Rainbow Mosaic

Morning, I really think this project would look great as a piece of wall art. I used the 'Mosaic' Mixed Media Dies by Leonie, along with the coordinating stamps. I do hope you got to see the shows Leonie had on Hochanda yesterday, if you missed them they will be available on 'Rewind' via their website.

To begin with, I blended a selection of Distress inks onto watercolour card. I did a selection of blends in order to achieve the ones I needed to create the graduation of colour and a more seamless blend across the piece. The colours I used here were: Fired Brick,Rusty Hinge, Fossilised Amber, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concorde, Blueprint Sketch, Mowed Lawn and Faded Jeans.

Once they were dry, I cut the pieces using the 'Mosaic' dies, then separated them into colour stories.

I arranged the pieces on to black matt card, from red through orange, yellow, green then to blues. I matted this onto white card leaving a space beneath for the sentiment, which was also matted onto black card. I coated all of the mosaic tiles with Glossy Accents, when these had set I secured the piece to a black background to keep a very simple and clean look.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit today. I do hope you like this and the step by step I have included for you. I hope you all have a great weekend and I will be back again on Monday. For now, Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Reflect and Grow Step by Step

Hi, I thoroughly enjoyed mixing it up with this project. I made it for Leonie's Typography Collection show on Hochanda, I hope you enjoy the step by step and the finished card.

From Kraft card I cut 4 each of the Antique Frames from Sara's Shabby Chic Collection. They are really beautiful and make a really substantial piece when layered up.

Before adding any Distress Inks, I added Pebeo drawing gum around the edges, It doesn't actually rub off of Kraft card but it does give a great wood effect once the inks are added.

To make the mirror frame and base look like old wood, I used the ink in the photo. Starting with the Aged Mahogany, then in order from dark to light.

I took a piece of Acetate just slightly bigger than the mirror frame. First I applied the Gilding Paste from Pebeo and left to dry. I some areas I stippled it as I didn't want a perfect mirror look. When dry I added the Pebeo silver leaf sheet. Then using Stayzon black ink, I stamped a crackle stamp over the top, this one is from Bee Crafty.

I cut out my letters using Leonie's Typography die range, 2 of each and stuck together with Tacky Glue for depth.

The Kraft background card was embossed using the Woodgrain Textures embossing folder from Crafters Companion. I then distressed it using the same colour Distress Inks that I used for the frame. The darkest of them were only used at the top and bottom of the card, leaving the middle lighter.

I then gilded my letters, using the Pebeo Gilding Paste and their Gold Leaf.

For the mirror stand, I used the base of the tree from Leonie's 'Funky Tree'. I coloured it with Vintage Photo and added Glossy Accents, the Glossy Accents always makes the colours appear darker so be careful. I used Black card to layer the piece onto, giving a narrow border before adding it to a silver/white basecard.

Thank for coming to see what I have been sharing. I hope you will continue visiting as I have some exciting things coming up very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xxx

Mistletoe Fairy

Morning, I have really enjoyed crafting with the pens and stamps that Leonie Launched on Hochanda. I know I seem to say this a lot, but only because it's true. Leonie always brings us something new to craft with. I have lots of favourites and I am sure you all do too. This card is one of my favourites from this collection. I love the background effect and yet it was so simple.

I cut my watercolour card to 8' square and stamped my design. I love the mistletoe and used this to hang my baubles. It also gave a little area for me to stamp the fairy. I masked all of the elements with Pebeo Drawing Gum.

Next I added some splats of Drawing Gum to give a snowy effect once I had completed the background.

I put some colour on my glass mat and using a sea sponge wiped the colours across the sheet. I used the darker colours first blending to the light. In order the colours were, Cobalt, Iris, Arctic, Lavender, Lilac and lastly Ice Drop.

Using the Pine Sparkle pen and the clear overlay I coloured the leaves, again using the smallest amount pulling the colour out with the clear. They really give a wonderful blend of colour.

I coloured the berries with the smallest amount of the Lemon, more water than colour. The baubles and the fairy were coloured using a selection of the other colours in the collection.

I cut the 'Winter' from Leonie's Entwined collection using Blue Centura Pearl, then I coated the upper parts with Cosmic Shimmer glue and sprinkled with Ice Diamond crystals.

I secured it to my card using Cosmic Shimmer. Backed my design with black card before layering it onto matching purple Centura Pearl from Crafters Companion, I also added Glossy Accents to the berries.

Thank you for taking the time to visit today, I hope you enjoyed the step by step and the finished card. Hope toy see you here again very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

City Christmas

Morning, Hochanda have been celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas and sadly today is the last day. They have shared a wonderful mix of crafts and offers. Today I thought I would make a Christmas Wall Plaque. For this one I used a selection of stamps from Sheena Douglas.

I took a canvas board measuring just over 5 x 7'' and stamped with Memento black ink the Cathedral Scape from the 'A Little Bit Festive' range, this one is City Christmas.

Next I took the holly sentiment corner from Bah Humbug and again stamped with black Memento.

Then I took the beautiful Santa's Sleigh and Reindeer from Bah Humbug 2 and used the same ink.

I started by masking all of the stamped images with Pebeo Drawing Gum. Then blended the night sky using Faded Jeans, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concorde Distress Inks. I then removed the drawing gum and coloured the images with a selection of alcohol markers. I stamped my sentiment in the cartouche. I then highlighted some areas with glossy accents and added some snow in the sky with my Sharpie white fine liner pen. To finish, I punched holes for the ribbon hanger, added the burgundy ribbon and Santa's Magic Key.

I really hope you have enjoyed my step by step today and the project I have shared. Thank you ever so much for taking the time to visit and for all of your comments here and on Facebook, I really appreciate your support. Take care xxx

Autumn Sunshine

Morning. I have called this card, Autumn Sunshine. It's made using the Big Heart, Entwining Branches from Leonies' Collection of dies. I have also used the leaf stamps from her new stamp collection launched on Hochanda on June 8th.

To start with I cut the die into copier paper to act as a mask and also cut four of them from Cream,Satin Gold,Satin Bronze and Burgundy cardstock.

I cut some cream card to a 7'' square and cut the die out of it. I placed it slightly off centre towards the top left hand corner to allow for the embellishments I was adding later. I took a smaller sheet of velvet white card large enough to fill the mask and still allow for securing to the back of my die cut sheet.

I started creating my landscape with hills and mountains. I used Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, and Aged Mahogany to achieve this.

I then added some tress, using stamps from Sheena Douglas with Black Archival.

I then placed a circle in the sky, slightly overlapping the mask I had made and blended the sky colour using mostly Scattered Straw Distress Ink, With a little Wild Honey around the edges.

I then peeled off the circle mask and slightly shaded the sun using the smallest amount of Scattered Straw so it wasn't stark white. I secured my die cut aperture to the landscape using Cosmic Shimmer glue. Then layered up my die cuts, each slightly twisted from the last to add dimension, using 3D Glue Gel. I then set these aside.

Next I stamped a selection of leaves and added autumn colours randomly blending to make them more natural looking once cut out. I used Scattered Staw, Wild Honey and Aged Mahogany.

Then cut out the leaves.

I then arranged the leaves around the bottom right hand corner and secured them with 3D Glue Gel.

Lastly I stamped the banner stamp and added the word ''Wonderful'' with black Archival ink. I blended this using the same selection of Distress Inks, keeping it lighter in the centre to give a curved 3D look.

I used 3D Glue Gel to secure the sentiment and finished the card by adding Glossy Accents to the Leaves and sentiment Banner.

Thank you so much for joining me today and seeing the step by step I have included for how I made this card. I hope you have enjoyed it and will visit again soon. Take care and hope to see you tomorrow. xxx

I just found out that they are now taking nominations for the International Craft awards and they have a category for best blog. If you think I deserve a nomination I would be over the moon and extremely chuffed. If you could take a minute or two to nominate, the link is: crafts-beautiful.com/award You could also win a nice prize in the draw. Thank you ever so much xxx

Faux Enamelled Embossed Card

Morning, Thank you for dropping by to see today's card. I think it's a simple but very effective card and looks lovely against the black. The card is made using just one embossing folder. The one I used was from Joanna Sheen, but you could use any one of your favourite folders.

The design was embossed onto 300gsm Suer Smooth white card and I used the de-bossed side for this. The design was all coloured in using Alcohol markers in bright colours, not too loght though or the effect doesn't look enamelled. The debossed areas were then filled with glossy accents. When dry I changed the remaining white card to black using Black Distress Ink.

My base is double sided black pearl card-stock, before scoring I used Spellbinders Deckled Edge rectangle dies to cut windows and edged them with a gold Krylon pen. Finally I added the embossed card to fill the windows and finished off with a simple sentiment and glossy black peel offs.

Thank you so much for visiting again today and I really hope that you will pop back soon. Take care. xx

ATC Holder With Button Embellishment

The more I played with Leonie Pujols' New Collection, the more ideas I came up with. They really are valuable to have in your stash. I've not even started using them to create backgrounds yet, I just know they are going to become a go to item.

I love making ATC's, so decided to make this handy little holder with pockets. There is a brilliant tutorial in the book that comes with the Eazi Score Craft Board 'Inside Secrets of a scoreboard' by Diamond Card Craft.

I made all the separate parts and decorated it before assembling it, making it far easier to stamp and colour. You can make any design you like as there are so many great stamps for pattern building in the collection and they all mix together perfectly.

I coloured the finished design with alcohol markers and added glossy accents to the hearts. I also made a button embellishment for the closing flap, using the Epiphany tool and a 25mm round bubble cap. I simply chose my stamp from the Branching Out set and coloured with my Alcohol markers.

When everything was dry I assembled the folder adding ribbon for the closure, which I also re coloured using alcohol markers.