Do you want to build a snowman?

If you have a child or grandchild of a certain age you will immediately recognise the title of this blog as the title of a song from the movie Frozen which to which I know all the words which have seeped in through osmosis over time.

I realised that it has been some time since I made any cards with my beloved Framelits circle dies which are always popular whenever I take them to a demonstration or workshop because it shows what can be achieved using the simplest shape and a sprinkling of imaginative fairy dust!

Most of these cards feature complete circles but below is a diagram which shows how to unlock the creative potential of circle dies by simply placing the die back onto a die-cut circle to create two separate shapes namely a crescent and leaf. By clever positioning the die you can create thin or fat leaves and crescents depending on what you need for any particular project.

Let's get on to the fun stuff! I have combined two sets of Framelits circles to give me a little more choice, the only other die used in this project is a is a snowflake from the fabulous Thinlits Paper Snowflakes Set by Tim Holtz. I started by die-cutting two white circles and a brown snowflake.

 Next, I stamped a sentiment onto a strip of cream card before tearing along both edges. I am using a stamp set from my stash and I haven't got a clue where it comes from, believe me, I've trawled the Internet to try and find it but the good news is that there are many similar options available!

After adding the stamped strip to the top of my kraft base card I attached the larger circle in the bottom right hand corner before trimming away the over hang with a craft knife. Next I added the smaller circle using adhesive foam pads before adding a triangle of orange card cut with a pair of scissors. Can you see where this is going?

 I used my scissors to cut a couple of asymmetric strips of red spotty card (Double Dot by BoBunny) before snipping into the ends to represent the tassells on a scarf. 

Remember our die-cut snowflake? I cut away two pieces to represent the snowman's arms before gently curling both halves of the scarf to add a little dimension.

 Here is the finished card complete with a few black adhesive pearl gems strategically placed to create the eyes,mouth and buttons. Really simple but great fun!

I have been using the Framelits Holiday Knit die set quite a bit lately and today I am using it to create a stencil. I then die-cut a blue circle before cropping it using a larger Framelits circle die. I cut a couple of asymmetric rectangles of the same blue card for 'sleeves' before applying white gesso through my home made stencil using a sponge applicator.

I die-cut a white circle for the head before adding the nose and eyes as before and I used my scissors to cut a tiny tag, accuracy isn't important for this! I punched a hole in the tag, threaded it with twine and attached a red die-cut heart.

This is the final card. The background was decorated with white gesso applied through the Tim Holtz Speckles stencil and  I added the stamped sentiment near the top before assembling my snowman using the 'Snowflake' hands.

For the next card I started by die-cutting two circles to make the head and body of the snowman. To create the mouth I used the technique outlined at the start of the post. The result is this small brown crescent.

 I attached the snowman to the bottom of my base card (there is a blue strip added in the final card OOPS!) and cut a strip of blue spotty card to make the scarf. I used my tweezers to add folds to the scarf before applying under the snowman's chin.

For the sentiment I used this alphabet stamp set (Hobbycraft if I remember!) stamping onto Kraft card.

You can see where I added the blue strip before mounting the snowman. I trimmed the words to size before attaching to the base card using adhesive foam pads.

The finishing touch is the white die-cut snowflake taken from one of my all-time favourite Decorative Strip dies namely Winter Elements by my good buddy, and fellow Christmas baby Paula Pascual.

Last but not least I die-cut three different white circles and a pair of snowflake arms before assembling my snowman. I then cut a length of thin twine and curled both ends by wrapping them around my tweezers.

I added the twine to the snowman with a glue gun before die-cutting a selection of tiny stars using a Christmas Stocking die from Debi Potter's Festive Paper Arts Range. To create the mouth I made a die-cut crescent and cut away a small rectangle which when added to the die-cut snowman looks like a lone tooth!

Here is the finished card with the stars added to the twine forming a festive garland. The background is simply two stamps creating a pattern by stamping repeatedly with pale colours.

I had so much fun making these cards and if you like them I may make a few more for next weeks blog. Sadly I ran out of time before running out of ideas, I wish every day could be like that!

"Happiness" Card by Gerry van Gent

Happy Sunday Sizzix friends!

Today I have a card to share with you which was

created with awesome new Sizzix Thinlits dies.

660515 Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit

657551 Sizzix Framelits Die Set Circles

NEW 660728 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set Christmas Trims #3

NEW 660823 Sizzix Thinlits Die Floral Festival

660485 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set Layering Daisy #2

*         *         *

The base of this double card is created with the Circles dies.

Totally in love with the cute and so pretty  Floral Festival die.

I layered a few different die-cuts to decorate the top of the card.

 ....and a few close-ups for you...

I cut the Trim in two and used it to decorate the daisy.

OTHER PRODUCTS I USED:

Prima Marketing - pattern papers

Webster's Pages - "happiness" quote

*         *         *

Thank you for visiting us today!

Have a creative Sunday!

Gerry

Cool for cats

Cats are everywhere you look these days.... cat stamps, cat papers, cat buttons and trinkets and of course cat dies. if you are a cat lover or just a lover of beautiful dies then do yourself a favour and pop the words 'Debi Potter' into the search bar on the Sizzix.co.uk website and check out her latest collection.

One die in particular has filled me with inspiration, and that is the Bigz Kitten which I am going to share with you today. I was going to make one card and ended up making two but I'm now left with ideas for a dozen more which will have to wait for another day and that, my friends is the definition of a good die.

For the first card I used a paper pack from Lily of the Valley and a right old mish-mash of stamps from my ever growing stash.

I began by cutting two heads from contrasting papers. I used scissors to trim away part of the blue stripped paper and inked the edges with Weathered Wood Distress Ink before attaching to the pink face after which I inked around the edges and added detail with a black fine line marker pen

 Next, I die-cut two bodies and repeated the stages above before die-cutting the rest of the elements together with the eyes and nose.

I applied the stamps to the right of a 15 x 15 cm white base card using grey and black ink and mounted all of the elements together before attaching to the card. Told you it was a great die!

 I attached watercolour paper to mount board to prevent warping and die-cut all the elements to create my cat before applying two shades of Distress ink to the cat's head. To help the colours blend and give the appearance of watercolour I applied water with a mister.

I used a stamp with a typewriter letter pattern but feel free to use any suitable text design stamp. I applied the ink to one corner as shown in the first photograph before stamping onto the head with the orange Distress Ink.

I die-cut the eyes, nose and collar and coloured with Weathered Wood Distress Ink before die-cutting the heart charm and colouring with two shades of red. I coloured the tail and body in the same way as I did with the head. Next, I cut a rectangle of pink spotty paper and distressed the edges using a sanding block.

I scrunched around the perimeter of the pink paper and mounted it onto a white base card before adding the stamped detail (if only it said Feline Groovy!!!). I attached the cat using PVA and adhesive foam pads. 

Hope you love this die as much as I do... can't wait to use it with textiles!

Tribal inspiration

I have been looking forward to using the dies from the new Tribal range since I first used them in December to prepare for our upcoming trade shows. Tribal textiles and designs are all over the high street as we speak and this range is perfect for both paper crafters and textile artists with the inclusion of so many gorgeous Sizzix Bigz dies.

The dies are all designed by my good friend Debi Potter who has a wonderful eye for the next trend in die cutting.

I'm using just one set of dies from the Tribal range namely the Elephant Duo Thinlits set which comprises two super cute elephants and a couple of heart dies.

I had the great pleasure to be demonstrating at Sprinkle Twinkle in Kings Lynn last weekend, we had a wonderful time and it's so nice to see a retailer which goes that extra mile for it's customers. 

It's a great shop full of inspirational ideas and products. While I was there I fell in love with a couple of stamp sets from a US company named Precious Remembrance Shop. Apparently, Sprinkle Twinkle are their only UK stockist at the moment but I'm sure they are going to be huge. The set I used is called Positive Thoughts Stamp Set which is just one of many great collections.

Don't you just love it when you stumble across a great new product and want to share it with the world?

Anyway... Back to the cards! I die-cut the large elephant from a warm grey card and applied a little Distress Ink around the edges (Pumice Stone). Next, I die-cut a strip of rust coloured card across the heart detail on the die. I Attached a couple of strips of sticky tape to the rear of the main elephant and  lightly inked the top of each heart before attaching them into their corresponding aperture holes

I continued with this process until I had decorated the whole elephant. Next, I cut a 12 x 12 cm square of ivory card before rounding of the corners with a punch. I applied some Old Paper Distress Ink around the edges and added some stamped detail. Next, I stamped my sentiment onto ivory card before colouring the heart using markers before trimming it to size, inking the edges and attaching to the rectangle using a stapler.

I attached the rectangle to a deep blue base card with staples and added a couple of Die-cut hearts from the same set.

I was only going to make one card but then I looked at the other cute little elephant and it seemed a crime not to make another! I die-cut the elephant in two shades of brown and inked the edges as before. Next, I cut an 8 x 14 cm rectangle of ivory card before rounding off the corners. I inked and stamped as before and applied my sentiment using adhesive foam pads.

I die-cut three large and two small hearts and I placed the large hearts and the elephant onto the rectangle, roughly in the position where I want them to sit before using a marker to make a dot at the top of the elephants body and at the bottom of each heart. Using a ruler I joined up the dots with the marker and added some bows to give the illusion of balloon strings.

And here is the finished card, I love the combination of the contemporary shapes and super cool stamps, hope you do too?

Christmas(cards) in September.

Hi Sizzix UK friends!!

I can't believe that half of September has already gone...! Ok, so let's face it; if you want an early start on those Christmas cards,NOW's the time to start!

Sizzix has really done a great job of helping us make gorgeous cards for this season as they have some really beautiful new dies out.

I made a couple of Christmas card in traditional colours and they were so easy to do. These dies have been designed by the talented Debi Potter and I think they are really beautiful.

And here is a close up of each card on its own:

I backed the design with some red cardstock to add to the festive feel and also added some pretty pearls to the design.

Ok, so that was my first seasonal cards of the year and I can see many more in the future :-)

Thanks for looking!

I used these lovely dies:

Big Shot machine only (Powder Blue and Teal)

Sizzix Thinlits die set 5 pk - Christmas Trims

Sizzix Thinlits die - Merry Christmas

Papers and pearls are by Papirdesign.

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Hej alla Sizzix vänner!

Kan ni fatta att snart har halva september gått!? Om man vil komma igång tidigt med julkorten så är det NU det ska ske :-)

Sizzix ger oss god hjälp på traven med de nya snygga diesen de kommit ut med. Med de nya diesen som Debi Potter har designat är det en baggis att göra vackra julkort. Dessa är riktigt snygga!!

Här är ett par bilder lite närmare inpå varje kort.

Jag backade motiven med röd cardstock för att öka julkänslan och jag lade till några vita halvpärlor också.
Ok det var årets första julkort, men så kul som det var kan jag se att många fler kommer att göras i god tid innan jul :-)

Tack för att ni tittar inom!

Dessa produkterna använde jag:
 Big Shot machine only (Powder Blue and Teal)

Sizzix Thinlits die set 5 pk - Christmas Trims

Sizzix Thinlits die - Merry Christmas

Papper och pärlor är från Papirdesign.

116 Days....

.... 'til Christmas! you heard it here first folks! I know, I know, it's a bit early to be talking about Christmas although from conversations on my travels many of you have already made your cards or are about to start.

Believe me when I tell you I am the last person who needs reminding as I will turn 30 on Christmas Day...or was it 50, I can never remember!

This is the time of year when all the major Craft manufactures launch their festive ranges onto an unsuspecting public and we here at Sizzix are no different.

The range I want to talk about is Festive Arts designed by the prolific Ms. Potter. If you remember I introduced her woodland range to you last week. The range has a contemporary Nordic feel to it, and coincidentally I was demonstrating it among others in Norway a couple of weeks ago!

The set I used is a Thinlits Die Set called Christmas Trims #2 (659913) which is one of 6 sets in the range. I decided to make some simple mini card using the Christmas tree and robin/mistletoe dies. I started by die-cutting them from kraft card before die-cutting all the extra bits and bobs from green, red and gold card, trimming away the parts I needed with a craft knife and mounting them in place.

I attached rectangles of ivory corrugated card behind each assembled die-cut which are now ready to mount. I created a couple of small cards out of kraft card before cutting a couple of rectangles of patterned paper from Carta Bella's Merry & Bright 6 x 6 paper pad before gently sanding the edges to add a little definition. I attached both rectangles to their base cards using staples and stamped them using postage frank marks from one of my favourite Christmas stamp collections from the guys at Darkroom Door. 

Here are the finished cards, as you can see I replaced the adhesive pearl gem on the mistletoe with a wooden button threaded with natural twine. I love the way the dies dictate the style of card, a style which I am very happy to follow.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The title of this blog refers to one of Roald Dahl's fabulous collection of children's books illustrated by the genius that is Quentin Blake. I am particularly partial to children's book illustration as is my good buddy and fellow designer Debi Potter.

Debi and I trained as illustrators at the same time, in the same college where I specialised in cartoons and she specialised in children's book illustration which brings us neatly to my point.

Debi has designed a range of woodland themed dies which are just adorable so if you like Die-cutting, foxes and owls you need look no further. Luckily for us Europeans it is exclusive to our region too.

For today's post I chose the Sizzix Bigz Die - Fox Face (659910) which I have used quite a bit recently for both paper and textile based projects. I began by die-cutting the face from ivory corrugated card and some Orange patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Collectable range. I inked the edges of the die-cut shapes and attached the corrugated card shapes in position.

Next, I employed one of my favourite paper craft cheats by using a pattern makers wheel and marker pen to create a faux stitched effect around the perimeter of the die-cut shapes. Sometimes, life's to short to pull out your sewing machine and change the bobbin! I die-cut the nose from brown card and attached it with a 3D foam pad. I used adhesive black pearls for eyes although you can die-cut them if you prefer.

I folded an 8 x 11 cm base card before trimming to my desired shape. Next, I applied Distress Ink to the edges to add definition and added my faux stitching.

I wanted to make a tail, so I die-cut the fox's cheek from orange patterned card and ivory corrugated card. I trimmed off the top of the ivory card and attached it to the orange die-cut before adding the stitching.

The next bit is all scissor work, I decided to smarten up Mr. fox by adding a collar and tie. The collar is cut from stiff ivory card and the tie from patterned paper from the Collectable range. I inked the edges and crumpled the tie before attaching both to the base card along with the assembled tail.

And here is the finished card, Quite dapper I think?