August's Crafter's Companion Challenge - All About School

So, cutting it fine to enter, but here's my entry for the August Challenge at Crafter's Companion - All About School.  I have made a set of three pencil pots which I have photographed with a few of my crafting items in.  They will however, be on my desk at school from Tuesday (I am a Teacher!)

I used this month's download: 'Crafting With Kids' from the Crafter's Companion website.  I printed it off onto Crafters Companion Satin Finish Printer Paper.  (I used the paper rather than Neenah card as paper is much easier to use to wrap the tins.)  It was all printed at 100% apart from the three words on the third tin which I copied and pasted into Word to make them bigger. 

I used three empty dog food tins which had the ring pull openers on them.  This means that there isn't a sharp edge like you get using a can opener!  I cut the papers to 9.8cm wide.  (An A4 sheet is big enough to get two strips to cover two tins.)  I wrapped Crafters Companion Red Liner Tape 6mm around the top and bottom of the tin and then went over it with a glue stick (this allows you some play to move the paper if needed.  It's then permanent when the glue stick dries.)  I covered all three tins like this with two different papers.

On the first tin I used the red spotty paper ribbon and the alphabet paper ribbon. I cut these out and then cut the red spotty one in half length ways.  I glued them onto the tin with the red spotty paper ribbon framing the alphabet one. 

On the second tin I made a rosette using Tim Holtz's 'Decorative Strip' die from Sizzix.  I used the other half of the stripy and dotty ribbon paper that I covered the tin in.  I then used a spotty purple button to finish it off with.  I tied some embroidery thread through the button before I stuck it down as I don't like to use buttons without thread through them as I always think it looks unfinished!  I used Collall 3D Glue Gel to stick the rosette together and onto the tin.

On the third tin I used the wide paper ribbon made up of six thin strips. I cut it into three so each section had two colours on it.  I wrapped these around the tin, evenly spacing them.  I mounted the words onto white with a 1/16" border using my Perfect Layer rulers.  I then stuck these onto the middle of each paper ribbon on the tin again using the Collall Glue Gel.

Finished!  

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you like them, if you do please feel free to leave a comment!

August's Clarity Challenge - Feminine

Hi all!  Not feeling overly inspired today being jet lagged post my return flight from Canada after going to see my sister who lives out there.  Nevertheless, I have attempted the Clarity Challenge this afternoon.  'Feminine' is the theme and I don't think I have any particularly feminine themed stamps from Clarity (although I have many other Clarity stamps!) I decided to use the  Love Is In The Air Clear Stamp Kit.

I used Theuva card and distress reinkers to make the background using the shaving foam technique that Barbara has demoed recently on her blog.  I used the Mountains and Hills Mask and the Moons Masks to section off the areas before applying the shaving foam.  I then stamped the little girl and the hearts foliage in black archival.  I added a couple of swallows from Remountable Birdhouse Garden Set Of Clear Stamps.

I matted and layered onto matt black card and then pink centura pearl.  I thought the pink gave it a more feminine edge!  I used my perfect layers to mat and layer - I love these tools and wouldn't be without them now - perfect everytime!

More Clarity Stencils

Hi all,

Here's a quick card that I made for my sister using the beautiful Chrysanthemum Stencil.

I used the 7x7 Gelli card and taped the stencil on with low tack masking tape.  I then used the Clarity stencil brushes and two distress inks: Fired Brick and Squeezed Lemonade.  I used the Fired Brick working out from the corner and working more heavily in the corner.  I worked to the middle of the flower and then introduced the Squeezed Lemonade from the outer edge of the petals and slightly over the middle area.  This gave a tonal effect to the flower.

I matted the piece after slightly trimming it down onto some matching glitter card.  I then layered it onto a white card blank.  I finally added white organza ribbon to the spine of the card.

Really pleased...

Really pleased...I made top 3 at the Crafter's Companion July Challenge! This was for the card in the post below.
For the other winners click here!  Congratulations to the others and everyone who took part.  I am currently thinking about what I will do for their August challenge!
I will be back later today with some new cards!  Bye for now!

Crafter's Companion July Challenge - 'Show off your sentiments'

Hi all, here's what I have made for the Crafter's Companion July Challenge -  'Show off your sentiments'.  It's the first time that I have entered their challenge but definitely won't be the last as I use so many of their wonderful products!
This is the best I could get the photo to look as mirror card is hard to photograph.  You can see some of the shine though, so you can see it's mirror card.  I did mat the sentiment onto the same mirror card as the embossing was done on, however you can't make it out that well!

I am pleased with the result as I challenged myself to use something different to what I would usually do - use mirror card.  I was inspired to do so from catching C&C the other day.  The Spellbinders lady: Kim Hupke did it with an embossing folder and it made the mirror card look stunning by sanding the emboss revealing the white underneath.  It makes such a difference as to my taste mirror card is a bit intense but for me this technique really worked.

Here's what I used from Crafter's Companion:

White 8 x 8 card blank

Vintage Christmas Collection A4 Embossing Folder - Softly Falling (Background embossing)

Sheena Douglass 5” x 7” Festive Embossing Folders - Ornamental Snowflakes (Foreground embossing)

Ebosser (To emboss my folders and cut the snowflakes.  Crafter's Companion don't have it in stock at the moment though)

Coredinations Sand It Gadget Tool and Coredinations Dust Buddy - cleaning cloth (To sand off the top of the mirror card and then wipe up the mess!)

Spray and Sparkle Pearl Diamond Glitter Varnish (To spray the snowflakes)

Vintage Christmas Collection A6 Sentimentals Rubber Stamp Set - Let It Snow (Let It Snow sentiment Stamp)

Sheena Douglass White Stamping Card A4 - Pack of 60 (I stamped the sentiment on this and also cut the snowflakes from it.)

Darice Embossing Powder - Silver (To heat emboss the sentiment)

Collall TACKY GLUE 100ml - Quick drying glue (To stick the pearls on the snowflakes)

Collall ALL-PURPOSE GLUE - 100ml (To glue my mats and layers)

In addition I used blue mirror card, silver matt card, white pearls in 3mm and 4mm sizes and Spellbinders Cut, Fold and Tuck Snowflakes.

Sanding the embossed snowflakes after embossing the mirror card is not difficult.  You just have to go lightly to start with. Make sure you are working on a flat surface - not over the edge of your mat - and hold the card flat/.  Use the block in a circular motion and you should be fine.

I hope you all like what I've made.  Thanks for stopping by!

Clarity Card using my favourite stamp!

I made this card for my Dad's birthday the other week.  His and my Aunt's birthday are a day apart.  I made her a very different one though as they have different tastes - my Dad isn't into Sue Wilson flowers!

It only took a few minutes to make but I think it looks effective.  The stencil brushes are wonderful, I love using them.  I'm also in love with this stamp, I love the fairy tale feel to it.

I used the following Clarity products:
Abstract Squares 2 Stencil, Boy and Birds Stamp (which currently comes with a free rooftops mask worth £3), Word Chain Set 3 Stamps, Cardpack for 6x6 Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate and their wonderful Stencil Brushes.
I used Adirondack ink pads in Meadow, Stonewashed and Butterscotch and Black Archival.

I taped the stencil with low tack masking tape onto the Gelli Plate card - it is the perfect size for the stencils as it's made to fit them.  I then used three different brushes to put the colours into the background for the sky and grass.  After lifting the stencil up I stamped the boy and words into place.  I then mounted onto black card (which I gutted first) and an 8" x 8" card blank.  

I hope you like it.  I'll be back with another one tomorrow!

12 x 12 Canvas Layout

Hi all!

Well, the last term at school has been mega busy and I've not stopped, hence no blogging!  I now have the summer off so I will be back regularly blogging!

I have just got back from a brilliant Clarity Stamp retreat in Crowborough with the lovely Barbara Gray.  There are more people going again in a week though, so I will hold off posting what we did until then as it wouldn't be fair to spoil it for the next cohort.

Today I am blogging a canvas that I did for a friend at work and his wife who have just had beautiful baby Esme.

I made the flowers and title using Centura Pearl.  The flower and leaf dies were from Tattered Lace and the letters are from a Cuttlebug alphabet.  The canvas was pink when I bought it so no need for painting - I got it from Hobbycraft years ago but it had just sat in my stash along with the three different papers that I used here which are Basic Grey Lilykate collection and are a few years old.  I used my Martha Stewart circle cutter to cut the circle for the middle piece and the Martha Stewart Circle Border Punch system with the doily punch cartridge that it came with.  I stitched through all of the buttons and knotted each one at the back with embroidery thread before sticking them on with silicone glue.  (I always think projects look unfinished when buttons are put on without being stitched.)
I was pleased with the end result and my colleague was really chuffed when I gave it to him.  I hope you all like it too.

I will be back tomorrow with more crafty bits to share!

Thanks for stopping by!