Saturday 27 September 2014

Outside the Box

So I was asked by my soon to be mother-in-law to create a "big" 60th birthday card for her husband for everyone to sign at his surprise birthday party. Now I looked over my supply of male supplies and thought to myself none of this will work on a big scale it is all designed for normal sized cards, I especially wanted to use the stamp set The Open Sea as Smiley "<--the birthday boy" used to be in the navy and the surprise birthday party was nautical themed.

So with my heart set on that stamp set and my mind set on making a card with a big enough signing space for 20+ people my mind began to wander to the in the box cards and how I could extend it beyond the box. So lets bring out the finished card.


So picture one is how the card looks when taken straight out of the envelope, I wanted to keep the outside quite simple and just jazzed it up with a simple belly band, you will see the importance of the belly band further down.






Here you see what it looks like opened up another in the box card still nice and simple I didn't want it too busy as that just wouldn't suit the birthday boy who loves books and the ocean. I loved the new typeset paper for this project it tied in so well with the birthday boys other passions and I felt still went with the nautical theme.

Ok time to show you the importance of the belly band, now remember this card needed to be lard enough for 20+ people to sign and so far this isn't as it only measures about 6inches by 5inches when closed off memory. So how did I solve my little delema, have a look at the picture below.


As you can see once the belly band is removed an accordion style section folds out from the back revealing 7 blank panels measuring 2 and a half inches x 6 inches each allowing plenty of room for special messages to the birthday boy while still keeping an aesthetically appealing size ratio to suit the stamp sets used.

So from my experience making this card never think I can't, because at first I did I thought I can't make a nice card big enough for 20+ people to sign with my tools. The reason I thought this was because I was thinking of the Giant cards you buy in the shops but then I thought to myself, if they wanted one of those giant sometimes tacky cards they would have just brought one. So I thought outside the box and came up with this in the box card with an outside twist to solve my issue. So don't be afraid to try something new and add your own flair or adjustments to a well known fold, it might just be a hit! This one sure was at the party!

Check out below to see what I used on this project and I will see you next time thanks for reading my blog







Sunday 3 August 2014

Crazy Crafters August Blog Hop


Welcome everyone! I haven't been able to participate in the Crazy Crafters Blog hop since May and man have I missed it! This month however I am back and loving it! This month we went with colour combo's, the team each had to choose a combo from the Stampin' Up! pinterest board, and use that combo to create their projects.

You should have just left the creative space of Laura Britten at Stamping with Laura Jane, if you have you are right on track, if not check out the Full Line up at the end of this blog post to get back on track and make sure you don't miss a thing.

With this blog hop it took me a while to settle on a colour combo, I tried a few and at the time couldn't come up with something I liked, so I simplified and went for the below combo.



I always find myself doing female cards as I find them easier so I decided since I wasn't venturing outside my comfort zone with the colour pallet I would stretch the comfort zone by doing a male card using this pallet.

I decided to use the clockworks stamp set as I thought the gold would really help make this set shine.



When making the card I realised the stamped background behind the clock just didnt have the right oomph and I didn't have any bakers twine which I have seen used to effectively  add that extra little bit without going full on girly ribbon. So as I sat looking around my craft room I noticed to offcuts from my card where I had needed to trim that tiny bit off the edge to get it to the perfect 6" wide I wanted.


Using this under the clock to just set off that patch of red and black stamping I thought was what brought this card up and made it work that much better, just goes to show even the smallest of scraps can be useful if you just think outside the box ;)


I hope you enjoyed my contribution to the blog hop this month and even though this is a simple card maybe you will look at those scraps you usually toss and think of another use for them like I did. If you have any questions or just want to leave your opinion on this card please do so at the bottom in the comments I would love to see your ideas, questions and comments.


Now its time to send you on your way to the ever talented Karen Coulter at Do Lally Crafts  I hope you enjoy seeing the rest of the contributions in the hop and come back to visit soon. If you have gotten off track don't forget to check the full line up at the bottom so you don't miss a thing.








Full Line up:
Carolina Evans at Studio Evans
Angela Lorenz at Angs Crafty Cards
Nicole Spicer at Handmade By Nicole Spicer
Michelle Mills at Hello Day Cards
Laura Britten at Stamping with Laura Jane
Sarah Rae Oakes at Stampin' Up! with Sarah <<---- YOU ARE HERE
Karen Coulter at Do Lally Crafts
Kylie Bertucci at Crafty Kylie
Sue Wdowik at Nigh Nigh Birdie
Rose Desmond at Stamping with Rosalie
Petra Tailor at Tailored Craftiness
Tamie Holt at Tamie Luvs Craft 2

Saturday 2 August 2014

Recent Cards


Hey everyone! It has been a while since I have blogged anything, lazy of me I know I will try and amend this and work on blogging more regularly!  I just wanted to catch you all up on the cards I have made as of late but not blogged so sit back and enjoy, there wont be a big write up on each one but if you ever want to know more about the technique used just ask :)

So this post is going to be long enough just by me swamping you with images of all the projects I haven't blogged about so I am just going to post them and let you figure them out ;) however if you would like any info on any of them please don't hesitate to contact me I am more then willing to share :D

Without further ado lets roll out the cards!


 











So there we have it, the cards I have made since my last blog post... well the ones I liked anyway ;) the duds will stay hidden, now there are two more that will be posted soon, one the blog hop card and another one which I can't show you yet so keep your eyes pealed and have a fantastic day.