Sizzix

Featuring Sizzix products

Christmas in July 2021 – Day 13

Hello everyone and welcome to Day 13 of Christmas in July 2021!

Today I’m playing along in the colour challenge at the Christmas Card Throwdown where the combo is deep purple, gold and white.

I decided that my fabulous new Sizzix 3D Christmas Tree embossing folder should take centre stage again today. This is one of my favourite embossing folders ever! I used one of those new domed ink blending foams to dust some white ink over the trees. I’m not sure I could see much of a difference to the effect I get when I use a regular foam… I think I’ll have to practice a bit more with it!

I added a glittery golden sentiment by Creative Expressions and finally a few white stars, just in case the white inking was a little too subtle!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Christmas in July 2021 – Day 4

Happy Sunday everyone!

Welcome to Day 4 of  Christmas in July 2021! Today I’m playing along with the sketch challenge at the Global Design Project.

I used my brand new Sizzix 3D Christmas Tree embossing folder – I love how all those fabulous trees look on that metallic cardstock – but it was quite difficult to photograph! I added an older Memory Box die and a sentiment by My Favorite Things to complete my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

A Nest of Eggs

Hi there!

As you know, I love playing along with challenges whenever I can but this week’s Freshly Made Sketches really made me think! You see, I wanted to use it for an Easter card but everything I tried just looked odd! I toyed with rotating the sketch so that the focal point would be in the bottom right corner, which I use all the time…. but my competitive side didn’t want to give up on that top left corner…

I flicked through my Easter supplies and spotted the Memory Box Twiggy Nest that I bought last year but sadly never got round to using. I knew it would be perfect for this sketch! I blended some Frayed Burlap distress ink on my card base and then adhered the nest, some eggs from the Poppystamps Folk Decorated Eggs set and branches from a Sizzix set. The sentiment is also by Memory Box.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Vase of Blossoms

Hello everyone!

Today I’m playing along with the Color Throwdown! They have a super natural colour palette this week – rust, cream and brown!

I actually used mainly dies that I’ve bought over the past couple of months – the Marianne Designs Art Texture Squares and the Sizzix/Pete Hughes Ikebana die set, together with an older Impression Obsessions vase die and a Sugar Pea Designs sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Stretching background dies

Good morning friends!

It’s time for a new Crafts-U-Love Design Team post! This month I received the amazingly intricate Organic Tim Holtz background die *  and a pack of paper by the Paper Boutique *. You can find how I made the card on the right in my earlier post here.

I absolutely LOVE background dies and have amassed quite a collection over the past few years! They are a big investment but I justify it by thinking of alternative ways of using them! As you can see, today I have created two cards from one die cut background.

For both cards, I used some paper from the Paper Boutique pack and added distress ink around the edges. The papers are such good quality that the ink blends beautifully and very quickly!

So, on to the front of the cards! I cut the background from a black panel and stuck the whole die cut to a piece of Press’N Seal to ensure that I didn’t lose any little bits later. I then used an oval die to cut out the centre. I put that die-cut centre to one side and got to work on assembling my first card.

I covered the die cut in glue (seriously this is what took the longest time out of the whole process) and then adhered it to the pink background paper. This is where the Press’N Seal comes into its own – as soon as all the elements of the die cut are adhered to the base, you simply peel off the Press’N Seal! It’s a little pricey on Amazon, but the roll has lasted me for ages and makes it so easy for these sort of cards.

I took two oval dies and used them to create a frame from a piece of black card. (Set aside the rest of the black card, you’ll need it for Card 2!) I adhered the oval frame to the centre of the card. To finish off my card, I used the Belated Birthday Wishes sentiment die from Creative Expressions. I love these sentiment dies! There’s a huge variety and the price point is brilliant. The dies cut all sorts of card (including glitter and mirror card) beautifully!

I then turned my attention to the second card, which is essentially made from ‘leftovers’!

First I trimmed down the black cardstock I had used when I cut the oval frame and adhered it to the second paper background panel. I covered the reverse of the die-cut oval in glue and adhered it to the centre of the frame before removing the Press’N Seal. I used the Just for You sentiment die from Creative Expressions and a few Papermania gems* to complete this card.

These cards came together very quickly, I don’t know how long they took, but definitely less than an hour!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Products marked with a ‘*’ were sent to me by Crafts-U-Love for DT assignments.

Semi Shadow box card

Good morning friends!

It’s time for a new Crafts-U-Love Design Team post! This month I received the amazingly intricate Organic Tim Holtz background die *  and a pack of paper by the Paper Boutique *.

I immediately started pondering a way of showcasing the beautiful die with the papers… and here’s what I came up with – I’m calling this my semi shadow box card! I knew I wanted to raise the die cut background and while I probably could have used a couple of layers of foam tape, I decided to adapt a pop-up shadow box card. There are tons of tutorials online – Jennifer McGuire has a super video here,  but I decided to create a quick step-by-step too!

Step 1 – Die cut the background die on watercolour paper

As this die is incredibly intricate, I used a metal shim when I ran this through my cutting machine. . You can see that this background die doesn’t create a frame, so you can easily create a bigger die cut panel if you want one.

 

 

 

Step 2 – Colour the image using distress inks

I chose a few distress inks which I smooshed onto a craft sheet, diluted with water and started to colour. So relaxing!

You can see that I didn’t poke through all the waste pieces at this stage as I prefer to colour with those in situ. At the end of the process, I removed all the spare pieces and coloured any bits that I had missed (there’s always the odd branch here and there!).

Step 3 Create a frame and prepare a card back

I chose a piece of paper from the Paper Boutique pack and cut a frame for the die cut piece from it. I used this frame as a guide to create the back of my card which I cut to the same height. I added 3cms to the width of the frame for the base as the two sides would be folded twice.

I then made four scoring marks on the card base – 1cm and 2cms from the left and right side.

 

Step 4 Score along card back twice on each side

Although I do have a scoring board somewhere, I find it easier to use my trimmer to score card stock.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5 Fold in the sides of the card

I then folded along the score lines to create a ‘Z’ on each side. I folded inwards at the 2cms score line and then the other way for the 1cm score line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6 Attach the die cut panel to card back

Before attaching the panel, I added some more paper to the back of my card to provide even more of a contrast for the die cut.

I added some strong adhesive to the sides of the panel – I always reach for Scor-tape which is super strong and has stood the test of time for my cards!

 

I then added the frame on top of the card and finally adhered the Thank You die cut from Creative Expressions to finish off my card.

Although it is only half a box card, it really is amazing stable and I didn’t need to used anything to prop it up!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Products marked with a ‘*’ were sent to me by Crafts-U-Love for this DT assignment.