All wrapped up with someplace special to go

Sometimes we make a card which is so special or has so much depth to it that we don’t want to just put it in an envelope to give it away.  A paper tole card is a perfect example of this.   Here are the instructions for how I make boxes for bulky or odd sized [...]

February Trail Maps

February 2010 Trail Map by Regena

Good things come in threes!  Rectangles, triangles and a circle (or is that an embellishment?).  Where can you go with this map?  Let’s see what trails the Artistic Guides were led down this month to inspire you to follow your own trail map!
Stamps: Another Stamp Company
Stamps: Hampton Arts
 Stamps: Stampin’ Up!
Stamps: GG Designs
Stamps: [...]

Special folds – Purse card

Sometimes it’s nice to have things a bit girly — and what’s more girly than handbags and shopping?  This wee handbag purse contains a shopping gift card inside.
Supplies:
Stamps:
Small rose (Rubbadubbadoo)
Papers:
Purple Bazzil – 8.5″ x 11″
White cardstock -8.5″ x 11″
Pink cardstock – 8.5″ x 11″
Inks:
Fired Brick, Dusty Concord, Lipstick Distress ink pads (Ranger)
Other:
Score-pal and Scor-mat
Cutting knife
Steel Edged [...]

Folded Brag book

by: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide

  
This is not a card as such but a lovely gift. I received one of these from my wonderful friend Denice in Australia a year or two back. Now I have decided to make one with pictures of one of the beautiful girls I look after. I will give it to [...]

Special folds – All my love gate card

This is a nice easy fold which gives stunning results (and takes lots of room on the mantle piece).  It is made from a half sheet of 12″ x 12″ cardstock and decorated with designer paper, diecuts and stamps.
 
 
 
 
Supplies:
Stamps:
Seasons of Love – Tags (Waltzingmouse stamps)
Very Vintage Labels No.4 (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Blessed by You (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Papers
Black Cardstock [...]

Masculine nautical card-post 3

By Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide

Here is my next masculine themed card.  This is another Nautically themed card in a (nearly) monotone colorscheme.  It uses ripped edges so that there will be no imperfections on square corners or straight sides.  I  also looked for something to add some texture other than the ripping and embossing.   I [...]

Cutting straight to it…The Yacht card

The masculine card I shared yesterday is about my standard for a masculine card.  I chose the yacht as the main image, a blue and brown colour scheme and went through my stash of embellishments to find something a little manly. 
Here’s how I did it.  I have given extra details on how I get my straight [...]

Cutting straight to it…

 
Making a masculine card can be a bit challenging for some people, so I’ve decided to show you how I make mine.  There are a few things to take into consideration when making masculine cards.
The first and easiest thing to consider is the colour scheme.  I think that you can use any colour – just [...]

January 2010 Map

In keeping with our theme of quests, trails, hiking, scenic by-ways, we are changing the name of our sketches! 
To find our way during our journeys, we generally need a map to help guide us to our destination.  Sketches help guide us in our creative journey, beginning at the trailhead (a few stamps, ink, paper) and ending at our destination [...]

Holiday Splendor: Wrinkle-free Distress Santa Christmas Card

 
 
By: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide
Finished size: 4.125″ x 5.8″
This is a super easy way to make some nice bright cards this year.  All of the colour is added to the card before stamping so you could make loads of the backgrounds in one session and then make up into cards later.
 
 
 
 
 
Supplies:
Stamps:
Classic Santa (Rubbadubbadoo)
Papers 
Dark green card [...]

Holiday Splendor: Christmas card from the family

 
 
Every year a wonderful lady that I used to work with would dress her dogs in reindeer antlers and take a photo of them for her Christmas cards.  These photos were basically glued to the card and posted out.  This was before I started paper crafting, and was my first experience with homemade cards that didn’t [...]

Holiday Splendor: Nostalgic Santa Card

 
 
  
By: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide
Finished size: 4.125″ x 5.8″
This is a quick simple card for mass production at Christmas.  No tricky or messy techniques in this one.  Make the chalk colours as subtle or intense as you like.
 
 
 
 
 
Supplies:
Stamps:
Classic Santa (Rubbadubbadoo)
Spirit of Christmas (Rubbadubbadoo)
Papers 
Forest Green card – 8.25″ x 5.375″
Cream card – 4.125″ x 5.375″
Cream card [...]

Stampscapes, Day 3

 
How are you enjoying the scenic trail, so far?  It’s amazing how many different looks can be achieved from the same stamps!  We continue our feature for Stampscapes rubber stamps. These stamps can be purchased on nice quality wood mounts, unmounted, and now available, unmounted on cling cushion.  These scenic stamps can be used not [...]

Holiday Blizzard Project – Christmas Dinner Placemat

Holiday Table Placemat

 
By: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide
Finished size: 11″ x 8.25″
I decided this year that I would make a tablemat for each person coming to Christmas lunch.   I thought about each person and how I could make each one suit their personalitity while keeping a Christmas theme.  This is the mat that I made [...]

More Mygrafico Digital Designs

 
 
Mygrafico is owned and operated by partners, Burcu Arat Sup (a.k.a. MUJKA) and Judy Sanqunetti.  Both women are illustrators. 
 
 

 
 
Burcu creates designs mostly for stationery companies and the commercial market. You can check out Burcu’s beautiful work at her website,  Mujka Chic.
 

 
Judy creates designs mainly for the kid’s market. Judy’s wonderful children’s design work can be found at Sanqunetti [...]

Holiday Blizzard Project – Chocolates Giftbox

The “Did You Make This?” Gift Box.
By: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide
Finished size: 6″ x 6″
Sometimes at Christmas we like to give a little something special and indulgent that we have made ourselves.  My sister-in-law is renowned for her home made coconut ice.  I thought these little boxes would be perfect for giving home-made sweets – [...]

Melanie’s Copic Experience.

In my opinion I have never been good at colouring in stamped images.  I don’t like the way that watercolour markers pill the paper if I go over it too much and I don’t like that I can see lines when I use them.  Coloured pencils are OK but I get varied results with those [...]

Tractor Card for the Discoverer

 
Deere John
By: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide
Finished size: 6″ x 6″
Without seeds and soil there would be no harvest to celebrate – but what about the tools that we use to prepare the soil and transport the harvest?  This card celebrates these things.  On this card, I used preprinted designer paper with tractors all over, great [...]

Easy Collage Card for the Adventurer

By: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide
Finished Size: 4.25″ x 5.5″
This card was inspired by the grapes that grow in the beautiful Hawkes Bay region where I live.  There are vineyards absolutely everywhere – even on the former site of our local 1/4 mile drag strip (much to my husband’s dismay).  But so many people get such [...]

Good Wine card for the Adventurer

Good Wine
By: Melanie Smith, Artistic Guide
Finished size: 6″ x 6″
With this card, I made my own mini designer paper – choosing my inks and colour intensity to achieve exactly the results that I was looking for (bear in mind that this is a third draft of this card and I knew what I didn’t want from [...]