Vintage Easel Card - Creative Cardmarking

Hi everyone, Nikki here to share an idea for this months Creative Cardmaking post. I am not normally one for fancy card folds but I recently saw a version of this card and thought it would make a great 'special' Christmas card.

The card is based on a square - so any size could be used. I used a 6 inch square card. I added an extra fold at 1 1/2 inches. All I then needed to do was remove the corners. I marked in pencil at 3 inches along the short edge and cut to the additional fold. I could then mirror this at the other end easily.

 You can see in my picture above some extra bits of card. There are 2 squares to fit the base and the easel part of the card, and an extra piece for the inside, although I used cream card in the end as you can see below.

I covered my 2 squares with some Christmas themed paper - I added a little ink to the edges. I didn't have quite enough and wanted an extra bit for my greeting on the base so I cut a square out of the top piece and replaced with the cream square stamped with some Christmas words.

The focal point on the card is the Poinsettia - I die cut several layers from Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die and used Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany Distress inks to colour.

Tim's Holiday Greens dies were used to add some Holly and greenery behind the Poinsettia - again I used Distress Inks (Pine Needles and Mowed Lawn) to get some colour variation.

I chose one of the greetings from Tim Holtz stamp set Festive Overlays - stamped on card and then layered before using foam pads to raise this - so the easel stands up!

And it also folds flat - well it would if the flower wasn't a little dimensional - but I found it would still - just - go in the envelope which came with the card - but I won't be putting it in the post!

Now to decide who to give it to!
Thanks for stopping by today. Our latest challenge - Window on Your World - still has 2 weeks to run as there are 5 Fridays this month. That also means we will be back next week with Tag Friday.

In the meantime - have a great weekend.
Nikki
xxx

Window On Your World Tunnel Book Tutorial

Hello everyone and thank you for stopping by.  It's Deb here with you today to share a tutorial on how I made my Winter Wonderland tunnel book for our Window On Your World challenge.

Grab a cup of your favourite beverage and let's get started.

Cut a piece of 12" x 12" scrapbook paper in half so your have two pieces measuring 6" x 12".

Score both pieces on the long side, starting at 3 1/2" and scoring every half inch up to 6 1/2".

Fold on the score lines as shown.

The 3 1/2" segments will become the front cover of your tunnel book and the 5 1/2" segments will overlap to form the back cover of your book.

Adhere the back covers together, making sure that the back of the tunnel book is 6" wide from score line to score line.

We now have the cover of our tunnel book completed, set it aside for now.  Cut 4 pieces of cardstock, each one just a smidgen less than 6" square.  Set one 6" square piece aside for the time being (sorry, forgot to take a picture of that step!).

Select 3 graduated nesting dies, I used circular dies that measured 5", 4 1/2" and 4".  Center the 5" die on one of the 6" square pieces of cardstock and die cut a window.  Place another piece of 6" square cardstock behind the die cut opening, lining up all of the edges, and center the 4 1/2" die in the opening.  Die cut the window on the second piece of cardstock.

Place the third 6" square behind the piece with the 4 1/2" window and center the 4" die within the opening.  Die cut the third window.  Set all of the die cut pieces aside for the moment.

Ink the last piece of 6" square cardstock with Distress inks in shades of blue, dipping it into puddles of ink until you are happy with the colour.

Ink more cardstock with Distress inks in shades of green in the same manner and die cut two Tree Line die cuts.  Die cut the Winter Wonderland stag from sanded Classic Kraft Stock and add the wreath around his neck if you'd like (the wreath die is from the Village Christmastime die set).

Overlay the 4" die cut window onto the inked background so that you get the placement right and adhere the Tree Line die cuts, overlapping and offsetting them slightly.  Adhere the deer on top of the Tree Line die cuts.  Add some snow along the bottom if desired with a white sparkle embossing powder.

Apply double sided tape to the back of the background panel and adhere it onto the back cover of your tunnel book.

Stencil a design onto the front of the 4" die cut window piece (this is Carta Bella's Holly stencil).  Die cut some Mini Holiday Greens from more Distress Ink coloured cardstock.

Adhere the 4" window onto the front of the 1/2" accordion fold that is closest to the background, centering the window top and bottom and side to side.  I found it easier to use a liquid adhesive for this step so you had a little play time to make the sure the window was centered properly in your tunnel book.  Adhere the die cut greenery around the opening, making sure that it doesn't obscure your focal point.

Stencil the 4 1/2" die cut window  piece with a design of your choice (this is Simple Stories Happy Trials stencil) and stamp and die cut some Mini Swirly Snowflakes.

Adhere the 4 1/2" window on top of the next 1/2" accordion fold in our tunnel book.  Adhere the Mini Swirly Snowflakes on top of the window, staggering them so you can still see the Mini Holiday Greens die cuts behind.

Stencil a design on the last 5" die cut window piece.  Make sure that whatever stencil you use has a repeating pattern as we will be continuing this design onto the inside covers of your tunnel book (this is Tim Holtz's Starry Layering stencil).  Die cut some stars from sanded gold Metallic Kraft Stock.

Adhere the 5" window on top of the last 1/2" accordion fold in your tunnel book.  Don't glue the stars around the outside quick yet.

Line up your stencil with the pattern on the 5" window and continue to stencil the pattern onto the insides of your tunnel book covers.

Adhere the die cut gold stars around the outside of the 5" window, staggering their placement so you can see the layers below.  Cut more Tree Line die cuts from green inked cardstock and adhere them on either side of the tunnel book covers.  Die cut two Woodlands trees from green inked cardstock and adhere one on each side, over top of the Tree Line die cuts.  Add a small gold star to the top of each tree if desired.

Decorate the front covers of your tunnel book with more Tree Line die cuts and some Mini Paper Snowflakes die cuts.  I designed the covers to overlap slightly but if you don't want them overlapped trim a 1/2" off each cover so the meet in the middle (probably best to do that before you decorate the inside of the covers!!).  Dye a piece of ribbon with Distress Ink to tie around our tunnel book to keep it closed and you are done.

Here are a few closeups of the completed Winter Wonderland tunnel book.

Hope you enjoyed seeing how it came together and that you will consider joining in our Window On Your World challenge, you have until December 5th to enter.  Thanks so much for stopping by today and as always, happy creating!

Deb xo

Card Making Tutorial with Jo

Hello everyone! It's Jo from Let's Art Journal here with this month's card making tutorial. I always make cards for family and friends, so I'm sharing a Shabby Chic style card that I made for a forever friend of mine. 

Here's how is came together ...

 

For the background, I cut a piece of Kraft Card to cover a 6x4" card and ran it through a Tim Holtz Botanicals embossing folder. It is covered with a thin layer of chalk paint using a baby wipe which highlighted the texture more.

 

Next I created a small panel using white card and pieces of Tim Holtz Collage Paper that I stuck into place using matte gel medium. When dry I cut any excess paper from around the edges and gave it an aged look by applying Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Ink using a blending tool.

 

I had some leftover paper that I had coloured green and purple using various inks; they were created by stamping the ink pads onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing white paper onto the mat to create a mottled ink effect. I used two sets of Tim Holtz Thinlets to die cut some foliage and the lavender flowers. I intensified the colour of the flowers and stems using some Milled Lavender and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.

 

I applied some of the Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Ink again, this time to the Botancials embossed background to give more of a worn look and highlight the embossed texture more. Then I had fun putting all the different layers together.

I added a piece of purple chiffon ribbon and a piece of lace to the bottom of the card and layered the collage paper panel on top. Next I bound the lavender stems together with some dyed ribbon; I got very messy colouring this gold ribbon with green Distress Inks. The lavender is layered on top of the foliage and I added a pretty heart embellishment to the panel.

 

To finish, I added a Tim Holtz Quote Chip which reads "Love this Life" and stuck the whole thing onto a 6x4" card which I made from white card stock.

I love this design and I'm really pleased how this came together! If you are interested, you can find a full list of materials that I used to create this card over at my blog here.

I hope you enjoyed my card making journey today, thanks so much for travelling with me. 

Don't forget that there is still plenty of time to join in with our current A Cup of Tea for your Art challenge and that you can also start creating your tags to join Tag Friday next week too; it would be lovely to see you there!

Happy and Creative Wishes! Jo x

Creative Card Making with S@ndy

Creative Guide Call Update

Many thanks to everyone who has expressed an interest in becoming a new Creative Guide at A Vintage Journey.  The call is now CLOSED. We will be in contact very soon with everyone who has applied. 

Hello fellow travelers,

It's S@ndy here with you today to share a card making tutorial.  I have decided to stay in the Neutral Zone for this one as that is our theme for the month.  

So let's get started!

This card measures 5.5" square so I started with a base of manila cardstock cut 5.5" X 11" with a crease in the center.  Using the Tim Holtz Printed Vellum paper pad, the piece with the bird was selected.  From copper paper a clock face was cut using the Weathered Clock die.

Next comes some color and for that the card front was masked off with some Tissue Tape and then Forest Moss, Walnut Stain and Wild Honey Oxide Inks were applied using a blending tool.

A little water was spritzed on and then dabbed off making some lovely splates on the paper.  To add even more texture the front of the card was embossed using this circle embossing folder.  The card is actually wider than the folder so the embossing was joined in the center by running it through the die cutting machine twice.  The seam will never show once all the other elements are added.  Finally the entire front was edged using Walnut Stain Oxide Ink.

For a nice trim, a piece of lace was added and then topped with ribbon.  In order to hide the ends of the lace and ribbon an opening was cut in the fold of the card and the trims were pushed through (shown by the arrow above) and then secured.  The other end was wrapped around the edge of the card front and secured on the back.  In order to make the inside of the card look clean and neat, an additional (slightly smaller) panel was placed on the back of the front panel as shown below.

Card front


Next the clock was cut again using Grunge Board, you could use any thicker material for this part, giving added texture once the card front is assembled.  

The copper piece and Grunge Board piece were stacked and glued together and placed on the card front.  Next the vellum piece with the bird was stacked and attached to the inside panel.  A little fussy cutting was done around the piece and it was placed and glued in the clock.

It was at this point that I realized that I had made an OOPS!  I wanted to add a word band on the ribbon but the ribbon was already on the card.  Instead of taking it apart, I simply put the word band on another piece of ribbon and glued it over the first piece on top of the clock piece.

Now that the oops was corrected it's time to move on to the decorating.  

Making these little flowers are a bit fiddley but worth the effort on the finished card. 

I made a few Baby's Breath using a die from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I had some vines from a Karen Burniston die with Nuvo Drops in my stash - so used them.  I cut some extra ferns and made two Shasta Daisies.

There was a yellow Helenium sitting on my work table so used it as well.  I arranged all the pieces in a way I thought they looked best and glued them in place.

On the inside of the card another piece of vellum from the same paper pad was used.  It has dotted lines in the pattern which will be nice for writing a personal message.




To find out more about the products I used - please visit my blog here where I have provided links.

I hope you have enjoyed yet another journey to the Neutral Zone,
S@ndy