Christmas Rose Launch...

Happy Monday,

Well its that time of year and from today for the next 7 days I will be sneak peaking my new Christmas range.  I thought I would start with the Christmas Roses which were drawn especially for Julia watts ( and the other friends who asked) as I was asked last year to draw a set of Christmas Roses.  The strange thing is that Sue Wilson also designed a Christmas rose die set and the chance was too good to miss therefore my Christmas Rose elements clear stamp set is the same size as the dies meaning that you can cut the flowers with the die!

The additional feature of this set is that I designed it as a multistep set which means that you have a solid Rose with shading stamp and an outline stamp.  Therefore you can stamp the solid, stamp the detail over and cut the whole thing out with the matching die.  I even designed the Ivy Flourishes as multistep with solid Ivy Flourishes ( in 2 sizes) as well as the outlines for them.

I thought It might be useful to show you the stamp set which might make everything I have just said more understandable lol

The first card (above) has the flowers stamped in Cosmic Shimmer Gold Brilliant Sparkle embossing powder onto Vellum.  I then cut these out with the dies from Sue's set and shaped them with a ball tool on my stamping mat.  Next I added CE Stamens in the centre of each flower and grouped them with some of the foliage that comes in the die set.

This card will get a full day on the blog with proper instructions and I will have it on my Stamp Launch show on Hochanda a week today which will be the Weekday Wonder with shows at 10am, 1pm, 5pm and Tuesday at 11am and 3pm!

Another new set tomorrow and maybe a glimpse of my Christmas Shades Paper Pad

Enjoy...

A Special Card...

Happy Thursday,

I hope you have all got your Christmas Prep almost finished, we are running round maniacally here at casa Next Door as the time seems to have flown away again.  I am starting on prep for next years shows as well as some exciting new projects I will let you know about as we get into 2015!

A quick one today again I'm afraid as the studio is calling me lol (ignoring presents still to wrap, craft first lol)

Today's card is the one I made specially for a certain special lady and friend who has inspired me and done so much this year to bring me all the exciting opportunities so far, and planned into next.  It is always difficult to make a card for a fellow crafter especially one who is a proficient and good as the person this one was given to.


Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Craft dies by Sue Wilson
Ivy
Dainty Rectangular Frame
Christmas Sentiment from a set by Sam Poole
Creative Expressions A4 Embossing Folder Snowflake Lattice
Vintage Gold, Red & Coconut White Foundation card
Cosmic Shimmer detail white embossing powder
Distress ink in Forest Moss, Crushed Olive & Pine Needles

Enjoy...

Christmas Friday...

Happy Friday,

I thought I would have just one more play with the Lyra die (one mire of many I guess) and this time add it to a Christmas card.  I decided to go with the classic colours of red and white which always seem to be a big feature of my Christmas Cards every year.

I started by cutting the centre panel and right hand edge of the Gemini Lyra die along the side of a piece of deep  red card and cutting the piece by hand into a square.  Next I die cut a piece of coconut white card using just the edge, I lined it up with the red piece and hand cut it to a smaller square to give me a border of the red.  I ran this piece of card through the GC with the Snowflake lattice A4 embossing folder and mounted it onto the red.

I then cut the 2 plain baubles from Sue's Festive Collection Sentimental baubles set in white and the detailed die and edge from the same red.  I simply mounted these onto each other and foam mounted them onto the card.  Next I ran a piece of bakers twine form each bauble shape and tucked it behind the front piece adding a gold cut bauble hanger to the top.

To finish the card I die cut both pieces of haply form the holly spray set in vintage gold and added cosmic shimmer red apple twinkles as the berries.  These pieces were draped across the top to looks like the baubles were hanging from a holly bough.

Finally I mounted the whole piece of gold before adding to a hand cut card at 21 x 21cm made from layers of gold, white and red card, with foam tape.  The sentiment is a die cut and debossed piece of gold card using one of the 2 sentiment plates included in the bauble set, it's hard ti read in the photo but it says Peace!

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson's festive collection Dies
Sentimental Bauble
Holly Sprigs
Gemini - Lyra
Creative Expressions A4 embossing folder Snowflake Lattice
Cosmic Shimmer Red Apple Twinkles
Red, Gold & Coconut White foundation Card.

Enjoy...

Christmas Gemini...

Happy Friday,

I thought it was time to reintroduce Christmas Friday, I know most people have made their Christmas Cards already however this may give some ideas for next year or if you are like me, a last minute panic make!  AS its Gemini Week then today's card had to feature another of this amazingly useful die sets and today's is Ursa, a delicate die with again 2 separate cutting edges.  Today I have used the edge and centre panel on the edge at the bottom of the card.  This makes a stable card as the design is symmetrical!

I started by die cutting Sue's new Scandinavian background along with the Ursa centre panel and the matching edge die that I felt best matched the pattern of the background die in coconut white foundation card.  I then cut a piece or rich red using just the edge die to make a mat.  I placed the cut panel against the cut red piece and used my rule to cut a border around the piece.  Next I folded a white A3 piece of card in half, placed the front piece on the folded card leaving a border and placed the edge die, using Scotch removable tape, at the bottom edge again leaving a border.







All I then needed to do was run the card through the Grand Calibur which, because it is a thin die, cut both pieces in one pass (I didn't stick the top panel on till it was cut!)  I then added a hand cut banner stamped with the sentiment from Creative Expressions and a poinsettia made using the same method as the other day, along with some red and white bakers twine wrapped around the piece.





Finally to add a little more bling and to show the beauty of the filigree background die I added Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA glue dotted on each piece where it seemed to go.  I love the background dies as there always seems to be a natural place to put a pearl, PVA Pearl or gem.

Ingredients:

Sue Wilson's dies

Gemini Collection - Ursa

Scandinavian Collection - Background

Mosaic Poinsettia

Creative Expressions Christmas Sentiments

Rich Red & Coconut white foundation card

Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA

Enjoy...

Creative Christmas Wednesday...

Happy Wednesday,



Its time for the DT entry for this week for Creative Expressions and the last design for Christmas, well for the Design Team anyway! lol

As the last card I have made with a Christmas Theme it had to be, of course, Christmas Trees!  I started this card by making the background in the same method as last week however I worked in the reverse of the dark sky technique  by masking off a portion of the foreground using cut pieces of copier paper.  I worked the darkest shade of distress ink from the bottom mask up the page.  Next I did the same with the mid shade finishing with the lights shade.






To make the look of snow at the top I flicked drops of water over the piece and blotted off the excess.  This technique works by removing some of the colour allowing the white or lighter shade to shine through.  I finished background by using the lightest shade over the foreground using again pieces of copier paper cut randomly as masks to make a snowy landscape.

Next I die cut three of the 2014 Sue Wilson Christmas tree dies in silver and 2 shades of blue and stuck them to the background.  I then added a sheet of double sided adhesive all over and added diamond Sparkles to give a snowy element.


The background card is simply a piece of coconut white card embossed through the Creative Expressions A4 snowflake lattice embossing folder and inked with the chipped sapphire distress Ink.  A few layers of matching white and vintage gold card complete the base.  I added a few spellbinders die cut snowflakes which I highlighted with Cosmic Shimmer aqua twinkles and a sentiment embossed in cosmic shimmer detail silver embossing powder.

Click over to the Creative Expressions blog to see what other treasures are showing and to find stockists of the products I have used if you want to replicate it!

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson's Christmas Tree Die
Creative Expressions A4 Snowflake lattice embossing folder
Distress Inks Chipped Sapphire, Broken China & Tumbled Glass
Creative Expressions Christmas Sentiments Stamp Set

Enjoy...

Creative Wednesday Back in the U.K.!

Happy Wednesday,

Firstly We are now home so I have been able to have a day playing with the new Sue Wilson Die collection, don't you just love them?!?  Also we had a fabulous time on Holiday as any of you who clicked over to facebook may have seen.  Too much shopping and relaxing was enjoyed and we even managed to get some sunbathing in!

Back to today it's my turn for the CE design Team again, don't the weeks seem to fly, and as it seems whilst we have been away Christmas has arrived everywhere so todays card seems appropriate!

I really hope you can see the effects of the background inking on this one as I loved this technique!

I started by stamping random snowflakes from Phil Martins set starting with the larger snowflakes at the top reducing to smaller as it got to the bottom.  I stamped the snowflakes using perfect medium then embossed them with detail clear embossing powder.  This gave me a resist so that I could rub distress ink from the top of the piece to the bottom.  I used three colours starting with milled lavender I then added broken china starting with lots of ink at the top and letting it fade towards the bottom.  Next I added chipped sapphire again making sure that the most ink deposited at the top.  To even out the shades I dragged a final layer of the milled lavender from the top, this gives the lovely sheen and blends the colours together.  Hopefully you are getting the view of a heavy snow filled sky!

I added a bow and strip of ice blue seam binding down one edge.  Using Sue Wilson's snow die I cut a piece of silver card and spray glued the piece before adding Iced Snow.  Finally I added some dots of Aqua Twinkles.

The whole piece was added to a card base made with the snowflake lattice A4 embossing folder and layers of cobalt blue and vintage silver card.

Click over to the Creative Expressions blog to see what the rest of the team has come up with and to see further reveals of Sue's new Die Release!

Ingredients:
Phil Martin Snowflake stamps
Distress Ink in Chipped Saphire, Milled Lavender & Broken China
Cosmic Shimmer Detail Clear embossing Powder
Sue Wilson's Let it Snow Die
Iced Snow 
A4 Snowflake Lattice embossing folder

Enjoy...

Creative Wednesday...

Happy Creative Wednesday,

Another short scheduled post I'm afraid!  Its my turn for the Ce Design team, as I mentioned last week we had the theme Dancers or Christmas, I chose Christmas.  However Andy who shares Wednesday with me chose dancers so click HERE to see today's blog post from Creative Expressions and see what Andy has come up with that I'm sure will dance off the page!

This week I have tried to make something a little most Christmassy than last weeks pear treat!  I used the holly die from Creative Expressions and cut it in Vintage silver and gold.  I stamped the background from Justrite stamping, in perfect medium and embossed it in Cosmic Shimmer Detail Gold embossing powder.  The background is a layered affair of snowflake lattice embossed silver card and vintage gold.

Hopefully a more Christmas card or this week!


Ingredients:
Justrite Stamps Holly Background
Creative Expressions A4 Snowflake Lattice embossing folder
Sue Wilson Holly Die Set
Cosmic Shimmer Detail gold embossing powder.

Enjoy...

Sneak Peak

Happy Wednesday,

I hope those of you that are at home today (or have a PC on your desk that you can sneakily watch on as I did art work a couple of years ago!) can tune in the my solo shows on Create and Craft today.  I have put together a selection of Sue's dies alongside some new dies and embossing folders from Couture Creations.  I have also been allowed to select my choice of colours in Foundation card as well as a range of Cosmic Shimmer products.  Those of you who are regulars in jy Blog family will know my love of matching shades and colours so it should be interesting to see what Colours I have selected to blend and match for my style.

Today's card is  a sneak peak of one of the demo's I have prepared for the shows and should give you an idea as to my current palette!

Tune in for the ingredients list ! lol


Also today is my turn for the Design Team for Creative expressions!  This month we were given either a selection of Christmas stamps or the new Dancer stamps to use.  I pulled christmas which was lucky as I think I must of been a christmas elf in a previous life!

Now todays offering has split opinion at home and amongst the folks at CE Towers as it isn't my usual style and Mr Next door said its not very Christmassy!  I however love the subtle shine from the gilding flakes and love stamping with them.  I stamped the large pear image from the Partridge in a Pear Tree stamp set form Creative Expressions, in flake and glitter glue I then cleaned my stamp while the glue went off (It's very important to clean your stamp immediately as the glue can damage your stamp)  I then rubbed Egyptian Gold gilding flakes over the stamped image and removed the excess using rubit scrubit pad.



For the panels I repeated the gilding flake  stamping using the pear background form the same set and mounted these onto Vintage Gold card adding a border of coconut white as well.

To make the card I folded a sheet of A4 coconut white card into a gate fold and added panels of vintage gold embossed with Sue's Snowflake lattice A4 embossing folder (this Christmases must have for me!) matted with a layer of white and gold to mirror the panels.  I foam mounted the panels over the top running down the left hand gate adding the large pear across the front however it is only attached on the right.  This means that the left hand panel is held closed by tucking it behind the large image of the pear.  The sentiment is stamped in the same method, layered with the gold and white and added inside the card as a surprise!

I finally added some white seam binding to balance the white, you could add some bling to the centres of the snowflakes if you wanted this m,ore christmassy .

Click HERE to see what the other Design Team members have made with similar sets or just to catch up on news at CE Towers.

Enjoy...

Christmas Saturday...

Happy Saturday,

As I didn't show a Christmas Card yesterday I thought I should show a quick Christmas card today, if that's OK?  I am manically making samples for my show on Create and Craft on Wednesday so its just the card and ingredient list today I'm afraid as time is literally running through my fingers at the moment!

 This is a simple card to make however the poinsettias are the time consuming factor!  I ran a piece of vintage silver card through Sue's Snowflake lattice A4 embossing folder and cut it into 2 pieces. One piece I added the word snow that I cut from the let it snow die to the bottom of one piece and mounted it onto cobalt then silver card.  I then added a piece of double sided adhesive and covered the whole piece in iced snow by cosmic shimmer.

This was added along the side of the remaining piece of the embossed card, made up with layers into a larger card blank and I then added a spray of pine bough, holly sprays and classic poinsettia die cuts.  I stamped the poinsettias with the matching Sue Wilson stamps to die for filigree poinsettia in silver detail embossing powder on gold.  To add some colour I threw into the mix some red berries, on the holly, with red apple twinkles, again by cosmic shimmer.

An odd mix of colours but one that I like for a change!










Ingredients:
Sue Wilson's Dies
Pine Bough
Let it Snow
Classic Poinsettia
Holly Sprays
Creative Expressions A4 embossing folder snowflake lattice
stamps to die for filigree poinsettia
Iced snow

Enjoy...

A Gilded Christmas...

Happy Christmas Friday,

Today's card is a feast of bright gilding flakes which, in real life, almost look like flames flickering in the light.  I started by taking a piece of Milk Coloured Foundation card and die cutting the filigree inserts from the Sue Wilson Vintage Bauble die set in the centre.  I offset the two baubles to give a look as though they were hanging in the air!



  I added Ivory PVA glue pearls and then distressed the whole sheet using Spiced marmalade and vintage photo Distress Ink, i ran the cut n dry foam over the (dry) glue pearls which gives them a lovely colour.

Next I added a piece of double sided adhesive sheet to another piece of Milk card and gilded it with the Red Blaze Cosmic Shimmer gilding flakes.  I then die cut two of the corners form the vintage bauble set for the middle of this piece being carefull not to cut anywhere that could be seen through the die cut baubles (that made sense in my head, perhaps as Mr Duck says I need a Secretary!)

I mounted the die cut piece with foam tape over the gilded piece then simply created some mats and layers to house the card.  The border is made by running double sided tape around the edge of a piece of the milk card and then gilding that which saves on gilding a whole sheet for a mat!

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson's Dies - Vintage Bauble
Milk Foundation Card
Cosmic Shimmer Red Blaze Gilding Flakes
A4 Double Sided adhesive sheets

Enjoy...

The long and the tall of it...

Happy Christmas Friday,

strange title I think for today however there is a reason, both Sue and myself get emails form our American followers asking for smaller cards than we do.  I am a fan, as I am sure you know by now, of larger cards however our American friends like them on the smaller size.  Therefore I thought it would be good to show 2 versions of this card, one sized for the U.S. and one for us here in the U.K. and Europe.  I wanted to show that a large card can be finished simpler to make it smaller and cuter.  There is also another reason as not everyone likes large bows so by making the card smaller you cant put a large bow on it.

The first version is the smaller card which I have used as a header on the larger card below.my usual larger card.  I started by cutting Sue's Peace die in vintage gold foundation card however I discard the die cut itself and used the waste.  I left the waste pieces in the die along with the piece I cut it from.  I stuck the pieces down to a sheet of coconut card using a double sided adhesive sheet.  I then filled the gaps, what would originally of been the die cut with Iced snow.  Once complete I hand cut the sheet into the size you see.  The strange thing of this card is that when you hold it close to you it is hard to read the Peace, holding it at a distance shows the word perfectly, its such a shame you can't see it in real life to get this!

I mounted the die cut onto another piece of the vintage gold that I had covered, again using a Double sided adhesive sheet, with iced snow.  A few interspersing layers of the white and gold and he simple card finished.

Moving to the larger card All i effectively added was a large piece of vintage gold embossed with the CE Nordic Trees A4 embossing folder.  This was added to the back and was mounted in white before being finished with a thin layer of gold again.


Fibally I added a large bow made with gold silk crush ribbon, and a white pearl dazzler (large of course)

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson Peace Die
CE Nordic Trees A4 Embossing Folder 
Vintage Gold & Coconut White Foundation Card
Iced Snow
Gold Silky Crush Ribbon

Enjoy...

What More Christmas...

Happy Wednesday!

Sorry it;s another Christmas card I'm afraid, I know I didn't show any Christmas but looking back it's all I seemed to show last week!  Today's card is the last Christmas project on a Wednesday as This is the last card I made for the CE design team for September that was featured on Sue 's Christmas Die shows on C&C a few weeks ago.  I promise next week its different.

Today's card is a stamped and die cut bauble affair using the stamps to die for and the Outline bauble form the Vintage Bauble die set, again by Sue Wilson.  I simply stamped the image three times using perfect medium and embossed them with detail copper CE embossing powder.  I then coloured the edges with an old burgundy ink pad from my stash and cut n dry foam.

I mounted these, with foam pads, together in a set of the three onto a piece of burgundy card that I embossed through the quilted flower embossing folder.  I added a large bow in the matching grosgrain and a black dazzler in the centre.


The back panel is made by running double sided tape around a piece of the burgundy card and adding a matching bronze polished silk glitter.  A few hats of milk foundation card and another large piece of the embossed burgundy and one Christmas card is complete!

The Creative Expressions blog, click HERE for a look, has just changed its format placing all news in one post per day and includes the Design Team card(s) for that day.  AS Wednesday is my day I'd really appreciate it if you popped by and it should be easier to leave a comment!  for those of you on Facebook then there is a creative expressions page which you can like and see all my DT cards on, should you be a glutton for punishment.  Just search Creative Expressions in Facebook.

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson Vintage Bauble die set
Bauble stamp to die for from Creative Expressions
Quilted flowers A4 embossing folder (as above)


Enjoy...

Simple Sunday...

Happy Sunday,

Today's simple project is not really simple I'm afraid however it is simply a continuation of yesterdays project.  This time I made the smaller heart shaped wreath and added just a simple spray of the Classic Poinsettia die, along with Holly Sprigs and Pine Boughs in Gold and Silver.

This is a quicker project to make from yesterdays and requires far less cutting meaning that these can be finished a lot quicker whilst still, I feel, maintaining the wow factor we need at Christmas.


Ingredients:
Sue Wilson's Dies
Holly Sprigs
Pine Bough
Classic Poinsettia
Filigree stamp set (same range)
Gold Vintage foundation card
Detail Silver embossing powder
red apple twinkles (cosmic Shimmer)

Enjoy...

Something Different Saturday...

Happy Saturday,

Today's something different is one of the samples I made for Ally Pally.  I loved the candle wreath I made and blogged a couple of weeks ago however I wanted to try changing the colours and style slightly.  I started with an old wreath that I have had for a few years and have changed many times.  Wrapping ribbon round these allows them to be easily changed each year as to remove the decorations simply unwind the ribbons.

I chose, as my colour pallette, a range of blues and silvers which I the colour scheme I would like to use for my Home scheme this Christmas.  Might get away with it in the living room as it is In Browns, Beige's, teals and blues (my favourite colours) however not sure how it will work in the rat of the house as I have to have at least 3 Christmas trees!!!

Now I have everything prepped for a Video demo on this one so Just the ingredients list as well.  However I have written a pictorial inspiration sheet for the wreath so If I don't get the video done I will blog that for everyone to download!

Ingredients:
Foam Wreath 25cm
Blue satin ribbon (the wider the better as it saves time)
Californian Blue, Cobalt and Vintage Silver foundation card
Sue Wilson Stamp Set filigree poinsettia
Sue Wilson Classic poinsettia die set
Sue Wilson Pine Bough die
Sue Wilson Holly sprig die
pale blue PVA glue

Enjoy...

Peace on Friday...

Happy Christmas Friday,

Peace, as they said in the sixties (and probably still do!) these days it seems to be a classic Christmas sentiment.  Today's card uses only one die the peace die from Sue Wilson as all of the decoration and shine in this card is made with the glitters and embellishments.  Now my long term followers will know I am not usually a glitter person however I have found the Polished silk glitter so easy to use that I seem to be using it all the time (good job Christmas is on the horizon!)













I started today's card by die cutting a sheet of cardstock onto which I stuck a double sided adhesive sheet.  I due cut the piece just once in the centre of the GC so that only the top sheet of the adhesive was cut.  This then allowed me to pull off the sections of the die cut individually.  I wanted to use three coordinating shades of the glitter so I started by removing the backing from all the pieces within the shape and rubbed the copper glitter into these.  The joy of the polished silk is that you scrub the which means that all excess comes off and when you add the next colour the excess doesn't contain any of the first colour (I hope this makes sense!)  I then took the backing off the Peace section and rubbed in the lightest gold, followed by the outside onto which I added a light copper.

I hope this shines through in the pictures on everyones screens as in real life the colours really show differently.

The remainder of the card was made to show this piece off and that fact that whilst the topper would make a beautiful small card the addition of the ribbon, bow (sorry Lydia!) and the embossed background of Vintage Gold card, you can make it into a large card for a special someone.

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson Peace die
double sided A4 sheets
Polished silk Glitters (gold set)
Swirling Holly A4 embossing Folder
Gold Silky Crush ribbon

Notes: To answer a few questions asked this week, on the wreath card I just kept cutting the Holly Sprigs die until I got fed up so cant say how many I used (as I had to cut about 100 for Ally Pally, it's a glamorous life I also had to cut over 500 pine bough die cuts) Best advice on this one is to cut them till your arm aches and just use as many as you need to get the fullness required, they are always useful and I have a bag of ones I have cut for further Christmas Projects and they are great for last minutes cards and decorations.
The foundation card that everyone has been asking about is form Creative Expressions and comes in loads of colours. It is available through Create and Craft and is usually featured on the Creative Expressions shows.  However if you click HERE you will be taken to the CE website which lists all local shops and online retailers that have the card (and other CE products) available.

Enjoy...