Q for Quick and Simple

Hi everyone!
Yet another week has gone by and I don't know where it went to!  I thought I'd be all organised now since the weddings are over but I just can't seem to get anywhere near organised!
And not only that, but another fortnight has gone by and it's time for another challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog.  And if you haven't already guessed from my title, we're up to Q and it's for Quick and Simple - now there is a real challenge!!  I usually spend hours making a card and sometimes even days!

But this one kind of happened by accident!
My little sister was heading off on a school trip to Paris and, as us big sisters have to do, I was giving her a bit of spending money for the trip.  I was just about to leave the house when a thought popped into my head (it doesn't happen very often, so it surprised me!) that I should've made her a card for going.  Then I was nearly knocked off my feet when another thought popped into my already thought-filled head - I could make her one now with the bargain stamps I bought ages ago of Parisian themes!

So I took a piece of an off-cut from some DL shaped wedding invitations I made earlier in the year (I keep everything!) and scallop punched one of the short ends.  I butted the other, straight edge, up on my score-board and scored a line at the tri-fold mark.  I folded that line then butted the folded side and scored on the same line, leaving a short piece that I folded and secured on the inside of the card to make a pocket.

I then went over the whole thing with my Parisian themed stamps in brown versafine and also in versamark to make shadows, and this is how it turned out

Front

Inside

And with that all-important money in it!

It literally took about 5 minutes to make - including thinking time!

I'm entering this in the following challenges;
Less is More: One Layer, seeing double
Jules Craty Snippet Challenge, more of an off-cut than a snippet, so I hope it still counts!
Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Sing it - Parisian Walkways by Gary Moore
Totally Papercrafts Challenge: Clean and Simples
Trully Scrumptious: Decorate the inside of your card

I thought I'd finish with the fabby song - Parisian Walkways by Gary Moore, I saw him a couple of years ago in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, totally awesome and sadly missed.

Thanks for looking!
 

An Autumn Wedding

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?! I made this card a couple of weeks ago but couldn't seem to find the time to get it blogged!
So I've managed to find ten minutes to do it now!

This is my card:

I found this digi stamp at Tiddly Inks and just fell in love with it, so I got so excited when I got a call from a friend that she needed a wedding card!

I coloured the cute couple with my copics and cut them out with a nestie oval. The names were computer generated and I cut them out, inked them up and stuck them to the back of the image.

I thought the layers of the wedding gown would go so well with a technique that was shown on the Whiff of Joy tutorials and inspirations blog ages ago. The papers I used are from the DCWV Once Upon a Time stack.

I used the same technique for the sentiment on the inside. I thought I'd leave it simple as there is so much detail on the front.

I also made a money wallet to match.

The tab pulls out the slieve to reveal the gift.

(See my generous gift??!! lol)

And here's the whole set together

The card fits the following challenges:
Allsorts Challenge Blog; Inspiration from a song title - I just thought of the Beatles classic "I wanna hold your hand"
Craftilicious Challenges; Anything goes
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge; Nursery Rhyme/Song - again the Beatle "I wanna hold your hand"
Create 4 Fun; To use a digi stamp
Sketch & Stash; I turned the sketch around and my papers have been sitting untouched for ages!

I hope you like it, thanks for dropping by!

Another Wedding card with money wallet.

I made a card for my ma 'n' da to give to my cousin - who got married yesterday.

I actually used decoupage on the card - and not a stamp in sight!! I've had this decoupage sheet for ages and thought if I don't use it now I never will!!
Here's the card:

I followed the sketch from Mojo Monday

I thought it went perfectly with the twisted decoupage! (which looks a little skew wif here - it must be the angle I took the photo at.... no, really!)

And I continued the sketch on the inside:

I made this money wallet to go with the card:

And here's the whole lot together:

The wedding went really well and they all looked stunning! The weather was good too, although it was a bit windy.
I was exhausted, partly because I was still making some last minute order of service booklets the night before!
Now I need to get stuck in to make the invitations for my best friends wedding - this is the first time I've had 2 weddings in one year - stressed is not the word!!

I haven't used this in ages!

My mum sponsored my cousin who made her confirmation and she wanted me to make a bookatrix for her - I haven't done a bookatrix in donkeys ages so I said ok. To tell the truth, I'd sort of gone off bookatrixes, I think there's only a limited amount you can do with them (although I'm sure some of you v talented blogger out there could prove me v wrong!)
I picked out some lovely papers and got going - and I thoroughly enjoyed making it! I was really pleased with how it turned out - and I'd never attached a charm to one before and I think that really made it!

Here it is:

Here's a close-up of the charm with a little cluster of beads that I put together:

I think making a box for a card really makes it too - and you sort of have to with a bookatrix!

She also wanted a money wallet to go along with the card, so I made this:

This is it opened out:

And here's the whole ensemble:

I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to do much more to blog as I'm staying at home to help my mum and I don't know how much time I'll have to make anything. I'll try my best though!

Another one for Rachael

My Ma 'n' Da wanted a card for Rachael too. So I made this one from them:

This is the inside:

I followed this sketch from Papertake Weekly:

I used the Sugar Nellie stamp "Wish" which I coloured with H2O's and stardust pens. The papers are from the DCWV "Once Upon A Time" stack and the brads are charm brads from Dovecraft. The wording was cut using my Craft ROBO

They were giving her tickets for her birthday and wanted something to put them in so I made this to match the card (also following the sketch):

I got the idea for this from SCS but I don't know if it was done as per the instructions as I didn't read them because it said you needed a crimper - which I don't have! I used all the same ingredients for this as for the card.

She was delighted with her present!

A different money wallet - for christmas!

Isn't time flying!!! And I'm so busy lately that I've hardly had time to make anything. But I was asked to make a money wallet with a letter in it from Santa, I could hardly refuse the big man could I!!!
This is the outside of the wallet

And this is it opened out

With this letter

And this is the back

I couldn't put my usual name on it as it was for a special customer!

I used a sheet of A4 card and scored it at the 12.5cm scoreline, folded it and butted the fold up and scored another line at the 12.5cm mark. I then trimmed a small amount off the edge of the longest flap and folded it all up and I had the basic envelope shape.
I matted and layered everywhere - I almost started doing it to the cat!!
On the inside middle flap, I added 2 strips with brads. I made these about a mm longer than the mat so as you can slip some money under them.
I added some clear sakura stardust pen here and there and printed Santa's letter onto vellum.
I had tried to do the closure with magnets but it was too thick so I added the ribbon (although I have a very limited selection of ribbon at the moment - that's one for the january sales!!)
I was happy with the outcome - I wonder if the recipient will even notice the packaging or will the present get all the attention!!

Anyway, best go - it's now 5am!!!

Money Wallet Tutorial!

Can I just say - Chrissie, great minds!!
I had taken photo's as I went along while I was making the aforementioned money wallet with the intention of doing a tutorial at some point in the future - when I had a bit more time. I have since realised that this is never going to happen so there's no time like the present!
As I was going through the photo's however I noticed a small descrepancy which I'll come to later!

So without further ado, here's the tutorial...

1. For the outer sleeve take an A4 sheet of card to match your greetings card (if applicable) and measure 22cm up each side and leave a small mark with a pencil.

1.

2. Now take something large and round like a dinner plate (or in my case the top of a small round side table!) line it up with your marks and draw around it (curving into the smallest measurement)

2.

(I was going to show a picture of the drawn line here but as I was using dark card it didn't show up in the picture very well - but you'll see it in the next instruction)

3. Carefully cut around the curve

3.

4. Now take your scorboard and sore at the A6 gatefold line along the longest side (or if you don't have a scorboard, then measure and score)

4.

5. Turn your card around and do the same on the other side.

5.

6. Then measure 11cm from the straight edge and score along that line.

6.

7. Carefully cut out the two rectangles now visible at the sides along the straight edge.

7.

8. Fold all the score lines and put double sided tape along the edges.

8.

(The scissors are just there to hold down the flaps til I took the photo!)

9. Stick all the flaps down and trim off any bits that are sticking out. Then leave to one side.

9.

10. Now take a piece of contrasting card - here I'm using gold mirri card - and measure 9.5cm accross. Then take your outter sleeve and line up so as it overlaps the edge of the mirri and your drawn line and the bottom and then draw around the curve (you could cut out a strip of the mirri and put it into the sleeve and draw around the curve then - but I don't like wastage!)

10.

10.

11. Again, carefully cut around the shape. make another shape by drawing around this one out of the same card as the outer sleeve or contrasting card.

11.

(please ignore the mess at the top of this photo - I am a messy crafter!)

12. Now take another piece of contrasting paper (possibly patterned) and cut out a rectangle measuring 5cm x 11.7cm. Draw and score a line one cm in at the bottom (long side) and at each end. Also score a line 1mm out from this line too as this helps it to fold around the other piece of card.

12.

13. Cut across the corners of your scored lines and apply DS tape.

13.

14. Line up the gold mirri piece to the scored lines, fold over and stick in place.

14.

14.

14. This is the front

15. Generously apply wet glue all over the back and attach the other cut out piece. Place under something heavy until dry to keep flat. (this is where my side table top comes in handy again!!)

And here's where the fatal flaw occured. I was called away to do something else ("perfect" I thought, "just when I have it in to dry - it'll be set when I come back!") But when I got back - I forgot to carry on taking photo's, so I'll just have to try to explain the rest!

16. Punch a hole in the middle at the top of the gold mirri piece and thread a small length of ribbon through it and tie in a knot. Also I coloured around the edge of the gold mirri with a gold pentouch pen just to hide the white undercard.

You could also add a tag with names on it to the little pocket bit at the bottom or as I did with this one, cut out a tag and attach it with another bit of ribbon through the first bit of ribbon.

And that's the inner piece done!

17. Back to the outer sleeve. Attach a piece of ribbon across the top where bottom folds up to meet the curve - this just hides the join.

18. Using a glue pen draw around the edge of the curve and add glitter to it - don't forget to do inside the pocket too.

19. Add another tag with the recipients name on it and attach to the front below the opening. You could add some decorative papers or more glitter if you like!

20. Insert the inner sleeve and hey presto, it's finished! And it fits nicely into an A6 envelope.

21. Now add a £100 note and post to: Sheena..... (just kidding!!!) (although if you really want to you can contact me and I'll send my details!!!)

Here's a couple of others that I've done

I thought I had more - but I mustn't have taken photo's of them.

I hope you enjoyed this little lesson - even if some of it was missing!
And if anyone makes one - I'd love to see them! ;)

Thanks for looking!