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Welcome to my blog, a place where I can lose myself in a crafty haven. Pull up a comfy chair grab a cuppa and come and have a read. Oh and if you like what you see, stop by and leave me some love in the comments section

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Monday, January 29, 2024

Valentine's Card 'Donut" have to be hard to make!

Good morning,  the weather here is being a bit hormonal (😂) We have had lots of snow, then rain and fog then it was snowing again last night!

I'm back with super cute card suitable for my teenager to give her friend.


Aren't these stamps and dies just the cutest! The design is so simple to make. I started with an A2 top folding cardbase and as always this was cut from Neenah Solar White 110lb card stock. I matted this with Razzleberry Pop-Tone Cardstock. 

Using an Altenew Plate die and Pink Lemonade Pop-Tone Cardstock I die cut the lacy panel and adhered this to my base.

The cross-stitch frame is cut from Brown Bag Kraft CardStock 4 times this gives a chipboard effect. I did the same with the fastening at the top of the frame using Stardream Cardstock in Antique Gold Metallic.

My images were stamped using a combination of pink and tan colored inks on to Neenah Solar White Card. This was glued to the back of the frame.

The bow is also included in the set and is cut from Razzleberry Cardstock. This was then glued to the top of the hoop which was then adhered to my base.

Finally I added some flat back pearls to look as those it had sugar balls on.





Products Used:

Diamond Press Sweet Cross Stitch Stamp and Die Collection
Altenew Ornate Cover Die


Thank you for stopping by and as always if you like what you see leave me some love!!!


Friday, January 12, 2024

Christmas all year round!

 Hello, it's been a while!!! I was so busy at the end of last year that I didn't get much time to post here. Things are a little easier now so I intend to post more frequently!

We had a good dump of snow on Wednesday and a winter storm with potentially a lot more snow is heading in today and Saturday!

Christmas is always a busy time for us crafters so this year I will be holiday crafting all year round so I am more than ready when it finally arrives. 

My card today is a card and a gift all in one.


Using a Gina Marie Designs Ornament die I cut 6 of it so I could stack them on top of one another making a chipboard thickness. This stops delicate parts from breaking off and makes the ornament substantial enough to hang on a tree.
I decorated a top folding A2 cardbase with some MirriSparkle Glitter cardstock. I then die cut a tiny hole in the center of the front of the card about half an inch down.
Ribbon was added to the ornament - this was then threaded through the hole in the card and adhered inside with tape.
Finally I added some gems to the ornament to make it sparkle.


Items Used:
Gina Marie Scene Ornament Die


Thank you for stopping by and I hope I have given you inspiration for your holiday cards. Also of you have a lot of Christmas crafting to do - START NOW 😊


Friday, October 27, 2023

Gnome Matter What

 Good morning, It's been a while since I posted but I have lots of crafty news to share over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!

My post today is using CutCardStock products o make this adorable Gnome card:


I used Pop-Tone cardstock in a variety of colors to build the gnome which is a die plate from Gina Marie Designs.

Once I had him put together I made him a background. using Neenah Classic Crest, a Cloud Stencil and some Tumbled Glass Distress ink I created a sky.

Then tearing Brown Bag Kraft Cardstock and inking the torn edges with Brown Corduroy gave me the ground for him to stand on.

I curved a sentiment, holding it in shape using my Misti and stamped this in Momento Tuxedo Black Ink.

Finally I added the whole design to a top folding A2 card base made from Pewter Grey Cardstock adhering it in place with foam tape to give some dimension to the card.


Saturday, August 26, 2023

AECP - Progressive Card Making

 Good afternoon! Hopefully today is gong to be a little cooler than it has been as we are heading to a rodeo later today.

School starts again next week - the summer feels as like it has gone on forever and both Mollie and me are ready to get back into our routines.

I have had a break from my Altenew Educators Certification Program but need to get back into it. I am 2 classes away from completing it - well as of today 1 class!!!

Progressive Card Making by Justine Hovey is the latest class I have completed. She discussing many card making techniques and levels that all crafters can achieve. I love this idea because not only can beginners achieve her techniques but it is learning curve leading to becoming more advanced.

Even though I view myself as an advanced card maker I want to demonstrate different levels of experience so I am covering stamping, masking, dry embossing and heat embossing on my designs today. This makes a long blog post so bear with me!! 😊

First card is a Floral card using simple stamping, 1 layer masking and dry embossing:

The card starts as plain cardstock, I have Neenah Solar White for my base and stamping. Green and cream cardstock for my layers.

I stamped the floral stem from the Floral Sprig Stamp Set using Crisp Dye Ink in Jet Black. I stamp twice, once on my cardstock then on to masking paper.


The image is fussy cut from the masking paper, making sure I cut along the outer lines of the image which ensures that when you stamp your next image over it you get a seamless image. I then lay it over the image stamped on cardstock.

Arranging the stamp for my 2nd image so it looks as though there are 2 stems from one branch it is stamped again. I do add masking paper to the stem of the stamp before I ink it so this does not stamp that section on my card.


When I remove the mask my first image looks as though it is in front of the second image. With this stamp it also looks as the the stamped images are 1 image. I had double inked my first image which is why it is darker making it appear nearer than the 2nd image.


I love coloring with alcohol  markers and Altenew Markers are great because, like their inks, they come in coordinating colors so choosing coordinating colors is easy. Once colored I then fussy cut the spring from the cardstock as I want a different background to frame it ad don't own the die.


My background is dry embossed using Leaf Bed Stencil. To do this you place the stencil over your cardstock and run it through your die cutter. You may need added shims to do this to give more pressure which pushes the stencil into the fibers of the cardstock embossing the stencil pattern in to it.


It does give a very delicate looking pattern that can just be seen on the right photo.

Now to construct my design: I stamped a sentiment from Sentiment Strips 2 onto cream cardstock and trimmed this to a strip. I want mats on my card so I trim a strip of card so it is 2/8th bigger than my sentiment. My embossed card is trimmed to 5.5in x 4in and a green mat is cut to 5.5in x 4 and 2/8th. 


I mat the card and add my image all with wet glue, my sentiment is added with Instant Dimension Foam Tape to give dimension.
Some clear bubble gems are used to draw the eye to the sentiment. 


My second card shows the same techniques but at a more advanced level. I am also showing heat embossing with this card.

The circles in this image are all flat on the card and are individual circles but I have achieved dimension using masking and shading in my coloring. This is also a great way to make cards using the smaller stamp sets.

To start I stamped the circles from Circle Delights Stamp Set multiple times onto masking paper, these are then fussy cut. Do not use dies for this as you will be left with a white edge around the mask which you don't want.

Once these are all cut I then arrange them onto my cardstock to plan out my pattern. I photographed this to give me a plan. Then I start stamping using Jet Black Crisp Dye Ink. Each circle is covered with a mask as I stamp them.

I do decide to change the plan so that I have a curved image and so I am following the rule of thirds.

Once stamped I removed the masks. Although I see myself as an advance paper crafter I do still make mistakes. Can you see the ones I made here? I can correct this in my next step.

Once again I use alcohol markers to color my images. I did plan on just using yellow and orange but changed my mind and did each size of circle in 2 different colors. This is where you add dimension to the card. I used the Jet Black and Moon Rock  Woodless Colored Pencils to add shading around the circles where they overlap emphasizing the layers giving the illusion of depth. 

I also managed to hide my mistakes!


The next stage is using embossing powders. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph this but will explain what I did. 
I die-cut the Congrats from Script Word Dies in black cardstock. Then using Embossing Ink I pressed the word into the pad, totally covering it in the sticky glue 'ink'. I then covered it in Crystal Clear Embossing Powder. This needs to be heat set with a heat gun. I repeated these steps 3 times, this gives a thick layer of clear embossing making your sentiment dimensional and shiny as you can see on the second photo.

If you don't have colored cardstock you can also achieve this look with colored embossing powder on white cardstock.


Constructing this card was simple as my image was already done. I layered this with black cardstock and added it to an A2 cardbase using wet glue. My image at mat were trimmed slight smaller so I get the bordered look.

My sentiment was also added with wet glue, embossed items can curl slightly so to make sure it adheres flat I place an acrylic block over the top of it while the glue dries. I scattered  a few black iridescent pearls around the sentiment to pull the whole design together.


Thank you for taking time to read my post, I hope I demonstrate techniques from the class in a way it is easy to follow.

I look forward to reading your comments.



 

Sunday, July 23, 2023

Eat Me or Drink Me???

 Good afternoon, it's Mollie's birthday today and she has a couple of friends over for a catch up and cake. 

Stamper's Delights have an Alice themed set of digital stamps and today's post is using the latest one. Alice has come across the Eat Me Drink Me items


She is trying to decide which to choose!

I stacked the images to make my scene then printed it. I used Copic markers to color her and die cut into an oval.

I designed my patterned paper by adding the words Eat Me and Drink Me randomly This was matted with blue cardstock and added to an A2 cardbase.

I inked the edges of my topper with blue ink to tie the layers together and added it to my card with foam tape for dimension.Our design team will be posting more inspiration using the Stamper's Delights Spice Girls so check them out over on their Facebook Page.


All images are available in the store along with lots of other super cute digital stamps. If you do use any of the images please share with us in the Fan Facebook Group.

Thanks for stopping by and if you like what you see let me know in the comments!