Creative Card Making With Deb

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by.  It's Deb here today with a tutorial for our October Creative Card Making post.  I've been seriously obsessed with making shadow box and tunnel cards lately so thought I would create a tutorial for my Snowflake tunnel card.

There are quite a few steps to making this card so grab a cup of your favourite beverage and read on for the how to.  If you get lost, I recommend you watch Jennifer McGuire Ink's 'Inside Tunnel Card' tutorial on YouTube, she describes all of the construction steps very clearly.  Thanks for the video Jennifer!

To start, cut a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" white cardstock in half along the long side to give you two pieces that measure 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" each.  Set one piece aside and score the other piece at 1/2", 4 1/4" and 4 3/4" along the long side.  When folded on the score lines you will see that it forms a box shape.  Set the box piece aside for the moment.

Cut another piece of white cardstock to just under 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" (just trim a bit off each side).  Score this piece at 1/4" from each edge along the short side.  This piece will become the inside tunnel panel.

Choose two nesting dies, one slightly smaller than the other, that will cut out a larger window on the scored box piece and a smaller window on the inside tunnel panel.  Center the larger die on the box piece panel beside the 1/2" score line and die cut the opening.

Line up the inside tunnel cardstock piece behind the die cut opening and center the smaller nesting die inside the window, die cut the second window.  Don't throw those two die cut pieces away, we will use them on the front of the card.

Stamp the cabin from the Holiday Drawings stamp set onto the back panel of the box piece with Vintage Photo Distress Archival ink and clear emboss it (when you fold the box closed, you will see this image through the die cut opening) .  Apply Distress Resist Spray to the roof and the snow in the foreground of the stamped image with a paint brush and let dry (a big thanks to my fellow Creative Guide Barbara for this brilliant way to use Distress Resist Spray, check out her Inky Wings tutorial!).  Make puddles of Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and dip the stamped cardstock into it, repeating as necessary until you are happy with the results.  Gently wipe off any of the Distress Ink from the areas you wanted to keep white with a damp rag, magic!  **  I forgot to take a step out picture but I also stamped the entire back panel with the Flurry background stamp and Distress Embossing Ink and applied white sparkle embossing powder **  Repeat the Tumble Glass Distress Ink dipping on the front of the box piece around the die cut opening.

Stencil the front of the die cut opening with the Starry layering stencil and more Tumbled Glass DI.  Slightly offset the stencil and stencil through it again with Distress Embossing ink.  Sprinkle on Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder and heat set.  Stamp the front of the inside tunnel piece (the one with the smaller die cut opening) with Mini Swirly Snowflake stamps and Tumbled Glass DI and emboss the snowflakes with clear embossing powder.

Apply double sided tape to the right 1/4" score line on the inside tunnel piece.  Line up the right edge of the inside tunnel piece with the nearest score line on the box piece so you can see the stamped image through the window.  Remove the backing paper from the tape and fold the front of the box piece over top, burnishing well to get good adhesion (now might be a good time to go and watch Jennifer's video!!)

When you form your box, you can now see how your image will be centered inside the two die cut openings.  Set the tunnel box assembly aside for the moment and score the remaining 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half at 4 1/4".  This will become the card blank that your tunnel assembly will be inserted into.

Cut off 1/2" from the back of the card blank.  Stamp the outside of the card blank with more Mini Swirly Snowflakes and Tumbled Glass DI and emboss with clear embossing powder.

Stamp a sentiment on the inside of the card blank on the left hand side (the tunnel box assembly will be attached to the right hand side).  Grab your tunnel box assembly and apply double sided tape to the back of the stamped panel.

Remove the backing paper from the double sided tape and adhere the tunnel box assembly to the inside of the card blank, lining up the edge of the stamped panel with the center score line of the card blank.  Apply more double sided tape to the left 1/4" scored edge of the inside tunnel piece and line it up with the center score line on the card blank.

Remove the backing paper from the double sided tape on the 1/4" score line and fold the front die cut panel of the box assembly over top, lining up all the edges with the center score line of the card blank.  Apply double sided tape to the left 1/2" score line on the box assembly, remove the backing paper from the tape and fold the front of the card blank closed (check out Jennifer's video if you are totally lost!)

Open the card and work it back and forth a few times to get all of the layers working smoothly.  Stamp some more Mini Swirly Snowflakes and die cut them with the Swirly Snowflakes dies.  Adhere the snowflakes to the underside of the inner tunnel panel, positioning them so they don't cover up your stamped image.

Die cut a few stars from sanded silver Metallic Kraft Stock and adhere them to the underside of the front tunnel panel.  The snowflakes and stars will now pop forward when the card is opened.  Stamp a sentiment  from the Great Outdoors stamp set onto white cardstock and adhere it to the bottom of the tunnel assembly.

For the front of the card, stencil the smallest die cut rectangle (the ones you saved when we die cut our tunnel openings) with the Mini Starry Stencil and Tumbled Glass DI.  Stamp the stag from the Great Outdoors stamp set with Vintage Photo Distress Archival ink and clear emboss it.  Stamp the whole panel with the Flurry background stamp and Distress Embossing ink and then sprinkle with white sparkle embossing powder and heat set.  Dip the larger die cut rectangle in puddles of Tumbled Glass DI and stamp it around the edges with Mini Swirly Snowflake stamps and Tumbled Glass DI and clear emboss them.

Layer the larger rectangle onto a piece of sanded silver Metallic Kraft Stock with a slight reveal around the edges.  Attach foam squares to the back of the stag stamped rectangle and center it on top of the larger rectangle.  Attach the whole assembly to the front of the card with double sided tape and you are done (and congratulations for sticking it out to the end!).

Here are a few closeups of the finished card, I am totally smitten with these tunnel cards!

Hope that you've enjoyed seeing how my Snowflake tunnel card came together and that you'll give one a try yourself, once you figure out the mechanics they are fun and easy to make.  Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you have the time, consider entering our October challenge 'Inky Wings', you have until October 31st to join in the fun. Can't wait to see what you create!

Deb xo

Creative Card Making with Ann

Hi Everyone and Welcome

It's Ann from Ann Chuang Crafts here with you today as we head out on the last leg of September's journey with our regular "Creative Card Making" post. I always make cards for family and friends, so I’m pleased to be sharing an insect card that I made for my son. He is very interested in insects and expects to become an entomologist in the future. I want to encourage him to work hard for his dreams.

It all started with some wrinkle-free distressing... all Distress Oxides, no Inks to start with. There're pumice stone and vintage photo in the mix. 

When the watercolor paper dry enough, I stamped Handwritten correspondence on it by Distress Ink hickory smoke. Then cut an oval from the paper and distressed the edges with Distress Ink walnut stain.

And then, with some wrinkle-free distressing again...all Distress Oxides. There're wilted violet, iced spruce, broken china and faded jeans. This time I use black paper to make a background, I love the effect so much.

 I used tangled twigs die from Tim Holtz. The tangled twigs piece adhered to the background. 

I used Tim Holtz Entomology dies and stamps. I have to say...I love this stamp set, there're lots of creepy, cool and beautiful bugs plus an awesome background script stamp. 

To create these bugs… I stamped them in Intense Black onto white paper. Then lined up the corresponding bug die and taped it down with some washi tape. After they were cut, I colored them with some Copic Markers and used Glossy Accents to dress them up a bit.

Look, here are the beautiful bugs.

I really love this card! If you are interested, you can find a full list of materials that I used to create this card over at my blog here.

Thank you for joining me on the Creative Card Making journey today and don't forget there is still a little time to join in our current challenge which is "Box It Up".

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Ann

Creative Card Making - Christmas!

Hi everyone, Nikki (Addicted to Art) here with our monthly Creative Card making feature. I have created a set of Christmas cards featuring two of Tim Holtz's recent products; Festive Overlay stamp set and Shifter Stencils.

My cards are 5 x 7 inches. I began with my stencilled layers - each card using a different stencil - Shifter Stencils - Trees and Stars plus 2 older layering stencils - Stars and Snowflakes. For the shifter versions I used white embossing powder on versamark for the first position and then shifted the stencil and added texture paste.

Once I completed all four I added Distress inks and oxides in varying colour schemes. I brayered over the surface of some of the texture with white gesso to highlight the texture. 

Here is close up of the Snowflakes with Gesso brayered over the surface.....

....and the shifted stars - some embossed and some texture paste. I let the ink absorb into the texture paste on this one to contrast with the white embossed stars.

I then stamped the Festive Overlays in coordinating colours and die cut ovals to place on the cards. I added various embellishments - seam binding, twine, rhinestones and punched stars to complete the cards.

Thanks for visiting today. We are back here at AVJ next Friday for one our favourite Tag Fridays. In the meantime do join in this months challenge - Paper Stash.

Nikki

xxx

Creative Guides... a little extra!

Hi everyone, Jenny here with a little something vintage/retro for you today. Having previously taken Tim Holtz 'Treats Blueprints' stamp set down a distinctly 1950's route HERE there were lots more possibilities buzzing around in this head of mine, and this is one of those...

Two things in particular drove the design for this card. The first of those was the need to add more dimension to the stamped elements. It's not hard to achieve with this set of images if you cut/colour two of everything and layer them. By scoring down the corner line of the popcorn box it became easy to put a fold in that and I even pushed an embossing tool into the 'dimples' on the ice-cream cone. You'll notice the ice-cream and popcorn have a semi-gloss finish to them. This came from deliberately overheating some Frosted embossing powder rather than opting for the regular clear version.

I was desperate to see what the pop bottle would look like with Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Clearly for Art because it is so mould-able and hey presto, with a little Espresso alcohol ink added on the reverse it worked a treat! The frame was embossed using Shelly Hickox's faux tarnished metal technique and backed with an embossed panel and stencilled/brayered stains background.

If this card puts you in mind of the Art Deco period that's down to the second driver behind this design. Whilst my Grandad was the projectionist at one of the cinemas in Sunderland in the 1920's my Nana played the piano, a traditional accompaniment for the silent pictures of the time. I can only imagine the magic that surrounded a trip to the pictures back then with the glitz and glamour of these magnificent buildings providing a chance for escapism from the daily challenges of inter-war life.

There you have it for today, a trip back in time. I hope you have a lovely week with lots of creative time and do make sure you enter our latest challenge 'Wings & Things' to be in with a chance of appearing here yourselves.

Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx