Paper Petals #2

Came home today from the second Paper Petals meet where we exhanged our first set of cards. There are currently six people so I received 5 pretty new designs.

I ended up making my card till the last minute huhu T.T (in between chores here and there!) I wanted to incorporate a technique so I scoured through my books and magazines taking notes... I finally came up with an idea involving acetate (similar to overhead projector sheets) but couldn't get the creative juice to flow -_- So I thought about it over dinner and decided that I would use my idea for a Christmas card :)

***which meant back to the drawing board***

I decided to make something similar to a design that caught my eye before, really liked the pale colour coordination. I cut out the right scraps and things (the blue paper I used had a matching ink, but luckily the pink I had around the house worked together well).

I had a few issues with the layout and how the elements worked together as I made one big change which was the strip down the middle was cut with a border punch so many other elements had to change.

I worked something out (although my "no two cards are the same" policy got in the way) and set to writing out the instructions, despaired when I had to write it out eight times, so typed it up and went to look at the OfficeWorks website about document printing... their website was down... -_-

(An aside, I did go to Office works and I even bought a copy card - free to purchase but have to insert $1 or $2 coin... then couldn't figure out how to print so went to the counter and it's all done from there... goodbye $2 coin...)

Anyway, I'm generally happy with the card and I did write that alternatively it could be made as a gatefold card (i.e. it opens like saloon doors lol), but after making it, I think I should have made the actual card to be a gatefold card because the paper is layered and just looks like it will open lol

Instructions I used for the swap

Stamps

• Swirl: “Baroque Motifs” (Stampin’ Up)
• Sentiment: “Baroque Motifs” (Stampin’ Up)
  OR “French Phrases” #45797 (Sullivans)
• Script: “Secret Bird Society” (kaisercraft clear stamps)

Colours

• Blue; “Pool Party” (Stampin’ Up)
• Pink; N/A

Other

• Pink ribbon; rhinestones (if applicable); white embossing powder; Versamark; border punch (fiskars “spreading water”)

Method

1. Cut blue cardstock approx. 5cm by 14cm (Or an A4 cut into 8 pieces)
2. Stamp the script stamp 2/3s of the way down the card
3. Place pink ribbon on the blue card (in the empty space); jazz it up with knots, bows, rhinestones, layering, criss-cross effects
4. Cut pink cardstock approx. 10cm by 14cm (Or an A4 cut into 4 pieces)
5. Use an edge punch on one long edge
6. Stamp the script stamp 1/3 of the way up the card
7. Stamp the swirl with Versamark and emboss with white embossing powder
8. Cut a strip of the blue paper and emboss a sentiment onto the paper
9. Place the sentiment onto the pink card over the script stamp
10. Glue the pieces side-by-side onto a folded card

Alternatives

• Create it as a gatefold card
• At step 1., trim the card about 2cm shorter and use that piece for the sentiment
• Switch the colours/layout of the elements
• Add glitter to the holes (border punch)

I also learnt how to make rosettes and was given a plain tag to decorate, if only I could make something as beautiful as this!

A close-up of some other swaps!

Some more hot air balloons - cuter this time ^^

Went to another sleepover and I taught Soddy how to make the same card I showed Tiff ^^ We ended up using her cardstock supply O_O as I wanted to show the girls what my Sizzlix embossing plates, so I embossed a few samples and forgot to repack my cardstock :(

Photo's off Tiff's phone!


Soddy's card with a different angle to the balloon~

My elephant hot air balloon card - squeeeeeeee, guess it's looks like a good baby boy card!

Tiff's lovely creation, she chalked up some of the embossed cards (yay, they were used) after punching them with the bird punch that Stampin' Up has.

Paper Craft 2011

About two weeks ago I went to Paper Crafts festival which was in Penrith. I arrive on the Friday at around 11 (the show opens at 10) and there's a line!!! Anyway, it's not too long a wait and then I head inside and get a sheep stamp (craft clubbing!)

First off I did a round, remembering the items I liked, comparing prices (of course there's an upside and a downside to that) and I did miss out on an edge punch and sheet music I wanted *Disappointed face* =(

I started off with "Scrapware's Make 'n' Take by Angela Connoly", held by the store Scrapware who were selling chipboard products. The class was led by a mixed media artist mamed Linda Baldock and we made this lovely brooch. I was gonig to put gold paint over the top of the red but she told me to try the gold gilded wax and it was pretty cool!!! You can also see the gilded wax on the bottom layer with the embossed chipboard!

I started making my purchases and since I wanted some Christmas stamps I looked at all the stores and was quite tempted to buy a large tree stamp with "Merry Christmas" written in several languages in the tree/triangle shape but ended up with these cute ones ^^ I also bought two mini stamps which were quite detailed... I know I have a dandelion stamp already but this one was just so cute!!!

As I've recently bought a Sizzix BigShot (which was the biggest pain to open and also missing the washer!!) I needed to scout out some nice embossing dies. I chose these two Sizzix ones since they were on sale and since I had to keep within budget it was a choice between dots and baroque... and baroque won!

Practical Publishing Australia were giving out free bone folders (used for scoring/folding cardstock) so I gave them some patronage too... though I got 3 magazines for $15 because it was supposed to be 2 for $10, so seems like they wanted to clear some stock!

Went back to the craft table and made the other one they too!

Also bought a heat gun (finally) so I can put away the toaster, some cardstock, a corner punch (I know I can just cut it with scissors but it was in the sale bin -_-), some cute chipboards and liquid pearls (bought snow colours for Christmas cards!)

Afterwards I went in search of a book and caught a glimpse of Nicholas Sparks on the way (A Walk To Remember, Notebook, Dear John) but did wait in line for his autograph.

Dropped my new stash off at home and then I went to a Christmas card workshop hosted by the Stampin' Up consultant whom my family friend has parties with and some some really nice cards while sipping on tea!

pop pop pop

So anyway, I haven't posted in so long =( one reason was because I was making cards just for the blog, i.e., I hadn't had anyone in mind when I made the cards, it was a Disney Princess series. There are ten official Disney princesses and although I outlined plans for each one I ended up finalising the designs for 5 cards:

• Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
• Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
• Ariel (The Little Mermaid)
• Mulan (Mulan)
• Tiana (The Princess and the Frog)

but ended up only finishing cards for Belle, Ariel and Snow White. But that can wait till next time!

In other news, during Sydney Design I attended a paper pop-up workshop at the Powerhouse Museum held by Benja Harney who is a Paper Engineer (what a cool job =D) and most recently has created a gorgeous looking pop-up book which was presented to Kylie Minogue. It was a small class with 6 participants and ran for around three hours.

We started off browsing some of the pop-up books he owned and had a chat to him about his projects. He showed us how to make paper cranes and the paper decision makers (which I had done before but he had really pretty paper and I can't resist folding some origami!)

The next step was to try some basic cuts and see how they turned out on the folded card, he had some neon pink (80s style) cardboard he found lying around and that's what we practised on.

This one was actually his, which is why it looks so good!

Great effect from the lights!

One of the samples I made with the paper crane

He then asked us to create something of our own with some coloured paper, such as a cityscape or something. I decided to try something new and my pop-up actually runs sideways with an under-the-sea theme (not, this isn't my Ariel card -_-).

We also made a doggy face and this uber cool pop-up house which we decorated with some nice paper that had holes punched into it (fitting in with this year's lace theme).

I also recommend the Love Lace exhibiton held at the Powerhouse till April next year.

And if it's still online, there is some information on the workshop I attended. There are also some great behind-the-scenes photos of the SD facebook page of his exhibition at the Object Gallery as well as the other great pieces for the event. His exhibition at the Gallery is on display until 25th September 2011.

Benja Harney's blog: Paperform

On another note, Spring is here! ^^ (Something which Thief of Sleep isn't too excited about!)