On Your Special Day

Hi my crafty friends!  Think navy blue not black here for this one.  I used my Cascading Hearts folder to emboss the white background.  Then I used my Heart Lattice folder to create a wide border to go down the side.  At each lattice cross there is a tiny heart, but I have added a pearl there to accentuate the lattice pattern.  I used the Adorning Squares to cut the decorative navy frame for my focal element.  For this, I lined up the largest four dies in the set and this is what you get. I cut another using just the largest and the inside frame die out of white card so I was able to glue a white backing piece on my frame.   I placed mounting foam on the back to raise the frame.  I stamped my sentiment and embossed it in silver.  I cut it out with the smaller die in the set and recessed it down in the centre of my frame.  I used a length of the sheer ribbon that is navy on one side and silver on the other side to tie a double bow.  I added a Tim Holtz embellishment to the centre of it and used two pearl stick pins as accents.  I matted the piece with a thin mat of navy blue before adding my double white mats that I pierced the edges on the inner mat.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8 1/2" in size.  I think it would make a lovely wedding card, they don't always have to be all white, now do they!  All for now, Sue x

Sneak Peek / Fabulous Friend

 Hi bloggers!  I selected this card to show today as it showcases one of the new dies, my new line of "stamps to die for" which are on the show and one of my new embossing folders, plus I really liked the way it came out!  I cut the bottom edge of my soft gold card using two of the scalloped border dies.  Aren't they so pretty!  I don't think that these have been on any of the shows since they were released.  Next I embossed the soft gold card using my folder called "Tapestry." I embossed it while the dies were still in place by keeping the folder open, covering it with my tan mat, adding three sheets of card and the raspberry plate.   Once embossed, I wanted to give it the look of old world metal so I used the gilding wax in an assortment of colours, enchanted gold, patina and copper.  I used Black Soot over the top direct from the pad to distress it.  I cut a white piece using one of the scallop border cutting edges and taping the two pieces together.  I cut a longer piece of black card so it was just peeking out the bottom of the card.  Next I cut a frame out of black card using the two largest sizes of the Opulent Ovals.  I stamped the Vine Scroll stamp using a clear perfect medium pad and heat embossed with gold powder.  I cut it out with the matching Labels 30 dies and mounted it over my stamped sentiment with 3D foam pieces.  I made a rose out of the soft gold card and sugared it with Rock Candy Dry Glitter.  I mounted it atop a white messy bow and a black jute accent.  I finished it with two black crystal stick pins.  I added some flatback pearls to the focal element and the bottom scallop, pierced the edges to complete my card.  I hope you like it!  There are a bunch of new items on the shows, including my new embossing folders and "stamps to die for," but please don't wait if you like them as I was hoping to get a bit more stock than there is.  If they do sell out, I will be sure to put them back on further shows so don't worry!  There are six new folders in all and they are quite different, so there is a real variety of things you can do with them and looks you can achieve.    Don't miss the first demo in the 9pm hour as I hope to show you something really fun you can do with them right off the bat!  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8" in size.

   The charity auction closed last night and I was incredibly thrilled with the results.  I do plan on telling you how much money was raised but I thought it would be fun to see what your guess is.  I auctioned off 15 cards in total, the amount was not a rounded amount, it ended in pence, so take a guess.  The person who comes the closest without going over will win a prize (I love giving stuff away, so this is just an excuse for me! LOL) All guesses must include a pence amount to them (for example, 150.43, not just 150.00) that way there isn't quite the likelihood of having a bunch of the same guesses.  Just leave your guess in your comment.  I won't be able to announce the winner until next week, however.  That brings me to my second item that needs to be mentioned.  This week, I do the POTD on Tuesday evening and all day Wednesday, then the next day I leave for Ally Pally in London to setup and do the show there and I won't be back home until Sunday evening.  The weekly comment game winners will not be announced until Monday the 15th.  I have done all the blog posts for the week so it is just up to Blogger to get them up as scheduled.  I will not have internet access after Thursday until I return.  Any emails will not be answered until Monday, sorry about that.  Don't forget to tune in tonight at 9 pm and 11pm (if you are a night owl).  All for now, Sue x

Treasured Memory

 Good morning all!  I was going to put up a sneak peek today of tomorrows show samples, but my camera had other ideas and decided it needed to be charged.  So I will be taking pics of all my samples on Monday so I will be able to post one for you on Tuesday.  I will try to pick out one that uses my new A4 embossing folders on it as, yes, they are on the shows tomorrow.  I am very excited about them and really hope that you like them as well.  There are six new designs in all, but I will tell you more in tomorrows post.  For today, I picked one of the cards that I really love from the March 4 Day Deal shows that I did.  I had planned on demoing this one, but the Vintage Florets sold out very quickly.  I started with a piece of dark peach card and stamped my sentiment in the upper middle area in black archival ink.  I used the Rye Flourish stamp and a clear perfect medium pad to add watermark areas around the edge.  I cut one of the Decorative Oval Window from Heartfelt Creations, nipped out the cross bar in the centre and added some foam mounting to the back and positioned it over my sentiment.  I cut one of the Decorative Lace Borders in milk card and cut the lattice area so it was separate from the rest of the border.  I backed the lattice piece with a strip of milk card and added foam mounting pieces to the back.  I mounted the border in two pieces at the bottom of the card, tucking the cut end under the lattice strip piece.  Next I cut several of the Vintage Floret in varying sizes in milk card, enough so I could make five flowers.  I stamped the pieces by inking the stamp and pressing the die cut to the stamp.  I used Tattered Rose and Victorian Velvet to ink the flower pieces to match the background card.  I assembled the flower using the exact directions in my Blossom Five Full Flower tutorial the the top of the blog.  I made one large, one medium and three smaller sized flowers and adhered them around my oval window.  I cut some leaves from the Bitty Blossoms set and added them to my flowers.  I added three pearls above my sentiment and pierced the edges of my card to complete it.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Life Is Better

Hi guys!  Remember this one?  My ode to grunge!  Who said hearts always have to be pretty!  Every once in a while you just have to let loose and try something different.  This may not be my favourite card, and it may not even be to your taste, but I had a ton of fun making it!  I started with a piece of coordinations kraft core centre red card.  I used the Lattice embossing folder from Creative Expressions (designed by Sam Poole) and embossed the background.  I lightly sanded the top of it to reveal the kraft core centre.  I used the edge of my scissors to distress around the edges, added a bit of curling to the corners and a few tears in the edges too.  Next I cut a strip of hessian (burlap, to my fellow Americans) and I pulled a bunch of the threads out to open the weave up more.  I glued it across my background for texture.  I had some old matboard swirls laying around in my stash so I painted them.  I used the Eco green red as a base, then coated them with watered down PVA glue and put a layer of gold on top.  I heated it and wiped across it to take some of it away, giving a further distressed look.  I glued them in place then started in on my focal element.  I cut a piece of kraft card in a two inch strip and stamped it with a snow cap pigment pad and a swirl stamp.  I then scored it so I was able to concertina fold it to make my rosette.  I glued the ends together to form it and used several glue dots to hold it down in place (note: hot glue is better for this, but I always end up burning myself so I avoid it like the plague!)  I swiped the edges of it with some gold paint very lightly.  I cut the small heart in the timeless Amour set in red, then cut the small heart insert with the outer heart die in kraft card to glue over the top, giving you the heart element shown.  I glued it in the centre of my rosette to complete my focal element. I stamped my sentiment on kraft card and cut it out with the fancy tag die.  I lightly inked it with Antique Linen distress ink while still in the die.   I pierced the edges of the double kraft card mat to complete the card.  Grunge, grunge, grunge and more grunge! I promise a girlie one tomorrow!  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8" in size. 

 

Yesterday, I put up the last of the charity auction cards for awhile.  I need to get all of the cards sent out before I leave for the States later this month.  I don't feel that I can sucessfully continue with the auction while I am away, but I would like to pick it back up when I return as there has been an amazing amount of interest and we have raised some money for a worthy cause.

 

Now for the weekly Comment game winners.  We had two extra qualifying posts this week also, so lots of winners!

For the week of April 7th, the winners are:

 Debbie Ravenshill!!!

Lisa Durno!!!

Phil D!!!

 

For the extra qualifying post on March 30th, the winners are:

Christine (andypandy)!!!

Anne O!!!

Jackie Trinder!!!

 

For the extra qualifying post on April 1st, the winners are:

Gwen70!!!

Sue Oakley!!!

Sandybee!!!

 

Congratulations to all!  Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com to confirm your address and claim your prize.  Thanks for all your lovely comments, I really appreciate them every one of them!  All for now, Sue x

Just For You

Hi guys!  Labels 20 again today.  This card is white with a bit of silver and black to it.  I embossed the white background with the Floral embossing folder.  I cut the largest label 20 die in white and added the matching black rhinestone nestabling to the edge.  This served as the bottom layer for my focal element.  Next I stamped the Justrite stamp from the Kindness set using a clear perfect medium pad and I heat embossed with black embossing powder for a tone on tone look.  I cut it out with the matching die and on the inside I used the fancy tags two die so I created a frame of sorts.  I cut another labels 20 out of silver card and glued the two pieces together. When I demoed this one on C & C, I added clear micro beads to the silver die cut and thought it came out quite pretty.  I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with one of the smaller Labels 20 dies.  I inked it lightly with Black Soot while still in the die.  I mounted it on foam in the middle for dimension.  I created a plaited ribbon border for the bottom of my card using the reversible black/silver satin ribbon.  I have a tutorial showing how to do this at the top of the blog now.  I used the same ribbon, but in a thinner width to add a decorative bow.  A black Dazzler and stick pins completed the embellishment nicely.  I added some black rhinestone swirls to the top and bottom opposite corners.  I pierced around the edges using a piercing ruler to complete the card.  Finished dimensions are 7 1//2" x 8 1/2" in size.

Get Well Soon

Hello my crafty friends!  A lovely rose for today and I do love this rose stamp from the Bella rose set by Heartfelt Creations!  I stamped the rye grass flourish from Heartfelt Creations all over the background using a clear perfect medium pad.  I heat embossed it with white powder for a tone on tone look.  I cut the heart aperture out of the centre using the Timeless Amour die.  I cut another of the same die but out of peach card this time.  I stamped another piece of white card with the matching heart stamp and embossed it in white.  I mounted my background on foam for dimension and lined up my stamped heart with the aperture.  I glued the peach heart edge die inside the aperture.  I stamped the rose in black and coloured it with Distress markers and coloured pencils.  I cut it out with the matching die and mounted it in the centre of the heart aperture.  I cut a decorative lace border out of white card.  I nipped it apart giving me three distinct sections.  I matted a piece of white card behind the lattice section and used it on the bottom of my card.  I placed the scallop section next and at the top I glued the third section of the border.  I matted the entire piece with a thin mat of peach, then a double white mat.  I pierced the inside mat and added a tiny bow tied out of seam binding and a small heart tag with a sentiment stamped on it to finish my card.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Just Because

Morning everyone!  A pale yellow and silver/grey offering for today.  I started with a piece of decorative backing paper from my stash, which determined my card colours.  I stamped two of the Justrite scalloped border stamps using a clear perfect medium pad.  I added silver shine embossing powder and heat embossed them.  I used the matching scallop edgeability die to cut both borders out.  I added some foam mounting pieces to raise the borders on the top and bottom of my card.  Next I used the grey card and cut two of the smaller windows from the Chateau Gate die set by Heartfelt Creations.  I nipped out the centre windows and strip and glued the bottoms end to end.  I cut a labels 18 frame using two of the sizes in the set.  I cut a forked strip and stamped a decorative swirl across it using a perfect medium pad to give it a watermarked look.  I used the strip to weave through the windows and label frame and hold them in place.  I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with the labels 18 die.  I used the die and traced around it on a piece of grey card and then hand cut it to make a Faux nestie mat for my sentiment.  I mounted it in the centre of my focal element.  I double matted the card in pale yellow and use the Cosmic Shimmer silver PVA glue to make dots all the way around the edge.  Finished dimensions are 6 1/4" x 6 1/2" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Just A Note

 Hi bloggers!  The title of this post is not only the sentiment on my card, but also a reminder to me that I have a few notes to mention too as I have been terribly remiss in not blogging about a few events going on at the moment.  I do these posts several days ahead usually so I sometimes forget about things that need to be said on the day.  First off and just a note to say that Creative Expressions is having it's first ever design team members blog hop starting today at 10 am.  Here is the link for it and all the details  http://blog.creative-expressions.uk.com/2013/04/bloghop.html so you can pop over and check it out.  Another note that there is a Creative Expressions demo being done by Pam Smith at the Martell Press in Cliftonville, Margate today from 3 to 6pm.  Pam is a great demo artist so if you are in the area, do stop by!  And lastly another note, our Hels Sheridan is on C & C doing the four day deal featuring the Melt Pot by Ranger.  I caught a few of her earlier shows and they were brilliant, you are going to want to start melting that UTEE once you see her demos!

 Now for the card today.  One of the things that I have wanted to do lately on my shows is bring back some of the older dies.  There are some really fabulous dies out there that we tend to overlook once we have new ones in our sights.  I rarely ever get to go back and use older dies but I have been allowed to add some into the show polls lately.  Today's card was the result of that.  I started by embossing our peach card using the Garden Lattice embossibility folder for my background.  I cut two of the Moroccan borders out of white card and glued them down the sides.  For my focal element, I picked the Splendid Circle die and cut two of them in black.  I scored across both of them in intervals and cut to the centre.  I folded the score lines in concertina fashion to create a half to my rosette with each die piece.  I glued them together to form the rosette.  I cut one of the smaller circles from the set in white for the centre of the rosette, then cut a Venetian motif in white.  I nipped the ends of the Venetian motif and used four of them to hold my sentiment piece which was stamped in black and cut out with the nested medallion die out of peach card.  I tied a double bow out of silky crush ribbon and glued one of the new small cameos in the centre as an accent,  I matted the piece with a black layer to which I added black PVA glue dots.  I finished the piece with a double mat of white card with the inner layer paper pierced to complete the card.  Don't forget to use your older die sets, especially too because they will mix and match beautifully with any newer sets you may purchase.  Finished dimensions are 7 1/2" x 8" in size.  Also, just to a add another little note, yesterday's card with the vellum overlay, many of you had asked how I attached it.  I used a small drop of Cosmic Shimmer glue in each corner, then wiped it off with my finger so there was just a bit of it left and then I stuck down the vellum.  I had planned on having to hide the glue, but it turns out, it didn't really show so it wasn't a problem!  All for now, Sue x

My Garden Of Friends

 Morning all!  More florals today (I am hoping that spring will take the hint! LOL)  I started by stamping the French Rose  background stamp by JustRite on white card with a black archival ink.  I coloured it with a combination of distress markers and pencils.  Next I cut several of the Ornate Square die and cut it up so that I could use the pieces to peek out from behind the edge of the background.  I glued a piece of vellum over the top of the background to give it a softer, shaded look.  I stamped my sentiment on grey card and cut it out with the tag from the Ornate Squares set.  I over stamped it in white using the text area of the background stamp.  I stamped one of the Ornate Happiness stamps using a clear perfect medium and white embossed it on blush card.  I cut it out and mounted it so the corners went through my ornate sentiment tag.  I mounted the piece in the upper corner of my background.  I matted the entire piece with pink and grey mats to finish my card.  Finished dimensions are 6" x 7" in size. All for now, Sue x

So Thankful

 Hi bloggers!  Poppies, I just love poppies, don't you?  When I saw this set (Labels 29 Poppies)from JustRite, I knew I wanted to use them straight away.  It was first set in the bunch that I opened.  I started by stamping the Floral Flourish stamp on the top of the white background card.  I used a clear perfect medium pad and I heat embossed it with white powder for a tonal effect.  I stamped my sentiment (from the Good Friends Labels 29 set by Justrite stamps)in the lower corner in black archival ink.  I also added a bit of a watermark with a swirl stamp in the opposite corner.  I used some lipstick red seam binding and tied a piece between the two sections and added a messy bow, back Dazzler and stick pins.  I covered a piece of white card with some sticky adhesive sheet and cut the Ornate Square die.  Once cut, I peeled the backing paper and covered it with Mica flakes (luna silver)  for texture.  I stamped the poppies in black and coloured them with Distress markers and used a white pencil for highlights.  I used the Vintage Label Two die and cut the poppies.  I simply cut the top half of the poppies for my focal element.  I used a soft blue pencil to add highlights to the background.  I mounted the poppies in the centre of the ornate square and pierced the edge of my double mat to complete the card.  Finished dimensions are 6 1/2" x 8" in size.
Now for the winner of the card drawing for Saturday's giveaway card.   Thank you for all your lovely comments, I really do appreciate all of them.    The name drawn was JulieMCrane!!!  Congratulations!  Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com  to claim your prize.  All for now, Sue x