Cards for the Neighbours !!

Hi Everybody,

I had a little play the other day when it was cold wet and windy and these cards are what I came up with

I made six Christmas cards all the same and used my Brusho Crystal Colours to get the background

The  Sleigh and Reindeer stamp was free with Simply Cards and Papercrafts and everything else was in my "Stash" already.

They all have ribbon and Bakers Twine on them and I have added in two gold bells to each bow.

I think they turned out quite pretty and the neighbours don't visit my blog so they won't see them until they get them !!

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Dreamer ...

Hi Everybody,

The sentiment on this card has been stamped onto parchment and embossed in white ... and then curved around the panel to raise it from the base

The verse is from Sheena Douglass and is one of several on her  Little Bit Sketchy  range

The background has been done in Purple, Emerald Green and Ultra marine Brusho Crystal Colours.

These Crystals are so much fun to play with and no two panels will ever be the same.

Over the top of the background I have stamped with Versamark and heat embossed the butterflies with white powder

I have added in some of my baked Ikea dots and layered the coloured panel with lilac card onto a white base.

The finished effect is very vibrant and I am quite pleased with the way this card has turned out.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Brusho and embossing ...

Hi Everybody,

This bright and cheerful card has used several techniques in its making.

The first thing I did was to create my background with the Brusho Crystal Colours and I used Orange and Red

Then I added in the flourish with Versamark and white embossing powder and heated it till it was raised

The gold dots are created with a mask and some embossing paste that was sprinkled while wet with gold glitter

I left that on one side for a few hours to dry completely and then I shaped the card with a corner rounder

It has been matted onto gold mirror card and layered onto the card base with foam tape to give dimension

Spellbinders have lots of word sentiments and this is Hello from Phrases Set Two

It was cut in black card several times and layered together to make it stand out from the card.

There is a very simple, quick and easy card to do and the colours are what make it stand out from the crowd.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - Font One Uppercase

Hi Everybody,

This "Thanks" card is created with the  Font One - Uppercase  set of dies and it is very easy to do. The pictures  will take you through the  steps you can follow to get this look for your self.

Spellbinders Supplies:

•  S6-009 Font One Uppercase
• PL-001 Platinum Die Cutting and Embossing machine

Other Supplies:

• Brusho Crystal Colours
• Ribbon from my "stash"
• Acrylic Flower Wild Orchid Crafts 
• Altenew Halftone Thanks stamp

Instructions:

 Fold an A4 piece of  white card in half to create your base and keep  the fold at the top. 

 Use a brightly coloured background and trim it slightly smaller than the base. 

Cut another white layer slightly smaller than the coloured layer and this is the one we will work with

Select the letters that spell out "Thanks" and lay them on the edge of the ruler so that they are level.
 I have the cutting edge facing downwards and I add tape to the back to keep them all together.
This also makes it easier to pick up all the letters at the same time

Place all the taped letter onto the last white layer that you cut... but don't press them down
Make a very feint pencil line where  you would like your word to sit on the card front.

Remove the taped dies  and place the rest of the sentiment  under the line ... where you would like it to sit on your card.

Once you have it stamped in black and clear heat embossed,  add the letters back again to the card and this time press them down and run through your die cutter

Keep the die cut letters for another project but remember to save the little triangle from the die that sits in the letter "A"

I have then erased the pencil line and dry embossed my card with a folder from my "Stash"

Flip the card over and place the foam pads on the back  so that they support the outer edge and also the letters. That will stop them collapsing on the card. 

Then add it to the brightly coloured background leaving that  little border around the edge.
Replace the little triangle to form the letter "A" correctly

Add in some ribbon and a bow and place some enamel dots or gemstones around the card front to finish the look.

Try this idea with other words ... maybe someones name and as long as the word fits on the card front it will look really good.

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

You Are My Sunshine ...

Hi Everybody,

Todays cards are some of the samples I will be showing you next week on Create and Craft.

It is one of the new die from the Simply Said Collection from Spellbinders.

There are several in the collection that all say different things and  this one is You Are My Sunshine 

These dies are designed to create a full card front for you in one easy pass.

I have chosen to do mine in black card and add it to a Brusho Background for a dramatic look.

The pink one is with Centura pearl card and I have inked through the die before removing the card

Very plain very simple ... no flowers no ribbons and no pearls on either of these

I hope you will join me for the 4 Day Deal  next week from the 19 th October on Create and Craft

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Emerald card

Hi Everybody,

For this card I have used the Emerald Green from Brusho Crystal Colours and teamed it with Black and White

The Octagon die that I have used along with the Scalloped Octagons are now retired from the Spellbinders website.

To this I have added the "Hello" which is a matching die and stamp set from  Altenew.

I bought mine from Make The Day Special  and they have all the latest stamps and dies from many many companies.

I thought that this turned out to be quite a striking card and is just another way to use up all these playtime sheets I made with the Brushos and using dies that I already have in my "Stash"

More tomorrow...

Hugs xx

One Background - Two Cards (Video Tutorial)

Hi Everybody,

Still playing around with Brusho Crystal Colours and having lots of fun with them.

I thought it would be a good idea to make two cards from one of my pieces and so not waste any of my efforts

For this one I have used Lemon and Emerald Green and the video shows you how I did it.

The die I have used is the Classic Heart  and teamed it with the matching Scalloped Hearts

And the heart that was cut out has gone on to make another pretty card but with a different sentiment.

I bought my set from Make the Day Special and is Grand Greetings  by My Favorite Things

There are four useful phrases on the sheet and they are quite large stamps

I hope you enjoy the video and will pop back again as there is a lot more to come




The offer for the beads went very well and they went like hot cakes. 

I ended up sending out 30 packs altogether  ... with a little extra gift from me inside each one ... and they have been sent to Canada,  USA, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and all over the UK

Please let me know when they arrive with you and I hope you enjoy the packages 

Some of you said you would like some but didn't give me your address ... so sorry you missed out and you are now too late they have all gone. 

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Tuesday Tutorial - Spellbinders Alphabet

Hi Everybody,

Alphabets can be used in lots of different ways apart from the obvious. We just need to think outside the box and see what else we can come up with to make sure we really get our monies worth from this ever useful die set

Spellbinders Supplies:

• S6-001 5x7 Matting Basics A
• S6-002 5x7 Matting Basics B
• S6-009 Font One Uppercase
• EL-015 Bricks and Bark 
• PL-001 Platinum Die Cutting and Embossing Machine

Other Supplies:

• Brusho Crystal Colours
• Enamel Dots from Want2Scrap
• Stamp from Make the Day Special

Instructions:

With die #7 from Matting Basics A cut two in white and create a hinged card 

 (Die #1 is always the smallest)

From a bright coloured background and #7 from Matting Basics B cut one panel 

(I used Brusho Crystals - Ultra Marine for my background)

Cut another white panel from #6 Matting Basics A and this is the one we will work on

Space out the Alphabet letters of your choice, face down in a random fashion, onto the correct side of your card and cut and emboss them though your machine

Then remove them from the card but keep the letters for another projects

Also keep the tiny pieces that are part of any of the letters that you have used  like the "O" or the triangle from the "A"

Once you have the dies removed then emboss the panel in any folder that you have available. I used the Bricks and Bark 

Place foam pads around the open spaces to support the card and also add pieces of foam to the back of the pieces that you saved from the previous step.  

Remove the backing from the pads and place it onto the bright background you have leaving a small border around the edge

Replace any of the pieces that you saved from the letters that you cut

Stamp in black and clear heat emboss the sentiment and add some strips of the background card around it then add foam pads to the back of it

I chose to use white enamel dots and I coloured them with a marker pen to match my card. 

They dried mottled which fitted in perfectly with my background. 

Add them randomly to the card

Designers Tip:

Another way to use the panel with the cut out letters is as a stencil and simply ink through the card to create another type of background for your cards

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx

Brusho Crystal Colours

Hi Everybody,

So today is Griffs' Birthday and tonight we are going out to our favorite restaurant.

Over the last few days I have kept him busy and we have been adding new videos to the website

Altogether there have been several completed tutorials and I will add them over the next few days.

This  one was to show you how I used the Brusho Crystal Colours that I bought at the craft show the other week.

These are so much fun to play with and no two cards will ever look the same.  I did the two blue roses  above with the same colours, stamps and sentiment but they do not look the same.

And yesterday the ladies in my card class also got to play with them too. 

This is their first attempt and both seemed to enjoy the process. These two cards are what they produced.

The Brusho colours are very vibrant and need to be used sparingly. But I know you will love them if you do get some to play with

More tomorrow ...

Hugs xx