Slider card tutorial!

Hi all It’s Natalie on the blog today sharing how to make this fabulous pull tab slider card!

I couldn’t resist using the little bear and the kitten from the new Holiday Sweaters stamp set. The kitten is playfully pulling a thread from the bears jumper and slowly unravelling it I just had an image of  this thread getting longer and longer and a slider card seemed the perfect way to do it. I started by cutting out the base for my card using the crazy stitched frame dies. Then I coloured up my images for the scene I didn’t want to add too many colours so stuck to a base of red, green, brown and greys. I knew there would be lots of little details so didn’t want to distract from the main scene. After the images were coloured up I could begin to lay out my scene I have to admit it’s the first time I have made one of these cards so it was a bit of an experimentation for me. Having laid out the images on the base card I could figure out where the cut had to be for the slider I measured it with a ruler and rounded off the ends cutting it out with a craft knife, using the ruler as a guide to cut a straight line I find metal ones the best for this. 

I then lightly added some cracked pistachio oxide ink on the top and spritzed it with water to add some texture doing the same for the slider tab which I cut roughly 5mm bigger than the slit either side and quite long so I could cut it down to size when I attached it to the card. I wanted to get the final layout out planned before sticking anything down just in case I wanted to stamp my sentiment on to the card base this can be a be tricky if you have already stuck it with foam tape as it’s not as sturdy to stamp on, however I ended up using the flag banner dies instead to add a little added dimension.

I felt like there was a lot of space going on at the top of the card so cut out the lights from the Holiday Border Dies and added the bow from the inside scalloped Rectangle dies. After adding the sentiment and bear and the trimmings for the top of the card I added the foam tape to the back.  This is where  I made a boo boo and didn't add the foam tape close enough to the slider strip so it wobbles a bit too much instead of running smoothly when you pull it out.  You also want to rememeber to leave a gap at the edge of the card at the side where you pull the tab to make the slider work like this.

The next step was to add the top part to another background which was another piece of card cut from the crazy stitched frame dies and blended with the cracked pistachio oxide inks. Once they were attached together I could slide in the slider piece and attach the cat. I used two layers of foam tape to help it pull better and it also stops the tab from coming out fully when you pull it. I could then add my Christmas tree and presents too at the end of the slider now I knew where the kitten would stop.
The edge of the tab looked unfinished though so I cut out two semi circles using the die from the stitched in circle die and handwrote pull onto it. I then realised the black line I had drawn on my slider tab for the cotton looked odd so I drew a line onto some white card and cut it out really carefully and stuck it onto the slider tab it made it look more like the string was extending as opposed to just a line stuck on. That's my card finished up for the day and it was surprisingly easy to put together so I hope you share some with us in the Craftin Desert Divas Gallery!

  

Stitched In Circle Dies

Holiday Sweaters

Inside Scalloped Rectangle Dies

Flag Banner Dies

Crazy Stitched Frame Dies

Cracked Pistachio Oxide Ink

         

  

Don't Open Dead Inside!

Hi everyone it's design team member Natalie on the blog today and I'm here to share with you my The Walking Dead inspired Halloween themed card. I liked the idea of zombies trying to break out of wooden door like the scene where Rick awakes in the hospital to find "Don't Open Dead Inside" written on the hospital doors with zombie hands clawing their way out.

I started out by cutting out a base piece of card using the Crazy Stitched Frame Dies.

I the began to draw out the background for which I wanted create a boarded up wooden door look.

This was the basis of my card I originally wanted the door to open in the middle but couldn't figure out how to get it to look neat and fold properly with the card base. After I started colouring though I found the dark spots were perfect for cutting out to stick my zombie hands and heads out.

I used a range of brown copic markers to draw a wood effect on the planks adding a warm grey copic to create darker shadows to add depth and dimension. Next it was time to colour those awesome zombies from the Zombody stamp set. I chose two different zombies and cut off there heads then coloured in lots of tiny zombie arms so they looked like they were trying to claw there way out! I added the heads and arms by cutting out slots in the base so it looks like they are crawling through gaps in the wood. I popped the card onto a card base that I had coloured with a warm grey marker using foam tape. Then added the sign that I drew and wrote myself I coloured it with the same wood effect then drew an outline and added the sentiment with a copic multi liner.

I hope you like my Halloween card and I cant wait to see what you all create with those awesome Zombody stamps!

Zombody

Crazy Stitched Frame Dies 

Dino Dig

Hi everyone it's design team member Natalie on the blog today and I'm going to share with you my glow in the dark card using the awesome Dino Dig stamp set. As soon as I saw this set I fell in love with those dinosaur skeletons.  I knew I had to do something cool with them so I mulled it over for a while when I then stumbled upon some glow in the dark embossing powder. It was perfect I could make a glow in the dark dinosaur bone card!

I cut out the main frame using the crazy stitched framed dies then I heat embossed the dinosaur bones and eggs using the glow in the dark embossing powder. I wasn't sure how much ink I could put over the top of the embossing powder without affecting the glow in the dark effect so I started off  by lightly painting yellow, purple, brown and black distress inks over the entire background. I let this dry and then ink blended over the paint using the same colours as before. This gives the galaxy sky more depth. I was still wary of getting ink over the heat embossing and felt the two layers still looked a bit too light and I wanted it to be a lot darker so I added another layer using the warm grey's and a dark purple copic markers.

I chopped off the sides of the background panel to slim it down and added some silver tape to the sides and then mounted it onto some black card. The sentiment was created using the flag banner dies and the You're How Old sentiment stamp from the Dino Dig Set. I then mounted it onto the silver tape and mounted everything onto my card base.

Time to see if it glowed...

Look how awesome it looks in the dark, I'm so pleased how this card turned out and I hope you enjoyed it.

Crazy Stitched Frames

Dino Dig

Flag Banner Dies

Monsters Fun Day

Hi everyone its Natalie on the blog today sharing my adorable monster card using the Monster Carnival stamp set alongside the Picture This stamps.

I started my card by die cutting the base using the fancy frame dies a firm favourite of mine which if you follow my work you will see I use all the time! This enabled me to see how much space I had to work with and decide which stamps to use. The first item to stamp out was those photo frames, I used a grey ink so it was a little more subtle and didn't distract the attention from the monsters in the frame. I then wanted to stamp one of the carnival monsters inside the frame, to do this though I needed to mask off the frame so that the monster didn't stamp outside of the box.

As you can see above I stamped the photo onto some post it tape then cut out the square frame using a craft knife to enable me to stamp the monster inside. Whilst I had the stamp tool out I also stamped out the washi tape stamp so I knew I would have an even coverage of ink and could stamp it repeatedly in the same place to increase the colour intensity. I repeated this process using the smaller photo frame in the stamp set and then it was ready for colouring.

I used copics to colour in my monsters using different shades to add depth and dimension. These were then cut out positioned and stuck down, finishing off by adding the sentiment a fun heart at the top and some nuvo drops. Then I added it to a orange base and popped it on a card base.

 I hope you like my card it was like these two stamp sets were just meant to be used together!

                                

                                         Monster Carnival

Picture This

Fancy Frames

                          

Craftin Desert Diva's

Hi everyone,
I'm up on the blog today to share my newest card, where I used the Garden bug stamps adorable garden bug stamps, aren't they the sweetest!

I have been loving working with the new oxide inks and I thought they would be perfect to get me started. To make this lovely garden scene card, I cut two rectangles using the fancy frame dies. The first rectangle I used to make a sky blending the oxide inks, faded jeans and broken china. The second I used for the mud, blending oxide inks vintage photo and walnut stain. To give it an added texture, I sprinkled water on the two leaving for a few seconds then drying off with some paper towel. Next it was time to cut the soil to give the card extra layers using the garden border die. I also cut out some flowers from the garden accessories die and clouds using rainbow die colouring them with copic markers.

Here you can see the 3 layers of soil and how I placed the flower in the cut outs so it looks like it's really growing out of the soil! The bee and ladybird were coloured with copic markers, then finished off with a Copic liner pen and white gelly roll pen to make the eyes really pop and add three cute dots on the cheeks.

When the card was put together, I added to some water droplets to give the effect of it raining and the watering can sprinkling using glossy accents. I hope you like it. I can't wait to colour in these cuties again they will forever be a firm favourite in my stamp collection! 

Christmas is coming!

Hi everyone it's time for a new challenge over at +CraftinDesertDivas and im so excited for this one! It's full of festive themes and colours, the perfect inspiration to get you in the mood to start your Christmas cards. Here it is the photo inspiration...

I like how on the photos the red was the colour that stood out and I like the hot chocolate image. 

I thought that the I've bear was the perfect fit for my card. 

I wanted to keep it simple with red as the highlight colour and keep the bear as the main feature. My background was coloured using a dark blue promarker and then I drew on the snowflakes using a white gelly roll pen. My bear was then coloured with a mixture of promarkers and copic markers, I'm recently updating my pen collection as I find the copic markers blend so much better. When it was all coloured I placed it on a red checked background. Then finally I added a sentiment on a piece of red card using a sentiment from ''tis the season stamp set. I used a white ink to reflect the snow and cut a flag tail in the bottom. I hope my card and the +CraftinDesertDivas photo has inspired you and I look forward to seeing what you create for the #cddmonthly challenge. 

Cold winter days!

Have you joined in the new +CraftinDesertDivas monthly challenge yet? This months theme is perfect for those cold autumn scene cards. We have a beautiful selection of images to get your ideas flowing.

I took my inspiration from the rainy day image and combined it with the warm browns and reds from the squirrel and the hedgehog. I choose the sweet raking fall fun digi stamp and teamed it with images from the fall hall digi, to create a rainy autumns day.

This is the scene I created using the silhouette app its great for creating one layer cards using several digital stamps. You will note in the final image though I removed the robin and toadstools and increased the size of the other images so it wasn't as busy. That's what is so great about digi stamps though you can create you scene so easily on the app and just print it straight out.

I'm so pleased with my final card I printed him out and cut a rectangle base using the crazy stitched frames, then it was out with the promarker's to colour in this beautiful scene. I kept the colour scheme simple using a mix of warm browns, reds and green and combining it with a cold blue for a winters sky. I added glossy accents to create raindrops and finished off with adding white highlight. I hope you have enjoyed my card and I look forward to seeing everyone's beautiful makes. Don't forget to hashtag #cddmonthly

Cold winter days!

Have you joined in the new +CraftinDesertDivas monthly challenge yet? This months theme is perfect for those cold autumn scene cards. We have a beautiful selection of images to get your ideas flowing.

I took my inspiration from the rainy day image and combined it with the warm browns and reds from the squirrel and the hedgehog. I choose the sweet raking fall fun digi stamp and teamed it with images from the fall hall digi, to create a rainy autumns day.

This is the scene I created using the silhouette app its great for creating one layer cards using several digital stamps. You will note in the final image though I removed the robin and toadstools and increased the size of the other images so it wasn't as busy. That's what is so great about digi stamps though you can create you scene so easily on the app and just print it straight out.

I'm so pleased with my final card I printed him out and cut a rectangle base using the crazy stitched frames, then it was out with the promarker's to colour in this beautiful scene. I kept the colour scheme simple using a mix of warm browns, reds and green and combining it with a cold blue for a winters sky. I added glossy accents to create raindrops and finished off with adding white highlight. I hope you have enjoyed my card and I look forward to seeing everyone's beautiful makes. Don't forget to hashtag #cddmonthly

Craftin Desert Divas monthly challenge!

Have you seen the new monthly challenge over at +CraftinDesertDivas ? Instead of having a linky party and digi challenge these have now been combined into one monthly challenge. For September we have been given this image as inspiration so what are you waiting for! All you need to do is decide which adorable craftin desert divas products to use!

I just love the rich, warm autumn reds and oranges in this image. I decided to combine these colours with this sweet hedgehog digi stamp http://craftindesertdivas.com/fall-hedgehog-digital-stamp/?aff=18

Isn't he the cutest I also printed out the pumpkin patch scarecrow and cut off his pumpkins to add a few more.

My poor blog has been severely neglected it feels like there's just not enough time in the day! Hopefully when the little man returns to school full time next week I shall be getting up to speed and providing you with lots of tips, ideas and inspiration. I'm still beavering away for my design team over at +CraftinDesertDivas for my last card I made this super cute beach scene using http://craftindesertdivas.com/floatie-girl-digital-stamp/.

I started off by colouring the girl using pro markers and then fussy cutting get ready to stick in the sea scape. I created my sea scene using Tim holtz distress inks salty ocean, peacock feathers and chipped sapphire than adding white dots for bubbles using a white gel pen. I wanted to create the illusion of her legs being in the water so added some ripped velum over the top and finishing off with a sentiment from http://craftindesertdivas.com/magical-wishes/and a few sequins from http://craftindesertdivas.com/comet-sequins/. I hope you like my card till next time...

I made the cut!

I am so excited to become one of the new +CraftinDesertDivas digi design team members.
Tara has the cutest stamps and if you haven't seen them yet go take a look you won't be disappointed. This months digi stamp monthly challenge is spring I used the sweetest duck stamp to create my scene card. I've called this card riverbank tales he looks like he's having so much fun floating down the river don't you think!

Patience and Perseverance...

Sometimes patience and perseverance are the key...

Have you noticed that you watch you tube and see all these great crafting videos and they just make it look so easy! It all just looks so natural everything is so well laid out they have their composition figured out straight away and your wondering why isn't it like that for me. I have been crafting for four years now and its definitely gotten a lot easier especially after I found the type of card and stamps I prefer to use, but this card was one of those cards that just weren't happening straight away. It took four attempts to get there, its not perfect and there will probably be a fifth but I don't hate it!

Souper Hero

This is the finished card and boy did it take a lot of hard work it all started with the soup can and I wanted to make him into a souper hero! My first attempt I really wanted to finish it and the colouring and distress inks just looked messy and it just wasn't working.

As you can see the first attempt just looks really rough the colours aren't very clean and bright and the stuck on speech bubbles just wasn't working. It just didn't feel like a proper comic strip it needed to be a flat image. So I started again but messed up the layouts on the second and third cards. The final image looks so much cleaner being a flat image just like an actual comic book I still think the layout could be improved the jail bars make it have lots of harsh black lines on the left hand side where the top right hand corner is quite bare. I am super critical of my work though but that's a good thing right it only helps us improve?!? So as you can see it doesn't always happen first time but it does get there in the end and its great to see the improvements everytime.