Day 20 - Punches

I created this poinsettia card using a leaf punch and some patterned paper. Simply punch some leaves from green and red paper and layer them together with foam tape and glue.  You can add some little beads, pearls, buttons or dimensional paint to create the flower centre and cover up any messy edges.

 

 

YOUR TURN: Grab your favourite Christmas punch and use it to make a feature panel for the front of your card.

Upload your creations here.

Tutorial: Wreath Card

Earlier I showed you a couple of Christmas cards that used flower shapes to create wreaths and baubles.  They are great cards to make when you don't have a lot of seasonal card-making items or when you want to extend the use of the items you already have in your stash.  And because they are so easy you can make a lot of them in a reasonably short time... which is great if you're only just getting your cards started!

 

 

1.  You will need a piece of white cardstock measuring 11" x 51/2" folded in half to form a card blank, a second piece of white cardstock measuring 5" x 5" and a scrap of card in your choice of colour for the punched flowers.

2.  From the piece of scrap card, punch out two sizes of flowers.  A large flower for filling up the area and a nice small flower to fill in any gaps.   

3.  Place the 5" x 5" piece of cardstock on your scoreboard and score some border lines around the sides.  Keep them about 1/4" from the edges.

4.  Stamp a small sentiment in the very middle of the 5" x 5" piece of cardstock.  The size of the sentiment will determine how big your wreath needs to be.

5.  Use some double sided tape to adhere the 5" x 5" piece of cardstock to the centre front of the card blank.

6.  Find a circular item that can be used as a template for your wreath.  I find it's best not to draw a circle on the card as it's difficult to remove the pencil lines once you have all your flowers glued down.  I use a circle cutter but a roll of tape also works well.

7.  Spend some time figuring out how you are going to place your flowers.  It's easier to lay the large flowers around the circle first then fill in with the smaller ones.  They don't have to be evenly spaced, but you need to distribute them so that the wreath appears balanced.

 

8.  When you're happy with the way you have placed your flowers you can begin adhering them to the card with some wet glue.  I use Glossy Accents because it dries fast and is very strong.

9.  Once all your pieces are firmly glued down, it's time to decorate!  I used self-adhesive pearls in different shapes and sizes to give the impression of baubles, then finished off with a little ribbon bow.  Easy!

 Photos and written instructions copyright Beccy Muir 2013

Day 15 - Non-Christmas Christmas Cards

If you aren't a person who needs to make a lot of Christmas cards each year and don't want to purchase lots of seasonal stamps and punches, you might like this card idea.  Simply use the punches you have on hand to build up Christmas shaped items such as wreaths, Christmas trees and baubles. 

 

 

YOUR TURN: Grab a non-Christmas themed punch and assemble your own wreath, gift, or bauble card.

Upload your creations here.

Technique Class - Drawing Candy

In today's tutorial I'm going to show you how to draw and colour these little round candies.  It won't be long before you have a production line on your desk, pumping out these sweet little goodies for your Christmas greetings and birthday cards!

1.  Start by making yourself a template by punching a circle from a piece of cardstock.  (I like using the punch because it means I can punch out my finished candy once I've coloured it in.  If you don't have a circle punch you can simply draw a circle with a compass or other round object and then cut out your candies by hand.)

2.  Use the template and a pencil to draw a circle on a piece of white cardstock that is suitable for your colouring medium.  (I used X-Press It Blending Card because I am using Copic markers.)

3.  Draw a dot in the centre of the circle.  It doesn't have to be exact, just approximate.

4.  Make a small mark at the top of the circle with your pencil.  (Please note:  I have pressed firmly with my pencil so the marks show up in the photos.  Generally, you will want to keep your lines and marks as light as possible.)

5.  Make small marks at the bottom, sides and then in between.  You should end up with eight marks around the outside of your circle.  Try to space them evenly, but you do not have to be exact.

6.  With your pencil, draw a curved line from the top mark to the dot in the centre.

7.  Repeat this step for each mark, turning your work as you go, until you have drawn lines from each of the marks to the centre dot.

8.  Select three shades of the colour you want your candies to be.  It's good to have quite a large contrast between the lightest and darkest colour in your set.

9.  Begin by colouring one of the segments of your candy with the lightest shade.

10.  Apply the next darkest colour over the first, starting at the centre point and feathering your colour about 3/4 of length of the segment.  Add more colour from the outside edge back toward the centre, feathering the edges again.  Leave a small amount of the base colour showing.

11.  Add your darkest colour over the top of the other two, leaving a wider gap then the last step.  You should be able to see all three colours as in the picture below.

12.  Colour over the entire segment again with the lighest colour pen.  This will blend the three colours together.  Keep colouring until you can see the colours come together and the lines between each start to blur. 

13.  Repeat for every other segment until you have four coloured in total.

14.  The other four segments are going to be coloured in light greys.  As the cardstock is already white, you only need to apply the two shading colours.

15.  Use the colourless blender pen to blend the greys together.

16.  Repeat for each of the segments.

17.  To add the illusion of a high shine, use a white pen to add streaky, broken lines around the candy circle.

18.  Now you can use the punch to pop out a perfectly round candy!

Experiment with colours, sizes and the number of lines you add for lots of different looks.