Craftmania's little gems.

This little fellow was stamped in Archival Black and clear embossed. Then he was painted with Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks, which are little bottles of gorgeous shimmering paint with a very fine brush, perfect for dainty butterflies.
The head and body of the butterfly is a beautiful stick on embellishment that Craftmania have in stock at the moment. We'll definitely be using these for the demonstration next saturday.
The other stamp plate I'll be working with has a Steampunk theme, just right for men's cards.
If you are in the area please come in and say hello.

More Baubles

Here are a few more baubles, as you can probably tell I really do love these Spellbinder dies and with the Just Rite stamps there are so many things you can do with them. The blue bauble is made with just the dies.

Card or paper decorations are great if you have small children crawling around, they can't hurt themselves much with these decorations and you can change them every year without huge expense.
The Suffolk Papercraft Show was eventful and reasonably busy despite the economic climate. I hope everyone managed to find a few bargains.

Just Rite at Jarrolds

This card is also made with Just Rite stamps and Spellbinder dies. Whilst the baubles really have caught my imagination this set will continue to be useful all year round.

Vintage Oval Labels stamp set matches Spellbinders Labels 6 & 13. Each set of Just Rite stamps gives you a list of the dies that it will match. There is quite a selection of stamp sets to choose from covering all occasions.

The main image was stamped in Archival Ink Coffee on a pearl cream card and embossed in Cosmic Shimmer clear. As this stamp needs the largest die to cut it out I used Sue Wilson's trick of drawing round the outside edge of the die on chocolate brown card and cutting it out by hand to get the mat. The corner stamp has also been stamped in Coffee and clear embossed on patterned scrapbook papers with a length of chocolate brown ribbon over the join. The rose is cut from the same cream card as the main image, then the edges are coloured with Distress Ink Brushed Corduroy. I have added a little bow under the rose and a couple of chocolate brown die cut twigs to finish off.

I'm not a bows and frills person but this card really looks better for it, I'm enjoying working outside my usual comfort zone. Let me know if you've tried these gorgeous stamps. I'll be demonstrating the baubles at The Suffolk Papercraft Show on sunday in Bury St.Edmunds so come and see them in action.

Jarrold's preview

This card was made with Just Rite Cling stamps and Spellbinder dies. The dies are great but when used with the gorgeous Just Rite co-ordinating stamps they are amazing.
I would have to say that this combination is my 'Christmas must have' for this year.
I stamped the baubles from the Just Rite 'Merry and Bright' set and embossed them with silver, then I coloured them in with watercolour pencils before cutting out with the Spellbinder Heirloom Ornament 2010. The images do line up perfectly with the dies and as you can see through the die it is quite easy to get it spot on. The larger bauble has a blank centre where you can stamp any one of the greetings from the set, but I chose to cut this out using a Spellbinder circle die and insert a photo of Maple. This is a great way of personalising a card to a friend or family member.
The background has been embossed using a 'That Special Touch Of'' mask - Polka dots. A little ribbon, a small bow on top of the bauble and another backed with Bakers Twine in pastel blue with bells on, mounted on pale blue mirri card and then onto white card finishes it off.
Please come along to Jarrold's on saturday if you are in Norwich and see the other creations made with these amazing stamps and dies. For those of you that can't I'll post some more samples next week. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of them.

Bead This, Craft That visit

Thankyou to staff and customers at Bead This, Craft That in Dereham for a very enjoyable day.
I do appologise for the slow start due to my car trying to behave like a tractor, I did get home with no further assistance from the RAC !
As promised here is a 'How To' for the little triangular boxes. An A4 sheet of card will make three boxes if you cut it into thirds widthways, each piece will measure 21cm x approx 10cm.
Follow the guide given in the photo and score the box along the centre, then score from the centre fold line outer corners to the middle of the outside edge as shown by the dotted lines. These score lines will make the folds reqiured after decoration, it is easier to decorate while the card is still flat. The holes are best punched at the end once all folds are complete so that they match up perfectly ready for the ribbon tie up.
When decorating your box do one side at a time remembering that the picture will need to be grounded along the centre fold, otherwise you may have one side the right way up and one upside down once folded. If using an embossing folder you will find that only one side will fit completely, the same applies with the 6" square masks.

You can make these in different sizes, make 24 little ones for an advent decoration. Party or wedding favours, if you make jewellery they make perfect gift boxes. They can be embellished with as little or as much as you wish.

If you have any queries or comments please let me know, I hope these instructions are useful.

This stamp set is 'Christmas Post' from Creative Expressions. For the lady who was asking about these stamps I have found one sample on the Particraft blog (click the link on 'My Blog List') and I am still looking for more. It may take a while but I'll try and track them down for you.

Halloween Explosion

My apologies for not posting earlier, I have been preparing samples for demonstrations, classes and shows. The run up to Christmas has well and truly begun!

Also after making this sample ready for the techniques day I started to look at spiders webs more closely and discovered I had a house full of them!!! So I had to do the 'H' word...I know it's a waste of precious crafting time but you really could write your name in it!

I was given an exploding box pre cut ready to decorate, it was orange so what else could I do but Halloween. I decorated each layer prior to assembly, it's easier to handle and if an accident happens the whole box is not spoilt.

The pumpkin on the top was cut using a poinsettia die from the Marianne range. Cut one large flower and one small both in orange, then one small in green. Curve both sets of orange petals inwards to form a ball and glue together as best you can, add the little green flower to the top and this will help hold it all together.

The black base the pumpkin sits on is cut from a Spellbinder die 'Fluer De Lis Squares', this die also makes the most amazing picture frames if you cut out the middle. The Black border around the lid and base were cut from Spellbinder die 'Fluer De Lis Accents'. Don't throw any offcuts away as they are used to decorate the inside.....waste nothing.

The spiders are dome stickers I was given and the bats are cut with a Sizzix die that I borrowed (thanks Avril) as were the Ghosts and Skeletons inside.

The first layer was stamped with Chocolate Baroque stamps on the outside and a Tim Holtz stamp on the inside plus a little free hand drawing of the long studied spiders webs. This colour scheme was great to follow, black card, black ink pad and black pen plus a little acetate and some white card offcuts.

The second layer was very easy as I

used more die cuts, the offcuts from cutting the border and a repeat pattern on the inside flaps.

The inside layers were stamped with more from the Chocolate Baroque Halloween set and the offcuts from cutting out the frames used on the lid and the inside base.
Finally I thought an exploding box should have some kind of spooky outburst and what better than bats. The bats were again cut with the Sizzix die and then stuck onto a wobbling acetate tower. The tower was made using a piece of acetate saved from the packaging of a much needed craft item, make a small, long, square tube, then cut down the length of the tube to an inch off the bottom to achieve the waving fronds. Cut these fronds at different lengths and glue a bat on each end.

Getting the lid back on is a little tricky but well worth the effect when the box is opened.

This is just part of the techniques day and the theme for the box is optional, some are making for Christmas and some for birthdays.

Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

I hope to post some of the samples for the Dereham demonstration soon, they're nearly finished!

Three in one stamps

I have been playing around with my stamps to see if I can get more out of them. We are all thinking very carefully before we make new purchases so I'm trying to re-vamp what I already have, but there is always something that tempts you no matter how tight the purse strings are.
These first two stamps are from the same set by Creative Expressions - 'Christmas Day'. To begin with I cut out the complete wreath which makes a lovely stamp on its own but on taking another look at it I decided to cut out the words in the middle. This was done very carefully with a craft knife without cutting into the wreath at all. I haven't trimmed the word stamp so that I can put it back into the wreath and get a perfect fit when the whole thing is used. You will need to keep an eye on the edges of the word stamp to make sure no stray ink is picked up, if it is just gently wipe it off before you stamp. The same method was used to cut the second wreath stamp.
This now means I have two lovely wreath stamps with words inside, two word stamps I can use alone and two beautiful Christmas wreaths I can use to frame other artwork.

This is a clear stamp from Papermania, it's one of this years selection but I couldn't resist it. Stamped and embossed in black and coloured in with Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks it will look great.
It is quite a large stamp, 5"x 4 1/2" so I decided to cut mine in half. Two groups of three baubles made the cut line clear, it was then a close study of the garland to see just where to cut that. Again do not trim the cut edge as this will help you match up the two sides when you want to use the big version.
Now I have three bauble stamps, one for a large card and two that will fit an A6 card blank.

Take another look at your stamps and see if you can make more out of them. A small pair of sharp scissors and a little bit of courage to give it a go and you'll see your stash in a whole new light. If you're hesitant then try it out on an old stamp first and not your brand new purchase.