Hello My Friend - FMS 193

The temperature's rising! Wednesday was the hottest July day since records began and to celebrate that fact it was followed by a rather spectacular thunderstorm in the evening that lasted for several hours!

Out in the garden my "Deep Secret" rose is in bloom. This rose was one of my garden centre rescues a few years ago and I have to admit it's my favourite. Whilst in the photo it looks dark pink it is, in fact, deep red with the most beautiful velvety petals.  It is also rather large with this bloom being the diameter of a large saucer - pity they haven't invented scratch'n'sniff monitors as it's scent is absolutely heavenly. 

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I was working on how to put together my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge but after I had put it together I had gone out in the garden and on smelling the roses I decided to change the embellishment from a yellow daisy to a red (sort of) rose. The "sort of" is because I don't have a rose die so I just used some Sizzix ones from a stamp set that were sort of, roughly, that kind of shape!

 

 

I started off with a scrap of red card and a piece of white ribbon with some yellow daisies on it that gave me one of those "I wondered where that went" moments. As the background card is an ivory colour and the ribbon was white I decided to get my Promarkers out and originally thought to colour it red to match the red card but then thought to I could tie in the other colours I was planning to use by colouring it in bands - I think it has helped to bring out the ribbon's yellow daisies.

 

 

 

Here is the original version I made of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock:

Assorted PayPer Box

 

Dies & Stamps:

Sizzix "Hello Friend"  from Hello by Jillibean Soup Stamp & Die Set

Sizzix - Flowers No.6 Framelits Die Set 

Spellbinders - Jewel Flowers & Flourishes

 

Inks:

Memento Tuxedo Black

Letraset Promarkers

 

Embellishments:

Card Candy

Ribbon from my stash

 

 

 

 

 

Embossed Ribbon

Someone asking a question on Facebook earlier about inking onto ribbon left me thinking about how to do that without the ink sinking into the weave. The only thing I could think of was to use a PVA solution (like Modge Podge) to seal and stiffen it first.

I've not tried it but it reminded me of this technique I use to emboss ribbon:Make up a 50/50 solution of PVA/Water or Mod Podge or other liquid glue that dries clear (I used my Amos clear for this one) put the ribbon in the glue solution till wet through, remove excess and allow to dry and stiffen up (thinking about it now, it  may also be possible that a starch solution/spray starch would also work).

 

I  thought I had a photo of a previous effort but couldn't find "one I did earlier" so I decided to make some up using some single sided satin ribbon. 

Once the ribbon was ready I used a Darice border embossing folder (piece of thin card in first with the ribbon  on top of it to give the folder something to "bite" into) and ran it through my Spellbinders Sapphire. I only used the Sapphire because it was sitting out and I couldn't be bothered hauling out my GC for a small piece of ribbon. As Spellbinders don't have a Sapphire equivalent of the "Raspberry" Embossing Plate, the "sandwich" I used for the Sapphire was Cutting Plate C, Embossing (Tan) Mat, Darice folder & topped off with a thin card shim for good measure).

Once I had the piece of embossed ribbon I decided I'd better make something to show it off so here it is on a finished card:

 

 

I used PayPer Box Kraft card which I top folded as an A6 base. The embossed ribbon was wrapped across a piece of trimmed ivory coloured textured cardstock which was used as a layer on top of the Kraft card.

I coloured some pearlised cardstock with a "Sandstone" Promarker to match the ribbon, and used it to make some floral die cuts to create an embellishment.  I also colour matched the Card Candy.

 

 

 

Cardstock:

PayPer Box - Kraft

PayPer Box - Ivory Textured
PayPer Box - White Pearlised

Dies:

Spellbinders - Flowers & Flourishes

Spellbinders - Poppy

Accessories:

Ribbon - Club Green Gold Single Sided Satin

Card Candy - White

Embossing Folder - Darice Border Flourishes

Letraset Promarkers

 

 

 

 

Hugs & Kisses - FMS 187

Last weekend I had been looking for a new corner rounder punch as mine had decided it didn't want to play any more. I found an X-Cut one online which did both converse and inverse versions so I decided to order it.  The new punch arrived the same day as the new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge was published so imagine my surprise to see that it featured inverse corners!

 

Instead of using the inverse corners on the embellishment I made them a feature on the base of the card design and some Spellbinders Labels 4 for the "Hugs and Kisses" topper.

 

After the problems I had earlier with the new Spellbinders Sapphire butterfly die I wasn't really in the mood to put a butterfly on my card! Instead I decided use the Crafter's Companion "Moonbeam Meadow" stamp of two cute wee mice kissing - aw!

I had some of the nice PayPer Box turquoise cardstock left so used that as a starting point for my colour scheme and used my trusty Promarkers to co-ordinate.

 

 

 

 

Cardstock

Image Supersmooth - White

PayPer Box - Turquoise
Card Candy - White (coloured with Cool Aqua Promarker)

Embossing Folder:
Darice Dots

 

Dies/Stamps

Crafter's Companion Moonbeam Meadow
Sizzix - Small Hearts

Ink:
Memento Brilliance Trio "Tiramisu" - Black
Letraset Promarkers - Various

Ribbon:
Club Green - White with Silver

 

Scrap Paper Makes

Like most crafters I seem to have amassed loads of bits and bobs including rather a lot assorted scrap pieces of paper that have ended up in my "might come in handy at some point" box. Last night I was going through the box to see what was there as winging it's way to me in the next few days is one of the new Spellbinder Sapphire Die Cut & Embossing machines. These machines are teeny tiny and to me seem an ideal way of turning the scraps into small die cuts.  In the meantime, I decided to turn some of the larger pieces into something useful and came up with these covers for sticky note pads (generic Post-It notes).

These covers are easy to make and are a great way to turn something boring into something pretty. 

If you are looking to entertain the kids on a rainy afternoon these sticky note pads can be picked up in various "Pound" stores (I've found packs of 3 or 4 for £1). They could be made as gifts or perhaps for fundraising at school or group. You can keep them simple, personalise them or really jazz them up with lots of bling!  I made some of these at Christmas time and teamed them up with matching calendars using calendar tabs to give as "mindings".

 

Paper from Trimcraft Spring in Bloom 6x6" Pad,

Flower Trimcraft Santoro Mirabelle Paper Blossoms

Bling coloured with Promarkers

 

 

Paper from Trimcraft Kiss and Tell 6x6" Pad,

Flowers - Trimcraft Santoro Mirabelle Paper Blossoms,

Patterned Craft Tape - Papermania Capsule Collection Spots and Stripes Jewels

Bling coloured with Promarkers

 

 

For the men - something a bit more macho:

 

 

Cardstock White Pearlescent & Matt Copper Metallic from PayPer Box. The Copper cardstock were trimmed pieces left over from embossing with Darice folders Steam Punk Gears & Diamond Plate Pattern

 

White "Card Candy" pieces were coloured with Memento Brilliance Tiramisu Ink Pad and made to resemble screws by denting them with end of a nail file!