you can use the matching stickers, rub ons and other flat embellishments to dress it up.

Have fun!

xoxo

- Kim

Alcohol Ink Monoprint Technique

First, I just have to say I have the BEST husband.  He has taken my Tim Holtz addiction on board and purchased me both Compendiums (both autographed too) along with the funniest email to Tim to get them for me for our 15th Wedding Anniversary.  It just goes to show that he does pay attention each time I squeal at a new technique or product!

These cards were made using one of the techniques from the first Compendium called Alcohol Ink Monoprint.  Essentially, you put a few different colours of alcohol ink on your craft mat along with some Metallic Fixative and blending solution, swipe your glossy card stock through and voila!  So easy yet it makes a fabulous background.  Using the same inks, you get some very different results as can be seen here:

Yes, the exact same colour inks were used to make these backgrounds - just in different concentrations.  So now what?  Well, this is what I did with these two.

This card was stamped with a combination of Bo Bunny Gabrielle stamps and Stampin' Up sentiment.  You have to use a dye based ink pad like Memories or Archival Ink on top of the alcohol inks.  It will dry on it's own but I am always in a hurry so I use a heat tool.

These stamps are from Gina K. Designs and I created the scene by stamping the horse first, masking it and then stamping the trees and fence.  The colours of this background just really suited the theme.

Talk about easy cards!  Just a bit of swiping and stamping and you have a stunning finished product!  I was having so much fun though, I created one more.  I have the same problem with my alcohol inks as I do with my Distress Ink - similar colours.  I will need to make sure I get some colours outside of my usual palette next time.  Here is the last card:

This is a Gina K. Designs stamp set too.  I stamped the image onto silver card stock and added the sentiment before punching it out and adhering it with foam tape.  I added some KaiserCraft pearls to the flower centres and used my Distress Stains to colour some Tim Holtz trimmings to match.  Again, simple card but effective!

Thanks for looking and I will be bringing you a more constructed card soon!

xoxo

Kim

A Photo Wallet

Hi!

I have been working hard on another project for my mum as her birthday is just around the corner. Since we don't get to see her, something that holds pictures of the boys is always a winner!

As usual, I found the instructions for this project on Splitcoaststampers. Seriously, if you are a crafter and haven't checked this site out, you really should. There are some awesome projects there. The link to the project below can be found here. The other fun thing about this project is that it can be carried around with the recipient and be a "brag book"!

So, I actually used something other than Bo Bunny to make this project (shocker, I know). This time I used K&Co Wild Saffron paper and embellishments. I also used some SU stamps (Eastern Blooms and Baroque Motifs) and inks (Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze, and Sage Shadow).

Here it is in it's closed state:





I used DCWV card stock with the SU border punch. The flower, leaf and lady bug are Wild Saffron embellishments.

This is it opened:





The stamps are SU and the stickers are Wild Saffron. The butterflies are a three stage punch from EK Success punched from the Wild Saffron papers. For all of the stamping on this project, I used the SU markers (in the same colours as the stamp pads) to colour the stamps and then "huffed" on them to reactivate the ink and stamp.

Here are the photo pockets up close:














Here is what the photo wallet looks like fully open.





Obviously I still need to add photos and some journalling but as that is more personal, I decided to show you the project before it's completely finished. This is a very easy, effective project and I will be making more of these for my parents and Drew's mum.

Have a go yourself...I think you will be pleasantly surprised :0)

- Kim

A Stationery Box, A Bookmark and a Card

Hi all!

I have been sitting at my craft desk more regularly lately but I have been quite slack in showing you what I have been doing.  So here is a little catch up on it all.

It seems from September onwards, the days just start to run together.  There are birthdays galore and then there are holidays that, although are not Australian, I still celebrate as I did growing up.  It just doesn't feel right if I don't acknowledge them in some way.  However, this month, there were two special birthdays to be marked in our calendar - my friend Dayna and her daughter.

Dayna was gifted the stationery box.  She told me to tell you all that she was absolutely in love with her gift although I am apparently on call for more cards when she needs them :0)  I am fine with that!  So what is this stationery box I hear you asking?  I found the tutorial on my ever faithful source - Splitcoaststampers.  You can get to it from here.  Most of the large cards are modified copies from other's websites too...sorry, not too original as I had limited time!

This is what mine looked like after I finished.  There are a few pictures as I have chosen to show it both full and empty.  There are 6 cards, 8 gift cards and 8 tags in the box as a "starter kit".  All the items, including the box were made with Bo Bunny Gabrielle papers (no, it's not my favourite at all).  The stamps are a mixture of Stampin Up's Cottage Garden and Vintage Vogue.  I used Ranger Archival Inks in Jet Black, Cobalt, and Olive.  I used a combination of my Glue Glider Pro, Glossy Accents and Xpress It tape to stick it all together.  The flowers were Prima and miscellaneous and most of the embellishments were from the Bo Bunny Gabrielle range.

 For Dayna's daughter, I decided to make a bookmark instead of a regular card.  This way, she would get to see it for the whole year!  I used a technique called ghosting. This is where you stamp in a white versa mark ink and then once dry, ink over the top.  I grabbed the idea from here.

After I stamped the ghost butterfly (Stampin' Up's Great Friends set), I inked the entire tags with Distress Inks (Dusty Concord, Stormy Sky and Victorian Velvet).  Next, I sprayed it with Perfect Pearls Mist in Perfect Pearl and then stamped the butterfly from Stampin' Up's Priceless set. The ribbon was inked with the same Distress Inks and is from the Tim Holtz trims set.  The card stock is Coredination card stock in the Tim Holtz Distress Ink colours.  Finally, I added some diamond Stickles to give the butterflies a little bling of their own.

Finally, the card I made is for my Grandpa who is in hospital.  I'm going to sent some photos along with a message for him to help remind him that we love him very much.  The paper is - oh, I don't know - Bo Bunny Gabrielle?!  The trim is a random one I've had for a while.  The butterfly is cut from matching card stock and the antenna are brown memory thread.  The bling is also a random brand.

So, I hope you have enjoyed all of these.  I know I enjoyed making them and I hope to have some photo wallet ideas up for you before too long!

Have a great week :0)

Kim

Reveal Number Two

I had the joy of sharing a great friend's engagement party this weekend and of course an event like that deserves a lovely card!  This card was CAS'd from Doodlebug's card seen here.  Of course, I changed the paper, ribbon and stamps around a little but it was essentially a copy.  No point in re-inventing the wheel as long as credit is given where credit is due!

So here it is:

The designer paper is KaiserCraft Gypsy and the cardstock is DCWV.  The stamps are a combination of Stampin Up, KaiserCraft and Bo Bunny.  The ribbon is Basic Grey, pearls and gems are KaiserCraft and the ink is Distress Ink and Versamark with silver embossing powder.  The silver finding is from Stampin Up and I'm pretty sure there is some Perfect Pearls Pearl mist in there too!  The music was downloaded from a free site.  I hope that Peter and Narelle like it.  I had such a lovely time at their party last night!

And for a bit of fun, we went to Costco today after breakfast with friends.  We bought some kites and on the way home, we stopped by the property to fly them.  Here are some of the snapshots I got of the boys flying the kites.  Kites Ho!!

Hope you were able to find some friend and family time this weekend! xoxo

The First Reveal!

I promised there would be some reveals this weekend and this is the first!  Yesterday, I gave a card to my friend for her birthday.  I made something special for her as she is a member of my crafty family.  I also know she likes her handbags, shoes and jewellry.  I found a really awesome handbag card here.  The template measurements can be found here.   I also used the Bo Bunny Gabrielle papers - the same ones on the outside but different on the inside.  However, as I have embellished differently, our cards are different enough.  So here is my version.  There are several photos as there is so much to this card.  Let's start with the front:

I used Tea Dye distress ink to colour the edges.  I put KaiserCraft pearls in a few places on the design to highlight it.  The ribbons were purchased as part of a kit that also used Bo Bunny Paper.  The flowers are Prima and the chipboard and butterfly are part of the Gabrielle collection.  The closure is a Basic Grey Magnet.  I had to add some bigger magnets to the back of the closure because this has to hold through quite a few layers of paper and cardstock.  This handle is part of the Gabrielle ribbon collection.

Here is a side view to give you an idea of what is on the inside.

I decided to mimic the swirls on the design with some bling from Zva and then added the chipboard butterflies from the Gabrielle chipboard collection.

Here is the card open.  Most of the embellishments are from the Gabrielle collection (it's so much easier when you use a collection to make a project).  I've added a few different things though.  The flower is Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die that has been cut from his glassine paper, crinkled and then sprayed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist.  When heated with the heat tool, the colour sinks in and looks as if it is part of the paper.  The butterfly on the top is a Gina K. Designs stamp that has been coloured with Smooch Inks (see previous post for a close up) and the frame is a Spellbinders die.  Again, I've inked all the edges of the base papers with Tea Dye Distress Inks.

Here are some close ups of the inside top and bottom.

I hope you enjoyed looking as much as I did creating!  Oh, and the card was a hit...she cried and made me cry!  Love you 'Chelle!

Hope you all get a chance to do what ever hobby you love today.