Ornamental Doily Shaped Card/ Spellblogging for Spellbinders

Hello there! 

Thank you for joining me for another Spellblogging post for Spellbinders

I've just received a lovely new Nestabilities set called Ornamental Doily
 oh my!  it is sooooo pretty!

I decided to try using the largest of the dies in the set to create the actual card, just to show off the delicate shape and pattern, and because the little 'points'' in the outer edge looked just a little like the feet of one of those vintage ornate silver photo frames. 
I also wanted to use another of the flowers I shared the other week - though I did end up making two more of the same type to go with it.

There are three dies in the Nestabilities Ornamental Doily Etched Dies
set;  I used the largest to create the card itself; the base is cut from my usual 300gsm cardstock and hinged about 1cm from the top. Then I cut the doily again in white Bazzill, which was adhered carefully to the base making sure all the 'holes' matched.
 I used the same card and the middle sized die for the piece behind the three flowers - this was inked in the same peachy pink colour used to edge the flowers and also colour the leafy swirls, stamped sentiment and the mat behind it;
There are also some peachy pink pearls for the flower centres and some deeper peachy organza ribbon for the double bow
The third of the dies is the little finial piece on the sentiment tag.  It matches the design on the large doily so would look beautiful cut lots of times and fixed in each of the curves with some dimensional tape or glue behind.

Products used

Nestabilities Ornamental Doily Etched Dies

Cinch and Go Flowers Two 

Sprigs  
Die D-Lites Etched Dies

from Tiny Sentiments (Happy Grams #3) by Tammy Tutterow 

As mentioned, I made another 2 flowers in white card. One is slightly bigger than the original from a couple of weeks ago, and the other is smaller.  I used some ink of a small piece of old baby-wipe to add a little colour to the curled petals.
 Each petal is curled around a bamboo skewer to get the shapes, then all the sizes glued 'inside' each other together to get something like a dahlia

Well, that's all for today, so thanks for visiting, if you click on This Link  you'll find yourself at the Spellbinders store and explore the huge array of dies, stamps, machines and so much more!

Happy Crafting

 

In Wonderland

Mornig All/
Gosh, I've been a rubbish blogger this week, I really must do some catch-up blog posts before I forget what I've made.  
Do you listen to music, tv, audiobooks etc when you are crafting? 
It's a 'Work from Home' day for Hubby today and as we share the study we usually find listening to ClassicFM on the radio is a more pleasant sound than all the clicking of computer keyboards - plus it masks the various crafting sounds I make when I'm at my other desk!  
It's very quiet here, and usually when I'm on my own I don't tend to bother with background music etc. - its just other peoples' noise that bothers me haha
Okay, enough of the waffle, time to talk Daring Cardmakers again as its Friday - yes, it really is a whole week since the last one!

It’s Svenja here and I’d like to take you to a wonderful place this week:

Welcome to Wonderland!

On July 28^th in 1951 the Disney movie version of Alice in Wonderland premièred in the US and I’m asking you to celebrate this non-un-birthday with cards referring to wonderland itself and/or its beloved inhabitants.

And of course the Design Team have prepared some inspiration for you- so do check HERE to see them:

I knew Svenja had a love of the Alice books because earlier this year I made a "Through the Looking Glass" card for another of our challenge, so I wasn't really surprised when this one appeared on our calendar!  

I checked out the download papers I'd used for that, but in the end I went on a hunt for something new.  As usual my first port of call was Etsy, especially as I'd left it way too late to mail-order anything.  I LOVE the instant gratification of buying download collections!  These papers are by NanaVic and there are actually 3 sets of Alice in Wonderland designs.  Yes, of course I bought the lot!

I do love the various clock charms, papers, embossing folders etc that so many manufacturers make, but I'm also a bit unnerved about using them on things like birthday cards.....will people want to be reminded that life is short and their days are numbered.....?  Or is it just me who thinks people might be a bit offended?  Probably just me!
So anyway I thought I'd use one of the gorgeous charms that came in a recent "Craft Box", but try to put a more positive spin on the theme with the sentiment.

Info:

Digital papers from NanaVic- resized to fit my card and printed onto white textured Bazzill card.  The March Hare paper was printed twice, and then I cut out the lower part and adhered over the first layer with some chipboard between for dimension

The pocket watch is actually two embellishments fixed together.  Both from
Craft Box

"Enjoy" is die cut (Creative Expressions), "EVERY" and "minute" created in Paint Shop Pro and cut on my Silhouette Cameo.  All cut from black card

2 widths of yellow gingham ribbon, various pearls and gems  

I wish now that I'd made the whole sentiment in one piece, I think it would have looked tidier, but there you go, eh?

I mentioned the other Alice card.  It was this one, and you can see more about it HERE

  Rightio, off to try and fit in a bit of crafting before the "What's For Lunch?" query comes my way from Himself ;)

Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment - See you soon!

2 Little Ele-fants balancing.....Spellblogging for Spellbinders

Hello there! 

Thank you for joining me for another Spellblogging post for Spellbinders

It's quite a long while now since I spent some years teaching in a Nursery School - but you know, the rhymes and songs sung with those children still pop into my head from time to time.  My OH says I have a 'Silly song for every occasion'
Ever since I got this cute die set I've been singing the elephant song t's a good job there's no sound on my blog, eh?

I've used the Ella-Fant Etched Dies from the My Little Red Wagon collection by Debi Adams for this card, which will be on it's way to a VERY special, and VERY brave little baby girl for her first birthday

Info
The papers I've used are from a download set by Pininkie, via Etsy
I used twine and scraps of the papers to make the bunting and added a satin ribbon and bow

I added some dimension behind the heads of the elephants by adhering them first onto small box hinges made from scrap card.

Here's the die set I used this time:
 Ella-Fant Etched Dies from the My Little Red Wagon collection by Debi Adams (Spellbinders)

As you can see, you don't just get the shapes I used on this card, there are alternative 'head and ears' shape and a little water jet too.

So darned cute!
 

  That's all for this time - thank you for visiting, if you click on This Link  you'll find yourself at the Spellbinders store where you will be tempted by lots of lovely dies, stamps and much much more!

Happy Crafting

Strings Attached!

Morning Friends!
Thanks for coming by,  Here's another Friday that's rolled around at double quick speed!  
I've loads to do today, so straight down to the crafting and no waffling for once
The Daring Cardmakers is the opposite of "No Strings Attached", and it's me to blame this week

String Theory
Don't worry, this week's challenge has absolutely nothing to do with physics!
All I'd like you to do this time, is to use string, twine, thread, fibres or that sort of thing when you make you card. 
You could use a little or a lot, I really don't mind.

Here's my card.

Info

The background is stencilled with a Hessian pattern (Prima) 

I wound some hairy twine around a piece of card, adding in some 'loose' ends and some knots for extra texture then matted it onto dark brown card before adhering over the stencilled pattern.

The gorgeous leafy swirls are all cut with Victorian Garden Romantic Vines  (Spellbinders)

The flowers are all made from Foamiran, and I used various flower dies and punches to make them.  Once cut I coloured the petals with artists pastels before using heat to create the shapes, and adding some stamens to finish.

Finally I added a twine loopy bow and some glitter dots in pink and orange.

This week I've been trying to get to grips with using pastels for colouring Foamiran, a heat gun to curl the petals and the glue gun I bought years ago and have finally unearthed this week.

I think I have over-tasked myself though.  I still prefer colouring the petals with ink.  I think I will go back to using my little craft iron for the petals (heat gun is too fierce!) and I now remember why the glue gun was so scary and got put away soon after I bought it!  It is better for sticking Foamiran, but how do you stop getting the glue globs and all those glue strings?
And we won't count how many times I said "ouch" while using it!

Thank you so much for visiting, I hope you'll join in with us this week at The Daring Cardmakers, it would be great to see your creations! 
See you soon

  

Summer Rose

 Hello
Are you having the same muggy weather as us?  We had a terrific thunderstorm a couple of nights ago and it rumbled on for ages. I had such a headache that afternoon, so I should gave been warned there was thunder on the way.

Anyway, on to things crafty.  It wasn't until I'd finished this and taken the photos that I realised I'd gone and chosen the same colour palette that I've used a few times recently.  I hadn't realised before because this time I just picked out colours of Bazzill card to go with the rose I'd already coloured with artist's pastels, rather than the Versamagic Ink Set I used the other week.
 

The layout is the July sketch from The Sketch File, and the rose is one of the flowers I made to show the versatility of the newest flower die acquisition. 

Her is the sketch - I twiddled it around a bit for my card

The Sketch File, July 2017

 Here's the rose I'd already made using Cinch and Go Flowers Two  Shapeabilities Etched Dies (Spellbinders)

I coloured it using 3 shades of artists pastels and some bits of old baby wipe to get a pretty buttery yellow colour, then chose some Bazzill card scraps to build the LO

 

Info

 Dies

Cinch and Go Flowers Two  (Spellbinders)

Die D-Lites Medallion Two  (Spellbinders)

leaves are from Victorian Garden Romantic Vines  (Spellbinders)

'Enjoy' (Creative Expressions)

Embossing Folder: Swiss Dots (Cuttlebug)

Top fold 15cm square card with a small strip cut off the side

Other card, Bazzill

Zutter corner rounder used on Lower mat

Banners are hand cut

Circle clip form my stash

That's it for this time, I hope you like it.
Thank you for popping by

 

Cinch Flowers - Spellblogging for Spellbinders

Hello there!

Thank you for joining me for another Spellblogging post for Spellbinders

I find it soooo hard to resist flower dies, and when I saw the Cinch Flower set in  the Spellbinders store it just had to join my collection.  You get four sizes of the flower and a set of pretty, decorative leaves too

The die set is called 
Cinch and Go Flowers Two and is from the Venise Lace collection by Becca Feeken (Shapeabilities Etched Dies)
I've had a ball playing with these dies over the last few days, and will show you the flowers I've made later in this post. 
 First though, here's the card I actually managed to finish!
This one is made in Foamiran, coloured with a pink artists pastel.  You use a little bit of heat to make the foam curl - you can touch the petals onto a craft iron or use your heat gun very carefully!

Info
Cinch and Go Flowers Two and is from the Venise Lace collection by Becca Feeken (Shapeabilities Etched Dies)

Petals and leaves are cut in white Foamiran then coloured with artists pastels.  I used each size of petal twice for this flower
 
'Untamed Tags' Rebel Rose collection by Stacey Caron 
(Shapeabilities  Etched Dies) coloured with
artists pastels

Stamped sentiment 

from Tiny Sentiments (Happy Grams #3) by Tammy Tutterow 

Other items:
White card blank
White and deep pink card
 White cotton lace, Wine coloured velvet ric-rac braid, pearls and punched circles shaped with ball tool

 Okay.  So that was one of the flowers I made with the Cinch Flowers 2 die, and there are four more, all made with the same die set

Don't they all look different?  It just shows how creative you can be even when all the flower shapes start of the same.
Here's a quick run through on how they were made

1. If you just cut the various sizes of petal from some card, colour them in with ink, then stack them up and use some pretty bling in the middle you'll get something like this

2. Here the largest two sizes of petals are cut in white card to make a rose

  3. I used the 3 smaller sizes and white card for this one.  each petal is curled around a bamboo skewer to get the shapes, then all the sizes glued 'inside' each other together to get something like a dahlia

4. The last one uses the four sizes of petal cut in thin white card then coloured with pink pastel.  I then damped each one and rolled up tightly, letting them dry before carefully opening them up, gluing together and adding some stamens. I think this one could do with another of the large sized petals to give it more fullness.

Well, that's all for today, so thanks for visiting, if you click on This Link  you'll find yourself at the Spellbinders store and explore the huge array of dies, stamps, machines and so much more!

Happy Crafting

 

The Birds in the Trees

Morning All!
Hope you are doing ok this Friday morning,  Got to love OH's Work at Home days - especially when it's his turn to make the tea and coffee and it arrives with a chocolate covered ginger biscuit alongside!

Friday means another Daring Cardmakers challenge, and this time is our lovely Enfys who's in charge!

Hi, it's Enfys here with this week's dare.
As it's the start of the Summer holidays, I thought a theme of

If you go down to the woods today...... 
 
would fit the bill. Think of country walks, picnics, rope swings, nature trails, camping......all those things that make Summer such a joy

 I was very stuck for an idea for this one.  I didn't have anything much in my die collection (hard to believe, I know!).   I have a few templates I could have cut with my silhouette, but the Lazy gene was evident this week.....
In the end I headed over to Etsy to see if there were any digital papers around that would help me out.

Info

Smooth white rectangular card with a top fold

These papers from The Digital Finch, via Etsy.  Resized and printed onto white Bazzill card

Various scraps of brown card for the trunks

Toning Green card

Memory Box Winter Tree die (branches trimmed to fit)

I printed my chosen bird design in two sizes, the second version was cropped then printed so that I could cut a few larger birds out.

From the two-tone green bird aper I cut plain and scalloped circls and ovals for the tree shapes

Printed sentiment created in Paint Shop Pro

I used some old cereal packet chipboard to add some dimension behind the trees and birdy circle

That's it for this time.  Now I'm off to play - I have new Spellbinders dies that arrived earlier in the week but I've not had the chance to open yet!

Do visit Visit the Daring Cardmakers blog to see this week's ideas from the team - and of course we'd love you to join in with us
Have a great weekend

 

Wimbledon Special (with Strawberry tutorial)

Hellooo!

Well after so much sunshine and baking hot weather, I guess we were in for some rain at some point during the Wimbledon fortnight.  Looks like today is the day - though they are playing again now.  Mind you I expect the rain delay will have sent everyone scooting for cover.....and while waiting for play to begin again there's always the temptation of that good old Wimbledon culinary tradition of Strawberries and Cream, possibly with a Pimms to wash it down?

Actually I had some raspberries with natural yoghurt and a drizzle of local honey at lunch-time today.  I don't like strawberries!

A couple of weeks ago I made a box which was shaped and decorated like a strawberry gateau.  I mentioned that I'd do a little tutorial on making the 3D strawberries, and as I wanted to make a card featuring them, you'll find photos and instructions below on how they are made.

I made this card following the latest LO sketch from The Sketch File Blog

 Info:

Smooth white card blank plus extra of the same for matting

Coloured card; Red and 2x Green, Yellow Glitter card

This Sketch

Dies and Stamps are all from Spellbinders
Stamp:
from Tiny Sentiments (Happy Grams #3) by Tammy Tutterow 

 Dies:
Strawberry from Aren't You Sweet Etched Dies set

 

Tiny Strawbs made using the hearts and stars from
 Let's Party Sweet Wish Die D-Lites Etched Dies

How to make a 3D Strawberry

These are the instructions for a 'flat-backed' strawberry that you can add to cards etc.  If you want to make one that is more like a 'ball' then just add in more shapes and when you are happy with the fullness, glue the final two faces together to complete.  Add a loop of thread into the spine before the last step if you want something you can hang up

For these photos I used a one-sided patterned paper, just for clarity - click on the images for the larger version of each

 

Here's what you'll end up with, and the two red ones I made for the card.

For the green bit on the top (sorry, can't remember what its called) it's a good idea to use a ball-tool on the die cut shapes, it will help you to get a nice finish .  I only glued the 'points' at either end of the shape to the back of the strawberry.  This means it will still all fold down flat for posting

If you're making a fully round strawberry, use two of the green die cut pieces and mould them around the top of the fruit

This method works for many other die cut shapes - Christmas baubles and trees, for instance.

Thank you for popping by, I hope you'll leave a message before you leave