CALENDAR SCRAPBOOKING

Here's an idea for a little project for the coming year.

Regal make 12 month calendars with lots of space for decoration and journalling.  If you don't have time for traditional scrapbooking, why not just take (or select) one photo from each month, list all the important things that happened, add some embellishments when you have a spare moment, and then, at the end of the year, you'll have a record of 2015 to treasure in the future. It may be "express" scrapbooking but I bet that the grandchildren in 2065 will love looking back at it!!

Alternatively, if there's a new baby in your life, or a child who has just started school, a month by month record now would be a great gift in a few years time E.g. 18th or 21st birthday!!!

FOLDED SQUARES CARDS

 Most folks have finished their Christmas cards by now, but Marilyn's card won't take too long, if you are still in the making phase - just select some pretty doublesided papers, fold up the ends and place the folded edges together.  Cut a zig zag from one end of a plain strip and assemble as shown in the picture.  These card's illustrate how easily a Christmas design can be adapted for other occasions simply by changing the colours, and embellishments.  It might be worth having a look back over the last few postings and thinking of ways in which the designs could be used for birthdays etc with a little imagination!

CHRISTMAS FOLDED SQUARES

OTHER FOLDED SQUARES

TWO MORE SUPER QUICK CHRISTMAS CARDS

SUPER QUICK CHRISTMAS TREE CARDS

O.K. Rule 1 of not having started to make Christmas cards yet......DON'T PANIC.

Rule 2 - chose something really easy and just do it!!

These cards can be made in under five minutes each.  Begin with a cut out Christmas tree from Regal (Kraft to the left, silver to the right), run it through an embossing machine in your favourite folder (not necessarily specifically Christmassy).  Use foam tape (or a sticky square) to mount onto a premade Regal card ("Natural" or "Sparklelight" in our examples).  Add a bow or rhinestone (or sticker) to the top and there you are - a finished card in just a few minutes!  Your time starts now.............

STITCHED CHRISTMAS CARDS

 I have three more lovely stitched cards by Sandra Bell to share with you.  If you started right now, you might be able to finish a couple of your own by Christmas.....but if not, why not add it to your "New Year's Resolution" list for next year!!!

Thanks again Sandra for allowing me to show others your beautiful work!

LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS CARDS

Card Inserts

 By this stage, time is probably of the essence if you are still to make your Christmas cards, so here are two 5 minute ideas!  The first is a Sparklelight sticker on a Sparklelight card ( a good range of each is available on  from Regal Craft Cards) and the second is the background from a 3D sheet, stuck onto silver card and mounted in a large oval cut-out card.  If you use the backgrounds and built up images separately, you can get six cards from each sheet rather than just the three!  Each card is finished with a pre-printed Regal inserty.  How easy is that!!!!

Sparklelight Christmas Cards

GINGERBREAD HOUSE CHRISTMAS CARD

GINGERBREAD HOUSE CHRISTMAS CARD

This is a fun card that can be as easy or difficult as you want it to be.  Its also quite a good card to make if you want to keep children entertained with a Christmas craft project.

Basically, take one of Regal's square white cards, Add a triangle of card for the roof and then go wild with the decoration!!!  I've kept this example fairly low key, using scrapbooking papers, a punched border, and white heart and greeting stickers, but you could use rhinestones, stamps, punched shapes or whatever you have at hand.

The gingerbread man was cut by folding a scrap of paper in half and cutting free hand until one turned out well enough to use as a template for the "real thing", but you could also trace around a biscuit cutter, use a stamp, or download something from the net.  The white detail and border was added the old-fashioned way with a white gel pen.
If you didn't want a Christmassy theme, try adding turrets for a fairy castle or fort, or just make "a house"..........if you are doing it as a project with the kids, no doubt they'll have good ideas....but actually its rather a fun idea for us grown ups too.....perhaps as a "New Home" card?

5 MINUTE CHRISTMAS CARD

QUICK XMAS CARD 

Stickers are a great way to make super-quick Christmas card.  A matted sticker and a gold panel with a torn strip of patterned paper is all that you need for Marilyn's 5 minute card.  The base is a white textured (PL1) card from Regal Craft Cards

CHRISTMAS CARD WITH KITE FOLD MOTIF

TEABAG FOLD MOTIF

 .....And here is an example of the second teabag fold from the October demo and the posting I did a couple of weeks ago.  Eight little kite shapes are arranged edge to edge, and taped down to a base.  Its easiest if you start by fixing the four opposites and then filling in the gaps - you're more likely to end up with good spacing if you do.

I've cut a V into some gold cardboard as a base and mounted the whole thing onto red.  The background is die-cut from red card using a Couture Creations die and stuck down over Forest green.  The whole thing is then mounted on a white textured card.

Its really quite a simple card but looks quite effective.

SPARKLELIGHT FAIRY CALENDAR

SPARKLELIGHT FAIRY CALENDAR

If you combine a calendar with a card, it can stay up all year, instead of just a day or two around Christmas or birthdays.

Regal's stepper card base gives the structure to this card.  Then I've covered parts with gold butterfly sparklelight, added a base picture from a 3d sheet (so I can use all the other parts on another project), added a small and large butterfly from another die-cut sheet stuck together with a foam dot for depth, and finally a small calendar.  All of the bits are available from Regal.  This is a really quick project - in fact most time was devoted to assembling the various bits and pieces!

They also have a selection of 2015 calendars out and ready for your craft projects so check out their website and get busy!!

CHRISTMAS CARD WITH CIRCLE MOTIF

CIRCLE FOLD TEABAG CARD

I posted instructions for this simple circle fold a couple of weeks ago, so thought I'd better pop a card up with a finished example too.

As you can see I've just used a simple paper - gold on one side and white on the other, and without any pattern to distract, the form is really evident.  I promise the middle was just lovely but if it had been a bit dodgy, the gold split pin would have covered it.  I used Kaiser paper as background and border, but if I was doing this card again, I'd skip the dark green edge and use real lace or paper lace, probably in gold to link it in with the motif.  The greeting is off a sheet available from Regal, and I've coloured three little silver rhinestones as a feature.  Again, if I hadn't done this for a demo ("See how you can colour your rhinestones with alcohol markers") I would have chosen red for all three.

I guess that's the idea of a lot of the cards on the blog (the ones I make anyway).  They aren't perfect - just a starting point to get you thinking of what you do and don't like so that you can create something wonderful of your own.

IRIS FOLDED CHRISTMAS TEAPOT

Although this iris-folded teapot (the pre-cut cards, NO55 are available from Regal Craft Cards), was not made specifically for Christmas, the red, white and gold colour scheme could easily fit the bill.

Japanese papers are lovely, but expensive, so iris folding is a good way to use up small leftovers for maximum impact.

The maker of this card is a bit of a mystery - no one at work remembers....but if this is your card and you'd like to claim credit please let me know and I'll happily update the post!!

Whoever made it has adapted an iris folding template designed for a circle, and added a handcut corner.  The bottom is a strip of paper with two hole-punched circle at either end.  If you wanted to add a tiny sprig of holly to the side of the lid and an appropriate greeting, it would make a great seasonal card.

TWO SIMPLE TEABAG FOLDS

TWO SIMPLE TEABAG FOLDS

Here as promised are close-ups of the two folds I used during October's Christmas Card demo.

For the Circle fold you begin (not surprisingly) with a circle.  Fold it in half, then unfold.  Using the line you've made in the paper as the base, fold up a little bit of each side as shown in Fig.1.

Turn the shape over, then fold both sides to the middle line.  The little folds you made in step 1 will pop out to form "petals." (Fig.2).

Its a good idea to wait until you're happy with the end result before squashing the folds down firmly, as sometimes a little bit of adjustment is needed.

The second fold is easier.  Just take a square.  Again, fold it so that you have a middle line down the diagonal, then fold the edges to this line to make a kite shape.  There are lots of different ways to use this basic shape with just a little modification, e.g. turning up the edges, opening one edge etc.

To make a motif from either of these folds its just a matter of placing them side by side and sticking them down.  Again, its worth fiddling around with placement until you're totally happy (and/or use a folded circle or square base underneath as a guide) before you get out the glue or double sided tape.

If you find the middle of the motif isn't quite what you'd hoped, a large rhinestone, split pin or punched shape will cover quite a bit.  (Its OK.....its a "design feature")  Good Luck!  I'm happy to help you with the folds (or show you some more) in the shop as long as you're happy to wait between customers!

EMBROIDERED CHRISTMAS CARDS

EMBROIDERED CANDLES

 Sandra Bell made these delicate cards from the book Embroidery on Paper:  Alphabets and Festive Motifs by Joke and Adriaan De Vette. (Available from Regal Craft Cards).  Her care and attention to detail are obvious.

Sandra has used a variety of metallic threads and added small red star stickers to decorate these cards, obviously destined to very special people.

PINE CONES

BELLS

ZIGZAG CHRISTMAS CARD

ZIGZAG CHRISTMAS CARD

One of Regal's red zigzag cards has been used as a base for this Christmas card (you can get them in other colours too).  The tree is a cut out (also available from Regal) and coated with a (possibly overenthusiastic) coating of Snowtex.  I've coloured the trunk (which was a Kraft brown) with black marker pen so it matches in with the Kaiser background paper.  The black edging was drawn in (with the help of a ruler) with the same pen.

A piece of textured white cardstock takes up about the bottom third of the front panel.  The "peace" is a die cut from a Kaiser pad but you could easily substitute a stamp or sticker.  Black adhesive pearls complete the card

This is a fairly simple example, but Regal's range of zigzag cards are great for those who enjoy doing a lot of decoration - there are at least three panels to work with - more if you count the backs!  You can also secure the front panel along the base and left hand side with double sided tape and make a pocket for a gift voucher.

EASY MERRY CHRISTMAS CARD

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Tania has made another lovely card using a Regal cut out - this time a Christmas tree.  These can be bought in Kraft brown as shown as well as a thick gold or silver, and come in situ in all their three panel Christmas tree cut out cards.

Red adhesive pearls, stripey twine and green inked edges all add to the effect.  If you haven't made your Chrismas cards yet, here is a  simple but effective idea.  Its not quite a five minute effort, but if you cut all the components in groups, the assembly wouldn't take very long, especially as the "hard cutting" the tree) has already been done for you !

CHRISTMAS CARDS - ONE CARD TWO WAYS

ONE CARD TWO WAYS

This is one of my favourite Regal cards - it can be used in all sorts of ways but here are a couple of quick examples for Christmas.

Both use a Sizzix die to cut the grid - one from gold, the other rom red.

The first card features metallic red paper, Sparklelight stickers and some corner peel-off.  The second uses paper from a Kaiser pad and (even although they are a little bit hard to see) small rhinestones at the junction of the "petals" in the lower right hand corner.

The cards can be used either way up, and you can get them in candy pink, lime and white as well, so there's no need to stick to traditional Christmas colours if you want to branch out a bit.

BLACK AND WHITE OWL CALENDAR CARD

BLACK AND WHITE OWL CALENDAR CARD

Here is another example of a calendar using Regal's Stepper Card as a base, and one of their little calendar pads.

SIDEVIEW OF REGAL STEPPER CARD

The diecut owls are a bit scary...kind of a mad hybrid owl/penguin.  The rhinestone eyes add to the effect, which wasn't exactly what I was aiming at but it does make me smile so its all good!

Someone mentioned that a side view of the stepper card would be a "good idea" - so here it is!!

POP UP BOX CARD

BOX GARDEN CARD

Trudy Meijer made this lovely foldable card.  Although its not on a Regal card base, she did make the point that Regal sells large pieces of cardboard in the printery, which are needed to make this style of card.

I'm doing the Regal Christmas card demo today (Thursday 23rd) between 10 and 3 so if you can pop in, that would be lovely.  I'd really like to make one of these, as it would make a terrific Christmas card for a special person,  but fear it would take most of the time.  I'm also fairly confident that it wouldn't turn out nearly as nicely as Trudy's example, which she has decorated with die-cuts, stickers, stamps and more in conjunction with some very pretty layered papers.

This style of card is very popular at the moment and you can find instructions on-line (look at the Splitcoast Stampers site or just search for "Pop up Box Card") but Trudy tells me that she worked this out for herself!  I am suitably impressed.

BEADED CHRISTMAS STARS

BEADED CHRISTMAS STAR

As Christmas draws nearer we know you are looking for extra card ideas, so from now until Christmas, I'll do my best to at least occasionally pop up some extra cards through the week.

The first Bonus posting is of cards embroidered by the very talented Sandra Bell.  The patterns are from Embroidery on Paper - Alphabet and Festive Motifs by Joke and Adriaan De Vette, available from Regal Craft Cards.

I've had the good fortune to see these cards "in reality" and believe me, they are as neat, as they appear on the screen, and even more beautiful as the metal threads and beads shine under the light.

BEADED CHRISTMAS TREE

PHOTO CALENDAR IDEA

REGAL CRAFT PHOTO CALENDAR

Regal have their 12-month calendar available again this year.  It has lots of space for notes, room for a 6 x 4 inch photo or decoration,borders that can be coloured, and room to add extras such as die-cuts and stickers, as I have done in this example.

The calendars can be used a variety of ways - add photos and either keep or give as gifts E.g. photos of local landmarks for interstate or overseas friends, photos of the family for grandma, or photos of the garden and visitors (like this kookaburra which conveniently and literally did sit in the old gum tree in our backyard when I happened to have the camera with me!) to bring a bit of outdoors inside.

Another way to use them is as a record of the year.  Pick your best photo each month and then add journalling to the bottom, marking special dates with a little note on the calendar.

You can, of course, skip the photo altogether, get out your craft supplies and go wild!!!  Its up to you.

COUNTRY-STYLE APPLE CARD

COUNTRY STYLE - APPLE

Tania has assembled this lovely country-style card using one a variety of papers and Regal's cut-out apple shape.  The apple is available in a Kraft brown by itself or comes included with their three-panel white textured apple cut-out card (NO57).

Notice how Tania has inked the edges of the papers with chalk ink which helps add dimension and blend the colours.

A knot of raffia is the perfect finish

BLACK AND WHITE WEDDING CARD2

NON-TRADITIONAL WEDDING CARD

Marty has used stamps from Stamp-It and papers from Kaiser, on a black Regal singlefold card base to create this special wedding card.

If the couple for whom the card is intended aren't the white lace and pearl types, there are plenty of alternatives and this is an example of one non-traditional approach.

Note the way that Marty has used several greetings, matting two for added impact, and the way that he has framed the third by tearing the top paper and inking the edges.

This card would be quite quick to make, and by choosing another colour of base card from Regal's extensive range, and using matching papers and inks, the design could be adapted to reflect the bride or groom's favourite colour, or the theme they have chosen for their big day.

PINK PIG SQUARES CARD

All the October Kaiser release products have just arrived and will be in the shop tomorrow!  There is a lovely summery floral set, a more subdued vintage selection and of course a Christmas release too.
We also have Christmas papers from Graphic45 and Bo Bunny, as well as the much-awaited "Raining Cats and Dogs" papers and more!!!!!
As I'm doing a special Tuesday posting to let you know about that, I thought I'd add in a card from Marilyn's recent "Squares" demo.

LITTLE PINK PIG CARD

This is a great example of how a bit of imagination means that even if you don't have every new craft product you can still create some terrific cards.  In this case its just a combination of squares on one of Regal's Natural square base cards, with a bit of coated wire (coloured pink with a marker pen) twisted to make a tail.  How clever is that!!

COLOURFUL OWLS

FOUR OWLS

As you can purchase the pink base card from Regal pre-cut, this is a quick card to put together.  (I really wish I'd started off with a category for not-quite-five-minute cards).

The owls are clear stickers, stuck to 120g cardstock and cut out, mounted on punched circles and then onto the squares of the card.  (The great thing about card-making is that you can have green and purple owls if you want).

The patterned paper is placed just to the edge of the "connectors" and held in place with double sided tape, a plain black is placed under the open area, where the larger owl sits on a white punched circle, slightly raised with foam tape.  A gold border sticker completes the card

VINTAGE TRAVEL CARD

VINTAGE TRAVEL CARD

Janet has paired Kaiser papers with one of their journalling cards and a Sparklelight sticker to make this great card which would have been perfect for Father's Day had I thought to post it earlier!  Never mind, there are still birthdays ahead OR you can be extra-especially early for next year!!

The card is made from one of Regal's singlefold base cards.  A double wrap of twine completes the project.

THINKING OF YOU

THINKING OF YOU

Not all cards have to take forever to make.  Sometimes its nice to let people know that you care, even if you are time poor.  Lois has made a pretty card that could be completed in no time at all, using silver outline stickers and a panel from the teddy bear decorator sheet (from the sparklelight range available from Regal) on a purple base card.

The decorator sheets come in a variety of designs - this one features a variety of old-fashioned teddy bears and different floral backgrounds, but there are lots of other themes including flowers and sports.

TWO BIRDS JUST FOR YOU

TWO BIRDS JUST FOR YOU

One of the nice things about working in the craft shop is that I not only get to see lots of interesting craft goodies, but occasionally one of our lovely customers brings in something they have made with them, and I get to see the products in a whole new way.

Ann Parker has kindly let us show you what she has created with background paper from Fab Scraps (matted with deep pink), a variety of die cut shapes, a stamped greeting (double matted) and Kaiser pearls.  I particularly like the little birds ( a Marianne die), which Ann has cut from real sticky-backed wood (X-Press It Sticki Barc "cherry"), and coloured lightly.  All the elements are arranged on a brown base card.

The photo doesn't really do the end result justice but you can see the general idea.  Thankyou to Ann for sharing her work!

BLACK AND WHITE WEDDING CARD

BLACK AND WHITE WEDDING CARD

We still have a few cards to share from the demo Marty Munro did for Regal a few months back.  This is one of my favourie cards - a modern take on the elegant black and white colour scheme.

Marty has used paper from a Kaiser pad as the background, putting a row of ric-rac where the print and leaf patterns join.  He has fussy cut two butterflies to adorn the top, and stamped "Wedding Wishes" on a matted panel for the bottom.

Marty's cards always look great, and one of the reasons is the attention he gives to precise borders and straight placements, which are particularly important in otherwise simple cards.  Another reason, of course, is that he has really good ideas in the first place!!

EMBOSSED OWL CARD.

EMBOSSED DIE CUT OWL CARD FRONT

BACK OF CARD

MIDDLE OF CARD

This is the same owl that featured the week before last, but a bit less scary in appearance.  The pieces of the Maryanne Die have been cut from shimmer paper, embossed in a Cutllebug and reassembled on top of a small ivory Regal square card.
This would be a fun card for owl lovers (escpecially little ones).  The theme is carried on to the middle of the card, which features some patterned paper and a Kraft panel for greetings, and the back of the card which has a central owl sticker.

Detail has been added to the punched flower, the owls feet and the borders of the card and the central panel with a white gel pen.

PURPLE PUNCHED FLOWERS

Retro Flowers Card

Now that there are so many intricate dies available, its sometimes easy to overlook our paper punches.  This is a pity because, as you can see from Tania's card, they still very much have a place in any card maker's collection.

Tania has double mounted the punched and layered flowers on a patterned background, wrapped with spotted ribbon, also mounted onto Heather Bazzill, before the whole topper is placed onto one of Regal's white textured singlefold cards.

The card is finished with some adhesive silver rhinestones and some peel-off stickers.

WHAT A HOOT BIRTHDAY CARD

WHAT A HOOT

And yes.....we do requests.....
I mainly post cards made on Regal Card blanks, but we had a special request to put this one up and here it is!!

The base is folded corrugated card but the tags are made by Regal, and all the other "ingredients" are available in the shop at the time of writing.

The owls are from a sheet of A4 paper and have been assembled as mini paper tole, by cutting out a few of the bits and mounting them with foam tape on top of the base image.

The starts at the top are split pins and the wording is made with Kaiser letter stickers using my first principle of using letter stickers - if you don't think you'll get them straight in a sane time frame, go for a deliberate "casual" look!!  The angle of the photo does make the card look a bit askew, though, but I promise that is OK in real life!!!

QUICK BIG CATS CARD

QUICK BIG CATS CARD

All the bits for this card came from Regal Craft Cards.  The base is one of their 3 square three panel craft cards.  I've just cut the top off one of the squares to emphasise the greeting and show more of the leopard.  The animal pictures come from a Sparklelight die-cut waterfall card sheet (which obviously has more uses than just waterfall cards!), and the backing paper is from Regal's specialty paper room.

The card is cut, the pictures are die-cut and the backing is already embossed, so even although this looks like a complicated card it could be made in under ten minutes if you had all your "ingredients" ready to go - just add stickers!

I imagine the card could be used for all sorts of occasions - birthdays, father's day, even just to say hello.

SPARKLELIGHT WEDDING CARDS

SPARKLELIGHT WEDDING CARD

Marty has made all three of these cards from the Wedding, Sparklelight Decoupage 3D Kit, available from Regal Craft.  These sets contain two die-cut sheets and include borders, greetings and backgrounds as well as the actual 3D pictures.  All you need to add is the base card, some foam tape or silicone glue, and your artistic input!

SPARKLELIGHT 3D WEDDING CARDS

ZIGZAG PLAY CARD

ZIGZAG SQUARE -  almost a 5 minute card!!

Inside back panel

I really need a category for "almost a five minute card."

This is another one zigzag card from Regal Craft Cards, adorned with Kaiser papers and pearls.  I've just done the edgings with a black marker pen (apart from the silver sticker on the actual zigzag.  The embossing folder used on the internal panel is from Couture Creations.

Its a very simple card, mostly involving cutting straight lines,  so its quite quick to construct, especially as the card base is already done for you.  I love the sentiment.....so true!!

A SELECTION OF STITCHED CARDS

STITCHED CARDS

One of the nicest things about my job is that I often get to see some of the beautiful cards made by Regal customers, using the things they have bought in the shop.

These cards, made by Sandra Bell are a case in point.  They are so effective.  The time Sandra has taken, and her attention to detail are evident in these beautiful stitched cards, which she has kindly allowed me to include on the blog.

KING AND QUEEN ANNIVERSARY CARD

KING AND QUEEN ANNIVERSARY

Marty Munro made this anniversary card as part of a recent demo he did for Regal Craft Cards, based on one of their square black single fold cards.

The paper is from a Kaiser pad, and the greetings: "Congratulations" and "Happy Anniversary" are both Stamp-it stamps available from Regal's website.  The diamond borders are two sides of the same ribbon.

I just love this very effective, but simple card!

DECORATOR SHEET DIE CUT TEDDY CARD

TEDDY BEAR DIE CUT  

This  cute card, made by Lois, is ideal for a quick birthday or baby card.

The teddy bear and floral background are both from a Sparklelight die cut decorator sheet, which features a variety of bears and backgrounds.

The decorator sheet, sticker and purple base card are all available from Regal Craft Cards.

Lois has used mounting tape to raise the bear off the page, and has made a hole in the Best Wishes sticker so that a ribbon can be added.