Sorry about the delayed posts. For some reason, scheduled posting isn't working on Blogger so I keep typing up my posts at night, setting them to post at 7am, then forgetting to check if it's worked. 
And now for something completely different. I was inspired to create this card by the not-so-new craze for inchies. If you aren’t familiar with inchies, they are exactly what they sound like – one inch squares of cardstock, decorated how you choose. People swap these – I don’t, as I’d just lose them – and they’re really popular, as are twinchies which are, you guessed it, two inch squares.
We made this card at my pocket cards workshop on Monday. It was a craft-packed event as we squeezed three very complicated cards into the evening.Start by scoring the A4 sheet in half, along the width – ie at 14.8cm. Then cut the sheet in half along the length to create two pieces measuring 10.5cm wide.
The band is ideally cut from a sheet of 12x12 cardstock – I used textured on this card – and measures about 3cm wide but just cut yours as wide as you like. It only just reaches around the card and you’ll want your join to be behind the front accent, so start by deciding where that is going to go and work from there, gently folding the band around the card and only creasing when you’re sure it’s right. You can stick the band together with a small piece of tape as this will be covered. Now add the ribbon if you’re using it and stick your accent on top, if using.
I have a tutorial for you today - this shows you how to make a fab pocket card in the shape of a flowerpot. If you're coming to my Pocket Cards Workshop on Monday, you'll be making something similar to this!
1. Score your largest piece of cardstock at 10cm. Then turn it over and score again at 20cm. Fold so that the two “squares” (they’re not quite) meet and fold the flap down in the opposite direction, to create a “Z” shape.
2. Now, with the cardstock folded, measure 2cm from each edge, along the bottom fold, as shown.
3. Cut from this mark up to the top edge on both sides – but don’t cut the front flap. You should now have this shape.
4. Trim the front edge with the Scallop Edge Punch. Now apply Sticky Strip down the side edges on the inside of the card. Get it as close to the edges as you can. There’s no photo of this as I took one and the tape didn’t show up against the red cardstock!
7. Create the insert by layering the white cardstock onto the coloured cardstock and stamping a greeting at the bottom.
9. To create the leaves, you can hand-cut them with scissors or do what I did here. I punched with the large oval punch, then stuck the ovals with temporary adhesive on to a sheet of scrap paper, then punched again, as shown.
You didn’t think I’d get through a whole workshop without using Old Olive did you? My love of Old Olive is now so well-known that one lady suggested an Old Olive event, along the lines of the Winter Blues workshop and Chocolate Night. Will have to think that one over...
Here’s another card from the Masculine Cards Workshop. Lovely as a Tree – as well as being a beautiful stamp set – is perfect for masculine cards. Here we stamped it in Versamark® and then used the Poppin’ Pastels technique to colour the image with chalks. Very easy and very effective. 
Saturday morning was my Masculine Cards Workshop attended by 10 eager stampers. We were there to make four cards suitable to be sent to men – for Father’s Day, birthdays, thank yous etc. I try to provide a variety of greetings so that people can choose the occasion.
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