Tonic Verona Storage Unit and Memory Book for Mums 80th

Hi, hope you've had a great week.

Something a little bit different this week, it isn't cards!  This is a double birthday bubble … mostly about the Tonic Forever Moments Verona unit that I made for mum for her 80th birthday but also a little look at the 80 Years of Memories album.  There are loads of photos on this, it's a bit of a mega-post!

As some of you know mum has been having chemo so was not well enough to have a party – plus she had a ‘no hair – no party’ rule!  So I needed to come up with presents that didn't involve people visiting or mum having to go out, and after looking around on the internet I saw that someone had done 60 Envelopes for their dad’s birthday and that set me off.  At the same time I was watching Create and Craft TV (fatal to have on in the background, there’s always something … and now there’s the British Craft Network as well) and on came a Tonic Forever Moments show.  I have never done messy crafting before and thought this would be a nice easy project to start on, so bought the double Verona and Tivoli pack.

I didn't start the Verona till Boxing Day as I distinctly remember on the show they said it would take about four hours to do, so I sat on the floor in the lounge and got all the bits out to look at.  The drawers were really easy to put together and I started gluing and leaving the boxes in the bottom of the storage box to dry straight.  That was the easy bit!!  The instructions are completely images, no words at all and not many images of finished units either … but I wanted chapter and verse, I wanted words and full instructions!  My mum’s bedroom furniture is all white, so the Verona had to be white to match, how I wished later that she had a dark coloured bedroom - it took six coats of paint to get it looking properly white with no patches.  Next I needed green and pink papers to cover it when it was finished as all the papers that came with it weren't quite right.  I found some Hunkydory card/papers that were absolutely perfect BUT there were only two sheets of each of the ones I wanted in the pack I had so I had to make sure I got the most I could out of each one.  The only place I ran out was on the very top, it should be shaped with little ‘ears’ but the paper wasn't long enough so I just had to cut them off.  I also made the mistake of painting the back panel before gluing it on to the rest, which meant it was really tight and I had to fight with it a bit to get it on.

The decorating of the drawers was the best bit and really easy with the dies that came with the Verona and using contrasting card stock to set it off.

My only problem was the inking, I did it with Bundled Sage and Tattered Rose distress ink but the Tattered Rose was almost dry so you can hardly see it at all and as I was doing the inking the night before mum’s birthday there was no choice but to carry on.

My inking technique still isn't great either; the green looks very rough to me.  The embellishments at the top were done using my melt pot (the white ones and the green leaves) and some that I bought from Hobbycraft that matched the colours I wanted.

For the Memory Book I liked the idea that lots of people could contribute without having to be there in person, perfect for what I needed!  After having a look round the craft room I spotted my Project Life Album that I am still working on and the idea was born!  I decided to buy a 6x8 Album and get the matching page protectors so I could slip in postcards, also a front page and a couple of wallets that I could store any bits and bobs that came back.

Next up, how do I get hold of all of mum’s friends addresses – I don’t even know most of them, and how many letters do I send with how many postcards in each, and what do I say in the letter?!?  The postcards were relatively easy … one thing I am not short of is card stock, I got out my Project Life stuff and then cut up card from my scraps box to 6 x 4 and soon had a huge pile of cards.  I wanted to send the request letters out after New Year so they weren't caught up in the Christmas post, so I told mum I was going to put all her Christmas Card addresses on the computer to do labels so she doesn't have to write them all out (I did do that as well).

I sorted the addresses into good friends, who all got three postcards to fill in, ‘ordinary friends’ who got two, and casual friends (including people I didn't know) who got one.  Back to the internet for ideas on what to say in the request letter, which really helped as I needed to explain really clearly what I wanted people to do – which direction to write the postcard, only write on one side, email if preferred etc, etc.  So on 3 January I put the non-UK envelopes in the post and sent off the UK ones a few days later.  This was where I got really nervous, what if only a couple or no-one replied (and at this stage the Verona box looked a fright!) I was starting to try and think of alternative presents if a last minute panic happened.  All I had ready at this stage was an empty book with a front page in and lots of empty page protectors.

I had the replies sent to another address so popped in on 12 January to see if anything had turned up.  Within a couple of days I had received five emails, this was a great start as they had twelve memories on between them and the close family had already started sending theirs, so although I hadn't had a look at the post yet I had already got twenty two memories.  I almost cried when I saw the stack of post that was waiting for me – there were sixty three postcards in them!  It is a tribute to my mum and how much people think of her that a week and a half after sending out the requests, the album was full!!

Wallet at the back with all the letters that came with the postcards.

So there they are, both of mum’s birthday presents done!  Hope you like them; let me know what you think.

Bloopers were too many to name on the Verona, the painting, the inking, the melt pot embellishments … I could go on!  On the memory book there was only one major one, I put all the cards in and then turned it upside down and all the cards in the top pockets fell out … grr!  I ended up cutting tiny bits of sticky tape and sticking the middle of each top pocket to keep it all in.

Thanks for reading, have a great day ... and let me know what you think.

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.

MCS Magazine Issue 5 - Glamour a la Mode

Hi everyone

Hope you have all had a great week.  Last weekend I was all set to print off a load of photos for the holiday Project Life album when the chance came along to make some samples for the latest My Craft Studio magazine ... and the artwork is really lovely on this one, glamorous ladies rather than Christmas or children's themes. Not sure that my phone takes the best pictures, but here goes ...

First up was the trusty pillow box, they are so easy to print and cut out.  The hardest part is scoring the rounded edges, which doesn't long. It leaves all the time for the best bit, decorating and glittering.  I have taken a really close picture of this as I wanted you to be able to see the lovely pattern on the dark card.

Next was a simple card taken from a section of backing paper, adding the sentiment, glitter and some butterflies and finally distressing the edges.  The thing that was supposed to bring it all together was going to be faux stitching round the edge done by hand with a pen, it didn't go well!  I tried colours, Promarkers, black gel pens, and finally decided that only white would do and out of the FOUR white gel pens I had, two wouldn't work and two were too thin, so to me this looks really unfinished.  If anyone can recommend a good white gel pen I would love to hear about it!

Next was a version of the card I did for the magazine article (which I still haven't seen yet).  I did the green matt on the outside edge using MCS and again used a piece of backing paper and enlarged it to give a main focal element.  Using MCS I then added the figure then just glittered and added some gems and a sentiment.

This card took ages and didn't photograph well at all.  I selected a beautiful backing paper off the CD and then heat embossed in light gold using an Inkylicious text stamp.  I decoupaged the top part of the figure so I could stick the feathers underneath the waist of the dress.  Looking at it now I should have made the sentiment a much stronger colour.  I did all the matting and layering using the software and finished off with some glitter and gems.

This was another backing paper and I used the same bride but using the software cut away the veil using the scissor tool (it did take a while) and also cut one of the flowers out to put in her hair.  I matted the backing paper onto pink and then on to a large black card then used the Tattered Lace Mini Blooms and a flourish that I cut up finally adding some gems and a sentiment.

The final card was great in my imagination, but didn't quite come off.  I think it should have been gold card that I punched around and white at the back, I'm not sure but it may have worked better.  I took an 8x8 piece of white card and used the Martha Stewart Border Punch to do the outside edge and cut out the middle using a square die. I then enlarged the image on the software and cut it out and added a small black frame and finally stuck on the white punched frame and added some jewels I got at Hobbycraft recently.  I cut the sentiment out using a Spellbinders Tag and then cut a black version of the tag out as well and cut it in half to give the slight shadow.

Bloopers are legion in this set of cards!  On the Pillow Box I didn't print the card double sided and you can see it from the back at the bottom of the photo.  The less said about the butterfly card the better!  On the circle card I forgot to put the green matt behind the main card so you can see the white card in the middle. On the feather bride picture my stamping went a bit wobbly by her head and I didn't flatten the feathers for the picture so it looks a bit scruffy, and then the jewelled card didn't work out how I wanted.  When I saw the show the other members of the design team had made some stunning samples, I particularly loved the acetate one.  All in all 4 out of 10, must try harder for me!!!

On the brighter side MCS kindly asked me to do an article for issue 5 of the magazine (thankfully before they saw these samples!) so I put a bit about me and had to do two projects.  One is a little box that can be used for sweets or (as I use it) for a small pack of tissues.  The other is a square version of the round card above, which is quite a simple card but you can dress it up in lots of ways.  I chose Floriography as my favourite as I really love that CD, it has so many beautiful backing papers, just reminds you how good the artwork on the CDs is and how much of it you get.  It was so lovely to be asked to do the article, and I really enjoyed making the samples for it.

Hope everyone is having a great and crafty week, thanks for stopping by.

Floral New Home Card

Hi again

Have been looking at my Project Life album again this week. I really enjoy getting the photos and bits and bobs in the album - still got a way to go though.  I have also been playing with displaying my photos on the blog differently, so let me know what you think.

This card was made for my step-aunt who lives in Ireland and is the first time I have tried to recreate someone else's card completely. I usually take an element or see something I can adapt for myself but this one I saw on Selma's Stamping Corner (Selma's Vintage Floret Tutorial) and I knew I had to try it, although you will see that my flowers aren't a patch on Selma's.  Selma's blog is stunning and packed with brilliant tutorials and ideas.

I started with the Cuttlebug embossing folder 'Eyelet Stripe' and embossed both the folder and the border. After matting them on pale pink, I trimmed the short edges and stuck it on a card.

Next up were the flowers, and although they do look great they took me an absolute age. As ever, I didn't have the dies that Selma had so I used my Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms die instead.  

I cut lots of flowers out of 120gsm paper and then inked the edges in pink and the centres in yellow. Then I misted the petals with plain water and shaped and scrunched them over a shaping tool. When they were drying I used a large ball tool to shape the centres.  This did not come naturally to me! Trying to keep the petals damp enough to shape but not so wet they turned to mush was tricky for me and I was a bit upset at the time that the ink looked like it was all being left on my glass mat.  The ink problem went away when they dried and I could see how the ink had blended really evenly.  

When all the individual petals dried completely I made up one large flower, two medium and two small, for the very centres I used some fine beady stuff that I have had in my stash for ages.  After adding a couple of white swirls, some inked leaves, pearls and a printed sentiment, it was all done.

My aunt had decided to give up her apartment and move into more sheltered accommodation so it was a big move for her so I wanted to send something pretty to cheer her up, and it worked!

I will be making some more samples this weekend for MCS and I love the images on this CD, very different from the last few, not sure when the show is on though.

No bloopers on this card but it did take a huge amount of time.  Although the flowers are really pretty when they're  done, I'm not sure how many more I will be doing!

Hope you all have a great week and thanks for reading.

MCS Magazine Issue 4 - Eskimo Kisses

Hi everyone

I haven't been around much recently as my mum has been poorly again so the blog has had to take a bit of a back seat.  I have still been making cards though, so here are the samples I made for the show on Sunday 19 October.

I liked this CD as the characters are so cute without being sickly, I love Robins at Christmas, but all the other characters are lovely too.  When I watched the show back one of the design team had made a card with the seal looking out of the picture as if he had photo bombed it, it was really cute.

First sample was a Pillow Box, and they are so simple to cut out and decorate but they make a great gift box.  I cut out the box and added a strand of lace and on top of that a blue ribbon.  The flourish is a Heartfelt Creations die and the flowers are a pom pom die by Tattered Lace.  I stamped a piece of card and embossed some snow flakes on it before die cutting so it gives a bit of background shimmer.  Some glittered gems from my stash with a bit of Chloe's chunky glitter and it was done.

Now the photography on this one makes it look like Rudolph has a nosebleed, but it actually is red glitter!  I covered an 8x8 card with a background paper from the CD that I had added the moon to from the picture builder section, then used the Tattered Lace Reindeer and Christmas Greetings dies.  Next I  die cut the Christmas Tree and added some snow white flower soft to finish off.  I debated for a while about whether to decorate the tree but in the end decided to leave it all white.

This card is actually a tag that with the MCS software I put two side by side and then cut out.  With some peel offs, a bow and a sentiment it was finished.  Now, I did say a bow and it was made with the MCS Bow Maker that I love.  I have heard some people on line muttering about Afro Combs being the same, but I love the bow maker.  It is so small and simple to use, much easier than some of the more expensive bow makers I have bought.  Maybe it's because I am so useless at tying bows that I love it, and would recommend it to anyone who struggles tying bows like me.  I used to spend more time tying the bow than making the card, and a double bow would have been out of the question!

This card was made using a Sheena snowflakes embossing folder that I die cut into a frame and then rubbed really lightly with some teal gilding wax.  I used the picture builder section of the CD to place the tree, the seal with bauble (that I changed the colour of as it was red originally and blended into the scarf) the teddy pulling the sleigh in the background and finally placing the moon. I stuck the frame on the image then matted it all on some silver mirri card, some small die cut snow flakes and stars from a Memory Box die added the Tattered Lace Christmas Greetings die and sample four was complete.

This card almost made itself.  I embossed the front of the card with another Sheena embossing folder and then inked lightly over the top.  I have always been a bit light handed with ink but really found that the more I added the better it looked, I think I just need to be a bit braver!  Next I cut out the aperture with a Spellbinders bauble die and put the image behind it that I had made using the picture builder section of the CD.  I just love robins at Christmas.  I cut out a bright red bracket label and stuck on a sentiment from the CD that I punched out and then inked round.  Finally I added a bit of glitter to the bauble and the red beads to make the leaves look more Christmassy.  Looking at the card now I think I should have put a red bow at the top of the bauble to finish it off.

This final card was a glitterfest!  I used one of the toppers from the CD and then cut out an additional blank label for the sentiment.  The base dotty card is from Anna Marie Designs that I bought at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham sometime this year.  The next layer is one of the backing papers that I distressed using one of those little circular distressing tools and a bit of ripping!  Then I distressed the topper and the blank label and then glittered away using some PVA glue that I smeared on with my fingers and then some of Chloe's chunky glitter.  After adding the sentiment that was the die on a recent Tattered Lace magazine and some Card Candi, it was done.

Well that's all for this time, no massive bloopers this time, although it was a close run thing on the Tag Card, as when I first put the bow on you couldn't see the owl!  If you would, please say a little prayer for my mum as she isn't well at the moment.

Hope you all have a great and crafty week.

Blue Birds for Fathers Day

Hi everyone

Hope you’ve had a good week.  This week I have been trying to put together a picture on Serif Craft Artist that I want transferred onto a large canvas.  It is made up of lots of pictures from our holiday, but at the moment it’s not looking at all how it did in my head, so there’s still much work to be done!

On to the card ... this was done for Father’s Day this year and is my first try with my Spectrum Noir pencils.  Now, me and colouring don’t get on too well, I bought different types of Promarkers, the ordinary type, the brush type and had very limited success.  The trouble was that it always looked like my nieces had coloured it, and in some bad cases looked like my son had coloured it … and he never got past stick men.  So after several attempts I decided that alcohol markers were not for me and I now just use them for colouring in die cut flowers rather than inking them.  I bought one set of Spectrum Noir pencils and had a go with the Odourless Mineral Spirits and it gave me a much better result than I had with Promarkers so I bought some more (they were 3 for 2 in Hobbycraft) had a quick look on You Tube, and here’s the first card.

The image was bought online from the Digital Craft Store and I recognised the font so I added my own sentiment to match, the only other thing on the image is a little bit of white gel pen.  I can't get on the Digital Craft Store site today so I can't credit the artist, but I will update the blog when I can.

I started with a 6x6 card and made a really simple frame and inner frame using Labels 1.  I also cut the sentiment and matt from the smaller Labels 1.  After sticking the frame on top of the image I could see a bit of scribble in the top right hand corner of the card where I had tested the pencils, so I cut out some Tattered Lace leaves from the Sentimental Florals set to disguise it.  All that was left was to stick on the sentiment and it was done.

I am loving my Spectrum Noir pencils but putting them back in the tins and opening and shutting the tins while colouring is really inconvenient.  After looking online for a relatively inexpensive storage method for 120 pencils, I found the Derwent Carry All, which will store all the pencils as well as the paper stumps and the OMS.  Also, I have bought a little jar to put the OMS in (with a bit of sponge at the bottom) and covered it in glitter and gilding flakes.  I had to buy half a dozen of the little glass screw top jars, so if anyone wants one of the five spares, send me an email and I will pop them in the post.

  

The blooper on the card this week was the scribble in the top right corner of the card under the leaves … can you spot it?

Have a lovely crafty week and thanks for reading.