My Lil' Girl Project - New Baby Card

Hello everyone well here goes my first actual project blog. I hope you all enjoy reading it and even learn a little something from it.

This beautiful kit is actually a collaboration between Jodi - Throwing Some Scraps Around (TSSA) and Dana - Made By Keuntje (MBK) and is available from either of their Etsy shops
TSSA: http://etsy.me/1pnMcjO
MBK: http://etsy.me/2ikOlxy

So lets start with a general run down of what you will find useful to have to hand.

A4 sheet of 300gsm white card
Printed off design sheets
6" x 6" white card blank
Scissors
Foam Mat
Large Ball tool
Wet re-positional glue
Strong red lined double sided tape
Foam double sided tape
Foam double sided sticky pads
Metal Ruler
Glass cutting mat
Corner Rounder Punch


This particular card is an easel style so I am using a 6" x 6" size card blank as once it is completed because of the way the card is displayed it actually appears to be bigger and more substantial than it actually is.

Begin by cutting a piece of the plain white card to measure 6" x 6" for your front and use your corner rounder to round off the corners of this, your card blank, your main image for the front of the card and your insert image.  These two images were printed off at 5.75" x 5.75" so  I had a small white boarder all around them.

I would usually mat the front image onto a piece of mirror card but as this is for a new baby I chose to keep the look clean and simple and stick to white. These pieces can then be put to one side.

Next cut out the images that will create the 3D elements of your design - in this case two layers of 'organza' and the footprint topper and the four pieces that will go together to produce the ribbon that makes up the easel stopper. Use super tacky glue to stick your ribbon pieces together and use paper clips to hold them until they are securely set. Again put to one side.

We can now begin to work on the front topper of our card. Taking the two images of the 'organza' cut them out then cut out the centre white squares but leave a small white edge as this will help you to create depth when you stick them together.

Using your foam mat and a larger ball tool work your way around them one at a time gentle pressing down the darker areas of 'organza' to create dips then go around again gently curving and shaping the lighter areas of 'organza' so eventually both pieces have a natural wavy look.

You can use your fingers to manipulate the outer edge into a slight downward curve to create extra depth. Always be careful to work gently with paper in this way so that you do not actually crease it at all and the actual heat from your fingers will do much of the work for you. Taking your footprint topper use your ball tool and gently run around the back edge, again creating a gentle downward dip to give depth. Using narrow red lined tape stick your front image onto the 6" x 6" square of plain white card making sure you leave an even white edge all around it. (You may prefer to use re-positional wet glue for this stage as it will allow you time to adjust your image if necessary).  Take the slightly larger 'organza' frame and place red liner tape around the back inside edge, line it up with the inner edge of the frame on your main front image and stick down. Take the second slightly smaller 'organza' frame and again apply narrow tape to the back inner square edge then add a few small double sided pads around the centre of the frame.

Line the inner edge up to the inner edge of the first layer and stick firmly down flat then remove the backing of the pads and stick these down. This double sticking method produces a 3D effect that allows you to see the different layers of 'organza'. Finish your front off by running double sided foam tape around the back outer edge of the footprint topper and placing it squarely on the center of the front covering any raw edges on the frame layers. Put your completed front to one side.

Taking your card blank place it with the folded edge across the top, open it up and fold the top section down towards the centre, gently but firmly run a scoring tool across the fold to create your easel without adding any creases. Using strong tape stick your completed front onto the front of your card lining up the lower edges and sides. Remember you are only sticking the bottom half of the topper to allow it to stand as an easel.  I find the easiest way to make sure that I get this correct is to apply the tape to the actual card blank and not the topper.
Open your card up and using strong tape on the back of all four edges stick the insert of your card down making sure that it is placed centrally with an even edge all around it.

Take your now stuck and dried paper ribbon and using wet re-positional glue place it above the sentiment (my own in this case) and the word art to create your easel stopper.

That basically is your card finished. When it is standing there is plenty of room on the back for the sender to write their message. In this instance because there is a certain amount of depth to the stopper that you wouldn't want to flatten if I was giving the card by hand I would use a slightly over large (7" x 7") envelope which would expand to accommodate the extra depth.  If I was going to post it I would use a presentation box which can be readily purchased or there are many online tutorials enabling you to make your own quite easily.

There we go a pretty little card to welcome a new baby girl into the world.  Watch this space for my next project which will be a small matching gift.

If you have any questions or comments (good or bad) or suggestions please feel free to ask or post the and I will respond as soon as I can.

bye for now Karen xx

What's in a Kit?

Hello again, before I post my first blog proper I just wanted to pass on some general information that will apply to all my projects.  First of all the projects shown here will be about using the kits in ways you may not have thought of and as such are not really about the design process of any of the papers etc. With this in mind I will be concentrating on the actual cutting and sticking etc that happens after the design has been produced. If you do have any questions about the designs or the whole design process please ask and I will always do my best to provide either answers or at least point you in the direction of whatever help I can.
I use a program called CRAFT ARTIST PRO 2 which is by Serif and available from a site called Daisytrail in both trial and full versions - http://www.daisytrail.com/ - this site is not only a mine of information about the program but also has an amazing community of unbelievably talented digital crafters.

All the papers and paper elements etc will be printed from kits designed by Jodi Tucker-Watson and are available from her Etsy store Throwing Some Scraps Away unless otherwise stated.

For those of you that like the technical stuff about the general kit of tools and materials that I use here goes. I am sure that you will probably have a basic set of tools that you use regularly and I have tried to stick to these items - there is nothing worse in my experience than to get part way into a project and find you need a specialised bit of kit that can't be substituted. I would always say that very few tools or materials are totally indispensable you can almost always find a substitute.
I use two printers, a HP purely because of the economy of ink and I like the quality of the printing and a Canon as it handles 300gsm+ card better being a top loader. Whenever I am asked about paper I honestly believe it is a matter of trial and error until you find a range of papers of finishes and weights that suit you and your printer for your particular project. I use a super smooth paper/card that can be printed on both sides, 160gsm for backing papers and toppers etc that are going to be matted and layered, 200gsm for decoupage and 3D work and 300+gsm for construction work but again I would stress that these are just my personal preference and please use whatever works for you.
The rest of my tools are pretty standard to most crafters, (except that amazing tool that was advertised as indispensable and three months later I can't remember what it does, how it does it and moreover why on earth I bought it!!) Briefly I believe that a basic kit should probably have :
Wet Glue - various including Extra Tacky and re-positional, silicone/gel styles for decoupage and spray is always handy.
Double sided Tape - various widths, flat and dimensional foam as well as the strong type usually on a red coloured carrier.
Double sided sticky Pads - various sizes
Scissors - various sizes find ones that you are comfortable using and sit nicely in your hand. I have long blades for general paper cutting, small 3" blades for detailed work and very small nail scissors for particularly intricate work.  My top tip for scissors has to be please make sure you have separate ones for cutting anything that is remotely sticky and never try and cut paper with these as you will never get a clean cut.
Cutting blade
Cutting mat - either self healing or glass
Scoring tools
Score board - I use a 12"x 12" one marked in inches on one side and cm on the other
Ball tools - various sizes for shaping paper
Foam mat - for shaping paper
Metal or metal edged ruler
Cocktail sticks - lots of uses but especially good for putting glue onto small pieces.
Tweezers - I prefer the longer ones with curved ends
Pencil, Pen and a clean white eraser
Paper clips/Pegs
Corner Rounder Punch - although this is not essential and you could craft your whole life without using one I really wouldn't be without mine
Piece of natural style sponge - again not essential but I find it the absolute best thing for applying inks to edges and for distressing papers.
Hole punch

So there we have it my very general basic papercraft kit. As I said earlier don't be put off if I appear to use something that you don't have, look around and I am sure that in most cases you will find something that does the job for you just as well and indeed it may work even better for you.  If you need a piece of equipment that I feel you may not have for a specific project I will always state it at the beginning and where necessary if there is a specific brand or type of embellishment etc used I will mention this although most of what I use is actually from my craft stash and its brand/original place of purchase have been lost in the annals of time!

Most of all don't stress about it remember we are here to have fun - so relax and enjoy your own creative journey remember there are no mistakes just happy accidents! xx

Hello

Hello everyone - how exciting! I have been asked to create a blog by the lovely Jodi Tucker-Watson at Throwing Some Scraps Around.
My name - as you probably guessed! - is Karen and I am Jodie's official hybrid crafter which basically means that I get to cut n stick n generally play with her beautiful digital kits first - lucky me! I started paper crafting around 10 years ago after a lifetime of trying any and every craft as I came across it.  I came across digital crafting quite quickly and found that it really appealed to me as whilst I can design and seem to have a good eye for layout and colour etc I cannot draw at all. Eventually however I found that whilst I got a great sense of satisfaction from all my design projects I wanted to do more than just post them to the internet and wave a fond farewell, so I started printing them off and simply matting and layering them onto card blanks. Of course my inner child soon escaped and I introduced digital artwork to cutting and sticking - hey presto hybrid crafting! The rest as they stay is history.

My first blog will be posted very soon with a little project that I hope will inspire you all to think a bit outside the box when you have your digital kits and use them in different ways, but most of all to have fun with them.
Jodi has an Etsy sellers page called
Throwing Some Scraps Around by Digital Designs by Jodi
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/DigitalDesignsbyJodi?ref=l2-shopheader-name
which is full of beautiful complete digikits, layout templates and mini kits amongst other scrapbooking delights.