Card Making with FUN New Techniques - "Scrap Tag" & "Diamond Fold"

WELCOME TO THE SHAQUE

CRAFTY BLENDS

If you stopped in yesterday, you found out that I have been stepping outside of my comfort zone a wee bit and diving into some fun challenges.  These challenges are really getting the mojo to work some overtime.

I shared a Tri Shutter Fold Card yesterday and have 2 more cards to share with you today.

The first card is a New Technique to me called "Scrap Tag".  It is a great way to use up those small tidbits of scrap paper you have kept in your studios.  The technique was shared by a New Friend I met on Scrapbook Friends and More Crafts (a SUPER FUN group of Crafters on Facebook), Brandy Martin.  I couldn't wait to try it out.

I started by gathering all the scraps I had left over from my Altered Treasure Chest last week.  If you missed that post, check it out HERE.

I sorted them out by patterns and started folding away.  You simply make a quick loop from the strips and adhere the ends together.  Your strips can be skinny, chunky, short, or long.  There really is no wrong way to play with this technique.

One of my favorite things about this style, is the uniqueness of the dimension it gives to the card.  You can choose to fold the "loops flat" or leave them rounded and more puffy.  I opted for something right along the middle of the spectrum for mine.

I grabbed a Christmas Tree Die Cut that I also had laying about (I have to remember to see if I own this die because I want more of these....LOL).  The tree was cut from some Core'dinations card stock I have in Produce Greens.  

Does the sentiment HAPPY HOLIDAYS look familiar?  Well, I had mentioned those in the Altered Treasure Chest post as well. 

 I had cut all the Subway Word Out from a pattern paper, but decided not to use it on that particular project.  I knew it would come in handy soon, though!

I gave the tree a little extra "pizazz" and I embossed it with my Sizzix Swirls folder.

To finish off my card, I added some scraps to the inside and used my Spellbinders Postage Stamp die cuts for the sentiment tag.  The sentiment "Believe in the magic of Christmas" is from the Unity Stamp Co. Kit of the Mon (Aug 2012) called COLOR of the Seasons.  I inked it up using my Tim Holtz Barn Door (red) Distress Ink.

I really love how simple this technique was to play with.  I also enjoyed that I found justification in my "paper hoarding" since I had kept the pieces that were already "perfect size" for this style!

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For my second card, I tried another new Fancy Fold.  This time, it was the Diamond Fold Technique.

And, I am so eager to try more of these now too!

I followed the steps in this wonderful Diamond Fold Tutorial on SCS.

As a self-claimed STACK-A-HOLIC, I was ecstatic to play with my newest DCWV 12x12 Stack, called the Playtime Stack.

It has wonderful images and patterns and 1/2 of the entire collection is Glitter embossed!  eeeeekkkk---SPARKLY!

Here are the sheets I used

and

here are several views of the finished card!

FRONT VIEW-FOLDED IN

The focal image/sentiment is a Unity Stamp Co. set called Birthday Jubilee by artist Joslyn Nielson

I heat embossed it with some Whispers embossing powder--Baby Blue.

I used some of my paper flowers that I ordered from the sweet Adele G. at Glimpz of Memories on Facebook.  I love twirling the wire stem around a skewer to give it the "vine" look sometimes.

FRONT VIEW - SLIGHTLY UNFOLDED

FRONT VIEW - FULLY OPENED

For the side panels (rectangles), I used by Spellbinders Persian Motif dies to cut a few medallions.  I simply sliced them down the center to fit within the panels and to layer a small onto a larger one for added affect.

INSIDE VIEW - FULL

Again, I adorned the sentiment square with some lovely paper flowers from Adele G. at Glimpz of Memories.  The triangles were cut from the the same sheets in the DCWV Stack - the Playtime and a few scraps I had left over from another project.

INSIDE VIEW - CLOSE UP OF SENTIMENT

I {LOVE} all the Birthday Sentiments in the Birthday Jubilee set by Unity!  

They really helped bring my cards to a great Grand Finale!

If you try either of these techniques, I would love to stop by and check out your creations!  Feel free to leave me a link to a post, facebook page, or any other site so I can visit you, too!

Remember 

to 

Keep Crafting, 

Because 

♫ CRAFTING ♫ 

♫ ROCKS ♫ 

\m/-_-\m/ 

:O) Jessica

Tri Shutter Card for the 12 Challenges of Crafting - Challenge #9

Happy Hump Day Blends!

I am so excited that I have been able to continue on in the 12 Challenges of Crafting with Scrapbook Friends and More Crafts (a SUPER FUN group of Crafters on Facebook).  

It all started with Challenge #1 back on November 1st.  We are given a craft challenge and a very short amount of time in which to complete all the requirements of each challenge.  I have tried techniques and styles of crafting that were on my "Bucket List" and am so encouraged and inspired by all the participants.

The latest Challenge (#9 - Card Marking) ends tonight around 6pm EST.  We are challenged to create 3 separate cards.  We must create a Birthday Card, a Thinking of You Card, and a Holiday Card (any Holiday of choice).  The twists, because there is always an added twist or two, is that we have to be sure the sentiment is stamped or printed on the inside of each card and use 3 separate techniques when we create them.  The admins of the group offered a fabulous list of techniques and links to tutorials out in Crafty Cyberspace.  

I chose to try a Tri-Fold Shutter Card (first time ever....so fun) for my first project.  I opted to finish my Thinking of You card in this style.  Here is the link to the tutorial I followed: Tri Fold Shutter Card Tutorial...please note that when I followed all of the steps in this tutorial, there was a correction needed.  In Step 6, you are instructed to cut 4 small pieces of patterned paper.  The sizes listed were not accurate.  The sizes should have been listed as 1-3/8" x 1-7/8" for those 4 pieces.

I started with a Black Textured Card Stock as my base and followed all of the scoring and slicing steps.  For my patterned paper, I used a Damask Print from my Colorbok 12x12 Neutrals Stack, some K&Company embossed pattern paper in a yellow hue, and plain white card stock.  

To add a little "frill" to the white card stock pieces, I embossed them with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.  I adhered all of my patterned paper as instructed, with the exception of the middle rectangle.  This was where I was placing my sentiment.

For the sentiment piece, I first stamped the beautiful flowers in Sunshine Yellow Adirondack ink. The flowers are from the Unity Stamp Company stamp set: Insightful Meadows by Donna Downey.  I love Donna's style and art and was so thrilled to play with this set since it had been neglected for a while.  

I couldn't just stop there, I had to stamp the entire flower bouquet onto vellum for the long panel on the inside right side of my card.  I used the same Sunshine Yellow and matted the piece onto white card stock.  

For the inside sentiment verse, I used the Sympathy stamp from the Unity Stamp Company set:  ...everything wonderful created by Unity Artista, Lisa Arana.  Her latest collection of sentiment bundles at Unity have quickly become a FAVORITE for me.  

I still needed to be sure the card was meeting all of the requirements for the challenge so I scoured through my entire Unity Collection of stamps.  I found the "thinking of you" sentiment in one of my large Kits. It is from the Unity Exclusive Stampin' Store Kit - 2009 December collection {Sweet Affections}.  I stamped this using Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Black Soot then matted the small rectangle onto the same black card stock I used for my base.

To embellish my card I used the following products:

some pretty white flowers by Petaloo

yellow flat back pearls from Miriam's Crafting Supplies

3 Girl JAM Crinkle Ribbon (Sunflower Yellow & Tuxedo Black)

and

The rosette was made using a scrap of the pattern paper from the Colorbok stack and a large rhinestone from Miriam's.    

I hope you feel inspired to try to step out of your comfort zone and create a project using a new technique.  I am pleasantly surprised by all of the wonderful techniques and styles that are becoming a "must try again" since playing in these challenges.  

I will try to post some more tutorials and project shares from the previous 8 challenges as well.

Thanks for Stopping by and Stop Back to see all the other projects soon!

Remember 

to 

Keep Crafting, 

Because 

♫ CRAFTING ♫ 

♫ ROCKS ♫ 

\m/-_-\m/ 

:O) Jessica