Author Archives: janine

Gold/Cream/Black ‘DAD’ Card

Cards for men are often harder to design than any others so why not keep the design simple. This card has a very simple design but is very effective and luxurious looking. I have listed this card under the Father’s day category as well as Birthday as it would be very easy to change the design to a Father’s day card by simply substituting the peel off sentiment with a suitable Father’s day peel off.

Gold/Cream/Black Dad Card

What you will need to make this card:

  1. Slimline (A5 tall) cream card blank
  2. A5 sparkle paper pack – formal colours
  3. Alchemy pearlised gold card
  4. Some spare card any colour (measuring at least 21cm x 2cm).
  5. Gold 5mm ribbon
  6. Gold mini round brads
  7. Curvy Happy Birthday peel off sheet – Gold
  8. 5mm sticky foam pads, sticky foam tape & 6mm double sided sticky tape
  9. Craft knife, pencil, ruler & cutting mat
  10. Decoupage/precision scissors

How to make the card:

Take a sheet of the cream with gold glitter paper from the sparkle paper pack, measure and cut out a piece sized 7.5cm x 21cm. Apply a strip of double sided sticky tape close to each of the four edges of the paper and stick this to the front of the card blank making sure it is straight along all the edges, trimming away any overlapping paper if necessary.

Again from the sparkle paper pack take a sheet of the gold with gold glitter paper, measure and cut out a piece sized 3.25cm x 21cm and using double sided sticky tape in the same way as with the first section of paper, stick this gold paper so it is lined up with the left hand side of the card and overlaps the first layer of paper.

Next measure and cut a 2cm x 21cm piece from the spare card. Take a sheet of the black with silver glitter paper from the sparkle paper pack, measure and cut out a piece sized 3cm x 21cm. Apply strips of double sided sticky tape to the full length of all of the edges (front and back) of the strip of card you cut out earlier. Stick the strip of card to the centre of the strip of black sparkle paper and fold the edges of the paper over to the back of the card strip and stick them down.

On the back of the black sparkle paper covered strip of card using a pencil make a mark exact centre, then make marks at regular 2.5cm intervals from either side of the central mark until you end up with 9 marks in total with the outermost two marks being around 5mm from the top and bottom of the card strip. Using your craft knife make a small hole at each of these marks.

Cut a 25cm length of the 5mm gold ribbon, find the centre of the ribbon and push a mini round gold brad through it and then from front to back through the centre most hole in the card strip. Keeping the ribbon relatively tight but not stretching it, push brads through the ribbon and the remaining 8 holes. Turn the card strip over and bend back the prongs of all the brads. Wrap the loose ends of the ribbon over the top and bottom of the card strip and secure at the back with fairly wide strips of sticky foam tape. Apply two more similar strips of sticky foam tape at even intervals in between the first two strips. Peel the backing off the foam strips and then stick the whole thing to the card so the card strip is lined up with the very left hand side of the card blank.

On the back of the pearlised gold card mark out 2 separate boxes that measure 3.5cm tall x 3cm wide. Using the boxes as a size guide, hand draw a letter D and a letter A in a similar style to the letters shown on the card in the picture. Cut out the letters with scissors and carefully cut out the centres with a sharp craft knife and cutting mat. Take the finished letter D and draw round it on the reverse of more of the gold card, then cut it out making sure you cut on the inner edge of the pencil lines, this will ensure you end up with 2 Ds that match in style, shape and size which looks much better than mis-matched Ds.

Using several 5mm sticky foam pads on the back of each letter stick them to the upper right cream glitter paper section of the card blank with about a 1cm space between each letter.

Finally to finish the card off apply a gold curvy happy birthday peel off sticker at an angle to the bottom right of the card blank. Alternatively for a Father’s day card use a Father’s Day peel off sticker. Tip: After removing the peel off sticker from the backing sheet, allow it to relax on the end of your craft knife for a short period to regain shape before applying it to the card.

Card Idea by Janine

Cute Penguin Card

If like me you know someone who is nutty about penguins then this cute penguin card is for them! Otherwise it is also a fun childrens Christmas card.

Cute Penguin Card

Items you will need:

  1. Small square (125mm x 125mm) white card blank
  2. Some plain white card and plain white paper
  3. Silver glitter card
  4. Snow background paper free download
  5. Printer & white printable paper for printing the snow paper and the sentiment
  6. Cute Penguin Die-Cut
  7. Silver Ribbon
  8. Sticky foam tape/pads and 6mm double sided sticky tape
  9. Craft knife, pencil, eraser, ruler & cutting mat
  10. Decoupage/precision scissors
  11. Paper Trimmer (optional)

How to make:

Download and print out the snow background printer. You will need Adobe Reader to open the template file, if you do not have Adobe Reader you can download it free from this link to the official Adobe website: Adobe Reader Download.

Allow the print ink to dry thoroughly and then cut the paper to the exact size of your card blank using a craft knife, cutting mat & ruler or a paper trimmer. Use double sided tape on all four edges of the snow background paper and then carefully stick it to cover the front of the card blank.

From the plain white card measure and cut out a strip of card 3.5cm wide x 12cm tall. On the right hand side of this strip of card use scissors to cut a wavy edge design.

On the same strip of card using a ruler and pencil make a mark at the following intervals (each one measured from the last) 5mm from the top, 2cm, 1.5cm, 4cm, 1.5cm and 2cm, the last mark should be roughly 5mm from the bottom of the card strip. All of the marks should be in a straight line about 1-1.5cm from the left hand edge. Using a craft knife make small holes at each mark twisting the knife to open the holes up slightly.

Cut a 17cm length of the silver ribbon. Thread the ribbon in and out of the holes on the card strip starting from the back of the top hole. You should end up with the ends of the ribbon poking through the back of the top and bottom holes. Pull the ribbon through so the ends are roughly even in length, trim the ends and secure each one down with a strip of sticky foam tape making sure the tape does not stick out over the edges of the card strip. Apply another strip of foam tape to the centre of the card strip and then use the three foam tape sections to stick the card strip to the card blank so the straight edge is lined up with the very left hand edge of the card.

To finish the decorative ribbon strip, cut a 7cm length of the silver ribbon and tie this around the centre of the threaded ribbon, once you have tied it, trim the ends to around 2cm in length.

Next take some plain white paper, measure and draw a 5.5cm x 6.5cm rectangle that you then cut out either with a paper trimmer or craft knife, cutting mat and ruler. Erase any remaining pencil marks after cutting the rectangle out.

Using double sided sticky tape around all four edges of the white paper rectangle, stick it to the card blank positioned roughly as shown in the picture. Then use sticky foam pads to stick the cute penguin die-cut to the centre of the white paper rectangle.

From the silver glitter card measure and cut out a rectangle that measures 5.5cm x 1.25cm. To create the sentiment use your printer to print out the words ‘Merry Christmas’ in black writing on white paper. The font we have used here is called Bradley Hand ITC and the font size used is 16. Use a paper trimmer or craft knife, cutting mat and ruler to cut round the wording so that it measures 5cm wide x 0.75-1cm high making sure the wording is central in the finished rectangle. Using a strip of double sided sticky tape stick the wording to the centre of the silver glitter card rectangle and then stick the finished sentiment to the card blank about 1.5cm up from the bottom edge and so it is aligned with the white penguin topped rectangle above.

Card Idea by Janine