A Card From Nature

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

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!

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

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

Surprise!

Hi Blog friends!  I bet this one caught you off guard, didn't it?  Just when you think you will find a post with another frilly girly type card, I give you Steampunk! I had completely forgotten that I made a bunch of steampunk style cards for Ally Pally in September.  There are a scad of these that are mixed in with the backlog of cards that I have been posting recently.  Hopefully, you will find the change refereshing, or at least, interesting, even if it isn't your taste. Every once in awhile, you just have to get inky and  this card was done entirely with Pumice Stone Distress ink.  I first stamped the vintage inventor in the centre of the card using a clear perfect medium pad and clear embossed him.  This created a resist which I inked over and around in a halo effect using the pumice stone ink.  I stamped some of the extra stamps from this set (which is from Sam Poole by the way) in the background and down a strip of card that shows from under my film strip and acetate.  I stamped and cut out the pressure gauge and added a few of the Tim Holtz metal gears for texture.  I inked the chalk white seam binding with the pumice stone ink and made a messy bow and topped it with a black zipper rose.  To complete the card,I distressed the edges with a pair of scissors and then inked them and  matted it with a piece of black card in an offset manner.  All in all, an incredibly quick card to put together and especially nice if you know someone who loves steampunk.  What do you think, why don't you have a go at it!  All for now, Sue x

The Can Can Card

Good morning all!  As Nigel has dubbed this my Parisian Can Can Card, I guess I will stick with that name.  I was going for a kind of petticoat effect here using the parisian border dies from Spellbinders.   I cut out eight of them in varying shades of gray and yellow to match my card.  You know how much I just love that colour combo!  Just by lining them up in alternating colours, you get this sort of petticoat effect for the bottom of the card.  Too much fun, I think!  I used the fretwork mask to emboss the background piece, but you may have to click on the card to enlarge it and see it well. I cut out the Fleur de lis die and then cut it in half so that I could mount it to the top and bottom of the background.  I then layered up my beaded square on top in the diamond orientation which hid the cut area.  I cut out a labels twenty die for my sentiment and two ''holder'' pieces from the fleur de lis collection.  The lovely new silver PVA glue from Cosmic Shimmer was used to make dots and frame the card to draw the eye into it.  I know that I use this glue a lot, but if you haven't tried it yet, it is amazing stuff.  It is also so easy to use, keeps its shape and dries very hard.  It's a real fun way to finish your card edges.  Don't forget about your edges, I always say!  Hope you are inspired by yet another yellow and gray creation of mine.  All for now, Sue x

A Vintage Card With Roses

Hello blog friends!  The inspiration for this card was simply some new paper that I found at Ally Pally and wanting to make some of my new vintage ribbon roses.  I used a piece of this decorative paper as a background and the reverse side of it for a smaller accent piece.  Since the colours in it matched the vintage ribbon so nicely, I decided to make another grouping of the roses to go with it. There is a close up below for you. To make these, you need a small length of the ribbon, about 18 inches.  Attach the 1/2 width of red line tape to the bottom edge of the ribbon.  Fold the very end of it diagonally down so if the end frays, it will not show.  Then simply roll it to get the centre of the flower.  Once you have that tight centre, begin to make the ribbon ruffle a bit by tucking it up into the tape as you go.  The larger the flower you want, the more you need to make it ruffle.  If you get to the end of the ribbon and want it to be a bit larger, just another piece to the outside and continue on. You can cut off any excess of the tape when finished too.   This is a very quick and easy flower to make.  Since it has that shabby chic look to it when finished, you can be a bit messy with it and it still works.  Right up my alley!  I added these fun suede leaves to the grouping to help finish it off.  As you can see, I cut the lacy circle nestibility so that about a quarter of it is missing.  I just wanted it to be a little bit less perfect of a circle so the card would have an edgier feel to it.  Nesties do not have to stay as they are, you can cut them, fold them, scrunch them, layer them,  you name it and that's part of their versatility as a crafting tool.  Hopefully that will help you look at them differently every time you pick one up to use and expand your crafting arsenal too.

I stamped the sentiment on one of the fancy tag dies and stenciled through it to highlight it.  I added to the  card by using the new Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue in gold and making dots around not only the outside edge, but also the smaller accent piece of card.  The black rhinestone swirls just called out to me so I added some to the decorative paper and three black glints  to complete the card.  I rather like this one with it's vintage feel  even if it isn't as frilly as I usually do, what do you think?  All for now, Sue x

A Girlie-Girl Card

Hello to everyone!  I have chosen a wine and rose coloured card for todays post.  This card was to have been a demo for the past weeks shows but there were two shows that were cut from the last day due to the lack of remaining product. While I am on the subject,though,  I would like to say a great big thanks for all your support and incredibly kind emails during the shows.  It is lovely (albeit , a bit embarrassing too)  to hear such wonderful things read out from all your emails.  I am hoping that I can give back to you through my blog by posting daily. (that is the goal, at least!)

This card uses the Spellbinders beaded square nestie in the largest size, then a frame cut from the blossoms four set and the small labels four for the sentiment piece all layered up for the focal element.  Easy as pie!  I used an embossing folder for the background and you should be able to see it in the close up pic below.  I added some frilly edged dusty rose ribbon down the side of the card and tied it into a knot rather than a bow this time.  I added three pink organza roses, but I inked them softly with Victorian Velvet Distress ink to match the card.  I also used my heat tool on one of them to shrink it slightly.  Organza melts very easily under heat so you have to use short blasts from your tool or it will shrivel up too fast.  It is an easy way to create dimension with your flowers though.  I completely the card by adding some of the new pearl swirls along the right hand side of the card.  I love the romantic feel they give to a card!  I hope it's not too girlie for you, do let me know!  All for now, Sue x

All New Blog Candy and A Card!

Hi blog friends!  It's that time again!  Are you ready to win all new blog candy???  What do you think of this lot?  There are five sets of A5Stamp sets for you.  A set of Tim Holtz Grunge board pieces, a fun mask to play with, a rub it scrub it pad, a large acrylic block, black archival ink pad, a couple of jars of Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder, color spray wash,  a perfect medium pad, Cosmic Shimmer spray mist, a pack of natural wood buttons, a Tim Holtz Distress Ink, decorative stick pins and an Adirondack ink pad.  That is a whole lot of loot for some lucky follower, don't you think?  If you are already a follower, don't worry, you are entered, but you can increase your chances by leaving comments after each new post.  If you are just looking at this loot and drooling, imagining what you could do with all of it and you are not a follower yet, then it's simple, just add your name to the follower list and email me ( sue@particraft.co.uk) your postal details in case your name is picked! It doesn't get any easier than that!  We will draw the lucky name when we reach 1900 followers so you can help it along if you like by posting the candy on your blog or facebook page too.  Tell me what you would do if you won this lot!
 How about  a look at a quickie Christmas card here too.  The Spellbinders snowflake pendant was cut out of the white card and then the negative piece was used.  I ran the entire piece through an embossing folder with the snowflake die still in place, but I left the embossing folder open.  If I was to have closed it, I would risk the die cutting into the folder, so I added some extra pieces of card as a shim to make up for the thickness of the flattened folder.  Then I added the tan mat and the adaptor plate and put it through my Grand Calibur.  Once embossed, I lined it up over my navy blue card to see where the aperature opening was and I taped my smaller snowflake die in place.  I embossed it into the blue card so that it would show through once mounted.  I added some 3D foam pieces and assembled the card, allowing a mat of blue to show through.  I added a mat of white card with piercing behind the blue one too.  I finished the card with a frilly edged white bow, some blue and white Baker Twine and a white organza rose. You could easily add a small tag with a sentiment if you like to customise this card! I hope you enjoy both the new selection of candy and the quickie Christmas card! 
  On one last note, I have had quite a few emails lately from followers saying that they are having difficulty in leaving commnets.  I cannot seem to figure out why some can and some can't leave comments.  If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know so that I can forward it on.  In the meantime, if you would like to leave a comment, try by not clicking on google at the bottom of the comment section box.  Try using the ''anonymous'' setting, but please sign your name to the post so I know. I love all your feedback so I will endeavour to figure this one out!  All for now, Sue x

Holly Accents!

Hi there everyone!  This is what I call my "holding hands" card because the holly accent pieces interlock together on the sides and the top and bottom.  I have cut six of them and linked them all together to get the background for this fun card.  The really fun thing, though, is that you can get an entirely different look from these same dies if you just turn them a quarter of a turn and do the same thing.  They interlock that way too!  Cards are never boring with Spellbinder dies, are they?  I added  a piece of the black crochet ribbon  top and bottom, which I put over some cream card to help it stand out a bit.  For both the top and bottom pieces, I cut one of the accent pieces from the Ironworks set and centred on the ribbon and added a fancy black button.  The focal sentiment was stamped on to the round Ironworks die and then mounted atop the picot edge circle which I cut out of black card.  I pierced around the edge and matted and layered with coordinating colours to complete the card.  Totally easy card for anyone who wants to give it a go!  All for now, Sue x

Black and Tan!

Hi everyone, hope your day is starting out well!  This card is a very similar creation to one that I made for the POTW shows last June.  The original one was in black and white, but at the time, I was contemplating using these colours.  Since most of the same dies have returned for the POTD shows, I decided to follow through on my colour choice this time.  I began with the largest size of the Fleur de Lis squares and mounted it so it was diamond in shape.  Then layered up the medium size of the same die so it was offset in the square shape.  I cut the medium size of the Label twenty and used the elegant post dies to "hold" it.  I simply niped off the long ends of the elegant post for this.  Then I stamped my sentiment on one of the fancy tags, did a bit of inking through the die for contrast and cut out another tag in black to use as a shadow.  I simply cut it down the middle lengthways and mounted it outward slightly behind the focal tag.  Since the focal element was colour on colour, I felt it needed a bit of black as a shadow to help it stand out more.  I cut two more of the elegant post dies for the top and bottom corners of the card and cut the top off so it was a straight edge.  I added some of the frilly edged ribbon in the champagne colour and topped it with a black organza ribbon rose and some decorative pins.  I couldn't help finishing the edge with the black PVA glue from Cosmic Shimmer.  This glue really is amazing and the dots are very hard once dry so there isn't a problem if you are posting a card with it.  If you read the blog because of the title and were hoping to see a great big mug of Guiness, I hope you aren't disappointed with the card you got instead! LOL   All for now, Sue x 

More Upcycling!

 Good morning bloggers!  Like yesterdays post, I am still working through the C's in my old dictionary with this card too.  It was sitting on my craft table in handy reach so I decided to continue playing with it here.  I have used the stamps from the new Falling Leaves and Foliage sets and simply stamped them with a black archival ink pad on to my old dictionary pages.  For each of the small leaves, I cut them out with the medium size of the square eyelet dies.  I did a little bit of inking with Antique Linen distress ink.  I used the die as a stencil and made stitch marks around the inside of the squares on each of them.  I stamped the large tree as my focal point and did the "out of the box" technique, leaving the tree trunk to come out of the teardrop circle die.  This is the perfect technique to be used with images such as this one because the branches are far too intricate to cut out and layer on to your card.  By allowing that portion of your image to be on the die cut, you don't have to do any laborious cutting out.  You need only to cut out the tiny bit of the trunk portion of the tree.  I stamped my sentiment on to the decorative paper in the top corner, embossing it with clear powder. I also added a small border across the centre of the card which just called to me for some vintage ribbon and a zipper flower!  I finished the edges of the card with our new bronze coloured PVA glue from Cosmic Shimmer.  I really like the old time feel to this card with the upcycled dictionary pages, what do you think?  All for now, Sue x