Clean and Simple - CD Sunday

Thanks to everyone who entered my challenge 'Let's Hear It For The Boys'. I'll be picking a Top Three and the winner will receive the prize that I have ready and waiting to go in the post. Sadly a few people either didn't use something from a CD or didn't name the Cd in their blog post so can't be considered for the prize.

This time it's Meg who has chosen the CD Sunday theme and she has picked 'Clean And Simple'. A perfect theme if you need to make a card in a hurry as there's no need to use loads of mats and layers or embellishments.

I decided to add to my Christmas card supply and I knew where to head for some lovely papers and images - DoCrafts Digital Designer. Sadly this isn't available anymore which is a shame as it has some really lovely designs. 

I chose Henbury Lane - Poinsetta.

I put the design together on screen using an image of some presents layered onto a very pale green paper,a sentiment in a darker shade of green and a pale green mistletoe design backing paper. I was going to print it out as one layer but decided the image surrounded by the pale green paper wasn't standing out and that it needed a white mat between it and the mistletoe paper.

After I'd printed it I cut the image out using a Tonic Studio Essentials Mixed Edge Oval Layering Basic die (could they have made the name any longer?). I thought I'd used the right size oval die but it was a little to big and left a very small white edge. When I tried the topper on the backing paper I decided I liked the look so I then cut the BP slightly smaller than the card front leaving a small border of the white card to match.

I only added holly corner peel offs to finish the card and my Clean And Simple card was complete!

Meg's theme runs until Saturday 23rd September at 1 pm. Don't forget to follow the 2 rules - you must use something from a craft Cd and you must name that Cd in your blog post. You can use a download on your card as long as you also use something from a Cd. So you could use a downloaded image with a backing paper from a Cd for example. Meg will pick her Top Three cards/projects and has a prize for the winner - good luck!

Let's Hear It For The Boys - CD Sunday

It's my turn to choose the theme for the next 2 weeks at CD Sunday. I know we all find male cards difficult to make but do we find it easier to make cards for little boys? So I chose 'Let's Hear It For The Boys' as my theme but your make doesn't have to be for a young child it could be for a teenager or a grown man.
I knew I had a project Cd that had several makes that would fit the theme - I just had to pick which one I wanted to do.

So meet Metal Mickey!

On the Cd he's called Robot Ralph which I didn't think was very roboty so as I've used craft metal to decorate him I changed his name to Metal Mickey. The Cd is from PolkaDoodles and is called Paper Boutique. It's from 2011 so quite old but the projects are still useable. The Cd gives you a template to print and cut out to make the card base plus another sheet with all the parts of the robot to cut out and stick to the template. From this printed sheet I only used the face, with the teeth included, as the other parts I used as template and cut them from funky foam and craft metal.

The blue craft metal has been embossed with a hessian embossing folder and the green with a dotted matrix folder. I didn't run the folders through a machine as I thought the pressure would make holes in the metal as it's quite thin. Instead I put the metal in the folder and then just rubbed over with an embossing tool which worked really well.

For the eye area I cut out the printed rectangle and layered a smaller craft metal layer on top. I then pushed 2 green jewel brads through the 2 layers for eyes. This was then put on foam tape to lift it up from the face. The teeth were already printed onto the face so I just used glossy accents on them. 

Are the things sticking out of the side of his head aerials? I wanted them to look 3D so firstly I glued a black button on and then a small circle of silver card on the top..

I drew an 'M' onto a piece of holographic plastic and cut it out then glued it to the top of his head. Now everyone knows his name begins with the letter M LOL!

The arms and legs were cut from red funky foam with the hands, knees and feet cut from black funky foam with metal brads added just for effect. At this point he started to look like Father Christmas which is why I then did the rest of him in different coloured metals.

My favourite part is his belly! On the Cd he just has lights, buttons and Happy Birthday but I wanted to add cogs to make it look like the workings inside him. These were also cut from craft metal using a Sheena Douglass die set - Perfect Partners Time Traveller Geared Up. I then used the printed lights as a template to make the yellow and orange lights, layered them up and coated the top layer with glossy accents. I glued all this to the embossed green craft metal but it all looked too flat. So then I set about trying to find a square plastic 'bubble' to fit over it all. I like to recycle items - ask anyone who has received an ATC from me when the theme has been 'recycle' LOL! So I had lots of plastic bubbles cut from old packaging but none of them fitted or were too deep. So I decided to make my own. Using a piece of thick plastic packaging I scored around it and bent the edges to form the bubble - perfect fit! I had to use red liner tape to get it to stick to the craft metal as no other glue would hold it. To finish it I glued a green 'go' button and a larger red 'stop' one to the outside.

For the inside I printed off 2 sheets of backing paper from the Cd that has rockets, stars and planets on it. I also used the printed 'Happy Birthday' from the sheet that should have been on his belly but layered it up on the inside of the card.

My theme runs until Saturday 9th September at 1 pm. To be considered for the prize I have you must use something from a craft Cd. It doesn't matter how small the element is, it could be a sentiment, a tag, a bow etc. but it must be from a Cd. You can use a download on your card as long as you also use something from a Cd. So you could use a downloaded image with a backing paper from a Cd for example. You must also state the name of the Cd in your blog post. The design team may visit your blog and leave comments but if you haven't followed these 2 rules then your entry won't be considered for the prize.

I hope the new school term (in England and Wales) doesn't stop you from crafting and entering my challenge - I look forward to seeing your entries.

Past Times - CD Sunday

The challenge at CD Sunday this time has been chosen by Jane and she has picked 'Past Times'. I knew I had a Cd that was perfect for this theme - I'd won it in a prize draw from a now defunct craft magazine. It's called 'Summer of 59' and is from Krafty Hands(who also appear to no longer exist!).
I wanted to use several of the images from the Cd and decided the best way to do that was to make an accordion card. I have a couple of Die'sire Create-A-Card Accordion dies that I bought from eBay fairly recently and chose the circle version of the accordion die for this card.

I copy and pasted the images into Word and resized them so they would fit the central circular section. I then cut 4 pages using the main die and decorated each of the pages using a Die'sire Create-A-Card Filigree Circle Overlay die cut out of Tonic Craft Perfect card in toning colours to match each of the Cd images. I made a small string of bunting using a Tonic Jubilant Jubilee Bunting die and used Promarkers to colour it to match the rest of the card. And basically that's all that I did - the accordion dies did most of the work I just had to assemble it!

This is the front of the card:

The first 2 pages:      

The middle 2 pages:      

 The last 2 pages:          

I also decorated the back of each section using the same colour as the front but different images of the women.

The first 2 pages:       

                                   

 The back of the last 2 pages:    

And finally the back of the card:

The challenge ends at 13:00 on Saturday 26th August. To qualify for the prize you must use something from a craft Cd (not a download) and you must name that CD in your post.

Anything Goes - CD Sunday

It's Carol's turn to pick the theme at CD Sunday for the next two weeks and she's chosen 'Anything Goes'. I've been wanting to try book folding for a while so this was the ideal opportunity - thanks Carol!

In a recent issue of Quick Cards Made Easy magazine (issue 164) there was a 'how to' on book folding a bird cage. It looked quite easy but I decided to also look on YouTube for any similar ideas. As I needed to include something from a Cd I thought I'd print backing papers and make flowers to decorate the bird cage but that idea changed.I found two really lovely videos on YouTube and decided to combine the two. So thanks to Debbie Raybould and Scrappy Happy Goods for sharing their own book folded birdcages.

The book folding it self was very easy and I completed it in one evening while watching TV. After that things got a bit more difficult!

So here's a photo of the completed item:

The frame was bought from The Range and I added the black gem and white pearl strip. 

I covered an A4 piece of card with a backing paper from The Lace Collection Cd by Creative Crafting World and that was placed in the frame on top of the piece of glass. I left the glass in because without it there was too much of a gap and everything moved around in the frame.

The next stage was to cut the hole where Bertie the Budgie was to sit - he was also bought from The Range.

When you remove the pages to make the hole the inside looks really untidy so I placed white card in the hole to neaten it. I also added a wooden skewer for Bertie to sit on.

The next part was where it got difficult because trying to glue ribbon onto the pages while keeping them spread evenly required more than 2 hands and a lot of patience!

I coloured white satin ribbon with a Sky Blue Promarker and then glued the white lace onto it. A length was then glued to the top and bottom edges of the birdcage. A strip of clear gems was then glued above and below the hole cut for the bird.

To decorate the top edge of the birdcage I coloured some plain dazzlers with a Aegean Blue Promarker and glued them to some ribbon rosettes. Another stage that was problematic as the dazzlers wouldn't stick to the ribbon not even with hot glue and the ink from the Promarker stained the white ribbon in places. I think I managed to hide most of the stains by the way they were placed onto the birdcage.

At the top of the birdcage I glued a silver ring to look like the ring you would hang a cage up from. And from there I hung two types of ribbon and a strip of aurora borealis gems (as in the photo below). 

I finished the birdcage by cutting a piece of the backing paper to fit over the base and filled the centres of the flowers with white Nuvo Drops. The flowers on the main backing paper had flat backed pearls glued in the centres.

Finally I felt sorry for little Bertie being locked in a cage so hung the key up to the cage door so he could let himself out if he wanted to - I know I'm mad!

I glued tiny flat backed blue pearls to the top of the key so it would fit in with the colour scheme.

it probably sounds as if it took me ages to do all of the above but it was done over 3 days with a lot of time waiting for glue and ink to dry.

If you're still with me after reading all that then don't forget the challenge runs for 2 weeks until Saturday 12th August at 1 p.m. To be in with of a chance of winning a prize from Carol you must include something printed from a craft Cd - no matter how small. And you must also name the Cd you've used. If you don't follow those to rules the Design Team may still leave a comment on your blog but you won't be eligible for the prize.

Celebration - CD Sunday

This fortnight's theme at CD Sunday is 'Celebration'.
My husband wanted a card to give to one of his work colleagues as he was leaving to start a job nearer to where he lived. The colleague lives in the country and likes wildlife so I based the card around this.

It's a really quick and simple card. I printed a backing paper and the main image from DoCrafts Digital Designer - Woodland Folk Everyday Cd. The backing paper was stuck to the base card then a layer of gold card raised up on foam tape. Then the main image stuck to the gold card. The  word 'Celebrate' was added in the DoCrafts program.
I forgot to take a photo of the inside but I printed off another sheet of a backing paper that had trees dotted here and there. I then added two die cut layers, one gold one white for hubby to right his message on. The card was handed over a few days ago and he loved it.
The challenge runs until Saturday 29th July at 1 pm. Don't forget to use something from a craft Cd, even if it's just the sentiment, and you must name the Cd in your post.