Beauty In Seasons

Hi Everyone, Another lovely day her in Bulgaria, the humidity has dropped at last which is so much easier. The heat and humidity just makes every little thing such a chore. Preparations are now in full swing getting ready for Stamperama in Stevenage on the 11th August and then my Hochanda shows on the 13th August. Unfortunately I cant bring the Small Rose Petal stamps back to Hochanda this time, but I do have a very small amount left on my Etsy store, but once they are gone they are gone, for now at least.

You Will Need:

Craftascope Floral Companions Stamp Set

Craftascope Floral Harmony Stamp Set.

8 x 8'' Clarity Black Card Blank

Clarity White Card Blank (cut to 7 3/4'' square)

Distress Inks: Mowed Lawn, Squeezed Lemonade, Wild Honey and Mermaid Lagoon

Versafine Clair Black Ink Pad

Clarity Stencil Brushes

Basic Square Die approx 2 1/2''

Copier Paper

Temporary Adhesive Spray

Black Fine Liner pen

Step 1: Roughly stamp out 3 of the leaves onto copier paper and cut out.

Step 2: Cut out a piece of copier paper to 7 1/2'' square. Cut 4 squares out of this, evenly spaced and keep both the inner and outer cuts. Cutting the copier paper smaller than your card makes positioning much easier.

Step 3: Use temporary adhesive to secure your copier paper in place.

Step 4: Stamp a leaf and positive word in 3 of your squares and your sentiment in the 4th, Use the leaf masks you made earlier and secure them in place with your temporary adhesive.

Step 5: Mask off around your square to make sure you get no colour in any of the other squares or the edges of your card. Take one of your stencil brushes along with a distress ink and gently blend across your first square, blending form deeper at the top and lighter towards the bottom.

Step 6: Repeat step 5 with each of your remaining squares.

Step 7: Remove your large square mask and move very slightly left and down by approximately 4-5 mm  giving you a little backwards 'L' in the corner. Now use your smaller squares to mask off your coloured area. Take another stencil brush and using Hickory smoke, add colour to the space you have left. This gives a wonderful 3D look when you card is complete.

Step 8: Remove the masks and gently remove any excess adhesive with a soft cloth.

Step 9: Use a very fine liner to draw a line around each of your coloured boxes (not the Hickory Smoke part) Draw another line about 1/4'' in from the edge of your card. Mount your finished card onto the black card base, giving you your finished card.

Thank you so much for joining me this afternoon for this step by step. I hope you like the end result. If you missed my exciting news the other day, I will share it with you here. I am so happy to let you all know that I have been nominated in the Crafts Beautiful 'Best Of' Craft awards, so I am over the moon to have got this far. Thank you ever so much for your support, it really does mean a lot to me. My collection will be added to their website on the 15th August, when the voting begins. For now Take care and Happy Crafting.xx 

Back to Basics 2 Landscapes

Morning Friends and Crafters, For those of you who saw my second episode of 'Back to Basics' with Craftascope last night. I really hope you enjoyed it and found it useful & worthwhile. After the show I added a few finishing touches as discussed and added a little sentiment. So here is the end result, do excuse to odd finger print. You can still take a look at the video on my youtube channel and I have added the link to this post to, so pop over and see how it was done.

As I said on the video, I will be adding to the series for as long as I get your requests. So if there is anything you would like to see included in the future shows, then please leave your comments on the comments under the video so I can find them easily.

This weeks 'Natter with Nick' offer ended last night but there are still some really great buys on my Etsy store, some are a little low on stock now, but hopefully you will find what you want to add to your Craftascope Library. I did a second demo on last nights show, I added it as a separate video and you can see it here.

Well I have lots of preparation underway for my first stand at Stamperama in August, not long to go now. I will be sharing lot's of new goodies before visiting Hochanda on the 13th August. Well thats all for no, so Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Beauty in Everything

Hi Friends and Crafters. Well here I am with the first tutorial using the New 'Retro' Collection launched on Hochanda a couple of weeks ago. I have to thank you all so much for embracing the  unique collection. I was so touched  that so many of you have now joined the Craftascope Family. It's also been a real treat for me to see all of the beautiful Creations being shared. It really does show me, how much fun you are having and for me thats the best part of bringing you my designs.

Before I start with my tutorial today, I want to mention the 'Graceful Striplet' Die I have added to my Etsy store. If you dont know abut it I have added the video here for you. At the moment there are more of you have it in your baskets than I have stock, so sadly people are going to be disappointed. If you really want this die, then I urge you to check out. They are not safe in your basket and if someone buys it will be lost. I hate to go on, but I had so many messages from people who missed out on the Retro Stamps and Rose Petals that I don't want the same thing happening.

You will need:

Craftascope Retro Leaves Die Collection

Craftascope Retro Rounds A5 Stencil

Clarity 8 x 8 Card Blank, cut to 7 1/2 x 7 1/2''

Clarity Stencil Brushes

8 x 8 Card Base

Basic Round Die (Approx 6 1/2'')

Distress Inks: Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey & Aged Mahogany 

Versafine Black Ink

Waste Plastic Packaging

EVA or Funky Foam

Yellow and Orange Card (Here Tim Holtz Distress Pad)

Step 1: Trim your Card blank to 7 1/2 x 7 1/2, you will use the remainder at another time. Cut a piece of copier paper that same size and cut a circle into it. Use temporary adhesive spray to secure to your card.

Step 2: Using the Distress inks blend from Light at the top to Dark at the base to create a really rich background.

Step 3: Cut your chosen leaves from EVA foam, I like the EVA foam more than the Funky Foam as it hold the ink better, especially good if you are going to use them again. Spray the back with Stick n Stay then secure to the waste plastic packaging. This will allow you to use them again and again.

Step 4: Remove the mask from your card and replace the inner circle over your design, again with temporary adhesive. Take the stencil and the 2 lighter ink pads and create some interest around the center focal point.

Step 5: Use Temporary adhesive to your stamps and position them into your design using the black ink.

Step 6: Stamp your sentiment onto white card, edge with the black ink and layer it onto Orange and Yellow card. Mount your artwork onto the same yellow and orange card to match, making sure you have gutted it as always.To finish off mount it onto your base card and secure the sentiment with either foam pads or 3D glue gel.

If you prefer not to add matting and layering to your card, then I would suggest working directly onto the Clarity Card Base, as I say on all my videos and tutorials it takes the inks and colour really beautifully and well worth it.

Before I go just to let you know abut the offer I have on the Blooming Marvelous Collection (pictured above) on my Esty Store, There are only 4 left at the amazing price of 58.95. The collection includes the Beautiful Dolphin Die, 3 A5 stencils and 2 A5 plus stamp sheets, not far off A4 really so a it's a great time to add it to your Craftascope Library. See the Etsy listing for more inspirational photos.

I hope you will join me tomorrow at 7 PM for the next episode of ''Natter with Nick'' to see what I will be sharing and for the new Natter with Nick offer. For now Take care and Happy Crafting.xx