Im a Chic Lady (but I need a bit of Shabby in my life)

Hello, Yesterday was the launch of the Crafters Companion Shabby Chic range of products and as you know I have made some of the samples for them to show on Hochanda TV. I didn`t realise that the range was split in two with one half called Shabby and the other half called Chic. It turns out I was on the Chic team and now that I have seen the whole collection I have ordered a few pieces from the Shabby collection. I have been reading posts from DT members who weren't working on this project and they are all saying "oh the whole collection just fell into my basket when my finger slipped", So have you managed to watch any of the shows and have you had a "slipped finger" and ordered any of the products?
This is the most creative of all the sample cards I made for the shows and I just loved messing around, trying new techniques and wondering why I hadn't done them before.

 

what was used:

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Chic Butterflies die

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic Graceful Edges dies

Crafters Companion Shabby Chic 12" x 12" paper pad

Crafters Companion Shabby Chic buttons

Crafters Companion, Birthday Party, Lets Party stamps

17cm x 13.5cm cream base card

cream linen card scrap to stamp sentiment onto

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Vintage Photo & Pumice Stone

really pale blue water based paint (Dulux tester pot First Frost)

Ranger Crackle Accents

Funky Foam

5mm ppink satin ribbon

pearl gems

 

First of all I cut out my paper from the paper pad and cut into it with the main part of the Graceful Edges die.

Distress the edge of the paper with sand paper and tint the distressed edge with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

 

Paint the pale blue paint onto the area of the paper you would like the stamped image to appear and leave to dry.

Paint over the pale blue paint with the Ranger Crackle Glaze and leave to dry.

Lightly rub over the crackle glaze with the Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

 

Cut the Butterflys from the Funky foam using the Butterfly dies and secure the cut foam onto an acrylic block. Stamp the Butterfly images over the crackle glaze using the Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

 

The rest of the card is just basic card making which you will have done many times before.

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It looks like its going to be a nice sunny day today. I have so much crafty stuff to do this week and could really do with a few more hours in the day but it is an absolute pleasure to be sat in my craft room looking over the garden when the sun is shining. I went to have a check up at the dentist yesterday and called into my favourite craft shop in Louth whilst I was in town, I just love browsing and chatting to the owner, then I go and fill my basket and rush home to play with my purchases. I got some lovely ribbons from the market and some Cosmic Shimmer gilding wax in pastel colours as I have a card project for Little Claire that I think they may come in handy for and I can`t wait to try them out. I hope my little card has inspired you to take a look in your craft stash and have a play with the scary things that you bought but haven't been brave enough to use yet, I know I will be doing it more often.



I don`t like Butterflies

Hello again crafty friends, I am sharing with you another of the cards I have made for the Shabby Chic range due to be launched by Crafters Companion on Hochanda at 8, O, clock on Monday. I loved the papers in the paper pad but my imagination was running wild and I just had to make this card. As you know by now I am frightened by things that suddenly fly up and I have been seen running away screaming when a Butterfly comes near (they just know), but these Butterflies are not scary at all and I can`t stop using them on other projects (which I will share with you later).

what was used:

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Chic Butterflies dies

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Vintage Lace Edge die

14,5cm x 13.5cm  base card

Crafters Companion Centura Pearl Card, Snow White with a hint of Silver

copy paper

mica pigment misters (3 soft colours)

pastel chalks (4 bright colours)

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Milled Lavender

small heart punch

lilac pearl paper scraps

5mm lilac satin ribbon

sentiment from stash

 

Not a difficult card to make but it does require a bit of thought and prep..

First of all I made the creased backing paper prior to making the card as it needs to dry out thoroughly before it is stuck to the card.

I wet a sheet of copy paper with a mister (I mean soaked) then dabbed colours from the mica misters onto the wet paper with a big brush, then screw the paper into a ball making sure that the painted surface is folded onto itself, finally squeeze the excess water from the ball of paper and unfold onto newspaper and allow to dry. This is a messy process and every time you do it you will get a unique result so just play and enjoy. I made these papers ages ago and I cant remember the colours I used.

Once the paper is dry you can flatten it down further by ironing on the reverse side.

 

The background for the lace and the Butterflies was made with the bright pastel chalks which I just dabbed onto copy paper and blended (you don't need to be too particular about the blending of the colours because it all merges seamlessly when it is put under the cut out design).

I simply marked the edges of the die cuts onto the chalked paper, cut out the shapes and stuck them onto the back of the die cuts.

 

I hope you have fun and aren't too put off by the messy paper making because once you start it is addictive and you will be making loads.

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Well today we have storm Doris arriving and it is already very windy here in Lincolnshire. I have a big Conifer tree outside the house and a wonky chimney so I really hope they hold up to the winds to come. It is on days like this when the weather is too bad to venture out that I am glad I have my crafting hobbies to keep me occupied or I would go stir crazy. My fur babies Roger and Rosie didn't think much to the winds this morning and didn't stay out long, in fact Rosie was very vocal in her complaints when she came back in. I hope you all weather the storm safely and get lots of crafty things done too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shabby Chic a go go

Hello crafty people, today I can finally share with you a card that I have made for the new Crafters Companion Shabby Chic range which is to be launched on Hochanda next Monday. The design team have made some fantastic things and I know that they enjoyed this collection as much as I have. You really cant go wrong because the papers do all the work and the papers are just beautiful.

 

what was used:

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic 12" x 12" paper pad

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Aged Rose Die

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Antique Frames die

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Distressed Lattice Embossing Folder

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Graceful Edge dies

Crafters Companion, Shabby Chic, Heartfelt Thanks stamps

Crafters Companion, Floral Delights, Pretty Petals die

Tonic small Daisy boot punch

Hobbycraft small Daisy punch

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Weathered Wood

6" x 6" white base card

pale pink paper

Crafters Companion, Sheena Stamping Card

pearl gems

1cm pink satin ribbon

black Versa Fine ink pad

 

Quite a straight forward card even though it has a lot of elements.

 I cut the beautiful Shabby Chic paper to size and then embossed the lattice at an angle, luckily I have a Gemini machine to do this but if I had a smaller machine it wouldn't have worked.

The hinges were cut using both parts of the Graceful Edges dies (I cut the inner die first and then the outer) and then I trimmed the ends down and cut the piece in half.

The big flower is tricky to work with as the paper is such a good weight so I cut the last 3 big petals off (they got in the way) and I used hot glue once I was happy with the flower shape.

 

Have fun and don't forget to watch a Shabby Chic show if you can, this is a "MUST HAVE" collection and as I only have half of it I will be putting in an order myself (I have seen a Lilly on some of the samples and I must have this die its just stunning).

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I have just finished some secret stuff for Little Claire and will be sending the samples back today for them to use in their next Hochanda show in March so I have been kept quite busy in my craft room of late. Its also been half term so I have been on holiday from my day job but the time has flown by and I feel as though I haven't achieved much on the home front. I did manage to get out in the lovely sunshine yesterday and cut the grass, I know its only February but it has grown such a lot over the mild winter. Today is different again as we have storm Doris due in tonight and winds of 70/80mph here in Lincolnshire and I have a dodgy chimney so I hope it survives (the chimney cowling was a casualty of the last big winds). Time to batten down the hatches and ride the storm and I will share another fabby Shabby Chic card with you tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just to say you are amazing

Hello my crafty friends, I am sorry it has been a while since my last blog but I have been really busy doing secret stuff for Crafters Companion and although I can`t tell you about it just yet I will say it is the first new collection of products to be launched since Sara came back after having her baby and it is just the most amazing collection I have ever worked with, even the Butterflies are fantastic and as you know I don't like Butterflies - I cant wait to share it with you.
This is a card I have made a week or so ago for a friend who I hadn't spoken to for a while but I wanted to let her know that I was thinking about her and that she is amazing. I used the Leonis stamps which came with issue 13 of Crafters Inspiration magazine and I just love how quirky they are.

what was used:

Leoni flower and sentiment stamps from Crafters Inspiration issue 13

Crafters Companion, Diamond Press, Handmade Love zig-zag stamp

Artylicious Filigree Fusion CD

cream base card

cream linen card to stamp onto

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Vintage Photo & Walnut Stain

large flourish die to make for top corner

smaller corner die for bottom corner

2 x cream mulberry flowers

cream organza ribbon

2 x small pearl gems
 

I have once again been bad and sent the card off without measuring it so you will just have to guestimate the dimensions - SORRY
 

I stamped the flowers onto cream linen card using the Walnut Stain ink pad and then used the Vintage Photo ink pad to shade them. I cut the topper to size and then stamped the zig-zags around the edge using the Vintage Photo ink.
 

I printed the

backing paper onto watercolour paper and mat and layered it onto the cream base card.
 

The die cut flourishes were cut from cream card and then I tinted them with the distress inks.
 

Finally I tinted the flowers by wetting them with a water brush and then colouring them with the Vintage Photo distress ink applied with the water brush. I let the flowers dry and then added Walnut Stain distress ink to the centre.

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I am on half term holiday now so I thought I would get a bit of decorating done (I thought), but then my sister thinks she might be coming to visit for a couple of nights and I have just gotten a top secret project from Little Claire Designs so I think the decorating might have to be shelved for now. I haven't seen my sister in ages so it will be lovely to have her stay, I just hope the weather is a bit better than of late. LC Designs have sent me two new stamp sets which will feature on their next Hochanda slot on 20th March, they are beautiful so I cant wait to get started with them and I`m sure you will love them too when you see them.