Using Julie Loves...Mandalas

Oh wow! What a busy few months it's been! I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog post! I'm so sorry!

So first of all we had my darling daughter's first birthday which I think took more planning than my wedding day! Seriously - more parties than the Queen - oh well, she deserved it :-) 

Then, shortly after the birthday celebrations I had a short spell in hospital while I had surgery to remove my gallbladder - told you it's been crazy!

So what better to get back into the swing of things than a play around with the latest Julie Love Creativity box which landed through the letterbox :-)

This month saw mandalas and oh my goodness they're amazing! Here's a few of the cards I made with the kit and I'll natter along the way to tell you what I did...

So this is one of my favourites! I've taken inspiration from the inky patterned paper and using a waterbrush and distress oxides to paint the foiled mandala topper. Super simple but really effective. Then mounted on a flag style matt and layer then adhered a foiled circle sentiment in the triangle space at the bottom.

This is another favourite (I think they're all favourites lol). So here I've done a really CAS card. Not added any colour to the foiled topper, just added a vellum banner across the front of the card and left it all black and white to really let the gold foiling show off. I've added the foiled circle sentiment to the front of the vellum banner centred on the mandala design. Then 3 pieces of card candi in the top right just for a tiny splash of colour.

This was a super quick card to make. I've matt and layered with the purple patterned paper and a square of black card then again left the foiled mandala topper plain, layering a sentiment on the front in the centre but this time adhering candi on candi fix foam pads all the way around the edge of the topper design to add some extra colour and to draw the eye in.

This is a super cool design! It looks like I've used loads of the foiled mandala toppers doesn't it?! Yet I've only used THREE! I've attached one complete with a sentiment in the centre and then the other two I've attached to the covered card front over the edge. None of the pieces that went over the edge were wasted as the pieces that were cut off are the smaller pieces that are also on the card front!

I really loved the inky patterned backgrounds. I'm not one for getting really messy so these are perfect for me! And because they don't have specific designs on them and the colours are so varied in this pad, they'll go with a whole range of other products too! BONUS!

There were embossed frames in the creativity box too, here's what I did with some of mine:

You can find out details of how to subscribe or buy some of the contents at www.craftworkcards.co.uk

Thanks for stopping by!!

How to make.... a z-fold Card - an easy step-by-step tutorial!

Hi everyone - as promised I've done a z -fold card tutorial which features over on the Craftwork Cards Official Facebook Group! If you wanted to keep this is  a safe place, then head over to the group and there's a downloadable pdf of the tutorial - including the steps and photographs for you to save on your own device.

Click on the link to head over to the facebook group...... here

So, onto the tutorial. Here's a list of everything that you'll need to make the base and to decorate as I have here.

What you will need:

Julie Loves – AllWrapped Up Collection

148x148mm Square Card

Paper trimmer/Ruler and Craft knife

Adhesive

How to make the basic card:

Take your card blank, I’ve used a 148x148mm white card blank for this tutorial. Cut a strip 55mm from the bottom.

Take the larger piece and fold the front back to the fold of the card. Use a bone folder to help give you a crisp, clean fold. Then repeat with the thinner piece.

Flip the smaller piece of card as shown in the photograph below. This forms the basis of your Z-fold card. It is easier to decorate your card before gluing together.

To decorate the card as the beginning of this tutorial you’ll need to cut the following pieces of paper:

90x70mm stars paper

90x70mm red hearts paper

90x145mm pink stripe paper

53x145mm holly & berries paper

53x145mm Turquoise trees paper

Then adhere to the card as in the photograph below. Notice the large piece of card has been decorated on the inside and the thinner piece has been decorated on the outside.

Glue a small section on the front of the red hearts paper as shown below and stick down the long end of the thinner piece of card.

Open the card and glue on the small tab of the smaller piece of card, like this:

Then simply fold the piece covered the pink stripe back over to close your card and firm down. It will stick in place perfectly and sit flat every time! Your decorated z-card base is now completed and you can add any embellishments you wish!

I added:

·       A small NOEL tag on foam pads on the inside of the card

·       A framed sentiment on the front thinner piece of card – raising the centre on foam pads and the frame sitting flat on the card

·       2 layered, embossed poinsettia die-cuts. I curled them around my finger before gluing them together, then stuck them on the front and added smaller flower die-cuts and laurels around the large flower.

A small die-cut bow on the inside of the card.

You can adapt the tutorial by using different sizes of square card to start with or by cutting thinner or wider strips initially. Obviously you'd just need to change the measurements of the pieces of paper to decorate the card blank.

The papers I've used here are from this month's Julie Loves monthly subscription club.

This is one of my favourite card styles and suits a whole range of collections. Why don't you try it out!

Happy crafting!

A Closer Look At... Julie Loves Paisley and Petals

Hi Everyone! I hope you've all had a fantastic bank holiday weekend! Did anyone catch Julie Hickey's shows on Create and Craft yesterday? She did such a good job even though she was poorly!

This new collection was right up my street and I always feel so grateful to be on the design team and get to make samples with new collections before they go to sale. This kit reminded me of the retro daisy Craftwork Cards used to feature in a lot of their products many moons ago but revamped and in a truly Julie style. 

The stamps in this collection were out of this world, I even emailed Steph (Senior Designer at CWC) to tell her how much I loved them! They all work so well together, you can create so many different stamping combinations, using the colour combination from the Paisley and Petals collection or using different colour combinations, you can achieve so many different looks. This is what the stamps look like:

So I thought I'd show you a few of my finished sample cards and give you a few ideas on how I created them!

Starting with a nice easy card, I've made this card by cutting out the individual petals from the patterned paper and sticking then to the back of the sentiment, turning the sentiment into a main focal point on my card. I've used one of the tiny prints for the background and a strip of ribbon across the front the attached the sunflower I've made to the bottom right. This allows enough space to see the tiny print on the patterned paper.

Here, I stamped out the large and small flowers several times in colours of ink pad matching the collection and cut them out. 

I've also used a large circle die to cut a large central aperture in the front of my card and then laid the flowers over the aperture so all the flowers overlap slightly but leave gaps. I've stamped a few paisley images around the edge of the aperture then adhered the flowers to the front of the card.

Stamp a sentiment on white card and mount onto a piece of the blue floral patterned paper for the front of the card. I've used a large piece of the same blue floral patterned paper on the inside of the card and tied ribbon down the spine of the card. 

As a finishing touch I've used some liquid pearls to accent the flowers.

For this card I've used one of the sentiment postcards and layered it onto the deep blue paisley paper.

I've the cut out some of the beautiful hand illustrated blooms from the mustard colour paper and added these to the front of the card as if they're coming in from the edge of the card.

A few dots of gold liquid pearls around the blooms ties it all together nicely!

I've used a large circle die to cut an aperture in the front of my card, slightly larger than the embossed daisy tag. I've covered the front in the lovely daisy paper and cut out the aperture. 

I've then taken a length of white thread and secured it between a sandwich of two of the embossed daisy tags. Secure each end of thread to the inside of your card. Then cut a square of white card slightly smaller than your card and cut the same size aperture from it. This will go on the inside of your card and hide the tails of the thread!

I've added some soft pink ink, sentiments and bows the spinning element of the card and then a square of contrasting patterned paper on the inside of the card.

Here's some more of my finished sample cards with this collection, if you'd like to know how any of them were made please ask, I'd be only too happy to explain :-)

Happy crafting! I hope you enjoy this kit as much as I did - I'd love to see your makes!

A Closer Look at... Stamp It 3!

Hello everyone! I hope you're all well and your crafty mojo is flowing nicely!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be asked to make some samples with the wonderful Stamp It 3 stamps and papers. Let me tell you, it didn't take much persuading! I've also contributed to the Stamp It 3 Magazine and have several card tutorials in there! Not only does the magazine have lots of projects and step by step instructions there are top quality free background papers in there that work perfectly with the stamp sets. 

I love stamping and my stamping mojo has come racing back since Craftwork Cards have started regularly releasing new stamp sets. I love the quality of their stamps, the impressions are so clean and crisp and their stamping card is second to none. (Just for info in case anyone is wondering - I don't get paid to sell their products on my blog at all, I just love the products dearly and enjoy using them!)

These stamps are so different to their usual stamps. They're kind of grungy and have a distressed look to them. They're awesome with mixed media and work well with clean and simple cards too - which is so clever! My lovely friend Sue designed these stamps too - which makes me love them even more!

This is what they look like:

As you can see they're so detailed, they have beautiful imagery and usable on a wide range of projects. The paper compliment these stamps perfectly and the imagery is carried on through the papers and stamps.

The wonderful Julie Hickey took these products to air this time and did a fantastic job! Love to watch her demonstrations and sit there saying to myself - darn, why didn't I think of doing that?!

Here's a selection of cards I made for the show:

I stamped onto watercolour card and then using Kuretake Clean Color Real Brush pens and a waterbrush, watercoloured the butterflies. Adding some drops of coloured water randomly to the card. 

See the signature 2 lines around the edge to frame the focal point!

On this card, I die cut a piece of the super smooth card and stamped on that. I've doodle line along the edge of the paper matt and then inked the sentiment paper to make the sentiments match my design. Finished off with 3 dots of liquid pearls in gold. 

I've created a distress background for the card front using Kuretake Clean Color pens and water then stamped over it using memento ink. I've taken 3 or 4 colours in different tones of the same colour and used them to highlight different elements of the stamped images and used one of the pens top colour over the sentiment paper to make them match the coloured images on my card. Perfect card for a gent!

Just to prove you really don't need a lot of crafting equipment to make these cards, I'll share with you that I actually made these cards whilst on holiday with my family in a caravan! You can achieve these looks at home too. If you have any questions about the cards I've made feel free to ask, I'd be happy to answer any queries, just leave a comment or message me on facebook.

Here's the other cards I made for the show:

Thanks for stopping by! Take care :-)

5 ways to add doodling to your cards and projects

I love adding doodles and simple pen lines to cards and projects. They really help finish off a card, make the card pop, add another dimension - and doodles are a super cheap extra embellishment, right?! Doodles are also so individual, no one else will be able to replicate the exact same doodles as yours; this makes your cards and projects even more unique!

1. Here I used simple doodled flowers on the spots of the paper to add some depth and definition to the card. This enabled me to show the papers in a different light but also show how you can stretch the use of your papers further. This example is doodled flowers but there would be nothing to stop you adding other types of doodles – maybe turn some spots into footballs or baseballs, turns spots to buttons by drawing holes and stitching on them, draw smiley faces - give it a go on a piece of scrap first if you’re unsure! Use the patterns on the paper as guides for your doodles. You can see here the same paper is used for the background and the focal point, with doodling added to the focal piece - it gives it a totally different look! You can get this paper here.

2. This time I made a really quick clean and simple card adding simple pen lines to frame the layers and elements on the card. Often framing elements on your card whether that be with stamped images or doodles can work really well. I find framing the layers can really complete a card and draw the eye to a focal point. Generally, I do two lines on each side- the main reason being that one line by itself if wobbly can look – well, wobbly. If you do two lines that cross in places they look like you intended them to look wobbly and don’t look out of place. See below. Here’s an example without pen lines, with one pen line and then with two pen lines, my signature element on a card! You can get these papers and stamps here

3. Stitching can look amazing on cards. As much as I’d love to get out my sewing machine and add stitching to some of my cards there’s two main reasons that I don’t do this – the first one being that it really blunts your best sewing needles, the second reason that I’m impatient, I like immediate results and this takes too much time for me. Here comes my saviour, faux stitching! This takes no time at all in comparison and is a really easy look to achieve. Here I’ve shown the same stamped image with different types of stitching. If you need ideas, you can always look at sewing machines online and see the types of stitches you can do with the machines and replicate this with you pen! These stamps can be bought here

4. Sometimes I’ll stamp a main focal point and don’t want to add too much to the card other than that. That’s where the ‘magic 3 dots’ comes in to save the day! This technique came from my wonderfully talented and very lovely friend, Julie Hickey. On a clean and simple card that you don’t want to add much to, the magic 3 dots can really fill a space without filling it at all! Here’s a before and after shot showing how this can work on your card. If you didn’t want to add 3 dots, you could also do tiny doodle flowers, larger spots or stars, whatever goes best with the theme of your card. You can find these papers here

5. If you’re feeling brave – go freestyle! Make your doodling the focal point on your card, whether that’s your own handwritten sentiment on the front of your card or try drawing simple flower shapes on patterned paper and cut then out for your card front. If you didn't feel you could draw something, you could doodle on die cut shapes or punched shapes. You could draw anything on patterned paper and cut it out, or even draw straight onto your card and use watercolours or markers to colour in! This way there’s always just the right image you need for a particular card! The internet is full of drawing ideas and helpful step by steps if you’re after something more complex – give it a go! These papers were from a subscription club

Well there it is, 5 ways to add doodling to your cards and projects. I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post as must as I enjoyed writing it for you and I hope it’s inspired you to given you ideas on how and I hope it’s inspired you or give you ideas on how you can add doodles. I’d love to see any of your doodled projects or cards!

Thanks for popping by – happy crafting!!