Snowflake Tutorial

Good Morning Bloggers,

Here is my tutorial for the hanging decorations I made fore my guest spot on Christine´s wonderful Hope and Chances Blog.  If you missed the post then click here.

The decorations are all made using the supplied Spellbinders Dimensional Snowflake die, I understand Christine has some left in her Amazon Shop if it has made the top of anyone's Must Have List. 

These are simple, if a little time consuming, to make however it is well worth the effort and they will be adorning my Santa´s grotty this year! 

Firstly the Large snowflake in paper, for this one you will need 2 contrasting papers one of which needs to be a 200gsm weight card at least.
Cut four of the die shapes, 2 in each colour and score them, on the front, down the exact middle ensuring you run through the points at the top and bottom.

Next fold each die cut in half and glue one patterned or contrasting colour back to back against another piece, as per the picture.   Fold through the deeper colour on the tuck and fold sections to the other side.

The picture below shows one section folded in this way.

 When you have made two of these sections glue them together on the fold lines, in the centre, and fold through the remaining cut and fold sections.

  When unfolded you should have a four sided contrasting shape as above.  Using a threaded needle thread a piece of cotton through the top most spike and tie off, this creates your thread for hanging.

The smaller snowflakes are made in exactly the same way and could be made in any Spellbinders Snowflake die however without the tuck and fold you wont get the same contrasting patterns or colours.

Large Tissue paper snowflake.
For this decoration  cut one die in sturdy cardstock then layer up 8 layers of tissue paper and cut these in one go.

Next place the die cut tissue paper on top of the cardstock base and attach with a brad directly through the middle and fluff up the layers of tissue.

Or take 2 of the tissue die cut and fold in half then in half again and open up the folds.  Next fold opposing corners together and fold in the other 2 corners (this is really had to describe, hopefully the pictures will show this)

Once you have four of these folded pieces then glue one quarter to one quarter of the base die cut, repeat until you have all four lined up.  where these join I hid the centre point using a plain gold brad.  Finally pull the top point from each quarter to the middle and glue together in the centre then simply fluff out the tissue paper, repeat with one more and stick them back to back.

You can also use this method on cardstock which gives a full 3D snowflake however don't tuck and fold the pieces simply stick them down. 

I hope this can be followed as it makes sense to me but then I made them up so it would!

Enjoy...

Black and Gold...

Happy Monday Lovely People,

Todays card is a filigree die cut delight (hopefully)  I started this one by cutting four of the corner dies from Spellbinders Gold Elements one and wondered what to do with them!  When layering them up I noticed how they created a negative space square when I placed them on top of each other like this, so that's what I did.

I layered two of the die cuts on each side, leaving a square in the middle, on to PMD Kraft card then double matted this onto black and kraft card. 

The size of this one is an A4 sheet folded in half to create a landscape card.  Next I cut one of the centre square elements from the same set, in matching Kraft, which I then double layered in the same colours on a hand cut square.

I decorated the centre and edges with a beige gem (part of my Chino Shop bargains) However the card still looked rather bland.  I tried lots of different sentiments but couldn't get anything to work until I tried the gold ribbon and bow.  I threaded the ribbon through the different layers and added a simple double bow on the top.  I really liked the look of this card without a sentiment as I feel the simplicity says it all. 

One of the post popular ranges of Cards we sell in the Card and Gift shop I work in is our blank range sometimes it's nice to send a card that you can just write in what you want.  Enjoy...

Bracket Box Tutorial

Happy Sunday Guys!

Sorry this post is not at my usual time unfortunately my day job and evening job ran together Friday and Saturday so in the last 48 hours I have worked 31 hours!  I have set Tuesday for the Tutorial on the Decorations I made for Christine at Hope and Chances so I thought I should share the box from yesterday today.  As usual the prototypes I make are usually messy so I have made a neater version for the tutorial and decorated it slightly differently.  Once you have viewed the tut I am sure you will be able to alter the box as I have in these pictures.

The basics of the box is that the flap for each side is 6cm from fold to the tip of the bracket.  This can be made as 4 separate sides attached to a square for the lid as in method 1or as in the method 2 below.  The simplest version is to make the flaps and lid separately which is how I made the first version as there is less measuring.

Method 1 - Cut four of the bracket borders on strips of card then measure from the tip of the die cut edge back 6cm.  On each piece score and cut a 2cm flap, with 2 of these pieces cut from the end loops to the die cut edge at the 6cm point.  The other two pieces need to be scored along the end loop and 6cm line.  I know this sounds confusing but hopefully this picture will show what I mean.

For the middle cut a square 11.2cm by 11.2 cm and attach each of the 2cm flaps to the reverse of this square ( measure your die cut pieces and if they are differ form my measurement of 11.2 alter the square to match)  It is important that all of the decorative flaps are the same size you can cut one and use it as a template if this is easier.

Using the side flaps stick the four decorative flaps to make a box lid.

Method 2
Step one measure out a piece of plain A4 cardstock to the following 6cm , 11.2cm, 6cm then using one of the cutting dies from A2 Bracket Borders place this against the first line ( by measuring each piece at 6cm and placing the die against this line cuts the edge slightly less than 6cm however if each side is cut the same way they will line up.  Run the sheet through your die cutting machine and emboss.





Next repeat the above for the other side then, using a craft knife, cut between the edges of each die on the sides.  This picture shows the sheet of card before cutting between the lines.

Next cut 2 side panels measured at marking the card at 6cm, again by placing the die on the 6cm line it will line up.  the four cut pieces should now look like this

Fold in the score lines and flaps, to make the box edges neater cut away the decorative part on the the ends that is on the flap.  Glue the sides to the flaps, using a wet glue gives better strength and allows you to make the piece to line it up.









There you have a lid!  For the base you will need another 2 sheets of A4 card (again I used PMD 240gsm card)


Measure the first piece to 24cm x 13cm and score down across the piece at 2cm, 11cm, 11cm next score along the long side at 2cm from each edge.  Cut the small squares out where the corners would overlap. 

Cut one piece at 11cm x 11cm and one further piece at 24cm x 11cm on this piece score at 2cm and 11cm and fold.

Glue each of the 2cm flaps and stick box together, I've tried to describe how to do this however it´s probably best to follow the pictures...







Honestly this seems a very complicated system but I promise once you have got it it is easy and quick!  I would suggest using method one as this is an easier version even if it does use more cardstock!

If you have any questions please email me using the button above and I will reply (time permitting!!)

Enjoy

Something {Different} Saturday

Morning all!

Firstly I would like to say a big Heartfelt thanx for all the wonderful comments I received on my project for Hope and Chances Blog,  I really loved reading them all! Back to today and as It´s Saturday Its time for something different (for my new followers I try to showcase something different every Saturday) although to be honest recently it´s been boxes next week I have an idea for something new though.

I really love Spellbinders Bracket Edge box die but the resulting box is just too small for some projects and , so I designed (or engineered if you prefer) this version!

Tall or short, plain or decorated the choice is yours!



This box is a relatively simple one although the measurements were a little difficult to calculate.  I have double checked the sizes and will make sure that the tutorial is right for this one before posting.

The lid is made using Spellbinders Bracket Borders one die and, for once, this is the only die used to make the box.

I have photographed this against a standard Bracket Edge Box from Spellbinders so that you get some idea of scale, also the large box will fit 8 of the standard ones inside.



The above pictures show the box´s decorated and on the right is the plain version, I'm hoping to publish the tutorial for this tomorrow (Sunday) however it will be late due to the pressures of work!

For today, Enjoy...

An Early Christmas Gift!

Dear Blog Friends,

A few weeks ago I was really honoured to be contacted by my Blog and Spellbinders Hero Christine Emberson of Hope and Chances!  She asked if I would be interested in making a project for her blog if she sent me a die to work with I said yes straight away!  I know this may sound gushy but it was her blog that got me buying Spellbinders dies in the first place.

I was lucky enough to receive the brand new Dimensional Snowflake die, now this is a cut and fold die which is something I haven't used before.  I got started straight away and instead of making One project I went a little mad and made four!

Above is the entire collection, if you click through to Hope and Chances today you will see my creations as Christine's Special Creative Guest.


Broken down I made

A trifold card featuring the three different dies in the set, this was an A4 sheet of white cardstock which I folded in three and cut three circles, getting smaller as they get to the front, out on each fold.  I the adhered one of each size of snowflake into or over the 'hole'.  The paper is Do'crafts Home for Christmas and the ribbon is Beresford's Pencil Stripe.  When the card is folded all three snowflakes line up on top of each other meaning that the card works when pulled out of an envelope.  Although it looks complicated this would be a great production line card as it is not too time consuming as Christine said imagine trying to cut these snowflakes by hand!






Secondly a box with tag ( how could I get inspiration from Christine and not make a tag!)  The tag is made from the centre die from Spellbinders Elegant labels four This is decorated with 2 of the smallest snowflakes, one cut in glitter card and one in red.  These show the wonderful dimension that can be gained with the tuck and fold element of this die set.  The stamp is an old random one from Papermania I think.  The box peeping out is made with Spellbinders Bracket Edge Box die in another Do'crafts paper.




Thirdly a Filigree card - something I seem to be making with increasing frequency!

This highlights the way with the cut and fold dies you can mix colours.  I cut two of the largest die, one in red and one in Mirri card silver.  I added the red die cut to the back of the silver and tucked the red ends of the snowflake through (if that's understandable)  I added two each of the other sized dies on the front and loaded the snowflake onto a filigree card base in red and black.


Finally as a closet paper Engineer, I made some 3D hanging decorations  which I will post separately next week as a Tutorial as there are a couple of different sizes and styles and these could be made in a host of snowflake style dies.

I have to admit when I was making these it was over 40degrees here and searching through my Christmas decorations for props was very strange!  However Christine is currently at the Spellbinders Retreat in Arizona so I guess she is now feeling the heat!


I hope you have enjoyed my creations as much as I enjoyed making them

John x

Sparing Blushes with Cream and Blush

Good Evening All!

2 Posts in one day, this won't happen again promise there is only so much I can ask of my loyal followers I know! lol 

I thought that as soon as I got in from work I should replace todays card to spare some blushes however I thought I would just add another one and see which people prefer!  I finished this one in the last 10 minutes based on the suggestions made in the comments.  I dedicate this one to Mrs Duck again!

This is an exact copy(ish) of todays earlier card however this time I've made it in Blush and cream.  This is, genuinely, a quick card to make as It took me about 30 minutes and I was watching Flogit as crafting ( finish at 5:30 Spanish time which is 4:30 UK time so get to see some afternoon telly!)

Hope you all enjoy this one lol

John x

Eh Up Me Duck!

Morning All!

"Eh Up Me Duck" is a greeting often heard in Leicester where I lived for over 10 years (before moving to Spain)  As todays card is for Ang (AKA Mrs Duck) I thought the title appropriate.  The reason I have named this one for Ang is that I feel you need sunglasses to view it and Ang is the queen of bright (possible clashing :-)) colours!







Todays creation is quite simple and is another in a series I made using Spellbinders Labels 18.  I do tend to have favourites for a period and try everything I can think of to use it.  Last week Spellbinders Labels 18 was the die de jour (can you believe it Colloquial midlands and French! maybe I should try a post in Spanish next)


I hope you like the simplicity and colours of this one as it certainly caught me eye.

Especially at Margaret's request I am now, where possible, going to include the sizes of my cards.  This one is A5 (folded sheet of A4 PMD red Card) the teal mat is 2cm shorter and the red panel is 1cm shorter. 

Enjoy...