SUPER BROTHER CARD

SUPER BROTHER CARD

When most of the attention is on a new baby, its important to let the other children in the family know that they're not forgotten.

A new great-nephew inspired this card, which wasn't quick to make, but certainly isn't difficult.

The base is a single fold white card from Regal Craft Cards and the background is Kaiser paper.
The little boy is a LalaLand stamp that has been stamped onto lots of different coloured papers, then cut out and re-assembled on a stamped base (i.e. paper pieced).  The very fine detail (the star on his constume, belt buckle and detail on boots) has been added with silver pen, and a little bit of colour to the face (lips and cheek) added with red pencil.  Finally just a little white dot using a gel pen has been put in the eyes to add a little "life."  Finishing details come from a bit silver star (from Regal) and some stickers - star borders and "Brother" (a gold sticker coloured over with a black marker pen).

CHRISTMAS BOOK CARD

Regal already have pre-made book-shaped cards so if you want to do something a little different for Christmas this year you can buy a pack and get straight to the fun bit of decorating it!

I've taken the photo at a funny angle so rest-assured it doesn't really do justice to Sharon's pretty card,  (It really does look like a book when closed!)

Sharon has used patterned papers, a die-cut robin and a border sticker to decorate the front of the card, and simply drawn pages using a pencil and ruler to suggest pages on the inside.

Its as nice quick card to make but very effective!!

SIMPLE SYMPATHY CARD

SIMPLE SYMPATHY CARD

Sympathy cards are often made at a difficult time and a simple approach can be useful.

In this case, I've dabbed some distress inks onto an acrylic stamping block, lightly spritzed it with water, then put the card face down on the block and gently run over the surface so the colours transfer to the card and merge together.  (Any water-based ink will do, just make sure you use colours that aren't on opposite sides of the colour wheel unless you want a grey/brown effect).

You can either wait until the ink has dried or use a craft heat gun to speed up the process.

Choose a narrow high stamp and stamp it with black ink in the corner.

Write the message at the bottom, then hand-draw a frame.  If you mess up a corner (as I did) just make it into a feature!!

I think sometimes we are so focussed on getting the right stamp or die that we forget that we can always just write the greeting ourselves!  I also know that just about everyone (myself included)  had issues about their handwriting, but bear in mind that it is one way to ensure that you have made a truly unique and personal card.

QUICK CARDS FOR CHRISTMAS

TWO QUICK CHRISTMAS CARDS

This is about the time of year, that a little alarm bell starts ringing in the back of the brain if you have decided to send handmade Christmas Cards this year but haven't actually managed to make a start yet.

Here are a couple of speedy solutions, so you can grab some materials, and be feeling smug by the weekend!  Both cards have used bases from Regal Craft Cards.

The first adds green and gold matting (with a hand-drawn border), and two cut out trees (also available from Regal.  The simplest things can sometimes set a card apart from the ordinary, and in this case its simply the removal of one of the top corners.

The second card can be purchased with the three trees and slotted border already cut out, so all that needs to be done is to add decorative papers behind the apertures and its done!!

These are almost "5 minute wonders" but I'd say 10 - 15 minutes tops - less if you are well organised and set up a little "production line."

STEPPER BABY CARD

STEPPER BABY CARD

Another really cute card from Trudy this week.

Regal make these stepper cards, which come with envelopes, so all that you need to do is add the decoration.

In this case, Trudy has covered the front with patterned paper, stamped and coloured images on the sides, and added a sparklelight 3D picture (also available from Regal) as a feature in the middle.

Baby cards are often kept for a long time, so its worth making that little bit of extra effort

CHEERFUL OWL CHRISTMAS CARD

CHEERY OWL CARD

Tania has made a simple but effective Christmas card using a plain singlefold white card from Regal Craft Cards as her base.

She has added red card, then embossed green, more red and then smooth white, to frame the Christmas wish (a peel off sticker).

The card is further embellished with punched snowflakes (actually a sunburst punch) and die a diecut scalloped corner.  The glitter card is fairly thick, so do use caution and avoid small punches if you want to punch shapes from it.  Die-cutting should pose no problems.

Lastly but perhaps most importantly, Tania has finished her card by adding a cute Christmas owl button.

SIDE STEPPER BEACH THEMED CARD

"AT THE BEACH" STEPPER CARD

We have another of Trudy Meijer's cute cards from a demo she did for Regal Craft Cards a while ago.

This is a true collage card, incorporating everything from pebbles and shells to nets.

The base card is ST1 - Regal's side-stepper card, which is already cut and creased so that you can go quickly to the "fun" bit of decorating without all the measuring, scoring and cutting.

Trudy has applied glue to the front and covered it in real sand for her background.  She's added some stamped features and a LaLaLand stamp, coloured with Kaiser fusion pens and fussy cut.  On the back panel, is some patterned vellum, (made by embossing) attached with white split pins, with layers of paper underneath to be the sea.

Doesn't it look cute?

CHRISTMAS CARD FEATURING AUSTRALIANA PAPERS

Australian Parrots Christmas Card

How simple is this card thanks to the lovely paper from Ultimate Crafts, and a Regal square card base  Just mat the paper on a bit of red, add a Sparklelight sticker (available from Regal Craft Cards), and a feather (in this case from my backyard) and you're done!

At this time of year you don't necessarily want to be spending hours on your cards, especially if you're sending them overseas, and there are a lot of pretty papers around that can be used in a similar way.

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