Silver Crystal Flowers...

Happy Wednesday,

A sample today made with the Hydrangea die and matching stamp set.  I love the way I get silver shading on these flowers simply by stamping the stamp and heat embossing with Izink silver embossing powder!
















I stamped and cut the plate twice ( which uses only 1 piece of A5 card) and used 2 off the same size simply folded to make each flower which gave me 9 different sized flowers.










I used clear Caviar beads for the centres of the flowers and arranged them arround the Cut and Emboss snowblower folder shaded in silver.








Enjoy...

Full Hydrangea...

Happy Monday,

I hope you all enjoyed the weekends shows as much as I did thank you to everyone who lived the flower collections!  Today I am sharing a project made with the cut and emboss folder and the Hydrangea die set.  I love the fact you can use this flower for so many different things, here I've used it as a full hydrangea as well as for the spray of little flowers around the top corner.

I used the 4 smaller flowers form the die plate, shaded in ocean and mint Izink dye based ink pads, to make the full flower using a section of a styrofoam ball to give the circular base for the flower.  I hot glued these on working form large at the top to smallest at the edges.  I the  added centres using ranger enamel accents in yellow.

The spray around the top right corner is made with the fourth and fifth flowers from the plate.  The leaves are my rose leaves die set cut and shaped to add interest around the edge.

I added these to a frame made with my snowblower cut and emboss folder shaded with izink gold texture paste ( I demoed this technique on the show)

I love the simplicity of this card.

Enjoy...

Blue Hexagon...

Happy Saturday,

I am back on Hochanda today at 9am, 1pm and final call at 5pm with my new Camellia and Hydrangea flower collections.  I thought I would share a more masculine card today using the Press Cut Hexagons along with the new sentiments and camellias.

I truly believe we can make a mens card simply by choosing more masculine colours we don't have to miss the flowers just simplify the spray you use!  It can't all be golf and bicycles!

I used here the Camellias cut in Crafts Too Old Blue linen card and shaded with night izink dye ink pad. Making the flowers in this colour really, to me at least, removes the girly look and makes them suitable for mens cards.

The sentiment, form my new Swirl sentiments clear stamp set, is swirly yet simple and works here in black with a few clear crystals added.

I feel that the bold colours really work for a more masculine card.

Join me if you can today on Hochnada to see what else can be made with these flowers!


Enjoy...

Pink Camellias...

Happy Friday,

My NEW ranges launch this evening on Hochanda at 6pm.  Im really excited about this collection as Ive concentrated on the flowers and the popular matching flower plates and stamps.  Today sees the launch of 2 new flowers both with dies and matching stamps in the plate format.



I have to thank the talented Martine Smith for the inspiration for todays card as I nicked her idea!

There is also a new set of small swirl sentiments on the show one of which is used here.  This set has some of my favourite sentiments as well as some larger general sentiments Ive really found them useful!

Todays Sneak Peek shows the new camellia used as the stamp and the die on the new Craft Artist Flower making paper a crystal 160gsm pearl paper especially designed to mould and shine even when coloured with inks.

I'll be showing loads of techniques, including how to make the flowers on todays offering, in the shows so tune in at 6pm.

Enjoy...

Black and white peek...

Happy Wednesday,

Following Mondays sneak peek I thought I should share another peek today made using the new Hydrangea die.  This card uses just the die without the stamp and here I have teamed it ion black and white with the Press Cut hexagon nesting dies that I will have on the show!

There are some amazing samples form my friends to show on  Friday its worth tuning in just for the samples, I know I was blown away with the ones Ive received!

here is a sneak peak of one of the new Swirl sentiments stamp that are in a swirl sentiment set launched on the show!



















The shows launch on Friday night at 6pm with shows throughout Saturday at 9am, 1pm and final call at 5pm on Hochnada Freeview 85, sky 663 and online at www.Hochanda.com.  If you get chance tune in and have a look.

Enjoy...

Sneak Peek...

Happy Monday,

Martine Smith will be representing Crafts Too Today at 10am and 3pm on Hochanda with her first solo show.  She has some beautiful Nellie Snellen scenic stamps and I have made a few samples for the show.

The project I am sharing today is made using one of the stamps on the show along with one of my new matching flower stamps and dies form the launch this weekend!

I simply stamped this onto pearl card in smokey grey ink.  I then coloured the image using mer de Sud Izink dye ink pen pulling the colour its using a water brush.  This gives a soft shaded look and is great if, like me, you're not the best colourist!

Im not 100% which show these will be on but they are the new Hydrangea matching stamp and die plate which is designed to easily give you the shaded look you get on these flowers.


Dont forget to tune in for Martines show at 10am or 3pm.

Enjoy...

Sunday Special...

Happy Sunday,

A little sneak peak of one of the samples Ive made for Martine Smirh's first solo show on Hochanda tomorrow!  Ive loved playing with these stamps and have made more samples than I really should but I just couldn't stop!

I thought I would share one today to let people know about Martines show!

Enjoy...

A day Late...

Happy Friday,

I thought I would share a couple of heart art valentines cards I know its a day late but Im so busy drawing, testing and making samples Im meeting myself coming back!  I will be back on Hochnada on the 22nd with the launch of my next collection sneak peaks next week!

both of the cards are made using the Frame Punches form Crafts Too that I had on last weeks Hochanda shows.

The punches are so easy to use and so much quicker than dies.  I love the fact that we have so much in our Crafty arsenal we don't have to use the same product for everything!

The stamps used on these are a sneak peak of a sentiment set launching on the 22nd show

 Enjoy...

Hochanda Sales Show...

Happy Monday,

I'm back on Hochanda on Monday with a fabulous selection of Crafts Too and Press cut dies at special offer prices.  I thought I would share a couple of the samples I have made with some amazing Nellie Snellen nesting dies on the shows!

These use just one die set which hopefully shows the flexibility of the dies.

The shows are today at 10am and 2pm join me if you can!

Enjoy...

Shining Orchids...

Happy Friday,

Today and tomorrow I am doing workshops in the At of Craft in Farnborough and we will be working on the project I posted on Wednesday and this one I am sharing today!

Today's project is a classic card however I have used the square scene card for the front in reverse and stuck on the front of the card.

The orchids are made using paper sprayed with izink fast drying inks and shaped.

I have mixed in some go the layers form the Oakham die set and the Leafy flourish.


Enjoy...

Canvas Poppies...

Happy Wednesday,

Its may first workshop of the year at Breedon ( as was its now moved to Staunton Harold Garden Centre form Breedon Priory) and this year I'm repeating the class over 2 days with a wednesday and Thursday.   We will be working on the poppy and orchid with a watercolour poppy technique and a spayed moulded orchid!

Today I am sharing one of the projects we are making, the other one will be on Friday, this is a canvas which I have used to top an MDF box.

I used watercolour card for the poppies with a mix of foliage and a ribbon bow.  The background is a textured and sprayed background finished with the Crafts Too Kissing Couple die cut.

Enjoy...

Vintage Shades...

 Happy MOnday,

I thought I would share a softer card today made with the new vintage card colours from Crafts Too.

I cut the layers in the oakham die set, using the lattice, the shape and the centre shape, in mouse grey linen card and backed these with the Old Blue.  I matted these onto grey card and cut one of the squares into 2 pieces.

I placed the 2 side pieces on a long mat and added the other sqaure in the centre making it look like I have cut 3 panels.

I stamped the poppy stamp onto the mouse grey and cut these out with the matching die making up 2 flowers with caviar beads in the centre.  I arranged these on opposing corners using die cut of the ferns die in the old blue.

I added a spray of the leafy flourish and shaded the edges of the flowers and foliage with black pigment ink.

Enjoy...