Monday 27 April 2015

Cards for Men with papermilldirect


Hello and welcome to another blog post, this week the Team have been working on Cards for Men.  I think it can be harder to create cards with a masculine feel as we can't automatically add the pretties in the ways that we are used to.  This week I have been playing with silhouettes, creating a strong image with lots of contrast and getting back to a simpler cleaner overall look that I think will work well for the men in our lives.

Before I show you my designs this week, I must tell you about the new improved website over at Papermilldirect, not only improved navigation and filters to help you find what you are looking for, but the popular pick & mix boxes can now contain the Essentials as well as the Colours ranges, so you can pop in your whites, ivories and colours, whatever you wish into one box, and if going for the Mega Box you can now get up to 10 different picks!!  If you're popping over for a sneaky look then don't forget to check out the Special Offers too, as a new one has just been added today, it's a 300gsm White card at just £14 for a Midi Size box.

Okay back to the cards,the first one 'Just Relax' is the feature of a step-by-step Tutorial which you can find published over on the Papermilldirect Inspire Blog today (Click HERE for link).  I have included lots of step-by-step photos and also the link to my Design Space file if you wish to cut this one on your Cricut Explore.


Materials Used:
Link to Tutorial: https://www.papermilldirect.co.uk/inspire/post/just-relax-tutorial-to-make-a-male-themed-card-using-the-cricut-explore
Plain White, Black, Sky Blue, Daffodil Yellow cards - Papermilldirect
White Seal Embossed (Special Offer) - Papermilldirect
Double Sided Tape, Cosmic Shimmer Glue, 3D Foam Pads
Versamark Inkpad (optional)
Oakhouse Studio Stamps (optional)
http://www.oakhousestudio.com/ourshop/prod_3672656-Sunshine-sentiment-and-texture-set.html
Cricut Explore
Link to my Design Space File:  https://uk.cricut.com/design/#/canvas/27213517

My 2nd Card  has also been designed in Design Space software and cut on the Cricut Explore. I quite like the look of silhouette’s to give a strong image and contrast, especially for Male themed Cards. This design could be used for all sorts of occasions, or just to say ‘Hello’. It features a man on the telephone and I thought it would be fun to add a speech bubble and the sentiment of ‘hello’. I have used black and white for contrast but also thought the Ivory linen would provide an interesting textured background and along with the Sky Blue Card, it also gives a slightly retro feel.



I created a 5 ¾ x 5 ¾ “square card blank by scoring & folding PMD A4 Plain White card. Matting a square of Ivory linen onto a slightly larger square of black cardstock and then adhering to the card front with double sided tape. The layered sentiment has been assembled using cosmic shimmer glue and attached directly to the card at the top right hand side. The layered silhouette has also been assembled using cosmic shimmer glue but attached to the card front using 3D foam pads to give extra height and interest to the design. I think these would make great notecards in sets with a variety of different colour cardstocks from the PMD Colours range to contrast with the black.
Materials List:
Plain White, Black, Sky Blue, and Ivory Linen card - Papermilldirect
Double Sided Tape, Cosmic Shimmer Glue, and 3D Foam Pads

Tools Used:
Cricut Explore & Design Space software
Free and Subscription images

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 



Tuesday 14 April 2015

Welcome Little One - with Papermilldirect

Hello and welcome to this week's Blog Post, The Design Team have been working on the theme of 'New Baby' and I have a simple 2 colour card to share with you this week.

But first news of the Special Offer, which this week is the very lovely and very special 230gsm White Seal Embossed card and is available in A3 as well as A4 sizes starting at just £15 - you'll find it in the Special Offers section of the website - Link Here:


Flourishes and swirls are quite popular at the moment in card making, so I thought it would be nice to use them to create a simple 2 colour design to welcome a baby girl.

The card base has been created by scoring and folding Papermilldirect white hammered card to create a base to accommodate the 7” x 5” panel. The front layered swirl pattern has been cut on the Cricut Explore using a cutting file by Birds Cards, and a sentiment from within the Cricut Design Space subscription.  (as always materials list and links at bottom of post)

The layered panel was resized to measure 7” x 5” and the sentiment was easily resized to fit the oval panel on the front. I choose PMD plain white and baby pink cardstocks for the panel and sentiment. 






Cosmic Shimmer glue was used to glue the white swirl part to the pink swirl backing and then the whole panel was mounted to the card front using 3D foam pads to give height and depth to the cut outs. I also used cosmic shimmer glue to layer the sentiment and again attached to the card front using 3D foam pads.

Pale pink organza ribbon tied in a bow and some pale pink adhesive gems provide the finishing touches.



Cutting Files Used:
Swirly Frame 5 by Birds Cards - http://www.birdscards.com/swirly-frames-5-6/
(please note that all ‘Birds Cards’ files are for Personal Use only)

Welcome Little One sentiment – Cricut Design Space

Materials used:
Plain White Card - Essentials Range - Papermilldirect
Baby Pink Card - Colours Range - Papermilldirect
White Hammered Card - Essentials Range - Papermilldirect
Cosmic Shimmer Glue
3D Foam Pads
Pink Organza Ribbon
Pink Adhesive Gems


Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 


Thursday 9 April 2015

On Cloud Nine ... with Papermilldirect

Happy Easter to you all, my sister and little niece are visiting this week and so it's been lovely to see the children playing together and enjoying a little Easter Egg Hunt.  Lots of chocolate and treats and family time and so not much time for crafting, but I have a card to share with you today.  It's my turn to work with the +papermilldirect Special Offer this week and when I saw it, I thought wow isn't that a beautiful shade of blue!!  

It's called 'Sea Blue' 120gsm and is available at a Special Price of just £2-70 for a 30 sheet pack of A4. You will find it in the Special Offers section over at Papermilldirect. (link here:)


The Sea Blue 120gsm is such a bright and cheerful shade, I thought it would be perfect to use for a happy themed bright card.
Card base is Papermilldirect Plain White card, scored, folded, and trimmed to create a 5.5” x 5.5” card blank.
 


I used the ‘Sea Blue’ as the main colour for this card; it was perfect to represent a bright blue sky. PMD White Hammered card was used to give a hint of fluffiness to the clouds. Keeping with the bright colour scheme I chose PMD Raspberry Pink and Apple Green to create the Kite, attaching with 3D foam pads to give height.
The Sea Blue was also great to cut in my Cricut Explore, you can see how cleanly it cut the wording. I added a little Stickles to the lower edges of the clouds and small sparkly blue gems to finish.
Cloud Nine, clouds and kite cut on the Cricut Explore using files from with the Cricut Subscription which I resized to suit my project.


Materials Used:
Papermilldirect Sea Blue 120gsm Offer Card, Plain White, Raspberry Pink, and Apple Green card.
Adhesives Used: Cosmic Shimmer Glue, Double Sided Tape, 3D Foam Pads
Stickles in ‘Frosted Lace’
Blue Sparkly adhesive gems


Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: