Thursday 30 April 2009

My First Blog Award!

Hi Everyone

I just wanted to let you all know that I got my first Blog Award from Lynne the other day!

Thank You so much Lynne, I'm glad you like my work enough to give me a lil award

:o)



Phill

xxx

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Triple Embossed Penny Black Card







I love this card and the nice summer colours!


Preparation is the key to this card,..leaving the messy job till last!


Triple embossing is so easy to do and looks stunning...why pay for fancy epoxy stickers when you can make something that not only looks better,..it's more fun and cheaper lol



Equipment and Materials Used

15cm x 15cm Lemon Blank Card
2 A5 Sheets of Bright Floral Card - I used a freebie from a magazine ;o)
22mm White and Lemon Organza Ribbon
Making Memories Instant Setter or Single Hole Punch
Woodware 1.5” Daisy Punch
Woodware 1” Daisy Punch
Crystal Stickles or Glamour Dust
Penny Black Garden Friends Acrylic Stamp Set
Black Stazon Ink Pad
Acrylic Block
Woodware 1” Fern Leaf Punch
Scrap of Green Cardstock
White Cardstock
DS Tape
Extra Strong DS Tape (I use Woodware Power Tape)
Foam Pads (2mm)
Koi Small Water Brush
Scrap of Lemon Card
Clear Ultra Thick Embossing Powder
Versamark Pad.
Heat Gun
Dovecraft Primary Brush Markers

Instructions

Trim one of the pieces of patterned card to fit your blank card, leaving a small border around. Colour the edges with a brush marker in a coordinating colour. Attach to the card with DS tape.

Trim a 10cm x 10cm square off the second patterned card, colour the edges with a different coloured brush marker.

Punch three holes on the 10cm x 10cm piece of card on the top left corner and again on the bottom right corner (about 1cm in)

Attach the organza ribbon to each hole, tying it in a double knot, trim to tidy it up at the edges.

Attach this piece of card to the bottom right corner of the main card with foam pads, leaving a border on the bottom and right side.

Cut an 8cm x 5cm piece the white card and stamp your Penny Black image onto it with the Stazon.

Colour in with the Brush Markers using the water brush. (Top Tip – You can water colour with brush markers two ways, either take the colour from the nib of the brush marker directly with the water brush or draw a squiggle of your colour on an acrylic block and take the colour off there with the water brush – I do the direct technique)

Punch 2 1.5” Daisies in Lemon Card and stick together with tape. Punch a 1” Daisy in the patterned card and attach to the top of the lemon Daisy.

Punch 1 green Fern Leaf.

Now the fun part.

Stamp over the whole of the stamped image with the Versamark pad and tip the Ultra Thick Embossing Powder over it. I do this over an old take away tub.
Heat with the heat tool until the powder melts completely clear, leave this to cool down and dry. Then simply repeat this process twice more, you will eventually end up with a complete covering that looks like a thick clear lacquer. Leave to cool down. The image will have curled a little due to the heat...this is normal so don’t panic.

Once the embossing has cooled down, mount it with extra strong DS tape onto a piece of scrap lemon card, trim to leave a small border.

Apply strong DS tape to the bottom three quarters on the stamped image (on the back – just in case you were wondering lol) Stick this to the 10cm x 10cm piece of patterned card so that it hangs over at the top.

Stick your built up Daisy to the bottom left of the image using a foam pad and stickle (or Glamour Dust) the edge of the petals and centre.

Apply DS tape to the reverse of the Fern leaf and position under the daisy and stick.

You know what’s coming next…..

Put the kettle on…..you have earned it!

Happy Crafting!

Phill
xx




This is another colour choice for you,...the one we did at tonights workshop.
Phill
xx

Monday 20 April 2009

3 Panel DL Oriental Screen Card



3 Panel DL Oriental Screen Card

This is one of the projects we did on the last Craftathon. I love this Oriental Screen Card and have had so many positive comments about it in the shop. I have made sure that this card will fit into a normal DL sized envelope.
It does take a while to do as there is a lot of cutting and sticking, but it is worth it.
You can also adapt this card to any style, as you will see when I get my Messy Rabbit Screen Card uploaded. :o)

Equipment and Materials Used

1 A4 Sheet Of Board/Thick Card
1 A4 Sheet of Black and White Patterned Paper
1 Sheet of Oriental themed paper.
Oriental Style CD Rom by Sharon Duncan
7mm Black Organza Ribbon
3” Scalloped Rectangle Punch
Purple Cow A4 Duo Guillotine
Making Memories Instant Setter (or Single Hole Punch)
Black Ink Pad
Black Dovecraft Brush Marker Pen
DS Tape (Lots of!)
1mm Foam Pads

Instructions

Using the Oriental Style CD Rom, choose one of the decoupage sheets and print onto photo paper. Also print a co-ordinating background paper. If you don’t have this CD Rom, use any cute’ish oriental character decoupage that has some additional embellishments with it and a matching background paper. Once you are happy with your decoupage, cut it out and build it all up with the 1mm Foam Pads. It does have to be 1mm Foam Pads otherwise it will be too thick. Once it is all built up, put it to one side.

Using the Purple Cow Guillotine (My absolute favourite cutter!), cut the A4 Board into three panels of 9.9cm wide. The height does not need to be changed.

Cover both sides of each panel with DS tape, close to the edge and with a strip placed diagonally in the middle (this stops the paper from bubbling in the centre). Cover one side of all three panels with the Black and White paper and the other side with the co-ordinating Oriental style background paper.

Lay the panels in front of you so that you have the Black and White pattern face up at each end and the Oriental pattern face up in the middle.

Measure up 7cm from the bottom and then 7cm down from the top, about 1cm from the edge of the Right side of the first panel. Make a pencil mark.

Do the same on both the Left and Right side of the middle panel, then only on the left of the last panel.

Punch a hole over the pencil marks using the Instant Setter (or Single hole punch)

Using the 3” Scalloped Rectangle punch upside down, place the bottom of each panel half way into the punch, centrally and punch out (If you can see the same amount of the panel on either side of the punch, it should be central, use the pattern on the punch as a guide)(This may take a few presses of the punch to go through as the card is quite thick, but persevere as it will eventually cut through).

Ink the edges of all three panels with the Black Ink Pad. Use the Black Brush Marker to go round the scalloped area at the bottom of each panel.

Place the three panels in front of you with the patterns as before and thread the black organza ribbon through each hole and tie in a double knot close to the card, but with enough room for it to move.

Use the Black Brush Marker to go round the edge of the decoupage (only if it had a black edge before you started cutting it out)

Now the easy part!

Choose where to put your decoupage and embellishments and stick them to the panels with the 1mm Foam pads.

Finish off with Stickles or Glamour Dust and…..
Put the kettle on…..you have earned it!

Happy Crafting!

Phill
xx

Sunday 19 April 2009

Where have I been?!

Hi Everyone
Just thought I would bring you up to date on what I have been up to, and apologise for not uploading any new projects for a while (I am ashamed lol)
I have been so busy since my last post!
I have been making my own wedding invitations and no, you wont get to see one until all the recipients have had theirs, lol,...it is now such a top secret job that only myself, my partner and Sue know what they are like!...needless to say I think they are fabulous and I will let you see them....eventually.

The wonderful Messy Rabbit collection of stamps etc has been hugely popular in the shop and I admit to having one of all of the stamps, ;o) - Projects I have been doing are on the way, BUT
I have still got to upload the projects from the last Craftathon first.
I have taken the pictures so as soon as I get the instructions written, I will upload the whole package.

Most people that know me know I cant resist new goodies, for myself and the shop. The new Penny Black range of Acrylic stamps will be in the shop on Tuesday and the beautiful new Monochrome and Copper die cut floral decoupage from Craft Uk should be here by Wednesday....I cant wait as I love Black and White projects.

I am also expecting very soon, some more....sshhh, will let you know when they arrive :o)

I promise I will get a new project uploaded by the end of the day tomorrow..

Happy Crafting

Phill
xx