Valentines week - Helen Chilton guest designer

Hi, 
We have guest designer Helen Chilton today with a fantastic tag and step by step using Distress inks and stains as well as the Crafty Individuals stamps. 
Follow Helen's expertise to find out how to achieve this gorgeous background on the tag.

Stamp the Parisian Romance collage in black onto white card

Dab some of the Distress Stains onto a craft mat and spritz with water

Dab the stamped image into the ink and dry

Stamp the face again and colour with the inks, then stick to collage (easier than trying to mask it off)

Colour another piece of card in the same way as before

Then use the Harlequin Background stamp with the Distress inkpads to add stamping to the background 

Tear along the top of the background and cut along the bottom

Cut a piece of white card slightly longer than the background piece and colour the top with the Festive Berries Distress Stain and the bottom with Picked Raspberry 

 Stamp a pattern of small hearts from the Hearts Crafty Elements set in black. Add extra stamping in black using parts of the collage stamp and some text

Stamp a selection of hearts from the Hearts set in black, colour with Distress Stains and cut out

Arrange the hearts as shown and mount panel onto a white card

Stamps used:

Crafty Individuals:

CI-280 Parisian Romance

CI-342 Delicately Detailed Hearts

CI-256 Handy Sentiments

CI-171 Harlequin Script Background

Other materials:

StazOn inkpad: Jet Black

Distress inkpads and Stains: Festive Berries; Picked Rasperry

White card

See you tomorrow

Valentines week - Isas'Art

Hi, 
Anyone for a bit of Patchwork? 
Isas'Art has done a step by step to show you how she made that little heart on her tag. Perfect to attach to a little gift you will offer on the 14th. And a little work of art like this will be kept for sure. 

If you have been following me for a while, you know how much I love tags... I love them as much as cards, they can be sent the same way with a message at the back, can be added to a gift.. whatever the reason you use them for, they can then be kept as a decoration (or collection?)
So for this one, I have been working with Patchwork and appliqué

1 - I cut a heart from a thin card, placed it on the red fabric and traced. I then cut leaving 1 cm gap around

2 - I folded the edges, snipping to the drawn line so that the curves are smoother and glued them with a glue stick.

3 - I sewed the heart on a bigger piece of fabric.

4 - I then sewed this on another piece of fabric, adding some wadding in between : heart - wadding-fabric, all held with a pin to be sewn easily.

5 - Cut closely to the stitches.

6 - Add some Distress ink to age the heart

Tim Hotlz dies : Tag, Mini hearts set, Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die - Stacked words Valentines

Tando Masks: Hearts Background Mask

Impression Obsession stamp: Cover-a-card small dots

Fabric 36 red/white dots + Natural calico

Inks: Distress Walnut stain - Distress stains Walnut, Brushed Corderoy, Antique Linen

Americana paints: Snow, Antique White, Burnt Umber

Aquamarker: Mahogany

American Crafts chalks - Pebbles chalk set Pearlescent earth tones

Glue

See you tomorrow

Valentines week - Karen

Hi, 

Today will be a lovely hanging project with Karen. As she says, it is not quite finished as she will add some wedding pictures in the centre. You could also easily add pictures in some of the hearts too.

Karen used the new Tando Heart Wreath

Here is mine now. I intend to put one of my wedding photos in the centre and mount it all on a canvas!

Cover the base with 12x12 patterned paper (it doesn't matter what it is as it will be covered). 
Go over with gesso, dabbing with kitchen roll as you go to make it 'mottled'. 
Over stamp using the crackle stamp and Brilliance ink (Crimson Copper). 
While it is drying paint the top surface of the frame using Fresco paint (Very Berry). 
I also used Tando Mini Birds, Butterflies, a mini heart and letters. 
Paint these using EcoGreen acrylic paint (Lake). 
When dry go round the blue with a light touch of the brilliance ink. 
Glue the top frame to the base and hold in place with bulldog clips till dry. 
When dry paint the edges and back with the Very Berry paint. 
Add Crackle Accents to the hearts. Glue on the minis.

Tando Heart Wreath

Tando Minis - Butterflies, Birds and Branches, Hearts

Tando Alphas

Brilliance Ink - Crimson Copper

PaperArtsy Fresco paint - Very Berry

EcoGreen Acrylic - Lake

Ranger Crackle Accents

12x12 patterned paper 

Self adhesive pearls 

See you tomorrow

Valentines week - Gio

Hello everyone, 
Hope you had a lovely weekend... 
Valentine's this week.... I know.. we are not the 14th yet, but we thought of giving you a few ideas in time to make a little something for the one(s) you love... 
So here we are this week with lots of heart and love projects to inspire you... 
Ready? let's start with Gio... and some lovely black and gold hearts. That would make a perfect masculine project, don't you think?

I painted the hearts with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints: Little black dress. I adhered the Dreamweaver stencil: Scroll heart with a piece of masking tape to the bigger heart and I spread some Dreamweaver embossing paste: Crackle with a palette knife. When dry I sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer Mister: Rich Gold and enriched with Dreamweaver metallic F/X: Pink Blaze. On the smaller wooden heart, I glued two images cut from Crafty Individuals picture book: People and places 2 along with some watch parts.

I covered the Tando Creative minis: Hearts with the Dreamweaver embossing paste: Crackle and when dry I highlighted them with some PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints: Old gold. I linked the mini hearts to the string with jump rings.

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints: Little Black Dress

Four hanging hearts

Tando Creative minis: Hearts

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints: Old gold

Cosmic Shimmer Mister: rich gold

Dreamweaver embossing paste: Crackle

Dreamweaver metallic F/X: Pink blaze

Dreamweaver stencil: Scroll heart

Crafty Individuals picture book: People and places 2

See you tomorrow

Alpha/dictionary Challenge Letter V winner... and wall of fame

Hi everyone,

Once again, I want to thank everyone for entering the challenge. We got 69 entries for the first week, which is fantastic. I REALLY enjoyed looking at them all... see what word you chose.. what was your interpretation for each word...
We have a lot of altered dictionaries going on (yeaaah), but also a few ATCs.. I saw some tags too, and something else, really original, that really caught my eye. Back to that in a minute.

For those of you who want to play, don't have a blog but are on Facebook, I have done a quick PDF to show you how to create a Facebook page (which is public) so you can post your samples and share with us. 
Click here to download it. 


First of all the winner....

SARAH

Clarabellecrafts

Congratulations

You are the lucky winner of the £ 20.

Please get in touch so I have your email to send you your prize.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

WALL OF FAME

So with so many entries, I thought that we could start a wall of fame every fortnight. 

I will choose 5 entries that really caught my eyes.

Here are the first five for the letter V

Click on the pictures to read more details on their blog

VISAGE by Julia

VIVID by Eleni

VANDSPEJL (surface of the water) by LindaS

VIXEN by Laura

VACATION by Jan

And look at what Jan is using for her Alpha challenge... 

Click on the picture to check her blog and find out more. 

So if you are listed above either because you won the voucher or because you are on the WALL OF FAME, get in touch and I'll send you a little logo or blinkie to add to your blog ;-)

See you soon, 

A Simply Saturday cuppa - Jane

Hi,

Last Cuppa post for this week with a beautiful, quick and easy sample from Jane. 

Hope you enjoyed our "fancy a cuppa" and got inspired to go have a cuppa make lots of cuppa samples. 

Looking forward to reading your comments

First, I stamped my image(s) with Memento Ink

 I coloured using my Copics.

Mount onto coloured card

And add to your base card. Very quick and easy!!

Materials used 

Art Impressions stamps - 'Gossip Club' and 'Wanna have fun'

Copics - E000,00,11,31,33,35

C3,5,7,8

W00,1,2,3,5

RV10,11,13,14,17

B01,02,04,91

G02,17,19

YG01,03,05

White and coloured card

Memento Ink - Tuxedo Black

Our special offer this weekend

Spend £25 on our website from January 25th to January 28th and get a £5 voucher back

(you will find it in your parcel)

See you tomorrow

Fancy a cuppa week - Chris and Neil

Hi, 
A couple of more cards today... very different, still with the Cuppa in mind, and both would be fantastic to receive. 
Chris Dark used the Crafty Individual images (doesn't that cupcake look yummy?)
As for Neil, he included a tea bag in his card. Wonderful idea for a friend who is far away and you can only meet on the phone.. 
What do you think?

Crafty Individuals Image sheet 'a nice cup of tea'

Crafty Individuals Stamps CI-351 Sweet elephants and swirl

Tim Holtz Alterations Movers and Shapers Die - In the bag

Memory Box Die - Fancy Blossom

Craft Barn White card

Ranger Distress Ink Salty Ocean

Double sided tape

Ranger Ink Blending Tool

Marabu Relief Paste - Metallic Gold

Cropadile

ball tool

pale blue polka dot organza ribbon

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sometimes, when a friend is not close enough to visit you and you miss the good old natters over a cuppa; why not send them this card?

Then you can make a cuppa together and chat on the phone for a bit?

I used Distress Stains for the background, laying the colours in stripes across and up and down. Then I laid a couple of the Tando masks onto it and spritzed with water to create more interest.

I stamped the head and sentiment onto card and cut out. I stamped the "hair" onto the card with Archival Ink and coloured it with Distress Markers as well as the face.

Inside it's simple, a teabag and the sentiment.

Material

Stamps - Dylusions: The Right Words, Doodle Parts and Bits of This

Distress Stains - Barn Door, Evergreen Bough, Peacock Feathers

Distress Markers - Barn Door, Antique Linen, Peeled Paint, Stormy Sky, Worn Lipstick and Black Soot.

Claudine Hellmuth Studio matte multi-medium

Tando masks - Distorted Harlequin and Hive

Our special offer this weekend

Spend £25 on our website from January 25th to January 28th and get a £5 voucher back

(you will find it in your parcel)

See you tomorrow

Fancy a cuppa week - IsasArt and Karen

Hi, 
After a full fabric post yesterday with Jo, we are back with more Calico work with Isa'sArt who made a stunning card and Karen who made a lovely bag to take a few tea bags with her when she goes away for the weekend.
Tell us what you think ;-)

I have been making a lot of tags lately, so I thought of making a card for a change

So I used dies and fabric

1- I draw around the die on the fabric twice

2- I cut them out and pin them together

3- I machine stitched the two pieces .

4- A bit of embroidery with the machine too.

5- A tad of Pebbles cream to add a vintage touch, and then a bit of Distressing.. Copic colouring...stamping..

My cup is done, just need to add a bit of volume to it

6- I made a little cut at the top and stuffed the cup.

7- I do this for the 3 different sections of the cup

As it's just for a card, I just added a bit of tape at the back

I then cut a piece of brown card with the die, stamped it.

If your cup is quite thick, it's a good idea to use corrugated card instead of cardstock as it will be thicker.

Material

Shapeabilities - Nested tea cups

Natural calico

Artemio clear stamps: Scrolls

American Crafts - Pebbles chalk set: Cream precious metal 

Versafine ink: Sepia  

Distress inks: Walnut Stain, Brushed Corduroy

Copic marker E00

Sakura Identi pen: brown

Craftwork Cards Card Candi - Vintage dot Honey

Gems

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

We often go away for weekends and I usually don't like the tea that the hotel provides in the rooms so I take my own supply! So I have made a little bag to put them in.

For the bag cut a rectangle of fabric around 14 x 5 inches (I used calico) and decorate. I stamped mine with a background stamp and some words from a PaperArtsy Hotpicks using Brilliance Ink (pearlescent orchid) and Memento Ink (Grape Jelly). 

Fold the fabric in half and stitch up each side to around 3 inches from the top. Turn. Now fold down the top edge to meet the stitching. Stitch a line across 1/2 inch down. Tuck a small hem under along the raw edge and stitch to form a channel. Repeat for other side. These channels are where your cord will go. I also added a little decorative stitching round the top.

Take the 2 smallest Tando cups from the pack and decorate with paint, not forgetting the other sides!

Material

Calico

PaperArtsy Hotpick HPXT03

Impression Obsession Craquelure background stamp

Brilliance Ink

Memento Ink

Tando Creative Mugs & Cups grab bag

Eco Green paints

Beads

Cord

See you tomorrow