Tonic Returns...

Happy Friday,

can you believe its the last day of January already?  It seems 2 minutes since I was blogging my Christmas stuff and here we are end of the first month of January!  Today I wanted to post something bright to remind us that the coldest darkest weather will pass soon.

Now I know I have used the same die as yesterday ( I cant find the packet for this so sorry I am not sure what the same is guys!  However it is one of the new ones that fits a centre die in  the middle if that helps) however with a change of colour and emphasis I think it can be made to look different.  This time I've made the cut the focal element rather than the background and highlighted with a soft blue (pastel week continues in its own way lol)






I started by embossing a piece of pale blue PMD cardstock in a Darice A4 folder then double mounted this on white and blue cardstock.

The strip of 4cm ribbon(Chino shop bargain) is added before the die cut.

Finally a sentiment a bow and a couple of felt roses.  The roses are cut with a Marianne rose die.

Enjoy...

Cream and White...

Happy Thursday,

Here is another card using the Tonic die I bought a couple of weeks ago.  As my regular followers will no doubt know I tend to have dies de jour (or die f the moment being less posh!)  This die from tonic has sat on my craft desk for a good couple of weeks.  Initially I thought it had limited use however by altering the toppers it can be made to look very different.  Click HERE to see the twisted version I made earlier in the month.







This time I wanted to show the dimension and thought that Cream and white was the simplest way to show this.

Enjoy...

More Felt???

Happy Wednesday,

Its Wednesday so I'm afraid its a quick post as working last night!  I've been playing again with felt and Spellbinders Bauble Blossoms and made this, simple, white felt flower.  I wanted a striking card to highlight it and came up with this Brown and Kraft card affair.

This is a layered card using the two colours of PMD cardstock and a sheet of First Edition striped paper from the Silent Night pack ( actually one from last Christmas however there are some lovely plain-ish papers in thee).

After cutting a set of mats and layers I cut into the last two using a spellbinders rectangle die and under mounted them over the patterned paper.    I wrapped a wide strip of satin ribbon ( a new Chino shop bargain) and made a bow to hold a couple of Wendy's hatpins and the flower.

Enjoy...

AS you can probably tell this is another card that I personally LOVE (two in the same month, whats happening!!!)

Feeling Peachy?!?

Happy Tuesday!



This week, so far, seems like a pastel week because today's' card is another pastel this time peach.  Now as one of my lovely commentators said last time I posted peach (Can't remember who I am crap at names) its nice to see a different colour I hope you like this one.

This card is made with the same Core'dinations paper as my last peachy effort.  This time I embossed and sanded the backing before framing it and mounting it onto a sheet of white cardstock.  The central element is all cut with a Spellbinders Gold elements die ( i forget which one!) die, as this is a gold elements die I added gold ink to the raised areas before cutting.  This makes the debossed areas stand out and adds a lovely shine to the card.




The central sentiment is an oval die cut, inked and stamped with the Whimsey stamp sentient a quote from one of my favourite authors look closely to find out who lol)

I have foam mounted this onto two of the centre dies from Spellbinders A2 filigree delight which adds some interest to the panel.  Finally I added a few pearls and a simple bow made with organza ribbon sent to me by Mrs Duck!


Enjoy...

Your Card Jackie...

Happy Monday,

Today is Your Card again and the winner this week is Jackie Durant!  This week I asked Wendy to choose a name from this weeks comments and she chose Jackie from Saturday.  Normally I would place a link to the winners blog however since moving to Chrome I cant find her blog (if she has one)  Jackie if you do could you let me know so I can check it out and update this post.

Today's card was made for Jackie featuring flowers as I noticed a penchant for flowers on her Google Chrome circle ( no idea what this actually is but I was transferred there when I clicked Jackie's name, it looked nice)

Well as usual if you send me your address on Lockers@live.co.uk I will post the card to you.

I ope you all will Enjoy Jackie's card!

John x

Hobbycutz Challenge Sunday

Happy Sunday Guys!




Its my turn for the Hobbycutz Challenge DT again, this week the challenge is a sketch!  Here is the sketch...




and here is my creation, a little different for me as I would call it Clean and Simple.

Can I mention as well that we are looking for new members of the Hobbycutz Design Team all you need to do is add DT after your name on your challenge entry this week.  It would be great to see some of you fabulous craters joining me on this Fab team!

This weeks challenge winner will receive a $15 gift certificate from Whimsey stamps, a company whose stamps I use all the time!

Click HERE to see what the other Design Team members have come up with or to enter!

Enjoy...

Placeholder....

Happy Saturday!

Todays post has failed I´m afraid I think I may have to bite the bullet and move over the Google chrome!  Todays post will be posted when I get home from work!  sorry check back laters!!!

John x

Something Different Saturday

Happy Saturday,

One of the things I bought during my missing Mojo last week form the local charity shop was a  candle lamp.  I wanted to try to copy this is paper, although I am not 100% happy with this version it is a start and I'm sure I will revisit it in the future.

The shade is made in paper and the base is a red wine glass.  The idea is that an electronic tea light can be placed in the glass and the lamp will light up!

I measured the shade against a sheet of A4 card to create a template then die cut the resulting shades.

Due to more IE problems sorry this is late and short!  I have taken advice from Lesley's comment and gone with Chrome!

Enjoy...

First quick post of 2014!

Happy Friday,

Once again running short on time and my bed is calling so a quick card made a couple of days ago.  I made this one using the
cream and burgundy pieces I had left over form my burgundy stage a couple of weeks ago (seriously I am trying to be green and not waste I'm not trying to keep as much card in my stash as possible!)











I simply cut all the strips with Spellbinders Curved borders one die and layered them up with foam tape.  The centre is a circle, a scalloped circle finally a cream circle with the sentiment from waltzing mouse.

Enjoy...

Playing

Happy Thursday...

I've been trying to die cut with felt for as long as I can remember however I've never been able to make a success of it!  I finally realised that I was using too high a quality felt I needed a fine polyester one I finally found some in the local (or one of the local its like poundshops over here Chinese shops seem to be on every corner there's 5 within a 2 mile radius of where I work)





That said this felt cuts beautifully and so I tried Spellbinders Bauble blossoms and so these flowers were born!  I used 2 die cuts of white felt for each flower and simply rolled them from the middle in turn using Anita's tacky glue (this seems to be the best glue as its gets tacky quickly) to seal the flowers.

Next I added a velvet ribbon looped with some of Wendy's stunning hat pins an a few inked Foliage leaves form Spellbinders.

I needed a smart yet simple card to house this and matched white and teal together.  To make the background I used the waste from the card I made for Elaine Click HERE to see it.  I noticed when I was cutting the squares that the waste piece was stunning in itself so when cutting the squares I laid them out to create this set of frames.

I then die cut a simple square in the same card placing the centre die from spellbinders Adorning Squares.  I foam mounted the frame over the teal card and then foam mounted the squares in the centre with an, ever present, pearl in the middle.

Finally, sorry this description is taking an age for a simple looking card, I mounted the piece onto white then added a strip of matching velvet ribbon across the left hand side to balance the flower arrangement.

It's not often I am proud of a card or creation but I LOVE this one, hope you like it too...


Enjoy...

Antique Tea ?!?

Happy Wednesday,

First to answer a question a lot of people asked on yesterdays card the sizzix floral die I used is an old sizzlets die and the flower is a lot smaller than Spellbinders Cherry Blossom.  I will try to make a similar card with cherry blossom die to show the difference next week!


Today's card looks, to me at least, like it has been antique stained using cold tea.  Actually this isn't the case its all been coloured with a gingerbread colour chalk ink.

This creation actually started with the flowers which were plain white roses from Wendy next door.  I was playing testing a new chalk ink and started distressing the edges of the roses with it, I loved the effect and wanted to make a card to showcase them.

The background is a simple sheet of PMD cardstock embossed with an A4 Darice folder and inked with a gingerbread chalk pad.

The topper is made of differing layers of Spellbinders in brown and Kraft cardstock with a circle cut in the centre and the second smallest label in the centre.

The roses are from spellbinders bitty blossoms simply cut in cream and inked on the edges.

Old fashioned but modern, I hope...

Enjoy...

Something Simple...

Happy Tuesday!

Today's card is a simple white and burgundy and is deceptively simple looking.

This card started as a waste piece, I needed a circle and decided to cut it form the centre of a piece of card in case I wanted to use the piece as a mat.  I noticed there was enough to make a folded card.  Next I added the stamped die cut that did not work in another project on top of a piece of burgundy that happened to fit exactly on the inside rear of the card.

The flowers were a happy accident as I cut an old Sizzix die I'd bought on eBay which produced the most delicate small flowers and foliage.  I shaped these and simply started layering these as a spray on the front.  The centers of the flowers have no centers so a few pearls filled these gaps but also looked nice peeking over the aperture.



A delicate card but I hope you will agree effective.

Enjoy...

Your Card Elaine!

Happy Monday,

Last week my new feature proved really popular, well its time for weeks 2!  The idea is, for those who missed it, I will pick a name form the comments of the previous week on Sunday and make a card for that person!  Then if you email me on Lockers@live.co.uk I will post the card to you, simple!

Today's card was made specially for  Elaine, now Elaine is a fellow member of the Hobbycutz Design Team however this is, honestly, a coincidence.  Elaine's blog can be found HERE she is a fantastic stamper whom I could learn a few things from.  I was really tempted to make a card that was heavy on stamping however I thought it was best to stick to what I'm known for die cutting!

 Again Elaine was randomly selected by Mr Next Door.


This card is made with 9 die cuts using the square section from Spellbinders Adorning Squares foam mounted onto a sheet of green PMD cardstock.  I love the tiled effect this gives although I had to add some pearls it wouldn't be one of my cards without a couple of pearls!

Enjoy...

Something Different Sunday...

Happy Sunday...

As I mentioned yesterday I wasn't able to post this yesterday and so Saturday becomes different Sunday!  I also have to say that I am a little disappointed with today's different which is a Photo album.  Last week I mentioned to hazel at work that I was struggling to think of anything for this weeks different project.  She sent me straight off to the Charity Shop next door to find inspiration and I did!  I now have loads of things to up-cycle and ideas of what to make.

This album is simply covered with a sheet of PMD white cardstock into which I have die cut Spellbinders Gold Elements one corner in a square pattern.  I placed a sheet of parchment behind the die cut then foam mounted this onto the front of the album.

Next I added a ribbon tie under the front and added a frame of gold mirror card.  The sentiment, designed as an anniversary gift, is stamped then embossed before being mounted on top.  A simple construction process that took hours of measuring and cutting!

Enjoy...

Something New...Not Different

Happy Saturday,


Due to camera issues I'm not able to post different Saturday today hopefully this week will be something different Sunday!





Todays card is made with the die I bought on my trip to our local craft shop with wendy a couple of weeks ago.  As usual I cut one of these then put it away for another day.  However this time it quickly came back out.


The die is a new window die from Tonic, here I have married it with a spellbinders circle die that fits the centre panel perfectly.  The die comes in two pieces, the trellis and then the outline, this allowed me to cut two of the main elements then cut the right sized window from the card blank.


Once the window was cut I decorated two of the main trellis die cuts with pearls and mounted them on top of each other, using foam pads, however I rotated them so that a more complex pattern emerged.  Its easier to see the pattern created on this picture.

The sentiment is stamped onto acetate, stamp from Indigblu, so that it floats in the centre panel.  I backed this with one of the centre circles behind (as it was difficult to read on the purple.  I added a a sheet of royal purple onto the rear of the card as the deep colour makes the white shine.






Simple but effective,

Enjoy...

a little darker...

Happy Friday,

This card is in very dark shades however I thought after yesterday peach confection we could do with some shade. Now this card is again made using a die borrowed from Wendy Next Door.  The main element is a Sizzix strip die which cuts the ivy trail.





I started this card by embossing apiece of the burgundy PMD card with a random embossing folder of foliage (I had to run it through the machine twice as it is an A5 folder.  Next I rubbed patina gilding wax over the raised area before mounting onto cream cardstock and placing on the inside of the card blank.

The front piece is cut at half the size of the back (difficult to see in this picture.  I have echoed the double mat and added the die cut. on foam squares, over the top.

Finally the sentiment is from Whimsey stamps which I embossed with Copper powder then cut out using the matching die.  The backing piece is also a die cut form the same set.

To give the card a lift I rubbed a little of the wax over the front die cut which doesn't show well in the picture.

Delight in the little things,

Enjoy...

Something Borrowed...

Happy Thursday!

One of the major benefits of living next door to a crafter is the ability to borrow, todays card is made with a die I borrowed form Wendy next door.  Now she purchased this die when I was with her in the local craft shop however she spotted it first denying me the chance to purchase, since then I had forgotten it however when we again went to our local craft shop last week I remembered it and asked to borrow it.  This card is made using the borrowed die and some Core´dinations cardstock I bought whilst I was there.

I started by cutting, embossing and sanding the central panel using the aforementioned Sizzix iron gate die.  I mounted this onto a sheet of acetate and hand cut a cream frame so that the central piece appeared to be floating.

The sentiment panel is cut using Spellbinders fancy tags one which again I cut, embossed and sanded however I layered these in the centre usingf foam tape for dimension.  I managed to find a matching ribbon in my burgeoning collection and tied this down the side with a double bow (hand tied Mrs Duck!!) This was finished with a Hobbycutz lasercut butterfly and the everpresent pearl.

Not my usual Colours but I actually like it, me Peach what has 2014 come to!!

Enjoy...

Blue Bliss

Happy Wednesday,

Today's card is a remake, I loved this die cut however I wasn't happy with the produced card so I took it apart and started again!



Click HERE to see the original card, which one do you prefer?  I've got to be honest I now think I prefer the original?!?




I cut the square from the front of the initial card and laid it over a navy blue rectangle leaving a wide stripe in the middle.  Next I cut a few leaves from The spellbinders Foliage die and inked them whilst still in the die.  These were placed under the central panel cut with a circle and the centre section form Spellbinders Adorning squares die ( I told you it was my die de Jour!) I again inked through the die and stamped the sentiment, from indigo blue, in the middle.









I finally added a bowmaker bow in a matching pale blue satin ribbon although this is a complex looking card it is a simple card to put together. 


Enjoy...