Sunday, August 31, 2014

August ECD Challenge: Asian Theme

 Created for the ECD Design Team

This month's Elizabeth Craft Designs Design Team challenge theme is Asian. I chose to make a Japanese themed card, complete with cherry blossoms, fans, and kimono. The fan patterned cardstock, each with its own cherry blossom design, was the perfect backdrop to my own hand-made "cherry blossoms."

Making the Card

1. Cut a piece of dark purple cardstock 10x7 inches, fold in half to form a 5x7 inch card base. Lightly sand near edges in several areas. Use a foam blending tool to add a little Brushed Corduroy ink to the white areas to give them an antique look.

2. Cut a piece of brown cardstock 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. Cut a piece of the fan patterned cardstock 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches. Sand a few spots along the edges of the latter, then add a little Brushed Corduroy ink to the white areas, as well as a few other spots, with the foam blending tool. Adhere together then to card base as shown.

3. Cut a piece of dark purple cardstock 2 x 4 inches. Cut a piece of light purple cardstock 1 3/4 x 3 3/4. Antique as in step 1. Adhere together. This is the mat for the kimono.

4 Cut two tree trunks from brown cardstock using the All Seasons Tree die set. Cut each trunk in half to create branches. Trim the ends of some of the longer branches by rounding them (leave the trunk for now). Place on card base as desired (see front of card for my placement). Mark and trim the trunk parts that hang off the fan cardstock or stick out from under where the kimono will go. Glue down the base of each of the branches but leave some of the tips unglued; curl them up slightly to give them dimension.

5. Cut a bunch of middle and small sized five-petal flowers (Bunch of Flowers 1) from the dark and light purple cardstock. Cut very small flowers (All Seasons Tree set) in the same colors - these will be the centers. Sand/antique all flowers. Shape the petals. I use a rubber mouse pad and the end of a small paint brush handle. Adhere the smallest flowers to the centers of the opposite color (i.e. glue dark purple centers on light purple flowers and vice versa).  Adhere the flowers to the branches as desired.


6. Cut the base kimono design from the Bronze metallic Shimmer Sheetz using the Metal Adaptor Plate. Cut the fancy kimono design from the tan Velvet Adhesive Sheet. Peel and stick the fancy design to the base. Adhere the kimono to its mat using dimensional tape. Adhere the mat to the card as shown.

Supplies


Elizabeth Craft Designs


Other Supplies

  • Dark and Light Purple (white core - I used DCWV), Brown Cardstock
  • DCWV Far East (Fan Cardstock)
  • VersaFine Ink, Imperial Purple
  • Distress Ink, Brushed Corduroy
  • Foam Blending Tool





Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Wheelbarrow of Roses Thank You Card

Made for Elizabeth Craft Designs Design Team

The inspiration for this card was from a Penny Black stamp depicting a mouse carrying a bouquet of roses. I thought this would make a nice thank you card for a friend. After coloring the image, I decided to mimic the wrapping paper on the roses as the background on the card. I found some B&W striped paper and used the same colored markers for the stripes. They aren't perfectly colored like a patterned paper would be, but I like the hand-made feel it gives to the card.

Making the Card

1. Cut a piece of purple cardstock to 4 1/4 by 11 inches. Fold in half as a card base. Cut a piece of matching purple paper to 3 3/4 by 6 inches. If you don't have matching paper, use the same cardstock; it will just be a little bulkier. Cut a piece of black and white striped paper to 4 1/4 by 7 inches.

2. Stamp and color images of mouse carrying roses and bee from the same set. I used Copic markers. Color the black and white striped paper in matching colors. Use the scalloped oval from Accordion Oval set to cut out the mouse image. Carefully trim off the scallops so it will just be an oval. Cut the scalloped oval from black cardstock and adhere the image to it as shown.

3. Cut a thin strip of red cardstock 4 1/4 inches long. Using the Thank You die, cut about 6 copies from the red cardstock. Glue them together on top of one another so they will have thickness.


4. Center the Lots of Pops die along the purple card base fold and die cut as per the instructions. Pop up only the main platform and one on top. The others won't be used. Adhere the purple paper behind the cut area across the front and back side of the card so the hole won't show when the card is opened. The photo below shows a side view where the paper is covering behind the platforms. Adhere the striped paper to the card as shown. It should cover the purple paper completely. Adhere the red strip to the card as shown (cover the seam). Use dimensional tape to stick down the main image as shown. Adhere the Thank You as shown.

5. Die cut 3 clouds (All Seasons Tree) of each size from dark and medium green cardstock (total of 12). Die cut about 14 small leaves from light green cardstock. Using a foam blender tool, add Evergreen Bough Distress ink to edges of all green die cuts. Die cut tree from brown cardstock. Optional - draw in bark lines using brown colored pencils. Adhere as shown.

6. Die cut clouds (All Seasons Tree) from White Shimmer Sheets using metal adaptor plate. Adhere largest cloud as shown. Adhere small cloud using dimensional tape as shown.


7. Die cut two copies of the wheelbarrow from "distressed wood" cardstock. Cut out the "main section" from one. Cut a piece of red cardstock about 1 5/8 by 1 inch; cut an arc across one wide end. This will go in the wheelbarrow to hold the flowers. Adhere it to the full wheelbarrow on the design side. Add dimensional tape to the back of the "main section" and line it up with the wheelbarrow; stick down.


8. From red paper, cut 13 of the small four rounded petal flower (Bunch of Flowers 1) and 13 small five petal flower (pictured above). Ink edges of both sides with Aged Mahogany. Cut 12 leaves (All Seasons Tree) from green paper. Ink edges of both sides with Forest Moss. Coat both sides of all cuts with Distress Crackle Paint, Rock Candy. Shape petals by rubbing in the center with something rounded like the end of a small paint brush. I use a rubber mouse pad under flowers for shaping. Shape leaves by drawing down the centers with a die pick or small embossing tool. Curl the tips of all leaves and petals from behind using your thumb and long edge of tool.


9. Adhere each four petal flower offset in the center of a five petal flower. Add a little glue to the center and pinch/scrunch from behind to form a rose. Glue 10 of the flowers to the red cardstock in the wheelbarrow. Glue 9 leaves between the flowers, similar to what is shown.

10. Die cut 2 grass pieces (Garden Bench) from green paper; ink edges with Forest Moss. Coat with Distress Crackle, Rock Candy. Adhere one in front of tree as shown.


11. Fussy cut the bee image. Add Wink of Stella to wings (optional). Bend a few inches of wire around the end of a small paintbrush to create loops. Bend small flat loops at each end of the wire. Adhere one end to back of bee by sandwiching it between the image and a small piece of white cardstock. Similarly
stick the other end to the upper pop up platform using purple cardstock. Bend the bee wire as desired.

12. Adhere the wheelbarrow to the front of the main pop up platform. Adhere the grass as shown. Adhere two flowers and one leaf in front of the wheelbarrow as shown. Add one flower and two leaves   to the right of the wheelbarrow (opposite side of card from tree). Add two tree leaves to the bottom of the card as shown - your hand-written message will go under those.


Supplies

Elizabeth Craft Designs


Other Supplies

  • Purple Cardstock, Optional Matching Purple Paper
  • Red, Black, Brown Cardstock, 3 Shades of Green Cardstock
  • Red and Green Paper
  • B&W Striped Paper
  • Penny Black Stuck on You Stamps (or other stamp set)
  • Copic or Other Alcohol Markers
  • Wink of Stella (optional)
  • Black Wire
  • Colored Pencils, various browns (optional)
  • Distress Ink, Evergreen Bough, Forest Moss, Aged Mahogany
  • Distress Crackle Paint, Rock Candy
  • Distressed Wood Cardstock (I used MME Bramble Rose 6x6)

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Watercolor Butterfly Sympathy Card

I recently lost a friend, a fellow board gamer and foodie. He was such a bubbly young man; my heart aches for his family. I wanted to make a card that represented his spirit. I came up with this watercolor rainbow and butterfly card that feels colorful, light, and free.


Created for Elizabeth Craft Designs.

Making the Card

1. Cut white card stock to 7 inches by 10 inches; fold in half to form card base for a 5x7 card. Cut a small amount of paper off the card front's long edge (to show the rainbow paper along that edge). Lay out the four base butterfly dies as shown on the front of the card base (butterflies from top to bottom: 1. 767 Butterfly Pivot Card, 2. 773 Butterfly Accessories Dies, 3. 713 Small Butterfly, 4. 773 Butterfly Accessories Dies). Use removable tape to keep them in place while die cutting (e.g. Washi Tape or Post It notes). Die cut the smallest two butterflies from vellum (767 Butterfly Pivot Card and 773 Butterfly Accessories Dies). Cut the lacy butterflies from 713 Small Butterfly and 773 Butterfly Accessories Dies from yellow and purple dot paper respectively.

2. Cut a piece of watercolor paper to 5x7 inches. Starting from the top and working down at a diagonal, watercolor a rainbow across the paper (repeat as often as necessary to cover the entire sheet). I used Inktense pencils for this but most watercolor paints should work as long as the color is saturated (i.e. less water, more paint). Let dry.

3. (Optional) Flick white and black acrylic paint across paper to create speckles. Let dry.

4. Stamp the sentiment in black ink as shown. Adhere the rainbow paper behind the card front as shown. With alcohol markers, color the vellum butterflies (top two) in colors similar to what will be behind them once they have been adhered to the card. Stamp a fancy design on the wings using a nonporous surface black ink (e.g. StazOn). Adhere the centers only of all the butterflies as shown. Once the glue has dried, carefully bend up the wings.

5. (Optional) Add clear Wink of Stella to all the top butterfly wings.

Supplies

Elizabeth Craft Designs
Other Supplies
  • White Card Stock
  • Watercolor Paper
  • Watercolor Paints or Watercolor Pencils
  • White and Black Acrylic Paints (Optional)
  • Vellum
  • Alcohol Markers
  • 2 Sheets of Patterned Paper (Purple w/Dots and Yellow w/Dots used here)
  • StazOn or Other Black Ink for Non-Porous Surfaces
  • Sentiment Stamp, Design Stamp
  • Wink of Stella, Clear (Optional)