Hip to be square...

Is the Wednesday Challenge over at Simon Say Stamp, featuring SSS products.

Now I don't know if it means the card needs to be square or just square elements on it. I would have liked to accomodate both, but the Simon Says Stamp Trie square die, really needs the space ;-), It would have been a giagantic card to make this square, not impossible ofcourse, but big!

So I'm sorry if I didn't understand it the right way.
 I cut the tri square out of a panel the same size as my cardbase. Traced the openings on the cardbase, so I know where to ink.

Stamped the Sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Birthday Balloons with Versafine black onyx ink and set it aside to dry.

Masked off the windows, erased pencil and swiped Ranger dye inks to fill in the space (Carribbean coast grape soda and cheese puff).

I stamped the  oval balloon from the same stampset with an ombre feel.
Sadly in my stamp there's a pit, or dip and it always shows, tried to camouflage it, but it didn't work well, still I thought I'll go ahead and fussy cut them, I don't have the dies for it. 

I have Simon Says Stamp  celebration dies and ended up switching to them although
I do prefer the elongated shaped balloons, they feel more elegant to me, but these are more fun!

I swiped more ink onto cardstock and then diecut them with the middle sized balloon.
Covered them with Wink of Stella clear gliter and then added the reflection with a white Sharpie.

Mounted the diecut panel with foamtape to the cardbase.

I  meant to only put one of each color enamel accents on the card, but the Carribbean coast didn't agree ;-)
I used Caribbean coast, grape soda and classic cherry. I didn't get the cheese puff (yet). I thought it would look ok as I did you classic cherry on the ombre balloons, but then I switched tactics, midway...

 Mounted the balloons as if they're escaping their little windows.

Still like the card a lot, though, the vibrant happy colors. just sing

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, see this

Sitting on the dock of the bay....with video

watching the tide roll away...? I don't remember haha
...

The Monday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is: go fish.

Now I happen to have this Crafter's Companion rubber stamp: Popcorn the Bear and he's fishing with his little mate. I thought it to be quite fitting for the challenge, although I just checked and I can't find any Crafter's Companion stamps on SSS.

I used Talens ecoline to watercolor the image.

I stamped it on cold pressed 140lbs watercolor paper this time (usually hotpressed) and I used Versafine black onyx ink and my MISTI.

Was planning to use another sentiment at first, but wasn't quite sure where to put it, so I left it until the end.

Then I had to mask off the bear's head so I could stamp the Happy Birthday from Impression Obsession, to make it look like it's behind the bear.

I could have stamped it on the inside, was contemplating it too, but I do much prefer my sentiments on the outside and all nice and blanc paper to write on on the inside ;-).

Mounted the panel with foamtape and as it's narrower I filled the gap with washi tape on the cardbase.

Bit of Wink of Stella on the fish so the shimmer.

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, see this

Using cookie cutters instead of dies and mixing your own embossing powder color, with video

Yes, cookie cutters, as I don't have a cat silhouette and a pig shape die. I traced the cookie cutters onto cardstock and fussy cut them. In the video you can see how.

I then embossed them in multiple layers to get the shiniest finish, the pig almost looks like glass!
I got the idea from a video from Wow! embossingpowders, they used it on a heartshaped diecut and chipboard.
I love the glass like finish on the pig. It's brittle though, use sturdy cardstock or go for the shattered look ;-) it will crackle if you bend the shap too much,  like caramel sugar .


For the pig I mixed Wow!  primary marshmallow and  primary fuchsia fusion, as one was too light and the other too pink.
Start with the lightest as your base color as you can go darker, but not lighter. these embossingpowders are translucent, which gived it the shiny glass look.

I sometimes layer up silver and gold, to get a really nice and smooth covering (see the feathers) but the shine is different.

For the cat I used also Wow! black twinkle embossing glitter, it's magical, and mandatory for Halloween or if you have two black cats ;-).

For the background I used open of my recipes od Distress ink blending (black soot, chipped sapphire, faded jeans and stormy sky) on watercolor paper.

I prefer to blend on normal cardstock, for the intensity of color, but for an easy blend watercolorpaper is your friend. This is Schut aquarelpapier 300gram coldpressed.

For the Moon I used Squeezed lemonade and Mustard seed,

To make the mask I diecut a circle a little bigger than the cat from 80lbs ardstock (160grams) the same size as a cardbase.

I place the outer mask and then placed the "moon" back, lifted the outer one and started blending from the middle with the lightest color.

Be careful with your fingers, they will lift color off the paper and probably dump is somewhere else on the card you don't want it.

I used a teflon  non stick coated baking sheet, it's from the bake department of our chain called Blokker, but I'm sure you can get it elsewhere, Aldi or Lidl have them sometimes too. €2.99 much cheaper than some other craftmats ;-)

I've also made the same blend on my normal cardstock (laser printer paper from Canon or Mondi, whatever I can get, and I'm not sure which this was, I think Mondi but I'm not sure anymore. )

The make the stars and milky way I splattered Distress inks brushed pewter and Dylusions spray picket fence, but later switched to white Talens Ecoline as it's much more opaque.

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Monster mash.
I like Halloween, but it's not really celebrated in the Netherlands. I make a special menu every year. and decorate the house a little, I don't get dressed up though...one step too far for me haha.

For the birds I used Joy! crafts Noor design6410/0067

The tree stamp is from Avery Elle  Let it snow set and I stamped it with the MISTI as it's watercolorpaper, I used Versafine for a nice black print, but still had to ink it up three times, yay for the MISTI. I masked off the  the branch to make it fit better, somehow my card went from portrait to landscape as I was fitting the trees.
I added a branch with the black Spectrum Noir marker.

I mounted the panel with foamtape and the cat also.
As the watercolor panels are always smaller, I used Washi tape to fill the gap.

Sending hugs and prayers

The theme for the new challenge over at Addicted to CAS is: silhouette.

I used a silhouette stamp from Joy! crafts: 6410/0067.
the Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp: friendship blooms

I made a panel with Schut aquarel paper and Distress ink refills.
I tried to make it look like the treebranch is in front of other trees where the blue skies still shines through...dappled shade ;-)...Does it make sense?
I liked the color combo (mermaid lagoon and mowed lawn) and I wanted to keep the colors down to a minumum because of the occasion.
It may have turned out a bit darker/brighter than I envisaged, but that's why I used the reinkers, for the vibrancy, so I should have known lol. Still like it though ;-)



I stamped both the branch and sentiment with Versafine black onyx ink.
Mounted the panel with foamtape and added a few Ranger enamel accents to connect the two


For more information on the Addicted to CAS challenge, see this

Creating memories

The Less is More Challenge is: something tropical.

I went through  my stash and found these palm trees from lawn fawn (critters from the past) and a bear stamp from Marianne Design (sf 1109 stampfairy designs). The bear is actually planting a flower, but I masked that off, so now it looks like he's playing on a (tropical ) beach and the plantingpots have become pails, which in hindsight i colored pot like instead of red or green...oh well...

I stamped everything with Versafine black onyx ink onto Schut watercolor paper.
I then used Distress inks to watercolor the image.
Mounted the panel with foamtape to adhere to the cardbase.

The sentiment is from Pink fresh studio (good sayings) and I thought it goes well with the holiday theme...creating sandcastles...holidays in the sun..memories...see how my brain works? lol


For more information on the Less is More challenge, see this.

Back to school, thank you teacher cards

The Wednesday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is: make for the border with Memory box products.

I started with the speech bubble, I used the  Big word pop scalloped edge die from Memory box.
I got it as a gift from SSS in Diecember last year, how nice was that?  :-D
Then I used the Worn out stencil, also from Memory box to fill the bubble. 
I thought they could be all the ideas, speeches, homework etc.
My first attempt ended on my second card. I sponged Distress inks through the stencil (Peacock feathers, Twisted citron, shaded lilac and picked raspberry). Then covered it with Wendy Vecchi translucent embossing paste.

For the image  I used a new to me stampset from Simon Says Stamp (back to school), now I got it on sale, so it might be retired now, but similar stampsets are available across the industry.

I stamped the girl and sentiment onto Neenah solar white cardstock with Memento tuxedo black ink. Heat set it for a moment as we have the dampest day, just to be sure.

Colored her with my Spectrum Noir markers. As I was coloring her I really wanted red shoes and backpack, the jeans just made sense and to match it all up I used greens for the jacket.
It didn't really match the colors in the bubble anymore, especially as I would have to chop off the upper bit with the greens.

Whilst typing this I think I went for the colors on the girl subconciously, primary colors, primary school....I don't know but it makes sense ;-)

So I made another bubble with the same die and stencil, only sticking to more neutral tones (black soot and hickory smoke).

Added some Ranger enamel accents to match her clothes (classic cherry, electric lime and Caribbean coast)

For the colored one I used: Caribbean coast, electric lime and wild orchid.

Mounted the speech bubble panel with foamtape to the card.

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, see this

Penny Black Adventures under the sea slider spinner card with two videos

The Monday challenge over at Simon Says Stamp is: Summer fun.
I used to do some scuba diving in summer when I was younger, I think swimming in the sea and diving is the ultimate summer fun. Unless you have the merky North sea so swim in ;-)

Anyway...the card.

I used the Penny Black set Adventures, stamped in Memento Tuxedo black in on neenah solar white and I did Spectrum Noir coloring, that's video one.

Then I fussy cut the images and went on to the assembly of the spinner/slider card.

I stamped the seaweed from Hero Arts color layering set goldfish with Ranger dye inks (lily pad and emerald isle).


I used the MISTI as I wanted them to be in the exact same position for the foreground and the background of the slider opening, so the seaweed isn't interrupted.

To made the slider opening I used a popsicle stick, that just happened to be on my desk and to be the right size, how lucky was that?
Otherwise I punch two holes either side and connect them, as I did in other videos.

I mounted two layers of foamtape, making sure to leave enough room. I cut a disc of the same blue paper (although you won't see it) and  adhered one small button on the disc (I used Aleene's fast grab tacky glue) and then positioned the panel over it and the girl panel, also adhered it with the same glue.


The other panels are mounted flush on the cardbase with tape runner (ATG gun). The waves were made with the My Favorite things  snowdrift die.

I stamped the inside, as there wasn't enough room on the front in my opinion.
I used Joy! crafts seashore stamp set and Versafine black ink for that. Heat set it to be sure ;-)

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, see this

Nuts candybar snacksize giftbox with Scoringboard and with video

Yesterday I made the giftbox on the Envelope punchboard.

In the video I said I would also do a scoringboard version.
I showed all the calculations  I made, inches is hard for a metric person ;-).
But I  managed lol. I made this box 31/4"inch high the envelope punchboard one is 3 inches high, so this one is a bit too tall actually, the pattern is for the "taller" version but I also give you the dimension for a "snug" fit,  you can choose.


You  need a piece of paper 5 1/4 in height and 4 1/2 inch wide. Make sure your pattern is upright ;-)
on the "short side"  you score at: 1/2", 1 1/4", 2 1/2", 3 1/4".
on the "long side" you score at: 3/4", 4"and 4 3/4".

I made the pattern in real size, so if you click the photo and save it, then print it, it should come out 100% too, but I'm not sure.









If you want the snug fit use a piece of paper 5" heigh and 4 1/2"wide.
score at the  "short" side at: 1/2", 1 1/4", 2 1/2", 3 1/4".
in the "long" side, score at: 3/4", 3 3/4" ad 4 1/2"

Remove all the bits with I filled in with \\\\\\\, notch and cut the bith with ---- and put adhesive on the bits with "glue", the glue should  go on the "nice" or outside side of the box. My paper is only patterned on one side, so easy to determine.

You can decorate the box like I did yesterday with ribbon or offcuts of the paper, see yesterdays blogpost.

Candybar treatbox with video

 Another little project on the WRMK Envelope punchboard.


I bought these Nuts 6 pack candy bars. I compared them with Mars and Snickers and although I thought they're all the same there's  differences between them. So this box might not work for other candybars, but you can adjust the size of course.

I measured the candybar and mine is 3",1 1/4"and 3/4".

I entered these measurements in to the Box buster on the Crafty Owl website and followed the directions.

I also found two apps one for boxes and one for envelopes in the app store, not tried the envelope one, but the box one is pretty basic. On the Crafty owl site there's a picture and explanation.

So the directions said I need a piece of paper 4 7/8"square. My first punch and score line is at 2 1/2", then slide over the paper to the 3 5/8" mark and punch and score again.

Rotate paper 180 degrees and repeat steps above.
then rotate the paper (90 degrees) and line up to the existing score line and punch and score, do this for the fourth side too.

Cut and notch the little tabs next to the smallest "flap" on both sides.
Cut one of the big "flaps" triangle shape as small or narrow boxes always leave you with overage.

I like to keep the shortened flaps to the left, I put extra sticky tape on that flap and on the little flaps at the bottom and pointy bit.

Assemble the box, decide if you want to wrap the big flap around the box or if you want to cut it off. I did leave it at first, it looks more interesting/difficult to make, you know if you want to impress people ;-)
I use the grid lines on the  craftmat to make sure the box is squared. Putting the bar inside makes it easier to get it straight too.


I decorated the box with some ribbon and the offcuts.

Remember that straight patterned on your piece of paper will turn out diagonal with the punchboard and those that are diagonal will become straight, might matter depending on your pattern.

In Holland or other metric countries I think all paper pads (not from the USA) are 15cm, 6" is 15.25cm so they're just short and I try to find projects I can make with them.

This box is ideal for party favors, Halloween, back to school, birthdays.
My birthday is a week before Christmas, so I will combine the two and give these out, to Postmen, delivery people, repairmen if needed (hope not) etc.  It really makes their day I found.




 I will try and make one with the score board too, I think you use less paper, but this is easier if you're new to box making and if you have a punch board ofcourse.

scoringboard version, here

contain it

is the Monday Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp.

I like making boxes and I came across a video of this one with a decorated closure.
link to her video is underneath the video (description box), she used centimeters.
I adapted it to inches and my supplies.

For my little green box I used two shades of green linnen cardstock and the WRMK envelope punchboard.
First I thought to use a butterfly die and the green would look like grass, then I came across this cupcake die from Simon Says Stamp (brithday circle die set) and as it's a Simon Says Stamp challenge I chose to use that.

To  make the SMALL box (green one) you need:
a piece of cardtock 5"square (12,7x12,7cm)
punch and score at 2"and 3" (5,1cm and 7,6cm)
rotate paper, match up the score lines and punch and score again, repeat for all three sides.

Reinforce foldline with bonefolder.

cut the little tabs on both sides and adhere strong double sided tape.

fold the box together, mark where the lid overlaps and score the flaps to and fold.
notch these flaps about halfway from opposite directions.

to make the closure use a diecut of your choice, adhere it to strong white cardstock is you're useing one that needs to be inlaid like the cupcake or if it needs the support like with my glitter paper.

cut the diecut in hal and adhere to the flaps with strong adhisive tape too.


I call it hinged closure, not sure if that's the proper English name though.


For the LARGE (white) box:
a piece of cardstock 6 3/4" square (17,1cm)
punch and score at 3"and 4" (7,6cm and 10.1cm)
rotate and line up to the scorelines, do this for all three remaining sides.


For the snowflakes box I used simple heavy weight white cardstock and I splattered Mermaid lagoon and brushed pewter to make a  patterned paper, let it dry.
for the closure I used a snowflake and glitterpaper.
If I had a bigger snowflake die, I think it would have looked better, but I don't .

I'm thinking the bold painted greetings from Simon Says Stamp, like thanks and hello would work well as long as you can cut the diecut in half without it falling apart.

Usually I make a box to fit what I need to put in it, this time I made the box and I need to fit the gift to it ;-) I'm thinking teabags orso or a soap, not sure yet.

For more information on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, see this

Lace butterfly

the theme this week at AAA cards Challenge is : blending.

I chose ink blending and I used Distress inks (wilted violet, riper persimmon, spiced marmalade and mustard seed).
I applied the colors with  my mini ink blending tools.
I covered a piece of cardstcok the size of a card with the colors. I wasn't sure yet, which bit would be my favourite, and which die I wanted to use.

I chose the Wild rose studio die lace butterfly and diecut both the wings and the body in one pass.

Now there's plenty of my ink blended panel left to make another :-D always great lol.

I like how the wilted violet and ripe persimmon made a darker purple and the wilted violet and mustard seed gave me a greyish color, no mud.

The sentiment is from Impression Obsession and I stamped it with Versafine black onyx.

I smugded the paper as the stamp is mounted rubber and it's thicker and I didn't think of it, so I covered the smudges up with three dots or enamel accents from Ranger and one on the other side to even it out.  I only got purple pinks blue and green, no orange and yellow, but I th
ought it need more purple anyway ;-)

For more information on the AAA cards challenge, see this

Joyeux Noël

Means soemthing like Joyous Christmas, which I thought would go well with the One layer Challenge over at Less is More with something French.

I used a Cas-ual Fridays stampset  (lovely snowflake) for both sentiment and image.

I sued Versamark to stamp them and then Wow! embossing powders. For the snowflake I chose Atlantic seaspray and for the sentiment I chose Mistletoe magic.

Atlanic seaspray has an opague base of a lightblue/greaan powder mixed with lovely gold glitter, which  gives it a kind of anitgue look, you knwo when copper goes green? that's what it reminds me of, I think the effect is better on bigger solid images though.

The mistle toe magic has a transparant sage green base with all kinds of colourfulglitter  mixed in like black but also

silver and more I can't make out ;-).

For more information on the Less is More Challenge, see this

Distress inks recipes for blended backgrounds

Well, not just backgrounds ofcourse.
I chose some of my favorite colors and tried others to see how they work together.
I made thin strips of the cardstock I usually use , blended them with my mini blending tools and then stuck them back on a full sheet, so I can insert them in my binder.

I scanned them instead of photograping them, as it's close to midnight, I thought that would give the best color representation. But I'm not so sure it worked that way.

So if you like the sound of some of my recipes, why not recreate them on your own cardstock or watercolor paper if you prefer and see how they work for you.

I hope you can read my handwriting ;-)

I made a Word document but you can't download it anymore, it shows you all the recipes I made, you can even print it and then use the otherside for the blending, that way you'll always know they colors you've used, just cut along the lines, I've  made it to fit a European sized A4 (about 8"x11") but it's Word, so you can adapt it.

If you want one I can send it to you if you message me on facebook/cardsbymaaike....I don't know how to make it downloadable as I  don't have a website anymore. 

Updated on October 15th: more recipes added in this post: http://cardsbymaaike.blogspot.nl/2016/10/more-distress-inks-recipes.html
update on January 19th 2018: three more added at : https://cardsbymaaike.blogspot.nl/2018/01/distress-inks-recipes-3.html

relax...

The colours of the CAS Colours and Sketches this week reminded me of the ocean, the beach say and how I go there sometimes to winddown and relax.
I thought my card represents the sea, you might need some imagination but it's the sea ;-).
I used Distress inks ( blueprint sketch, faded jeans and mermaid lagoon) on an acryllic block , spritzed it with Perfect pearls mist. not sure the photo shows it, staped it on watercolour paper.
Then I used the droplets left to fill in around the block, mostly cos I made a stain..ssst..
I used the Simon Says Stamp relax die and white cardstock for the sentiment and a few sequins as bubbles or foam.

For more inforamtion on the Cas Colours and Sketches, see this

a broken shakercard

That must be the nightmare of any cardmaker ;-)
I made mine to look like the frame is broken and all it's contents are spilling out, such fun :-D

I made the card for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: celebrate!  showcasing SSS brand as it's the 6th anniversary of the challenge blog, so congrats Simon Says Stamp. love you.

And for the AAA cards challenge #70 sticthing.

So for the card I made a shaker with the Simon Says Stamp birthday wishes frame die. Cut it from white card and purple craft foam. stacked it all together like you do and filled it with silver and purple sequins and star confetti.
To close the shaker I added a secon layer of acetate.
Swiped Distress ink Wilted violet on the cardbase to color the background of the shaker, so the words would pop. 
I used Spectrum Noir markers to mae the "tear" and also swiped ink  for the "waterfall". adhered the sequins and confetti on the ouside with gluedots.

singing cat

 The challenge over at Addicted to CAS is: music.

So I made a cat singing happy birthday.

The cat is from Katzelkraft and I stamped it with My Favorite things hybrid black ink and used Distress inks to watercolor him on Schut water color paper 300grams.

The Happy birthday is from Impression Obsession and I stamped that on the cardbase with Versafine.
the music notes are black card I punched out with a mini handheld punch, no brand.

Mounted the panel with foamtape on the cardbase.

For more information on the Addicted to CAS challenge, see this