No9 in the Back to Basics Card Making

 Back To Basics Card Making 

No 9 Pop up Christmas Card

Hi Everyone and thanks you for stopping by. It is heartening to see so many of you are checking out this series of card making ideas. I would love to hear your thoughts on any of the cards shown and if you would like more series like this as we head toward Christmas. 

Today’s card is a good classic that I have built it up with lots of Christmas Trees and penguins as the main theme. Whilst it looks complex, it is not too difficult or time consuming, but can look very effective. I have seen the same card with flowers, or children’s teddies for a newborn and they look lovely. I have a particular fondness for this style of card as the first ones I made to sell went well and I even had a thank you note from one of my buyers saying she had sent it to her sister in Canada who had loved it. 

You can choose any theme, but for Christmas, the trees and penguins are simple and can be added in abundance making a solid scene for your card.

To make the base card you will need 

1 sheet of base card A4 

Scraps of card 12cm x 2cm 

Matching card to cut out your chosen die cuts. I have used a set of 3 Christmas trees from my stash, and a set of 3 penguins which I purchased from AliExpress. Spellbinders poinsettia edging die and a Tonic Christmas Tree Word Die. 

You can see a theme here with the white and silver as I love white on white and silver goes naturally well with the white if I need a bit of colour. 

I have cut the penguins out in white and silver as standing proud they look good in white but when on the white base card they need to be silver to see the outline clearly. 

The Greeting word die is also cut in silver to stand out against the white trees and background card.

Base Card

Cut the A4 sheet to 16cm wide by the 29.5cm long

Score at 5cm,14cm,19cm, 28cm

Turn and score at 9cm to the first score line, then miss the next section and score along the 9cm to the end.

This leaves a back panel standing up 

Fold and Burnish all the score lines 

The 2 scraps of card score at 1.5cm each end

If you want to cover the base of the card you will need 2 pieces of decorative papers 8.5cm x 8.5cm and 2 pieces 4.5cm x 8.5cm 

Glue these to the bottom panels before folding the box card around and glueing the flap down to make the box shape. Fold the two side flaps and front flap down 

With the 2 pieces cut from scrap fold over the ends and attach them with glue to the inside of the box with the top of the card just under the top of the box base.

It is best to use wet glue for this as you can then fold the whole thing flat and make sure it all lines up before decorating

Then with the die-cuts of your choice decorate along these strips and the back of the card

Add a greeting to the front if you wish and some decoration to the side flaps that match, or you can use these for writing your greeting on but personally I like to add mine to the back of the card so they cannot be seen. 

Make sure the decoration does not get in the way of the fold as you will want this to fold flat to go into an envelope. 

This card should fit into an A5 envelope as finished it measure 17.5cm high and 15cm wide although mine measures 20cm x 15cm as the tree sticks up at the top, and this will still go into an A5 envelope.

Here it is ready to go into the envelope.

And here it is stood up again, it pops up easily so the recipient will enjoy the structure of the card.

Back soon with the last card in this series.

Happy Crafting

Dee

Back to Basics No 8 - Christmas Embossed card

 No8 Card in the Back to Basics Series

Christmas Embossed and Decorated card

Back with another embossed card. This time I have framed the embossed section with a silver frame, and decorated the corner of the frame with die cut poinsettia and foliage.

NOEL Embossed card with silver frame and white and silver poinsettia and foliage

For this card you will need:

5 x 7 inch scalloped card 

Silver metallic card cut to 4.5” x 6.5” and then cut inside at 1cm to form frame 

embossing Folder of choice. I have used one with Swirls and NOEL in large letters by CRAFTS TOO. 

I have several die sets of Poinsettia I think this is a new set from Crafters Companion with great foliage.

White card for embossing cut at 4.25” x 6.25”

You will have scraps of white and silver card that you can use for the flowers and foliage and I cut lots of foliage thinking I would have spare for a second card but ending up using it all for the one card.

Spritz your white card and put into the embossing folder 

Glue onto the frame

Glue the whole of this to your base card

Die cut your flowers and foliage, using a piece of foam and styling tools shape your flowers.

If you do not have the tools use your fingers and scissors to mould the petals and give them some movement. I find it easier to add the flowers first and then slip the foliage in underneath the flowers. I also run my tool along the stem of the foliage to give it a curl and shape.

We are coming to the end of this series. Just 2 cards to go. 

No 9 will be with you in the next day or so and No 10 soon after. 

August will be a busy time for everyone, but I want to continue the theme of revisiting some of our earlier crafts as well as showing you what I will be putting on my sale table at the Bank Holiday Craft Fair I am attending. 

Happy Crafting

Dee 

 

Back to Basics No7 Embossed cards

 No7 in the Back to Basics series

Christmas Embossed Cards

Hi Crafters

Today I am moving on to embossed cards. I love the many different finishes you can get with your embossing folders and particularly like the simple look of white on white cards. I am also conscious that a lot of you will be looking for things to entertain the children during the summer holidays and if you are going to do paper crafting with them then embossed cards are perfect to achieve a lovely finish without too much mess and effort. You may like glitter and glue paints and sprays but they are probably not the best when sharing the craft table with young ones. 

Also I started this section of the series in a different way, instead of deciding on a design and then getting out all the items needed to work on it, I took out my box of Christmas embossing folders and dies and let them influence the design of my cards. 

So No7 card in the series became a classic white on white card with just a hint of silver to catch the eye.

I started with a 5” x 7” scalloped card and then cut the layers to go on it. The first card,  I cut a silver card piece 4 3/4” x 6 3/4” and then a piece of white card  for embossing at 4.5” x 6.5” but when I layered the card up I was not 100% convinced of the sizing as there was a very small edge between the silver card and the base card. So I cut another at 4.5” x 6.5” for the silver card and 4.25” x 6.25” for the embossed white card. and I was much happier with this. You probably cannot see a difference but I definitely prefer and will make up my 5x7 cards with these layers.

Here is the finished card and below are the 2 cards I made side by side

To make this card you will need:

Base card 5 x 7 and envelope. ( this does not have to be scalloped but I would always clip the corners to round them off as I do not like the sharp edges on a standard card) 

Silver layer 4.5” x 6.5”

White card piece 4.25” x 6.25”

Piece of silver ribbon (I used organza)

Embossing folder of your choice and machine to do the embossing 

Greeting of your choice I decided to emboss the greeting as well as I had a narrow greeting embossing folder. 

Put the piece of white card into the embossing folder of your choice ( a stand alone pattern works well for this as you are not going to cover up any of the pattern). 

NB Before putting the card into the folder if you have a water spritzer give a gentle spritz to the back of the card. This makes the impression even clearer and helps to prevent cracking. 

Once the embossing has been done 

Layer this onto the silver card taking care to have an even amount around all the sides.

Then wrap a piece of ribbon around the base of the card, I was able to line this up under the tree, and if you were embossing baubles or a night scene you should be able to avoid your embossed area, but don’t worry if this is not possible.

Stamp or emboss your greeting and mount over the ribbon. 

When all that is done glue the back of the silver card and layer onto your base card 

This is a very simple card and apart from needing some help mounting the various pieces, younger children can achieve a great card for friends and family. 

I used double sided tape for most of my work on this card but if you want some wriggle room you can add some wet glue it will just take longer to dry. I chose this as the first Christmas card in the series for its simplicity and because most of us have a to of cards to make and these can be put together quickly. 

Back soon with another embossed card this time slightly enhanced. 

Dee

Back to Basics 6 Box Card

 Card No 6 in the Back to Basics series

Box Card

This card is a greeting card, and when the belly-band is removed and the card opened it reveals a small box in the centre of the card. I have added some Teabags in mine but there are several small items that will fit into this box for you to give a gift with your card.

Trial Piece

You will need a sheet of card 8.5” x 10”

2 pieces of card 2.75” x 5.25”

2 pieces of card 1.75” x 5.25”

1 piece of card 2 5/8” x. 5 1/8”

2 pieces of designer paper 1 5/8” x 5 1/8”

However I decided to alter the sizes and so the one I made with my measurements requires:

2 sheets of 12 x 12 card stock or 180gsm paper pad

Cut one piece to 12 x 10, if the paper is one sided you want the pattern going across the 12” side

Score at 2”, 4”, 8”, 10” and mark the 6” centre of the page top and bottom

Turn and score at 2” either side 

Next cut up each corner from the short side to the second score line, cut off the the outside piece and nick a piece along the second section to allow it to fold up easily , you can also shorten this piece if you wish.

Do this on all four sides of the base card.

Burnish all your score lines. 

With the card laid out with 12” side as the width find the top and bottom middle score and score from the mark in the middle to the score line in the same box both top and bottom of the paper. Fold the score lines.

This is the layout for the first size card I made, and the system for cutting and scoring for the box ends are the same on all sizes

From the seconds sheet of 12 x 12 cut the following pieces

2 strips measuring 1 7/8” x 5 7/8 to line the side of the box

2 pieces 3” x 6” for the top 

2 pieces 3 5/6” x 5 4/6” one to be cover the base of the box and the other one round the corners and slide in over the box contents 

Fold up the box so you can see how it goes together and then glue the outside flaps of the box on the back of the card. These you can glue to the inside or the outside of the box. If you glue them inside they are covered neatly with the panels, but I glued mine to the outside as they sat very neatly and firmed the box ends. Next glue the top panels on the gatefold part of the card and finish with a greeting of your choice. I made mine a Thank You card and so cut it out of an oval gluing one half to the left part of the gatefold 

You can see the second piece of card resting inside the folds and covering any items placed in the box

This also allows the card to be opened a little to stand on display.

This is number six of this series, check back soon for more oldies but goodies.

Dee

Back to Basics - Card No 5 Twist Pop Up

Card No 5 In the Back to basics series for July

 Twist Pop Card

Hi Crafters 

Here I am with the fifth card in my series Back to basics, cards. I am really loving this, as there are so many great cards I had forgotten, and with this series is revisiting quite a few favourites. 

This is a relatively new design and very effective, and once you have made one it comes quite simple. I have not tried to change sizes from the original design as shown on many of the videos, as the size is a basic A6, small but works well. 

I made a trial run, which I can’t show you as it came out well and I gave it to a friend for her birthday knowing she would appreciate the style. So here is the next one made from DCWV Marisota card pad. 

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As I used a double side card stock I needed no other base card just 2 pieces of 12 x 12.

I used one with one colour print and one patterned sheet, but you could use 2 sheets of A4 and decorative papers.

Cut one sheet of A4 lengthways and fold in half to make the base card. (Piece 1)

Cut the other piece of A4:

Piece 2  3.5” x 10”

Piece 3  3.5” x 8”

Piece 2 fold in half and then fold back in half again making a W shape.

Piece 3 lay down and mark with a pencil 2” from each side top and bottom along the 8” side then turn and score in half at 1.75” . Then score a cross between the pencil marks  .

Fold the lines in the cross and then fold the centre line the other way. The two ends will then fold down to make 2 legs with a triangular top. 

Next line the inside of the card with a plain area to write your message on one side and decorative papers on the other side. 

Lay the card open and take piece 3 laying it into the centre of the car with the top of the triangle just inside the fold line. Glue the triangle and fold the top down. Tuen over and do the same to secure piece 3 to the card 

Next take piece 2 and lay over the open card with piece 3 opened out, centralise the W. 

Once in place lift the right side and glue the top right section only down to the score line

Hold until secure and nearly dry. Take care not to get too. Much glue on this section as it may stop the pop-up action.

Then take the left hand side and glue the underneath section on the bottom left , up to the score line so the glued area are diagonally opposite. Hold and then allow to dry firm

Once dry you can decorate the panels and the front of the card.

As my paper was very decorative I did not add any additional embellishments although I might add an organza bow to the ribbon band.

Back soon with the last of the cards that do not use special tools, before going into die-cutting.

Dee

Back to Basics Card No 4 - T-Light Box and Card

 Card No 4 in the series Back to Basics

T-Light Box and Card

Today I thought I would change things up a little and we would make a small gift and card all in one. This goes back a long way, and was one of my first construction projects that went beyond just the decorated card, so I wanted to add this to my top ten. 

Again you do not need any fancy tools for this card. As I had not made this for some time I checked out the videos on YouTube but when I made it up it did not really fit my needs. So I adjusted the size of the box and card to hold 4 T-Lights or chocolates rather than 2 that the video tutorial showed. 

This is a lovely way to say Hello or Thank you.

To make you will need 1 piece of A4 card and decorative papers or any decorative papers of heavy quality 

Take one piece of card stock and cut to 21cm x 25cm 

With the 25cm along the top of your score board or mat score at 2cm,4cm,8cm,10cm and mark top and bottom at 14cm

Turn and score at 2cm each side of the paper 

Burnish all your score lines. 

Lay the card out with the 25cm as the width and cut the 2 left corners up to the first score line (2cmsq)

And from the right side cut the scored line off top and bottom to where you marked the 14cm point.

Fold the left side over to form the box 

Glue the left side panel, fold it over and stick it down along the 14cm mark.

I glued the top flap of the box down and left the bottom flaps unglued to fill the box. This will be closed with the ribbon. 

to decorate 

For the card part cut a piece of decorative papers 17 x 10cm and for the box 17 x 3cm 

Add the greeting of your choice to the card section

The card is not very suitable for sending in the post. It is more the type to give directly to say Hi or Thank you for being you.  A Great Teacher ‘Thank you’  card. This size will take 4 T-lights, and I am sure there are many chocolates or bars that will fit as well. 

For my card I used 2 pieces from a paper pad by DCWV called ‘Mariposa’. It is beautiful patterns and one of those pads that you take out the cupboard and then put back because you just can’t bear to use it, but I have decided to try to use up and enjoy these papers. Because I used patterned papers that were card-weight I did not need card stock for the base.

This is the trial one made with card from the Range.

 

Unfortunately this one would only take 2 T-Lights, but could be used for some chocolate bars. 

Hope you have a go at this and leave me any comments.

Happy Crafting

Dee

Back to Basics - Card 3 Easel Card

 Card 3 in the series Back to Basics 

Easel Card

This really is a useful style as it suits so many genre. I have made them in Steam Punk, Flowers, Botanical and Love themes. 

The trial card was made with a music theme, and this was well finished but I thought the overall colour was a little flat for me so I made another using Boho Banquet Papers from The Paper Tree 

I used 2 sheets A4 card 

1 sheet of 12 x 12 papers from the Boho Banquet pad

A set of nesting label dies 

Using a shaped die I placed the top of the shape over the folded card, making sure there was an amount of card on the fold not being cut.

From the second piece of card cut a single shape the same size as the folded card 

From the decorative paper I then cut 1 pieces the same size as the card and 1 piece the next size down. From the off cuts I fussy cut some of the flowers to layer on the top.

To make:

With the base card fold the top layer of the card in half to met the top.

Glue the folded half and place the single die-cut onto the base making sure it fits perfectly with the base card, I find a wet glue is best for this, as it allows wiggle room. 

Add the large paper die-cut to the bottom section of the card and the smaller die-cut to the top of the card. 

Decorate the top as you wish, I glued on the fussy cut flowers and then covered them in glossy accents to make them shiny. 

Stamp out your greeting and add with dimension sticky pads, I added a layer using my base card so it had a frame, The greeting had the pads and the framing card was attached with double sided tape. You need dimension on the greeting so that the card will sit against the raised greeting to stay open. You could give this ledge with other embellishments if you wish, and add a larger flat piece of plain card to write you message, but as this card looks good stood open I like my base to hold just the greeting and message will be added to the underneath part of the card.  

Here is the finished card laid down for posting

And the trial run card made with the basic card from the Range.

.

Here I used  large Tonic die that was nesting and with designs for each layer, the base layer is a Happy Birthday embossed card and the die cut musicians are from a set purchased from AliExpress a couple of years ago.

Bonus Card

With the pieces of card leftover from this card I made a gatefold card. Lined the inside with another piece of embossed card with Happy Birthday, and put the dancer on the left fold. 

Don’t forget to click the Follow Button at the top of the page if you want to know when new posts are added or make a comment on anything.

Happy Crafting

Dee 

Back to Basics No2 - Pinwheel card

 Card No2

Pinwheel Card

This is a cool card as it folds easily for posting and when folded acts similar to a never ending card as you can keep turning it over to reveal the next section.

Again this card is basic in construction and requires no special tools, you can make it with ruler and scissors although I am sure most of you will use your cutters and scoreboards. 

For this card you need

4 pieces of card cut 5” square score each piece at 1 1/2” 

4 Layering pieces of paper - 4 3/4” x 3 1/4”
4 Side layering pieces 4 3/4” x 1 3/4”

Glue the 1 1/2” panel of one sheet and lay another on the table, wrong side up and with the narrow part to the right. 

Place the glued panel up to the score line on the piece laid on the table. 

Repeat for the other 2 panels and then add the panel from the first sheet to the last sheet to form the pinwheel 

Next glue your panels to the sections of the card

Add a piece of plain card to one of the panels for your greeting

You can see from the top photo I added an oval cream piece to complete this card

When you lay the card down it folds flat to post.

This is a simple card to make just cutting and gluing, and produces an unusual and striking card

Here is my second attempt of the same card with a slightly different finish. I have cut the outside corners of the base cards and also the layering panels, to produce a softer look while the colour is much more striking. This card would be ideal for someone who likes their surfing or beach holidays. I have added a silver die-cut Happy Birthday and a plain side panel to write your greeting 

I mentioned in my introduction to this series that when I did a trial run and then made my final version I would post both. With this card the trial was done on quality card from a digital kit by Gi Kerr (Happiness in Crafting on Etsy) and then I wanted a brighter card and used the basic card pad from the Range to make this second card. I think the pinwheel design is good with a bright stand out base colour. 

Hope you are all crafting along with me.

Dee

Back to Basics Card Making - No1 Diamond Point Card

 Card Folds and Styles 

No1 Diamond Point Card

This is the first time I have made this card although I have filed 2 examples to try.  I decided to make it my first card in this series because it looked fairly straight forward and does not require a stack of tools, so anyone with some card stock can have a go. That is what this series is all about, getting back to basics, making cards and enjoying your paper-crafting. I have gone off the track from cards for quite some time now and although I check out new designs with good intentions, I do not make a lot. However you can learn a lot about paper folding, making embellishments, presentation and mixed media as well as stamping, embossing and die-cutting all from the humble card. We all need cards at some point and during lock-down what could be nicer than receiving a hand-made card or note let. 

With school holidays about to hit us this is a great time to get crafting with the children. If you want to be really organised its a great time for them to make their Christmas cards for friends, particularly if you have  a stash of last years papers for them to use. 

As this is going to be a series I thought it would be a good time to use some card and papers in my stash. It is a 12 x 12 double sided pack and has some very pretty papers, at £2.99 for the pad it is ideal for trial runs, and experimenting, I always keep a couple of these pad in my stash as they are so handy. They are also thick enough to make boxes and gift bags.

For this card you will need 

1 6 x 6 card  (you can use any size but you would need to adjust the sizes of the layering pieces to fit your card
1 piece of 12 x 12 card stock will make 2 cards
Greeting and embellishment of your choice 

 So I started by selecting coordinating card and papers 

The card stock was an A4 pad of mixed colours with a pagination in the colour and they are more unusual colours, but it went well with the pad so i am using this as the base card. I think it was a bargain Ebay buy, and originated from Create and Craft but not 100% sure.

To make the card:

Cut the A4 card to 6” x 11.5” and fold in half to make base card

Cut a piece from the paper 5 3/4” square and  another 5 1/2” square

Now mark the centre of the bottom edge of the front of the base card and cut from the pencil mark to the top right hand edge.You can do this with a cutter or run a pencil line and cut with scissors. Repeat to the left side. You will have the the 2 pieces (that you can see on the right) to put back on the front. 

Place the 5 3/4” square onto the bottom section of the card. 

Take the 5 1/2” square mark the bottom middle as before and cut to the top left and right, The piece left should sit perfectly on the top triangle. 

To place the 2 triangles of card back onto the main card to complete the diamond front I found it easier to place on the mat and finding the centre and find the middle from the point to the outside edge and place the triangle onto front so that one side is on the middle point and the other side on the edge of card. And the point of the triangle sits at the top of the card. Once you have them lined up and are happy place a pencil mark on the back of the triangle where they cross the point and then glue from the line to the point before adding them to the card.  You can line these triangle with the pieces cut from your papers which will fit perfectly but I wanted the contrast of the plain white back of the card so left them unlined.

I then added a sentiment to the centre and decorated the side with some simple ribbon flowers. 

To complete card I cut another triangle to place on the base of the card where you can write your greeting. 

Here is the completed card. It is quite simple and effective, and quite easy to make, I must admit my first attempt was not quite right but only because I cut both my layering papers at 5 3/4”, and this did not fit well on the points whereas cutting the second square for the top triangles at 5 1/2” works perfectly.

You an try experimenting with different colour ways, I like the contrast and would make another one in stronger colours leaving the top triangles plain again, also one with more geometric patterns for a masculine card would be good again in bold colours 

Hope you have a go at this card and I would love to see your results. Just press the follow button at the top of the page and you can comment and send me your pictures. 

Dee