PartiCraft (Participate In Craft)

Fluttering By

2012-01-31T06:00:00.001Z

Hi blog friends! A quickie card here which is always nice if you need an all occasion type card. This one is workable in any colour combinations to so you can use up left over papers like I have done here. I used one of the edgeabilibity dies to create a border between my two decorative papers. I used a small piece of the striped paper behind the butterfly. I used the outside edge of the die to cut a faux nestie shape for this so you would see the stripes through the lacy look of the butterfly. On a whim, I decided to use a pair of decorative pins for the butterfly antennae. It's a large butterfly die so size wise it kind of works okay (it was a bit of fun!). I stamped the sentiment directly on the background papers and added some swirls of rhinestones for fill in accents. All for now, Sue x

Beauty In The World

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000Z

Good morning everyone! Ribbon overload here. I have had this ribbon in my stash for ages and I have been trying to use it for a while now. Not sure that it works here, but at least I got it out of my system! LOL Sometimes you just have to give in to it before you can move on, huh? I used the elegant posts in the corners for accents but I cut the top of them so they would create a nice corner. The background was created using black card embossed with the Intrinsic embossing folder. An aperture was cut from decorative paper using the Fleur de Lis rectangle die templates. The sentiment was stamped and cut out with Labels four and mounted in the centre. I made a flower using the same decorative paper and a spiral flower from felt. I added a black organza rose (from Creative Expressions) to create a trio of flowers of different colours and textures. I love different mixtures like this, it just seems to make everything more interesting! I added some leafs that I punched and ran them through a paper crimper for texture. No surprise to see paper piercing though, huh? I do have to admit that when I do a card and don't pierce around the edge, it doesn't seem finished to me. It is kind of like a signature to me, like dotting the "i's" and crossing the "t's" so to speak! Oh, and just in case any of you were going through any TWS (teal withdrawal symptoms), this one is for you (Lynne M) he he! All for now, Sue x

Ethel And Friends!

2012-01-29T06:00:00.016Z

Good morning blog friends! Be prepared for a good giggle at today's post. I have loaded four cards for you to see today, mostly because they are all very similar and a bit of fun. The sentiments are the best! I shouldn't laugh at them as they are hitting really close to home these days! My 55th is looming only a few months away now and I will officially get my senior citizens discount here in Florida, (maybe even in the UK, I'll have to check on that!) but if you can't laugh at yourself.... then everyone else will do it for you, huh! LOL These characters are part of our Murray and Ethel line of rubber stamps. This first card is Ethel herself! Don't you just love that mug (and those hairy legs, really Ethel!) I feel her pain where that sentiment is concerned, though! The ladies in the last three cards haven't been officially named yet. Maybe you could help me out there and give me some ideas. What do they look like?

I made all of these cards last year when I was here and since my supplies were a bit limited, I paper pieced all their outfits with the matching background papers rather than trying to colour them with the six coloured pencils and handful of distress inks I had at the time. They are really good fun if your recipient has a good sense of humour. I didn't get any cards made with Murray, but he is a gem too. I won't go into any detail on the cards as they are all fairly similar in style. If you have any questions about them, feel free to email me. I hope you have a good chuckle at them and they start your day off right! All for now, Sue x

I Had This Idea

2012-01-28T06:00:00.007Z

Hi guys, I should have titled yesterday's post "the love/hate card" as I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the different reactions to it! It really polarised the comments you left, but that is what makes crafting fun for me. I don't even like every card I make so I certainly don't expect you to either. As long as you kind (remember thin skin here), please be honest and let me know what you think as I love to read every ones opinions! Today's post was truly an exercise in patience! Whenever I say "I have this idea", I should listen to myself and think about this card! I had this idea and I just had to do it, but about half way through, I thought "what am I doing!" I was too far committed at that point not to finish. It is probably difficult to see this in the picture but with some explanation, I think you will follow. I stamped the leaves on white card so that all of them were just barely touching each other in some way. I embossed them with clear powder (black archival ink was used) and I inked them using mustard seed, fired brick and rusty hinge distress inks. Then, and this is where the fun started (not!), using an exacto craft knife, I cut away all the background white area. The leaves have this kind of wood block look to them so I thought cutting around them and leaving it a bit jagged would add to this look and give a very rustic look to the left over piece. After about an hour of cutting because there were way more tiny spaces than I realised, I finished. What a task! I mounted that piece using double foam pieces so it really looks like it is floating above the background piece of white card. I cut a double black frame for it and pierced the top piece. I matted all of it on a final piece of black card and stamped a sentiment in white on a die from the Samantha Walker Twisted metal tag set. I cut another tag in white and cut it in half to use as a reverse shadow for the black tag. After I got the whole card assembled and taped together, I thought it might have looked nice to stamp the leaves again in the background in a pale colour just to add interest (but I wasn't taking that puppy apart after all that!) LOL So, it is what it is! Another different looking card for me!

I have been very bad lately in keeping up with the comment game, but I am getting it caught up now!

Jan17th post: randomly selected number 5 which is Inkypinkycraft!!!

Jan18th post: randomly selected number 33 which is Desiree!!!

Jan19th post: randomly selected number 50 which is Nattyboots (Elaine H)!!!

Jan 20th post: randomly selected number 125 which is Tracy Heaton!!!

Jan. 21st post: randomly selected number 10 which is Heather!!!

Jan. 22nd post: randomly selected number 58 which is Sue Parish!!!

Jan. 23rd post: randomly selected number 21 which is Jacqui's little piece of England!!!

Jan. 24th post: randomly selected number 42 which is Nzillingworth (Nadine)!!!

Jan. 25th post: randomly selected number 73 which is Elaine W!!!

Jan. 26th post: randomly selected number 56 which is Crafty Jo!!!

Jan.27th post: randomly selected number 23 which is jean.phillips1!!!

I need all the winners to email me at americansue1@gmail.com to verify their addresses

and claim their prizes please.

All for now, Sue x

Naughty or Nice?

2012-01-27T06:00:00.002Z

Hi there guys! Are you naughty or nice? I told you I was going to be pushing the edge of my comfort zone with the posts for the next few weeks, didn't I? You probably would not have thought that I made this card as it certainly isn't my usual style is it? Every once in a while, I like to have a play with something that just doesn't look like me at all. Keeps you on your toes, doesn't it?! The stamps I have used here are from a brand new stamp set that we are releasing at Stitches in February called Vintage Lingerie. I love them! I stamped the corset in a maroon archival ink as well as the sentiment. You can just barely see the Ooh La La stamped across the corset, which was done in Tattered rose distress ink. I tore around the corset and inked the edges with Antique Linen distress ink. There is a background piece that I have done using the faux leather technique that I show on my DVD. I used a piece of hessian (burlap for my American friends) but I pulled out about half of the pieces going in both directions (isn't that called the warp and weft ) ( thank you Anne RD) to make it look more open. I used a couple of strips of the Tim Holtz tissue tape down the edge of the card and inked them a bit with Tea Dye Distress ink. The sentiment was distressed around the edges and has been stuck into the card using a Tim Holtz memo pin holder. Finally to complete the card, I made two flowers from my trusty Florida Thrift store purchased Dictionary and then matted the entire piece on black card that I really distressed with my scissors. It was a fun play day I had with this one! Hope you like it. All for now, Sue x

Lace It Up

2012-01-26T06:00:00.001Z

Hi to all this morning! This card should have been added to the post from January 1st which listed my favourite cards from 2011, however, I hadn't posted it in 2011 so technically I didn't feel it should be included then. It is one of my favs though as I love the way it came out. Anytime I can lace ribbon on a card, I take it as I think it is just so stunning to see. This is one of my favourite papers (Graphic 45) to use too and even though the vintage ribbon doesn't match it exactly, I like the way it adds some extra colour to the card without making it feel too busy. I cut both sides of the paper with the edgeability die insert and scalloped cutting edge. The insert has nice wide open holes to lace your ribbon through. I found it easier to do if I attached my card with foam mounting pieces to my black back layer and then lace the ribbon through the holes. I started on one side and tucked the ends around the back of the card and secured them and then laced one colour through every other hole til I reached the other side. The other colour went through the remaining open holes and I tied the loose ends into a bow at the end. I added a black organza rose and two decorative stick pins to it. I stamped my sentiment on some teal card and lightly inked it with forest moss distress ink. I cut a frame from labels eleven for it and mounted the sentiment in the corner with mounting foam. I added a black rhinestone swirl around it for drama and interest. A few black glints in the top corner and some paper piercing around the edges completed the card. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it! All for now, Sue x

Rusty Ironworks

2012-01-25T06:00:00.026Z

Hi guys, I hope everyone is doing well. I am enjoying my time here with my Mom and thank you for all your lovely warm wishes. I have really been enjoying all the comments you have been leaving on the blog too! Before I forget, on yesterday's ribbon tutorial, I noticed that I had incorrectly listed the size of the redline tape as 1/4". I edited it later in the day to read 1/2" size, but in case you read the blog in the morning, I thought I should let you know I corrected my error!

Today's card is a tad bit grungey and a tad bit frilly too. Almost masculine, but not quite. I'm not sure about it, but it did the job of showing the dies and the grand impressibilities, swirls, inks and glues that were on the show at the time I made it. I am always limited to a list of products that I can use for any given set of samples that I am making. Sometimes that is a blessing because it helps make decisions, but sometimes I feel like I am crafting with one hand tied behind my back. The latter was the case with this one! One of my goals this year with the blog was to try to post all different types of samples even if they weren't necessarily my favourites. In fact, in the next week or two I have probably the widest variety of cards planned that I have ever put on my blog!

Enough waffling, on to a rundown of this card for you! The background (below) was done using the Butterfly Garden Impressibility and rust coordinations card. I embossed it in the Grand Calibur then sanded it to highlight the impressibility design. The focal element is simply two of the Ironworks Motifs cut and offset to give a medallion effect. I stamped my sentiment on cream card and cut it out with one of the ironworks accent pieces. The border is three of the Ironwork pieces cut and interlocked and matted on to rust and black card. I added a black rhinestone swirl and some black PVA glue dots to frame the entire piece. Easy peasy card, would look really nice in my much beloved teal I think too!

My Ribbon Flower Tutorial

2012-01-24T06:00:00.021Z

Good morning crafty friends! Finally, I found some extra time to put together my promised ribbon flower tutorial! There were a few issues with it such as getting the first picture to load the right direction. I finally gave up on that one so you will have to turn your head to the right to view it! LOL Also, apologies for having to look at my much loved and well used craft mat. I did have every intention on getting a new one for the tutorial. I have never done one of these on my blog, but I will try to walk you through each picture and explain what I am doing. If you have any questions, feel free to email me for further clarification. 1. Begin with a length of ribbon that is about 18" long and no wider than 1/2". You may use wider ribbons for this, but cut them down the centre and attach the tape to the cut edge. I am using basque red vintage ribbon for the tutorial. Lay it out on your craft sheet and attach 1/2" wide redline tape to the lower edge. The tape needs to be just catching the bottom edge of your ribbon firmly (probably 1/16" of the ribbon)

2. Peel off the red liner exposing the sticky tape. Fold the first bit of the ribbon down so that the cut edge is attached to the sticky tape. This will help prevent any fraying from coming out of the centre of your finished rose.

3. Begin by rolling the tape tightly by pushing it with your finger. You will only do this until the folded piece becomes enclosed in the centre and the top of the ribbon becomes even. If you want a very tight rose, you can roll a bit more here before going on to the next step.

4. Once you have the centre of the rose, peel up the entire piece of ribbon and tape off your craft mat. You will start to give your flower more fullness now. This is accomplished by rolling the ribbon but gathering the tape slightly as you go. This will cause the ribbon to become wider at the top slightly.

5. Continue to roll and pleat the tape portion. This is a very slight pinching as you roll, but you will see the ribbon take shape. Try to keep the top of the ribbon at the same height as you go. You will probably have to bring the tape up slightly around the base as you go.

6. Continue pinching the tape in at the bottom as you roll. I am right handed so I use my thumb nail on my right hand to tuck a bit of the tape inward and then hold it from behind with my left hand as I pull my thumbnail away from the sticky tape.

7. Here is a view from the top of your flower as it progresses. You will be able to see the small pleats as you look down into the flower. I like a bit of unevenness to the pleats as it gives the flower a shabby chic sort of look.

8. As you reach the end of your ribbon, fold the end down onto the tape as you did in the beginning. This will give your flower a nice finish without an unfinished edge showing or fraying. Wrap this piece to the bottom of the flower and firmly press the end into the tape at the bottom.

9. Sometimes, there is an excess of tape on the underside of your flower. This can be easily cut away with a sharp pair of scissors. This will also give your flower a flat spot to sit nicely on your card or project. I always attach my flowers using large glue dots. The bottom of the flower will already be somewhat sticky from the redline tape, but you will find it isn't enough to attach the flower firmly since you have been handling the tape as you roll your flower. Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue also works well to attach these flowers to your projects.

10. A close up of your finished flower! You can make them more or less full depending on how much pleating and gathering you do with the tape. Also, if you get the the end of your tape and decide you want a larger flower, just cut another piece and continue adding it on in the same manner until you get the desired size for your flower. You can use virtually any type or size of ribbon to make these too. They look lovely in organza, cotton hemp, American seam binding , lace or metallic crocheted ribbon. You will be able to see all kinds of ribbons used on my cards made into this type of flower using the same method as in my tutorial. I hope you have enjoyed it! All for now, Sue x

Tied Together Again

2012-01-23T06:00:00.003Z

Hi guys! I had forgotten that I had this card as it was made for some shows last August that I did. It was going to be one of the demos then we had to pull the embossing folder from the show at the last minute as the shipment did not show up in time! This is still one of my favourite embossing folders to use. It is called Tied Together. It is quite lovely to use with the Cosmic Shimmer PVA glues as I have done here. A little drop of it at each of the junctions really sets off the background, don't you think? This is a really quick card to put together if you make some of these backgrounds up ahead of time so the glue is good and dry. I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with one of the fancy tag die templates. I cut a second one out of a slightly darker card, then cut it in half and used it as a shadow for my sentiment tag. I added a big bow out of the frilly edged ribbon, matted and layered and added some black PVA glue dots to the last mat layer. Just to add a final bit of interest to the background, I added some black rhinestone swirls. I included a close up for you since they are difficult to see.

I see that we have hit our goal for the big blog candy drawing. Yeah!! It will have to be put on hold until I return to England, but anyone that joins as a follower until then will be included in the drawing so not to worry! I have changed it to read 2300 followers on the blog, but if we hit that goal too before I return, we will just draw for both of the candy prizes then! All for now, Sue

Believe, Imagine, Achieve

2012-01-22T06:00:00.001Z

Hi blog friends! A very simple card that probably doesn't need much explanation, but I will give you a quick rundown. I used the heart squares and cut two to use as a background and mounted them top and bottom and slightly overlapping. I liked the double diamond shape it gives you this way. I layered up Labels fourteen on top, first with a larger one that I slightly inked the edges of and then a smaller one that I had stamped my sentiment on and inked also. I used some Graphic 45 paper for the background behind my nesties and used an edgeability insert as a thin border between the different papers I used. I used some red frilly edged ribbon across the card and a bow underneath my spiral flower. I cut the flower out of the same paper as the background for balance. The leaves were cut from the other background paper. I added some black rhinestone swirls to the left and I used three of the small hearts that were the cut out pieces from my dies and put them in the upper right corner of my card to complete it. Change the sentiment and I think this card would work for many occasions, don't you? All for now, Sue x

Just Because

2012-01-21T06:00:00.001Z

Good morning to all! This is another one of those really quick cards that I made to showcase the dies from the last show and wasn't anything particularly special, but I rather liked it when I finished. I love this paper and I have to confess that I have purchased another pack of it as it just ticks all my boxes! I don't usually go for metallics, but it is subtle enough in these prints that I can still have my ginormous bows and still feel like it is just barely on this side of OTT (in other words, it works for me!) I will tease you just a tiny bit and let you know that I have some new ribbons that will be on my next set of shows in February that look lovely with these papers, can't wait for you to see them! I did use one of them on a sample I posted last year and several of you spotted it and emailed me about it then. Won't be long now! Back to the card for today, I did a background of three strips of this lovely paper and matted them with a soft gold and then a piece of black card. I cut a Fleur de lis rectangle out of black card for the focal element. I stamped my sentiment and then cut it out with the holly motifs. I cut a second holly motif and I nipped off the holly pieces from both of them and offset mounted them with foam over my rectangle. I tied a big double bow and added a black organza rose to the centre. Paper piercing on the edge to complete the card, as usual. Super simple but a nice quick card if you need one. Hope you like it! All for now, Sue x

A Friend For All Seasons

2012-01-20T06:00:00.003Z

Good morning all! Another card from past POTW shows in either November or December, a while ago anyways. How quickly it passes, huh? I was playing with some different colour combinations when I thought how lovely the purple and brown were together. I don't recall using those two together for quite some time so I thought, why not?!

I used the Lattice Rectangle die templates as a background for the Samantha Walker Twisted metal tag dies. I found that if you play around with those, they interlock into each other and form a very pretty frame for your sentiments. We had some beautiful colours of the vintage ribbons on those shows so I took that opportunity to make several of my rolled roses for the corner. I will put up a tutorial on those very soon, I promise. The foliage die set is what I used to frame the corners of my sentiment and give my flowers some pretty coloured leaves. I inked them while still in the die to bring depth to them. I added a crisscross of vintage ribbon behind everything and then my usual paper piercing around the card for an elegant finish. There are a couple of close up pics of the flowers and the sentiment below for your inspection. Hope you like it! All for now, Sue x

Dreams Take Flight

2012-01-19T06:00:00.003Z

Good morning everyone! Today's post is of a card that I did last summer, but it is a nice bright cheery card and if the weather in the UK is anything like it was today in Florida, this will be a welcome surprise! It rained all day yesterday so the good news is that I got a bunch of cards made! There is nothing like sequestering myself in the crafty area I have set up at my Mom's house and being creative! The bad news is that it is still several weeks before I can post any of them and I really want to show them to you! I hope this one will do for today though! I started with a large circle cut out of copy paper to use as a stencil for my sun. I inked through it with a combination of mustard seed and rusty hinge around the edges. I heat set it with my heat tool so I could do a bit of stamping around it. Then I used my anti-static bag over the entire piece to make sure it wasn't going to pick up my embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment with a black archival ink pad just off the corner of the sun and clear embossed it. Then I stamped two sets of swirls above and below my sun, one to the lower left and one set to the upper right side and clear embossed those also. I cut three sizes of the nested butterfly dies out of some decorative paper (Stella Rose, I believe) and mounted them on my sun. Using a fine tipped black pen, I drew a line forming a corner opposite my swirls. Three black glints were added to each area too. I pierced around the edge of the next mat and layered it all with black to complete the card. I hope it helps you feel cheery and bright today. All for now, Sue x

Black And White Wedding

2012-01-18T06:00:00.003Z

Hi there my crafty friends! I had forgotten that I have a slew of cards that I made some time ago using Sam Poole's wedding stamp sets. I had planned on doing a show with them but it never worked out that I could find the time. This is one of my favourites of the bunch though. I really like black and white for a wedding themed card, it just seems so elegant, doesn't it? I used a few pieces of white lace from my craft stash to create a border for my woven ribbon accent. I won't go into the instructions for that here but it is on my DVD and there is also a step by step tutorial on the Creative Expressions website, just click on the link below and scroll down the page.http://creativeexpressionsdesigns.wordpress.com/sue-wilsons-ribbon-workshop/ You can see a close up of it below.
I just added a few of the white organza roses that Creative Expressions carries to the top and bottom of the ribbon accent ( I don't make these type of flowers as they are quite fiddly and so much easier to use when you purchase the premade ones and very inexpensive too). For the main of the card, I used the CE Lattice embossing folder. I cut three consecutive sized ovals out of silver, black and white. On the white one, I had stamped the wedding cake in black archival ink and clear embossed it. I had a few left over Fancy Pants swirls in my craft stash so I painted them black with the Eco Green paint and added them to the top and bottom of the ovals. I added a few pearls and some small ribbon roses too. I stamped my sentiment and cut thee small sizes of the ovals for these and added them to the bottom corner with a few pearls to complete my card. I hope you enjoy the change to a wedding card for today! All for now, Sue x

A True Friend

2012-01-17T06:00:00.002Z

Hi guys! I just love working with Kraft card and out it came again for this card. I like mixing different textures and putting things together that don't always look like they should go together. The most fun about cardmaking for me is there really aren't any rules. If you like it, if it works for you, if it makes you do the happy dance, then go for it! Here I have mixed felt flowers with ribbon flowers and paper flowers. I mixed different patterns in cardstock and used both ribbon and jute twine. All the things I love to play with in fact. I liked the result (I even did the happy dance) and didn't break any rules either (cuz there aren't any to break, remember!) For the focal element, I used the Picot edge circles, labels fourteen and the beaded oval die templates. I inked the top two dies using tea dye distress ink while still in the die. The paper and the felt flowers were created using the Spiral flower die template, while the ribbon flower was rolled using the cotton hemp ribbon. I used a small border that was cut with an edgeability insert. The entire piece was framed with black Pva glue dots. I was really happy with it when I finished it and I hope you'll like it too. You will have to let me know!

Now for the week's winners!

For the post dated January 10th, comment number 18 which corresponds to

Vicki Sharkey!!!

For the post dated January 11th, comment number 32 which corresponds to

Linda!!!!

For the post dated January 14th, comment number 120 which corresponds to

Sheila!!!

For the post dated January 15th, comment number 26 which corresponds to

Jane P.!!!

For the post dated January 16th, comment number 65 which corresponds to

Helen O!!!

Please don't forget to email me at americansue1@gmail.com to verify your address to collect your prize!

All for now, Sue x

Beautiful Wishes

2012-01-16T06:00:00.001Z

Hello everyone! Like the sentiment says, I wish you all beautiful wishes for a beautiful day! Such a nice sentiment to send a friend anytime! This card uses the Grand Labels Twenty three die templates as a base for the card. I have used the largest three sizes here. I pierced the middle one for interest. I used the Intrinsic embossing folder on the smallest Grand die. I love the swirly background it gives you. I inked it with Tattered Rose Distress ink and then used the pad to hit the embossed area for some deeper colour. I cut a cream coloured frame using Labels eleven. I stamped my sentiment in black and inked it with Tattered Rose, leaving the centre a softer, lighter shade to bring your focus to the sentiment. I made a flower using the Rose Creation dies. I cut all the pieces for the flower out of cream card and inked them while still in the die with Tattered Rose distress ink. I shaped the flower die cuts and stacked and glued them. I added a pearl to cover the centre hole. I backed it with a bow of pearls and some tulle cut ragged at the ends. The close up pic below shows the flower in better detail. I hope you like it. All for now, Sue x

Mint And Grey Valentine

2012-01-15T05:09:00.000Z

Hi guys, What do you think of a mint green and grey Valentines Day card? I know it isn't very traditional but I think that Valentines Day should be more about fun and less about tradition, don't you think? This is another card that I made for Christine Emberson's POTD shows coming up on the 18th (Don't forget to tune in!). I had this background paper from Kaisercraft that had this beautiful soft mint tone to it and I just wanted to use it. Of course you probably have to take my word on the colour since the pic doesn't pick it up incredibly well. I used the largest size of the Heart square die templates with the next size down inside to cut an aperture frame. I then cut several more of the medium heart square, two in silver and one more in the grey. I mounted the two silver heart squares diagonally, top and bottom of the large heart frame using the two grey dies as a shadow, just peeking out from underneath the silver squares. I stamped my sentiment and embossed it in silver to match. Using bundled sage and tumbled glass distress inks, I inked the background to the sentiment so it picked up the colour in the background paper. This is where my photo really fails (and I did try several times) to catch the subtle shade matching. In real life, it is very pretty. I added some clear rhinestone swirls for interest and I pulled out a corner punch I hadn't used in ages for the corners. There is some paper piercing and a tiny, itty, bitty bow (I contained myself, yes I did!) What can I say, it's different! All for now, Sue x

For You

2012-01-14T06:00:00.007Z

Good morning crafty friends! If you have been having any difficulties leaving comments recently, I think I have figured it out! I have had to change the way the comments come up so it will look a bit different, but I think I have solved the problem, fingers crossed. I hadn't added the "reply" button that has been showing up after the last few posts and I think it was causing some of the problems, so it had to be removed. If you are still experiencing any issues, please email me and let me know.
What I really like about today's post is that it is a a card for any occasion, any person, and can be done in any colour combo you like. This is a card that you can put together quickly if you need something on the spur of the moment too. We like those kinds of cards with our busy schedules, don't we? Working from the focal point, I cut the largest size of the Heart Squares in black card. Next, I used the Spellbinders Heart Circle die templates and I cut the largest heart circle with the next size down inside of it to cut an aperture out of it. I mounted the large circle upwards with mounting foam, while securing the smaller heart circle directly in the centre where it was cut from, but without any mounting foam behind it. You can see the dimension levels to the card in the close up photo below. The background for the card was created using half of the Lotus border die (If you have read the blog earlier, please note that I have corrected the name of the border. I am forever getting those two mixed up. It is not the In Spades border!) on each side of the square. This border is unique in that it cuts half completely through and the other side of it cuts out sections of the die but leaves the entire piece attached to the card. It allows you to do things that other dies cannot do and because of that it is very versatile. I just wanted a little bit of an edge to frame my focal point so using half the die cut was perfect, just enough to draw the eye in I felt. If you don't own that die, try just embossing the background with an embossing folder as that will add nice interest also. The card was completed with my favourite paper piercing edge and a few mats and layers of cream and black. The really nice thing about this sort of card design is that it uses all the sizes of the heart circle dies so you really are getting value for your money. No sense in not using them if you have them, right?
I have decided to post the comment game winners weekly while I am away. I will site the post date and then the random number and corresponding comment that has won and list them all together. I hope you don't mind, it is just easier for me to keep track of that way.
All for now, Sue x

At Play With Vellum

2012-01-13T06:00:00.003Z

. Hi there crafty friends! Today's card was a bit of an experiment and the judgement is still out on this one for me. In my minds eye, I thought it would be a really pretty combination of the pastel pink and burgundy with the vellum overlay on the sentiment and the butterfly. It wasn't one of my favourite cards but I didn't think it deserved orphan status either. It has grown on me a bit though. I used the Washed Away embossing folder to create both pale pink background pieces. Both were matted with ivory card then burgundy. I added a bow from the burgundy frilly edged ribbon with a decorative pin for an accent. I stamped my sentiment on ivory card and cut it out with the lacy oval dies. I cut one more in burgundy and one in vellum also. The burgundy die was mounted slightly offset to look like a shadow and the vellum was mounted over the sentiment to give it a softer look. I hid the adhesive with tiny pearls around the edge. I cut the large butterfly out of burgundy card and also vellum and mounted them together with some pale pink pearls for the body. Maybe it just needs some piercing! What do you think? All for now, Sue x

Anemone Dies

2012-01-12T06:00:00.003Z

Good morning all! I can spell "anemone" but don't ask me to say it. I don't know what it is about that word, but it never wants to come out right! At least the dies are lovely, I can say that. Another really quick and easy card. Just lay all your anemone dies on your base plate, cover them with white card and cut them. Now you have the background for this card with the negative leftover piece. I stamped my sentiment in the most open leftover area and clear embossed it. Next, I matted a piece of decorative paper behind my cut out flowers. With the actual flowers that I cut out, I removed the inner part of the petal leaving the thinner flower shaped piece. I glued them in place over the flowers, but offset them between the cut out petals. I added some black decorative buttons from my craft stash to the centres of each flower. I decided to mat it with a piece of eggplant coloured card (aubergine, sorry). I had just finished two all black and white cards so I just wanted a pop of colour (any colour would work here too). I finished the card with a bit more matting and layering, but not a ribbon or bow in sight. Aren't you proud of me? LOL Don't worry, I'm sure I will make up for it later on by subjecting you to some sort of ribbon/bow frenzy when you least expect it (expect it!) All for now, Sue x

Hearts And Swirls

2012-01-11T05:30:00.000Z

A very good morning to everyone! I am hoping that Blogger plays nice today and allows my post to show up as scheduled. As this post is scheduled to go up, I will be on my way to the airport, heading back to the States to spend some time with my Mom first, then on to California for CHA and some time with my daughter after that! I'll be back home in about four weeks time, but I promise not to let you down on the blog. On occasion, there may be a slight blip like I had earlier this month (the post went up but minus the picture!) Not sure how that happened, but I will make sure that I have posts scheduled for every day. Today's post is a card I did using some of the dies that Christine Emberson will have on her POTD shows coming up later this month on the 18th and 19th. Be sure to check her blog http://hope-chances.blogspot.com/ for the exact times. The focal element was created using the Heart Squares and Labels 13 to cut an aperture. I cut a Fleur de lis rectangle in brown card as a backdrop and added a few of the heart pieces that were cut out of the edge of the heart squares for tint. I added a bit of Cosmic Shimmer Aurora sparkle glitter to it for some bling. The swirl added a bit of dramatic flair to the card (plus it allowed me to show off the background paper that I really liked). I pierced around the edges (again) and then tied a big bow using some pink organza ribbon (again, from my craft stash) and added a fun antique looking button and some pins to complete the card. I was rather pleased with how it turned out even if it was a bit (okay, who am I kidding, a lot!) OTT. I was in the mood for a ribbon/bow frenzy. Remember, you were warned! A winner in the comment game from yesterday's post is number 72 which corresponds to the comment left by Lockedinmycraftroom!!!! Don't forget to email me to claim your prize! All for now, Sue x

Negative Ironworks

2012-01-10T06:00:00.006Z

Good morning blog friends! For my money, I think that the Ironwork dies by Spellbinders have one of the prettiest negative pieces left from cutting the die. I just marvel at the look of this die every time I cut it out. So it goes without saying that I have used it on more than one occasion in this way. However, if you need a quick card that is guaranteed to wow the recipient, I think this is the die to use. I am hoping that the card looks cream to you (but if it doesn't, just imagine it in cream, okay?) Once I cut the Ironwork Motif out of the centre of my cream card, I left it in place and lightly inked around it with Antique Linen distress ink to highlight the negative piece. I cut two of the ironwork corners and actually used them in the corners, adding a black rhinestone to cover the hole in the centre. I stamped my sentiment in black on one of the smaller Ironwork accent pieces and added some foam mounting to the back to raise it in the centre of the card. Next, I wrapped a length of the black crocheted ribbon around the back and secured the ends, then tied a nice big bow with another piece of it and added it to the front. Just a little cheater tip, if you do this as two separate pieces then add them together with a glue dot, it is so much easier than getting your bow to stay the way you want it when you have wrapped it around the card then tied the bow with the ends. I hope that makes sense? I added a cream button with some Bakers Twine (you can't have naked bows or naked buttons, now can you? LOL) I mounted a piece of black glitter card behind my cut out ironwork area, which of course you will have to imagine also since my photography skills are, well, let's just say, nonexistent to be polite. The entire piece was matted on to another piece of cream card that I pierced the edge with my Tim Holtz design piercing ruler. What a great tool! The card was finally matted on to black card and a couple of decorative pearl pins were added to complete the card. Sooooo easy and it looks great in any colour background you like.

And now for the winner of yesterday's comment game, I have randomly picked number 32 and that was the comment left by Toni!!!! Don't forget you must email me to claim your prize at americansue1@gmail.com All for now, Sue x

Thanks Bernadette!

2012-01-09T06:00:00.003Z

Hi guys! First of all I would like to say a public thank you to Bernadette as she came forward to remind me that it was she that sent me the card with the feathers on it some time ago (you may recall me going on about it in a post last month). I bought this paper while visiting my folks some time ago and every time I looked at it, it reminded me of Paris and the Moulin Rouge. Finally, I picked it up to make a card and I think you would have to agree with me that it is very Ooh La La! Come on, you really want to say that with a french accent, don't you? LOL I really like this card, but I think it is because my daughter took me to Paris for the weekend on my birthday last year and it reminds me of the wonderful time we had together. We left our hotel at 7am and didn't get back til midnight just walking the city the first day we were there (my feet still hurt thinking about it!) I digress, back to the card. The edges are done with the edgeability dies using two inserts together then a cutting edge die. I mounted white card behind them to show through the insert cut outs and mounted both pieces on foam to raise them up along the edges. The focal piece was done using two of the Holly motif dies, but I have nipped off the holly pieces to make it more generic, then mounted them together but offset to create a scalloped design. I stamped my sentiment on one of the smaller of the large label dies and mounted it in the centre. Using some decorative paper, I cut a spiral blossom flower and added it to the bottom corner of my focal element. The only thing left for my Parisian flavoured card were some black rhinestones swirls, some piercing on the edge and a couple of black feathers (thanks again Bernadette for the idea) and to quote the French (again this week), voila!

Yet another winner in the comment game from yesterday's post! Random number of 38 was drawn this time and that corresponds to the comment left by Carole Z!!! Give me an email to claim your prize at americansue1@gmail.com

Carte Postale

2012-01-08T06:00:00.003Z

Hi crafty friends! I am trying to mix it up a bit this month for you. This card was done using Sam Poole's Carte Postale stamp set. I just love this set as they let you get really messy and have a bit of fun with them. If you like them, Sam has them in her online shop too. The background was stamped on Kraft card with a black archival pad using the various stamps in the set. Then I crumpled the card and brought out the lines by taking the Tea Dye Distress ink pad (direct to paper method) lightly over the top of the card. I used my scissors to distress the edge of the card even more then added some ink to those edges. The smaller background piece was achieved by using the heated pearl technique. If you have never tried this, it is quite fun and a bit messy. There is a section on it on my DVD, but to give you a quick rundown, you need to apply a layer of dries clear glue to black (I use glossy) card. Next step is to cover the glue with a layer of mica pearl powder all over it. Use an old brush to tamp the mica in to the glue a bit, then heat it until it bubbles. It is best to do that from underneath so as not to blow away your mica. It always comes out different each time but it is a great background for a multitude of things (especially guy cards!). I stamped the postcard on ivory card and cut it out, distressed the edges with my scissors and inked it lightly with Antique Linen to age it even more. I used a Tim Holtz memo pin to hold one of his tickets and added a few of his sprockets and gears for another bit of interest. I mounted the entire piece askew on to dark brown card, distressed the edges a bit more, added a few more worker stamps to the edges (those little stamps on the sets that aren't really large enough for a focal element, but are great for this sort of thing) and voila, finis! I love doing this kind of card as well as "my usual" and if you like it, I will show you some more scattered through this month's posts.

Another winner today! From yesterday's post (Jan. 7th), I have randomly selected number 10 which was the comment left by Crafty Mop!!! Congratulations!! Email me to claim your prize americansue1@gmail.com All for now, Sue x

Bird Flourishes

2012-01-07T06:00:00.007Z

Hi crafty friends, I hope everyone is doing well this morning. This is probably not what you expected to see, I bet. I'm trying to mix it up a bit this month for you. I still have a bit of a backlog of cards from last year and this was a card that I made last summer for the POTW shows then. It uses the bird flourish die set. I found these to be quite fun to play with as they were very different from the usual type of dies that I use. This card was quite fun as I used the butterfly circle die and cut it out of copy paper. I then used that as a template to stencil through to make the background. I used Dusty Concord distress ink the ink the butterflies that are cut out of the circle. Once I was happy with them, I used the negative piece of copy paper and lined it up so the butterflies were centred and inked the circle with Broken China distress ink. I then cut my bird flourish using black glitter card and I did not emboss it (that is important here ) I then cut another bird flourish, but this time I put the black glitter card over the die facing the opposite direction. This gave me two bird flourishes both cut out of black glitter card, but facing each other. By not embossing it, you get the same look to both of them. I added a few swirls that were stamped in clear perfect medium and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer aurora sparkle embossing powder. This just added a bit of bling to the top and bottom to help draw the eye in a bit. I stamped the sentiment in black archival ink and paper pierced around the edge to finish the card. Pretty fun, huh?

You are keeping me on my toes with the comment game as we have yet another winner. I have randomly selected number 89 which corresponds to Craftylicious!!!! Don't forget to email me at americansue1@gmail.com to claim your prize. All for now, Sue x

Life's Moments

2012-01-06T06:00:00.013Z

Hi blog friends, we have two more winners in the comment game again. For the post made on Jan. 4th, I have randomly selected number 37 and that was the comment left by Maggie!! For yesterday's post, Jan.5th, I have randomly selected number 56 and that corresponds to Linda Adams!!! Okay guys, you know the drill, email me to claim your prize!

For today's post, how about this for a really quick, simple card when you don't have too much time to fuss about. I have let the decorative papers do all the work really. I added a piece of my favourite lace from my craft stash and a flower cut from the spiral blossoms two die to frilly it up a bit since the paper was so dark. I also found this ribbon in my stash and thought it matched quite well. Notice, there isn't actually a bow, just a know below the flower. You say, what no bow! Well that is because I didn't think it needed it and that was all the ribbon I had! Sometimes we just have to make do, don't we? LOL I love the sentiment though and just thought the postage stamp dies worked well with these papers. I didn't pierce the edge but I did double mat it to give it a bit of character. Finally, I added three black glints to the corner for interest. These, by the way, are recycled glass pieces from Eco-Green Products and they are really nice for use in those areas that just need a little something, you know what I mean! I hope this one appeals to some of you out there in blog land! All for now, Sue x

Parisian Motifs

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000Z

Morning all! I was just having a play with the Parisian dies here. It is really fun sometimes to just see how they will layer up on each other. These dies in particular are great for that with their "holding hand" feature. I cut the largest size of the Parisian Motif die and used a smaller die at the same time to turn it into a frame. I cut the largest of the Parisian Accents next and two of the corner pieces. I stamped my little sentiment on the smallest of the beaded circle dies and layered it onto the Parisian accent die I had cut. I set all the pieces aside and assembled my background. I chose a wild print for this as I loved the colours in it, but the name had been cut off the edge already so I am sorry to say I do not recall where it is from. I cut a smaller piece of it and layered it onto some burgundy card. I ran some basque red vintage ribbon through the top and bottom of the Parisian die centring it in the middle of my smaller background piece. I secured the ribbon behind the larger background piece then added some matting layers of burgundy and black. I added the two corner pieces so they were attached to the smaller background piece and lined up with the sides of my focal element. I liked the way they extended the motif horizontally giving it a completely different look. I added my sentiment to the centre to complete my focal element. Finally, I finished the card by adding a bow with a fancy button and some black rhinestone swirls for a bit of bling. If you have this Spellbinder die template, try it with any background papers for a completely easy and fun card. All for now, Sue x

Winter Trees

2012-01-04T05:30:00.003Z

Hi guys! And we have another winner to add to the list from yesterday. The post of January 2nd had over 100 comments so I randomly picked number 15 which was the comment left by L00py's craft creations!!! Congratulations! I love giving stuff away, this is fun! Email me to claim your prize at americansue1@gmail.com
While I am on the subject of prizes, we are halfway along to our next big blog candy drawing too! In case I haven't said it enough, if you leave a comment after each new post, you will get extra entry chances, thereby increasing your odds of winning! That's all I'm saying, the rest is up to you!

Now on to the subject of today's post. I love this card, not sure if it is just the black and white or the simplicity of the trees or the multiple layers, but it sings to me. One thing that I never ever do is cut something out and leave the edge of the paper showing, but I needed to do it this way for the trees mounted in front or they looked very flat. The tiny white edge gave them a bit of dimension, especially the one that was partially mounted over the black background. I have added a close up so you can see what I am talking about. The close up also shows the detail of the hounds tooth embossing folder on the frame I cut out. The rest of the card is fairly straightforward. I stamped the smaller trees on black card using a clear perfect medium and whit embossed them. I used the white Inksential pen by Ranger to add snow dots and draw in some hills. I stamped my sentiment in black and clear embossed it and added some of my favourite paper piercing around the edge to finish it off. I hope it sings to you too! All for now, Sue x

More Winners!

2012-01-03T06:00:00.007Z

Morning all! I promised you winners today and winners you shall have! Four of them actually, three comment game winners and a winner of the orphan cards.

The winner of the comment game from the Dec. 30th post is comment number 108 which was left by Lorraine (classy lady)!!!

The winner of the comment game for the post made on Dec. 31st is comment number 72 which was left by The Wife!!!

The winner of the cards from the "Orphan Card" post is comment number 37 which was left by Anne RD!!!

The winner of the comment game for the post made on Jan. 1st is comment number thirteen which was left by Shelley!!!

Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com to confirm your shipping details so I can post out your prizes.

Now, a quick rundown on today's card. Another card done with Kraft card as it is so lovely to work with. I decided to pick a bunch of decorative kraft card, some stripes, some fleur de lis and some script all on kraft type card. I used Labels eleven as my background die and the postage stamp dies for my sentiment. I did some light inking around my sentiment to bring it out a bit. I made three flowers out of the cottom hemp ribbon by cutting it down the centre. That gave me two pieces to play with, both with a cut edge. This time, I left the cut edge to form the top of the flower to give it a more distressed look. I love the natural fibres you get from this ribbon. You can see them in the close up photo. I put the selvage edge to the redline tape and rolled the ribbon to form a flower. I will be posting a tutorial of this very soon that Sam Poole photographed for me over the holidays so keep checking back! I added some of our green suede leaves to my floral spray (Sam Poole has these and the ribbon available on her online shop too). I added some black rhinestone to the card and three black glints to the top corner. I finished the card with our black PVA glue dots to frame the card. Kraft card is quite popular now and I have to say, I for one am loving it too! All for now, Sue x

Wishing You All The Best

2012-01-02T06:00:00.005Z

Hi there blog friends! I hope everyone has recovered from their New Year's celebrations or at least enjoyed a relaxing day full of whatever you enjoy. I for one, was crafting away for some shows I'm doing in February. I wish I could show these cards now as I am really chuffed at how they are turning out! I think I may have even made some of my favs for 2012 already! I am such a tease, huh?! LOL
This card could also have been added to yesterday's post if I had even posted it in 2011, but I was trying to save some nice cards to show in January knowing that I wouldn't be able to show you what I am working on for awhile. See, I was thinking about you, even if I am teasing you too! I think I like this card so much because I just love felt flowers, there is something about them that just sing to me.There is a close up of them below. I really like this October Afternoon decorative background paper too. I used the edgeabilities to make an "L" shaped border. My focal element was made by cutting an aperture in my background paper with Labels 18 and then I made a frame out of black card using the two largest sizes of those dies.

I stamped my sentiment to show through my frame and I added some small rhinestone swirls to fill out the opening a bit. I made my felt flowers using the Spiral Blossoms 2 die out of two shades of yellow. I cut some black and cream leaves from the Foliage die set, inked the cream ones with Antique Linen Distress ink and then ran them all through a paper crimper for texture. I added some more black rhinestone swirls to the background and finished the card with black PVA glue dots around the edge to frame the entire piece. I hope you like it, let me know. All for now, Sue x

My Favs of 2011

2012-01-01T05:30:00.003Z

Happy New Years everyone! I thought I would re post a few of my favourite cards from 2011 today. They aren't in any particular order, just cards that I was particularly happy with when I finished them. Most of them really scream "Sue made me," and you can definitely tell what I like from them all, even though there are one or two cards without a single bit of ribbon on them! (Such restraint on my part!) LOL There are one or two cards missing that I would have liked to include, but Blogger was not wanting to upload as many as I wanted! I would love to know, though, if you have any favs from the past year that I haven't included. I often find it fascinating to see which cards get the most comments and usually they aren't the ones that I think they would be! One of my least favourite cards this year was a silver, white and blue Christmas card with a tree on it and it got over 100 comments. It narrowly survived being binned, I so didn't like it, go figure! It is nice that we don't all have the same taste, but I am very glad that you like the majority of what I do so you come back to visit often! Thank you again for all your support in 2011, I really have appreciated it so much. I am looking forward to showing more exciting cards and projects in 2012 and I hope you will all be part of it too! All for now, Sue x

Orphan Cards

2011-12-31T06:00:00.005Z

Hi guys and Happy New Years Eve! I got a laugh a few days ago because someone posted a comment asking if I ever do a bad card? Ha Ha Ha Ha! Of course I do, all the time! Today's post is some (I couldn't get all of them to load!) of the cards that I did this past year that I truly did not like when I finished them. Either the colours didn't work together or the layout wasn't right, I don't know, but for some reason they missed the mark. They just didn't "sing" to me. I realise that I am probably more critical of my own work than you would be but I wouldn't waste a day's post to show any of these individually. The last day of the year, though, it is worth a post to show all of them together! The two or three Christmas ones aren't perhaps as terribly bad, but it's too late to post them so I threw them in! Help me pick the worst of my worst, what is your pick?

Since these cards are orphans and need a good home, I will randomly pick a number from the comments left after this post to find them a new home. I will post the winner on the 3rd (as well as the winner to the comment game from yesterday) All for now, Sue x

More Candy and A Card For You

2011-12-30T05:30:00.003Z

Hi there blog friends! I have a card today and new candy today for you. I hope either one or the other will appeal to you! The card for today's post was fun for me because it was a little bit different. I was trying to get the gold and copper crocheted ribbon to work together on this card so I used a metallic gold cardstock that I embossed with the Grand Impressibilities. I lightly sanded it and then inked the embossed areas with Vintage Photo Distress ink. I was pleased that the vintage photo ink picked up the copper quite nicely. I cut a large lacy circle for the background and cut it in half, mounting it behind my embossed panel. I cut two more of the smaller sized lacy circles for my focal element. I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with a fancy tag die then inked it lightly with vintage photo. I added a bow of black vintage ribbon and topped it with a flower made from the copper crochet ribbon. I added a few more flowers, one from the gold and one from the copper ribbon with a few foliage sprigs. Black rhinestone swirls finished the piece off.

If the card isn't your cup of tea, how about this lot of blog candy? Five stamp sets, Tim Holtz numerals, TH grunge board, Adirondack ink pad, archival ink pad, acrylic block, rhinestone swirls, two distress inks, two mounted rubber stamps, two Cosmic Shimmer embossing powders and a huge pile of ribbons! What would you do with this lot of candy? Got any plans? When we reach 2200 followers, I will draw a name. To be part of the draw, you need to become a follower and email me your details. And if you leave a comment after each new post (not mandatory) but you will receive extra entries to increase your odds! I like to reward you if I can see you have taken the time to stop by the blog. Also, don't forget that we are still playing the comment game so there are more prizes for the posts that have 100 comments or more. What do you say, do you want to play?! If you have any questions, just email me at americansue1@gmail.com All for now, Sue x

A Kraft Card

2011-12-29T06:00:00.001Z

Hi there blog friends! This card was made using the bits and pieces of left over pieces of kraft card and other earthtoned decorative papers that I had. Every once in a while you want to put something together and don't seem to have enough decorative paper to do exactly what you want so you end up with a card like this instead. I cut a frame from black card for my focal element from Labels eleven and labels fifteen on the inside I used my houndstooth embossing folder to give it texture. I stamped my sentiment on a piece of natural kraft card and then cut a faux labels eleven nestie from it. Using my edgeability dies, I cut a small heart border in black and added it to a larger heart border that I cut from kraft card. I mounted small black card behind the hearts then mounted a piece of kraft card from the Tim Holtz decorative kraft pad. I added another small piece of this to the top of the card for balance. The three small black hearts are the ones that I removed from the border cut outs earlier. I added some black vintage ribbon , a button and some Bakers Twine. The entire card was mounted on to a piece of black card and gold PVA glue dots were added to the edge to complete the card. If you have some scraps you need to use up, give this one a try! All for now, Sue x

It's A Mystery

2011-12-28T06:00:00.001Z

Hi blog friends, I found another Steampunk styled card done in gray and wine for today. This one used a really fun technique which involves using Artist's Spackle and spreading it through a mask. Carefully remove the mask and let the spackle dry thoroughly. Be sure to clean your mask right away as you do not want the spackle to dry on to it. There is silver embossing in the recess of the grid lines if you look carefully. I haven't posted this card until now for a good reason. I cannot for the life of me recall how I did that part. I thought that I probably inked the mask with clear Perfect Medium before I spakled through it, but I am sure the embossing powder woukld have stuck to the spakle and it clearly didn't so I am baffled. Now, here is a question for you, how do you think that I got the silver embossing into the recess of the grid lines? I am hoping that some one's explanation will trigger a memory for me. I can't often look at a card I made and not remember the technique I used, occasionally the exact colours may elude me, but never an entire technique! Must be old age! LOL!
I painted some chipboard pieces silver and added some of Tim Holtz gears and cogs as embellishments, as well as a steampunk charm from my craft stash. I stamped the train track stamp from corner to corner and I edged the two locomotive pieces with Aged mahogany Distress ink. But I am still at a complete loss as to the silver in the grid lines! Well, aside from that part, I hope you have enjoyed the card. All for now, Sue x

Winter's Magic Wand

2011-12-27T05:30:00.001Z

Hi guys! There is no snow on the ground in my part of town so I'm bringing it to look at through my card. So much less cold and easier to manage, I think! For this card, I started with a piece of blue card and embossed my sentiment in the corner using a clear Perfect Medium pad and white embossing powder. From there, I added my trees in the same fashion and drew in some hill lines with my white Inksential pen. Next, I tore some white card to create my hills. On the torn edge, I used my perfect medium pad and inked randomly along the edge (I didn't want a distinct line here so I pushed it into the pad). I embossed the edges with Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Sparkle embossing powder to give it that snowy (but a bit blingy) feel. Rather than adding more hills, I decided to leave a large open area to add an ornament to my card. For this, I cut eight thin strips of white card. I formed a loop by gluing the ends together on each one, taking care not to crease them. I used an acrylic block to secure the ends while the glue dried. Next I punched a small circle out of white card, then added a bit of Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue to it. I put the ends of each of my loops on their sides into the glue to form a rosette and set them aside to dry for a bit. I cut one of the Holly accent pieces out of blue card and attached it to my main card in the corner. Once my rosette was dry, I carefully applied glue to the top edges (this will run a bit but no problem) and I sprinkled it with the Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels. These are fab for this as they are chunky and blingy. I added a white button with blue Bakers Twine to the top to cover all the centre pieces and finally glued it atop the blue Holly accent piece. To complete the card, I cut the largest size of the Grand Scallop rectangles in white card, matted my card with this and added some pearl PVA glue dots to each of the scallops.

You can see a close up of my rosette here. Don't you love the way the Glitter Jewels give it a real frosty feel? The Holly accent piece just peeks out below it to grab your eye to it. I hope you have enjoyed my snowy piece for your winter day. See you again tomorrow. All for now, Sue x

Winter Easel Card

2011-12-26T06:00:00.001Z

Good morning all! I hope everyone had a lovely and relaxing Christmas Day. I for one, am still full from eating way too much! How about a quick easel card for today's post. I have used the winter trees for this one and embossed the larger ones in gold and the smaller ones in the background are embossed with clear powder. I used a fine tip black pen for the star in the corner and added a small rhinestone for the centre. This first picture is how the card looks closed, although I couldn't get it to sit very flat! I attached the Fleur de Lis rectangle to the bottom of the card only.

You can see the card here when it is opened and made into an easel. With only the bottom attached, it allows the front piece to be folded downward and propped on to the sentiment on the inside of the card. I added some rhinestone swirls to the side of the sentiment for a bit of bling. A bow of vintage ribbon was added to the front of the card with a fancy button from my craft stash. This card was a very quick and easy card if you are a bit time challenged. I hope you have some time now that Christmas is behind us to give it a go! All for now, Sue x

Oh Christmas Tree (s)

2011-12-25T05:30:00.002Z

Merry Christmas to all!! This is a rather long post today but I thought that I would share a few trees with you today instead of a card seeing that it is Christmas day. I was hoping to show you all the different trees that I have decorated through the years, but unfortunately I was only able to locate a few pictures. I guess I will just have to bore you with those! The first picture is of a tree that I did for my daughter when she was about five years old. She loved Sesame Street, in fact, she wanted her room decorated with Burt and Ernie so I thought I would show you how serious she was about her two boys (and the cookie monster) first, then the tree! This was my daughter's room when she was a little girl. I love this picture as I truly believe it is the only time I ever captured her room on film while it was tidy! LOL

Here is her Christmas tree, her very own Sesame Street themed tree (I bet you have never seen one of those before!) LOL This photo and the other two pictures above and below this one, by the way is a picture of the pictures because I couldn't get my scanner to work so it is a bit grainy. This tree was probably the fattest real tree I have ever seen as it was only about 4 ft. tall! It had multi coloured lights on it so it was very fun when lit up too! All the kids in the neighbourhood really liked this tree.

This next tree was my Victorian themed tree, my very first tree I had at my own place some thirty odd years ago. I made all the ornaments on the tree except the tree topper, the birds and the beaded pearl garland. I took a class in doll painting and made the Victorian dolls that hung on it. There were potpourri balls and scented sachet ribbon hearts, lace fans, velvet hats, hand painted swans, floral nosegays and a few more things I can hardly remember now. The very centre tree trunk was wrapped with white lights very tightly then dried baby's breath was put over them so when lit, they illuminated the centre of the tree softly. You can actually see it towards the bottom of the tree in this picture, but you may not realise what it was. The tree was all done in cream, dusty rose and burgundy.

The pic to the left is of my Christmas tree today (at least one of them). It is all done in copper and gold. I know it is an unusual choice for a Christmas tree, but I really do like it. When I moved here, my other half had only a few ornaments and one of them was this copper and gold velvety ornament with a sort of harlequin pattern on it. You can see it in the close up below to the left side of the tree. I really liked this ornament so I decided to go from there and this is where it ended up! I added a few things every year to it, but I think it is full up now. I do like my trees busy and full of stuff (kind of like my cards!)

Finally, this is my little silver and white tree. We wanted the house to look festive when the kids came home for Christmas so I found a small artificial tree for the dining room. It is a very narrow tree so it easily fits in the corner. I wanted something totally different so I chose a more classic colour for this one. I had a white snow flocked tree when I lived in California and this reminds me of the feel of that one. There are lots of big silver bows and icicles on this tree and it has little bits of silver branches sticking out from it.
I love decorating trees so this is one of the Christmas traditions that really gets me in the festive spirit. Even though this has been a difficult time for me, I am really glad that I put the trees up. I am also very thankful for the wonderful emails, comments, cards, flowers and general support and love that I have felt from all of you through this time. Keeping my blog up has actually been a godsend for me, so thank you for taking the time each day to come by and visit. You are all very remarkable and I am so blessed to be part of this crafting family we have here in the UK. Thank you for taking time out during your Christmas day to spend a few minutes with me here. Merry Christmas, Sue x
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Butterfly Buckles

2011-12-24T06:00:00.006Z

A very good Christmas Eve's morning to all! Sometimes when I finish a card, I end up having some nickname for it and this one was my buckle card as that is what it reminded me of. I cut the "buckles" using two of the large label dies to create little frames that were just the right size for the cotton hemp ribbon to fit through. The teal piece I cut to go across and secure the ribbon was one of the fancy tags and I think it worked a treat for this. I decided to tier them down so I would have a place for my sentiment in the corner. I offset it with a bow in the opposite corner. I really like how the backing paper (Graphic 45) has a real country feel to it and so does the ribbon and twine. I inked around the edge of the paper with Frayed Burlap to distress it a bit more too. The butterflies were actually cut out of tracing paper I found (I was looking or vellum for these originally) and I really liked the softness that all the layers of the tracing paper gave them. I added three small pearls to the centre of each of the butterfly bodies to define them. There is a close up below for you. And piercing, where would I be without my trusty piercing ruler! I hope you like it as it is a bit different. All for now, Sue x

Purple Treasure

2011-12-23T06:00:00.006Z

Hi there blog friends! Yes this card is actually purple, white and black, honest. I started with the backing paper (another one of those that I purchased while in Florida at an amazing shop called Scrap and Stamp Art Studio in Inverness if you ever get out that way!)and using the dies that I had on the last show, I began with the Fleur de Lis rectangle cut in black. I did use a bit of white card behind it to set it off. I cut two of the postage stamp dies in lilac and matted them with white card also. I used the die as a template and followed the inside of it with my white inksential pen to give them a little accent. I stamped my sentiment, cut it out using the fancy tags and inked it using Dusty Concord Distress ink before I took it out of the die so it would have a soft frame. I had some purple felt so I cut a spiral blossom from it for my flower (don't you just love that die, I sure do!) I added a bow using the white frilly edged ribbon and put my felt flower in the centre. The card was in need of some piercing and a couple of decorative pins to really dress it up and finish it off. Now it looks like a Sue card, huh?! LOL I hope everyone has all their Christmas shopping sorted and you can spend the next few days relaxing and enjoying. No, me neither! All for now, Sue x

Just For You

2011-12-22T05:30:00.003Z

Good morning all, I know it is so close to Christmas and I should be posting Christmas cards for you, but I have always been a bit of a rebel of sorts so no green and red! How 'bout pink and grey today? I like this card as it could have just as easily said "On your special day" and be used for a wedding or anniversary card, don't you think? I think the white organza flowers really give it a romantic feel too. I started with a beaded circle die cut in dark grey for my focal element. I cut a lacy oval die in a pale grey and layered it on top. The pink die was cut from the fancy tag die set then I cut it in half so that I could arrange the two ends to be peeking out of the top and bottom of the lacy oval. It wasn't quite long enough without cutting it and separating the two pieces. Then I cut two of the lacy squares and layered them in a diamond fashion. I stamped my sentiment before cutting the smallest one and inked it with Tattered Rose Distress ink while still in the die. I decided to do the layout on a diagonal cut for interest. The bottom half of the card was embossed with the Ornate Diamond embossing folder and then lightly sanded to bring out the pattern a bit more. I added the roses across the diagonal line between the two papers and added some pearls and ribbon which I wove between them. Still wanting a bit of that romantic feel to come out, I added some pearly swirly bits to the sides of my focal element. The card was matted and layered and paper pierced to complete the card (because I never do that, huh?) LOL Oh and that is not an oil stain in the corner, it is another of my infamous shadows, you can almost make out my head in this one! I know what is going to be the top of my resolution list in the new year. 1). Learn to take decent photos!!!

Shadow aside, I hope you like today's card! All for now, Sue x

A Warm Smile

2011-12-21T06:00:00.001Z

Hi blog friends, a warm smile is exactly what this card gives me. It doesn't even need much explanation as it is straight forward and easily replicated if you would like. I used an assortment of papers that all had a butterscotch colour to them and pared it with black for a sharp contrast. The black back piece was cut using the Fleur de Lis rectangle die. I cut out a heart circle and used one of the smaller postage stamp dies to cut a frame for my sentiment. I did ink around the edge of the opening just slightly to highlight it too. I added a big bow made from the frilly edged ribbon, a black button from my craft stash and a couple of decorative pearl pins. I finished the card by adding some faux stitching lines around the edge using a fine tip black marker. In case you are wondering, the background paper had the print already on it, it wasn't a stamp, but just enough to add a bit of interest to the card. I wished I had timed the making of this one for you, but it was a really quick card to make and I think it is one that would definitely work for the males in our lives, don't you think? All for now, Sue x

Navy And Cream Treat

2011-12-20T06:00:00.001Z

Good morning my crafty friends, today I would like to share with you a card that I was really happy with when I finished, but did not have a clue where I was going when I started it! I purchased a pad of papers that were all cream and navy in their patterns while I was in Florida. I just wanted to have a play with them so that is where I started. My cards are somewhat predetermined in that I am restricted to certain dies and products that I need to use, this is no exception. Luckily I had some chipped sapphire distress ink on the show to use so the papers were a nice fit so I was off and running. I used the In Spades border on the top and bottom of the card and used the small piece of the die to "clip" to the edge of the card. I think it makes a really nice accent on the top and bottom. I cut a beaded circle die in navy blue and layered it with the lacy oval die that I had cut into a frame so that the blue would show through. I stamped my sentiment and cut it with one of the lacy circle dies and inked it while still in place in the die. I mounted it cross ways to complete my focal element. I cut a spiral flower out of the navy blue card so that I could have some balance and added another flower which I made from the cotton hemp ribbon. If you have never used this ribbon, it is quite versatile as you can stamp on it, emboss your stamp and it makes several different styles of lovely flowers too. I added some foliage in cream, a couple of decorative stick pins and a swirly pearly spray (sorry about the reflection there) to complete the card. I have a close up pic for you below. I have tried to do this recently to compensate for my atrocious lack of photographic skills! See my shadow in the pic above, I just don't see them until I need to put them on the blog! No moonlighting as a photographer, huh, I guess I will stick to card making! LOL Well I hope you like the card in spite of all of that! All for now, Sue x

Thank You

2011-12-19T13:37:00.003Z

Hi everyone, I just wanted to pop in and announce the winners of the blog candy drawing. First, though, I would like to say how overwhelmed I was at the outpouring of emotional support for me the past few days. I do truly think of you as friends and feel a connection to all of you even though we may never have met, but that connect feels stronger than ever for me. Never having gone through losing a parent, I didn't realise how much it would help to have so many people send their wishes and thoughts to me. I didn't feel so alone, it was truly appreciated. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. xxx

I am going to pick two winners instead of one for the comment game. From the post dated December 15th (Tied Together), I have randomly selected numbers 33 and 42. That corresponds to comments made by Nadine and Fluffycat!!

Now for the BLOG CANDY CONTEST WINNERS. Beginning with the third place prize and working our way up to the grand prize (which will be at the bottom of the post with lots of dots or also known as my version of a drum roll).

The winner of third prize is........................................................
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suzieb !!!!!!!!

The winner of the second place prize is..........................................
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Cumbrianlass (janet)

And now, what you have all been waiting for, the winner of the GRAND FIRST PRIZE is....
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Mags!!!!!!!!

Congraulations to all the winners! Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com to confirm your postal details before I can send out your prizes. As always, the blog candy contest continues and we will draw again when we reach 2200 followers. I will post the new prize in a few days. Thanks to everyone for the support. All for now, Sue x

What's Red and Black and White All Over!

2011-12-19T06:30:00.007Z

Hi guys! It's a bit early for Valentines Day and this certainly looks as if it could pass for a card for that special day, doesn't it. Using the heart circles, the heart edgeabilities and the three hearts in the right corner, one would think it was for Valentines Day, but I wasn't even thinking along those lines at all for it. However, when I finished it, that was all I saw! Oh well, sometimes we just end up somewhere completely different than where we started from, huh? I actually cut three of the heart circles, one in red, one in white and one in black. I snipped between each and every heart around the circle so that they could be pushed forward to create a frilly edge to the circle. I embossed the background with the folder called Intrinsic to create a swirly texture background. I used the white Inksential pen to faux stitch around the inner and outer black mat on the card as well as the centre of the border. The border was created using several of the edgeability dies with hearts in them.

I added a black and red plaid bow from ribbon in my craft stash. A black button with Bakers Twine and two decorative pearl pins complete the bow.

I used three hearts that were leftover from cutting the circle heart die and added them to the corner to complete the card. Maybe I should have kept this card to post in February, who knows! LOL All for now, Sue x

Black And White Trees

2011-12-18T06:00:00.001Z

Good morning all! I love the simplicity of this card and I bet you are stunned, no ribbons! See, sometimes I do know when to stop! LOL I stamped my trees in black archival ink and clear embossed them on the left hand side of the card. I stamped the large tree again on black card and white embossed it this time. I also stamped one of the medium sized trees and embossed it in white on the right. I cut the large tree stamped in black just past the tree trunk and lined it up with the exact spot with the white embossed tree. I taped them together then cut all the outside edges even. I added white snow dots and a star using the white Inksentials pen on the black card. I added black pen dots on the white card. I matted this entire piece with black card that I pierced around the edge. I stamped the sentiment and cut it out using one of the fancy tags. I cut another of the same die in black and added it below the tag with the swirl facing the opposite direction. It added a nice shadow but with a little added interest too because of the swirl detail. Interestingly, my photo shows another shadow above the tag so it looks almost framed. I pierced all the way around the outer white mat layer to frame and finish the card. Clean and simple, what do you think? All for now, Sue x

On A Sad Note

2011-12-17T15:48:00.000Z

Hi everyone, I don't usually post much on my blog in the way of personal matters, but I often get emails asking how my family is doing since you know that I have been going back and forth to visit them. I thought that I should let you know that I got the call last night that my Dad had passed away quietly in his sleep. It was not unexpected as his health had been steadily deteriorating since I was there during the summer. I did get to spend some good quality time with him and my Mom at Thanksgiving and I am so grateful for that gift. He was an amazing man and I may post something else at a later date about him, but it is still too raw right now. He will be so missed.
I had already scheduled several daily blog posts for the week and they will go forward. I do know that we have reached our goal for the blog candy draw and I need to draw a winner for the comments game too. I am going to have a quiet weekend for happy reflection and some more tears, I am sure, and I will sort all of that out on Monday afternoon. Sue x

Faux Stitched Aperture

2011-12-17T05:30:00.001Z

Hi blog friends! Ho ho ho is getting closer, are you all ready yet? I'm not, but I have made some headway at least. Christmas trees are decorated (yes, I do a big one and a small one). I love decorating the Christmas trees once I have untangled all the lights, what a chore! I was thinking about all the different trees I have done over the years. If I can find the pictures of them all, I will post them for you to see. I think you will understand my need to craft when you see these! Enough waffling, on to the subject at hand, today's post. I had this decorative paper leftover from the last time I was at my Mom's and I was looking for the right card to use it on. I thought it would look really nice behind an aperture from one of the Grand Label dies. I decided to use Grand Labels Eleven for the card. Using a white inksentials pen from ranger, I did some faux stitching all the way around the edge of the aperture and the mat layer edges too. I made two flowers using the Spiral blossoms one die. One flower was made from matching card and the other was made from black felt. I like the different textures together as I think it adds more interest sometimes. You can see the close up of the flowers below.

I stamped the sentiment all in one line by cutting it out of the rubber set and mounting it on my block as a single line (it was originally designed as two lines). I cut the ends of the strip into a forked V and adhered it to the card in a diagonal fashion. I also gave it a bit of shape with a little bit of mounting foam under a section of it to raise it up. Finally, I used the Fancy Foliage dies to add several different styles of leaves for my flowers. Definitely love my teal tones, I hope you aren't tiring of them! All for now, Sue x

Just For You

2011-12-16T05:30:00.004Z

Hi everyone! I am using the Postage Stamp die set today which I really like and I think has a lot of potential. This card, though more feminine as is, could easily be altered to suit a masculine recipient, don't you think? A change of colour, remove the messy bow and stick pins and voila!That is one of best features of this die set, I think, that it lends itself to so many different looks and layouts. I went with an aqua and chocolate color scheme on this one as I love those two colours together, they always just seem to be pleasing to the eye. I used the In Spades border and cut two of them so that I could thread my viontage ribbon through them and have them border my focal element. I tucked the ends around the back of the card and secured them and added the bow with a sticky glue dot. I cut out two of the Postage stamp dies with the two largest in the set, one inside the other to cut a frame. Since these were the same size and I wanted them to look like they had been interlocked, I had to cut the dies in a few places and then reassemble it so it looked like it was going underneath the second die in places. If you have a good look at the close up below, you can see that I could not have achnieved this look without cutting them (or the help of Houdini! LOL) I stamped a sentiment for the centre of the dies and inked it slightly with Frayed Burlap Distress ink and mounted it on 3D foam pads. The background used some coordinating papers that I had in my stash, but the name had been cut off already, so sorry. I really like the simplicity of this one, I hope you do too! All for now, Sue x

Tied Together

2011-12-15T06:00:00.003Z

Hello blog friends! You may be wondering what the title of this post has to do with anything, but it is the name of the embossing folder that I have used here. If you recall, I said that there had been a mix up with the embossing folders from the last show. I thought that this one was to have been one of the products, but it was delayed. Well it is finally here! For this card, I stamped my sentiment and then scored a line above and below it. I used the Tied Together folder and embossed the area below the line first, leaving the top half out of the folder. Then I embossed the area above the line, leaving all of the rest of the card out of the folder and off the end of the base plate so that it would not be flattened. I used the Cosmic Shimmer Gold PVA glue to make dots at every intersection in the embossed piece and I set this aside to dry well. I wanted to be able to see the dots from below the ribbon so I had to do them first and allow them sufficient time to dry. I attached a piece of ribbon across the front of the card then I tied a big double bow using the champagne coloured frilly edged ribbon and attached it to the front with a glue dot. I find this easier to do than to tie the bow from the ribbon that I have wrapped around a card and I can usually get the bow to sit the way that I want this way too. Using a piece of decorative card from Graphic 45, I cut a spiral flower and attached it to the centre of the bow. The rest of the card was matted and layered with gold metallic cardstock to match the PVA dots and cream card. I did a bit of piercing on the edge to frame the card.

I have included a few close ups for your perusal too. I think this would be lovely in a white on white format for a wedding card too, just using the pearl PVA instead of the gold and a simple change of sentiment.
If you have not tried any of the Cosmic Shimmer Pva glues, they are a sheer joy to use and I think they add so much extra to a card. I highly recommend them (but I'm biased! LOL) I hope you like today's choice for the blog. All for now, Sue x

Faux Pyramaged Trees

2011-12-14T06:00:00.001Z

Hi guys! The past few weeks I have been using the Winter Trees stamp set for my samples. I haven't had a play with this set before, but what fun, don't you think! I made a quick faux pyramage card here and it only took very little time. I started with a piece of white card and I cut out a mask for my moon and placed it down with some removable adhesive. Using Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, I inked the background sky area. I wanted it to be rather intense and then fade out towards the background, but as I was doing this I decided to not do the entire background. I ended up with a circular sort of look to it and I rather liked it. I removed the mask and stamped the trees and sentiment with jet black archival ink. I lined up four alternating sizes of Grand Labels Eleven, centring them over the scene and taped them into place. I cut them and then removed them and added 3D foam pieces to the back of each ring, progressively adding another layer of it to each ring inward. The result is a card that looks like it has been properly pyramaged. I have included a pic shown from a side angle and you can see the layers in it. I cut a Grand Labels 23 as a background in white then used that die to draw around the edge and make a faux nestie in dark blue to mat it with and complete the card. This is a really fun and easy card to make if you get the chance. All for now, Sue x

A Treasured Friend

2011-12-13T05:30:00.001Z

Good morning crafty friends, I hope we are all doing well this December morning! As promised, here is a sneak peek at one of the cards for the shows today. I was chatting away to a friend in California while I made this card late one evening and I told her I would put it up on my blog today so she would be able to see what I was trying to describe over the phone to her!

I found this lovely decorative paper while in Florida and have been using it quite a lot. It is metallic gold and black with some cream and tan thrown in with lovely little patterns that are great for card makers. I used several of the patterns for the background on this card. The focal element was made using the Spellbinders Lacy Squares. I cut two of them and interlocked them going in different directions to form a sort of frame for my sentiment, which was stamped and cut out with one of the fancy tag dies. I did a bit of inking with Frayed Burlap while it was in the die, but it doesn't show up as well in the picture as in real life. I added one flower made from matching decorative paper, another made from the black vintage ribbon and the last one is made of felt. I like the mixture of the different styles and mediums for the flowers. I think it adds great texture and interest to a card. There is a close up picture below for you.

I was sent an email from a follower some time ago with a picture of a card they had made. It was a lovely creation and it had a feather on it. I have seen some cards with feathers prior to this but they always looked a bit garish to me, but this one was really lovely. I asked her if I could borrow her idea sometime and said that I would give her credit, but for the life of me, I cannot recall who it was that sent that email. I do apologise as my memory has been so bad recently, but please let me know if you read this and that was your idea, send an email to remind me please. Anyways, I just felt that a little black feather looked quite pretty on this card so I added it as an accent. I added some rhinestone swirls to accent the other side of the card. I hope you will tune in for some of the shows today and tomorrow (or by computer at www.createandcraft.tv) All for now, Sue x

Frilly Flowers and Butterfly

2011-12-12T05:30:00.001Z

Happy Monday all! If blogger is being kind to me then you should be seeing this post as I am half way over the Atlantic on the way back home to England. I will keep my fingers crossed and hopefully it will go up on the blog without a hitch! This is one of my favourite cards from the last bunch I did. I can't really say why but I was pleased with the way it turned out even if my photography doesn't do it much justice. I used one of the Grand Impressibilities to emboss the black background. I cut an aperature out using Labels 21 and then I cut a frame to mount over the opening for emphasis. I used a little touch of striped paper to add some colour and I apologise as I cannot recall either of the paper names I have used here. I used the coordinating pattern to cut the butterflyfrom the Fanciful Flight set and also to add some sprigs to the floral element. I like to use papers like that as it just feels more balanced to be able to bring it in again in another place on the card. The flowers were made by cutting the frilly edged ribbon down the centre. I used about 24inches for the largest flower and about half that for the smallest flower. Attach the redline tape to the cut edge so that it just covers the bottom of the ribbon by about 1/8th of an inch (just enough so it has something to tack on to). Fold the very corner down so that if the ribbon would fray, it will not show, then roll to get the centre of your flower. Once you have a small tube, then begin to add small gathers as you roll. This will cause the flower to open up more and begin to take shape. Do this to the end of your ribbon and try to keep the outside top edge of the ribbon relatively even (so the tape will be moving up the side of the flower a bit as you go). If your tape on the bottom of the flower seems too thick when you are done, you can cut it down with a pair of sharp scissors. I did try to do a visual tutorial for you on this and quickly realised that I cannot take photos and show what I am doing at the same time so I will need to enlist some help on this after I return.

I cut a few leafy pieces from the Fancy Foliage set and added some black vintage ribbon to complete the floral embellishment. There is a close up below for you of it. I just love the little bit of waviness you get from the frilly edged ribbon for these flowers. I added some black rhinestone swirls as a final embellishment for the card.

I will post a sneak peek tomorrow for the shows that I will be doing beginning Tuesday evening so please be sure to check back tomorrow won't you? All for now, Sue x

Just A Note

2011-12-11T06:30:00.001Z

Hi guys, I wasn't quite sure about posting this one as I wasn't completely happy with how it came out. I have decided to let you be judge and jury on it (be honest but be kind, I have very thin skin!) I have used the Parisian dies for this, but rather than having them hold hands, I decided to have them hug their background colour square. The edges of the die all tuck behind the green squares so nicely, I haven't even glued or taped them in place. Using the small fleur de lis die from another set, I used it as an accent for the centres of all the squares. The sentiment was stamped and cut out with one of the Parisian accent dies, then I cut two more, one in turquoise and one in olive card. Those two were cut in half and layered behind the original by just mounting them outward a bit each time and taping them in place on the back. I cut two Parisian border die pieces and used them on the sides of the card and laced the frilly edged ribbon through them as a holder for my bow. I added a button and some twine for the centre of the bow (as I always feel they look naked otherwise!). Okay, what's the verdict, what would you think if you received this one in the post? All for now, Sue x

Floral Wreath

2011-12-10T06:00:00.000Z

Hi blogland friends! Back to an old favourite of black and cream for this one. The background was made using the Walrus and Carpenter embossing folder to give the card some texture. I did half of it then moved it and aligned the design and did the other half of it. If you leave the already embossed side of your card and the edge of the folder hanging just off of your base plate, you won't get a line from your folder. It gives you a really nice background that way. I cut quite a few of the rose creation flowers for this one. Each time I cut one of them, though, I placed the cream card face down on the die first then a piece of the black card on top of it. This allowed me to cut all the flower pieces faster and I was able to ink the cream flower witrh Antique Linen Distress ink while in the die too. I used a foam pad and a ball stylus to give the flowers some shape. By rubbing the stylus over the back of the flowers in a circular motion while on the pad, it breaks down the paper a bit and gives them shape. I attached my flowers around the sentiment to form a wreath and used some foam mounting pieces to give some of the flowers height also. I added pearls to all the flower centres too. The edgeability dies were used to cut a black border and I added a bow made from the cream crocheted ribbon. The Baker twine in black and white added a nice little accent touch to the button so I could finish off the bow. Of course there had to be some piercing to the card or it just wouldn't feel finished,
would it! I hope you enjoyed todays offering! All for now, Sue x

Grateful (In Teal, White and Black)

2011-12-09T05:30:00.003Z

Hi crafty blog friends! Back to teal again today. It seems that I can't seem to stay away from it too long lately. It is a nice colour though, don't you think? I started out with a piece of white card for this one and cut the Samantha Walker Twisted Metal tag die out of it. I kept the die in place and inked the entire background with Broken China Distress Ink to create the teal background colour.

When you remove the die you end up with that lovely white border left from the edge of the die. The inner die piece was stamped with the sentiment and inked lightly with the same colour to highlight it. I mounted the negative background piece over some black glitter card and attached the sentiment in the centre. Using the white frilly edged ribbon, I tied a big bow at the bottom of the card. I cut several of the floral anemone die in white and teal card and removed the centre of each petal by folding it back and snipping it off. I layered up the pieces and offset them slightly and glued them together. I had a black fancy button in my craft stash that I glued in place for the centre of the flower. There is a close up of it below for you.

I pierced around the edge of the black card that I layered it on and added some black rhinestones in each corner to finish it off. I really liked the way this one came out, probably because it was teal, who knows! I hope you like it too. All for now, Sue x

More Lace Doily Fun

2011-12-08T06:00:00.002Z

Good morning all! I had a good rummage around and finally found the picture of this card that is another version of the card I posted on Tuesday. I cut the lace doily motif dies in half again, but I mounted the borders over the edge of them this time. I used the smaller lace doily accent pieces to create a fun corner piece for interest. I used the really small accent piece to top it and bring some more red into the card for balance. I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with labels 22 and inked around the edge. When I demoed this, I used the black soot for this which I prefer to the Fired Brick used here, but I didn't photograph that one before they sent it out to an email recipient (you have to be quick and I wasn't!) I used the black rhinestone Nestabling to give it a more focal centre and I cut a second labels 22 in black as a mat and turned it in the opposite direction. Both this card and the previous version are extremely quick to make and work well for both male or female depending on the colour and the sentiment used, don't you think? All for now, Sue x

Tan And Turquoise!

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000Z

Hi my crafty friends! I hope everyone is bright eyed this morning! We are having a bit of a turquoise and tan day today. I was having some fun here mixing and matching different patterned papers from my stash (did you spot the houndstooth, I told you I can't pass it up!) The two tan prints are the front and back from some My Minds Eye paper I had while the turquoise paper is from another company, but I really liked the way they looked together so voila a card! I had a play with the dies to make my focal element and decided on labels twenty for the background piece. I cut a frame using labels 18 on the outside and labels 22 on the inside of the frame to give it a different look. In my typical fashion, I added three of my handmade vintage ribbon rolled flowers as an accent to the top. I added a few pieces from the foliage set as accents to the floral corner of the card and balanced it with a textured bow of frilly edged ribbon and vintage ribbon in the opposite corner. A very easy card to put together as it is just a bit of matting and layering different papers and doing the same with the Spellbinders dies too. Hope it's not too girlie for you! All for now, Sue x

Lace Doily Fun

2011-12-06T05:30:00.003Z

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is doing well and fine! I have a little bit of news for you today. I am scheduled to be back on Create and Craft (or rather Ideal World TV) a week from today. Now as most of you know, I am visiting my parents in Florida at the moment. I will be back in the UK on the 12th and I have shows scheduled for the 13th and 14th! Hopefully, I won't be too jet lagged to make sense as I demo (no promises though! LOL). The shows start at 5pm on the 13th (so at least I will be able to sleep in a bit) and then there are shows all day on the 14th. Check the schedule on their website the day before for the specific times as I haven't been given a final schedule yet. I have been crafting while at Mom's so I have a bunch of new cards to show for it too.
As for today's card, I was having a bit of fun with the Spellbinder's Lace Doily Motifs and Accents. The lavender background is two of the doily motifs cut in half and mounted with the lace edge to the inside. I used the border dies to edge the card in black and frame it. I cut another lace doily in white for the focal element. I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with the Picot edge circles and inked it with Dusty Concord while it was still in the die. I did a bit of matting and layering and added a few pearls to the corners to finish it off. I did do another slightly different version of this card as a demo on one of the shows. I will see if I can find it to post this week and you can see another version. It's fun if you own this set of dies to see some different versions.
By the way, this is one of the few dies that does require a bit of work to get it out of the dies sometimes. Like the fancy tags that one of the followers left a comment about, you can help these dies to release if you use either an anti static pad on them or I rub them with a piece of wax paper before cutting them. You can loosen them by rapping them on the edge of a table too. If you use paper rather than card you will more than likely rip them. Try a card that is about 250 gr. weight with these intricate type dies. If anyone has any other methods that work for them, please share them as I would love to know what works for other people too. All for now, Sue x

Fanciful Flight

2011-12-05T05:30:00.000Z

Good morning blog friends! As you can see, I really love this butterfly from the Fanciful Flight set so it is back for yet another appearance. This time, I have cut the die from some Graphic 45 paper that I am also very partial to using. I used the same paper for the background and all three of the butterflies. I cut a frame from the Grand squares and mounted it up with foam pieces. I stamped my sentiment on matching tan card and cut it out with Labels 18 and used a bit of Antique Linen Distress ink to add a highlight while it was still in the die. I cut a mat using the larger size of Labels 18. I added some pearl swirls for accent to the side of the frame too. I decided on adding a little mat of teal to pick up the colour in the flowers and add some interest too. A very easy card to put together if you are in a hurry but need something nice for a special recipient. I just love that butterfly, don't you! All for now, Sue x

HoundsTooth Love Affair

2011-12-04T06:00:00.001Z

Hi everyone! This morning we are going to our earth tones for the day's card offering. I have this secret love affair with Houndstooth so much so that I can't pass it up anytime I see paper with that pattern. So there, I've confessed (just add it to my ribbon addiction! LOL) For this card, I had a bit of fun making new shapes. The focal element has been cut using Labels 21 but I cut the two fleur de lis side elements out of the label shape (it is difficult to tell, but you are seeing the black from the back piece through the open negative space). I cut the brown piece from the next size down of Labels 21 then put it back in the die vertically and cut it again resulting in the shape you see. The two fleur de lis pieces that I cut out of the cream piece have been added to the top and bottom of the sentiment. I ruched some amber brown vintage ribbon across the card between the two cardstocks and added a rosette made from two of the Samantha Walker Blossom dies. A small button with bakers Twine topped the rosette to help hide the centre of the rosette. I added some black rhinestone swirls to the bottom of the card as an accent. For the finishing touches, I used the pearl PVA glue all the way around the centre focal element and the cream mat on the card. Change the sentiment to suit and I think this card would work very nicely for the male in your life (and we all know how challenging it can be to do guy cards, huh?) I hope you like it!
We have had another winner in the comment game. For the post of December 2nd, we had over 100 comments left so I randomly drew number 26. This corresponds to CRAFTY MOP (there were a few duplicates and you can only be counted once for each post). Please contact me at americansue1@gmail.com to verify your details! All for now, Sue x

For The Bride And Groom

2011-12-03T06:00:00.001Z

Morning all! Think December wedding for this one! I have used the stamps from Sam Poole's wedding stamp set for this card. I love the fact that this frame around the bride and groom is designed to be used with Spellbinders Labels 13. I stamped and embossed it with silver embossing powder to keep with my white and silver theme on this card. The floral frame around the card is actually made from the left over bits out of the border that you can see peeking out from underneath the floral frame. There is a close up view below for you. I used the lotus border die to create a border inside my square and then I attached (with glue) the four petal flower looking left over piece to the frame I made for my borders. I added a drop of pearl PVA glue to the centres of each of these to give them a more flower like appearance. I cut a piece of white tulle and threaded it through a diamante buckle and added a string of pearls on either side to frame it. The very background is a piece of decorative paper that I used but I liked the way it looked similar to the Spellbinders frame around the bride and groom. I know it looks like I have way too much time on my hands! It was a bit of a time consuming card to make but I liked the way that it allowed me to use the left over bits creatively. Now, who do I know getting married this month, hmmm?! All for now, Sue x

Candy And A Card!

2011-12-02T05:25:00.001Z

Hello blogland friends! It's time for candy and a card today. I finally got my pictures uploaded on to my computer of the latest candy offering. I put it together the morning before I left for Florida and haven't had a chance to post it until now! Not wanting to disappoint either, I have included my morning card for your perusal too. I really like this card because the colours in it seems so autumnal and soothing. I like this tree stamp a lot too. I used Labels 23 to pyramage the tree, but I left a white border on each section by inking through the die with Fired brick and Mustard yellow. I just splodged the ink randomly while in the die to create an autumn feel to the background of the tree. I did the same to the background with the sentiment, only keeping the colours softer and more muted this time. I cut a Grand Labels 23 in black for the background and pierced around the edge using the die as a guide. I finished the card by adding small black rhinestones to the corners. If the card isn't to your taste, then how 'bout this candy offering?

There are 5 rubber stamp sets, a Rubit Scrubit pad, an adirondack ink pad, a clear stamp set, two distress inks, metal strips, distress embossing powder, glitter, gold embossing powder, an Archival ink pad, black rhinestones swirls in facing directions, an acrylic block, some buttons, clear embossing powder and a giant pile of vintage ribbon! I loved the fact that everyone seemed so involved last time and left lots of comments so I am going to keep the game going the same way from now on. To be entered into the candy draw, you need to send me your detail once and every time you leave a comment on the blog or email me with a comment, you get an entry. If you check the blog daily and let me know that you have been by then you will receive an entry for each time. Simple as pie! If you have any problems leaving a comment, then use the "anonymous" button but please sign your name to your post so you get credit for it! All for now, Sue x

One Card, Two Versions

2011-12-01T06:30:00.000Z

Hi blog friends! Here is a simple card that I did with two different versions. I originally made the bottom card and wasn't happy with it as it felt unbalanced when I finished it. Since I wanted to use it as a demo card to show the lovely lacy circles doubled up to make it look like a doily edge, so I decided to re-do it. I put the heavier striped card on the background this time and I felt like it balanced out the heavy bling from the focal element. You decide which one works better! I cut the Labels 22 out of black glitter card and added the matching nestabling. Then I cut two of each size of the lacy circles, offset them and pushed the edges upwards a bit for a ruffly look. I used the Riveria Lilac Vintage Ribbon for my bow and added one of pre-made black organza flowers to the centre. All for now, Sue x

True Friendship

2011-11-30T06:00:00.001Z

Good morning blog friends! More teal! And the blog pendulum swings back the other way today to no ribbons or bows. Just a very simple card, but I really like the way it came out. I cut the Samantha Walker Twisted metal die out of my teal card. I kept the die in place and moved the entire piece on to my Grand Impressibilities and embossed it all. Since I wanted the negative piece as my background, I removed the actual die cut (and saved it for another time). I sanded my background to bring up the detail of the embossed background and edged the entire piece with Black Soot distress ink. You can see the detail in the close up picture below. Then I put sticky foam mounting pieces all over the back of this piece and set it aside for a bit. I cut the Twisted metal die again in black card. This time, I took the die out and then taped the outer fine scroll piece back in to the background. I mounted this under neath my background piece so that it created a black edge on the inside. I stamped my sentiment on white card and centred it into the middle of the opening in the background. The card was finished with a bit of piercing (as I do) and some matting and layering with both black and white card for contrast. I hope you like it! All for now, Sue x

Ribbon Overload

2011-11-29T06:00:00.001Z

Good morning to everyone! You were warned yesterday about the ribbon/bow overload! This is probably the most OTT card that I have done lately so it just had to be posted today. I did this entire card just so I could demo the gold crochet ribbon rose, then we sold out of the ribbon, go figure! I just wanted to show that this ribbon makes the same kind of rose that the cream crochet ribbon makes. The version that I did demo of this card involved using the Grand Impressibility to emboss the gold Labels 20 die. I really liked the way that came out, but I didn't get a picture of it before they whisked it away to be sent out to the email recipient. Under the heading of "you just never know", I was not going to show this card as I wasn't crazy about it, when one of the stage hands went absolutely nuts over it. I thought who knows, maybe it is someone else's cup of tea so to speak, so here it is. It is out of my comfort zone somewhat as I don't use metallics a great deal, but I was itching to use the background paper that I have had in my stash for some time.

Well, it seems that I spoke to soon as we had a day of rain here on Monday! However, judging by the comments that were left yesterday, I will take the rain over the weather that some of you back in England are having (gale force winds, snow, etc.)! I hope today brings some nicer weather for all of us! All for now, Sue x

Happiness Is A Butterfly

2011-11-28T06:00:00.002Z

Good morning all! I have made it through Thanksgiving weekend (including Black Friday!) here in Florida. The weather has been lovely and I am enjoying my time with my Mom and Dad! But I still have more cards to post so here is today's card. Yes, more teal... but not a ribbon in sight! I may go through withdrawl symptoms so I am just warning you now, tomorrow could be ribbon overload! LOL How is this for a truly simple, quick and effective card? Three panels of teal card mounted on to a piece of white card, then a small mat of black glitter card (for bling) then a final mat of black card. I cut the large butterfly from plain black card using the gorgeous butterfly die from the Fanciful Flight set. I used the smaller butterfly from the set and cut three of them from black glitter card. I added some black rhinestone swirls to look like the flight path of the large butterfly. Stamped the lovely saying from the Garden Sayings set and embossed it with clear powder over black archival ink. Fini!

I have been enjoying all the comments you have been leaving on the blog, thank you so much. As requested, I will do a photo tutorial for the flowers (crocheted and otherwise) as they all work the same way, but it is different than the flowers on my DVD. I will also try to get a tutorial done on the Spellbinders that was cut half way but completely embossed. I have been working on some new cards while I am here, but I haven't done either of those things yet. The next card that I make using them, I will take step by step photos for you I promise. All for now, Sue x

Crocheted Ribbon Flower

2011-11-27T06:15:00.001Z

Hi blog friends! Red, cream and blue today for a simple card with another one of my ginormous bows! I used the edgeability dies to give a decorative edge to the background and used a little Antique Linen to bring out the detail. I cut a frame using Labels 20 and embossed it with the polka dot mask, to match my blue polka dot paper. I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with one of the fancy tags. The bow was made more focal by the use of the red frilly edged ribbon and the steam blue vintage ribbon. I topped the bow with a flower that was made with the crocheted ribbon. It's a very simple method, you just need to cut the ribbon in half down the centre, apply redline tape to the cut edge and roll the flower. As you roll, just slightly gather it to create the fullness in the flower. I will try to take some photos the next time I make one of these flowers and do a little tutorial for you if you like.

Here is a close up of the flower for your inspection. It is really pretty I think and the crocheted ribbon looks great done this way. What is really nice is that you get two flowers from this technique since you cut the ribbon down the centre. It's a frilly card, but a really nice way to tell someone that they are special. Don't you think? All for now, Sue x

Wishing You The Best in Teal

2011-11-26T05:30:00.002Z

Good morning everyone! First things first, we have a winner in the comment game! On the post of Nov.22nd we had over 100 comments so I randomly drew out number 12 which corresponded to Vee Cassidy's comment. Congratulations to Vee! Just email me your postal details to confirm and I will post off your prize to you. Just to let everyone know, since I have been pre-scheduling my posts the announcements of the winners may lag behind the actual post by several days. Don't worry, though, I am keeping track of it and since the comments are time stamped. it is very easy to go back and check!

As you can see, I am going through a teal phase. Teal is just such a soothing colour I think, you may have to endure more of it! I embossed the background using my fretwork mask. Since I wanted to do a background that is larger than the mask size, I cut one edge off the mask. Now I can move it and line it up to do a larger area and it won't leave a line. In essense, you can make the background any size you want. I cut three sizes of the Labels 22 dies and added the matching Nestabling in the black rhinestones. It's a bit much, I know, but it's fun! I cut one of the fancy tags in aqua and cut it in half and added to either end of the largest Label 22 die. It has those "holding hands" swirls that are so versatile. I added a messy bow out of the teal vintage ribbon and a black organza rose for the centre. Two decorative pearl pins were just calling out to me to be added to the bow, so, of course, I had to oblige! Lol A bit of piercing a round the edge and we are finished. What do you think? All for now, Sue x

A Vertical Thank You

2011-11-25T05:30:00.009Z

Good morning! What do you say to a pink and teal thank you card? I have used an array of Spellbinders for this one, but what fun it was! Labels Twenty provided the backdrop for the focal element. I then cut out two consecutive sizes of the Fleur de Lis squares and cut them both in half from top to bottom. I mounted them to the outside edge of the teal label twenty die cut, leaving a gap in the centre. I stamped my sentiment on to a pale pink card and cut it with one of the fancy tag two dies. I cut two more of those out of the same pale pink and then cut two more out of a slightly darker hue of pink. The last two die cuts were then cut in half from tip to tip to be used as a shadow for each side of the pale pink die cuts. All three die cuts were then mounted vertically in the centre of the gap left by the square fleur de lis die cuts. I really like this primarily because the tags are almost always used for horizontally placed text stamps (and they are brilliant for that!), but don't let that restrict the way in which you use these dies. Think about cutting them in half so that the two end pieces are in tact and using them as extender pieces for label dies or even as fancy borders around your labels. I used a few matching colours of the vintage ribbon to ruche and make a bow to embellish the bottom of the card. I added some decorative pearl pins and some swirly pearlies to the background to finish the card. Just have fun playing with your Spellbinders and you never know what you will come up with! All for now, Sue x

Let Your Dreams Take Flight

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000Z

Hi blog friends! I thought that I would mix it up a bit today and show a card that was made about six months ago using the Spellbinders bird cage die set. I didn't get very much time to play with this die set as it had been added last minute to a show I was doing at the time. I think I have four or five cards total that use this set (mixed in with my backlog of card samples) but it quite lovely. I tried something different here and I was rather pleased with how it turned out. I used the actual die as a stencil for my card. I applied black soot distress ink through the die so that you get the very subtle hint of the birdcage on the background. I used the bird die from the set and mounted it in the centre of the floral doily pieces in the corner of the card. The back piece of background card was embossed using the floral embossing folder and I very lightly inked it around the edges with the black soot to bring the pattern into view. I wanted to bring a bit more of the coral colour in to the card for balance so I ruched the vintage ribbon down the side of the floral doily border and added a scrunched messy bow and a couple of black decorative pins as accents. A fun technique to give a try sometime! All for now,

Sue x

Taupe And Blue Finally Together!

2011-11-23T05:30:00.001Z

Good morning everyone! One of the things that I love most about crafting is playing with different colour combinations. Today was no exception as I have been wanting to put these two colours together since the day I bought this patterned background paper. The paper (purchased in the States at Hobby Lobby, sorry) has a soft flourish pattern to it in taupe tones and I envisioned it with a very bold blue accompanying it. I always say that I run out of time to do everything I want to do long before the ideas run out. This was no exception, but I decided that I had looked at that paper long enough, it was time to put it into action! I decided to pare it with the Labels twenty one, the Lace Doily Motifs, the Samantha Walker Twisted Metal Tag die and the Fancy Tag two. I really liked the way they all layered up to create the focal element here. I used a very light inking of black soot to frame in the sentiment here. The Lace Doily border provided the border edge for the entire piece and the blue card behind it helps show it off. The edge was pierced this time to help frame the card. The entire piece was finished with a fun bow of both the frilly edged ribbon in champagne layered with the vintage ribbon in sulphur blue and a taupe button and blue bakers twine. This one got a "happy dance" as I really liked the way it tuned out! All for now, Sue x

All That Glitters!

2011-11-22T06:30:00.002Z

Good morning to all! Today is the last day of my POTW shows, but the lovely Christine Emberson from the Spellbinders design team will be taking over. I do hope that you will give her all your support as she will be doing her very first TV shows ever! Since Christine is helping me with the shows, I am able to fly home to be with my family so a huge thank you goes out to her!
Today's post is a really simple, but elegant card that can be used for any sort of occasion with a simple change of the sentiment. I have to admit to a strangely odd propensity towards glitter card lately. I really have never used it ever, but I started using black glitter card behind negative cut out pieces, then white glitter card found it's way into my stash. Recently, I found this piece of background card at my local craft shop for 39p for a 12" x 12" and I couldn't resist it! The pink was soft enough and the pattern on it was rather nice so this is where it has ended up! As you can see, I did use some white glitter card as a matting layer between my piercing and bottom layer. I really like it just peeking out as it kind of helps to balance the bold glitterings of the background piece. As for the focal element, it is quite simply a piece of white card that has been die cut with the fleur de lis square die template and then topped with two pieces cut from the fancy tags two die and then mounted diagonally across each other. They form a really pretty scrolly square that just sits a top the fleur de lis square very nicely. I stamped my sentiment and then cut it out with one of the smallest fleur de lis squares, inked it a bit to frame it with the Victorian Velvet distress ink and mounted it in the centre of the focal element. the white frilly edged ribbon made a splendid bow for this creation and I topped it with a pink button and a bit of pastel pink bakers twine. I added a few tiny pink pearls from my craft stash to accent the corners and complete the card. All in all, a very quick, easy card to put together. You could change it to a "thank you" or a "special day" or something similar without any trouble at all. Hope you like it. All for now, Sue x

We Have Winners.. A Whole Bunch Too!

2011-11-21T12:10:00.000Z

Hello blog friends, old (as in friends, not age!) and many new ones too! Thank you ever so much for all your support, I cannot tell you how much it means to me to get such warm and caring emails. I spent most of this morning answering emails and getting caught up before making the several drawings for prizes for today. I am going to work my way all the way through to the Big prize winner at the end of the post.

Firstly, we have had over 100 comments on the blog posts recently so I have randomly picked numbers from the total number of posts and come up with winners for those.

For the blog post of Saturday the 19th, I picked out number 11 and that corresponds to the eleventh comment and that was left by...................................................................................
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Dutchess!!!

For the blog post of Sunday the 20th, I randomly picked out number 133 and that corresponds to the comment which was left by ...............................................................
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Crafty Loops!!!

Now on to the BIG BLOG CANDY DRAWING. Don't get too excited until the end because I always post third prize, then second prize and then FIRST prize.

Third prize goes to.........................................................................................................................................
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Janet Babar!!!!

Second prize goes to.................................................................................................
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Vie Carter!!!!

and now, the GRAND FIRST PLACE PRIZE of all the goodies shown in the pic on the blog goes to......................................................................................................................
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Drum roll please.............................................................................
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You know I love this part.........
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keep scrolling....
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Lindyloo!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to all the winners today! You will all need to email me to confirm your addresses before I post off your prizes. We will keep the blog candy going and draw names at every new 100 followers. I will get a new candy posted just as soon as I can for you, but please be patient as I am traveling soon.
I have shows today at 4pm and 6pm so I hope you will be able to watch. Thanks again for all your support! All for now, Sue x

The Simple Things!

2011-11-21T05:30:00.006Z

Hi guys! It's Monday morning and I am not scheduled for shows today until this afternoon at 4pm and 6pm. The support has been amazing for the blog (thank you so much!) and we went over our target goal so quickly and since we reached our goal of 2000 followers, I will be back later today with a separate post of the winners! Check back midday to see if your name is drawn!
I love this card as it is so simple. There is nothing tricky at all, just four small lace doilies cut in black for the background, mounted on to a piece of cream card. Then I cut one large Labels 23 and added the matching pearl Nestabling. I stamped my sentiment then cut it out using the next size smaller in the Labels 23 set, added a bit of Antique Linen distress ink and then mounted the nestabling on it also. Done! Oh and some piercing around the edge, but that's all. I love cream and black together (it looks like it is yellow, but it is truly cream and black in real life) and it always makes such an elegant card, doesn't it? And the sentiment is simple and perfectly apropos for this card too I think. We need more of these reminders in our busy lives sometimes. I am heading off on Wednesday to see my folks for Thanksgiving (a quaint American holiday involving family, friends and way too much food!) but it is one of the simple things in life that I love. I promise to keep the blog busy while I am away if you promise to visit it! All for now, Sue x

So Grateful

2011-11-20T06:00:00.000Z

Hi blog friends! I hope everyone is doing well today. I just want to say first of all that we are well over three quarters of the way to the next blog candy draw and that is the big one! How exciting is that! Thanks for all your support on this, I am really looking forward to reaching our target and drawing a winner! Do not forget that leaving comments after the new post each day will increase your chances too.
Todays POTW shows are scheduled for 9am, 4pm, 6pm, 7pm and a "walk on" the tool shed sometime between 12 and 2pm if you get a chance to watch.
For today's card I thought I would show you one that I made just recently for the POTW shows this week. It features the lacy circles and the Samantha Walker blossom tags for the focal element. I stamped the sentiment on to cream card and cut it out with the lacy circle die. I then cut two of the scalloped circles from the Samantha Walker set and offset them so they give a more lacy appearance. I backed it with the large scalloped circle from that same set. I cut several of the flourishes from another Samantha Walker set called Twisted metal dies and used them to frame the focal element. The striped background paper was cut at the bottom with the scalloped edgeabilities and a decorative insert. I cut one of the Twisted metal tag dies and then cut it in half and mounted it top and bottom of the card. I added some black rhinestone swirls and a small bow of black vintage ribbon and some piercing to finish the card off. A little different, perhaps even quirky looking, but I rather liked the way it came out. I hope you enjoy it! All for now, Sue x

Blossoming In Nature

2011-11-19T06:00:00.006Z

Good morning! Through the magic power of pre-scheduling my posts, you should be viewing this about the time I am hitting the road to go to the studio for my early start (but why are you up this early? LOL). I have shows scheduled today at 8am, 1pm, 4pm, 5pm and 7pm. I love the card in today's post, but sorry there is a bit of a shadow on it in the pic. The background was embossed with the hedged maze embossing folder on to cream card. I wrapped two pieces of zircon green vintage ribbon around it, then mounted it atop another piece of cream card that I pierced around the edge. For the focal element I used the square heart die in the back and the lacy circles for the sentiment. I inked through the die with Broken China distress ink to give it a soft frame. I mounted those on to another piece of cream card that I pierced around too. I finished the piece with three spiral flowers made of felt in varying shades. Aside from being a total "me" type of card for the obvious reasons, these are my favourite kind of cards as they could be given for any reason whatsoever and just make the recipient smile. I hope you like it and you will tune in sometime today to see more in the way of cards and demos. All for now, Sue x

All White Again!

2011-11-18T06:00:00.011Z

Good morning all! As promised a sneak peek at one of the new cards that I have been working on over the past few weeks. This one is probably, if not my absolute favourite, one of my favourites as I love the all white card. It doesn't photograph very well, but it is quite lovely in person. I am loving the Nestabling too! Yes it is on the shows this week, finally! Here we have Labels 23 and Labels 22 nestabling. I have used the Hedged Maze embossing folder on the background, you have to look hard for it, but trust me it is there.

Here is a close up at the flowers I made using the frilly edged white organza ribbon. I am planning on showing how to make these as well as another method using the same ribbon, it is very versatile. The Tim Holtz piercing ruler that I use for all my piercing is on the show again as well. It has been absolutely ages since we had it on any of the shows. So good to see it back! I will probably demo this card on the first show at noon so I hope you can tune in to watch. All for now, Sue x

Parisian in Teal

2011-11-17T06:32:00.000Z

Hi blog friends, I was having a play with the Parisian dies here with this card. They are truly among my favourite die sets that Spellbinders have ever released. While I made this card some time ago for the original release of these dies on Create and Craft, I wanted to let you in on a little secret...... These dies are going to be back on the POTW shows starting on Friday the 18th in case you missed them the first time around. Ideal TV is bringing back a great selection of dies that all sold out very quickly upon their launch so if you missed them then, now is your chance. The bundles will be different as they are based on availability of supply from Spellbinders, but they are all great sets! Just in case you have all of the dies that have been on previously (lucky you), there are going to be a few new Spellbinders dies that have never been shown on Create and Craft before also. The POTW shows kick off on Friday at noon and I have been working hard on new cards and demos for you, with a few surprises thrown in too! I hope you will tune in. I will be back tomorrow with a sneaky peek for you before the shows start. All for now, Sue x

Snowflakes Galore!

2011-11-16T06:00:00.004Z

Hi guys! Another Christmas card again today for you. Snowflakes, snowflakes and more snowflakes this time! I stamped a couple of different snowflakes from the Creative Expressions stamp set called Snowflakes and Sprigs, randomly all over a white piece of card. I used a clear perfect medium pad for this and then embossed them with Cosmic Shimmer True White embossing powder. I then used my Broken China and Dusty Concord Distress inks to blend colour on to the background randomly. Since the snowflakes are embossed, they will resist the ink so just go over the top of them and work the colour into all the intricate parts of the snowflake. Wipe with a tissue once you are finished to remove the ink from them. I then ran it through the Grand Calibur using my itty bitty polka dot mask. To bring out the embossed polka dots, I very lightly went over the top with the dusty concord ink again. I also went around the edge with it to frame the piece. Using my chalk white American seam binding, I dyed a piece to match using my broken china ink. To do this, simply swipe your ink pad on to your craft mat, add several spritz of water and roll your seam binding in it picking up the colour. It also helps if you wet your seam binding to get better coverage. Dry with a heat tool and scrunch to get that shabby chic look. If you want it darker, just repeat the process. I tied a messy bow around the piece with a couple of decorative stick pins and I added a small Spellbinders snowflake to the bow, then matted and layered with pale blue and eggplant (aubergine, sorry) card. I stamped my sentiment on white card and mounted my snowflake piece on to it. As a frame for the entire piece, I added pearl Pva dots around the edge. Are you in the mood for Christmas yet? All for now, Sue x

Peaceful Wishes

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000Z

Good morning all! This is one of those cards that I had no clue where I was going when I started and really surprised myself when I finished it! My goal was to use the holiday tag die set, but I didn't want to use it as just a tag. Dies need to have more that the expected use for me, something that justifies it's use (and expense) more than just the obvious. I like the tag set but I thought this "tag" would make a nice embellishment cut out of black glitter card as just a star in the sky. My monochromatic scheme may be a bit boring but there is something about the sereneness to it that I like. I sponged in some background clouds using a torn piece of copy paper and black soot distress ink. I added some hills of black card that just needed something so black PVA glue got the call! I stamped the pine tree and cut them out roughly and added a forest to my card. Stamped the sentiment in black archival, added my star and a tiny black and silver reversible ribbon. The card is matted on white with pearl PVA glue dots then finished with another layer of black. A bit out of my comfort zone, but fun every once in awhile I think! All for now, Sue x

Alcohol Ink Leaves

2011-11-14T06:00:00.002Z

Good morning everyone! Todays card was a project that I designed for a Dabble Day that I did last weekend in Leighton Buzzard. I didn't think that I had any photos of the projects, but I came across this one so I thought I would post it. We had a great day of "speed crafting" as there were six projects and everyone moves from table to table every 45 minutes. For this card, you drop alcohol ink in various shades (we used butterscoth, ginger, purple twilight and copper mixative) all over your craft mat. You have to work quickly as it dries very fast. You take a piece of gloss white card and with the glossy side to the mat, you pick up the ink by swirling your card in it. It gives a different effect than if you use the tool to apply it. It looks very much like encaustic wax to me. You can do another layer if you want the colour to be more intense. Then we dropped gold mixative on to our mat and used it as an ink for our stamp (we used a stamp off of the wildflowers stamp set that looks like webbing) and stamped it randomly over the piece. It gives the look of gold veins running through the background. Using the anti-static pad over the background first, we then stamped the grape leaf around two sides of the background and clear embossed. We repeated the same steps for our sentiment and then cut it out with Labels 22 and layered it with mounting foam on the background. I added a layer of white card to the background, then a bit of piercing and a final mat of black to complete the card. Total time to complete was under 45 minutes for this one. Hope you like it and if you made this card last weekend, I hoped you enjoyed making it! All for now, Sue x

Two Colour Ways!

2011-11-13T06:45:00.003Z

Hi blog friends! I have basically the same card here but done in two different colour ways for your inspection They both use the fancy ornament from the Christmas Filigree stamp set, which I love! On both cards, the ornament was simply stamped in black archival ink and embossed with clear powder and I think it looks stunning without any colour to it. The first one is one of my all time favourite colour combos, black and cream. I have to make a black and cream card for every show I am working on because I love that combo so much! I pulled out my octagon nesties for it here. I absolutely love octagon shape and I never get enough of a chance to use these! I inked the ornament with antique linen ever so lightly for an accent. The background was embossed with the star from that set and clear embossed for interest. I added some fancy lace from my craft stash, a border punch, some pearls, a ribbon and some piercing and it was finished.

Virtually the same card here, except with red and cream. Although the ribbon does look a little bit pink in the picture it is red and cream. I used Labels 22 for the ornament this time, but I still inked it with antique linen distress ink for interest. The lace is cream this time and I used the pearl PVA glue instead of piercing around the edge. The background was also stamped and embossed with the star and shows up quite a bit better in this picture. What do you say, which one do you prefer? All for now, Sue x

Holly Motifs and Accents

2011-11-12T07:00:00.001Z

Hi guys! I'm not sure if this technically qualifies as a card since there is not a sentiment on it, but I just could not resist layering these beautiful dies up as soon as I got my hands on them. I love this fine filigree type die, right up my alley. Usually when I first get a set of dies to making samples, I cut them all out of white card and keep them in a file so I can just see how they all look together. This set did not make it that far! I layed them on to a piece of red card and that was it, I had to finish putting it together. So I cut one more of the Holly accent pieces so I could have one on either side of the Holly Motif focal element, and locked their little side pieces together. This is another one of those ''holding hands'' type dies. I cut four corner pieces and added them to my unusually shaped rectangular card. It just needed a bit of paper piercing and some pearls for the centres to complete it and give it an elegant statement. Completely traditional and a far cry from some of the unusual Christmas colours of the recently shown cards, but I really like it nonetheless. All for now, Sue x

Black and Brown Elegance

2011-11-11T06:38:00.000Z

Hi bloggers! I hope this one isn't too dark for you as I seem to have moved from my green phase into one that is using quite a bit of brown lately. Although this card was made a while ago, I just realised that I hadn't posted it until now. I really like decorative papers that have patterns that are very muted, tone on tone and that is what I picked for this card. I really like the black and brown together, although, I would imagine it isn't every ones cup of tea. I have used the scallop edge and the heart insert edgeabilities for the four horizontal borders on the card. The focal element was created using the heart square and the Samantha Walker Blossom tag die and just stamping my sentiment in the centre. I did a tiny bit of inking around the edge to frame it. You would never guess it's my card with the ginormous bow, huh? LOL I really like the black organza rose in the middle and the decorative stick pins to complete it. Whatcha think? All for now, Sue x

A Pastel Christmas

2011-11-10T06:00:00.002Z

Hi blog friends! More Christmas today, but not the usual colour combos you would expect. Can you handle a pastel pink and blue as a Christmas card? I wasn't at all sure where I was headed when I started this one! I originally was going to just keep it to pale pink and dusty rose, but the blue snuck in there as it needed a frosty look to it. I embossed the Spellbinders snowflakes into the background of the card after I had stamped it with the snowflake from our Christmas Filigree stamp set and embossed with white powder. I then used the Spun Sugar distress ink and the Broken China distress ink to lightly add colour to the background. The stamped images acted as a resist while the ink highlighted the die embossed areas. I cut a frame from Labels eighteen and while in the die, inked it with spun sugar distress ink leaving the white edge. I mounted it up over my sentiment for dimension. With a piece of velvet ribbon that had some decorative cording on it (out of my craft stash), I ruched it up the side of the card. I cut out a few of the Spellbinder snowflakes to add to the ruching with some pink Bakers Twine too. I added some pearly swirlies that I coloured with a tiny bit of spun sugar reinker. The entire card was matted on pink card and framed with, you guessed it, what else but pearl PVA glue dots. You know I love them!

Here is a close up that shows the stamping and the embossed card background. Not my usual style, but I like doing things that are a bit different from time to time too. So what is the consensus on this one? Thumbs up or thumbs down? Be gentle.

We have a winner on our ''over 100 comments'' contest too. From the blog post on Tuesday the 8th, I picked number 22 randomly and that coincides with comment number 22 which was left by follower Edwina!!! Please email me to confirm your address before I post off your prize. Thanks for playing!

Don't forget to leave a comment for your extra entries into the blog candy contest. If you have any difficulties, email me! sue@particraft.co.uk All for now, Sue x

Plaid Poinsettias

2011-11-09T06:30:00.004Z

Good morning everyone! It was great to see all the wonderful comments left about the blog candy yesterday. remember to keep it up for extra chances in the candy draw! As for todays post, this is a special request from follower Babs, she wanted to see this card up close. I honestly thought that I had already posted this one, but I didn't see it when I had a look see back through the old posts. This is one of the Christmas cards that I made while I was away in Florida in August. It was a bit strange to be designing Christmas cards when it was sweltering heat outside, I have to admit! I did rather like the way it came out though. I used some decorative plaid (tartan?) paper I had to make the three poinsettias on the card. The Spellbinders layered poinsettia die makes a beautiful flower I think. I wanted the centre flower to be larger than the other two so I used the extra single leaf from the set to add larger flower bracts to the centre one. The three flowers were mounted on a white background that was embossed with the Creative Expressions Flourish folder designed by Sam Poole. There is a holly accents border, but I have to admit, it doesn't show up very well in the pic as it is white on white. I added a few swirls which were cut using the Samantha Walker Ornate tag set. The sentiment was stamped and cut out with the Picot edge die and layered on to a lace doily die. The entire card was framed with the dots of the pearl PVA glue. I hope it helps you get in the Christmas card making mood! All for now, Sue x

The Biggest Blog Candy Yet!

2011-11-08T05:00:00.020Z

Good morning blog friends! Today I am posting my biggest ever blog candy to date! The amount of crafting goodness here is mind boggling I think! This is a contest that will end when we reach a milestone of 2000 followers so I felt that the goodies should be fitting to that goal. I must say that when I began my blog a few years ago, I never imagined that I would ever get to this stage, so thank you so much for your support and wonderful comments since this all began. I would like to give back to you in the form of a really nice candy so here is what I am including. There are five A5 stamp sets, a Cut 'n Dry Foam pack, an embossing folder, THREE SETS OF SPELLBINDER DIES which have never ever been included in any of the candy prizes that I have offered, an Special Touch mask, two Adirondack pigment pads, two Tim Holtz Distress inks, Cosmic Shimmer film, a Clear Perfect Medium pad, a white pearl PVA and a black PVA glue, a black Archival ink pad, three Cosmic Shimmer glitters and three Cosmic Shimmer embossing powders and a huge pile of assorted ribbons, everything from frilly edged organza, polka dot organza, American seam binding, assorted colours of vintage ribbon, and satin reversible ribbons in various colours!!!!!! So let me know what you think of this spread of craft goodies? What would you do if your name is picked?

Now, you say, what do I have to do to win that lot of crafting goodness? Well, I think this definitely needs to be earned as well as won so here is the plan. This contest will be drawn when we reach the 2000 follower mark on the blog, but to be entered you need to do a few things.
1.) Be signed up as a follower on the blog and send me your postal details. You only have to do this once.
2). After each new post I make, leave a comment. Every comment will earn you another chance in the drawing. Tell me what you like about the post, tell me what you don't like about the post, tell me anything you like, your choice.
3). If you are having any difficulties leaving comments, then just send me an email at sue@particraft.co.uk
I just want to know that you have been by the blog and either of those two ways will do the trick! I want this candy to go home with one of the good blog followers that have perservered with me to get my blog going. It's that simple! I will draw a winner from the names of those who followed the three steps above when we reach the magical number of 2000 followers!
If you have any questions, email me at the address above.

All for now, Sue x

And The Winners Are....

2011-11-07T12:15:00.001Z

Hi blog friends! As promised, I am back today with the winners of the blog candy contest. Thank you for your patience as I know you are all eagerly waiting to see your name drawn! If you want to see the card for today's post, just scroll down the page to the post below this one.

The winner of THIRD prize is...........................................
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Eileen.fj

The winner of the SECOND place prize is....................
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CraftyCarol

And (drumroll please) the winner of the GRAND FIRST PRIZE is.....
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SANDRA RILEY !!!!!!!

Congratulations to all the winners of the blog candy contest. Please email me with your postal details at sue@particraft.co.uk so that I may verify the info before posting your candy to you. I will be back soon with new candy for you and since it is a milestone, it is going to be BIG, that's all I'm saying. Stay tuned! All for now, Sue x

Clean and Simple, Really!

2011-11-07T06:00:00.012Z

Good Monday morning all! You didn't think I could do it, did you? I mean a totally flat card with no ribbon or bows! Surprise, surprise! Not even a nestie on it! Well I didn't think I could do it either! LOL But here it is, my take on a clean and simple Christmas card. I did, however, use a nestie to cut out a large circle out of copy paper as a background that I sponged Broken China Distress ink through. I cut out a smaller circle as a moon for the background too. I dried the ink real well and rubbed my anti-static pad over it before stamping my tree in clear perfect medium and embossing it with silver powder. I stamped my sentiment in black archival ink and I added some snow drops with my Cosmic Shimmer Twinkles. I added a few score lines and then some border punching, matted it on silver card then black card. Voila, fini! Truly a ten minute card. I did have to fight hard to resist the urge to add a bow to it to be honest, but in the end, I think it is okay without any other embellishments. I hope you like it.

On another note, I will be back later on today with the blog candy contest draw and I'll announce the winners. The followers went over the target point on the weekend and I keep everything for the contest at work. So when I get into work later this morning, it will be my top priority to draw the winners names. Check back after lunch for the results! Thanks for your patience. All for now, Sue x

Autumn Is In The Air!

2011-11-06T06:30:00.005Z

Good morning everyone! How about an autumnal card for today's post. This card uses the Falling Leaves stamp set. I have stamped the leaves randomly over a piece of white card using a clear perfect medium pad. I embossed the leaves with clear powder. I wanted to show the faux batik technique with this piece so to do that I folded the card randomly all over so that fold lines were going every which way across my background. It is difficult to see in my photo, but you end up with these nice lines running through your background which give the illusion of batik cracks. Once you are happy with all your fold lines, you need to lightly spritz your card with water. Using a brayer, I inked it up with the Spice Big 'n Juicy pad. You do not want stripes on your background so you need to roll your brayer across the card from different angles to avoid this. If you have a stubborn spot that you can't get the ink to go into, then spritz the card again lightly and reapply the ink. I cut an aperture in the card with Spellbinders Labels 23. I then cut another piece of rust card with a smaller die from another label set (the name escapes me, I'm sorry). I stamped my sentiment on a piece of white card so that it was centered in the opening. I made a couple of flowers from the rust card and added some leaves as an accent. I finished the card by paper piercing around the edge to frame it and adding some pearly swirly embellishments. I am just loving the changing of the leaves right now so that was my inspiration for this one. Hope you like it! All for now, Sue x

No Calories Here!

2011-11-05T07:00:00.001Z

Good Saturday morning all! Today is the day for Sam's shows and I thought I would show a few more samples that I made for her. The first one is a bright and fun sample using her new candy shoppe stamps. I just love it when I have new designs from Sam to play with! She has been rather busy with her new little one lately though, so this is a real treat! I love colour and these are a perfect excuse for me to pull out some fun decorative paper and go to town! I did colour these with markers as I wanted the brightness.

And don't you just love the ''sweets 1p'' label? How old would you have to be to actually remember that?!! The good ole days, huh?

The second card here was made with the chocolate set and it is yummy! Like the title says, though, no calories, just good fun!

Here is a close up of all those candies. I stamped them using a coffee archival ink pad and embossed them with clear. It really does look like chocolate too! Don't forget to tune in today at noon and 5pm to see Sam's other creations. I know she has some special demos planned too! All for now, Sue x

A Sample For Sam Poole's Show

2011-11-04T07:39:00.000Z

Hi blog friends! I want to show you a sample card that I made for Sam Poole's shows on Saturday the 5th. Sam has two new stamp sets called Candy Shoppe and Chocolate. Two of my favourite things, I like the sound of those already! Her shows at at 12:00 and 5pm so be sure to tune in to see what exciting demos she has planned for you. I used her empty candy jar here and stamped it with these chocolate candies by repeating the stamp and masking. I coloured them with my distress inks by swiping them on my craft mat and picking up the colour with a fine paintbrush. I stamped a sentiment on the label and added it to the jar and tied a bit of Bakers Twine around the lid. I mounted it in the Spellbinders Polka Dot frame. I have used some of the decorative papers that will be on the show also. I love the purple and brown combo. The bow is made up of three colours of vintage ribbon, riveria lilac, amber brown and lilac with a button and some more Bakers Twine. I added a bunch of buttons from my craft stash just because I thought they looked fun (and chocolate is definitely fun!) I finished the card with the new purple violet PVA glue since it looks like candy dots itself! Don't forget to tune in! All for now, Sue x

Gingham And Girlie!

2011-11-03T07:00:00.001Z

Good morning all! From Steampunk to girlie! I'm just keeping you on your toes, aren't I?! Hopefully between yesterday and today, there will be something to appeal to most. I don't consider myself a ''pink'' person, but every once in a while, I do rather enjoy a spot of pink as long as it's a bit muted. This card is really rather a dusty rose in real life, to be honest. I used the embossing folder called'' Tied Together'' once again for the background and a bit of a pink gingham paper that I had for the top of the card. I edged the gingham with victorian velvet distress ink to mute it a bit and then added a piece of our new pearly swirlies. I dyed some American seam binding using the same distress ink. Once I had dried it well, I ruched it across between the two papers and tied a messy, scrunched bow with it too. I cut my focal element with labels 10 and I used blossoms four for the inside to create a frame. I stamped my sentiment and then cut it out with a smaller die from the blossoms four set and inked it while it was still in the die. Both pieces were mounted using foam pieces to create dimension. I cut out the rose creation dies in all the sizes in coconut white card, then inked them all while in the dies using Victorian Velvet distress ink again. I love the pretty white edge you get. I think it really sets the flowers off nicely. I cut a few of the leaves from that die set and inked them with Forest Moss Distress ink for the same effect. I mounted the two flowers to the side of the focal element and added another piece of the swirl to the bottom right. I pierced around the edge with the Tim Holtz design ruler to complete the card. I hope you enjoy it! All for now, Sue x

Steampunk and Flowers? Why Not!

2011-11-02T05:30:00.005Z

Hello blog friends! More steam punk again today. I hope you like this card as it is one of my favourites and it took me forever to get it to load on to my blog. I kept loading sideways, even though it was the right way up when I started. I have never had that happen before, but I finally decide to try and trick my computer and it worked! I turned it sideways in my photo file and then loaded it, and it came in right way up! Anyways, here it is after much fiddling with it. I love the way the background came out in this. I took my clear perfect medium and swiped it over my time embossing folder, but only in areas randomly. I embossed my card, then I used ancient copper embossing powder over it . It kind of gives it a patina look, I think. I distressed around the edges with my scissors and mounted it on to some lined kraft card that I had. I ran a piece of black craft metal through my Grand Calibur with the metal mask to emboss it. Then I used the alcohol blending solution to remove the colour from the mask in the raised areas, leaving the silver to show through. I mounted that piece in the bottom corner and stamped the vintage inventor on kraft card and mounted him on top. I had some matboard gears that I painted copper and added some beads to and strung some chain through them with a gear. Then I made some flowers for the corner and added some small tickets I stamped. Who says steampunk can't have flowers?! I stamped a few more larger tickets for the top cornerand attached them with a faux screw brad and added a metal photo corner to finish it off. I wasn't sure where I was going when I started this one, but I rather like where it ended up! You just never know sometimes! All for now, Sue x

A Monochromatic Piece

2011-11-01T06:00:00.002Z

A very good morning to all! Try as I might to get a good picture of this card, this is the best I could do! So sorry about that as this card is really rather pretty in real life. There are a couple of things about this card that I will explain. It was to be a demo on the last set of shows, but there was a bit of a last minute change in the embossing folders on the show. The two that I used here did not actually show up in the last shipment due to a bit of a mix up. We are told they will now be available late November, so you are actually getting a cheeky sneak peek! The white background has been embossed with houndstooth folder. The black accent piece has been embossed with the folder called "Tied Together." I am quite taken with both of these so I can't wait until the stock arrives. I used the new silver PVA glue to make small dots at each junction in the embossing. The sentiment was stamped and a frame of silver card was cut out of label 10 and labels 20, then an insert piece of black card was cut with a smaller labels 10 die. I cut a faux nestie using the largest size of the labels 10 as a guide too. Wrapped a couple of pieces of black vintage ribbon around the card and tied a messy bow and then added some Baker twine and a zipper rose. I decided on the black rather than the silver PVA glue to create a bolder frame for the entire card and three black glints in the upper corner to finish it off. Enjoy! All for now, Sue x

A Card From Nature

2011-10-31T08:30:00.000Z

Hi blog friends! If you don't have a great deal of time, this is the card for you to make. It only uses a small bit of decorative paper as an accent so you don't have to part with too much of your treasured stash. I really liked the autumnal colours to this piece of paper. I cut a decorative edge into it with the edgeabilities for some added interest then matted it with black card. The focal piece is simply the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Rectangles cut out of black in the largest size. I stamped my sentiment on white card and cut it out with the next size of the same die set. I left a bit of space to the right and stamped my ivy down the side while the piece was still in the die. I also used the die as an edge to make stitch marks around the focal element with a fine tipped black pen. I embossed the top of the background card with the leaf mask and then wrapped my frilly edged ribbon around it and made a bow. I added some of the moss green vintage ribbon to give the card a bit more colour. Topped it with a wood button, a piece of jute tied through it and a few decorative stick pins. I layered up the piece on a larger piece of white with a pierced edge to it and finished it with a mat of black for balance. It sounds like a lot of work but it was a very quick card to complete. Give it a try if you are in a pinch! All for now, Sue x

Vintage steampunk

2011-10-30T07:30:00.001Z

Good morning everyone! I hope the extra hour today has gone to good use ( a nice relaxing lie in, works for me!). More steampunk to show today. This card was quite fun to make as it was actually my first bit of play with the Distress stains. I stamped the locomotive on to cream card with a clear perfect medium pad and embossed in clear. Then I used the vintage photo distress stain and went over the entire piece from edge to edge. The train shows up as a resist this way. I used a bit of black soot to distress the edges and then added four of our faux screw brads to the corners and mounted the piece on a black mat. The background was made by distressing a piece of decorative paper by crumpling and slightly going over it with the vintage photo distress ink directly from the pad. I added a few stamped gears and cogs to it too. On the left side of the card, I added a strip of the cotton hemp ribbon. First I stamped on it with the gears from Sam Poole's steampunk stamp set and I clear embossed them. I used the vintage photo stain again and coloured the entire piece with it. The gears show up as a resist here also. I stamped the phrase also in perfect medium, embossed and used the stain once again to create another resist. I added a few more faux screw brads to the sentiment. The card was assembled and I included a few of the Tim Holtz gears and sprokets for texture on the card, matted it on a piece of black card to finish it off. Surprise, no nesties this time, but I couldn't resist a little bit of ribbon! A really fun and easy card to make that I'm sure the guy in your life would certainly enjoy! All for now, Sue x

Swirly Steampunk!

2011-10-29T07:00:00.001+01:00

Good morning everyone! More of Sam Poole's steampunk stamp sets for todays post. This one was one of my favourites of the steampunk samples that I made. I really liked the way the reddish brown looked with the turquoise. I wasn't sure when I started it, but in the end, I was rather happy with it. The card colour choices were based on the Tim Holtz button embellishments that I wanted to use, that was my inspiration for this one! I embossed the background with the gears and cogs mask to give the piece texture. I then made a tag shape from some white glossy card and used my alcohol inks on it. As memory serves me, it was butterscotch, copper mixative and a bit of cranberry for the background applied with the alcohol ink felt tool. I stamped it in black archival ink with some of the steampunk stamps and then I used my grid mask to emboss it (it is difficult to see in the pic though). I made several different sized rosettes using decorative paper (Graphic 45, I believe) and then topped them with the Tim Holtz trinket buttons. I mounted them on the card with a few swirls that I had in my stash that were made of black matboard. I punched a hole in the top of the tag and added some seam binding that I had dyed to match and scrunched. A bit of a departure from my usual style, but that is the fun of it, I think! Hope you enjoy it even if it isn't what you expected! All for now, Sue x

2011-10-28T05:30:00.001+01:00

Morning all! Back to earthtones and a simple card for todays post. This card features the Spellbinders Parisian die in the Motifs and Accents sets. These are some of my absolute favourite die sets as I feel they are lovely, intricate dies, but also very easy to use in your card making. For the focal point, I simply stamped my sentiment on tan card and cut it out with the largest parisian die and did a bit of inking through the die with my Tea Dye Distress ink to highlight it. I then cut another of the same die in black to add a shadow behind the sentiment die. I cut two of the Parisian borders and attached them back to back so that I was able to lace the vintage ribbon back and forth across them. You can see a close up of the laced border below. A little tip for doing this, only glue down the decorative edge of the border leaving the straight side unattached so that you can slip the ribbon in and out easily. Finish the border with a messy bow using two strands of the amber brown and one strand of the black vintage ribbon. I added a black button with a piece of jute string (we can't have naked buttons!) to the top of my bow. I filled in the right side of the card with the black rhinestone swirls for accent. The edges were finished with my favourite Cosmic Shimmer black PVA glue (no surprise there, huh?!) Another very quick, easy card to make. I hope you like it! All for now, Sue x