Saturday 25 January 2014

He loves me .... he loves me not ...


This weekend we have family visiting and so there will not be time to sit and craft. 

I thought I would share a couple of Valentines themed projects from last year as we have had so many new subscribers to the blog and newsletter recently that there will be a lots of you who have not seen them before!


And for those of you who have seen them ... we'll be back with a new tutorial again next week.

Have a lovely weekend!

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Thursday 23 January 2014

Bunting & Bird ...


Today I have been playing with a new stamp set from Woodware  


TWEETING FOR YOU STAMP SET

and one of our new 6x6 paper packs from Websters Pages


WEBSTERS PAGES - POSTCARDS FROM PARIS II - 6X6 PAPERPAD COLLECTION




 I stamped the bird image directly onto the card with a Brilliance (Graphite Black) ink pad.  I also stamped parts of the image containing the leaves onto a couple of sheets of paper from the paper pad and trimmed the leaves out.  

I edged the leaves with a little sponge and Peanut Brittle Memento Ink pad {very fiddly I know but I think that it adds to the vintage feel of the card}.

The paper leaves were then stuck on top of the black leaves on the base card with a glue pen

Using the black Brilliance ink pad again I stamped the small flower in several places around the branch and stamped one of the sentiments in the bottom right hand corner.

I created the bunting by snipping little triangles from the papers in the pad (edged with the memento ink again)and stuck these into position {leaving the bottom part of each triangle without any adhesive on so that I could roll the bunting up a little to make it look as if blowing in the wind!}

Finally I added a few 'x' along the bunting with a black gel pen to look like little cross stitches or kissses and added some stitching in each corner with a white gel pen.


Envelope

As the card was quite delicate I thought that it would look nice sent with a lined envelope.




To line the envelope I took an envelope to fit the card and positioned it against a sheet of paper from the paper pad.

Using a pencil I drew a line around as much of the envelope that would fit onto the paper {it is not essential to draw all the way around the envelope just what you can see here in the picture}


{I have moved the envelope down a little so that you can see where I drew with the pencil}.

Trim around the pencil lines.


Draw a line (roughly 1cm) in from each side of the trimmed shape (don't worry if you think that it all looks a little unsymmetrical - it will!

Add the dotted line at the bottom joining the lines on each side together.

Cut around the dotted lines and add some double sided tape at the back of the trimmed piece.

Push down into the envelope so that the triangular part at the top sits below the gummed line on the envelope. Stick into place.

To finish I added a stitched line with a black gel pen to neaten the cut edge.



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Tuesday 21 January 2014

Quite Simply ... Simple ...



How often do you find that you look through your stash of cards to find out that none of them are suitable for a particular occasion?   

If you have ever found yourself struggling to make that last minute card in ultra quick time then this little card is for you.  I promise that you really can make it in 5 minutes flat so it would be great for either a quick card or when you have lots to make e.g. invitations.  

It could easily be converted into a gift tag as well!


The card base here is an A6 card but you could adjust the design to fit any size card or tag.


 I used some of the papers from the 

Roughly draw 3 circles on coordinating papers from the pack with pencil and tear the circles out to create the layers of the flowers {remember to tear inside of the pencil line so that you do not see it on the final flower}

**If anyone would like a mini tutorial on paper tearing then send me an e-mail at teresa@philpotts.com and I will upload a little tutorial on the website for you **

Once you have the three circles they need a little 'ruffing' up at the edges (pinch and bend the edges with your fingers).

Stick into place towards the top of the card and add a button in the center.  You could always add a little Stickles Glitter Glue around the edges of the petal to add a little sparkle.

The sentiment stamp used for the stem and leaves below the flower is called 





Stamp the stem first and then the scroll leaf one at a time.

A little doodling and a few gems and the card is complete ...





{Watch out for the Newsletter this week as we have voucher codes for lots of special offers (including stickles glue).  

We will also be giving the you the code to get your hands on a FREE packet of the gemstones used in this project with your orders!

Don't forget as well that most items are still on sale until the end of January and Loyalty Points are worth double when you redeem them whilst the sale is on!

If you are not already signed up to the Newsletter then you can sign up HERE


Sunday 19 January 2014

New Tutorial ...



Some of you have already seen the gift bags and how we made them on a previous post but recently one or two of our new subscribers to the Blog and newsletter have asked if we could demonstrate again how the bags have been made so we have put together a new little tutorial which is coming out on the newsletter this week and which will be over on the website with additional instructions.

The bags are really easy to make and do not involve any cutting, just a little folding and some double sided tape!

If you would like to see how they are made click on the picture above to see the tutorial.  

If you want to see other tutorials as and when they are available make sure that you sign up to our newsletter by clicking here.

Thursday 16 January 2014

Heirloom Papers from My Minds Eye


If you are looking to make a Valentines card over the next few days or need a card for an Anniversary or Special Birthday here are a couple of ideas using the new Heirloom Papers from the Lost & Found Collection from My Minds Eye which are now in stock.

The collection is beautiful and whilst it clearly has a 'Love' theme it could be used for many occasions throughout the year and not just Valentines Day!  Pop over to www.philpotts.com to see the new collection along with other new goodies all with a love/wedding/anniversary theme which have arrived this week.


The flowers are made with vellum/parchment. See the tutorial below.

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Here is an extract of an old tutorial from the website explaining the stages for making the flowers.

  
1. Using a scalloped punch or your die cutting machine cut a circle from paper/vellum.  Once you have done this use scalloped paper edging scissors to cut a spiral from the edge towards the middle of the flower.


2. Start to roll up the spiral from the outside edge towards the center.  Roll quite tight at this stage.


3. Keep rolling until all of the spiral has been rolled and you have reached the roundish area in the center of the spiral. At this point loosen your grip on the flower slightly so that it looks more natural.

Add a good drop of pva glue on the flat center area of the spiral and roll the curled flower over so that it adheres to the bottom, glued area.  Hold in place for at least 30 seconds to allow the glue to start to set. 


4. And here is the final result made from paper this time instead of Vellum

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The spiral flowers here were made in exactly the same way as the tutorial shows but they are made from Vellum instead of paper. 



{Shopping List}


The flourish rub ons, vellum and sentiment stamps (from Technique Tuesday) are in stock and will be available on the website very soon!


The background for the butterfly card was created using a new Kaisercraft stamp and some Memento ink pads {see products used below}.  The butterfly is stamped onto cardstock, cut and mounted with foam over the Heirloom collection papers.


{Shopping List}


Sentiment stamps from Technique Tuesday are in stock and will be available online soon!


Probably the easiest and most simple of all is this Birthday Card which uses a strip of paper from the Paper Pad along with a few buttons and some self adhesive lace.  The 'Happy Birthday' sentiment was matted onto a scalloped circle and then mounted with foam for a 3d effect.


{Shopping List}


Buttons are in stock and will be available online soon!




     



Thursday 2 January 2014

Thinking Spring ...


Happy New Year to you all!

Today I have an Easter themed card to share with you but which could easily be used for a Birthday, New Baby or just to say 'Hello'.





In case you are wondering, the wings are created from 

The rest of the card is created from patterned paper, Bazzill card stock, google eyes and some letter stickers.

I drew myself a template for the egg shape but you could achieve a similar effect with an oval punch or oval die set if you have a die cutting machine.


Happy Crafting
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