Rhapsody in purple...

Happy Thursday,

Well yesterdays colour scheme certainly divided opinion didn't it!  I must admit whilst its not my usual colour choice something about the card sings to me in real life.

Back to today and I suppose I should share with you all a more me card today however I still can't seem to get away from the brighter jewel tones, maybe it because Im working so hard own Christmas samples for my shows next week!

I stared, as I have for every card this week, with pixie powdered paper this time just in purple violet and midnight blue.  I simply framed the background allowing the swirls of colour to display.  I frames this using bright white and the double pierced background rectangles simply adding matts of amythesyt and cobalt to frame the piece.

Next I cut the Mauritius die in amythesyt foundation card and backed this with white.  I then stamped the sentiment, in watering can archival ink, using an old set of mine called fern frames and sentiments, onto more of the background.













I then cut the cape daisies, one of my new fave flower dies, in the pixie powdered paper using the darkest parts for the petals and the paler shades for the centres.  I simply added white microbeads in the centre and finished with a purple violet PVA dimensional glue pearl.


These were arranged as a cascade down the card with matching stick pins and a bow made form white seam binding coloured at the same time as the paper.

Yes it's bright but somehow I find it very atmospheric!

Enjoy...

Christmas Friday...

Happy Friday,

For todays card I feel that I threw everything at this card, gilding flakes, microbeads, acetate, ribbon pixie powders everything!lol

a quick run through as I am writing this after a 4 hour drive back from a fabulous day at Sharon's Card craft in Swanley.


There are just pictures on todays pots at the moment but I will update instructions later today!

Enjoy...

Instructions Update

Pixie powder background using Aqua Lagoon, Silver Dream & White Pearl.  Next I covered this with a double sided adhesive sheet and covered this with clear mmicrobeads.

I then covered a further piece of double sided adhesive sheet with sliver moon gilding flakes and cut the swirling stars die three times form this.  I kept the stars that fall out to decorate the frame.

I framed the piece using the double pierced noble squares dies and added a piece of acetate behind this adhering the swirling stars to this.




I then cut the holly octagon frame and shaded through the die using frosted sky colour cloud blending ink.  I then threaded thin satin ribbon through the slots and added the central star cut with more of the gilding flakes.


A couple of stick pins and gems and finished.

A little Late...

Happy Monday,

I've titled today's post a little late as this is the Birthday card I made for Tracey the Fabulous in house crafter at Creative Expressions however her Birthday was in March!  She decided to have an official birthday when she was on holiday in June by which time I had lost the original card I made!!  Therefore I remade this one specially for a very late birthday surprise!

When I wrote the March's child poem I did have Tracey in mind so it was great to be able to use this for someone I knew matched the words!

I started by stamping the sentiment in detail silver embossing powder onto CE heat resistant acetate and I wanted a shaker card.  I then added the frame, made with the 3 largest dies in the Geneva die set by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions, cut in white straight onto the acetate.  I then added foam around the oval and added a mixture of iced snow and white micro beads.  To seal the shaker element I used Sue Wilson's technique of adding a second piece of the acetate which meant I had a separate shaker element to add to the card.

Next the background.  I used a piece of the kitchen roll technique I showed on Hochanda a few weeks ago whereby I stick a piece of kitchen roll soaked in pixie powders onto card using Cosmic Shimmer glossy glue, seal and glaze.  I added a sprinkling of silver gilding flakes and some distress glitter as well and sealed the whole piece with more of the glue.Once dry you get this beautiful handmade paper look with a gloss finish.

I framed the background with the double pierced background dies in bright white  I added a layer of white and of cobalt blue to emphasise the colours. I then foam mounted the shaker element onto the front in the centre.

Next I cut a selection of the Sue Wilson daisy dies in the cobalt and made these up with three of each side making each flower.  I shaped these with a ball toll and spray glued them before adding diamond snow to give them a really frosty feel.  I added a small silver dazzler ( form the pack of mixed size and silver blue colours) in the centre.

I arranged these around the oval along with the foliage form the festive range cut in white and french navy foundation card.  I added one of the smallest daisies at the opposing corner and added a few layers of white and blue to frame and finish the card.


Enjoy...

Beaded Circles...

Happy Thursday,

One of the sample cards I made for this weeks shows using the double pierced circles dies ( a new firm favourite) and the matching dies that were in the bundle on Monday.

I cut the mini striplet three times and backed it with double sided adhesive and added three shades of microbeads one in gold, silver and copper.












I then cut the Gillian frames and tags die and cut to the central circle.  I backed this with adhesive and added copper microbeads.  I cut the centre detail and added gold beads and a black 8mm stick on pearl.

I made a circular frame using the double pierced circles dies and added a thing circular frame cut in adhesive with silver beads added.

finally an embossed layer using the cross stitch A4 pinpoint embossing folder and a thin layer of black.

enjoy...

Leaping Request...

Happy Christmas Friday,

Well todays Christmas friday acrd is by request of Susan who emailed me to ask for a blog post and instructions on the leaping reindeer card I demoed on Hochanda on Monady.  Don't forget if you want to watch this card being made you can still view the show on Catch up on www.hochanda.com or click HERE.

Todays card is this leaping reindeer in the very modern colours of Midnight and Steel from the new Vintage Pearl collection of foundation card.

I started by cutting the Frosty Mini Background in midnight card and backed this with a piece of double sided adhesive sheet.  I then poured silver microbeads over the exposed adhesive to adhere to the metallic background between the snowflakes.

Next I stamped the leaping reindeer ( the large one again) and the sentiment from the Elegant stars and reindeer clear set in silver shine detail embossing powder onto acetate.  Like yesterdays card I coloured the reverse of the reindeer using the cosmic shimmer glue highlighter and then added silver chrome polished silk glitter.  This means that when dry ( which is really quick wth the highlighter as you add such a fine layer) the glitter shines through.  I find that it is really hard to tell that its glittered on the reverse, which is great if you are not the best at staying in the lines  and trust me I'm not!

I folded the acetate and wrapped it around the background.  I made a large 7.5" x 7.5" card using steel and midnight pearl card and stamped a spray of stars form the set in the corner for balance.

I wrapped a piece of double sided organza ribbon ( from Creative Expressions) around the layers and added a double bow of the same ribbon at the bottom left as shown.  I then simply added some of the metallic line and a crystal seat to hide the glue dots and knot.

Finally a couple of stick pins I made using the set I had on the shows and a few crystals for balance.

I really hope this was the card you meant Susan, please remember if any of you want me to answer any questions please email me and I will try to answer ( if you don't get an answer within 48 hours email again as it may have got lost!!!)

A quick mention for my American Blog Family who have asked you can get my range form the following online shop which has really good rates of postage to the U.S. HERE

Enjoy...

2 more sleeps...

Happy almost Christmas Eve!,


I thought an antidote to all the Christmas brightens would be welcome again today, also although I said it was my last DT project for Creative Expressions last week I have been informed that unlike last year we are continuing through the Christmas Period!  Therefore I won't be changing to Sunday ( my new DT day) until the 3rd January next year lol

Today's card is another using this months collection of new craft dies designed by Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions and uses, in the main, the Heart of Hearts die.

To start I cut a panel of cobalt blue foundation card and the cut the largest die in the set form the centre top.  leaving the die in place I embossed the whole piece using the star swirls embossing folder.  Next I covered the raised area with pearl moon gilding wax and polished it to a shine using a dry wet wipe.

Next I cut a white panel using the double pierced rectangles set slightly larger than the blue layer.  I placed this under the blue layer and using the cut hole as a guide I taped the next heart die in the set in place before removing the blue layer and cutting the heart.  I then cut a square for the back and used the centre filigree die for the heart full of hearts (hence the name)  I added a piece of white card which I covered in micro beads and foam mounted all the layers together.

For the flourish I cut the outline die in the daisy cluster set using cobalt card and cut the centre separate die in white and glued this behind.  I finished with a liberal sprinkling of 3mm stick on pearls to differentiate the centres of the flowers.  I added this on top of a seem bonding bow in white under the heart.

The remainder of the card is made of layers of cobalt and white adding some of the configuration corners at each corner.

to see what the rest of the team have created click HERE it would be lovely if you have the time if you left a comment over there too!

Enjoy...

Seed Pearl Snowdrops...

Happy Tuesday,

how about another gentle card as an antidote to all the bright colours and lights of Christmas!

I stared by stamping the main element from the Snowdrops set in black archival ink onto coconut white card.  I swapped the sentiment to the Chill its your birthday as I thought it more appropriate for the icy topping I was putting on.  Next I cut out the stamped image using a circle die from Sue's first release . I then added a piece of double sided adhesive over the stamped image and cut it out by hand.  then I added microbeads that show the image through but give a look as if the image has been frozen.

Hopefully this picture will show what I mean lol.  I then cut three panels of coconut white card covered in double sided adhesive using one of the outline dies form the mini striplet dies.  I then covered each of these with microbes and inked over the top using cut and dry foam cover in flake and glitter glue.  This makes the microbeads receptive to being brushed over with pearlescent mica powder.  Once dry this alerts the translucency of the background giving an appearance of seed pearls.




I matted these on more white card and from mounted them onto a few layers of card.  I cut one of the Scandinavian borders and added antique white double sided ribbon ( the thin ribbon from the pack) over the centre and some white PVA dimensional glue at the junctions.  I added the circle over the top and a bow with a shaped camellia flower to hide the knot.

A few double pierced layers ( sorry they are my favourite base dies so seem to be popping up on everything!) and finished.

Hopefully a gentle birthday card for anyone born in the winter of spring?!?

Enjoy...