Money Card!

Hello everybody! Joanne here again. Like many teenagers, my 14 year old nephew has asked for money for Christmas to save up and buy the latest computer games. With this in mind I thought I would challenge myself to come up with a card, suitable for a teenage boy, incorporating money in some way. This is what I came up with:

Not very Christmassy, I grant you. But perfect for a skate mad teenage boy, I think!

The card itself is very simple to do. I took a 15cm x 15cm ready made black card blank and onto that attached a 14cm x 14cm piece of Basic Grey Skate Shoppe "Kickflip" patterned paper, having inked all the edges in charcoal chalk ink first.

The actual skull and cross bones were freehand drawn onto white card and cut out. I then crumpled them up and distressed them with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Weathered Wood and again, inked the edges with charcoal chalk ink.

Co-ordinating embroidery floss was used to attach to metal buttons onto the skull and also to tie the £5 notes onto the bones.

The skull and cross bones were then attached to the card and it was done!

This design could obviously be used for a birthday card and I think is more fun than just sticking the money inside the card (plus with the money being actually attached to the card less chance of it getting lost!)

I hope you enjoy this card and I'll see you soon!

Joanne xxx

Jingling Reindeer Cards...

There is nothing like the sound of jingling bells to get you in the mood for Christmas so why not spread the feeling and use them on some of your special Christmas cards.

Step 1

Gather together your materials

(Papers from Dovecraft and Crafts By Carolyn, reindeer by Crafts for Christmas)

Step 2

Trim patterned paper to fit your card blank, edge with black chalk ink and adhere to card.

Step 3

Trim white cardstock to fit your reindeer, edge with black chalk ink and mat onto black gingham paper. Trim this and edge again using the black chalk ink.

Step 4

Attach your reindeer to the card mat using strong glue (I used my trusty sticks everything glossy accents)

Step 5

Use foam pads to raise your reindeer from the card to give added dimension.

Step 6

Tie a co-ordinating ribbon around your card and thread two silver bells on before securing the knot

I hope you and your family enjoy making and receiving this little jingling reindeer - We always like to see what you have been making so please leave a link in the comments box

Love Andrea xx

Another Acetate Card!

Hello Everybody! Joanne here with another acetate card! I'm really enjoying making these at the minute and they get lots of good comments. People find them really effective and they are very easy to do. Here's the one I've done for today. Sorry there's only the one picture, but my camera batteries are dying and I've no spare!

First of all cut a piece of acetate 21cm x 15cm. Fold in half. Add a piece of black card measuring 15cm x 8cm to each end of the acetate (this measurement includes a bit of overlap) to make a 15cm x 15cm card. The patterned paper I have used is by Imaginisce from their Black Tie Optional range. The paper is called Black and White Bash. Cut a small band and attach to middle to cover the join between the black card and the acetate. Cut circles from the patterned paper and attach to the acetate as shown. Stamp a sentiment into a small tag and attach to the front using a brad. I hope you enjoy making this card and I'll be back soon! Joanne x

Funky Christmas Cards

This week I have been playing with a really funky and modern Christmas Digital Kit and making some hybrid cards. There are hundreds of digital kits available to buy and download from the Internet and by printing the papers and elements on your home printer you can make fantastic cards and even better - because it's a kit everything matches so no need to spend hours searching through your stash for a piece of paper to go with the other elements.

I bought the Funky Fa La La kit from The DigiChick and I added some Doodlebug paperfrills, my favourite 'can't make a card without it' black and white striped paper from Pink Petticoat, charcoal chalk ink and a black pen for my doodled edges.

Once I'd paid for, downloaded and unzipped the files all I had to do was print, cut out and glue down to make my cards. I used my charcoal chalk ink to ink around the edges and to give some added detail and stop them looking too plain I used my pen to quickly doodle a line all around the edge of the card blank. It's not really straight but that just adds to it's charm!

I challenge you to use a digital kit to make some cards this week!

Love from Andrea xx

Need Inspiration?

The girls at It's A Creative World are so thrilled by the number of entries into our 'Scrap your Boobs' challenge and all the donations to our Just Giving Page. It's not too late to contribute to either, you have until the end of October.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cardmaking but lacking in inspiration?

Sometimes we all need a push in the right direction and challenge blogs might be just the thing to get you motivated and raring to go. I checked out 3 blogs this week and had a fab time joining in the challenges.

Daring Card Makers:

The current challenge is a sketch to base your card on.

I've had a new set of mini Cuttlebug embossing folders sitting on my desk for three weeks whilst I work out what to do with them and as soon as I saw this sketch I new exactly how to use them! I used some shiny silver mirror card that I've had for a few years and never use and the embossing folders worked a treat.

CPS:

I love the sketches you get from CPS as they are so adaptable.

I changed the sketch slightly by increasing the size of my card but basically kept everything else in.

Sketch This (cards):

The challenge was another sketch, really simple and multi-use, it could be used for every possible occasion that you can think of.

I had loads of fun punching circles and then inking and gluing and managed to squeeze four different patterned papers from Craftwork Cards and chipboard letters from Scenic Route onto my card.

So, I challenge you to pick a challenge blog and join in with the fun and of course link us to your creations so we can see what you've all been up to :)

Happy Crafting love Andrea xx

Acetate Cards!

Hello everybody! Joanne here again. As you may have seen acetate cards have become very trendy recently and I for one am no exception to this trend. I love making this type of card as they look so unusual and effective. I've made one for this weeks' card. Very straightforward and quite quick to make. Here goes!

The basic ingredients for this card are an A5 sheet of acetate (I got mine from a pack used for glass painting), cardstock and rub ons (I used Hambly). The bits of embellishment I used were a piece of lace and ric-rac, safety pin, small label and small rhinestones.

Step 1

Fold your acetate in half to form your card. Cut two identical hearts from the red cardstock.

Step 2

Decide where you are going to place your rub ons and heart on the outside. Stick one heart inside the card exactly where the one on the outside will be (this is so you can write your message on it!).

Step 3

Decorate your heart for the outside if desired. I tied round some ric-rac and lace and added a safety pin and small label. Attach to the front of your card directly over the heart which is on the inside.

Step 4

Apply rub on to the front of your card and embellish with rhinestones if desired. I hope you enjoy making this card as much as I did. Look out for more acetate cards in the future!

TFL! Joanne x *************************************************** As part of our Breast Cancer awareness month,  today we are giving away a beautiful Pink Heat gun, which has been very kindly donated to us by Stephanie at Forgetmenot Papercrafts in Belfast.   All you need to do is either:  donate some money to our Just Giving Page, Scrap your Bosoms or leave a comment.   Remember if you do all 3, you'll get 3 chances at the prize!!! Goodluck!

In the pink

We've had some fantastic entries into our scrap your boobs challenge - thank you to everyone who has entered the challenge or donated via our just giving page, as has been said before every penny counts and you have until the end of this month to join in with the scrap your boobs challenge.

In honour of our 'Pink October' campaign today's card is 'in the pink!'

I used digital papers printed on my home printer from The Shabby Princess Compassion kit and Bella Collection and Pink Petticoat Doodlicious rainbow kit. I drew one of the wings onto a piece of card, cut it out and used it as a template for the other side, drew a freehand heart on the back of the spotty paper and cut it out and the 'Love You' sentiment was stamped using Making Memories magnetic alphabet stamps and black staz-on.

I sent my 'Love You' card to my Mam when I came back off my recent weekend retreat xx

Andrea x

Christmas cards

Continuing with our Christmas theme this weekend. Ok, so it's only October but it will soon be here. We thought that we would share some of the cards we will be sending this year.

Andrea created these yummy Star and Christmas tree cars using Blonde Moments Festive Feast 6x6 paper pad, gold ric rac, black chalk ink, Kayleigh font.

You could also be *Rocking around the Christmas tree* with Blonde Moments Festive Feast 6x6 paper pad, black chalk ink and using Kayleigh font.

Caz created these wonderful Christmas tree cards with very festive colours.

Charlotte created these stunning snowflake cards. These are great for when you have a tonne of cards to make and need to get a production line going, just need a few stamps, one ink pad, varying pressure and you're off! The stamps are The English Stamp Company and Anita's, ink is a versacube, then some fine glitter and then Hero Arts and Doodlebug bling!

And finally, something for the little ones. Maria passed the job over to her seven year old daughter. Amelia picked through the *scraps box* and decided on Basic Grey. She originally wanted to send all of her friends a card with a stamped image. Like her Mum she soon decided that this was too much like hard work and swapped to an easier style.

We really hope that you enjoyed seeing the cards made by our big girls and small girl. We would love to see any cards that you make so please don't forget to let us have a linkie dink.

Thank you so much to everyone who has entered our *Scrap your bosoms* challenge and or donated to our Just giving page. There are some super prizes to be wond this month but we can't forget the real reason we are doing this. Be safe ladies xxx

Birthday Girl Card!

Hello Everybody! Joanne here! In honour of this being our Breast Cancer Awareness Month I thought I'd do a card that was quite pink and girly! I also wanted to have a go with some new Jill Penney/Daniel Torrente stamps I have just bought! Here's what I came up with:

And here's how you go about making it. The ingredients I used were a premade fuschia pink card, two sheets of BG Lollipop Shoppe and Lollipop Shoppe letter stickers. The chipboard star was American Crafts and a few rhinestones.

Step One

Begin by stamping your image and colouring her in.

Step Two

Cut a piece of patterned paper slightly smaller than the front of the card, ink around the edges and stick to the card. Add the stamped image to the left hand side.

Step Three

Cut a free hand heart out of the pink paper and ink around the edges. Type the word "Birthday" onto a piece of white card and ink that too.

Step Four

Arrange on card as shown, attach letter stickers, chipboard heart and bling for a bit of sparkle!

Hope you enjoy making this card! Have a great day and I'll see you soon! Joanne xx

An Extra Special Prize Draw

********Prize Draw Winners********

Smile - hitchedabellafella & puppybella

Tammy James - winobella & gardenbella

Jo(UpseyDaisy) - huggybellas & emmybella

Please email us at acreativeworld@hotmail.co.uk with your address so we can post your Bella stamps to you.

*********

Today we have a real treat for readers of It's A Creative World. The very generous Papercrafts shop in Elgin, Scotland have kindly donated a selection of Bella rubber stamps to give away as a prize draw for anyone who leaves a comment on this post today or tomorrow.

Bella stamps have been taking the cardmaking community in America by storm and they've recently landed on our shores, courtesy of Papercrafts and are having the same effect on British cardmakers. Perfect for girly/teenage/female cards, gifts, altered items etc. the 'Bellas' and of course her 'fella' are depicted in various occupations and with cakes, babies, flowers, presents - if you can think of an occasion when you would need a card there will be a Bella stamp just perfect for the job. Contact Papercrafts vis email at kmaciver@aol.com to learn more about the Bella stamps.

Always up for any kind of a challenge some of the girls at IACW have been playing with the Bella stamps and this is what they have come up with.

******

Pretty in Pink Bella ATC - Joy

I coloured Bella with pink coloured pencils, trimmed the image, and glued it to pink blonde moments papers. I inked the ATC with black stazon ink. I then repeatedly dipped the ATC in UTEE, adding pink embossing powder and beadazzles.

**********

Happy Birthday, For the Bride and Hi cards by Caz

**********

We have 6 Bella stamps to give away (hitchedabellafella, gardenbella, winobella, huggybellas, puppybella and emmybella). If you would like to be included in our prize draw to win these lovely Bella stamps from Papercrafts then please leave a comment in the message box with a way of contacting you - blog link, email address, UKS forum user name etc. Unfortunately if you don't leave a way of contacting you we can't include you in our draw.

Of course, if you aren't lucky enough to win some of these beauties you could always email Papercrafts (kmaciver@aol.com) and invest in a 2 or 3 .............. or 6 or 7 ........ or 9 or 10!!!!!

We really hope you are inspired by todays post and would love to see your creations.

Baby Card

Hello, I've made a baby boy card today to share with you but it could easily be changed to a baby girl card by using different coloured papers.

The instructions are in three stages - the round topper, 'baby' letters and the card assembly.

The round topper:

Step 1:

Stamp a suitable baby image with black stazon onto white card.

Step 2:

Use a circle punch to punch the stamped image, turn the punch over so you can see where to cut the circle.

Step 3:

Use watercolour pencils to colour the image.

Step 4:

Ink around the edges of your stamped image with charcoal chalk ink and layer onto a slightly larger blue circle using foam pads to give dimension and chalk around the edges again.

Step 5:

Punch a scalloped circle from white card using a large punch, doodle and ink the edges

Step 6:

Glue the white circle onto a slightly larger blue circle and ink around the edges.

Step 7:

Mat the stamped image onto the scalloped circle using foam pads.

The 'baby' letters

Step 1:

Cut letters from blue cardstock using a die cutting machine, electronic cutting machine or with scissors.

Step 2:

Doodle around the edges with a fine black pen

Step 3:

Use a cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the letters

Assembling the card:

Step 1:

Cover a square card blank with patterned paper and ink around the edges with charcoal chalk ink.

Step 2:

Glue a strip of white ric rac across your card.

Step 3:

Use foam pads to attach your topper over the strip of ric rac.

Step 4:

Glue the 'baby' letters under the topper.

I specifically chose patterned paper that looked like it had lots of strips of ribbon running across it and added the ric rac to give extra detail to the card.

(Patterned paper by Flair Designs, ric rac from Fenwicks, punches by Dovecraft and EK Success, rubber stamp by Studio G, font for 'baby' letters stovetop, Cuttlebug embossing folder)

You could easily make this into a girl card by substituting the blue paper for pink paper and if you aren't sure of the sex of the new baby try something that isn't the typical blue or pink.

Have fun and don't forget to check back on Saturday for details of our fabulous prize draw. Andrea xx