It’s that time of year when things start picking up in pace: kids are back in school, it may be warm out but we begin to think about the months ahead & maybe even plan! WELL let’s have a nod to fun color that’s grounded with gold foiling, wood prints & a soft chalkboard look… Oh and you’re never TOO OLD to play with Vicki Boutin’s art crayons & “Creative FX” glaze! I go over the glorious possibilities & simplicity of use with the next (7 minute!!!) video showing at least 6 techniques, with tips & tricks! Did I mention this kit has a FULL SIZE Lawn Fawn ink pad? Well, if 18 pieces of paper: 5 with gold foiling! from Jen Hadfield fun matching stamps & dies from Vicki Boutin Jen Hadfield & Vicki Boutin doesn’t get your attention, I hope that will! By the way, this kit is already limited. I strongly encourage you to consider subscribing to CEP’s box of fun! O.K…. watch the video(s) I’m posting today & leave a comment, don’t forget to like/subscribe! *hugs* Stay Crafty, my friends!
Birthday
Fun 10 Cards, 1 Kit
Well, I have created one of my favorite 10 cards, 1 kit collections AND I have a ton of goodies leftover! Half of the journaling cards/card starters, a ton of stickers, some pieces of cardstock already cut for other cards & a lot of half sheets & partial 6×6 papers. Not to shabby for a kit that costs $25.99! This is the best collection of cards I think I’ve compiled using various products, techniques & tips/tricks I think I have done since coming back from Family Leave earlier this year. I tried to create different designs than other DT Members that are doing a fabulous job! So, I hope you enjoy this 10 Cards/1 Kit video using the Spring Market line by Carta Bella:
#54321 Square Sunset Card
Ready for a customized creation from your stamp set from the Summer Blossoms Card Kit from Creative Escape Papercrafting? Let’s also use the #54321 method of rating for this card to get also make the most of our supplies AND time! the crafting! Stamping can be a bit tedious if you create your own large clusters from independent images UNLESS you happen to have a video under 10 minutes to walk you through everything: from start to done! 🙂 So, I wanted to try to see how much mileage I could get out of this beautiful stamp set that has become a “go to” already for me & will continue to be because the quality! After more than 15 years (yikes!) of stamping, embossing and creating cards, this set is one of the highest quality sets I’ve had the pleasure of using! If you have gotten to know us, via YouTube, Facebook, Google, Instagram, the blog, etc… you know we are honest about any product or issue we may encounter. I have been SO impressed & proud to be able to design for a start-up that insists on high quality items at a great price point! The white cardstock I used for: stamping all images, coloring, shading, blending Prismas & erasing, when necessary, is included in every kit Creative Escape Papercrafting whether it’s a coloring kit, card kit. So, if you purchase(d) any kit, you can do this technique with the white cardstock they use! (Love that you have always gotten an extra sheet in the card kits, if you make a mistake cutting your bases or want to make more than 10 cards, you certainly can!)
Then, I used a 3 x 6 inch piece of white paper to stamp & color additional flowers & leaves extra dimension. Note, you can keep this as a one layer card if you would like! I just got into a groove stamping and accidentally got the side of a knuckle into the stamp pad, so layering seemed like a good option for my goof! Then, I bended the pieces a bit to give them a more realistic look and went over the edges with a black marker. Next, I used a favorite staple in the craft room: the glue gun to create support for the cut images & glued those puppies on! I simply stamped “Cherish” with that black ink that’s out to get me 🙂 & glued 2 foiled butterflies together to create a very sturdy, single gold foiled butterfly to the card. I did add the blush layer & did my own yellow ombre touch to the white cThe final touch: 1 of pretty self-adhesive aurora borealis stones at the top of the “i”! So, this card rates as a 5 on the #54321 scale, however, it’s one my favorite cards I’ve made for little while. It’s worth it to color the images & many of us love to color anyway! Hope you’ll give this technique a try! Links below for supplies! *LAST DAY TO ENTER (8/17/17) FOR THE SUNRISE & TIDE NEW DISTRESS DIOXIDE INKS!!!* SUBSCRIVE to the blog or YouTube AND leave a comment & you’re entered!!!
https://creativeescapepapercrafting.com/product/summer-blossoms-card-kit/
Additional supplies: 24 count Prisma colored pencils, tape runner, a few foam squares, glue gun, “Calligrapher” marker by Sakura, scrap paper for masking, washi tape and fiskars scissors
Banner Birthday Card
NOTE: There is a video of the process of making this card below. We have tried to be as thorough as possible with this and it’s not that complicated to make, really! The Birthday Banner Card is fun to make & really unique. Adults & children have liked this one so it may be a good idea to tuck 1 or 2 of these in your card stash! The base for the card comes in at 5.35 inches in length by 4 1/4 inches in width. Of course, I used a top fold card design for this example. For the patterned paper, the measurements I started with are 3.75 inches in width by 4.5 inches in length.
We wanted to try to come up with a use for the “Spring” die and this was where a bit of experimenting took us. Use the top portion of your card base and paper of your choice to cut each side at the same time. That helps with your alignment later when it’s time to assemble your card. Here are a couple of pictures with the T Square ruler on a 12×12 inch mat:
Adhere printed paper once you’re happy with the angles that were cut from the spring die. We colored white stitch peel offs, added Nuvo Drops and adhered the cut portions to make corners from the bottom. Add your sentiment and you have a fun banner card!
Mixed Media Made Simple
We know many people are intimidated by the thought of Mixed Media but really, it’s crafting with another material besides paper… Some argue that it’s any other type of substrate or material, medium with as little, if any, paper at all. At Platinum Peacock, this argument about how much, if any, paper is allowed creates unnecessary confusion.
What is one to do? We don’t believe in crafting commandments but guidelines, such as odd numbers tend to look best. So, ratios of how much paper is involved doesn’t concern us too terribly much. There are some wonderfully talented mixed media artists out there but never forget that you are in charge of your creative journey. So, experiment a bit with us and see what you like. We have a fun, affordable, easy and fast card idea using mixed media principles. You can add as much detail as you’d like, as you see above in the pictures. The tag is card #10 in the video below:
Mixed Media meets Art Deco
An easy, cheap or dare we say FREE and easy way to dive into mixed media is by using newspaper and magazine articles to create a dry decoupage. Dry decoupage? Yes, if you have any type Xyron, it works great with torn and ripped pieces from a magazine and/or paper – using both gives you different colors of paper to apply to your cardstock. However, if you do not have any Xyron machine, you can use a tape runner, scor-tape, etc. We liked the look of the varied colors from the combination of magazine and newspaper, so we did a couple of layers so the background didn’t look flat. Then, we used a geometric stencil, Ranger Texture Paste, and an artist spatula set to smooth out the paste on top of the stencil. A knife or spoon from the kitchen will work – just keep whatever you use out of the kitchen afterwards! 🙂 We added a frame, a bit of silver mirror cardstock, “Happy Birthday” peel offs, a black Sharpie, and Nuvo Drops, all from LovefromLizi (except for the Sharpie). On the inside we use silver peels offs from LovefromLizi to maintain the classic black, white, and silver scheme for anything deco!
We’re beginning to explore mixed media more and thought this was a good staring point as you may have everything needed to achieve this look, or close to it, depending on your personal taste. The stencil can be any shape, of course, we just always try to do at least 1 male card a month. Love from Lizi’s had 300 GSM paper this month, so we did use that & it worked beautifully but you could use watercolor cardstock or anything with heft. Stay tuned this week: Getting more from you inks and everyday materials, Shabby Chic cards for the ladies and another card for the gents! It’s going to jam packed with creative ways to get more out your supplies with beautiful results. We’ll be posting throughout the week on Facebook, twitter, and Instagram. The video below takes you step-by-step with instructions. Stay crafty my friends! P.S. If you’d like to add color and shine to a project like this, check out our Nuvo Mousse video.
Secret Garden Card
With Spring just around the corner we decided to present what we are calling our “Secret Garden” card. The front features a wooden door look with a key hole. We used a Crafters Companion wood grain embossing folder to get the wood grain look and texture. We then used Dovecraft pigment ink in Natural (from the Love from Lizi) & Distress ink to give the wood some color variation. We used tag dies to create the layered elements of the lock. The screw heads were made using copper penny Nuvo Drops (see our How to Make Your Own Embellishments with Nuvo Drops post for more details).
To finish off the front we used a key die from the February Love from Lizi kit to cut silver mirror card (also from the kit). We then used ribbon and a wooden butterfly embellishment from the February Lizi kit. We lightly inked the butterfly with Berry Purple Dovecraft ink (also from the kit) and placed a drop Pink Champaign Nuvo Glitter Drops in the center. Than, we added the antennae on the butterfly using silver vine peel offs from the February as a finishing touch.
On the inside we used some beautiful floral paper from the February Lizi kit. We added grass using colored pencils. We used more Nuvo Crystal Drops to highlight the centers of the flowers. Finally we fussy cut some butterflies from a page of paper from the Lizi kit. For details & easy step by step instructions, please refer to the video:
We hope you’ll try this card for someone special in your life!
Stag Card
This one’s for the guys! We made this fun Stag card from the February 2017 LovefromLizi.com. The kit, as a whole, was feminine but we found a few of ways to add even more options for crafting from Lizi’s kit. Once we came out of shock from all of the beautiful papers, tags, glitter dots, and wood veneer accents – including the stag shown- we got to work!
We’ll walk you through each step in the video below:
BE SURE to check our blog on March 1st for the first LovefromLizi Blog Hop!!! You’ll have a chance to win a LovefromLizi kit OR 20 British pounds worth of products from the one & only LovefromLizi.com store! A chance for unique & fun crafty goodness for free? Oh yes, my friends! Who doesn’t love that around this time of year?
—We have begun a page for messages for the inside of your card(s).— May we suggest having a bit of fun with the message inside of this card? Steer your own path.
Three Quick Card Ideas
In this post we present 3 new card ideas. The first is a love-themed card perfect for any occasion where you want to give something to that special someone in your life. It uses papers from the Love from Lizi January card kit. The two embellishments that frame the diagonal love banner were made by cutting Lizi paper using an Anna Griffin die. Lastly, three Nuvo drops provide the finishing touch in the lower right corner.
The second card also uses elements from the Love from Lizi January kit. A beautiful foiled paper matted on a simple craft card forms the base. The feature element is an over-sized craft tag that is wrapped in a doily to form a pocket. You can use the pocket to insert a journaling tag like the one shown to write a special message to your intended recipient. A Happy Birthday gold sticker and three Nuvo drops finish off the card.
The final card is a whimsical cloud card also made using elements from the January Lizi kit. The white card stock was inked and blended to create a stormy sky look. The clouds were hand cut from white card stock and two of them were raised up using foam squares to create some dimension. Silver peel off stickers were used to create a rain element with mirror card die cut hearts and small pearl hearts forming “drops”.
Instructions on how to create all three cards can be found in the video below:
Please be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more card making ideas. Stay crafty my friends!
Valentine’s Day Card Tutorial 2
Today’s post continues our Valentine’s series with a simple yet elegant locket card. This card was made using elements from the Love from Lizi January 2017 card kit. As a bonus we also did a clutch-themed card and coordinating gift card holder as seen below.
Detailed instructions showing how to make all three projects can be found by watching the YouTube video below:
To see more projects like this, please subscribe to our Platinum Peacock YouTube channel. Stay crafty my friends!
Platinum Peacock 