Bless You Couture Creations

     Here is my final creation this month for Creative Expressions using Couture creations. A very generous friend cut out a tissue box cover for me using her Silhouette machine and I thought it would be perfect with the Vintage Rose Garden paper pad.

    I have cut four panels from two different designs and edged them with Distress Ink Victorian Velvet.
    The panels are stuck on alternately around the box. I chose to stick the lid on, as there is no base it doesn't need to come off. The top was covered with two pieces of left over paper, there was a gap down the middle, but that was covered with a small strip of the pink base card making it look like part of the design. This meant I could make the top match two of the sides and not have to cut another sheet up.

     The top needed a little something to make it look special so I cut greenery from one of the leftover side scraps, it was green on the back, using the Couture Creations Die Classic Vine.
     The roses are a six petal flower cut, coloured with Victorian Velvet and assembled using Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue. There are three roses all different sizes and finished off with a spray of Cosmic Shimmer Mica Spray Pearl Mist.

Materials used
Couture Creations Paper Pad - Vintage Rose Garden
Couture Creations Die - Classic Vine
Cosmic Shimmer - PVA Dries Clear
Cosmic Shimmer - Mica Spray Pearl Mist
Distress Ink - Victorian Velvet

Holiday Blues

     Welcome to another CASE-ing Christmas project, every week there is a Christmas card from one of the DT for you to case, this week it's a lovely card by Judy.
     When I saw Judy's card I though of all those lovely paint charts I've collected and squirreled away. I chose this one for the particular shade of blue, then I realised it was called Holiday Blues, perfect. The white DL card has been embossed with a snowfall folder, the the paint chart was stuck in the middle.
     I have some snowflake dies but they didn't give the look I wanted for this so I have used a Spellbinder die  called Parisian Accents and cut from white glitter card. The die cut is mounted on foam pads above some pearl swirls from Creative Expressions.

     The greeting is a die cut that has been in my stash for ages, so long I can't remember where it came from, mounted on foam pads.
     It's a simple card but I really like the effect, so next time I'm in a DIY shop I'll have to top up on paint charts, this time I'll take a bit more notice of the names they give them.
     Please pop over to CASE-ing Christmas and join us, it will help fill your card box ready for the festive season.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

ABC Christmas - F is for Frosty

Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes

Couture Creations For A Special Birthday

     This weeks project for Creative Expressions is also a card for my Mother-In-Law, it's her birthday tomorrow, a special one but I'm not allowed to say which one!
     I have been using Couture Creations Vintage Rose Garden papers this month and thought they would be just right for this occasion, then my friend Mynn Kitchen used a technique I had forgotten about and sparked the whole idea, thanks Mynn.

   


 I began by using Distress Ink Victorian Velvet to colour the edge of a white card blank, there is no need to colour the middle as it will be covered by the design.
      I do this with most of my cards as I've found it very difficult to get perfect matches with coloured card, it usually works out cheaper too!

 

  I have used one sheet of the paper pad and folded the corners into the middle. While they are folded in I have used Distress Ink Peeled Paint to colour the folded edges.
     Under each flap I have put a strip of double sided tape to hold down about 1/2 inch, this way when the flaps are curled out they will all sit neatly.

    The points of the flaps are held down with some red line tape as it's very strong.
     On each point there is a tiny pink gem and on three green corners there is a larger pink gem.

     There is a cascade of flowers on the bottom corner because I wanted them to tumble out of the centre and also to hide where the edges didn't meet perfectly. Three out of four corners were fine but one was a little untidy so that's the one that got covered up. That's the beauty of using a random patterned paper, who knows which way up it should be?
     The flowers are coloured with Cosmic Shimmer Mica Spray Antique Rose and left to dry on a paper towel on the radiator. Once dry they have green gems in the middle to match the flowers on the paper.
     The large flower is mounted on a double layer of foam pads, the next two on one layer and the bottom flower is stuck directly on to the card, cascade complete.
     With the addition of a die cut Happy Birthday in gold card the design is finished. A special card for a special lady, let's hope she likes it.


Materials used:
Couture Creations - Paper Pad Vintage Rose Garden
Distess Inks - Victorian Velvet / Peeled Paint
Cosmic Shimmer - Mica Spray Antique Rose

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

2015 Open Design Team Challenge - DT Members Only

Creative Moments - Anything Goes for A Special Lady
Frosted Designs - Think Pink
Jo's Scrap Shack - Special Birthday
Sister Act - Anything Goes
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes

A Male Room Thoroughbred

     The new challenge at The Male Room is Underwater, so come and join us with your masculine aquatic creations. I fell in love with this gorgeous seahorse, it's a black and white download of a Tattoo by a man named Tony.
     I printed the image on white card and began to colour with water colour pencils. I have used a mix of blue and green for the main body, then a little purple for the belly. The surrounding water is coloured with a light blue.
 

     Before mounting the image on pearl paper it has been spritzed with some pearl Glimmer Mist to give it a subtle sheen. It was then layered on pearl sea green and purple papers.
     Once dry I have used a gold glitter pen to highlight his eye, he looks a little mean and moody, he's just a seahorse with attitude.
     We have a DT call running at The Male Room so please come and show us your creations and add DT to your name if you would like to join us.

I would like to enter my seahorse in the following races:

Cardz 4 Guyz - CAS

Paper Minutes - Nautical

      

Couture Creations Vintage Rose Tag

      This week I've used some more gorgeous papers from Couture Creations along with some Cosmic Shimmer from Creative Expressions.
     The tag is cut using Tim Holtz Sizzix Tag and Bookplate die. I then die cut a white card Vintage Roses by Couture Creations and coloured it with alcohol markers. Using the same die I cut the large rose head in funky foam, in the photo you'll see it's purple. Die cut shapes in foam make great stamps, this way you can get everything to match on your card.
     I have used Distress Ink Victorian Velvet to colour the tag, then using the foam stamp I have water stamped to get the white roses. Water stamping with Distress Inks is when you use a damp stamp to lift the ink away from the card, stamp and mop up with a clean piece of paper towel.
     After stamping a random pattern with water I then stamped with the same Distress Ink to build up the pattern. Before it all dried I went over the whole tag with Cosmic Shimmer mica powder Pearlescent, this stuck to the background and the pink roses but not the white ones as they were dry.

     The small postcard is from Couture Creations Vintage Rose Garden paper pad, as is the word Smile. The paper roses are made with paper from the same pad that was left over from making the little gift box last week. Inside each flower is a tiny pink flower shaped gem to add a little sparkle.
     With the addition of a burgundy ribbon the tag is complete. What do you do with a tag once you've made it? Use it on a present, send it as a small note or just give it as a nice surprise.


Materials used:
Couture Creations - Vintage Rose die
CC Paper Pad - Vintage Rose Garden
Cosmic Shimmer - Mica Powder Pearlescent
Distress Ink - Victorian Velvet

I would like to enter this tag in the following challenges:

Fresh Brewed Designs - Flowers
My Time To Craft - For A Special Lady 

Come And Get It - Make Your Own Background

Just Hanging Around

     A mid month reminder for CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Exra, it's only 284 days to Christmas so why not come and join in the festive fun!
     We are sponsored by Bugaboo Digi Stamps so I have used Stocking Mouse for my card as it will fit nicely into some other challenges.
     The image is printed out on plain white card and coloured with alcohol markers, the white frill at the top of the stocking is covered with white flock.
     I had some stocking backing paper in my stash so that was a lucky find. The image has a gold mat and the backing paper has a green mat on to a red card.
     The greeting is from a House Mouse stamp set embossed in gold and cut out with a Spellbinder die, the edges are coloured with Distress Ink Bundled Sage before I removed the die so I could get that neat little white border. It is mounted on foam pads and I have added three little red gems to the corners of the image panel.
     Our challenge is an anything Christmas goes so please pop over to CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra and have a look, the more festive crafting you do now the less you will have to rush later.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Cute Critters

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Digi Stamps

The Glory Of Christmas - Mouse

CASE-ing Christmas Flaked Out

     Today sees the beginning of another challenge at CASE-ing Christmas. Each week we have a card for you to CASE, there are few limits on what you create, as long as we can still see something of the original card then that's it.
     To CASE Anita's card I decided to use the sketch and tweak it to fit a couple of other Christmas challenges.
     I have used a Memory Box die to cut my snowflake burst in blue card, it is backed with white glitter paper so the snowflakes sparkle.
     The backing paper is something I've had around for ages, it was just what this card needed. The border strip is cut using a Marianne die in plain white card.
     I have used three of the snowflakes cut from the blue card to accent above the border and added tiny light blue gems in the centre of each.
     The greeting is a silver peel off, I tried a few other colours and styles but I didn't like how they looked. The greeting had to go here as the burst looked empty in the middle .
     Come over and join in the CASE-ing Christmas fun, it's a great way to build up your stash.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge - E is for Edging Punch or Die

Merry Monday - Monochromatic Blues

The 12 Months of Christmas - Let It Snow

Banana!!!!

     This card is just for fun, well actually it's for my husband, but it's not for any design team. We all love watching the Minions, even Grandma, so when we found a stamp set in a toy shop we just couldn't resist.

     There are lots of stamps in the set but these three are my favourite, so I stamped them on white card and coloured them with alcohol markers.
     I cut each one out and mounted them on a dark blue card mat before sticking them on to a bright yellow large DL card blank. The greeting running along the bottom is a gold peel off.
     Despicable Me is a great family film, it's certainly one this family loves to watch again and again.

I would like to enter these Minions in the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesday - Use An Action Stamp

The Dream Factory - Love Films (Gru learns to love the girls)

Little Red Wagon - Cute

Couture Creations Vintage Gift Box

     This week's project for Creative Expressions is the gift box to go with last weeks card. Again using papers and dies by Couture Creations as well as a Spellbinder die and some Foundations card.

      To make this gift box you will need a sheet of pretty double sided card and access to this tutorial by the talented Christina Griffiths.
     Christina uses a 12x12 paper in her tutorial, I have used a 6x6 for this box. I did practice on a sheet of copy paper first just to get the hang of it, with her instructions it was easy.
     Using a 6x6 paper gave me a finished box of 2 1/2 inches, just right for a necklace or some earrings.

      Where Christina had used lace I have used paper lace, made using a Spellbinder die called Romantic Rectangles and cream card. The largest of the dies in the set cut enough paper lace on one long side to edge one point on the box.
     Being paper lace I was able to stick it on with Cosmic Shimmer PVA dries clear glue, you'll notice that Christina uses this glue to assemble her box too.

      I used another sheet of Couture Creations Vintage Rose Garden to line the bottom of the box and to cover the lid. I didn't use the same pattern for the lid as I had for the box, which wasn't a problem as all the papers in the pad co-ordinate beautifully.
      The lid carcass was made using Foundations card Taupe. I have used the Couture Creations die Vintage Roses to cut dusky pink flowers to go on each point, this helps tie it in with the card from last week.

      The top of the lid is covered with the same paper as the base insert, which means that to make the box and the lid I have only used two sheets of the paper from the pad, leaving me lots more to play with.
     The greenery is cut using Couture Creations die Classic Vine and some green card. The paper roses are glued down around the little ribbon handle that was made using Creative Expressions Satin Ribbon - Rose.

Materials used

Couture Creations dies - Vintage Roses / Classic Vine

C.C. Paper Pad - Vintage Rose Garden

Spellbinder Die Set - Romantic Rectangles

Creative Expressions Foundations Card - Taupe

CE - Cosmic Shimmer PVA dries clear Glue

CE Satin Ribbon - Rose

I would like to enter this gift box in the following challenges:

Craft For The Craic - Bingo (flowers,ribbon,die cut)
Crafts 4 Eternity - Anything But A Card
Dream Valley Challenges - Mother's Day
Crafty Boots - Anything But A Card

Ship Sketch For The Male Room

     This fortnight at The Male Room we have a sketch for you. You can create a card or a layout using our sketch, just keep it masculine and enter it in our challenge.
     This card is one of the masculine cards I will be demonstrating on Saturday at Keep On Crafting in Bury St.Edmunds, so if you're in town pop in and say hello.
     The stamps are by Woodware, Shipped Script and Bon Voyage. All stamped on white card using Archival Cobalt ink.
     The card is 5 1/4 inches square with a blue mat layer slightly smaller and stamped with the ship and some seagulls in Cobalt. The map square is 2 1/2 inches, the script square is 2 inches and the greeting square is 1 1/2 inches, they are layered on tip of each other to keep the card thin enough for posting.       I have tried to use tape runners in the past and got myself in a rotten mess but I have finally found one that works for me....High Tack Permanent by Stix2. This one has not taken flight toward the bin!!
      Come and join us at The Male Room with your creations, we have design team call running too.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes

Not Just Cards - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Guys - Sailing

Couture Creations Rose Bouquet

   This project would be ideal for Mother's Day, which here in the UK is March 15th. It's made using three Couture Creations dies and one Sue Wilson die set, all available from Creative Expressions. A little heavy on the die cutting but Mum's are worth it aren't they?

     The first two dies are both Couture Creations, Vintage Roses and Classic Vine. Both have been cut several times in plain white card.

     For the bouquet the vine is cut into four pieces as per the photo. The roses are cut into single stems but don't throw the base away, this is trimmed to look like a butterfly.
     The best thing about getting new dies is finding out how many different ways they can be used, I would suggest cutting them out in an inexpensive card and playing around with them, cut them apart to see what else you can make. The more you can make with them the better value they will be!

 
     Once all cut apart colour the flowers and foliage with inks or pens, the rose has cut out parts so I have backed the flower heads with a darker card to give contrast.
     Assemble the coloured flowers in to a small bouquet ready to go into your lace wrap, layer some of the flowers using foam pads to give dimension.

     Using Couture creations die Heart Bouquet cut once in thin card, being thin card it will curl into a cone more easily than thick card.
     Have the point facing you and roll the sides toward the middle to wrap around and form a cone to hold your flowers.
     Try the bouquet in the cone, adjust if necessary and glue in to place. Add a small ribbon bow on the front of the cone and glue firmly. Colour the butterfly and stick on to the flowers.

     The bouquet is mounted on an oval of Couture creations paper from the Vintage Rose Garden 6x6 stack, this was cut using Sue Wilson die set Austrian Collection Innsbruck (which I borrowed from my Mum...shhh...don't tell). The same set was used to cut the lacy green layer and a white layer to go underneath the green. There are 5 die in this set, I have used the largest three.
     I have used Cosmic Shimmer PVA Glue in Dusky Pink to add tiny dots to the lacy oval, bringing the green and pink together.

     The base white card has been coloured using Distress Ink Victorian Velvet, then I have water stamped with a script stamp to leave pale writing across the background.
     The corners looked a little empty so I cut some more of the Classic Vine, cut it apart and coloured it with Distress Ink Bundled Sage. Once dry I stuck these little bits of greenery in the corners.
     It has been fun using the dies and cutting them apart to make something a little different. This card will have to be for my Mother-In-Law as my Mum is not fond of pink ( and she'll spot the dies I borrowed too), I shall come up with something else for her.

Materials used
Couture Creations Dies - Heart Bouquet / Classic Vine / Vintage Roses
Couture Creations 6x6 Paper Pad - Vintage Rose Garden
Sue Wilson Die Set - Austrian Collection Innsbruck
Cosmic Shimmer PVA Glue - Dusty Pink / Dries Clear
Distress Inks - Victorian Velvet / Bundled Sage
Thin white card / green card

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Jellypark Challenges - One For The Mums
Quirky Crafts - Pretty In Pink
That Craft Place - Anything Goes / Mother's Day
The Ribbon Girl - Add Flowers

Going Dotty

     House Of Cards this month have a stash challenge for you, we would like you to use Enamel Dots. If you don't have any then pop over to our blog and watch the tutorial on how to make some with hot glue, later in the month we have another tutorial on making them using Perle Beads (Hamma Beads to us Brits).
     I had some enamel dots given to me last summer and I put them away in a safe place, you guessed it, so safe I couldn't find them! A few hours and a very messy craft room later I remembered where they were, on my desk all the time, safe and sound in the draw unit with the gems, obviously!!
     The colours of the dots matched some of my Distress Inks so a plan was hatched, then I remembered a Clarity stencil that was dots and circles, abstract it is then.

     Picked Raspberry, Crushed Olive and Peacock Feathers were the three Distress Inks that I used, you can see where the inks overlap there are hints of other colours, like mauve, green and orange.
     I used masking tape to hold down the card and the stencil while adding the inks, then before removing the stencil I flicked water over the whole thing and dabbed it off with a tissue.
     Using the dots I put one in the middle of each white dot, there are three different sizes of enamel dot so I tried to space them out evenly.
     The only backing that looked good with this was black so I have used Black Soot Distress Ink to colour the edge of a white card blank. The greeting is a Britannia Die cut in black card.
     I think it's a fun, modern abstract type card, done in shades of blue and green it could be a good teenage boy card. Please pop over to the House Of Cards and see what the team have come up with, I'm sure you'll find inspiration there as well as instruction on how to make your own dots.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
QKR Stampede - Circles
Sister Act - Anything Goes

Cut and Fold

     An altered book can be many things, this one is folded purely as a decoration. Altered Eclectics is a challenge blog for altered art and recycled items, pop over and take a look at the amazing things that the team have made with tins, boxes, clocks and CD's.

     I have folded this book with my craft name in it. There were a few pages either side of the name that were spare, these can either be cut out as long as there are only a few, or disguised as I have done.
     Once the name was complete I stuck a piece of black card over each page facing the name, then coloured the page edges with a black alcohol marker. This book didn't need a ribbon to hold it at the right angle, it just seems to sit happily as it is.
     The outside hard cover has been decorated with Chinese paper cuts that I have had since I was a teenager, they are stuck on and covered with Decopatch Matt medium although they do appear to be a little more satin than mat. There was a little colour run from the paper cuts but on a black book it doesn't show.
     The spine has a long peel off of cherry blossom over a black card panel which covers the printed spine of the book. There are also some small peel offs on the corners of the black inserts to tie it all together.
     Come over and join us at Altered Eclectics with your altered creations, we love to see what wonderful things can be made from cast offs.

I would like to enter my book in the following challenges:

Country View Crafts - Anything Goes

Oh Christmas Tree

     This lovely row of trees is a digi stamp by Bugaboo called Christmas Tree Row, they are our sponsors over at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra. We are an anything goes as long as it's Christmas challenge so you don't have to make a card, it could be a decoration or a gift.
     I have printed the trees out twice on white card and matched them up, I had to draw a small ground line to join them with a black pen. They are coloured with alcohol markers in various shades of green with little brown trunks.
     The snow line is coloured with a Cool Grey marker which has a slightly blueish tinge, I have also made some small marks along the snow at random. Each tree is outlined with an Ice Grey marker to make the green stand out more. Every brand of markers are slightly different even if the colour names are the same so I play on a spare piece of card first to check it's the colour I want.
     I have used Sakura Stardust pens to colour the lights and the stars on the trees. This has been picked up by using a gold mat layer under the image panel before going on to green backing paper on a white card blank. The greeting is a continuous peel off in gold, a bit tricky to line up but with a little patience I got there.
     Please come and join in the festive fun at CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra, it's never too soon to start those cards.