A6 Christmas Card from Crafter's Inspiration Issue 12

This beautiful card has been designed by one of the design team at Crafter's Companion, using the free gifts in Issue 12 of the Crafter's Inspiration Magazine.

Materials and equipment used to make this card:

* 1 sheet of White Card link
* 1 sheet of Textured White Card link
* Silver Mirror and Glitter Card from the Crafter's Companion Luxury Cardstock Collection link
* Pearls and Cord
* Crafter's Inspiration Free Gifts link:
       Softly Falling Embossing Folder
       Festive Trio Dies
       Sentiment Stamp

Instructions:

1. Take a sheet of White Card and cut to 210x148mm, then score in half to make the A6 card base.

2. Take a sheet of Textured White Card and cut to 144x101mm.

3. Cut a sheet of Glitter Card to 136x44m and the Mirror Card to 132x40mm.

4. Emboss the Mirror Card using the Softly Falling Embossing Folder and glue onto the piece of Glitter Card.

5. Die-cut 3 of the baubles from the Festive Trio Die Set out of Mirror and Glitter Card.  If you want, you can leave the die-cut pieces in the Glitter Card baubles as they may be rather difficult to remove.

6. Stamp your sentiment in black ink on the bottom right-hand corner of the Textured Card piece and then stick this to the card base.

7. Use foam pads to add the Glitter and Mirror Card piece to the top area of the card.

8. Thread some cord through the baubles and use 3D Glue Gel and a Pearl to secure to the Mirror Card.  I found it was easier to add a dot of Glue Gel to the Mirror Card piece first, then push the ends of the cord into it and then add another dot of Glue Gel to the top before adding the pearl.

Champagne Flutes Celebrate Card

Materials and equipment used to make this card:

* 2 sheets of A4 Cream Pearlescent Card
* 1 sheet of A4 Cream Linen Card
* Together Forever Tiara Mini Edgeable Die
* Together Forever Celebrate Die
* Together Forever Champagne Flute Die
* Together Forever Luxury Ribbon Pack
* Together Forever Decadent Damask Embossing Folder
* Together Forever Luxury Matt Mirror Card
* 4/5mm and 8mm Cream Half-round Pearls

Instructions:

1. Take a sheet of A4 Cream Pearlescent Card and fold in half to make the card base.

2. Take a sheet of Gold Luxury Matt Mirror Card and cut to 13cm x 18cm, then emboss with the Decadent Damask Embossing Folder.  Stick this to the front of the pearlescent card base in the centre.

3. Take an A5 sheet of Linen Cream Card and cut to 14cm x 20cm.  On the front of this card, make a very light horizontal pencil mark at 2.5cm from the top and bottom of the sheet to give a guideline to place the Tiara Mini Edgeable Die in the aperture.  Once die-cut, place on a glass cutting mat or self-heal mat and cut between the two die-cuts top and bottom to form the window.

4. Use the lace from the Luxury Ribbon Pack to wrap around the top and bottom, remembering to fix securely to the reverse of the card.  Add foam pads or foam tape and stick to the front of the card.

5. Die-cut and emboss the Champagne Flute die out of cream pearlescent card twice and gently rub a little gold gilding wax over the embossed areas only before shaping and placing on the front of the mirror card as in the picture, with 3D Glue Gel or Silicone.

6. Cut the Celebrate Die out of cream pearlescent card and add to the front of the card with very small amounts of 3D Glue Gel or Silicone.

7. Finally, add 4/5mm and 8mm half-round cream pearls to the front of the card, as shown.

SPECIAL OFFER: Buy all 6 Together Forever products to make this card and get the Champagne Flute Die worth £7.99 completely FREE!
(while stocks last, in store only)

Butterfly Lullaby Filigree Frame Card

Materials and equipment used to make this card:

* 2.5 sheets of A4 White 300gsm Card
* 1.5 sheets of A4 Black 240gsm Card
* 1 sheet of A4 Buff 240gsm Card
* Butterfly Lullaby Filigree Frame Embossing Folder
* Butterfly Lullaby Oval 3D Butterfly Die
* Butterfly Lullaby Stamp Set
* 3mm Black Satin Ribbon
* Brown Dye-based Ink Pad
* 2mm Silver Gems

Instructions:

1. Take a sheet of A4 White Card and fold in half to make the card base.

2. Cut a sheet of A4 Black Card to 14.5cm x 20.5cm.

3. Cut a sheet of A4 White Card to 14cm x 20cm.

4. Cut a sheet of A4 Brown Card to 13.5cm x 19.5cm.

5. Cut the leftover White Card to 12.5cm x 17.5cm

6. Cut the leftover Black Card to 12cm x 17cm.

7. Cut the leftover Brown Card to 11.5cm x 16.5cm.  Emboss this piece with the Filigree Frame Embossing Folder and then gently rub a brown inkpad over the embossed pattern to make it stand out more.

8. Matt and layer the brown, black and white sheets (from steps 5-7 above) and wrap the black ribbon around the bottom twice, crossing in the middle.

9. Using the half sheet of black card, cut the Oval 3D Butterfly die out, together with a small matt for the sentiment (4.5cm x 3.5cm)

10. Cut a second 3D butterfly out of the half sheet of white card and carefully snip the top and bottom of the butterfly to release it from the oval.  Out of the same card, cut a rectangle (4cm x 3cm) to matt and layer onto the black matt (step 9) and stick together.  Stamp your sentiment onto the white and use foam pads or 3D glue gel to stick onto the card.

11. Glue the centre of the white butterfly directly on top of the black butterfly to add dimension and make it stand out more.

12. Use the black, white and brown sheets cut out in steps 2-4 to make the base matt which is glued to the base card.  Use foam pads or 3D glue gel to glue the butterfly matt on top and then embellish with gems.

Buff and White with Floral Delight!

Instructions on how to make this card using the lovely Floral Delight Collection from Sara, are as follows:

1. Make the card base by folding a sheet of A4 white card in half.

2. Cut a sheet of A4 buff card to 14.5cm x 20.5cm and from the remaining card, cut to 12.5cm x 17.5cm.

3. Cut a sheet of A4 white card to 13.5cm x 19.5cm and from the remaining card, cut to 12cm x 17cm.

4. Emboss the 12cm x 17cm sheet of white card using the Floral Delight Stylish Swirls 5x7" Embossing Folder.

5. Cut another sheet of A4 buff card to 6.5cm x 11cm and out of the remaining card, use the Floral Delight Scallop Border Die and Trailing Flowers Die.

6. Cut another sheet of white card to 6cm x 10.5cm - this is for the matt and layer with the sheet of 6.5cm x 11cm buff card and the Trailing Flowers diecut.

7. Choose a sheet of Floral Delight 6 x 6" Patterned Paper and cut to 6cm x 11.5cm.

8. Stick everything together as in the picture, remembering to wrap the white ribbon around the sheet of 12.5cm x 17.5cm buff card before sticking to the base layers.

9. Finish off with a white bow and 2mm silver gems for the centres of the flowers.

Silhouette Blade Settings

As promised, here are the blade settings I have found work well with my Silhouette Portrait machine.

I'll add more as I use different types of medium.


12x12" Patterned Paper (Like the ones we get from Papermania - usually about 160gsm)

Speed: 5

Thickness: 30

Blade: 2


Valley Craft White Card (200gsm)

Speed: 5

Thickness: 33

Blade: 3


Valley Craft Pick 'n' Mix Colour Card (225gsm)

Speed: 5

Thickness: 33

Blade: 4

*Double Cut On*


Bersan Double-sided Pearlescent Card (250gsm)

Speed: 5

Thickness: 33

Blade: 4


Silver Mist Iridescent Paper (120gsm)

Speed: 10

Thickness: 25

Blade: 1


12x12" Glitter Card

Speed: 3

Thickness: 33

Blade: 6

*Double Cut On*

How to make paper flowers

You will need a 2" Six Petal Punch, Tacky PVA Glue and a cocktail stick.

Punch out 3 flowers from your chosen paper.

With the first flower, cut in between 2 of the petals to the centre of the flower.

With the second flower, cut either side of one petal and set both aside for later.

With the third flower, remove 2 petals as shown and set both aside.

You should now have five separate flower elements, as shown here.

Apply tacky glue to one petal of the first flower and stick together.

Glue one petal on the second flower and stick together.

Glue one petal on the third flower and stick together.

You should now have three flower cups as shown - one 5 petal, one 4 petal and one 3 petal.

With the remaining 2 petal piece, roll the lefthand petal backwards using the cocktail stick.

Roll the right petal forwards from the centre.....

....and keep rolling around the cocktail stick until the second petal is wrapped around too.

With the single petal, roll around the cocktail stick to make a cone shape.

On the 5, 4 and 3 petal flowers, roll all the petals backwards using a cocktail stick.

Your three flowers should now look like this.

Cut the bottoms off of the 4, 3, 2 and 1 petal flowers

Apply glue to the base of the 4 petal flower and place inside the 5 petal flower.  Repeat with the 3 petal flower.

Place the 2 petal flower in the centre of the flower....

....and the one petal flower in the very centre of the previous 2 petal flower.

Try mixing different coloured papers and patterns for interesting effects!

We've Moved!!

Yes, after a very long weekend of moving, we're finally in our new premises.

We had our grand reopening yesterday and were thrilled to see so many of our lovely customers turning up to have a nose around the new place!  It was a great day and it was good to get so many positive comments.  I'm sure we'll be very happy in our new home :o)

If you weren't able to pop in yesterday, panic not!  We're continuing the special offers for the rest of the week including discounts of up to 50% and a FREE goodie bag worth over £30.00 when you spend £20.00 in one transaction (one per customer, while stocks last).

Oh, and I almost forgot the best bit, we're also giving away free balloons!!!!

Our new address is:

Unit 1
St Margaret's Park
Pengam Road
Aberbargoed
CF81 9FW

and we're open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 10am to 2pm.

Hope to see you soon!