RAK - Random Acts of Kindness

RAK - Random Acts of Kindness

I have only recently joined the Face Book Group 'RAK' which stands for Random Acts of Kindness.  This is where card crafters from around the world can send a hand-made card using Stampin' Up products to any other member of the group.  

When I found my recent RAKs on the door mat after the Postman had been; I was beaming from ear to ear when I realised that they were RAK cards.  The first to arrive was from the lovely Shannon Aydukovic in the USA.  Shannon told me in her note that she was sending me a RAK because we were both new to the Face Book group.

The second one arrived today all the way from Canada.  Bonnie Sanche sent this one to me with a note attached which said "I hope this card travels safely from Calgary, Alberta, Canada to bring you a smile."  At the base of the note was "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted - Aesop".

Both beautiful cards ladies, thank you both. 

Lorraine 

heart-and-crafts.blogspot.co.uk

:O)

Rose after an April Shower

Rose after an April Shower

The Retro Rubber Challenge #84 this week is a Theme Challenge: 'April Showers'.

My take on this challenge is this:

I looked at the Theme Challenge #84 'April Showers' and thought that I did not have any stamps that were older than a year that would be suitable; such as welly boots, umbrellas etc.  Then I remembered that April Showers support the growth of the flowers in our gardens and I found an old stamp of a Rose.  I stamped this onto White card stock using Stazon Black ink because I wanted to use my ARTEZA watercolour markers.  

In my craft stash I found a ready-made White card base (5 3/4 x 4") and I punched a rose scalloped pattern into the right-hand edge.  On the inside of the card I adhered a red ribbed ribbon to the right-hand  (5 3/4 x 1 1/2") edge so it would be seen through the punched pattern.  I then used my ARTEZA watercolour markers to colour the rose and the stem in.  I then left this to dry completely.  

I used my embossing buddy at the bottom of the front panel of the card base and then stamped with Versamark the sentiment which was "The most Beautiful things in the world cannot be Seen or Heard but felt from within the Heart" and added silver embossing powder and then heat set it.  

The rose was now dry and so I could fussy cut it out and it was adhered straight onto the front panel using wet glue.  I added Wink of Stella to give it some bling to look wet (so it would look like after an April shower) and I adhered 3 raindrop rhinestones onto the rose as well.

On the front of the envelope I stamped the sentiment 'Happy Mail' and the Duck holding the envelope so the recipient of this card will know it is not a bill!  This completed my project.

I would love to know what you think about my project, so please leave a comment.  Thank you.

Till next time, keep crafting!

Lorraine

:o) 

Hip, Hippo, Hooray!

HIP, HIPPO, HOORAY!

The MFT Sketch Card Challenge #380 is as below:

My take on this Sketch is as below:

To create my card design I first sourced a White ready-made card base (5 x 5") with a (3") aperture and the put this through The Big Shot to dry emboss the front panel using the "Dots" embossing folder.  Whilst the Big Shot was out I die cut a Dark Pink circle (3 1/4") and a scalloped circle  (3 1/2") in Vellum.  

Next I used my stamp positioning tool to stamp all the images I needed using the MFTs "Hippos and Chicks" stamp set (3 x different Hippos, a set of balloons and a cake.)  I stamped the sentiment "HIP, HIPPO, HOORAY!" in Stazon Black ink onto vellum (2 3/4 x 1").  I coloured these with my Prismocolor Pencils and blended the pencil lines with Zest bending solution.  I 'fussy cut out my images and added black edging where cutting had left the edge stark White.  To bring out the Hippos' eyes I went over these with a Black gel pen and also added some highlights with a White gel pen.  I cut some black embroidery thread to use as the balloon strings as I had cut them off when fussy cutting the balloons out.  

I used my Martha Stewart punch to punch out two strips of Purple foils card from my scraps folder.  Now all the elements were complete it was time to put my card design together.  

First the Dark pink circle was adhered into the circle aperture.  The sitting Hippo and cake were adhered to this with glue dots.  Putting a small amount of wet glue around the outer edge of the circle aperture meant that the vellum scalloped circle would adhere without leaving too much adhesive showing.  The two punched patterned pieces were adhered to the card stock base using wet glue too.  The Vellum with the sentiment was also adhered using wet glue, just a small amount in each corner (which was covered later).  The other two Hippos were adhered with glue dots too.  Their party hats were adhered though with wet glue as was the balloon strings to the Hippo's arm.  

Finishing touches were to add some circular coloured stickers to cover the adhesive spots under the corners of the vellum with the sentiment and in other areas of the card design too.   Glossy Accents was put onto the balloons and the Hippos' party hats to give them some dimension.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

To carry on the theme of the card, I stamped the Hippo with the present onto the envelope on the right-hand bottom corner.  Whereas the sentiment 'Happy Mail' and the Duck delivering the envelope were at the top left-hand corner which helps the recipient realise that this is not a bill!  This completed my project.

I would love to know what you think about my project, so please leave a comment.  Thank you.

Till next time, keep crafting!

Lorraine

:o) 

Grandson's 2nd Birthday Card - Knight and Dragons

Grandson's 2nd Birthday Card - Knight and Dragons

To create this card design you will need Stampin' Up 'Myths & Magic' designer series paper (DSP) and 'Magical Day' stamp set.

Initially I created a side opening card with Dark Blue card stock (5 3/4 x 5 1/2") on my trimmer and then I cut a piece of blue glitter foam (5 1/2 x 5 1/4") and a further piece of Light Blue card stock (5 1/4 x 5").

Now the layers were cut, next came the images.  First I fussy cut two flying dragons out from the (DSP), a Knight and 1 whole Castle and 2 partial Castles.

On my Big Shot, I used my letter dies to cut out 'Brooklyn' using the (DSP) but the reverse side which is Grey with arrow heads on it.  Also I die cut a numeral '2' in the same (DSP).  I die cut 1 large White cloud, 1 medium and 2 small.  I die cut 4 hills with trees out of Light Green card stock.  On 2 of the pieces I cut the trees off and just left the curve edge of the mounds.

Now it was time to start constructing the card front.  I used wet glue in most instances but I did use Stix2 double sided sticky foam for the Knight and the Slayed Dragon at the bottom front of the card base.   The clouds and the lettering were adhered first at the top of the Light Blue card stock and the Blue dragon was adhered next with its wing tucked inside one of the "O" of Brooklyn.  Then the first 2 hill side edges were adhered one with trees and one without; this one the Castle was adhered to.  The the final two pieces of hill edges were adhered.  The numeral '2' was adhered in the bottom right-hand corner of the card stock.  The backing from the Knight and the Orange dragon were removed and these were adhered to the card stock to; this completed the image scene.  I used a black gel pen to put 'B & T' onto the Knight's shield and to close the slayed Dragon's eye too.

To continue the theme inside the card, I used the stamp set and stamped with Memento Black ink a dragon and a Knight.

Onto the envelope, I stamped another Knight and my 'Happy Mail' Sentiment and the Duck delivering the envelope so that the recipient of this card knows it is not a bill!  This completed my project.

I would love to know what you think about my project, so please leave a comment.  Thank you.

Till next time, keep crafting!

Lorraine

:o) 

Delicate Sewn Flowers

Delicate Sewn Flowers

The Color Throwdown Colour Card Challenge #488 this week is Yellow, Green, Aqua and White.

My card design for this Colour Card Challenge is as below:

To create my design I used the following inks: Stampin' Spot (Daffodil Delight), Memento Dewdrop (Summer Sky) and Memento Dewdrop (New Sprout).

First I sourced a White ready-made card base (4 3/4 x 4 3/4") and on my trimmer I cut another piece of White card stock (4 1/2 x 4 1/2").  On this piece of card stock I stamped a single 5 petal flower head in the 3 colours (yellow, blue and green) using the inks as listed above.  

I had been gifted a selection of die cut stitched card stock and I decided to use the Grey stitched piece (4 x 4").  The selection of die cut card stock was packaged beautifully in a striped bag with the scalloped label with the sentiment 'Especially For You'.  This was a great fit for the bottom of the Grey card stock; so I pierce 2 holes into the card stock so that the White ribbon could be threaded through from the back, one end through the label and a bow tied to hold it.  But before this could be completed I had to stitch the flower bead on.  

I used my piercing mat and created holes to sew into to form the stems and leaves of the plants with Green embroidery thread.  As I sewing back-stitch, every so often I would thread either a yellow, or blue or green single-flower head bead onto the needle and sew this into the design.  (The beads were also a gift to me from a different friend.  

Before putting the final touches to my card design, I adhered the label down with double sided tape.  Tied the bow and cut off the long tails; creating a neat small bow.  Then I added double sided tape to the back of the Grey card stock to adhere this to the stamped White card stock.  The stamped White card stock was adhered to the main card base using foam pads to give the card some dimension. 

To continue the theme of the card inside, I used another of the gifted die cut stitched card stock pieces also in grey but this had a single line of stitching (1 3/4 x 1/2").  I repeated the same as the front piece, piercing the holes using a pokey tool and a piercing mat and then sewing a stem, leaves and threading on a couple of single flower heads.

I stamped the envelope with the same single headed flower stamp in the 3 colours (yellow, blue and green) and also my 'Happy Mail' sentiment and Duck carrying the envelope so the recipient of this card will know that it is not a bill!  This completed my project.

I would love to know what you think about my project, so please leave a comment.  Thank you.

Till next time, keep crafting!

Lorraine

:o) 

Three Little Butterflies

Three Little Butterflies

The Face Book Group 'Stampin' For All' this week put out a Card Case for all its members to have a go at.  This Sketch is this one:

My take on this sketch is this:

So in order to make my project initially I got a Vanilla ready-made tatty-edged card base (6 x 4") from my craft stash.  I then found quite by change 3 butterfly embellishments in my stash too; which would be ideal to represent the circles on the sketch.  The embellishments were Vanilla zig-zag edged circles, with an orange smaller circle on top completed with a blue butterfly shape.  

Next I looked in my card stock to find a blue that was similar to that of the butterflies and luckily I found some which was a very near match!  Using my trimmer I trim a piece of Blue card stock (5 1/2 x 3 3/4").  Then in my Vellum folder I found some Blue vellum with silver butterfly outlines on it.  So I trimmed a piece (2 x 5 1/2").  I adhered the butterfly embellishments to the vellum using the adhesive foam pads on the backs.  Then I turned the vellum over and where the backs of the embellishments showed through the vellum I added strong double sided tape.  This was removed in order to adhered the vellum to the card stock.  The card stock was then covered with thick foam strips and adhered to the front of the card base.  3 rhinestones were added to the centres of each butterfly to form a body. 

In my Cream/Vanilla scraps folder I found a piece of card stock (3 x 1/2") ideal for a sentiment.  First I used my embossing buddy all over the card stock strip then I stamped the sentiment "JUST FOR YOU" in Black pigment ink onto the card, immediate covering this with clear embossing powder.  The powder was then set with a heat gun.  The process was repeated from the embossing buddy, but this time I stamped two butterflies in the ink and these were set with the heat gun.   A banner was cut into the left-hand side of the card stock and it was adhered to the right-hand side of the card base below the vellum with double sided tape.

Whilst the inks were out, I stamped 4 butterflies in a row and the sentiment "YOU'RE IN MY THOUGHTS" inside the card.

The same 4 butterflies were stamped on the bottom left-hand side of the envelope and my "Happy Mail" sentiment along with the duck holding the envelope so that the recipient knows that this is not a bill!  This completed my project.

I would love to know what you think about my project, so please leave a comment.  Thank you.

Till next time, keep crafting!

Lorraine

:o) 

Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers

CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is a Theme: Spring Fever #196

My take on this challenge is this:

I found a White ready-made card base (5 1/2 x 4 1/4") in my craft stash.  Then on my trimmer I cut a piece of Black card stock (5 1/4 x 4") and a piece of Gold card stock (5 x 3 3/4").  Then in my black scraps folder I found a black patterned piece edged in gold and I trimmed this to (5") in length.  

Next I got out my Big Shot and cut x3 Black stitched squares (1 1/2") and x3 White stitched squares (1").  

Then I stamped a Spring flower image on each White (1") square using Black pigment ink and then I immediately covered the card stock with clear embossing powder (obviously I had rubbed my Embossing buddy over the card stock prior to inking) and heat set this with my Heat Gun.  I repeated this x3.  (This is the first time I have used pigment ink when heat embossing and it worked really well.  I certainly will be using it in future as I have many different colours of pigment inks but don't tend to use it when stamping because it doesn't dry quick enough.)

The Black layer was adhered with double sided tape to the card base, as was the Gold layer to the Black card stock.  The patterned strip was adhered to the Gold layer with double sided tape too.  But the White squares were adhered to the Black squares using Tacky Glue.  When this was dry, the Black squares were positioned on the Gold card stock on foam pads to give the design some dimension.  I added a tiny rhinestone to the centre of each flower head as embellishment.

Inside the card, I stamped and head embossed the flower image the same as was done on the front of the card to extend the theme.  I had a ready-made sentiment in Black and Gold with White text "Have a Happy Birthday" in my craft stash.  I adhered this inside the card with snail adhesive.

On the envelope I stamped and heat embossed the flower image again and stamped in Black Memento Ink "Happy Mail" and the duck delivering an envelope so the recipient of this card will know that it is not a Bill!  This completed my project.

I would love to know what you think about my project, so please leave a comment.  Thank you.

Till next time, keep crafting!

Lorraine

:o)