Easel Card 1

This is the first of the Easel cards made with some of the stuff off my desk for WOYWW this week. I thought I would have a go at easels, and they are really very easy & effective. I have put a short tutorial on a page HERE for the folds and construction. The stamped panel was brayered with Adirondack Sandal, Lemonade and Citrus then left to dry. The image is called Aspire by Penny Black, and was stamped three times across the panel. I inked up the stems using Distress Forest Moss, and added the flower colour using Cats Eye Terracotta then the flowers had sparkly embossing powder added and heated. The panel was then cut into three, with the centre one being slightly larger, and matted onto dark red card. I cut my base card to the width of my stamped image, then scored and folded to create the easel.The part the card will stand on was covered in a dark green paper. I trimmed down the offcut from my card to make the panel that is the stopper.A piece of clear vellum was embossed with the D'vine Swirls Embossing Folder, cut down to slightly larger than the card panel, then edge punched with a Fiskars Heart Border punch. I added this to the panel with a small piece of DST in the centre only, where it will be hidden by the sentiment.The sentiment was stamped & heat embossed onto an offcut of the red card, then onto an offcut of the dark green paper. A silver Heart brad was added at either end. The lacy panel was adhered to the card base with foam pads, then the sentiment added to this with silicone glue, so I could angle it upwards slightly. The image panel was then added to the card 'front' with DST, and a butterfly made from Fusible Fibres was stuck down with silicone glue.

   TIP: to emboss vellum successfully in a cuttlebug folder, either use a very thick vellum, as it is available in different weights just like card/paper, and PDA card & paper (link in the sidebar) do a nice thick one that works well, OR if your vellum is thinner, use two/three sheets in the folder at the same time- this helps prevent the vellum from tearing, as it does not stretch in the same way card or paper will.

Easel Card 2

A piece of white card was brayered with Adirondack Shell pink, then left to dry completely. The Penny Black stamp 'Aspire' 3381K, was stamped 3 times across the panel in Ancient Page Flannel, which is a dark grey, then the flowers only had a little sparkly embossing powder added to them and heated. I cut the image into three panels, with the centre one being wider than the two outer ones and matted them onto a piece of pale mauve card.This was trimmed to leave a narrow border, and a length of dotted mauve ribbon wrapped around and secured on the back with DST. A small bow was made and added with a glue dot.
My base card was cut down to the width of my stamped panel, scored and folded.The part of the card that will form the base it stands on was covered in a Purple lined paper, again adhered with DST.
To make the 'stopper', I cut a panel of silver card, and punched two strips of dark purple vellum to make the lacy edge. This was done with a fancy corner punch with the guides removed. The vellum strips were attached either side of the silver panel  with DST. I punched another strip of the purple vellum with a butterflies punch, from X-Cut, and stuck this along the centre of the silver card then edged with silver peeloff border. The whole thing was then trimmed to size and mounted to the base with foam pads. A sentiment was stamped and heat embossed, then cut out using a petite scalloped oval Nestie die. A hole was punched either end, and a small piece of the dotted ribbon threaded through, and mounted with silicone glue.

Oriental Butterflies

Two versions of the same stamp,which is available as part of a sheet from a couple of suppliers: Tanda Stamps,Far East set 1,where it is also available as a single stamp,and in both rubber or clear polymer, or from Non Sequiteur, Plate 67, Samurai Plate. Apart from the Butterfly block, both plates have different stamps on them. For both cards, the butterfly block was stamped in black ink, then heat embossed, onto alcohol ink backgrounds. The butterflies, flowers and leaves were all painted with H2O's.For the black & red card, the design was then cut into 8 tiles then remounted onto black card, trimmed then matted onto a second sheet of inked card. The sentiment was stamped onto a scrap, matted onto black card and fixed with foam pads.The butterfly embellishment was made using fusible fibres over the butterflies on the block, then cut out and mounted with silicone glue. An Oriental coin had a length of black/gold mizhuiki cord threaded through it, and was attached with silicone glue in the opposite corner.
This card is an example of how a card can change as you are constructing it, and of the benefits of putting it aside if you aren't happy- coming back to it later often helps. This one was originally cut into 4 horizontal panels, then re-matted onto black card. I wasn't sure about it, so left it and completed the blue one.When I looked at it again, I thought the 8 squares would work better, maybe because it seems to mimic the oriental Shoji panels?
For the blue card, the background is printed from a Joanna Sheen cd,Tales of the Orient.The kanji strip on the left was done in triple embossing, using black ink as the base. The sentiment was stamped onto a scrap of inked card, and small black brads added in the corners.

Pink Birthday

Made for our niece, who is very into pink! Its also a version of the monochrome card further down. All the stamp credits are the same, with the exception of the Happy Birthday, which is from Butterfly Kisses,Art Collage clear 2 you sheet. Stamped it twice, on one I just coloured in the letter with an embossing pen, added embossing powder & heated, then coloured the surround in pink marvy marker, went over it with the embossing pen then with pink embossing powder.The embossing folder is Cuttlebug Birds & Swirls, and this I put through the Cuttlebug upside down, so the image is debossed, rather than embossed. This is a useful way to get some variety from your embossing folders, and works with anything that does not contain words.
The tartan panel was stamped with Distress ink, Worn Lipstick.

Rose Panel Birthday

The image is from Elusive Images, Rose Stem Script . 
Coloured with H2O's. For the base I used a copper card, and a bronze piece of cardstock was run through the Cuttlebug with the D'vine swirls folder. I cut this to an oblong, then rounded two opposite corners.The image was stamped on white cardstock with Gold Encore Inkpad then heat embossed with Gold embossing powder.I trimmed this panel down, then cut three similar sized panels from fancy handmade paper. I arranged all four panels in a cascade down the cuttlebug embossed card, held inplace with DST. Gold ribbon was then wrapped around and tied in a bow before the panel was attached to the front of the card with DST.

Japanese Lady with Ravens

The title is also the name of the stamp, from Stamp Francisco. I stamped it using a Cracked Sapphire Distress ink-pad, then wiped the blue ink off the Ravens with cotton buds. I then coloured them using a black Marvy marker.Stamped onto a grey marbled card, then matted onto black, then blue/gold card.The two strips are Washi paper( Hobbycrafts, among others).For the Kanji strip, I used the Cracked Sapphire inkpad again, tapping it onto white card.This gave me a nice mottled look. The distress pads are also wet enough to take the UTEE, and I used 3 layers. The Kanji letters stamp is just called OASIS( I think this may be the maker) 212E. It has 9 characters in a vertical line, I just taped off the bottom 4 while I inked it up ( Encore Gold Metallic), then took off the tape before stamping.Added a tassel and mounted with silicone glue.Lastly I printed the title in black onto white paper, and used a label die cut from my Silhouette, to give a 'Gallery' feel.

Birthday Flowers

Another Crafty Individuals stamp, this time stamped onto White linen card and a little colour added with chalks.Matted onto  a toning paper then onto black card. Two colours of ribbon wrapped around and the ends taped down with DST under one of the images. The birthday border was coloured purple with peeloff pens.