Housewarming - Simple Happy Housewarming

Happy Housewarming Card

I needed a card for the housewarming I'm attending in the weekend. Found out I didn't have one so decided to see how fast I can make one. Turns out the answer is about 15 minutes (once I've figured out the design).

This card is obviously very simple to make and by definition very basic and very easy to achieve. Nevertheless, click here or below for the process video.

I started off looking through my crafty stash and found some leftover dies cut phrases and letters. Quickly had a sort through to see what sentiments I could make and settled on using a 'Happy' die cut and the negative space of letters that spelled out 'housewarming.' Both of these dies cut outs were from using diecuts I bought off Aliexpress. The 'Happy' die cut is actually part of a set that includes the sentiment and its shadow, here I only use the sentiment. The alphabet diecut set I used actually cuts both the letters and a square block of negative space around the letters. This means the die cut letters can be used in multiple ways: The letters on their own, the negative space on their own, or both using contrasting card stock. Here, because I found everything was cut out of black cardstock, I decided to mount it onto yellow card stock to give it good contrast.

To adhere the diecuts to a yellow card front I used liquid glue inside a glue pen. Again I got the glue pen off Aliexpress; I bought 5 of them and they come empty so I filled one with liquid glue then used it to dot glue on the back of the diecut pieces and placed them on the card front. I purposely tried not to make anything too straight and went for an 'organic' look with the placement of the letters and the 'happy' phrase; but if you want to be a bit tidier, feel free to use a t-ruler to line up the letters.

Check out my blog post where I review this glue pen here, or just click below to view my video review...

Using this glue did warp the card front a little; to avoid this you can use higher weighted card stock or different glue. To fix this issue I just place the card front between non-stick baking paper, put inside a book and put a heavy weight on top, leave it overnight and come back next day to a fixed card front. As I was rushed for time, I decided to adhere my card front directly to a yellow card base using double-sided tape anyway, trimmed off the overhangs and then placed inside book under weights etc. This cheat step worked a treat, though I wouldn't recommend for more seriously warped card fronts.

And we are all done. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it.

Happy crafting.

Mel Crafting

Valentines - Appreciate the chemistry

Valentine's Day Card - Appreciate the Chemistry

I found a chemistry themed stamp set in my stash, on closer inspection they were all centred around love so with valentines coming up I thought I'd make a Valentine's Day card. Now, I'm pretty sure I bought this "chemistry love" stamp set off AliExpress and it shows, the images are quite small and the text is tiny so you need to be careful when you stamp with them to make sure you get a clear image.

Click https://youtu.be/Eg9MA4H5mRw to go to my youTube channel and watch a process video on how I made this card.

Now for those who don't know me, I'm not a big Valentines Day celebrator. Well I say happy Valentines to my partner and maybe we'll have a nicer than normal dinner that night but otherwise we are pretty boring! However, the chemistry of this stamp set just tempted out and connected with the geek in me.

I wanted to use my Simon Say Stamp All the Thanks stamp set and I found a sentiment saying "I appreciate you so much" which is perfect for my partner as it's not something I would say too often to him but should probably do so as he does a lot for me. I also had some leftover diecut letters from the coordinating die cut that came with my Concord and 9th Simple Serif Alphabet Stamp Set so decided to make up 'happy valentine's' using those letters as well as the hearts that set comes with.

"Chemistry love" & Simple Serif Alphabet Stamp Sets

If you're wondering, I store my stamp (and die) sets in black envelopes with the full stamp set stamped on the front using white pigment ink.


Firstly though, I put a pink notecard into my stamping platform, then arranged lots of the images in the chemistry love stamp set all over the card. Then picked them up onto the platform's door and used Stampin' Up's Cherry Cobbler ink to stamp a background of the images onto the pink card.

I then arranged the letters to say happy valentine's so I could position the sentiment 'I appreciate you so much' between the two words. Used clear embossing ink to stamp the sentiment then heat embossed it with black embossing powder.

Using dots of PVA glue I adheres the die cut letters and hearts to the card as shown.

The pink notecard got a little warped from the glue (and because it's not the highest quality card) so to iron it out, I left it sandwich in my stamping platform with a heavy weight on top overnight.

Came back the next day to make a brown card base, then adhered the main notecard to the front of the brown card base using double-sided tape.

All done.

Happy Crafting!

Mel Crafting.

Birthday Card - Spinner - Bear

Birthday Bear Spinner Card

I found some images I'd stamped and watercolored using STA Aquarelle Brush Markers (a review for which can be found here) some time ago. They were pictures of the front and back of animals so perfect for spinner cards. Couple that with the fact that I needed to make some birthday cards in preparation for upcoming family birthday, this card was a good way to use up some of my crafty stash whilst making a card I'd have a use for!

In my internet travels, I stumbled across the Addicted to Stamps and More 'Make Your Mark' card challenge, since this card fit the rules as I used watercolor markers to water color the bear I thought I'd enter it for fun! You can find details of the challenge here.

 

My crafty stash also contains a bunch of die cut words that I've kept from the time I went crazy when I first got my Big Shot die cut machine. I don't like the idea of waste so I'm going to aim to use up as much of these as possible in future cards too.

I found a happy dies cut with matching shadow and placed that at the top of a purple notecard. I left it floating there so I could position the square diecut for the spinner element window. Once I'd decided on the position for the window I used masking tape to tape temporarily tape the notecard to a matching card base then run it through my die cut machine a couple of times (each layer separately to make sure I got a nice clean cutout).

I used my stamping platform to stamp the word 'BIRTHDAY' underneath 'Happy' with clear embossing ink. Then used black embossing powder to heat emboss it.

Then I used a toothpick to pickup little amounts of PVA glue to dot on the back of the black 'happy' diecut to stick it to its matching shadow cutout. Then did the same to adhere both to the card front.

Next was making the spinner element. I fussy cut around the bear images and went around the outside with a black alcohol marker to tidy up the edges. I then sandwiched some thin red string (clear nylon or fishing line would be better but I didn't have any) between the two images and stick them together using doubled sided tape. I taped down the ends of the string to the back of the notecard making sure to line up the bear inside the window and making sure the string is taught.

Using double-sided tape I adhered the front notecard to the card base, making sure to windows lined up. 

Trimmed the outside edges to make it look tidy and added a strip of masking tape to the fold of the card to give it a bit of reinforcing (unfortunately, I used quite low quality card stock and it felt quite flimsy without it - please don't judge me, I'm new to this card making thing, having lots of fun doing it but I'm still learning!)

And we are all done.

For a process video on how I make another spinner card check out the link below:

 

Happy Crafting!

Mel Crafting.

Birthday Beads Shaker Card

Birthday Bead Shaker Card

First birthday card I made for my niece. I also entered it into  a couple of card challenges: AAA Birthday card challenge - Click here for more details on the AAA Birthday "A shaker card" card challenge.

Also entered into CAS Watercolour card challenge. Click here for more details on the CAS Watercolour "Cool Colours" card challenge.

And if you want to watch a process video for this card, here is a link to a similar shaker card I made in a similar fashion.

It is actually a notecard (no folding card base used) where the message is written in white gel pen on the back of the card front you see in the photo. I wanted to use up stuff in my crafty stash including letters I made when testing an alphabet die I bought off AliExpress and an awesome watercolor painting my 3 year old made using STA Aquarelle Watercolor Brush markers ( a review for these markers can be found here.

Watercolor Painting by my 3 year old with niece's name

I used a glue stick to adhere the die cut letters of my niece's name to the watercolor painting. I then used doubled sided tape to adhere a piece of plastic to the inside of black cardstock with a circle cut out. I decided to make a shaker card so I'm making a circle window here looking through to Sophia's name on the water colour background.

Window Made, Beads Ready, Foam Tape Offset

I used some glass beads as the shaker elements and double layer of foam tape to add both dimension and some space for the beads to move around in. Removed the backing paper on the foam tape and placed the card front on top of the watercolor background and diecut name.

Card Front with Shaker Window

Then I used clear embossing ink to heat emboss happy birthday in silver under the shaker window.

Unfortunately, I should have done the heat embossing before attaching the plastic for the window as I accidentally melted a little hole in the window! That is why I had to place some grey star washi tape across the card front to disguise the hole.

To finish the card I adhered the card front to a black notecard, trimmed off any excess and gave the card a tester shake.

All done, and happy crafting!

Mel Crafting.

Christmas Card - Engineering Tree

Engineers Christmas Tree Card

Once again, I'm inspired to use Altenew's Engineers Rule stamp set. This time I created a simple single layer Christmas card and here's how I made it happen.

Firstly, I masked a triangle onto dark navy blue notecard. Placed the notecard in my We r Memory Keepers stamping platform and arranged various stamp images from the Engineers Rule stamp set inside the masked triangle. Closed the door on the stamping platform to capture the stamps then used versa color ink in Hyacinth to stamp the images onto the card.

In order to define the triangle (tree) outline, I used a white gel pen to draw a dotted line along the inside of the masked area.

I then removed the masking tape and used my heat gun to dry the ink.

For the sentiment, I used "happy holidays" from My Favourite Thing's Hand Lettered Stamp set. I placed the sentiment stamp under the 'tree', stamped it with clear embossing ink and heat embossed the sentiment using silver embossing powder.

To finish off I adhered the notecard to a silver card base using double sided tape.

All done! Hope you liked this card and can draw inspiration from it for your own creations.

Happy crafting!

Mel Crafting

Christmas Card - Engineer's Blueprint

Engineer's Blueprint Christmas Card

I'm slightly obsessed with the Engineers Rule stamp set by Altenew I recently purchased so here is another card inspired by that stamp set.

This time I was going for the look of a blueprint image well-known to be used in the drawings world and thought it would be similar if I used light colored inks on a blue cardstock and here's how I went.

I took a A6 piece of navy cardstock and placed in my We R Memory Keepers stamping platform. I them arranged the varioius engineering tools and equipment from the Engineers Rule stamp set around the outside of the card before closign the door on the stamping platform to grab the stamps.

Using Hyacinth Versa Colour ink I stamped these images a few times using my stamping platform. I decided to use the lilac Hyacinth colour over a white pigment ink because it gives a more subtle look which appeals to me.

To make sure the ink was dry I gave it a quick drying with my heat tool before rubbing my anti-static powder bag tool all over the notecard in preparation for heat embossing.

I decided the sentiment "Wishing you a Merry and Bright Christmas" would look good on this card. As a bonus it meant I could utilise stamps from both My Favourite Things' Hand Lettered stamp set and Simon Says Stamp's Holiday Greetings Set 1. I stamped these using clear embossing ink and then heat embossing it all using white embossing powder.

To finish off I adhered this note card to the front of a silver card base using double-sided tape.

Overall I really am fond of the outcome of this card. I love the look of it, the idea of it and the masculinity of it - it's hard to make cards for guys sometimes! If I were to make this card again I would probably place the words closer to another so the sentiment is more centred in te middle of the card but that is the perfectionist in me coming out.

Hope you enjoyed the card and can draw some inspirations from it for your own creations.

Happy Crafting!

Mel Crafting.

Christmas Card - Engineer's Christmas

Engineer's Christmas Card

This is the first card of many that I intend to make using Altenew's Engineers Rule stamp set. I also used My Favourite Things' Hand Lettered Holiday stamp set too.

Firstly I took some black note card and stuck it to my We R Memory Keepers stamping platform using low tack masking tape.

Then I arranged the various tools and images in the Engineers Rule stamp set around the edge of the black note card. I used Versa Color in Hyacinth to stamp a surrounding border of engineering tools and images.

Using clear embossing ink I stamped Happy Christmas from MFT Lettered Holiday stamp set. Then I hear set it using white embossing powder from ranger.

To complete the sentiment I stamped "wishing you a" above Happy from Simon Says Stamp's Holiday Greetings Set 1. Then I used letters from an alphabet set to stamp "engineer's" above Christmas. I used Stampin Up whisper white ink for both.

Finally, I adhered the notecard to the front of a silver cardbase using double-sided tape.

I quite liked the watermark look of the border and I love how masculine this card turned out. Please note this card was largely an experiment, I would have liked to line up each part of the sentiments much straighter to give a cleaner and more engineered look. However, it hopefully gives a good idea of what I was trying to achieve and gives you inspiration to create something similar.

Happy Crafting!

Mel Crafting.