Card Swapping

Hello there, well its been a few weeks since my last post but its not because I have lost my crafting mojo but because Martin and I are celebrating his 60th Birthday with a bit of traveling. (more about that in a later post). For today I wanted to share with you this months Card Swap Challenge.

So this time the challenge was to make a card front using the 'Cracked Glass Technique'.

I must say thank you to Louise (my swap partner) for taking these photos for me.

Here is the beautiful card I received from my swap Partner Laura. Such a beautiful card

Thank you once again Laura

Below is a description of how I put my card together

This technique is done by heating up several layers of clear embossing powder over your chosen stamped image, popping it into the freezer for a couple of minutes and then gently bending the piece until the embossing cracks. If you want to give the piece a more vintage look or just to highlight the cracks then you can go over them with a coloured ink, then wipe it over with a cloth so the ink just stays in the cracks.

I love using this technique but I know a few people in the group had a few problems. My suggestions were to use a 250 gsm or above good quality card stock because some card absorbs the moisture that comes out of embossing powder when heated, it liquefies and the card can suck it in.

I also used two coats of UTEE first then put three layers of Stampin Up clear embossing powder over to give the piece a smoother finish. A couple of people from the group thought using ultra fine embossing powder was to light in texture to give good cracked finish for this technique. I hope this little hints can help you.

So once I had made the center piece for the card I pulled out another piece of white card stock and a couple of stencils and clear embossing paste to create another the backing for the card.

I first lay down one of the stencils and went over it with just a couple of colours of brown, green inks, the went on to use the other stencil with embossing paste. Once the embossing paste was dry I went in with a few different coloured inks, using a sponge to add the colour. Once I was done I went over the entire piece with a wet wipe to blend the colours together.

Just before I mounted the butterfly onto the card base I added curls of gold and green thread to the back of the piece.

Once this was attached to the card I then put little dots of white enamel paste around the card.

As you can see in the photo above one of the butterflies wings were cut off when I die cut it so that extra piece was used to decorate the inside of the card. I didn't do the crack glass technique on that piece though.

Thats all for today, please visit again soon.

Happy Crafting

Sue xx

Latest Card Swap Challenge Cards I sent out and received

Hello Everyone,

Well what a morning we have had so far, pretty miserable with grey skies and rain. So I thought I would pop on here to share a couple of cards I have made and received recently.

                          

The above card was one I received from Sue for the swap titled 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas'

A stunning card with so many techniques used. The parcels inside are so cute!

This card was the one I sent out for the challenge. Lots of die cuts and of course IndigoBlu Mega Flakes and stamps.

The next challenge was 'New year Greetings'. I sent out two swaps for that challenge and received two back. 

The first card I received was from Liz and it was a Swing Card. I haven't made one of these

in a long time so to receive such a lovely card from Liz has made me what to make one again.

                            

The above card was from a New Member of the group and this was her 1st time swapping. Its a gorgeous card Lisa and I love the shaker element to it. 

The silver balloon also moves around the bottom half of the card.

The two cards I sent out were very similar to each other and you can find out more about them in my latest video

 

Thank you for the great cards ladies, I really love getting Happy Mail xx

Also just to let you know I will be adding a few more crafting goodies to my shop, 

Stamp sets, Embellishments and Dies, so keep checking that out. 

Maybe you can grab yourself a bargain or two. P&P included in the price for UK post addresses. Here is the link  or click onto My Shop at the top of the blog page.

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."

Hello there, so sorry for not being around much lately. 

Unfortunately my Mother suddenly passed away so writing on my blog was something I couldnt do until now!

Today I have some cards to share with you. They are cards I created for a Card Swap Challenge group I am part of. 

So the criteria was:-

Autumnal Letterpress

6"x 6" (15.2 x 15.2 cm) base card.

Add your letterpress technique onto the base card!

Then on top of that, layer a 4"x4" (10.2 x 10.2 cm) white panel that is decorated in Autumn colours.

Make your own embellishments to decorate the card!

These first two cards were the ones I sent out.

The size of the card presented a small challenge as the embossing folder I used was smaller so I needed add an extra boarder around the card. I only had one folder big enough to do this which was spots so I inlaid it with an leaf  impression. The trees were stamped with VerSamark ink then I painted the trees with different coloured embossing powders. The background was done using Brusho's.

The letterpress part of this card was done the same way as the card above but using a slightly different embossing folder to inlay the base card. I stamped the image in black StaZon in them used Brusho's to colour the tress's and diluted some of the powders to 'paint' the background and boat. The leaves shown here were die cut out of stampin up papers then dipped into my melt pot using clear UTEE. The remained of the melted UTEE was poured into an acorn mold to make the embellishment for the card.


These next two cards were ones I received from my swap partners.
They are simply gorgeous!





Thank you ladies xx

Take care & Happy Crafting xx

Never ending Card

Hello there,
I'm back today to show you a card I made for my partner in last months Card Swap Challenge Group.
I love this type of card as it keeps on going (as long as you keep turning the pages lol), and its really quite easy to put the card together, depending on what you want to add to the card.
So here is a short video to share with you if you haven't seen this type of card before.
Enjoy. 

Front face of the card

First opening of the card

Next opening of the card

Final opening of the card. But of course you can keep opening, turning the card!

Thanks for checking in today, Happy Crafting xx

Think Outside The Box

Think Outside The Box

Now who doesn't like to receive a card popping into their postbox instead of a bill!

The Card Swap Challenge Group was something I started in November 2013 to encourage a couple of people I met on Facebook to keep in touch through our love of crafting!
Each month I come up with a theme and the group make a card and we send it to a different person in the group each month! You even get extra unexpected Birthday cards popping into your letterbox!

You don't have to be on FB to take part, I can always upload photos of cards for others. 
If you are interested in taking part in this swap please let me know!

Here are some of the cards that I have sent and received!