Sunday 6th March 2011

I'm asked to make cards for friends and colleagues nearly every week. I get them done, but I still need to get into the habit of taking photos to share them with you. I did three last week - and no pictures, oops!

So today, I've just finished a card for a lady who's got a birthday coming up. So here are the pics:

This is a 24 x 34 thick cream card, scored and folded into 3. Then I cut the top edge to an angle, from the top left corner to about 5 cms down to right side. I've inked the edges with Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy. I've only decorated the 3 front panels, leaving the others for the folks at work to write on. The papers I've used is Dovecraft 'glamour'. I then cut out elements from the same papers and decoupaged them, using foam pads. This give the card a bit of dimension, not really seen in the photos. On the back panel, I've cut an angled piece of card  (in turquoise),  to make a pocket. I'm going to buy a couple of Lottery scratch cards and put those in.

I'm now going to emboss her name on the front of the card. Get everything ready before you start.

Card, antistatic pad, clear embossing ink (Versamark), embossing powder (Papermania, black glitter), perspex block with stamp on, a heating gun and finally a sheet of paper with a fold down the centre.

Dust the card with antistatic powder and tap off any excess. Usually I stamp onto a test piece or make a label, to attach to the card later. So, if you did make a mistake you haven't ruined your work. This time I'm putting it straight onto the card. Keep your fingers crossed.

Stamp the image onto the card, using the clear embossing ink, press evenly and firmly over the image. Sprinkle the embossing powder generously over the stamped image, covering it well. Do this over a scrap piece of A4 paper, then you can pour the remaining powder back into the pot. Give the card a good tap, to remove the excess powder.

Heat the image with the heat gun. Keep it moving, because you can burn the powder and it will go dull or burn the paper/card. Remember to wash the stamp with soap and water and leave to dry.

And here is the finished article. As you can see, the name is there. I also made a couple of holes with a small punch and threaded 3 lenghts of fibre through and tied with a star button. I think it looks OK. Let's hope the scratch cards are lucky ones.

More soon.