CARD# HPJ-2014-44: Journey

I was asked to make a farewell card for a friend, something that would have a lot of space for messages. A few months back, I came upon a video tutorial by Graphic 45 Design Team member Arlene Cuevas on how to make a card with a box while I was looking for videos on mixed media art. Apparently, I did not check the whole  video until last month. It was rather a nice project and perfect for Christmas. I stored the idea away for the holiday season. When I received the request to make the farewell card, I immediately thought about the video. You can find the tutorial here. If you are interested to see the wonderful projects of Arlene, you can check out her blog Butterfly Kisses here.

The card with box creation of Arlene Cuevas.

The original length of the card was 81/2". It was rather too long in my perspective so I had it shortened to 7. I probably should have cut it an inch more, but I have already started working on it before the idea struck me.

 At first I thought of using blue and black, but as I measured and cut along the cardstock that was to be the base for the card with a box, I was drawn to the idea that I should leave the blue papers alone and use black, ivory, brown...something steampunky. Thank goodness I was able to get my hands on a set of Inkadinkado clear stamps a few months ago. I used the hot air balloon stamp to make the main embellishment. I will save the blue papers for another card.

I made a tag out of a square of patterned paper and then adhered it onto a piece of black board paper. I used a stencil and black ink pad to make the dots and placed the layered tag onto the card with foam tape.

I took two wooden wings from my newest loots and affixed them onto the tag behind both sides of the balloon. If only I had more paper tapes, those that would fit the theme, I would have added them on the upper rightmost part of the tag. Since I did not have them, I made use of my black self-adhesive crystals.

I added more embellishments--paper flowers, metal charm, jump rings, alpha tiles and label plate. I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of paper and inked the edges.

The inside of the card looks like this. I did not add any decorations on the left panel so that the map of Spain (where the recipient will go) would not be covered.

I thought of punching a semicircle at the bottom of the box to enable the easy pulling out of the cards for the messages, but it wasn't possible. The circle punch that I have does not fit. I should have punched it out before I built the box up.

As an alternative, I tied a length of jute twine around the cards. Now they could easily be pulled out at one go!

This is what the cards inside the box look like. I stamped images on scraps of patterned paper, fussy cut them and adhered them onto the cards with foam tape. I inked the edges as well.

It was so much fun making this card. I hope to make another vintage-inspired card soon. Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

MATERIALS AND TOOLS USED: Rives Black Board Paper Tradition, Bevania Splendorgel Ivory Board Paper, Graphic 45 8x8 paper pad Typography Inscribe and Couture Accessorize, Tim Holtz Paper Stash 12x12 French Industrial Revolution, Eno Greeting Wood Embellishments and Label Plate, jump rings, Graphic 45 Staples Collection Flowers, brad, Papemelroti alpha tiles and cutout, book page, self-adhesive crystals, bead, metal charms, twill ribbon, jute twine, elastic band, ColorBox Cat's Eye Pigment Ink Pad Black, Beauty Premium Ink Pad Black, Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black, The Crafter's Workshop Stencil Mini Punchinella, Inkadinkado Clear Stamps Inspirational Lift, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Thirty-Five, Cuttlebug Machine V2

CARD# HPJ-2014-43: Love Story

It took me some time to complete this card, but I am happy with the result. I have to warn you though of the number of photos I added on the post. The card is a zfold. There are several panels I had to decorate so there were a couple of parts that I had to photograph.



The card measures 5" x 6.25" when closed.

I made use of their anniversary date as an embellishment.

One of my high school friends had asked me a few months back to make a card for her boyfriend for their seventh anniversary. Wow. Seven years. I didn't even know that she was in a relationship for that long. I wish them many more years together.

What she wanted was to incorporate her message into the design of the card. She told me at that time that she will be writing a poem. I already pictured out the poem on a nice die cut in front of the card. But when she finally gave the details last week, I was surprised to find that the poem she mentioned was 20 verses long with four lines each. Whoa. What now? That definitely chucks the old idea. I searched my mind for some ideas as to the fold and layout I could use to accommodate the message as well as three photos and came upon zfold. I modified the measurements by making the flaps the same size.

I was left thinking on how to divide the poem and the photos. I have decided beforehand to take out the last two verses for the fourth panel at the back. It was fitting because those two verses contained the anniversary greeting. That last panel was like the end part of the message.

On the other hand, she said that her boyfriend is a simple guy so a simple card would do. When asked about any particular color or colors she named black and white. I wanted to know if vintage was alright and it was. Thinking along the line of simple, I decided against employing a variety of embellishments and just focusing on the words and the patterned papers.

As I have mentioned above, the original idea was to print the poem on a cardstock and cut it with a die to decorate the front of the card. Since it was no longer feasible with the whole poem, I thought of using the same idea for the title. The card was vintage-themed so I used vintage fonts. I looked for free fonts online. You will find the fonts' names and the links where I got them below.
1. Bergamot Ornaments
2. Thirsty Script
3. Carnivalee Freakshow
4. Coventry Garden
5. Old Retro Labels

I used Special Elite for the verses.

As you can see, the verses are long and they would not fit into the pockets nicely. What I did was divide them into two--one having five lines and the other four lines--I punched holes on them to be able to join the two parts with jute twine. For that, the bottom cardstock could be folded to the back of the top cardstock. They no longer peek out from the top.

I inked the edges to maintain the vintage look.

I blurred parts of the photos of the couple (using an online photo editor) so you won't see all of them well. I actually edited the colors using the available filters at Befunky. I can't remember the exact number, but I mostly used Tintype.

Using my forefinger, I applied gesso around the edges of the photo. Again, the embellishments need to be minimal. I only added a tag with a handwritten sentiment on it and two self-adhesive crystals.

 Here is the view of the last panel. It is the one at the back of Panel 3 which contained the boyfriend's photo and the 'Happy Anniversary' sentiment.

I adhered a red patterned paper to complement the other elements of the final panel. I can't say the last two verses, but they summed up the giver's sentiments and love for her special someone. Thus, the red and the hearts.

This is what the back looks like when spread out. 

I made a bag out of wax paper that would fit the card and closed it with a length of twine. I went to the bus terminal to meet my friend who was to arrive from our province. We chatted for some time while waiting for the person who will pick her up to appear. She checked the card out and loved it. I am glad she liked it.

That was that. I hope to make more projects that would hold so much meaning for the receivers that they would treasure them always.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

MATERIALS AND TOOLS USED: Orange A3 Poster Paper, Rives Black Board Paper Tradition, Bevania Splendorgel Ivory Board Paper, kraft paper, Graphic 45 Typography and Couture Collections, Downloaded Fonts,Printed Photos Edited Using befunky.com, Eno Greeting Wood Embellishments and Label Plate, self-adhesive pearls and crystals, jute twine, ColorBox Cat's Eye Pigment Ink Pad Antique Pewter, Uni-ball Signo Broad White Pigment Ink Pen, Marie's Gesso, hole punch, HP Deskjet Printer, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Thirty-Five, Shapeabilities Fancy Framed Tags One, Cuttlebug Machine V2

CARD# HPJ-2014-19: Blue In Green

[I apologize for the uninspired title. I can't think of anything at the moment.]

So, I am on a square card making spree. I do believe this would be the case for quite a while. Watch out for the next projects. 

I muddled the card numbering early on so please forgive me if I am going back to 19. Remember I made different sets before? I was supposed to make two more square cards for the Pretty Squares set, but unfortunately I went on to work on other things.

As I have mentioned on one of my posts on Tumblr, I decided to finally try making distressed cards without actually inking the edges of the paper, which I usually do, and try using gesso, acrylic paint, molding paste, glitter, blings more... I also make boxes that would match the card. I find it wonderful. 

The pictures are really not that good--what with poor lighting and my lack of skill in taking good pictures--I couldn't capture my work right. It looks better in person.

Okay. So how did I go about this card? I used a 5.5" 5.5" white card base and layered it with papers from Prima and Scrapworks. Before distressing the paper, I had to sew them. I used a portable sewing machine on this one, but I had to do two sides by hand because something went wrong with it. (Tsk. I still suck at machine sewing.)

I applied a coat of molding paste onto the flourishes for added texture. I brushed a small part of white acrylic paint and glue onto the paper flowers and sprinkled white glitter over them. I'll try using white sand some time when I get a pack.

I used two dies from the Spellbinders Adorning Labels Twenty-Five set for the sentiment. I honestly wasn't thinking when I wrote 'Wish' first before figuring out the appropriate sentiment for this card so I wrote 'Make A...' on the other one to put some sense into it. Ugh. I could have said 'To A Wonderful Person' or some such. Bummer.

Here are some more photos. I hope to make some more later. Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

MATERIALS AND TOOLS USED: Bevania Splendorgel White and Ivory Board Paper, Prima Romantica Collection Adore, Scrapworks Florabella Ginny, paper doily, paper tape, lace, baker's twine, paper flowers, pearls, beads, Golden Molding Paste, Pebeo Studio Acrylic Colour Titanium White, Elmer's Glue, white glitters, Artline Drawing Pen 0.4 Black, Spellbinders Nestabilities Adorning Labels Twenty-Five and Spellbinders Shapeabilities D-Lites Sprigs, Cheery Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish, Cuttlebug Machine V2, 'Lil Sew & Sew By Tivax