Set of suitcases winner

Hello everyone,

Sorry this is a bit late, but here's the name of our Set of mini suitcases winner.

Drum roooooooooooooooooooooool

So that would be:

NICKY (Qwiksave)

Congratulations! 

Please email me to give me your full name and snail mail address and we'll send your suitcases shortly.

More altering?

Hello everyone,
First I would like to thank everyone for all the lovely comments you left last week on the altered H by Kathy. It makes a bit difference to us, so thank you.
Would you like more altered chtuff?
Well, first of all, as we were talking about altered letters last week, let me show you Jane Collman's project.

 

Isn't it gorgeously lovely ??

She used Decopatch, Viva Decor Paperpens and gloss gels as well as Spellbinders butterflies. 

Now how about Pencil cases? This is another product you can find in the altered section.
Our talented designers have been busy and here's what they came up with...

First up, Poupette's case. You've been asking for more Christmas projects, here is a beautiful one.

To make her box, Poupette used: 

rectangular pencil case
embossing powder: gold
Smooch Spritz Ink Mister: Electric Blue
Smooch Spritz Ink Mister: Gold Glow
Smooch Spritz Ink Mister: Emerald Sprinkle
Katzelkraft unmounted rubber stamps - Christmas1
Katzelkraft unmounted rubber stamps - Trees
Basic Grey 6 x6 Paper Pad - Jovial
Martha Stewart edger punch: Iron Gate Edger punch
Ranger white pen

*****

Chris Dark has also made a stunning case

Here's what Chris used:

Eco Green Crafts Paris Trunk ink 'red leather' for the outside
Ranger cut and dry foam
Inka Gold 'gold' paste for the inside
Metallic gold liner pen
Ranger metallic gold alcohol ink to re-colour the fastener,
Paper Artsy rose stamp from Flora and Fauna set
Spray varnish.

*****

Finally, I have another beautiful sample, in a completely different style from Dawn

No matter what the style of your box is, it would make a perfect Christmas Present/Stocking filler. 

Let us know what you think in a comment below. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

Wish Granted: die cutting

Hello everyone,

Another wish granted today with Patty asking about creative ideas about using cutting dies and samples with poinsettia dies.


Patty said... 

I would love to see creative ways to use die cuts. I have some lovely poinsetta dies and would love some creative ways to use them. Thank you!

Well, it happens that Dawn and Ria started something about that "behind the scene" and that Chris Dark has made a beautiful sample using poinsettias.

So Patty,please send me an email with your full name and snail mail address, and we will send you a new Marianne D's cutting die shortly.
And if you are a blog follower and want to win a cutting die too, please leave a comment below. Draw will be next week.

*************

First of all Ria has used the cutting die to make the card itself, along with Marianne D's flowers as an embellishment. Here's her instructions on how to make the card:

First I used my die cuttingmachine to cut out all the layers that I wanted to use, I started with the Creatables frame circle and placed it like on the photo to make a double sided card with it. Then I used the largest Round Nestabilities with the striped Craftwork paper, then I used the Creatable Doily die with the dotted Craftwork paper. I used the dotted flower dies from both the Creatables doilies sets, because they fit so perfectly together and used white cardstock for the larger flower die and the striped paper for the smaller flower die.

I stamped this Sugar Nellie Gorjuss girl twice with Memento tuxedo black ink and let it dry for a short while. Then I coloured her in with Copics R11 for the red cheeks and E21 for the skin parts, The green parts are coloured with G94 and YG03. The grey parts are done with C3, C4 and C6. Her hair is coloured with E29 and 100. I only decoupaged her head and a small part of her hair. But you can do more decoupage like the legs those would be perfect for it and I would have done it to if I had not cut them up by accident :)
Cut out the Gorjuss girl with a scissor and go around the edges with Copics 100 to get rid of the white lines that you may still see.

I glued the Striped round with double sided foam tape onto the Embossed large circle, then I took the dotted doiley and also glued it on with double sided foam tape. Glue the bottom layer of the Gorjuss girl into the midde of the doily like she is sitting on it. Then you glue the head/hair part on it with double sided foam tape. 

On all the empty spaces between the scallops I placed a Craftwork Card candies (bahama's)
 

Antoher sample from Ria: 

*****

Dawn's sample and technique

 This is a little tip for embossing the edge of a cut die not sure if you want to use it.
If you have difficulty (like I do) getting your die cutter to emboss round the edge of your die cut shape and don't have time to muck around with shims etc, here's what I do!

 Turn over your cut die image

Take an embossing tool and score round the inside edge of the die

 Turn over and you have a perfectly embossed edge!

Here's another sample...

  To make her card, Dawn used: 

Crafty Individual Bird Stamps
Versafine Ink
Nestabilities Labels Die
Pink Gem
Woodware Salutation Stamp

*******

Sample from Chris Dark

To make her card, Chris used:

Marianne Poinsettia dies
Crafty Individuals Christmas Angels image pad
Utee and meltpot
Brown card 

Spellbinders Circle Nestability and Fancy tags shapeabilities
Beige Brilliance dew drop
Craft Concept embossing folder 'In bloom'
gems

****

Another samples from Isa's art

To make her tree, Isabelle used: 

Dreamweaver stencil

Spellbinder shapeabilities

Inkadinkado Snowflake a plenty stamp

Rub n' Buff

distress brown and black

Hope you liked our wish granted this week.

Don't forget to leave a comment to win a Marianne D's cutting die.

Thanks for visiting.

BOO!

Hello everyone!
How are you all? I have a lovely altered sampled for you today. And I have to introduce a new artist who will contribute to this blog: Kathy Byrne.
Kathy is one of our über talented tutors, some of you might have seen her amazing work with grungeboard paper at the Extravaganzas. And from now on, I will post her beautiful samples on this blog regularly. So if you have been eager to see artwork using grungeboard, or stampbord or anything altered, you are going to LOVE her work!

Kathy (and 6 other tutors) will be demoing at the Autumn mini fest on November 6th  and will be teaching a Christmas all-day class on Saturday 13th. You can already book online (click here) or check out the latest class list HERE and call the shop to book.

I know you guys in England (or France) don't celebrate Halloween much. I remember trick or treating with my kids when I lived in the UK, either people had gone out of their way and decorated beautifully, and were all dressed up when they opened the door to give sweets away. Or there would be lights on that would turn off as soon as we rang the doorbell. ooops, I guess it's not everyone's cuppa then...
Here in Canada, it's a big thing. We have now our Halloween decorations out, and so have many people in every streets around us. There are pumpkins everywhere on most front porches too and the kids can't wait. It's my daughter's favourite holiday (yes, before Christmas!).

And if there is one decoration I wish I had in my house, is that altered H that Kathy has made! You are going to love all the details on this, weather you are a Halloween person or not, this is truly stunning!
Check this out...

Here's what Kathy had to say (any material in pink can be clicked on to find it on line)

 Halloween H Table Centrepiece

    * Papier-mâché H sides are painted in brown acrylic paint and sponged over with black paint. The fronts are painted with Inca Gold (Orange) and then dry brushed over with black paint
    * All the embellishments are either Grungeboard (house, trees, wooden planks or Grungepaper (tombstones, leaves, pumpkins), except the fence which is made up of broken matchsticks.
    * Tombstones, planks (run through the Tim Holtz Wood grain embossing folder) and trees were handmade.
    * The House is Tim Holtz new Haunted House Alterations Die
    * The pumpkins are made using circle punches that are then cut to shape (sharp scissors and craft knife essential). After the faces are cut out, a smaller circle (painted with Inca Gold (Orange) is glued to the back to make it look lit from within. Same technique used for the upstairs window in the haunted house.
    * All embellishments are coloured using either chalk inks and or distress inks. Because of the 3D, full circle, nature of the piece be sure to ink both the front and back of each piece.
    * Lastly, Ferro Iron and Tim Holtz Distress Crackle (Black Soot) were applied to sections and googlely eyes stuck in Ferro while still wet. Eyes also glued between wooden planks. Ferro Iron also applied around sections of the base to "ground" the images.

Warning! The Halloween H is NOT a quick project. In fact, it takes hours to make (because of the drying times), but the final outcome is great fun and, if carefully wrapped and stored, should last a few years.

Now for the pictures...

 

 So what do you think ?? 

Let us (and Kathy) know in a comment below. 

See you next week, have a nice weekend.

Isabelle

Wish Granted: Distress inks

Hello everyone,

Here's our second "wish granted" post, this time talking about Distress inks.
On August 24th,  Yvonne wished (amongst other things):

- basic and advanced ideas and techniques for using distress inks

So here's another way to use your Distress inks: to alter papier maché items. Chris Dark had altered some of our lovely mini suitcases and wanted to share those with you.

So Yvonne, congratulations. You have won a set of two suitcases. Please get in touch with Sandy to give her your snail mail address, and this will be posted to you shortly.

Remember to go and make a wish on the Wishing Well post  to tell us what you would like to see on this blog. Even if it's been mentioned already, just post your wish. You might be the next person who gets her wish granted.

There is another set of Mini Suitcases to win for anyone who will leave a comment on this post. Remember, you have to be a follower to enter.
Best of luck and enjoy Chris' project.

******

Materials for the Grunge style cases:
mini paper mache mini suitcases (two in a set)
Ranger distress inks in vintage photo, walnut stain
Viva Decor Inka Gold in Old Gold and Lava Green
Crafty Individuals Tickets and Post Stamps
Archival ink, Cocoa
Cut and dry foam
Embellishments

Method:
Using cut and dry foam blend Vintage Photo distress ink over the larger case building up the colour until you achieve a good coverage. You may notice that you'll get a patchy effect in places but this all adds to the vintage look. Use the same process on the smaller suitcase using walnut stain ink.

Using another piece of cut and dry foam and the Inca gold paste blend the paste over the straps, handle and corner areas on the suitcases.

Stamp some of the images from the Crafty Individuals stamp set using Cocoa Archival ink, cut them out, distress with scissors and blend a little distress ink around the edges and over the stamped images for a worn effect then glue to the cases.

Cut out some of the image panels from patterned paper (here Graphic 45) and glue to the cases, these can also be torn and sponged with distress ink to age them a little. Attach one of the Graphic 45 die cut tages and the metal key to the handle of the large case.

******

Materials for the Girly style cases:
mini paper mache mini suitcases (two in a set)
Crafty Individuals Tickets and Post Stamps
Eco Green Dye based ink pads Blue Silk and Red Leather
Versacolour White ink
Versafine Ink, Smokey Grey
Viva Decor Inca Gold Paint Blue Steel
Cut and dry foam
Scraps of lace/feathers/pearl string
Spray Varnish
White gel pen

Sponge the white ink all over the small suitcase and allow to dry. Coat with the Eco Green Blue Silk ink building up the colour but avoiding the straps and corner pieces.

When dry stamp randomly around the case using the Crafty Individuals Tickets and Post stamps in Smokey Grey Versafine ink.

Spray the case with the varnish (following instructions) and allow to dry.

Add scraps of feathers/pearl string/lace or other pretty scraps to peek out of the case.

Use the same method to decorate the larger suitcase using red leather ink but this time omitting the white ink. Add some faux stitches around the case with a white gel pen Colour the staps, corners and handle with the Blue Steel Inca Gold paint using cut and dry foam. Spray with the spray varnish as before and when dry decorate with feathers/pearl string/lace or other scraps.

The Craft Barn WISHING WELL

Hi, 
Who, better than you, could tell us what YOU would like to see on this blog. What kind of samples?
Are there products that we sell that you would like us to use on samples? A specific colour scheme? Something altered? Your favourite stamps? A technique explained on this blog maybe?


This could be a *new way* to see things, a fun challenge for our talented DT, and a satisfaction for you to see how a specific product/stamp etc... can be used. 

We won't be able to make every wish come true as the DT does not own *everything* we sell (I bet they wished though lol), but we can give it a try. 


So all you have to do to leave a message in a comment below saying "I wish the DT could use.... " or "I wish we could see samples using.....".

Of course, if you want your wish to come true, you'll have to close your eyes and believe in it really hard LOL. We all know it does not work otherwise. And you never know.......... there might be something to win too.... 

------

-----

Bonjour,
Qui de mieux que VOUS pour nous dire ce que vous voulez voir sur ce blog? Quelle carte? Quel objet altéré? Une technique particulière? Un tampon spécifique?


Ceci pourrait être une nouvelle manière de voir les choses, un challenge sympa pour notre talentueuse DT, et une satisfaction pour vous, lecteur qui pourrez découvrir des exemples utilisant tel ou tel produit.


Bien sûr, on ne pourra pas réaliser tous les souhaits, les membres de la DT n'ont pas *tous* les produits que l'on vend en magasin (je suis sûre qu'elles aimeraient bien pourtant lol), mais nous ferons de notre mieux.


Tout ce que vous avez à faire, c'est de laisser un message dans un commentaire ci-dessous disant: "mon voeu est de voir la DT utiliser.....".
Bien sûr, comme tous les voeux, si vous voulez que ça marche, il faut fermer les yeux et y croire très fort lol.
Mais on ne sait jamais..... si votre voeux se réalise, il y aura peut-être quelque chose à gagner.... ;)

Craft Concept folder winner

hello,
Thank you for all your feedback about our wishing well. We are really pleased that you liked it. Watch out for a second "Wish granted" post coming up shortly.
In the meantime, here's the name of the winner of the second Craft Concept folder.

LISA

lisa said...

I love my Cuttlebug and seeing some new ideas for ways to use the folders is great. You have inspired me to get cuttlebugging again!! Hugs Lisax 

Congratulations Lisa.
Please get in touch with Sandy to give her your snail mail address so she can send you your Craft Concept folder.

Wish Granted: embossing folders ideas

hi everyone,
Here's our first "wish granted" post. A lot of you have wished for more ideas on how to use their cuttlebug. Well, most of us have bought the Cuttlebug to use the embossing folders, so to start easy and gentle, here's a few samples with different degrees of difficulty.

As we said when we started the "wishing well": "And you never know.......... there might be something to win too.... "
And so there is... Not only for one of the person who made that wish, but also for another one who will leave a comment on this post. (Remember, you must be a *follower* to enter all contests/freebie/candy going on this blog)

So this time it's wish granted for....

YVONNE

(please email me to give me your snail mail address)

And you will be sent on of the new embossing folders we have in stock: 

CRAFT CONCEPT

Not telling you which one... it's got to be a surprise ;)

So here we go with the different techniques:

Dawn used the Crafts Too Christmas Tree embossing folder on a white card, cut it out and decorated it with Dew Drops.  Very effective and elegant... 

Then Ria used Crafts Too Butterfly embossing folder on a red card and used sandpaper to make the butterflies stand out.  She also used one of the Gorjuss Girls stamp (Flower girl), Martha  Steward punch and Copic Markers and Spellbinders Nestabilities.

Poupette took it a step further, using ink on her embossing folders. 

For the first example, she used ink with and Indentz embossing folder, brayering the ink all over the folder first and then embossing the white card. Quite effective, isn't it? 

On this sample, Poupette also used Crafty Secrets Sweet Kids stamps and Copic Markers.

On her second sample, Poupette brayered Walnut Stain Distress ink pad onto the Cuttlebug Script folder to emboss her tag. She also embossed a butterfly using the Swiss Dot folder and highlighted the dots with ink.

 

Finally, Isa (our newest DT owl) has made a gorgeous sample too.
Here's what she had to say about her card:
"For the background, I embossed with the Cuttlebug Christmas Countdown folder and distressed the cardstock with sand paper and ink. I then added Glossy Accent and glitter on some embossed designs.
I used the same embossing folder to make the star and I added gold Eco Green paint with my finger on the embossed parts.
The frame is a white paper with gold paint and glitters.
I added Stickles on the butterfly."

We hope you have enjoyed this.  

Don't forget to leave a comment below to tell the girls what you think and for a chance to win a CRAFT CONCEPT embossing folder. 

See you next week for another Wish Granted post ;)