Recently I’ve spent quite a lot of time on paperwork and planning the Christmas craft fayre, so thought it was about time I made something! This fun birthday card didn't take long to make and features my copperband butterfly fish illustration.
To make this card you will need:
1. Cut out the butterfly fish and ‘Happy Birthday’ message from the collage sheet. Cut a piece of patterned paper slightly smaller than the card – so that it lines up with the fold of the card and there is a border along the other 3 sides.
2. Use the corner punch to make 2 rounded corners on the patterned paper, then glue to the card. If you don’t have a punch you could use something round as a template (eg. a small coin) and cut the corners by hand.
3. Mount the birthday message on white card, then stick the message and fish to the card with the foam pads for a 3D effect.
4. Glue the gems onto the card so they look like bubbles coming out of the fish’s mouth. Instead of gems you could also try using sequins or beads.
Now you have one finished fish card!
You could make similar cards with some of my other fish too – why not try a clown fish card or cardinal tetra?!
I had to wait until after Father’s Day before I could show you these because I made them for my Dad! The card is made from 2 of the images in my new Nautical digital stamp set and one of the patterned scrapbooking papers. I cut along the waves of the backing paper and layered them with sticky foam pads to make the sea. The boat and banner digital stamps were printed on card, I then coloured them in watercolours and cut them out. If you are going to colour with a wet medium like watercolours make sure you print with ink that won’t run! I used an Epson printer with pigment ink – see this post I wrote a while ago if you want to know more about dye vs. pigment ink.
I also made this little boat - after picturing it in my head I was so pleased with how it turned out! It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be either, although there were a few tricky bits that I had to practise first. I cut the hull from 3/4 inch thick wood and shaped and sanded it. I then drilled a small hole for the mast, which is made from a bamboo skewer. The sails were hand sewn and attached to the mast with thread. The sails were made from fairly stiff fabric but to make sure they kept straight I stitched a little eye pin to the corners of each sail and pushed them into the hull. I also added a little flag made from satin ribbon.
By the way, my Dad really liked them too! :D
