Dare to Be Different One Day Special with Craftascope

Morning Friends and Crafters, Well at last I have got to the end of the preparation for my very first One Day Special on Hochanda. I do hope you will join me and add your support. This is a very different collection, absolutely fantastic for Mixed Media projects, but a lot more besides.

The stamps, dies and stencils will allow you to create a wide range of unique crafting projects. Today I have included a few Sneek Peeks for you. to give you a taste of whats to come.

I really am sure the shows are going to be a lot of fun and maybe a few surprises along the way. You never know.There has been an awful lot of prep, which has taken a lot more time than I expected so please forgive me for my absence, I do hope you think it's been worth the wait.

Please do join me on Monday evening at 6pm with Hayley and then 8pm with our Leonie. I will be back again for more shows on Tuesday at 9am, 1pm and for Final Call at 5pm. I really look forward to sharing this collection with you and hope you will add your support. Will you 'Dare to be Different ?' 

For now Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Dare To Be Different

Hi Friends and Crafters, Another busy but very enjoyable day here in Bulgaria. It's all systems go, getting ready for my very first One Day Special on Hochanda. Today on my blog, I have all of the show details and a full Sneek Peak of something I will be bringing to you very, very soon. Also today I am sharing a tutorial of how I made the book mark from my last show.

You Will Need:

Craftascope Dancing Dolphin Die

Craftascope ATC Card and Envelope Die Set

Craftascope Dolphin Stamp Set

Aly's Inky Fingers Alphabet Stamp Set

Shrink Plastic

Leather or Faux Leather

Gelli Roll Pens

Silver Jump Rings

Selection of Beads, Stones and Charms

Quickie Glue Pen

Stayzon Black Ink

Gilding Film or Flake.

Step 1: Use a tag die to cut a tag, here I have used the Sheena set. Next cut out the Dolphin using a scrap of Leather in a contrasting colour.

Step 2: On shrink plastic, stamp the 'Grace' along with the dolphins and the initial letters for the person it's for. Colour in using your chosen media, here I have used sparkly gelli pens.

Step 3: Use the same letter to stamp the initial on to the bookmark. Add little highlights using the glue pen and add the foil once dry. Use the appropriate adhesive to secure the dolphin in place.

Step 4: Use the jump rings to add the beads, charms and the little elements you shrunk earlier. This really is a wonderful piece to give as a gift, this one was for my niece, 'Charlotte'

Now for a little look at something I will be bringing to Hochanda for my One Day Special. I can't tell you how excited I am to share my new products with you. I will be launching my 'Dare To Be Different' Collection on Monday 27th May at 6pm on Hochanda. There will be another show at 8pm, with more chances to see the new goodies on Tuesday 28th at 9am, 1pm and Final Call at 5pm. There will free gifts, giveaways and lot of fun, I do hope you will join me.

It's my very first one day special, I am obviously looking forward to bringing you a lot more, so I would really appreciate your support, so please join my then. For now, Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Willow Landscape

Morning Friends and Crafters, I do hope you all enjoyed your May Day bank holiday weekend. It's not long until I am back with my new collection on Hochanda, it's going to be very exciting, with lot's of demonstrations and giveaways too. It will be my very first One Day Special so a big celebration, I do hope I can count on your support. It's a very different collection and I really can't wait to share it with you. Today I am sharing a  card I made using the Weeping Willow stencil from my Blooming Marvelous Collection.

You will Need:

Craftascope 'Not Just The Gift' Stamp

Craftascope 'Weeping Willow' Stencil

Clarity Stamp Landscape Mask

Clarity Stamp Moon Mask

Clarity Stamp Tree Stamps

Distress Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch and Black Soot

Clarity A5 Stamping Card

Clarity Black Base Card 8 x 8'' cut down to size

Step 1: Position your moon & hills mask in place then with the spray adhesive position the stencil.

Step 2: Blend the sky using the distress inks from dark to light. Then remove the willow mask.

Step 3: Place the negative mask to protect your sky. Also protect the white edges around your design with copier paper and spray.

Step 4: Use the remaining masks to create your landscape with the lighter blue distress inks.

Step 5: Remove the moon mask, then stamp the trees in place to complete your design. Use the landscape masks to ensure that the trees sit nicely on the ground.

Step 6:  Finally stamp the sentiment within the large moon. Then mount onto your black card base.

Thank you for visiting today.  It's that time again and Nominations are open for the Craft awards. It would be amazing to be nominated in some of the categories. Every bit of support is appreciated , I really do value it, it means an awful lot especially for newcomers to the craft word. I love to be able to bring my collections, especially as they are different to what is out there This is the link to nominate your favourite Crafts and brands: Best of Craft Awards.

I know blogging is now becoming less and less popular and I see that this year they have even removed the category for best blog. I suppose it's only a matter of time until most people will use the more popular forms of social media. I think it's a great resource for some crafters, I love to share so I will continue for as long as I get visits. I do hope you will use your vote to support your favourites. For now take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Clarity On Hochanda

Morning Friends and Crafters. Goodness only knows where these days are going lately. I seem to get up and before I know it, it's the end of another day. If anyone has any idea of ho to stretch the day, then I would be more than happy if you could share. Well despite the day going nowhere I did get a lot done, more prep for my next Hochanda Shows and some projects for the Clarity Shows. Yes Barbara is back with us tomorrow on Hochanda for a 2 hour show, with some super Stencils, Stamps and Groovi plates.

Today I am sharing one of the projects I have done with the stencil, I do hope you like it. I have used the Colourcraft Fabric Paints, the 'Opaques'. They really give a wonderful effect, you can mix all of the colours to achieve the perfect one to match the project.

I have a full post on the Hochanda Blog today, using the same stencil to create 4 cards. There is a full tutorial with photos and the variations for you to see. Please take a look and if you have time I would love for you to leave a comment or some feedback. VISIT HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope to be back with you on Monday morning bright and early, Fingers Crossed, for now Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Flower Embroidery & Other things

Hi Friends and Crafters, well another busy day here and with a few surprises along the way. I hope you've all had a great Friday and are looking forward to your weekend. I really can't believe where all the weeks are going, they seem to be flying by at a rate of knots. This year seems to be passing by so fast. Today, I am sharing quite a different project using my Blooming Marvelous collection.

You will Need:

Craftascope 'Positive Journey' A5 Plus Stamp Sheet.

Madeira Threads or your Choice

Calico

Embroidery Hoop

Step 1: Stamp your design onto Calico, you will need to use masks to avoid overstamping. You dont need to use a dark ink, just strong enough for you to follow the design. Place the design into you hoop. I am quite happy for you to scan and copy the design so you can enlarge this for your own use only.

Start 2: Start stitching your design, in colours of your choice. I have used the Madeira threads.I have started here with the chain stitch and the stem stitch.

Continue with stitches of your choice to complete your project. For the leaves I have used fly stitch. Some of the other stitches I have used are: Soft Shading, French Knots, Laid Filling and Detached Button Hole Stitch. I have finished this piece with some simple beading.

I hope you have enjoyed my post today, despite how late it is. Some other news, I was so surprised when one of my cats presented me with 3 kittens. She had put weight on but I had no idea she was pregnant. There's a black, a grey and an almost totally white one.

Well thats all from me today, so I hope you will join me again soon, for now Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

You're Such A Joker

Morning friends & Crafters. Here's to a wonderful day for all of us. Touch wood, so far everything seems to be going really well, so it's a far cry from yesterday. Today I am sharing a fun card using my 'Media Medley' collection. I very rarely use red, but for this project I thought it would be the perfect colour, keeping it red and black matching the playing cards.

You Will Need:

Craftascope 'Media Medley' Full Collection or

Craftascope 'ATC Card & Envelope' Die Set

Craftascope 'All The 8's' Media Stencil

Craftascope ' ATC Antics' Media Stamp Set

Craftascope 'Such a Card' Media Stamp Set

Versafine Black Ink Pad

Candied Apple Distress Oxide Ink Pad

Black Fine Liner Pen

Centura Pearl 8 x 8 Card Blank

White Stamping Card 7 3/4" Square & 6" Square

Black Card 7 3/4'' Square Gutted with a 6 1/4" Square Die and then gut this with a 4 3/4" Square Die. This will provide all of  your mats.

Tacky Glue

3D Glue Gel

Step 1: cut 3 cards using the ATC card die. Take one and mask off  approximately 1/4" around the edge. Stamp Xander or your chosen face. Remove the mask and using a ruler and fine liner create a box around the design. Then use stamps to create the King & Queen playing cards. Edge all of the cards with the Candied Apple Distress Oxide.

Step 2: Take the smallest square of stamping card and stencil through. Rotate the stencil and repeat, this time using only the ink remaining on the stencil as you want this to be a lot paler than the first.

Step 3: With the larger piece, stencil through, this time only around the edge as this is all that will be seen. The colour on this layer will need to be strong.

Step 4: Mount your black card centrally and secure with Tacky glue and then add your next layer. Add your black mat behind this and then secure to your base card.

Step 5: To finish your card, add your black center panel. Then use  some 3D Glue Gel to add the card topper. Stamp your sentiment onto white card, cut to size, edge with the same Oxide ink and mat onto black card. Secure these to your card using the Glue Gel.

For this project I decided to leave the face black & white. There are so many variations of this style of card. Why not use a different colour combination to give you a totally different look to suit.

One of the members of my Design Team (Natalie) coloured the Joker for one of her samples on the show, it really would make an amazing topper for a variation of this card.

Brilliant to be with you again today, I hope you have enjoyed the post today and that you will join me again very soon for some more inspiration. I hope you all have the most wonderful day. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Beauty

Ever have one of those days when one job turns into 100? Well I have had one of those days today, but Hey Ho, here I am. As they say always better late than never. Today I am going to share this little card with you. It's a very simple card,with just a little masking and a real joy to sit, relax and colour. It would make a wonderful 'Just Because' card, or as a boxed set of notelets,either as a gift or for a fundraiser.

You will Need:

Craftascope 'Bloom & Grow' Stamps Set

Versafine Clair Black Ink Pad

Amsterdam Acrylics

5 x 5'' Card Blank made with Stamping Card

Copier Paper Mask

Temporary Adhesive Spray

Step 1: Stamp your design directly on to your card blank. You will need to use your mask to build up your design, but only one for this.

Step 2: Use a selection of Amsterdam Acrylics to colour your design and that's your card finished. The fun in this really is sitting for a while doing some relaxing colouring.

It's a really nice card to make and works with any of the other blooms in the stamp collection. As I mentioned before it would make a beautiful set of notelets in a  matching box, either all the same design or a selection.

You can also use any colour mediums that you choose, using the appropriate ink pad. Lately I have been using the Amsterdam Acrylics quite a lot as I love the finish they give along with the different effect.

It really has been great that I actually got time to share this with you today, I really don't know where the day has gone, but here it's very close to tea time already. Happy May day to you all. I look forward to seeing you all soon, but for now Take care and Happy Crafting.xx