Gate Folds.

It is the start of a brand new challenge over on the Butterfly blog. The challenge is again running for 4 Weeks. 

#123 Spin The Butterfly wheel with G for Gatefold.

Gate fold cards are one of the easiest folds to do on a card as they are made from 2 folds on your card stock or you can also use a ready made card blank. You will find the instructions and tutorials over on the Butterfly blog under the tab called card shapes. Click on the card name to be taken straight to the tutorial.
I have two cards to share with you today showing you different ways of  holding the card shut and over the next 4 weeks will be sharing more ideas with you.

First card using Gatefold/Gems/Gingham/Granny Smith/Gold/Butterfly from the wheel.

I have chosen a belly band as the closure for this card which has been made from white cardstock measuring 8.5" x 5.5".  The floral design paper is by Raspberry Road and the Green Gingham came as a freebie from Making Cards June 2015. 

I made the band closure 1" wide and used a die cut by  ' John Next Door '  from his Mini Tags Set for the centre piece. The sentiment is a gold sticker from my stash along with the gems. The double butterfly is a punch by SU.

Photo below shows the card opened up.

Second  card using Gatefold/Gems//Granny Smith/Gun Metal/ Butterfly from the wheel.
This Style closure is called an Interlocking though I still found it needed the addition of the ties.
This time I have used a grey cardstock to create the gatefold.  The design paper is by Pink Petticoat.

I used a die cut from the same John Next Door Set as above. Gems and bakers twine from my stash.
The sentiment was a freebie from a craft magazine. You can see in the next photo how the interlocking design works. You need at least to attachments  which are  only partially adhered to opposite sides of the card.  I have used 3 here.

Here is the card opened up . The butterflies are two different sized punches  from SU. I punched a hole in the sentiment for the bakers twine and  again on the left hand panel to make the bow.

Hope  I have inspired you  and that I  will  see you over on the butterfly blog.

Christmas Lights.

Time once more for the girls in the Chritmas Card Club to show our next cards. Margaret set the theme this time and chose Christmas Lights. I have gone a bit tongue in cheek here as though I do have images I am still finding it painful(with my iffy shoulder)l to colour at the moment . Trawling through my box of used Christmas cards only turned up this one but hey it has a snowman on it with presents(Christmas right!) and the lights are on in the house. Lol.

I teamed it up with red card stock for the base and this red check paper from  'The Works'.  Layered the whole lot up a couple of times with the last layer on 3D sticker pads.  The sentiment was already on the card front as was the ribbon bow. Perfect.

Entering this card into the following challenge:
Scrappy Mo's Scraps of Life #. May Rudolph challenge.

Once More into the Fold.

We are into week 4 of the latest butterfly challenge which is 

#122 Spin The Butterfly wheel with F for Flap fold.

I have one last   style of flap fold to show you today for your inspiration. It is called a Fancy Flap Fold. I have put the instructions for making this card on the Butterfly Blog under the Card shapes page and is listed as Version IV.  Again it might look complicated but trust me it requires just two folds and two cuts and all you need is a scoring board and a trimmer or craft knife  + ds tape/glue to make the basic shape.  The measurements and step by step pictures are all in the tutorial.

My card uses Flap fold/Firebrick Red/Flax/Flowers/Butterfly.  from the wheel.

I have used a one sided design paper from my stash which has the colour of Firebrick red for it's background. The fancy flap is cut from plain card stock in Flax. 

The die cut used for both the square and the butterfly are by Spellbinders from their Basic A Set.  Ribbon and gem from my stash.

Here you can see the card partially open.

Below you can see the card fully opened.  I have decorated the inside of the card with matching paper.

I have had a lot of  fun over the last 4 weeks in making all these different flap style cards and hope you have enjoyed seeing them and that I may even have inspired you to have a go yourself.  The challenge is running for one more week and closes on the 28th May at 8pm (GMT).

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Craft Card Makers #234 Birthdays.
Creative Fingers#164 Anything goes.
A Bit More Time To Craft #92 Anything goes.
All Sorts Challenge #501/2 Happy Birthday.
Ally's Angels #22 Anything goes.
Crafty Hazelnut's Pattern Paper Challenge # Anything goes.
Daisy Chain Challenges #30 Anything goes.
Get Creative #80 Anything  goes with no twist.
Love To Craft #34 Anything goes.
Simply Create Too #149 Anything goes  with no twist.

Nuts!

It was The Docs Birthday last week and this is the card that I made for him.  The stamp set is by The Card Hut called 'Little Critters' and as soon as I saw it at the NEC show back in November knew I just had to buy it to use here.

The tree is a Leane Creatief  and comes in a set called Deer and Trees. No 45.8930  I turned it the over after die cutting as I wanted the taller branch to be on the left hand side of the card so that the  pile of squirrels  stealing the nuts would fit in.  I haven't actually seen them resorting to such tactics in our garden but they have broken two bird feeders in the past week trying to get the nuts out of the tube! I stamped all of the individual pieces out on white card stock and coloured in with my Promarkers. We do have those birds depicted come and visit in our garden.  After colouring I carefully fussy cut them all out. It took some considerable time. I managed not to cut any tails or paws off but drew the line at the squirrels whiskers so a few of them had to have  a quick shave!!
The sentiment is a Britannia Die cut which I cut in dark green card. The base is white cardstock but I went round the edge with a black marker (after I had adhered the green cardstock to the front of the card and decided it looked too stark) and  used a fine tip marker pen to do the wavy frame round the edge. I used snippets of white card for the squirrels and brown for the tree so I'm off to the playground. Hope I don't meet any squirrels along the way!.

 Entering into the following challenges:
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #26 Anything goes with a critter.
Crafter's Castle #17 Anything goes with optional show what you colour with.
Love To Scrap #121 Anything goes.
Pattie's Creations #158 Birthdays.
Stamping Sensations # In an English Country Garden.  (Certainly what goes on in our garden!!)
Colour Crazy #18 Anything goes.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop #352 Use up your snippets.



I Think we can safely say that Fluff is now owned by 4 cats.  Kellog has finally managed to infiltrate  after kipping down in the garage for the past 5 months and eats  his food in the kitchen with the others!
I don't think they can afford to move ever again as each time they do a cat acquires them.!!!

In A Flap!

We are into week 3 of the latest butterfly challenge which is 

#122 Spin The Butterfly wheel with F for Flap fold.

I have a different  style of flap fold to show you today for your inspiration. It is called a Corner Flap Fold. I have put the instructions for making this card on the Butterfly Blog under the Card shapes page and is listed as Version III. It might look complicated but trust me it is two folds and two cuts and all you need is a scoring board and a trimmer or craft knife. The measurements and step by step pictures are in the tutorial.

First card uses  Flap fold/ French Rose/Firebrick Red/Flax/Flowers/Butterfly.

Design paper from my stash which was adhered to the base card (once it had been folded and cut to the shape). The flower toppers and the sentiment were freebies from the May 2019 issue of Crafts Beautiful. The butterflies are a SU Punch and gems from my stash. 

Photo below showing the inside of the card decorated with more of the flower toppers.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Brown Sugar #290 Flowers.
Crafty Catz #461 Anything goes + optional Female.
Artistic Inspirations #215 Anything goes.
Crafty Card Makers #233  3 -2-1 ( I have used 3 flower toppers/2 gems/1 butterfly)
Through The Craft Room Door # Anything goes.
The Crafty Addicts #60 Anything goes.

Second  card using the same fold (Version III) 
 Uses  Flap fold/ Flax//Butterfly.

Here I have used SU Design paper and picked the colour flax out from the chevrons. The butterfly is two different size SU Punches. Gems were in my stash. The sentiment is a Stamp by Woodware JS901 " Birthday Text Box" which I have stamped out onto white card but only used a small section of it.

Photo below showing the inside of the card.

Entering this card only into the following challenges:
Ally's Angels  #22 Anything goes.
Crafts Galore #63 Anything goes.
Daisy Chain Challenges #30 Anything goes.
Get Creative #80 Anything goes with no twist.
Love To Craft #34 Anything goes.
Simply Create Too #149 Anything goes with no twist.


This flap was a really fun shape to make. I hope you will give it  try. The Butterfly challenge is running for a further two weeks. I will be showing you a further flap fold next week so please come back and check it out.

Hanging Stockings.

Time again for the girls in the Christmas Card Club to show our next Christmas cards. Kate set the theme  and has chosen Children at Christmas.   I have chosen a digi image by Mo's Digital Pencil called Hanging Stockings. Instead of colouring it though I decided to leave it as black/white and based the card colours around it. Hope you like it Kate.

I used white card stock to make the base card and mounted black card stock on the front. The die cut borders around the image are Spellbinders Marvelous Squares which I have cut in red and black. The poinsettia die is by Ultimate Crafts 'Rustic Christmas'. The sentiment is by tonic Studios 'Modern Merry Christmas'.

More Flap Folds Version 2

It is week two of the moth long #122 Butterfly Challenge and I have a different Flap Fold card design to show you. This one is called a Flap Fold Diagonal and again is easy to make requiring just  2 score lines to fold  and 1 cut . You will find the tutorial for making this style (Version II) under the tab at top of page called  'Card Shapes' over on the Butterfly Blog.

1st card uses Flap Fold/Butterflies from the wheel.

 The overall card size measures 4" x 5.5".  Design Paper is M & C Boutique by The Works.  The die cuts for the sentiment are by Sizzix  'Thinlits Labels' 659733. The Butterflies are a small SU punch and the gems from my stash.  Sentiment is a freebie from a 2019 magazine.  Below shows the card partially open and standing up.

 Card Lying Flat showing the decorated inside.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Make My Monday #95 Wings.
Tuesday Taggers # Things with wings.
Creative Fingers #163 Anything goes.
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends #105 Anything goes.
Artistic Inspirations #214 Anything goes


2nd card uses Flap Fold/French Rose/Flowers/ Feathers/ Butterflies from the wheel.

 The design  paper is again from the same paper pad as the card above but this time I have matted onto French Rose cardstock before adding to the card front. Die cuts for the sentiment are again by Sizzix  'Thinlits Labels' 659733 and the Just a Note sentiment is from the same stamp set as the Birthday Wishes above.

 The butterflies are a larger SU punch and the pink  pre coloured feathers/gems were from my stash.
Below is the card Lying Flat showing the decorated inside.

Entering this card only into the following challenges:
Watercooler Challenges #219 Anything goes feminine.
Dies R Us #120 Flowers.
Brown Sugar #290 Flowers.
All Sorts Challenge #518 Pretty in pink.
Crafts Galore #63  Anything goes.

Hope I have given you some fresh inspiration for joining in the challenge.

Anniversaries

Both of the children have their Anniversaries in April just a few days apart but several yrs in between. As they have both been received I can show them now.

1st card is for a 15th Wedding Anniversary which the world wide web tells me is Crystal  and Roses. Fluff loves the colour yellow so here is the card I made for her and hubby.

 The stamp is by Visible Image 'Immortal Love set' and the design paper from Making cards Aug 2016 magazine called 'Cocktail Time.  I coloured the Rose in using my Marvy LePlume II water colour pens.  The sentiment on the inside is a Tonic die. Crystals from my stash.

Entering above card into the following challenges:
Crafts Galore #63 Anything goes.
Creatalicous # Anything goes +optional flowers.
Through The Craft Room Door #  Anything goes.
Penny's Paper Crafty #428 Anything goes.
Southern Girls # Anything goes.


2nd card is for a 7th Wedding Anniversary which the world wide web tells me is Wool. Daughter in Law loves the colour purple so no guesses on the card I made.

 The Trellis die is called 'Tessatina' by Memory Box and the sentiment again by Tonic. The Design Paper is by Crafters Companion Club Inspire April 2016. I cut the butterfly (by Memory Box 'Cascadia Butterfly' trio set) from felt along with the No 7(Sizzix 'Birthday numbers') and Th. (Tonic Studios also called 'Birthday numbers'). The wool trimming and gem were from my stash.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Make My Monday #95 Wings.
Die Cuttin Divas #418 Anything goes.
Tuesday Taggers #Things with Wings.
Cute Card Thursday #580 Anything goes.
Crafting With Friends #3 Anything goes.

Flap Fold Card

Time once again for another Challenge over on the Butterfly blog. A little bit different this time as the challenge is running for 4 weeks instead of the normal 2.

#122 Spin The Butterfly Wheel with F for Flap Fold.

There are so many ways to make a Flap Fold  card some  a little harder but here I have started you off with a nice easy one. Just 2 score lines and then folded. Easy Peasy. I will be showing further ways of making them in future weeks so keep on  checking here and on the Butterfly blog where I will be putting up the tutorials for them on the card shape tab.

For this card I have used  Flap fold/Flax/Firebrick Red/Flowers/Butterfly.

 Design paper is by Pink Petticoat 'Isabelline'  Spring wishes Daisy which I printed off and cut to 11" x 6" and then scored the 11" length at 4.5" and 9" to created the folds.  The Big Butterfly is Memory Boxes 'Cascadia Butterfly Trio. I have sandwiched the two bigger ones together and used a3D pad to raise up on the front of the card to make the a catch for the fold. The Strip of butterflies are from The Spellbinders Butterflies Circles Dies.

 Sentiment is by Xcut and the pearl from my stash. The row of small butterflies along the edge were also in my stash and I coloured using my promarkers to match the sentiment.

 Here you can see the card slightly open.  I decorated the inside with a panel of coloured plain stock card and used the last of the die cut Trio of  butterflies which I again coloured Firebrick red as a contrast.

Inside of card.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Make My Monday #95 Wings.
Creatalicious Challenges #162 Anything goes + optional Flowers.
Through The Craft Room Door # Anything goes.
Cut It Up Challenges #172 Butterflies & Bugs.
Crafting By Deigns # Anything goes.

For this second card I have used  Flap fold/Flax/French Rose/Flowers/Butterfly.

Design paper is by M & C Boutique from 'The Works'.  The raffia thread is also from The Works.
Sentiment is by Wild Rose Studio  from a clear stamp set called Birthday Greetings.  There are 6 stamps in the set, 4 round and 2 square with various greeting on them.  I punched these out using 1.5" and  2" punches. Raised up with 3D pads for the flap to tuck under neath.

Showing the front of the card slightly open.

Entering this card into the following challenges:

Penny's Paper Crafty #428 Anything goes.

Watercooler Challenges #219 Feminine anything goes.

Tuesday Taggers # Things with wings.

Crafty Catz #459 Anything goes +twist add a sentiment.

International Art And Soul #57 Birthday.

This challenge is lasting for 4 weeks with unlimited entries allowed as there are so many variations for this card shape which I will be showing you.  Hope to see you playing along.