Since August 2010…..

I haven’t been too well since August so haven’t had the energy to Blog. Decided to do a mini catch up.

I’ve been spending a lot of time attending online classes on how to learn more about my electronic die cutting machine The Pazzle Inspiration. Finding the classes quite inspirational and tiring all at the same time as when i’m awake it is a need to want to create and cut.

Some of the following  have been cut then inked, stamped and embossed depending on the type of card required.

 

  

The above card is for my OH.  This was one of the hardest cards i’ve ever made. Took so many attempts to get everything just right and ready to cut; Am really pleased with the finished result.

Also been making belly bands and boxes to wrap and deliver pressies in.

 

After looking back over the last few months it seems i haven’t been taking too many pictures either.  They must still be on the memory card…

Will upload more pictures when i can find them lol …

Hoping you all had a very Merry Christmas and are enjoying the holidays.  Thanks for dropping by:-)

Mini Book Blanks

Worked hard yesterday measuring, cutting and assembling a number of mini book blanks (22 to be exact) which are being delivered to my favourite charity later this week.  Also cut some paper into a similar size so the pages can be decorated with ease.

 

I did find something else out about the Cinch while i was preparing the mini books.  There are five pages in each book which requires a thin O Wire, about 1/2”, to secure the pages.  The Cinch will only bind 3/4” upwards, i was quite surprised but am glad i still have my Zutter to put the smaller wires into place. 

I have NOT been put off purchasing the Cinch, overall it is a better machine especially if you have joint  or vision problems.  Go and use the Cinch for yourself before you make your mind up, reviews are just that, someone else’s point of view.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

Hot Pick 1009

Purchased  new stamp plate 1009 from Paper Artsy last week and have made three cards so far.  Really loving the images on this set as a tad different from the previous ones.

The bottom image shows the finished card with envelope stamped to match.   The flowers that have been placed on top of the stamped flower image are made from a piece of shiny paper that had been alcohol inked and then cut out using a Sizzix small flower die which is  quite old.  Made dimensional flowers by layering and securing with a brad; used Pinflair glue to attach the finished flower to the card.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

Metal Flower

Tried my hand at making a metal flower as demonstrated by Leandra from Paper Artsy on You Tube.  Doesn’t look perfect but ok with that as will get better with practice.I found some sticky backed Aluminium sheets from QVC, which i think have been discontinued, so didn’t need to use the very strong red adhesive to stick the metal sheet and card stock together just peeled the aluminium sheet back and stuck straight down.

Used some of the Walnut Hollow tools to create details to the metal flower edges.

Would  enjoy reading your comments; thanks for dropping by:-)

Three Cards This Week

I make cards for a Charity close to my heart and decided to make something slightly different for them this year.  Here is my first attempt at a Halloween card. Used a Cuttlebug Folder, Paper Artsy and Creative Expressions stamps and Distress Inks.  The font is from a kit i was given a long time ago and finishes off the card really well:-)
I’ve been trying to use up some of the older kits i used to purchase before i found the wonderment of rubber stamping.  This one came with hand made paper, flowers and some large sequins.  Sprayed the hand made paper with Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays  and stamped onto the sequins using Creative Expressions flower stamp.
The next card was a mad moment, you know when your brain has decided it wants to use a certain piece of card then you find a container with die cut shapes that you’ve had forever and are surprised to find… Many moons ago i was experimenting with Alcohol Inks and glossy paper and put the results away as they were just too vibrant; i found them a few days ago… Then i was searching for some paper and found the die cuts, my brain decided that it would be a good idea to stamp all over the glossy card with one of the new stamps from Paper Artsy and above is the result.
I stuck the shapes onto the glossy card using the new Eco Glue by Julia Andrus (which is a fantastic glue and works really well on most surfaces); cut around them and made this…
The card is from Kanban; stamps from Paper Artsy and Creative Expressions, distress inks from Tim Holtz.  Not tried making a flower from such large heart shapes before but it’s not too bad. Very vibrant and warm with the word ‘LISTEN’ to complete…
Thanks for dropping by. comments would be appreciated:-)

Paper Artsy Dies

Love playing with these dies and experimenting with different surfaces to cut.  These have been cut from 300gsm card, painted with Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paints fired Brick and Frayed Burlap.  Painted the card first with Frayed Burlap the with the Fired Brick; sanded the pieces to show the first layer of paint and to get that ‘distressed’ look.

Stamped over them with the matching Hot Pick Plates 1004-1008. Probably going to use them in my Art Journal…

Thanks for dropping by :-)

ATC’s to US

Made four RAK’s this week which are going to be flying over to the US very soon.

Used a Crafty Individuals Postcard stamp and coloured with Walnut Stain Distress Inks. Used Paper Artsy stamp from Hot Pick Plate 1005 on the ATC base.

Used a crown die cut from my Pazzle Inspiration machine, the car is a Paper Artsy stamp from Hot Pick Plate 1008. The decoration for the crown was part of another stamp from the 1008 stamp plate.  Used Vintage Photo, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Inks to colour the base. 

Used Dawn Bibby Woodland Stamp sets here, love the adorable little owl the lovely swirly tree and the ‘tweet tweet’ saying.  Used Distress Inks and Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays for the ATC base.

These two have to be my favourites this time around…  One of the bases was left white the other was a combination of distress inks and Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays to create a sunset look.  The stamps are from Crafty Individuals and Creative Expressions. I also used Tim Holtz Dabbers in Black to stamp the trees. 

Tried out a new technique for me but a very old one for most other crafters. It was great fun to apply the ink onto the stamp, just dabbed away until i felt there was enough paint to produce an image. Both times the image turned out differently as i applied pressure onto the stamping block.  I like the slightly haphazard way they turned out, sort of mystical…

Thanks for dropping by and would love to read your comments:-)

Shrink Plastic Workshop

Attended a really fantastic Shrink Plastic Workshop at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich last week.  The tutor was Helen Jackson, known to her friends as ‘The Queen of Shrink Plastic’ as she has always had a fascination for working with this medium.

Black shrink plastic is one of Helen’s favourite colours to work with as she say’s that this is quite flexible when ‘superheated’.  First of all we sprayed it with Sticky Fingers mica sprays which are available from Paddys. 

Translucent shrink was the next to spray with mica colours.  Took about two hours for the sheets to dry so we could play with them.  While the sheets dried we played with Stazon ink pads both the opaque and the new metallic colours.

I wasn’t too sure about the new metallic Stazon colours when i first used them; upon reflection they do give a slight dimension to the finished shrink piece and looked more like an enamelled piece of work.  They are quite expensive at £9.99 per pad and you have to ink them up quite regularly while stamping.  Only got about three or four clear impressions with each re inking, it is messy to do this too.  I think i will stay with Brilliance ink pads for the time being; if you try the new Stazon metallics please let me know what you think.

This picture isn’t too clear, sorry about that but the best i could do at the time…  These curled pieces are from the translucent sheet above.  When the sheet was dry we were guided to choose some stamps and to cover the whole sheet with our chosen images.  We then keyed the reverse of the sheet and used chalks to colour the whole area. 

Helen then showed us some amazing techniques using a mini oven, kebab and cocktail sticks, fantasy film and Intaglio.  I really need to take more pictures and post them as this was one of the best workshops i’ve attended and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Helen as a tutor.

Thanks for dropping by :-)

Promarkers

HobbyCrafts have got another sale on for Promarkers packs, only £4.74 for a pack of five.  Is it time to go and get the colours i haven’t yet got?  Trying to decide…

 

Here are a few images of the Forever Friends Bear stamp coloured in using Promarkers. These first ones were coloured using Vanilla and Coral pens.

 The second set of images were done using two different colours of Pens. Wanted to experiment with how they would look using the darker pen first leaving gaps in the colouring and filling is the lighter colour second.  These are my favourite images from all of the one’s i coloured in.

Used the same technique here as i really love the fact that they look watermarked after they have dried.

Tried this time to use contrasting Pens to see how this looked.  After colouring in the images i got to enjoy using the Pens.   At first i really didn’t like them but my thoughts are now to use them sparingly in the projects i do when it’s appropriate to do so.

Do you like the way they have turned out?  Would be great to get your comments:-)

Paper Flowers

Decided to have a go at making paper flowers this week as they seem to be quite popular at the moment.

Used Paper Artsy Hot Pick stamp plates 1004 and 1006 and two of their die cuts too.  I used paper tissues that had mopped up Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays from a Teflon non stick mat for the outside two flowers.  The middle flower was made from dried out baby wipes that had also mopped up mica spray colours.

I loved the two very distinct textures that these flowers bring.  The tissues are light and crisp and the baby wipes are just like velvet.  The tissue also has a sheen whereas the baby wipes are flat colour despite having mopped up mica colours.

The above two flowers were made from the same materials but have different centres to them.  I like to keep all of the tiny papers that are made from punching out with the Zutter and the Cinch.  Place a few in the centre of each of the flowers and cover with Stickles Glitter Glue or a clear dimensional glue. When dry they make lovely glittery embellishments.  I shaped the bases on this occasion to give a little more depth to the completed shape.

Enjoyed making these very much, here they are on a thank you card.

 

Thanks for dropping by, please leave a comment as it’s always good to know someone has dropped by:-)

Art Journal Pages

Finding it difficult to work with reds, yellows and oranges and words…  You’d think that it would be easy to create Journal pages when you enjoy having a chat and used to be told that “i had been injected with a gramaphone needle” when i was much younger. 

Over the years i have become a very private person, especially in this age when everyone seems to want the World and all it’s inhabitants to know all about them.  When i attended the Journaling Workshop i was quite eager to learn how to write but forgot to wonder exactly what i could write. I am still pondering…

This is the first of my pages, nothing flows and the colours clash too much but it’s all a learning curve and nothing is considered wrong in Art Journaling; love this a lot… Lets see what happens when it’s time to play on the next pages; maybe i need more white writing…

The background was painted using Stewart Gill paints and stencils. The flowers are from a sheet of decoupage, hand cut, sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays, scrunched and finished with a fancy brad.  I adore all of the new Hot Pick stamp plates from Paper Artsy and can’t stop using them.  The leaf shapes from plates 1004 and 1006 can be used as a cute bird shape as seen above; just add legs…  The larger birds were die cut from toilet roll inners using the Paper Artsy  Die Cuts coloured with Ranger Daubers and glitter pens.

Thanks for dropping by, feel free to leave a comment as it’s nice to know someone has passed this way:-)

Cleaning Up Day

I unfollowed some Blogs today which i don’t go and look at that often, this is just because i don’t have the time not because i don’t like their Blogs.

Have tried out a couple more surfaces with the Cinch and now know that it does indeed go through CD’s, toilet roll inners and most metals, even the thinnest. 

Found some very old cigarette cards which i hope to use in either card making, Art Journaling or jewellery making.

  

Made a card from the new Paper Artsy Hot Pick plate 1007 stamp; also used one of the Sheena Douglass flourishes; a Dimension Fourth word stamp; a very small watch part and Spray & Shine spray from Crafters Companion. Used Distress Inks Barn Door and Brushed Corduroy.

Tied out this months Craft Stamper freebie and really love the design.  Stamped onto a dried out alcohol free wipe which had cleaned up some Broken China Distress Ink.  Cut them out and glue onto your chosen surface, they feel like velvet when dry on card.

Off to start making some Xmas cards for charity.  Thanks for dropping by:-)

Today’s Cards

Made three cards today & all for different reasons.  The first one is to say Thank You for a job a very kind person did for me:-)

The second is to send my good friend a get well soon card:-)

The last card is to wish a neighbour good luck in their new home:-)

The first two cards have been made using Paper Artsy stamps and Distress Inks. The last card has a Letterpress background; Dawn Bibby Design stamps and a ribbon recycled from a pair of pyjamas i got as a xmas pressie.

Thanks for stopping by:-)

A Late Fathers Day Card

Used up old foil  instead of throwing it away on this card.  Inked up a white background card with Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire and the covered it with the used up foil.  I like the way the shapes of the rub ons have kept the piece interesting.

The Nestie shape is one i got from Paddys Stamping Place a few months ago.  Much cheaper than the original Nesties and  work really well with the Big Shot.  Put the die cut shape through a Cuttlebug Folder to get the flower design and inked over the top again with DI Chipped Sapphire.

Used Cosmic Shimmer mica sprays to make my own background papers which were then used to make the shapes for the card embellishment.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

It’s A Cinch

First saw the WRMK Cinch binding machine on QVC last week. I was quite taken with it but with already having a Zutter Bind it All i wasn’t too sure whether the Cinch was required.  I listened as Andrew from WRMK informed us about all the machine could do…

There were a number of advantages over the Zutter the main one being ease of use. I have joint problems and find working the Zutter quite difficult on occasions. I liked the horizontal working area, the fact that you can get more papers prepared at once  plus the biggest seller was that the Cinch has been designed around the Cropodile and i know how many surfaces this can go through. 

QVC had a special price introductory price and 3 easy pay option.  Mulled it over for 24 hours and decided to go ahead and get it, the Cinch arrived yesterday! The delivery man couldn’t get an answer so dropped the box over my back gate, when i opened the box up it was so well packed that the machine sustained no injuries, thank goodness. Loving the instructions that come with the machine, very simple and easy to understand.

The other thing that i liked about the Cinch is the ability to punch out holes where you want them. I’ve never worked out how to do that with the Zutter.

The above picture shows the two thickest pieces of mount board i could find and a sheet of acetate which have all gone through the Cinch.  All these pages went through without any problem and i love the clean cut.  The only thing i miss are the square holes that the Zutter cuts.  The collection tray is huge and so doesn’t need constant emptying.

Storing the Cinch is great as it stands upright and is lightweight enough for me to move around. 

This machine has been thought out really well, is lovely to use and i’m glad i took the plunge.  My Zutter is staying as there is a place in my craft room for both of these binding machines.

Thanks for dropping by:-)

Art Journaling Workshop

Managed to attend an Art Journaling Workshop at Paddys Stamping Place late last week.  I have been trying to get on this workshop since last year but due to one thing or another hadn’t managed to do so.

I received an email from Paddy with details of upcoming workshops and rang to see if there were any spaces when i was told yes i booked immediately!!!

Sarah Anderson was doing a repeat of her Art Journaling 1 and 2 courses. Perhaps i was lucky as got a crash course in journaling as i only expected to complete Part 1. 

Chose an 8x8 size book to use. Thought this might give more space to practice for techniques and writing practice.  Sarah gave an overview of what Art Journaling is all about; my understanding ‘be in the moment, use colour and words as they reveal themselves and have fun’. 

Above is Sarah explaining how to use paint without thought, just get it onto the page and be as messy as you like… Below my very first blank journal pages…

Just to get the idea of sploshing (a technical term…) i chose colours i really like and went to town.

To get my page looking like this i used Stewart Gill Colourise paints and stencils from various companies. Carried on building the page; stamped out a couple of images then placed onto the pages in a random manner and left room for writing if i wanted to do that at a later stage.

Our next task was to colour a few more pages, this time using colours i wouldn’t normally use or want to experiment with. I chose to use more Stewart Gill paints and Mica Sprays.

This next page is one of my favourites so far, used torn up book pages some of which i’d stamped on by mistake earlier in the day. Painted over using different coloured paints and finally overstamped the page with True Colour white paint over a Paper Artsy stamp and added a couple of embellishments.

  

Got to finally have a go at a technique i’d heard about but never had the time to try using shaving foam and re-inkers.  Sarah got really messy and showed us how to mix, apply and remove the shaving foam from the page. I thought it was going to be quite damp and was surprised when the page was completely dry.

Had to go over it immediately as not a huge fan of yellow, used stencils and paints as before. Doesn’t look too bad when it’s photographed…  The last pages were coloured using Tim Holtz Distress Inks. 

Sarah brought out her vast array of alternative tools to bring texture and shape to your journaling.  Some of these included plastic cooking utensils, doilies, cleaning cloths, rubber mats, felt mats for spraying through, the list was quite extensive.  She also showed us how to take a small marble, cover it in paint and roll over the pages to get a really different look.  The message was look around and see what you can re-use…  Tried to give a fancy edge and used a very large flower on the left hand page, i do have plans to show it off better but that’s for another day.

The afternoon session was more about how to use fonts when you are journaling. Consistency is the keyword, stick to the same font for the page you are working on; unless you don’t want to of course as it is down to how you feel in that moment :-)

I would like to mention something that many people overlook; when you have got to a stage where you are happy with your page take a picture; this can by used as a background for you to print out for some other project.  There are so many programmes available where you can manipulate your own backgrounds to create something very unique.  Here are a couple of mine…

Thanks for dropping by and i hope you are having fun with your crafting projects too:-)