Cats Dies

Wow, It's Sunday evening already, where did that weekend go?

Last weekend I was busy playing with some of the new dies that are coming out tomorrow on Create and Craft from Tattered Lace.

I particularly had fun with the cat. I love making cards that move, so when I first saw the cat, I instantly thought I had to make his head move. So I made a mechanism made up of three parts, held together by brads so they all moved when you pulled the tab on the side of the card, making the cats head move side to side.

 I also thought it would be fun to make a 'treat box' for a cat, and made a small box using the Tattered Lace hexagon box die. This time I made a ginger cat and put it on the lid of the box, which I filled with catnip treats and a ball.

Another idea that sprung to mind when I saw this die was that it would be great fun to make some cat earrings using shrink plastic.  I was really pleased with how the colouring came out on the earrings, as you can never be sure how much darker the colours are going to go once it has been shrunk.  I had used a very old black Stazon ink pad that was almost dry, so very little colour came out, and very light colours in alcohol inks for the eyes and nose.  I made a small box with the Tattered Lace A5 box die and cut a piece of funky foam to fit inside to hold the earrings in place.

I really had fun playing with these ideas and I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out.  Oh well, back to work again tomorrow morning, but I'll be playing again soon!

Sneaky Peak

Mark and I came home last week from a lovely cruise, which took us into Gibraltar where we met up with my sister and her partner (and delivered some Christmas presents!). We were extremely lucky with the weather all the way from Southampton to Genoa, even the Bay of Biscay stayed calm for us!

But it is always nice to get home, especially when a package arrived the next day from Tattered Lace with a couple of new dies to play with.

I'm not able to give too much away at the moment (watch this space!) but I can show you a couple of photos of part of the samples I have made so far.

The lovely lady die used on this sample was from the latest magazine and I have found it really useful. 

I will show more pictures of the samples before the show which is due on Create and Craft next Tuesday, 25th October. 

Until then, happy crafting! 

One Die - Six Cards

I was really excited to receive my first die from Tattered Lace to make samples with for their show which is on Create and Craft this week.

I was given the 'Peace' die to play with and was amazed at how versatile it was.  I cut it out several times and then just started cutting into it to see what I could make, starting from the obvious - removing the central plaque with the 'Peace' wording - to making frames from the outside edges.  I actually came up with at least eight different ideas, but had to stop somewhere!

Here are the cards I made:

The first two cards I made used the die as a whole. I chose to infill the cut out with contrasting colours to make them stand out more and affixed the lilac one to the card base and hung the red and gold one from an aperture cut in the card.

With this card I just removed the central plaque and replaced it with the date.  You could easily use a photo of the recipient to make a lovely personalised card.

I then started to really dissect the die cuts and made this card using the Melded Church Die from Tattered Lace.  I made a shaker card using vellum instead of acetate to give a more wintery feel and added just the cut out 'Peace' words to the shaker.

I then made a Nativity Scene using one of last years Christmas dies from Tattered Lace and the Doves which came with one of their magazines, originally holding a bow but attached the 'Peace' plaque to them instead,

and finally ...

I cut into the bauble to make a frame.  This one was made using the bottom half on the die, but I also made one using the top half too, which created a very interesting shape.  I'll try and get that finished to put on here later. Again, I used elements of the Nativity die and just the 'Peace' plaque at the top.

I hope these have given you some ideas.  There is so much you can do with just one die, I sometimes forget to just play with them, so I'm off to have a go at some of my other dies and see what I can come up with - have fun with yours!

A Magnolia Church Wedding

With my Nephew getting married last year, it inspired me to make a wedding table centre piece which I subsequently entered into a competition.
Sadly, I didn't win anything, but I enjoyed making it and thought I would show you.

It took a bit of planning and creating templates, but I was really pleased with the way it turned out.
I put a battery operated tea light in the centre to light the 'church' up, which looked lovely with through the stained glass windows.

The 'stars of the show' were the beautiful Magnolia stamps - Tilda and Bridesmaid and Edwin standing groom.  I seem to have neglected my stamps recently and have been spending a lot of time with my dies, but this shows that the two combine beautifully and is something I really want to spend more time with in the future.

In the Days Before Bright Heart Craft Lights

It has been an age since I last updated my blog, which was really down to work commitments and having two years of looking after both sets of parents.
In the first year my Father in Law had a small stroke while we were on holiday and was still recovering from that when my Mother in Law had to go into hospital for open heart surgery.
As they were both too poorly to look after themselves, they moved in with us for a while and all card making was put on hold.  Luckily they have both made good recoveries but then last year, my Dad, who had been suffering from dementia for a couple of years, had a fall which was enough to trigger something in him and suddenly, overnight, became completely helpless and lost.
Mum couldn't manage and we had to arrange for a care home for him which he was only in for a couple of weeks before being taken to hospital and being there for a month before he sadly passed away.
Hopefully, all that is behind us now and I was so pleased to be asked recently to join the design team for Tattered Lace.
I have yet to receive my first commission but watched with interest their Christmas show on Create and Craft this week and, in particular the new Bright Heart craft lights they have bought out.
It reminded me of when I used to decorate cakes and for two years I made Christmas cakes using the small strings of battery operated lights you can buy for home decorations.  Oh what a difference these new lights would have made!  Although I was pleased with the results, the battery pack was so bulky, I can't wait to get hold of some of the new ones and make special cards with them.
Here are a couple of pictures of the cakes I made

This is the first one I did and this is what it looked like normally, and once the lights were turned on this is what it was like:

The next one I made the following year, was of Rudolph and his sleigh on a rooftop - even his red nose lit up!

I hope you like these ideas and I will be blogging a lot more in future, especially if I can give you any sneaky peaks of anything coming your way!

Gothic Wedding

It's been ages since I've had the chance to add to my blog, but I wanted to take the time to show you an unusual request I had for a Gothic wedding card. The instructions were that it had to be in dark purple and black, with skulls and butterflies. 

This was the end result.   Not something I can say really appeals to me, I'm more a cutie sort of person, but each to their own.  I just hope that the bride and groom for who it is intended think it is great!

On Route to South Africa

Well it's 5.15 in the morning to us but we are sitting in a bar in Dubai airport waiting for our connecting flight to South Africa!  We have been looking forward to this trip for so long and are meeting my sister and brother in law there tomorrow as they are making their way from Spain.
We have so much planned for while we are there, I am sure I will come home brimming with ideas to turn into cards!
Just wish I was able to sleep on the flight here. Mark slept all the way, but I didn't sleep a wink! Hopefully adrenaline will keep me going until we get to our hotel later today!