A Cut Above - Day 4

Hi Folks...

I'm back again with more creations from my A Cut Above classes.  Day 4 had us using dies in new ways, well maybe not new to some...lol.  I learnt how to extend a die shape to make it longer... how cool is that!  As you can see in the pic the label on the card was cut using the die shown, a very nifty technique.

Have a great day!

A Cut Above - Day 3

Hi Folks,

I just have to say I am having an absolute blast playing with my Bigshot for the A Cut Above classes.  Day 3 had us creating shaped cards (see below), I never thought these would be so quick and easy to make.

For this little card I used a shiny chocolate paper for the background.  On top of that is a die cut piece from the KaiserCraft Bonjour 61/2" paper pad, crochet flower and pearl, plus Tim Holtz stamp and distress ink.

Card No.2 was die cutting a shape out of the card... so I did a butterfly :)

Side view shows the cutout better.  The hole is backed with acetate, then I die cut the butterfly again from blue glitter paper and popped it back in the cutout.  The butterfly and sunflower (upsy daisy) dies are from MFT, the leaves are from Tim Holtz mini tattered flower die.  Once again the inks are Tim Holtz distress inks and glossy accents on the sunflower centre!

Have a great day!

A Cut Above - Day 2

I realized I hadn't posted for A Cut Above - Day 2, mainly because I didn't make a card.  No I wasn't slacking off, the technique was die-cutting an image from the front of a card.  As this is something I love to do anyway I'll just reference this POST...

Have a great day!

A Cut Above - Day 1

Class is in and it's fun already...YAY!!!

So here is my first project.  Using a blank white card as a base, I masked out the centre and stamped the background with a really cool chevron stamp.  I scored the outside edge of the blank centre then using a gel pen marked in faux stitches.  I used  MFT dies for the lace and flower, the 'Best Wishes' tag I printed out from photoshop on Epson Matt Paper.

I took this side on photo so you could see the layer of the flower better and it also shows the flower centre.  I gave this the glossy accents touch for a bit of dimension

Have a great day!

Home Baked Goodness...

Nothing better than the smell of baking or the taste of Home Baked Goodness...

Have a great day!

Off to Class, again...

Hi Folks...

Yep you read right I'm off to class again :grin: this time I will be in class for three weeks learning more about how to use my Bigshot machine and my Silhouette Cameo.  This time courstey of Online Card Clases who sponsored a giveaway on Julie aka Paper Trufflez blog to A Cut Above classes.  To my surprise and delight I was one of the three lucky winners...EEEEEEEEEEE!!!  I am so stoked to a. have won and b. be part of this class. 

If you're interested in learning more about how to use your Bigshot, Vagabond, Cuttlebug, Grand Calibur or Silheouette machines go take a look at the class.  I am super excited to learn more and can't wait to add to my ever increasing  crafty knowledge...lol!

Have a great day!

Message to My Girl...

Hi Folks...

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was making a mini album for my girl!  The mini was a way for me to let her know how much I miss her now she has moved 10hrs away for work.  I did manage to finish it before I went for a visit...WOOT! and despite myself doubt Blossom loved it :grin:

The pictures below give you an over all view of the album, if you're interested in seeing more detail of what's behind the foldie out bits go HERE to my gallery where you can see each individual page.

The colours and theme for the album came from Blossom's home decor - vintage, french, red and black.  I loved working on this album soooo much!  I wanted the album to not only express my love but also have a fun factor to it, which I think I achieved with the pockets, tags, flip out half pages and pearls of Mum wisdom...hahahaha!

Have a great day!

Motivated...

Hey folks...

nothing like a bit of motivation to get ya moving, right :wink:  Motivated I have been, having just finished Creative Chemistry 101 I figured I had better do something with the notes.  What better way to house those pdf printouts then a tag, a big tag admittedly but a lot of fun to create...

I made the covers out of a thick cardboard covered with a manila folder, which I inked all over with Antique Photo Distress Ink.  The middle of the tag is a piece of Epson Matt Paper I printed inks splats on, then spritzed with water ready for a  swipe of Crushed Olive and Peel Paint Distress Stains over the top.  A few stamped images and a bit of Walnut Stain blended around the page gave it a nice dirty look...lol. 

Hexagon's are popular at the moment so I thought hey why not they kinda go with the whole chemistry theme.  I used my silhouette cameo to cut the hexagonal frame.  Each one of the hexagonal inserts was created using the techniques learnt from the course.  I wanted these to pop of the page a bit so I used foam mount, the image below shows this a bit better.

I sure had fun with this and it looks great sitting on a shelf in my craftroom :)

Have a great day!

Day 10 - Chemistry 101

Awwww it's the last day of class...

wow that's not something I say often...hahaha!  But yep today was the last very last day of classes for one fantastically uber course.  Seriously folks if you're sitting on the fence on this one, well... get off it and sign up :D  Well and truly worth the money, so much information well presented in an easy to understand way, plus there were pdf's of all the techniques so you can refer back to them anytime! 

Tag #10 has this gorgeous shimmery look (again my photography sucks).  I did have to improvise on this technique as it called for a large patterned stamp for the background :sigh:.  I used instead an embossing folder to give me the pattern and just inked over the raised bits. 

Hmmm... I can see my credit card is going to get a massive work out with all the stamps I will just have to buy...lol.

Have a great day!

Day 8 - Chemistry 101

Hi crafters...

Hey have you heard about sticky backed canvas?  No... well take a look and Tag #1 for today, how awesome does it look ^.^  This would have to of been the easiest tag I have done so far, stamp - paint - stick on a tag, and the result... AWESOME!   Tag #2 for todays lesson didn't come out quite as good as it could of but that's mainly due to the fact I used the wrong colour distress crackle.  But hey it's about the technique right :grin: I will def try this again but with a better idea of what I want the end result to look like...lol.  Tag #3 - oh,oh,oh, don't the flowers look super cool - shattered glass effect, so many ideas buzzing in my head of what I could do this too...hahahaha!

Have a great day!

Day 7 - Creative Chemistry101

I'm in love...

Yep it's true this course has made me fall in love with getting inky!  I have had a blast learning new techniques and today's lessons were just brilliant.  Tag no.1 was a bit on embossing but and here is the cool part, then you take it off so your piece is flat... so, so cool!  Tag no.2 was embossing again but the end result looks a bit like old rusted enamel, not that the photo shows the glossy sheen the tag has but trust me when I say it is super duper shiny.

 So can't wait to use these techniques on a real project :D

Have a great day!

Day 5 - Creative Chemistry101

Week One complete...

Was it just me or did that week go by super quick...lol.  Today's lesson covered Stained Kraft Resist, Stamping with Stains and Marbled Stains.  All these techinques make just the coolest images, I'm thinking todays tags are the ones I like best... so far :).   There was lots of stamping and even though my stamp stash is lacking, I am very happy with the results.  Amazing what you can come up with when you give it a go :grin:

Have a great day!