Wednesday, August 31

Rocking Horse

Free Printable #173



Originally Designed: August 2011
Remastered: September 2016
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.



Monday, August 29

Baby Cards

I made these two cards using a new digital image I drew over the weekend. The first card is for a challenge over at Stampland, and the second will form part of my instructions on how to make a rocker card - which is exceedingly easy by the way!


I am planning to donate both of these cards, along with a few others I've made, to Charlie Bear's Gift, a wonderful online charity auction that is raising money for the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital Foundation.


Blue Hydrangea Card

I LOVE this beautiful hydrangea paper and decided it would be perfect for a boxed card (big surprise huh?). I combined it with some Very Vanilla cardstock, although I think white or even a light blue would have looked wonderful too.



Birthday Wishes Stamp: Stampin' Up
Patterned Paper: K & Co Cottage Garden Collection
Punches: Martha Stewart

Rhinestones: Kaisercraft
Embossing Folder: Couture Creations
Glitter: Stickles
Cardstock: Very Vanilla Stampin' Up

Sunday, August 28

A Note On Card Folds...

I've had a couple of people comment and send me emails about the card fold list I have on my blog. I just want to remind everyone that it is a work in progress... a very slow work in progress! The cards I have under "A" have all been done, and there are odd cards throughout the list that I have also made tutorials for, but everything else is currently gracing my "to do" list.

Saturday, August 27

Miss Verity Rose

 

Originally Designed: August 2011
Remastered: July 2020
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Thursday, August 25

More Cards...

I wanted to post a thank you to Suzanne for her card fold ideas:
Teardrop Card
Kinetic Card
Bookatrix Card
Triple Easel Card
Twisted Easel Card
Thanks Suzanne, I have added them to our list!!

Wednesday, August 24

Piggy-back Bear

Free Printable #171

I just love how this little teddy is snuggled in against his girl!

copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Tuesday, August 23

Nell's Cottage



Originally Designed: 2011
Remastered: August 2017
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Monday, August 22

One last card...

The Card Camp challenge this week was to make a Christmas card that contained no red or green in the design. I used this little house again, coloured with distress ink and a water brush. The circle frame was cut with a Nestie and the pine needles around it were cut with a Martha Stewart punch.


To all those readers who asked about this digital image - I'm just in the process of cleaning it up and will have it up for you to use tomorrow.

Saturday, August 20

August Christmas Cards

My Christmas card stash is growing nicely thanks to the monthly challenges at Christmas Cards All Year Round. I've been keeping up with my five cards, and every now and then I even manage six or seven!


Friday, August 19

Little Hobo

Free Printable #169


This little fellow very nearly ended up in the bin, but his sweet face saved him and I persisted with the design until he kitted-out and ready for travellin'.


copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Monday, August 15

Birdhouse with Vines


Originally Designed: August 2015
Remastered: March 2021
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Sunday, August 14

Tutorial - Boxed Cards


I enjoy making dimensional cards full of handmade flowers, loads of embossing, ribbons and pearls, but their bulk makes them very difficult to package, and you can forget about using a standard envelope! What you need is a custom made, matching box that not only houses your beautiful card, but also becomes a work of art in itself.




1. Measure your card. Your box will need to be slightly bigger than the card - just enough that you will be able to put the card in easily, but not so big that the card then slides around inside. I generally add 1/4" to the height of the card and 1/4" to the width of the card to get my box dimensions. I like my boxes to be about 3/4" deep, which has so far been enough to accomodate any of the embellishments I've used on my cards.




2. Okay, now for the maths... My finished card measures 8 1/4" x 4". I want my box to be slightly bigger than my card so I will add 1/4" to both the height and the width bringing the total to 8 1/2" x 4 1/4".

3. We now need to add in the measurements for the depth of the box. These will be the sides that fold up. As I said in step one, I like to make my boxes about 3/4" deep, which means we need to add that measurement to each of the four sides. That will bring the total measurement to 10" x 5 3/4".

4. Using the final measurements you figured out in step three (in my case 10" x 5 3/4"), cut two pieces of cardstock - one for the base and one for the lid.

5. Place one of the cardstock pieces on your scoreboard and score each of the four sides at 3/4". This will be the base of your box.




6. The lid of the box needs to be slightly wider than the base or it won't slip on properly. On my scoreboard I have an extra little line on the left hand side that is a fraction of an inch away from the O. I line my cardstock up with this mark and then score at 3/4". Turn the cardstock 90 degrees, line it up with the same mark and score at 3/4". Repeat for the other two sides. You will now have marked the lid of your box that will be slightly wider and slightly longer than the base. Set it aside while we complete the bottom of the box.




7. Have a look at the corners of your cardstock where the score lines intersect. To help with the folding and construction of the box we're going to cut away one of the score lines on each corner with a small pair of scissors. Remove the score line up to where it intersects the second score line as in the pictures below.



8. Fold along the score lines.


9. Add some glue or double sided tape to the small tabs you formed on each corner of the box. Adhere them to the inside of the box forming nice, straight, square corners.


10. The base of your box is now complete.


11. To make the lid, remove the score lines in each of the four corners as we did in step seven. Now we are going to cut out a section of the lid so that we can see through to the card inside. I often cut out the aperture with a craft knife and ruler to give me a simple rectangular window, but now and again I get fancy and pull out a nestability to do the job. It really doesn't matter what shape you choose to make the window, but try to leave at least 1/2" between the edge of the window and the score lines.


12. Now fold up and adhere the tabs of the lid in the same manner as you did the base.


13. Adhere a piece of plastic to the inside of the lid with double sided tape. (If I may briefly get upon my soapbox... consider going green and harvesting some plastic from packaging around your home - ironically, I found my plastic on an old package of Christmas cards I purchased years ago! There's really no need to go out and buy transparencies or acrylic sheets when so many of our everyday items come prepackaged in plastic. Not only does it save money, but also our world.)

14. Now the fun part! Get out all your punches, rhinestones, pearls, stickers, bits, bobs, thingamadoodles and whatsamacallits and decorate the edges of your completed box.


Saturday, August 13

Tutorial - Shaped Cards


Shaped cards are literally cards that are shaped to resemble something other than the standard square or rectangle. I have seen cards cut to look like teddy bears, castles, cars and even a big pencil. You are only limited by two things - your imagination and the need to retain a goodly section of the fold between the back and front of the card.


1. Decide on the size of card you wish to make and source an appropriate piece of cardstock. Score and fold it in half as you would for a standard card.


2. Using a pencil, draw an outline of the shape you wish to cut. Remember to include a portion of the fold in your design or you will end up with two separate pieces of cardstock rather than a folding card.


3. Use a knife or scissors to trim away the parts of the card you don't need. As you can see, I decided on a three tiered wedding cake for my card. It's a nice simple shape that allows for quite a lot of the fold to be retained.

4. All that's left now is to decorate your card!

Friday, August 12

Design Previews

It always amazes me that one small and seemingly insignificant action on my part can have such a huge impact on someone else... Yesterday I received a phone call from a lady in one of my card groups who had just received a birthday card I sent to her earlier in the week. I have to admit that after dropping it in the mail box I promptly forgot all about it as I went about my day. To her though, receiving that card meant a whole lot more. It meant that someone was thinking about her, that someone remembered her and for a moment it eased the lonliness of living by herself. Now, I don't mean to get too philosophical here, but we do tend to take our small actions for granted, don't we?

Okay, on to the reason for this post... There is another lady out there who needs some support right about now. You can read about Lyndall and her family right here, and then if you would like to commit a small action, you can purchase one of the digital designs from the same site by clicking on the tab at the top of the page marked "Digi Images". They are only $2.00 each, which might not seem a whole lot, but to someone out there it is a show of love and support that is really needed right about now.

Mummy's Boy


Ready for Market


Magnolias with Candle


Miss Lyndall and Lady Melissa

Lotus Flower

Free Printable #167

copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Thursday, August 11

Magnolias

I drew some magnolias earlier in the week for a special cause and liked them so much that I thought I'd draw another image and use it on a card. And as it happens, they are perfect for this weeks challenge at Stampy Land, which is to make a pink and green card!



I coloured the flowers with Aquarelle water colour pencils and an aqua brush, mounted them on some Nestabilities die cuts and finished it off with a cuttlebug embossing folder and a couple of border punches.

Wednesday, August 10

Thinking Of You

This is very similar to the last boxed card I made, just with a different sentiment and slightly different embellishments. I've tried to make them a little more special by adding an embossed panel to the back of the card as well as a punched, bordered or embossed insert in the middle.


I've had quite a few people ask for instructions on how to make a boxed card, so in the next few days I'll attempt to put something together for you... right now I have a number of other projects I need to complete, if only to make some room on my desk!