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.

My Paper Stash Decoupage

Hi everyone, I hope everyone is hale and hearty.

These are the samples I made for the My Paper Stash Four Day Deal as I mentioned last week.  I was a bit of a scramble to get them done as the printer at my mums house stopped working and the computer in my crafty space died of old age – what a nightmare – and I only had two evenings to do the samples.  Fortunately I had printed of the decoupage sheets before the printer stopped working so I at least had them, if nothing else printed to go with them.

Anyway due to time pressures the cards are not too fancy but I have to say the colours are really lovely in the sheets that I saw, the best description I can think of is vintage pastel.  As I only finished them at gone midnight I really, really do have to apologise for the photography as I know the colours have not come out true to life.  If I used the flash it bleached out the colours and if I didn't use the flash the colours looked darker and there are shadows all over the pictures.  I have posted photos both with and without flash so hopefully between the two you can get some idea of the colours:

I really liked the colours of the heart decoupage but I am not sure that either of my cards did it justice, the card above is silver pearl card which was then embossed and the decoupage added on top with a fair bit of glitter and a few gems.  I actually heat embossed the sentiment which is quite brave for me - stamping can be a bit hit and miss when I'm doing it, but I think it came out okay.

This card I was really pleased with when I finished it, but now I look at the photos I am not sure I like it at all.  The heart decoupage is lovely but I think the colour of the flourishes is just not right.  The flourish is the Tattered Lace Elegant Flourish in blue and white pearl and the background card is pale pink.

On to the balloons, which again I thought was in lovely colours so for the first one I embossed a piece of Coredinations card and sanded it back and then put the decoupage on top and added a few gems.  Looking at the photos though, it is just too plain, it definitely needs something else!

I have only got a without flash picture of this one which is a shame as the chocolate colour card that I used for matting and layering had a lovely sheen to it as did the gold background card, but you just can't see it in this picture.

I love butterflies and these are in lavender so my favourite sheet of the lot.  You can see the glue on the three gems is still wet on the second picture - hot off the press!  Just some matting and layering here with loads of glitter.

The final one I didn't decoupage but used the butterflies separately and cut round the butterflies on the topper with a craft knife and managed not to either cut my finger off or one of the wings off the butterfly.  I think this is my favourite out of this set.  The flower is another Tattered Lace die, a daisy this time which I paper pieced and added some gems.

Well I am off to see the new computer that OH should be bringing home from work today.  We knew that the old PC didn't have much life left in it but hoped it would hang on a bit longer!  Will have to think about a printer for mums next month as I want to have a look round the Hobbycrafts at the NEC next week and my bank balance always suffers a bit afterwards!  I am going on Friday as I usually do, I love looking around when I would usually be at work and it means that I can still go to lunch with mum on Saturday.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by.