Docrafts Creativity Club downloads

Had a wee creative flurry this evening. I downloaded the new Spring Green part 1 papers from the Docrafts Creativity Club. I liked the bunting one and so decided to look back through the daily sketches to find one that needed this in the layout. I eventually found daily sketch 224 which included bunting so I used as the inspiration for this card.
I decided to go for an 8 x 8 square card because of the size of the bunting and then scaled everything else in relation to this. I used a few different techniques to make this card including embossing with a folder followed by a light sanding to bring out the pattern. I also added a bit of dimension by inking the edges of the background rectangle and the circle. I was struggling for a while with the letters as my dies are too small and so were the first few pre-cut letters packs that I found in my stash. Eventually I remembered an old Xmas range - I think it was called "Let it Snow". Fortunately I had the foresight to get a couple of packs so I had all the required letters to spell out an appropriate sentiment.

Having visited to Docrafts blog I've decided to enter the card makers challenge for the first time . . . if I can work out how to do!

That's all for today, see you again soon.

Weaving tutorial

As promised here is a tutorial explaining how I created the woven backgrounds for my cards. I have taken photos as I went along and I hope my explanations are clear. Unfortunately, once you have done something a few times you tend to make assumptions and forget to explain everything. I hope this isn't the case but you never know!

Anyway, here we go . . .
Start by cutting a piece of paper to size. I find it easiest to use a square and I usually make it a little bit smaller that the card I am going to make so that I can mount it. This is going to be the backing paper behind the weaving and you can determine how much will show by how closely together you do your weaving. I find it easiest to use a dotty paper as this helps me to position the weaving strips straight but you could use anything.

Use a contrasting paper (or 2) and cut your strips for weaving. I used 8 x 8 paper and cut strips about 1 cm in width but again you can vary this depending on your own design. You will need about 14 strips in total and I usually pick two different colours as I think this makes the woven effect more obvious but again this is personal preference.

Start by putting a small dot of glue at ONE END of one of the strips.

Position the strip on the backing paper, diagonally down the centre. I find it easiest to start in the top left hand corner. ONLY STICK DOWN ONE END OF EACH STRIP AT THIS POINT. This strip is going to be your guide for all the first layer of weaving strips so make sure it is in the correct position.

Continue adding strips at regular spacing along the top and down the left hand side of your backing paper.

Once you have finished this stage you should have something that looks like this. I have inserted the ruler to show that each of the strips is only attached at one end. You are now ready to start your weaving.

Using a contrasting weaving strip place it under the very first strip which you attached that runs directly down the centre of the backing paper.

Place a small amount of glue at each end of the strip following the line of the backing paper. Press the weaving strip down firmly and cut off any excess to use for the next strip. Make sure if you are cutting a strip off that you leave enough of the strip to over-run the edge of the backing paper. This strip is going to be your guide for all the strips in the second section of the weave so make sure it is in the correct position (that is, straight!)

Take the next weaving strip and thread it over and under the opposite strips to the first one. Place your glue at the edges of the backing paper and when you are happy with the position of this strip, press it into place.

Continue adding strips in this way until you are halfway across the backing paper. Now you will have reached the position where the original (in this example, red) strips are not secured at the end.

As you add the next and subsequent strips you will need to stick down the original strip as well as the strip you are weaving BUT ONLY STICK DOWN ONE (red) STRIP AT EACH END FOR EACH NEW (green) WEAVING STRIP THAT YOU ADD.

Continue adding strips in this way, remembering to stick down the original (red) strip as it is completed as well as the (green) strip that you are adding. Your completed weaving should look like the this. All that remains is to turn the whole page over and using the edge of the backing paper as a guide, trim off all the overlapping ends of the weaving strips and then you have it . . .

. . . a perfect woven background on which to build your project.

Here is a reminder of the completed project I made with this background . . .

You will see from my earlier blogs that I love this technique and have used it many times to create many different cards - although flowers and butterflies do feature in a lot of them! There are more examples in my Docrafts gallery at WWW.DOCRAFTS.COM where I am know as (surprise, surprise) kINGFISHER.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and have found it easy to follow. It would be great to get some feedback.

More 3D flowers

Well I've been really busy this week as I started a new job and I am now back to work full-time so the crafting will have to be limited to evenings and weekends during term time at least.
This weekend I managed to finish off a couple of cards that I started earlier in the week. I made up the last sheet of flowers from the fantastic bargain pack from the Craftwork Cards sale. The pack contains 4 sheets and only costs £1.00. Each sheet has 9 flowers so even layering up 3 or 4 to get a good bloom you can still get 9 - 12 flowers per pack. Each of these 8 x 8 cards uses 3 flowers which I think gives a good balance. See what you think . . .

As you will see the cards are very similar  - the difference in colour was because one was taken in natural light and the other in artificial. Both cards use a woven background and as I have been asked about this a few times I will create a step by step blog to show you how this is done. It is really simple once you master it; it just a question of sticking the right bits down at the right time!

I inked the edges of the white embossed frames and added hand drawn stitching in a contrasting colour. I used pleated glitter card to give more dimension. I cut a strip of card 1 cm wide and then scored it alternately at 0.5 cm and 1.5 cm to guide the pleating and keep it even. I then secured the pleat with double-sided tape. This is the first time I have used the individual letters and they are great fun. Unfortunately  because they came in one of the goody bags there is only one sheet of each colour which means there is only one of each letter. I think when you buy a pack there are 4 sheets - 2 each of silver and gold which would give a little more scope for more creative messaging. I have already put them on my wishlist.

Now for something completely different. This week I became the proud owner of a set of Docrafts Haberdashery dies. I have to say that I hate sewing but after buying the CC mannequins I thought these would tie in really well. This was my first effort . . .

I'm not sure if I used the cross-stitching quite as intended as it was to say the least a bit fiddly. However, I was quite pleased with the result although the keen eyed among you may notice the colour variation is maybe not correctly ordered. I used paper with these dies but if you try this be warned that it is quite difficult to get the paper out of the dies without tearing it. Also I found that  removing the areas that are not required for the finished shape was easier to do whilst it was still in the die using a pokey tool. The dies have strategically placed holes that allow you to do this easily.
Must stop now as I have an early start for work in the morning.

Pansy challenge

I decided to enter the Docrafts challenge. This week it was a photo of a pairs of green wellies and some boxes of pansies. I decided to do something with the colours and started by punching 9 scalloped squares  - 3 in each colour; buttercup, lilac and purple. I decided to use a Kraft card to reflected the colour of the paving slabs in the foreground. I then used a dark green and embossed white card with chestnut inked edges as a background. The real challenge was to make some DIY pansies as I didn't have a punch or dies the correct shape.

To make each flower you need to start with 4 hearts - 3 in the paler tone and 1 slightly darker or contrasting  - and a small circle (about 1cm diameter). I used the smallest x-cut nesting die for the hearts. First ink the rounded edges and the point of the lighter hearts. Use a  pen to draw in lines going up each petal from the point. Then gently fold each heart in half to add dimension. Use the circle as a base to build the flower on and take the darker petal and stick it to the circle lining the point up with the centre of the circle. Then add two of the lighter petal at 3 and 9 o'clock so that they overlap the darker petal. Add the last petal at 6 o'clock so that it overlaps all the other petals and add a gem on the centre.
And here is the finished card . . .

The finishing touches are a message is from Craftwork Cards and the leaves are the x-cut beech punch. It might not win but it was great fun to make and a good alternative use for hearts other than for my Valentine's card!

Love is in the Air

It's been a while since I've blogged but that's because although I've been really busy crafting my projects from last weekend remain "Top Secret". The reason is that my daughter, Emma, and I have been asked to appear in the May edition of Docrafts Creativity magazine. Last weekend we spent a hectic time making projects to be featured on the "Talent Spot" page so if you want to see what we've been up to you'll have to wait I'm afraid.

Today is a special day for a couple of people I know so early this week I made cards for them. First up is a card made for my friend John who is an avid bird-watcher. I always struggle with cards for males but this one was easy using the Craftwork Cards birds and trees template and the double-sided papers from the Warren decoupage pad.

The second birthday girl is my Aunt Mavis and I have gone back to my favourite weaving theme to create this card for her.

Finally, today's project was a Valentine's Day card for my husband. I created this card using the Docrafts Creativity Club download papers called Love - Red and Love - Pink. I used one of my 6 x 6 stepper cards; a bundle bargain  from the Craft Superstore website. I did the ripped, ink edge on the papers and then mounted them on plain red card. I cut two large hearts; 1 in shimmer card which I then embossed and the other in one of the papers. I cut out some of the words from the red paper and mounted these on foam pads to give dimension. I added two smaller hearts to represent our daughters. The important thing to remember with  a stepper card is that it works flat and opened.So here's the finished card . . .

 I guess this is where I find out whether my husband secretly reads my blog!

Until next time. X