Petal Power

Here's a gorgeous layout from Emma G ... using her favourite new tool ... the iTop Brad Maker! Also ... using Glimmer Mist on paper flowers is so easy but extremely effective ... it takes them to a whole new level!

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of pink card 8.25"x9.25" and stick to the sheet of yellow card (towards the right hand side).
2. Cut your photo to 3.5"x5.5", a piece of the strip paper 3.5"x2", and a piece of the pattern paper 5"x7.5". Stick these to the centre of the pink piece of card.
3. Spray your flowers with the Glimmer Mists (we used the Iridescent Gold spray on the yellow flowers, and the Pearl spray on all the others). Leave to dry (or use a heat gun to speed this part up!).
4. Create three brads (two small, one medium) using your stripeand pattern paper and the iTop Brad Maker. This is a really easy tool to use ... just follow the instructions in the pack ... I love the fact that I can make co-ordinating brads for our projects!
5. Layer and arrange the flowers on your layout. Put a brad through each flower (and through the layout).
6. Stick the layout in the centre of a piece of white scallop card.
7. Add journalling down the right hand side of the pink piece of card using the glitter pen.

Ingredients

- White Bazzill Scallop Cardstock (white scallop card)

- "Lemonade" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow card)

- "Petunia" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card)

- "Sundae Stripe" Doodlebug Patterned Paper (stripe paper)

- "Ice Cream Parlour" Doodlebug Patterned Paper (pattern paper)

- "Pastel" Pack of Woodware Paper Flowers

- "Pearl" Glimmer Mist

- "Iridescent Gold" Glimmer Mist

- iTop Brad Maker

- 16mm iTop Brads

- 22mm iTop Brads

- iTop Brad Maker Templates (or Punches)

- Assorted Brads

- Sakura Stardust Pen (for journalling)

Hours Minutes Seconds

Using Paperartsy's new Clocks stamps plus Viva Precious Metal Paints ... Emma G has made this fab card ...


Instructions

1. Stamp the clock image all over the front of your card blank with the brown ink pad. Leave to dry for a few minutes, and then spray the glimmer mist over the top. Put to one side to dry.
2. Cover a small piece of chipboard (approx 1.5"x2") with a thin coat of Ferro using the wooden spatula. Spray the clock stamp lightly with water and then press into the Ferro. Release the stamp and clean immediately (Ferro and Terra are dimensional pastes, so you don't want to leave any on your stamp or it could distort the image next time you use it!). Leave to dry (or alternatively use a heat gun).
3. Repeat with another piece of chipboard and the Terra (if you decide to use a heat gun, don't hold it too close or in one area for too long, as the Terra will bubble - a fab effect - but not what we want this time!).
4. When your two pieces of covered chipboard are dry, cut the clock shapes out. Using pieces of Cut'n'Dry foam, apply the Precious Metal Paints sparingly (I usually use what's in the lid after it has been given a good shake). If you want the colours to be defined, wait for the previous layer to dry before going over (as these paints can be mixed together). You will notice that the Terra covered piece will have a "pearl" like finish, and the Ferro one a "glittery" finish.
5. Cut a piece of blue card 3.5"x3.5", and a piece of brown card 3.25"x3.25". Stick the pieces together and then onto your card blank.
6. Plan where you want to put your clock pieces, and before you stick them down, stamp your quote and greeting with the brown ink pad.

Ingredients

- White Square Card Blank

- "Lagoon" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card)

- "Elk" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card)

- Chipboard

- Paperartsy Clocks 4 stamp set (clock)

- Paperartsy Clocks 5 stamp set (quote)

- Viva "Ferro" Metal Effect Colour Paste "Steel"

- Viva "Terra" Terracota Effect Paste "Sahara"

- Wooden Spatula

- Heat Gun

- Viva Precious Metal Paints (White Gold, Turquoise, Copper, Blackberry, Olive)

- Cut'n'Dry Foam

- Craft Sheet

- Mini Mister (filled with water)

- imagine that ... All Occasions stamp set

- Glimmer Mist "Caramel Apple"

- "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad

- Acrylic Block

Lots more to come today ...

Thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate our 3rd Birthday yesterday!

Today (Sunday) we've got some fabulous new demos and a new Make & Take ...

Copic Ciao Pens with Emma H

Glimmer Mists with Emma G


And a fab Hero Arts Cling and Viva Precious Metal Paint Make & Take with Ann or Kim

We hope to see you there!

It's Snowing!

Not really ... yet!

Here's a sneak peek of the Christmas cards Emma G will be sending this year ... really quick and easy to do (she made 20 in under 3 hours the other night ... that works out at about 10 minutes for each card!)

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of "Whitewash" cardstock 3" x 3", and emboss using the embossing folder. Sand the raised image so that the underlying colour 'pops' through.
2. Cut a piece of silver foil cardstock 3.5" x 3.5".
3. Glue the two pieces on top of each other on your card blank.
4. Punch a circle from white cardstock. Stamp your greeting and edge the circle using the silver ink pad.
5. Punch out a silver foil snowflake.
6. Stick the circle and snowflake onto your card using 3D foam pads.
7. That's it ... told you it was simple!

Ingredients

- White Square Card Blank

- Silver Foil Bazzill Cardstock

- "Whitewash" Coredinations 6"x6" Pad

- Diecutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug/Big Shot etc)

- Cuttlebug "Snowflakes" Embossing Folder

- Sanding Block

- Snowflake Punch (green)

- Circle Punch (green)

- imagine that ... Christmas Greetings Stamp Set

- Silver Encore Ink Pad

- 3D Foam Pads

Here are some of the other colour combinations ... the 6"x6" pad gives you so many colours to choose from ... and you can get four embossed pieces out of each sheet!

Just For You

A gorgeous card by Judy using the Prima Say It In Studs flower centres ... but as flowers themselves!

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of cream bling cardstock 6"x8" and fold in half to make your card blank.
2. Cut a piece of brown cardstock 2.75"x3.5", and ink the edges with the brown ink pad.
3. Die cut a piece of blue bling cardstock with the scallop rectangle Nestabilities, and a smaller piece of cream bling cardstock with the plain rectangle Nestabilities (so that they "nest" inside each other). Ink the edges of the cream bling rectangle with the brown ink pad.
4. Stick the three "flowers" onto the cream bling rectangle, and then draw the stems and leaves with the brown pen (alternatively if you have an appropriate stamp you could use it!)
5. Stick a piece of thin blue ribbon around the bottom part of the cream bling rectangle. Tie a small bow with another piece of thin blue ribbon, and then stick to the ribbon strip.
6. Glue the cream bling rectangle onto the blue bling scallop rectangle, and then onto the piece of brown cardstock. Stick this to the card blank using 3D Foam Pads
7. Die cut a small rectangle of the cream bling cardstock, and a slightly bigger scallop rectangle of blue bling cardstock using the Nestabilities. Ink the edges of the cream bling rectangle with the brown inkpad.
8. Stamp a greeting onto the cream bling rectangle, and then glue onto the blue bling scallop rectangle.
9. Stick the greeting flat to your card (just tucking it slightly under the brown cardstock)

Ingredients

- "String Of Pearls" Bazzill Bling Cardstock (cream bling cardstock)

- "Sparkle" Bazzill Bling Cardstock (blue bling cardstock)

- "Pinenut" Bazzill Cardstock (brown cardstock)

- Prima Say It In Studs Flower Centres

- Rectangle Nestabilities - Plain and Scallop

- Die Cutting Machine (Big Shot/Cuttlebug etc)

- Thin Blue Ribbon

- "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad (brown ink pad)

- Brown Pen

- 3D Foam Pads

A Rose By Any Other Name

Emma G was itching to get her hands on one of the new Hero Arts Cling stamps ... and used this blog project as an excellent excuse to make a number of these "Thank You" cards ...


Instructions

1. Cut a piece of blue cardstock 3.75"x4.5", and piece of patterned paper from the pad 3.5"x4.25". Stick them together, and then onto your card blank.
2. Stamp the image on both the green and pale yellow cardstocks. Cut the green image out whole, and the square message area of the pale yellow image. Stick these together.
3. For the large flower punch out two big, two medium and one small daisy from a co-ordinating patterned paper from the pad. Layer them together (alternating the petals), and secure them to the stamped images with a brad.
4. Repeat for the small flower, but with just two medium and one small daisy.
5. Stick the stamped images on top of the patterned paper on your card blank, and then 3D the flowers buy pulling them up towards their centres.
6. Colour in the leaves, stem and flower buds with the glitter pens.

Ingredients

- Cream Card Blank

- Cosmo Cricket "Early Bird" Mini Deck 6x6 Paper Pad

- "Light Butter" Bazzill Cardstock (pale yellow cardstock)

- "Reed" Bazzill Cardstock (green cardstock)

- "Aqua" Bazzill Cardstock (blue cardstock)

- Hero Arts "Thank You" Cling Stamp

- Archival Ink "Coffee" Ink Pad

- "Retro Flower" EK Success Whale Of A Punch

- "Retro Flower" EK Success Medium Punch

- "Flower Power" EK Success Small Punch

- Small Copper Brads

- Sakura Stardust Pen 719 (red glitter pen)

- Sakura Stardust Pen 734 (dark jade glitter pen)

Emma G stamped a number of images onto different coloured cardstocks (which co-ordinated with the paper pad), and then mixed and matched them with the patterned papers to make a range of cards. Think outside the box ... if you dont't ink up and stamp the "Thank You" words on the stamp ... you can always replace them with a different greeting!

Tick Tock

Paperartsy have come up with a fab range of new stamps ... and they work brilliantly for men! There is "Clocks" from the Ink & The Dog range, or "Ding & Dong" under the Squiggly Ink banner. Come along to our birthday weekend (21/22 November) if you want to see some fab ideas on how to use them ...

The card below was created by Emma G!

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of brown cardstock 4.5" x 9" to make your card base.
2. Stamp the image onto a piece of cream cardstock using the Versamark ink pad. Cover with gold embossing powder, and then heat until melted. Trim the piece quite close to the design.
3. Using the Cut'n'Dry foam, apply the ink from the Distress ink pads all over your embossed image - blending the colours into each other. The best way to do this is to place your piece of card on your craft sheet, dab the foam into the ink pad, and then starting on your craft sheet, pull the colour onto your piece of cardstock (this stops you from getting and harsh edges from your piece of foam). You can keep going back over and building up the colours until you get a result you like.
4. Layer your stamped piece of cardstock onto the dark brown cardstock (so you just have a tiny border), and then layer at the top of a square piece of gold metallic cardstock (ours is 3.75" x 3.75"). Stick your layered cardstocks to the card base.
5. Colour another piece of cream cardstock with the Cut'n'Dry foam and Distress ink pads as before (about 2"x2"). Stamp your greeting using the coffee Archival Ink pad, and then punch out a circle with the punch.
6. Roll the edges of your circle through your Versamark ink pad, and then dip in the gold embossing powder. Heat with your heat gun.
7. Flatten a bottle cap (the easiest way is in a big shot/cuttlebug OR use a hammer!), and then stick your greeting circle in the middle. Stick the bottle cap to your card.
8. Edge your card base with the gold ink pad for a finishing touch.

Ingredients

- "Espresso" Bazzill Cardstock (brown cardstock for card base)
- "Brown" Bazzill Cardstock (dark brown cardstock)
- "Cream Puff" Bazzill Cardstock (cream cardstock)
- Gold Metallic Carstock
- Bottle Cap
- Green Circle Punch (1")
- Paperartsy "Clocks 1" Stamp Set
- Versamark Ink Pad
- Gold Embossing Powder
- imagine that ... "All Occasions" Stamp Set
- "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad
- Acrylic Blocks
- Heat Gun
- Distress Ink Pads "Tea Dye", "Antique Linen", "Frayed Burlap" & "Brushed Corduroy"
- Cut'n'Dry Foam
- Craft Sheet
- "Galaxy Gold" Brilliance Ink Pad

Autumn Glow

As soon as Emma G saw this gorgeous paper from Basic Grey ... she knew exactly how she was going to use it on a card!

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of dark brown cardstock 4" x 12", and fold in half to make the card blank. With the fold at the top, round the top left and bottom right corners with the corner rounder punch.
2. Cut a piece of sand cardstock 3.25" x 5.25", and a piece of the patterned paper 3" x 5". Round the top left and bottom right corners of each piece.
3. Stick a piece of brown rick rack along one of the stripes on the bottom half of the patterned paper, and then stick the patterned paper to the piece of sand cardstock.
4. Stamp your greeting onto a piece of white cardstock, and trim to size. Stick the greeting onto a piece of sand cardstock, and again trim to size but leave an extra 0.5" to the left of the greeting. Attach the layered greeting to your patterned paper with the brad.
5. Stick the patterned paper/sand cardstock piece to the card blank using black 3D foam pads (I find white 3D foam looks glaringly obvious when using dark colours!).
6. With Glossy Accents glue your buttons in place, and then go over the leaf design on the patterned paper. Leave to dry.

Ingredients

- "Brown" Bazzill Cardstock (dark brown cardstock)

- "Rusted" Bazzill Cardstock (sand cardstock)

- Basic Grey "Indian Summer" Cordovan Patterned Paper (patterned paper)

- Brown Rick Rack Ribbon

- Glossy Accents

- Black 3D Foam Pads

- Corner Rounder Punch

- 8mm Copper Brad

- White Cardstock

- imagine that ... "All Occasions" clear stamp set

- Small Acrylic Block

- "Coffee Bean" Brilliance Ink Pad

- Buttons