May God's light shine even brighter in your life in 2015.
May blessings and abundance be yours in all areas of your life.
May the New Year be even more than your wildest expectations.
May it be a wonderful year filled with creativity!

Be blessed!www.chiswick.co.za/blog

 Now that the Christmas celebrations are over I am in the mood for getting to work on some other projects. So here goes…
I created this little friendship quote heart element as a reminder to myself.

 I started off by cutting 2 tags with the top rounded using 2 different patterned papers. In the end the two tags together will form a heart shape.
On the one heart I added some double sided tape strips. On both tags I cut slits 3/4 of the way from the bottom straight edge to the top. These slits will be used to weave the tags together to for a heart.

 Remove the double sided tape backing and cover the sticky side with glitter from the Chiswick range.

Use scrap paper and cut a decorative border using one of the beautiful border punches from Chiswick.

 Fold the punched strip over and adhere it to the back of the heart as a hanging tab.

Add some of the small blue flowers from the border punch to the decorated heart. Add diamante, pearls, flowers and a border strip.

 Add additional glitter strips once the tags are weaved together.

A nice easy project to get the creative juices going again. I love how the colours from all the different products worked so well together.
I used these wonderful products from the Chiswick range
Die cut stickers – Funky Fun st1002
Ultra fine glitter sb4225
Simplciity Strip Punches – Daisy pct770
Remember to visit the website to see all the products available in the Chiswick range! Ask for them by name at your local craft store!
I will be back later this week, with a little New Years project to celebrate!

Well I hope you are having a wonderful festive season and getting some much needed creative time into recharge your batteries so to speak. For this blog post I create a Soap Box picture frame - just a fun little altered thing. Every now and again I find a box that will be perfect for something, and this something was it!

I started off by covering it in patterned paper from the Damask Delight paper pad. I also used the striped paper from the pad to create a band across the top. To decorate the front and sides I used some of the beautiful Christmas dies available for 2014.

 CO723926 – BON BON

The Bon Bon die was turned into a flat "wrapped sweet" to adorn the front of the box.
On top of the sweet I added the word "happy" cut with the Christmas banners die. Love these words!

The little holly flower is from the Bon Bon die and decorated with a small diamante - have you seen the huge range available from Couture Creations? Stunning!

The Bon Bon was cut into parts to use, and this little left over bit formed a nice clasp at the top of the box giving the impression that it can be opened.

The sides of the box was decorated with the diamonds popped out of the die and decorated with diamante in between.

Here's how i used the dies on my project
step 1 - Cut the bon bon out of patterned paper

step 2 - Keep the flower and diamond parts to use them later on

step 3 - Cut apart the die - I used two side sections and then folded it in half on the score lines. Adhere them together to form a nice sturdy sweet.

step 4 - Use the middle section and cut off the ends. Trace it onto another piece of patterned paper from the damask paper pad. Ink the edges.

step 5 - adhere the cut out part to the top of the sweet part and then add your word banner, flower, and ribbon bows around the ends.

And there you have it - how to turn your Christmas themed dies into something that you can use all year long - not just around the festive time! So get creative and start digging out those dies!
Here's wishing you a wonderful Festive season! Until next time - Peace and Love!

CO723926 – BON BON

CO723910 – CHRISTMAS BANNERS

 CO723904 – BIRDS & BRANCH 

 Damask Delight | CO723545 

Remember to visit the blog for more inspiration and like us on Facebook!

Welcome to another blog post with a quick die-cut card. Now that the festive season is well underway and most of the festive crafting is done, I took the opportunity to create some quick cards for the new year, birthdays and just general cards for the special people around me.
For this card I used the lovely Rose and Lacy die cut. I combined the two together to make a framed rose card and just love the way it turned out.

I used the Damask Delight Paper pad to create with for a fresh colour combination.

The rose fits perfectly inside the border around the inside circle when using the die-cut - so you get two pieces that you can use - love the multitasking aspect of it.

The grey frame is backed with the beautiful lime green circle paper - plain with some colour

Step 1 - cut the rose using your quick release paper and rose die.

step 2 - cut the lacy 8 die out of grey patterned paper and remove the circle part for a second card, keep the frame part for this card.

step 3 - Cut a piece of patterned paper from the Damask paper pad to back the frame part with. I cut mine into a square that sits behind the frame. Adhere the frame to the patterned paper and then adhere it to the folded card front.

step 4 - Adhere the rose die cut at an angle inside the frame.

step 5 - Adhere a strip of striped paper from your paper pad to the bottom portion of your card. Stamp a sentiment onto a scrap piece of paper and adhere to the strip at the bottom. Add machine sewing around the bottom portion of your card. Add embellishments to finish off your card.

A quick and easy die-cut combination for a striking card. Don't be afraid to use different collection dies from different releases together to create something truly beautiful.
Here are the products I used from Couture Creations

Lacy 8 | CO723241 

Roses – CO723744
Quick Release Die Paper
15 x 15 Cutting Mat ^Premium Craft Tools
Damask Delight | CO723545 
Remember to have a look at all the wonderful new releases from Couture Creations,
and to like us on Facebook for all the latest news and releases.

Today I am super excited to share with you that Chiswick is now stocking this wonderful and uber versatile Xyron Creative Station amongst other goodies from the Xyron range. If you have never owned one of these super versatile machines then you are in for a treat – I love mine!
So for today I wanted to share a layout I made, and just to change things up a bit I altered my photo on this layout. I used my Creative Station to turn my photograph sticky and then covered it with clear glitter for a funky effect. You can still see the photo clearly but it has a really unique and interesting look.

the detailed die-cuts I made using my Cuttlebug was also adhered using the permanent adhesive – it works perfectly every time!

I also used the permanent adhesive refill in the Creative Station to add adhesive to the back of my die-cut word  – this definitely makes it a lot easier to adhere these delicate cuts to a layout. Quick and easy. No mess and no ugly adhesives all over.

I simply love the effect – having said that it would definitely work much better with certain bolder images than light colored detailed photographs.

The creative station can easily be opened at the top and the cartridges changed to suit your needs – anything from permanent adhesives, to laminating to magnets – the possibilities are endless.

For my photo, I printed the photo to size, and then inserted it into the station with the photo face down. Push the photo right to the front of the machine and then turn the handle to feed it through to the back of the machine.

At the back of the machine, there is a blade – push down the blade and pull it along the machine from right to left to cut through the material. Remove the material and then peel off the plastic layer on the front.

Lift the photo off of the white backing – the photo will now have a sticky layer on it. Sprinkle the photo with clear glitter and rub off the excess glitter.

The photo is now covered in a hazy layer of sparkle – beautiful and unique. Perfect for something a little different.

So hop on over to your local craft store and ask for the Creative Station by name XYRON – look out for more handy articles using this little machine to follow during the holidays to get you into the creative mood.
If you have any problems getting hold of any of the Chiswick products, contact Denise and she will help you out.
Here is a link to the products on the website – happy shopping!

Creating beautiful Christmas cards do not have to cause you headaches anymore. To be honest I am not sure what we used to do without our Cuttlebug machines and embossing folders, do you?

Here’s how I created my card
Use your Cuttlebug and embossing folder and emboss the image twice on two pieces of white cardstock.

Use red chalk paint and a sponge applicator and lightly paint over the embossed raised areas of the one embossed card.

On the second embossed card, use black chalk paint and a sponge applicator and paint the entire image using the black paint – make sure the entire surface is covered in paint. Leave to dry thoroughly.

Use a cloth or your finger tip to burnish the chalk over the entire surface. This will soften the look of the chalk and also give the black paint that traditional chalk board look.

Matt the panel onto green cardstock, add a strip of washi tape and then sew around the edges of the panel to add texture and finish off the look. Add diamante, buttons and ribbon bows to finish off your card.

Here’s to making a quick embossed chalkboard Christmas card in a few minutes using the Cuttlebug and all those beautiful embossing folders.

I love recycling and especially this time of the year it seems so easy to do – when one thinks about those less fortunate, there is always a way to save some money on Christmas decorations and rather help someone in need. Something small can be something really big! So we all have loads of light bulbs that either haven’t been dropped off at the recycling bin, or have been replaced and still works. Well this little project features a new light bulb. My DH was so kind to remove the base part of the bulb so that I could fill it with snow aka Glass glitter and make a little ornament.

Next I adhered the glittered light bulb inside a recycled tomato paste tin filled with green moss.
I also added some fake red berries and leaves as well as a stamped sentiment.The sentiment is stamped using Pearlescent ink from Chiswick and a Christmas sentiment stamp.

 And there you have the easiest of decorations for the lunch table that can also act as a name place card, or a quick little decor item to dress up our home for the festive season.

 I used the following products from the Chiswick line
Ultra fine glitter sb4225
Pearlescent Black ink pad rs3365
 Easy cut trimmer sb4400

Ask your local craft store for these Chiswick products or give Denise a call should you have any problems getting hold of stock in your area.
Happy Crafting!