It’s now time for me to write up and show you the photos of the rest of my tests, and also photos of the finished cards I’ve made with the cut out pieces I’ve created.  Please look towards the bottom of this post if you just want to look at the finished cards.

Review: 

Test 5

I took the flowers that can be seen on this sheet, created as you saw in the previous post, and got out my trusty Crafty Bob Bone Folder.  I dragged this over the back of some flowers and over the front of some flowers to give them some shaping.

This was quite easy to do on the back, but didn’t run quite as smoothly on the front, but had great results both ways.  Didn’t have any problems doing this - no ripping of paper, no crinkling, no pulling of ink off the paper, and it wasn’t even bad for showing up fingerprints considering how much handling the pieces had while shaping and then sticking together.  It’s not as if I left it dry for ages on the cutting mat before I started handling the flower pieces (or anything else in my testing), I put things straight on my scanner from the printer, and straight to cut from there, and again into the scanner before taking all the pieces off the cutting mat.

As the finished flowers are dimensional I can’t actually put them on the scanner to scan an image to show you here.  But you will see the resulting flowers displayed on a card in the last section of this post.

Information: The files I’ve used to put together this test were:  Nesting Flowers by Claire Norman and Backgrounds: Navy Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Gorgeous Jewels by Emma Winnell and Ivory Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Marvelous Metallics by Emma Winnell.

Test 6
Dark silhouettes and cutting out photographic decoupage

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1. This is a screen dump of the file I’d created.  I put three copies of my own photograph on the page in Silhouette Studio and put cutting lines in for the whole flower, for some of the petals, and for just the stamens.  I took two of the silhouettes and also put in cutting lines.  This was made as a Print & Cut file.
2. This is a scan of the A4 page after I’d printed it out and put it through the Cameo and cut it.
3. This is a scan of the pieces after removing them from the cutting mat.
4. A closeup of two of the layers of the flower cut out.
5. A closeup of the silhouette tree.  First time I’d noticed the dusty look of a cut layer.  Not sure whether this could be to do with the material in the core of the paper (if it’s a very chalky core it could ware the blade of the cutting machine out quicker, but for this quality end cuts it would probably be worth using this paper even if it did have a chalky core).  Not absolutely perfect perhaps, but you would need to look pretty closely at the finished article to see anything other than a clean cut.

Information: The files I’ve used to put together this test were: The amaryllis photo is one of my own photographs; African silhouettes by Debra Jenkinson.

Test 7
Writing with Silhouette Pens and then cutting.

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1. I set up a page of banners and corners in the Silhouette Studio software for this test, putting the greeting “Penblwydd Hapus” (Welsh for Happy Birthday) in the banners.  The banner shapes and the flourish corners were all from Silhouette.  I then selected different lines and put different colours and types of Silhouette pens into the blade holder until I’d written everything I wanted, before finally putting the cutting blade in and setting the Cameo to cut around each shape.  I wasn’t totally happy with how the pens had written on the Craft Photo Paper, though I think one type of pen worked better than the other.
2. On this greeting you can see the purple pen from the Silhouette Sketch Pens pack has worked much better than the gold pen from the Silhouette Sketch Pens - Metallics.
3. The swirl corners were “written” only using the gold metallic pen and isn’t as good as I’d have liked.
4. The blue text and purple outline on this are better.

Information: The files I’ve used to put together this test were:  Flourishes and banner outlines - designs from Silhouette site; Greetings wording - just typed up myself using fonts on my laptop.

While the results of this test were not all bad, using the pens on the Craft Photo Paper has certainly been the worse result I’ve had in everything I’ve thrown at the paper during my series of tests.  But there again, a “photo paper” isn’t exactly the type of surface you’d usually use pens on in the first place, so I won’t hold this little blip against a paper that has performed excellently in other tests.

Summery

Excellent paper!

“Crafty Bob’s A4 Premium Gloss Craft Photo Paper” has performed well in the tests I’ve thrown at it, producing excelent quality prints without having to resort to ink hungry “best” settings, and has worked well in my Cameo and cut cleanly.  As it works well at the standard Heavyweight Card setting in my Cameo it should also cut out with no problems in a CraftROBO.  At 200gsm weight, in my opinion, it isn’t heavy enough to make a base card out of (as a base card needs to be more substantial to support the weight of toppers and added embellishment), but it is a great weight for things like pyramage layers where you don’t want your layers to sag.  It may well be OK for a print, trim, fold, type quick card that you don’t intend to use further embellishment on - you’ll have to try that out for yourself.

I would certainly be more than happy to use this paper again in my crafting when I wanted printable glossy paper/lightweight card, whether for just printing out and then cutting by hand or for cutting out stuff in my Cameo.

Having had a look at the results I’ve had - What do you think?   Do you think it would be suitable for using in your crafting?  Why not give it a try for yourselves.  At only £2.49 + P & P for a pack of 20 it is reasonably priced, and if I’ve understood things correctly they post to locations beyond the UK, so if you live further afield you can also have it delivered to your door.

It would be nice if it was available in larger packs, or had a special deal for buying multi packs.

Also - a request to Crafty Bob - as I’m one who doesn’t like to have the same finish on all my cards, I think it’s now time to think about producing some mat printable card-stock of the same high quality, and possibly also one with a light sheen, and a printable iridescent card-stock, all of the same weight.  And I’d also like the same quality card at 250gsm or even 300gsm for projects where the base card is to printed off with a design and then toppers and embellishments put on top.

Cards :

Here are the cards I made using the bits I’ve cut out while testing Crafty Bob’s Paper.

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1. Topper from Test 1 - Circular Mother of Pearl Frames by June Young; Tea in the shade Original Watercolour painting by Pamela West.
2. Mats from Test 2 and silhouettes from test 6 - Champagne Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Marvelous Metallics by Emma Winnell; Purple Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Gorgeous Jewels by Emma Winnell;  Studio Oval Double Circle Mats by Angela Burk; African silhouettes by Debra Jenkinson.
3. Aperture cut in background from Test 3 - One of the backgrounds from Someplace Backing Paper 2 by Carol Lepard; Cow Iris Folding Pattern by Margaret Jones
4. Flowers from Test 4 and corners and greeting from Test 7 - FLOWERS 01 by Clive Couter.
5. Closeup of flower showing dimension and corner piece.

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1. Greetings and mat from Test 2  and flowers from Test 5 - Champagne Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Marvelous Metallics by Emma Winnell; Purple Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Gorgeous Jewels by Emma Winnell; Scalloped Oval Layers……Studio by Tina Fitch; Nesting Flowers by Claire Norman; Navy Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Gorgeous Jewels by Emma Winnell; Ivory Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Marvelous Metallics by Emma Winnell.
2. Closup showing how the flowers have not been damaged by shaping either forwards or backwards using a bone folder, and they hold their shape nicely because of the weight of the paper.
3. Mat from Test 2 and flower from Test 6 - Purple Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Gorgeous Jewels by Emma Winnell;  Scalloped Oval Layers……Studio by Tina Fitch; Flower is my own copyright as I grew and took the picture of this flower.
4. Closeup that once again shows how well a cut piece has responded to being worked with a bone folder for dimension, and is holding that dimension well.

Hope you like my creations!

.

CUP Update:  

Merchandise -  Other than the Craft Photo Paper CUP have a small number of other items in their Merchandise section.  Have a look - here - to see what they’ve got at the moment.

CUP TV -  There are now well over 100 episodes of CUP TV up on the Internet.  CUP TV is where designers have the chance to demonstrate how to make up their cards, and give hints and tips.  You can have a look at the list of the - 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-

• Crafty Bloggers Network - Challenge #13 - ‘Love is in the Air’
• Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog -  “Love is in the air”
• Cards Galore Challenge Blog -  Butterflies
• Crafting for all Seasons Challenge Blog - CH #20 - Love is In the Air

Here’s the card:

This is how I made it:

I’m really into playing with my new Silhouette Cameo at the moment, so this card is made using lots of elements written and cut with that machine.

I took a cutting file design “Butterflies - Embellishments - Studio” by  Ann Smith and cut the top layers of various butterflies with flourishes out of holographic silver paper (a bit difficult to photograph to show the real shine of these paper wings, especially in today’s light).  I cut the bottom butterfly layers out of red Satin Board.

I then set about creating the other elements on the card.  The flowers are made using die-cut flower layers (that I’d bought from somewhere at some point in the past), into which I snipped with scissors between each petal.  I used a Glitter Girl’s embossing tool to shape the flower leaves before sticking three different sized layer flowers together using Paper Flower Expert Glue, pushing into the centre with the ball tool while the glue caught to give the flower shape.

I then did some playing around in my Silhouette Studio software with elements that either came free with the software or I’d got from the Silhouette Online Store and downloaded directly into the software.  I took a heart shape and put several copies on my page, resizing them a bit so that they were not all the same.  I then typed in the words for Love in several different languages into the hearts (Cariad is Welsh for Love).  I measured across a circle of the flowers I’d made and made a circular mat shape from an irregular/deckle edge circle, placing two smaller circles inside.  I used two rectangular shapes, again with an irregular/deckle edge, into mats that were nearly the size of an A4 card front.  Into the smaller of these shapes I dotted around lots of flourishes at different angles and sizes as a background.

I used the same red Satin Board as I’d used for the butterflies for cutting the largest rectangular mat out of.  I used an iridescent paper that has a golden sheen for first writing on with a red Silhouette Sketch Pen, and then cutting out the shapes.  I roughly went around the outside of the hearts and circle with a red ink pad to pick up the edges so that they’d stand out from the background.

I made my base card by scoring and folding an A3 sheet of Centura Pearl Snow White cardstock to make an A4, tent fold, base card.

I then simply built up my card from the prepared elements, using 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape to stick on the circle, and using Pinflair Glue Gel to stick on all the other elements.  I used silver coloured thread between the butterflies and the hearts as trails.

I hope you like it.

 -oOo-

(Please note!  - You should find a box below to leave a comment, but due to the fact that I’ve had some problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog I now moderate all comments before they go live.  Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list - usually a couple of times a day.)

-oOo-

 Cards and More:

(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 usually has a longer description of how I made the item.)

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1.  Guitar by Silvia Griffin (I didn’t feel up to cutting out the aperture by hand so set a file up a file to cut it out in my Silhouette Studio so that I could cut the aperture in an oval mat out using my Cameo.  After that it was an easy job to lay out the paper strips - I had a pack of silver ones ready cut for iris folding use - and I used a roller glue pen to stick them in place.  With an iris folding design like this being a mm out in positioning the paper strips isn’t too obvious, but I do try and get them into the correct location and use one of those reverse tweezers to hold some of the smaller pieces while trying to get them to line up with the pattern beneath the aperture.  I use a pokey tool to position the music notes and treble clef peel-offs.)
2. Ribbon Border Edger by Claire Norman and Scalloped Layered Full Letter Alphabet by Tina Fitch (This isn’t a card, but rather a wall plaque with an initial to hang over a little boy’s bed.  Because of its intended recipient I didn’t want a fussy design so just used gold coloured cards and vellum in different textures, and a brown ribbon to make it up after cutting in my Cameo.)
3. Studio Spiral Toppers1 & Mats by Angela Burke and Flourish Butterflies - Embellishments - Studio by Ann Smith (Another card where all the pieces were cut out using my Cameo.  Two different gold cards for the topper and mat, and Satin Board and vellum for the butterflies.  On this card I used the largest butterflies as a focal point embellishment.)
4. Lady of the Lake Toppers by Rebecca Brindley and Flourish Butterflies - Embellishments - Studio by Ann Smith (For this card I used the smaller butterflies that I’d cut out using my Cameo as added embellishment to a card that I made using just one of the many toppers on the topper sheet.  The topper itself was hand cut, but it was just four straight cuts, so nothing difficult.)

Please remember to check back every now and then as I try to put up a post of my crafting efforts several times a week.

CUP Update:  

Crafty Bob’s Crazy 5 Minute Game - It looks like Crafty Bob’s Crazy 5 Minute Game is causing a bit of stir.  It has been the topic of discussion in more than one thread on Craftforums lately.

Crafty Bob’s Bingo -  We are now playing for four corners and the centre in game 76 in the bingo game. Like the Crazy 5 Minute game, you just need to be a craftsUprint customer at some time to join in.

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-

Thank You Very Much To Those Of You Who’ve Left Comments On My Various Blog Posts
I really appreciate the nice things you’ve said about my crafting efforts.

(Please note!  - Due to the fact that I’ve had occasional problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my blog I now moderate all comments before they go live.  Genuine comments will go live when I’ve checked through the list - usually a couple of times a day.)

-oOo-

• Emma’s Crafty Challenge -  Crafty Challenge #1 - ‘ Shades of Blue ‘
• Crafter’s Companion Monthly Challenge Blog - Challenge 21 - ANYTHING GOES

When I saw the title “Shades of Blue” I remembered a digital topper sheet I had that I thought would be suitable (Lady of the Lake Toppers by Rebecca Brindley) .  I put in a sheet of Centura Pearl Snow White card to print this onto, but was having a “bit of a moment” and put it in upside down, so it’s printed out on the back rather than on the iridescent side I was aiming for.  Never mind.  Decided that, as it still looked good, I wouldn’t waste ink to re-print on the other side.  I chose a blue “duo” card to make the base card from, and used strips I’d trimmed off as a half mat, using the back colour, bottom and left, behind the topper size I’d chosen.  The Greeting (Penblwydd Hapus is Welsh for Happy Birthday) is written using a blue pen in my Cameo machine.  The butterflies were cut out, also with my Cameo, out of two shades of blue Satin Board and some vellum.  The layers were mixed and matched and attached using glue gel, after giving some curving for dimension to the wings. (The butterflies were cut using cutting file Flourish Butterflies - Embellishments - Studio by Ann Smith)

Hope you like my card (and hope I’ve got all the rules right and got the details right for the challenge entries as well - having a bit of a brain fog few days so there’s no telling if what I think I’ve read is actually what is written on the challenge pages.)

and before I start - please don’t think that there’s nothing in this post for you if you don’t have a Cameo and have no interest in having one - If you make cards then you may well be interested in how well any image on screen transfers to Crafty Bob’s paper when printing, or if you have another digital cutting machine (especially the CraftROBO or earlier Silhouette machine) - you could expect similar results.

So - what’s this post all about - well ….

Crafty Bob has sent me some of his special “Crafty Bob’s A4 Premium Gloss Craft Photo Paper” to try out in my new Cameo to see how well it works and then write a review.  The paper arrived in the post Thursday and I set to putting it through its paces to see how it would perform when printing designs and then cutting out using the Cameo.

But I’m not going to just “write a review” though - I decided that, as us crafters judge by looking, I’d just make a photographic record of my trial so that you can judge for yourself.

Obviously I was going to use digital downloads I’d bought via craftsUprint, Crafty Bob’s home, to do my testing, and use a variety of different style of material - some bought in as cutting files, some as print & cut, and some other downloads I’d set up my own cutting files to work with them for ease of cutting when I’m having “bad” days or that are beyond my cutting even on my “good” days.

I’ve decided that for my initial testing I’ll give you small screen dumps of the digital designs I’m working with in each case (well I’m obviously not going to upload copies of the original, high quality, designs, as these images are just here to show you what I’m working with, not for downloading and use - if you like anything you see then you’ll find links to the location where you can get the originals in the “Information” area at the bottom of each test section).  This means that you’ll have a reference as far as initial colours are concerned.

Then I’ll scan in all resulting items on my all-in-one printer/scanner, so that there’s no different lighting conditions or photograph angles to contend with.

Review:

Well the first thing I needed to do was think about what things I’d usually want to “Print & Cut” in my digital/electronic cutting machine, what sort of things I may print off as backgrounds and then cut shapes out of the background, and what would be real tests for the paper.

Test 1

I decided to start with one of the Print & Cut sheets I’d designed myself, using some Designer Resources I’d bought via craftsUprint, because the cutting was confined to straight edges and circular layers.  Let’s start simple I thought!

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

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5  6

 (I haven’t done any image manipulation in any image manipulation software as far as colour, sharpness, etc., is concerned - the only thing I’ve done is some cropping off of the background areas and resizing the images.)

1. This first image is a screen dump of the file, after I’d designed the card front in one of my graphics programs, imported it into Silhouette Studio and set up the cutting lines.  I used Designer Resources to create this card front with circular pyramage design.
2. The second image is of the design scanned in after I’d printed it out onto a sheet of Crafty Bob’s paper using my HP Photosmart Premium C309g-m (original manufacturer’s inks) at settings: Photo Printing - with white borders; Paper type: Other photo papers; Print quality: Best.
3. This third image may look the same, and it is, except that I’d scanned it in after cutting out the lines with my Silhouette Cameo.  I put the settings to: Cardstock (Heavy - 80 lb),  but then adjusted the blade setting up to 4.
4. Here you can see the same design, but after pulling off the waste paper and gently removing the design pieces from the cutting mat.  I’ve put them against a black background to see if there are any white bits or separating of photo paper layers to be seen - It all actually looks fine to me.
5. This is a closeup of one of the layers with a white and a black background behind it for you to judge for yourself how well you think the Cameo has managed to cut out the circular layer.
6. This is a real closeup of the edge.

Information: The files I’ve used to put together this test were: Circular Mother of Pearl Frames by June Young and Tea in the shade Original Watercolour painting by Pamela West.

Test 2

Next I thought I’d go a bit more challenging.  If I wanted some ornate mats in colours that go with a design I’m working on but don’t have cardstock that match, I may well want to print out co-ordinating or neutral backgrounds and then cut out the fancy mat layers out of these printed background sheets. So I chose two different cutting files with slightly different edge designs, together with a light and dark backgrounds to work with for this test.

Dark colour:

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5   6   7

Light colour:

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Same process for both colours, but chose different mats from the cutting files, so the second one contains more of the plain layers but also contains a cut out greeting.  Images for both Dark and Light test are as follows:

1. Screen dump of background from my computer screen.
2. Scan of background after printing out (same printer and settings as for Test 1).
3. The layers from the two different cutting files separated out and put into Silhouette Studio software ready to cut from each colour.
4. Background after cutting out in Cameo using same settings as previously.
5. Layers as they were cut out after removing from cutting mat. (unfortunately I was a bit heavy handed with removing the waste paper from around the purple layers and yanked off one of the circles off one of the mats.  Should have slowed down and teased the background off with my silhouette tool rather than just yanking - never mind, nothing that a flower or bow won’t cover up!)
6. Closeup of one of the layers.
7. Even closer look at one of the layers.

Information: The files I’ve used to put together this test were:  Backgrounds - Champagne Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Marvelous Metallics by Emma Winnell and Purple Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Gorgeous Jewels by Emma Winnell; Cutting files - Studio Oval Double Circle Mats by Angela Burke and Scalloped Oval Layers……Studio by Tina Fitch.

Test 3

So far, so good, I thought.  Now for something else I occasionally do.  Print a background on the front of the card-stock, and print an iris-folding design that I’d set up to cut via my digital cutting machine on the back.  This tests the printing quality on the back, to see whether it’s good enough for the “eye” to pick up the registration marks, and also tests whether putting the printed, front, of the cardstock down on the cutting mat would damage the printed image.  For this test I also decided to change the print settings back to the standard settings - “General Everyday Printing” and leave Paper type at Automatic and Print quality at Automatic.  I also decided to turn the blade setting back to 3, as I thought that the Cameo should be able to cut 200gsm weight card at the standard “Cardstock (Heavy - 80 lb)” without putting the blade any deeper.

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5   6

1. Screen dump of background to be printed on the glossy, front, of the card.
2. Scan of the background after printing.
3. Screen dump of the iris folding design to be printed on the back of the card.
4. Scan of the iris folding design after printing.
5. Scan of the cow aperture after sticking the card, background downwards, on the cutting mat and cutting out from the back. Looks like a good cut to me, even though the glossy finish layer of the paper was down towards the cutting mat, and not upward facing.
6. Closeup of the only little bit of picture damage I found.

Although I’ve not had my Cameo for a fortnight, I have done a lot of cutting, so the mat isn’t nearly as tacky as it was when I first used it.  I don’t think I’d put the glossy, printed, side anywhere near a brand new cutting mat.  I’ll keep an older mat for doing this technique any time I need to.  Not that it’s likely to be something that’s done daily, unless you do a lot of iris folding and want to set up cutting files for them for days when I can’t do any cutting by hand.

Information: The files I’ve used to put together this test were: One of the backgrounds from Someplace Backing Paper 2 by Carol Lepard and Cow Iris Folding Pattern by Margaret Jones which I’d set up a cutting file for to save me having to cut out by hand.

Test 4

OK.  Time for a design that I bought as a Print & Cut design from CUP. A whole sheet of photo real flowers which have very serrated edges.

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1. This is a screen dump of the design as it appears on my screen within the Silhouette Studio software.
2. This is a scan of the page after printing out.  As per test 3, I stick to General Everyday printing settings.
3. This is a scan of the whole sheet of flowers after cutting out (again I stuck to the same cutting settings as I used for test 3).  These are all still laying on the cutting mat but I’ve lifted and removed the waste paper from between the flowers.
4. These are two sets of the flowers scanned in.  The four on the white background are just lifted from the cutting mat with my Silhouette Universal Spatula and the four on the black background I’ve lifted and tried to give some gentle shaping to with my fingers.

Information: The file I used to put together this test was: FLOWERS 01 by Clive Couter.

Test 5

Those of you who’ve seen any of my cards with flowers on will realise that I don’t tend to use them flat, I like to give them some shaping to give really dimensional flowers, so this is going to be a real test for the paper.

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1. I put the two backgrounds onto the A4 area in my silhouette Studio software and printed it out using the same settings as for Tests 3 and 4.  I then dotted on several copies of layers from three different flower types.  This is a screen dump of the resulting cutting file.
2. This is a scan of all the flowers after cutting them out of the printed backgrounds.  I’ve taken the waste paper away and just left the flowers in place on the cutting mat.

Information: The files I’ve used to put together this test were:  Nesting Flowers by Claire Norman and Backgrounds: Navy Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Gorgeous Jewels by Emma Winnell and Ivory Satin from 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Marvelous Metallics by Emma Winnell.

Oh Dear! Just realised how long this blog post has got.  I’m going to stop now and continue in another post on another day. Please check back again to see the results of Test 5.  Test 6 - using the Silhouette Sketch Pens with the paper.  Plus, of course, I’ve got to show you some of the cards I’m in the process of making from all these bits and pieces I’ve been busy cutting out.

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - The big news in the latest mailer (sent out 10th February) is that Crafty Bob, and his Tombola, will be at the SECC Glasgow Show between March 8th and the 11th.  This is great news for his fans in the north.  Read all about it - here.  There’s also some fun new 3d pop out word cards by the fantastic designer Carol Clarke, a showcase of some of the Platinum designers work, and much more.

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-

Secondly, I’d like to say a big Thank You Very Much to those who’ve left comments on my previous blog posts.  If you’d like to leave a comment on any of my blog posts you should find a comment box at the bottom of the page, but if there isn’t then there should be the word “Comment” as a link just below the end of the post that you can click on which should bring up the page where the comment box is at the bottom.

(Just a note so you know -  Due to having occasional problems with Spam/advertising posts, that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my posts, I now moderate all comments before they go live.)

I’ve been playing around some more with cutting out on my Cameo the last few days, as well as doing some digital designing using Designer Resources bought from craftsUprint.  I’ve also been doing a little project doing a trial using some of Crafty Bob’s special paper in my Cameo.  The results of my testing should be appearing in my blog over the next few days so keep your eyes open for that.

 Cards:

(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 usually has a longer description of how I made the item.)

This first batch is made using my new Cameo.

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1. Studio Oval Double Circle Mats by Angela Burke (This is a very detailed cutting file, but looks fantastic.  I used various sized layers not only as matting and layering behind a simple bunch of 3 paper flowers from a Glitter Girls Flower Box.  The main card is made from Satin Board from C & C, and the two shades of mats and layers out of Pearlescent cardstock, also from C & C.)
2. Morning glory over the edge card by Lyn Simms (The main card is cut from Centura Pearl Snow White, the butterfly out of Satin Board.  The blue background is Silk Art card, and the card is simply embellished with some peel-offs and sticky back gems.  I have to say that my Cameo is cutting these intricate designs very cleanly.)
3. Shaped Daffodil Note Card by Rae Carr (A very minimalist card.  Just print and cut both the outside and the insert, fold both into shape, and stick the insert inside.  One greetings peeloff - “Dymuniadau Gorau” - Welsh for “Best Wishes” - on the outside, and that’s it.  Sometimes a quick card is needed when my hands are totally not working, so a design like this is a handy thing to have in my digital library.)
4. Iris Shaped Note Card by Rae Carr (Another minimalist card, made like the previous card.)

This second batch has been built up using Designer Resource bought via CUP.

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1. 11 sheets of A4 Background Papers blues and lilacs by Jacqueline Hatton and 10 Cream and White Borders by Alison Roots (I made a card front using two designs from the backgrounds and two strips of the same border.  The topper is a digi-stamp out of the Daisy & Friends CD-ROM by Joanna Sheen.  I cut this out as an oval topper using my Cameo and coloured it in using Pro-markers.)
2. Elegant Gold Alphabet by Carol Lepard and 11 sheets of A4 Background Papers blues and lilacs by Jacqueline Hatton (This is an A4 card made by scoreing and folding an A3 sheet of Centura Pearl Snow White cardstock.  The greetings panel on this has been made the focal point of the card by creating a large panel from one of the backgrounds and laying on the letters for “Penblwydd Hapus” - Welsh for “Happy Birthday” - out of the Elegant Gold Alphabet.  It’s been printed onto the Tesco Value Glossy Photo Paper.  The flowers have been made by punching out two different flower shapes, using Tonic Petal Pairs punches, out of a paler background from the same kit that had been printed onto Super Smooth white card.)
3. Closeup of top left corner of card 2.
4. Closup of the “Hapus” from the centre of the main panel on card 2.

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1. Tea in the shade Original Watercolour painting by Pamela West and Circular Mother of Pearl Frames by June Young (The actual Tea in the Shade image is rectangular, but for this card I cropped it into a circular topper in my graphics package and added the circular frame.  I also made some circular pyramage layers to build up on the card once the sheet was printed out.)
2. 12 sheets of A4 Background Papers yellows and blues by Jacqueline Hatton (The only bits on this card that isn’t based on this kit of backgrounds are the leaves, which are die-cut leaves from my crafty stash. The card front was built up using two of the c0-ordinating flower backgrounds from the kit, and also two smaller panels of the palest background in the kit.  The flower decorations are another of the flower backgrounds printed out onto Super Smooth white card and then punched out using a daisy Tonic punch, trying to get the blue flower centre in the center of the punch each time.  This gave flowers with a blue centre, yellow inner petals going to white at the outside of every petal.  I shaped each petal before sticking on with glue gel.)

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - It’s the craftsUprint Platinum Designers (the designers who have sold 10,000+ items via CUP) who are having some of their work showcased in the mailer sent out by CUP HQ on Wednesday, 8th February.  There’s also lots of other news, including news of some of the travelers amongst the craftsUprint family of designers and crafters and where they are now.  You can have a read of the mailer by clicking - 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-

 Cards:

(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.)

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1. Wedding Cake Insert WPC-GSD-AI-EPS-PDF by Rae Carr (I made this insert to go inside a card which I decorated on the front with the next card, a gate-fold card, tied with a yellow ribbon when closed, so the white and central yellow of the daisy flowers is the theme I’ve gone for.  So the pop out cake was cut using my Cameo.  The daisies I put together myself from cut out flower layers, and the leaves were die-cut from a pack of die-cut flowers I’ve got in my crafting stash.)
2. SPRING DAISY WEDDING WITH WEDDING CAKE FRENCH GATEFOLD by Nick Bowley (The gatefold design could be use to make a lovely gatefold card, just as it is, but I chose to make it slightly smaller and use it as a topper on a card, with a yellow ribbon stuck behind the gatefold topper before sticking it to the front of my base card.  I also stuck a strip of the same yellow, iridescent card I’d used for the base card inside one of the gatefolds to overlap where the join is, to bring the colours through the card.)
3. SPRING DAISY WEDDING WITH WEDDING CAKE FRENCH GATEFOLD by Nick Bowley (In this photo the gate-fold topper has been opened out.)
4. St. David’s Day Greeting Card Easel by Tanya Hall (I love it!  Not only is there an Easel card, with some decoupage elements, in the kit, but there’s also an envelope, a bookmark, and round gift tags.  My problem is that my hands don’t let me cut out intricate designs, so cutting out the dragons individually to decoupage on was out of the question.  But I don’t care because I like the card with just one bunch of daffodils and the birthday greetings panel built up.  It comes with three different greetings for you to use.)

The following is another cutting project I’ve undertaken for the very talented Tina Fitch.

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1. The first picture simply shows the file just cut out of linen textured silver card and white card-stock, then stuck together.
2. The second picture shows the same card after I’ve decorated it with silver, sticky back beads and flowers I made myself using flower layers punched out using a couple of the Tonic Petal Pairs punches.  I’ve also stuck on two small silver ribbon bows.

The beauty of cutting files like this is that you can cut it out of cardstock that the cardmaker wants and you aren’t dictated to as regards to your card colour by the designer.  So if your card is going to be for a Ruby wedding anniversary then use red cardstock.  Somebody is celebrating their Emerald Wedding Anniversary? - get out your green cardstock!  And then decorate the card how you want.

Although I cut the card out using my Cameo digital cutting machine from within the Silhouette Studio software on my computer (which you can see - here), the file is also available in .gsd format - here, and .svg file format - here.

Knitting:

Having finished knitting up the mohair mix yarn I decided to try something different.

Same round knitting loom, so no holding up of knitting needles with the growing project on it.  Making another scarf, but using completely different type of yarn.  I find it much easier to use a knitting loom or knitting board, and wind and then hook over the stitches, as I rest the round knitting loom on my belly and rest my elbows either on pillows if I’m knitting in bed, or on the arms of the chair or on cushions if I’m knitting in the sitting room. And for the larger knitting board it goes right across the arms of the chair.

The yarn I’m using this time is called Ostrich Yarn.  I got if from eBay before Christmas but am only just working my way round to using it.

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I’m making the scarf in stripes of two tones of the yarn.  I’m using a circular knitting loom but not knitting in the round, but rather I’m stopping and turning back at the end of each row so that I end up with a flat piece.  The second picture shows a closeup of a single yarn over a piece of knitted yarn, and the third picture is the wrap from around the yarn with the details.

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-

Thank You Very Much To Those Of You Who’ve Left Comments On My Various Blog Posts
I really appreciate the nice things you’ve said about my crafting efforts.

(Please note!  - Due to having occasional problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my posts I now moderate all comments before they go live.)

-oOo-

 Cards:

(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.)

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1. BLUE TIT & BLACKBERRY BRAMBLE LUNCH SCENE BUILDER CARD FRONT by Elaine Sheldrake and decorated with flowers from 8 Petal Layered Flower by Hazel Kinvig-Paul and FRAMED FLOWERS by Clive Couter (For making this card I got my scissors out to cut out the decoupage layers on the main image, which had some fiddly bits so isn’t the easiest type of card if you’ve got dexterity problems.  I then used my Cameo to cut out a small number of flower layers which were parts of cutting files I’d got previously.  A great way to put elements of cutting files to use outside the whole design they were originally a part of.)
2. Roses for Mum by Angela Burke (There are more than one variation of the base card in this cutting file.  I chose the one without the word Mother down the middle.  This was an easy card to make, and I’ve purposely kept it flat so that it could be posted.  I simply cut out the panel to put inside the card out of vellum which has a gold flower pattern on it, and also used the same vellum for a small panel to go on the front.  The gold oval panel is a die-cut element from a sheet in my crafty stash.  The decoration is simply two corner peeloffs which are gold on white roses, and three peeloff gold letters - MAM.)
3. My favourite garden rose by Bodil Lundahl (This is a star pyramage topper so the cutting out is all straight edges, making it easy to cut out and put together.  The base card is made by scoring and folding an A4 sheet of Centura Pearl Snow White card-stock.)

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1. PURPLE ROSES WITH WHITE DOVE IN WINDOW FRAME by Nick Bowley (This is a decoupage style topper.  The cutting out was a bit fiddly for me, mostly around the wings, but I don’t suppose it would be any problem for those who don’t have any dexterity problems.  I used the same Centura Pearl Snow White card as a base card but trimmed it to match the size of the topper so the provided image covered the whole of the card front.  The only embellishment I used were two corner peel-offs from the same peeloff pack as previously.)
2. Ladies rose by Terri Hawley (This is another decoupage style topper that I cut out by hand and has some ins and outs to cut out.  There isn’t a lot of layers though so it’s not a long job.  And it’s the sort of image that you could leave with just one, or even no decoupaged layers.  The base card was from my crafting stash, and I think it’s a Hunkydory silk art cardstock with an embossed gold detail down the side.  I just used some sticky back faux pearls at the corners of the base layer for embellishment.)
3. Daisy Ring Topper…Studio by Tina Fitch, embellished with a butterfly from the cutting file Morning glory over the edge card gsd file by Lyn Simms and flowers from Nesting Flowers by Claire Norman (I actually cut out the Daisy Ring Topper twice.  Once out of iridescent white card and once out of iridescent white vellum.  I then decided to snip between the inner and middle row, and the middle and outer row on the vellum.  I stuck this single, middle, layer of daisies over the corresponding layer on the card version, just putting small spots of glue gel every other daisy. I lifted the edge petals of this layer of give some dimension to the card.  The smallest row of daisies on the card version was stuck to a die-cut gold circular mat before attaching to the card front.  The main card and the butterfly were cut out of Satin Board.  I just used some sticky back gems to embellish.)

I’ve also had a little project to cut out and make up one of the very talented Tina Fitch’s designs for her to use an exemplar on selling sites.

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1. This first picture shows the basic card, just cut out of alternating layers of white and cream card-stock.
2. The second picture shows exactly the same base card, but having been decorated with a plaque of cream card with gold lettering on it.  Both the plaque and the gold lettering were also cut out using my new Cameo, the gold lettering out of iridescent, sticky back, paper.  The flowers that are stuck in and are showing round the edge of the plaque are from a Glitter Girls flower box and the paper flowers were also cut out using a cutting machine.

The cutting file design is called “Scalloped Birthday Layered Card” and is available to buy on Tina’s own site - Forever Memories For You and from craftsUprint (it is available in other cutting formats so please do have a look at Tina’s page to see all she’s got uploaded.)

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - A copy of the mailer sent out by the busy team at CUP HQ on February the 3rd can be seen by clicking - here.  In addition to a Showcase of designs by CUP Gold designers, and a CUP TV episode by Ann Smith, there are some really beautiful “Floral Butterfly Decoupage Quick Cards” by the very talented Pam West.  On top of the card designs there’s a section of the latest news as well.

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-

Thank You Very Much To Those Of You Who’ve Left Comments On My Various Blog Posts
I really appreciate the nice things you’ve said about my crafting efforts.

(Please note!  - Due to having occasional problems with Spam/advertising posts that are absolutely nothing to do with the content of my posts I now moderate all comments before they go live.)

-oOo-

Cards and More Papercrafting:

Cards, a box to go with one of them, and some bunting make up my paper-crafting of yesterday and today.

(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.)

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1. This tractor was a cutting file download from the Silhouette design shop site, but, rather than cut the pieces out from lot of different coloured card-stock and paper-piece together, I decided to digitally colour in the pieces and put in an offset cutting line outside the whole design.  I then sent it to my printer before cutting out in my Cameo.  For this card I use two colours of Coredinations from the Nostalgia pack.  The pale blue “sky” layer was cut out with a wavy edge, as was the main dark green “grass” layer, but then, after sticking on the tractor, I tore a strip of the green to give it a rough edge and used my scissors to “feather” the edge before sticking it in front of the tractor.
2. The base cardstock for the card was an A4 sheet of Centura Pearl Snow White card, so I used an A3 sheet of the same cardstock for this gift box.  Scored using my Hougie Board.  I wanted to keep the decoration on the box matching but not as decorated as the card so simply put on a tractor image and the front grass layer.
3. I designing the bunting, triangular, shape and putting in the round holes was easy in the Silhouette Studio software.  I made them of a size that four would fit on an A4 sheet.  The backgrounds were four of the ones from 12 sheets of A4 Background Papers yellows and blues by Jacqueline Hatton.  These were printed onto Super Smooth white card and then placed in my Cameo for cutting.  (I think I need to tweak my settings for this type of card as it wasn’t quite as clean a cut as everything else I cut that day.)  I typed the letters I wanted into another page in Silhouette Studio, re-sized them and unlinked them so that I could space them out before creating an offset layer.  The original, inside layer, was drawn in blue ink using a pen in the Cameo before I changed it for the cutting blade.  These were cut out of 160gsm heavyweight paper. I then simply stuck my letters to the bunting shapes.
4. I used another sheet of the A4 Centura Pearl Snow White as a base card for this card, simply scored with my Hougie Board and folded in half.  The decoration on the card was all made using two different pieces of cardstock.  The purple card is from a pack of Bold coloured A4 Satin Board, and the “golden” card is some Super Smooth white card printed with one of the designs in 12 Sumptuous Satin Backing Papers - Marvelous Metallics by Emma Winnell.  The cutting files I used for the card were - Ballroom Dancers by Claire Norman, Lattice scalloped squares by Sue Bryant and Nesting Flowers by Claire Norman.  I also designed my own frame and mat shape which I cut and used as a base for the design and as a “window frame” that the lattice squares were stuck to as “windows”.
5. The base card was cut out from another sheet of the purple A4 Satin Board as I used in the previous card.  The card template is Scalloped Border Card by Rae Carr.  I used 3 sheets of A4 Metallic Medley Vellum to decorate the card.  The darkest sheet I used as apage behind the scalloped border to highlight the cut, and also as the largest mat, which I’d cut with a wavy edged trimmer.  The lightest sheet I used to cut the smallest mat out of, making it around 1cm smaller than the larger mat in each direction and, again, cutting it with the wavy edged trimmer.  The third, middle toned sheet I’d chosen I used to cut out some Fancy Spiral Flowers by Ann Smith in two different sizes. As well as shaping and gluing these flowers in shape after cutting them out, I also used some purple flowers from my crafty stash to decorate the card.  I think that these came out of a Glitter Girls flower box.

I’ve still got the keys I’ve cut left to craft with, and also an aperture for an Iris Folding design I want to make up.

Knitting:

Having knitted my fingerless gloves with the matching hat and scarf, I still had a bit of the yarn left over.  So I made a further scarf with the rest of the yarn.  You can see the gloves and hat I made for myself - here - and the first scarf - here.

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This scarf is a bit narrower and shorter - just right for a child.  The second photo is a closeup of this scarf.  It’s got a fleck of silver in it, but that hasn’t come up well in the photo.  The yarn details are in the first post.

CUP Update:  

CUP Newsletter Mailer - A copy of the E-mail sent out by the CUP team on Wednesday, 1st February, can be seen by clicking - here.  Sandie Burchell has come up with a new card concept that look stunning.  There’s designs by CUP Silver designers being showcased.  Plus lots more, so please do click through to have 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-

For Those Of You Who’ve Left Comments On My Various Blog Posts
Thank You Very Much!
I really appreciate the nice things you’ve said about my crafting efforts.

(You’ll notice that comments don’t go live the minute you post them - I moderate all comments before they go live because of having occasion problems with Spam/advertising comment posts.)

-oOo-

Cards:

Sorry, but I haven’t actually made any cards today.  I’ve been too busy “playing” with cutting out different things to see how my new Cameo works with different media.  I’ve ended the day with a tray of pieces that I’ll need to use to make up cards over the next few days.

These include: keys from silver mirror paper; swirls to shape into flowers from iridescent gold vellum; an assortment of items, that include a fine lattice window, a silhouette of a couple dancing, small flowers, a card with a decorative edge, from purple satin card; letters that I first drew the shape with a blue silhouette pen and then cut out a mm outside to create the letter, from 170gsm good paper; a print and then cut tractor from 120gsm good quality paper; red and orange flower layer shapes from 80 to 100gsm photocopier paper.

Hopefully I’ll have some time to put them together over the next few days and you can see the finished effect.

CUP Update:  

CUP Discount Code - The discount code “BINGO” is still valid until Midnight GMT, on the 31st, January 2012, therefore there’s still a tiny bit of time to add some digital downloads to your digital library from the vast number of crafting items available on craftsUprint.  And if you don’t like to download and print out your own sheets for crafting, then don’t forget that craftsUprint now offers to “Print & Post” lots of designs, so you can have a design printed onto good quality paper posted directly to your home.

CUP Newsletter Mailer - The main, showcase, section is given over to the work of Silver Designers in the mailer sent out on Monday 30th.  Please click - here - to go and have a look at an online version of the mailer and have a look at all the designs and CUP news.

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-

Please feel free to leave me a comment.  I really appreciate every one I receive.
Following a spait of advertising Spam that’s totally unrelated to my crafting blog you’ll notice that comments don’t go live the minute you post them, as I now moderate all comments before they go live.

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