Joanna Sheen, Launch Sneek Peeks

Morning, In addition to my normal post, I am also treating you to a couple of Sneek Peeks of the samples I made for a New Launch from Joanna Sheen. Joanna is launching her fabulous Fairy Door Dies today on Create and Craft at 12 Noon with another show today at 6 pm. Tomorrow there are  two more shows at 11 am and 3 pm, I really do hope that you will tune in as Joanna is celebrating 15 Years with Create and Craft.

I will be sharing my samples from Saturday onward with full step by steps including photos. Also on the show will be Joanna Sheen's Cardmaking Boxed Set, containing an embossing folder, a lovely stencil, a beautiful daffodil die and a sheet of super flower stamps, not to mention all of the inspirational step by steps. Please do check it out.

The doors really are wonderful, the detail in them is amazing along with all of the extras that accompany them. For now Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Flower Pot Bouquet

Morning, Today's project would be a lovely surprise card for mothers day or Valentines day. You can very easily change the colour of the flowers etc to suit the person. The lovely imagery comes from the Lilies and Light Collection from Michelle of MJM Design Studio in conjunction with Crafters Companion.

The measurements here are for the flower pot, which I enlarged to 20 cm across (approx). You can quite easily make any size by altering the length of the tab strips accordingly.

The pot was printed 3 times in the same size (2 reversed), if you dont want to back the from pot then 2 will be sufficient. I also printed and cut out a selection of roses and dragon flies from the collection.

The tabs were then scored folded and secured to the pot using Collall tacky glue.

Next, I cut a number of 1 cm strips of acetate, arranged and secured them to the tabs as shown in the photo with red liner tape. for a full pot stagger the lengths of the acetate strips.

Finally I attached the flowers in an arrangement to the acetate strips before adding the other pot to the back. This folds flat for easy posting.

I hope you like the finished piece and the step by step I have shared. I look forward to welcoming you back very soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Take One Stamp

Today's project is using just one stamp to create a clean and simple card for any occasion. The stamp I have used here is from the 'Beautiful Bouquet' A6 set of rubber stamps from Crafters Companion. It's a wonderful set with some amazing roses. There are other sets in the collection, which I will share as time goes on. They are a staple for your crafty stash.

Using Washi tape and copier paper, I masked off the card, then stamped my design within.

Next the sentiment was stamped onto a basic rectangle die cut. I used the same sprig/flower stamp around the corners. It's a wonderful little stamp so I can see it being used over and over again.

The flowers and leaves were then coloured using a selection of alcohol markers. Other colour choices could easily change the look completely. A set of them boxed would make a lovely gift or a good way to make some money for charity or your own crafty stash.

Here is the finished piece mounted onto a card base made with Centura Pearl cardstock. Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope to see you again soon. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx

Clematis Initial T-Shirt

Today's project is using more lovely imagery from Lilies and Light by Michelle of MJM Design Studios. It's so difficult to explain just how versatile this CD collection really is. It's not just for digital crafters, there is something in this for everyone, whatever crafting you enjoy and maybe you will even try something new. I have tried to show as many different projects as possible with Michelle's artwork, so I hope you will come back for more inspiration. The Lilies and Light CD collection is available from Hochanda and the Crafters Companion website.

It's such an easy but effective way to decorate a budget T Shirt in any way you please. It's also a great project to do with children, they will get a real buzz from designing their own clothes. First I printed my design onto copier paper. Then using a light box, I traced the outline design on the reverse using Black Colourist transfer ink and left to dry. Once dry I coloured the design with colours from the Colourist Transfer Inks.

When the design was finished and dry. I placed the paper face down onto the shirt and pressed with a hot iron to transfer the image.

There are so many wonderful designs included in the collection, this is just one of them. The designs can easily be used for stitching designs as well. The possibilities really are endless. See you soon, lots more to come.xx

Oriental Roses

Another release of the wonderful 3D Embossing folders from Crafters Companion gave so much inspiration. Once I had chosen the colour of my card, I decided to add an oriental feel to the card, using  'A Little Bit Oriental' stamps from Sheena. The folder I have used here is French Lace, it really is beautiful.

I embossed the design onto 3 pieces of Core'dinations cardstock, here I have used Fired Brick from the Tim Holtz Distress Collection. I used Pebeo  Empire Gold Gilding wax on the lace portion of the embossed design. The roses (my favourite flower) are beautiful, to bring out the detail further, i rubbed over the surface with Fired Brick Distress ink.

Taking one of the additional pieces of card, I created a pocket to house a simple ATC card, This was decorated in the same way as the background.

A wooden tag was coloured with Distress Ink to match, the 'Fortunate' along with the symbol from Sheena were stamped using Black Versafine Ink.

Next I moved onto the ATC, The lamps and leaves were stamped with paper mask made from copier paper. The I stamped the silhouette leaves using Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I then backed the ATC with the 3D embossed card to match.

To make the card larger, I joined 2 of the embossed sheets with Collall Tacky glue.

The join was easily hidden with the ribbon, you can see from the photo that the design is easy to match up.

I added the embellishments using Collall 3D glue gel. I then backed the piece onto black card before adding it to a base card made from Ivory Centura Pearl.

Thank you for visiting today, I hope you enjoyed your visit and I really hope to see you very soon, Back on Monday.xx

Crystal Marquetry Tulip

Hello all, I'm properly back. Working with Michelle's ( MJM Design Studios ) Lilies and Light Collection was a real treat for me. Being so versatile, her images can be used across the board. There really is something for everyone. Not just a few elements either, the triple CD collection is jam packed with everything you could possibly need to create a multitude of projects. Today's project also used the Wonder Crystals from Be Creative's Justin and Gordon, along with the Wonder Sheets.

To start I selected the design, then printed it directly onto the Wonder Sheet. I peeled the backing off and secured it to a piece of 250 gsm card.

Next, the individual pieces were cut out carefully.

Each element of the design was then covered with Wonder Crystals from the extensive colour palette from Be Creative, then heat embossed.

Once cool, they were arranged and secured using Collall Tacky glue from Crafters Companion.

To show off the design, it was mounted onto a double sided pearl black card. I used another coordinating image from the collection to create an insert.

Here is the finished card.

I do hope you like it and the step by step. It's nice to be back with you. I have really missed you all. Much more to come.xxx

Aurora Borealis

Hi, I am sharing the design I produced for the AALL and CREATE Challenge 5, The Americas. This has been inspired by my time in Alaska, such a wonderful place, with it's many different facets. While there I was lucky enough to see the Northern Lights. What I saw, will never be forgotten, it was truly magical. I wanted to capture the dancing lights in this artwork, using shades of green and yellow as well as put across the wow I felt at the time.

I wanted to include photos in my project, so after positioning them, I added my elements. The boxes would have the letters inside 'Alaska'. I also added the outline map of Alaska.

Next I added the letters using my mixed font stamp set from Clarity.

Using a ruler and a black Copic multiliner, I added lines to a selected point, to give the illusion that these were shooting from the page, this would be my extra large format feature.

I created a frame around the page, which would remain white on completion. Using Pebeo Drawing Gum I masked each element on the page.

I had a final mock up with the photos I had selected to work out my next steps.

I started with a landscape, using Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black soot. This would have to be a lot darker than normal in order to achieve the results I wanted.

On the left hand side of my piece, I added splats of Drawing Gum to the mountain tops to suggest snow, before adding the mountains with distress inks. The colour here was lighter than the hills as I was stamping trees later and wanted it to appear as if light from the Aurora was shining from behind them.

Next I started the task of creating the 'Northern Lights', I had practiced multiple times to try to get the dancing effect rather than flat colour with many types of media. Eventually I chose to use Distress inks with shades of green, also adding blues and yellows, which gave further shades of green where they mixed.

I then started building up the dark sky behind, carefully trying to keep the ghostly effect, bringing the sky to life, as if it were dancing across the sky.

I then removed all of the drawing gum carefully.

Using alcohol markers I coloured my design. The outline of the map of Alaska was deeper, as I was covering that later. I also decided to leave the letterboxes white, so as not to detract from the sky.

Using Cosmic Shimmer glue, I covered Alaska with 'Ice Diamond' a Crushes Glass product, giving a frosty and sparkling appearance while allowing the colour to shine through.

Here is my finished piece.

Thank you ever so much for popping by to see my post today. I hope you like the finished piece, the photos along with the step by step. Take care and Happy Crafting.