This blog shares my crafting projects, product reviews and other ramblings crafting related. I have 2 sons who keep me busy when I'm not crafting and a partner who is happy with me crafting but not yet convinced that the spare room should be a craft room! I hope you enjoy reading my experiences as much I enjoy sharing them. Happy Crafting!
This card was designed to meet and enter this month's AAA birthday blog card challenge. The theme was 'For a Child' and you can navigate to the challenge via the following link:
For the process video click the following link or the video below:
For this card I decided to use up some diecuts I had leftover in my stash. In this case a couple of birthday cake diecuts. Since I had two, I decided to make a spinner card and because I'm really into using my recently acquired blending brushes, I went for a blue ombre background.
Anyway here's how I made the card.
First step, I blended the blue ombre background. For this I use Altenew crisp dye ink stamp pads in 'Dusk,' 'Ocean Waves' and 'Seaglass.' I just blended them using my blending brushes.
Secondly, I cut out the circle/window or hole where the spinner would be spinning. This meant cutting the circle into the card front as well as the front side of the card base, making sure the two holes lined up. To do this I used a circle diecut, attached the card front to the card base and cut the both circle out at the same time - this made sure they would line up.
Thirdly, I stuck down the red string that the cake diecut would spin on. I used double-sided tape to do this making sure the string was really taught and securely attached.
Fourthly, I put double-sided tape onto the back of the die cut images, removed the release paper and sandwiched the string in between them; making sure that the images lined up with another.
Fifthly, I used double-sided tape to adhere the card front to the card base, making sure the holes still lined up.
Sixthly, I glued a 'happy' die cut underneath the spinner window and stamped 'birthday wishes beneath that using Ranger Archival Ink in jet black and my stamping platform.
So I decided to make another blended tree christmas card to go with my engineering tree christmas card. This time I wanted to use little stamp images that matched a summer theme. The reason being that I live in New Zealand and we have christmas in summer. To add motivation to the cause I decided to also try and complete the card fast enough so I could enter this month's CAS christmas card challenge, a link to which you can find below...
To make sure I tied into this month's challenge, I went with a blue blended/ombre background for the tree. Unfortunately, I did make a mistake with my stamping so to cover it up I added another piece of card on top of the original card front. It only adds one layer so hopefully still within rules of the challenge to have minimal layers; anyway, happy to have another card finished and sharing this design.
If you want to see a video on how I make these kinds of cards click the link below for the video below:
Just like my previous blended engineering tree christmas card, I used a triangle cut out to mask around which makes the 'tree' shape on the card front. My card front is an A6 notecard and I tape it down to my stamping platform.
I use Altenew crisp dye inks in, sea glass, ocean waves and dusk to blend a blue ombre background within the triangle tree using my blending brushes.
Blue ombre blended background
I then gather all my summer themed stamp sets and select the small image stamps and arrange as many as I can fit onto/within the masked triangle. After this I close the door on my stamping platform to grab the stamps.
Arranging all the little summer themed stamps inside triangle tree
I used gina k designs amalgam ink in jet black to ink and stamp the images onto the card front. I ink and stamp a couple of times to make sure I get a good stamped images.
Then I clean my stamps using a baby wipe. I take the small heart stamp and using an acrylic block along with the same black ink as before, I ink and stamp the small image multiple times in various orientations to fill in the gaps in the triangle tree.
Stamped images
Using an acrylic block I once again inked and stamped a 'merry christmas' sentiment stamp below the triangle tree image to portray a stump of the tree.
Unfortunately, I didn't stamp it very well and it looked horrible. So, to cover it up I took another piece of A6 sized cardstock, cut out the triangle and overlaid it on top of the card front hide the poor stamping.
I then stamped the 'merry christmas' sentiment stamp using StazOn saddle brown ink onto this piece of cardstock using my stamping platform. I also, grabbed a black sharpie marker and colored in the inner edge of the triangle frame to give it a bit of definition.
Frame overlay with stamped sentiment and colored frame
Next step was I used double-sided tape to adhere this new frame to the card front, making sure to frame lined up with the triangle tree shape. Then trimmed off any excess.
As usual, I then adhere the card front to a card base this time a silver card base.
Frustratingly, I realised using a sharpie to color the edge of the frame was not a good idea because the ink bled and made the framing look untidy. To fix this I grabbed a black gel pen and a ruler and drew black lines along the edge of the frame over the top of the bleeding ink.
Unfortunately, I already sent the card by the time I got around to typing up posting this blog post so I don't have a photo of the final 'tidied up' card, just a photo of before I fixed it but after the card front was adhered to the card base.
Finished card (before I fixed the bleeding ink)
I enjoyed making this card and I like the final design better than the previous versions. I also like that I can change the theme of the little stamps I use to fill the tree triangle to suit a certain genre or interests of the person I intend to send it to.
Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you found something useful or interesting.
I previously did a basic engineering tree christmas card which was a single layer card and I did it mainly to enter a CAS christmas card challenge. However as part of the creative process, I wasn't fully happy with it and as I mentioned in my blog post, I honestly felt it could be improved. So, I decided to try and improve the card. As you'll see below, the main change is adding a blended background to the tree but I think it improves the card a lot.
For the process video showing how I made the improved engineering tree christmas card, click on the following link or watch the video below:
The first step in making this card was to make a cardboard mask. I spent a lot of time getting a nice triangle to arrange my engineering stamps into and I liked the size and shape so to save time, I cut a piece of card that covered the 'tree triangle' on the original card.
Making a triangle mask
I then used that triangle cut out as a template to mask around on the new card front. I used 300gsm white card stock cut to A6 size for my card front taped to the inside of my stamping platform, which is a We R Memory Keepers precision press. Quite simply, I placed the triangle where I wanted my tree shape and taped around it with washi tape. Now I know where to arrange my engineering tool stamps and I can ensure that I get a crisp triangle image for my tree. The bonus of creating the triangle cut out is that I can now create other christmas cards with a similar design and tailor the theme of the tree to different genres, crafts or industries depending on who the recipient will be.
Washi taping around triangle mask
After masking it was time to create the blended background. I stuck with the traditional green hue for the tree and used three Ranger archival inks, "Olive,"Leaf Green" and "Sap Green." To do the blending I used a blending brush I bought off Aliexpress.
Colour blending the tree
Next step is to stamp the engineering tools inside the triangle tree shape to make this an engineering tree christmas card. I arranged stamps from Altenew's Engineers Rule stamp set inside the triangle with slight overlap over the edge to try and fill the triangle as much as possible. Then I closed the door on my stamping platform to collect all the stamps.
Placing small engineer tool stamps in triangle
Using my Jet Black Gina K Designs Amalgam ink, I inked and then stamped the stamps. I ink and stamp the stamps a few times to make sure I get I good image. I also pressed down hard on my platform and rubbed it with my sleeve to ensure even contact across all the stamps. To make sure I didn't accidentally stamp onto areas outside the triangle, I strategically placed a couple of post-it notes.
Placing post-it notes to protect card front outside of triangle
Used gina k designs amalgam ink in jet black to stamp images in triangle
Grabbing a baby wipe, I clean the stamps and then grab the smallest image (a screw) and placed it onto an acrylic block. I then tried to fill the gaps inside the triangle using this little stamp.
Using small stamp and acrylic block to fill in the gaps
To finish off the card front I decided to stamp "merry christmas" under the triangle (this stamp is from a stamp set I bought off Aliexpress). I chose this particular stamp because the size and arrangement of the text meant I could stamp it under the triangle to symbolise the stump of a tree. I stamped this sentiment stamp using a Stazon ink pad in 'Saddle Brown' and an acrylic block.
Stamping 'merry christmas' below tree
Used StazOn in Saddle Brown ink for sentiment
As I wanted a border or mounting for the card front, I decided to trim down the card front.
Trimming the card front to fir card base with border
Finally, I use double sided tape to attach the card front to a dark green A6 card base. I used 180gsm card but I should have used a card base with more weight as it did feel a little floppy.
Using double tape to adhere card front to card base
And that's another finished card!
Finished blended engineer tree christmas card
Here is another card I made using the same technique. Instead of engineer tools stamps I used summer themed stamps to give it a warm summer christmas feel. I'll link to the blog post of how I made that card here too once I complete the post.
This is a cute card I made for a boy turning 5. The inspiration came from a background I created using a turnabout stamp I got off Aliexpress and a AAA birthday card challenge which I you can link to here.
If you just want to watch a card process video on how I made this card then please click here or the link below...
The first step was to trim my background to fit an A6 card base.
Next I grabbed the black circle and die cut animals from my stash that I wanted to use and arranged them onto the background to get an idea of how I wanted it to look. The die cut animals were made using a stamp set I got off Aliexpress - I loved the play on words that the sentiment 'hippo birdie two ewe' presented and the stamp set came with stamps for the animals to match. I had already colored these animals in using my STA dual tone aquarelle watercolor brushmarkers; click here for a link to a review I did on them.
I took the 'hippo birdie two ewe' sentiment and placed it onto the black circle - I decided the critters would 'dance' or sit above the main sentiment. The position of everything also needed to accommodate the recipient's name below the main sentiment.
Using silver heat embossing powder, I heat embossed the 'hippo birdie two ewe' sentiment onto the black circle.
After that I used double-sided tape to adhere the black circle to the background. Ideally in the middle of the background but I'm lazy so I just eye-balled this one.
Then I arranged the die cut creatures around the circle and sentiment again to make sure I was happy with the arrangement before using double-sided tape and liquid glue to adhere them. I used liquid glue to lessen the chances of the tiny little details on the edges of the animal diecuts to catch on something and rip off the card front. For my review on the glue pens I use click here. To make sure that images stuck down flat whilst the glue was drying, I placed an acrylic block on top.
I decided to stamp the recipent's name "Robert" using the capital letters from my Concord and 9th perfectly penned stamp set and my ranger archival ink in jet black. I just used an acrylic block to this, stamping each letter individually onto a yellow sentiment strip of card that matched the cardstock used for the background. To finish it off, I cut banner edges to each end of the sentiment strip.
Final step was to adhere the front notecard to the card base using double-sided tape.
Of course my laziness meant I had to re-trim my card front because it overhung the cardbase. Don't be like me and eye-ball trim your background, just measure it properly otherwise all your work might end up with an unbalanced looking card front.
A simple tree outline card to add to my CAS cards. This card was inspired by the CAS christmas card challenge which you can link to here.
For the process video on how I made this card see the link below or click here.
SSS Clean Line Christmas stamp set has three tree outlines so I decided to line all three up next to each other on the front of a white notecard.
First I used ranger archival ink in sap green to stamp all three images, then removed the two tree images on the left and right to leave the centre tree image. I then use momento cottage ivy ink to re-stamp the centre tree image with a darker green to give it contrast and interest. Of course I'm using a stamping platform here to make it easy for me to re-stamp exactly on top of the image I'd already stamped.
Next step is the sentiment. I chose a sentiment stamp with "season's greetings" inside a rectangular box and decided to heat emboss that using black embossing powder.
I decided I wanted to mount the card front onto a red card base but I wasn't fond of the high contrast between the white notecard and the bright red card base. To combat this I decided to grab a blending brush and my Stampin' Up Cobbler Red ink pad and quickly add what I'm going to call a 'red fog border!' I liked how this softened the feel of the whole card; I just hope it doesn't break the CAS Christmas card challenge rules (sorry blog moderators if it does, but hope you enjoyed visiting my blog anyway).
This is a very simple CAS christmas card. I used the Altenew stamp set "Engineers Rule" so it is a more masculine christmas card perfect for engineers or handymen. The motivation for this card was to enter the CAS Christmas card challenge which you can find here.
If you prefer to watch a video on how I made this card there is a link below or just here.
The first step was to mask the triangle for the tree. On a standard note card I used a ruler to mark the centre of the card then used purple masking tape to form a triangle. I taped the notecard to my 'We R Memory Keepers Precision Press' (just a stamping platform!) then arranged the small engineering images from the Engineers Rule stamp set inside that triangle.
Using Gina K Designs Amalgam Ink in Jet Black, I stamped the images onto the notecard a few times to make sure I got a good impression.
I then removed the masking tape. I used a ruler and a black ink pen to draw a dashed line to outline the tree.
The tree needed a stand or trunk and I found a 'Merry Christmas' sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's Clean Line Christmas stamp set that lined up perfectly with the base of my 'tree' to give a metaphorical stump. I decided to stamp that sentiment using Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler ink and my precision press stamping platform.
I then trimmed down the edges - mainly to trim off the tear in the card (caused by my impatience when removing washi tape in an earlier step). Then I used double-sided tape to adhere the notecard to a navy blue card base.
In hindsight, I think it would have looked better had I heat embossed the sentiment and spotlighted some of the images making up the tree. However, it was a very quick card to make and I'm sure one of the engineers in my life will appreciate it.
Once again, another space themed card. This time I'm using a galaxy background created using watercolors with space themed embellishments. I needed a birthday card for a gift to my nephew so used a happy birthday sentiment with 'Whoa' in front to give it a bit of an 'out of this world' feel!
As per my recent trend, I made a process video of how I put this card together and a link to it is below or you can click here.
First step is to create the galaxy background. I was playing around with some watercolor paints I recently got and decided to make a galaxy. It's made by brushing shades of yellow, green, blue hues near the centre the piece then surrounding it with a dark purple hue then very dark blue (almost black) was painted around the outer edge. I then let the piece dry overnight before using a paintbrush to flick white acrylic paint flecks all over the piece for stars - I added a little water at times to help dilute the paint and make it easier to flick the white specks of paint everywhere. Again I let that dry overnight before adding my sentiment strip and space themed embellishments.
So, once the watercolor galaxy background piece was dry, I arranged the space themed die cuts I found and had hanging around in my stash on top of the galaxy background. I had already coloured these using alcohol makers (a review of the markers I used can be found here) so they were ready to use.
I also decided that I wanted to make a birthday card for my nephew who I was going to give a gift to soon. I found some stamps in my stash to create the sentiment "Whoa. Happy Birthday" The 'whoa' part is to give the sentiment a bit of an 'out of this world, kind of feel to match the space theme I was going for.
As I wanted to heat emboss the sentiment I place the black cardstock sentiment strip in my stamping platform then used it to stamp the sentiment 3 or 4 times with clear embossing ink. I then sprinkle white embossing powder over the sticky ink sentiment and tap off the excess. I do this over non-stick baking paper so I can easily recollect the excess powder for use next time.
I then use my heat gun to heat set the embossing powder. I decided I wanted the rocket die cut to cover the end of the sentiment strip so it looked like the sentiment strip ends at the rocket so I trimmed off a bit off the end of the sentiment strip.
I stick the sentiment strip down using double sided tape over the nebula part of the galaxy background. Using foam tape behind the rocket die cut, I stick it down over the right hand side edge of the sentiment strip ensuring the end is covered by the rocket.
Standard double-sided tape is used to adhere down the rest of the space themed die cut elements.
Last thing to do is to adhere the card front to a card base. For this I decided a black cardbase would suit the space theme and used double-sided tape to adhere the card front to the card base, ensuring that there is an even border of black around the card front before pressing it down.
Sorry for taking a while to post another blog, I have been distracted with other things and lost a bit of motivation but now I'm back and happy to finally post a review on the Touchfive alcohol markers I bought off Aliexpress for about US$18 last year. For the video review head over to my youtube channel "Mel Crafting" or just click hereor view the link below.
First impressions are OK. I bought a 60 piece set and the Aliexpress seller threw in a couple of cheap pens. The listing said a colorless blender would be included but I didn't get one so I was quite disappointed with that.
Some of the tips were poking out and needed pushing back in so consistency of assembly of the markers isn't great. However, they did come in handy zip-up Pouch to hold the makers and it fitted a few extra markers I bought to complement the set so that was a bonus; again though the material of the bag is quite thin and does have a cheap kind of a feel to it.
Touchnew 60 set zip pouch
The markers have a bullet tip and a chisel tip for each color. The caps feel very secure when you take them off and they give a nice click when you put them back on so I felt their was little chance of them drying out due to a loose cap. Holding them and drawing/coloring them was comfortable in my hand, I would have preferred a round barrel rather than the square profile but I didn't get a sense of any control issues.
Touchfive bullet tip
Touchfive chisel tip
I swatched both the bullet tip and the chisel tip ends, noting down both the number and name printed on the cap of the markers. All the markers were juicy when using the bullet tip. I found marker 99 "Bronze" had a dried out chisel tip whilst marker 69 "Prussian Blue" had feathering issues with its chisel tip.
Touchfive 60 Marker Set Swatching
Marker 69 Prussian Blue Chisel Tip Feathering
Marker 99 Bronze Dry Chisel Tip
Moving onto some alcohol marker blending. I tried out sets of three in colors that I would commonly blend together when I make my cards. What I found was that some markers were easier to blend than others; so that missing colorless blender would have come in handy...
Testing out the Blending
I'm mostly happy with the color range for what I use them for (cardmaking/coloring), but I would have liked more in the purple range because, well, purple is my favourite color. The set has a great range of reds, blues, greens and brown/yellows with quite a few greys so really only limited by your imagination.
Overall, I recommend this 60 marker set of Touchfive alcohol markers as a first set for someone looking to try alcohol markers out but who also does not mind having a limited purple color range and can live with imperfect blending.
Back again with another spinner card, this card is similar to my previous bear spinner card, which you can find here. However this time I'm using a watercolored lion die cut, an orange card base and utilizing a card front with a window cut out I found in my crafty stash. If you prefer to watch a video click here or view below for the process video.
I have this white note card with a slanted window cut out of it. This note card was torn and ripped in a few places so I needed to conceal those imperfections. I decided to make a spinner card.
First step was to die cut the windows for the spinning element to spin inside. Using the note card with the window already cut out of it, I lined up a matching sized orange notecard and the front cover of an orange card base. Then I cut out the windows using my Big Shot die cutting machine.
I took the orange notecard (with the window cutout) and black heat embossed "happy birthday" under the window.
Time to make the spinner element. I grabbed the white note card and taped some red string I found across the window, securing it using double-sided tape and ensuring the string is taught. I then sandwiched the string between the front and back images of the lion using double-sided tape.
To assemble the card, I adhered the orange note card to the front of the white note card using double-sided tape; making sure to line up the windows. Then I did the same to adhere the card front to the card base.
So I got enticed by AliExpress recently and my stationery obsession led me to buy a 10 pack of STA Metallic Brushmarkers. For those that prefer to watch video reviews, click here or view below for mine...
I paid US$6.81 including shipping. I had the option to select a bullet tip but I went for the slightly more expensive brush tip end because I didn't have a set of brushmarkers, well I have watercolor brushmarkers (click here for more details on those) but they are quite different to these.
First up the package arrived safe and sound, I ordered it during lockdown level 4 in New Zealand on 30th April 2020 and it arrived on 23rd May 2020, that's just over 3 weeks - no bad during a pandemic...
The package itself was well packaged and undamaged. I was delighted to see it came in the sturdy plastic case as shown on the seller's listing. By the way, I bought these off a store called "wangwangkong Store" and they are pretty much as described in the listing but there were a few things that I was disappointed with.
Well Packaged, Undamaged AliExpress Package.
Bit more on the plastic case...it's textured! The diagonal lines in the photo are actually slightly raised and gives it a neat feel.
A
Plastic Case
The markers themselves are a thinline brushmarker so good for delicate colouring. As they are a brushmarker, I tried getting broad lines and I got good solid thick lines. Although the brush tip is nice and flexible, it felt delicate and one of them was a little frayed after a few strokes.
Testing on White Paper
The ten colours are (metallic): Black, Grey, Red, Blue, Olive, Green, Brown, White, Purple, Gold. All except the white were very pigmented. When colouring you can draw over the top of ink pen lines as well as other colors of the markers. The ink in these markers is most brilliant or vibrant when used on black or dark paper/card. I did not like the white, I wanted more pigmentation. I did not like how it seemed to write clear, even on black paper...you could only see a faint white marking when it had dried - the photo seems to brighten the white much more than it looks in reality.
Testing on Black Paper
I'm not great at handwriting or calligraphy but when I tried to do some basic brush strokes, they were achievable but I found the brush tip difficult to control.
Testing Brush Strokes
I tried these out on an acrylic block to test how well they write on plastic. Not so great. The ink bled and moved around a lot - not something I would recommend doing with these markers.
Testing on Plastic
Overall, I do like these metallic brushmarkers and they are a reasonable price. There is a good variety of colours in the 10 pack and whilst most colours performed well and gave a great metallic sparkle, expecially on dark cardstock... I didn't appreciate the lack of pigmentation in the white marker. These markers are ok for colouring, drawing and lettering; the fine brushmarker tip means intricate work as well as the bold lines or fills are not a problem. However, the tips seemed delicate and easy to damage or fray so you do need to watch the pressure you apply. As the stroke is hard to control I would steer away from these if you are a beginner calligrapher or lettering artist.
Great entry level metallic brushmarkers to add a bit of sparkle to any quick doodle or sketch. I would buy these again if I wanted some metallic brushmarkers for simple projects. If I needed to use them a lot over a long time or wanted perfect brush strokes, then no, I would not buy these.
Today this post is about how I made a card perfect for a new mum or a mum who could do with a loving hug. Click here or see below for a link to my card process video:
Inspiration for this card came from stuff I found in my crafty stash including my 'good job mama' stamp set and a background I stamped and colored using my STA watercolor brushmarkers. I was coloring the background piece to test my brushmarkers as part of my review of those markers so I wasn't really being careful in places, hence why a lot of the coloring is outside of the lines!
Because of this 'poor' coloring I needed to hide the imperfections somehow whilst making a good looking card. To do this I decided to overlay vellum on the top of my front notecard.
To start off I cut my watercolor piece to the largest square I could using a square diecut.
I then cut some specialty paper (Typewriter Luxury Designer Paper from Cristina Re d-i-y stationery) to 10.2cm x 20.4cm to make a square card base that is 10.2cm x 10.2cm square.
Time to cut the vellum. I cut it 0.5cm longer than the watercolor piece on one side to allow me to fold it over and behind the watercolor background to help with securing the vellum.
I then decided to heat emboss in black a love heart as well as the sentiment "good job mama, you are doing a great job" on the vellum. If I had red embossing powder I would have used that for the heart but I didn't so never mind. These sentiments/images are from the stamp set called "Good job mama" from Simon Says Stamp.
Time to put this card together... so I used double-sided tape to adhere the vellum to the watercolor background. I make sure to score, fold over, and tape down the excess to get a good hold. I leave the right hand side flapping about so that you get a little pop of color every now and then as you hold, open and close the card. The vellum does a great job of obscuring the imperfections in my coloring without taking away the beauty of it.
Next, I decide I wanted a bit of dimension to the card so I use foam tape to prop up the card front and adhere it to the front of the card base.
I'm quite new to the whole cardmaking/ scrapbooking world and as I've become more into the craft I've accumulated many stamps and decided I needed a way to store and organise them. I like the monochromatic look so you'll see there's a lot of black, white, and grey tones when it comes to my craft supplies storage.
This post will be about how I currently store my clear stamps and coordinating dies. I do something a bit different for my die cuts which I'll cover in another blog post. Click here or below to view the video I made showing my stamp and ide storage.
As you can see I use 230 x 162mm black envelopes to store my stamps. I purchased 50 of these from AliExpress for US $19.78. I use white pigment ink to stamp the entire stamp onto the front of the envelope so I can see what is inside. In this case I used Stampin' Up craft ink in Whisper White. I use a piece of A5 sized inexpensive cardstock to add a bit of stiffness which also acts a a divider between the stamp set and any coordinating dies. To keep the dies under control in the envelope (especially once they're separated), I use a piece of magnetic sheet under the dies. If I have a mask or spare cut out images I store them in the envelope too so they're all together with the set they belong with.
I did a silly thing of throwing out the packaging without noting down the manufacturer or stamp set name so I don't know what a lot of my stamps actually are. Where I do know I use a brother letratag label making machine to print a label and stick it to the flap on the back. Unless I'm storing more than one stamp set in the envelope, then I stick the identifying label on the front near the stamp set it goes with.
Example of label for an envelope holding one stamp set
Example of labels for an envelope holding more than one stamp set
At the moment I'm storing all my crafting gear in re-purposed cardboard boxes as I wait for my partner to let me have a craft room!
Close Up of stamp storage Box
Stamps Storage in Box
For my dividers I cut a piece of core flute slightly longer than the envelopes (about 255 x 165 mm) and label the top. I organise my stamps by theme but that's just my preference.
