26/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

Not done a lot of crafting the last couple of days.  Haven’t really felt up to doing much, although I’ve got a lot I’m planning in my head, so you’ll have to wait and see what comes out of my head and into paper format over the next few days.

 (Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each item.)
(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.  These linked pages also have a longer description of how I made the item.  Leave me a comment if you want any further information.)

Cards:

Just two cards this time, but three pictures as one card has a matching insert.
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1. Rose in Hexagon frame by Linda Whittles (You may well be shouting - but a hexagon is a polygon with six edges, and this card doesn’t have that - and you’d be right!  But that’s the title the designer has given to the design.  By my reckoning the outer is a square and the inner frame is a Dodecagon.  But none of that alters the fact that this is a simple card to cut out and make, but looks really lovely.  Straight edge cutting only to cut out the design, and I raided my crafty stash for embellishments to just stick on.)
2. Blue textured spot backing sheet by Sharon Poore (What could be easier than printing out a background design onto card, trimming with a paper trimmer, scoring and folding and using a paper punch to round the corners!  All the elements on the card come from my crafty stash of bits and pieces and die-cut elements that I’ve collected over the years.  Non required cutting - unless you count trimming the ends of the bit of ribbon I used at an angle - though there was some folding of the ready cut patterned panels.  It really was a quick and easy card to make.)
3. Blue textured spot insert by Sharon Poore (Just printed, trimmed, scored, corners rounded, and stuck into the card described above.  Simple!)

I think I really need to use more of the bits and pieces that I’ve got in my crafting stash that I’ve found so far during my mini-clear-up of crafty stuff (which I started back in the autumn and still haven’t finished).  I’ve picked up a lot that I’ve forgotten I had over the years, and there’s some lovely bits and bobs there that would make simple finishing touches to some of my cards.  The problem is, the couple of boxes of bits and bobs I’ve got seem to be getting fuller as I find things, rather than getting less full as I use things.

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - A copy of the E-mail that was sent out yesterday, 25th January, can be seen by clicking - here - if you don’t receive it directly to your inbox.  Being showcased in this mailer is some of the work of the “Titanium Trio” - the three top designers who’ve sold the most designs via CUP - and also some cards made by some of the top card makers on CUP.  There’s lots of variety to be seen, from humorous to stylish, from children’s to adults.  Of course, as usual there’s a lot more bits of news, new CUP TV episode, etc., as well, so do please click through for a look.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

A BIG Thank You to all you lovely people who’ve left such nice comments on my various blog posts over the last few weeks.  I really appreciate every one of them.

(You’ll notice that comments don’t go live the minute you post them.  Having occasionaly had problems with unsuitable Spam/Advertising comment posts [150 in one day alone once] I now moderate all comments before they go live.)

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 2 Comments »

24/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

I haven’t made a lot of cards the last few days, but I thought I’d show you what I have done now, rather than waiting until I’d made more before I posted again to my blog.

 (Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each item.)
(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.  These linked pages also have a longer description of how I made the item.  Leave me a comment if you want any further information.)

Cards:

Although all these cards use digital downloads from the craftsUprint site  I’ve tried to give them a different look by using different base cards or embellishments with them, to make them my own.  I don’t have a particular style, other than the fact that my health and fluctuating disabling conditions do mean that very intricate cutting by hand is out of the question as far as I’m concerned.  But the very fact that my dexterity fluctuates does mean that I can manage more some days, and no crafting at other times.

1  2  3  4  5

1. Fairy in pink and green oval pyramid by Amanda McGee & 12 Colour Haze Background Papers by June Young (The background and pyramid were printed onto Super Smooth white card.  Only oval cutting of the topper and straight cutting for the stepper card were involved.  I used my Hougie Board to score the side stepper card.)
2. Girl in Basket Wavy Side Stacker by Sarah Edwards (Again this was printed onto Super Smooth white card.  The cutting out of the design was only straight and wavy cutting, so nothing intricate to cut.  The base card was bought in already cut and scored to this design - a Hunkydory card if I remember rightly - so the card looks quite intricate without any of the difficult work to make it look this way.)
3. My husband’s Hawaii plant by Bodil Lundahl (I used Centura Pearl Ivory A4 card scored and folded in half to make this card and kept the ivory theme going throughout by using ivory organza ribbon and ivory, faux pearl, embellishments.  For this card, and the next two, I printed the design sheet out onto 150gsm glossy photo paper.  The topper, including the frame and pyramid elements were all quite easy to cut out using a pair of scissors and no intricate cutting was involved.)
4. Spanish daisies, pyramid by Bodil Lundahl (Another base card that I’d bought already cut and scored, from a Hunkydory special offer pack.  The topper is all straight cutting so an easy card to cut and make up.)
5. 12 Colour Haze Background Papers by June Young & African silhouettes by Debra Jenkinson & 6 Mens Belts by Vicki Avcin (The three kits used to make up this card are “Designer Resources” so I took them into one of my graphics software and arranged them to make the image I wanted before creating some layers and printing the lot out.  I purposely made the design with just straight edge cutting involved and used the same type of Centura Pearl card as for card 3.  A simple to cut and make card that has some dimension.)

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - The last mailer was sent out by the staff at craftsUprint HQ on Monday, 23rd January.  You can see a copy by clicking - here - if you don’t get it sent directly to your E-mail box. You’ll see lots of designs that you can buy and use in your cardmaking, some of them completely new, lots of news, and the latest CUP TV episode.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

A BIG Thank You to all you lovely people who’ve left such nice comments on my various blog posts over the last few weeks.  I really appreciate every one of them.

(You’ll notice that comments don’t go live the minute you post them.  Having occasionaly had problems with unsuitable Spam/Advertising comment posts [150 in one day alone once] I now moderate all comments before they go live.)

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 7 Comments »

21/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

I made the small number of cards I’m showing you today the same day as those I put up in my previous post, but, as the last post was themed, I kept these for a separate post.  These are a very mixed assortment of cards suitable for lots of different occasions.

 (Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each item.)
(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.  These linked pages also have a longer description of how I made the item.)

Cards:

1  2  3  4

1. Scalloped Oval Layers……Studio by Tina Fitch (I used a bought in base card for this card.  When cutting the ovals out of Silk Art card on my CraftROBO I needed to double cut, as the Silk Art card is a bit too heavy to be used in a CraftROBO really, but decided to risk it.  Just decorated using peel-offs and sticky back gems.  So no hand cutting - other than chopping the bits of foam tap for the back of the layers!)
2. Cat and Sundial by Pamela West (The Cat and Sundial image is a Designer Resource, which meant that I could play around with it in one of my graphics packages before printing out.  For this one I added the frame, in a blue colour to tone with some of the flowers in the image.  I also created some oval pyramage layers.  I could, of course, have gone to town creating corner stackers, or decoupage, or any other style of card, but wanted to keep it simple to cut out while still having some dimension, and oval stacker layers are reasonably easy to cut out and are forgiving of a little unevenness when put over the layer beneath.  Framing the image before printing meant that matting and layering were not needed after printing.  I just used a corner rounder punch on the right corners of the base card and each corner of the framed image.)
3. Cow Iris Folding Pattern by Margaret Jones & Someplace Backing Paper 2 by Carol Lepard (When I saw this pattern for Cow Iris Folding up on craftsUprint I just had to buy it because I thought it would go perfectly with this background which I’d bought previously.  I printed the background on one side of the paper and the Iris Folding pattern on the other before cutting out the aperture - I have to admit that I set up a cutting file in the Silhouette Studio software to cut the outline out as I didn’t feel up to cutting out by hand that day, and just tore ready cut iris folding strips to the right size, so didn’t do any cutting to put together the image.  I did use a paper trimmer to cut the finished image to shape to fit my card front after finishing the iris folding, and for cutting the splodges of colour for sticking on top of the cow to give the markings.)
4. Scalloped Layered Cross Toppers…Studio by Tina Fitch (White and silver were used for this cross design, again cut out using my CraftROBO.  I then felt that I wanted some colour, without going over the top, so used some Mulberry flowers from my crafting stash.  So a simple to make card with no hand cutting at all.)

Knitting:

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1. This is another pair of fingerless gloves, knitted on the same circular knitting loom as the pair I showed you in my blog post of the 7th of January, that you can see by clicking - here - only this time I’ve knitted it in more utilitarian yarn to make a pair to ware to take the dog out, rather than the mohair mix yarn that I’d made the last pair from “for best”.

I’m still working on the scarf to go with the original pair of fingerless gloves, but I put it to one side to make this pair of gloves as my hands were freezing one morning when out in the garden with the dog.

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - If anybody hasn’t seen the mailer sent out by the CUP team on Friday, 20th January, then you can see it by clicking - here.  The main showcase section this time are designs created by CUP Exclusive designers who’ve reached the Platinum level by selling 10,000 and more items.  You’ll also see the usual “CUP LATEST NEWS” section with lots of snippets of news, so click through to catch up with the latest from CUP land.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

A big THANK YOU to all you lovely people who’ve left comments on my various blog posts over the last few weeks.  I really appreciate every one of them.

(You’ll notice that comments don’t go live the minute you post them.  I’ve had occasional problems with unsuitable Spam/Advertising comment posts (150 in one day alone) so I moderate all comments before they go live.)

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 1 Comment »

19/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

You may not know it, but in the same way as Valentine is celebrated as a saint for lovers, Wales also has a patron saint of Welsh lovers - and her name is Dwynwen.  As Dwynwen lived so long ago there are certain variations to the details when her story is told, but you can read up a bit about her by clicking here -> National Museum of Wales; Cadwyn; Historic UK.  St. Dwynwen’s Day is the 25th of January, so I decided to put together a few ideas for cards for the occasion now as there’s less than a week to go if you plan on celebrating with a card and a gift.

 (Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each item.)
(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.  These linked pages also have a longer description of how I made the item.)

Cards:

I’ve purposely just put “Gyda Chariad” (Welsh for “With Love”) on these card so they could be used for either St. Dwynwen’s Day or St. Valentine’s Day.

1   2  3  4

1. Red Roses Backing Paper by Katy Kinsey & Scalloped Heart Toppers 2…Studio by Tina Fitch & Cream Roses Backing Paper by Katy Kinsey (This is an A4 card.  As all the cutting of the hearts was done using my CraftROBO, and all the decorations were little flowers from my crafty stash, there is no difficult cutting involved in this card.)
2. Cream Roses Backing Paper by Katy Kinsey & Scalloped Heart Toppers 2…Studio by Tina Fitch (This card was made using the same style of hearts cut out using my CraftROBO, but because I decided to hang it in an aperture, rather than stuck on the front, despite using my CraftROBO to cut out the largest heart shape as an aperture in the backing sheet, I did have to cut the heart shape out by hand with a craft knife on the front of the card itself, using the aperture in the backing as a guide.  The card itself was made from an A3 sheet of Centura Pearl Snow White card, with a 2cm spine to allow for the depth of the heart, so it wouldn’t go through my CraftROBO at that size.)
3. Scalloped Heart Toppers 2…Studio by Tina Fitch (This is a closeup of the heart removed from the aperture of card 2.  I made it to tie up in the aperture with a bow, rather than using one piece of fixed ribbon between the heart and the top of the aperture, so that the heart can be removed and kept as a keepsake or hung up as a wall hanging.)
4. Scalloped Heart Toppers 2…Studio by Tina Fitch (This is a side view of the heart showing how dimensional the whole thing is when made up double sided and stuck using 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape between each layer.  It could be made even more dimensional if 3mm deep tape was used.)

Box:

I’ve made lots of boxes for various things from various pieces of jewellery to hand made chocolates, but today’s box is made of a card printed with a bubbly chocolate design and hides a box of chocolate truffles.  A perfect packaging to make a small gift look extra special.  A perfect gift for St. Dwynwen’s Day.  I’ve purposely kept the tones of embelishments to brown so it’s a suitable box to send a gift to a man, not just a woman.  You could even make the box a bit deeper than the box of chocolates and pop a Love Spoon in on top.

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1.  Lovely Bubbly A4 Backing Paper in Chocolate Brown by Katy Kinsey (I printed the backing design out twice onto Super Smooth white card.  I measured the height, width and depth of the box of chocolate and trimmed and scored both pieces to make the box base and lid.  I used Template Tape to stick the flaps together.  The tag on the lid was cut on my CraftROBO and is one layer of Scalloped Oval Layers……Studio by Tina Fitch, with a very narrow brown ribbon threaded through one of the scallops and tied into the knot of the wider brown organza ribbon that’s tied around the box.  The greeting “Dymuniadau Gorau” is Welsh for “Best Wishes” and is suitable for many different occasions.)

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - A copy of the latest mailer sent out from CUP HQ (dated Wednesday, 18th January) can be seen by clicking - here.  The designs of some of the craftsUprint Gold designers are being showcased.  I you celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, not St. Dwynwen’s Day, then there’s lots of designs suitable for the occasion to be seen - although some of the designs are very suitable for both occasions.  Of course you’ll find a lot more in the mailer, so please do click through for a look.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 3 Comments »

17/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

A topper design I’ve been playing around creating using Designer Resources from craftsUprint, used in conjunction with a background from a kit in the CUP Card Making section printed onto card-stock to make the box lids.

Cards and Boxes:

1  2  3  4  5

1. Card made using a topper I created using Designer Resources as below stuck onto a bought in Hunkydory base card with a decorative edge.  The topper has a small round pyramid of a few layers over the daffodil heads.
2. Insert to the card above made using the same Designer Resources but with the daffodils shrunk down and the greetings panel removed so that there’s a nice, clear, area for a greeting to be written inside the card.
3. A box to place the card in.  The lid is one of the backgrounds from the kit listed below printed onto cardstock with the same topper as on the card on top, but without the layering, stuck on top.
4.  A similar box, but this time a gift box that’s deep enough for a little gift, such as some hand made chocolates.  Made exactly the same way as the card box, but this time scoring so that the depth is deeper but the dimensions across the top are smaller.
5. All four matching items together.

To create these cards and boxes I used the following Designer Resources to make the square topper design seen on the items show in photos 1 to 5:

1.  5X5 Card Fronts set 11 by Cassandra Campsall
2. A Vase Of Daffodils by Frances Dent
3. Etched Metal Corners & Ornaments by Carol Lepard

The yellow toned floral background used on the box lids is from the Card Making item:

1. Pale Floral Papers by Chris Harland (Although I’ve used one, yellow toned, floral background as a background to the lids of the boxes, the whole kit of pastel shades of floral designs is a great one for anybody’s digital library as they will work well as backgrounds, mats, etc.)

And to finish off, something quite simple, but dimensional, so it will also need a little card box or envelobox made to send it in.

1

1.  5X5 Card Fronts set 11 by Cassandra Campsall (This is the second card I’ve made using a 5″ x 5″ card front from this set.  This time I simply used my graphics program to place it in such a way on an A4 page so as, when it was printed out, I could just score, trim and fold into a base card.  This was simply decorated using three flowers that I’d made up some time ago and placed in my crafty stash, together with a leaf, a butterfly, and four clear, sticky back, gems.)

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - The last mailer sent out by the CUP Team on Monday, 16th January, can be seen by clicking - here.  As usual there’s a lot of varied designs being showcased, this time the work of the craftsUprint Gold designers. The latest CUP TV Episode is showing how to make up a Gatefold Spring Down Card that’s been cut using a digital cutting machine.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | No Comments »

15/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

Was feeling a bit exhausted and not up to cutting out anything using either a scissors or a craft knife, so I got my CraftROBO out, connected it to my Laptop computer and set it to work.  The base cards for the five cards I made were either cut out using the CraftROBO, a pre-made card, or simply an A4 sheet of card scored and folded.  All the decorations were either items or die-cut elements from my crafty stash, or cut out using my CraftROBO.  I did use a corner punch on two of the cards, so the only thing I used a scissors for was to chop some foam tape, cut the ribbon and bow on card 5, and to trim the paper ribbon down the right hand side of card 4.

 (Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each item.)
(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.  These linked pages also have a longer description of how I made the item.)

Cards:

I’ve tried to go for different looks on these five cards even though every one features flowers in on form or another.

1  2  3  4  5

1.  Scalloped Arch Layers…….Studio by Tina Fitch (Although this card looks complicated there was absolutely no cutting out by hand involved.  An A4 iridescent white card was just scored and folded in half and a corner punch was used to add detail.  Then just dusted over the corner details and card edges with gold.  The arch was cut out using my CraftROBO using a pale yellow and a buttery cream coloured Silk Art card.  The decoration were just bits from my crafty stash.)
2. Scalloped Fancy Shape Layers…..Studio by Tina Fitch and flowers and butterflies from OVAL 2 CARD with layered flower and butterfly by Clive Couter (I chose to play around with a totally different colour scheme for this card than the previous one, using several colours of iridescent, heavyweight paper, from the same pack.  Some of the layers are stuck directly down to the layer underneath and some are stuck in place using 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape.  This card is decorated with butterflies and flowers cut out with the cutting file used for the next card.)
3. OVAL 2 CARD with layered flower and butterfly by Clive Couter (I chose a quite soft and simple look for this card.  I kept the decoration to a minimum as some of the family like minimalist cards, so only two shades of pink card and one shade of iridescent paper have been used to make the whole card - and there were lots of cut out flowers and butterflies left to use on other projects.)
4. Fancy Bracket Shape Easel Card - Silhouette by Kim Paley (The base card and top layer were cut out from two shades of yellow/cream silk art card-stock.  The decoration is from a die-cut decoupage sheet just popped out and stuck together.  And there’s a whole other decoupage and other elements left on the sheet to use again.)
5. Nested Shape #8 by Hazel Kinvig-Paul (I used a sheet of maroon silk art card, with the cream and white ones, for a richer look to this card.  The layers just set off the bunch of roses perfectly I think.  Sometimes it only takes some nice layering and a simple topper to create a very classy card.)

CUP Update:  

Crafty Bob’s Tombola  - Don’t forget that every new order placed on the craftsUprint site will entitle the customer to a free play on Crafty Bob’s Tombola. Everyone wins a prize! Over £250 in prizes are given away EVERY DAY in the World’s only Crafting Tombola game.

Crafty Bob’s Crazy 5 Minute Game - Have you bought digital designs from the craftsUprint site?  Are you keeping an eye out to see if your name comes up giving you a 5 minute window to claim a monetary prize?  CUP customers names are being chosen at random and if they are online and spot their name during the 5 minute slot then they can claim the prize.  The prize pot goes up every five minutes as the name changes if it hasn’t been claimed.  Have a look at the information page - here - to learn more.  There’s even a list of those who’ve missed their chance as well as a list of those who’ve won, and what the prize pot that they got was.

Crafty Bob’s Bingo - Crafty Bob is currently looking for a FOUR CORNERS AND A CENTRE in Game 71 as I’m writing this, but please click - here - to check the current status, and see the numbers already called, as you are reading my post. Bingo Cards are FREE to all CUP customers.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 2 Comments »

13/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

A bit of a variety in this batch.  From New Baby to Sympathy.  From a card and box suitable for a man to a card and box, with a teddy on, suitable for a child.

 (Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each item.)
(Clicking on the text links below each set of images takes you to the pages where you can see some of what I used to make the cards.  These linked pages also have a longer description of how I made the item.)

Cards & Boxes:

Some more playing around with Designer Resources first, but this time to make a brown toned card, insert and box that’s more suitable for a male than the lace look set in my last post.  These are all made from the same items although the shading does look slightly different in the photos because of different lighting conditions when the photos were taken.

1  2  3

1.  9 sheets of A4 Background Papers by Jacqueline Hatton (I used two of the backgrounds from the pack for the insert, putting a clearer oval panel on for the writing of a greeting.  This basic layout was then taken, and built upon, for the card front.)
2. 6 Mens Belts by Vicki Avcin & 9 sheets of A4 Background Papers by Jacqueline Hatton & African silhouettes by Debra Jenkinson (Although I have used brown, black, navy, etc., ribbons, sometimes with knots, on cards for the males of the species, I was looking for other ideas, and was immediately struck by the possibilities given by the belts in this pack of Designer Resources.  I’ve used several copies of the same belt on this card - as well as putting them on the box that follows, not only using as a demarcation near the left, but as a greeting panel as well.)
3. 6 Mens Belts by Vicki Avcin & 9 sheets of A4 Background Papers by Jacqueline Hatton & Hexagon Box Template by Carol Lepard (After playing round in my graphics program to create the sheet ready to print out, the actual cutting of this box is all straight lines.  It is a little box, just under 3″ across, but is just the right size for little gifts.)

Back to ready designed sheets as the basis for the next batch of cards and the box.

1  2  3  4  5

1. Morning Rose Backing Sheet 1, Morning Rose Pyramid and Morning Rose Gatefold Insert all by Rebecca Brindley (This is a really lovely card that could be used for many occasions but is quite easy to make.  Straight edge cutting and cutting round the ovals, and nothing intricate to cut.  I used my Hougie Board to do the scoring of the printed out backing sheet, after trimming, to make the gate-fold card, and used a corner rounder punch to give neat corners to the front corners of the gate-fold card.)
2. Sheep dog by Terri Hawley (The most intricate cutting to create this card was cutting out the greeting panel, and you couldn’t really call that intricate - it could even be left off if you wanted as the base layer has a space to put the greeting in any case.  The base card was bought in already in the fancy shape - a sale item in a Hunkydory pack.)
3. Baby Boy Announcement Oval Pyramid by Frances Dent (This card looks very intricate but the only cutting was straight cutting of the base layer, oval cutting of three layers, and punching the base layer corners with a corner rounder punch.  I just used a pre-prepared base card which had the outline punched detail from my crafting stash - a Hunkydory card blank.  I simply used a long piece of shear, white, organza ribbon to decorate, weaving it in and out through the holes around the edge and then putting a long piece across the front and tied on the right hand side.)
4. “Floral Cross” Easter, Sympathy Card by Anna Babajanyan (This was a really simple card to make - just print, cut, and stick on.  There were two greetings panels provided on the sheet but I wanted a Welsh sympathy card so used my own peel-offs in a matching tone.  The most intricate thing about this card was putting on the sticky back, faux pearls, in place, for which I used a pokey tool to move and place, but you don’t have to add these to the printed pearls if you don’t want to.  I also used a Sakura, clear Stardust, gel pen to add some highlights to the coloured throats of the flowers.)

1  2

1. Gable-top box - Teddy’s Red Bow by Judith Flavel (I needed to get my craft knife and steel edged ruler out to cut the handle centres out as well as the slots in the two side panels.  There was also more intricate cutting on the teddy and bow for decoupaging onto the box, however, you don’t have to cut these out and layer them on as the images are on the base box and it doesn’t need the added embellishment to function as a box.  I didn’t actually use all the teddies and bows on the box but kept some to make the matching card.)
2. Teddy’s Red Bow - vellum by Judith Flavel & Gable-top box - Teddy’s Red Bow by Judith Flavel (This card may look fancy but the base card was one from my crafting stash, another one from Hunkydory if I remember rightly.  I just cut a square of the printed background to fit, punched using a corner rounder to tidy each corner, put on a strip of gold, linen effect, card down the right hand side.  The teddy and bow toppers were all spare pieces I kept behind when making the matching box.)

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - The mailer E-mailed out today, 13th January, can be seen by clicking - here.  Today’s mailer is given over to the designer Ann-marie Vaux.  Ann-marie is only the third CUP designer to reach the Titanium status, and getting to be a Titanium designer means that a total of 50,000 sales of her designs have been made via the CUP site.  Now that is a huge number of sales and just proves how popular the items that Ann-marie designs are.

These are a small number of the cards I’ve made using Ann-marie’s designs.

1  2  3  4  5

1. Black Lotus Flower Oriental Hand Fan 3D Topper
2.  The Angel A5 Lace Card Front Step by Step
3. Gold Birthday/Anniversary White Rose Book Sheet
4. Oriental Garden Ladies Spiral Edge Stacker Card Front
5. Beautiful Poppies Card Envelope Pointy Stacker AIO

Card Making Competition - The Crafter of the Year 2011 has been announced, and the winner was Margaret Mccartney, the runner Up was Dianne Jackson, and the person in 3rd Place was Angela Styles.  I finished at 24th with 38 points.  Thank you so much to all the CUP Designers who voted for me.  If any body would like to see the leader-board of the top 40 places crafters then click - here.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 2 Comments »

11/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

I’ve been playing around with some Designer Resources.

I wanted a specific effect for a soft, lacy looking, card with a matching box, but didn’t have the lace background I had in mind in my crafty stash, so went looking and found something suitable amongst the Designer Resources on CUP. While searching I picked up a few other designer resources to play with and use with the lace background.

Then I spotted a kit of ornate crosses that I thought would look great for sympathy and Easter cards, and then a frame kit that I thought would work well with the crosses.

 (Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each item.)

Cards and a Box:

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The majority of the design work for these items was done within a design software, leaving just the finishing touches to be done by hand once the items were printed and cut out.  Picture 4 shows all the matching items - Print, Cut, Fold A5 card - as seen in 1; Insert - as seen in 2; Small Hexagon Box - as seen in 3. The last item is a simple card front with one extra layer.  This last item was the one with the most intricate of cutting work, with some ins and outs cutting at the corners and scalloped edge on the added layer, but other than that I tried to keep to just straight cutting for the items to keep them simple.  And in reality I could have cut straight around the framed cross and not cut into the corners, and also not used the added layer, which is what I’ll do in future on my “bad hand” days if I need another similar card.

There follows a list of the Designer Resources I used.  Please click through to see what I worked with.

1. Print, Cut, Fold A5 card - DR Lace Backgrounds Blues Kit 1 by Emma Bee & Circular Lace & Ribbon Frames by June Young.
2. Insert for A5 card - DR Lace Backgrounds Blues Kit 1 by Emma Bee & Circular Lace & Ribbon Frames by June Young.
3. Small Hexagon Box - DR Lace Backgrounds Blues Kit 1 by Emma Bee & Circular Lace & Ribbon Frames by June Young & Hexagon Box Template by Carol Lepard.
4. All the matching items - DR Lace Backgrounds Blues Kit 1 by Emma Bee & Circular Lace & Ribbon Frames by June Young & Hexagon Box Template by Carol Lepard.
5. Card Front with added layer - Gold and Enamel Picture Frames by Karen Hughes & Flower Crosses & Dove CU4CU Set 2 by Janyce Cotterill.

Keep an eye out for more items using Designer Resources in my next Blog Post as I’m currently working on a card and box in a theme more suitable to a male recipient.

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - A copy of the mailer E-mailed out today, Wednesday, 11th January, can be seen by clicking - here. The mailer was showcasing some of the CUP Silver designers work, plus includes the usual spread of news, New From items, etc.

Card Making Competition - The voting is now in full swing for “CUP Crafter of the Year 2011 Competition”. The “New” and “Bronze” CUP Designers voted on Monday, the “Silver” CUP Designers on Tuesday, and today it’s the turn of the “Gold” CUP Designers to vote.  You can click - here - to read up more on how the Crafter of the Year is decided and to see the current leader-board.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | No Comments »

09/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

You’d think that after Christmas would be a bit quiet, but not in our house.  With a niece having her 18th birthday at the beginning of January there were still a few things to do once the New Year celebrations were over with.  I had made some jewellery as a gift for her, and a box with drawers to put them in, to give to her, before Christmas, but that did leave the card that my mother had asked me to make, for her and my father to give their grand-daughter, as well as being roped in to make some of the food for the buffet, to keep me occupied, and having had a cold and coughed so much that I had no voice for days (even after the bad coughing stopped) I wasn’t exactly bursting with energy to get on with things.  What I still haven’t finished is the photo-book/scrapbook of my niece’s life that I’m giving her, but the last page of that will be photos from her party in any case, so couldn’t be finished until after the event.

(Remember that you can click on the thumbnail images to have a better look at each card.)

Food:

Nobody makes Scotch Eggs better than “Mamgu” (Welsh for Grandmother), according to my nephews and niece, so a big consignment of Scotch Eggs was what we were asked to make.  Have you any idea how many pounds of sausage meat you need to make 90 Scotch Eggs?  Lots!  One pound of sausage meat will give a covering to 8 small eggs or 6 larger eggs - and we had 90 to make.

Thank heavens that most of the work is done sitting down, and that the eggs themselves could be hard boiled and shelled the morning before, or we’d never have managed it, as neither of us is able to stand up or walk about for any length of time.  Doing things in batches and having a break in between and we managed to get them all done before they were collected for the evening party.

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1.  Lots of hard boiled eggs, some breadcrumbs and some of the sausage meat ready to begin.
2. A batch of covered Scotch Eggs, ready for the deep fat fryer.
3. 90 cooked Scotch Eggs draining on layers of kitchen paper.

 Card:

This card is made from an A3 sheet of Centura Pearl Snow White Card.  I scored it in two places to give a three paneled card with the two outside panels being folded inwards.  On the main outside panel I scored using one of the Glitter Girls boards to give an embossed pattern on the top, with the same pattern being de-bossed on the bottom.  The circular design from the same board was embossed onto panels of card of two different colours and onto holographic silver paper.  The card was simply decorated with peel-offs.  The two different colours of round blob peeloffs are also of holographic silver but look different in the photographs.

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The other folded in panel was also decorated with panels embossed using another of the Glitter Girls boards, and the inside back was left blank for a message to be written.

The card can be stood as shown in the 3rd picture with both folded in panels visible.

Jewellery:

This is a set of jewellery I made using stones and beads from a kit, except that the kit came with pink beads and I substituted blue beads from my bead stash as it was a more suitable colour for the intended recipient.  The black, longer, beads are magnetic Hematite semi precious stones.  The main piece has no catch as the whole string has magnetic pieces along its length allowing it to be worn in many different ways - wrapped around the wrist as a bracelet; wrapped around the neck as a choker; loosely around the neck as a necklace of whatever length and style required; around the middle as a decorative belt.

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Special Gift Box:

This is a gift box I made to present the jewellery above in.  I can’t claim any part of the design of this one as it’s simply a lovely Hunkydory kit made up.  I’ve taken photos of it from several different angles.

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An easel card forms a part of the box with the card opening when the bow is pulled, so I didn’t make a separate card.

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - A copy of the CUP E-mailed newsletter that was sent out on 9th January can be seen by clicking - here.  The “New From” section is given over to “Bookmark Card N Envelope” from top designer Carol Clarke.  Among all the other designs on show are cutting files, iris folding designs, notebook kit, backing papers, pyramage designs - and the list goes on.  The news includes winners of Crafty Bob’s Crazy Five Minutes, two designers meeting up in Las Vegas, the answer to Crafty Bob’s Thought for the Weekend, and lots more.  So well worth a click over to have a read.

Card Making Competition - The voteing has started for “CUP Crafter of the Year 2011 Competition”.  Today, Monday 9th January, it’s the turn of the “New” and “Bronze” CUP Designers to vote.  You can click - here - to read up more on how the Crafter of the Year is decided and to see the current leader-board.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 1 Comment »

07/01/2012 by Gwyneth.

Cards and Boxes:

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1.  Iris 2 backing paper by Sheila Rodgers (As I wanted this to be quite a big box I wanted the base to be of stronger weight cardstock than would go through my printer, so I used a sheet of 350gms card-stock for that.  The top is the backing paper printed onto the heaviest weight white cardstock that will go through my printer.  I trimmed the white edges of the cardstock off and then scored in at 4.5cm in from each edge.  I marked the size of the trimmed background onto the card-stock I wanted for the base and then trimmed in a few mm inside the marked line.  This was also scored in at 4.5cm from each edge.  I then cut through to make tabs at each corner of the base and lid and stuck in place using Template Tape.  By making the base slightly smaller before scoring than the lid, it means that it fits inside perfectly. )
2. Baby in Bath Circular Side Stacker by Sarah Edwards (The design sheet to make this card is quite easy to cut out.  There is the rounded side to the side stackers but it’s quite a smooth cut with nothing intricate to cut.)
3. Front pancy by Terri Hawley (The base layer of this card and the greetings panel are both shaped and so the cutting isn’t all straight, but the curves are not particularly intricate.  The flowers are more intricate to cut out, although you could leave them off it you have difficulty cutting out intricate pieces.)
4. Orchid green and gold by Terri Hawley (Straight edges and ovals only to cut out for this card.  I only used two of the oval layers, thus meaning that there was less cutting out involved in making this card.  I used a Sakura Clear Stardust pen to highlight some areas of the flowers, which catches the light as the card is moved, so helping to give a special look to the card.)

 Knitting:

The knitting loom ring I used to make this pair of fingerless gloves is the smallest (5.5″) in a set of 4.  It’s made to create little babies hats on, but rather than pull a piece of yarn through all the top stitches to pull together for the top of a hat I finished off by crocheting along the top edge and making lengths of crochet to go between the thumb and the fingers and around the index finger.

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The hat was made on another knitting loom from the same set, this time the 9.5″ ring.  This set is knitted using the same type of yarn as I made the red scarf as a Christmas gift for a member of the family, but this time in the blue version.  I’ve now started to knit the matching scarf using the 7.5″ circular knitting loom.  The colouring of the pieces looks different in the pictures because of the different lighting conditions when the photos were taken, but they are all made using the same yarn.

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CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - A copy of the latest mailer, sent out Friday, 6th, January, can be seen by clicking - here.  You’ll see lots of designs created by the CUP Exclusive Designers, as well as see some cards created by the Registered Crafters and read snippets of news from CUP land.  The Crafty Bob Treasure Hunt game has come to an end on the CUP site and a new “Crafty Bob’s CRAZY Five Minute Game” has started.  Read all about this new idea by clicking - here.

Free Card Verses for your Cards - It seems that there are now a lot more “Free Card Verses for your Cards” available on the site.  Click - here - to see the categories available and make your choice.

Card Making Competition - The “CUP Crafter of the Year 2011 Competition” has been announced.  Details can be seen by reading the information - here.

You can see the cards I’ve made using design sheets from CUP in my “Crafter Showcase Area” on Craftsuprint.com - here
(Just scroll down past the top boxes to see the cards.)

You can see my page on Facebook by clicking - here.

-oOo-

Posted in craftsUprint Cards | 1 Comment »