House Mouse Baubles!

 

Assorted large punches enable you to punch out just a part of a printed image - even if you don't have a die-cutting machine!  Look at these designs...using the punches above.  3 and 3 1/2" punches have been used for the big baubles from the same cute House Mouse stamped image.

 

These baubles have been coloured with pencil and layered onto gold (punched with a 3 1/2" scallop circle punch).  The image has then been covered with Glossy Accents and set aside to dry -for a few hours!  Voila - my mice baubles are rounded and glossy!

 I have used Glossy Accent on the Candy Canes on this card too! Perfect to make them look "Sweet".

The line of bows wwas tied usign a bow maker and 7mm Organza ribbon.

The Dangly bits added to the spine of the card have been punched from the same image using a 11/2" punch.  I have finished them by embossing the whole disc with a Crystal clear embossing powder.

The corners on this layer were all punched using an inverted corner punch.

 This layering was die-cut using a Cuttlebug machine.  I have added little jingle bells to the tied twine at the edge for a touch of fun!  Glossy Accent to the berries to make them glisten and look fresh.



Small is beautiful!

Small cards - so I have used all 4" square cards for the following designs.

This stamp is a tall stamp (Bethlehem) from Woodwares Clear singles collection and I have printed it onto CREAM Shrinkles and cut in half to make 2 cards. 

S-H-R-I-N-K with a Heat-It tool and this makes the piece of Shrinkl 7 x smaller and 7 x thicker - a perfect image for a small sq card!

 The "Gaggle of Geese" stamp (Hobby Art) was used on Shrinkles too (above) and on card (below) so you can see the difference in size when shrunk.

 ALL PRODUCTS USED ARE AVAILABLE AT JAPONICA - EXMOUTH

Colourful Wreaths - all stamped and punched!!

Jane Gills stamping workshop used all of her Nordic influenced clear stamps - Doves and Reindeers - (all at £4.05 at Japonica) - both Doves have a greeting with them too- Seasons Greetings and Peace on Earth -Bargain!

We used Punched circles -both 3" and 3 1/2" and scallop circles too to create a background for the wreaths.  Colours were chosen from assorted packs of textured card (24 sheets for £3.99).  Just add 3 little spotty organza bows and a few 10mm Glitter Domes - Voila!

ALL available at JAPONICA.

 All images were stamped and embossed in black.  Very bright and vibrant.

 

 The above images were all stamped in gold - warm and tropical maybe?

 

The foreground images were all stamped in white and the background in silver - see how the white embossed images really stand out!!  Lovely crisp and frosty colours !

*I think you could create these for many occasions - New baby, Weddings, Birthdays etc....

 

MANY THANKS TO JANE GILL for bringing us her beautiful ideas -we hope to see  you in 2014.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas Tree how lovely....

Jane Gill's workshops were very busy -we worked extremely hard (not really!) to create these gorgeous Christmas trees.  So simple but so effective!!   We all loved them.  Look at all the different colours we produced - - -

This is what you need -  Papier mache cones (5 pk-£3.25)

Dreamweaver stencil paste £10.80 ( makes about 4-5)

Card candi £2.05 (pk of 100's)

Pearl card/paper

Multi Poinsettia punch £11.80

2" Holy leaf punch £8.40

Block £1, 9mm Dowel (from Hardware store)

Paper tape £2.30 (pk 3 asst checks)

Label and ribbon

Sundries - Silicone glue, pallette knife or Lolly stick (for spreading paste), Tweezers for handling Candis.

 

SAMPLES TO SEE AND PRODUCTS ARE ALL AVAILABLE AT JAPONICA -EXMOUTH

 

Silver Stencil paste - Candi -Crushed Ice and Damask-Earl grey.

 

 

 Gold Stencil paste and Candi - Holly Berries!  Very traditional.
Copper Stencil paste and Candi-Antique Newsprint & Coffee Bean -very vintagey.

Cuttlebug Crazy!

 I went Cuttlebug Crazy this week.  I  had a Project class on Cuttlebug all day Wednesday and then a demo in JAPONICA on Thursday morning - I am all Cuttlebugged-out now!
I have used lots of dies & folders - some new and some not-so-new-but-still-my-favourite! 
TOP TIP - Use the best quality card at all times for a classy finish.





 

Elegant Trees

 

Jasper the Snowman



Holly overlapping acetate window
with an Embossed scene inside.

 The Elegant Trees have a space just asking for a greeting - I have chosen one from Jane Gills range at Woodware. Keeping to just 1 colourway keeps it classy and contemporary too. Silver Pearl card with Black Liquid Pearl and Crystal gems to embellish the embossed 14cm sq panel. Corners rounded with a punch and then mounted onto a 15 x 15cm white card.                                                 Jasper (a Hobby Art stamp) has been placed onto a 5 x 7 card -with an acetate panel with a Starry border added (die cut available at Japonica).  I have also used a Twinkle stars embossing folder for the inside panel of pale blue.  Ice Stickles in Silver add a touch of sparkle to the stars.    I could not resist this NEW HOLLY die from Cuttlebug (it embosses so easily too!).  I have very simply die-cut in White pearl card and used it to "frame" an acetate window -the classy greeting is designed by Jane Gill -I have heat embossed it using Black Versafine inkpad with the stamp and added Crystal embossing powder.                                         


Some more card designs using Embossing Folders & Dies with CUTTLEBUG.
All from the range at JAPONICA.

If you like my designs then please leave a comment - I would love to hear from you -is there anybody out there??? 

 

Kinetic Christmas cards

Any cards that shake or move in a different way are a delight to receive at any time - I think these are lovely for families with samll children!  The Penny slider has very simple mechanics behind the Sheep to make it sli-i-de along - 2 pennies attached by a small rectangle of 3mm foam tape to make it pass freely down the channel in the bottom of the card.   The sheep can run along or a flower can tumble -if you use a circle of foam tape to make it go round and round!

A Penny Slider (Hobby Arts "Sheep in meadow" stamp)



Victorian kinetic card (triple-folded)

Close-up of 1 of the small images at bottom of card.

 
 I loved the images on this paper - what a find!  The kinetic triple fold can take a little time to fill all of the places - so these images really saved time!  I used some dark red card to layer and cream/red paper to trim the card. (all from our range of 12x12"papers at Japonica 50p)

 



All of the images were on this 12 x 12" paper - ONLY 50P for all these vintage images!

Jenny Mayes designs(Hobby Art)

Jennys Gaggle of Geese

Bertie the Snowman with Ice Crystal Snowflakes & Border

Close-up of Ice crystal die-cut border - very pretty & icy!

Julia's mini book

Front cover

All made from 12 x 12 papers!  Lots of inside tags, verses, pockets - a delight to discover many greetings and messages!

Janet's design for BIG EVENT Workshop!

Bethlehem stamp - image halved for 2 placements!
Dk blue printed, clear embossed on watercolour paper & watercoloured with Brilliance inkpads (dab on acrylic block and use as paint)  - Pearlescent Orchid, sky Blue & Silver.

Christmas Punch Craft!

Here are the cards I made on Saturday when the rain was pouring down - BUT I did not let it rain on my parade - i had great fun!

Snowflake wreath - a beautifully simple cling rubber stamp by Magenta (£6.20) was embossed in white onto red spotty paper and I added Snowflake flowers - using a Snowflkae punch in 3 sixes.  I gave them all"cup" character and glues frosty gems to the centres of each!

Snowflower detail.
 

My  Iceflower was made using a 1" 'Evening Dress' punch??  All glued ontot he 6 "arms" of a Snowflake in varying sizes to create the 3 layers tot eh flower.   The lattice was a die-cut using Cuttlebug and the blue one has an acetate window.  The green card (bottom) has Chunky White embossing powder added for a realistic snowy effect on the green background! 

 Which one is your favourite colourway??

NB. Unfortunately, this greeting is now discontinued - and it sits so well with this frosty design!   Grrr!

Holly Punch 1/2" size made into a Wreath - do you prefer the modern colours or the traditional ?

NEXT DEMO is on  Thurs -  "Embossing really well!"   10.30 til 12.30 in JAPONICA - FREE

Simply stamped & finished!

Poinsettia Basket - stamped in Versafine-Onyx Black, embossed with Crystal embossing powder, coloured with coloured pencils on linen embossed card - Voila!  Embellish with Glossy Accent and Crystal glitter on the red bracts.  The touch of yellow to Ivy leaves add lovely detail to a Christmas basket, as does the cord on the tag.
Stamp - Singles by Jane Gill (Woodware) £4.05 at Japonica incl greeting.



Poinsettia basket again - simply printed in Versafine Onyx Black onto DIE-CUT self adhesive 1" squares. Coloured carefully with pencils and then each sq has been gently sponged wth Versafine Satin red inkpad. The squares have then been placed onto a rectangle of black card - NOT PERFECTLY on purpose, so they look like uneven tiles.  Layer onto a craft card & tag & ribbon added.   I love using these die cut sticky squares - a really interesting and different look for any large stamp or collage.



Sheep have been embossed using Versafine O. Black inkpad and Crystal embossing powder.  Coloured with watercolour pencils for a softer look.  Background print is a long greeting from a set (Jane Gill -Woodware) and placed on the acrylic block in a wiggle for the background pattern.  All edges have been gently sponged with a blue inkpad and sponge -for a frosty look.  I have also added Crystal glitter to lines made with a ZIG GLUE PEN - a MUST-HAVE tool in my opinion!
(STAMPS USED - SHEEP in the Meadow stamp £5.99 and Greetings set £10.20 all from Japonica)

"Jantangles" (aka Zentangles by me!)

SAKURA PIGMA MICRON PENS USED -NO'S 01, 03 AND 1.

Unique FREEHAND Jantangle -embellished with Red stickles & layered onto red card.  My Greeting also FREE HAND!

Another Jantangle in progress!

My favourite 60's Tangle!!  Started with a simple flower - not very well drawn really - but it turned out really well! 

I saw this done oN utube -aNd it took a bit of unravelling - but i've done about 4 or 5 now and added a Hollowbar to the Aura knot!!!   ALL FREEHAND! ...and i did this whilst demonstrating too -and all the distractions!!!

An outline stamp of Jingle Bells was a great CHEAT but I then took ages to fill in all my patterns!! I added coloured Pencil and then Stickles to match - Yellow, Lime and red!  Lots more of these "OPEN" words have been designed by Francoise Read (ie, Snow, Santa, Mr &Mrs, 18, 21, Just for YOu, Thanks, etc...)

Just illuminate the 1st letters - I have used SAKURA STARDUST (red and green) to add impact to the Zentangling on letters  J and B.   I watercoloured with Stardust pens to shade the other letters to match!  This took a alot less time - but the J and B have great impact.

2-coloured Metal & Cuttlebug!

4 squares of Red/Silver and Copper/silver metal embossed with Starry folder with Cuttlebug.  Embellished with Crystal Stickles and placed in a frame -die cut with |Cuttlebug & printed with  Hobby Art Holly Scroll.

Red/silver metal embossed with "Tall trees" scuffed to reveal silver core and embellished with glitter.  Black Peel-Off greeting added.

Detail of curled corner.

An idea using part of a frame embossing folder.