Rose - Sew Simple

 As promised here are the instructions for the paper rose demonstrated on Sunday at Sew Simple. This is a technique that my friend Lynne showed me, it is always a firm favourite whenever it's used.

Materials : Four x 6 petal flower shape - lightweight card
                   ( die cut, punched or stamped and cut out )
                 Strong PVA glue or silicone glue
Tools :       Scissors
                 Cocktail stick or thin paintbrush handle
                 Mini pegs or paperclips

 These four flowers are stamped using a Chocolate Baroque stamp and cut out with scissors. The technique works just as well with die cut or punched flowers. It is possible to use a five petal shape, it will just produce a slightly different flower which would look great in a bouquet.
If you are going to colour your flower it is best to do that now as it's less fiddly before cutting. Remember to colour the back of the petals too, when the flower is built you can see the back of the shapes.

 One shape is left uncut for use as the base. One shape is snipped from edge to middle. One shape is cut to remove one petal and the last shape is cut to remove two petals. DO NOT throw anything away, we need those little petals too.

 Fold and glue the overlapping petals on cut shapes as per the photo. Using little pegs or clips will help hold it while the glue dries. Once the glue is dry use the cocktail stick or brush handle to gently roll the edges of the petals.

Begin by sticking the five petal shape to the base, you may need to flatten the bottom a little. Next glue the four petal shape and so on until you have built your flower. You will need to trim the bottom of each layer slightly to shorten it just enough to sit inside the previous layer.
Each flower you build will be a little different



I hope you enjoy making these as much as I do. Try different flower shapes and put them all together in an amazing bouquet. The floral gift that won't wilt or die. If you have any queries then please contact me either by leaving a comment ( I read them all as I don't get many) or by e-mail on my profile page.  Happy Crafting!!

All that glitters meets 52cct

 Here is my entry for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week.
It is also a card made as part of my design team work for the J and C Creations Challenge Blog, this months theme is All That Glitters.
This card has concertina sides so it gives some depth to the images used. The picture at the back is a lovely snow scene from Heartfelt Creations stamped in Distress Ink Dusty Concorde. I then used a damp paintbrush to blend some of the ink from the stamped image into the fence, trees and windows. The sky has also been blended with the purple ink leaving the roof and ground white. Clear glitter has been added to the trees and the roof to give a little sparkle.
The big tree was stamped on acetate using black Stazon, then glittered from the back using Frantage Crushed glass Glitter in green. the acetate layer has been fixed in the centre of the three folds on the side so it appears outside the window but in front of the cottage.

The beautiful window frame is a die from Heartfelt Creations cut out in white card and placed over the hole cut out of the front card. Once stuck down the filigree cut outs were glittered with Frantage Halo Glitter Mix in silver.
The foliage at the bottom was stamped with a Feather Grass Flourish from Heartfelt Creations and embossed in silver. The flowers were cut out with a Marianne die Poinsettia in silver mirri card with centres covered in Gala Glitz Lavender and Blue Glitter.
I found getting a really good picture a little difficult due to the shine on the acetate but I hope you can see lots of sparkle and shine in these two pictures.
All products used can be bought from J and C Creations.

J&C Creations challenge

May - All that glitters

This creation was inspired by the new embossing powders from Stampendous, they have a real vintage look to them. To begin with I cut the frame from gold satin mirri card using a die from Heartfelt Creations 'Decorative Window Scene'. I then placed it on top of my background paper and lightly drew around the centre opening so I knew where to cut a hole. I mounted the frame on the backing paper after cutting the opening and used Halo Glitter Mix Gold to fill in the cut outs. The frame is mounted on foam pads to raise it away from the photograph a little.
The small flowers are embossed with Aged Rose and Aged Aqua powders giving them a beautiful aged speckled look. The large flower is covered with Earth Elements 'Bed of Roses' which smells heavenly, a rose scented card with added bling, perfect. I stuck some little gems in the flower centres and added a few sprigs of die cut foliage. The finishing touch is a nice cream and aged gold organza bow.

Products used

Heartfelt Creations die  -  Decorative Window Scene

Stampendous Fran-tage Embossing Enamel  -  Aged Aqua / Aged Rose

Stampendous Fran-tage Earth Elements - Bed of Roses

Halo Glitter Mix  -  Gold

all products listed are available from http://www.jandccreations.co.uk/

Buttons and Bows

Here is this weeks contribution to the 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown challenge.
When I saw 'Buttons and Bows' for this weeks theme I knew it was a good opportunity to use my Tatty Button Tree stamp. The background was inked up with Distress Ink Evergreen Bough from the Winter set. I then stamped with the same ink using the Pine Silhouettes stamp from Penny Black all around the edge. The next layer has been embossed with a That Special Touch mask from Creative Expressions. Using the mask to emboss gives a slightly softer impression than using a folder, the embossed card was then gently inked with Evergreen Bough.
The main image was stamped in Archival Ink Olive and clear embossed. I cut out the picture using a Spellbinder die (Labels 17) then while the die was still in place I inked the edges of the picture to give me a perfectly even little white border.
The buttons have come from various places ranging from craft shops to charity shops. The ribbon has been in my stash for ages but finally found a use today, it has Merry Christmas written on it but unfortunately it doesn't show very well in this photo...sorry. The little bow has also been in the stash box for a while but looked just right with a green button and some Bakers Twine.
It's been a very busy and interesting week for me so far, I will have some crafting news to share with you all very soon.  Happy Crafting!!

Sew Simple Samples

 Here are the samples for this months workshop at Sew Simple in Taverham.  We will be using the Portabello Road stamp sets to create bunting and cards.  Once the Jubilee and the Olympics are over these stamps are still going to be useful. They are great for scrap booking, perfectly themed for all your Jubilee party photos and for the Olympics, if you are lucky enough to get there.
After this summers celebrations are over these stamps will be good for making male themed birthday cards. With a London bus, Big Ben tower, a taxi and a VW camper van it has lots to offer.

The bunting comes ready cut in packs of either all white or a mix of red, white and blue. I have used the stamps in a random collage type effect, embossing the white images on the coloured card to maintain the red, white and blue theme. Stamping red and blue on coloured card proved a little tricky, I had to try several inks to see which gave the best cover, I settled on Memento. The crowns have been embossed in gold on all three colours.
The bunting is great for children to make, my son was my willing assistant in making up these. I have a feeling we'll be 'volunteered' at school to make some more!
It's a short post today, were does all the time go? Lots more things to make and do. Happy Crafting!!

Green and white challenge

 Here is my entry for this weeks 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. This weeks challenge is Green and White and I am pleased to say that this idea popped into my head straight away. It did take a little longer to get it down on card though!!
The background is stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Olive and a lovely stamp that I think was from Fiskars. I have some lovely olive green card which inspired the whole thing when I found it matched the ink pad, what are the chances of that happening ?!
The rosette paper has been stamped the same as the background, then cut using the Sizzix Tim Holtz rosette plate. The edges are touched with a Gold acrylic dabber...I know gold wasn't in the challenge but I'm going to claim artistic license. The centres are coloured with the olive ink with a die cut snowflake topped with a small dab of golden pearl PVA from Cosmic Shimmer.
The rosette baubles are hung from a die cut tree branch from Marianne Designs by thin gold thread.
The white background has been run through an embossing folder

called Snowflakes from Cuttlebug.
The bottom rosette is built up using two papers. Cut the top layer a little shorter than the bottom with a trimmer or a knife before assembly. Glue the ends together on each layer but before you glue the centres lay one colour onto the other and form the rosette as one, this will give you a perfectly edged, single depth rosette.
I'm sorry to have missed several weeks of the challenge but at least I will have some cards ready for Christmas which is a bonus, as they say 'Every little helps'.
I hope to show you some of the samples for next weeks workshop over the weekend. If it keeps raining then I can't do much in the garden so I will just have to craft!!!

Peacock shimmer

 This little heart was made on a die cut shape using UTEE and mica powders to create a faux enamelled effect.  The heart was cut from grey board which is about the thickest card I feel happy cutting. I punched a small hole in the heart before beginning to decorate it.
Dark colours work very well as a base layer for this technique but this time I chose Broken China Distress Ink to go with my peacock theme. After colouring the grey board I built up two layers of clear ultra thick embossing powder. At this point if you are going to stamp into the third layer you will need to ink up your stamp and have it ready and waiting. Then on the third layer I added some mica powders on top. As the clear powder melts the mica will sink in and begin to flow a little giving the most amazing enamelled effect. Before the melted powder cools gently press your pre-inked stamp into the 'enamel' , wait a few seconds and remove it to reveal the impression. This peacock feather stamp is from Creative Expressions 'Art Nouveau Peacock'.

The second card is also from the same stamp set, stamped and embossed in gold. Then coloured in with Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks on a background previously sprayed with the new Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mists. These mists are very subtle so you get all the shimmer with a much less intense colour, perfect for the vintage look.

The stamped image was them cut out with a spellbinder die and edged by leaving the die in place on the cut out and blending Broken China around the edge. This gives you the effect of another layer without building up your card to much, great for trying to save on postage!!

The cut out shape was then matted on a plain layer of card, I couldn't find the right colour to match so I used broken China again to colour the outside edge. Just around the edge because the middle will be covered and there's no point in wasting ink!

There is a thin layer of gold paper around the last layer and then mounted on black to make it really stand out.

I like to use black card a lot with the mica powders as I feel it really makes them shine. They behave differently on coloured card as they are translucent and the base colour will show through affecting the finished piece. If you have some mica powders have a play on various coloured cards and see the different effects you get. To fix the mica powder after dusting an image I use either a fine spray of water (because they have resins in them activated by moisture) or hairspray.

My appologies for not bolgging for a while, it's been a busy few weeks, I'm also getting used to a different blog method which is frustrating when I'd just got the hang of the last one! 

Coming soon.....Jubilee bunting and men's cards at Taverham at the end of the month.