Happy Summer fellow crafters. Hope you’ve all been enjoying the weather, or have you, like me, been beavering away in your craft room or craft space. I am lucky that my room is the coolest room in the house although it get a bit nippy in winter, it’s been great when the temperature has gotten really high. Well, if you’re one of my lovely loyal subscribers, you’ll have already had the newsletter with the password for my latest tutorial. If you’ve not signed up yet, you’ll only be able to access this tutorial by signing up.

I’ve had a number of requests for a ‘Pop Up Box’ tutorial. There are a number already out there on the net and some companies have even made dies to make these. They are deceptively easy to make if you follow a few basic principles and I wouldn’t consider buying a die to make these. All you need is a scoreboard, ruler and craft knife. The beauty of making them yourself is that you change the size and proportions to meet your needs, which you can’t do with a die.

I appreciate that this is quite a wacky card design. It was specifically requested to include items relevant to the recipient, but the main part of this tutorial explains in detail how to make the base card which can be decorated and embellished for numerous different occasions (see the female version below). This is my own personal take on a pop up box card which gives you internal sections at different levels allowing you to create scenic cards and/or add more dimension to your finished project. I have included detailed templates, lots of step by step photographs together with comprehensive instructions and tips to ensure your completed card folds flat and opens up with ease.

After the main tutorial for the card base I have also explained in detail how all the various elements on this card were created. While you probably won’t want to use them all, they are great embellishments for cards for teenagers and young adults, not to mention immense fun to make.

I am planning a tutorial for the Panorama Wedding card which has been in the gallery for some time now. This was by request. I used some specific dies to make this but am hoping to provide instructions as to how you might make this without the dies. If you have any requests for tutorials in the future, why not drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do.

I’m off to Dare2Create in Coventry this weekend for a much anticipated and very exciting weekend of mixed media crafting, as you can probably tell from my galleries, this is way out of my comfort zone but I can’t wait. I’ll be sure to let you know how I get on.

Till next time, Happy Crafting, Babs xxx

I have tons of stamp sets, many of which I’ve yet to use. Here are some quick easy cards I made using the Clearly Besotted ‘Super Dad’ stamp set. This includes outline, and background stamps for the shirt and elements. I also used some patterned background stamps to add further details to some of the shirts. I masked off the card bases and used distress inks to create a coloured stripe rather than matting and layering as I most often do, then stamped the ‘Birthday’ greeting in the bottom corner. I stamped the shirts in different shades of blue distress ink and the outlines in black archival ink. The stamped shirts were then fussy cut and mounted onto the card base with foam pads. Letters for the word ‘Happy’  were stamped using Docrafts Papermania Madame Payraud’s Typewriter upper case alphabet urban stamps and then heat embossed with clear embossing ink. I used foam pads to create dimension but, with a bit of advanced planning and masking, this card could be created as a single layer card which would be economical and easier to post.

I love looking through craft magazines for inspiration. My daughter bought me a subscription for Christmas and I just love it it’s like have a crafty present drop through my letter box every month. I also buy additional magazines from the supermarket, especially when I like the free gift. Here are some of my recent makes.

 Issue 159 of Simply Cards & Papercraft

– the first two cards were my interpretation of some great ideas featured in the magazine. I used different stamps and dies but kept to a similar colour palate and used the same distress inks and gilding waxes.

Male card made using inspiration from ideas featured in Simply Cards & Papercraft issue 159 using X Cut Chronology cogs die set and Marianne Creatables clock and hands die with gilding wax applied. Silhouette stamped using Personal Impressions Mens Silhouette stamps and enhanced with Anita’s 3D gloss. Backgound inked with disress inks and stamped with old map stamps. Sentiment stamped using Fuzzy Lemon ‘Star Studded Birthday’ sentiment stamps set and die cut with nesting stitched rectangle die (from The Works).

Male card made using inspiration from ideas featured in Simply Cards & Papercraft issue 159 using X Cut Chronology Pocket watch and cogs die sets (with gilding wax applied) and Memory Box Gear works border die. Silhouette stamped using Personal Impressions Mens Silhouette stamps and enhanced with Anita’s 3D gloss. Backgound inked with disress inks and stamped with old map stamps.

This trio of cards were made using the free gift die and stamps that came with the  magazine, together with Quickutz nesting tags dies and Apple Blossom ‘Life’s Journey’ sentiment stamps.All of the tea cups were die cut from white card stock and then coloured with distress inks in 3 shades. I cut a backing for each of the cups and glued into place. The flowers and leaves were coloured with promarkers  and then glued back into place. Sentiments were stamped and heat embossed onto die cut tags and linked with embroidery thread. Cups and tags attached to card with foam pads for added dimension.

I have a huge pile of magazines that I’ve not gotten round to exploring and may do a few more posts like this one, sharing my makes.

Hello again crafters. Don’t you just love the world of paper crafting. We are blessed to have so many talented and professional craft experts out there to inspire us. There’s never a dull moment in a crafter’s life. I’m constantly adding new materials to my stash having seen them in use on the various craft channels, at craft shows and on the internet. During  lull in my card orders I set about having a play with some of my stash. I had no agenda but wanted to play with some pearl spritzing inks and also the latest of my many butterfly die acquisitions, namely the Sizzix Tim Holtz Detailed butterfly dies.

I started with an A4 sheet of white card/ I applied various colours of distress inks in shade of blue. Next I had a good old spritz with Docrafts Artiste spritzing inks in white, haematite, electric blue and black night. Then, I ran the whole sheet of card through my Xcut A4 Delicate flourishes embossing folder and applied some Tim Holtz Black Soot distress ink over the embossing. Then I dripped some of the spritzing inks over the top (I unscrewed the spray and just let it drip onto my card). I also added some splats of ink from a clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen for extra sparkle.

I then cut my finished background into 4 A6 pieces. I used the outline dies from the Sizzix Tim Holtz Detailed butterfly die set to cut 2 butterflies out (I’ve kept these to use on other cards. I then matted the card onto plain black card stock and dry embossed through the details part of the detailed butterfly die. I used usArtQuest pearlescent and metallic watercolour paints in shades of blue to paint the embossed wing detail onto the black card. I then die cut the detailed butterflies in plain black card stock and added extra highlights with the same watercolour paints and glued them in place in the previously cut spaces. I used small black foam squares to eleveate the wings slightly to add more dimension.

Having now made 4 toppers, I needed to make them into cards. I found a pack of Forever friends special finish card blanks, some of which were letter-pressed in black and looked perfect, apart from the fact that they were cream & black. So I got out the same distress inks I’d used for the background and coloured them to match.

And here they are, they all look the same but look closer and you’ll see each one is different. There were two butterflies in the die set, two cards have one of each butterfly on them and the other two have two identical ones on them. Hope you like them. I Had a fab time creating them and as a by-product now have 8 lovely butterflies left use on other cards.

Today I thought I’d share an idea I had to use up some items in my crafty stash. I often buy things at craft fares that get put away in my craft room and forgotten about. I found one such purchase a while ago, a set of small square aperture card blanks in lovely pastel shades. After playing around for a while I decided to put vellum behind the apertures and then add die cut embellishments. The vellum, like the card blanks, has also been in my stash for a year or two.

This pink card blank lent itself perfectly to a new baby girl card. I used pink gingham vellum and various dies including a Tattered Lace congratulations die and it’s a girl sentiment from the Cuttlebug A2 Cut & emboss Welcome baby set for the greeting and the largest dies from the Marianne Creatables Baby Feet die set. A small bow cut with the Memory Box Plush Bow die gave me the finishing touch.

The baby girl card turned out so cute that I replicated it in blue for a boy using the same dies.

The daisy print vellum I used for this card has been in  my stash for ages. It’s so pretty that I was always hard pressed to use it. I echoed the design of the vellum with white daisies, punched using my Woodware punches and finished off with a ‘Happy’ sentiment cut with  a die from the Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Celebration Words – Script die set.

And, not forgetting the boys, using the same principles as the other cards, here’s my male version. Again using vellum I’ve had for ages and not known what to do with it. I used various dies to embellish the card including MFT Die-namics Tool charms dies, the Memory Box Gear works border die, Tattered Lace essentials nesting hexagon die (smallest one with hole punched in for ‘Nuts’) and Tattered lace Sentiments dies. I made the scree heads using a tiny circle die which I then pressed the head of a real screw driver into to create the slot.

4 super cute cards which made use of items in my stash I’d forgotten I had. Hope you like them.

Like most paper crafters out there, I have amassed a vast collection of patterned papers in all sizes, and, like many crafters, I often take them out, stroke, sniff and touch them but put them back unused. I have had some particularly inexpensive ones from The Works in recent months (around £3 per pad) and thought I’d share with you my makes from one of these pads.

I was drawn to this particular 12″ x 12″ pad by the colour palate of pinks and greens and the range of styles and designs in the pad. I noticed that a number of the pages had 4 designs on them so I set to work to see what I could come up with. I decided to use 2 of the smaller square panels for each 6″ x 6″card.

I used my Crealies Double stitched circular nesting dies (no33) on many of them which allowed me gut the lower layers leaving a nice stitched edging and use the die cuts on the upper layers of the cards.

This first example was simply made layering up the nesting circles. To highlight the rose design, I dry embossed the petals with a large ball tool on the reverse and then with a small ball tool on the outlines on the right side. I then painted to rose with Windsor & Newton Iridescent Medium (it’s similar to what’s inside various sparkle/glitter pens on the market). To add interst and dimensionI inkd the edges with distress inks and use foam pads to layer up.

In this example, I used the same circle dies to cut out the printed circle motive from the paper and again inked and layered up the pieces with foam pads to create dimension. I then added die cut butterflies and vines cut from coordinating pearlescent card stock to embellish the card.

I wasn’t sure what to for this card initially. The rose printed design filled most of the square and I didn’t want to lose any of the detail. I decided to have my first try at partial die cutting. I chose the Nellie Snellen nesting Straight Dotted Square die as this seemed to work best on this particular paper square. I marked my die position in pencil first and then hand cut around the roses, fially slotting the die in place to give me the aperture. I stamped the sentiment onto the paper removed and cut a coordinating mat for it (with Nellie’s straight dotted rectangles) from the matting layer below (in an area that would be hidden by the top layer). A little inking round the edges and hey presto, a very effective card that was quick and easy to make.

Have found out that partial die-cutting was easier than I expected, I did the same thing on this version which, again, allowed me to use the design elements on the printed paper to it’s best advantage. Some inking and die cut embellishments helped me to achieve the finished look.

This last design had me stumped for a while. I couldn’t decide what to do with the mandala style design. Again, I used the double stitched circles to create layers and dimension. I used the Couture flower burst reflection die to create the centre piece and double cut in pink to create to flower embellishments. I dry embossed the underneath layer of the centre circle to create a dome which i supported with foam pads when adhering it to the card. I left all of the cards fairly blank so that I could add relevant greetings when I came to use them. In this case, I sent the card to a special friend and used the Tonic ‘Just Because’ sentiment dies to add the greeting.

And there you have it, 5 ideas from one paper stack that used less than 3 of the sheets from the stack so there’s plenty more left to explore with. Hope you liked them. Happy Crafting. Babs xx

When Tonic launched their Shadow Box Creation Die Set I knew I just had to have it. There are so many possibilities available with this set of dies. I have previously made my own version of shadow box card but it took a great deal of figuring out and measuring. This card is my first creation made with the set and I can envisage making lots of different cards and home decor projects in the future. For details of all dies etc used and to see the full sized images just click on the individual picture. The photos featured in this post have been added to the Ladies Extra Special Gallery.

The shadow box is really easy to put together, I used 2 for this card and joined them together with an additional piece of card down the spine. The decorative layers I found to be a bit of a challenge to get symmetrical, even cuts and also to fit the frames onto the box, either my card stock stretched or the die is a smidge too big for the fit that I would prefer and I had to trim them. Having said that, the box was the main reason for me buying this and I’m not disappointed, I think I will use it more without the decorative layers.

It won’t be long before the graduation season begins and I will be joining millions of other parents in celebrating the achievements of their offspring. What better way to mark such a special occasion than by sending a hand made personal greeting card that will become a cherished memento of a a very special memory. Here are some of the cards I have made to celebrate various graduations of friends and relatives. Each as individual as the recipients. I’ve yet to decide on a design for my daughter, but then again, this will be her second degree and the card I made for her first degree (A word book) was a lengthy labour of love and will be hard to top. To see the cards in more detail and for details of dies etc used to create these, why not browse the galleries and click on the individual pictures for full sized images and details.

My last 2 posts were cards for the girls, so, in an effort to redress the balance, here are some Extra Special (as in larger than normal size or more intricate/alternative card design) cards made for those special men in our lives or for special birthdays. Dies and materials used can be found by clicking on the individual pictures. I’ve included one or two in this preview that haven’t been previewed in a post but were added to the gallery. Most of my cards are very specific to the recipient, in terms of their hobbies, interests and preferences but most could be adapted to include your own preferences.

It’s always worth re-visiting the galleries as they are often updated. I’ve just added lots to the Ladies Extra Special gallery. All the cards in this gallery are either larger than a standard card or a more intricate card design like and exploding box or parcel keepsake style. These are not all newly made cards but they are new to site. Over the years I’ve made one or two and thought they were all in the galleries but I’ve found some that got overlooked when I set things up at the start. As always, I go to great lengths to provide all the details about which dies I’ve used to make each card and you can access this information by clicking on to any of the individual pictures/thumbnails in the galleries. It’s worth noting that if you view the galleries just by the thumbnails you won’t be able to see the whole picture, clicking on the image will reveal the full picture as well as details of the dies used, just in case you fancy having a go at any of them.