Sunday Snippets - Van Gogh's World washi tape

An advertisement popped up on either Facebook or Instagram, totally randomly, for washi tape. So, as you do, I bought the box that was advertised as it features one of my very favourite painters. I had myself some real fun making up a batch of washi tape panels, all were made using snippets of plain white and white/pale ivory linen card leftovers. The card is trimmed away so any white or cream background card would do really. Then I rustled up some cards a few days later, this is the main one:

I used:

- white DL card blank, tent style

- used a snippet of Tonic irridescent mirror 'Inca Gold' card to die cut the sentiment using the MFT Die Versions Corner Concepts 'Happy Birthday' die

- the panel I chose to use is from the IEBEE company, based in China, and it's the widest washi tape in the 'Van Gogh's World' set of 36 washi tapes at three inches wide - more about the tapes below **

- made sure of the sides were trimmed nice and straight and then glued the die cut Happy Birthday to the back of the top left corner using a meduim nibbed glue pen

- just needed to place the panel with the sentiment onto the card base to work out how much to trim from the right hand end

- trimmed the end and stuck the panel onto the card front using thin sticky pads and the usual glue stick trick

- finished card number one!

- on a roll, I made three more following the same principle (photos are below) - super quick to make and I love the results

** A little bit more about the washi tape itself. The box contained 36 rolls of washi tape for £18 - that's 50 pence per three metre reel of tape! The number of rolls does vary depending on the design (they have FAR too many to choose from, all of them gorgeous) as does the price of course, It did take little while to arrive here but the packaging is fabulous, a really sturdy display box. Some of the tapes are gilded to add to the glamour! For accents I did sometimes add Altenew's narrow gold washi tape at the edge(s) BTW. The Van Gogh washi tape came from IEBEE and this is the link to the store home page - I'm not affiliated in any way, just a very happy customer. They have a huge variety of journalling and card making goodies - I particularly like the 'Monet's Garden' washi tape set as well as the 'Butterfly Garden' and know that Liz would love their 'Sunny Blooms' washi tape, loads of gorgeous sunflowers there! The tape is a joy to use and sticks really well. Mind you, I'll have to live until a very ripe old age to stand any chance of using even one box of it it up! But, at 50p per roll - who can complain, not me for sure. BTW, postage is free over £40 - I did pay £3.99 postage but, considering what I actually got, it was still money very well spent.

Here are the other cards I've made so far, all using the same basic design but more than one strip of washi and edged using Altenew's narrow gold washi tape:

My leftover gold snippets from the sentiments - man, I am SO mean with mirror card and keep the tiniest scrap! 

 

I'd like to enter my main card into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #67 HERE - the Van Gogh washi tape is NBUS needless to say!

- Allsorts Week #796 HERE - the card has a sentiment and also is 'anything goes' if my sentiment isn't enough

Dudley Pupdate: I haven't had a chance to video Dudley spinning for his bedtime treat - sorry. Right now he's absolutely full of beans the minute we stir in the morning - leaping all over us when it's time to get up and play! I sometimes wonder if he gets lonely and is sitting beside the bed literally willing us to wake up! He usually goes out into the garden for a quick wee, then does several celebratory zoomies ............... before coming back indoors to see what there might be for breakfast! I swear, he's ruled by his tummy!!

Remember, I've just kicked off a new challenge over in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Hope to see you on the swings - my mojo went off for a fairly prolonged walkabout recently but seems to be back and firing on all cylinders at the moment - hooray!

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me

Sunday Snippets - Especially For You

I initially made this snippets card with Christmas in mind but I don't have a small enough long Christmas sentiment die that would look right - so it's now for a Birthday, a Thank You or similar:

I remembered to take a photo of the leftover pieces of snippet for once!

I used:

- 5.75" x 5.75" square white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of white card for the background

- a snippet of Tonic 'Inca Gold' mirror card, backed with a snippet of Stick It adhesive sheet then die cut using a Gummiapan die called 'Doodled Gifts'

- peeled off the backing paper and popped it straight onto the snippet of white card for the background

- then covered a piece of white card with Altenew 'Gold Splatter - Blush' washi tape - it's 4.25" wide, very pretty and has been unopened for ages

- die cut a 4" x 4" square from the washi tape covered card, using a die from Heffy Doodle's 'Stitched Squares' set of dies and set it to one side

- used a piece of leftover washi tape covered card to die cut the little pile of gifts - after covering the back with Stick It sheet

- popped the pink washi pieces into the apertures in the pile of gifts - some of them were teeny tiny!

- die cut the white image panel using a smaller Heffy Doodle 2.5" x 2.5" 'Stitched Squares' die

- trimmed a piece of Tonic 'Inca Gold' to just leave a narrow margin around the pink panel and glued them together

- glued the image panel onto the pink washi covered panel

- added the whole panel to the front of the card using thin sticky foam strips and the 'glue stick' trick

- finally, covered the back of another snippet of Tonic 'inca Gold' mirror card with 'Stick It' adhesive sheet and die cut it using a die from Tattered Lace's 'Sentiment Borders' set of dies

- snipped the sentiment down to the three words 'Especially For You', which are repeated along the die several times, peeled off the Stick It backing and stuck it in place - finished!

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS Challenge #63 HERE, the Altenew pink washi tape, Gummiapan 'Doodled Gifts' die, Tattered Lace set of 'Sentiment Borders' dies and also the Heffy Doodle 'Stitched Squares' dies set were all having a first outing! Four NBUS items in one go - whoopie!

- Creations in Pink - Challenge #71 HERE

Dudley Pupdate: Just in time for some hot weather here, Len trimmed Dudley this past week. He's like a little newborn lamb right now - looks so small with delicate little feet and legs now that his 'Ugg boots' have been shorn off. His hair grows back really fast so it's only a couple of weeks before he's all fluffed up again.

Sarn has just kicked off challenge #483 over in the Snippets Playground HERE  Hope to see you there - the paddling pool has a very slow puncture so I'm afraid there's a 'rota' for us all do a stint on topping the air up! Dudley is 'excused boots' as he would take forever to add even the slightest bit of air! 

Love as always, Dudley Dog and me,

'Because' by Lil 'Inkers .......

...... this is one of my favourite sentiment dies as it says so much in just one word. I needed a card for someone special so this is what I came up with:

I used:

- 4" x 4" white linen look card blank, side opening

- washi tape from AALL & Create called 'Summertime' - I adhered two strips to a snippet of white card ** and kept it to one side

- then die cut the word 'because' twice, using snippets of green Altenew 'Forest Glades' card stock - sadly I only bought one pack of this card and it's no longer to be found in the UK - such a lovely green as well. The die is discontinued of course since Lil' Inkers closed down a while ago, such a shame as their products were brilliant

- glued both sentiments one on top of the other and then I could work out what to do with the washi tape strip I'd made 

- in the end I settled for backing the washi strip with a snippet of the same Forest Glades card as used for the sentiment and gluing it onto the lower part of the card before then trimming off the side edges 

- glued the sentiment in place, above the washi tape

- added some self-adhesive 'Winter Berries Glossies' by Sweet Huni Designs

- to finish off, I added a single strip of the same washi tape to the envelope

** I do love the latest washi tapes over at AALL & Create. This particular tape does pretty much match when you add another 'off lined' layer on top, so that you can make at least a double height band using it, but not all of them do. Although, there is always some waste if you try the' matching' part so be aware of that !Ask me how I know, sigh.

I'd like to enter this little card into Darnell's current NBUS Challenge # 56 HERE - both the washi tape and the 'Winter Berries Glossies' were having a first outing. 

That's it from me for today - typing this on Halloween Eve, not even 8pm and the heavens have opened - thereby curbing all callers for the rest of the evening! And reeeeeelaaaaaax! 

Because

Literally months ago, I started making some cards to use as notelets, to send with prizes or 'just because'. I recently finished making the last ones, 10 all the same:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- piece of white card covered with Altenew 'Painted Fantasy' washi tape, then trimmed to 4" x 4"

- wrapped a strip of plain vellum across the lower part of the panel, using red line tape to adhere it to the back

- die cut the word 'because' out of gold mirri card - using a 'because' die by Lil'Inker Designs (bought in a sale when they announced they were closing down) 

- added the die cut 'because' to the vellum using a glue pen

- mounted the panel onto a marginally bigger square of SU's 'Certainly Celery' card, using Collall All Purpose glue

- mounted those panels onto a marginally bigger square of gold mirri card

- and finally added the completed panel to the card front - finito!

The light here was dreadful when I took this photo - but, I suddenly remembered that the desk lamp I bought about a year ago not only dims but the 'warmth' adjusts in steps as, well from crisp daylight white to a cosy warm setting. I keep meaning to ask Len how that works - but it's jolly useful. I generally like a warm light if I'm not taking a photo, colouring or matching stuff and it's great to have the option.

I've seen folk using vellum on top of bold patterns and wanted to have a go for ages. And right now am crackers (who just said 'we know you are'?) over so many of the lovely wide washi tapes on the market.

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's current NBUS challenge #31 HERE. The washi tape and the sentiment were having their first outing - and my card was inspired by a card Darnell sent to me for my Birthday, last September! See, I don't rush into things very often.

Speaking of rushing, my comments are lagging, even for Challenge #412 and I do so apologise, but with good reason in some ways. I was given a super (hinted at, I cannot lie) Gemini Junior die cutting/embossing machine for my Birthday by Len a few weeks ago. I think the agonised moans and groans using the Cuttlebug from in here helped! So, have been clearing out bookcase shelves to make space for either the machine as a die cutting dedicated space and/or some reorganising in the craft room.

Today, Monday, I posted several books onto a local Facebook free 'give or need' (they call it a 'whisking' site) - and they went just like that, clicks fingers in a snappy fashion! I now have a direct link with the lady concerned and she will take all the books we wish to give and she will either keep, re-offer for free on a whisking site or take them to local charity shops. She never resorts to recycling or landfill so it's a win, win for us - even IF she does sell some of them on, and I do know that some are slightly more rare/valuable ones. I'm getting more SPACE to play, and that's worth a lot of money in my 'book'! Snigger - that pun just popped out, I promise!! So, if I'm a bit quiet - that's the bombshell that just landed in my lap and I really can't let the chance pass.

 

Rudolph Days - June 2021

Good job I set out really early out to make my entry for ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for June - HERE. 

I got SO VERY over-ambitious and went for a 'batch bake' of eight almost identical Christmas cards - without really factoring in how detailed and repetitive each one would be, with lots of steps at every single stage. I ended up with two times four each of very similar colourways - thanks to using a lovely Altenew 7" wide washi tape called 'Watercolor Nebula'. The repeat of the pattern is predominantly red/indigo sky then turquoise/purple, so that's how I ended up with four of each - the change in colourway does have a fine dark coloured line dividing it so I had to dodge those as well.

It's only fair to say that working with such wide washi tape is trickier than narrower ones - plus due to the 'skyline' size I ended up trimming what was supposed to be a much taller background to make a 4" square. Wasteful perhaps, but needed IMHO, for these cards to end up more balanced.

Here's two of the eight cards I made:

 I used:

- 5.5" x 5.5" white card blanks - side opening

- very slightly smaller square of black card to leave just a tiny bit of the white border showing - deliberately, due to the white writing on the sentiment strips I planned to use

- glued the black panels to the card fronts (in fact I did this at the end after fiddling around with sizing of the the image panel)

- the skyline - which was the first thing I did in reality - was the die cutting, using dies made by Memory Box 'Cityscape Silhouette' and 'Cityscape Nightline'. Die cut the solid 'Cityscape Silhouette' using snippet/s of gold mirri card then topped it with the 'Cityscape Nightline', which was die cut from snippet/s of black card and set the pieces to one side, after assembling them - then giving up for the day

- and that's how the fight started - an expression which always makes me smile. See an example below to get the idea ***

- cut USA sized A2 pieces of white card ready to cover with the washi tape - Altenew's 'Watercolor Nebulus' and after a good bit of wrestling ended up with eight covered rectangles. Remember, this was a bit of a voyage of discovery for me. My tested way (see HERE) of adding washi to a piece of card worked well. It was more a question of trying to place the design to get the best out of it - and also avoid those dark dividing lines between the colour change

- as said earlier - in the end I trimmed the panels down to 4" x 4" as the skyline wasn't too 'high' on the taller card and decided to go for square rather than US A2 rectangular cards - waste, waste, waste - to Altenew it equals profit methinks ☺

- by now I was lying on the floor on my back like a toddler drumming my heels, with Dudley joining in for fun, he's a great little heel drummer to be honest - and it was almost Day Three for goodness sakes!

- once again I walked away in disgust and felt quite dispirited

- totally ignored the mess on my desk in Day Three and fiddled around with grocery deliveries, letter posting and such

- back to work on Day Four and added the Clarity sentiment strips (from Clarity's 'Christmas and Celebrations' word sticker set) - really great if you're in a hurry or contemplating just giving it all up - to the upper left hand side. Had to use red line tape in the end as the washi and Clarity 'sticky' didn't wanna be friends and hug one another nicely

- mounted the image panel(s) onto a one eighth of an inch larger gold mirri card square

- then - finally - added the panels to the assembled card front and called it a day - Day Four to be exact!

What did I learn? Mostly not to dive into a big 'batch bake' without even just mentally listing all the steps first to get a feel for what you're letting yourself in for. In future, I'll stick simpler designs and steps - this almost finished me off! 

I'm also adding this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #27 because it's the first time I played with this particular new washi tape - although certainly not the first time I drummed my heels on the floor in anguish! ☺

And before I forget - here's an example of 'and that's how the fight started':

*** It was a lovely warm sunny summer Sunday so I decided to drive my family to the seaside.

After driving for a while the children started getting restless and asked "Where's the beach daddy?".

I replied, "She is right beside me in the passenger seat"

And that's when the fight started.

I found LOADS of these little gems - many made me cry with laughter - but this one just grabbed me as being a little less personal then others. Happy days!

Sent with love

Altenew goodies are always so lovely. I've been using their 'Vibrant Spray' die cut tape a lot recently and needed to order more from Seven Hills Crafts. Ooopsie, a roll of Altenew's 4.25" wide black and white striped washi tape also fell into my basket at the same time - and here's my first play with it. I had to take the photo at an angle - the sun was streaming in here:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, tent style

- piece of white card trimmed to 5.25" x 5.5" or so - just so long as there's extra width on each side, over the width of the washi tape

- then added the washi tape down the 5.25" length of the piece of card (it's called 'Gradient Lines' by Altenew) and wrapped it over the top and bottom of the piece of card

- then trimmed the sides of the resulting panel down to 4" width

- wrapped a piece of Altenew's 'Vibrant Spray' die cut tape around the panel, slightly lower than centre to allow for a sentiment. I had to hold the die cut tape in place with sellotape on the back of the panel BTW

- glued the whole panel to the card front

- added a pre-printed sentiment from the Clarity Stamps 'Clarity Christmas & Celebrations' set (so useful for speed!)

- finished!

Hey, ho - and it's another card for Darnell's NBUS Challenge #15. The 'Gradient Lines' washi tape is NBUS. I already had my pat on the back as a Random Pick - so why not come and play along too?

Washi Tape

Edit. Mental note, do not try to link someone else's post into WOYWW as a favour when using tablet. Managed to link this post instead of Princess Judy's, so if you came to see my desk am sorry! Have asked Julia to remove the link. Asses ears time here :-) 

I whistled up a really quick card - if you don't count the huge double layered die cut butterfly I carefully made and then decided against using:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- slightly smaller piece of the same white card with three strips of washi tape wrapped around opposite corners. I have this 'thing' about not being able to bring myself to tear washi tape across and then just add it in strips across the card front - although I love it when others do this - it's the torn edges that I can't handle

- the sentiment was stamped next, using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and Winnie and Walter's sentiment set called 'The Big, the Bold and the Happy'

- as I said, I made a die cut double layered butterfly and it just wasn't right - then I found a NBUS packet of black Papermania Vinyl Butterflies so used one of those instead

- added a few bright pink gems down the butterfly's body and called it done

Di
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Rudolph Day - October 2014

Crumbs, it's the penultimate Rudolph Day of the year over at Sarn's - how did that happen so soon? Here's my two cards, both identical:

I used:

- A6 cream linen card blank

- SU 'Cherry Cobbler' card stock for the 'frame'

- a further A6 cream linen card blank chopped in half and then trimmed down. I then flipped it to use the smooth reverse of the piece of card as there would be a sentiment stamped

- Christmas washi tape - from a pack of three complementing rolls bought in Hobbycraft a few weeks ago

- after laying down the bottom strips I stamped the sentiment using a stamp from SU's ''Good Greetings' set and SU's 'Mossy Meadow' ink pad

- that made adding the top strip of washi place much easier to align/space

- final touch, an already altered Wild Orchid Crafts poinsettia. Made a load of these way back in November 2011 which you can see here. I'd taken out the garish yellow centres, painted the orangey (shudder) red parts with Anita's Glaze and then dunked them into red glitter which changed them to a much richer red. Once dried they had Papermania sparkly gold brads popped into the centres

So that's my October Rudolph Day offering for Sarn - remember it runs until the end of the month so you could always combine it with your snippets entries :)

Di
x

Less is More - Washi tape

This week's challenge over at Less is More is to use Washi tape - and this card came about mostly as I had the 'bow' die on my desk:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white card stock

- three strips of Washi tape across a small piece of card which was then trimmed to a small square before being run through the Cuttlebug using SU's 'Square Lattice' embossing folder

- the 'bow' is die cut from a snippet of silver card using a die from Memory Box's 'Crisp Bows' set and just stuck on using a Quickie glue pen - one of those little gems I wouldn't be without

- no sentiment or anything else added either

I was sooooo pleased last week when Chrissie and Jen picked out this card for the LIM showcase - especially as I'd been having the vapours wondering if adding glitter using double sided adhesive sheet to the numbers would disqualify me:

Thank you ladies, you really made my day! Trumpet blowing session now over, stand easy :)

Di
x

More washi tape

Staring at the washi tape and a die cut butterfly still out on the crapalanche waiting to happen desk here I had a five minute play:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card stock

- strips of washi tape

- a black sparkly flower by Petaloo

- butterfly was already die cut using a snippet of pink card with Joy! Crafts 'Vintage Flourishes Butterfly' die 6003/0023. Black pearls added down the body

- sentiment is SU's from the 'Wonderful Words' set - am sure it's discontinued, I bought it 'pre-loved'. Am also sure it's stamped a bit 'wonky' but for a five minute dash I guess it'll do

Tomorrow is Snippets Playground weekly round up - and, as a little teaser, I have another Ryn Tanaka stamp for you to win.

Di
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