Fresh hydrangeas and winged beauties



Welcome to another Sizzix blog post, in which I would like to share with you my new inspiration, created using the fantastic Sizzix dies and Big Shot machine.

This time I decided to create a tag in the summery, fresh colors, which can be a small home décor, an element of greeting card or addition to gift wrapping. The main decoration in my tag is a bouquet of hydrangea, created using a set of dies designed to create handmade flowers from a very popular Susan’s Garden line - Susan’s Garden - Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Flower, Hydrangea.

Dies from this set cut out tiny hydrangea petals, I cut them and using fantastic Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit, I tried to add more dimension and more realistic look to my small bouquet. After modeled of each petal, I sprayed them with a turquoise mist, and when petals dried I adhered together each part of each flower. After gluing and dried petals, I embellished centre of each flower creating a  small dots using 3D paints (you can use liquid pearls as well). Before 3D paint dried, I sprinkled petals with turquoise embossing powder, without melting it, and only creating light texture on the petals. In addition to the petals, I cut out the leaves, using dies from the sets: Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Flower, Hydrangea and Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 8PK - Flower, Rose. Leaves was also modeled with a Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit. I really love the non-stick pad from this set - allows you to ink the edges of the petals and leaves or coloring using any other mediums - any paint, mist or ink do not stick to this small but very practical mat and can be easily washed off (wet wipes or paper towel).

Another dominant embellishment on my tag are absolutely wonderful butterflies, cut out with new dies from the line Prima Marketing Flora Grande line - Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Winged Beauties. These extraordinary dies from Thinlits series are the essence of gentleness and romanticism – die cutting with these dies is very comfortable, and the cutouts are beautiful, very open-work and very versatile. I cut out butterflies using white card stock and colored them a little bit using turquoise mist.

Sizzix supplies used:

658300 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)

659707 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Winged Beauties

659262 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Flower, Hydrangea

658437 Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit

658411 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 8PK - Flower, Rose

Thank you for visit us today! 

Have a lovely, creative weekend! 

~~ Karola ~~ 

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Witam serdecznie w kolejnym poście, w którym chciałabym podzielić się inspiracją stworzoną z wykorzystaniem fantastycznych wykrojników Sizzix.

Tym razem postanowiłam stworzyć tag w letniej, świeżej kolorystyce, który może stać się niewielkim elementem wystroju wnętrz, elementem na kartce okolicznościowej lub dodatkiem do prezentu. Główną ozdobą w moim tagu jest bukiecik hortensji, stworzony z pomocą kompletu wykrojników do samodzielnego tworzenia przestrzennych kwiatów z serii Susan’s Garden - Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Flower, Hydrangea.

Wykrojniki z tego zestawu wycinają maleńkie płatki hortensji, które po wycięciu modelowałam za pomocą zestawu narzędzi do tego przeznaczonych - Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit. Po wymodelowaniu każdego płatka, spryskałam je turkusową mgiełką, wysuszyłam, a następnie sklejałam ze sobą części każdego kwiatka. Po sklejeniu i wyschnięciu płatków, ozdobiłam środki tworząc małe kropeczki z farbki 3D. Zanim farbka 3D wyschła, posypałam płatki turkusowym pudrem do embossingu, nie topiąc go, a jedynie tworząc lekką teksturę na płatkach. Oprócz płatków, wycięłam również liście, korzystając z wykrojników z zestawów: Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Flower, Hydrangea i Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 8PK - Flower, Rose. Liście również modelowałam narzędziami z zestawu Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit. Ogromnie podoba mi się mata „Non-stick pad” z tego zestawu - pozwala na tuszowanie brzegów płatków i liści czy kolorowanie innymi mediami - żadne media nie przywierają do tej małej ale bardzo praktycznej maty i z łatwością dają się zmyć (mokra chusteczka).

Kolejną dominującą ozdobą na moim tagu są przecudne motyle, wycięte za pomocą nowych wykrojników z linii Flora Grande, sygnowanych logo marki Prima Marketing - Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Winged Beauties. Te niezwykłe wykrojniki w serii Thinlits to esencja delikatności i romantyzmu - motyle wycinają się bardzo komfortowo, a wycinanki są przepiękne, bardzo ażurowe i bardzo uniwersalne. Motyle wycięłam w białym cienkim brystolu i pokolorowałam je, tak jak kwiatki - turkusową mgiełką.

Wykorzystane produkty Sizzix:

658300 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)

659707 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Winged Beauties

659262 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 5PK - Flower, Hydrangea

658437 Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit

658411 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 8PK - Flower, Rose

Dziękuję za dzisiejsze odwiedziny na naszym blogu!

Życzę Wam cudownego, kreatywnego weekendu!

~~ Karola ~~

Vintage metal!

This isn't a blog about Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and the like, (although it can be arranged!) I want to share a cool technique which I picked up from none other than Mr Tim Holtz in one of his inspirational online classes. 

There are two sets of classes namely Creative Chemistry 101 and 102, Follow the link to Tim's website to find out more, It's a great place to start for those of you who want to dip your toes into the often confusing waters of inks and acrylics, I learnt so much from the first set of lessons you wouldn't believe.

Much of what Tim does in his demos is centred around his range of die cutting and embossing tools created by Sizzix and today I wanted to give one of the ideas a go with absolutely no idea how I am going to use what I make! (sometimes it's the best way).

The dies I used are:

• Framelits Die Set 3PK - Oval w/Ornate Edges (657558)
• Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Flower, Mini Petals by Susan Tierney-Cockburn (658409)
• Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die - Spring Greeney by Tim Holtz (659573)
• Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die - Butterfly Frenzy by Tim Holtz (659575)

I started by die cutting the frame from stiff ivory card, I then chose my Distress paints namely Evergreen Bough, Tumbled Glass and Tarnished Brass. Next I applied some blobs of the first two paints onto my craft sheet.

I sptitzed over the paint to help it blend better and moved my die cut frame through the paint until completely covered before drying it with my heat tool. Next, I took my Tarnished Brass paint dauber and applied it to the frame before strategically spritzing with water.

Now here's the clever bit...... I started to dry the painted frame with my heat tool while at the same time strategically dabbing at it with a dry cloth. Where the paint was still wet it lifted straight off to reveal the blue/green colour below. This is a really cool effect if you want to get that tarnished brass finish. 

I applied the Tumbled Glass and Evergreen Bough paints to the sheet as before and coloured a rectangle of the ivory card before drying with my heat tool and used this to die-cut the flowers, foliage and a couple of butterflies before applying my metallic technique, I also distressed a resin cherub (from Prima Marketing) at the same time

Once everything was dry, I used the frame to die-cut my photo which I aged with Old Paper Distress Ink and placed in the aperture, I then attached all the elements using a hot glue gun. I WILL use this for something in the coming weeks, honest!

Felt die cut accents on your cards!

Hello everyone! Karola here with new card inspiration created using our fantastic Sizzix dies. Today I would share with you a simply idea for adding texture and some felt or fabric accents to our cards. 

As you probably know, lots of Sizzix dies are designed to cut not only the paper or cardstock, but also a wide range of thicker materials, such as: cardboard, EVA foam, felt, fabric, magnet, leather etc... This kind of dies are: Bigz, Frameworks, Originals, Movers & Shapers, On The Edge and more. In my last card I used a sheet of polyester felt to cut out lattice pattern using Frameworks Die - Lattice. Framework dies are designed in a very useful way, it's means that you can use the cut outs as repeating pattern. I think this way is amazing, because you can combine a few of cut outs into one fantastic background. This time I cut out lattice pattern from the felt 2 times, then I added a stitch using a sewing machine, adding at the same time some more texture and interesting look to my card. 

Sizzix supplies used:

658300 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)

659432 Sizzix Frameworks Die - Lattice

658437 Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit

1. Prepare a sheet of polyester felt (acrylic felt may be too soft and not good for this project). Cut out 2 pieces of lattice using Sizzix Frameworks Die - Lattice.
2. Apply liquid glue on the cut outs. Do it carefully, remembering not to add too much glue.
3. Adhere two pieces of felt lattice cut outs onto your card background (not card base!). I  have chosen kraft cardstock (13 x 13 cm) as a card background and white cardstock on my card base (folded card size: 14 x 14 cm). Put lattice felt pieces as a repeating pattern on the centre of your card. 
4. Sew the pattern using straight stitch and don't hurry with it. Make it carrefully and slowly, following the felt lattice pattern. You can use a sewing machine as I did or use thread and needle to make it by hand.
5. Sew the whole lattice pattern and - if you want - add more stitches. I added 2 straight stitches on the left and the right side of my card background.
6. An additional idea: If you like fussy cutting - like me - you can use the Susan's Garden Tool Kit for modeling your fussy cut outs, such as flowers or leaves. The tools from this amazing kit are very helpful not only while working with Susan's Garden dies, but also in lots of other creations, just try it!
7. Decorate your card as you want, trying not to hide your felt pattern too much. As you can see, I added also a butterfly and the heart, that I cut out from the same sheet of felt and using dies included in Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal).

Thank you for visit us today! Have a wonderful weekend! 

~~ Karola ~~ 

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Witam serdecznie polskojęzycznych fanów Sizzix! Dziś przynoszę ze sobą kolejną kartkową inspirację z wykorzystaniem fantastycznych wykrojników Sizzix! Moja dzisiejsza praca to pomysł na dodanie ciekawej tekstury do kartki, wykorzystując kawałki filcu lub tkaniny. 

Jak prawdopodobnie wiecie, Sizzix ma w swojej ofercie mnóstwo wykrojników, którymi można wycinać nie tylko papier i brystol, ale także szeroką gamę grubszych materiałów, takich jak: filc, tkanina, pianka, tektura falista, arkusze magnetycznej folii, skóra itp.

Wykrojniki tego typu to m.in: Bigz, Frameworks, Originals, Movers & Shapers, On The Edge. W mojej dzisiejszej kartce wykorzystałam arkusz poliestrowego filcu oraz wykrojnik Frameworks Die - Lattice aby pozyskać filcową, ażurową siateczkę. Wykrojniki Frameworks zostały zaprojektowane w bardzo użyteczny sposób, to znaczy, że wzór można wyciąć kilkukrotnie i połączyć w jedno większe tło. Uważam, że to naprawdę świetny sposób na tworzenie pięknych, sporych ażurowych teł. Tym razem wycięłam wzór siateczki z filcu dwukrotnie, połączyłam 2 części w jedno tło, a następnie wzór przeszyłam za pomocą maszyny do szycia, dodając w ten sposób nieco więcej tekstury i ciekawego akcentu do mojej kartki. 

Wykorzystane produkty Sizzix:

658300 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)

659432 Sizzix Frameworks Die - Lattice

658437 Sizzix Accessory - Susan's Garden Tool Kit

1. Przygotuj arkusz filcu poliestrowego. Filc akrylowy mógły okazać się zbyt miękki i niezbyt dobry do tego projektu - mógłby się rwać). Wytnij dwukrotnie wzór siatki za pomocą wykrojnika Frameworks Die - Lattice.
2. Nałóż płynny klej na wyciętą filcową siatkę. Staraj się robić to ostrożnie i pamiętaj aby nie dodawać zbyt dużo kleju. 
3. Przyklej dwie części siatki na tło kartki (nie na bazę kartki!) umiejscawiając siatkę po środku tła i łącząc ze sobą dwie części w jedno spójne tło. Ja wybrałam brystol typu kraft na tło mojej kartki (13 x 13 cm) oraz biały brystol na bazę kartki (wymiary złożonej kartki: 14 x 14 cm).
4. Przeszyj filcowy wzór ściegiem prostym i absolutnie nie spiesz się podczas tej czynności. Szyj po wzorze ostrożnie i powoli. Możesz użyć maszyny do szycia, tak jak ja, lub przeszyć wzór ręcznie igłą i nitką. 
5. Przeszyj cały wzór oraz - jeśli masz ochotę - dodaj więcej ściegów. Ja dodałam podwójny prosty ścieg z dwóch stron mojej kartki. 
6. Dodatkowy pomysł: jesli tak jak ja, lubisz precyzyjnie wycinane elementy z papieru, możesz użyć narzędzi z zestawu Susan's Garden Tool Kit  do wymodelowania swoich wycinanek, takich jak kwiatki i liście. Narzędzia z tego zestawu są bardzo przydatne, nie tylko podczas tworzenia przestrzennych kwiatków z serii Susan's Garden, lecz także w innych projektach - po prostu spróbujcie! 
7. Udekoruj swoją kartkę tak jak chcesz, starając się jednak niezbyt mocno zakrywać filcowy wzór. Jak widzicie, ja dodałam jeszcze kilka filcowych akcentów - motyla i serce wycięte za pomocą wykrojników dołączonych do zestawu startowego maszyny Big Shot - Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal).

Dziękuję za dzisiejsze odwiedziny na naszym blogu i życzę Wam wspaniałego weekendu! 

~~ Karola ~~ 

A Good Vintage!

Just to clear up one thing before we start.....I'm not referring to my Mum in the title of this blog, but to the style of card so if you are reading this Mum I'm sorry for any confusion!

Last week I had the absolute pleasure to be invited to a wonderful event in the beautiful city of Maribor in Slovenia. I was one of several workshop instructors from around Europe and the US teaching a wide range of skills including card making, jewellery, Painting, felt work and much more. It was so well run and attended, the customers and staff were so friendly and helpful and the organisers Primoz and Mihaela were such gracious and attentive hosts.

If you ever find yourself in that (very beautiful) part of the world drop in and see what they are all about, you won't be disappointed. To find out more, follow this link.https://www.facebook.com/art.trade

This week I am featuring a card which was very similar to one of the workshops I did in Maribor with a few minor tweaks.

I used My Mind's Eye paper from the Lost & Found 2 collection, an assortment of Distress Inks and thats pretty much it with the exception of my dies and folders.

I used the butterfly Sizzlit and Tab Framelits die from the Big Shot starter Kit I'm sorry if you don't have these dies but there a dozens of similar dies which you could substitute achieving equally stunning results. The Embossing folder I used is the Circle Frame & Rosemary Set which is currently on sale so click on the link and grab yourselves a real bargain. I also used some tiny flowers from the Susan's Garden Yarrow, you could also use the Black-eyed Susan, the Sunflower or the Forsythia to create a similar effect.

I started by debossing a 13 x 13cm piece of the spotty card and I then used my craft knife to trim around the pattern in the centre to create an aperture. I then used an Old Paper Distress Ink pad to enhance the debossed motif by gently rubbing over the pattern in a circular motion with my foam applicator.I also took special care to ink around the outer part of the square.

Old Paper is quite a light shade and I always work gradually starting with the lightest colour and working through. The other colours I used were Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Vintage Photo the last of which I use very sparingly and with great care. As I add the colours I do so in a random fashion working heavier in some areas than others, I concentrate mainly on the pattern and edges.

Once the inks are dry I scrunched the corners and sanded lightly over the creases before distressing the edges for which there is a fabulous little tool designed to do the job, failing that you can use the blade of your scissors.

The photograph I found on the Internet and printed it out onto matt white photo paper before trimming to size and adding a little colour with my inks to age it further and help it to blend with the rest of the card.

I die cut two butterflies from the spotty card and trimmed away the right hand wing from both before inking. I then attached them together at the body and curled the edges of the top wing to add dimension prior to attaching them to the rear of my photo.

I die cut several tiny flowers and inked the edges prior to shaping them using a stylus and foam mat from the Susan's Garden Tool Kit . Next, I attached a row of flowers to the fairies head forming a garland and added a tiny pearl gem to the centre of each, I used the rest to decorate the aperture card.

Finally, I used my PC to create the Mother's Day phrase (Muffaroo for all you font fans)  and printed it onto the spotty paper before die cutting with my Framelits die and attaching to the card after inking of course!

And here is the finished card, I attached the assembled aperture and fairy to a 15 x 15cm base card at a slight angle using 3D foam pads and added a vintage looking bow to give a softening effect.

I do hope you like it (I hope my mum does too!)

Do not adjust your sets!

What a strange title for a blog post I hear you all cry! Truth is, I have spent the last week in the fair city of Frankfurt attending the Creativeworld trade fair where I took some pictures of a project that I was creating on the Craft Emotions stand for whom I was demonstrating. My phone doesn't have the best camera I'm afraid so don't go rubbing your eyes because the chances are most of the photo's are slightly blurred!

Creativeworld is a visual smorgasbord bringing together the brightest and best crafting talent from all over Europe.It was a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and make a few new ones along the way. We packed away the Sizzix stand at around Midnight last night and flew home this morning.

While at the Craft Emotions stand I had the opportunity to work with some wicked products which compliment die cutting perfectly, the team will be in Birmingham at the Stiches show in about three weeks so if you're lucky enough to be about it will be worth your while to check out some of their unique and innovative products (click on the link to check out their website).

The die that I used is the Susan's Garden Poinsettia which is a Thinlits set comprising 7 dies which we have looked at before. I also used my trusty Susan's Garden tool kit which goes everywhere with me.

I love using mulberry or silk paper because it has such a lovely texture but it is hard to shape as one would with card. I was handed rolls of adhesive silk paper on my first day at the show and this is a great solution to my problem, it allowed me to attach it to medium weight card to make my flowers.Next I die cut all the elements to make my flower which is far fewer than need to make a poinsettia, I just wanted a generic 'pretty flower', I then delicately inked the inner part of the petals.

Next I used my tools to shape the individual petals using my tool kit and some techniques you can see by following this link.

After shaping the flower centre, again using my tools, I ponched a hole through the centre to receive the pearl flower stamen ( see the Craft Emotions website), before attaching the individual petals. When the glue was dry I inserted the stamen.

I die cut a pillow box from printed Kraft card (Craft Emotions again!) and cut a strip of pink paper which I scrunched and distressed with inks before lightly sanding. I then wrapped the strip around the box,

Craft Emotions do a fab range of wooden embellishments ( I'm trying to think of a cool way to use the boxes too!) I selected 3 and inked them as shown using silver gilt wax for the butterfly, the centre of which I decorated with adhesive pearls before attaching them behind the assembled flower.

Here is the finished box in all its 'out of focus' glory. I guess I'll never win any photography prizes?

Here are a couple of other cards created during the show. top left features the poinsettia with some added foliage courtesy of the new Spring Greenery Decorative Strip die by Tim Holtz. the card top left again features the poinsettia  but with pink ink replacing the green and finally, the complete poinsettia in all its glory.

Everyday Card by Gerry van Gent

Happy Sunday Sizzix Friends!

I hope you are all doing well.

For my blog post today I prepared an everyday card.

657900 Big Shot Machine

658417 Sizzix Thinlits Dies Flowers, Sunflowers

658720 Sizzix Bigz Die Ornate, Frame 

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For this card I hand made the flower by using Susan's Garden Flowers, Sunflowers.

My flower looks different because I chose to use different colours 

which turned it into another flower.

What I added to the tiny flourish in the middle are small yellow beads

which pop up and give totally different look.

The  Ornate, Frame  was die-cut twice from two different pattern papers.

The frame was adhered on the front of the card upside down.

OTHER PRODUCTS I USED:
Maja Design pattern papers
Yellow beads
White twine

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Dutch Translation

Fijne Zondag Sizzix vrienden.

Ik hoop dat het goed met jullie gaat.

Voor mijn blog post vandaag heb ik een kaart voorbereid.

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657900 Big Shot Machine

658417 Sizzix Thinlits Dies Flowers, Sunflowers

658720 Sizzix Bigz Die Ornate, Frame 

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De bloem heb ik zelf gemaakt met de Susan's Garden zonnebloem stansen.
Mijn bloem lijkt anders vanwege mijn patroon papier keuze.
Ik heb gele kraaltjes in het midden toegevoegd boven op de kleine bloemblaadjes.
*   *   *
Ik heb de Ornate, Frame  tweemaal gestanst uit twee verschillende patroon papieren.
De oval lijst heb ik onderste boven op de kaart geplakt.
*   *   *
And finally.....

Last month I taught classes in three different countries and
what they all had in common was the Sizzix products :-)
All students enjoyed using the machines and dies!
A small impression of the two of the events....

Scraptastic Event, October 2013, Belgium

Scraptastic Event, October 2013, Belgium

Scraptastic Event, October 2013, Belgium

Scraptastic Event, October 2013, Belgium

Stockholm ScrapClasses, October 2013, Sweden

Stockholm ScrapClasses, October 2013, Sweden

Thank you for visiting today!
Gerry