Scrabble - ing about

Hi Crafty Friends

I had two birthday cards to do this week, so I thought I'd have a go with one of my new masks. I'm not sure what I'm doing with them, so it's pretty basic, but I enjoyed the technique and am hoping to improve

Then there was the annual 'issue' of my brother's card, which should be like him: cool, understated and witty. Well, I can't manage that so I made one based on our Scrabble marathon when he visited. I photographed my ancient Scrabble board, recoloured it, and then spent ages stamping and cutting out all the tiles. I don't know what possessed me to make a letter rack, because then I had to make a box for it. Hope it's not too squashed in the post.

Happy crafting
xx

Up-cycling

Hi Crafty Friends
Here's my latest make for RWS, 3 of a kind challenge. This month the 3 things are brown, numbers and die-cuts. I up-cycled a Pringles tube and made a gift box. These are a great size for loads of different gifts - I'm aiming to make lots before Christmas.

And here's the tag - some of my friends will be 60 this year, so one of their pressies will fit it.

happy crafting

Treasure Chest

Hi Crafty Friends

I seem to be stuck on making boxes recently. Here is a little treasure chest constructed out of chipboard and  the centre of a gift wrap roll. It's been on my mind to do one for ages, since I tried one years ago and it ended in the bin. Still I needed a box for a gift so I persevered with this one. The metal edges are sticky backed foil, coloured with alcohol inks.

Here is the card I made to go with it.

Happy crafting
jx

Take Three Challenge February

Hi Crafty Friends

Well, the Take Three Challenge for this month was to have a Vintage look, using Violet and Velvet. This sounded really romantic to me, so as it's February, I decided to make a little basket for Valentine treats.

I drew a heart on copy paper to make a template, cut the pieces out of stiff cardboard and painted them with white emulsion paint (I really must get some gesso!). Then a bit of flattening later, I just needed to stick them together and get decorating. I made the flowers out of book paper.

Here’s what I used:

Stiff cardboard, white emulsion paint, patterned paper, book pages

White, violet and lilac cardstock

Velvet ribbon, pearls.

The lacy heart and the large flowers are made with Marianne dies, the leaf die is Spellbinders and the other flourish is (I think) Couture Too.

Happy crafting
By the way, I entered this into the challenge below, so if you like it, please pop over to this site and vote for me. (Just click on the heart in the top corner of my entry's pic)
Thanks
http://papermilldirect.co.uk/community/valentines-day-challenge-win-a-subscription-to-simply-cards-papercraft-magazine

DT Box

Hi Crafty Friends

I was so thrilled to be asked to join RWS design team. Here is my first DT make. I decided to do a small octagonal gift box for a birthday present for Kate (a Friday crop regular).

It was quite straightforward (in theory), but getting the octagon the right size was a bit tricky.
I used Spellbinders Labels 28 for the lid and base.

The challenge is called 'Take Three Things'. This month (inspired by Elvis) the 3 things are white, bling and music.

I really enjoyed making this, roll on the next challenge.

happy crafting

Embossing binge

Hi Crafty Friends

I've been having a bit of a blitz on embossing recently.

For this card, I embossed the image with my favourite (and now precious, since it's been discontinued) Patina Bronze embossing powder. I then masked off the background and sponged the strip with DIs. The frame is made with a Nellie Snellen corner die.  I intended putting a sentiment at the bottom, but tried several, but wasn't happy with them so I left it off. Any suggestions, as to what to do, would be very welcome.

This one involved several stages to complete the image. I inked the background with Antique Linen, and stamped the music and flourish faintly with Vintage Photo. Then I used a negative stamp (from Hero Arts) and embossed it with clear embossing powder, before sponging the flowers/leaves with Victorian Velvet and Bundled Sage

Hope you like them
Happy Crafting

New Year News

Hi Crafty Friends
Back again after a massive break - such a bad blogger, I know.

And back with a brilliant bit of news - Tracey has asked me to be on the design team for 'Running With Scissors' .  I'm really looking forward to all the challenges and just hope a bit of inspiration strikes.

I did masses of crafting in the run up to Christmas, and managed to make all my cards and gift tags (so no time for blogging).
here are some of my Christmas cards
This is the one I made for my OH - I love these cascade cards

And this for an old friend. Gorgeous backing paper and I embossed the bauble to match

I really enjoyed experimenting to make this card. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the church and then Spellbinders labels 28 die for the aperture.

This is a bit of a different style for me, but good for posting.

A bit belated, but here's to a happy and crafty 2014

Jx