Backpack Card

You're probably wondering what a 'backpack' card is. Well, I used all my inspiration up for the card and couldn't think of a snappy title, and since the colour combo for this card was inspired by a 'backpack', I titled my post 'Backpack Card'.

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The colour combo was inspired by a backpack, and the layout was inspired by a card made by Selene Kempton.

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Card Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Sorry about the darkness of the photo, I need to figure out a better way to take photos. I used Impressabilities-Flourish for the background. It stands out much better in real life.

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Recipe: CTMH CS-Cocoa, Colonial White & Crystal Blue Textured, CTMH Ink-Black, Crystal Blue, Moonstruck & Cocoa, CTMH SS-True Friends & Treasure Life, Rhinestones, Impressabilitie-Flourish, Flower Punch, Corner Rounder, Ticket Punch, CTMH Colonial White Brads, CTMH Colonial White Satin Edge Organdy Ribbon, 3D Foam Squares.

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Enjoy,
Deneen

Gift Bags

I cannot believe how fast this month is going. Before you know it, Easter is going to be here. I realized I had better get working on some Spring cards.

Last year we received some Easter treats in a gift bag with a bunny head. Well, being the papercrafter that I am, I wanted to use pretty paper or stamps and make my own. And being the practical person that I am...lol...I also made one for occasions other than Easter. Now I just have to find time to sit down and make a masculine and kids one.

Here's the same bag template, but different toppers. You can find the Gift Bag Instructions a little farther down.

Aren't they cute!!!

Gift Bag Size is approx. 3.5" x 5.5". The Bunny head is approx. 3.5" tall.

Recipe: CTMH PP-That's Amore, CTMH CS-Cocoa & Colonial White, CTMH Ink-Cocoa, Acetate(same stuff overheads are made of), Nestabilities-Fleur De Lis & Labels, Pearls, Prima Flowers.

For the bunny, I added hands and even a tail (see photo below). The template for the Bunny Head is below as well. This Gift Bag is made from CS that I stamped with a background stamp.

Recipe: CTMH CS-Petal, Baby Pink & White Daisy, CTMH Ink-Pansy Purple & Sweet Leaf, CTMH SS-Intrinsic Backgrounds & Easter Eggs, Nestabilities Scallop Ovals, Black Sharpie Marker, Chalk, White Pompom, Rhinestones, Acetate.

For this Gift Bag I left off the hands and tail, and made the window a little smaller. I used CTMH B&T Duo's, so the inside of the Gift Bag is nicely decorated as well. The photo below shows the Gift Bag without the chocolate...but because the B&T paper is a dark brown, it didn't photograph very well, but you get the idea.

Recipe: CTMH PP-That's Amore, CTMH CS-White Daisy, Colonial White, Baby Pink, Heavenly Blue & Cocoa, CTMH Ink-Black, Cocoa & Tulip, CTMH SS-Easter Eggs, Nestabilities-Scallop Ovals & Tags, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Rhinestones, Brads, Acetate.


Gift Bag Instructions.

For the window piece, I used the same stuff that overheads are made of.

Bunny Head Template:

Okay, now I've got some chocolate to go and eat! Yum.

Enjoy,
Deneen

1 Sketch, 2 Cards

Good morning! I saw a card by Debbie Olson and I really liked the layout, so I 'lifted' the sketch and made 2 card samples.

Card Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

The first card uses paper from CTMH Veranda Creative Basics collection. I really love how elegant the paper looks. I made the scallops using a corner rounder. (I wrote up a tutorial HERE on how to do that). The sentiment I kept basic, so if I needed a birthday card, or a sympathy card etc., I could use it.

The inside:

Recipe: CTMH PP-Veranda Creative Basics, CTMH CS-White Daisy, Colonial White & New England Ivy, CTMH Ink-Juniper & Black, CTMH SS-Say It In Style, Treasures & Treasure Life, Corner Rounder, Pearls, 3D Foam Squares, Nestabilities-Labels Four, CTMH Colonial White Satin Edge Organdy Ribbon, Buttons.

Here is the second card I made using the same layout. The inside is the same as the card above, just in a colour that matches the purples.

Recipe: CTMH PP-Bella B&T, CTMH CS-Pansy Purple, Colonial White & White Daisy, CTMH Ink-Pansy Purple & Black, CTMH SS-Say It In Style, Treasures & Treasure Life, Corner Rounder, Pearls, 3D Foam Squares, Nestabilities-Labels Four, CTMH Colonial White Satin Edge Organdy Ribbon, Buttons.

Enjoy,

Deneen

Covered Journal

Happy March!! I can't believe how time flies, it's March already.

Today I have a notebook that I covered to share with you. I covered it a while ago, but the image...a butterfly...got kind of lost, so I pulled it off, and worked with the colours (I didn't remove the flower paper or corner pieces) to create a title for my journal. I am really pleased with how it turned out, I especially love the boldness of the title, because prayer is so powerful. This is the journal I take with me to Cell, and where I write down prayer requests for others.

After stamping the word 'power', I covered it with Liquid Glass to give it shine and dimension. I also used Prisma Glitter on the letters of 'prayer'.

Recipe: CTMH PP-Emporium, CTMH CS-Twilight, Colonial White & Black, CTMH Ink-Twilight, Black & Vineyard Berry, CTMH SS-Baroque Alphabet, Rustic Alphabet, Precious Alphabet & Faith, Liquid Glass, 3D Foam Squares, Pencil Crayons, Prisma Glitter.

Enjoy,

Deneen

Impressabilities Tips/Techniques with Cuttlebug PART 2

I posted some Impressabilities Tips/Techniques with the Cuttlebug a week ago HERE. This post will build on those techniques, so if you have not read them, you may want to check that post out first and then come back.

I was interested in what else I could do with Impressabilites and came up with the following ideas. (I thought the writing on the photos would be alot bigger...sorry.)

I was interested in how the Impressabilities would translate to vellum, so I tried some different ideas, and posted my results for you.

Sample 1
I spritzed the vellum with water and then embossed it with the Impressabilities. I spritzed it to see if the embossing would come out more defined like on CS. I found that it didn't make as much of a difference as it does on CS, and that the vellum dried more wrinkly (is that a word...lol?).

Sample 2
I used a smaller piece of vellum, and did NOT spritz it first.

Sample 3
This piece of vellum did not photograph well, but I wanted to see what chalking the embossing would look like. This piece was NOT spritzed with water.

Samples 4 & 5
For these samples I used the Letterpress Technique with Fiskars Silver Pigment Ink. The first photo shows how well it covers the vellum, while the second photo I tilted so that you could see the shine of the ink.

Sample 6
On this piece of vellum, I embossed the corner with just a piece of the Impressabilities which I inked up with Dye Ink (CTMH Spring Iris Ink)-the Letterpress Technique. The dye ink gives it a soft look.

Sample 7
This is the same vellum piece as Sample 6, but with a piece of blue CS behind it to show you how colour can change the look of things.

Sample 8
This piece of vellum is embossed with no ink.

Sample 9

This final piece of vellum I brayered with Dye Ink (CTMH Buttercup Ink) after embossing with the Impressabilities. I left the Impressabilites under it while I brayered it.

Sample 10

I realized that I showed an example of the debossed side (I like to think of it as the 'depression' made by the template) of the Impressabilities sanded, but not the embossed (or the raised) side. So this sample shows the embossed side sanded. This piece was spritzed with water first.

Sample 11
If you don't own any Pigment Inks (for the Letterpress Technique), you can get a fairly close similar look (is that proper grammar???) with Dye Ink and a Brayer. Spritz the CS before embossing with the Impressabilities, then before removing the Impressabilities, brayer over the embossed side (the opposite side of the CS from the Impressabilities). Not quite as crisp a look as the Letterpress Technique, but not too bad. (The ink used-CTMH Sweet Leaf)

Sample 12
I used the same technique as Sample 11, but inked the CS with a lighter colour, CTMH Buttercup Ink.

Sample 13
I wanted to see how the Letterpress Technique looked with a dark Dye Ink, like CTMH Moonstruck, on a colour CS like CTMH Spring Iris. I applied the ink to the Impressabilities directly using the ink pad. Pigment Ink is the best way to go, but the darker dye ink didn't turn out too bad. One thing I noticed was that the ink sort of 'beaded' up on the Impressabilities, which led me to try applying the ink with a brayer...see Sample 14.

Sample 14
I used the same technique as explained in Sample 13 using CTMH Buttercup Dye Ink, with CTMH White Daisy CS. Rather than applying the ink directly with the ink pad, I used my brayer to ink up the Impressabilities. I found that the ink had a smoother finish, and did not bead up like in Sample 13.

Sample 15 & 16

For these 2 samples I used Fiskars Silver Pigment Ink and the Letterpress Technique. For the first sample I used CTMH Outdoor Denim CS, and for the second sample I used CTMH Pansy Purple CS (I forgot to take a shot of how the silver shines).

Sample 17
For this sample of Letterpress Technique I used CTMH Black CS and CTMH White Daisy Ink.

Sample 18
I wanted to see what tone-on-tone would look like. Here I used Maya Road Dark Brown Pigment Ink, and CTMH Chocolate CS.

Sample 19 & 20

Last, but not least, I used chalk on an embossed piece of CS. The piece on the left I spritzed with water first, embossed it, then applied chalk to the embossing. The piece on the right I did NOT spritz with water, embossed it, then applied chalk to the embossing. Two really different looks.

Well, I hope I have inspired you and not put you to sleep with my super long post. I've done the work, now you can go play!!!

Enjoy,

Deneen

Gift Card Holder

Hi there, and welcome here! Today I want to share a cute Gift Card Holder & Envelope with you. I found the template for this here, but I found that it was bigger than I wanted, so I drew my own (you'll be able fit 2 on a 12" x 12" piece of paper)....which you will find at the end of this post.

I had a lot of fun with this template, and ended up with 3 samples to show you!

Card Size: 3.5" x 4" (closed)
6" x 9.25" (open)

There's not much to say about this card. I used thicker double-sided pattern paper since the card is also used as the envelope. The band holds the card closed, and I finished it off with a couple of Prima Flowers.

Recipe: Pattern Paper-g.c.d. studios Pink Medallions, CTMH CS-Cocoa, Colonial White, & Tulip, CTMH Ink-Cocoa, Blush, Vineyard Berry, Garden Green, & Olive, CTMH SS-Life Is So Good, Martha Stewart Punch-Eyelet Lace Corner & Pinking Scallop, Prima Flowers, Pearls.

Yes, those are Copics! I finally got myself some......thanks Dad T.....I'm still in practicing mode, but thought I coloured the gift well enough to share with you. I left off ribbon, which I had a hard time doing, because I thought this card had could also be used for a guy.

This close-up is to show the glitter icing, and stickle accents.

Recipe: Patterned Paper-Little Yellow Bicycle Zinnia, CTMH CS-Sweet Leaf Textured, Topiary, Amethyst & White Daisy, CTMH Ink-Topiary, Black, Pansy Purple & Amethyst, CTMH SS-Cupcake Sprinkles, Celebration Blocks, & True Friends, Copics BV0000, BV00, BV02, R27, R37, R59, C-1, & 0, Ice Stickles-Strawberry Ice, Crystal Glitter Ritz Cool Highlights, Sookwang Adhesive, 3D Foam Squares.

This card was fun! I created a masculine card a while ago using paper that had stamps on it, so when I found this thicker patterned paper, I knew that it would be perfect for this gift card holder. The other neat 'find' is the Kraft Wire String, which I found at Dollarama, and like it says, the wire is covered with kraft paper so it holds its shape....perfecto for my card!!

Recipe: Patterned Paper-Gartner Studios Postage Stamps, CTMH CS-Bamboo & Colonial White, CTMH Ink-Cocoa, Chocolate & Black, CTMH SS-Postmarked, Corner Rounder, Tonic Studios Ticket Punch, Kraft Wire String.

TEMPLATES:

I posted 2 templates because I wasn't sure if the first one would print to its correct size. So I also provided a template that has the measurements on it. The dotted line is the fold line, and the smaller flaps are for your adhesive--you will fold up the bottom piece to make a 'pouch' for the gift card.

You should be able to trace 2 templates on a piece of 12" x 12" patterned paper. I cut inside the lines when cutting out my templates....cutting 'on' the line, or 'outside' the line can add 1/16" when you don't want it. Hopefully my rambling makes sense...lol.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Enjoy,

Deneen