Papermill competition!!

Don't miss out on this great competition over at Papermill Direct!!!

Find out how you can enter HERE.

Handmade wedding magazine

Just got my copy of the gorgeous new Handmade Wedding magazine - I made a set of  wedding invitations for this issue using plantable paper! You can see them on pages 18,19 and 20 but it's lovely to see one of them on the cover (top left).

I just have to add that Immediate Media have produced another spectacular issue - I always love to see how they have presented the creations and this is certainly no exception. There are 130 pages of "gorgeousness"!

One for the coffee table - but I'll not be having my coffee anywhere near it in case I spill it....:)

Deco Mache

And now for something different.......I've been doing some Deco Mache'ing over the last couple of weeks and thought I'd share the results with you..It's incredibly therapeutic and even a little addictive. I started with a variety of items to decorate and a selection of First Edition Deco Mache papers and had a "ripping" time!

I also had a selection of beautiful ribbons, gems and glitter along with some wooden embellishments so I set to with the Deco Mache glue and then added some lace and ribbon with my trusty glue gun.

 

I have some other things to decorate  - a lovely frame and more hearts etc so you'll be seeing more soon :)

Hills Fine Art and Craft Materials

Butterflies and Ribbon tie card

Hi, I saw this card design on Pinterest HERE a while ago and thought it would be nice to adapt it to use with the corner dies from the Emily set and the Layering butterflies from Tonic Studios.

You can have a look at the original for yourself but I have taken quite a few photos to show how it was made.

The back.

2 cards - pretty pinks and plain deep shades

Good morning  - I have 2 completely different cards to share today - the first one is pink and pretty pastels and the second is bolder, darker colours but both show lots of ways to use Tonic Studios dies and punches.

Just in case you hadn't already noticed - the Tonic Studios Love Birds die fits neatly inside one of the hearts from the Heart Base die set.This gives you another option with the hearts.

I've used the beautiful Watch the Birdy paper with the silver foiling to coordinate with the silver heart.

The All my Love die is backed onto silver card too.

The flowers are made with the Rose, Pansy, Camelia, Gardenia Punch and Stamp set and I've added a Frond Finesse swirl behind the petals.

For my next card - 

This is a really simple 8x8 card which I've made without using any patterned paper. The lovely shades of card are all from Papermill.. I haven't used any stamps or punches either,only dies - namely the Layering square to create the aperture, Happy Birthday, 2 white Rose Deco frame die cuts joined together, 4 kraft corners from the Emily Deco frame die set and a mocha brown die cut form the same set attached on the inside of the aperture.

From the inside.

Butterfly Rosette card

Hello again - I'm still catching up on the Tonic Studios Deco frame and corner die samples I made. If you were watching Create and Craft you've probably seen this one too. I cut  the Ivy Deco frame die in white, and the matching corners in Ocean Blue card from Papermill and made a rosette from the Intrica Butterfly Strip punch for the centre. The little butterfly is from the Layering Butterfly die set....all pretty simple but the colours are great together.

For You frame card

You haven't seen the end of these yet...! Here's another little frame book with the Rose Deco frame die on the cover. I've die cut the frame in ivory card for the front and in lilac card for the inside with flowers made in the same card to coordinate. The flowers on the front are made with the small petals from the Rose, Pansy, Camelia Punch and Stamp set and stamens from another set while the big flower on the inside uses the bigger petal punch from the same set as well as the smaller ones.

The "for you" is from one of the dies with the Pillow box die set.

Floral frame

I'm sure I'll still be making up these frames when everyone else has moved on, but I do love them! Particularly when they can be used to frame 3D flowers made from the Punch and Stamp sets.

This is the Square frame with corners made with the Rose Deco frame die set. I've also used the scalloped squares and square dies sets to add a frame on top with the same paper (First Edition, Floral Pavillion).

Inside I have added 3 flowers made with the Carnation, sweet William, Peony Punch and Stamp set with inked petals to match the background paper.

Time out - Killyleagh

Some days you just need to pack up and get out - today was one of those days....

As we've been busy and not had much free time we decided to stop everything today and head off for a breath of fresh air. I'll be spending the evening with the ladies of the Downpatchwork and Craft Group in Killyleagh in two weeks time so took the opportunity to find the Bridge Centre while we were at it.

It's ages since I was in Killyleagh and it's just as beautiful as ever.

It was a bright sunny day so I took plenty of photos.

 Something didn't look right with the water level!

 This is a man after my own heart - read the inscription below!!

 I was a bit overzealous taking these photos from the flooded banks - this is David going back for my shoes after I limped back to the car leaving them stuck in the mud!! What would I do without him?

Well, it was a lovely day and now the batteries are recharged and I'm ready to roll again :)

Embossing with a die

If you want to try another idea with a die instead of diecutting or stencilling, you could use it to emboss as I have on this card.

Instead of using the cutting plate with the die I used the embossing mat. If your machine manages to cut through a little bit of it just add some DST on the back to hold the pieces in place.

I've used the Ivy Deco frame die with the Birthday Wishes die in the centre,some Layering Butterflies and a ribbon threaded through the Intrica Butterfly Strip punch.

Stencilled card

 Hello...just for a little change from using the Deco frame dies in the normal way I used the actual die itself as a stencil this time. I placed the Rose die facing downwards and attached with low tack masking tape and then inked around it with Versamark ink on a foam pad. The card base is made from Papermill teal cardstock so I used matching corner dies from the same Rose set.

The flower was made with the Rose, Pansy, Camelia Punch and Stamp set and inked to match and I've added the With Love greeting in the centre with some Aqua Stickles.

Jacket and Shirt card

A man's card, for a change! This is one I made using the Tonic Studios square layering dies for the jacket pocket and hanky.
The actual card base is made from an A4 piece of grey card scored and folded in half.

Here's a little tip which you might find helpful - 

I have used a fine CD pen to number my dies so it's really easy just to pick up a die from the plain set and mat it onto a die one size bigger from the scalloped set.

Garnet pearlised card offer at Papermill

It's time for another offer at Papermill! This week it's the beautiful Garnet Pearlised card which I've used on the card and pillow box here.
You can buy approx 75 sheets of this A4 Garnet Pearlised card 300gsm for only £7.50.
The offer details can be found HERE

I've used the new Tonic Studios Regal Circle Doily dies in both white and garnet with flowers made from the Clematis, Lily, Poinsettia Punch and Stamp set for the centrepiece.

I have also punched into the corners of the Papermania Parkstone Pink paper with the Regal border punch to let the garnet card show through.

This little gift idea was made with the Tonic Studios Pillow box die and Regal strip punch.