Film Strip Gap Card

Yes, another Gap card from last week workshop at The Glitter Pot.
This time I used the Film strip Sizzlit die from Tim Holtz. This is probably the quick and easiest way of doing a gap card as is only one piece that maintains the gap.

I die cut twice the film strip, once out of brown and once out of cream. I used the cream one under the brown one and use the pieces in the middle to stamp my message. The sentiment is from the Circle Tags set and the monogram is one of the Shadow ones.

I ended up doing a portrait card rather than a landscape, which was my first intention, just because I really liked the tab finish off the edge of the card. 

Questions and Answers

Hi! Love this card. Do you find that the cardstock used is thick enough to make the card base? I have some MME doublesided 12x12 cardstock and feel that it is not strong enough on it's own. Would be interested to know what you think. 

The ideal weight for Gap Cards, I would say, it is between 220gsm-240gsm, not too thin not to thick, if it is too thick or heavy then the elements will struggle to hold it together, if it is too thin then the whole card will be flimsy.  

Bazzill and Coredinations weight is around 220 gsm. Actually it is harder to make gap cards with heavy cardstock- anything over 270gsm. but it all depends also on the size of the card and the weight of the gap elements. My Minds Eye papers are not always the same weight.  

The weight of the My Minds Eye varies depending on collections. Some of them, such as Pretty Please, Bloom, Grow and Be Loved, are around 160 gsm give or take, and that is indeed too thin to make the blank card base. My favorite papers are from the Penny Lane Collection and the Quite Contrary as well as some old collections such as Wild Asparagus, all of which are much thicker, around 210-220gsm, and they are absolutely fine for those cards even the gear one which is 5 x 6" when finished. 

So, here you another sample of a Gap card using as base a Quite Contrary paper from MME. 

This time the Gap follows the pattern of the paper at an angle. The B is from the Serif essentials and the branches are from the Flowers, Branches and Leaves Sizzlits set. I would like to point out that die cuts as intricate as those branches are not a good idea for the Gap card unless they are just decorative, i.e. what holds the card together in this one is the monogram which is strong enough. The branches only reinforce the structure, on their own this card would not be possible.

Gap Card Workshop

Today I am off to the Glitter Pot to teach Gap cards in the morning and Distress ones in the afternoon. This one is one of the Gap ones. I love those Gears, a Sizzix die from the Tim Holtz collection.


So, I better go and get in the car!

More gap cards

Oh, yes! Gap cards are back in da blog! I love them. They are so easy to do and you are assured the wow factor with them. This one card was the original idea for a Make and Take for Charity that I run for Sue -Craftwork Cards- in honor of Breast Cancer.

At the end, I made about six or seven versions of this card using always as a base the elegant rectangles in matching colors. The patterned papers are also from craftwork Cards and they are part of Glitz and Glamour pack. The flowers are ready die cut, so they are quite sturdy, much more that if they had been punched.

Excuse the horrendous quality of the photos, as they were taken with my mobile phone, but it was one of those occasions when I did not have time to look for the real cameras.

More Gap parts

A quick post just to share yet another gap card. This is a very small one as I used the smaller mats from the Scallop squares from Craftwork Cards. I would like to point out I used two In Circles as I was demonstrating when I made this card and I did not have the right one. What I did was to use a purple one that said Happy Birthday and then I punches out the Best wishes white and silver one and punched it out using a 1" circle punch.
Also, the spots on the left bottom part of the photo show that I can not be bothered to actually clean up photos. Well, I do a bit of white balance on iPhoto and resizing but not much else. I do admire those who spent time and effort making sure that the photos they post in their blogs are picture perfect. Me? I can't.

Gap Cards

As soon as I saw this die I knew I could do a gap card with the Noel. As it is an intricate die cut, I cut two, one of the patterned paper and another one out of the plain green card. Once the card was done, I glued the green card Noel in the inside to strengthen the gap. I just added the scroll from this decorative scroll.
However, I think I over did it a bit when I inked the card with distressing inks, it became a bit too dark for my liking.

More Floral Christmas

Tired yet? Not me! This version of Julie's/Paula's Gap card is done using the Floral Christmas Papers from Craftwork Cards.


And this is the inside. I choose the green paper to go inside to make high contrast when it is closed with the red flowers in the front.

More stars and QVC

I think you must be tired by now of this card and versions of it, but I am not. I did this one for last weekend for my demo at The Glitter pot. I used all Sizzix dies, the large Scallop Rectangle album for the main card and the of course the Stars 2 and messages inCircles.



Yesterday I helped Dawn Bibby at QVC. A few months back there was a competition in Paprecraft Essentials -UK based cardmaking magazine- to make Dawn a birthday card with her favorite things. the winners prize was for them to come with a friend and spent a day at QVC with Dawn. Sam and Andrea, the winners, enjoy a two hour masterclass with Dawn in which I gave them a hand playing around with some of the kits that would be later featured in the two hour live show.



The lucky ladies enjoyed also a manicure by Nails Inc, we then had lunch and head for the bright lights of the studio. As always the two hours passed so quickly.



Simon Biaggi was the presenter so after show we took some photos with Dawn and him. Above you can see Andrea and Gill, Dawn and Simon.



And here Sue and Sam -mother and daughter.
Then we went to Regent street as there were some things that Dawn and JJ needed. Then we went for dinner to a really nice restaurant, one of our favorite ones actually, but an unfortunate event happened. No one was hurt or anything like that, but it meant that we got a free meal and Dawn got a slight shock. I hope she is ok today!

Stars, stars

So, two weeks ago I shared this card that I have made inspired by the super talented and wonderful friend, Julie Hickey. When I like something, I keep doing it. So when I had to do a workshop on cards for men, I decided to take a feminine card and convert it for a boy. The easiest way to transform it is by switching flowers for stars, they are as versatile and combine really with the lovely papers from Pebbles Inc.

This stars can be cut two ways either with the Sizzix die -my preference as you get 4 different sizes for just £8.49 and will cut chipboard as well!- or using two Stampin up punches. Or you can use the ready die cut and emboss ones by Craftwork Cards - they are called Starry Night that come in ice white and mirri gold and silver and you get 32 in a pack for £3.50. So, you have got plenty of options when it comes to this shape of stars, although there are even more stars with more rounded or less striking edges.

I kept the same colour scheme as before, that is Richie from Craftwork Cards. I think Sue had a moment of big time inspiration putting these together.