Thursday, May 5, 2016

Birthday Card

Hi friends, I went shopping with my niece. It was so very hot- we had our tongues hanging out :) like my dog. But we had fun. I am posting all that separately. But because of that shopping in the hot summer afternoon, I was down with fatigue and low energy levels for last two days. 

For now, I am continuing my hand made cards series. Here is my fourth card.

I started with a of-white(cream coloured) textured card stock. I had bought a bunch of them as no other material was available in local markets. So I have to exhaust this stock. 

I had some printed tape. Which I used on the card. Then I used a few punched flowers and leaves, after shaping them. I stuck some crystals and faux pearls in the flowers.This is how it looked.

Then I added a fairy- a dimensional sticker. I have tons of them which I bought for a project with kids and have a lot left over. I could not take a pic at this stage. It looked good.

Then I added sentiments- clear stamps just bought the other day when I went shopping with my niece. I stamped directly on to the card using orange ink and green ink which I bought along with the stamps. 

I was apprehensive and doubtful for trying it out directly on to the card. I was thinking of stamping on a separate sheet and then add to the card. I din't do that and now I don't like the way it turned out. Especially the green one (Happy Birthday) I had to write on it with a green glitter pen as, because of the textured background, the stamping was not clean. 

Then I did the most foolish thing. I wanted to try out the distressing technique using my newly bought distress inks. 

I used one of the colours and distressed the edges of the card. I don't have much experience with this technique. So I din't like the result especially the bottom part of the card, which had some big blotches of ink, which was accidental . So I had to cover it up with tape. Now I don't like the look of the card. But I am satisfied with punch craft part as they turned out very beautifully.


I am not going to use this card. I will simply keep it in my stash for future reference. 

After this episode, I learned some lessons the hard way.  I realised I need to practise and perfect any technique before using it. I am new to stamping and distressing. I need to learn and practise a lot. 

Material used:

Textured Card Stock
Printed Tape
Punches 
Punch papers
Crystals and faux pearls
Clear stamps
Pigment Ink and Distressed Ink
3D sticker of fairy
Glue

Keep an eye for more posts......

Do leave your comments, suggestions and thoughts and any tips and tricks that can help me to learn this craft....


Pin It

Monday, May 2, 2016

Cherry Blossoms and Butterflies

Here is my third card- the first of my greeting cards using punch craft.

I love Cherry Blossoms and of course Butterflies. So inspired by them here is my card.

Cherry Blossoms and Butterflies


I have used the textured light gray coloured card stock. Brown coloured paper twine was used for the tree branch. First I punched out of-white and light pink flowers and glued around the branches.It looked too drab. So I added the red coloured flowers here and there to brighten it up a bit. OK cherry blossoms are not red in colour-I agree with you.  

Then I added the leaves. Hmmm... I had only that green coloured punch craft paper with me. I tried to get any other shade of green but couldn't. So I didn't have any other choice. 

Then I bought the little butterfly punch. I had to try it. I ended up with blue butterflies as at that time my punch craft paper stash was very limited. Any way I was testing my skills and an artist has the liberty to create something new out of his/her imagination. 

My personal opinion is that the colours did not gel together. But I got the shape of the flowers and leaves well for an amateur. 

I did not add any sentiment as I can add it later on, if I want to give it away. 

So what do you say? Your comments and suggestions matter a lot. please do stop by and leave your comments/suggestions.....


Materials used:

Textured Card Stock
Paper twine brown colour
Punch papers
Punches-Flower, leaf and butterfly
Glue


Pin It

Friday, April 29, 2016

Good Luck Card

Hi there! it is still very hot here. Still temperatures are well above 40 degrees. Hot winds blow from morning till late in the night. I am struggling to maintain my plants. The situation of water scarcity is so bad that, we are collecting water used for washing clothes and utensils and using it for watering our plants. Surprisingly, my plants are responding well to the water containing detergents(than fresh water) and they seem much greener than before.

OK here is my second card. This was also started along with the first card. 



I used a cream coloured textured card stock. I bought this in one of the local stationery shops. I started with trying out the border punch I bought then. Then I abandoned the card for quite some time.

Later on I added the punched flowers. I have used a bit thicker paper(dark and light pink) for the flowers. So when I shaped them, the retained their shape beautifully. I cut out the leaves my self and scored the veins using a used ball point refill. At that time I didn't have a leaf punch and I also wanted bigger leaves. 



I added a golden coloured tape on the edges of bottom layer of the card. Then I added other flowers and leaves. 
Recently, I bought some stamps and experimented a bit with them. So I added the sentiment. 

I added the sentiment GOOD LUCK as I was wishing my students best of luck for their exams. 

You can also see the bird punched out of a thick card. I used a seed bead for its eye. Both the bird and circular sentiment were stuck by using dimensional tape. Oh I first cut out a circle and then stamped it.

Material used:

Textured Card stock from local stationery shop
Border punch
Punches of flowers, bird and circle
Seed bead
Punch papers, thick green paper for leaves and thin dark brown colour card for bird, orange coloured hand made paper for the sentiment
Golden coloured tape
Dimensional tape
Glue
Crystal Black coloured Pigment Ink pad
Circular sentiment stamp wooden mounted


The problem with craft material sold in India when we buy locally is that they don't have any details on them like the weight or GSM of the paper, the manufacturer or other details. May be they are bought in bulk and repacked into smaller packs.

Next time if I want to buy it, I don't know what to ask for. I always keep a sample with me and show them. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the shop will be selling the same material again or any other shop for that matter.

I always buy different craft material when I am on shopping round. So it is also difficult to keep track of where and what I am buying.

But one thing is local bought material is cheaper than online ones. I also get to see and touch it before buying.

Similarly the sentiment stamp is wooden mounted and I bought the pack containing six of them. I don't know about the brand or manufacturers name. 

So what do you say? Do drop in your comments and suggestions. It will help me a lot....

Watch out for my next posts......

Pin It