Happy Birthday Watercolour Card

Just popping in with a quick birthday card I whipped up yesterday. The background and flowers were actually done during a Natalie May class at a scrapbooking expo but I never got around to finishing them off. I fussy cut the flowers, added the white highlights, a black pen border to the background and created the sentiment cluster.

Close up of the flowers to show the layered heights.

Greeting Cards - Scrapmatts DT

Here is the second part of my Scrapmatts DT post for August. I was playing around with using Tinby Designs Color Crush powders to create background papers. I not really into the Art Journaling thing (I've tried but it's not for me) so whenever I want to try out a new technique I'll normally incorporate it into a card or tag.

It's always a good idea to have a few birthday cards in your stash. This one didn't hang around long, I've ready given it to a friend! I used ST9018-A6 in the background, just as straight gesso over the background. Chipboard pieces include CB5087 Leaf Spray 09 and CB6100 Words 29.

The second card uses the same background technique as the first, but I've taken it in a different direction. I can never go past a pun and the CB4067 Marine Life 02 set was perfect for this one. The chipboard has been painted using distress inks stamped onto my craft mat then spritzed with water and painted on.

The last card is another birthday one which has a galaxy feel to it. Quite simple in design, but I think the background really makes it pop. The stencil is ST1008, I used Versamark through the stencil then embossed this with a clear embossing powder to create a resist effect. The chipboard is CB6100 Words 29 and CB1223 Stars 03, both have been painted with acrylic paint.

Aqua and Purple Cards - Scrapmatts DT

My second Scrapmatts DT project for April is a set of two cards. I've used a sheet of scrap paper to mop up some left over ink spray I had from another project, which I've then used as the backgrounds for both cards. I love these sentiment chipboard pieces, they make whipping up cards so quick and easy.

Each card has some texture paste stars in the background too, using a Scrapmatts stencil. The chipboard sentiments come in the black, all other pieces I've just coloured using mini ink pads. I think it's a great idea of have a stash of cards you use at short notice because you don't always know when you're going to need a card, like when your husband asks the night before he plans to give a present to his workmate!

Scrapmatts chipboard: CB1241 Scrap Words 27,CB1020 Card Borders 03, CB1007 Butterflies 07 and CB1158 Butterflies 20. Stencil: ST5002.

Thank You Card - Scrapmatts DT

My second Scrapmatts DT project is a card I made to say thanks to my manager who is leaving for a new position. I like the mix of grungy and feminine on this card, by combining the messy background with a big floral cluster.

To create this background, I applied gesso through the squares stencil, this sprayed three different mists over the cardstock. Once it had all dried though I decided I didn't like the effect, so painted gesso over the top of the whole thing, before selectively spraying smaller areas of mist and playing with a drip effect. I like the subtle effect it has created.

Scrapmatts chipboard: CB6020 Words 06, CB5144 Layered Poinsettias 01, CB5142 Retro Squares 02. Stencil: ST1038.

Messy Birthday Cards - Scrapmatts DT

I had actually made the bases for these cards a few weeks ago, but I put them under my craft mat to dry without warping and must have forgotten about them. Sofie from Scrapmatts had just sent me out a new shipment of chipboard as part of their DT so I decided to combine the new chippies and stencils to add to my stash of birthday cards to have on hand for emergencies.

 

I find the most difficult part of creating cards is coming up with the design, so you can save some time by creating a few in a similar design each time. If you're interested in making something similar, here is how I made them:

 

Prep the background

1/ Cut your base cardstock to size. Mine are 4'x6'.

2/ Smear white gesso over the front and allow to dry.

3/ Spray mist through a stencil. I used pink Glimmermist through ST5007 which has given a very subtle effect for the card on the right and aqua Dylusions through ST5003 for the card on the left. Because the Dylusions ink pooled on the stencil I then flipped it over and used the excess like a stamp to get the reverse image on the middle card.

4/ Splatter black ink over the cards. Put aside for mists/ink to dry.

 

5/ Randomly stamp a script image over the background.

6/ Edge the card with black ink, applied in a messy fashion.

 

Create the tags

7/ On a scrap of kraft cardstock, apply white gesso through a stencil. I used ST5023 and ST5024. These are new stencil designs and I just LOVE them! Wait for the gesso to dry before moving on (even though you can see from my smudge I didn't wait).

8/ Mist randomly over the cardstock. I found Glimmermists didn't give me a bold enough coverage so used Dylusions instead. Wait for the ink to dry.

 

9/ Stamp a decorative image over the top in black ink. I used a Kaisercraft stamp which was the perfect width to then create tags from.

10/ Cut the cardstock scrap down into different sized tags.

 

Assemble the card

11/ Colour the background chipboard (CB5151 Webbing 01) black, I used stamp ink.

12/ Adhere the tag to the left side of the card using foam mounting tape.

13/ Adhere the webbing chipboard around the tag. I only used one piece for all three cards (and even have a bit left over) because I cut it into smaller sections and placed these around the tag.

14/ Adhere the leaf spray chipboard (CB1235 Leaf Spray 14). There are only two sprays in the pack but I again cut it down into pieces to suit my cards.

15/ Cut three small rectangles of muslin and distress these. Adhere over the bottom of the leaf sprays.

16/ Adhere the Happy Birthday sentiments (CB1243 Scrap Words 29) using foam mounting tape.

17/ Adhere three small white flowers to the bottom left of the sentiment.

18/ Scatter rhinestones across the card.

 



 

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. If you do make a similar card please let me know and if it contains Scrapmatts chipboard don't forget to upload it to our Ning site, we would love to see your creations.

Happy Birthday Card - Scrapmatts DT

Hello chipboard fans. It's great to be back on the 2016 design team, I'm so excited to see how different everyone's styles are. Unfortunately, having my reveal day moved to earlier in the month has caught me off guard, so I only have one card to share today.

 

 

I've mixed CB6018 Words 02 Happy Birthday and CB5137 Ornate Toppers 01 with the ST5003 stencil.

 

I did have an amazing shaker card to share too, but I already gave it to my husband and he took it to work before I could get a photo. :(

Greeting Cards - Scrapmatts DT

The new Scrapmatts stencils are also perfect for using to create backgrounds on cards. I whipped up this one for my husband for Valentine's Day. I used the diamonds stencil to add a subtle white gesso pattern and then misted over the paint splatters in two different colours.

 

 

Chipboard used: CB5113 Heart Frames 10, cb1199 Scrap Words 07.

Stencils: ST1002, ST5010.

 

This one has a wash of gesso for the background then the smaller paint splatters stencil in two colours. I love the random effect they give whilst in actual fact giving you total control of where the colour ends up.

 

This one has a wash of gesso for the background then the smaller paint splatters stencil in two colours. I love the random effect they give whilst in actual fact giving you total control of where the colour ends up.

 

Chipboard used: CB1121 Words 26 Best Wishes

Stencil: ST1009 Stencil Paint Drips

 

Don't forget that Scrapmatts is having a Design Team Call at the moment. Entries close on the 19th so you'll need to get a wriggle on but we would love to see you join the team!

Card Catch Up

I have been making a couple of cards here and there but haven't gotten around to actually posting them on the blog. I thought I'd do a quick catch up post to share them.

 

This first one was just made up quickly to say thank you to some of my mum's friends so sending a very generous gift to my son from Indonesia. I had a sheet of this floral paper lying around and decided to fussy cut the images out. There is actually a fair bit of layering on the card which you can't really see from the front on photo. Chipboard sentiment is by Scrapmatts.

 

This one was a very quick birthday card I whipped up in about an hour. It used a Kaisercraft 6x6 paper pad and a Heidi Swapp die-cut for the 'happy'. I'm not 100% sold on it, but the recipient liked it and that's the important thing.

Sparkle Card

I have a friend who recently underwent exploratory surgery and wanted to whip up a quick card for her to go with some flowers. Since I only had the length of one of Harrison's naps to create in (roughly an hour on a good day) it had to be something quick and simple. I started with a 4 x 6 Project Life type card from Kaisercraft and went from there. A cardstock mat, some die-cut leaves, some Glitzin' Glam and some mini-blooms later, we have one completed card. :)

 

 

It was so nice and easy, I might need to whip up a couple more cards like this. Especially since I have HEAPS of these cards for some reason. I was going to give pocket scrapping a try but decided I was already far enough behind I think. Anyway, here is the original card I started with:

Movie Themed Birthday Card

My cousin turns 21 this weekend and I wanted to make him a card to celebrate. He is currently studying film at university so I went with a movie theme. The ATC film strip (CB3001) was perfect, Scrapmatts has also recently released some new film strips in a longer pattern.

 

 

Birthday Swirls Card

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway!**

 

One of my best friends turned 30 yesterday and had a fantastic lunch party over the weekend. She loves to admire my crafting so the pressure was on to create a special card for her. Unfortunately, it was a very busy week so I was a little bit time limited but I think the card I created is still quite effective. She was very happy with it.

 

 

Old book page sprayed with three colours of mist, gesso stencil work over the top, chipboard sentiment on a banner, some flowers and some rhinestones.

 

I was inspired by this great card I found on Pinterest:

 

Easter Baskets - Scrapmatts DT

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway!**

 

Scrapmatts runs brilliant classes at shows and expos. Even before I was on the design team I would always make sure I did one of their classes at every expo I went to. Sofie makes sure you finish all the projects during the class (anyone else have a pile of unfinished projects they didn't finish in a class?) and you also get a couple of sheets of extra chipboard to create projects at home too. I had these baskets in my 'extras' stash for quite a while from one of the classes and just realised they would be perfect for some Easter themed cards.

 

 

This little guy has a smaller sized basket and I managed to make him using the background off-cuts from the other two cards. I couldn't resist the pun title. :)

 

 

I received the bunny for this card in an Easter themed swap some years ago and he's just been sitting in my stash since then. So happy to have been able to use a number of scraps the complete this card. Basket was raw chipboard with some gesso spread around using my finger.

 

 

It had been so long since I'd created my own rolled flowers because they used to take so long as you held them in place waiting for the glue to dry. This time around I used glue dots and it was so much quicker! This basket has been given a proper painting of gesso over raw.

 

Have you created an Easter project with Scrapmatts chipboard? Share it with us over at the Ning Gallery.

 

Smile Card - Couture Creations DT

Do you ever fall in love with a paper range so you buy the whole paper pad? Then you get a couple of projects in (eleven in my case) and you start to get sick of the same colours/designs etc so the pad gets relegated to the bottom of your supplies. I was feeling that way about the Vintage Rose Garden range and was a bit over the pink/green/cream colour scheme, but then I realised that I could easily use some of those papers in a different way with just a bit of alteration and some fresh eyes. This card was the end result of that experiment.

1/ It looks like I've used a chipboard piece on this card, but it's actually a die cut from the Hearts Ease range. I cut this piece three times from thin cardboard (an old cornflour box), glued them together with adhesive spray and then gave it a coat of gesso.

2/ Get your background paper ready. Cut a sheet of plainer patterned paper to just smaller than 6" x 4", I have used a cream checked pattern. Adhere it to a piece of thin cardboard to give it some stability. Ink the edges with a dark orange ink then distress. Apply gesso over the top of a stencil to add a new pattern. Randomly stamp a texture stamp over the background in dark orange ink.

3/ Glue the die cut to the lower left corner of the card. Flick some orange ink across the card and use a wet paintbrush to spread it over the die cut. Once the orange ink is dry, flick some yellow ink over the card too.

4/ Die cut the 'Smile' sentiment twice, once from orange cardstock and once from white. Use adhesive spray to stick them together slightly off-set so it's like the white is a shadow.

5/ Adhere the sentiment to your card. Place some flowers at the top of the die cut and sprinkle some pearls around the card. To finish simply apply the background to a white cardstock base card.

Couture Creations Materials List:

CO724062 Vintage Rose Garden 12" x 12" paper pad

CO724124 Everyday Essentials, Script - Smile die cut
CO724312 Hearts Ease, Mandshurica die cut

C0721998 Pearls Moonlight

 CO721986 Handheld Essentials, Craft Knife, Piercing Tool and Scoring Tool

Scrapmatts DT Cards

I have had this blog post half done since the 16th but never got around to finishing it. :( As well as the tutorial for the layout I published on the 16th I also completed these two cards as part of my Scrapmatts DT work.

 

This first one was created for my husband's boss and is actually 6" x 9" so all the people in their department had room to write in it. It features the new 'Happy Birthday' chipboard and a scroll in gold embossing.

 

 

I also whipped up a quick valentines day card for my husband. How cute is the little cupid chipboard? Scroll and arrow charm are both from Scrapmatts too. Floral lace heart die cut is from Couture Creations.

Live Love Card - Couture Creations

Welcome back! How funky is the Everyday Essentials range of dies? They are so versatile. Today I've used the 2 Tags and Bird Branch set to create this card.

 

 

1/ Pick three sheets of patterned paper to be your background mat. Cut the largest to 6" x 4" and the next two each slightly smaller than that.

2/ Using a sponge dauber, apply some brown ink through a stencil onto the smallest mat. Ink all the edges of the three sheets in brown ink and distress the edges. Use double sided tape to stick them together.

3/ Cut one of the larger tag dies and cut that in half long ways. Ink the edges in brown.

4/ Cut the smaller tag die in a neutral colour and ink edges in brown. Mount this on some spare cardboard so it will be raised.

5/ Cut the bird from green paper.

6/ Cut a banner shape from red paper. Cut the two sentiments from patterned paper.

7/ Adhere the banner strip first, then slide the two halves of the large tag just under the edges and stick down.

8/ Adhere a length of ribbon down the centre of the banner. Adhere the sentiments over the ribbon to help keep it in place.

9/ Adhere the bird branch to the small tag and then the small tag to the centre of the card.

10/ Apply pearls as in the photo and you're done!

 

Couture Creations Materials List:

CO724062 Vintage Rose Garden 12" x 12" paper pad

CO724134 Everyday Essentials, 2 Tags & Bird Branch die

C0721998 Pearls Moonlight

 CO721986 Handheld Essentials, Craft Knife, Piercing Tool and Scoring Tool
6mm double sided tape

 

High Tea Invitation - Couture Creations

Welcome back! Lauren here with a High Tea Invitation card to share with you today. The Vintage Rose Garden paper collection is just perfect to create a shabby chic invitation card with.

1/ Cut off-white cardstock to size, I used 10" x 6". Fold in half to create your card base.

2/ Cut the green background paper to a size slightly smaller than your card base and the pink background paper slightly smaller again.

3/ Ink the edges of both background papers with a brown ink pad and then distress. Adhere to the card with double sided tape.

4/ Die-cut the leaf frame from green patterned paper and adhere to the pink paper using adhesive spray.

5/ Paint the tag of the tea-bag with gesso and set aside to dry. I needed to use a couple of coats on mine.

6/ Tie a bow in a length of lace and adhere to your card near the bottom. I used double sided tape to keep the loops in place too.

7/ Scatter pearls around the card, using two colours and multiple sizes for interest.

8/ Cut your sentiment word and attach to the teabag. Adhere the teabag to the front of your card.

9/ Give invitation to your proposed high tea companion and enjoy a wonderful day out together! :)

Couture Creations Materials List:

CO724020 Vintage Rose Garden 12" x 12" paper

CO724046 Vintage Rose Garden frame die-cut

C0721998 Pearls Moonlight

 CO721997 Pearls Pink Blush

Trimmer

6mm double sided tape

 CO721986 Handheld Essentials, Craft Knife, Piercing Tool and Scoring Tool

Birthday Cards - Scrapmatts DT

My second set of projects for the Scrapmatts DT this month are a couple of birthday cards. Chipboard is the perfect embellishment for cardmaking. It is relatively flat, light weight and can easily be coloured to match any colour scheme. I whipped up two quick birthday cards for family members in the past month and they were both very impressed with the results.

 

 

Chipboard for both my frame and sentiment in this earthy card. I used CB1198 Scrapwords 06 and CB6091 Ornate Frames 19. After creating my own patterned paper in this second card all I needed was some glitter alphas and some chipboard chevrons (CB5106 Chevrons 01).

 

 

If you've created a card, or any other project, using Scrapmatts chipboard please come share it with us in the gallery.

Peace Themed Christmas Cards - Scrapmatts DT

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate the holiday. My Scrapmatts DT project for today is a set of three Christmas cards which have a 'Peace' theme. I find cards are a great way to use up paper scraps and I have so many different bits of Christmas papers lying around.

 

 

The Christmas tree on this card came pre-coloured in the green which made the whole card come together very quickly. I have used CB6079 Assorted Words 11 and CB6082 Christmas Trees 04.

 

My second card uses one of my favourite chipboard packs (CB1096 Reindeers 05) and CB1108 Words 24 Peace. Using gold embossing powder on chipboard is quick, easy and effective.

 

My last card uses CB6029 Christmas Trees 01 and CB6097 Assorted Words 19.

 

This card was also inspired by two current challenges. Just Add Ink had a fantastic sketch for challenge #244.

Scrapbook Boutique has a delicious cupcake Christmas tree as their inspiration picture. The loops on my chipboard tree reminded me of the swirls of frosting on the cupcake, plus I went with the green/red colour scheme.