Crafters Companion Competition Card - The Snowman

Hello Peeps,

 

I never enter competitions really as I haven't always got the confidence needed to do so but finally decided that even if I do not win it challenges me to create something different the way that I do when I have a customer order.  However fun orders are though it is always nerve racking waiting to see if the it is what was expected.   Most of the time I get it right but there is always that niggling doubt there.

 

Anyway, in the first Crafters Companion Magazine there was a great competition to design a Christmas card only using the products in the free kit that came with it.  What great fun I had and to be completely honest I was really pleased with the finished card.  Of course if I had an embossing & die cutting machine there would be so many more finishing touches that could have been added but saying that sometimes plain can be beautiful as well.

 

For this card I used three sheets of dark blue Centura Pearl card-stock, freebie papers and decoupage from the Inspirations Magazine, two 1p pieces, dark blue/ pale blue/ purple chalk pads, brown fine-liner, Promarkers, Sakura clear star glitter pen, punch & eyelets, bakers twine, the Ultimate Pro, cereal box, blue/ pink/ purple adhesive gems, strip of clear acetate,  3D Collall glue gel, double sided tape, red line tape & foam tape.

Instead of a standard card front I wanted to add something a little different and so scored a piece of dark blue Centura Pearl to make a Gatefold card using the Ultimate Pro and because the inside of the card is going to be quite dimensional I added a centimetre kinda book bind to this at the inside so that when the card closes it does not squash the inside decorations. 

To the front of the card I added a sentiment which says "Snowman" with foam tape.  I also backed a tag shape with cereal box to add rigidity, used a punch and added an eyelet.  Then popped on a piece of twine as a bow and attached to the card with foam tape and finally added three blue gems to the two free corners giving a little Christmas sparkle.

The inside of the gatefold took a little bit of time to complete as I wanted to create a scene but did not have the luxury of just simply printing this from the CD as I had to use only the free papers.  So for the backgrounds I cut a piece of the snowy paper to size, inked around the edges in pale blue and attached to the card with double sided tape. 

I then stamped and coloured using Promarkers the small robin from the free stamps that came with the mag, used a Sakura clear star glitter pen to add snow for the robin to stand on and inked around the edge in blue to fit in with the background.  I then attached to a piece of cereal box, cut around, attached to a 1p piece with 3D collall glue, added two foam pads, one on top of the other and attached another 1p piece, this gave me the penny slider. 

To make the background I cut a piece of cereal box to size and used my cutter to cut out the strip for the penny to fit.  I then covered this with another plainer piece of free paper.  To create the tree outlines I tore up a sheet of paper and used all the various pieces to protect the background while in inked in pale blue, then in purple, this gave hill type effects but I wanted it to look more like they were flying over trees so I used a brown fine-liner to add branches and inked around these in a darker blue just to soften a bit.

The snowman image was built up using 3D collall glue gel and then to give a flying effect cut a strip of acetate and attached to the back of the background with red line tape and then the other end to the snowman, so it wasn't actually attached firm to the card and wobbles about. 

The sentiment was stuck onto a piece of the cereal box with double sided tape, holes were punched so that eyelets could be added, I inked around the edges in pale blue then threaded through some bakers twine and attached at the back with red line tape.

The whole piece was then attached to the card with three layers of foam tape to give height and allow the penny slider to move.

For this page I scored and folded the card so that the blue of the card was in the inside and I inked the spine on the reverse with a dark blue chalk pad so that when the card is put together the spine is not white and sticking out.  I then cut a piece of the free paper to size, and inked around the edges and some ground for the picture using a red and purple chalk pad. 

I layered the sentiment onto a piece if cereal box to give it some strength, punched holes and added eyelets.  I then threaded through some bakers twine and attached at the back using red line tape.  I then attached the whole background piece to the card using foam tape and added the snowman image that had been built up with 3D glue to the card with double sided tape.  To add some sparkle I popped a pink gem in each corner.

The last double page is where I would write my Christmas wishes and maybe a wee poem.  This was a piece of the Centura Pearl card scored and folded so that the colour was on the outside, this meant that the blue colour was on the reverse matching with the front of the card, I also popped on "The Snowman" logo to make the card official. 

Anyway, for these pages I simply cut two piece of the free papers to size and attached using double sided tape.  I then added a strip of the Centura Pearl that I cut of the edge of the card to ensure it was the same size as the front Gatefold card and a strip of each of the pieces of the free paper, I popped these on opposite pages to kind of tie them in with each other, so no waste, even the off cuts were used!! 

I then added a sentiment with foam tape, "winter wishes" cut from the free paper.  After inking a base on the background with pale blue & purple chalk pads I then attached the snowman image that had been built up using 3D glue gel using double sided tape. 

To finish I added some purple adhesive gems for sparkle.

So the inside card had red line tape added to the reverse of each leaf and sandwiched between the back card and the front gatefold card to complete the project.  This is a view of how the card stands and how it would look, really only a card that I would make for someone special or a family member, great for a child as you could really make each page a piece of The Snowman story. 

The competition entries had to be in today and the winners will be contacted on 10 November, first prize is a craft day at a hotel and runners up were packs of Spectrum Noir pens which I would love as they are refillable unlike my current Promarkers.  I have everything crossed :o)

 

If you would like the images, CD, paperkit etc, these can be purchased for Crafters Companion here - http://www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/the-snowman-2055.html remember its the 30th anniversary this year. 

 

Happy Crafting!!

Amanda x