Dimensional Envelopes "How to" & A Mom's Card

The unique thing about cardmaking is the freedom to add some level of dimensions instead of having a flat design. Conventional speaking, we will often try to fit them into traditional envelopes of any given sizes available and we need to be mindful not to create a card that's too bulky. Housing them onto a bigger envelope such as into an A6 envelope for a dimensional A2 card might work, but it will somehow squash the design which is an issue to me.

As I started to make more of such cards, I find a need to source for some dimensional envelopes to house these cards. I tried to search for existing templates or tutorials online, however there're some limitations and often require some kind of envelope making tools which appears to be rather confusing. Ultimately, I decided to create my own and also, made a video tutorial for this. 

To suffice the video I made, I've created a template for both A2 and A6 card sizes which is available HERE for download. Video tutorial showcased an A6 dimensional envelope for this Mom's card I made, and the steps are pretty much similar for other sizes and depths.

This Mom's card was made using most of my existing supplies and some of them are no longer available unfortunately. A good way to refresh my supplies and try to make something out of it. Not necessary for Mother's Day, this card can be gifted to moms for another other occasions.

I hope this new dimensional envelope tutorial is useful and helpful. Below is the list of supplies I used to make this card as well as the cardstocks used to make most of my envelopes. 

Cheers!

Clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• American Crafts 12x12 80lb vanilla cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Astro Designs 12x12 65Ib bright white cardtsocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tim Holtz Alteration Texture Fade lace embossing folder (SB, SIZ)
• Spellbinders lace heart and various past clubs diesets (retired)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Ranger Ink embossing powder in princess gold (SB, AMZ)

Legend:

SB (Scrapbook.com), SIZ (Sizzix) AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

A Rather Favourite Kind of Father's Day Card

For this Father's Day, I created a card using Graphic 45's rather old and retired A Proper Gentleman collection. Inspired by an old tailor shop, I used origami shirt with tie and pants, together with a pop-up shopping bag when the card is open up. 

The shopping bag template can be downloaded HERE for your personal use. The how-to process is in one of my short reels over at my YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Therefore, be sure to check them out. And here are the details on how the card looks like when open up. The shirt and pants are made from Graphic 45 DIY craft paper which has since retired and discontinued. Because the craft paper is quite thin, it makes creating these origami items easier. To make it more interesting, dollar notes can be used instead.

I hope this is one fun inspiring project for this Father's Day. And I wish all fathers a Happy Father's Day! I'll be back for more crafting projects, be sure to revisit my blog again. Cheers!

Below is a list of supplies I used to make this card. 

Clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• Graphic 45 A Proper Gentleman paper collection (retired)
• Graphic 45 DIY Craft Paper in quotes and newspapers (retired)
• Unity Stamp Echo Park Favourite Moustache cling stamps (retired)
• Tim Holtz Alterations Alphabetical Sizzlit (retired)
• Graphic 45 Folder & Sentiments Policy & Decorative die set (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Spellbinders Deckled Rectangle LG dies (SPB, AMZ)
• American Crafts 12x12 80lb black cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• MISTI stamping tool in black
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versafine pigment ink in onyx black (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Ranger Ink Super Fine clear embossing powder (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)

Legend:

SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

Marbling Cards with Concord & 9th Weekend Market

Fascinated with marbling effect, the idea of using it as one of the backgrounds for my recent card making endeavours came to my mind. In today's entry, I'm sharing two cards I made using Concord & 9th Marbled Turnabout stamp together with their Weekend Market dies and stamp set. And these are what I have made using mainly purple for one card, and a mixed of orange-yellow vibrant colours for the other.

Created these on the inside of the cards

I've made a start-to-finish video and a short reel on how I created these cards which can be viewed on my Youtube channel and various social media platforms.

'let's hangout soon" sentiment is from Big on You stamp set.

I've yet to try out using the girl standing or walking for this die set, and that will be for another time so as to make use of this further to create more cards out of it.

Cheers!

Below is a list of supplies I used to make these card. 

Clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• Concord & 9th Weekend Market die set
• Concord & 9th Weekend Market stamp set (SB, AMZSG)
• Concord & 9th Marbled Turnabout Stamp (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Concord & 9th All-in-One Turnabout Jig (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Concord & 9th Big on You Stamp set
• Spellbinders Essential Modern Ovals (SPB, SB, AMZ)
• Versafine pigment ink in onyx black (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacolor small ink pad in hyacinth (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacolor small ink pad in lilac (AMZ)
• Versacolor small ink pad in boysenberry (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacolor small ink pad in heliotrope (AMZ)
• Versacolor small ink pad in narcissus (AMZ)
• Versacolor small ink pad in sand beige (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacolor small ink pads in seashell (AMZ)
• Versacraft small ink pad in tangerine
• Neenah heavy weight 110lb classic crest solar white cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 purple & yellow envelopes from mix coloured selections (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• MISTI stamping tool in black
• Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Ranger Ink Super Fine clear embossing powder (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Various coloured cardstocks (from my own stash)
• Dew drops and accents (from my own nail art stash)

Legend:

SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

Cardmaking Over the Weekend; Cherish Cards

We all have that in our craft storage—crafting dies bought and kept unused (or minimally used). I was sieving through my dies over the last weekend, wondering what I could make, and I found this Cherish die set from Spellbinders 2019 club kits I previously subscribed to. Surprisingly, Spellbinders still have these dies in stock, currently running as clearance past kits sale.

Jan 2019 Club Kit - Large Die of the Month

With the idea of getting back into crafting, I decided to put these dies to use. I crafted two cards out from these dies — a Cherish card for a dear friend of mine and a Mom's card. Well, Mother's Day had just passed, but I wanted to extend the joy of crafting by maximising my existing supplies. I created both backgrounds using a mix of pink mists and my old Prima floral petites 6 x6 stencil, which fits the overall theme pretty well.

To match the cards I've created, I chose a white A6 envelope for the Cherish card and a hot pink one for the Mom's card. 

I made a video on how I created these cards. For a better experience, be sure to hop over to my YouTube to view it. I mounted the finished designs onto A6 notecards (4.5" x 6"), which I made using 110lb (~300 gsm) Neenah cardstock. I used various sentiments from Spellbinders' 'Just Wanted to Say Sentiments', which I embossed them over using ultra-fine silver embossing powder. Unfortunately, this stamp has run out of stock, however, the glimmer foil version is still very much available.

I tried stamping over the sentiments onto the inside of the card, but it ended up a mess! To cover up, I used the scraps I trimmed off from the backgrounds I created as matting to cover up the mistake I made. And it turned out pretty well. Sometimes, it's good to keep whatever scraps are left over; it might save your work!

Breaking away from my usual cardmaking style, these are fresh new perspectives that I tried exploring. I enjoyed creating the background myself instead of sieving through various pattern papers to match. 

Cheers!

Below is the list of supplies I used for these cards. 

Clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• Spellbinders Cherish - Large Die of the Month (Jan 2019)
• Spellbinders Just Wanted to Say Sentiments acrylic stamps
• Lettering dies from own stash
• Prima Floral Petites 6x 6 stencil (retired)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacraft small ink pad in bubblegum
• Ranger Ink ultra fine embossing powder in silver (SB, AMZ)
• Neenah heavy weight 110lb classic crest solar white cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 heavy weight 110lb white envelopes (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 hot pink envelope (from mix coloured selections) (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Daler Rowney system 3 in white titanium acrylic paint
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Glass Mixed Media Cutting Mat (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Time Holtz Stampers Anonymous Acrylic Grid Block Set (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Misting sprays (retired) - Lindy Stamp Gang cotton candy, Shimmerz cotton candy and sweet heart

Legend:

SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador Call 2024 -2025

It has been a really long time. Though I've been rather inactive and did some projects here and there form time to time, in actual fact I was lurking around keeping myself updated on what's happening within the crafting community. And YES! I decided to head back and hope to be part of Graphic 45 for this 2024 - 2025 Brand Ambassador team after my last term with them in 2018.

For this year's project submission, I delved into Graphic 45's retired calendar collection, Children's Hour. This undertaking has been one of my most extensive projects, utilising the majority of the collection to create these 12 monthly journal pamphlets, each representing a month of the year. These pamphlets are housed in a handmade bookcase, crafted entirely from scratch.

There is so much photos can tell and I think a video tour might be better to show this project. For the very last minute, I decided to do a quick one.

To add a touch of uniqueness, I randomly stamped the sides of the bookcase with a G45 floral background stamp using Tsukineko Brilliance galaxy gold ink. The result is a textured yet not too overpowering effect. For embellishments, I incorporated my newly bought stitched flower and medallion dies from Spellbinders, a reflection to match all the pamphlets' front covers I have made. Loads of stitching work are done here!

Pamphlets are all hand-stitched individually, measuring 4" by 5.5", each having enough pages for a month's worth of writing if written on a single page daily. Because the calendar collection has each of its colours and designs, I simply use the design for the whole series without having to think much on colour and design matching.

Each pamphlet was stamped and embossed with gold with the month (unfortunately, G45 has retired this calendar stamp set) on the tab of the insert pages, which I created using the folder die from the G45 Folder & Sentiment die set.

This project took me over a week to complete with nearly 3-4 days of prep work before I could piece everything together. Nonetheless, it's a fulfilling one given I've not been crafting actively for the past year, and I hope through this ambassador call, I can bring more interesting projects should I get into the team with Graphic 45.

Cheers!

Supplies List:

• Graphic 45 Children's Hour collection (available at my ETSY)
• Graphic 45 Floral Background and Calendar (retired) stamp sets
• Graphic 45 Matt Pearls Gems (retired)
• Graphic 45 Folder & Sentiments (SB, AMZ) Tags & Flowers (SB, AMZ, AMZSG) and Policy & Decorative (AMZ, AMZSG) metal dies sets
• Spellbinders Stitched dies - Medallion (SB, AMZ) and Flower (SB, SPB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Spellbinders Label Forty Nestabilities & D-lite Flourishes dies (retired)
• Ranger Ink Embossing Power in Gold (SB, AMZ)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tsukineko Brilliance ink in Galaxy Gold (AMZ, AMZSG)
• DMC Thread #676 - Old Gold (AMZ)
• Ornate Metal Feet (available at my ETSY)
• 80gsm Papers (for pages)
• Vellum

Legend - SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

A Bunch of Bohemia Bazaar Thank You Cards

Graphic 45's Bohemia Bazzar is actually quite an understated paper collection. Perhaps it's due to its very vibrant and geometrical colours and designs, it can be hard to balance the elements and colours together in a single project. I do think so. However, when comes to making cards, it might be a little easier. Making use of it's vibrancy, I made 4 cards that's strikingly vibrant with each of its distinct colours.

Prior to the start of the pandemic, I've been making cards for various preachers from the USA when they're here to preach to local congregations. Well, these cards are made in 2019 just before the outbreak of COVID-19. 

As usual, personalised messages are printed and pasted on the back of the cards for each of them.

Well, breaking away from the vibrancy, I decided to make 2 cards from the collection with a more pleasant colour palette; practically can't really tell it's from the same paper collection. And this comes with choice of colours and design elements which I decided to use just green and blue only. Apparently, it's not that scary to work with this collection and I was actually quite pleased with the outcome.

These cards are well gifted and I hope they love the vibrancy of these handmade cards. Due to the pandemic and several travel restrictions, I think it's going to be a few more years before I can meet them again in person.