Pink & Green layout

Hi!

Here’s a new page very spring-like with its pink & green colours and a touch of black here and there!

Supply list:

Papers, stickers: 4heures37

Alphabets: 7Gypsies, American Crafts

Rub-ons: American Crafts

Wood Embellishments: Studio Calico

Enamel dots, badge: Studio Calico, Freckled Fawn

Black ink: Mister Huey's

Ink: Neon Hero Arts, Infocréa

Stamps: 4heures 37

Dies:

658508 Sizzix Sizzlits Die Set 3PK-Roses Flower Set

658733 Sizzix Sizzlits Die -Poinsettia Swirls

659108 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 6PK-For the record

My page is built horizontally in line with my picture. I was inspired by the Spring colours in my picture; it helped me choose my colour combo.

I cut and superimposed several strips of pattern paper. I created the Sizzix die cuts with scraps of paper.

I started by cutting two pretty flowers and added a button and a small dot in their center.

Then I cut foliage patterns out of white Bristol paper. I outlined the inner edges of the pattern with a thin-tipped black pen.

I also inserted stickers and photo corners. You can add as many die cuts as you want with the Sizzix die!!!

The title is black to add some more contrast.

I hope you will get inspired by my page!

See you next week for a Valentine’s Day creation!

Have a lovely day

Karine

Bonjour !

Une nouvelle page aujourd'hui qui sent bon le printemps avec un combo couleur rose & vert parsemé de quelques touches de noir !

Matériel :

Papiers, étiquettes : 4heures37

Alphabets : 7Gypsies, American Crafts

Rub-ons : American Crafts

Embellissements en bois : Studio Calico

Enabel dots, badge : Studio Calico, Freckled Fawn

Encre noire : Mister Huey's

Encre : Neon Hero Arts, Infocréa

Tampons : 4heures 37

Dies utilisés :

658508 Sizzix Sizzlits Die Set 3PK-Roses Flower Set

658733 Sizzix Sizzlits Die -Poinsettia Swirls

659108 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 6PK-For the record

Ma page est construite de façon horizontale dans le prolongement de ma photo. Je me suis inspirée des couleurs printanière de celle-ci pour choisir mon combo couleur.

Plusieurs bandes de papiers imprimés sont découpées et superposées, je me suis servie des chutes pour effectuer mes découpes Sizzix.

Tout d'abord deux belles fleurs dont les centres seront complétés par un bouton et un petit dot.

J'ai ensuite découpé des feuillages dans du bristol blanc, l'intérieur sera souligné à l'aide d'un stylo noir.

Ma page sera complétée avec des étiquettes, angles photos, le die Sizzix est juste parfait pour rajouter des découpes à volonté !

Le titre est ajouté en noir afin d'ajouter un maximum de contraste.

Une page qui je l'espère vous inspirera !

A la semaine prochaine pour une réalisation spéciale St Valentin !

Très bonne journée

Karine

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.

It's a Cracker.....

Excuse the unforgivable Christmas pun in the title but it literally is a cracker! This is a super-quick, unscheduled blog, no messing about!

Today we had Christmas Lunch here at Sizzix Central complete with Crackers, I took some of the cracker scraps from the table.

Die cut some bits and pieces with the beautiful Sizzlits Poinsettia die from Brenda Walton and the embossing folder from the new Big Shot starter kit.

A snip-snip here and there, bit of glue, Simple!

Silver Lining!

I have been creating some  clean, simple, graphic projects of late so I decided that it's time to get a little bit messy again using one of my favourite products, namely Treasure Pewter Wax Gilt which comes in a little glass jar and lasts forever (ish). 

Last Year Tim Holtz designed a stunning Bigz Poinsettia Die and a set of Texture Fades folders, one of which coordinates with the poinsettia flowers to add stunning detail. I wanted to go with a black and white colour palette using the silver/pewter gilt to add the texture.

To create the background I used another of Tim's classic Christmas Texture Fades  featuring a pine branch and my old favourite Decorative Strip die Vintage Lace also by Mr Holtz.

I started by die cutting the three sizes of petals from light chipboard before adding the embossed texture with the coordinating Texture Fades folder and gently curling the petals. Next I painted each die cut using Black acrylic paint which dries really quickly.

The Treasure Pewter is has an oddly pleasing waxy texture and smells of shoe polish, all you need to do is dip your finger in the pot and lightly brush over the textured petals, you can do this with a soft cloth but I like the smell! 

Next I cut a small cross in the centre of the smallest flower using a craft knife and took some silver pearl flower stamens which I threaded through the cross in the centre before trimming away the excess cotton loops. 

Finally, I mounted them onto the centre of the medium flower using a hot glue gun which was mounted in turn onto the centre of the largest flower.

I cut a rectangle of quality, heavyweight black card ( I always use Inspire me Papers card stock) measuring 105 x 140mm and embossed the pine leaves before adding the pewter wax gilt a little at a time until the desired effect was achieved. I couldn't resist a bit of bling so I added a random smattering of ivory, silver and black adhesive pearls with a few clear diamanté gems for good measure.

Before mounting the flower onto my white base card (180 x 140mm) I wanted to create a lace border trim so I took a strip of the same black card that I used for the background and scrunched it into a ball 5 or 6 times (very therapeutic!)  before flattening it out and die cutting my strip of lace. 

I then took the lace die cut and applied the wax gilt before trimming to size and attaching to the base card together with the other elements.

Really easy, great fun and if you haven't discovered these waxes you should check them out, there are many different styles, brands and colours on the market, they don't come cheap but they last for years and years. They are a great way of bringing a touch of vintage class to your favourite die cuts and embossing folders too.

Hobbycrafts NEC



Hello.

Today I want to share a post with you showing some of the samples I made for Hobbycrafts at the NEC at the beginning of the month.  Unfortunatly since then I have been really poorly with the flu and being 8 months pregnant it has knocked me for six!  However I am at last better and here to share my projects.

I was on the Aceville stand at the NEC and really did have a fabulous time meeting so many lovely people.  I got to work with some lovely Christmas dies by Brenda Walton.

I adore this Woodland Deer Decorative Strip, it is so sweet and just called out to decorate a jar!  I am planning on making a few more of these as Christmas gifts!

Another of my favourites was the Holiday Greenery, which I used to make this framed picture.  I love the way you can build as big a project as you like just by using this one die.

And finally here is a card I made using the Sizzlits Poinsettia Die

Well, that is all from me.  Maybe by the time I post again I might have some baby news!! 

Katie 

All is calm!

We are preparing for our busiest time of the year, namely our two big trade shows Creative World/Frankfurt in January and Stitches/Birmingham in February so everyone at Sizzix central is super-busy which lends the title of this blog a slightly ironic twist!

November sees the release of the new range of flower dies from the uber talented Susan Tierney-Cockburn, I am also working on next years releases as we speak. It's a real challenge to pit your wits against mother nature (the ultimate designer) and try to make the flowers look just like the real thing.

This week I have used the new Poinsettia die from Susan's range which is a Thinlits set. To get the best out of Susan's collections you should check out the Tool Kit which is never too far from my grasp, it is a brilliant addition to any paper crafters arsenal. If you want to find out more about the Basic Techniques or the poinsettia Die Specific Instructions then click on the blue links.

I wanted to keep away from the classic red/green poinsettia, as much as I love it, so I decided to go with white petals and mint leaves. I die cut a selection of each, in total you would need at least 8 leaves and 16 petals. next I used the leaf tool to add a crease line down the centre of each leaf before moulding with the large ball stylus to shape the leaves and add natural looking creases. Finally, I pinched the base of each leaf between thumb and forefinger.

I took the mint green die cut calyx shape and added creases  before pinching and stirred the centre with the ball stylus. Next, I added the leaves one at a time overlapping them at random.

I shaped the white petals the as with the leaves. I applied a little PVA glue in a fine line along the edge of each leaf and dipped them in some Ice Diamond by Pinflair, you could also use micro beads or glitter, it's all down to personal preference at the end of the day! I created a base from a white calyx as before and attached the petals to create the larger of the two flowers using a mix of the larger petal sizes.

Next, attach the assembled flower into the assembled leaves and create the smaller/inner flower using an assortment of smaller petals before attaching a large adhesive pearl into the centre. 

Once completed it can be attached to a card, gift box, tag, candle, Christmas tree, hair slide etc. You can even create several to make a spectacular garland. However you choose to use the Poinsettia die set I know you'll have fun.

Home is where the Heart is

Just a quick blog today as I'm sure you are all busy visiting friends and family and polishing off the last of the mince pies etc.

I hope that Santa made all your Christmas wishes come true, I spent the time at home with my family and I wouldn't want it any other way thank you very much.

Here is a little something I made for my Mum using a shop bought wooden heart and decorated with the Bigz Tattered Poinsettia (658261) embossed with the Textured Poinsettia Pattern Set (658270)

See you all in the New Year!

 

Wish List!

Christmas Dies and embossing folders are a great investment as they can be used and reinvented year after year. The die/Folders that should be on every one's wish list this year are the Bigz Die - Tattered Poinsettia (658251) and Texture Fades Embossing Folders 2PK - Textured Poinsettia Pattern Set (658270).

The Poinsettia die is not just for Christmas though, It makes a lovely sunflower, great leafy foliage, cute daisy and I'm sure you can think of dozens more ideas. It works equally well on a card or layout, fashion accessory or home decor item, but it is when it is partnered with the matching embossing folder that the magic really starts to happen.

We start by die cutting the parts of the flower, I am using silver card for the simple reason that it shows the embossing really clearly. Next, carefully place the die cut into the folder flush with the corresponding embossing area and run it through the machine to create that wonderful leafy detail.

Here is a super quick idea using the poinsettia cut and embossed from ivory card before inking to enhance the embossed detail. The flower centres are decorated using various shades of adhesive green gems to match the vase/ bottle.

 

Ideal home show for Christmas

Last week I was invited to participate with a presentation at the Christmas Craft Theatre at the Ideal Home Show in London. The Ideal Home show is an event that takes place at the Earls Court exhibition centre and while the Christmas event takes place in November and it is a recent addition, the original Ideal Home show takes place in March and has been going on for more than a hundred years!

Of course I chose to showcase Sizzix! These were the projects I demonstrated:

They are all made with tim Holtz dies as the brief was Christmas crafting, I choose some of his latest dies. One of them is now part of my ATFCP - All Time Favourite Craft Product! - the Tattered Poinsettia die with the matching Texture Impression embossing folder.

You can see as well that I did some boxes using another of my favourite dies from the last release, which is the Pillowbox, also one of Tim's designs. It makes making a pillowbox a treat rather than something time consuming and hard to achieve.

One of the poinsettias ended up as a candle decoration. I attached the fabric (green polyester and white 100% cotton coloured with red distress inks) to cardstock to give it a bit of stability.

 

The lovely Leonie Pujol was the demonstrator just before me. I have known Leonie for quite a few years now, but since she moved out of London I havent since her that often. It was so great to get to see her in action in real life (and not through the TV!) She is so talented and such an inspirational person, one of the true greats of our little craft industry.

And on Sunday, Leonie was off, so Laurence Llewelyn Bowen did his thing just before me. The man is so funny and such a show man. I enjoyed it! But it was a bit daunting going on stage after him.

The show has such a lovely Christmas feel to it, with many Carol singers including a gospel choir.

The view from tthe first floor was amazing. Now I am full in the spirit of the Season!