Tuesday Already?

Happy Tuesday,

I can't believe its Tuesday Bank holidays always seem to throw me out somehow lol.  Today's card is another one made with the colour combination that I used last week by accident and loved.  This combination of Sky Blue and Taupe foundation card just looks so fresh, I thought it was appropriate as I don't know what the weather was like yesterday where you are but here it was a lovely day really spring like!

I started by die cutting he Scandinavian background in the sky blue using bother the background and the centre oval die.  Then cut a large border(2.5cm) around the piece.  I then cut the centre panel from the die in the centre of a piece of the taupe card.  I then foam mounted the blue over this and hand cut a 1/2cm bored around the blue piece.

The remainder of this card is very simple.  I layered the blue and taupe in 2 sets foam mounting as I went making sure that each blue piece matched the size of the border around the background piece.

To finish I added an array of pearl glue dots using cosmic shimmer pearl PVA and a triple bow using a;piece of grosgrain ribbon from my stash.  The centre is a dazzler setting with one of the new pale blue dazzlers in the centre.  I made a couple of stick pins using the stick pin elements set from Creative Expressions and finished.

Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Craft dies by Sue Wilson
Sky Blue and Taupe Foundation card
Cosmic Shimmer pearl PVA
Dazzler setting and pale blue dazzler
Stick pin elements white pearl & blue teardrop beads

Enjoy...

Monday Giveaway...

Happy Monday,

This weeks giveaway has been moved to Friday and may have an extra special prize as well as the usual card!  Therefore today it's just a card I'm afraid!

I started this one by cutting the outline background die from the Caribbean set however I cut this down the middle to make it into a square.  I left a large 2cm bored all round and trimmed away the joining piece in the middle to make the square shown.  I then mounted this onto a piece of Aqua foundation card leaving a 1/2 cm bored all round.





Next I cut the outline die from the st Kitts die in the aqua card and then cut another in black card however this time I used the filigree insert piece as well.  These were stuck together and foam mounted over the background to hide the joins!

I cut the next layer in the St Kitts set in aqua and added the next size again in black.  I stamped the sentiment, from my butterfly dreams clear stamp set, in perfect medium and embossed it with Phill Martin's Decadent Teal embossing powder.

I added a black seam binding bow and one of the new aqua dazzlers.

To make the card I embossed a 18x18cm square of black card with the new CE textures embossing folder Linen.  I rubbed Phill Martin's decadent teal gilding wax over the raised area, waited a few minutes and polished the wax with a dry wet wipe.  To finish the card I added a few layers of the Aqua and black foundation card to make a square 21x21cm card.









Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Craft Dies by Sue Wilson
Caribbean background set
St Kitts
CE Clear stamp set Butterfly Dreams
Aqua & Black foundation card
Phill Martin's Decadent Teal cosmic Shimmer Gilding wax & embossing powder.

Giveaway will be back on Friday,

Enjoy...

Sunday Stamping...

Happy Sunday,

Tracey and I had a fab day yesterday watching Phil Martin demoing at Coleman's I learnt quite a few things that I will be trying out.  WE all get to work together next weekend at The Big Stamp and Scrapbooking show at Alexandra palace I know quite a few of you are coming so if you are stop by and say hi and if not Tickets are still available HERE.

Back to today's card and it's a nice simple stamped Sunday, I know this is a style I have shown before but I love the simplicity of the acetate stamping and mica background.  For today's card I have added the Regal Striplet die cut to one side with a few cosmic shimmer pearl PVA dots to match those on the stamped design.

This time I stamped the butterfly dreams striplet stamp in cosmic shimmer detail silver embossing powder with a soft lilac mica in the background.


I thought it would be fun to show this triplet design as I have been working with a new set of them which will be released at Ali Pali.  I was planning to show one today however I just can't until they are released!  There may be some new stamps as well but you will have to wait until Friday as there may be a sneak peak!

have a wonderful Easter and, as always, enjoy...

A Special Gift...

Happy Saturday,

I am feeling a lot better today and I promised Tracey from Creative Expressions that we would visit Coleman's Craft Warehouse in Rusden to heckle Phil Martin who is demoing there today.  If you are in the area pop in and see what Phil has to show us all!

Today's post is a quick one as I'm still not 100% and I know everyone is busy with Easter so I thought you wouldn't mind just pictures today.  This is the box I made for the gift I bought for trace's birthday last week.  I made it using the Noble ornate pierced square die, iced snow and decadent Denim mica powder.  I will hopefully be demoing this box at Ali Pali so will hold off on instructions for a while!

Enjoy...

Its certainly blue...

Happy Good Friday,

I lnow I have shown quite a few of these noble hinged cards but i thought I might get away with one more by changing the colours and using a different treatment for the edge!

This, again, started as a demo piece last saturday however we managed to finish the card during the day as we worked through various techniques.

I'm sorry to say that my shows on create and craft have been moved to the end of the month! I thought I'd changed my list at the side of the blog to reflect this but somehow it didn't stick ( still can't seem to get it to change!)

That's all for today as I seem to have picked up some (hopefully) 24 hour stomach bug and have been in bed since 8 last night ( it came from nowhere as I was driving home from CE towers!)

Just want to wish you all a happy and healthy Easter,

John x

Pretty in Lilac?...

Happy Thursday!

Sorry about yesterdays late posting hopefully you all caught it!  Today I was going to post another card made in the same colour combination as Tuesday which was my happy accident of mixing sky blue with sand foundation card however as tomorrow is Blue Friday I thought I should brighten things up a little with a card made using the new lilac foundation card which is fast becoming a new quick favourite!

Again this started as a demo piece on Saturday as I was asked to show how to use the centre filigree section from the Noble ornate pierced rectangle die set from Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions.  I stated by die cutting this die from the very centre of the foundation card (this can sometimes be tricky as the pressure is the lightest in the centre however I had to get a new teal calibur last week as I managed to break my old pink one, however persevere with it and the noble is a strong die!)  if you have issues with cutting in the centre of your machine you can cut this along the edge of a smaller piece and mount it onto the centre of a piece of card.

I then added a piece of creative Expressions double sided adhesive sheet behind the operate and brushed over a selection of mica's from the garden florals set to give this faded yet shiny look.  Next I cut the frame that matches from the set in the middle of a piece of coconut white foundation card and foam mounted this on top.

I matted and layered a few pieces of the white and lilac to make a base card and foam mounted the layers .  To make the central element I cut 4 of the delicate fronds from the finishing touches collection in more of the lilac and arranged them around the bottom left corner.  Next I added a bow and 2 roses made using the new satin ribbon packs in Orchid and off white.  The roses are made using Sue and Julia's technique of rolling the ribbon onto red line tape and scrunching the ribbon to make a flower / rose shape (I ma sure there is more info on this on Sue Wilson or Julia Watts blog as I learnt it in a workshop with Julia!)

Finally I added a few 8mm pearls in white just to highlight the design.

Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Craft dies by Sue Wilson
ONoble Ornate Pierced die set
Delicate Fronds
CE Double sided adhesive sheets
Garden Florals Mica set
Coconut white & Lilac foundation card
Orchid and off White satin ribbon

Enjoy...

Creative Wednesday Its Blue and me ...

Happy Wednesday,

Its the first of the month which means a new challenge over at the Creative Expressions blog.  This month the design team have been given a range of Phil Martin's Cosmic Shimmer colours and a few of my stamp sets.  Therefore there should be loads of inspiration over at the CE blog, click HERE to have a look and see what the new challenge is.  It would be great to see some of your work up there and its a brilliant way to get your work noticed!

For today's card I chose the most popular of my stamps to die for the daisy triplet stamp.  I started by cleaning a piece of heat resistant acetate with an anti static bag.  Next I stamped the image using perfect medium, covered it in cosmic shimmer detail white embossing powder and heat set it.  Always remember to let your heat gun get to temperature for a minute before trying to set the embossing powder: this way you avoid warping the acetate by limiting the time it is heated (all heat guns take a minute or so to get get to a heat that will set the powders)



Next I foam mounted the piece over a strip of foundation card that I had covered with CE double sided adhesive and covered with Phil Martins decadent Denim mica.  I then added a frame, cut with the outline die from the bevelled glass striplet, in sky blue foundation card.  I added a few PVA pearl dots using again Phil's denim and set it aside to dry.

To make the background I sprayed the matching ink spray mister over another piece of the sky blue and also a length of white seam binding.  I scrunched the seam binding up so that I got a variegated look if you want a straight colour simply generously scary the length of ribbon until it is completely covered.  I dried each piece off with my heat gun then matted the background up using layers of cobalt and more sky blue foundation card.

I tied the ribbon arround the central stamped image and added the sentiment, from my daisy Corner Elements clear stamp set, in CS true what detail embossing powder and cut it out using Sue's take die.put the card together as shown and tied it to the ribbon with a messy bow.  Finally I added a dazzler from the new Aqua dazzlers set by Creative Expressions which has four different colours of dazzlers and comes in a large size or as a mixed set with 4 different sizes.

Pop over to the Creative Expressions blog to see what the rest of the design team have come up with using a selection of my stamps and Phil's cosmic colours!

Enjoy...