RDS, Dublin yesterday

I was at the RDS in Dublin yesterday demoing for Crafty Devils with Mark and Troy and had a great day. The show was very busy and it was lovely to see so many friends again and to make lots of new ones :)

The Tonic stuff was really popular and I was demoing with the super new Xcut Express - which I must say ticked all the boxes for me.

Ssh...say nothing ......but I have added this photo of Mark's "tache" for Movember and think I might just do a couple of updates on its progress when I am in Birmingham at NEC later this week and then again in Belfast next week...

I'll leave you with a couple of photos taken yesterday morning on the way to the show in the outskirts of Dublin near Ballsbridge.

It's not often we have to sit in a queue of cars while the road lifts to let a ship through!

Vote in the British Craft Awards 2014

Imagine my surprise when I finally settled down with my new copy of Cardmaking and Papercraft, a mug of hot tea and  Double Decker....I got to page 24 and saw the advert for voting in the British Craft Awards 2014. I thought I should check out who had been shortlisted on p25 - and there was my name!!

My name is in the "Favourite Card Designer" section and you can vote online at

www.britishcraftawards.com

Of course, there's no denying I'd love your vote but as a big bonus everyone who votes will automatically be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win one of three amazing prizes of a year's worth of craft goodies!!

NB... for anyone from Northern Ireland who'd like to vote for me - you'll have to wait until a little discrepancy gets sorted out. Unfortunately N. Ireland has not been included in the "regions" so you can't get past the first page. I have pointed this out to CM&P and will let you know as soon as it's been fixed.

Indulgence Die and Fuchsia combination - Tutorial

I've been using the Tonic Studios Indulgence dies as a backdrop for all sorts of things and today I've made a tutorial showing how to make this card using the Tonic Studios Fuchsia Window die with it.

You'll need......

white 15cm square card blank

Papermill Forest Green card

Tonic Studios Indulgence Elegant Vine Square die

Tonic Studios Fuchsia window die

Tonic Studios Clear Stamp Die Toppers

Tonic Studios Birds on a Branch stamp set 2

Tonic Studios Butterfly Beautiful Topper and Die set

Memento ink pad (Tuxedo black)

Promarkers

Pink ribbon

Stickles

Butterfly punch

Here's how to do it..

 1. Use both dies in the Indulgence set to cut out a shape in the green card. Use the Fuchsia window die to cut out the shape in white card. Keep the cut out part from the centre of the fuchsia die and emboss it with a Dotty embossing folder.

 2. Use the ivy corner stamp with black ink and stamp carefully over the ivy shape on the die cut.

 3. Use the Fuchsia stamp on the top corner.

4. Colour the stamped images with Promarkers.

5. Put the coloured die cut back into the die with the coloured side facing downwards.

6. Emboss in your machine (I need a new plate!!lol)

7. It should now look like this..

8. You can use your embossing tool to follow the lines and emboss it more deeply for a lovely finish.

9. Die cut the small tag shape from the Tag die set once in white and once in green. Cut the green one in half  and stick to the back of the white one as shown.

10. Stamp "Happy Birthday" onto the white.

11. Glue the Indulgence die cut onto the card, add the fuchsia die cut centrally on the "tag" part with the embossed part in the centre and the sentiment on top with 3D foam pads. Add some glitter, a bow and a few punched butterflies to finish.

Bonfire night card - black card offer from Papermill

Today's offering is another tent card, this time made with beautiful Black Buckram embossed card which is on offer at Papermill. It is 270gsm and you can buy 20 sheets for £5.00.

You can find the offer HERE

 Buckram embossed has been created to look exactly like real Buckram which is the fabric that is used to cover hardback books.  Take a hardback book off your shelf, remove the dust cover and you’ll be able to feel the lovely cloth like texture of this card.

The Design Team were asked to create something inspired by Fireworks with this card so I made another of my tent cards with the Tonic Studios Indulgence Elegant Vine Square die and some punched Multi Detail stars suspended down the centre aperture. I've added a little battery tealight again and it really does the trick with this one :)

I've also made a little treat box to match.
You really ought to pay a visit to the Papermill blog to see the gorgeous creations made by the rest of the Design Team.

Perfume bottle card

This is another card made with some of the beautiful new Tonic Studios dies  -  you can see them on Create and Craft today at 5.00pm and 11.00pm.

I've used the Perfume bottle tag die  on top of the Chic Antique tag oval die with floral paper in behind for a more subtle look. 

I've added some glitter to the top and followed the embossing with a bow and floral paper. 

The flowers on the card were made with the Peruvian Lily, Evening Primrose and Corncockle Punch and Stamp set with parts of the Sensational Sprig set behind.

The border was punched with the Loopy Lace border punch.

RDS on Saturday

Hello again...I'll be at the RDS in Dublin at the Craft Fair on Saturday and am looking forward to seeing lots of the lovely folk I met in Dublin on my last visit! I'll be on the Crafty Devils stand with lots of Tonic Studios goodies so please do come along and say "Hello". It will be my first time there so I'll be very glad to see some friendly faces  - you know who you are!!!

See you there!

Cardmaking and Papercraft

Time for a cuppa:)  My Christmas issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft has just slipped through the letterbox..and I'm delighted once again to see how my latest projects have been staged and photographed for the magazine. I made a cake band and toppers  - and would love to pretend I made the cake, pies and pudding too but it's been a long time since I baked a Christmas cake.

They have even managed an appearance on the front cover too :)

Now, I just can't leave it without pointing out p70!! I have a couple of cards in the Q&A section but look who's there....

Yep......it's Thumper!! He was at my heels everywhere I went for 7 years and it still brings a tear to my eyes when I think about him. He had a state of the art hutch etc but preferred to sleep in a big flower pot in the summerhouse at the bottom of the garden. During the day he had the full run of the garden in all weathers and the 2 photos I used for the card here shows him in the garden in summer and then in the snow.

Buzzing around

Not my usual colours but I love the contrasts. The card looks bright and cheerful on my worktop on a grey morning like this. Believe it or not, I have actually been buzzing around so much that our clocks have still not been changed!! I'm just going to do it now as it's getting a bit confusing..

I cut out the lovely background with my Silhouette Cameo and the rest of the card "just happened" after that!

All the card used is top quality cardstock from Papermill -  White, Black and Daffodil Yellow and it cuts beautifully.

The rest of the "tools" are from Tonic Studios.....flowers made with the Peruvian Lily, Corncockle and Evening Primrose Punch and Stamp set: Domed Window die (with the top removed); Celtic Square die and the bee is from the Clear Stamp Die Topper set and is coloured with Promarkers.

The greeting is from the Watch the Birdie stamp set 2 stamped onto a tag from the Butterfly Beautiful Topper and die set.

Tonic Indulgence and tag dies

Good morning! I've used the same Papermania paper to make another Christmas card - this time with the brand new Tonic Studios Indulgence and tag dies. I've been waiting for something symmetrical for ages so as soon as I saw the Antique Mirror tag I just knew it would make a lovely 3D bauble. I cut out 5 mirror tops for each bauble and glued them together. I also took photos as I did it so I'll add them in a day or two when you've actually got your dies :)

Don't forget these gorgeous new dies are on Create and Craft as Pick of the Week....and are selling fast!

The card used is Papermill Purple Grape and Rich Cream linen.

Christmas projects - card, stars and crackers

 I've been using my Tonic Studios Indulgence Elegant Vine Square die again. This time I cut the two dies out in Papermill Purple Grape and Rich Cream card and offset them to create a shadow effect. Then I cut out a Cracker Tag die in cream, decoupaged the centre and embossed it with a dotty folder and added some glitter. The flowers are made with the 2 petal sizes from the Carnation, Sweet William, Peony Punch and Stamp set. The beautiful swirls are from the Frond Finesse die set.

The background paper is First Noel 12x 12 paper pad.

 These cute little star boxes are made with the Tonic Studios Star die and Papermill White, Forest Green, Kraft and Ruby Red card along with some Stickles, silver card and ribbon.

 The crackers were made with the Tonic Studios Cracker die. The one on the left is made from Papermill cream linen card with a Multi Detail punched Snowman and Gothic border punched pieces glued on behind.

For the 2nd cracker I have used the Tonic Studios Vintage Christmas Cracker die pad and added a border punched with the Gothic border punch onto Papermill cream linen card to elongate it.

Belfast Lough

It was just such a gorgeous day I had to take more photos. I only had about half an hour to have the walk but the sun was shining and I felt so privileged to live so close to this beautiful scenery. 

Whiteabbey

Towards Belfast with Harland and Wolff shipyard in the background

Towards Belfast

Belfast Lough