Have a Wonderful Christmas...

Merry Christmas to all my wonderful Blog family!

I would like to wish you all the best for the season and the hopes that the New Year brings you all the joy and fulfilment you want and deserve!  I made this card especially for everyone who supports and follows my blog !

So here's wishing everyone a great one!!

Much Love,

John xxx

Christmas Eve, Decembers Child...

Happy Christmas eve,

I thought after all the Christmas cards It would be nice to remember all those who have birthdays this month!  Therefore its another sample from my stamp launch celebrating all those Decembers Children.

I know that we all have very little time today's so just a few pictures.  Back tomorrow with a Christmas Card I have made for all my blog family!

Enjoy...

You are gold...

Happy Tuesday,

Ive been playing around with stamping with gilding flakes for my shows on Hochanda next week and thought you might like to see these two christmas cards I made using my christmas stamps that somehow slipped through the net and haven't had their day on the blog.  Ive always been intimidated by stamping with gilding flakes so I have been trying to work out some simple rules to make it easy for me that I can pass on.  I will be going through the technique next Tuesday on air but thought you would like to see these early attempts!

Both cards were stamped with fake and glitter glue from cosmic shimmer before being gilded with Egyptian gold gilding flakes.  The first is simply stamped onto black foundation card then added to a background made by grouting the contemporary poinsettia embossing folder with gold sparkle texture paste.

I added a flower made with the classic poinsettia die form Sue Wilson for `Creative Expressions which I sprayed with glue and covered with diamond sprinkles after gilding.

The second card is made by stamping gild onto vintage gold foundation card ( thank to Mrs Duck for the idea!)

Bothe are made using my clear stamp set Partridge in a pear tree.

Enjoy...

CE Wednesday...

Happy Wednesday,

Well the new design team has I believe been chosen so I guess we are all waiting to see who made the team for the next year!  I'll let you know the announcement as soon as I know!  Back to this weeks design for my place on the design team and it's Christmas ( well we all need as much inspiration as [possible especially as its November already!)

This month we are using a selection of Sue Wilson's dies for Creative Expressions and I have chosen the Frosty mini background and the classic poinsettias for this weeks card.

I stared by cutting the background in coconut white foundation card.  Next I made a frame for the background using Sues double pierced squares die range.  I cut a larger frame using dies 3
and 7 in rich red foundation card .  Next I embossed dies 6, 5 and four in coconut white and cut the frame out using dies 6 and 4 this gives a stunning embossed frame with additional piercing embossed into it.

I foam mounted this white frame over the red one and mounted the frosty background behind this.  The frosty background is rectangular so I cut the excess off to make it into the square she.  I feel its always important to remember that you don't need to use a die straight as it cuts you can use them in so many different ways!

I then stamped the shaded poinsettia using red geranium archival ink.  I cut them all out using the matching classic poinsettia die and shared them using a smoothie and the same ink ( I couldn't find my scarlet woman couture cloud)

I made up the Flowers and added a mini gold dazzler as a centre I then grouped these together with a few holly sparks I cut in Brunswick and pastel green foundation card.  I added berries to the holly in the spaces provided using red apply twinkles from cosmic shimmer.

Finally I made up the card as shown with a layer cut with the largest die in the double pierced set ( these really have become my go to die set) and a few layers of the red.

To see what the rest of the team have come up with then click HERE and leave a comment on there if you have time!

Back tomorrow with the first of my samples using the NEW Craft dies from Creative Expressions designed by Sue Wilson

Enjoy...

Christmas Friday...

Happy Friday,

I thought, especially as we are getting closer to Christmas, that I should again try to restart the Christmas Friday as there aren't that many Fridays left!

Today's card is made using a variant of Sue Wilson's fire and Ice technique using Diamond snow rather than Iced snow to give a gentler, silk like look.

I started by cutting the Snowflake background by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions in coconut white foundation card.  I used both the background and the centre filigree section in this cut, I find it easier to cut the background die first then add the centre panel and cut this separately.  I then covered the front of the piece using a piece of CE double sided adhesive sheet.  I then turned the piece over and covered the exposed adhesive with golden jewel gilding flakes.  Next I turned the piece back to the front and removed the protective cover and covering the newly exposed adhesive with diamond snow.

I simply then cut the piece into three equal sections and mounted each one onto coconut white card.  I then added all three panels to another layer of white and marked the centre of a few of the snowflakes with 5mm stick on pearls.

Then flower is another one of my fire and ice flowers where I cut Sue's classic poinsettia die from card I had gilded with Egyptian gold gilding flakes.  I made up the flower and sprayed it with glue before shaking over more diamond snow.  I finished the flower with a bow of raw silk satin ribbon and a gold dazzler in the centre.

I made the remainder of the card up using a piece of coconut white foundation card using the contemporary poinsettia embossing folder.  I made a mat for this by running double sided adhesive tape all around a layer of card and gilded the edges with the same gilding flakes.

Enjoy...

Last day!

Happy Sunday,

Its the last day of the NEC and once again I will be demoing on the Daisy Jewels stand.  As its the Christmas crafts show I thought I would show you a Christmas card I made for a recent demo down in Taunton at the fab Craftsasmic!  This is made using Sue's paper routing technique with the contrary poinsettia A4 embossing folder and silver moon texture paste.

I stamped the small tree from my Holly Tree elements onto black card with perfect medium and silver shone embossing powder.




















I then made a classic poinsettia with the waste forget paper and edged the petals with the open petal poinsettias cut in black.  This gives dimension to the flowers and adds a dramatic edge.
Finally I stamped CE double sided satin ribbon with perfect medium and the sentiment from y 12 days of Christmas set and heat set this with the silver embossing powder making a strip of ribbon and a knot.


I made you the card as shown .

It will be great to see all of you who can make it today to the NEC if not I will be back on Hochanda on Thursday and Friday next week so catch up then!




Enjoy...

NEC Day 2 Somewhere different...

Happy Friday,

Today I am back at the NEC but I am demoing the Christmas Die range from Creative Expressions along with some of my stamps.  I will be demoing the square background stamps that everyone loved when they were on Create and Craft.  These are now available to everyone so I thought it would be nice if i could play with them again!

Today's card is one of the pieces I have prepared to show off the products I will be demoing on the Art of Craft stand at the show with the lovely Jayne and Penny.

I used the mini Holly Striplet to create the three panel background using Sue Wilson's fire and Ice technique however I substituted diamond snow for the iced snow to give a gentler, silk like look.

I stamped the Christmas tree from my holly tree elements clear stamp set in gilding flakes to match. I used the golden Jewel gilding flakes from Cosmic Shimmer along with the fake and glitter glue (always remember to clean your stamps as soon as you have used the gilding flakes)  Next I covered a scarp of coconut white card with double sided adhesive and added more of the glitter flakes.  I then cut the Classic poinsettia die form this.  I made this into a flower and them changed this to a fire and Ice flower using scary glue and diamond snow.  This makes a version of the poinsettia that shines in the same way as the background.











Finally I arranged the elements onto a piece of embossed coconut white foundation card as shown.

I will be on stand F53 today as stated above it will be great to see all of you who can pop by!  I ha d a fab day yesterday and met so many old and new friends!

Enjoy...

Enjoy...

Creative Wednesday,,,It's christmas lol

Happy Wednesday,

It's a Christmas theme over at Creative Expressions blog this month as we show a selection of cards and projects made using some of the latest Christmas Die release from Sue Wilson.  How are you getting on with your christmas Cards?  I know a lot of crafters don't like to start too early so we thought a little inspiration was sue!

I used the Joy to the world mini background for todays DT offering as I think its a really great die for making your more complex cards as being brilliant for your batch cards.  As the die has no outside cutting edge then it make the most beautiful card if just cut into a card blank on its own with a contrasting colour behind.

For today's offering I cut the background in white then shaded through the die using can blue colour cloud blending ink.  I covered a piece of cobalt foundation card with double sided adhesive and added iced snow.  I then forum monueted the joy to the world over this.  Next I added a frame, again cut from cobalt, into which I had added a piece of acetate.  This allowed me to foam mount this over the die cut and add more iced snow so that I made a shaker card front as the iced snow catches on the die cut and the background giving random pools of snow.

Finally I added a few layers of coconut white and cobalt to the frame and background along with an embossed panel made using the snowflake lattice embossing folder with the snowflakes highlighted with more of the colour cloud.

I added  poinsettia stamped and embossed with the shaded poinsettia stamp to die for onto cobalt card.  I made up the flower as shown with some pearl swirls ( which I will have on Hochanda next week) and a dazzler centre.

Pop over the the Creative Expressions blog HERE to see what inspiration for your Christmas Cards the rest of the team have.  It would be great if you could leave a comment or two on there as well!?!

Enjoy...

Mondays card giveaway was Pat S Witney, please email your address to Lockers@live.co.uk Pat and I will post it out to you!

Decoupage MDF Pics...

Happy Saturday,

Today I am at Strikes Wilmslow garden centre, pop down if you are in the area!

I thought I would share some of the samples I made for yesterdays One Day Special on Hochanda using the decoupage papers and the beautiful MDF.







This is the sample of the Nativity scene that I had, it takes a while to make so I wasn't able to demo this whole piece on air however I hope you liked the quick demo and explanation I did in the simpler colours.  I personally like the one I demoed with the simpler Graphite and gold gilding wax.  I did think however you might like to see the close ups of the different pieces in the set.  I coloured these using the Christmas Mica Watercolour palette.

I really hope you enjoyed the shows and the demos / samples I will give awaken of the demo pieces from the shows On Tomorrow post!

Enjoy...

More Shows...

Happy Thursday,

I hope you all enjoyed a look into my wardrobe yesterday with my first demo card on Hochanda!  I'm back tonight with the second One Day Special on Christmas Decoupage and MDF!

This is one of the techniques I will be demoing tonight gilding MDF items.  I'm not sure if this piece will be demoed however I will be showing how to gild the Christmas MDF.  There should be some pictures of the pieces I am demoing however I can't seem to get them to appear!
I thought you all wouldn't mind seeing his piece instead.










i will be demoing at Sharon's Card Craft in Swanley until 3pm today, pop along and sat i if you are in the area!

The winner of Mondays card was Josephine, please email me your address to Lockers @live.co.uk and I will send it out to you.  All other cards and prizes have been sent out please if you haven't received your card by Friday email me to make sure everyone gets what they have been promised!

The Design Team call for Creative Expressions has gone out!  If you would like to join our exciting team then click HERE for more details!

Enjoy...

12 Days Stamping?!?...

Happy Saturday,

I am with Julia Watts at CRaftasmic in Taunton today and tomorrow for Workshops and Demos all the tickets have sold out Im afraid however Julia will be demoing in the shop today so pop in and see Julia weave her Magic with Sue Wilson's range of dies and cosmic shimmer!

I was talking to Julia last night over dinner and she informed me that the Background stamps for my 12 days of christmas are now available to everyone.  I didn't know these had come out as I originally had these as an exclusive on Create and Craft when I launched my 12 days of christmas range.  Julia will be using the Pear Square stamp in her demo today so I thought it might be nice to show some of the samples I made using these stamps!

The first picture is of a set of Tags I made by stamping the pear square stamp in different colours of detail embossing powder.  I cut these into 4 and mounted them onto some hand cut (5cm x 5cm) vintage gold card tags.

The next shot is of the 12 days stamps simply stamped in white detail embossing powder onto rich red card a really effective and quick christmas card.

It wouldn't be me and christmas if there wasn't one in gold on black now would it? lol

finally a few shots of the different cards I made using the background stamps I had so much fun making these!

Enjoy...

Silver Angel, giveaway...

Happy Sunday,

I had a great time at Crafting at Allyn Pally Yesterday and Sue Wilson, Phil Martin, Julia Watts, Lisa Horton and I are all raring to go for another day today! I managed to |Leave my Laptop Locked away in the box office so I ma writing this post sat in the Hotels reception, hows that for last minute! lol

Today's card is not the one planned as I don't have access to all my pictures and so Have gone with this card I made at a demo a couple of months ago!

To keep with the giveaway today's chosen winner will receive one of my Christmas Cards chosen at random on my return, so to be in with a chance of winning a randomly selected card just comment on today's post!




The floating Angel is simply made by cutting the Sue Wilson 2015 Christmas angel in black foundation card and adding pewter gilding wax all over her.  I then spray glued her onto a piece of acetate and wrapped this around the panel made by cutting the snowflake mini striplet three times in succession.

A quick post but You don't get long when sat in reception!

Enjoy...

Cloudy, Snowy Christmas...

Happy Saturday,

I'm at Brykley Park Strikes Garden Centre today from 10am to 4pm It would be great to see you! and as the weathers rainy you might as well! lol


Don't forget that Sue Wilson will launch the Festive One Day Special Tonight at 8pm on Hochanda channel 39 freeview, 663 on sky, 822 on Freest and online at www.hochanda.com.  Today's card is made using one of the dies that may feature the Peaking snowflake! Ive used it here with the Colour Cloud Blending Inks from cosmic shimmer.  I thought I would show another technique today, as promised, using the colour cloud inks!

I stated by using indigo mist colour cloud with a smoothie through the snowflake mask, the smoothies don't catch at all on the edges of the mask.  The best technique for this is to take off the ink on a scrap piece of paper ( i didn't like waste so this piece was used for tomorrows card!)  Next I moved the mask and shaded clear day through it, I kept moving the mask and shading the snowflakes with the 2 colours of ink and different pressure to get all the different shades.

I shaded around the corners using the ink left on the smoothie I had used for the clear day then die cut the largest oval from the peeking snowflake die set by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions.  I cut the next oval down from cobalt foundation card and from mounted this below the clouded piece leaving a small border all round.

I then cut the snowflake die form the set from a larger piece of coconut white foundation card and gently shaded the snowflakes. I again used the ink left on the smoothie that's the great thing about the colour cloud blending inks they just don't stop!

I stamped the sentiment, sorry the picture just doesn't show this week, in the clear day (should of used the indigo mist) form my poinsettia elements clear stamp set for CE and mounted this piece behind.

Finally, i hear you shout, I added a snowflake pearl scary along the side and added a couple of layers of cobalt and coconut white to frame the image.

Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Craft dies by Sue Wilson
Peeking Snowflake
Cosmic Shimmer colour cloud blending Ink
Indigo Mist
Clear day
Cobalt & coconut white foundation card
CE Pearl snowflake spray

I can't wait to see what Sue has come up with for her demos on Hochanda so I will be tuning in!

Enjoy...