Hi, hope you are all warm and safe - the weather is not very good here in North Staffs - it's freezing what snow we have left (mainly on the paths) and walking is a tricky!

I have been very busy this week working on my new blog which I hope to open tomorrow (fingers crossed) but in the meantime thought I would post a card that I did last year for CB and was not able to show.

Materials used:


Cardstock: A4 burgandy, A6 white glossy, gold mirri, extra white card
Inkpads:
Distress inks: forest moss, peeled paint, aged mahogany, antique linen
Clear Embossing Powder
Shimmer mist:
CB Stamps:
Texture Fragments
UA4SP0339 Essence of Nature Sentiment - floral spray
Joy Craft border, butterfly dies
Ribbon, gems, foam pads glue gel

I'm not used to using texture stamps and my first few efforts ended in the bin, but in the end I was pleased with my sample.  This combination of colours works really well.

Thanks for dropping by.

Tippy Thursday - Marianne Creatables

Hi, bit of a change in the weather today, but my spirits were lifted when the postie dropped my order from Make a Lasting Impression on the mat.  Boy was I pleased with the contents, getting new crafting goodies is something I LIKE!

I was so pleased that the ironing went out of my mind, I needed to see what these beauties would do.....

These dies are from Marianne Creatables - and I think they are going to give the die cutting manufacturers some competition!

They have changed the colour of the die, which did seem to be giving some crafters a problem with transferring the dark blue colour to the cut, and instead have gone with this lighter blue.  No colour transfer here!  The designs are interesting, - the leaf and the hearts cut and emboss really well, and they have thought about making the cuts easier to release and have successed with the additon of small holes positioned round the dies.  The leaf which is a delicate cut came straight out of the die first time.  At a cost  of £7.90 including postage - not unreasonable.  

 

Talking of cutting, a few crafters have been having problems with the Bug cutting and embossing.  I think that the main problem for this is not the Bug but the plates.  Repetative cutting, especially if you always place the die in the middle to the plate, will make the plate thinner and so reduce or give a uneven pressure on the sandwich.  You will also find with well cut plates the the cut is not always clean (ie the edges are rough), and the cut marks on the plate will also make marks on the underside of the cut.  If you don't want to buy new plates, you could try moving the die to the side and rotating the cut 90 degrees after the first run and doing it again.  The under marks can be eliminated by placing a piece of copy paper on top of the plate.  I have an old and new set of B's, I use only 3 of the 4 - 2 old very marked one and l of the new ones (I'm saving the other new one for a rainy day).  If I try cutting intricate dies with 2 old sometimes they wont cut, if I use 1 old and 1 new - it works.  Why don't I throw the old ones away - well I'm a crafter and the two old ones work with embossing and still have some life in them!   

After telling you about the Marianne dies, I will also add that some of the new Nesties are on sale at Liz's. Now before you tell me I'm a temptress, you can look out of interest, but you don't have to ?????? 

Tippy Thursday - Making borders

Tippy Thursday again, and today I'm looking at using those little dies that tend to get overlooked!

This die is my most recent purchase.

It's from the Marianne Creatables range and consists of 3 dies.  The fancy scalloped rectangle and 2 leaves.  Stating the obvious - the leaves can be used as leaves, but is there something else you can do with them?

How about making a border......

I make my own cards and have lots of strips of card left over like this...

Using the Bug sandwich:  A  /  B  / card  /  die cut down  /  C

(All of the die cutting tips I give can be adapted to your own machine, but because I only have experience of  the Bug, and feel I don't need tell you what recipe to use, because you will know!  BUT, if you do need help - just ask).

 

From a peice of card 6" x 2" you will have 4 leaves and the die cut strip...now

I have added two scored lines to the top and bottom of the strip, then when placed over a decorative paper...you have a nice little border, which can be adjusted in length to suit your project.

 AND, you still have 4 leaves to use!

Time restraints have not allowed me to finish my card....hopefully later I will be able to get it finished!! 

Hope you like this idea of using your smaller dies....don't leave them at the back of the Cupboard....get them out and make full use of your of all your dies!

                                                                         

Elusive Images and Joy Craft Corners

Another day, another card.....this one was a commissioned card for a lady celebrating her 90th Birthday. 
I have used this stamp from Elusive Images Floral Spray (link on side bar)  before as an A6 card, but this time I needed an A5 card.

Again I stamped the image straight on the card with distress ink (Forest Moss) and dragged the ink in on a few of the leaves, but

instead of the scored lines, used the corner borders from Joy Crafts

On a second stamping of the image, I cut away some of the leaves, coloured the flowers with Promarkers and triple embossed, added to image with foam pads

and the finished card....

Unfortunately the last two pictures are not showing the true colours, but I delivered the card yesterday before I looked at the pictures!  I don't like the bottom die, it's too heavy, but having stuck it on, on it had to stay!

Off now to play, that's after putting the washing out - back soon to show you some more lovely stamps.

 

Crafts too You - Joy Craft

I have been playing with my C2U Christmas Greetings folder again.

I found that it embossed on various weights of cardstock successfully.  I also embossed on thin paper and this was okay (see red above), but I would suggest putting a piece of scrap paper over your paper to avoid risking the fibres breaking.  It is possible to cut out the greetings, and if the size is to big.....you can cut them down and replace the lines using your scoreboard - I did this on the gold tag above.

Now I had a gold tag - what to do with it?  Well I found in the cupboard (as  you do) sometimes (ah ah) a die that I'd just had to buy and never used....

it's from Joy Crafts.

Some of the dies on the market although lovely, are a bit fiddly to stick on your project, so I use the same method I use for cutting alphabets

and stick double sided tape on the back of my card before cutting.

                        

Another tip:  If you are having problems removing the cut from the die you can use wax paper when cutting, or I have found this works okay and that is to rub a candle over the die, then with a cloth buff (perhaps polish is a better word) the die. 

I thought to fancy up my greeting (and to echo another element on the card) I'd combine the two and.....

this is how they look together. 

At this point this is all I can reveal....it's part of a card for EIDT....the rest will follow shortly.

I'm finding this DT business very inspiring at a time when I needed something to stimulate my mojo, and although it seems that I'm not posting ideas for you, I'm actually doing a lot of interesting crafting working on new stamps soon to be launched.  As you know I've always liked EI stamps, but the new ones are pushing me out of my comfort zone and I'm loving it and can't wait to share them with you.  

Back soon, enjoy your day!

Cuttlebug and Joy Crafts Daisies

Monday morning and back to work - well that's not really a true statement because I can't call crafting work - I should have used the words 'back to playing' instead!  Oh, goodie - I have missed my craftroom and my crafting mates in blogland - so hello all and thanks for your welcome home messages - it really is nice to be back and do you like this idea using your scoreboard to create a base card.....

Materials used:
A4 sheet of white linen cardstock
Scoreboard
Daisy dies from Joy Crafts
Provocraft Alphabet - Harmony
DP
Tag, ribbon, pearls

Take your A4 sheet and cut off a lengthwise strip of 62mm or 2.1/2" then with your scorebord make a centre fold on the A4 line. You now have a square card that measure 5.13/16"

Now you score two lines - on my EaziScore I used lines Box 2 and 4

Then scored again to make this effect 

Place card back on scoreboard and pencil mark centre on line 4 (or A4 Gate)

Now an apology - I forgot to take a picture of the front of the card!!!  BUT, this is how the card ended up.....I made an aperture card using the largest die from a set of Daisies dies from Joy Crafts. I placed the first die in the centre - you could guess but I used the pencil line as above - this made spacing the cuts much easier.  Then all I needed to do was to adhere my DP to the inside front, and.....

My finished card personalised with my bowling team mate's name using the Provocraft Harmony Alphabet.

I was left with 3 daisies!?!?!?!  Now, I don't like to waste anything, so.....I scored lines on the petals

made a tag, added the daisies and a number.....

and with another sheet of DP decorated the inside of my card.

Since Maria was not too keen on the idea of being 40 I thought this was a better idea than placing the numbers on the front!  However, I did tell her that there were worse things than being 40 - it could be her 50th!  As the saying goes .... "It not the years it's what you put into them that important!"  Happy Birthday Maria - have a great day today!

I have found that the Joy Craft dies cut with easy on my Cuttlebug and have not heard of any problems from my readers.  This company's dies are available from my supplier Liz (link on the sidebar) and this week (18th July to 25th) she is offering free postage on UK orders.

I told you this idea was adapable - you could use any of your small dies to create an aperture card.  I have used butterflies, squares, even Christmas trees - I'm sure you will tell me of others!  I will expand this idea soon because I think I know a way of using up even more leftovers and we all have these! 

Right back to my workdesk, it should be in a fine old mess by Wednesday for WOYWW - perhaps with something a bit unexpected?????   Enjoy your day!

Cuttlebug Cupboard - Spellbinder Mega Rectangles

Today's tutorial is based on the Spellbinder's Mega Rectangles,  I actually did this way back in January, and somehow forgot to post it!  But, better later than never.

As with all the label dies, the difference between the sizes means that layering is more difficult.  If you like wide borders, you are okay - but what if you like to have narrow borders?  My friend, Andrea explained this to me, but it was only by playing that I cottoned on.   Cool Andrea! This is how you do it.

With the same die, cut 2 shapes  The die-cut with the image is then embossed.  You can use the TAN mat or an embossing tool to run round the edge whilst the die-cut in still in the die.   Following the line of the embossing, cut off the embossing.

and when fixed together.....you have a narrow border!  An alternative way would be to cut and emboss round the image as usual, then draw round the die and cut with scissors.  I have tried both ways and found that by cutting the edge off of the inner shape it was less noticeable if the cut was not exact! 

The next part of my card was to cut another die-cut - this time I used a border from the Joy Crafts range. These dies are smaller than the Spellbinders, but have their uses in your craft box.  Having cut the die, I inked and dusted with Metallic Perfect Pearls which is perfect for a grunge look!

Next some simple matting and layering, which I actually find not so simple to get square!

and my finished card......

The image is a digital download from Sketching Stamper which I love!  It's big and bold and beautiful!!

Hope you like this idea and will find a use for it in your crafting.  Thanks Andrea for your help.

Tippy Thursday - Joy Craft Border Dies

Sometimes you see a die and wonder what it will be like cut and embossed.  So I thought I would show you a set of dies from Joy Crafts that I bought last week from Liz at Make a Lasting Impression (you will find the link on the sidebar if you would like to see more of this company's product).

 

These are the dies cut and embossed.

I found that they cut better using the sandwich  A / C / Die cut side up / card / B

The dies are cheaper than the Spellbinder dies and they are not as sturdy, but the cut and embossing I found quite satisfactory, and the designs are lovely.

 

This is how I used  one of the dies to make a card base

.  Despite the poor picture, I think you will see they are very effective.

My thanks to all who have left comments this week, your imput is greatly appreciated.  Unfortunately at times I cannot get back to you if you have a query or suggestion if you do not have a blog, or leave me an email address.   So I will continue to leave messages for you either on my Tippy Thursday post, or on the comments page where you left your query.  Hopefully this will work - if not....I'll think of something else!

Alexandra:  Your suggestion was interesting and I think I have tried or seen something similiar, but I would love to see your work and if possible share it with other Cuttlers.  Could you leave me a contact on the comments page please.

Nellie Snellen - Extending a rectangle die

I have received a query about my post yesterday and so to make my instructions more precise I have a few photos for you.

Emboss your strip of card

Position die

Run through the Bug to this point and then run back again 

so far....so good....you have your first cut

Place your die at the other end of the strip - part of the first cut will need to overlap the new cut and at this point it is important that they line up exactly

make your second cut

to this point - then run back again

your extended rectangle!

Sorry if I confused anyone with me brief instructions, hope these pictures will help you.

AND, thanks for letting me know - I would rather you tell me if I have made the instructions to brief, then I can put it right.  Sometimes I do something automatically and forget that I have been doing it for a long time and that others may not have!  Have a good day....