Acetate on show at Bah! Humbug! ...

Oooooooooooh love acetate.  Infact I've just ordered a huge batch of inkjet printable, but naughty Mr Postman didn't deliver it in time for our challenge this week at Bah! Humbug!

I decided to go for a very simple card using a Marianne/Nellie Snellen die to cut out a silver mount and white cuttle bugged circle.  The snowflake was cut out of glitter foam using one of the snowflakes in a Marianne set.  A gem in the centre and silver border peel offs and sentiment finish the card.

The only draw back with acetate is that you have cut more sections to give a neat finish to the inside of the card, but using die cuts makes that so easy as the shapes are exactly the same size.

My card is also for the following challenges...

• Divas by Design - Die cuts or punches
• For Fun Challenges - Christmas

Have a fun weekend everyone.

Ann xxx

Good News and Bad News...

Well the GOOD news is that not only is it Bah! Humbug! day, but it's also the start of a new challenge at Crafty Ann's.
At Bah! Humbug! we're encouraging everyone to be reckless and rip that paper.  Ohhhhhhh I find that hard!  It's tough to cut into special paper never mind rip so in total coward mode I tore plain white card, edged it with glitter and then built up the layers to create a backdrop for this cute stamp by Pollycraft. 
I just love this cutie and it was really weird how a little packet of precut coloured dogs suddenly came to light.  I'm not sure what they were part of originally but they fell out of one of my craft boxes and I just thought this guy was perfect to sit patiently waiting for the cutie to throw that snowball.

My card is another of the acetate style cards I did a tutorial HERE for last week.  I really love doing these and there are just so many possibilities.  There may be more variations in the weeks to come!

Now for the BAD news!  Due to work, etc, etc I left doing my Guest Design Team Member card for Crafty Ann's challenge until the very last minute (hmmmmmmmm at this very moment Irene will be reading this and saying 'well what's new).  Then I had a crafting disaster.  I had almost finished a card that was looking like it was going to be fine when...

I decided to use Glossy Accents.  Now I should know better, because I've ruined things with this lethal product before, but no I had to to add that extra bit of something didn't I?  Yep we've all been there and know that sinking feeling of 'Oh no I've ruined my card!!!'

Anyway enough rambling I will eventually recover from the way the stuff changed the colour of my flowers completely so they no longer matched the backing paper, ran where it shouldn't have run and shrunk away from the edges in other parts.  Grrr!

Good job Crafty Ann is also Lovely Kind Ann and because the challenge this week is 'Summer' she is going to put my Beach Beauties card on her blog.  Thank goodness for good buddies eh?  So I know you've seen it before, but just pretend it's new in the interests of keeping my sanity.

 

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Of course there are challenges to be entered too and my Christmas card is also for the following challenges...

• Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - Sweet Christmas Wishes
• Sentimental Sundays - Playful Card  - throwing snowballs for the puppy
• Stamptacular - Christmas in July
• Tuesday Taggers - Christmas in July
• Winter Wonderland - No Designer Paper 
• Stamp Something - Christmas in July

Have a fab weekend everyone and do take a look at both Crafty Ann's challenge and Bah! Humbug! if you have time.

Acetate Card Tutorial...

Please excuse my blog at the moment as it's in the process of being revitalised.

Loads of my lovely blogging friends have asked me to do a tutorial on the style of acetate card I've had a craze on making recently so this afternoon with both camera and craft knife in hand I've had a go.  

Might be a good time to get yourself a cuppa as there are 26 photos and after messing around taking them all I'm not wasting any.

Well here goes...

•  Begin by cutting a piece of card to form the back of your creation.  I chose to make the most popular size of square card so my piece of black card measured approx 6" x 6".

• Next cut a piece of thick acetate 6" x 7". 

• TOP TIP 1 - Don't throw any small scraps of acetate away.  These are absolutely fabulous for stamping sentiments on using Stazon.  Stamp on a sentiment that you think may just be the ideal one to finish off a card and then place it in position on the card to help you decide the best place for the sentiment or even whether it is the right size or not.  If you like it stamp the sentiment directly on to the card - if not try something else.  Nothing is wasted.  Keep the stamped acetate for another time.

• Placing the acetate on the score board using the 7 " side score at half an inch and one inch. 

• Fold the acetate at the half inch scoreline.  Be careful to fold accurately as this will effect the finished look of the card.  Use a bone folder or other tool to make the crease as sharp as possible.  

• Now attach the acetate to the card base.  Carefully apply DST to the top edge of the black base card.  The tape should be more or less the same width as your fold on the acetate.

• Pull back a small section of the tape at both ends.

• Then place the fold of the acetate on top lining the two pieces up exactly.  Removing a small piece of the tape at each end makes this part far easier and allows for really accurate positioning.  (This is my third card in this style and I learnt the hard way how important it is to get it absolutely straight).

 

• Now we're reaching the really fun part.  Find the score line on the acetate at the one inch point and fold over as shown in the picture.  This line can be quite tricky to fold, but do it as carefully as possible and again use the bone folder to get the fold as crisp as you can.  

• Stand the card up to check it works and give yourself a pat on the back.  Sometimes the acetate needs a little tweak along the folds to make it stand properly, but once the card is made it is fine.

• 
  
  
  
  
   
• As you can see in the picture the DST shows up very clearly and doesn't look very good.  At this point I think it's a good idea to attach another piece of 6" x 6" black card over the inside of the card.  This means that the acetate flap attached to the base card with DST is hidden sandwiched between the two layers of black card giving a very professional finish. 

• TOP TIP 2 - Have a bin nearby for all the DST bits (unlike me!- LOL)

• Now it's time to make the scene to go on the back of the card.  I used this fab sheet of decoupage by Kanban, but of course you can create any scene you like.  I've also made a sunshine birthday card which you can find here.

• I didn't want to stick my decoupage pieces staight on to the card inner so I made an extra layer to mount the decoupage on.  It's a standing joke in our house and amongst my friends that my cards wouldn't blow over in a hurricane never mind a slight draft when a door opens.

• Cut out the pieces and build your scene up ready to go inside the card.  

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  TOP TIP 3 - Glitter is better applied before building up so that it doesn't fall down the gaps and get stuck on the foam pads.  I've made a mental note of this tip for future reference.
  
  
   

• Attach the finished piece to the inside of the card.  Stand the card up and admire your work again.

• Design and make a strip to attach to the bottom front of the acetate.  This is a good place to place the sentiment or any kind of trim you want to add.

• Cut out an embellishment for the front of the acetate.  I was lucky in that my Kanban decoupage already had a fab Santa in his plane included, but you could perhaps use a Santa in his sleigh stamp to create something or maybe use snowflakes on the front of the the acetate.  The possibilities are endless. 

•  Before attaching your embellishment to the front of your card draw around it on black or other suitable colour to create a silhouette version to attach to the inside of the acetate to ensure a really neat professional finish. 

and that is the last stage so give yourself a huge pat on the back and have a well deserved cup of coffee.

My finished card is also for the following challenges...

• Daring Cardmakers - Layer it up
• Aud Sentiments - Choose your own Christmas sentiment
• Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club - Santa

IMPORTANT...
If you do decide to have a go at one of these cards please please show me, by leaving a comment.  I would love to see some different versions.  So would everyone else too.  Please leave a comment with a link to your card and do say if you would like your name adding to my list below.  My blogging friend Claire made her card after seeing my first creation - you can see her card take on this at..

Claire's Crafty Creations

More fab work....

A great snowman card by Ann at Spirit of Creativity. 

another really super Christmas card by Marianne HERE

(this space is for your cards)

and more examples by me

here and...

My Bah! Humbug! card for next week's challenge is going to be a variation on this theme so watch this space.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! - Challenge 6 - Snowmen...

Yeah it's Friday and that means it's Christmas time at Bah! Humbug!  This week it was my turn to choose the challenge and as I'm crazy about snowmen images I decided to make them our theme.  I daren't count how many snowmen stamps I have, both rubber and digi, but I reckon they are like shoes and bags and you can never have too many.
The stamps I've used are from a clear set by Kars in the Olifant range.  These are on sale at Funky Kits at the moment and at £4.43 a set are a huge bargain.
As soon as I saw these stamps I knew they would be great to use on this style of card with the concertina base and acetate roof.  Great fun to do and even though not pink the card has had the royal seal of approval from Laura (and she is very fussy).
My other card made in this way is here with some instructions for the folds although on today's card the two middle folds were both 1.5 inches.  I guess as long as the folds fit on the card you can do them as big or as small as you like.
Here's a close up of the concertina part... 

As you can see I used torn card edged with glitter to give a snowy floor effect.  As the boy and snowman were coloured with Promarkers I glued them to white paper before cutting out so that the seepage through the card of the Promarker ink would not be visable.


My card is also for the challenges at...

• Tanda Teaser - Quick and cute (hmmm definitely cute, but I'm not good at quick cards - I like to mess around trying different things.  This was relatively quick though as I've done the design before and know the measurements). 
• ABC Challenge - New Stash - my stamp set is new.

Have a super weekend with lots of crafting time everyone.  Hope you'll have chance to play with your snowmen images and join our challenge at Bah! Humbug!  Really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

Here comes Frosty the Snowman again...

Just had to use the snowman image from Your Next Stamp more than once - he really is a cutie. This time I used a scalloped acetate circle folded in half to make a semi circular card. The acetate has a blue pearlescent circular card attached to the inside of the acetate and a white paper overskirt attached to the outside, which means that all the DST is hidden sandwiched between the two layers.

I must admit I went a little crazy with the snowflakes and gem stones, but hey it's nearly Christmas!!

My card fits some of the same challenges as yesterday...

• Paperplay - Christmas without red or green (shhhhhh don't look at the candy cane!)
  
• Stamp Something - Glitzy
• Crafty Calender Challenges - Winter Sparkle
• Caardvaarks - use digital images and sentiments
• Pile it on - Tinsel Town
• Cupcake Craft Challenge - a Christmas song or Carol
  

Have a great day everyone - and spare a thought for those of us facing job interviews - eeeeeeeeeeek!

In all the panic (see interview note above) I totally forgot to mention that Karen at Your Next Stamp is offering 10% discount this week to The Pink Elephant participants so if you fancy treating yourself pop over there and use the discount code TPE when placing your order. Yeah - Happy Shopping.

Ann xxx

Pink Elephant Day...

I really can't believe Monday is here again and we have a new challenge at The Pink Elephant.

This week is a colour theme and wow it's a super easy one...

Use your favourite colouring medium - how fun is that? For my card I used Promarkers - since buying the new colour range I just can't stop using these pens. I just love them.

I decided to make an acetate card and this may be the last one I ever do as it was just so hard to take a photo of. Some of the shots had a reflection of me on complete with camera - some had the windows etc - oh it was so tricky. I must try to find out how the experts manage as this card is really quite nice in real life (honest) and yet the photo does not do it justice at all.

The image I've used is Swiss Pixies Nora by C.C. Designs and oh my do they do some gorgeous stamps? I hadn't heard of them until my friend Irene won a challenge in the Summer and received a couple of beautiful stamps. Check out her cards here and here. Aren't they just fabulous?

Each month at C. C. Designs there are new designs and the great thing is you can get the images in both rubber and digi versions. I love my rubber, but for us over here in England it can take a long time for stamps to travel over the pond and the postage makes them more expensive too. Buying the digi version solves both those problems.

The fancy border on my card and 'snow' sentiment are all rub ons which were very kindly sent to me as part of some lovely blog candy from Fab at Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge. Thank you again Fab - I love these rub ons.

Have a great day everyone and hope you are able to join in our challenge at The Pink Elephant this week.

Ann xxx

New Home...

Well just over a week ago my youngest daughter announced that she was going to get a flat with her boyfriend. This was Friday and by Monday they had the keys. By Tuesday my dippy little girl who can't make out of the door without forgetting something and having to come back was gone.

I take back every single word I've ever said about wishing one of them would move out so I could have a craft room - whoops somethings just splashed on the keyboard! I'm missing her so much - I'm even missing the constant sink full of pots she used to make - sigh!

Lots of my friends have sent her lovely new home cards so I thought I better get into action and do one too. This is one to send from me and my mum (who has taken it even worse that me and keeps bursting into tears and saying 'She will be alright won't she?).

The images I've used are from a set by PC Crafter and I've played around with them in Serif to get the sizes and shapes just right to make one of those acetate concertina cards I was shown at the Sheena Douglas workshop.

Think this photo shows the layers better...

I knew I would use this style of card again and again. I thought the image of the girl pulling her possessions on a little truck was so apt for Shelley and the pick up truck with the stuff piled high with oddments reminds me of Tony's dad's car when he delivered some things for them.

Materials used:

• acetate
• ice gold card
• Heart and Home clipart collection from PC Crafter
• gold border and sentiment peel offs

Challenges:

• Cupcake Craft Challenge - Digital Images
• Creative Inspirations - New or neglected - my images are new as I bought them special for this card.
• Crazy4Challenges - acetate

Thanks for looking and for all the lovely comments I receive - they really do make my day.

Ann xxx

Good Luck Card no. 2 and news from NEC...

Yeah my third and final 'Good Luck' card for Laura to give to her workmates. She really loved the cards and I hope her friends do too. This one is a variation on the acetate idea that I was shown at the Sheena Douglas workshop the other week. No scene on this but the folded card between the acetat is a really cool way of giving even thin acetate the stability it needs to stand up.
Sorry about the terrible photo quality I had to take this using my daylight lamp late last night as I knew Laura would be taking the cards this morning. This is the back of the card. As you can see I attached a 'Good Luck' message and medic bag image to the back of the front piece of acetate, but inside the card. It looks much better in real life - HONEST!

On the base strip I've added a rectangle of white so that Laura has somewhere to write her message.

Materials used:

• Dark blue pealescent card
• Bristol board and Promarkers
• Acetate
• Clear stamp set by Woodware
• sentiment stamp by Making Memories
• Scalloped frame cut using Spellbinder die
• ribbon and gems from stash
  

Challenges:

• Creative Card Crew - ribbons and gems
• My Time to Craft - so many scallops

NEC news - phew what a day?! It was a lot of travelling beginning with a 1 hour wait in the cold for the coach and then another hour picking everyone one up before we even started our journey, but wow it was worth it.

I'm afraid my 'wish list' went to the wall and I came away with all kinds of things that I didn't even know I wanted - isn't that always the case? I spent way too much (you knew I would Max and I really didn't want to let you down) and broke into my reserve fund that was tucked in the back pocket of my bag.

I blame the complete stranger (but woman to my own heart ) who was at the Clarity stand and noticed that if you bought more Big and Juicy ink pads it worked out cheaper!!! Well that explains the inkpads, but hey the DVDs ended up in my basket too! Yep, I definitely need a bigger craft room now.

I really did buy far too much to mention on here and had loads of fun even though I lost my friends, Susan and Marjorie, which led to spending half the afternoon like the film says 'Desperately Seeking Susan'. Just when I had given up guess who turned up?!

Watch this space for new Penny Black cards - punched creations and Just Rite stamps appearing or maybe I will do what I normally do and just 'stroke' them - lol!

Have a great weekend everyone and if you go near a craft shop or online store, beware of the lady I met who encourages you to put more in your basket.

Clearly Christmas Fun...

Here comes Messy Rabbit again and this time he's in a bit of a mess with his Christmas tree lights - well that's what comes of dressing up as a reindeer to put the trimmings up!

This is one of my favourites from the Joanna Sheen Christmas Messy Rabbit stamps. I just think the look on Messy's face says it all and I love the way the extra stamps on the sheet are so useful. There is a strand of lights which I have used on the card inner and a single bulb too.




Inside the card I've also used a sentiment clear stamp from my stash and I can't for the life of me remember who it is by, but it seemed perfect to go with the theme of the card.



Card Ingredients:

• Messy Rabbit Rudolf set of stamps
  
• A4 thick acetate
• gold mirri card, Ice Gold white card and red card
  
• sentiment and gold peel offs from stash
• Spellbinders Nestie Rectangles

My card is for the challenges at...

• La La Land - 'Christmas'
• Paper Play Challenges - 'Favourite Embellishment' - peel offs (very few of my cards escape without a peel off border sneaking on somewhere).
• Daring Card Makers - 'I can see clearly now' - acetate

Thank you once again everyone for your amazing comments - it's lovely to read everyone of them and sooooooooo brightens my day.

Ann xxx

Happy Birthday James...

Well James escaped the House Mouse in a blue tutu card. After Max's comment about him thinking I had got the wrong idea about his personality I decided that perhaps it was a bit much.

So out came the folded shirt that has saved my life so many times when making a quick card for a man. This time though instead of using patterned paper for the shirt I decided to use real money and combine the card with the gift so to speak.

I felt so extravagant folding up money - bit like those scenes where someone has won the lottery and lights their cigar with a note. I also had to remind myself to be really careful and not throw away the practice ones with the DST waste!

Due to this card my window cleaner has also joined the long line of people worried about my sanity. When he came today I grabbed one of my practice notes to pay him and you should have seen his face as I unfolded the shirt!!

As our paper money is such weird shades I decided to play safe and use acetate for the card and I must admit I'm rather chuffed with the way it's turned out. The photo is a bit iffy due to reflections - I did try all kinds of shots and this was the best one.

After deciding where to put the shirt on the card I made two holes in the bottom layer of the shirt and two holes in the acetate which enable me to sew a cotton loop which holds the shirt in place.

On the reverse of the shirt I've put a little instruction label. This not only hides the ends of the cotton, but also makes sure that James doesn't throw the card away. Last year I did him a card with a denim pocket with real money popping out of the top and it took him a few days to realise the note was real. Men!!!


Jame's card is also for the challenge at Rainbow Lady's challenge blog where the theme is/was acetate. I'm scheduling this post for really early in the morning before Cynthia changes the challenge. Is that cheating? Probably!

My card is also for the challenge at Allsorts where this week they want everyone to make a card using no stamps anywhere! Phew a tricky one there!

On your Wedding Day...

I love acetate cards, but oh boy are they hard to take pictures of? The image on this card is from the 'Dancing with Shadows' CD by Joanna Sheen and has been printed on acetate and then attached to glitter card using brads.

It doesn't really show up well on a photo, but the effect of glitter card under a silhouette image is almost magical. I love it especially this special haze effect glitter card by Kanban - it gives a sort of sparkly sky background.

My card is for the following challenges:

• A Spoonful of Sugar - 'Weddings'
• Stamp Something - 'Black and White plus one' - black silhouette - white glitter card with blue haze.

Thank you for looking and please do take a look at my blog candy - booo hoo - so far only one entry and three prizes! Oh my goodness!!!

All that glitters...

I do hope the glitter shows up on this card as it has been made for the challenge at ABC where we have reached the letter G in the alphabet and the design team have decided to go for 'glitter'. I have used glitter card embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder to create my background.

The main silhouette image was printed on to acetate and then attached to the glitter card using brads.

I love the effect of glitter card layed under acetate - it's magical which is ideal for this particular image. My card is also for the 'my favourite things' challenge at Charisma Cards . Silhouettes either in rubber stamp form or images to print out are definitely one of my favourite things and I love glitter card too!!

I've added black corner peel offs to draw the eyes in to the central image and ribbon embellishment just because...

Hope you like my card.

My ca

Windows...

I'm still not feeling too good. The ordinary cold I had turned into something far more nasty and led to me spending most of the weekend in bed. Even now I don't feel great so please don't come too close as I don't want anyone catching anything!

I've been working on this card for about 4 days. Everytime I've felt a little bit better I've done something to it - usually something that has meant starting again! Isn't funny how when you are not well the craft knife slips - the painting water spills - the ... well you know what I mean we've all been there.


I made the card using two stamps from Art Impressions. One is a window which I have used for the front of the card and the other is a view of a garden with the most wonderful sentiment written around it.

'Treasured friends like you bloom in the garden of my heart'

If I remember rightly Art Impressions do a whole series of scenes that you can add to your collection but I only have this one.






I particularly wanted to use acetate for this card to emphasise the window aspect, but it did bring some problems. I usually cover any DST by attaching card to both sides of the acetate, but of course if I had done that the window would not have been 'see through'.

The only way I could think to get round this fairly neatly was to cut a square out around the window area, which I did. The remaining space left me enough room to write a message to the friend I am sending my card to.




My card is just in time for the challenge at http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ where this week (surprise - surprise) Cynthia has set a theme of windows.

Romance is in the air...

My first romantic card is an acetate one with a central image created using a large gold heart peel off mounted onto cream pearlescent card and embellished with pearls. The sentiment, border and corners are also created using peel offs.

This card fits the challenge at http://artygirlzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ where the challenge was to use acetate and Cynthia's 'Peel offs' challenge at http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ .

My second card was inspired by the amazing tutorial by Lori at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ . I loved the way she had woven paper strips and then put the finished weaving in a cuttlebug embossing folder. Such a cool idea! Thank you so much Lori.

I really enjoyed doing the weaving and was pleased with my woven mat of different shades of pearlescent card. It looked stunning when it first came out of the folder. However, when it came to making it all up into a card I'm not so impressed with my efforts.

I didn't want to cover the weaving up too much and pfaffed (is that a word?) around for ages trying different things in the middle until I got quite fed up with the card. Does anyone else do that?

Anyway the card did not end up in the bin (it was a close shave) and I will certainly be having another go at this technique and will maybe be more pleased with the finished results of my next effort.

As both my cards have a romantic theme they are perfect for the challenge at http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ ,where the design team want us to use hearts of any kind on our cards and at http://charismacardz.blogspot.com/ where the theme is 'love'.

The Incredible Shrinking Card...

Has anyone else ever done this? You start out with what seems like a good idea for a card and something doesn't look right so you change it and the card gets smaller as you chop bits off and mess around.

Well that's what happened to me this morning - I started out with good intentions for the challenge at http://quickutzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ but things just didn't gel. However, I did manage to end up with a small (4" x 4") acetate card and a gift tag so all was not lost.

I must be getting better at card making as in the past the whole lot would have ended up in the bin.

Something tells me (cards to neighbours not posted - presents not wrapped - food not bought) it may be time to take a break from blogging and get ready for Christmas!!

So if anyone is still finding time to check out my blog I wish you and your family a very, very...

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year

Hope you will come back and visit me again after the festivities.

Ann xxx

Black letters...

Suzanne at http://suzannelily.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/weekly-challenge-make-a-card-using-letters/ has just started a weekly challenge and this week the instructions were:

'make a card using letters as the main feature
can be the whole card or letters on the base of a standard card - you chose '.

I decided to go with this unmounted NOEL stamp. I love the way this stamp has silhouettes of the Christmas story behind the letters.

I stamped the image twice so that as well as the central square of letters I could also cut each letter out and layer these on top using foam pads to give a more 3D effect.









As the card is mainly black it is also ideal for the challenge at http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com/ who are celebrating 'Black Friday', which sounds like a frenzied day to be shopping in the US, by challenging everyone to use black on their projects.


Materials used:

• black and white card
• acetate
• black corner and border peel offs
• gems from stash
• unmounted stamp from 'My heart stamps for you'

Bird silhouette quote...

I can't believe it but this card is actually for five challenges - I had to count them five times to be sure I'd got it right but here are the challenges:

Birds at http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ and also at http://themethursday.wordpress.com/

Things with wings at http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/.

A quote or a verse at http://artygirlzchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

and last but not least silhouette stamps at http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/.

My card is an acetate one and I have stamped the bird from a set by Inkadinkadoo on to the acetate using white Stazon. It's actually the first time I've done this and although it may not be perfect I'm quite pleased with the results. The quote is one I particularly like that was sent to me last week by a craft company in an email.

I have tried my best with the photos but I think acetate is even harder than mirri card to get a good picture of.

Materials used:

• heavy weight acetate
• white Stazon
• computer generated quote
• silver mirri card
• silver border and corner peel offs
• gemstones from stash