Monochrome Best Wishes

Good Morning Everyone

This was one of my sample cards from yesterdays shows on Create & Craft and the first demo I did on the 10am show.

This is what I used:
7x7 White Card Blank
White Card
Black Card
Black Archival Ink Pad
Sentimentally Yours Circle Frame & Flourish Collection A5 Stamp Set
Creative Expressions Micro Beads
Creative Expressions A4 Adhesive Sheets
Spellbinders Die D-Lites Blooms 3
Sue Wilson Fern Trio Dies
Spellbinders Gold Majesty Circles Dies
Cosmic Shimmer Ebony Ice Glitter Jewels
15mm Black Pearls
15mm White Pearls
Black Ribbon

This is what I did:
I won't rattle on about matting and layering as you can see what I did from the photo, I did pierce around the edge of the second black layer to add interest.
I stamped the flourish from the stamp set, randomly, around the white layer, then stuck this (remember to stick it face down) to a self adhesive sheet, trimmed off the excess and applied the micro beads, I think they give it a beautiful finish for very little effort! lol
I then stuck a piece of black card to a piece of self adhesive sheet, then die cut this using the largest circle from the Gold Majesty circles, removed the adhesive backing and covered the circle with Ebony Ice Glitter Jewels (another lovely product that also adds some texture)
I then cut 2 large white, 2 medium white, 2 medium black and 2 white stamens using the Blooms 3 dies. The large white ones were then stamped using the flourish from the stamp set (creates a complimentary pattern to the background) I then glittered around the edge of the white flowers.
I cut 2 ferns using Sues Fern Trio dies (love these!) and glittered them.
I then stamped the smaller of the 2 circle frames from the stamp set and cut it out, then stamped the sentiment inside (remember there are lot's of sentiments on this set so you can recreate this card for different occasions!) The edge of the circle was glittered, as were the areas around the small flourish within the frame)
I finished off by making a triple bow in black ribbon and put a 15mm white pearl in the centre :-)
TOP TIP - Remember to use a wet glue like Cosmic Shimmer when you are sticking onto micro beads or the glitter jewels, even if you use foam pads for dimension, put the glue onto those,... it seeps through the glitter/beads to make sure everything sticks! :-)

You'll find most of the products I used on my show on my website here..

Hope You Like It!

Life is beautiful...

Good Morning Everyone

It's a nippy one too! so I've mashed a cuppa and thought I'd pop this card on that was one of my samples on Create & Craft.
I've had lot's of people ask me to put the photos on my Blog so I will :-)

This card features a sentiment from my Sentimentally Yours Stamps and this set will be on C and C on my next shows (I'll confirm the dates as soon as I can)

Here's a photo of the card

Here's what I used

1 6x6 white card blank

2 A4 sheets of my white inking card

Spellbinders Scalloped Borders 2

Spellbinders Gold Labels 4

Vintage pink seam binding ribbon

Couture Creations Great Almanzo embossing folder

Sentimentally Yours Tiny Little Ink Splats Stamp

Sentimentally Yours Words of Inspiration Stamps

Victorian Velvet distress ink pad

Cosmic Shimmer Clover ink mist

Creative Expressions small dazzlers

I love this card, lot's of inky fun, but still quite a pretty finish and it's easy to do!

You can see how I've assembled the card from the photo, so I'll just tell you what I did on which layer :-)

There is a plain white layer on the card blank, the second layer has been misted with my Clover Ink Mist, then another white layer (no edges inked on the white layers to give it a clear seperation), the next layer has been stamped with my perfect medium using my Tiny Little Ink Splats stamp, then embossed with the Pink Speckle embossing powder, I then distressed all over the top with victorian velvet and wiped the ink off the embossed areas. 

The next layer has been given a beautiful edge using the scalloped borders 2 dies, this was then embossed up to where the scalloped border starts. (I did very lightly ink the edges of this layer) 

The dies were cut from my inking card and the base die given the distressed edge treatment :-)

The top die was glittered all around the edge.

The sentiment was stamped with the Victorian Velvet distress ink onto my inking card and cut out, then distressed around the edges and glittered.

TOP TIP - You'll see me distressing most of my sentiments and if you look closely, I always leave the middle bit clear, this draws the eye to the words of the sentiment :-) You can see on my sentiment on this photo that I have put more ink on the left and right to achieve this effect.

Hope you like it

:-)

Happy Crafting!

Tall Easel Card from yesterdays TV show...

Good Morning Everyone!

Well, I need to start by saying a huge Thank You to you all for all your support (and purchases!) from my first ever shows on Create & Craft yesterday with Creative Expressions and my Sentimentally Yours Stamps..
I was so relieved that you all loved the shows and my stamps!

Now, I've had sooooo many of you ask me for the dimensions for the tall Easel Card I did as my first demo, so the easiest way to tell you all is on here :-)

It's really simple, but looks quite amazing once it's all assembled :-)

Here's the photo of the card....

This is what I used..

2 A4 Sheets of Purple Card

3 A4 Sheets of Cream Card

Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals

Spellbinders Gold Labels 4

Seedless Preserves Distress Ink

Spellbinders Blooms 4

Sentimentally Yours Resplendent Roses Background Stamp

Sentimentally Yours Birthday Verses Stamps

Spellbinders Scalloped Borders 2

Sentimentally Yours Quotes of Inspiration Stamps

Spellbinders Butterfly Corner

I won't rattle on about how I've used everything as you can see how I put the card together from the photo, but the size of the card is what you need, so..

Trim 2 pieces of cream A4 card to 14.5cm along the long side, so you end up with two long 14.5cm strips.

Score both pieces at 21cm, then crease.

Glue one of the flaps to the inside of the second piece of card, making sure that the flap on the second piece of card is at the bottom (so it's not stuck!)

Then, decorate as you wish.

To give the card some rigidity on the inside, I used a piece of purple card, then a piece of cream card with a scalloped edge on both sides, then stamped one of my Birthday verses onto it and stuck in all in.

TOP TIP - If you use Cosmic Shimmer acrylic glue, it makes the card a little stiffer, which is what you need for the inside of this card.

PS - This card folds and fits into a standard C5 envelope :-)

Glad You like it!

Make sure you show me what you come up with when you make you're own, .. send your photos to my Facebook Page 

Happy Crafting!

Create & Craft Shows

Good Afternoon Everyone..

Well, I've had a lovely Sunday, lazed (I know, how could I! lol) most of the morning, then spent the last few hours finalising the plans for my first ever Create & Craft shows with my own Stamp Range, Sentimentally Yours AND some incredible products from Creative Expressions that work perfectly together!

To say I'm excited is a mahoosive understatement!!

I can't tell you which of my stamps will be on the shows yet, but I CAN tell you that some of Collection 3 will be launched on these shows!! whoo hoo

Anyhoo, here are the details:- Put the date in your diary and set it to record if you can't watch live :-)

Monday 10th March 2014 - 9am and 4pm

I'll get as many demos as I can in each show 

and they will be different for each show :-)

I can't wait!

Now, where did I put my cuppa?

Happy Crafting!

Teal & Cream 8x8 Card :-)

Good Afternoon Everyone

OK, so I had so many people say how much they liked the Black & Cream 8x8 Card I posted yesterday, I thought I'd share my original version with you, which is Teal & Cream (another combination that I love)

Here's what I used for this card:

1 A3 and 2 A4 sheets of cream linen card
2 A4 sheets of teal card
My own Sentimentally Yours Quotes of Inspiration A5 Stamps
Tumbled Glass distress ink pad
Teal memento ink pad
Spellbinders Die D-Lites Blooms Four
Spellbinders Les Papillions Two
Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals
Creative Expressions A4 Cascading Hearts embossing folder
Cosmic Shimmer acrylic glue
Cream pearls
Teal self adhesive pearls
Teal satin ribbon
Glamour Dust irridescent glitter
Aqua Stickles

Hope you like this colour combination too :-)

Happy Crafting!

Black & Cream 8x8 Card :-)

Good Evening Everyone!

I've just mashed a cuppa (Earl Grey of course) and thought I'd write this post whilst whilst I have my cuppa... perfick!

I love Black & Cream together, it's a little less harsh than Black & White and feels a bit 'warmer', if you know what I mean...

To make this 8x8 card, I used:

1 A3 and 2 A4 sheets of cream linen card
2 A4 Sheets of black card
My own Sentimentally Yours Quotes of Inspiration A5 Stamps
Black Soot distress ink pad
Spellbinders Die D-Lites Blooms 4
Spellbinders Les Papillions 2
Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals
Creative Expressions A4 Tapestry Embossing Folder
Cosmic Shimmer acrylic glue
Cream Pearls
Black self adhesive pearls
Black silky crush ribbon
Glamour dust Irridescent Glitter

It's amazing, the variations you can get from the blooms 4 dies, just by curling with your tweezers and molding on you sponge mat! All the flowers on this card are from the same 3 dies!

Anyhoo, hope you like it! (You might just see me showing you this card on air soon) :-)

Happy Crafting!

Some sad news... and some exciting news! :-)

Good Morning Everyone.. 

(unless you're reading this in the afternoon or evening!) 

I have some news to share with you all.

The sad news:

As most of you know, I have been working with Hunkydory Crafts and their amazing products for a while now, showcasing them on Create & Craft and at demos and craft shows.

You may also know that last September, I launched my own stamp range, Sentimentally Yours, and they have been sooo popular with you all (thankyou!) There are 35 different sets already (so far!) and I'm so pleased you love them as much as I've loved designing them :-)

I've found it increasingly difficult to manage my work with Hunkydory with designing my stamps and running my shop, that I have now taken the difficult (believe me, very difficult!) decision to no longer do Create & Craft shows for Hunkydory.

You will still see me at The Great British Craft Festivals at Bolton and Warwick and hopefully, more craft shows and store demos, just not on Create & Craft.

I've loved every single minute with Hunkydory, Anne-Marie, Ruth, Rebecca and the team and will miss working with them dearly. 

The exciting news:

As I mentioned above, I launched my own stamp range, Sentimentally Yours, last September. I absolutely love designing my own stamps and, as a crafter myself, I spend hours designing them to make sure they are what I would use in my crafty projects.

I currently manage all the trade side of my brand too, so that other shops around the country can provide them to their customers.

This too, has become increasingly difficult to manage on my own, there just aren't enough hours in a day!

However, I'm really excited to be able to tell you that I have now joined the team at Creative Expressions, who will be taking over the trade side of my Sentimentally Yours brand (I will still be designing everything!)

What this means for me, and this is why I'm so excited! is that I will now have more time to focus on developing and designing my range of stamps (and hopefully other products!) 

It also means that I will be able to showcase my Sentimentally Yours products along side Creative Expressions products on Create & Craft!

This is something I have worked very hard to achieve and I am uber excited!

I will keep you up to date with show times etc when I have all the information.

Happy Crafting!

White on white - with a hint of green :)

Good Afternoon Everyone

So, I thought I'd have a lazy Sunday... see, the problem is, I'm not very good at doing nothing so I thought I'd pop a photo on of a card I made for our last Craftathon...

This is an 8x8 card, made all white, with the exception of tints of green.

Here's what I used:
2 x 8x8 white card blanks
1 A4 sheet of Silver mirri card
1 A4 sheet of 160gsm paper
1m of green silky crush ribbon
1 Pearl embellishment
My own Sentimentally Yours  Quotes of Inspiration A5 Stamps
Iced Spruce Distress Ink
Spellbinder Grand Decorative Ovals Dies
A4 Damask Embossing Folder
Aqua Stickles
Glamour Dust
Woodware Sakura Flower Punches (Super, Big and Multi)

It's easy to create this card... just takes a bit of time!

The frame on top of the card is cut from a 19cm square of one of the card blanks, then the centre is cut out, leaving a 2cm border.

The embossed inside of the frame is made from a second piece of the spare card blank, again cut to 19cm square, then embossed using the embossing folder and Grand Calibur.
The frame is then foam mounted onto the embossed section, creating a 3d raised frame :-)
The stickles is on the inside part of the frame, on the edge... much easier to do this than you think, just run the nib of the stickles along the edge and apply small amounts of stickles.

The flowers are punched from the sakura flower punches and the 160gsm paper, I've found the paper is easier when shaping the flowers, as I've done :-) Some flowers were left white and some were given the distress inky edge!

The die cut oval is done using the inside section that was spare from cutting the frame out .. all the little dots on it are glittered, but you can't see it too well on this photo.

Anyway, you should be able to make the rest out,... hope you like it :)

Try this card in other colour ways,.. I love white on white, with just a hint of colour from a distress ink pad :-)

Happy Crafting!!

2 Stamps, 2 Ink Pads & 2 Punches :)

Good Evening Everyone...

Well, it's been a busy old day, with one thing or another!

It's not long now until collection 3 (can you believe it!) of my Sentimentally Yours Stamps is released (but I will tell you more about that nearer the time) :-)

I can tell you that I will be at a few of the Craft Shows with them this year and, again, I will list them for you soon :)

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you another way in which you can use your distress inks.

As you know (surely by now) I love distress inks and love to make the most of them so, with this card, I have used them with a couple of butterfly punches in 2 different ways.

The first white layer, I punched out a mix of the butterflies, used low tack tape to stick them around the edge of the layer and then inked over them, with Faded Jeans first, then a touch of Frayed Burlap. (Save a couple of the inked over butterflies for decoration later) :-)

The second white layer, I used the negatives from the punched out shapes as stencils, to ink through, again with the same two colours.

Here's what I used:

• My Sentimentally Yours Inking Card (this is such a fabulous card that really helps with distress techniques)
• My Sentimentally Yours A5 Everyday Flourish Collection Stamps (great collection of mixed everyday sentiments in different shapes)
• My Sentimentally Yours A6 Butterfly Dance Background Stamp
• Faded Jeans and Frayed Burlap Distress Ink Pads
• 2 different sized butterfly punches
• Corner rounder punch
• Scrap of twine
• Glitter

And here's the card :)

Hope you like it!

Couple of Distress Inks, bit of card and my stamps :)

Good Evening Everyone...

Crikey! It's been a while since I posted (sorry!), but I have been incredibly busy (and poorly!)
Still got torn tendons in my left hand, surprising how much you take it for granted,.. still, at least I know in 4-6 weeks it will heal!

Anyhoo, I wanted to show you this card, made simply using a few distress inks, some cardstock, couple of punches and my own stamps!

What I've used - 
2 Sheets of My own brand inking card (designed especially for inky techniques)
Half a sheet of black cardstock
Couple of woodware butterfly punches
Couple of woodware circle punches
Black fine liner pen
My Sentimentally Yours A5 Circle Frame & Flourish Collection Stamps

Quite easy to do, just mask of the areas with paper and a punched circle, so your base card layer is all in one piece as opposed to adding punched circles.

The second circle and sentiment circle are the only ones raised with foam pads :)

Even if I say so myself, I think this stamp set if brill and offers great choice and value!

If you want to purchase the set for yourself, they are on my website and I have added a link in the picture so just click it :)

Anyhoo, hope you like the card, have a go yourself!

Happy Crafting!