Mechanical Greetings

Mechanical Greetings

Hallo There!

Lovely day again here

but I suppose it will

get chilly when the sun

goes down.........

We shall just have to

keep ourselves warm

crafting!

Here is Louise Thomson:

"Hi there,

As Christmas approaches I'm sure many

 of us will be preparing gifts to give,

 and when we're not sure what our friends

 and family want, a gift card is a great idea.

Today I'm showing you how to make 

a pop up gift card holder to make 

your gift that little bit more 

personalised.

I started by slicing a strip about 5cm wide

 from a piece of a4 white card.

Setting aside the strip for later,

 I folded the larger piece in half. 

I then measured 4.5cm from the fold,

 scored lightly and folded along the score line. 

 Turning the card over, I repeated on

 the other side. 

this left me with this set up:

Using a gift card as a size guide,

I cut a slit in the centre fold to slot it in.

I painted the outside of the card in

 jade fresco paint and the inside with

 Antarctic paint. 

I used JOFY stamps to decorate 

and painted with white fire paint.

Next I taped the folds to create the 

pop up middle section

I used the JOFY mini snowflakes stamp

 to decorate the inside of the card and

 painted a panel that could be written on.

On a separate piece of card I stamped

 the pile of presents from JOFY set 02

 in charcoal versa ink and embossed

 with clear powder. 

I then painted it using fresco paints.

Having cut this out I added wire to the top

 and stuck in the centre of the pop up.

With the gift card in;

With the strip I cut away at the beginning 

I made a band to hold the card closed;

So that's one Christmas present

 I've got sorted at least! "

Materials;

White card

Jofy Christmas stamp set 02

Jofy mini snowflakes stamp

Fresco paints

Wire

Versa colour charcoal ink

Versa brilliance orchid ink

The shops may do some lovely

Gift card folders but there's

nothing like having one that

has been specially made for

you to make you feel so

good inside.....

Thank you Louise

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Starlight Express

Starlight Express

Hallo Everyone!

Nice to see you

We have a super project

for you today from

Louise Thomson

Sit back and enjoy as

she shows us what to

do with an oversized

wooden peg............

"First I dismantled the peg to make it easier to

paint and gave it a coating of Starlight Paint

I added a layer of grunge paste through my tree stencil

and allowed this to dry before adding more

Starlight Paint to the raised areas using

Cut 'n Dry foam

I also went back and added to the background

layer with starlights paints applied with a brush

Using Versacolor Ink I stamped in the mushrooms

around the base of the trees and stars all over

the remainder of the peg

Finally, I stamped two little faeries onto vellum

in Versacolor Neptune Ink and cut around them.

I gave them a very light coating of

Dark Orchid Starlight Paint so that they

shimmered and attached them to the peg

I then reassembled the peg

Note that I have done it upside down so that

the peg can stand on my desk as a note holder"

Materials used:

Large wooden peg

Starlights paints – Emerald, Turquoise, Dark orchid

Grunge paste

Tim Holtz layered stencil - birch

Cut n Dry foam 

Versa colour ink – Neptune and silver

Vellum

Lavinia Stamps

Small pixies

Mini slender mushrooms

Mini stars

Thank you Louise

these do look fun to make

and would be really

useful gifts too 

That reminds me - I have

a small gift by way of a

big "thank you" to do this

afternoon so if anyone wants

me I shall be away with the faeries......!

'Till tomorrow

Mickie xx

Snowflakes

Snowflakes

Hello everyone, 

Are your festive preparations well underway?
Parcels sent, presents wrapped?

Can't say mine are.........yet!

Here is a project from

Louise Thomson

to keep you wrapped up!

I love making home-made gifts to give at Christmas, 

but why stop there? 

Here is a simple project to make your own 

wrapping paper and matching gift tag.

For the tag;

Die cut two tag shapes, one in white card, the other in acetate.

On the acetate, stamp the snowflakes twice in silver versa colour ink. 

Sprinkle with embossing powder and heat emboss. Set aside.

Smear distress ink across your non-stick craft mat, 

starting with the lightest colour 

Spritz with water and then press your white card tag in to the ink.

 Dry with a heat gun.

Stamp the snowflakes all over the tag using Versacolour Neptune ink, 

then add highlights to the snowflakes using the gel pen.

Stamp the greeting on a rectangle of white card, 
doodle a border with a fine liner and 
secure to the base of the tag. 
Thread the two tags together with the acetate on top 
using a selection of coordinating ribbons

Paint a Tando star using fresco finish Antarctic paint, 
then smoosh in distress ink as with the base of the tag. 
Doodle on to the star using the white Gelly Roll pen 
and cover in a coating of Wink of Stella. 
Cut out a snowflake from the scrap of acetate 
and secure on the centre of the star. 
Add silver pearl liquid pearls to it

Secure the star to the top to the tag to complete it.

For the wrapping paper;

Smoosh distress inks all over your non- stick craft mat 

as before and starting with the lightest colour. 

Spritz with water and move your mat around 

to encourage the colours to mix together.

Lay your tissue paper over the top of the mat and press down.
 Don’t be tempted to try and lift it back up at this stage as it will tear! 

Use your heat gun to dry the whole sheet out - 

you will see the colour transfer as it dries. 

When fully dry, remove from the mat.

Stamp all over with JOFY mini snowflakes 
using Neptune versa colour ink, 
then add highlights with a white gel pen 
and dot icicle stickles across the sheet. 

When the paper is dry, wrap your gift,

 tie with some pretty ribbon and add the tag

(NB: picture shows alternative version of tag)

Supplies needed;

Tag die 

White card

Acetate

White Tissue paper

JOFY Mini 07 snowflakes stamp

Distress inks– tumbled glass, sketched blueprint, wilted violet, shaded lilac

Non-stick craft mat

Mister spray

White gelly roll pen

Stickles – diamond

Liquid pearl – silver pearl

Versa colour ink pad – silver, neptune

Cosmic shimmer embossing powder– silver fish
Tando creative stars grab pack
Fresco paints in Antarctic
Heartfelt creations – celebrate the season stamps
Acrylic block

Heat gun

Ribbons

A lovely project to keep Santa's Little Helper 

happy in the run up to the Festivities 

Wonder what we have in store for you tomorrow?  See you then!

Mickie xx

Wax, Paper & Acetate

Wax, Paper & Acetate

Hi there!

A new week and a new theme.  

We're going to explore Wax, Paper and Acetate

and to start us off on our journey here is

Louise: 

I love this stamp from Carabelle Studios, 

it reminds me of the Devon hedgerows around where I live 

with so many beautiful, wild plants all jostling for a space. 

I wanted to create a feeling of depth and so chose to use 

acetate to give the project several visible layers.

Ink up your background using distress inks in different greens. 

I used lucky clover, evergreen bough and twisted citrus. 

You’ll notice in the photos I also snuck in some 

tumbled glass blue at a later stage!

Stamp the Carabelle Studio Wild Nature stamp twice, 

once in bundled sage distress ink, and then again, 

slightly below, in evergreen bough.

Spritz with Color Bloom in sultry shimmer sorbet 

to give it a beautiful sheen.

Work in to the picture using Sakura Gelly Roll pens 

to add highlights and detailing to the stamping.

Gild the edges in Inca Gold Alchemy Wax. 

This is easiest done by blobbing a little of the wax

 on to a non-stick craft mat first and then

dipping a dry, clean cloth into it and dabbing it on.

At this stage I also stamped in some little butterflies 

from Crafty individuals using wilted violet distress ink.

Stamp Carabelle’s Wild Nature stamp twice more, 

this time on to acetate. 

Stamp it once using jet black Staz-On 

and a second time using Versacolor evergreen. 

Sprinkle the green image with clear embossing powder, 

tap off the excess and heat it to emboss

Use a guillotine to cut the black print in to a thin strip. 

Do the same with the green print but 

leave about 5cm of clear acetate underneath it 

so that when the two bottom edges are lined up 

the green print sits higher than the black one

Fold one end of the acetates and stick in place 

behind the printed card panel using double sided tape 

Place a strip of double sided tape along the edge 

of the acetate with the green stamping and 

stick the front piece of acetate to it, 

leaving an overlap of about 1cm. 

(Trust me, that sounds more complicated than it is!)

Finally, tape both pieces of the acetate to 

the back of your printed card panel, 

causing the card to form a curve. 

This will enable it to stand easily as a 3D picture.

Materials used:

White smooth finish card

Carabelle Wild Nature stamp 

Crafty individuals – Build a spring flower garden

Staz on ink – Jet Black

Blending tool

Color bloom spray – Sorbet

Alchemy wax – Inca gold

Double sided tape

Acetate

Distress inks– in bundled sage, twisted citrus, evergreen bough, lucky clover, tumbled glass, wilted violet

Versa colour ink pad – Evergreen

Embossing powder - clear

Sakura gelly roll pen

Thank you for your lovely project Louise

 Starts the week off beautifully

See you all again tomorrow

Mickie xx