Pass It On

This week's challenge at Jellypark is titled 'Pass It On'. Perfect! Any papercraft project made to pass on to someone else, a card, a gift, a 'thank you'. For almost 3 months now, my parents have been looking after our youngest child. Joel is a lively (erm, naughty!) 2 year old who loves to climb, explore and raid my Mum's fridge. Every weekday morning, he is whisked off to my parent's house when my husband leaves for work - I have a disability which is currently making it difficult for me to look after Joel when I am on my own. Joel spends the day at 'Nana and Pop's Daycare' and is picked up after his dinner when my husband trudges his weary way home from work (only to have to come in to look after me, our other two children, the house and, of course, Joel).

My Mum and Dad (Nana and Pops) are going on holiday at the end of this week. Off to the beautifully sunny island of Malta for 2 well deserved weeks of swimming, sight-seeing, good food and relaxation. Every year, they return to the same holiday spot. I love it there too and eagerly await their return with video footage of their hols. This year, they have bought a new handycam in preparation for their trip. I decided to buy them a memory card for the camera as a little 'thank you' from me for everything they have been doing to help us since my accident in June.

When we first took my parents with us to Malta back in 2001, my Dad and I became hooked on snorkelling. The sea is so clear and visibilty is perfect for spotting a whole host of sealife. We have taken plenty of underwater photos between us, but my Dad is keen to film underwater too. Move over Jacques Cousteau! Dad has been searching for a reasonably priced underwater camcorder for some time. The one they picked is great for snorkellers. It can be used underwater, is lightweight and operated with one hand. I hope he returns with lots of footage for me to edit anto DVD. Perhaps I can watch the video whilst listening to seaside sound effects and pretend I am there too, or maybe I should lay in the bath to wtach it, just for the watery effect!

The thank you card was made using one of Claire Keay's beautiful images which I downloaded at Crafts U Print and printed onto matte photo paper. The cloud paper is from Pink Petticoat and the ribbon is from Anita's. I made the simple arch shaped banner and the thank you sentiment in Photoshop, layered up with foam dots. The decoupaged elements of the playground scene are layered with Collall dimensional photo glue. I used more of the cloud paper to make a little tag shaped wallet envelope (easy to whip up with my Martha Stewart Score Board) and attached ribbon to the top. I used the wallet to hold the camcorder memory card, so the card acts as gift wrap too. I slotted the little package behind the top layer of the 'Nana and Pop's' banner and held it temporarily in place with a repositionable glue dot so that it didn't fall out, but also so that when it is removed, it doesn't damage the surface of the card.

My husband delivered the card this morning and my Mum tells me that Dad is already using it to film Joel's naughty antics in their flower and veggie filled garden. Now, if only he would stop sneakily picking their home-grown tomatoes and raiding the fridge... Go on Joel, Pass It On.

How Do You Use Yours?

I have always loved ribbon. I mean, reeeeaally loved ribbon! I use it in crafts of all kinds. I sew with it, make jewellery with it, knit with it and, of course, papercraft with it. Over at Netty's Cards, there is some gorgeous ribbon blog candy up for grabs from Fantastic Ribbons. Annette would just like to know our favourite ways to use ribbons. Do I really have to pick just one?

At the moment, I love randomly pleating them and stapling them to give a 'grunge' effect. I also like inking them up to change the look (Promarkers are great for this). I like to weave them, stamp on them, make flowers with them, knot them, tie them in bows and use them to attach embellishments. I use them to hide seams and glued areas, to add texture and movement and to draw the eye to one particular area.

Is there anything we don't use ribbons for? I look forward to reading what other followers of Annette's blog do with theirs.

What's New Pussycat?

Until I started taking part in papercraft challenges (just 3 weeks ago), I had never made a card using a sketch as the outline idea. I been making cards for 13 years, but have always used my own ideas or used other cards for inspiration, but more in the sense of the overall feel rather than the positioning of the design elements. This is only the third card I have made based on a sketch, but I think I may be hooked!

I am still just finding my feet in entering challenges, so I have only really entered one card in each challenge and used each card for just one challenge so far. With this card, I am going for it - two challenges with one card! I would like to enter this card in Fetch-a-Sketch challenge 6 as well as the Charisma Cardz challenge on the theme of 'inspired by a song'.

The digi stamp of Lil Kitty made me think of the Tom Jones song as soon as I saw it on the Pollycraft site, so when I saw the Charisma Cardz challenge, I knew I had to use it. My daughter loves this image and had to have her own copy to colour too. The stamp is coloured using Promarkers and is mounted on an iridescent scalloped circle, layered onto a ditsy print paper. As with my Alien Adventure card, I have double embossed around the central panel on the white 8x8 card base and infilled with Flexmarker colouring to make the image 'pop'. The scalloped dotty strip is from Polkadoodles 'Double Sprinkle of Kraft' CD. The two scrunched paper flowers are made from scalloped circles cut from the Financial Times, coloured with Promarkers and glazed with silicone glue, which also stiffens them and holds them in shape. The sentiment is stamped onto a chipboard circle and the card is finished off with a circular tab at the top left. Phew! Lots of the detail of this card, such as the double embossing, don't show on the photo, but they make it look 'high quality' close up and hopefully let the recipient know that we care for her very much.

I would like to thank the designers who have set these challenges and, of course, the prize sponsors. You are helping to keep my hands and brain occupied at a very stressful time in my life!

Alien Adventure

Having been working on cards for men this weekend, I thought I would make a card for a younger member of the male gender. This card is for a friend of my son who will soon be 7. It is made with the Stamp Fairy challenge in mind, which, this fortnight, is based on one of their sketches.

The card base is 8x8, so it is actually made from two card sheets joined together with the seam inside disguised by the insert. The central base panel is iridescent paper from Kanban. It is hard to photograph, so the colours don't look as though they go together - but trust me, they do! It is green with a sheen of purple in the right light. I embossed around the outside of this layer and infilled the area with purple Promarker and Sakura gelly roll pens. It doesn't look like it in the photo, but it makes the central panel really stand out against the white border. The scalloped circle was hand-cut with a pair of fancy scissors borrowed from my 5 year old daughter's craft cupboard! Most of the papers are Cosmo Cricket, with a little Papermania thrown in for good measure! The cute alien stamp is, of course, from Stamp Fairy, coloured with Promarkers and Flex Markers with a little doodling using a Letraset 0.5mm drawing pen. The sentiment was stamped onto white card which I inked up to tone in with the alien background layer. The three circles at the top left were cut from a 6x6 paper sheet, accented with Sakura gelly roll and glaze pens then layered up with foam dots. I love the circular foam dots (from The Range) as they are easy to peel and the 'left over' sticky foam is great for giving dimension to larger areas. They are great value too at just 99p per pack. I added lots of doodle detail all over the card and also used very thin strips of paper along my main stripes just for extra dimension and detail without cluttering the overall look of the project.

Creative with Chipboard

Over at Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog, challenge 84 this week is to make a papercraft project using chipboard.

My project to enter into the challenge is a cute little autograph book for my niece. The covers are made from chipboard and the front is embellished with a chipboard flower and button, which I painted with paint daubers. The covers are decorated with ice-cream themed paper and the inside pages are decorated with chipboard shapes with a foodie theme (mostly freebies from magazine cover gifts). It is held together using the Bind it All and the wires are decorated with ribbon snips. The embossed metal frame on the front is from Making Memories.

My niece is in her final year at primary school, so I thought it would be nice to give her this so that she can record memories of her school and for her friends to write little messages and draw doodles in. I hope she likes it!

Anything But A Card

This week's challenge from Quirky Crafts is set by Caro and she has chosen Anything But a Card (ABC) as the ABC made her think of her son starting school for the first time. The start of the school year makes me think that I need to start on making Christmas gifts. Handmade gifts deserve handmade packaging, so here is the first of many!

This gift box is made using a recycled plastic cake box from a supermarket. It is so straight forward that it is easy to batch make if you need lots. Unfortunately, it would mean eating lots of cakes to get enough boxes though...

I used a scalloped edge punch to make 2 rows of trim from Bazzill basics for the sides. I cut strips of striped paper to make a decoration and to hide the seams, then topped it with red and white grossgrain ribbon. I made a ribbon flower and a paper flower for the top. Using small paper off cuts and a sentiment stamp, I made a gift tag and washing instructions label (for the hand knitted gloves inside). It was finished off with a simple ribbon bow. The box is made so that it can be opened without damaging it. That way, it can be used again by the recipient. More recycling!

My top tip is to use a really good adhesive as it can be tricky to get the paper to stick to the plastic.

A Card for a Friend

Making cards for men can be tricky. If they have an obvious hobby or interest, that can give you a head start, but there are only so many cards you can make for the same person on the same subject! This card is for a friend's husband. I like the fact that it is quite masculine, but is softened by the ribbons which tie it closed, rather than just being decorative.

The papers are all from my long-held stash. The embossing plate is QuicKutz and the scalloped punch is Woodware. The word 'Friend' is stamped using Versa Fine onto vellum and attached over the ribbon to finish the card.

I would like to enter this into the Stamps R Us challenge, this week entitled 'Friendship'.