Create-a-Card Shaker Card

Isn’t this card gorgeous?  

If this die has a name, I don’t know of it, but it was included in a subscription box from Crafter’s Companion.  The subscription is exclusive to HSN and they are limited.  If you haven’t already signed up, I’m afraid that you have missed out unless Sara Davies decides to reopen the subscription again, but I wanted to share this card with you anyhow because there are many dies in which you could recreate this same look. 

This type of die is called a Create-a-Card die and they only cut the detail of the design into your card, box or whatever you choose to use it with.  They do not cut around the edge but in many cases you can fussy cut around the edge yourself if you want to make it a standalone die cut.  Dies like this dress up a project with so little effort. 

Here is how the card came together: 

I started with a piece of cardstock that was 6” x 12” and scored it at 6 inches.  I cut the detail into the center of the front of the card and then to create my mat layer for the front I traced around the outside of the die onto the piece of patterned paper and I cut that out with a craft knife.  For the inside I found a piece of coordinating orange paper from my stash of paper on the shelf and cut a similar mat layer for the inside of the cover of the card. 

To create the shaker packet, I cut two 4 ½” x 4 ½” layers of acetate from packaging that would normally be thrown away.  I lined the edge of one of the layers of acetate with foam tape on all four sides so there would be no gaps anywhere along the edge of the shaker pouch and then I filled the center of that with seed beads, sequins, and shaped glitter.  Next, I removed the release paper from the foam tape and carefully laid the other layer of acetate on top and pressed well making sure that I had a good seal all the way around. 

To finish the card, I sandwiched the shaker pouch between the inside of the card front and the orange mat layer to hide the foam tape and edges of the shaker pouch.  I also matted the inside of the card where the sentiment goes with a 6”x 6” piece of the same orange paper (though it looks darker in this image) and the leftover square cut from the patterned paper that I used on the front of the card and centered that behind my window.  I stamped and embossed the greeting on the front and matted that onto a layer of the same orange paper, added a bow and a few pearls and that’s it. 

A beautiful shaker card that looks like it was much harder to create than it was.  Thanks for visiting and I hope that you will give this project a try.

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments section below and if you have enjoyed this post, please let me know.  

Let your imagination inspire your creativity!

Dawn

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

Display Board Die Storage

Hi!  Today I have a quick blog post and video on how I like to store my dies.

Do you have a lot of dies and find that it is challenging to store them or even locate a particular die?  Are all your dies in one box or bin stacked on top of each other, which isn’t good for them, it will dull their cutting blade.  I used to store my dies in those plastic envelopes everyone loves, and they were stored in bins.  I have my stamps stored this way too but with the dies this just did not work for me.  The bins were on a shelf and to get to my dies I would have to pull the bin from the shelf to look through and find what I needed but the bins were heavy, and I have a bad back, so I had to find a better solution.  For me, that was creating magnet boards that I could just flip through to find what I needed.

(Click Image for YouTube Video)

After transitioning almost all my dies to these display boards, it was surprising to see how many dies I really had.  Hmmm… is there a name for this illness?  There certainly isn’t any cure, because I keep buying more dies.  Not only did these display boards solve a problem but I couldn’t believe how much more creative I was with my dies because now I could easily flip through to see every die that I have quickly and easily.

Here is a short video on how I created my Magnet Display Boards.

YouTube Display Board Die Storage

As I mentioned in the video, these could be hung on the wall, if you do hang them, I recommend Command Picture Hanging Strips which won't damage your walls and will also allow you to take your boards down in tact if you ever need to move them.  Also a quick tip, don't discard the extra bit of magnet that you have leftover from the pieces that you cut down to 6-inches.  I use these small pieces in my stamp pockets to store my stamp and die sets together that way the dies don't all settle to the bottom of the pocket.

I hope this idea will help you organize your dies and that you will find a renewed love for them.  

If you have any questions please leave them for me in the comments section below and if you have enjoyed this post, please let me know.  

Let your imagination inspire your creativity!

Dawn

Supplies Used:

Foam Board Display Boards:

Magnet Sheets

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

     

Tissue Paper Flowers and My First Tutorial Videos

Check out these gorgeous flowers made with tissue paper, a die and a stamp.  Don't they look real? 

I posted some flowers like these in a group on Facebook and I got several requests for a video tutorial showing how I made them.  I have never made a video tutorial before, but I decided to give it a try.  As you will see, I have a lot to learn about making videos, but I hope you will be patient and understanding and follow along to learn how to create these great flowers.

Tissue Paper Flower Tutorial

My second video is short but has a great tip to teach you a really easy way to get the perfect alignment of your stamps to your die cuts every time.

 Perfect Stamp & Die Alignment Quick Tip Video

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the video.  Please take a moment to leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of these videos.  

Let's get crafting!

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

My New Blog

Welcome to my new Blog. 

I have chosen to rename my blog to better identify its theme and my passion.   I have a love for cardmaking and I really enjoy creating scenic backgrounds for my cards, so I decided to name my blog from the three steps that I find most enjoyable:

1. taking a piece of Paper
2. putting Ink onto it whether that is by sponging or stamping, and
3. then turning that into a greeting Card

As you will see, I have migrated some of my old blog posts to my new home here at Paper-Ink-Cards.  In the coming months I will be adding blog posts, pictures, video content and inspiration as it is my goal to share with you that card making is as easy as Paper-Ink-Cards.

I hope you will visit often and perhaps learn a technique or two but most of all I hope that I can inspire you.

Let's get crafting!

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

The Things We Find In Our Craft Spaces (and some craft organization photos)

For a long time, I have wanted to upgrade the many scrapbook cubes that I use for part of my craft studio and office storage, last week I decided that it was time.  My husband made a trip to Ikea for for me while I worked.  He brought home six sets of Alex Drawers and we spent Thursday and Friday after work assembling them, the first set of drawers took us roughly an hour between opening and un-boxing, sorting the pieces, (including the million pieces of hardware), reading the picture diagrams and of course the assembly time.  We got a little smarter with each time we repeated the process and by the time we got to the last set of drawers it took us about 25 minutes start to finish.  As big a chore as it was to assemble the drawers the real work of swapping out the drawers for the cubes was yet to come.

This was my old set up with the cubes.  The computer is for my full time job and some of the cubes to the left of the computer held things I needed for my job while the cubes to the right of the computer were all for crafting. 

This is how it looks with the new Ikea Alex Drawers:

It looks so much cleaner and neater now and I have gained so much more storage too. I was going to stack my 12"x12" papers inside the bottom drawers, but I had to relocate them to another place in my studio however, everything else I managed to put into the drawers and I still have empty drawers. It took about an hour to clear off the desktop and empty the cubes but many more hours putting things away. I had fun sorting through the things that I had.  I found things that I haven’t seen in years and even though I could see all the scrapbooking paper that I had in the open-faced cubes I never looked through them. I mostly make cards now and I just don’t turn to these papers when creating my cards because they are so lightweight, but I have some really gorgeous scrapbook papers! I found craft tools that I had forgotten even existed. I found some Sizzix punches that I bought so long ago I don’t even know the name of them anymore, but they look like spy glasses or little lollipops with shapes in the middle and you must use an included hammer to punch the shape out of the paper. I also found a Fiskars Shape Boss embossing board/tool that includes plastic sheets for laying under your paper on the board and a tool to trace the shapes to create your embossing. I had this tool long before embossing folders existed and I have no idea why I have kept it but honestly, some of the things that I came across should be in a crafter’s museum somewhere. LOL! Who remembers the Spellbinder Wizard?  

It was a long weekend of cleaning out, sorting through and organizing all the things that once lived in those well used cubes and I am sure I will spend many more hours moving things around some more making my new storage even more efficient to my crafting needs, but this crafter is very happy with all that she accomplished in this upgrade of her studio.  

Thank you for stopping by and until next time - Let Your Imagination Inspire Your Creativity!

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

Eight Steps to a Beautifully Unique Card

(Originally posted on 06/06/2018)

Today I would like to share with you a step-by-step pictorial on how I created these unique cards.  I think they are different and quite pretty but even better is that they fold flat for mailing, depending on the embellishments that you choose, of course.  

I started with a sheet of 5 1/2 x 11" piece of heavy cardstock scored at 5 1/2".  I like to use Neenah Solar White Card Cover for my card bases but you can use whatever heavy weight card you have. 

I wanted to have a lacy edge on the diagonal so using a Crafter's Companion Lacey Edge'able die I cut across the corner of the front of the card base.  To do this I first laid the die diagonally across the corner so the die was centered and the edges just matched up.  I wrapped my card base around a metal shim to protect the back of the card from being cut through but you could also open the card flat.  After the initial cut there was a small part of the card front that still needed to be cut away on either end of the lace.  Here I could have just cut it straight with a scissor leaving the length of the lace floating on the edge but I wanted the lace to run from edge to edge so I carefully lined the end of the die back up with either end of the previous cut and passed it through my die cutting machine again until the lace was all the way across the front right corner of the card.

Once the lace was all cut, I clipped away the excess unwanted corner piece of cardstock with a pair of scissor and then I decorated the front and inside of the card with decorative papers.  On each of the card samples above I fussy cut some floral pattern paper around the flowers for added interest on the inside right corner.  

In order to have the front of the card bow outward you will need a 3D or raised embellishment adhered to the inside lower right corner of the card.  Be sure to use a strong adhesive or pop dot here so it won't pop off from the pressure of the front of the card being tucked behind it.

 

Now you can finish decorating the front of the card and if you would like you can stamp or add a sentiment or message inside but be sure to keep it offset toward the fold of the card so it won't show when the card front is tucked and the card is displayed.  

I hope you enjoyed this step-by-step pictorial of how to create this pretty 3D card.

Thank you for stopping by and until next time - Let Your Imagination Inspire Your Creativity!

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

Masculine Cards

(Originally posted on 02/21/2017)

Hello, I hope you are having a good week; thank you for stopping by.  It has been a while since my last blog post so I am thankful that you have taken the time to drop in today.

Here is a look at the card that I am featuring today. 

I made this card for my husband for Valentine’s Day.  He enjoys everything rustic, country, western or cowboy related.  Sometimes I think he was born in the wrong era but I digress.  My passion is making scenic cards and since my husband has a love for the old west and for horses I thought that I would make him a scenic card with horses running wild. 

To make the card I began with a 4.25” x 5.5” piece of Neenah Solar White 110lb cardstock.  Using my eBrush airbrush machine and my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers I airbrushed the background.  I started by using a very pale golden brown (GB1) to lay down an oval halo of color leaving the center of the cardstock white.  Switching to a little darker color (GB3) I layered on another halo of color around the outer edges first color overlapping most of the first color but leaving some of the GB1 in the center.  I continued to build layers of colors concentrating mostly on the bottom half of the card progressing darker by two tones deeper each time until I had reached GB8.  At this point I thought that the background looked pretty good.

Next using some stamps sets from Gina K Designs designed by Theresa Momber I stamped the images.  The first stamp I used was Theresa’s Winter Trees Framescape set but I didn’t want the whole scene of the stamp and I didn’t want the lines of the frame so using my stamp positioner and a piece of acetate laid over my airbrushed cardstock in the positioner I began testing my scene.  After a just a couple of tries I had a layout that I was happy with so I removed the acetate and began by inking up just the left bank of trees from the framescape stamp in Gina K Dark Chocolate Brown ink.  I wiped off any ink that was on the edge of the stamp that I didn’t want and stamped it to the left side of my cardstock.  Then I moved onto the rocky ridge stamp that is in the same stamp set as the Winter Trees framescape and again stamped it in GK Dark Chocolate Brown ink.  Once I had the mountain ridge and trees stamped out I stamped the horses from Theresa’s Out West 2 set.  At first I stamped them in the same dark chocolate brown ink but I didn’t like it so with the magic of my stamp positioner allowing me to re-stamp in exactly the same place I chose to stamp the horses again in Gina K Block Onyx ink.  This made the horses appear more in the foreground than the brown ink did.  At this point I pulled my cardstock out of my stamp position and placed a post-it note in and stamped off the horses to use as a mask with the residual ink that was on the stamp.  I fussy cut the horses and put my cardstock and with the mask in place back into my positioner and using a texture stamp from Stampscapes and GK Warm Cocoa ink I stamped all around the foreground creating the appearance of grass around the horses.  I also used the two grass sprig stamps from the Winter Trees Framescapes set for added interest.  Using a few of my markers I also added some shadowing to the ridge lines and the land around the trees.  I also added a bit of shadow behind the mountain peaks for depth and a little shadow under the horses’ feet and tails.  I didn’t want to add too much color because I wanted to keep to the monochromatic look.

Finally I added a Valentine greeting and a few birds to the sky.  I ended up cutting down the image to 4” x 5.25” so I could have a dark brown card base and matted look.  I finished the inside with a sentiment I printed directly onto cardstock from my computer about how grateful I am for helping me through some rough times and always being there with his love and support.  Not exactly those words but you get the idea.  The card brought a small tear to his eye which really touched me.

In the same theme of rustic I also made this card for his birthday which was just a couple of weeks ago.  He has placed both up on the entertainment center to enjoy which if you know my husband is somewhat of a compliment since he usually just leaves his cards laying on the coffee table until they are buried by other junk or mail and forgets about them.

If you have any comments or questions, I’d love to hear them. 

Thank you for visiting me today.

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

Halloween Paper Crafting

(Originally posted 10/31/2016)

It's so hard to believe that it is Halloween again.  Halloween is one of my favorite times of year.  I used to decorate our yard as a haunted hillside graveyard and we would get kids trick-or-treating from all over town.  They would come by just to see what we had done that year.  My family and I would play tricks and scare the little kiddies and hand out candy and toys.  We and the community all had so much fun!

My daughter and I also used to have an annual tradition of watching the original Halloween movies, the Elm Street series and even some very old horror films that I grew up watching with my mom.  This is the first Halloween that she hasn't been around for our tradition and I really miss it.

Now we live in a city apartment and my daughter has moved away but I still like to do some decorating.  I even use some of my cards to decorate around the house with.  Why not?

Here are some paper and vinyl crafting that I did using my Cricut Explore.  Spooky!!!

Luminary Front

Luminary Back

Haunted House & Scary Tree

Have a fun, happy and safe Halloween everyone!

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

One Die - Two Cards

(Originally posted 01/28/2016)

Hi!  Today I’d like to share a couple of cards that I made this week using some dies that were created by Gina Marie Designs.  This was my first purchase of her dies.  I received the dies in about a week’s time and had to test them out right away, of course!  I have to say that I am really enjoying the trees background but my other favorite is the Calligraphy Sympathy die.  It’s so elegant, delicate and beautiful.

For the first card I created a sky background by using Broken China Distress ink.  I pounced my ink pad onto my craft mat then sprayed it with water that I had added perfect pearls to.  It made such a pretty shimmery blue “paint”.   I painted the ink onto a piece of 3 ½” x 5 1/2“ glossy cardstock and let it dry.  It really turned out pretty, I wish the camera could catch the shimmer better.

To a card base, I glued the sky background and some plain green cardstock to cover the front.  Then using a torn scrap of green glimmer vellum I layered that over the seam between the sky and the green ground creating the look of a grassy hill.  To that I added the die cut trees and the sympathy die cut sentiment.   Here is the completed card; I added a photo effect to enhance its feel but the colors are true:  

For the 2^nd card I covered the front of a card base with some grassy looking pattern paper and layered the trees to create my scene.  To add interest to the scene I stamped and colored the wheel barrow from Gina K Designs “Autumn Wishes” stamp set and cut it out.  I also stamped the ladybug from the same set but in order to make it the right size I scanned it into my computer, reduced it, printed it out, colored it and then cut it out.  Isn’t she cute?  Finally I cut out some leaves that were part of a piece of pattern paper also from Gina K Designs and placed them in the wheel barrow.  I love how cute this card came out!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my cards. 

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

(Originally posted 10/28/2015)

One of my favorite childhood memories was listening to "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Moore being read before bedtime each Christmas Eve.  My mother knew the poem by heart and would simply recite it as I held the book and flipped the pages in synchrony.  In later years I would recite the same to my daughter each Christmas Eve and hopefully someday she will read the story to her children.  

I still love that book and I still remember the exact images even though the book is long gone.  On the last page was Santa in is sleigh flying over the moon and the rooftops wishing everyone a "Happy Christmas".  Here are a couple of Christmas cards with my version of that final scene.  I hope you like them and I hope that they bring back some wonderful memories for you.

The moons were masked and the sky inked.  The trees were stamped and dotted with a white jelly roll pen to add snow and then using a glitter pen I went back over and added sparkle to the snow and created Santa's trail.  Santa and his reindeer were colored with Spectrum Noir markers and each image was mounted on heavy weight cardstock.  The sentiments were both heat embossed in silver and finally I glued tiny little iridescent star confetti all over the night skies.  The glitter and shimmer isn't picked up well in these photos but in person they are really pretty.

Now who doesn't love reliving a fun memory like this?

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

A Magical Snowman

(Originally posted 10/26/2015)

I haven't had much time to be in my studio lately but I still can't stop thinking of what my next creation might be.

Recently I had this "dream" about creating a snowman from snowflake stamps or die cuts and as fate would have it I received the Stamp of Approval Holiday Magic Collection kit on Saturday and inside were lots of great snowflake stamps.  Here's the card that emerged from my dream:

Can't you just feel the icy cold snow and the magical movement in this scene?  Brrrr...

For the snowman I used three varying sizes of snowflakes from the Bring on the Snowflakes stamp set.  With a colored pencil I lightly sketched the body of the snowman and then cut him out.  The background was gently inked with Salty Ocean DI and the swirls were stamped using some of the flourishes from Holiday Flourishes stamp set.  The sentiment from the Snowy Sayings set is also from the SOA kit.  It was stamped in Versamark then heat embossed with Ranger's Super Fine Silver embossing powder.

I finished my magical friend off with a ribbon scarf and the top hat from the Tim Holtz Crazy Things stamp set and of course some bling because nothing is complete without a little sparkle!

Hoping you're day is full of sparkle!

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

Crazy Bird Witch Casts a Spell

(Originally posted 10/11/2015)

While others are putting away their Bird Crazy Tim Holtz stamps and dies I finally found some time to do a little card with mine.

The background of this card was sprayed with Glimmer Mists and blended.  It was created on glossy paper but I also added a clear shimmer and although the pictures doesn't show it, it shimmers.  Then I cut and lightly inked the Crazy Bird and her hat and broom with Stardust and Dew Drop inks.  Finally I layered her and her pumpkin companion, bat and spiders for a crazy Halloween night.  Inside I stamped one of the Dylusions "I am currently unsupervised" sentiments.  "The possibilities are endless."




Next is a card I made using Gina K Designs Autumn Wishes StampTV Kit for the Mod Squad Challenge Group's "Get Your Fall On" weekly challenge.

I layered the tree trunk stamp with two of the tree foliage stamps in the kit to make my tree.  Then I stamped the owl from the kit on a separate piece of cardstock, scanned him in to reduce his size to fit in my tree then cut him out with my Pixscan mat.  He was colored with Spectrum Noir Pens.  The background was inked with Distress Inks then I added some ribbon, a bow and the "You're such a blessing" sentiment from the kit layered with one of the pieces of pattern paper mounted on an ivory card base.  I love how it all turned out.

I hope you have had a nice crafty weekend.   

~Dawn

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.

Crafting Slump

(Originally posted 10/5/2015)

I have been in a bit of a slump lately.  I know this happens to everyone but I have not been creative lately.  I have reorganized and beautified (is that a word?) my craft space, I have bought new goodies to create with but all I do when I sit at my desk to make something is look around and become overwhelmed trying to come up with an idea.  Perhaps the loss of the work that I had put into my old blog, is what put me in the dumpster.  I don't know, but Oscar the Grouch can have his trash can back - this stinks!

This weekend was World Card Making Day and is the biggest card making celebration world wide.  It is a time for card makers from all over the world to get in their craft spaces and make the world a better place one card (or a dozen) at a time... okay that's a little super heroish but honestly the card making world was in full swing and I still couldn't get motivated.  I made a few cards, nothing fancy, definitely amateurish and most importantly very simple.  I tried to compete with my peers...  I just didn't have my usual sparkle.

One of the four cards that I made this weekend did put a smile on my face.  It was created with an image that I had stored on my computer.  I do not remember where I originally saved it from and there is an artist's signature but I can't make it out.  It's just so darn cute and I couldn't resist coloring this little guy and making a card out of him so if this image is yours, please let me know, I would like to to give you full credit for such an adorable Mummy.

Here are the other three cards.

If you have been where I am and have found your craftitude again (yes I just made that up too), please leave a comment and tell me what worked to help you get your craftiness back.

Happy Crafting and thanks for stopping by!
~Dawn

Disclosure:

     All products used in my blog posts and videos are my own and purchased by me.  My blog posts, videos and opinions are not sponsored, and I am not paid by the product companies to create these posts and videos. The information provided in this video is my own personal endorsement and choice.