Tuesday 30 October 2012

Embossed wedding card

I'm sorry I have a bit absent from here recently, but I have been up to lots of different things, more of which I can reveal in a week or so. For now I have a card I made for my mother in laws wedding in September. I wanted to stick to a classic white/ivory colour scheme, and I think embossing always looks classy. I CASE'd a card from Colleen Dietrich here which I had seen earlier in the year and just loved. I cut some circles from some centura pearl card using my circle nestabilities and then embossed them and inked the edges with some    antique linen distress ink.

I had some chipboard alphabet letters, but they were a glossy burgundy colour, so I versamarked them and then used some white embossing powder on them, then inked them up also. The small frame was cut out using my nestabilities labels 1 dies from a white card, I stamped some nice classic liberty type images and used white embossing powder on them, and then sponged the rest of the card leaving the flourishes as a contrast. I even added some bling to the corners of the label which is really out of my comfort zone!


Finally I added an embossed strip which was layered over some ivory ribbon and layered them all onto an A5 white card base. 

Thanks for visiting, come back soon!

Thursday 18 October 2012

More banner cards

Here are two more banner cards, this time with an orange theme. The left paper is Basic Grey, the middle and right papers are Dovecraft Funky Vintage.
I used a labels 1 nestie for the sentiment and frame and some orange satin ribbon. I also sponged the edges in  Tea Dye distress ink. The Thank You sentiment is a Papertrey Fillable frames 5 one.

As I had two lots of strips I made another, this time with a circle focal point, I haven't put a sentiment on this yet, but will stamp straight onto the card at the bottom.


The die here is half of a Nellie Snellen Multiframe 25 die. I also punched a 1.5inch circle and stamped it with concentric circles from Waltzingmouse teeny trees in Cracked sapphire distress ink and the sponged with Tea Dye.






Thursday 4 October 2012

Fantastic Ribbons DT October Challenge- Sewing Project and Challenge

So for this months Fantastic Ribbon design team challenge we were asked to do a project with the theme of sewing. I thought about doing a card, and have been meaning to get my sewing machine out for a while and sew direct to card. In the end though I wanted to do something a little different, and have made myself a ribbon phone case.



So how do you make such a fantastic thing?!
Well you start by choosing a selection of lovely ribbons. You can choose any ribbons you like, but I chose all mine to be satin ribbon (I would have loved this in grosgrain, but didn't have enough variety to make a good case.) You can also choose any width you like, and the width of my ribbons varied alot.
You can also choose any combination of colours, but I LOVE rainbows, and was blessed yesterday to see a full rainbow! They cheer me up no matter what!

You will probably need a sewing machine, although if you have patience you could certainly have a go at hand stitching it! The ribbon lengths need to be about 15-20cm (depending on the width of your phone) but just wrap a piece around to gauge what you'll need. This means this project is perfect for scraps.

Starting with the first two pieces of ribbon, stitch together using chosen stitch. Using a variety of stitch styles gives a nice effect.

Try to choose stitch styles which give a good attachment though. Because the ribbon is sealed along the edges you can actually line the ribbons up side by side, without overlapping at all, and zigzag stitch them together which is very useful for narrower pieces of ribbon. 
  Add one ribbon at a time until you've finished.


You need to stitch enough ribbon to comfortably house your phone (I could have done with an extra piece of ribbon below the pink, but because I was sticking to rainbow colours I had to make do). 

Next you need to wrap the ribbons around the phone (right side in) and pin the ribbon. Remove the phone(!) and then stitch the side of the case with a straight stitch. Once you have done this you stitch the bottom of the case. You can now turn the case inside out and you will have a lovely case. I chose to add some extra ribbon and a button fastening to mine, but its up to you if you want to do that. I just hand stitched them on.
You could also use velcro/poppers to secure yours if you have those around!
If you wanted you could also line the case with various fabrics, but there's no real need.
You could also embellish the case to your hearts content, but I love mine how it is!

I hope you like this idea, and once you've tried this you could make a Kindle cover, Notebook cover etc, the world is your oyster! 
All ribbons used are available from Fantastic Ribbons!
Keep an eye on the Fantastic Ribbons blog for other fun ribbon sewing projects!


Challenge - So heres the challenge, can you make something crafty by sewing with ribbons? If so you could win yourself a stash of ribbon from the guys over at Fantastic ribbon! Just visit the blog and comment on the post to be in with a chance of winning!
Bx


Wednesday 3 October 2012

Over the hill cake...and an upcoming project!

Here's a cake I have made this week for a friend at work who has just turned 50. He's a big walker, so this cake was ideal. The main base is a stack of 4x 8" cakes, and then a large and small cupcake are upside down on the top to form the hill. Its a vanilla cake with buttercream and jam.

Here's the main character, who is supposed to look like my friend Andy! (Although my character is a little bit chunky!)


Here's a little sheep, which I followed the fantastic advice of someone on youtube and used the thin end of a biro top to create the wooly texture, it worked brilliantly.
The grass is piped green buttercream (nozzle 233) and the path is demerera sugar.


My crafting has been a bit all over the show since Elijah was born for various reasons. The most recent being that we bought a lot of new storage, and so I've been rearranging all my craft stuff. So, instead of crafting I've been organising, but hopefully it will make my crafting tidier and also I will know exactly where everything is so I'll be quicker too!

Below is a picture of the main materials needed for a new craft I'm SO excited about having a try of. I've been getting bits and pieces in the post and finally the last piece of the puzzle as it were arrived today, so I will be having a go later on!!!! Watch this space!

Hope your day is filled with craft!

Monday 1 October 2012

Baby Boy Card

Here is a baby card for some friends for the birth of their little boy Jake.
I started off by cutting and embossing a Labels 1 spellbinders nestability with the Cuttlebug New Baby embossing folder. I did this onto some baby blue card and then sponged with Broken China Distress ink. Next I cut and embossed a Labels 4 nestability in white card and using a grid mask, and again sponged with Broken China ink.  I used some chipboard letters to spell out his name.

The card blank was stamped directly with a plaid/check from the Waltzingmouse Offbeat Backgrounds stamp set (Whispers Starry Starry Night ink). I used some teal blue felt for some of the embellishments, cutting them was really easy with my cuttlebug, much easier than I anticipated, although I wouldn't try an intricate pattern. The first was a scalloped piece (Spellbinders Scalloped edgeabilities) and then I did a small cuttlebug star. To personalise the card a little more I added the little circle sentiment and the date of birth using my Papertrey Ink Postmarks set.