Monday 20 June 2016

MERRY HO HO HO.......

Hello everyone.. and Merry Christmas!

I know it's not exactly Christmas, but here, in creating world, it has been for the past few weeks as we've been trudging away through the snow (aka debris on the craft floor) to bring you some fantastic samples using the Christmas Pick of the Week Rococo dies. Have you seen them?

Oh my word..... they are right up my alley! Cute, sweet.... what more could you ask for? So today, I thought I would share my little Reindeer with you.


Isn't he just the sweetest little guy? I think he's adorable, but I did leave him until last to work with him because I knew I would be using him alot if I didn't. 

For the background of the card I used one of our older dies, but you could use corners, stamps, papers, anything you wish really... but I wanted to keep the colours quite neutral. I added a layer of green to the background as I was using this in my front panel of the card. 


As you can see from the close up here, I cut out the little guy from darker brown cardstock, then stuck him onto lighter card and cut around. I also stuck another layer onto darker card to cut out the mouth area and the feet. I paper pieced the scart using bits of green and red.

I do love a little white gel ink too on my cutey characters... and this one didn't escape it. So, he got the obligatory eye highlight and litle highlights on his scarf, feet, nose and ears. I think it just adds a little brightness.

I hope you like the card... it's quite an easy, quick one to make... but I'm sure you've seen lots of our little Reindeer this week. I love him, and I'm sure you do too!

Friday 10 June 2016

Thank you for coming along to create.... a little tutorial.

Well Good Morning everyone... 

How are we all? Enjoying the lovely weather? It's been a tad hot for me, but still nice to be able to get the fresh air and sunshine around the garden. 

Today, I just want to say thank you so much for all the lovely folks that came along to Bolton Arena to visit the Hunkydory show, and came along to spend a little time on our stand to do the workshop to create this card. 

Everyone was so lovely - even though the temperature went up and up throughout the day - it was great to spend some time with you all for a chat, a laugh and to share our different crafting experiences. 

Anyway, here is the card that we made, and we chose to focus on the Sew Pretty dies. So here is a little step by step for those who would like to recreate the card. I hope you enjoy it.  


Firstly, you will be using the corner dies to cut out of white cardstock. You will need four of these, and you can back them onto a colour card of your choice. I decided to back them onto black, but if you are using a black layer underneath you won't need to do this piece. 


Cut around the outside edges of the diecut with your scissors - there is no verso edge with these dies, but it is so easy to trim out. 


Next, prepare your flower.You can choose to use either of the Posie dies - Perfect Posies or Tangled Posies - to do this.   You will cut two of the flower dies and cut them out as shown. On the first one cut out the very middle, on the second one cut out the inside section. This is so we can layer them up to add some dimension. Layer onto your cardstock and cut around the outside edge to give it some colour. 


Now is sticking and creating time. Attach your corners - opposites first, so when the corners cross over it looks nice and neat. 

Take your white card blank, cut from an A4 card scored in half and trimmed square to 14.5cm x 14.5cm. Your black layer will be trimmed to 14 x 14cm and the corners stick on top of this. 


Here is your finished background. Just perfect to place your finished flower into the centre. 

Cut out some layers of cardstock to match in with your chosen colour theme, to fit into the centre of the card. You can cut at 8cm, 7.5cm square and 7cm square and mount these into the middle.


To finish, place your little flower in the centre. Add a sentiment if you choose to... decorate with Nuvo drops.... add a gem or two for a bit of sparkle - the choice is yours!

I hope you enjoyed the little tutorial and manage to follow it okay. Any questions, just ask!

Shopping List 

Tonic Studios Sew Pretty - Admiral Arches 1222e
Tonic Studios Sew Pretty - Perfect Posies - 1220e 
Tonic Studios Sew Pretty - Tangled Posies - 1224e

Thursday 2 June 2016

Creating a shaped card blank from your Tonic verso dies

Good evening all...

Isn't time flying this week? Blimey... it doesn't seem two minutes since it was the start of the Bank Holiday and now it's all over, colder weather has come in and things have gone haywire!

I've had a few appointments this week with the chiropractor to try to sort out my shoulder. I really should learn not to slip and land on it shouldn't I? But it's finally getting sorted after putting up with it since early February and it's definately less painful. So, sorry for being a bit absent this week... but things went a bit bonkers.

So... what do I have for you today... well, it's another unedited video - a very quick one to show how to make a card blank using your shaped dies.

**Silly me - forgot that I was using a heavier weight card and when I went to put the lattice in the base it didn't cut perfectly. Just be aware that you need to watch the weight of your card, or at least turn it to get a good cut.**

Enjoy the video, I hope you find it a little bit helpful. xx

                         

Wednesday 1 June 2016

How to extend your Patterned Panel dies to fill a card

Hello all......

Sorry I have been AWOL again, but there's been a speck of bother in the garden that needed sorting this past week. I have waged war on the slimy snails that are munching on my 'cumbers in the greenhouse and I've stripped it out completely - everything - and checked, rechecked and repositioned everything back in to evict the little blighters!

They've munched my dahlias, my lupins, my cucumbers, chili's and peppers and now this is war....! So out they went, into the wildnerness (aka the garden!) to live happy little lives and get stalked by our springer, Holly! I don't hurt them because I actually think they're really cute.

So... excitement of the eviction over, replanting and shuffling done in the garden, frog watching in the pond complete, I am here to share another little tutorial video with you.

This one is to show you how to extend your patterned panel dies to fill a card front. I used an A5 size sheet, but you can extend the pattern as large as your die cut maching will allow. I have shared a few hints and tips along the way, but I haven't edited the video, so grab some ear plugs if you need to. Haha.

 

This is the finished card. You can see that I trimmed down all the sides so they were nice and even, and mounted it onto a chocolate base card. The little dots along the centre were the leftovers from the die cut.


I hope you liked todays tutorial. I will try to get back tomorrow with another.
Until then...
Happy Crafting!
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