Never too old to learn

Hete is another card that I made for the Gemini junior one day special which launches today at 5 on Hochanda. This is the first time I have tried making a side stepper card but it was really easy. The picture doesn`t really show it well but the butterflies are all glittered and sparkle with blinging gem bodies.

 

The main circle die is a create a card die called Butterfly dreams, it is a smaller version of the usual create a card dies and comes in two parts so you could just have it as an ornate frame or like this card.

The smaller butterflies and accent flourishes are from the fluttering motifs die set which contains four dies.

The sentiment is from the simple sentiments die set which includes the words Happy, Birthday, Celebrate and  finally Thank You, all of which will be really useful.

 

When I was trying to figure out how to make this card first of all I decided what measurements I wanted for the main square part of the card and this was determined by the size of the Butterfly dreams die. I then added another 1" to this measurement and that gave me my top fold line for the main part of the card. I used a sheet of white A4 card portrait and I followed the tutorial on Youtube to make the cuts and folds and then finally cut down the right hand side of the card to the desired size.

 

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I have another dentist appointment today for a deep scale clean. When the dentist mentioned that I needed this I thought OK just a bit of a clean then, but as I was leaving he very casually said "I can always numb your mouth if the pain gets too much, its just an option". Needless to say I`m not looking forward to this appointment today. My sister Pauline is coming with me and we will be looking in all the charity shops and then off to my crafty friend Helens shop for a chat and some much needed crafty goodies. I have put my name down to attend one of Helens craft days when she will be having John Lockwood demoing but that is in the summer, still I can`t wait.

 

 

2nd anniversary

Hello crafty friends, tomorrow Crafters Companion begin celebrating their two year relationship with Hochanda and to kick it off they are having a ODS featuring the Gemini junior. I have been working on samples for the show and the dies, stamps and an embossing folder which will feature along side the Gemini junior are beautiful.

The background frame on this card was made using the butterfly quartet edge`able die cut four times. Because this die is an edge`able it only cuts out on one side (the out side) and so the centre of the frame remains solid.

The topper for this card is made using the spread your wings clear acrylic stamp set which contains 17 stamps of which some are sentiments. I used vintage photo distress ink to stamp the images and sentiment (background image 2nd generation stamping), then the edge of the topper was coloured using spiced marmalade and vintage photo distress inks.

I absolutely love my big Gemini and use it constantly but at £180 it is a lot of money so the Gemini junior is a great alternative. Gemini junior is still an expensive piece of kit at £139 and I think the best time to purchase one would be like this as a ONE DAY SPECIAL when you will get lots of extras. I would highly recommend a Gemini of some description as the cutting pressure is amazing and not having to wind a handle is a joy. Some of the recent concept dies are so intricate and in some instances need to cut through multiple layers of card which the Gemini can easily handle.

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Today is a bit of a sad day for me because after two and a half years it will be my last day volunteering at the Lincolnshire Trust for Cats shop. I have been given more hours at my real job (dinner lady) and what with that and my craft work I just wont have the time. I have made some fantastic friends at the shop and I do hope we will remain friends and not drift apart. I have a lot to thank the trust for as they introduced me to my gorgeous Roger and Rosie (cats) who I love so much.

Here they are doing a bit of advertising, my little darlings (sometimes).

Keep it in the family

Today I am sharing a card made by my lovely sister Pauline. Pauline needed to make a birthday card for our sister Jackie who is going to be 70 in March and so we had a girlie craft day and this was the result.

 

The background for the fish was made by stamping distress ink onto a craft mat, spritzing with water until big blobs of water formed on the surface and then rolling a piece of Sheena stamping card over the surface and allow the card to dry (once the card is dry this technique can be repeated until the desired effect is achieved).

A fish was drawn and then cut out and the black detail was added with a fine tip pen.

The sea weed behind the topper was made by using the Sheena what a mesh! die from Crafters Companion to cut white card and then coloured using distress inks.

The sentiment was cut from black card using Die`sire celebration words dies from Crafters Companion.

 

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Pauline often makes large canvas works of art but needed a bit of help to scale down her idea and put it onto a card. Our sister Jackie is a Pisces and that's why the gorgeous fish are the focal point. My birthday card for Jackie has a big 70 plastered all over it but Pauline has gone for the "don't look at it and it will go away" option. I don't think Jackie minds being 70 after all its a privilege to get to that age and it`s only a number. 

I had a lovely day out at the pictures on Thursday with some friends from work. I never go to the pictures and I didn't think I would enjoy the film as it was the last film in the 50 shades series but I was surprised how much I did enjoy it. I had been lent the previous two films to watch so that I understood the story and my most shocking moment was when I realised that the film actually had a good story. We all went for a meal after and it was truly a day to remember.

I hope that you all had a good Valentines day. I was too busy to make Stu a card but to be fair we don't really bother for Valentines and he didn't get me any thing. I did buy him some sweeties but as they were still in the cupboard last night I ate them (ha ha).

 

 

Groovy man

This is my final easel card and this is so "Austin Powers" meets steam punk and I just love the bright colours. Today is the final day to catch the live Crafters Companion shows on Hochanda but you could always see them on catch up. The demos that Leanne does are really good and the design team have excelled themselves with the samples.

 

The dies do all the hard work so once the base and topper are cut out you just need to think how to trim them up. I used Pebeo dyna paints to get the bright orange and pink colours. I love Pebeo paints and these dyna colours are enriched with a pearly sheen. The white net backing is angel hair which I have had in my stash for years but I do remember I got it from Hobbycraft.

 

I have been so lucky with the beautiful products that Crafters Companion have let me use to make samples but these dies and the last corner dies were definitely my all time favourites. My next Crafters Companion assignment arrived yesterday (more Butterflies) so I will be getting creative tonight with that.

Butterflies, hearts and Roses, a winning combination

Tonight at 6 on Hochanda these fantastic easel dies will be launching. I was sent two sets of dies to make samples from (timepiece easel and heart easel) and I think these two are the best and definitely the ones I would have bought myself. I have made a version of this card for my sisters BIG 70th birthday in March and I think she will like it as it is very pretty.

 

The spotty paper is a Nitwit paper pad butterfly kisses and the big filigree butterfly is from the Crafters Companion flutterby range trio of wings. The plum colour on the filigree heart was made using Tim Holtz seedless preserves to colour white card.

 

I would highly recommend that you try to catch one of the shows either tonight or tomorrow as the samples made by the design team are amazing and will really inspire your imagination.



Simple to make, but you wouldn`t think so

The easel card today is a simple filigree overlay on top of printed paper. I love the colours and so does Stuart as he says they are Leeds United colours and he is a Leeds fan.

The backing papers are printed from the Crafters Inspiration 13 CD and are from the sunny garden section. I opened the light blue paper in my graphics program (Craft Artist), punched out a heart shape the same size as the big heart die, made a small blue heart for the centre of the big heart and feathered the edges, laid the small heart at the centre of the big heart and printed it.

It`s not terribly easy to see on this picture but I glittered all the filigree work on the card using glamour dust glitter.

I only stuck the edges of the filigree overlay to the base card as this creates dimension and an extra point of interest.

The card I used is Crafters Companion cream cardstock for the main body of the card as it is strong and cuts really well and I used Sheena white stamping card for the top filigree section of the card because I wanted to colour it in. These two cardstocks are fantastic with these dies and I highly recommend using them for all your projects.

This is how the dies will be in their packaging and you can see that you do get a lot in this set. The scalloped hearts and the little heart on their own will prove very useful on other projects.

Time to be creative

Today's easel card (dies to launch on Hochanda on Monday) features the shield die and as you can see it is very steam punk in style although I will be sharing another version of this card that I have made and it is definitely not steam punk. 

I had lots of fun making this card as it incorporates many techniques such as spritzing, embossing, Pebeo gilding wax sanding and foiling. I used a Gemini machine to die cut but I am not sure how these dies would work with less powerful machines. I found it difficult to get the lighting right for this picture so some of the foiling detail has been lost. The sentiment says "time to party" but this would make a fantastic retirement card.

Is it coming up to Valentines day?

I hope you managed to get those incredible corner dies that I`ve featured all week but if you didn't then here is a sneak peek at the next launch from Crafters Companion on Monday 5th Feb.

 

Again I got two sets of dies to play with and this is the heart easel set of dies. Basically its a create a card but in the form of an easel card. As you would expect with a create a card there are many components and this one has 7 cutting dies and 1 impression die which gives you the fold line for the easel. This sample gives you the basic way in which you can use it as a filigree see through card and I am rather in love with these dies. I will be showing you the rest of my makes over the weekend so keep an eye on my blog.

 

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I cant believe its Friday again and were into February already. I had a fantastic time yesterday going out for tea and a cake with my sister Pauline. We had drinks and sandwiches and then when she had drunk all her coffee she realised that she hadn`t taken her tablets which stop her from feeling dizzy. Well what else could we do, we had to order more drinks and cake (very naughty). My Friday is like everyone elses Monday as I begin my working week and today is going to be a tough day as we are two staff members short and there is no provision for slack in the kitchen. I know I will be worn out when I return home tonight.

They`re here

Yay I got it right at last, the new corner dies were on Hochanda last night and are on again today. I watched the shows and I thought that the music in the background was very distracting, I don't know how long they have been doing it but I wish they would stop. If you watched the shows you will know what the dies are all about and just how versatile they are. I think Leanne did a great job explaining them and the samples were amazing although mine didn't make an appearance.

 

I wanted to show you with this card that you can use the dies on speciality or hand made papers. This paper I made years ago using mica paints and copy paper.

First you add mica paints to copy paper (I think I used sprays) and then screw the paper up so that the painted side is on the inside of the paper ball. Screw the paper ball very tight and try to get any excess paint to drip from the paper (you may want to wear latex gloves for this). Carefully unfold the paper and lay it onto newspaper to dry out.

I love making these mica papers on a sunny day and then I lay them in a sunny spot to dry.

The flower stamp is from Crafters Companion, times gone by, lucky chance stamp set and the sentiments are from Crafters Companion, die`sire, sentimentals, love is all you need stamp set.