Tag - vintage style

 By Anna Dąbrowska

Hi again! I hope you had a wondeful, creative week and that you found some time to play with your favorite Sizzix products! I was that lucky to open brand new packaging with wonderful Tim Holtz Sizzix Movers & Shapers Magnetic Die Set 11PK - Cargo Stencil Number Set (657841). These dies are meant to be used both cardstock and cardborad so your creative possibilities are endless! Of course I couldn't resist and I  cut out  these vintage looking numbers to place them on my tag!

This is small gift to my Mom - she was only 10 when this photo was taken. I love her happy face! 

Of course I wanted to alter the numbers a bit - I started with spraying them with Perfect Pearls Mist, drying and inking the edges. 

I liked the look I got, but I wanted more - I'm just addicted to customizing almost everything! I sprayed the tag and applied Crackle Accents on the chipboard numbers. 

I let it dry overnight to get these fine looking crackles. This is the final effect - vintage tag with crackled title, perfect little piece of inspiration :)

I wish you all wonderful weekend - see you next Friday!

xoxo
Finn

How to frame your picture ?

 By Karine Cazenave-Tapie

Hello !

For today a very quick and clean layout, I wanted to create a very simple page with a photo I like very much.

So I wanted to frame it with a die !

I used Sizzix Framelits Die Set 3PK - Frame, Damask


I cut it two times, one on the picture and one on a paper.

I used my picture instead of the paper !

Cut the frame for a second time in a patterned paper

Glue first your picture and in a second time your frame.

A very clean layout  for a beautiful and natural picture :)

Karine

Beautiful India

 By Celine  Navarro

I've been loving the new Tim Holtz Border dies lately (you'll see the layout I made for next week - couldn't resist!) and I used one of those for this week's layout.

For this layout, you'll need : 

- a Big Shot 

- Washer Decorative Strip border die

- Vintage Globe die (Movers & Shapers)

- Base Tray (for the Movers & Shapers)

- Extended Spacer Plateform

- 13" cutting pads

You need to use the Extended Spacer Plateform and the long cutting pads to use the Decorative Strips border dies : they are longer and it'd be such a trouble if you'd use your regular pads/plateform.

This Globe die is so darling : you can use different patterned papers and make it your own!
And did you know that you can use your Movers & Shapers into Fabric and Cardboards? Well, endless inspiration with those!

Once I cut the Globe in two different papers, I inked the edges with a cut'n'dry foam.


Attach the strip with staples.


Add a couple of embossed flowers, embellishments and your title and your layout is done! :)


Enjoy!

Céline

Can you tell what it is yet?

 by Pete Hughes

In recent weeks I posted a couple of blogs featuring the wonderful ecal software which works with our eclips electronic cutting machine, I can't tell you how easy it is to get to grips with and the seemingly limitless creative freedom it allows.

After all that electronic wizardry I thought it was time to strip everything back to basics. The most basic shape in the die cutting arsenal is a circle, which, with a little creative fairy dust can become pretty much whatever you want it to be.

Now I know what you are thinking " a circle is just a circle!" well, lets see what we can do with a Crop-a-Dile, a set of Framelit circle dies (657551), some quality cardstock (Inspire Me Papers) and a pair of scissors. Today, we will attempt to make a Toucan.

1. We will start by using the Big Shot and the circle Framelit dies to cut two different sized circles from black card. 2. Next, place the die cut circles back onto the cutting mat and position the same dies roughly half way across the black circles before running through your Big Shot again.

3. You will end up with two crescent shapes and two leaf shapes in different sizes. This is the fundamental technique that you will need to create new exiting shapes, the thickness of the crescent/leaf shapes varies according to where you place the die. 4. Use the dies to create a selection of shapes, the small white circle was made with a punch and the small black circle with the Crop-a-Dile ( any standard office hole punch will work if you don't have one)

5. Use PVA to attach two leaf shapes together to form the head and body. Cut the large crescent shape in half and use the scissors to snip a little triangle in the end before attaching to the body. 6. Add a small black leaf shape to the body using a 3D foam pad after gently curling it and add a section of a thin crescent to the tail.

 7. Attach a white leaf shape to the body to form the tummy and a large orange crescent to the head to form the beak. 8. for the finishing touches snip a couple of bits of yellow and green card to decorate the beak and mount the punched circle with a 3D foam pad to form the eye. Use your scissors to snip a wedge of card from the tiny black punched circle to create a highlight before attaching to the eye. 

 If you like the techniques used why not go to the Community section on the Sizzix website, click on Die Cutting 101 and go to the Simple Shapes projects to find many more creative ways of using circle dies.

Love Pillow

 By Loredana Bucaria

Hi everyone! How are you? Here the beginning of the spring was stopped by the rain arghhhh! I can't wait to have only sunny days! They make me feel so happy! 

Today I want to show you one of my last creations with the amazing Sizzix tools! Each single day I think how much I am a lucky girl to can work with a company that I have always dreamed about!!! Sometimes I think to be in a dream and I don't want to wake up!

I was thinking to make a white pillow for my bed because I have a red bed and some pillow red so the white would be perfect to match the red!

Let's start!

Materials you need:

• white fabric
• a little pillow from Ikea 34x34 cm to cover
• a fabric that you love, I have chosen the red and white dots fabric
• black felt
• sewing machine
• Big shot machine
• sizzles Love set (item code 657789)
• Framelits hearts #2 (item code 657574) 
• paper and fabric scissors
• a pen for fabric

It's a very simple project!

Instructions:

STEP 1

Use the heart framelits as a template, they are amazing! So with a pen for fabric draw the big heart on the red fabric and cut it with fabric scissors.

with the big shot and love set dies cut the word "love" on the black felt  and lay it on the fabric to see how they will be together.

Sew it on the heart with the sewing machine.

Make the same with other sizes of hearts. I cut medium and small red hearts and black felt tiny hearts from the word love. one on the another and sew!

STEP 2

Cut a rectangle of white fabric simply putting the pillow on the fabric. If the pillow is 34x34 cm cut two squares of fabric 38x38 cm or a long rectangle with the same width.

Fold it in half and sew it on the sides to have a sort of bag for your pillow.

STEP 3

Sew the hearts on the front face of the pillow before to close it completely.

I hope to have inspired you :)

Have a wonderful day!

Love, Lory

Simple quick card

 by Paula Pascual

Sometimes I find myself needing a specific card that needs to be done in twenty minutes. Such occassions are rare for me as usually have a stash of ready made cards, but it happens. Like when somebody gets new neighbours and move in and you want to make them feel welcomed.

For this quick card I printed the message using my computer and printer. Then I die cut it using a Hero Arts set, the beauty of the framelits is that I could see exactly what I was cutting. Then I stamp in black Versafine the chandelier -again a Hero Arts set- and heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. Once done, I die cut it.

Assembling took just seconds!

Going mixed media with Decorative Strips

 By Anna Dąbrowska

Hi there! Today I want to share again the thing, that excites me the most - mixed media techniques! This time I played with cut outs made with 2 wonderful Tim Holtz dies:Sizzix Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die - Tattered Flower Garland(657824)and Sizzix Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die - Harlequin Border (657825) . For this project I used few strips of paper witha goldish, distressed pattern (Wonderland collection - 7 Dots Studio).

I saved all the elements - but cut-outs and leftovers as I wanted to use them as a part of my mixed media journal project - I was sure they will make a wonderful texture!

I covered the journal page with pieces of paper cut into random squares and stick it all toghether using light glossy gel medium.  When it was sdry I painted it a bit with gesso (on the ligh side of the project) and with black acrylic paint (on the dark side of the project).

My next step was gluing the cut-outs and leftovers in the chosen areas of my composition. I used transparent glossy gel medium again - it was so fun and easy!  

I put my photo into the composition and again added some die cuts as I wanted to have them on the top of the photo too, to create even more interesting, deep texture. 

I let my project dry a bit - I was waiting for my gel medium to get perfectly clear. Then I re-painted the whole composition with gesso, black acrylic paint and some gold and red metallic paint again. Here are the details of the final effect: 

And the whole composition toghether:

I hope you like this idea - isn't it just perfect for playing with the paper scraps you have on your desk? Sizzix dies give so many possibilities for any kind of creation. 

I'm wishing you great time with die cutting - happy creating!

xoxo

Finn

New fabrics

 By Angela Southey

Hello again, I hope you enjoyed Easter, and are now looking forward to the summer celebrations for the Queens jubilee and the Olympics.
To help with the celebrations there are some lovely fabric ranges - a few of which I have selected to show below

This selection is from the Cool Brittania range by Bernatex.

and this selection is from London Icons from Makower.

Now the only question is what am I going to make from them. My ideas at the moment include - cushions, tablerunners, teacosy, apron, bunting, lap quilt, bags, and even a cover for a kindle.

But before I start any of these projects I am going to finish painting and setting up my new sewing room. I have finally decided that I need to have a room just to sew in, after many years of having an area in the dining room. Next week I hope to have photos of the painted and furnished room to show you, and maybe even a small project from some of these fabrics.