Fun Fold Friday - Elegantly Said

Today's card is another throw-back to earlier this year. This is a pinwheel card. A pinwheel card can be made with as many or as few leaves as you like providing a...You use an even number of pieces and b... You have an envelope big enough! The last one sounds crazy but trust me...I once made one so big that I had to make a new envelope as I had nothing in the correct size! Silly me!! Anyway, for my last day this week, using the Elegantly Said stamps, I used the sentiments in the form of Thank You. I decorated the pinwheel card with images from the stamp set and some gold leaves from the Expressions In Ink Ephemera Pack and the matching double sided paper. I also used Smoky Slate Ink pad for the images along with strips of DSP from the Simply Elegant Speciality Designer Series Paper. I still have a gold ink pad which retired some years ago and using a dry very fine brush, I lightly painted some of the images. I like the way it highlights them. I punched the sentiments out with the Elegant Tab Punch and trimmed them down a little to show some of the gold foil from behind. 

My pinwheel is a hexagonal or 6 sided one. I used 6 pieces of Basic White card 14.85cm by 8cm and scored each of them 2cm in so that the image mat is left with 6cm. This way the whole card isn't too big and will fit into a 15cm or 6" square envelope. 

 

 

 

That's it from me for another week. Once again, I am sorry that I missed Monday and Tuesday but hope you have found something that you like to get you crafting again before this year is out.

Today is New Year's Eve and both Cary and I sincerely wish you all a fantastic Happy New Year. May all of your dreams become a reality in 2022.

Cary will be back on Monday with her creations so please stop by and see what she has been making. Until I return be healthy, stay safe and well but most of all ....

 😍😍KEEP ON CRAFTING INTO 2022 😍😍 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Throwback Thursday - Elegantly Said

 Today's style of card is one that I make quite often. A simple C6 card base which I cut half of the front of  the card off and then add another piece across the front. It's as simple as that! I started with a square of white card which was 9 x 9 cm or 3,1/2" square and stamped the flowers from the Elegantly Said stamp set from each of the 4 corners. I have kept to the monochrome theme for today's card too. 

Monochrome artwork in my opinion is so pretty. You can use any colourways you like and they will always look gorgeous when completed. Today, I used only the gorgeous, soft, peachy colour of  Pale Papaya. One of the In Colours for this year and next year. In Colours are with us for a maximum of 2 years at a time and then they get changed to another 5 colours for the following 2 years. 

 

 

Anyway, a few jewels and a length of ribbon and the card is complete.

Wednesday - Not Watercolour - Elegantly Said

 Hello and welcome back. I do hope that those of you who celebrate Christmas had a very peaceful time. Apologies for not posting before today, life has got in the way I'm afraid as it often does at this time of year. This week I have been playing with a stamp set that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it, Elegantly Said. I love the corner decoration and the font and..... well all of it really! As I now have to write several thank you and Birthday cards, I thought I had better get started now while I can. I started with a Birthday duo as I have 2 cards to send out for the beginning of January. 

I have made only monochrome cards today. Very simple black and white cards. The first one I raised the whole of the front using foam shapes (dimensionals) and added the gorgeous Silver Metallic Mesh Ribbon. The second is where I cut out the centre and raised it onto a piece of the darker of the silver foils collection and the second I used the darker silver for. I have used the matching Elegant Tag punch. I love the fancy top of this punch which you can see on the message mats on the front. As I wanted the stamped images to be very crisp and sharp, I used the Stamparatus (Stampin' tool) so that I can re-ink the stamp and not have the images move. What an amazing tool that is!!

 

 Here is the second Birthday card.

   

Fun fold Friday Honeybee Home

 Happy Christmas eve 🎅🎅🎅 Tomorrow is the the big day and I'm  so fortunate to be able to spend it with my family. As I have an almost 4 year old grandson it's especially fun,  if not hectic to say the least!! But hey this Nanny loves it all 😁. In the new Honeybee Home stamp set there is the perfect sentiment for how I feel about them all... "So glad we're family" . So I had to use it today.

As it's  the final day of my week of inspiration for the blog it must be fun fold Friday.  My fold for today is one that the the lovely Monica Gale shared a few years ago called a box card. It looks great but is surprisingly easy to create and it folds flat and fits in a standard c6 envelope!!!

I started with a piece of cardstock measuring 10.5cm x 29.7cm.  I then scored it at 4cm, 14cm,  18cm and 18cm. I then scored it at 5.5cm along the short side. In the picture below I have marked the score lines...

In the next picture I show where to cut. The large pink area is to be removed.

Apply adhesive to the tab on the right and close to creat the box. Then all you need are 2 pieces of cardstock measuring 2cm x 12cm scored at 1cm and 11cm. These 2 pieces are then added into the inside of the box to create the layers onto which your decoration will go. 

To decorate my box I stamped and die cut the flowers from the Honeybee Home stamps.  I  also die cut the leaf die from the Honeybee Bloom dies which are the ones that coordinate with the stamps.

I used pattern paper to cover the outside of my box. The paper is called Heart and Home. I used the grey and white wood effect side . I  think this gives my card a wooden planter feel . 

I love the way the internal strips allow you to place the flowers in layers it has real depth 

The other great thing is that it folds flat for posting...

I  cut a mat of white cardstock measuring 10cm x 9.5cm and adhered it on the back so that there is some where to write your message.

 Well that's  it from me for this week .  Please join me next week as Gill will be sharing inspiration for the last week of 2021.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may the peace and joy of the season be with you all.

Cary xxx

Throwback Thursday Honeybee Home

 I love colour and bright colours especially 😍. The drab grey days of winter are just mehh to me. My antidote is to create bright bold cards 😁 . So for today's Throwback Thursday project I've  chosen bright bold colours and a new take on an old favourite the shaker card! Using the fabulous Honeybee Home stamps I set to work.

I started by die cutting an appature from a piece of bright green cardstock.  Called granny apple green it's such a bold happy colour. I then placed the mat ontop of my card base front and die cut it out again. I  saved the inner pieces to use later.

I then cut a mat of vellum the same size as the green mat. I used the new hive 3d embossing folder to emboss the vellum. I  also cut a piece of acetate the same size. 

Next I adhered the vellum over the appature on the card front.  I  then place strips of double-sided tape onto the edges of the vellum. Now for the fun bit adding the sprinkles. As this is going to be a flat shaker card it is best to chose flat sprinkles or sequines or glitter. I  chose to use the pretty Shaker shapes as they are flat and are such pretty colours 😍. I added a good pinch of them to the center of the vellum after removing the backing from the tape . Next I carefully placed the acetate on top creating a sandwich with the sprinkles as the filling.

With the sprinkles secured I placed the green mat over the shaker element. I used double sided tape again as it sticks well to the acetate. 

To decorate the front I die cut the appature again in white cardstock but this time I die cut a stitched rectangle from the center of it to create a frame. I  then placed this frame into the appature. Again I kept the die cut center to use later. I  then stamped and cut out some flowers from the Honeybee Home stamps as well as bees and a sentiment. 

I  love the way this card came together..

The colours are bold and bright and fun. The card is flat so good to post...

And the inside is where I used the left over die cut pieces.

All in all a fun card and here's a little video of it in action..

Watercolour Wednesday Honeybee Home

 Wednesday's are Watercolour Wednesday's here at 2 Big Girls Crafting and this Wednesday's is no different. As you will know if you follow us I love to make backgrounds !! Watercolour is a great way to make backgrounds but my purpose for creating a background for todays project was to die cut it up!!! The Honeybee Home stamps come qith coordinating dies called Honeybee Bloom dies.

It was the dies that I wanted to use in particular the 2 sprig ones. My mind went to creating a watercolour colour smosh background then to die cut from that to give the sprigs colour.

So to start I go out my inks, water spritzer, silicon mat and watercolour paper. I  spritzed the watercolour paper. Next I dabbed my ink onto the silicon mat. 

Next I spritzed the ink on the silicon mat with plenty of water .

Now the fun begins.  Dab the wet side of your watercolour paper onto the ink smooshing it as you go.

This is the first layer of colour. Make sure you dry the layer before going in again...

And again...

I loved the way this colour combo of pale orange called pale papaya and pretty pink called polished pink turned out . 

I then die cut out my sprigs.  I used the coordinating Hive embossing folder for the card. I highlighted one spot by gently brushing a soft yellow called so saffron ink.

I kept the colour simple and used a white card base and a soft kraft ink called crumb cake for the sentiment.

I loved the effect the watercolour piece gave the die cuts. I  also didn't want to not use the rest of the piece sooo....

I love that when you tear a piece of the hive embossed card it follows the edges of the little hexagon shapes....

These clean and delicately sweet coloured cards are so pretty 😍 

I thoroughly enjoyed creating today's projects and hope you like them as much as I do 😊

Tips, Tricks and Techniques Tuesday Honeybee Home

 One of the great things about Stampin' Up! Is that they don't just produce great stamps they create coordinating suites of products. My stamp set of the week Honeybee Home is a part of a large suite that has not 1 but 2 stamp sets and coordinating dies, pattern paper, embellishments and an embossing folder!! Wow its a super cool super suite called Heart and Home and is on page 58 of the upcoming January to June mini catalogue!!

For today's inspiration I've chosen to use the pattern paper along with the Honeybee Home stamps. The papers are all double sided. On one side they are 6 different paterns in a variety colours. On the reverse are 6 different wood effects all in shades of grey and white.

It is the wood effect paper that inspired today's cards. I like to stamp onto pattern paper and the grey and white wood effects are perfect for this. 

So to start with I cut a piece of the paper 10.5cm x 14.85cm. I  then cut a 2.5cm x 14.85cm strip from it. I did this as I wanted to reverse the patern for the card front. 

On to the larger piece of pattern paper I stamped  in basic grey ink.  I used one of the floral images and the bee's. 

I adhered the stamped panel onto the right-hand side of my card base. I then adhered the narrow patterned side to the left-hand side. I used a blue coloured cardstock for my card base called misty moonlight as it coordinates with the pattern side of the paper 

I stamped and die cut out a sentiment from white cardstock as well as one of the little bees. The sentiment was adhered using 3d foam to give a little hight to the card.

Now as I was creating the first card I wondered what the floral images would look like if I coloured then in. Sooo I cut another piece of the same paper and gave it a go!!

I liked it and decided to use it in the same way as my first card.

Now I had a few scraps of pattern paper left over and I couldn't put them in the bin so I made a third card 🤪

This one is very simple but shows the beautiful misty moonlight cardstock off as well as the great stamps and pattern paper.

 Do you save your scraps of pattern paper? I do I usually pop them back in the packet for another project. I can't bear to be parted with such pretty paper 😉

Make it simple Monday Honeybee Home

 Well Christmas is certainly getting here fast!!! 5 day's to go how did that happen!!!! Well all that being said I have a great set that I'll  be sharing projects I've made with you for the next 5 days. Called Honeybee Home it's from the upcoming January to June mini catalogue from Stampin' Up! . 

I think this set is rather lovely. It has florals and honey bee's as well as great sentiments. The bee's make it a little different and I like different 😊

For today's #makeitsimplemonday inspiration I have used stamps, ink and paper. I have also used the acrylic block that my stamps cling to. You will also need a way to mist water. I used a spritzer but any spray bottle that gives a fine mist will work.

The first thing you need to do is ink up your acrylic block... yes put your block onto the ink pad!! Now with your card ready to one side gently mist the ink on the block with water from your spritzer. Next place the block ink side down onto the card. 

The water and ink are absorbed by the card. You can see it happening through the clear acrylic . If you have chosen a darker colour ink you may want to stamp off onto scrap paper before spritzing with water . This is just personal preference. I would highly recommend playing with this technique on scrap card first so that you see how it works. 

Once the panel is dry, and it dries really quickly, it's time to decorate. As this is a #simplestamping project I decided to stamp on to the panel with the stamps from the Honeybee Home set in black ink.

The first card I made uses a yellow ink called appropriately enough bumblebee!! I stamped 3 of the Honeybee images ontop of the coloured panel and a seeet sentiment below.

The second card uses a pretty pink called polished pink paired with one of the floral images from the stamp set.

For the third and final card I went with a light purple called fresh freesia ink and the second floral image.

I had great fun creating these cards. It is an easy and quick way to create cards that are both elegant and artistic. 

If you'd like to see how I created these fun cards why not pop over to our Facebook page 2 Big Girls Crafting at 4pm , GMT,  this afternoon for a Facebook live where Cary will be demoing the technique 😀 or you can watch the video 

Fun Fold Friday - Bright Baubles - Special Cards

 Hello again on this cool and chilly morning! Ooo! It really is nippy out there today! I'm glad I don't have to go out! For my last class using the Bright Baubles stamp set, today I am showing the 1st card that I made for the all-day class. It is a little fiddly, so it's not for the faint-hearted but it's really well worth it. This is an easel card so a fairly simple one until you see that I have cut out the centres of two panels.

The best way to start this is by folding a piece of A4 in half and burnish the folds really well. The add it to the trimmer and gut the centre at 3 cm all around the 4 edges. This now gives me a folded frame in Pool Party card. Then adding a piece of card 15.85cm by 21cm. I scored 1cm down the full length and using tape, I fixed the 1cm strip under one side of the gutted frame of the card. This is now 3 panels wide so quite a large card base.  Obviously, as I've removed a large part from the centre of the card, I needed to stabilise it a little to give it a bit more strength.  To do this I used some of the Green foiled card.

I cut some pieces of green foiled card 14.4cm by 20.5cm and gutted them both 2.5cm from each edge. I now have 4 separate frames. 2 in Pool Party of the card and 2 in the green foil. I decided to emboss the foiled frames using the Wintry embossing folders. I used the pine tree one from the twin pack. I love the texture it's added to the card.   

 

Onto the decorating now. I stamped a bauble twice using a Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad and coloured the images in identically using my Stampin' Blends before glueing them together using Tombow multipurpose glue, adding a piece of Baker's Twine into the centres first. I die cut a 'JOY' bauble from both sides of the foil. This ensures that you will get a mirror image of the dies. I added some Baker's Twine to the inner parts and glued them together using Tombow again. Once they were both dry and able to be moved, I added them to the centre, top fold and secured them using some tape where the foiled panels are going to go.

 

Now onto the solid panel of card. I added one of my most favourites in the pack of DSP Peaceful Place papers. This simple white and silver design is, in my mind, simply stunning. I stamped a sentiment onto Basic White card in the Shaded Spruce Ink and mounted it onto a piece of green foiled card then placed it about 4 - 5 cm from the front edge of the card using foam shapes (Dimensionals) to enable the front mat to stand up. I had lots of die cut white snowflakes and added them around the card to highlight it.

I haven't done it yet but I will be adding a white panel to the base to write my message on. There's not really much space to add it unless I write all over my favourite paper!

That's it from me for another week. Once again, I am so sorry that I missed Monday's post. 

I hope that you are now nearly ready for the Christmas holidays and ready to spend some quality time with your friends and loved ones. If you can, please remember those of your neighbours who are on their own. Try to pop in and see them and give them some cheer.

Cary will be back next Monday, (I don't think she has any dental appointments)! Until I return on 27th December, I hope that you all have the most wonderful Christmas time and manage to get to spend some time with family and friends. 

Whatever you are going to do please 

xxxxx    STAY SAFE, BE WELL and KEEP ON CRAFTING.    xxxxx

Happy Christmas and have a wonderful New Year 

Gill xxx 😍😍😍