Up, Up and Away

Just recently Tattered Lace have bought out some clever new dies, which make 3D designs, like the cocktail shaker and martini glass in my last blog.

One of the designs I really enjoyed making samples for was the hot air balloon. I love it if you happen to see one floating around, and it took me back to when we were lucky enough to go in one in Egypt a few years ago. It was so smooth and quiet, apart from the occasional blast of heat, even animals are not spooked by them as they don't know they are there. Luckily for us, even the landing went smoothly!

Once again, you can have these mounted onto a card front, or made up into complete models, which is what I did here

I wanted it to look as if the balloon was literally floating above the ground, so I made a set of two of the cut dies and joined them altogether to make a complete 3D model. I then made a small hole in the bottom of the basket to secure and thread through some invisible thread and also attached some to the inside of the top of the balloon, one strand on each half, so that it would hang evenly. I love the invisible thread for these sort of projects but, boy, is it difficult to work with at times as it is, literally, invisible!

I then made up three identical card bases, each with an oval cut into the centre and scored and folded in the middle. The trickiest part is to make sure your ovals are cut in exactly the same place so when the card bases are joined together, they all fit together perfectly. Then it's just a case of joining the bases, with the strands of the invisible thread securely sandwiched between them and pulled quite tight so the balloon doesn't sag and hangs nicely in the air.

Shaken not Stirred!

It's the summer, although I think it may have gone on a break this weekend, but we have been having glorious weather and, now we can meet up with a few family or friends in the garden, what's better than a couple of cocktails or six whilst chating in the sun. 

The Ready to Party collection of dies, which were recently launched by Tattered Lace are perfect for makes with cocktails and parties in mind.

Two of the dies I was asked to make samples with were the cocktail shaker and martini glass dies.

These are so versatile, great to use as they are on a card front or, as I did in this sample, as a stand alone gift.

These are so easy to make and look so effective. You just need to cut two of each die and join them together, back to back.

I made a box out of acetate and silver card and glued them into position on the base of the box, standing on a small doily I had in my stash. The little extras like the lemon peel, spoon, mint leaves, lemon segment and ice cubes are all included with the dies.

The lid of the cocktail shaker can be left so it can be removed, but I attached mine to the shaker so it wouldn't keep falling off, especially in transit.

The most fiddly bit was the 'drink' in the martini glass. For that I cut a piece of acetate to fit inside the top of the glass and cut a triangle shaped hole it in where I wanted the ice cube and mint leaves to pop out of, as if they were floating in the drink, and a place at the side where the lemon would go. I stuck the ice cube in place and the whole acetate piece using dries clear glue.  I then stuck the lemon in place and left it all to dry. Although it dries clear, the glue will still show but this was covered up by covering the top of the acetate with a coloured liquid glue. You do not have to be very precise with this at all, in fact it look much more realistic if it is done quite roughly and forms air bubbles. Finally, I put the mint leaves in place, which were held by the coloured glue.

Cheers!