Postage Stamp Card

 

I finally have my camera back and can start blogging about the new things I have been making since getting my Cricut.  I love having a digital die cutting machine, and am already looking at purchasing another with a larger mat and greater functionality.  So far I am leaning towards the Silhouette Cameo as it is compatible with programmes like SCUT, doesn't require cartridges, and Silhouette have a massive online store with thousands of individual svg files for purchase.

First up is a sweet little card with a postage stamp edge that I created to be suitable for either male or females.  Myy partner is from the States and I thought this would make a good general themed card for him to send back home for various occasions. 

The postage stamp edge is a file that comes from SVGCuts and is part of the Santa's Visit SVG Kit.

 

The card is created from plain white card to emulate a regular postage stamp, and the I aged the edges inside and out with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  The postcards are taken from a paper by Kaisercraft which have been roughed up with a paper distressing tool, and the sweet little bear is from Teddy Bo, and he has been coloured with Copic pens. 

I am entering this into the Teddy Bo Challenge this fortnight, the theme of which is 'distress it'.

Teddy Bo Milk Cartons

Materials:
Kraft card
Newsprint by Kaisercraft
Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Teddybobea_Tabs_002 digi aka "Three Little Piggies"
Prismacolor pencils
novelty bulldog clips

I had been wanting to have a go at making these adorable little milk cartons for a while now, and receiving my Teddy Bo digi was the push I needed to get me started.  The digi comes with three panels, which are perfect for the side of the cartons.

I've coloured the little bears with Prismacolors, I am finding them harder and harder to put down.  They seem much more forgiving than the Copics, although my thumb was complaining quite a lot after colouring these three.

The cartons themselves are made from Kraft card, I used a template I found online as a guide and adjusted the measurements to suit myself.  Each panel of the carton is 2 3/4 inches wide by 4 1/2 inches high.

The background paper is by Kaisercraft.  It is the reverse side of a paper called Newsprint, and it has cute dictionary sayings.  Everything has been inked with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

 

I originally planned to give these as Valentine's Day gifts, but I might end up filling them with Easter eggs instead.  These were so quick and fun to do!

Challenges:

Teddy Bo Challenge:  Anything Goes

Make It Monday:  Always Anything Goes #73
Simon Says Stamp:  Anything Goes

Teddy Boo! Halloween Card

Technique:  Papercraft

Stamps:
Teddy Boo stamp from Teddy Bo

Papers:
Spook kit by Karla Dudley (available at Design House Digital)
black card
kraft card

Pens, Pencils, Inks etc:
Prismacolour pencils
Black Soot Distress Ink

Other:
corner scroll punch by Fiskars
Halloween die by Sizzix
adhesives
Odorless Mineral Spirits

This is my second attempt at colouring with Primsacolor pencils, I wanted to play with colouring on Kraft card.  A lot of the tutorials I read said that you didn't need to use OMS when working on Kraft, but I chose too use it on my base layer, and then bring in a layer over the top.  I was pretty happy with the way the white looked, and happy enough overall with the Prismacolors to get some more tomorrow :o)

One of the issues that had been frustrating me was smearing.  My digis are printed on a laser printer, and the OMS was causing the black print to smear when you rubbed the paper stump over the black lines.  I bought a spray fixative, which worked perfectly on the kraft card so here's hoping it works on plain white card!

I'm not scared, I'm not scared, I'm not scared
ok... maybe just a little...

The sketch is from Willow Sketchie Challenge, who are offering a fabulous prize for entering!

Entering this card into the following challenges:

Willow Sketchie Challenge Blog:  Sketch
Teddy Bo:  Things with Wings (bats)
Creative Card Crew:  Easel Card 
Cupcake Craft Challenge: Main image to be a teddy bear 
The Kraft Journal:  Ghosts, Goblins or Witches 
Mygrafico Challenge Blog:  Halloween

Christmas Across The Miles

Technique:  Papercrafting

Stamps:
Teddy Bo 128
Postcards from the Mini Holidays set by Tim Holtz

Pens, Inks & Colours:
Prismacolor pencils
Aged Mahogany Distress Ink
Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Papers:
Kaisercraft Dec 25th Collection (Wish)
Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium Collection (Believe)

Other:
adhesive
odorless solvent
paper blending stubs

The challenge at Winter Wonderland this week is to create a card to send to loved ones who live abroad, and further....  "Please be sure to show on your card with your sentiment that this card is going across the miles."

I chose an image from Teddy Bo that features little Bo holding a letter, and I added the sentiment in Gimp (the font is called A Little Pot).

Teddy Bo is coloured with Prismacolor pencils, and this is my very first attempt at trying to colour with these pencils and odorless solvent.  The Teddy Bo blog has a tutorial each week, and if you follow the tutorial and enter using a Teddy Bo image they send you another one free, so he's being popped over there, and a thankyou to Nicole Tietje for writing the tutorial on using Prismacolors.  I need a *lot* more practise but the variation and tone in colour I could get even with no skill was fantastic.

The card is made from a sheet called Wish from the Kaisercraft Dec 25th Collection.  This is the first time I have made a card without using a co-ordinating plain card to make mats, I have just used the front and back as the exterior and interior, this was partially as experimentation and partially to keep the weight of the card down for postage.  The postcard on the front is from Graphic 45, and the postcard inside was made from plain white card, stamped with a Tim Holtz postcard stamp and aged with Vintage Photo distress ink.

A simple card, no bling or frou frou, I have several cards that need to go overseas and I wasn't sure whether this was going to be sent to a male or female so I wanted something with generic appeal, and I wanted something that would post well and not get damaged in transit with little fragile bits.