Crazicards Crafty Blog

As some of my readers will know I was diagnosed with Cancer back in 2008 and thankfully things are going well on that front.

This year I wanted to do something to raise a little money for Cancer Research by selling Shopping Trolley Tokens and handmade items made by me personally.

One of the things I like to do when someone makes a donation or purchases one of my trolley tokens is to send a little thank you card along with the trolley token.

So this week I have been busy making a few more cards ready to be sent out. I decided on nice bright colours as the sun is shining and Summer is almost here. And I decided on the theme of flowers and butterflies as I love them both.

This first card was made by cutting out an aperture from a piece of copier paper then I used it as a stencil to make a coloured block background using a Big and Juicy ink pad, this one is Spice.

I then stamped and embossed a couple of doodle butterflies from Chocolate Baroque. And for effect I added a few little clear Rhinestones to each butterfly.

The second card was made by first of all stamping a leaf design directly onto the card using the same Big and Juicy ink pad.

I them stamped and embossed a fabulous little daisy stamp that I found in the bottom of my stamp box, I think I bough this one off eBay many moons ago. And to be honest I had forgotten just how pretty it was.

I then coloured them in using different colours again from the Big and Juicy ink pad and cut them out before sticking them to the card using 3D glue. I finished off with a Thank You stamp.

Nothing too flash but a quick, simple and effective way to say thank you to all my supporters for helping me to raise money for such a great cause.

If you would like to help me raise money you can purchase a shopping trolley token from my website fund raising page HERE. Or if you would like to make a donation straight to Cancer Research through my Just Giving page please visit my page HERE.


Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far, I appreciate your help more than you can ever know. Cancer research is such a good cause and every single penny counts...

So until next time Happy Crafting xx

I just love Art Deco ladies so when I came across the Debbie Moore Clear Stamps I just had to have them. This is the 2nd lady that I have and she is gorgeous.

This First card was a Mother's Day card. I stamped the Deco lady first onto plain white card using Momento Black ink and then onto clear acetate using Stazon Black Ink.

I then cut out just the dress and hat from the acetate image. And I also cut out the whole thing from the white card stamped image.

Once everything was cut out I coloured in the face and arms using my Promarkers and then used my craft knife to cut along the arms and around the hands so that I could lift the arms over the top of the acetate dress when I attached it.

I then took a piece of A5 Icory Pearlescent card cut from a sheet out of the Nocturne Pearlescent 12 x 12 Card Pad and scored diagonal lines from the bottom left to the top right leaving approx 1cm between each line at the right hand corner, this gave more interest to the background behind the Deco Lady.

I then printed a fabulous Art Deco flourish onto another piece of printable acetate and attached it to the Pearlescent card using gold brads. And then mounted the whole thing onto a piece of Gold holographic mirror board.

Next I used Variegated Red Gilding Flakes to cover the back of the acetate stamped dress and hat. And once they were dry I glued them to the stamped card image making sure to lift the card arms over the top of the acetate.


Once dry I was able to shape the dress quite easily before attaching the completed Art Deco Lady to the acetate covered base card using 3D Glue Gel.

The 2nd card was a birthday card for my sister. The Deco Lady was made in the same way as the first card except I used Variegated Green Gilding Flakes.

For the background I printed another fabulous Art Deco panel and I also used a fabulous Art Deco backing paper in Pale Green to co-ordinate with the gilding flakes. And I mounted this onto Silver holographic mirror board for a dramatic effect.

I finished off with a Big Sister Silver charm and some clear rhinestones. This is a beautiful stamp set and I just know it will get plenty of use.

Until next time Happy Crafting xx

The theme for this months ATC swap was Spring Colours with a theme of Pink and Fresh Green.
This is the gorgeous little ATC and fabulous card I received from Gina.The ATC is covered in beautiful little flowers and is really sweet. 

The gorgeous card that accompanied the ATC was a lovely surprise and was stamped using the Patchwork Butterflies stamp plate. 

This huge butterfly is just glorious and reminded me that I need to find my 6 x 6 acrylic block out and play with this stamp, soon.


This is the ATC that I made for the swap. I covered the ATC in bright green pearlescent acrylic paint before stamping the butterfly which is also from  the Patchwork Butterfly stamp set.

Once this was dry I coloured it in using my Promarkers. And then proceeded to add several layers of clear Utee to make an enamelled tile. This really made all the colours ping.

I finished off by adding a little gold embossing around the edge using Rich Gold wow powder. The end result was great and this ATC now has a lovely new home with Barbara. Next months ATC and Tag challenges have already been set and will be done under the new banner of Chocolate Baroque which is the name of the new company opened by Glenda Waterworth.

I just love to doodle, I doodle when I'm on the phone, I doodle when I am watching the TV, in fact I doodle where ever there is a piece of paper and I have a pen in my hand. It helps me to relax and it also helps me to focus.

I think everyone doodles at some point or another, did you ever scribble all over a page then colour in the resulting pattern with your crayons or felt tip pens when you were younger ? That's doodling too....

So what is Zentangle I hear you say, well basically Zentangle is a form of doodling. But instead of doodling nothing in Zentangle you doodle repetitive patterns to make beautiful pieces of art. And the beauty of Zentangle is that absolutely "anyone" can do it. Whether your 99 years old or 5 years old you can Zentangle.

It's fun and relaxing and you never get the same Zentangle twice unless you want to of course...

Zentangle is also an exciting form of art as you never know what you will end up with before you get started.

So what do you need to get started with your Zentangle?

Tools you will need: Good quality White card or paper, you can also use coloured card s you wish. And any fine liner pens, pencils, gel pens or felt tip pens you wish to use.

Not an extensive list of requirements at all really. There are absolutely "no" rules to Zentangle, it can be black and white or colour according to your own preference. And there are no set shapes or sizes. So you are basically free to do whatever you want.

How to get started


Start by drawing a basic shape onto your chosen card or paper stock using a fine liner or felt tip pen. Here I used a thick felt pen to draw my basic shape and create a contrast. You can draw free hand or use a shape to draw around. You could even stamp an image if you wanted to.

It might be a good idea to try out a few different patterns on a spare sheet of paper  before you get stuck into you first Zentangle. Here are a few ideas to get you started.



 By starting off with some simple lines you can make some fabulous 3D effects such as these. I'm no expert in this field and I have never had any lessons but these were very easy to draw.



Crossed straight lines can produce stunning chequered patterns and if you make the lines wavy you get a fabulous effect too.


I think the main thing to remember with Zentangle is that it doesn't have to be perfect and you can create any pattern that takes your fancy. The idea is to have fun with it.

Here's one I made for this blog entry. I started by drawing round a cereal bowl using the thick end of my Sharpie pen. After that I added a few wavy lines and started to build my patterns.



And after about half an hour this is the resulting Zentangle which incorporates swirls, spots, straight lines, zig zag lines, scallops and so much more.

It was so relaxing to do and the sense of achievement is great once you have finished and you step back to look at what you have created.

I can totally understand why people do them for fun and relaxation, you can pass away the hours without even noticing it.


Here are a few more that I have created whilst investigating Zentangle:





They aren't master pieces in any shape or form but I think they look great and really effective. If you want to see some fabulous pieces of art be sure to Google "Zentangle" or visit the Zentangle website. I am sure you will be as amazed as I was.


So that is the art of Zentangle I hope you will have fun trying it out and please feel free to send me photo's of your own creations, you can find my email address on my website under contact details.

Thanks for joining me and until next time Happy Crafting :O) x

This fabulous card was created by Sheila Jacob using  the Stream of Life stamp from the Sheena Douglass "A Little Bit Sketchy" stamp range.

Sheila stamped the image using a permanent Archival Ink before colouring in the image with her water colour pencils and once finished she covered the whole image with Glossy Accents to give the image a super tile effect.

I think the matting and layering really make this image stand out, and I love the other little touches with the ribbon, button, brads and the painted branch. They really finish the whole card off. Well done Sheila I am sure your son loved this fabulous birthday Card. Your card is now in the Crazicards Gallery on my website for all my visitors to see.

Hope you have a great week until next time happy crafting x

The theme for this months tag swap was Autumn Glory and we also had to incorporate the following colours,Gold, Bronze, Copper and Burgundy.

Autumn is my favourite time of the year as the colours created by nature are just amazing.

This is the gorgeous tag I received from Joyce. She has used Elusive Images stamps and Tim Holtz Distressed Inks with Gold and Copper embossing on the leaves.

The gorgeous little leaf towards the top of the tag has been stamped onto Stampbord and then double embossed making it look like a little tile. Sadly my photography skills will never do this  tag the justice it deserves.  I need to practise more....

I thoroughly enjoyed making my tag for this swap. The smaller tag went out of the window again as I just had to go large for his one.

I started by making a leafy background using my Mica Mask aptly called Leaves and a little light moulding paste. This is similar to embossing paste except it is White.

Once that was dried I painted it using Pearlescent acrylic paints in Gold, Copper and Green. I painted the whole tag in the same colours so that everything matched. Once that was dry I took my Sepia archival ink and stamped the fabulous tree from Crafty Individuals several times down the right hand side.

I then cut out and glued a section of the leaves I made earlier to the left hand side of the tag. Next I painted the letters in the required colours, Gold, Bronze, Copper and Burgundy. And once they were dry I glazed the letters G and R with Crystal Lacquer.

I then made the main leaves from Gold, Bronze and Copper metal. I have just discovered craft metal and I must say I really like the effects you can get from it. Once everything was dry I assembled the card using Collall 3D Glue Gel. And there you have it my Autumn Glory tag.

I sent it off to it's new home with Margaret on Monday and I hope she likes it :O)

In my previous tutorial we went through the steps required to make your exploding box and we inked and stamped all of the panels before putting the box together.

If you missed that first part you can see it again here.

Now for the fun part and that is making your butterflies and making them float inside your box.

What you will need

• Plain White card for stamping, you can use coloured if you prefer.
• Butterfly stamps of your choice - Gina K "Take Flight"
• Ink pads in your chosen colour - I used Black archival
• Acetate sheet
• Waxed Cotton thread
• Glitter or Sakura gel pens
• A fine liner pen in the same colour as your ink pad. 
• Promarkers
• Wet glue, mini pegs or paper clips

Step 1

Stamp you butterfly out 4 or 5 times depending on how many you wish to use for your project.

For this I used a dye based ink as I am going to use Promarkers to colour in my butterflies.

Once the ink is thoroughly dry cut out you butterflies as close to the image as possible.

Step 2

Now we need to stamp the backs of the butterflies so that when they are floating about they look real and don't have a white underside.

To do this place your stamp flat onto your work surface and ink it up with you dye based ink.

Now take one of your butterflies and place it gently down onto your rubber stamp.

Now you need to gently press down so that the ink from your stamp is transferred to the back of your butterfly. You can use a brayer for this step if you prefer. Don't worry if you have white edges we will correct that in a minute.

Step 3

You might end up with a small white line around the edges of your stamped image, if you haven't then skip straight to step 4.

This is easily fixed with a black fine liner pen or felt tip. Carefully go round the edges of your butterfly and colour in the white edges with your fine liner.

Taking care not to load too much ink onto the card as it may seep through to the other side and muddy you image.

Step 4

Once you are happy with the underside of your butterfly you can then go on to colour it in with your Promarkers.

Start with the top first and then once you are happy colour in the underside making sure that you follow the same colour pattern as you chose for the top.

This is to prevent the colours muddying up. Once you have coloured in all 5 you will need to make the antenna for each butterfly.

For this I used black waxed cotton and you can also add other embellishments if you like. I added a little black glitter so that it catches the light when the butterflies are bobbing around when the box is opened.

Tip: Don't add too much embellishment as this will make the butterflies too heavy and rather than float they will flop over.

Step 5

Next you will need to cut 5 thin strips of acetate, mine were just under 1cm wide and started off at 8cms long.

You need to make it longer than you will need as setting the height of the butterflies will require adjustments as you go along.

This is the trickiest part of the whole project and will take a little time to achieve the look that you want so please be patient.

Take your acetate strips and attach them to the underside of your butterflies with Glossy Accents , Collall Glue Gel or something similar. Take care not to crease the acetate as you need it to bounce once the bottom is attached to the box.

Hold the acetate in place with a mini peg or a paper clip until it is completely dry. Glossy accents dries a lot quicker that silicone gel so depending on how patient you are you can use either one....

Once the acetate has been attached to your butterflies you can then proceed to position then inside your box.

I chose to vary the height of my butterflies, to do this you simply place the acetate onto your box panels and slide it up and down until you get a level that you are happy with and where your butterfly will float quite nicely without flopping over, snip off any excess acetate.

To attach the base I used a combination of extra strong tape and a dab of glossy accents. Again take care not to crease the acetate as this will cause your butterfly to flop rather than float.

Tip:  Make sure to check the position of your butterflies each time with the box sides lifted up as you want the butterflies to spring out when the box opens. If they are all clumped together you run the risk of them getting tangled together.

And there you have it - An Exploding Box with a Twist. 

Here is another example of an exploding box with a twist. For this one I made some lovely little flowers and butterflies with Cosmic Shimmer Film and Angelina Fibres.

I hope you have had fun making your own boxes. The key is to experiment and have fun making them. Please feel free to send me the pictures of your completed boxes with a brief summary of the products you have used and I will show them off in an update blog. Send your images to support 'at' crazicards co uk.

Don't forget to visit my website for some great crafty bargains.

Thank you for reading and until next time Happy Crafting xx

I have always admired cards, tags and ATC's that are made from craft metal. They always look so fantastic and very difficult to do, hence the reason why I have never had a go myself until now.

I was recently having a look through the crafty blogs that I follow and two of them feature craft metal pieces on a regular basis.

So, as you do, I thought to myself  I am going to have a go at that and with the help of two fantastic tutorials from Artfully Yours.

So over the weekend I set about getting my things together that I would need such as craft metal, alcohol inks, moulding paste, idea-ology bits and bobs and some pretty ribbon etc. And this is the tag that I made. The colours are a lot better in real life. I spent quite a long time on this one but I thing the end result was well worth it and I will definitely be using craft metal again as it's not as scary as it looks..

If you haven't tried it yet I suggest you give it a go, I am sure you will love it.

Until next time then Happy Crafting x

We have all seen the conventional exploding boxes which contain several layers decorated up and which fall open once the box lid is removed. I wanted to try the exploding box but I also wanted to do something a little bit different inside instead of the layers.

So I decided that as I love butterflies so much I would have to incorporate them  in the design of my box. The though of floating butterflies was quite intriguing too. By the end of this two part tutorial I am hoping that you will be able to create your own exploding box with a difference.

What you will need

• Coloured card for making your box and for matting and layering.
• Card for stamping.
• Stamps of your choice - I chose Elusive Images Eastern Grasses and Gina K Take Flight
• Ink pads in your chosen colours
• Acetate sheet
• Waxed thread
• Glossy accents
• Glitter or Sakura gel pens
• Promarkers
• Wet glue and small pegs or paper clips

 Getting Started

Step 1

The hardest part for me was to choose the right colour combinations of card and the stamps I want to use. I eventually decided on Lime Green plain card stock for the main box and shiny black mirror board for the matting. I chose super smooth white card for my stamping surface as I find this always gives a good impression.

Step 2


As the Eastern Grasses stamps from Elusive Images  are quite long I needed to make my box large enough to accept the full image of each stamp. To do this I simply measured the largest stamp from the set. After measuring and adding a little for matting and layering it worked out that I needed a box that had sides of 4.5" tall and at least 3" wide. This worked out great as it meant that I could use a 12" x 12" sheet of card for the base of the box. My card looked something like this:


Next I made the lid using the same principle but I added 1mm to two adjacent sides to ensure the lid fit snugly onto the box base.

The depth of the lid sides is entirely up to you. The image to the right is what I had by the time I had cut out the base and lid. At this point to make life easier label each side of your box and lid. This will make life much easier for you when you create your matting an layering as you will label each piece as you go along.

The next step is to make all your mat and layers for each side of your box base and your lid. This takes a lot of time depending on how many layers you go for but take your time as you want the layers to look great. So choose the colours that match your main design as well as your box colour.

I wanted to make my stamped layers pop so I made a mat from glossy black mirror board to sit between my stamped layer and the box base. You can miss this part out if you prefer and just use distressed inks to highlight the edges of your stamped panels.

Tip: Don't forget to make enough panels for both the inside and the outside of your box base. By the time you have made all your panels it should look something like this.

Step 3 

Now you need to glue your box lid together making sure all the edges are lined up, use your little pegs or paper clips to hold the corners in place whilst the glue dries. (I am presuming that you will know how to make up your box lid so please feel free to contact me if you have never made a box before, I am always happy to to help).

Step 4

Next comes the fun bit - decorating your panels. There are so many possibilities when it comes to decorating your box panels. You can stamp them, you can paint them and you can even decoupage them if you wish, the choice is entirely yours, the main thing is to have fun and enjoy what your doing.

I decided to ink my panels with Tim Holtz Distressed Inks and then I stamped them with my Elusive Images Eastern Grasses stamp set. At this point you can add highlights to your stamped images or you can mount them onto your matting layers and them add embellishments, glitter and highlights if you wish.

I added small amounts of glossy accents and I also used my Sakura Glitter pens to add highlights. Once you have finished all you panels mount them up onto your matting layers, matching each numbered or lettered layer together, (did you remember to number them?).

Once you have finished you will have something like this image to the right. In total you should have 14 panels depending on whether you decided to cover each panel or not.

Step 5

The last step for making the box is to put all your panels onto their corresponding box flap, base and lid. Inside and out. Now you can just keep your box as it is or you can add a little twist so that when the box opens you get a lovely surprise. There are many different things you can do such as flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, balloons etc.


As I mentioned previously I decided on butterflies so here is a sneaky peak, I will show you how to make these floating butterflies in the next newsletter.


I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings,  until next time happy crafting :O)

This months theme for the Graphicus Guild Tag swap was Romance. Which fits in quite nicely as  we had Valentines Day last week.

This is the gorgeous tag I received from Sheila. She has used Elusive Images stamps and Tim Holtz Distressed inks. 

I love the lace edging to the bottom of the tag.

After the huge tag I made for my first tag swap I managed to scale it down a little for this months Romance swap "lol" . I think the size of the tag is going to be dictated by the stamps I decide to use for that particular challenge.

I don't think it really matters too much what the size is as long as it is a tag.

I wanted to try something new for my tag this time.  So I set about making the background and took 4 different coloured Distressed ink pads and coloured in the page using each one in turn with my cut 'n' dry foam pad. Once I had finished that and let it dry I set about making a fabulous collage using some of my Tim Holtz stamps.

That was quite good fun and something I will definitely be trying again using different stamp sets that I have in my Stash. I can imagine that I will get some great collage background sets.

Once I had made the background and collage it with my stamps I took a  gold pen and a white pen and made some little highlights which made the background come forwards a little. I then stamped my Clarity Stamp Sketchy Lady on to card and added some swirls to her dress in red ink. And then I stamped her into Angelina fibres and put them together with my trusty zig pen.

Whilst that was drying I found some little letter stickers I have had for an absolute age and set out the word love to the bottom left. I covered each letter in Glossy Accents and left that to dry.

Once everything was dry I coloured in the sketchy lady with my promarker skin tones an mounted her onto the tag with silicone glue. I then coloured some string using the 4 distressed inks that I used to make the background, added a heart flower charm and there you have it my finished romance tag. I sent it off to it's new home with Pearl this week and I hope she likes it :O)

If you look through my cards you won't really see anything too girly in there as I don't have too many girly type stamps to be honest apart from flowers. I love that grungy arty look more than anything else so I concentate on that style normally.

However, when I saw the Debbie Moore Art Deco Ladies on TV the other week I just had to have them. There is just something about that era I love.

Sadly only one was sent as the other went out of stock :O( But lucky for me the one I did receive was my favourite one so I wasn't too disappointed.

So over the weekend I set to and made this card with a wrap. And although I say so myself I really love it.. as it came out so much better than I imagined it would.

I wanted to try something different for this card so I made a cross over card, with a wrap around.

The little wrap around helps to keep the card closed as well as making it look good too. You can make this from anything you like such as vellum, card, lace, paper. And you can keep it really simple or make it as lavish as you like.

I went for the simple but elegant, using patterned card, black organza ribbon and string of pearly beads. After I took this picture I decided to add a tiny red rose and a Chrystal heart charm which were attached to the bow. Unfortunately I forgot to take another picture - sorry ....

The base card was made from 2 x A5 centura pearl card blanks. The front of each card was scored on the Hougie board to make a diamond pattern before cutting in half.

The half that was removed was then used to decorate the inside of the card fronts and continued the diamond pattern on the inside.The 2 x A5 cards were then stuck together with collall photo glue.

I love this glue as you can rub away the excess if it squishes out the sides, like it always does!!! The inside of the card was matted with Black glitter card and a punched out white glitter card topper.They were stuck together with collall silicon glue to ensure a good bond.

I then stamped the gorgeous Art Deco lady and coloured in the back panel using Sakura Gel pens.And I coloured the ladies skin in using my skin tone and skin accent promarkers.

Now for the fun bit. I took out 2 different colours of Cosmic Shimmer Fusible Film and a tiny bit of Angelina Fibres to create the ladies dress, feathers and hat.

I stamped and ironed the image first in one colour and then with the darker colour I just stamped and ironed the hat and feathers.

These were then cut out and put together over the original stamped figure. The great thing about the fusible film is that you can shape it with your iron. So you can really make the dress look like it has folds in it.

And one of the other unique things about the film is that it changes colour in different light. For example in the image the dress is Pink and Blue. If you turn the card more to the light the dress turns Green, and more to the other side it is a pearly White, it's fabulous...

To attach the film pieces to the original image I used a Zig Glue Pen round the edges. And to finish off I added a few gems to add some sparkle.

I shall definitely be making more cards like this in the future, I just have to hunt for some different art deco stamps...

Thanks for reading & Happy Crafting...

I just wanted to add a quick message to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day

I hope you all got lot's of nice flowers, chocolates and cards from those that you love. If not then here is a Valentine from me to you :O) Have a lovely Day xx

In my last tutorial I promised to show you how to emboss with you Mica Masks when you don't have an embossing machine such as a Spellbinder Wizard, Cuttlebug or Sizzix Big Shot.

It's quite easy really and the depth of the embossing can be adjusted to your needs quite easily where as with an embossing machine you don't have too much control over the depth of embossing.

Here are the tools you will need for this technique:

1. A Speedball or other soft rubber brayer.
2. A dye based ink pad such as a Ranger Big and Juicy.
3. A Mica Mask of your choice.
4. Cheap tissues, toilet tissue or shoe box tissue paper.
5. Card or paper stock.
6. Cosmic Shimmer Misters or any other Mica Mister or Ink Mister (you can even make your own mister using water and with mica pigment powders or perfect pearls).
7. Wet Wipes and paper towels for cleaning up afterwards.

 Step 1

Place a sheet of card or paper onto your covered work surface, you don't have to do this but as I hate to waste ink I do this every time. You will create 3 sheets from this one technique.

Now place your chosen Mica Mask on top of the card.

I chose the leaves mask again as it is one of my absolute favourites and it shows this technique really well. You can see all the other masks I have here.

There are 19 different masks to choose from.

Step 2

Cover the the mask with cheap tissues or toilet tissue making sure you create a good layer, n the same way as we did for the last project.

Step 3

Spray a good layer of your chosen cosmic shimmer misters over the tissue and then cover with a piece of card of thick paper.

Once your are happy that you have finished adding your colours place a second piece of paper or card over the top of you tissue paper.


Take your brayer and roll it back and forth over your tissue sandwich applying plenty of pressure.

At this point the initial depth of embossing will be determined by the amount of pressure you apply and how many times you go over the paper with your brayer.


TIP: You can also use a rolling pin if you don't have a brayer.

But don't worry if your not happy with the embossed images depth when you have finished brayering you can apply more depth by using a sponge.

At the same time you can also add other highlights of further colours if you want to.

Once you are happy with your background leave it to dry naturally or you can use your heat gun to dry your paper if your in a hurry.

I like to sit and make a whole load of backgrounds all at once, which is great messy fun, and then I put them away to use at a later date. It saves a lot of time if you are in a hurry and need to make a quick card for someone.

I used this background on one of my Charity cards, the one with the orange toned topper, that you may have seen in my blog update on the 2nd Feb, or you can see the card on my website here.