A Trio of Valentine Cards :D

A trio of valentine cards inspired by jigsaw pieces, not just to be given on Valentine's day (which I know is ages away lol) but which can be given all year round :D I saw a greetings card which had two jigsaw pieces and a sentiment something like we go together, and that's what sparked my first idea of the little scene with two jigsaw pieces :D I decided to go with the sentiment 'we were made for each other' for that card, and then I thought "what if that jigsaw die would fit behind one of the heart dies I have? I could use the sentiment 'you have a piece of my heart'" so hey presto the second idea was born :D Then I thought "what other things do people say to each other that could relate to jigsaws... puzzled....puzzle... aha... 'love you to pieces!'" and that was the third idea :D

The jigsaw die is by Crafters Companion in their Die'sire range, the stitched rectangle and square are by MFT, the heart die is by Creative Dies and the 'love' is Lawn Fawn of course :D For all of my colouring I was using my Nuvo Creative Pen from Tonic Studios, I finally got round to doing my colour swatches for them, I find this soooooo helpful when colouring as you don't have to test that colours will work together before you start, you can just go straight in as you know what colour the pen will dry to be :D I used a Faber Castell PITT pen for any doodling, I finished/added my custom sentiments using my Dads ancient old DYMO labeller and for the final touch I used some clear sparkle pen :D Hope you liked the cards! A little bit of Valentine inspiration to give you a break from Christmas cards :D :D :D

To see the process behind this trio of Valentine cards, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

Tonnes more photos below!! :D

Watercoloured Lillies :D

A pair of delicately watercoloured cards featuring this gorgeous Lilly stamp along with the Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils :D I'm thinking the yellowy version could be a wedding card, and the pinky version would make a good sympathy card :D For this card I used the gorgeous Lilly (I'm spelling it like this, because this is my dogs name lol, and I chose the spelling :D So I like to spell it with a double l :D) stamp from Sheena Douglass, and I combined it with my MISTI tool so that I could stamp two identical cards (I could have done more too) and so that I could stamp multiple times, as I knew I wanted to use my Charcoal Hero Arts ink cube, and when I'm using these small ink cubes for a larger stamp I tend to miss parts lol :D

For the sentiments I used a Paper Smooches stamp set, you can tell I like this one in the video as most of the stamps are quite stained lol :D I think its called Simply Said :D For the watercolouring, I used some Inktense watercolour pencils, this is actually my mums old 24 pencil set which she gave me when she upgraded to a bigger colour pallet :D The trick to getting pastel tones with these intensely coloured pencils is to press very lightly so that you can hardly tell you applied any colour to your card :D And I tend to use them just with regular white card and I have no problems with the paper pilling up as you hardly need any water to activate the colour, a slightly damp brush will do :D My finishing touches were some clear sparkle pen and a scattering of iridescent sequins :D Hope you like the cards :D

To see the process behind this pair of cards, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

Plenty more photos below :D

Have a Fantastic Birthday using Tonic Dies :D

 

A fun gift card holding card created using the Dimensions Kings Cross Case from Tonic Studios, and the metallic set of pens in their Nuvo line too :D I've seen this die set used the intentional way quite a few times, so I thought why not mix it up a bit and use it to create an interactive element as part of a card :D This card is also a bit of a nod to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them lol hence the use of the word fantastic :D I know that case doesn't look exactly like Newts one in the film, but I thought it would be a great birthday card for a Potter fan :D 

I started off with a piece of Kraft card, and I trimmed it so I would have enough to cut all the pieces for two cases (as originally I was going to make 2 cards, each with a flat suitcase on, however this case took me ages to make, so half way through I decided that it looked the perfect size for a gift card, so I ended up creating this :D). I screwed up the piece of card, then flattened it, then crumpled it again etc... a few times, then I flattened it out and rubbed a Walnut Stain Distress Ink over the surface, screwed it up again, and repeated this. Then I wanted to blend this out a bit, so I grabbed my Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and used a blending tool to add some of this colour too :D To create the one suitcase, you will need to die cut the main suitcase shape from the big die, the layer for the suitcase shape, two handles (which I used as the buckled straps), two tops corners, two bottom corners, the 'name plate' I think that's what you'd call it, and finally a scrap strip to use as the handle :D You can see in the video how I assembled all these pieces (Don't forget, you can slow my videos down! If you're watching on YouTube on a computer, you can click the settings button (the little cog symbol) in the bottom right of the video, and this will bring up the option to slow it right down to quarter of the speed :D I do have to make my videos quite fast, as most of my cards take between 30 mins and 2 hrs to make lol, this one was almost 2 hrs ooooppsie :D)  

To add colour to the corner pieces, the 'name plate', the handles and the word 'fantastic', I used the bronze metallic Nuvo pen which is the pack 321N and then to draw the buckles, to add some faux rivets and to outline certain features, I used the gold metallic Nuvo pen which also comes in 321N :D Also for the 'Fantastic' word I used the Apple Blossom Upper Case Alphabet die and for the 'Have a' and 'Birthday' I used a little Avery Elle stamp set and the Cup O Joe Hero Arts Ink Cube :D You can see my whole process of creating the card in the video below, but if you do have any questions about anything, please do leave them in the comments section below, and I will get back to you :D

To see the process behind this cool gift card holding card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

To see any more cards I have made using Tonic Products, please watch my Playlist linked below :D 

Thank you so much to Tonic Studios for sending me the Nuvo pens and Kings Cross Case die set which I have used in this video!! :D 

Plenty more photos below :D

 

All My Love This Christmas :D

A fun Christmas card, which doesn't scream Christmas :D I used one sentiment from the Apple Blossom Embroidery Hoop stamp set to create my background by repeat stamping it in different colours, I then used the stitched detail die, also from Apple Blossom to give a texture to the background :D I used some metallic thread to stitch all around the perimeter of the card to add a little shimmer, and for the focal element I decided to make a floating heart :D I used a glue stick to stick scraps of coloured card to another piece of scrap card, and then I die cut this with a heart die, I also cut a larger heart aperture from my main panel and from the card blank :D To create the floating effect I sandwiched a piece of coloured vellum between the panel and the card blank and then added a heart in the centre on each side so the inside also looks finished too :D Hope you like the card :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

Lots more photos below :D

Embroidery Hoop Shaker Card :D

A cute little Christmassy shaker card featuring the Embroidery Hoop die and coordinating stamps from Apple Blossom :D This card is super simple to create especially when you die cut the hoop into you're main card panel so that you have more area for applying foam adhesive! When creating a shaker card like this with a scene inside it is often easier to assemble it backwards, by piling up your sequins on top of your image and placing your shaker well over the top... Hope you like the card :D

To see the process behind this Christmassy shaker card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

Lots more photos below :D

Be-you-tiful Butterfly :D

A pair of brightly coloured butterfly cards using the Apple Blossom Embroidery and Stitching card as a stencil to ink blend through, spray through and also to spread glitter texture paste through :D This is a very durable card, and I think it's definitely worth setting aside a piece dedicated to be used as a stencil as it gives a nice subtle effect due to its really tiny holes :D Hope you like the cards, I used Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Inks for the bluey version and Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet for the pinkey version :D And the glitter paste is by Cosmic Shimmer and the sentiment is from a Creative Stamps stamp set called Bold Sentiments :D

To see the process behind these cards, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D

Lots more photos below :D

Winter Wonderland Thank You :D

Another card using one of the gorgeous little critters from the Winter Wonderland free gift from issue 140 of Papercraft Essentials :D I REALLY love the way this card came out! The shaker aspect is very subtle, but I think the Spellbinders Geo Flower die which I've used goes perfectly for a wintery feel :D I sat down to make another card using this set, and I had no idea where my inspiration would take me, but just before I hit record I had the idea to try and make the Geo flower die from Spellbinders into a shaker card :D Plus I also wanted to use some of this fantastic snowflake vellum from Crafter's Companion, I got this from my mum for my Birthday last week, and I couldn't wait to use it :D So this steered me towards making a vellum shaker window :D

Firstly I started off by die-cutting all my elements, I cut a stitched rectangle from white, and another from Aqua Foundations cardstock, I then cut a Geo flower from some Pale Grey Foundations card. I also cut a stitched hillside Lawn Fawn die from some white card. I then placed the Geo die over the white rectangle and die-cut this so that I could in-lay my grey one, and I also die-cut the bottom of the stitched hill so it slotted in nicely :D Once all the die-cutting was done, I stuck the main panel and light grey Geo flower onto a piece of the snowflake vellum, and I left an acrylic block on this for a bit to make sure it was nice and stuck :D So to create my subtle shaker, I used the waste from the die-cut I'd cut from the main stitched panel, and I cut out parts of it, including the whole interior faceted bit just to leave a single outline edge (which I also trimmed into slightly so you wouldn't be able to see it from the front side) I stuck this to the back of my panel, and again left it to dry with a heavy block on it so it was fully stuck :D I then added two colours of Martha Stewart tiny star confetti and added my Aqua card onto the back (For all the intricate sticking I was using some Cosmic Shimmer glue in a fine tip bottle as this glue sticks really well and dries matt, clear and pretty quickly too!! Best glue ever!!) :D I then finished off the card by adding my seal, the sentiment and a scattering of sequins :D I hope you like the card!! I expect you'll be seeing a lot of this snowflake vellum during my Christmas cards in December as there's 15 sheets in the pack, and if I only use a quarter or less for each card, that's a minimum of 60 cards lol :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D I REALLY love the way this card came out :D and I only thought up the idea a few minutes before filming lol :D

If you'd like to see more cards I've made using magazine freebies, please check out my Playlist which I've linked below :D

Lots more photos below :D

I'm entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Thanks Challenge :D and also the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Christmas Critters Challenge too :D