More Square Cards

It took a little while, but I reckon I'm now making more square cards than the old A6 size we've been making for years. I find I prefer pre-cutting my cardstock to 14 x 28cm then folding it to make a 14 x 14cm card. It's also easy then to make an envelope from an A4 paper - trim one side to make a 21 x 21cm square. Place diamond-shape on table and place square card straight up inside. Fold the top and bottom triangles towards the card, crease the edges then do the same with the sides. Cut away the tiny overlapping corner triangles that formed during folding. See which sides make the neatest envelope and then glue with a stick glue (Pritt) and after inserting the card, you can close the flap with a small Peel-Off.

My friend, Dawn asked me to please make her a very special Wedding Card for a family wedding she was to attend. I got the inspiration out of one of the Hobbyjournaal Newspapers and changed it somewhat. The diamond background was made on the Scor-Pal using a Scor-Bug which creates dotted embossed lines. I was very chuffed with the results.

This card that I gave to my friend Kathleen for her birthday, was made from leftover scraps of scrapbooking paper. The girl was an image stamped from a friend's stamp and coloured in with pencil crayons. The small wording and gold trim are Peel-Offs.

I had been teaching 3D flowers in a class and this piece was too big to fit onto the prepared space, so I decided to use it on another card. This scrapbook paper was just perfect for a background and the gems, flourish, butterfly and lace add that special extra! I must mention that the flourish was cut from a Mariaan Design Die on the Cuttlebug. The cardstock used was the mottled inside of a Cremora Box! Look inside various boxes like Rusks, Choc-Kits Biscuits and many others for that 'less boring' cardboard. Thanks to friends Christa and Petro for sharing this lovely tip!

Embroidered Cards

For a while now I've been admiring the gorgeous hand embroidered cards that my Cardi-ologist friends Susan & Desiré make. When we were at a recent WISH (Women In Stamping Heaven) meeting in Joburg, I invested in 3 lovely Hobbyjournaal Newspapers which are brimming with embroidery patterns and card making ideas. The only hitch is that they're in Dutch, but knowing Afrikaans helps, as I can fathom out majority of the instructions.
This is the first card I made from one of the patterns in the newsy...I have 2 spools of multicoloured cotton, so they're going to come in very useful with all the patterns I've photostatted and covered with DC Fix to protect them. The Christmas Baubles in the picture are wonderfully South African and go perfectly with all the colours.

This Butterfly card is the next one I've made.

Then I made this circular one for my hubby Gavin for his birthday. The circle pic was cut from an old commercial card and matches the green and blue cotton so well!

Then I sewed this unusual design card using a pinkish multicolour cotton for the most part. The pic I coloured in with pencil crayons ages ago & have now finally found the perfect frame for it.

I think I'm hooked on Embroidered Cards. I bought 2 more Dutch books recently and there are some stunning designs to try. Watch this space...