Christmas Birthday....

Happy Friday,

Sorry today's post is late, I was intending to finish off some of my blog posts whilst in the green room yesterday however in all the excitement and nerves I kinda forgot to finish today's!  Firstly thank you to everyone who tuned in and emailed me or the show It was wonderful to feel such support and friendship from my blog family.  I loved the whole experience and had a wonderful day although was a little unnerving when late last night Mr Next Door put the computer on and played one of the shows while we were eating a late take away!


Another card from Yesterdays shows and whilst this is not strictly a Christmas card, so shouldn't be on a Christmas Friday, it is designed especially for those people who have a December Birthday so It has a Christmasy feel!  This card uses the same technique as I demoed in my first show with Sue however this time I have used the Snowflake lattice and detail white embossing powder on the debased side of the card.  I love this technique!!





This is quite a deceptively simple card as the work is all done by the embossing folder, the stamp and the detail white embossing powder from cosmic Shimmer.  The bow is tied using the striped Grosgrain ribbon with the white tulle added over the top before tying the double bow.  It makes a large knot and takes some tying but its worth the effort to give a different looking bow.







It's really only in this picture that you can see that the colours are Navy and White, I'm sure on most peoples PC's it will look black and white.


The tag is cut with one of the shaped dies form the French Collection set Burgundy I have simply clipped off the top, bottom and the rounded edges to give a different interesting shape.





Ingredients:

Scenic View stamp to die for
Creative Expressions Embossing Folder Snowflake lattice
Sue Wilson's Dies
Burgundy
Augverne
Cosmic Shimmer Detail White embossing Powder
Blue Stripe Grosgrain Ribbon

Enjoy...

Todays the Day Sneak Peak...

Happy Thursday,

Well today's the day my first TV appearance on Create and Craft!  Hopefully it won't be the last lol  I will be appearing with the legendary Sue Wilson in her One Day Wonder shows at 4pm and 7pm.  The plan is that I will share the demo's so should be doing a demo in each hour, just in case I have prepped about 6 as I like to be prepared lol.

Today's card is a sneak peak of the new embossing folders that will be launched on the show as well as the Stamps to die for that match the second release of Sue's own range of dies!

For this sample I have used the new Creative Expressions A4 embossing folder Knotted Trellis however I have used a new technique (for me anyways I'm sure others have used this before!) What I did was to run Perfect Medium  over the debossed side of the card and emboss it with Detail Clear embossing powder.  This, to me at least, looks like a glazed tile.  To show the different Effects available I mounted the tile like piece on to a piece showing the embossed side which I coloured using Broken China Distress Ink.



I have planned a demo for this card and technique for the show so hopefully those of you who tune in will be able to watch me make this!

Therefore I haven't written a description of this one just the ingredients list!

Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Knotted Trellis Embossing Folder
Sue Wilson's French Collection Borders and Tags die set
Detail Clear Embossing Powder
Foundation card in Navy, Duck egg and Vintage Silver
CE Friends Sentiments stamp set




It would be great if you could tune in and email in to the show!  Sue will be on from 8am so join her for breakfast and I'll see you at teatime...

Enjoy...

Creative Wednesday...

Happy Wednesday,

Once again its my day for the Creative Expressions design team, seems to come round every week, and it's worth popping over to the Creative Epressions blog as we have three new members of the design team so here's the chance to see some new takes on the fantastic range of Products!

This month we were asked to use the new single and frame stamps shown by Julia Watts last month and I really love this Curled Frame stamp with a beautiful sentiment.

I started by stamping the image onto a pale blue card using a navy ink pad which I then heat embossed using Cosmic Shimmer detail clear embossing powder.  I then added a few dots of cosmic shimmer ivory PVA glue dots to the circles handily provided on the frame.

I then matted this onto a piece of navy card then coconut white.  Next I embossed a piece of the pale blue card using the Sea Garden A4 embossing Folder which I inked using broken china Distress Ink.

I matted this onto another piece of the navy and added a strip of ribbon down the left hand side.

This whole piece, before being finished off was then added to a large 20 x 2o piece of coconut white card with a small, 21.5cm x 21.5cm, mat.  To finish the card I die cut a couple of the butterflies, in more coconut white, using the dies form Sues Magical Butterflies die set. I also added a coupe f the Grand Vinery dies cuts, again in the white peeping cut form the stamped image.

Finally the card was dressed with Cosmic Shimmer pearl PVA glue which I used to make different sized dots, used as the bodies on the butterflies as well as to add some decorative edges in alternate corners.

Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Curled frame single stamp.
Sue Wilson's Dies
Grand Vinery
Magical Butterflies
Creative Expressions Sea Garden Embossing Folder
Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA & Detail Clear embossing Powder

Enjoy...

& Don't forget pop over to the CE blog HERE and leave a comment if you've got time!

Keeping It simple...

Happy Tuesday,

Today's card is a very simple affair that shows off the beauty of Sue's finishing touches Magical Butterflies set.  The set cuts the intricate butterflies but also, on some of these, cuts a separate border making placement within the apertures nice as a small section of the background shows through.

I started therefore by Die cutting a series of three butterflies in a line from Blush Foundation card.  I then die cut the same three from grey foundation card to give  a strong contrast.  It was only after starting this colour combination I realised how 1980's Terence Conran it was! lol.

I foam mounted the blush piece over a piece of coconut card that I had embossed using the Creative Expressions A4 Sea Garden embossing folder.  I added a thin mat of the grey then placed the grey butterflies inside the apertures.  To give dimension I glued these along the bodies only so that I could fold out the wings.  To make the bodies I added a few dots of Pearl PVA glue dots.


I embossed another full sheet of the blush using the same sea garden folder and mounted the front piece on top again with a grey mat to balance the design.  At this stage the card looked simple, however it also looked unfinished so i grabbed another piece of blush and made one of Sue Wilson's pierced borders, again edged in grey.

The sentiment is simply stamped in Grey Ink onto a waste piece of the embossed blush card cut with the smallest die form the French Collection Auvergne with a edge of grey cut with the plain die shape from the French Collection Burgundy die set.

A very clean and simple looking card in a colour combination, whilst still looking a little 1980's habitat to me, that I really like.

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson's Dies
Magical Butterflies
Auvergne
Burgundy
Creative Expressions A$ Sea Garden Embossing Folder
Creative Expressions Sentiment Stamp
Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA
Blush & Grey Foundation Card

Enjoy...

its not all beige...

Happy Monday,

Todays card is another unusual folding card, I seem to be on a roll at the moment with making different moving cards.

I thought that the beautiful centre die from Sues Austrian collection Vienna die would make a really fun aperture and fold.  Therefore I created this card to show it off.

It is very hard to explain how this one works however I am hoping the pictures will explain it a little better.  I scored a sheet of card into three, folded two of the flaps against each other a die cut the centrepiece over the fold.  I repeated the folds for a second piece of card however this time I added the die cut piece over the fold, so that, when closed you can't see the aperture.

I used the third flap from each sheet to attach to the back of a piece of card cut to the same size to make the full card.  Therefore the card has a back and 2 separate fronts a little like a gate fold I suppose however each of these folds back on themselves.  This next picture shows this a little more clearly!

It is easier to see in this picture of the card folded flat.  I then went on to layer up, with foam tape, the different die cuts in the set alternating with the taupe and chocolate card.

I decorated the sides with border strips taken from the Austrian collection Borders and tags set, added a sentiment form Creative Expressions and some ginger seam binding.

Ingredients:
Sue Wilson's Dies
Vienna
Austrian Corners, Borders and Tags
Creative Expressions Honeycomb Haven A4 Embossing Folder
CE Sentiment Stamp 
Hatpins from stash
Tea Dye distress ink (on embossed centre back panel)

Enjoy...

Simple Stamping Sunday...

Happy Sunday,

This is the post that I postponed from Last Sunday, I have now received permission from Mrs D to show my version of her card as post she posted her version of this card yesterday.

Todays card is inspired by Mrs Duck as we were talking about stamping and she came up with the idea of series of frames using these stamps.  Now I started thinking what a beautiful simple project this would make.  I have now seen the card Mrs Duck made using her technique and the same stamps and hers is far more intricate and really shines.  I thought It would be good to show what a simple black and white stamped version would look like.

Therefore by flicking between her blog and mine you can see the simple and complex version of the same card.

Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Garden Frame stamp
Creative Expressions Anemone planter single stamp
Black Archival Inkpad
Coconut Foundation card.
Black seam binding
White Pearl Dazzler

Enjoy...

Some more saturday boxes...

Happy Saturday,

As last weeks boxes seemed to go down well I thought I would show some more of the die cut boxes I have made this week.  Now as for instructions these couldn't be easier.  I start by measuring the item I want to box, usually a a card, and add half a cm to each measurement.  Next I add 4cm to each measurement as I make card boxes at a depth of 2cm which means that it can be posted as a large letter and won't have to go as a parcel.  I know that postal costs aren't cheap but second class large letter is a price worth paying for some people.  The other reason for making them at 2cm depth is that on the fancier boxes it can go into an A4 envelope without going over the 2.5cm large letter allowance.


I score each side at 2cm then place whichever die I am making the box with in the centre or wherever I want the design and cut.

In this first box I have used the Provence die set by Sue Wilson and cut the largest filigree section along with the middle cutting die from the centre of a 21cm square piece of ginger foundation card.  Next I cut a piece of Kraft card using the smallest filigree section form the same set and placed this behind the original die cut.  I then folded this into the box lid.  To make the box bases I cut a piece of card to the same size then take  3mm off 2 of the side so that when the base is folded it is slightly smaller than the lid and yet still fits tight.








This next box is again made using Ginger Foundation card however this time I have die cut the bevelled glass striplet, gain by Sue Wilson, three times in a row in the top.

Finally This is the box I made to house my Creative Expressions DT project this week, click HERE if you missed the card.  I made the box in the same manner as the card by stamping the Filigree Frame stamp in perfect medium and embossing it in black.  I cut the piece and added it to the centre of a piece of Kraft card and hand cut the hole in the middle.  I made this piece into a box lid using the method above and threaded ribbon over and under the aperture.  I then tied the two pieces together to ale a knot.  Add a base and finished.  This box is great because you can see the card within and the colours match!


Extra, I have been informed that I made a complete mess of my post on Thursday and got the names of all the products I used completely wrong.  I have now updated the post so if you were confused scroll back for the correct information!
Enjoy...