How to cheat at crafting

Tomorrow sees yet another Crafters Companion one day special over on Hochanda and it will be some Christmas 3D embossing folders. There is a set of large sentiment embossing folders which will be the centre piece of any card that is made with them and then there are some rather beautiful image folders. I have used one of the image folders to make this card and  have embossed parchment which is really a cheats way of parchmenting but it looks so effective. The colouring in is so theraputic I didnt want to stop.

 

All you need to do is emboss the folder onto parchment and then from the back side outline the detail with a white gelly roll pen or a white pencil then colour in the detail (I used Spectrum noir aqua pens). 

Cut the finished work to size and then cut mat and layers for it to sit on on the card base. Stamp a sentiment onto cream card and secure the sentiment and topper in place with gold brads. 

The only problem with using parchment is that you have to use brads or in some way disguise how you secure the parchment because any glue that is used will show through on the finished card and spoil it.

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I am so glad that the weather has cooled down and I can get so much more done. Its raining here and boy does the garden need it. 

I had a craft day with my sister on Friday and we had a play with colours using glycerin and splodges and my T shirt, hands, desk and any thing else in the way was covered when I had finished. My new stamp platform arrived yesterday and as I had a project to make using lots of word stamps I set about making a word cloud (I will show you thee finished thing in another blog as its secret stuff for now) and I couldn't have done it and gotten it all lined up and straight without the stamping platform, I'm well impressed.

Fabulus at 50

Here is a quick and easy little card which I have made for a good friend who had a big birthday yesterday. I do love these stamp and die combos and I`m sure you will be seeing lots of cards from me made with them.

 

what you will need:

Crafteers Companion Cupcakes stamp/dies set 

Crafters Companion, birthday party, fun with numbers dies

Craffters Companion little angel 12" x 12" paper pad

Sheena stamping card

Spectrum noir crystal clear sparkle pen

Spectrum noir red berry aqua tint pen

Sekura white gelly roll pen

black fine tip pen

distress inks (to colour in the cupcakes)

yellow glitter card

This card is so much fun to make and the first step is to fold a piece of A4 card in half, decide where you need the stamped image to be on the outside of the card and either stamp the image and then die cut or die cut and then stamp - it`s up to you which you prefer. Trim the card to size top and bottom.

Colour the image using distress inks and a water brush.

Add sparkle to the icing using the sparkle pen and add a white bit to the cherry to look like it is shining.

Die cut the spotty paper from the paper pad with the other half of the die. Cut this paper to mat and layer onto the front of the card and stick in place on the card.

Stamp a sentiment using one of your own stamps or if you like to use a graphics program make a sentiment and print it out. Draw freehand around the sentiment using a fine tip black pen, cut the sentiment out and stick onto the front of the card.

Die cut the numbers from the glitter card and stick onto the card.

Using a ruler and the fine tip black pen draw a border/box around the inside of the card (I find it easier if you push the pen away from you rather than drawing it into you, the ink is a smoother flow).

Just in case yourey wondering how to be fabulous at 50 the inside sentiment reads "just keep doing what you did when you were fabulously 49".

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I took this card and present to my friends yesterday morning and when I got there she was already drinking bubelly, she does know how to live. I on the other hand was not having a special day and stuck to a cup of tea.

One of my faves

It`s another Crafters Companion one day special today on Hochanda at 6 and it`s Christmas stamps and dies. I absolutely love this idea of stamping the image and then having the dies to fussy cut it out or as I have done with this one just cut out one edge, I think these are my favourite craft items at the moment and I can see my own Christmas cards being made from these. There are 10 images in total and they are all fabulous and can be as quick and easy or as complex as your imagination allows.

 

This cut on edge card is made using the Poinsettia stamp/dies and the only thing you have to remember is not to fold the card until you have made the die cut. Once the cutting out has been done you can stamp the image and then fold the card.

I used a paper from my stash for the backing paper and the sentiment is from the Crafters Companion, festive phrases stamps.

The little holly leaves on the sentiment are made using a Woodware punch that I have had for years.

 

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I`ve had a busy time of it since my last blog with lots of secret craft stuff going on and then on Friday I went along to a workshop with John Lockwood. He was such a lovely man and I learnt an awful lot. One of the things I learnt was that I need a stamping platform and I had only ever heard of the Tim Holtz one but as John said this one is made for the American market and is not designed to use with clear cling stamps as they do not have these in America. I have now ordered a Stamps Too press to impress stamp platform which is the one we used in the workshop. I know it would have worked a treat with the Crafters Companion one day special stamp/die combo. Here`s the two card that I made with John, the black and white card is a shaker box card made using his new die sets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I wasn`t expecting this

Crafters Companion are having a one day special on Hochanda starting at 6pm today and that is the unexpected bit because I thought that the samples I had made for the show were going over to America to be launched. So here is a card I have made using the Poinsettia frame 3D embossing folder, it is such a lovely folder to use.

 

I simply embossed some mat black card and then coloured the design in using mica paints (the ones in little pots that you have to activate by spraying on water), it was so therapeutic like those adult colouring in books. The tinier tendrils and pink berries I coloured using Spectrum Noir metallic pens and a white gelly roll to dot an accent highlight on the berries.

The sentiment is cut from Crafters Companion gold luxury cardstock using Crafters Companion festive words 1 dies. 

All the embossing folders in the show are beautiful and fun to work with, its funny but I never really think to buy embossing folders and then when I use them I think I should use them more often.

 

Reach for the stars

This is a little tag card that I have made for the Little Claire shows on Hochanda today at 11 and 2. I have been making Christmas cards and gifts since the beginning of June and I think this card was one of the first.
Little Claire have some star themed stamps and this image is taken from one of those sets.

 

 

Its a bit of a fussy card but basically its the image stamped, coloured in and then fussey cut. The backing paper was cut out using my scan & cut machine but if I didn't have it I would have cut the bottom part of the tag as an oblong shape and rounded the corners with a corner punch. The sentiment is Lilly of the Valley (they have started to have shows on Hochanda). The tag card base is also featured on the Hochanda shows but Little Claire sell it direct from their website.

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We finally got the long promised rain yesterday and boy did it rain. It was like a tropical storm with thunder constantly rumbling for hours and with it came hail stones and winds which blew the BBQ and table & chairs over. It was lovely and refreshing outside but I had to shut the windows to stop the rain from coming in and then it was like an oven inside the house. Today the birds re singing again and the garden although littered with bits of tree is looking much fresher. I am spending the day with my friend and we are going on a shopping trip but Karen is a tenacious lady and once we are out we don't come home till the shops close. I have a delivery today of more secret stuff from Crafters Companion and I don't know if its for the next allocation or a magazine commission which I have taken on. To be continued...........

I`m seeing stars

OK so Christmas seems like a long way off especially when we are in the midst of a heatwave but this is the time of the year when well organised crafters start to do Christmas. This card is showcasing another of the new stamps from Little Claire and  is one of their stars stamps.

I have used my brusho pigments to create a background and then when it was dry over stamped the image. I used a really old Kanban set of snowflake stamps to create the stamped detail to the side of the card and the sentiment was made using a Inkylicious stamp.  

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Yesterdays trip to Lincoln was really enjoyable as I took the train and I just love off peak train journeys. The Chinese supermarket was fabulous and as most of the products were labelled with Chinese writing I was so glad that the shop assistant was happy to spend time with me explaining the produce. I have an old Ken Hom cook book which I love but some of the ingredients are not to be found in the ordinary supermarket. The fabric shop was less inspiring but I will call in again when I'm around. I have more secret stuff for Crafters Companion to be getting on with today (Christmas cards) and I am eagerly awaiting my Crafters Inspiration magazine but I know that once that has arrived not much work will be done for a few hours whilst I look through it again and again.

Playing chase

I will be sharing the samples that I have made for the Little Claire Hochanda show on Saturday all this week and as I showed you a cat card yesterday I thought it only right to keep the balance and show you a doggie card today.

This is such a quick and simple little card to make and the only tricky bit is masking off the card ready to colour with distress inks. The base card is sold by Little Claire and you work direct onto the card so no mat and layering. I use black Versafine ink when stamping but with silhouette stamps I sometimes need to fill in gaps and I use a black uni.ball signo pen for this.

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Today I am going to Lincoln shopping with my sister Pauline so I hope the sun isn`t too exhausting. When I used to live in Yorkshire I went to Leeds quite a lot and there was a Chinese shop in the market which sold the best Chinese take away style curry and I`ve heard that there is a Chinese supermarket in Lincoln so I`m on a mission to find it as I`ve run out of curry paste now. There is also a fabric shop in Lincoln which has the most fabulous haberdashery department so I must take a look whilst I`m there, I might not ever come out if it is as good as I`ve been told.