Tattered Lace Country Treasures Paper Kit Samples - February 2015

Hi everyone, hope you've had a lovely week.

This time I have some samples from a paper kit that I really enjoyed working with. When I first saw it I had a bit of a grumble to myself as there was some kraft card and some decoupage in there, and I am not much of a decoupage girl.  Once I got going I found I just had to be a bit more creative as the decoupage didn't look right on ordinary flat cards, and I ended up really enjoying it.  The background card designs were just lovely and so were the little round embellishments that I put in the middle of the bows. Talking of bows, you will see quite a few on these samples, which is quite a change for me. Although I still have a way to go to get them perfect, the Bow Maker has just changed my whole view on bows on cards, it used to be such a faff to get them straight that most of the time I didn't bother!

Anyway, on to the cards ... the first thing I did was put the decoupage animals together, as soon as they were done I knew that I had to have lots of foliage to go with them so I got out my Tattered Lace dies (they were 3 for 2 at the NEC in November) and cut lots of Ornate Leaves and Fiddlehead Ferns. I also cut out some tiny flowers from the Mini Blooms set in different colours to match the background cards.  I have had SO much use out of the Mini Blooms set, whenever there's a bit of a gap on a card, or it just needs 'something' I usually end up with some of these flowers and you can cut lots at once.

First card was a panorama style card which I had never done before but was so pleased with the effect, that I bought an A5 set of Panorama Dies to have another go.  This is so easy, just fold the card, put a panel on the back, some of the precut foliage on the middle layer and up the side then stick things to the front ... it really was that easy.  The most difficult part (which wasn't difficult at all) was cutting out the card stock at the front to match the frame!  Add some glitter, a sentiment and a Puff Ball flower and it was done.

I haven't worked with kraft card before either, so this was a challenge to 'pretty it up' a bit.  Although it really doesn't show up well on the photo, I stamped an A4 piece of card all over with the Heartfelt Creations Birds and Blooms stamp using Perfect Medium then coloured it with green and pink mica powder (although the pink looked lavender on the kraft card).  I then cut down the kraft card piece and cut out a heart from the Spellbinders Lace Hearts set and stuck buttons and pearls in pink and green round the edge.  All that was left to do was to add the ribbon, bow, owl, foliage and sentiment.  I stuck the buttons on with my hot glue pen which is brilliant as it is cordless and heats up in a few seconds. 

This card I think I overdid by putting the pearls in the top two buttons.  I really liked the effect of the buttons, but as I used hot glue for the buttons and then the pearls there was no moving them!  The card is really simple but I liked the effect of the bow and just loved the design of the top background card, the colours are so pretty.  And of course had to use the bunny ... we used to keep two huge house rabbits so bunnies are always a winner for me!

Next up I used the Presscut Step Card Die One for the base then added some of the pretty background card for the base.  Then I punched out the sentiment and added some more of my tiny Mini Blooms die cut flowers and used the spare image from the panorama style card for the main picture and added the duck and some buttons - another card with no glitter!

I loved the embellishment on this card, I used some Stick and Spray on it and covered it in crystal glitter and was really pleased with the effect.  The card itself is just one piece of card that I cut using rectangular dies then matted it on pieces of kraft card, so it is actually quite economical with card.  You just have to be careful not to use mounting foam that's too high so you don't see any gaps.  I added a bow, my glittery embellishment, a sentiment and a few pearls and it was done.

And finally the squirrel card, which was made out of one piece of A4 kraft card and lots of foliage.  The sentiment and side pieces were punched out and again I used the Mini Blooms flowers to add a bit of colour.  I hadn't made this type of card before and it wasn't too tricky, the worst part is putting the middle support pieces in so you can add the foliage etc, I put mine a little bit too far down, next time I would definitely put them nearer the top to give the foliage more height.

Well, that's all folks ... I hope you liked them, let me know what you think.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy week, thanks for stopping by.

Little Boxes for Christmas or Table Settings

Hi everyone

Hope everyone has been well and had a great Christmas and New Year.  It has been a bit manic over the last few weeks with mum not being very well, then Christmas and then mum was 80 at the end of January.  I will hopefully blog the present I made from one of the Tonic Forever Moments storage units when I get a chance.

Anyway, I decided for Christmas this year (well, last year now) to do tiny cards but use my WRMK Gift Box Punch Board to make little boxes to go with them.  I love this Punch Board, the boxes are SO easy, the only board I was a bit disappointed with was the flower one which made flowers that were just too big for what I wanted.  Back to Christmas - the little boxes were had just enough room to fit in a Ferrero Rocher, a couple of mints, or for my nephews and nieces, some small chocolates and coins.  These boxes would also make great place settings if you put names on the top instead of cards.

The only thing I had to buy were the wax seals and the sparkly cotton to wrap round the boxes, all the card I found in my Christmas Box, some were from an old kit and some were a thick 6x6 paper pad.  So here they are!

The first picture is from the top which shows the card, the second is of the front and the third is of the side view. The boxes are 1 3/4 inches square and the cards I cut a fraction smaller so they would sit on the top.

I started by cutting my card to 6x6 inches and saved all the off cuts for the mini cards.  Then I got out the Punch Board and used the 'Small' lines for the start and for scoring the diagonal.  When I looked inside the boxes I didn't like the inside bits flapping about, so I glued the inside flaps to the inside of the box which added a bit of strength too.  In the bottom of each box I put a little bit of scrunched up tissue paper just so the box didn't look quite so empty.

Next up I used all the off cuts from the boxes to make little tiny cards

Then I used a Lily of The Valley stamp from their Happy Circular Sentiments set, which just fitted nicely on the little cards.

For the inners of the cards I used used Serif Craft Artist and created several different versions so I could mix and match. 

Finally I made some wax seals which were great fun to do, and really easy.  For some reason I have only taken pictures of the snowflake ones, but there were also Christmas trees, holly and a snowman on some of them.  I did them in a baking tray and made them all at once, changing the wax from gold to silver to red and even the ones where the wax was dual coloured came out really well.  The trick is definitely to wait a few seconds before placing the seal on the hot wax.

All that was left to do was fill the boxes chocolates, or coins  and sweets for the nieces and nephews, wrap the glittery thread round the boxes, and they were done.

No massive bloopers this time, the first card I did I sealed up and then remembered that I hadn't written in the card! The other thing is I had to put initials on the bottom of the boxes so I remembered which ones were for who, but apart from that, no disasters.

Hope you have a great week and thanks for reading.