imagine that ...

NEW Workshop Schedule

2012-01-01T07:09:00.000Z

If you've not had a chance to check out our NEW workshop schedule for January-March ... where have you been? Here are just a few of them to get your creative juices going ...

Bang!

2011-12-25T07:57:00.000Z

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We just had to share this beautiful exploding box that Judy and Emma G recently made for a childrens workshop.

Due to v.popular demand from our adult customers we will be including a spring version in the January-March workshop schedule ...

2011-12-24T10:41:00.000Z

We would like to wish all of our customers

a very Happy Christmas

and a wonderful New Year!

Thank you so much for your support during 2011,

and we hope to see you soon in 2012 for more crafty adventures.

We'll Always Have Paris

2011-12-18T07:30:00.000Z

A lovely card designed by Judy using the fabulous Spellbinders Shapeabilities Accents Dies. There are so many things you can do with these dies ... and they work well on layouts and home decor projects, as well as cards.

Instructions

Cut a piece of cream card 6"x12", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Stick a piece of ribbon across the centre of the card, and trim at the ends.
Cut a piece of brown card 4.75"x4.75", a piece of cream card 4.25"x4.25", and another piece of brown card 3.5"x3.5", and stick these together and then in the centre of your card blank.
Die cut one medallion and four corners from the cream card. Stick the medallion in the centre of the smallest brown card square, and then arrange and glue the corners around the outside of it.
Stick five small gems onto the die cut pieces.
Tie a bow with the ribbon, and stick it onto your card at the top with a glue dot.
To finish, stamp your greeting using the brown ink pad in the bottom right hand corner.

Ingredients

- "Natural" Bazzill Card (cream card)

- "Carob" Bazzill Card (brown card)

- 1" Wide Beige Satin Ribbon

- Spellbinders "Parisian Accents" Shapeabilities

- Manual Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot / Cuttlebug)

- imagine that ... "All Boxed In" Clear Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad

- 2mm Flat Backed Brown Gems

- Glue Dots

Handstands

2011-12-11T08:13:00.000Z

This scrapbook layout was one of the samples Emma G prepared for our Birthday Demo Weekend ... lots of you thought it was stunning ... and it's actually really simple to do.

Instructions

Place your mask onto the sheet of white card where you want your photo to go. Spray lightly with the Cosmic Shimmer mist (building up the colour in some areas). Note : the spray will cover a wide area - so you may wish to protect the surface you are working on, or place your piece of card in a cardboard box. Gently lift the mask away, and allow your sheet to dry.
Die cut your photo into a circle, and then die cut a slightly larger scalloped circle from the purple card. Stick these together.
When your piece of white card is dry, stamp three swirls coming out from the centre of the masked area (use your mounted photo as a guide to where these should go) with the black ink pad.
Draw three double lines across the length of the page (criss-crossing them).
Stick your photo in place.
Stamp your title with the black ink pad in the bottom right hand corner (starting with the last letter of your word(s), and working backwards).

Ingredients

- "White Bazzill" Bazzill Cardstock (white card)

- "Vineyard" Bazzill Cardstock (purple card)

- "Daisy Doodad" Crafters Workshop 6"x6" Template

- "Plum Twist" Cosmic Shimmer Mist

- Spellbinders Nestabilities - Circles and Scallop Circles

- Manual Die-Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot / Cuttlebug)

- "Arabesque 2" Artemio Clear Stamp Set (flourishes)

- imagine that ... "Alphabet 3" Clear Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- "Onyx Black" Versafine Ink Pad

- Ruler

- Fine Black Pen

May Your Christmas Sparkle & Shine

2011-12-04T12:23:00.000Z

Emma G has finally got round to making her Christmas Cards ... as usual she left it late and had little time ... so the design had to be quick and easy, whilst still being stylish and having a bit of sparkle! She has done one design, but in three colourways ...

Instructions

Cut your dark cardstock 4"x12", and fold in half to make your card blank. Round the bottom right hand corner using the Corner Rounder punch.
Cut your light cardstock into strips x 4" (the height of the strip will depend on which stamp you're using).
Stamp your greeting on the left hand side of your strip using Versamark. With a piece of scrap paper underneath, sprinkle the embossing powder over, and then tap off any excess (put this back in the pot). Tidy up any loose bits of embossing powder on your strip with a fine paintbrush.
Melt the embossing powder using your heat gun (heating from underneath seems to give the best results ... but mind your fingers!).
Run the Encore ink pad around the edges of your strip and your card blank.
Stick the strip onto your card blank (towards the bottom).
Finally, punch out one large and two small snowflakes, and stick onto your card using 3D foam pads.

Note : If you have a lot of cards to make, you may want to do the different points above in batches (ie. punch all your snowflakes in one go / stamp and emboss all your strips etc). Please also remember that the snowflake punches are designed to be used with paper and thin card - using them with glitter card will work, but will also most likely shorten their life!)

Ingredients

* Silver Card = "London Fog" Bazzill, "Sail" Bazzill, "Silver" Glitter Card, "Silver Dollar" Embossing Powder, "Silver" Encore Ink Pad

* Copper Card = "Suede Brown Medium" Bazzill, "Mystique" Bazzill, "Sand" Glitter Card, "Kettle Copper" Embossing Powder, "Copper" Encore Ink Pad

* Gold Card = "Kraft" Bazzill, "Vanilla" Bazzill, "Bright Gold" Glitter Card, "Mirror Gold" Embossing Powder, "Gold" Encore Ink Pad

- Snowflake Punches (15mm / 25mm)

- imagine that ... "Christmas Is In The Air" clear stamp set

- Acrylic Block

- Versamark Ink Pad

- Heat Gun

- Corner Rounder Punch

- 3D Foam Pads

Just Because

2011-11-27T07:54:00.000Z

Minnie Mae-Hemm has returned with a stunning card. We had some fun with this alcohol ink brayering technique on our Re-Ink Christmas card class, and everyone who has tried it has been hooked! Quick, simple, and you never know how it's going to end up! Instructions

Cut a piece of black card 8"x6", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of turquoise card 3.5"x5.5" and stick to the centre of your card blank.
Cut a piece of black card 3.25"x5.25", and stick this to the centre of your turquoise piece of card.
Cut a piece of white glossy cardstock 3"x6".
Place a small amount of each Alcohol Ink in a row on your craft sheet (leaving a small space between each one). The finished effect will depend on how much of each ink you use, and the order that you place them in. Add a few drops of Blending Solution across the row of ink.
Run your brayer through the inks (so that they form stripes on your brayer). Make sure the whole of the brayer is inked up, and that you are just going forward and backwards in a straight line, so that the inks don't mix together too much.
Run the brayer over your piece of glossy card. You will get a patchy effect - which is fine.
Pick up more ink from the craft sheet, and repeat going in a different direction on your glossy card. Keep repeating this (adding more Blending Solution when the Alcohol Ink starts to dry/disappear on the craft sheet) until your piece of glossy card is covered.
Cut your glossy card to 3"x5", and then stamp some of the different size circles over it using the black ink pad (it's always a good idea to start with the largest stamp, and then work your way down to the smallest one - which is idea for filling in gaps).
Stick your stamped piece of card to the centre of your card blank.
To finish ... Stamp your greeting onto the remaining piece of inked up glossy card, and then trim to size. Mat this onto a piece of black card, and trim so there is a small border all the way around it. Stick the greeting onto your card blank.

Ingredients

- "Beetle Black" Bazzill Cardstock

- "Dragonfly" Bazzill Cardstock

- White Glossy Cardstock

- Alcohol Inks - Watermelon (red), Pool (turquoise), Sunshine Yellow (yellow)

- Alcohol Blending Solution

- Craft Sheet

- Brayer

- imagine that ... "Write Big #2" Clear Stamp Set

- imagine that ... "Going Dotty" Clear Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- "Jet Black" Archival Ink Pad

It's Our 5th Birthday!

2011-11-18T09:25:00.005Z

Can you believe we're going to be 5 years old this weekend? Where did the time go? To celebrate we're having a wonderful two days of fun ... * FREE demonstrations * FREE make & take * FREE goody bag (minimum purchase £25, one per customer and whilst stocks last) * PLUS 10% off all products (please note no loyalty points will be given this weekend) * PLUS special offers * PLUS birthday cake & bubbly Here's some sneak peeks of what we've got planned ...

We hope that you'll be able to come along and join us!

Doors open at 10am ...

Home Is Where The Heart Is

2011-10-30T07:35:00.000Z

Stuck for a new home card idea ... how about this one made by Emma G? The felt heart adds some lovely texture ...

Instructions

Cut a piece of the green card 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of brown card 5.5"x5.5", and stick to the middle of your card blank.
Cut out the "home" piece and the strip of houses from the patterned paper. Stick these onto your card with 3D foam pads.
Stamp the letters for "where" onto a piece of brown card, and then cut out leaving no border.
Place the letter stickers temporarily onto the craft sheet, and colour them using the Distress Inks and a piece of Cut'n'Dry Foam.
Cut out a heart from the blue felt (we handcut ours and it is about 1.5" tall), and thread the button with the cotton. Stick these together.
Arrange all the letters and your heart on the card, and stick into place when you're happy with the arrangement.

Ingredients

- "Salsa Verde" Bazzill (green cardstock)

- "Kraft" Bazzill (brown cardstock)

- Bella Blvd "Honey I'm Home" Bits A Bella Patterned Paper

- Blue Felt

- Making Memories "Tiny Alphas" Black On White Stickers

- imagine that ... "Block It Out" Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- "Aegean Blue" Versamagic Ink Pad

- "Fired Brick" Distress Ink Pad - "Peeled Paint" Distress Ink Pad

- "Mustard Seed" Distress Ink Pad

- Craft Sheet

- Button and Brown Cotton

- 3D Foam Pads

Gone Fishing

2011-10-23T08:32:00.000+01:00

Sometimes photos don't need a lot on the page ... Judy has used some simple stamping and stickers so that all the focus is on the fantastic photo.

Instructions

Stick your photo just above the middle of your white scallop cardstock.
Stamp your flowers along the bottom of the white scallop cardstock (we chose a different colour for each type of flower, and stamped them repeatedly at slightly different heights).
Glue your white scallop cardstock onto your piece of black cardstock.
Finally, add your stickers (going right to the edge of the black cardstock with a couple of them, and overlapping the photo with others).

Ingredients

- "Beetle Black" Bazzill (black cardstock)

- "Salt" Dotted Swiss Scalloped Bazzill (white scallop cardstock)

- Karen Foster "Fishing Tales" Cardstock Stickers

- Artemio Stamp Set #10001093

- Acrylic Block

- "Onyx Black" Versafine Ink Pad

- "London Fog" Memento Ink Pad

- "Aegean Blue" Versamagic Ink Pad

- "Pearlescent Poppy" Brilliance Ink Pad

Love Always

2011-10-16T07:03:00.000+01:00

Here's a stunning layout from Judy ... it's got so much bling on it, it was a nightmare to photo ... and the pictures definitely don't do it justice!

Instructions

Cut a small square (approx 4"x4") from the centre of your piece of blue cardstock, and punch three butterflies from it.
Punch a decorative edge along one side of a piece of the shimmer patterned paper.
Cut the piece of shimmer patterned paper so it measures 11"x11".
Glue your photos in place on the shimmer patterned paper, and then stick a piece of ribbon around the bottom section. Glue the shimmer patterned paper to your piece of blue cardstock.
Arrange your embellishments around your photos ... mainly grouping them, with a couple of individual elements to balance the page. When you're happy with your arrangement, stick them down.
As a final touch, add some glitter glue down the centre of the cardstock butterflies.

Ingredients

- "Jacaranda" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card)

- K&Co "Elegance" Shimmer 12x12 Paper Pad

- K&Co "Elegance" Daisy Grand Adhesions

- K&Co "Wedding Collection" Tags Grand Adhesions

- Blue/Gold Two Tone Ribbon

- Martha Stewart "Doily Lace" Edge Punch

- Martha Stewart "Monarch Butterly" Punch

- Diamond Stickles

Penguin Power

2011-10-07T07:16:00.001+01:00

Penguins are THE in thing this Christmas ... and this was our favourite paper line with them on it. Here's an adorable card made by Judy.

Instructions

Cut a piece of white glitter card the same width as your card and approximately half the height (ours was 8.25"x2"). Cut the top edge wavy - so that you create a hill scene.
Identify six penguins and three trees that have doubles on your sheet of paper. Cut one set of the whole penguins and trees, and then a second set of just the penguin hats and the triangle of the trees.
Layer the penguins and trees up using 3D foam pads. Add some bling with the glue pen and glamour dust.
Glue your trees and three of the penguins flat to the card, and then use 3D foam to stick the other three penguins on.
To finish, stamp your greeting onto a piece of white card, and then trim to size, before sticking in the bottom right hand corner of your card.

Ingredients

- White DL Card

- White Glitter Card

- Jillibean Soup "Christmas Eve Chowder" Frozen Haddock Patterned Paper

- 3D Foam Pads

- Personal Impressions "Paula Pascual Stamps" Christmas Messages

- Acrylic Block

- Archival Ink Pad "Coffee"

- Sakura Quickie Glue Pen

- Glamour Dust

NEW Workshop Schedule

2011-10-02T11:07:00.004+01:00

We have been working really hard over the last couple of weeks to get all the new workshop samples finished for the October-December schedule. And at last they are done!! Here are a few of them to tempt you ...

Dressing Up

2011-08-27T08:09:00.000+01:00

Here's a card that is great for using up all of your scrap pieces of patterned paper ... designed by Judy.

Instructions

Cut a piece of green card 6"x8" and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of cream card 5.75"x3.75", and stick to the centre of the front of your card blank.
On a piece of cream card, draw a triangle and cut out (approx 2.5" wide at the bottom and 3.5" tall through the centre). Cut 1" strips of patterned paper, and use the edge punch along one edge of each one. Stick the first strip to the bottom of the triangle, and then layer up overlapping each layer slightly (until the last strip is approx 0.5" from the point). Trim any overhang from each side.
Cut a bodice shape out of glitter card (roughly a square but with a slightly wider top, and then cut a "v" for the neckline). Glue the bodice to the top of your skirt.
Punch a flower from the cream card, and then colour with the clear glitter pen. Also use the pen along the scalloped layers of the dress.
Glue the hanger at the back of the bodice using red double-sided tape, and then stick the whole thing to the left hand side of your card blank using 3D foam pads.
Decorate your dress with pearls around the neckline and waist, and add your punched flower with a pearl in the centre.
To finish punch a circle from the green card, and layer up with a greeting. Stick to the right hand side of your dress.

Ingredients

- "Palm" Bazzill Cardstock (green card)

- "Natural" Bazzill Cardstock (cream card)

- Craftwork Cards "Circle Greeetings"

- Mini Wire Hanger

- "Lime Green" Glitter Card (green glitter card)

- Patterned Papers (from personal stash)

- 3mm Sticky Back Pearls

- EK Success "Scalloped Scallop" Border Punch

- EK Success Flower Punch

- 3D Foam Pads

- Sakura "Clear 700" Stardust Pen

- Yellow Circle Punch (approx 1.25")

Reluctant Fairy

2011-08-26T07:36:00.000+01:00

An incredibly girly page designed by Judy.

Instructions

Cut 0.5" from each side of the patterned paper (you don't want to cut 1" off two sides as the image will not be positioned properly). Stick the patterned paper to the centre of your pink card.
Glue your photo in place, and then position the crystal stickers along the bottom of it.
Stick down a 12" length of the flower ribbon along the bottom of the layout, and cut three individual flowers off and glue these in the top left hand corner of the photo.
Add three more pink flowers and place a rounded gem in the centre of each one.

Stick your title to the right hand side of the photo.
To finish, use any leftover bits of the crystal sticker to decorate.

Ingredients

- Melissa Frances "Essie" Patterned Paper

- "Petalsoft" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card)

- Marianne Designs Pink Flower Ribbon

- imagine that... Glitter Chipboard Alphabet

- Pink Flowers (from personal stash)

- Kars "Clear" Rounded Gems

- Crystal Stickers (from personal stash)

Howdy Cowboy

2011-08-25T16:27:00.003+01:00

Men's cards are always popular ... and the vintage images on Graphic 45's papers are just perfect. Here's a simple card by Judy.

Instructions

Cut a piece of brown card 5.5"x11", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut out the image that you want to use from the patterned paper, and then mount on the mirri card.
Cut the mirri card so that you have a small border all the way round the image.
Mount the mirri card onto a piece of black card, again leaving a small border. Stick this to the left hand side of your card blank.
Stamp your letters with a black ink pad onto the brown card, and then cut out (leaving a small border), and stick to your card using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients

- Graphic 45 "The Curtain Call - The Cinema" Patterned Paper

- "Raven" Bazzill Cardstock (black card)

- "Kraft" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card)

- Silver Mirri Card

- Onyx Black Versafine Ink Pad

- imagine that... "Block It Out" stamp set (alphabet stamps)

- Acrylic Block

- 3D Foam Pads

Happy Days and Christmas Wishes Samples

2011-08-25T15:10:00.005+01:00

At our Demo Day in July and Stamperama in August, there were two of our new stamp sets that were by far the most popular ... Happy Days and Christmas Wishes. They are both so versatile and super easy to use ... as it's the wording that is the main focus of the card. Use them with ink pads, paint, embossing powder, perfect pearls, flock etc ... Here's the Happy Days set, and a few samples that we've made with it ...

And here's the Christmas Wishes set ...

These cards are so easy, that we haven't given you instructions ... but if you need any help, or have any questions, just ask in the shop. Both sets are in stock at the moment!

So Sorry!

2011-08-19T12:11:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone. We just wanted to say how sorry we are that we've neglected the blog lately! Believe it or not, we haven't forgotten about it ... just been mega busy with the Demo Day and exhibiting at Stamperama (to name just a couple of things we've been doing). Normal service is being resumed asap! In fact ... we have at least four projects that we want to try and upload this week, plus photos of some of the samples we made for the Demo Day and Stamperama.

Mug Shot

2011-07-10T08:06:00.000+01:00

Here's a lovely layout from Minnie Mae-Hemm, using lots of fabulous techniques ... paper rolling, inking, shimmer misting, stamping on acetate and more!

Instructions

Cut 8" square out of the middle of the sheet of white cardstock (leaving a 2" frame all the way around).
Trim the patterned paper to 11.5"x11.5", and stick to the white cardstock frame (make sure that the double sided tape is approximately 0.5" from the edge of the paper so that you have room to curl it).
Using a waterbrush wet the edges of the patterned paper and curl it between your fingers. Allow to dry (the paper will go rigid).
Cut a piece of beige cardstock 6"x8", and tear a small strip off the bottom at a slight angle.
Using the blending tool (or Cut'n'Dry foam) lightly ink the edges of the beige piece of card with the purple ink pad. Ink heavily along the torn edge. Repeat lightly around all four edges of the white cardstock.
Stick the piece of beige cardstock in place (approx 2.75" from the top, and 2.5" from the right hand side).
Spray the doily with the purple mist as desired. Leave to dry, and then spray lightly once with the silver mist. Leave to dry.
Stick the doily to the top right hand corner of the piece of beige cardstock.
Stamp three different size doily stamps onto the acetate using the black Stazon ink pad. When dry, roughly cut them out. Stick them to the back of your photo, so you can partially see them.
Using the tiny attached, staple 3 small pieces of ribbon folded in half to the left hand side of your photo.
Stick your photo in place on your layout, just overlapping the doily slightly.
Write you journaling onto 0.25" strips of white cardstock and edge with the purple ink pad. Stick to your layout above your photo.
Add your title using the glitter chipboard letters.
Die cut the small flourish from grungepaper and stick to the right hand side of the photo (coming out onto the doily). We've left the grungepaper "naked" as it matches the photo, but you could always colour yours with ink or paint.
To finish, glue small gems randomly around the doily and flourish.

Ingredients

- Bazzill "Bazzill White" Cardstock (white card)

- Bazzill "Champagne" Cardstock (beige card)

- Paperartsy "Thorndon Hall" Patterned Paper

- Acetate

- Craft Sheet

- Blending Tool / Cut'n'Dry Foam

- Distress Ink "Dusty Concord" Ink Pad (purple ink)

- My Minds Eye "Stella Rose Girly" Clear Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- imagine that ... Glitter Chipboard Alphabet

- Sizzix Tim Holtz "Elegant Flourishes" Bigz Die - Manual Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot or Cuttlebug)

- Tim Holtz Mini Attacher

- PVA Glue

- Stazon "Jet Black" Ink Pad

- Waterbrush

- Doily

- Cosmic Shimmer Mists "Plum Twist" and "Silver"

- Tim Holtz Grungepaper

- imagine that ... "Black Diamond" Flat Backed Gems

- Purple Grosgrain Ribbon

- Black Journaling Pen

Absolutely Fabulous

2011-07-03T15:36:00.004+01:00

The Prima Marketing "Paintable" papers make scrapbooking and card making a breeze ... just add your own colours ... and ta-da, you have a masterpiece. Here's a fabulous page by Judy ...

Instructions

Colour in the swirls, flowers and butterflies on your patterned paper using coloured pencils (or any other colouring medium you like).
Mat your photo onto the pale pink cardstock (cut to 4.25"x6.25"), and then mat this onto the dark pink cardstock (cut to 4.5"x6.5"). Stick in place in the centre of your page.
Die cut the letters for your title from the dark pink card.
Glue the letters onto a piece of pale pink card, and then cut to size. Mat this onto a piece of dark pink card (with a 0.25" border all the way around). Stick your title to your layout
Punch out a butterfly from the dark pink and green cards, and glue into place.
To finish, add some orange "candi" to the centres of the flowers (stick in place with 3D foam pads).

Ingredients

- Prima Marketing "Paintables 602260" Patterned Paper

- "Cherry Vanilla" Bazzill (pale pink card)

- "Painted Desert" Bazzill (dark pink card)

- "Rosemary" Bazzill (green card)

- Manual Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot or Cuttlebug)

- Sizzix Tim Holtz "Typeset" Strip Die

- Martha Stewart "Monarch Butterfly" Punch

- Craftwork Cards "Candi"

- 3D Foam Pads

- Colouring Pencils

NEW Workshop Schedule

2011-07-03T15:31:00.002+01:00

If you haven't already seen it ... our new workshop schedule for July-September is available here. All the photos of the classes are also now online. We only have up to 6 people on each class, so all our workshops are suitable for any level of ability. Whether you're a seasoned crafter, or someone who has never picked up a trimmer before ... why not come along and learn a new technique, or just get inspired! We hope to see you soon.

Oops

2011-06-27T10:23:00.002+01:00

We're very sorry ... but there's no blog project this week. We are busy preparing all the new workshops for July-September! We have some great ideas, and are hoping that the schedule will be online and in the shop by Thursday 30 June!

Sister

2011-06-19T12:50:00.004+01:00

Here is a lovely card designed by Judy. The black details really pop against the pale pink and white colours.

Instructions

Punch two 4" borders with the edge punch from the pink and white cardstock. Stick them together so they are layered up.
Cut a piece of patterned paper 4"x4.25", and adhere the borders to the bottom of it. Wrap your ribbon around the patterned paper and tie a knot on the right hand side. Glue the patterned paper to the top of your card, leaving a small border all the way round.
Cut a 3"x3.75" piece of white card, and a 2.75"x3.5" piece of pink card, and stick them together.
Die cut a scalloped rectangle from the white card, and then stamp your image onto it using the black ink pad.
Colour in and apply pearls to some of the flowers.
Stick the stamped piece of paper onto your other pieces of card, and the adhere to the card using 3D foam pads.
To finish, stamp your greeting in the bottom right hand corner of the card using the black ink pad.

Ingredients

- Standard A6 White Card Blank

- Girls Paperie "Paper Girl" Shabby Flower Patterned Paper

- "White" Bazzill Cardstock

- "Petalsoft" Bazzill Cardstock

- Martha Stewart "Half Daisy" Edge Punch

- Hero Arts "Blooming Meadow" Cling Stamp

- imagine that ... "Relatively Speaking" Clear Stamp Set

- Archival "Jet Black" Ink Pad

- Manual Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot or Cuttlebug)

- Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities

- White Pearl Stickers (3mm and 5mm)

- Pale Pink Colouring Pen

- Ribbon

- 3D Foam Pads

For your PERUsal

2011-06-12T08:56:00.001+01:00

Here's a fantastic layout from Emma H using the "Social Club" range from Cosmo Cricket. This layout was based on a sketch from pagemaps.com, and is incredibly easy to adapt for any occasion or style.

Instructions

Cut a piece of the dark blue card 9"x9", and distress the edges with the tool. Stick this piece of card to the centre of the light blue card.
Cut a piece of the peacock patterned paper 5"x5", a piece of the green patterned paper 5"x3.5", and a piece of the yellow leaf patterned paper 3.5"x3.5". Trim your photo to 3.5"x5". Distress all the edges with the tool. Stick these onto your piece of dark blue card, leaving a 0.25" border around the outside edge.
Cut two borders from the border patterened paper, and distress these with the tool. Glue them across the joins of the other patterned papers.
Die cut flowers from the dark blue card and the three patterned papers (we used the patterns on the reverse of the patterned papers). Screw them all up, and then open them out andput them together with a brad. Attach the flower to your page.
Cut out three journaling blocks from the border patterned paper, and stamp your titles on them with the blue ink pad and the alphabet stamps.
Stick the journaling blocks in place on your layout using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients

- "Mysterious Teal" Bazzill Cardstock (dark blue card)

- "Turquoise Mist" Bazzill Cardstock (light blue card)

- Blue Eyes "Social Club" Cosmo Cricket (peacock patterned paper)

- Martini "Social Club" Cosmo Cricket (green patterned paper)

- Manhattan "Social Club" Cosmo Cricket (yellow leaf patterned paper)

- Borders "Social Club" Cosmo Cricket (border patterned paper)

- Sizzix Tim Holtz "Tattered Florals" Die

- Manual Die-cutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug or Big Shot)

- Medium Brad

- imagine that ... "Alphabet 1" Stamp Set (small letters)

- imagine that ... "Alphabet 3" Stamp Set (captial letters)

- Tonic Tim Holtz Distressing Tool

- Versamagic "Ocean Depth" Ink Pad

- Acrylic Block

- 3D Foam Pads

Tag Along

2011-06-05T07:41:00.003+01:00

Another fab product from Craftwork Cards ... Tag-it are packs of four sheets of smooth white card tags and buttons. Perfect for stamping, colouring, covering and lots more! Emma G has used them to make this lovely card with a little bit of help from some book text and Paperartsy's Fresco Finish acrylic paints.

Instructions

Cut a piece of grey cardstock 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of white cardstock 4.75"x4.75", and stick to the centre of your card blank.
Cut a piece of grey cardstock 4.5"x4.5", and stamp some swirls over it using the black ink pad. Stick this to the centre of the white piece of card.
Choose and arrange your tags and buttons over the stamped piece of grey card. When you're happy with the arrangement, trim a piece of book text roughly to the size of each tag and button (taking care to check what they will say!).
Using a paintbrush, and working on one tag at a time, apply Multi Medium all over. Press the book text on top, and then apply a top coat of Multi Medium, ensuring that the paper is nicely stuck down. Repeat for all the tags and buttons, and then leave to dry.
Once the tags and buttons are dry, trim the excess paper from each one.Paint the tags with the acrylic paints, sponging any excess off with a piece of kitchen towel - you want to be able to see the book text through the paint. Leave to dry.
Stamp a swirl on each tag and button using the black ink pad.If you wish, you can punch a flower out of the rectangle tag (leaving a negative shape).
Re-cut the slits in each of your buttons. Thread organza ribbon through each one, and tie in a knot.
Stick all of the tags and buttons in place on your card blank using 3D foam pads.
To finish, stick your greeting and Card Candi in place.

Ingredients

- "Dusk" Bazzill Cardstock (grey card)

- "White Bazzill" Bazzill Cardstock (white card)

- Book Text (any book - hardback books have nicer paper/line spacing)

- Claudine Hellmuth "Multi Medium" Gloss

- Craftwork Cards "Tag-It" Pack

- Craftwork Cards "Tiny Sentiments" Messages Pack

- Craftwork Cards "Card Candi" (white)

- 3D Foam Pads

- Paperartsy "Fresco Finish" Acrylic Paints (Butternut - orange / Guacamole - green / Lilac - lilac)

- Versafine "Black Onyx" Ink Pad

- Artemio "Swirl" Stamps Set (Ref 10001038)

- Acrylic Block

- Craft Knife

- Craft Sheet

- Silver Organza Ribbon

In Distress

2011-05-29T07:29:00.001+01:00

OK ... here's the second card design by Emma G using the fabulous Craftwork Cards "Botanical" paper pack. Definitely has a different feel to last weeks project! Instructions

Cut a piece of kraft card 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of blue card 4.25"x5.5", and a piece of brown card 4"x4.75". Tear the bottom edges of each piece.
Cut a piece of the text patterned paper (with the flowers along the bottom) 3.75"x3.75".
To colour the flowers in, wipe the edge of each ink pad onto your craft sheet, and then pick up the colours with the water brush. Remember to clean the brush before using a different colour. If you need more ink (or a deeper colour), just wipe more onto your mat. Allow to dry.
Use a piece of Cut'n'Dry Foam and the two brown ink pads to distress the edges of the piece of patterned paper. If you wish, also ink around the edges of your card blank and pieces of card.
Stick the piece of patterned paper to the top of the piece of brown card.
Stick the brown card to the blue card using 3D doam pads.
Stick the blue card to the right hand side of your card blank.
With a piece of Cut'n'Dry Foam colour the greeting with the orange ink pad, and to finish stick it onto your card blank.

Ingredients - "Kraft" Bazzill Cardstock (kraft card) - "Horizon" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card) - "London Fog" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card) - Craftwork Cards "Botanical" Paper Pack - Craftwork Cards "Tiny Sentiments" Message Pack - Distress Ink Pads (Frayed Burlap - light brown / Walnut Stain - dark brown / Stormy Sky - blue / Rusty Hinge - orange / Forest Moss - dark green / Crushed Olive - light green) - Cut'n'Dry Foam - Craft Sheet - Water Brush - 3D Foam Pads

Birthday Wishes

2011-05-22T07:04:00.001+01:00

Here's a card designed by Emma G using the black and white "Botanical" paper pack from Craftwork Cards. There are so many options with this plain base ... in this weeks project, Emma has used her Copic Ciao pens to add some colour ... check back next week for a completely different look using the same papers with Distress Inks. Instructions

Cut a piece of pink card 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of the flower patterned paper 5.5"x5.5", and use your Copics to colour in the images.
Stick the piece of patterned paper to the centre of the card blank.
Cut a piece of the text patterned paper (with the flowes along the bottom) 3.75"x3.75", and again colour in the flowers using the Copics.
Cut a piece of pink card 4"x4", and stick the piece of text patterned paper to the centre.
Stick this to you card blank using 3D foam pads.
Edge your greeting tag with one of the Copics, punch a small whole at the narrow end to make it a tag, and tie ribbon through it. Stick it to your card using 3D foam pads.
Finally outline the two pieces of patterned paper (and the centres of the flowers on the text paper) with the glitter glue, and allow to dry.

Ingredients - "Petunia" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card) - Craftwork Cards "Botanical" Paper Pack - Craftwork Cards "Tiny Sentiments" Messages Pack - Copic Ciao Pens (YG03 - Yellow Green / B00 - Frost Blue / RV10 - Pale Pink / RV13 - Tender Pink) - WRMK Crop-A-Dile - 3D Foam Pads - "Stardust" Stickles (glitter glue) - Thin Blue Ribbon

Completely Gorjuss!

2011-05-15T14:14:00.001+01:00

Our regular customers will know that "decoupage" is not a word that is often said in our shop! But, who can resist these gorgeous Gorjuss girls! Each pack includes a sheet of die-cut decoupage and a co-ordinating piece of patterned paper. Being a cheap skate, Emma G has split the decoupage up to make four lovely cards instead of two!

We're not going to give you all the instructions on how to make each card ... it would take forever ... and they're pretty easy to do. So instead, there's the normal "ingredients" list, and just a couple of notes about some of the fab techniques she used.

Give the edges of your image a rough look with the "Distresser" tool.

Use glitter glue around the edge of your card, layers or on your image to

add some sparkle

Screw up the piece of background paper, and then flatten out again

to add some texture behind your image

Use book text as a backing paper - just stop it looking so stark

by applying Distress Inks around the edges using a piece of Cut'n'Dry foam

Ingredients - Gorjuss Die Cut Decoupage Pack - The Lost Heart/Little Annie

- "Bluegrass" Bazzill (turquoise green)

- "Mysterious Teal" Bazzill (dark blue)

- "Salsa Verde" Bazzill (olive green)

- My Minds Eye "Lost & Found" Union Square "Perfect" Happy (stripe/cream patterned paper)

- Tim Holtz Tonic "Distresser" Tool

- Martha Stewart Edge Punch - Half Daisy

- EK Success Punch - Flower Power

- Woodware Punch - Folk Heart

- Distress Ink Pads - Black Soot (black), Rusty Hinge (orange), Antique Linen (beige)

- Cut'n'Dry Foam

- Book Text

- Versafine Ink Pad - Onyx Black

- imagine that ... Stamp Set - All Boxed In

- Acrylic Block

- Stardust Stickles Glitter Glue

- Thin 3D Foam Pads

- Small Brads - Pewter / Bronze

Saving For A Rainy Day

2011-05-08T18:21:00.003+01:00

We took delivery of the new Fresco Finish paints from Paperartsy this week. And all we can say is WOW! These paints have a lovely creamy texture with a fabulous chalky finish. They give amazing coverage with just one coat, and not only are there 19 gorgeous muted colours, 2 metallics, but also 3 glazes to give you different effects.

We couldn't wait for an excuse to play with them ... so here is out first quick and easy project ... a vintage style money box using the quickest Crackle Glaze we've ever come across!

Instructions

Paint the money box with the gold paint and either leave to dry, or dry with a heat gun.
Apply a thin coat of the crackle glaze with a splodger (like a flexbible credit card) over the entire money box. Either leave to dry, or dry with a heat gun.
Paint the money box with the cream paint and leave to dry naturally. You will see the cracks start to appear with a minute.
Stamp your images on all sides of the money box using the brown ink pad.
Stamp your letters using the gold ink pad.
Apply a little bit of gold paint along all the edges of the money box using your finger.
Finish by accentuating some of the stamped images with the glitter glue.

Ingredients

- Wooden Money Box

- Paperartsy Fresco Finish Paint - Vintage Lace

- Paperartsy Fresco Finish Paint - Old Gold

- Paperartsy Fresco Finish - Crackle Glaze

- Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Stamp Set

- Paperartsy Ink & The Dog Words 2 Stamp Set

- Archival Ink Pad - Coffee

- Encore Ink Pad - Gold

- Platinum Stickles

- Paperartsy Splodger

- Acrylic Block

- Craft Sheet

- Paint Brushes

- Heat Gun (optional - just speeds up the drying process)

Happy Birthday!

2011-05-01T08:38:00.001+01:00

One trend that seems to be popping up all over the place recently is layering. This is so easy to do if you have some nestabilities (or similar dies or punches), and works just as well for mens cards ... as Emma G has proved with this fab "cowboyesque" card ... Instructions

Cut a piece of the navy card 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of the yellow card 5.5"x5.5", and a piece of the blue card 5.25"x5.25". Use the brown ink pad and the cut'n'dry foam to distress the edges, and then use the Distress Tool to rough up all the edges. Stick the two squares of card together.
Die cut a "Pointy Frame" from the light blue cardstock, a "Pinking Circle" from the navy cardstock, and a "Star" from the yellow cardstock.
Put the yellow star through the embossing folder, and then distress all of the shapes lightly with the brown ink pad and the cut'n'dry foam.
Die-cut your numbers from the light blue cardstock, and distress in the same way as the star.
Cut a piece of yellow cardstock approx 0.75"x3". Use the square punch at an angle to cut a "V" in one end. Stamp your greeting and two little stars using the blue ink pad towards the "V" end. Distress the piece with the brown ink pad and foam, and then rough up the long edges with the Distress Tool.
Fold part of the yellow cardstock strip around the two squares of cardstock we cut earlier, and fix into place with a brad.
Stick the squares of cardstock to the centre of the main card.
Use a brown pen to add dots around the light blue "Pointy Frame", the numbers and the "V" in the greeting strip. Draw around the edge of the star with the pen.
Stick the shapes onto your card blank.
Add Crackle Accents to the numbers to finish (remember to allow to dry before touching!)

Ingredients

- Bazzill "Admiral" Cardstock (navy card)

- Bazzill "Typhoon" Cardstock (blue card)

- Bazzill "Windy" Cardstock (light blue card)

- Bazzill "Rusted" Cardstock (yellow card)

- 6mm Silver Brad

- SLICE Starter Kit

- SLICE Fa La La Design Card

- Brown Pen

- Memento "Paris Dusk" Ink Pad (blue ink)

- Distress Ink "Brushed Corduroy" Ink Pad (brown ink)

- Cut'n'Dry Foam

- Manual Die-Cutting Machine (ie. Sizzix Big Shot or Cuttlebug)

- Craft Concepts "Starry Night" Embossing Folder

- Spellbinders Nestabilities - Stars

- Spellbinders Nestabilities - Pinking Circles

- Go Kreate Pointy Frame #2 Die Set

- Piercing Tool

- Crackle Accents

- Tim Holtz Distress Tool

- 1" Square Punch (green)

- Paula Pascual "Punchable Labels" Clear Stamp Set

- imagine that ... "You Rock" Clear Stamp Set

Satron

2011-04-24T07:16:00.001+01:00

Minnie Mae-Hemm has returned with a lovely scrapbook page showing how easy it is to create texture with some handmade accents!

Instructions

Cut a piece of cream cardstock 11.5"x11.5", and round the corners.
Cut three rick rack strips from the glossy card, and then apply the alcohol inks to each piece. Leave to dry. If you've never used Alcohol Inks before - check out this video demo from Tim Holtz for instructions.
Cut a piece of patterned paper 8"x8.5", and round the corners.
Round the corners of your photo, and stick to the piece of patterned paper.
Stick the rick rack strips along the left side and bottom of the piece of cream card, and then stick the piece of patterned paper into place.
Stick the cream card to the centre of the brown card.
Paint your letters with the brown paint, and when dry spread some Distress Stickles over the top with your finger. Allow the letters to dry before sticking them to your layout.
Use the brown pen to draw lines on the patterned paper next to the photo and to add your journaling on them.

Ingredients

- Bazzill "Kraft" Cardstock (brown card)

- Bazzill "Vanilla" Cardstock (cream card)

- Basic Grey "Max & Whiskers" Gannett Patterned Paper

- A4 Glossy Card

- Manual Die-Cutting Machine (ie. Sizzix Big Shot or Cuttlebug)

- Sizzix "Loops & Rick Rack" Strip Die

- Corner Rounder Punch

- "Espresso" Paint Dabber (brown paint)

- Alcohol Inks : Willow, Lettuce, Ginger, Gold

- Alcohol Ink Applicator & Felt

- Woodware Chippies Alphabet Letters

- "Antique Linen" Distress Stickles

- American Crafts "Chestnut" Memory Marker

Flower Power

2011-04-17T15:52:00.001+01:00

Emma G loves this embossing technique with her Nestabilities ... it very easy but creates a really clean professional look. Instructions

Place your card blank on top of the embossing mat in your die-cutting machine (you may find that you get a deeper embossed impression if you place a piece of cardstock under the mat as a shim - but this will depend on your machine. You can always try it without the first time, and if needed put the card back through a second time with a shim). Place the large square Nestability face down centrally on your card blank, and wind through the machine.
Die cut a smaller scalloped square Nesability from the other white card (this is just so the "whites" match).
Stamp the scalloped square piece of card with various sized flowers and inks. Start with the largest, and work down to the smallest flower (we used 8 different sizes, and 5 different inks).
Stamp your greeting in black ink.
Add some sparkle to the flowers with the glue pen and Glamour Dust.
Cut a slit either side of the embossed square (along the central embossed line), just slightly larger than the width of your ribbon. Thread the ribbon through, and tie in double knot on the right hand side. Trim the ribbon ends to a "V".
Stick your stamped piece of card to the centre of the card using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients

- 2 Large Square White Cards

- Manual Die-Cutting Machine (ie. Sizzix Big Shot or Cuttlebug)

- Spellbinders Embossing Mat (plus a sheet of cardstock for a shim if required)

- Spellbinders Nestabilities - Squares

- Spellbinders Nestabilities - Scalloped Squares

- imagine that ... "Write Big" clear stamp set

- imagine that ... "Bloomin' Lovely" clear stamp set

- Paula Pascual "Simple Flowers" clear stamp set

- Versafine "Onyx Black" Ink Pad

- Versamagic "Aloe Vera" Ink Pad (green)

- Versamagic "Spring Pansy" Ink Pad (lilac)

- Versamagic "Oasis Green" Ink Pad (turquoise)

- Brilliance "Pearlescent Purple" Ink Pad (purple)

- Memento "Grape Jelly" Ink Pad (dark purple)

- Dotty Satin Ribbon

- 3D Foam Pads

- Glue Pen

- Glamour Dust

- Craft Knife

Royal Wedding Card Competition

2011-04-13T10:49:00.001+01:00

We’re really looking forward to the Royal Wedding on 29 April, and what better way to celebrate than to have a competition! Just make a wedding card for Wills & Kate, and post or drop it into the shop by Thursday 28 April to be in with a chance to win! Our design team will vote and pick one winner and two runners up. 1st prize – £20 voucher 2nd prize - £10 voucher 3rd prize - £5 voucher We can’t wait to see your fabulous cards!

Just For You

2011-04-10T07:44:00.001+01:00

Just in time for Easter ... a delightful card from Emma H with a little bit of sparkle.

Instructions

Cut a piece of brown cardstock 6"x8", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Stamp your tree image with the brown ink pad onto the smooth white card. Stamp the flowers with the light pink ink pad.
Die cut the stamped piece of white card using the Label Nestabilities, and then die cut a slightly bigger label from the green card.
Stamp the birds with the dark pink ink pad, and then draw in their legs using the brown glitter pen.
Add some sparkle to the stamped flowers with the clear glitter pen.
Glue the two labels together, and then stick onto your card blank using 3D Foam Pads.
Cut a piece of ribbon and "V" the ends. Glue this to your card.
Finally, die cut a tiny label from the pink card, and stamp your greeting onto it using the brown ink pad. Stick the label over the ribbon using 3D Foam Pads.

Ingredients

- "Kraft" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card)

- "Lizard" Bazzill Cardstock (green card)

- "Pinata" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card)

- Smooth White Card

- Manual Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot or Cuttlebug)

- Spellbinders Nestabilities (Labels 4)

- Personal Impressions Marion Emberson Stamps "Build A Tree"

- Personal Impressions Paula Pascual Stamps "Punchable Labels"

- Acrylic Block

- Versafine "Vintage Sepia" Ink Pad (brown ink)

- Memento "Rose Bud" Ink Pad (dark pink ink)

- Memento "Angel Pink" Ink Pad (light pink ink)

- Sakura Stardust Pen "700" - Clear

- Sakura Stardust Pen "709" - Brown

- Pink Ribbon

- 3D Foam Pads

Happy Mothers Day

2011-04-03T12:14:00.009+01:00

A gorgeous card from Emma G to celebrate Mothers Day ... but also one that can very easily be adapted for any occasion. The fabulous handmade rose was invented by the very very talented Marion Emberson of Sugar & Spice - and her video tutorial on how to make them can be found here! Instructions

Cut a piece of cream cardstock 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of green cardstock 5.5"x5.5", and spray it with the shimmer mist. Leave it to dry or give it a quick blast with your heat gun.
Cut two pieces of patterned paper 3"x5" (floral side) and 2.5"x3" (music side).
Use the Cut'n'Dry Foam and the brown ink pad to ink the edges of all the cut pieces of card/paper (including the card blank).
Use the Distress Tool to distress the edges of the patterned paper pieces.
Stick the green piece of card to the centre of the card blank, and then glue the two pieces of patterned paper in place as shown.
Make your rose as per the instructions in the video. Emma roughly cut a circle from a 6"x6" piece of the pink card, and when the flower was finished she sprayed it with the shimmer mist and added some brown ink with the Cut'n'Dry Foam. Leave it to dry and then stick the rose in place on your card.
Place the letter stickers onto a craft sheet (the non-stick surface means you will be able to pull them off easily after inking). Ink the letters using the blue and brown ink pads with Cut'n'Dry Foam, and then position them on your card.
To finish, add some flat backed pearls in the bottom left and top right corners.

Ingredients - "Vanilla" Bazzill Cardstock (cream card) - "Lizard" Bazzill Cardstock (green card) - "Pinata" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card) - Prima Marketing Inc "Spring Tide" Madeline Patterned Paper - Making Memories Tiny Alphas (Black On White) - Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Pearl - Tim Holtz Distress Tool - Craft Sheet - 3mm Flat Backed Pearls - Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap (brown ink) - Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Tumbled Glass (blue ink) - Cut'n'Dry Foam (or Blending Tool) - Heat Gun (optional - to speed up the drying process) For the handmade flower - Glossy Accents - Scissors - Mini Mister (filled with water)

Have A Wonderful Birthday

2011-03-27T07:29:00.001+01:00

These Craftwork Card frames have been selling like hotcakes in the shop ... you just can't get enough of them! If you've not used them yet, they are incredibly simple but make stunning cards. Here's one by Emma G.

Instructions

Using a piece of Cut'n'Dry Foam, apply the lilac ink all over the frame, your chosen greeting, and around the edge of your card. (Tip - we used a piece of foam to apply the ink, as Versamagic Ink Pads - especially if they're new - can be very wet, and the foam allows you more control to build up the colour).
Cut a piece of the lilac card 3.5"x3.5", and glue in the middle of your card blank.
Tie gold ribbon around the frame on opposite sides. Stick the frame to your card blank using 3D foam pads.
Glue your greeting in place using double-sided tape and 3D foam pads (depending on where you place it).
Go around all the scalloped edges with the glitter glue, and a small dot of it in the middle of each of the flowers on the frame. (Tip - start in the middle of the card and move out to avoid smudging the glue). Leave to dry.

Ingredients

- Craftwork Cards Scalloped Large Square Card

- Craftwork Cards Daisy Frame

- Craftwork Cards Elegant Rectangle Messages

- "Heidi" Bazzill Cardstock (lilac card)

- "Spring Pansy" Versamagic Ink Pad (lilac ink pad)

- Cut'n'Dry Foam

- Gold Ribbon

- Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue

- 3D Foam Pads

Sister Act

2011-03-20T07:05:00.002Z

Judy has created this lovely layout using some of the new Stella & Rose patterned papers from My Minds Eye.

Instructions

Cut a 1.5" x 12" strip of cream card, and punch along it with the decorative edge punch.
Cut a piece of the stripe patterned paper 2.5" x 12".
Glue the decorative edge strip to the reverse of the stripe patterned paper strip, and then stick both down on the right hand side of the sheet of yellow card.
Punch the decorative edge along a 12" edge of the cream card, and then line up and stick your photos to it. Trim the cream card leaving a small border around the photos.
Glue your photos in place of your layout.
Cut out nine flowers from the piece of floral patterned paper, and stick around your photos using 3D Foam pads.
Stick your title in place, and then to finish add some pearls and gems on and around the flowers.

Ingredients

- "Curry Spice" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow card)

- "Natural" Bazzill Cardstock (cream card)

- My Minds Eye "Stella & Rose" Hattie Boy Woven Stripe (stripe patterned paper)

- My Minds Eye "Stella & Rose" Hattie Happy Bouquet Paper (floral patterned paper)

- Prima Marketing White Canvas Alphabet Stickers

- Martha Stewart "Half Daisy" Edge Punch

- Flat Backed Gems

- 10mm Flat Backed Pearls

- 3D Foam Pads

Pretty In Pink

2011-03-14T12:55:00.005Z

Here's the first card Emma G has made with those delicious doily stamps she spyed at the trade show a couple of weeks ago! A double knot with a big satin ribbon just finishes the card off! Instructions

Cut a piece of the light pink card 7.75"x8.25", and fold in half to make a DL sized card blank.
Cut a piece of the cream card 3.5"x6", and a piece of the dark pink card 3.25"x5.75".
Stamp the doily stamps over the piece of dark pink card using the beige ink pad.
Stamp the greeting onto the piece of dark pink card, in the bottom right hand corner, using the black ink pad.
Stick the piece of dark pink card and the piece of cream card together.
Wrap the ribbon around the pieces of card, and tie in a double knot. You should be able to move the ribbon/knot after it's tied to get it into the perfect place for you.
Glue the pieces of card to the card blank.
To finish, add small dots of liquid pearls to highlight the stamped doilies, and then leave to dry.

Ingredients

- "Vintage Pink" Bazzill Cardstock (light pink card)

- "Sweetheart" Bazzill Cardstock (dark pink card)

- "Vanilla" Bazzill Cardstock (cream card)

- imagine that ... "Write Big" Clear Stamps (greeting stamps)

- My Minds Eye "Stella & Rose" Girly Clear Stamps (doily stamps)

- Versamagic "Wheat" Ink Pad (beige ink pad)

- Versafine "Onyx Black" Ink Pad (black ink pad)

- Acrylic Block

- Pink Satin Ribbon

- "White Opal" Liquid Pearls

Superman

2011-03-06T07:08:00.003Z

Emma G made this card for a friends birthday, and has had so many "super" comments on it, that we've decided to put the instructions on the blog! Instructions

Cut a piece of red card 5-3/4"x11-1/2", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of yellow card 5-3/8"x5-3/8", and a piece of blue card 5-1/8"x5-1/8", to make your card mats.
Find a picture of the Superman image on the internet. We used Microsoft Word to resize (ours is approx 4.5" wide) and flip the picture (so that it was in reverse on the screen).
Print the picture out on the back of a piece of red card, and then using a craft knife carefully cut out the image.
Cut a piece of yellow card slightly larger than the cut out image.
Cut a piece of red card 1/2"x5-1/2", and stamp your greeting in the middle of the strip. Use a square punch to cut a "v" in each end of the strip. Fold your strip to form a banner.
Ink all of your pieces of card with the Distress ink pad and a piece of Cut'n'Dry Foam.
Glue the square mats to the front of your card blank, followed by the yellow shaped piece of card.
Stick the red cut out piece of card on top of the yellow piece using 3D foam pads.
Finally, glue your greeting banner to the card.

Ingredients

- "Kisses" Bazzill Cardstock (red card)

- "Indigo" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card)

- "Curry Spice" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow card)

- Craft Knife

- imagine that ... "Happy Birthday" stamp set

- "Brushed Corduroy" Distress Ink Pad

- Cut'n'Dry Foam

- 3D Foam Pads

- Square Punch (any size)

Daisy Daisy

2011-02-27T07:19:00.001Z

This weeks project was inspired by a customers glasses case - Emma G liked it so much she took a photo!

She just loved the yellow, white and blue colour combination together with the pointed daisies ... and this is what she came up with.

Instructions

Cut a piece of yellow cardstock 5" x 10" and fold in half to make your card blank.
Punch a large daisy out of the blue cardstock, leaving plenty of room around the edges. Trim the negative image into a square approx 4cm x 4cm.
Stick the negative image to a piece of yellow cardstock, and then trim leaving a small border. Repeat on another piece of blue cardstock, and then finally on a piece of white cardstock. Fyi, the final white block is sized approx 5.5cm x 5.5cm (sorry for the metric measurements - but inches were just too fiddly!).
Stick the block in the bottom right hand corner of your card blank, leaving approx 0.5" (or 1cm) on the bottom and right hand edges.
Stamp your greeting around the block using the grey ink pad.
To finish, stick a piece of card candy to the centre of the flower using a 3D foam pad.

Ingredients

- "Pollen" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow cardstock)

- "Horizon" Bazzill Cardstock (blue cardstock)

- White Smooth Cardstock

- Craftwork Cards White Card Candy

- 8 Petal Flower Punch (yellow - approx 1.5")

- 6 Petal Flower Punch (orange - approx 0.5") - used on card 2

- imagine that ... "All Boxed In" Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- Versafine "Smokey Gray" Ink Pad

- Thin 3D Foam Pads

ps. Here's a second card we made using the same ingredients ... and the punched flower shape.

Ring A Ring O Rosettes

2011-02-20T08:42:00.001Z

If you don't know already ... these rosette flowers are a HUGE trend at the moment! They are also know as accordion folded flowers and pinwheels ... but whatever you call them ... they are fab, and pretty easy to make ... especially with the help of Sir Tim's wonderful Sizzix die! Here's a fab-u-lous card from Emma H. Instructions

Cut a piece of the spotty patterned paper 5.75" x 5.75", and stick centrally to the front of your card blank.
Cut a 0.5" x 5.75" strip of the wood patterned paper, and stick across the middle of the spotty patterned paper.
Diecut a label from the Nestabilities set, just large enough to stamp your greeting on it in brown ink. Stick the label to the front of your card.
Diecut two rosette strips with the Sizzix die from the striped pattered paper. You will get different effects depending on which way you cut the paper into strips. We went along the strips, so that you get a nice "circle" effect from the paper, and each rosette will also be completely different.
To make a smaller rosette, trim approx 1cm off the long straight edge of one of the rosette strips. You may want to place a strip of sellotape on the back to keep the strip altogether.
Diecut and punch some centres for your flowers (we used the yellow cardstock and the spotty patterned paper). Punch two additional circles (using the green punch) for the underside. Put some glue on the back of these ready for the next step (we used the red double sided tape for extra strength).
Fold both the strips up, glue their ends together, and then press down in the centre (full details are on the Sizzix die packaging). Adhere a centre to the front and a circle to the back of each rosette - this will hold them in place.
Glue the rosettes onto your card, and then use Glossy Accents in the centre of the flowers.
To finish, use a blue pen to add some "faux stitching" around the patterned papers and to highlight the shape of the label.

Ingredients

- Large White Square Card Blank (approx 15cm x 15cm)

- Crate Paper "Restoration" Fringe (striped patterned paper)

- Crate Paper "Restoration" Refinish (spotty / wood patterned paper)

- "Beeswax" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow cardstock)

- Circle Punches (green and orange)

- Blue Pen

- Glossy Accents

- imagine that ... "Write Big" Stamp Set

- "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad

- Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot / Cuttlebug)

- Sizzix Tim Holtz "Paper Rosette" Strip Die

- Spellbinders "Nestabilities" Labels 4 Die Set

ps. If you don't want to make them yourself, then you'll be v.pleased to know that we're going to start releasing some limited edition packs of rosette embellishments using the latest paper ranges in our shop!

Birthday Wishes

2011-02-13T06:45:00.003Z

Here's a lovely card by Emma G using a fabulous little stamp set from Artemio.

Instructions

Cut a piece of brown card 11"x5.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of blue card 5"x5", and stick to the front of your card.
Cut a piece of brown card 4.5"x3", a strip 4.5"x0.5", and a piece of dark brown card 4.5"x1.5". Stick the two larger pieces to the front of your card, and then glue the strip across the dark brown piece.
Stamp your greeting using the dark brown ink pad, towards the top right hand corner of your card.
Stamp the dotted line around the edge of the card, and along the strip, using the light turquoise ink pad.
Stamp the circle stamps onto the vanilla card (we used the smoother side) in various Versamagic ink colours, and then punch out with the circle punches.
Arrange the circles on your card, and then stick down using thin and thick 3D foam pads.

Ingredients - "Kraft" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card) - "Windy" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card) - "Walnut" Bazzill Cardstock (dark brown card) - "Vanilla" Bazzill Cardstock (vanilla card) - imagine that ... "Write Big" Stamp Set (greeting stamp) - Artemio "10020057" Stamp Set (circle stamps) - Versamagic Ink Pads - Aspen Mist (light blue), Wheat (beige), Oasis Green (light turquoise), Ocean Depth (dark turquoise), Sage (green) - Acrylic Block - "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad - Circle Punches - Orange (just over 0.5"), Green (1"), Yellow (1.5") - 3D Foam Pads

A Moment In Time

2011-02-06T08:25:00.003Z

One sheet of Bazzill carstock and one sheet of Bella Boulevard "Bits A Bella" patterned paper = a fantastic layout! Placing your patterned paper, photos and embellishments in one main area on a page, and leaving lots of "white space" is an extremely popular trend in scrapbooking at the moment. This layout was created by Emma G. Instructions

Your piece of beige card will be your background piece.
Cut up the strips and journaling blocks from your sheet of patterned paper. Cut out any of the flower images that you would like to use.
Arrange the strips onto your piece of beige card with your photograph, trimming them to length as required. Fyi, the longest strip on our page is the floral turquoise one and it measures 10.5". If you would like to add some extra interest, punch a decorative border along the edge of the strip at the bottom of the page. When you're happy with the layout, glue the strips and the photo down.
Arrange the journaling blocks, flowers and other pieces around your photo, and when happy, stick these down.
Use Glossy Accents to highlight the flowers.

Ingredients - "Twig" Bazzill Cardstock (beige card) - Bella Boulevard "Estate Sale" Bits A Bella Patterned Paper - Fiskars "Upper Crest" Border Punch - Ranger "Glossy Accents"

Happy Birthday

2011-01-30T07:36:00.001Z

A special treat of two projects today (to try and make up for our absence since Christmas!!). Here's a simple but beautiful card by Emma H, using some lovely papers from Glitz Designs. Instructions

Cut a piece of brown metallic card 7"x10", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of floral patterned paper 2.5"x6.75", and ink around the edges with the Distress ink pad and Cut'n'Dry foam. Stick the patterned paper to the left hand side of the card.
Cut a piece of damask patterned paper 2.5"x6.75", and use the border punch along the right hand side long edge. Glue the patterned paper to the right hand side of the card.
Stick a piece of velvet ribbon down the middle of the card, covering the join of the patterned papers.
Die cut the flower at 4" from the brown card, and glue to the right hand side of the card.
Die cut two labels (larger in brown card and the smaller in vanilla card). Ink the edges of the smaller label with the Distress ink pad and Cut'n'Dry foam. Stamp your greeting in the centre of the smaller label using the Archival ink pad.
Stick the two labels together, and then attach to your card blank using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients - "Charlie" Bazzill Metallic Cardstock (brown metallic card) - "Brown" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card) - "Vanilla" Bazzill Cardstock (vanilla card) - Glitz Designs "Love Nest" Floral Patterned Paper - Glitz Designs "Love Nest" Damask Patterned Paper - Brown Velvet Ribbon - EK Success "Scalloped Scallop" Border Punch - Making Memories "Slice" Die Cutting Starter Kit - Making Memories "Slice" Vintage Findings Design Card - imagine that ... "Write Big" Stamp Set - "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad - Ranger "Frayed Burlap" Ink Pad - Cut'n'Dry Foam (or Blending Foam and Applicator Tool) - 3D Foam Pads

I'm Nuts About You

2011-01-30T07:34:00.003Z

It's that time of the year when we need to make a card for that special someone. This gorgeous card by Emma G has got red hearts and some very cute images on it, but by using brown and kraft cardstock, and adding some distress inking around the edges, it becomes just a little more manly. Instructions

Cut a piece of dark brown card 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of brown card 5.5"x5.5". Use the Cut'n'Dry foam to add brown ink around the edges of the piece of card, and then stick to the front of your card blank.
Cut a piece of patterned paper 5.5"x3", and some 5.5" strips from the blue, red and dark brown card.
Use the Cut'n'Dry foam to add brown ink around the edges of the piece of patterned paper and strips.
Stick the strips behind the patterned paper (we layered three strips at the top, and two at the bottom), and then glue them all in place on the front of your card.
Punch out one large and eight small hearts from the red card, and use the Cut'n'Dry foam and brown ink pad to distress them.
Stick the hearts in place on your card using thin 3D foam pads.
Die-cut the letter "U" from the dark brown card and stick to the centre of the large heart. Go over the letter with the glitter pen to add a little bit of bling.

Ingredients - "Bitter Chocolate" Bazzill Cardstock (dark brown card) - "Kraft" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card) - "Whirlpool" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card) - "Cardinal" Bazzill Cardstock (red card) - Bo Bunny "Love Bandit" Love Your Deerly Patterned Paper - Heart Punches - orange (approx 0.5") and blue (approx 2") - Sizzix "Tim Holtz" Vintage Market Alphabet Strip Die - Manual Die Cutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug/Big Shot) - Sakura Stardust Pen - Bronze (709) - Ranger "Frayed Burlap" Distress Ink Pad - Cut'n'Dry Foam (or Blending Foam and Applicator) - 3D Foam Pads

2011-01-27T11:46:00.003Z

Our apologies for the lack of projects recently ... where has the time gone! We've got some great ideas and promise that normal service will be resumed this Sunday!

New Workshop Sneak Peeks ...

2010-12-19T15:17:00.005Z

We've been mega busy over the last couple of weeks making up the new workshops for the first quarter of 2011! So instead of a project this week ... we thought we'd share some sneak peeks of what you can expect ... First some card classes ...

And some ideas for men ...

And a couple of scrapbooking layouts ...

Plus lots more to come!

We're trying really hard to get the new schedule ready for you before Christmas, and at the moment it should be available in the shop on Thursday! We'll do our best to get it added to the website over the holiday, and all the samples up in the shop by the end of the year!

We hope you all have a very Happy Christmas, and a fabulous 2011! Enjoy!

Not So Terrible Two

2010-12-12T00:07:00.000Z

Here's a card that Emma G made for her nephew's second birthday. This style of card is a great idea for a special occasion ... you'll just need to find an A5 size envelope to put it in! Instructions

Cut the piece of red cardstock into two 6"x12" pieces.
Fold one piece of red cardstock in half, and score the other piece at 4" along the 12" edge.
Stick the 4" flap to the back of the other piece of cardstock, so that it forms a concertina card (with one 6" front cover, a 6" middle piece, and an 8" end piece).
Cut one piece of patterned paper in each of the following sizes: 4.5"x5.5" (for the front cover), 3"x5.5" (for the middle pieces), and 3"x5.5" (for the end piece).
Cut one piece of the blue cardstock in each of the following sizes: 1"x5.5" (front), 2.5"x5.5" (middle), and 4.5"x5.5" (end).
Stick these into place on your card blank (which should leave you with a 0.25" border around the edges). It's great that this patterned paper already has glitter accents on it, but if your paper is not decorated, you can always add some glitter or glossy accents at this point ... just make sure it's dry before you go any further!
Die-cut four circles from the white cardstock (one bigger than the other) - the actual sizes will depend on what you wish to stamp/write on them. then die-cut four co-ordinating scalloped circles from the yellow cardstock.
Stamp your words onto the white circles, and then ink the edge with your black ink pad. Stick them onto the yellow scalloped circles, and use the black pen to add a "dot" in each scallop.
Stick your circles onto your card blank (bearing in mind their positions when the card is open and closed).
Stamp various sized stars with the black ink pad onto the blue cardstock, and add a "stitched" border around the panels with a black pen.
Thread twine through each of your buttons and tie in a knot. Stick the buttons down the blue strip of cardstock on the front cover of your card.
Paint your number with the acrylic paint (you may need more than one coat). When it is dry, use the black pen to add a "stictch" border around the edge of the number, and then stick into place on the front of your card.

Ingredients

- "Bazzill Red" Bazzill Carstock (red cardstock)

- "Ocean" Bazzill Cardstock (blue cardstock)

- "Glow" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow cardstock)

- "Bazzill White" Bazzill Cardstock (white cardstock)

- Best Creation Inc "Transportation" GP366 Patterned Paper

- Woodware Chippies - Numbers

- Kaisercraft "Red" Acrylic Paint

- Black Pen

- Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot / Cuttlebug)

- Spellbinders Nestabilities - Circles and Scalloped Circles

- imagine that ... "You Rock" Stamp Set

- imagine that ... "Alphabet Set 3" Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- "Jet Black" Archival Ink Pad

- Various Buttons

- Twine

I {heart} Books

2010-12-05T00:03:00.002Z

In this weather there is nothing nicer than curling up with a good book ... but what to do when you have to put it down ... how about one of these fabulous bookmarks designed by Emma G? They make a great little stocking filler ... and all five of these bookmarks were created from one 6"x12" piece of patterned paper, and three 6"x6" pieces of cardstock.

Instructions - Corner Bookmark

Cut a square of patterned paper (double sided works best) 4"x4".
Fold the square in half diagonally and then open out. Fold the square diagonally again (this time going the other way) and open out again (you should have a X of folds).
Cut out one of the triangular sections, and then trim one side down to a "flap" shape.
Put glue on the flap and then fold the patterned paper and stick together.
Use a corner rounder (if you wish) on the right angle corner (this will mean the page of the book will peep out a little bit.
Decorate with punched out flowers and leaves - just remember to keep your decorations fairly flat!
Finish with the metallic stickers in the centre of each flower.

Instructions - Long Bookmark

Cut a piece of cardstock 2"x6" and a piece of patterned paper 1.75"x5.75", and stick together.
Cut another piece of cardstock 1.5"x2". Stamp your words using the brown inkpad and alphabet stamps (leaving a space for your heart if needed). Stick across your bookmark base.
As above, punch out various size/colours of flowers, leaves and hearts - and decorate your bookmark - remembering again to keep it fairly flat. Finish with the metallic stickers in the centre of each flower.

Ingredients

- Echo Park "A Walk In The Park" Picnic Fun Patterned Paper

- "Green Tea" Bazzill Cardstock (green cardstock)

- "Artesian Pool" Bazzill Cardstock (turquoise cardstock)

- "Brown" Bazzill Cardstock (brown cardstock)

- imagine that ... "Alphabet Set 3" Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

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

- EK Success "Corner Rounder" Punch

- EK Success "Retro Flower" Punches (Whale, Medium and Small)

- Small Heart Punch (orange / 3/4")

- Martha Stewart "Frond" Punch (leaf punch)

- Metallic "Nail Head" Stickers in Copper Orange

What A Star!

2010-11-28T06:04:00.003Z

You may have realised by now that Emma G does like to use stars on cards for the opposite sex! They're quite easy to interchange with flowers, if you're following a sketch or have seen a card design you like. Instructions

Cut a piece of orange cardstock 4"x12", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of white cardstock 3.75"x5.75".
Cut a piece of the stripe patterned paper 3"x5", and then cut a strip (about 0.5") off the bottom, and turn over so you can see the reverse pattern.
Stick the pieces of patterned paper in the centre of your piece of white cardstock, and then punch a large star out towards the bottom right hand corner.
Stamp your greeting in the bottom left hand corner, and then use a black pen to add some faux stitching and dots around the patterned papers and the star outline.
Stick the piece of white card to the card blank using 3D foam pads.
To finish, tie some twine through a button, fray the ends, and then stick in the middle of your star using a glue dot.

Ingredients

- My Minds Eye "Alphabet Soup" Boy Super Stripes (stripe patterned paper)

- "Candle" Bazzill Cardstock (orange cardstock)

- "White" Bazzill Cardstock (white cardstock)

- Black Pen

- 3D Foam Pads

- Star Punch (approx 2" / Blue)

- imagine that ... "Happy Birthday" Stamp Set

- Button

- Twine

- Glue Dots

Damask Delight - Part 2

2010-11-21T00:09:00.003Z

Did you like the card we made in Part 1? We're so pleased! So, as promised here's the second one ... it uses all the same "ingredients", except for a different stamp set! One of the fab things about these patterned papers is that some of them have glitter accents on them already, so there's no need for any extra embellishing!

Instructions

Cut a piece of red cardstock 5.5"x11", and score it at 3.5" and 9. Fold at the score points to make an offset gatefold card blank.
Cut a piece of damask patterned paper 3.25"x5.25", and stick centrally to the left hand side of your card blank.
Cut a piece of the image patterned paper (the stripy part) 1.75"x5.25", and stick centrally to the right hand side of your card blank.
Cut a piece of the image patterned paper 2.25"x3.5" (we used the chandelier section), and mat onto the red cardstock, leaving a narrow border. Stick this to the top centre of the left hand side of your card blank using thin 3D foam pads.
Stamp the greeting onto a piece of the image patterned paper, and cut to size. Mat onto a piece of red cardstock, so that a small border is showing. Glue the greeting to the right hand side of your card blank, so that when closed it will overlap the left hand side (remember to only put glue on the bit that will actually be stuck down to the right hand side!).

Ingredients - My Minds Eye "Lost & Found" Union Square - "Perfect" Damask Print Paper (damask) - My Minds Eye "Lost & Found" Union Square - "Perfect" Happy Paper (images/stripe) - "Kisses" Bazzill Cardstock (red cardstock) - "Tuxedo Black" Memento Ink Pad - imagine that ... "Write Big" Stamp Set - Thin 3D Foam Pads

Birthday Demo Weekend - Sat 20/Sun 21 Nov

2010-11-15T14:47:00.007Z

It's our 4th Birthday!!!

Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 November

Celebrations and demonstrations start at 10am

Join us for a weekend of cake, fantastic offers,

demonstrations and fun ...

PLUS our very special guest demonstrators on

Saturday will be ...

Leandra Franich (Paperartsy)

Julie Hickey (Craftwork Cards)

... and grab an EXTRA SPECIAL goody bag too!

(one per customer with purchase over £25, and whilst stocks last!)

Damask Delight - Part 1

2010-11-14T00:21:00.003Z

Do you ever say "that's my favourite", followed shortly be "oh, no, THAT's my favourite!" ? Emma G does too! Mostly about Trollbeads, fireworks, Artsycrafts weekends ... but most frequently new patterned paper that arrives in the shop! Well it's happened again, and she has fallen head over heels with a range from My Minds Eye called "Union Square" ... all black, cream and red glitter! So when she had to make a card for this blog project, she couldn't help herself and actually made two! Hence why this is Part 1! Instructions

Cut a piece of red cardstock 4"x12", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of damask patterned paper 3.75"x6", and stick centrally to the front of your card blank.
Cut a piece of red cardstock 2.5"x6", and stick in the centre of your piece of damask patterned paper.
Cut a piece of the image patterned paper 2.25"x6" (we used the HAPPY section), and stick in the centre of the small piece of red cardstock.
Stamp the word "Birthday" onto a piece of the image patterned paper, and cut to size. Mat onto a piece of red cardstock, so that a small border is showing. Stick the greeting to the card with 3D foam pads.

Jingle Bells

2010-11-07T15:02:00.004Z

Are you feeling a little overwhelmed at all the Christmas cards you still have to make?! Us too!

So Emma G and Emma H decided to see how quickly they could make 8 cards and 8 tags ... using just this one piece of fab patterned paper from Fancy Pants! Well, OK maybe there were a couple of other bits ... but you've probably got everything else in your stash! The result was a total of just over an hour!!!!

Instructions

These cards are so easy, there's no need for us to go into too much detail here!

You'll need to cut some cardstock to make your card blanks (the measurements for our cards were 4"x12" (standard), 6"x8" (standard), 4.5"x9" (small square), 5.5"x11" (large square) and 8"x8" (DL) - all then folded in half).

We then matted different sections from the patterned paper, onto cardstock scraps and gold mirri card.

Next we stamped some greetings and snowflakes where they were needed, and finished by accenting them with some Glamour Dust glitter.

Job done!

The tags were pretty much the same, except with a hole punched in the corner, and a piece of ribbon tied through! They would look stunning against some plain wrapping paper.

Ingredients

- Fancy Pants "Tradition" Cards Patterned Paper

- various Bazzill cardstock

- A4 Gold Mirri Card

- "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad

- "Baby Blue" Versacolor Ink Pad

- imagine that ... "Write Big - Christmas" Stamp Set

- imagine that ... "Let It Snow" Stamp Set

- imagine that ... "Christmas Greetings" Mini Stamp Set

- Glamour Dust

- Quickie Glue Pen

- Crop-A-Dile (or hole punch)

- Gold Ribbon

3D Paper Star

2010-11-06T14:09:00.005Z

If you've been in the shop, you may have noticed this large star hanging up ... we've had a lot of people ask us how to make one! We found the details on the internet last year, but of course forgot to bookmark it! So we've spent a little while looking for the instructions online again, and came across this fab tutorial ... http://amomentintime.typepad.com/a_moment_in_time/2009/12/large-paper-stars.html The tutorial shows you how to make a smaller version with more points, but you'll get the general idea! Our star was made from five sheets of 12x12 paper (one for each point of our star), and obviously you'll need to make more cuts! Other than that ... simples!

Aged To Perfection

2010-10-30T07:24:00.004+01:00

A stunning card from Emma H to celebrate a special birthday!

Instructions

Cut a piece of grey card 5.5"x11", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Paint the chipboard numbers with the red paint, and whilst wet, sprinkle with glitter. Leave to dry.
Cut five pieces of patterned papers each 2"x2.75". Use a different edge punch along one of the long edges on each piece.
Stick the first piece of pattened paper into place in the bottom right hand corner.
Stick the remaining four pieces of patterned paper onto the card, building up until you finish in the top right hand corner.
Cut a piece of pink flourish patterned paper 1"x5.25", and stick to the middle of the left hand side of the card.
Lastly, glue your numbers in place on the card.

Ingredients - "Mystique" Bazzill Cardstock (grey card) - My Minds Eye "So Sophie" Sisters Circular Bliss (dotty / purple flowers patterned paper) - My Minds Eye "So Sophie" Happy For You Precious Strip (stripe patterned paper) - My Minds Eye "So Sophie" Open Your Hear Berry Stem (berry / pink flourish patterned paper) - Woodware "Chippies" Numbers - Ranger Dabber "Cranberry" (red paint) - Gold Glamour Dust - Martha Stewart Edge Punches - various - Scrap Paper

You're A Star!

2010-10-23T07:55:00.003+01:00

Boys cards can sometimes be really difficult! Here's a stylish card by Emma G that could be adapted for any age group.

Instructions

Cut the orange card 5.75"x11.5", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut the teal card 5.25"x5.25" and glue centrally to the front of your card blank.
Cut a piece of spare card 5"x5" (it really doesn't matter what colour it is, as you're not going to see it!), and cover it in double sided tape.
Cut a strip of each patterned paper 1" and 1.5" wide.
Start cutting random sized pieces and position them on to the piece of spare card to make a patchwork effect.
When you're finished, trim the edges up so that they are nice and even (doesn't matter if the finished square is smaller that 5"), and glue to the centre of the card.
Cut out the greeting you want to use, and then rub the ink pad over the top. Stick onto the card using 3D foam pads.
Punch a number of stars from the red cardstock, decide where you want to position them, and then stick to your card front using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients

- "Cheddar" Bazzill Cardstock (orange card)

- "Mysterious Teal" Bazzill Cardstock (teal card)

- spare cardstock

- "Bazzill Red" Bazzill Cardstock (red card)

- My Minds Eye "Alphabet Soup Boy" Super Stripes (Stripe / Blue Circle Patterned Paper)

- My Minds Eye "Alphabet Soup Boy" Little Man (Dots / Stars Patterned Paper)

- Craftwork Cards Block Messages

- Star Punches (Whale 1.75" / Medium 1" / Small 0.5")

- Versacolor "Marigold" Ink Pad

- Thin 3D Foam Pads

Winter Wishes

2010-10-17T07:19:00.003+01:00

We adore this unusual purple and green colour scheme for Christmas Cards this year ... Bo Bunny and Craftwork Cards have both gone for it ... so it must be en-vogue!

Here's a fabulous card by Judy.

Instructions

Cut a piece of the stripe patterened paper 3.5"x5.25", and round all four corners. Stick this to the centre of your card blank.
Cut a piece of white cardstock 1.5"x4", and use the edge punch down one long side.
Cut a piece of the purple patterned paper (on the reverse of the stripe patterned paper) 1.5"x4", and then stick the piece of punched white card to the back of it, so that just the scalloped edge is showing. Stick this down on your card blank - towards the left hand side.
Die-cut a scalloped oval from the green cardstock, and a co-ordinating plain oval from the white cardstock. Stamp your greeting on the white oval with the purple ink pad, and then glue the two ovals together. Stick these to the front of your card with 3D foam pads.
Punch a snowflake from the white cardstock, and apply your glue pen and glitter to decorate. Leave to dry, and then stick in the corner of the greeting.
To finish, use the glue pen and glitter to add some sparkly detail around the oval and scalloped edge, and on the patterned paper.

Ingredients

- Bo Bunny "Winter Joy" Stripe (patterned paper)

- C6 White Card blank

- A4 White Smooth Card

- "Green Tea" Bazzill Cardstock (green card)

- imagine that ... "Write Big - Christmas" clear stamp set

- Memento "Grape Jelly" (purple ink pad)

- Plain Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities

- Die Cutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug / Big Shot)

- 1" Snowflake Punch - Green

- EK Success "Scalloped Scallop" Edge Punch

- EK Success Corner Adorner (corner rounder punch)

- Glue Pen

- Glamour Dust (glitter)

- 3D Foam Pads

Sylvie

2010-10-10T08:15:00.000+01:00

Minnie Mae-Hem knows that some patterned paper is just too nice to cut up! Here she's let it do all the hardwork for her, which means a very quick and easy page! Instructions

Mat your photo onto the pink cardstock, and then mat this onto the blue cardstock.
Stick you photo in the middle of your piece of patterned paper (not forgetting to trim off the barcode strip!).
Use the alphabet stickers to add some words to the left hand side of the photo.
Die-cut your title from the blue cardstock, and stick to the bottom right hand corner of your page.
Outline your title with the glitter pen.
Lastly, stick gems on the ends of the swirls on the patterned paper (and anywhere else you fancy!).

Ingredients

- Bazzill "Cherry Vanilla" Cardstock (pink cardstock)

- Bazzill "Whirlpool" Cardstock (blue cardstock)

- Bo Bunny "Persuasion" Stripe (patterned paper)

- Cosmo Cricket "Tiny Type" Turquoise Stickers

- 3mm Clear Crystal Stickers

- Die-cutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug / Big Shot)

- Sizzix "Santas Workshop" Alphabet Die Strip

- Sakura "Clear" Stardust Pen (glitter pen)

Secret Garden

2010-10-03T07:21:00.000+01:00

Distress Inks ready! On your marks ... go! Here's a gorgeous card from Emma Humphreys using some fabulous Paperartsy Hot Pick stamps ... Instructions

Place the card blank onto the craft sheet and using the Stormy Sky ink and the cut ‘n dry foam, distress all round the edge of the front of the card.
Mask the bottom of the card by placing a scrap piece of paper across to cover the bottom 2.5cm. Then ink up the ‘birds on grasses’ stamp from the PaperArtsy set with the Stormy Sky ink and stamp the top portion of the stamp across the bottom of the card. You will need to stamp the image more than once to go right across the card.
Repeat the stamping using the Chipped Sapphire and Pumice Stone inks. To get the best effect vary where you place the stamp slightly both horizontally and vertically.
Stamp the words ‘Secret Garden’ near the top of the card on the right with the Stormy Sky ink.
Cut a circle of white card using the circle punch.
Using the Cut ‘n Dry foam again ink the circle with Stormy Sky ink.
Stamp the dotted circle from the ‘Write this way’’ set onto the circle you have just inked up in Chipped Sapphire and then stamp the sentiment in the same ink.
Stick the ribbon at the bottom of the stamped image, pleating it on each side of the where the greeting will go.
Use 3-D foam to stick the greeting over the ribbon.

Ingredients 12.5cm x 12.5 cm White Square Card Blank Blue Satin Ribbon PaperArtsy Hotpick "HP11005" Stamp Set imagine that... "Write This Way" and "Mix & Match Sentiments" Stamp Sets Tim Holtz Distress Inks – "Stormy Sky", "Chipped Sapphire" & "Pumice Stone" Cut ‘n Dry Foam Craft Sheet Acrylic Block Circle Punch (Yellow / 3.5cm) Scrap Of White Card Scrap Paper (to mask)

Family In Red

2010-09-26T13:51:00.005+01:00

Here's a lovely layout from Emma H ... we adore this new border die from Sizzix!

Instructions

Cut a 4"x12" strip of the light patterned paper, and stick approximately 2.5" in from the left hand side of the pink dotty cardstock.
Diecut the scalloped border from the dark patterned paper, and stick along the left hand edge of the piece of light patterned paper strip.
Cut a piece of red cardstock 4"x6", and emboss in the embossing folder.
Cut a piece of the dark patterned paper 4"x2.75", and stick this and the embossed piece of card to the right hand edge of the light patterned paper strip.
Mat your photo on the brown cardstock (our mat is 4.5"x6.5"), and stick to your layout using 3D foam pads.

Diecut your title from the red cardstock, using the SLICE. Glue onto your layout, in the bottom right hand corner of the page.

Print, or write, your journalling on the white cardstock. Use the Distress Ink Pad and Cut'n'Dry Foam to colour over the journaling. Cut your journaling into strips, and stick onto your layout above the photo.

Use pearls to add detail to the journaling strips, and any "i" in your title.

Ingredients

- "Sunset Rose" Dotted Swiss Bazzill (pink dotty cardstock)

- "Brandy Wine" Bazzill (red cardstock)

- "Espresso" Bazzill (brown cardstock)

- Basic Grey "Indian Summer" Milkweed (light patterned paper)

- Basic Grey "Indian Summer" Apple Butter (dark patterned paper)

- Die Cutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug or Big Shot)

- "Jamara" Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

- "Bright Dots & Scallop Border" Sizzix Decorative Strip Die

- Making Memories SLICE Starter Kit

- "Basics 2" Making Memories SLICE Design Card

- Small and Large Flat Backed Pearls

- Scrap of White Cardstock

- "Victorian Velvet" Distress Ink Pad

- Cut'n'Dry Foam

- Craft Sheet

- 3D Foam Pads

A Love So True

2010-09-19T00:07:00.001+01:00

Here at imagine that ... we just love the trend of manufacturers bringing out a patterned paper with lots of strips of different papers on one sheet ... Apart from one of these patterned papers and a black pen, the only other things you'll really need to create a layout like this fabulous one from Minnie Mae-Hemm, is just one sheet of cardstock and a few gems ... simples! Instructions

From the patterned paper cut out the strips that you want to use - we chose the two shaped pieces (the striped piece, and the dotty piece with the red border), the heart strip, and the word strip.
From the reverse of the left over patterned paper cut a piece to mat your photo (ours was 5.75"x4.5").
Stick the thin strip of hearts towards the right hand side of your piece of card (leaving about 0.5").
Glue the striped strip to the left hand side of your piece of card, with the straight edge approx 1.25" in from the edge (use the other dotty piece to check it's in the right position).
Stick the dotty strip over the top of the striped strip, with the straight edge aligned with your piece of card.
Stick the word strip approx 1" from the bottom of the layout.
Stick your photo and mat down in the middle of your layout, at angles.
Punch (or hand cut) a heart from the remaining patterned paper, and stick to the top right hand corner of your page.
Out line the heart and the shaped edge of your striped strip with dots, using a fine black pen.
Glue gems around the photo and on the heart.

Ingredients - Fancy Pants "Vintage Valentine" Valentine Strips Patterned Paper - "Kraft" Bazzill Cardstock - "Black Diamond" 2mm Gems - Fineliner Black Pen - Heart Punch - Blue (approx 1.5")

No Need To Feel Blue ...

2010-09-12T00:05:00.001+01:00

Here is a truly gorgeous card by Emma H, using her Copics and the flower image from the most recent Paperartsy Hot Picks set!

Instructions

Cut a piece of blue card 20.5cm x 19.5cm, and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of gold card 19.5cm x 8.5cm, and a piece of white card 18.5cm x 7.5cm.
Ink up the stamp using the green ink on the stem of the flower and the grey ink on the flowers themselves. Stamp onto the white card.
Colour in the flowers using the 3 blue pens, start with the palest colour all over a petal and then use the darker colours to put in definition and add depth.
Then colour in the stems between the flowers with the green pen.
Glue the white card to the gold card, and then stick them onto the card blank using 3-D foam pads so that they're raised up.
Finish the card by adding 5 mosaic stones to the bottom right of the white card.

Ingredients - "Typhoon" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card) - "Gold Leaf Metallic" Bazzill Cardstock (gold card) - Personal Impressions A4 Ultra Smooth White Card - Crystal Stickers Mosaic Tiles - Gold - PaperArtsy "Hotpick HP1009" Stamp Set - "London Fog" Memento Ink - "Bamboo Leaves" Memento Ink - G21 "Lime Green" Copic Ciao Marker - B32 "Pale Blue" Copic Ciao Marker - B23 "Phthalo Blue" Copic Ciao Marker - Platinum Stickles

{30 Today}

2010-09-05T00:05:00.001+01:00

OK, Emma G was going to post this as an extra project for you last week ... but then she realised that the young lady she made it for might see it before her birthday! You might notice those Making Memories letter stickers again!

Instructions

Cut a piece of brown card 14.5cm x 29cm, and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of pink card 13cm x 13cm, and stick in the centre of the front of your card blank.
Cut a piece of green card 12.5cm x 12.5cm, and emboss it using the embossing folder and die-cutting machine.
Choose some elements from the patterned paper, and cut out (I chose two trees, two birds and four flowers).
Arrange them on your card front, and then stick them down (I used double-sided tape and 3D foam pads so that the images weren't all flat to the card).
Stick the letters onto a piece of cream card, and then colour with the ink pad. Cut the letters out, decide where you're going to position them, and then stick to your card using 3D foam pads (I cut mine in half).
To finish, use the clear glitter pen to add highlights to your birds, trees and flowers.

Ingredients

- "Pinecone" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card)

- "Vintage Pink" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card)

- "Olive" Bazzill Cardstock (green card)

- "Cream Puff" Cardstock (cream card)

- Kaisercraft "Hey Birdie" Wing It Patterned Paper

- Making Memories "Tiny Alphas" (Black On White)

- Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot/Cuttlebug)

- Cuttlebug 5"x7" Embossing Folder "Polka Dots"

- Versacolor "Narcissus" Ink Pad

- Sakura "Clear" Stardust Pen

- 3D Foam Pads

- PVA Glue

Back To School

2010-08-29T07:16:00.001+01:00

Pencil cases always make me think of the first day of school ... so here's a timely project at the start of the school year designed by Claire!

Instructions

Paint the pencil case with the acrylic paint. Leave to dry.
Cut a piece of the stripe paper 8" x 2.25", and stick in the middle of the top of the pencil case.
Cut a strip of the circular paper 5.75" x 0.5", and edge with the acrylic paint.
Die cut your letters from the reverse of the floral stem paper (we cut ours at 1.5", but they turn out smaller than that). Outline each of the letters with the glitter pen.
Punch some flowers from the patterned papers, and put a brad through the centre of each one (trim any split pins showing with a pair of strong scissors).
Punch out some butterflies from the patterned papers, and decorate with one or two of the small silver metal domes. Outline the butterflies with the glitter pen.
Arrange your strip, letters and embellishments on the top of the pencil case, and then stick in place.

Ingredients

- Cardboard Pencil Case

- "Blue Patina" Eco-Green Acrylic Paint

- My Minds Eye "So Sophie" Happy For You Precious (stripe patterned paper)

- My Minds Eye "So Sophie" Sisters Circular Bliss (circles patterned paper)

- My Minds Eye "So Sophie" Open Your Heart Berry Stem (floral stem patterned paper)

- Martha Stewart "3in1 Butterfly" Punch

- Sakura Stardust "Sky - 725" Glitter Pen

- SLICE Starter Kit

- SLICE "Basics 3" Design Card

- Mark Richards "Silver" Metals

- American Crafts "Pewter" Mini Brads

- Woodware "Sakura Flower" Multi Punch

Who Ordered A Taxi?

2010-08-22T05:07:00.001+01:00

Got tons of photos to scrap? This layout by Judy, is a fab way of getting lots on one page ... and is really speedy if you have a 2" square punch!

Instructions

Cut a piece of patterned paper 8" x 8", and a piece of green card 7" x 7". Stick these together, and then stick them onto the sheet of yellow card (towards the top left hand corner).
Punch (or cut) your photos and one piece of patterned paper into 2" squares. Arrange on the piece of green card, and stick down (I usually start with the four corners, and then the ones in between, finishing with the centre square).
Use a ruler and white gel pen to add lines around the patterned paper mat, and then use the white gel pen to add some faux stitching on the patterned paper.
Diecut your letters from the red card, and glue in place at the bottom of the layout. Add some faux stitching with the white gel pen.
Punch one large and two small stars from the red card, and add some faux stitching with the white gel pen. Stick the stars to the page with 3D foam pads.
To finish, write some journalling onto a small piece of white card, mat with the red card, and then glue to your page.

Ingredients

- "Sunbeam" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow card)

- "Limeade" Bazzill Carstock (green card)

- "Currant Sensation" Bazzill Cardstock (red card)

- Cosmo Cricket "DeLovely" DeLicious (patterned paper)

- Purple Square Punch (3" diagonal diameter)

- Star Punches (approx 3/4" and 1.5")

- Die Cutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug/Sizzix Big Shot)

- Sizzix "Wingo Zingo" Decorative Strip Sizzlit

- White Gel Pen

- Ruler

- 3D Foam Pads

Love Is In The Air

2010-08-15T00:01:00.001+01:00

Here's a simply lovely Anniversary card by Emma G, that would work in any colour scheme! Love these little letter stickers ... and because they're white ... you can change them to any colour you like with an ink pad or chalks!

Instructions

Cut a piece of red card 14.5cm x 29", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of orange card 12.5cm x 12.5cm, and a piece of patterned paper 12cm x 12cm.
Ink the edges of the card blank and the other two pieces with the ink pad, and then stick them all together.
Cut a piece of orange card 6.5cm x 6.5cm, and a piece of red card 6cm x 6cm. Ink the edges and then stick these two pieces together.
Colour your letter stickers with the ink pad (I find it easier to put these onto a piece of plastic or craft sheet first), and then stick them to the bottom right hand corner of the small pieces of card (I started with the last letter, and work backwards).
Attach the small pieces of card to the bottom right hand corner of your card blank using 3D foam pads.
Finally, punch a heart from the patterned paper. Ink the edges, and then stick to the small pieces of card using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients

- "Juneberry" Bazzill Cardstock (red card)

- "Penny" Bazzill Cardstock (orange card)

- Basic Grey "Indian Summer" Apple Butter Patterned Paper

- Heart Punch (blue one - approx 2")

- "Pearlescent Olive" Brilliance Ink Pad

- Making Memories "Tiny Alphas" (Black on White)

- 3D Foam Pads

Sparkly Snowflakes

2010-08-01T15:10:00.003+01:00

Here's a gorgeous card by Emma H using our soon to be released new stamp sets!! Come along to the shop on Saturday 7 August for their official launch ... Instructions

Cut a piece of smooth white card 4.25" x 6.25", and a piece of blue card 4.5"x6.5".
Stamp the greeting onto a post-it note, and cut out with a small border (this will create a mask for us to add the greeting after the background has been stamped).
Stick the post-it note onto the piece of smooth white card (wherever you would like your greeting to be on the finished card). Stamp the snowflakes all over the piece of smooth white card, using the lilac and pale blue ink pads.
Remove the post-it note, and then stamp your greeting in black ink, in the space left.
Cut three pieces of ribbon, each about 5" long. Tie one piece in a double knot around one of the other pieces, slightly right of the middle. Stick the third piece diagonally onto the stamped piece of card. Position the knot on the first piece, and then stick down so that the ribbons cross. Glue all ends at the back, and trim the knot ends to size.
Stick the stamped piece of card onto the blue piece of card, and then stick this to your card blank using 3D foam pads.
Use a glue pen and the Glamour Dust to highlight some of the snowflakes.

Ingredients

- 5"x7" White Card Blank

- "Jetstream" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card)

- "White" Bazzill Cardstock (smooth white card)

- "Let It Snow" imagine that ... clear stamp set

- "Write Big - Christmas" imagine that ... clear stamp set

- Acrylic Block

- Brilliance "Pearlescent Purple" Ink Pad (lilac ink pad)

- Versamagic "Aspen Mist" Ink Pad (pale blue ink pad)

- Memento "Tuxedo Black" Ink pad (black ink pad)

- Post It Notes

- Satin ribbon

- Quickie Glue Pen

- Glamour Dust

- 3D Foam Pads

Good Times

2010-07-25T00:03:00.001+01:00

Love the "Bon Voyage" set of stamps from Personal Impressions ... along with this gorgeous camper van image, you get a caravan, boat, airplane and a couple of suitcases ... so many uses ... whether a card for a man, woman or a new baby boy, or if you're scrappingyour holidays! Instructions

Cut a piece of white card 4.5"x9", and fold in half to make your card blank
Stamp the camper van image in black ink in the centre of your card blank
Stamp your greeting below, and to the right of your main image, in black ink
Use a fineliner pen and ruler to draw a border around the image, starting and finishing at the greeting (don't worry about getting this too perfectly measured!)
Colour in your image with the Copic Ciao Markers.
Use the clear glitter pen to colour in the windows, headlights, and go over the number plate (you could always write something in the number plate if you have very small and neat handwriting!)
Stamp the flowers around the outside of your card using the purple and green ink.
To finish, use the clear glitter pen to put a small dot in the centre of each of the stamped flowers

Ingredients

- Personal Impressions A4 White Smooth Card

- Memento "Black Tuxedo" Ink Pad

- Personal Impressions "Bon Voyage" Clear Stamp Set

- imagine that... "All Occasions" Clear Stamp Set (for the flower stamps)

- imagine that ... "All Occasions Additions" Clear Stamp Set (for the greeting stamp)

- Brilliance "Pearlescent Purple" Ink Pad

- Versamagic "Oasis Green" Ink Pad

- Acrylic Blocks

- Black Fineliner Pen

- Ruler

- Sakura Stardust Pen - 700 "Clear"

- Copic Ciao Markers - W5 (Warm Grey), V12 (Pale Lilac), BG10 (Cool Shadow), BG15 (Aqua)

Birdhouse Beauty

2010-07-17T13:29:00.005+01:00

Birds and birdhouses have been a huge trend this year ... and looking at the sneak peeks of the new products due to be released at CHA next week ... it's not showing any signs of waning ...

Here's a very mini and very cute project from Emma G ... these little birdhouses are just so adorable and easy to decorate (and cheap ... just 75p each!) ... they come with a cord for hanging, but this could just as easily be cut off ... a row of them along a window ledge in different colours would be so much fun!

Instructions

Paint your birdhouse in your chosen paint (we picked a turquoise colour)
Cut two pieces of metal to fit the roof (approx 1.5"x1.5"), and then run them through the embossing folder (we chose a small design to get the most effect)
Stick your metal pieces to the roof using the humungo tape
Sand the raised design of your roof with the sanding block (this will remove the metal colour and allow the aluminium base colour to appear)
Put a little bit of the gold metallic paint onto the craft sheet, and then dry brush over the birdhouse. Also paint the edges and bird rest with the gold paint.
To finish use your finger and lightly dab the gold paint over the aluminum raised areas on the roof (try not to get it in between - if you do, and try to wipe it off - you're likely to take the metal colour as well!)

Ingredients

- Mini Birdhouse Blank

- Kaisercraft "Sea Breeze" Acrylic Paint

- "Hot Pink Diamond" Ten Seconds Studio Metal

- "Bubbles" Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

- Die-Cutting Machine that can emboss (ie. Big Shot/Cuttlebug)

- Humungo Tape (or thick Red Double Sided Tape)

- "Gold" Viva Precious Metal Colour

- Paintbrushes

- Sanding Block

- Craft Sheet

Stars & Stripes

2010-07-04T12:15:00.007+01:00

Yes ... it's the 4th July ... Independence Day in the USA. Not a holiday we celebrate a lot in the UK ... but if you haven't got any American friends or relatives, why not adapt this card for a masculine birthday card instead ... We've used some fab 10 Seconds Studio coloured metal on this card ... whizzed it through a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then sanded the raised areas ... available in lots of colours (and now in single sheets!!) ... bbr blue, appletini green, spiced rum, pearl, dijon yellow, hot diamond pink, bronzed gold, mocha, gold nugget, peacock blue and plum ...

Instructions

Cut a piece of pale blue card 4.5"x9", and fold in half to make the card blank.
Cut a piece of off-white card 4"x4", and two strips from the dark blue card (approx 0.25" wide). Stick the strips towards the left hand edge of the off-white square, and then glue to the front of your card blank.
Stamp your greeting in the bottom right hand corner of the off-white square, using the blue ink pad.
Lie your card on the craft sheet, and then using a piece of foam dipped into the blue ink pad, distress the edges of the card by pulling the ink over the edges of the card blank (going onto the off-white square too). Repeat in selected areas with the red ink pad.
Hold the blue ink pad in your hand, and run the edges of the card blank along it, to get a defined edge.
Cut a piece of blue metal 2.75"x2.75", and put through the embossing folder. Sand the raised areas so that the underlying silver is revealed.
Cut a square of red card 3"x3", and stick the piece of embossed metal in the middle of it.
Stick the red square onto your card blank (in the top left hand corner) using 3D foam pads.
Finish by stamping some stars around the greeting using the red ink pad.

Ingredients

- "Moss" Bazzill Cardstock (pale blue card) - "Vanilla" Bazzill Cardstock (off-white card) - "Currant Sensation" Bazzill Cardstock (red card) - "Lighthouse" Bazzill Cardstock (dark blue card) - 10 Seconds Studio "Brr Blue" Metal Sheet - Die-Cutting Machine (ie. Cuttlebug/Big Shot) - Cuttlebug "Stars" Embossing Folder - Sanding Block - "Fired Brick" Distress Ink Pad (Red Ink Pad) - "Chipped Sapphire" Distress Ink Pad (Blue Ink Pad) - Cut'n'Dry Foam (or Blending Tool and Foam) - Craft Sheet - imagine that ... "You Rock!" Clear Stamp Set - Acrylic Block - 3D Foam Pads

Fabulous At 50!

2010-06-27T06:20:00.001+01:00

We just can't keep our hands off the fantastic new dies from Paperartsy ... perfect for making unusual shaped card blanks, as well as all kinds of altered art goodness.

Here's a gorgeous card by Judy with a LOT of bling ... don't say we didn't warn you ... you may need to wear sunglasses even when looking at the photos!

Instructions

Die cut two of the largest frames from the lilac cardstock. On one of the pieces, score a straight line approx 0.5" in from one edge. Put glue on the scored edge, and stick to the other piece to make your card blank.
Die cut one middle size frame from the vanilla cardstock, and stick in the middle of your card blank.
Die cut one small size frame from the peach card. Stick two pieces of ribbon across the bottom of the frame, securing at the back.
Punch two large flowers from the vanilla card, two medium flowers from the lilac card, and one small flower from the peach card. Fold the larger petals to give them some shape, by making a crease down the middle of each petal.
Stick the brad through the centre of all the flowers, and then through the peach frame (in the bottom left hand corner). Open the split pins out, and then stick the peach frame to your card blank.
Apply glue to the front of the chipboard numbers (we put ours through the Xyron machine for speed!). Sprinkle Glamour Dust glitter over the top, and press lightly with your fingers, before tipping the excess off. Glue the numbers to your card blank.
Die cut a tiny oval from the vanilla card, and a co-ordinating scallop oval from the lilac card. Stamp your greeting on the vanilla piece using the brown ink. Stick the two ovals together, and then glue to your card blank (over the ribbon).
Punch two leaves from the vanilla card, and a set of butterflies from the lilac card. Stick the leaves and butterflies onto your card blank (tucking the leaves behind the flower, and arranging the butterflies wherever you think they work best).
Use a glue pen to add some glitter to the edge of the flower petals, the butterflies, the vanilla card oval and the vanilla card frame layer.
Finally, add a pearl or two to the centre of the butterflies.

Ingredients

- "Serenade" Bazzill Cardstock (lilac card)

- "Corn Bread" Bazzill Cardstock (peach card)

- "Vanilla" Bazzill Cardstock (vanilla card)

- Paperartsy Frame Dies #3

- Oval Nestabilities (Plain and Scallop sets)

- Die Cutting Machine (ie. Big Shot / Cuttlebug)

- Small, Medium and Whale EK Success "Retro Flower" Punches

- Martha Stewart "Frond" Punch

- Martha Stewart "3in1 Butterfly" Punch

- imagine that ... "All Occasions" Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- "Coffee" Archival Ink Pad (brown ink)

- Woodware Chipboard Numbers

- Xyron 250 Sticker Machine

- Glue Pen

- Glamour Dust

- 3mm Flat Backed Pearl Stickers

- Lilac Satin Ribbon

- Lilac Brad

Pretty As A Picture

2010-06-19T16:17:00.013+01:00

Attention all "colouring in" addicts! Have we got some gorgeous new stamps for you in the shop ... here's a card by Emma H using one of them and her Copic pens ...

... and if you've never tried colouring with Copics ... why not come to Emma H's "Colour Me Silly" workshop and learn lots of techniques and tips ...

Instructions

On a piece of smooth white card (7cm x 9.5 cm) stamp the image in black ink.
Colour in using the Copic markers (see Ingredients for the exact colours used) - use all of the brown pens to colour in the hair, using individual strokes to build up the overall and colour and blending them together.
Colour the dress in the lightest purple leaving the bottom of it white. Then use the medium tone to go over the bodice of the dress and along the bottom of her sleeve. Repeat all over with the lighter colour, blending the two colours together as you go and going a little further down the dress this time. Finally use the Colourless Blender at the very bottom of the dress - this will take some of the colour out to make it even paler.
Colour the bell and the flower in her hair in the light purple. Put the darkest colour in the middle of the flower and at the top of the bell and go over the top with the light colour again.
Finally colour in the leaves with the two greens.
Add some highlights to your finished piece with the glitter pen.
Cut the purple cardstock 17cm x 12cm, and use the decorative edge punch down one long side.
Cut the patterned paper 17cm x 5.5cm, and use the same punch along one of the long sides.
Stamp the greeting in black ink on a piece of white card (approx 7cm x 3.5cm). Highlight the large word with the glitter pen.
Stick everything down on your card black as shown in the picture, using 3-D foam to raise up the stamped images.

Ingredients

- White Card Blank (5"x7")

- Heather Bazzill (purple)

- Basic Grey "Kioshi" Sayuri

- Personal Impressions Ultra Smooth A4 White Card

- Sakura Stardust Glitter Pen - #700 Clear

- "Tuxedo Black" Memento Ink Pad

- Imagine That 'Write Big' Acrylic Stamp Set

- Fiskars "Upper Crest" Border Punch

- Acrylic Block

- 3D Foam Pads

- Copic Pens

- E31 - Brick Beige (hair)

- E35 - Chamois (hair)

- E43 - Dull Ivory (hair)

- E47 - Dark Brown (hair)

- E71 - Champagne (hair)

- E50 -Eggshell (skin)

- E51 - Milky White (skin)

- RV10 - Pale Pink (cheeks)

- YG00 - Mimosa Yellow (leaves)

- YG03 - Yellow Green (leaves)

- V12 - Pale Lilac (dress, bell & flower)

- V06 - Lavender (dress)

- V09 - Violet (bell & flower)

- 0 - Colourless Blender (dress)

I Wish ...

2010-06-14T08:35:00.003+01:00

When Judy saw these photos, she just had to scrap them ... and she had the perfect papers in mind! Instructions

Cut a 0.5" strip off one edge of all the patterned papers.
Cut strips of the three patterned papers (each should now be 11.5" long). You can either do this randomly, or follow our guide - just remember the strips need to add up to 11.5" across (Left Hand Page = 2" green graph, 1.5" diamond, 5.25" floral, 2.75" green graph / Right Hand Page = 3.5" green graph, 4" floral, 2" diamond, 2" green graph).
Stick the strips onto your pieces of dark brown card. Start from the left hand side, leaving a 0.25" border to the top, bottom and left. Line each one up carefully as you go. Alternatively, if you find it easier, use a strip of left over paper to attach the patterned pieces together on the back before sticking them to the dark brown card.
Mount your main photo on dark brown card, leaving a 0.25" border. The three photos on the right hand page were each trimmed to 3.5" x 5", and stuck onto a piece of dark brown card that was cut to 5.5"x 11".
Print your title and journaling onto the yellow cardstock (alternatively you could write in a brown pen, or use diecut letters/alphabet stickers), and mat each piece with the dark brown cardstock. Glue the title/journaling to you pages.
Choose six buttons (we like to use different sizes and finishes to add a bit of interest), and thread twine through the holes. Tie the twine in a double know, before trimming to an appropriate length. Glue the buttons on with Glossy Accents.

Ingredients

- "Dark Burgundy" Bazzill Cardstock (dark brown card)

- "Pollen" Bazzill Cardstock (yellow card)

- Basic Grey "Origins" Sea Salt (reverse side = green graph patterned paper)

- Basic Grey "Origins" Henna (diamond patterned paper)

- Basic Grey "Origins" Brown Sugar (floral patterned paper)

- Buttons

- Twine

- Glossy Accents

You Rock!

2010-06-06T12:49:00.004+01:00

OK ... you probably know that it's Fathers Day on Sunday 20 June ... here's a great card by Judy for the occasion.

This range of papers from Imaginisce (Live Loud) are great for anyone who's into music ... and they have clear embossed areas to give some instant dimension.

Instructions

Cut a piece of green cardstock 6"x8", and fold in half to make a 6"x4" card blank.
Cut a piece of blue cardstock 5.75"x3.75", and stick on the front of your card blank in the middle.
Cut a piece of patterned paper 5.5"x3.5", and stick this onto the blue cardstock mat.
Cut a piece of orange cardstock approx 1.5"x1.25", and stamp your greeting and stars onto it with a brown ink pad.
Mat the stamped piece of card onto a piece of blue cardstock, and then stick onto your card blank (towards the top left hand corner).
Diecut two guitars using the SLICE machine (we did ours at 3.5") - one in orange, and one in brown. Leave the orange one whole. Cut the neck (the long bit!) and three little rectangles out of the brown guitar, and stick on top of the orange one (use our close up picture as a guide). Use a white pen to draw in the strings. Punch out three tiny circles from the blue cardstock (we used the crop-a-dile to do this).
Finally, stick the completed guitar onto the card using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients - "Parakeet" Bazzill (green cardstock) - "Vibrant Blue" Bazzill (blue cardstock) - "Orange Juice" Bazzill (orange cardstock) - "Mudpie" Bazzill (brown cardstock) - Imaginsce "Live Loud" Turn It Up (words patterned paper) - imagine that ... "You Rock" stamp set - Acrylic Block - Archival Ink Coffee Ink Pad - SLICE Die Cutting Starter Kit - "Just Chillin" SLICE Design Card - White Opaque Pen - Crop A Dile (or tiny hole punch) - 3D Foam Pads If you don't want to do all the cutting yourself, or want something a bit more traditional, why not just pop into the shop and buy one of our ready to go Fathers Day card kits (which has everything you need to make a fantastic card with a classic car image)!

Eat, Drink & Be Merry

2010-05-30T00:05:00.000+01:00

Love Love Love this project by Minnie Mae-Hem ... a fab scrapbook page ... and an excellent opportunity to try out the new Tim Holtz Sizzix Alphabet!

Instructions

Die cut two circles (approx 3.75" and 2.5") from the green card. Die cut one 2" circle from the red card.
Trim your photos so that two of them are each approx 3.75" x 3" (to be matted on the green card), one is 4.5" x 3" (the photo in the middle of our layout), and die cut one into a circle (approx 2.75")
Cut a piece of the multi patterned paper 4.5" x 5". Cut two pieces of the orange patterned paper both 4.5" tall - one 1.25" wide, and the other 2" wide.
Glue the largest green circle to the back of the multi patterned paper piece, so that just over half of the circle can be seen. Adhere this piece of patterned paper to the middle left of the black card (leaving a small border on the left hand side). Continue to glue the other two pieces of the orange patterned paper and the photograph in place, leaving small gaps between each piece so that the black background is visible.
Cut two 12" strips of red card approx 0.5" wide. Glue one above the patterned papers and one below.
Cut two 7" strips of green card approx 0.25" wide. Stick these above/below the red card strips, aligning the top one to the right hand side of the layout, and the bottom one to the left hand side.
Mount the two 3.75" x 3" photos onto a piece of green card (approx 4" x 6.5"). Glue this in the bottom left hand corner of the page.
Glue the circular photo over the top of the multi patterned paper/large green circle. Stick a small red button on either side of the circular photo on the strip of red card.
Squash the bottlecap in your die cutting machine. Punch a 1" circle from the green card (and write any additional title needed). Stick together. Layer up the other green circle and red circle, and stick to your page, with the bottle cap stuck on top (3D foam pads are the best way to stick this down).
Use a black pen to add dots around the edge of the two large green circles.
Die cut the title using the Sizzix alphabet die and red card. Stick part of the title to the top of the layout, and arrange the remaining letters in a "smile" below the bottle cap circles to emphasise the fun element of the photos.
Cut 0.25" strips of the green card for journalling. Cut to size, and arrange below the circlular photo before sticking down.

Ingredients

- "Green Tea" Bazzill Cardstock (green card)

- "Ladybug" Bazzill Cardstock (red card)

- "Raven" Bazzill Cardstock (black card)

- Basic Grey "Offbeat" Radical Patterned Paper (multi patterned paper)

- Basic Grey "Offbeat" Nonchalant Patterned Paper (orange patterned paper)

- Bottle Cap

- Small Red Buttons

- Die Cutting Machine (Big Shot/Cuttlebug)

- Circle Nestabilities

- Circle Punch (1" - Green)

- Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Decorative Strip Die - Vintage Market Alphabet

- Black Fineliner Pen

- 3D Foam Pads

Artsycrafts ... May 2010

2010-05-26T12:42:00.004+01:00

You may have noticed that there wasn't a project posted on Sunday ... we're very very sorry ... but we were having way too much fun creating and learning new techniques at Artsycrafts. Artsycrafts are weekends full of fantastic classes taught by two extremely talented teachers - Leanda Franich (Paperartsy) and Linda Brown (LB Crafts). We learnt lots of techniques using metal, stamps, die cutting, embossing, paints, inks, textures and more ... some of which may sneak their way into a class or two of ours next quarter! Here's some sneak peeks of what we made ... and lots of the products we used are already available at imagine that ...

... and if you're interested in attending a future Artsycrafts weekend, you can find all the details here

Take It Easel!

2010-05-15T00:01:00.003+01:00

Easel cards are sooo popular at the moment ... look stunning ... and are incredibly simple to make. This gorgeous card was made by Judy. Instructions

Cut a piece of pink card 11"x5.5", and score at 5.5" and 8.25". Fold along the score lines. Stand the card up so that you have the long piece laying flat, and the "v" point pointing up.
Cut a piece of turquoise card 5.25"x5.25", and stick to the base of your card blank. Cut another piece of turquoise card 5.25"x2.5", and stick to the front of your "v".
Cut a piece of the floral patterned paper 5"x5", and stick to the base of your card blank. Cut a piece of the stripe patterned paper 5"x2.25", and stick to the front of your "v".
Punch a decorative edge along a strip of pink card and a strip of blue card, and a plain strip of brown card (all 5.5" long - doesn't matter about the width - whatever you prefer). Stick these together and then to the base of your card blank (approx halfway down) to make a ledge for the "v" to rest against.
Cut a piece of brown card 2"x3.5" and a piece of orange patterned paper 1.75"x3.25", and stick them together. Put glue on the lower half of the back of the piece of brown card, and stick to the left hand side of the front of your "v".
Diecut a small oval from the turquoise card, and stamp your greeting with the brown ink pad. Diecut the co-ordinating scalloped oval in brown card, stick them together and then stick to the right hand side of the front of your "v" using 3D foam pads.
Diecut a large scalloped circle from the stripe patterned paper (then turn it over as we're going to use the blue patterned side!), and a small scalloped circle from the pink card.
Make your flowers by cutting down towards the centre of the scalloped circles - every second scallop. Don't cut to close to the centre or you're flower will fall apart. Once you've gone all the way around, fold each of the sections together. I usually start at the scalloped end, and edge my fingers down to the middle.
Layer the two flowers together and stick to the card with 3D foam pads.
To finish, punch a small circle out of the orange patterned paper, and stick this to the middle of your flower with another 3D foam pad.

Ingredients - "Tangy Taffy" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card) - "Dragonfly" Bazzill Cardstock (turquoise card) - "Bitter Chocolate" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card) - Bo Bunny "Sophie" Bouquet (floral patterned paper) - Bo Bunny "Sophie" Stripe (stripe / blue patterned paper) - Bo Bunny "Sophie" Sophie (orange patterned paper) - EK Success "Scalloped Scallop" Decorative Edge Punch - Small Circle Punch (orange) - Die Cutting Machine (Big Shot/Cuttlebug etc) - Nestabilities - Standard Large Scalloped Circles - Classic Large Plain Ovals - Classic Large Scalloped Ovals - imagine that ... All Occasions clear stamp set - Archival Ink Pad "Coffee" (brown ink pad) - 3D Foam Pads - Scissors

Tag Along

2010-05-09T00:05:00.002+01:00

Here's not one, but two fabulous cards from Minnie Mae-Hemm ... she could not wait to get her hands on the new Distress Ink colours ... and these were the result ... Instructions

(These instructions are for the "bloom" card on the right, but the "time" card is exactly the same - just different stamps and ink pad colours).

Cut your smaller tag into a rectangle (approx 1.25"x1.75").
Put this tag, and the larger tag onto the craft sheet, and apply the Distress Ink colours with the foam (cut'n'dry or blending). Start with one colour, and gradually add the others, blending and building the background up until you are happy with it. TIP: Start the colour on the craft sheet, and then pull the ink onto the tag in a circular motion.
Stamp the background images along one long side, and the top and bottom of the larger tag, using one of the darker Distress Inks (we used Crushed Olive, and the "Bloomin' Lovely" stamp set). Also stamp an image on the smaller tag.
Stamp the main image in the centre of the larger tag using the black ink pad, and your greeting on the smaller tag.
Mount the smaller tag onto your larger tag using 3D foam pads.
Loop a piece of ribbon through the hole of the larger tag, and then stick the tag to the middle of your card blank (again with 3D foam pads).
Lastly, add small spots of glitter glue in lines along the top and bottom of the larger tag (and continuing the pattern on the smaller tag).

Ingredients

- DL Size Cream Card Blank

- Large Cream Tag

- Small Cream Tag

- Distress Ink Pads (for the "bloom" card - Crushed Olive, Forest Moss, Stormy Sky ;

for the "time" card - Victorian Velvet, Wild Honey, Barn Door)

- Stickles Glitter Glue (for the "bloom" card - Patina ; for the "time" card - Pink)

- Paperartsy "Hot Picks HP1004" Stamp Set (for "bloom" card)

- imagine that ... "Bloomin' Lovely" Stamp Set (for "bloom" card)

- Paperartsy "Ding & Dong 2" Stamp Set (for "time" card)

- Paperartsy "Ding & Dong 5" Stamp Set (for "time" card)

- Archival "Jet Black" Ink Pad

- Cut'n'Dry Foam (or Blending Foam)

- Craft Sheet

- Co-ordinating ribbon

- 3D Foam Pads

Life's A Beach ...

2010-05-03T12:34:00.004+01:00

Emma G has been waiting to scrap these photos for ages ... just a small piece of patterned paper on this layout, but lots of texture! Instructions

Cut the dark blue dotty cardstock to 11.5"x11.5", and fray the edges with the distressing tool. Stick this to the centre of the pale blue card.
Cut a piece of brown card 8.5"x8.5", and stick slightly off-centre on your page.
Mount your photos onto a piece of pale blue card (our main photo was 4"x6", and then the three smaller photos were each 4"x2" - so the piece of blue card is 6.25"x8.25"), then stick this to the left hand side of the piece of brown card on your layout.
Cut a piece of patterned paper 1"x10.5", and use the distress tool all the way around. Stick the piece of patterned paper to the right of your photos.
Die cut two different sized "labels" out of the pale blue and brown cardstock. Put the alphabet stickers that you want to use for your smaller title/journalling onto a craft sheet, and then use the blue ink pad with some foam to colour them. Stick the two labels together, and then add the alphabet stickers (using a black pen to add in any punctuation that you need). Stick onto your page.
Die cut the letters for your main title out of brown card (we used the SLICE for this), and then cover the letters with the Distress Stickles. Leave to dry, and then stick to your layout using thin 3D foam pads.
Finally add some embellishments - a piece of velvet rick rack ribbon, buttons (with twine tied through the holes), and a thin strip of pale blue card (to balance the layout in the top right hand corner of the piece of brown card).

Ingredients

- "Windy" Bazzill Cardstock (pale blue card)

- "Kraft" Bazzill Cardstock (brown card)

- "Nightwater" Dotted Swiss Bazzill Cardstock (dark blue dotty card)

- Basic Grey "Offbeat" Novel (brown patterned paper)

- Making Memories Tiny Alphas - Black On White

- Tim Holtz Distressing Tool

- Die Cutting Machine (Big Shot/Cuttlebug etc)

- Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4

- SLICE Starter Kit

- SLICE "Basics 2" Design Card (for title)

- Tim Holtz Distress Stickles - Walnut Stain

- Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Weathered Wood (blue ink pad)

- Craft Sheet

- Cut'n'Dry Foam (or Blending Foam)

- Thin 3D Foam Pads

- Brown Velvet Rick Rack Ribbon

- Black Pen

- Buttons

- Twine

- Glue Dots

Game On

2010-04-25T16:46:00.004+01:00

Here's a great layout from Emma H. Using strong patterned papers means you don't have to go over the top with embellishments ... but can still have a very striking result!

Instructions

Cut the diamond patterned paper 11" x 11", and stick to the centre of the blue card.
Cut the green patterned paper 6" x 10", and stick to the right hand side of the page.
Arrange your photos on the piece of green patterned paper (our photos are each 3" x 4.5" - including the white border). Before sticking your photos down, make a small loop of brown ribbon to stick behind the top photo, and a small "v" of brown ribbon to stick behind the bottom photo (a cheats way of making the ribbon look like it goes all the way from top to bottom). Stick your photos down.
Diecut your title (we used the alphabet on the Slice card, at 2"). Stick your title onto your page, and use the bronze pen to add a dotted outline around the inside of the letters (this will help it not get lost against the patterned paper background).
Punch out 3 large glitter card stars, 2 large blue patterned paper stars, 4 small glitter card stars and 5 small blue patterned paper stars. Layer some of these on top of each other, and arrange them all on your layout, before sticking down (use 3D foam pads for some, to add a bit of dimension).

Ingredients

- "Horizon" Bazzill Cardstock (blue card)

- Bella Boulevard "Man Of The House" Cufflinks (blue / green patterned papers)

- Bella Boulevard "Man Of The House" Dad's Socks (diamond patterned paper)

- Green Glitter Card

- Brown Ribbon

- Star Punches (blue/green)

- SLICE Starter Kit, and Basics 2 Design Card

- Sakura Stardust Pen - Bronze (709)

- 3D Foam Pads

Boy Oh Boy

2010-04-18T12:30:00.006+01:00

One of the most common questions we get asked is what can I use to make a card for a man ... well these WRMK Geo-Hectic papers are just perfect ... they have everything you need for gentleman of all ages ... rockets, robots, cars, maps, spanners, lightbulbs and lots more ... and the best thing about them is that you get five (yes,I said FIVE) patterns on each sheet (four mini sheets on the front, and one large pattern on the back) ... the possibilities are endless!

(oops, nearly forgot ... these cards were made by Emma G)

Instructions

Cut your card blank from one of the Bazzill cardstocks - 5.5"x11", and fold in half.
Cut a 12cm x 12cm square from a second colour of Bazzill cardstock.
Cut a 11.5cm x 11.5cm square from the third colour of Bazzill cardstock (we chose the red in both our cards, as we thought it was a good contrast against the patterned papers).
Cut a 4.25" x 4.25" square from a scrap of cardstock (you're not going to see this, so it doesn't matter what colour it is). Cover this on one side with double sided tape.
Punch out nine squares from the patterned papers (we used the four mini patterns on each sheet ... as the designs are shrunk down they are just perfect for cardmaking!).
Stamp your greeting on one of the plainer patterned paper squares using the black ink pad.
Arrange the squares onto the square of card covered in double sided tape. Make sure they but up nice and close to each other. The square of card will be too big, but just trim off any excess when all the patterned paper squares are stuck down. (This is much easier, than trying to get the little squares lined up straight on your card!).
Stick the cardstock squares together, and then glue everything to your card blank.
Punch out 1 large, 1 medium and 2 small stars from the Bazzill cardstocks. Add some doodling to the largest square, and then stick them onto your card using 3D foam pads and/or double sided tape.
As a finishing touch, add some matching doodling around the edge of the largest mat on the card.

Ingredients

- WRMK "Geo-Hectic" Runway Patterned Paper

- WRMK "Geo-Hectic" Intersection Patterned Paper

- "Expresso" Bazzill Cardstock (dark brown card)

- "Dark Fawn" Bazzill Cardstock (sand card)

- "Watermelon" Bazzill Cardstock (red card)

- 2" Square Punch (blue one!)

- Various Star Punches (we used three different sizes)

- imagine that ... "You Rock" stamp set

- Acrylic Block

- "Onyx Black" Versafine Ink Pad

- Black Pen

- 3D Foam Pads

- Double Sided Tape

Love Always

2010-04-11T00:05:00.002+01:00

We're obviously in a romantic mood ... here's another card perfect for anniversarys or weddings, this time designed by Claire. Incredibly simple, and looks stunning in other sizes and colours ... Instructions

Draw a heart onto one of the graph paper patterned sheets, and cut out. Don't worry if the edges aren't perfect - you won't see them - it just needs to be roughly heart shaped!
Stick the heart at an angle on the front of your card.
Punch out approx 30 hearts from various patterned papers. Use the glitter pen to add some detail to each of them (either using the pattern on the paper, or just going around the edge).
Arrange the hearts around your big heart shape, overlapping them as you go. When you're happy with the arrangement, stick them down - with some flat, some on thin 3D foam pads, and some on thick 3D foam pads.
Stick your key into place.
Finally, add your letter stickers to make up your greeting.

Ingredients

- 8"x8" Cream Card Blank

- Basic Grey "Origins" 6"x6" Paper Pad

- Making Memories "Schoolhouse" Mini Shimmer Alpha (in Brown)

- Key (from Claire's personal stash!)

- Heart Punch (green one)

- Sakura "Stardust 700" Glitter Pen

- 3D Foam Pads (in two different thicknesses)

Don't Be Blue

2010-04-05T14:39:00.003+01:00

Here's a stunning anniversary card from Judy ... using (believe it or not) a Christmas patterned paper from SEI!

We've used the close up photo first, so you can see just how beautiful this patterned paper is!

Instructions

Cut a piece of white card 10"x7", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of patterned paper 3.5"x4.25", a piece of white card 3.75"x4.5", and a piece of glitter card 4"x5.25". Use the edger punch along the bottom edge of the glitter card.
Stick the patterned paper, white card piece and glitter card together, and then glue a piece of ribbon around them.
Cut a piece of blue card 4.75"x6.75". Stick your patterned paper mat onto the blue card (towards the top).
Stamp your greeting in the bottom right hand corner of the blue card piece, and emboss with the silver embossing powder and a heat gun.
Stick the blue piece of card to the centre of your card blank.
Punch three hearts from the glitter card, and stick them onto your card using 3D foam pads.

Ingredients

- SEI "Wintersong" Crystal Arabesque Patterned Paper

- "Horizon" Bazzill cardstock (blue card)

- Silver Glitter Card

- "Bazzill White" Bazzill cardstock (white card)

- Martha Stewart Edge Punch "New Scallop"

- imagine that ... "Write Big" stamp set

- Acrylic Block

- Versamark Ink Pad

- "Silver Dollar" Embossing Powder

- Heat Gun

- Heart Punch (approx 1" - green)

- 3D Foam Pads

- Thin satin ribbon

Molly

2010-03-29T19:45:00.009+01:00

This layout by Judy, just goes to show that you don't need a lot of time or product to make great scrapbook pages ... using the gorgeous new Bo Bunny "Sophie" paper range ... Instructions

Stick the piece of die-cut patterned paper in the centre of the piece of pink card.
Using the punch, round the corners of your photos, and then mount them on pink card. Round the corners of the mats, and then stick onto your page.
Stick the letters for your title onto pink card, and then trim to size and round the corners.
Stick your title mat and three of the flower stickers onto your page.
Stick one of the long border stickers across the middle of your page.
Add gems under your title and in the centres of the flower stickers.
Use the clear glitter pen to add some detail around the paper, letters and on the flower stickers.

Ingredients - "Pinkini" Bazzill Cardstock (pink card) - Bo Bunny "Sophie" Joy Die Cut Patterned Paper - Bo Bunny "Sophie" Combo Stickers - various gems - Corner Rounder Punch - "Clear 700" Stardust Pen

Mrs Pepperpot Gets Tipsy

2010-03-21T15:43:00.006Z

Sorry ... we just couldn't resist this title ... in case you haven't guessed this project involves a set of Salt & Pepper pots and alcohol inks! This is one of Emma G's fab ideas ... and can you believe we sell the pots for just £1.59 a set! Instructions

Take the stoppers out of the bottom of the pots.
Place a piece of the felt onto the applicator, and then apply a squeeze of each ink colour onto the felt (keep them fairly close together, but not overlapping).
Work on one pot at a time. You're going to want to work in the air, so either find something that will go inside the pot that you can also hold onto, or like us, use your finger! Dab the alcohol ink applicator all over the pot. You'll notice that your first layer will be fairly "cloudy", but if you go over again (and again), you will start to get a more marbled effect. Continue until you're happy with the result (adding more ink to your applicator if you need it).
If when you place the pot down to dry, you catch an area with your finger and wipe off the wet alcohol ink, don't panic, just go over that area again with the applicator.
Repeat for the second pot.
Once the pots are dry you can fill them with salt and pepper and replace the stoppers. As they are, you can wipe them gently with a damp cloth if they dirty. If you want them to be a little more resilient, you may want to varnish them.

Ingredients

- Ceramic Salt & Pepper Pots (the photo above shows them before and after)

- Alcohol Ink Applicator and Felt

- Alcohol Inks - Aqua, Lemonade and Willow

Picture This

2010-03-15T12:42:00.004Z

This is such a great gift idea ... and perfect for using up scraps of patterned paper and cardstock. Designed by Emma G.

Instructions

Paint your photo frames (you may need a couple of coats), and leave to dry.
Cut a 3/4" strip of the cardstocks and patterned paper. Cut the cardstock strips into thirds.
Choose which embossing folder to use with each colour cardstock, and emboss one each of the "thirds" strips.
Stamp the swirl randomly on one each of the "thirds" strips using the brown ink pad.
Cut all your cardstock pieces (embossed, stamped and plain) and your patterned paper into different size pieces, and arrange on your photo frame.
When you're happy with the layout, ink the edges of all of the pieces, and the raised areas of the embossed pieces (using the brown ink pad and the blending tool).
Apply a blob of Distress stickles onto the plain pieces of cardstock, and spread out using your finger, so you have a thin layer. Allow to dry.
Glue all the pieces in place.
Punch out some stars from the patterned paper and cardstock. We stuck our large patterned paper stars onto another piece of cardstock, and then cut around them leaving a small border to get a layered look. Ink and add Distress stickles if you wish, and then glue into place.

Ingredients

- Double Photo Frame

- "Foxy" Bazzill Card (pink card)

- "Spring Breeze" Bazzill Card (green card)

- Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" Remember Patterned Paper

- Die-cutting machine (ie. Big Shot/Cuttlebug)

- Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Swiss Dots and Forest Branches

- Paperartsy "Squiggly Ink" Swirls & Curls 1 Stamp Set

- Acrylic Block

- Kaisercraft "Antique White" Paint

- Paint Brush

- Tim Holtz "Rock Candy" Distress Stickles

- Tim Holtz "Frayed Burlap" Distress Ink Pad

- Ranger Blending Tool

- Star punches

Bloom Where You Are Planted

2010-03-07T00:05:00.001Z

We love these Making Memories Flutter papers ... here's a card with a definite "spring in it's step", designed by Judy. Instructions

Cut a piece of white card 10"x7", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Punch the open front edge of the card with the "edge" punch from the Martha Stewart set.
Cut a section of the stripe paper for the front of your card (it will be 4.5"x7"), and stick into place.
Cut a strip of the stripe paper (we chose the dotty piece) 4"x0.75", and stick to the card front, just below the middle.
Cut another piece of white card 5.25"x3.25", and punch around the entire piece. Use the corner punches first, and then the edge punches (be careful not to go too far!). Full instructions can be found with your punch set.
Cut a piece of pink paper 2"x4", and stick to the punched white card.
Stamp two of the flowers (one smaller than the other) onto white card with the blue ink pad. Cut the flowers out, layer together, and attach to the top left hand corner of your punched piece with a brad.
Die cut a tag from the white card. Stamp a flower in blue ink, near to the right hand loop. To the left of that, stamp your greeting in brown ink. Cut off the rest of the left hand side of the tag. Thread a piece of ribbon through and secure this with a brad. Cut the ends of the ribbon into a "V". Stick your tag to the punched piece, overhanging the ribbon of the right hand side.
Stamp butterflies onto the pink paper, using the brown ink pad.
Stick the punched piece onto your card front using 3D foam pads.
Use the glue pen and Glamour Dust to highlight areas on the patterned paper, flowers, butterflies and tag.

Ingredients - "Bazzill White" Bazzill Cardstock (white card) - Making Memories "Flutter" Pattern Stripe Flutter Paper (stripe paper) - Making Memories "Flutter" Vine Flutter Paper (pink paper) - Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page "Loops" Set - imagine that ... "Bloomin' Lovely" stamp set - Acrylic Block - "Sky Blue" Versacolor Ink Pad - "Brown" Versacolor Ink Pad - Pink Dotty Satin Ribbon - Medium Silver Brads - Spellbinders Nestabilities "Ribbon Tags Trio" - Die Cutting Machine - ie. Cuttlebug/Big Shot - Quickie Glue Pen - Glamour Dust - 3D Foam Pads

Mum's The Word

2010-02-28T19:31:00.003Z

OK, our second project is this gorgeous Mothers Day card made be Judy.

Instructions

Cut a piece of lilac card 10"x7", and fold in half (this makes a 5"x7" card - slightly larger than the usual size).
Cut two more pieces of lilac card, each 5"x4". Emboss them both with the embossing folder. Stick them together, so that the lines match up, and trim so that it measures approx 4.75"x6.75". Stick to the front of your card.
Cut a piece of kraft card 5"x1", and stick over the join on your embossed piece.
Stick a piece of ultra sticky double sided tape across the middle of the piece of kraft card. Stick your ribbon in place - let it overhang on the left hand side, stick down approx 0.75", then create a loop, before sticking the middle section down. Repeat the loop approx 0.75" from the right hand side, and finish by overhanging on this side too. Cut the overhanging pieces into "V's".
Cut a piece of off-white card 3.5"x5". Stamp the leaves image about 3 times, with the light brown ink pad. Edge the piece of card with the light brown ink.
Stamp your greeting in dark brown ink in the bottom right hand corner, overlapping some of the leaves image.
Stick the stamped piece of card onto your card blank using 3D foam pads.
Punch out three medium and four small flowers. Curl the edges to give them some shape. Decide where you want to position them, and then stick into place.
Finish with a crystal in the centre of each of the flowers.

Ingredients

- "Serenade" Bazzill Card (lilac card)

- "Vanilla" Bazzill Card (off-white card)

- "Kraft" Bazzill Card (kraft card)

- Lilac Satin Ribbon

- "Candy Cane Stripe" Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

- Cuttlebug/Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

- "Umber" Versacolor Ink Pad (light brown ink)

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

- Flower Punches (orange/green 6 petal flowers)

- imagine that ... "Bloomin' Lovely" Stamp Set

- imagine that ... "Relatively Speaking" Stamp Set

- Acrylic Blocks

- Clear Crystal Stickers

- 3D Foam Pads

- Red Ultra Sticky Double Sided Tape

Fantastic Day Today!

2010-02-28T19:30:00.000Z

Here's a mega simple card to make for a man in your life! Made by Emma G using the Basic Grey Archaic 6"x6" Paper Pad, and our fab new stamps.

Instructions

Cut a piece of brown card 4.5"x9", and fold in half to make your card blank.
Cut a piece of patterned paper (we chose the stripe) 4"x4", and stick to the centre of your card.
Cut a piece of plain patterned paper (we chose the green distressed one) 2.25"x1.5", and stamp your greeting in black ink (you may want to change the size of this depending on what greeting you are going to use!). Stick the stamped piece of paper onto a piece of brown card, and trim, leaving a small border. Stick your greeting to the bottom right hand corner of your card.
Punch a star out of a piece of patterned paper (we chose the dotty piece), and then stick this onto a piece of brown card and trim, leaving a small border. Stick this to the front of your card (we stuck it flat as it was going to be posted ... you could always add 3D foam, if you don't mind paying for a large stamp!).
Told you it was easy!

Ingredients

- "Brown" Bazzill (brown card)

- Basic Grey "Archaic" 6"x6" Paper Pad

- 2" Star Punch (usually blue)

- imagine that ... You Rock stamp set

- Versafine "Onyx Black" Ink Pad

- Acrylic Block

A Bit Late For Valentines Day ...

2010-02-28T09:14:00.005Z

... but if you only get to see him once a year ... what more can you expect! I am of course talking about Sir Tim ... and I was one lucky girl at the tradeshow last week, as he made me a rose! These really are very simple to make, and you can check out the instructions on his blog. The only additional instructions you need for the rose above ... is to cover the grungepaper with a sheet of dicitionary paper before colouring with distress inks (best to stick it on with Claudine Hellmuth's Medium). ps. This rose was made using Tim's new Sizzix flower die ... we will have them in the shop as soon as we can get them!! NEW Distress Ink Pads should be in next week!!

pps. I know we missed posting last week ... what with the tradeshow and everything ... but check back later tonight for TWO projects!

New Stamp Sets Samples

2010-02-17T10:32:00.005Z

Sorry ... sorry ... sorry ... for the delay in posting these! But here they are ... some cards made with our fabulous new stamp sets ...