Tuesday 22 February 2011

Ready to pop?

Hi Everyone. Today over at the Cuttlebug Spot we are sharing with you the last in our series of folds for your projects. Today's theme is Pop Ups! I think, like many of you no doubt, I always concentrate so much on the outside of a card that I forget to follow my themes through to to inside. Well, with pop ups it's all about the inside!
So here is my take on today's theme.The outside of the cardand the pop up inside.I'm a big fan of dimension on my projects and the pop up gives just that! With the cake standing proud from the back of the card and the spiral pop up allowing the hearts to fall like confetti..
Here's a step by step if you fancy giving it, or something similar a go.For the pop up I took a folded A5 cardand cut two lines across the spine of the card 2" apart.I then joined the two cuts by scoring between themto make it easier to fold the pop up inwardsand for it to stand proud from the card..I cut some card stock into some rectangles to resemble a Wedding Cakeand embossed the pieces using a folder from the Art Deco Cuttlebug Companions Set.Once embossed, I added a border cut from the Martha Stewart French Scroll Punch Around the Page set and then stacked the layers together to form a Wedding Cake.To form the Swirling pop up I cut circles from some Acetate at 1 3/4"and cut them into spirals.Attaching the base of the spiral to the base of the card with some high tac tape,adding a piece of high tac tape to the top tip of the spiral and then closing the card so that the spiral attached it's self to the top of the card and therefore would spiral down into it's original shape when the card was closed and therefore not buckle up!I added a spiral either side of the original cut pop up,added the Cake shapeand then some hearts which were the waste pieces collected from when I used the Martha Stewart Lace Heart border punch on another project.At this stage I decided to add another spiral over the cake, as it looked a bit bare to be honest.
The inside done, time to move onto the front of the card.I printed a Digital Stamp I found at Sassy Studio Designs. Coloured it with my Copic Pens and glazed the image with Glossy Accents! I know, I know I use a lot of Glossy. But hey! if it ain't broke don't fix it!!I then took one of the New Marianne Designs "Designables" called Swirls and a piece of card stock 5 3/4" x 8". If you haven't heard of or used this item before, it is just like a normal embossing folder but will also cut at the same time (depending on the folder!) and is suitable for use in most dies cutting machines.So I popped my card stock inside the folderand passed it through the Cuttlebug,turned the card stock around so that I could emboss the other end.I added a piece of Red Mirror card to the front of my base card and then layered the embossed image on top.As the the card stock was slightly shorter it allowed for an edge of the Mirror Card to show. Also as the embossing folder has cut areas the Mirror card can also be seen through these areas.I then added the Stamped image.I printed my sentiment onto White card stock from my PC in Red ink to keep the Red & White theme going. I cut out the sentiment using an Oval Nestabilitie and matt and layered it with some more of the Mirror Card which was cut out with the next sized Oval up.This was applied to the card to complete the project.
Perfect for parents to give to their Daughter on her Wedding Day perhaps! Don;t forget to hop on over to the Cuttlebug Spot to see what all the other Design Team members have come up with this theme.
Thanks for checking us out and see you soon.
@ndy..

Saturday 19 February 2011

Here comes Renie....


and there she goes again!!! Hey Blogland. I came across this hilarious Digital Stamp the other day and knew I just had to to have it.. It's called Renie (No, not you Reene) and Scrappy! and is available from Imagenation. It is one of their Inklined Digital Stamps from the Wrinklies range. And at only £1 it was a bargain to boot!!
I had a bit of difficulty in actually planning the project as I wanted to keep the humor of the image but in a vintage/traditional mmmm what am I trying to say here! grown up way maybe!!So, I printed out my image and coloured it in with my Copic pens and then glazed it with some Glossy Accents.Once the image was dry I cut it out using the smallest circle from the Grand Circle Nestabilities Dies. I also cut the next sized Circle in some Pink Mirror card.And layered the two together.I then cut Four tags using the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Shape (S4-235) in some White card stockand cut them in half.Positioning each half piece around the circle images. At 12 & 6 O'clock,3 & 9and then filling in the spaces.My intention was to use one of the new Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page sets French Scroll.But, after punching the corners and borders and then matt and layering it and adding my image,which ever way I turned itit didn't work for me,even Clown Fish would say it was "TOO BUSY!!".I even decided to chop the image upand see if that would calm it down!I did come up with some interesting concepts but I decided to leave well alone and use them on another project in the future!So, thinking cap on I decided to keep the circle theme going by making a circular card. I took the largest of the Grand Nestabilities Circlesand added a folded A3 piece of card stock, leaving the die over hanging the spine of the cardso that when it was cut the card would stay together.I then cut the second largest circle in some complementary card. Unfortunately these larger circles are too big to go through the Cuttlebug or the Big Shot so I had to use the Spellbinders Grand Calibur. A smaller project will allow you to use the smaller dies in the Grand Circles set through the Cuttlebug and Big Shot though!I stuck my stamped image to the Purple Circle, adding a frame of Silver Peel Offs around the edge.I also added the Peel Offs to the base card adding a complementary piece of Ribbon to hide the fold in the card,and then added the stamped image. I did the card this way round as the card was like a Wheeble and kept on wobbling to one side when the Ribbon was on the left!
I was thinking the project needed just a little something extra. So I decided to add a faux Rose.I used the Marianne Designs Flower (LR0128) through the Cuttlebug. To cut this die through the Cuttlebug you will need your A and B plates,your card and dieand your C Plate.To emboss the image, turn the die over keeping your card stock within the die. These should be placed on an A and B plate.Add your Shim Mat and then your second B plate.You will need Three of these to make the flower.Take one of the flower shapes and snip to the centre of the image.Overlap the petals and stick together with some Glossy Accents.For the next layer cut off one petal completely, don't worry we will be using this piece shortly. Again overlap two of the petals together.For the third layer snip off Two petals and again overlap two of the petals and put to one side to dry.Take the cut off piecesand roll the double petal image into a cigar shapeadding the single petal around it.And you should end up with these shapes.Snip off the base of each flower to allow each layer to sit comfortably inside each other and glue into place.Finally add the flower to your project!
This was a great image to use and I'm glad that I've managed to keep the humor in the card.
Thanks for checking us out.
See you soon.
@ndy