Tuesday 30 August 2011

Bin there..done that!

 Now, I know you are going to be thinking why a wheelie bin?  Well, it is a card for our Brother-in Law, he has a company called "Love you Bin". AJ thought it appropriate that we make him one.  Before you go rushing on out to make this, be warned this is a technical card and AJ did all the technical stuff as well as coming up with this design(I told you he is better at making cards than me!)
Firstly make your self a template and cut out two bin shapes, cut a flap on the long straight edges so that you can join the sides together, lids cut separately but with a bulbous bit at the back for the "hinge" part. On photoshop make yourself your greeting template, its about a quarter of a circle with an arc cut out slightly so that it will move freely when inside the bin, plus alow a small flap so that it can sandwich in between the lids plus a little nitch top and bottom to make "stops" so that it doesn't pull out of the bin.  This was tricky to get right so print out in draft first before using the good cardstock.  Are you following me so far? If you are using a bin tag logo, like we did then again use Photoshop and cut out and resize, and print. On this one we printed the greeting on the reverse, so design it next to the logo and fold in half once printed.  The wheels are cut using Stampin UP punches 1" and 0.5" with a gold brad through, both front and back. Cut a green strip and two little flanges to give dimension to the bin for the lip and supports.  Before adhereing to the main body of the bin, ink up, paying attention to the edges. The last piece to cut is the backstand, cut a triangle and fold in half.  Now for the assembly. Your inner greeting arc, sandwich the top flange in between the two bin lids, insert the greeting into the bin and insert brad through lid and bin body making the hinge so that when the bin lid is lifted the greeting pops out. Now adhere the straight sides of the bin, I used the redline tape. Attach the two support struts and the lip of the bin, I used foam pads on the lip of the bin for shadow and depth. Now add the backstand on the back of the card so that it will stand up independantly. Almost forgot to mention that you can cut the house number to make it even more personal, this was cut using the London die. Attach your bin tag and "voila".  Your very own wheelie bin with moving greeting. Complicated but cool! x


Sunday 21 August 2011

For a Wonderful Friend..

Card orders are coming in thick and fast, thank you everyone, I do appreciate your loyalty and support:-)

The brief for this card was that it had to have 40 on it, the gentlemans full name and "wonderful friend"
As you fellow crafters know its difficult to make cards for men, especially when you don't know the recipient. I think this card should hit the spot!  What man would not love a sexy fast car? I have used the car stamp from Dimension Fourth and stamped the image several times, cut it out, inked the edges and layered it up using foam pads.  You may remember a couple of blogs ago, I mentioned that I was lost without my computer and here is why- the background paper has printed -for my wonderful friend on vellum-yep, you guessed it, done on my printer.  I also printed out the 40 road sign and the number plate and name plates too.  Its just getting use to sizing things on your computer, changing the fonts and colours and sometimes editing them in photoshop.  If you have a play around,  print them in draft first and seeing what works you will soon master it and it will become an invaluable tool for your crafting projects. To finish this gentlemans card I used black, silver and red cardstock for a strong, sexy look, let's hope he likes it! x

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Baby Jack

It's always exciting making new baby cards and this one was requested to be extra special.  I knew in my mind what I wanted to create but its always difficult getting that onto cardstock.  As I wanted to sew on this card(when don't I?), but I didn't want the "workings" on show; to avoid this I worked out that if I folded the cardstock in half I could still sew on it each side and then fold it back and it would all be hidden. To give a new baby feel I had to keep it quite "light" with almost an "airy" feel to the card.  This was trying to keep the front minimal but when you turn each flap it has other elements to it like animals that have been die cut and embellished on all pages. The main cardstock used is Bazzill but with Rusty Pickle papers inside and the dies used were Sizzix zoo animals.  I have used Rebecca Erikkson rub ons and a stamp set that I can't remeber the name of-sorry:-(  It was punched down the spine with the Bind It All and bound together with white ribbon.  As with all new designs this took me about 8-9 hours to make, but as soon as this was handed over to the lady that ordered it I have since taken quite a few more orders for this; so I'm hoping that they are going to be easier to make!! x

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Christmas in August..

I know, I know, it might be bizarre to some of you thinking "why has she started so soon?".  In my mind, you can never start Christmas too early, each year I plan to be prepared and have good intentions to make all of my Christmas gifts BUT it just doesn't pan out that way.  Do you find that you prepare, plan, make and create for it all to be over with in a flash and all you have to remember Christmas by is the big overdraft at the end of it all?  I want to get ahead this time and enjoy the creative process of Christmas,  so I have started!! At the weekend I made some cards, now, I had no plans or designs in mind, all I had was stash that I wanted to use and let the mood take me ( I wish someone would!). I usually make 200 cards at Christmas that I post or where I can hand out, my partner AJ has asked me how I know so many people,  but I meet people along the way, make friends and just keep in touch. I do have one small plan..my work colleagues, they only ever get mini cards like some of these in the piccie.  It's not because I'm mean but space at work is short so a small one will always get put up because its cute! The larger cards are made using some hand woven silk that I have been given and it would be rude of me not to use it.  So I have stitched these into panels and added woooden angels or stars.  They look scrummy in the flesh, very tactile.  Well, enough for now, I'm sure there will be many more cards to come. x