Monday 30 June 2014

Another year older ...


I know that I promised another project using the bunting and pinwheel stamp last week.  I have finally had chance to post it ... sorry for the delay! I have been a couple of days behind as we have been busy adding our new jewellery range to the website so it has been all hands to the deck (or computer keyboard).

The card is created using:

The card is quite self explanatory really.  The green flower is created by taking one of the scalloped semi circle bunting stamps from the set and stamping it back to back onto patterned paper from the paper pad.  Trim this out and add a smaller white piece of card (cut freehand) so that the chipboard numbers show up when added to the top.

The sentiment is added with foam but the rest of the items are stuck with double sided tape.

That is about all that I have time for today (sorry that it is so quick). I will be back later in the week with another project as well as sending out details of the new jewellery section on the newsletter.  

Talking about newsletters don't forget the special offer on the Tim Holtx Distress ink pads (only £3.65 each until end of Thursday). This week's newsletter also included details of the new Fiskars Fuse range which has just been added to the site.  

If you don't have the newsletter then you can sign up here.  
Please do remember though that signing up is a two stage process.  Once you have signed up you will need to go back to your e-mail inbox and click the link that you will receive from 'feedburner' which sends out our blog posts for us.  If you do not do this second stage then your subscription will not be verified and you will not get the posts.  I can see a good number of you who have not yet verified your subscriptions.  If you are not sure then drop me an e-mail and I will check for you.

Enjoy the sun!

****************************


Wednesday 25 June 2014

Birthday Pinwheels ...




As promised we are back to Summer again today with no more mention of the 'C' word for a while!  I think you will agree that you cannot get much more Summery than bright coloured pinwheels so here is my little project for today!

I love this Pinwheel stamp from Kaisercraft.  Not only does it have the pinwheel shown but for anyone who knows me you will know that I adore bunting and this stamp set is covered with various styles of bunting so just about the perfect stamp set for me!

Here are a few step by step instructions if you fancy having a go at recreating it...


The base card is 14.5cm x 14.5cm.  

I cut a square of blue cardstock from my craft box to form the background.  The rest of the card was made using the Floral Pavilion Paper pack (part of the First Edition range from Trimcraft)

The blue square was positioned towards the top right of the card along with another strip of pink paper (from the paper pad) which is positioned at the bottom. 







The container holding the pinwheels is created by stamping out the jar from the 'Sweetie Jar' stamp set from Woodware.  I stamped it once onto white cardstock and then again onto a sheet of the blue spotty paper from the paper pad.  Trim the white jar just outside the line and trim the section of the blue jar as shown in the top picture.  Edge with a little neutral ink  and stick both parts of the jar together.

I cut out a small tag (freehand so that I could get the correct size)and added this along with some red twine.  The jar was then stuck into place with 3D foam.


The pinwheel was stamped onto coordinating papers from the pad and trimmed.  I stuck them onto white card and trimmed again (leaving a little white edge).  This will give them more support as they are also going to be stuck with foam pads to raise off the card.  Before I added them to the card I used a heart brad to create the center of each pinwheel.


 

Using one of the stamps from the Birthday Wishes set (also from Kaisercraft), I created the sentiment tag which was added to the left of the card along with some more twine (wrapped around the card) and three small pieces of paper cut with a 'v' shape to represent bunting.


 Fnially a second stamp was used from the Birthday Wishes stamp set and this was added to the bottom right hand side of the card.

I think that this card would make a great Birthday card for a  girl or even party invitations.

Enjoy the summer and I will be back with another bunting style card using the same Kaisercraft Sets later this week!

*******************************



Monday 23 June 2014

Thinking ahead ...












Despite all of the lovely sunshine of late, I know that lots of you are already thinking about your Christmas projects because of the items that have been on your orders this weekend!  

I have been creating Christmas projects in preparation for the Autumn workshops for a while now so I thought that I would share this little festive project with you in case you are one of those people who also likes to think ahead and get a head start.

(Don't be offended if you don't start Christmas until much later in the year ... I promise that I won't share any more Christmas projects for a while and we will be back to Summer projects again later this week!)




This project would actually work well for any of you who make Christmas cards to order or who make them in readiness for Craft Fairs that you will be going to later in the year.  

You can see from the first picture that I have created some Nordic style Christmas cards.  These would be great to use/sell individually but as you can see from the second picture they could also be wrapped in a cellophane bag, tied with twine with a label and sold in packs at a Craft Fair or given to someone as a gift who likes to send handmade cards but does not have time to make them!




The Bird Stand Inspire Die from Spellbinders is used to create the cards. I also used the Grand Callibur but of course the Spellbinders dies will work with most machines!

I positioned the die (face down) on my square card so that it sat just above the horizontal center line.  So that the die stays put when it goes through the cutting machine I used a small piece of stencil tape to hold the die down.  NB. Even though the stencil tape is low tack I still pressed the tape onto my hand a couple of times to remove a little more of the tackiness before placing it on the front of the card.

As I had positioned my die face down on top of the card I reversed the order of my cutting board and base plate (i.e. cutting board underneath and base plate on top).  This way I was sure that I would cut into the correct board rather than damaging my grey base plate.

Once you have cut the Bird Stand out set the card aside and cut a square of patterned festive paper approximately 1cm smaller than the size of your card e.g. my card was 14.5cm x 14.5cm so my patterned paper was cut 13.5cm x 13.5cm.  I used papers from the lovely City Sidewalks range from Pink Paislee.




Once you have cut the patterned paper, open your card, take a glue pen and add glue all around your design (remember this is on the inside of the card).  Stick the patterned paper to the inside front side of the card (you will need to also use double sided tape on the outside edges of the paper so that the whole of the sheet is adhered to the card).  As the patterned paper was cut slightly smaller than the card it will sit neatly inside the card with a small border all the way around!




 The City Sidewalks paper pack has enough coordinating papers so that you can create a whole collection of designs!




The 'Happy Christmas' sentiment was taken from a Woodware stamp set, 'Snow is Falling'.  I choose it as I think that it gives a particularly clean and simple finish to the card designs.  




I stamped the sentiment onto strips of card stock and then adhered these to the bottom of the design but this would have worked just as well if I had stamped the sentiment directly onto the card.




The final look is really quite simple and elegant.  You could also make matching gift tags which would work well!

The cards don't actually take that long to make and so would work well as a design if you are making cards to sell or give away as gifts or if you just have lots of friends and a large Christmas card list!

Monday 16 June 2014

All patched up ...



Do you know that we have been running a craft business for  twelve years now and over that time you would not believe how many people have said that they always have to buy sheets of paper in two's ... 

... One to use and the other to stroke and look at!

I also fall into that category of crafter.  I like to stroke paper and cannot bear to throw away a piece of paper if it is larger than an inch squared.  You might think that I am mad (Mr P. does!) but I am guessing that you won't and probably even have your own box of pretty 'off cuts'.  

If you don't keep them it might be worth starting now. When you have enough you can make (almost) free cards just like the one above.

I love to think that I have made another card from bits that would have been thrown away.  They are great for keeping in your box of cards without a sentiment on ready to personalize just before writing and sending it.  That way you will always have a card for any occasion ready to use!





  





Thursday 12 June 2014

We're back ...


 We're back from a couple of days in Devon and very lovely it was too ... the sun shone and the sea sparkled as always!  

Today is the first day back and so I have spent all morning catching up with e-mails and orders.  I have not had time to craft since I got back so here is a card that we did last year on a 'paper piecing' workshop.  Not sure why this card jumped out at me this morning as the card to share, perhaps something to do with packed bags and a car ready to go off on holiday!


The card does not really need much explanation.  The template can be sized to fit your card (I used an A6 card).


 And then it is just a case of cutting the relevant parts of the template out ...


... and tracing around them onto your paper choices.


As always, edging each piece with a little brown ink will give a little more dimension.  

I used a small circle punch for the headlights but if you do not have one you could just cut around the template!

Black and white gel pens add the final detail and a McGill Starburst punch was used as the bow on top of the presents.

Not too much to this one just a little bit of time and patience!

**********************

On a separate note I wanted to let you know that we have finished going to the Bedford Market on a Wednesday morning now.  The girls break up for the Summer holidays within the next few weeks and we have a lot to do this Summer so need Wednesday morning to give ourselves a head start.  I know that some of you who had popped over to see us said that you would come back before July (which was our date to finish) so I wanted to let you know in case you wondered where we were!

***********************

If you only follow the Blog and are not signed up to our newsletter then you might want to sign up HERE as we have a newsletter coming out this week with a voucher code so that you can get a really good deal on the new Tonic Studios Maxi Guillotine.  We already have it on the site for £29.99 when its rrp is £37.99 but this weekend you can save even more money.  So if you are looking for a new paper trimmer make sure you get the newsletter this week!

*************************

Enjoy the sunshine and Happy Crafting!

Saturday 7 June 2014

In the Garden ...



If you are still looking for a Fathers Day card for those 'green fingered' Dad's here is a 3D garden/greenhouse card that would be great for Fathers Day or as a Birthday card.  I think that it would also work very well for a Lady as well as a male card.

The card sits flat for posting but then opens out to show off a lovely veggie patch!




The card is created using a piece of acetate which I cut to approximately 12" x 6" (this gave me a 6x6" card when folded but you could create this card in any size that you wanted to - it really would not matter).

Trim a piece of green cardstock to 6x6" (Tip: cut a few millimeters smaller than 6x6" as this will then sit nicely inside your acetate card).  

Stick this to the bottom of the acetate card.  Invisi dots for vellum are good at sticking this so that you cannot see the tape through the vellum.

Take the top piece of acetate and fold this in half to create a triangle (the greenhouse part).  You will need to give this a really good crease with a Bone Folder so that the card sits neatly once finished.




 From here you can decorate the card as you wish using stamps, punches and paper flowers.  Remember to decorate under the greenhouse part as well as the veggie patch (you could use the greenhouse area as space to write your message!).

The only important thing to remember is that the vegetable patch areas (the pieces of brown card forming the soil) need to be stuck to the card using 3d foam as this will be used to stop the greenhouse from slipping when the card is open.




Design ideas: Strips of card can be used to create bean poles and a border punch can be used to create a trellis effect. 
Red self adhesive pearls can be used for tomatoes.




 It really is the sort of card that you can decorate however you want depending on the size of the card and depending on what stamps, punches you have in your craft box.  

The pictures will give you a starting point to work from.

*****

I hope that you like the project and enjoy having a go, if you have any specific questions about this or any of the projects on the Blog let me know.  

Also, if you fancy seeing a particular idea or technique used in a project then let me know and I'll do my best to include it in forthcoming projects.

This is the last post for a few days but I will be back again towards the end of next week with a few more projects and ideas.  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!







Thursday 5 June 2014

Fathers Day gift idea ...


With Fathers Day just around the corner I have a paper collage picture doubling up as both a card and a gift to share with you today.



Decide on the size of picture that you want (to fit your frame) and print the template of the boat in a size that will fit.


Cut a piece of base cardstock the correct size for your frame.  The picture will be stuck to this base card which will then fit into the frame.

Begin by cutting strips of white cardstock (make sure that they are all the same thickness and that you have enough to cover your base card). Edge each with a little peanut ink.

Stick the edged strips into place on the base card leaving about 1mm gap between each strip.

Once all are stuck into place take a 'bluntish' soft pencil and run the pencil along each of the gaps to create the shadow and weathered board effect (N.B. a sharp pencil will leave a harsh line, one with a rounded end will work better).

Once the background has been created it is simply a case of cutting parts of the template out one by one and tracing them onto your patterned paper, cut out, edge with ink and add to your picture.

The effect on the sail was achieved by tracing and cutting out the sail template parts and carefully scrunching up each piece.
(N.B.  Scrunching up the piece of paper will make it slightly smaller once flattened.  It is a good idea to trace the sails in pencil {lightly] and then cut just outside of your pencil line.  This way you will make the sails slightly larger which will scrunch up and become the overall size that you need for the picture - remember to erase the pencil line!)

  Once you are happy that you have scrunched enough, flatten out the pieces and gently take a brown ink pad to dab over the pieces.  Using a dye based ink pad like a Memento ink pad works really well for this technique as the ink pad will have a felt pad instead of sponge and so the ink will sit on top of the creases - remember to tap the ink gently onto each sail!

Stick into place with double sided tape but allow the sail to move a little on the base card by pushing with your fingers to get a feel of movement instead of sticking it flat.




The number on the sail was a rub on with a weathered feel which makes the piece of paper look even more like a canvas/sail.




Once the collage is finished a black gel pen can be used to create a little more definition to the picture.

Finally add a stitch around the mount on the frame with a pencil and stick triangles of nautical paper to a separate piece of cardstock.  Cut the bunting out in one long strip and attach to the picture so that it sits over the mount and the picture.




Add your sentiment to the bottom of the frame or add it to the back and there you have it - a card and gift all wrapped up in one!

Products used can be seen by linking through to the website (just click on the link) as always.

Happy crafting!


Tuesday 3 June 2014

Thank you card ...



I have a super quick Blog post and a card which is almost as quick to make to share with you today as I am busy preparing the new Autumn workshop list.



The card is created using a sheet of brown cardstock from the Nature Textura card pack.  

The brown card is trimmed and the corners rounded and stamped with the Journal stamp and the Dress Form stamp from Kaisercraft and a graphite black ink pad.



'Thank you' was cut using the Celebration In'spire die from Spellbinders (I mixed the fonts from two of the dies).

 Small triangles of paper were cut from scraps of paper in my craft box and added to the top right hand corner to form the bunting.

Buttons were added and stitching around the edge with a black gel pen finished the card.


*************************

Hope you like it.  

I'm off to do some more Christmas projects now!




Monday 2 June 2014

A little bird told me ...




Summer certainly feels like it is well on the way today so I thought that I would share a Birthday card with a Summery garden theme running through it.




I wanted the card to have a 'paper cut' feel to it and so used the Rose Deco Frame Die from Tonic Studios to give me that 'cut paper' feel without having to get my craft knife out.







I used a cream square card for the base and trimmed a piece of Bazzill Moss Canvas Card to fit the front of the card leaving a small border around the edge of the card. I edged the card with a little Peanut ink and a sponge so that the card would have a vintage effect.


The Rose Die was used to cut the frame from cream card stock and stuck into place with a glue pen.




 I stamped the bird from the Tweeting for You stamp set from Woodware onto cream card and carefully trimmed out with scissors.  This was stuck into place on the card with foam tape.

I also used butterflies from the Butterfly Medley Stamp set (again from Woodware), trimmed and stuck into place with a 
tape runner.  The small flowers were also from the set and again stuck with a tape runner. Glitter domes were added to the middle of the flowers and used for the bodies of the butterflies.

I used the Celebration die from Spellbinders to cut 'happy birthday' from cream card stock.  I used the negative part of the die cut, matted this onto black/dark grey card and trimmed into a ribbon tag which was added with foam at the bottom of the card.  

Finally, I added a little more ink using the sponge to age areas such as the sentiment and let a little rub off onto the frame etc.


 

Hope you enjoy!