Pastures New!

Hi everyone, well there have been a few changes happening since I last posted. I am no longer working on the design team for Tattered Lace dies. I feel that my style of card making is not quite suited to the lacy delicacy of Tattered Lace dies. I would like to be free to do more stamping and colouring and be able to express myself fully which hopefully my newer projects will reflect.

Here are a few of my recent projects that I have been working on. Recently I have got some Spectrum Noir alcohol markers which are brilliant and I have been using them alongside my Chameleon alcohol pens and have achieved some fabulous results with my colouring techniques.

Here is a card  for my daughter's birthday which is coming up. I have used Sizzix Thinlits Woodland dies using kraft card, burlap, rainbow mirror card and glitter card.

For this next card, I inked a piece of card and then embossed it using Crafter's Companion textures elements sunbeam embossing folder. I then mat and layered this onto rainbow mirror card and black card. I die cut 'Live, Laugh and Love' using a Tattered Lace die and attached it to the card. Using black card I then die cut the silhouette of some birds on a branch using a Spellbinders die. I then attached a couple of wooden hearts which I coloured in with my neutral sparkle pen. To finish I made a flower out of black card, attached a wooden heart and then coloured it in with my black sparkle pen.

I made the second card underneath in a similar way but used a Tonic 'Love' die cut and the branch embellishment is a Tattered Lace blossom die cut.

A few weeks back I signed up for the Crafter's Companion free online colouring course (details on their Facebook page). The course lasted 8 weeks and I have certainly learnt a lot of new techniques. Plus there is also lots of fabulous downloads too, as you can see below I have enjoyed having a little play!

This next card was created using Hunkydory adorable scorable which I had stamped flowers onto it to create a background using Dreamees white glitter embossing powder. This added a lovely subtle sparkle to the background. Next I die cut a couple of hearts using rainbow mirrie card, cut the background in half and then matted the background onto some more rainbow card. I used a topper from the Hunkydory little book of Smudge and Mittens. I distressed the edges with Tim Holtz gathered twigs distress ink and attached it to the card with some pinflair. I then added a piece of acetate to the card to create a dome shape at the front. To finish I added a bow to one of the hearts (behind the acetate) and then I attached a little heart on top of the acetate (over Mittens tummy) and then I added a sentiment to the opposite side.

Again for this exploding box, I decoupaged a topper from the Hunkydory little book of Smudge and Mittens and added some glitter to the flowers and some glossy accents to the character's noses. To raise the topper up, I added a piece of folded acetate to the back of the topper. Next I mat and layered the topper on to some torn edge card and rainbow mirrie card and then attached a couple of glittery pegs to the corner. For the inside, I simply added some more toppers which I mat and layered onto some more rainbow mirrie card and added a little flower and some gems to the centre part.

Lastly, I made this little bookmark using Hunkydory adorable scorable. I cut out the butterflies from a Hunkydory kit and distressed the edges with blue ink. I added these to the bookmark along with some wooden hearts which I coloured in using a blue sparkly pen. I matted the bookmark onto some silver mirrie card and to finish, added some ribbon to the card and a sentiment.

Well thanks for joining me again, I shall be bringing your some more exciting projects soon, in the meantime......happy crafting!!

Summer Holidays!

Hi everyone, well the summer hols have certainly flown by but lots of fun has been had by all. I am however, now looking forward to the kids going back to school next week and having some peace once again restored in the house (well as much as my two year old will let me lol!).

Well as previously promised, here are some pics of my last design team samples which have now been shown on Create and Craft.

For the first card, I used: The Aquarius die from the Tattered Lace Zodiac collection. Centura pearl and silver and blue mirror card stock was used. I then used a Sue Wilson pin dot die to make the frames. I used centura pearl card stock to cut out the Aquarius die. I used blue distress ink around the edges and added glitter to her hair and her skirt. Blue foiling was used to cold foil the swirls of water. I also used a Tattered Lace alphabet font for the writing. The embellishment was made using several swirls of water cut from the Aquarius die with blue and silver mirror card stock, I then added some gems to the middle to finish.The swirly blue background was created using, blue, purple and red distress inks. I then layered a piece of acetate over the top of the swirly background to create a watery effect.

 

 

For the second card, I used: The Aquarius die from the Tattered Lace Zodiac collection. The card stock I used was taken from the shades collection (blush). I cut out a frame using a Tattered Lace Lacy Layers square die and mat and layered it onto a scalloped card blank. I paper pieced onto a blank Aquarius die cut and again used blue foiling to cold foil the swirls of water. I added a sentiment to the middle of the card and then decorated the inside of the frame using several swirls of water. I completed the card by adding some crystals to the corners.

 

For the third card, I used: The Aquarius die from the Tattered Lace Zodiac collection. I used centura pearl and black card stock to create this card. Using a Tattered Lace With Love embossing folder I then embossed the background of the card. Using the Aquarius die from the Tattered Lace Zodiac collection, I then cut out several of the water swirls in black to make an embellishment. I then simply added a ribbon and a bow and then added a jewel to the centre. To finish off I made and added a tag.

Here is the completed picture of the pet portrait commission I had been working on. I had a little yorki when I was younger so I was quite sad to part with this one.

For a while now, I have wanted to dabble a bit with some more home décor and here's what I made at the weekend which I am going to frame in a box frame and put on my wall. I just love the golden, sparkly feel it has.

Here are a few cards I have been making for family celebrations that I have coming up.

 

Well that's it for now, thanks for visiting and in the meantime, happy crafting!

Holibobs

Hello all, hope you are all well. I'm off on my hols as of tomorrow but thought I would share a few sneaky peeks with you all of my next lot of design team samples for Tattered Lace. I will also show you a quick sneak peak of a Yorkshire terrier portrait I am currently working on. The face is starting to come together now but I still have a lot of work to do with the fur on the face.

When I return from my hols I will share my design team samples with you once they have been shown on TV along with some instructions as to how they were made. In the meantime, please visit me again soon....bye for now.

A Starry Night

Hi everyone, just a short blog today to share a couple of my design team samples as they are now being shown on Create and Craft.

This card was created using the Tattered Lace 'Winter Town' die collection. I created the night sky back ground on to a piece of linen card stock using blues and purple distress inks. I then used my quickie glue pen to dot the stars in the sky. When the glue became tacky, I then rubbed some silver foiling into the glue to create the starry night sky. Next, I mat and layered the blue background onto silver and black card stock. I then cut out the silhouettes of the houses several times in black and grey card stock and stuck them on to the card. I cut the main town houses out in kraft card and built up the layers at the front to give lots of depth. I cut out the windows and roofs in white card stock and added gold foiling to the back of the windows to look like lights. I then added glitter to the roofs and window panes to look like snow. Next, I cut out the people in kraft card and the Christmas tree in green card. I then put a piece of rainbow foil behind the tree to look like Christmas lights and added a piece of green ribbon at the bottom to give a grassy effect. Finally, I made a sparkly poinsettia embellishment using a Tattered Lace 'Lavish Poinsettia' die and added some ivy to it. To finish, I cut out a Tattered Lace 'Let it Snow' sentiment.

 

 

This next card was also made using the Tattered Lace 'Winter Town' die collection. I simply cut out the main town houses in white centura pearl card stock and snipped into each one. I then made a frame using two decorative circle dies. Using the main town houses, I then layered them around the edge of the frame. For the background, I used a piece of rainbow card with a piece of vellum placed over the top which muted the colours down and gave a more subtle glow. For an embellishment, I made some flowers by using Dreamees stamps and heat embossing some white glitter onto some vellum. I then die cut some leaves and snowflakes and added some glitter to finish.

 



Happy crafting all!!

Christmas Crafting in July



Good morning all, hope you are all well and thank you for visiting my blog. Here are some of my recent samples for the Tattered Lace design team and some basic instructions as to how they were made. These cards have a Christmas theme as regular crafters will know that Christmas crafting always begins in the summer. Please note though that the sneak peaks from my last blog have not yet been released so hopefully I shall be able to share those with you in my next blog.

For this figure skater card I used pink and black card stock for my layers. Next, I cut a frame out of black card stock using a Tattered Lace 'Laced Edge Essential Square' die. To cut out the middle part of the frame, I used a Tattered Lace 'Torn Edge Square' die. The figure skater was cut out from a Tattered Lace 'Figure of Eight' die. I simply paper pieced some sparkly layers on to the figure skater to give her some character. To add some shadow, I cut out two more figure of eight pieces in dark grey and shadowed one of them behind the figure skater. I then positioned the second shadow on the card next to the main figure skater and coloured it in using my sparkly pens. To finish, using some sticky dots, I added some pink foiling to the edges of the card to create some texture.

I made this hanging decoration by simply cutting out the figure of eight dancer several times in centura pearl card stock. I stuck three dancers together to create a sturdy piece to work with. I then layered up the dancer's skirt several times and to finish, covered with glitter. I also added glitter to the dancer's hair. I repeated this process to make two more figures for my hanging decoration. However, I wanted each dancer to have her legs in different positions so I snipped off the legs and repositioned carefully inside her skirt to hide the join. To finish, I attached the three figurines to a long piece of sparkly ribbon. I made a loop at the top and attached a matching bow to the top and bottom of the decoration. 

This figure skater card was created in the same way as the hanging decoration as again, I wanted the dancer's legs to be in different positions. I used black card stock to create the card and frame and then I used gold gilding wax along the edges of the card and to add colour and texture to the figure dancers.

 

 

 

This last card was created using centura pearl, silver mirror card and blue shimmer card stock. I cut out three die cuts using a Tattered Lace 'Laced Edge Essentials Square' die, two in silver and one in blue. Using some of the waste, I pieced back some of the petals of the flowers to form a pattern. I used the blue petals in the silver mat and silver petals in the blue mat. Next, using a Tattered Lace 'Ice Skates' die, I cut out two in centura pearl and one in silver. I added two layers to the boot nearest the front to add some depth. I cut out the blades from the silver die cut and added those to the white boots. Using blue distress inks, I inked the edges of the boots and decorative parts and then added some glitter to the snowflake design on the boots. Next, I attached the laced squares to the main card and then added the ice skates to the centre of the card using some pinflair glue. To finish off, I glued some silver petals to the bottom two corners to create a couple of little flowers.

 

 

Well that's it for now, I am currently working on a couple of pet portraits to keep me busy, in the meantime......happy crafting!

Summer Crafting!

Hello lovely crafters, been a busy few weeks for me here but hope you are all well. Thought I would share a couple of my more recent makes with you along with a couple of sneaky peeks at my Tattered Lace samples. The dies used will hopefully be released in the next week or two and I will then be able to share the completed samples with you along with a tutorial.

Here is a card I made using a set of stamps that came free with a magazine. I simply mat and layered the finished topper onto some card, added some glitter and then using some Dreamees embossing glitter powders, I then stamped out a sentiment.

As we have recently celebrated Father's Day, I thought I would share the card I made for my hubby to say thank you. Men are often difficult to make cards for. However, I used a Tattered Lace floral skull die as my hubby likes candy skulls and this seemed perfect for him.

 

 

 

So here are a couple of sneaky peeks of my samples I have made for Tattered Lace. Once they are shown on Create and Craft I will upload the pictures on my blog along with a tutorial.

 

 

 

 

Well that's it for now, I have lots more coming in the pipeline. I am currently about to embark on a couple of pet portrait commissions so will look forward to sharing these with you at a later date, in the meantime, happy crafting!! 



 

Tattered Lace Design Team!

Hellooo!!!

Hope you are all well, I am pleased to announce some exciting news. Last week I was very fortunate to meet the lovely Stephanie Weightman, Nancy Watt and Melanie Houghton from Tattered Lace Dies and Craft Channel Productions Ltd up in Derbyshire. Although I was unable to take up the original position of Creative Crafter at their head quarters, I am however, delighted to announce that I will be on their Design Team for the next three months and will be working from home to create some fabulous projects using Tattered Lace products which will hopefully be shown on Create and Craft. So watch this space for plenty of sneak peaks and tutorials as and when I am able to share them with you.

Here is one of my favourite recent projects which was created using rainbow, pink and black cardstock along with a beautiful flowery paper from the Victoria Nelson Step into Summer kit.  I then layered the cardstock together at a jaunty angle. To create some depth, I cut out three heart layers using a Tattered Lace pearl pin dot heart die combined with a plane essential heart die. I repeated this with a smaller pearl pin dot heart. I cut out a couple of Tattered Lace pin dot butterflies in two different colours and layered them together. I also cut out two smaller butterflies from the Victoria Nelson collection and layered those together. I then added the butterflies to the centre of each heart and added some glitter. Next, I cut out two Tattered Lace hidden sweetheart dies and drop shadowed those. This was then added to the front of the card along with some more glitter. Around the edges of the card I added some sticky dots and used some rose pink foil to create some texture. To finish, I simply added a rose and handmade the two smaller ones.

We have a family birthday celebration coming up at the weekend so thought I would share with you the card I have made my sister. This was created simply by using a Tattered Lace pin dot butterfly die, Spellbinders essential mini squares set of dies. I used sticky dots and foils to add texture to the edges. The flowers used were from Tattered Lace and I used an old alphabet die set I had to cut out the word sister. I also added some twine and some glitter to finish.

It is lovely and sunny where I am in the South West so thought I would share the view of my front garden which I love.

Do come back and visit me again soon......bye for now!