Some cards in Crafts Beautiful May issue...and a rare day off:)

Today I had a rare day off and really enjoyed it...David brought my breakfast to bed (as usual - I am spoilt!!) and then I had a lovely lie in. Well, that was really because I worked so late last night I just couldn't face getting up. Anyhow, I had a browse through the May issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine which is just out. This month I have 2 different sets of cards in there....Lily of the Valley cards and some featuring umbrellas and boots.

One phonecall later and we were on our way to Hillmount Nurseries to have lunch with Rhonda and have a look in at a demo by Cliona Larkin.

Anyone who knows me will know what a sucker I am for rabbits so when I saw a pic of Easter bunnies at Hillmount I was over there like a shot. 

Here they are...along with the other visiting animals.

These were all inside but just in case you thought all our snow had melted I took one of a visitor in the carpark!!

Competition time at Papermill Direct on Facebook!!

Box set 703e

It's competition time at Papermill Direct on Facebook. The prize is a boxed set (703e) of Tonic Studios Punch and Stamps - one of my own designs!

These punches work wonderfully with Papermill cardstock !!

In the card below I have used Papermill White linen, Purple Grape and New Lilac cardstock.

I have attached all the flowers to the card with  Dodz 3D from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

I've been asked to tell you a little about the prize ;

This is a set of 4 punches, 4 mini stamps, an acrylic cylinder stamping block and a detailed instruction booklet.

When I was designing these sets (you can see the others HERE) I tried to come up with something which could be used by all levels of crafter from novice to experienced..You can use them to make a quick, flat flower from plain card/paper or spend a little more time and make a fully 3D lifelike flower using the stamps included, or even use patterned paper to coordinate with your project.

The flowers included in the instruction booklet are really just to get you started - once you begin to punch out the shapes you'll quickly realise that the possibilities are endless....by embossing, pinching, twisting and snipping you can create countless new flowers.

What's in the box - 4 medium punches (petals, stamen/sepal,leaf) 4 mini stamps, an acrylic cylinder for stamping with and a detailed instruction booklet.

A selection of some of the flowers it's possible to make with this set.

Ok, what's not to like....? See you over at the Papermill Direct on Facebook

A tag

I tend to use the Trellis Wall die for all sorts of things, but I really do like it as a gift tag (you may have noticed!). I've decorated it with flowers made from both the large and small petals from the Carnation, Sweet William, Peony Punch and Stamp set  and one made with the leaves and some inking. The leaves are from the Window Basket die set.

It's not all about cards, you see ;)

A touch of gold

I like a bit of gold with black every now and then as a change from the pretty stuff..

The big flower in the centre was made with the Carnation, Sweet William, Peony Punch and Stamp set by Tonic Studios. I cut out a big circle and glued the twisted petals around the outside then added some silicone to the centre and set the rest of the petals into that for height. The background was made with 2 Domed Window die cuts joined together and I used the 4 embossed squares (the waste from the window die) as corner accents with a black star (the sepal from the Punch and Stamp set) on top. The beautiful border came from the Scalloped Diamond Border punch.

Don't forget you can also make realistic looking flowers with the same punches when you use the stamps included in the box :)

Enjoy :)

Butterfly Pick of the Week

Have you seen the gorgeous new Tonic Studios Butterfly dies on Create and Craft as Pick of the Week?

This is one of them - MARIA - and you can see from the size that you could just use one of them as the main feature on a card -so elegant. I've cut this one out and added glitter to parts but you could adapt it so easily by cutting some parts off and making the whole thing look different.

The border around the edge of the card is the Vine border and I've used the Vine strip down the right hand side with a flower made from the leaves in the Rose, Pansy, Camelia and Gardenia Punch and Stamp set.

Stay in and keep warm :)

The white card base and the luxurious Ruby Red card is from Papermill Direct.

Where's Spring?

A good excuse to stay in and craft :)

Create and Craft POW

Tonic Studios have lots of gorgeous new butterflies being released on Create and Craft today and through the week as Pick of the Week. There are several beautiful big dies like this one which are really versatile and can be used with lots of the other Tonic goodies  - watch this space!!
The one above is called FLAVA

Hessian and Raffia ring

I was going to hold onto some of the photos of my makes with the 3rd and 4th releases of Punch and Stamp sets until they were more widely available but just thought I'd share this one in the meantime. (They will be available from retail outlets from the beginning of April.)

All of the flowers on this ring were made from the punches in the Carnation, Sweet William, Peony set. I particularly like the little straw flowers at the top left as they remind me of so many days spent years ago flower arranging..

Something strange happened to this one when I sent it over to Create and Craft for one of the shows....It was nowhere to be seen among the samples - until it appeared as a bracelet on "Magic Hands" when he/she put an email in the cup! Don't suppose anyone else noticed, but I always keep an eye out to see where my samples have been put ;)

One I made earlier

...Here's one I made earlier. I've been really, really busy making lots and lots of cards etc but unfortunately I'm not able to share any of them for quite a while...so here's one I made a few weeks ago using the small Peony and corner ivy stamps from the Tonic Studios Clear Stamp Die Toppers.These stamps are actually designed to be used with the Peony Window and Fuchsia Window dies  like the cards below....but can be used independently as well.
All the white cardstock is by Papermill Direct
I have stamped 4 of the ivy corners to create a "frame" and coloured them with Promarkers - Marsh, Buttercup and Gold. Then I stamped and coloured 2 of the Peony stamps and coloured them with Promarkers too  - Pale Pink, Antique Pink and Carmine. I cut them out and attached them onto a Floral Circle die with 3D foam squares from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L (These are great as the squares have spaces between them so that you can lift exactly what you want without getting a few stuck together!)

I've added a line of glitter around the edge of the die and also the main panel to give it a bit of definition.

Here are two of the earlier cards I made using the Clear Stamp die toppers with the Window dies which they are designed to coordinate with...

Box Card tutorial

Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee, sit back and relax - this is going to be a looong post. It's not really difficult but I've taken lots of photos on the way to explain it properly.

The big flower was made with the Clematis, Lily ,Poinsettia Punch and Stamp set - I just used a large circle punch for the back to make it bigger

For the Box card you're going to need

 Papermill white hammered cardstock,

 2 pieces measuring 17.75cm x 18.75 cm

 2 pieces measuring 15 cm x 24 cm

 2 pieces measuring 18 cm x 24 cm

 1 piece measuring 14 cm x 17 cm

 2 strips measuring 15.5 cm x 3 cm

 2 strips measuring 18.5 cm x 3 cm 

 2 pieces of patterned paper -  15.25 cm x 18.25 cm

 2 lengths of ribbon - 30 cm each

Dodz Adhesive dots

Mystik  Permanent Strips Dispenser

Crafty Power Tape

Tools;

Tonic Studios Super Trimmer

Tonic Studios Dotty Border punch

Embossing folder 5" x 7"

To make the box card

1.Score the 2 (17.75cm x 18.75 cm) pieces of card at 2cm on the 17.75 cm side and fold.

2.Add Crafty power Tape to one of the folded sides.

3. Join both pieces together to form a spine.

It should now look like this.

4. Take the other 4 pieces with sides measuring 24 cm and score every 2 cm along the 24 cm  lengths.

5. Fold these concertina style.

6. Add Dodz to the corners as shown.

7. Fit the folded parts together in a dovetail fashion and stick together with the Dodz.

                                                         It should now look like this.

8. Emboss the 14 cm x 17 cm piece and add Mystik permanent strips along the outside edges to attach to the back of the card.

9. Cover all the edges on one side of the "frame" with Tacky Glue as shown.

10. Stick this over the top of the embossed background to form the "box".

11. Punch the strips with the Dotty Border punch.

12. Stick these to the front of the box part of the card.

You can now decorate the box on the front and in the inside however you like..

Here's how I decorated mine..

1. Add Mystik around all the edges of the pieces of card and stick the ribbon to the centre of it as shown.

 All the flowers were made with the Tonic Studios Punch and Stamp sets - I've used a mixture in this case.

Are you still awake..?