Wednesday 17 September 2014

Tattered Lace Embossing folders

Hi followers of Crafty Tash.

I have been having an exciting week watching all the brilliant shows on Create and Craft TV.  All my favourite designers have been on air, Anna Marie Designs included.  She made some lovely cards and had mdf kits to make some great Christmas decorations like this one below. If you like the look of this then visit her Facebook page to more ideas. 






And if the following card inspires you to get creative you will want to know that this is one of Sue Wilson's new dies "Christmas Angel".  Sue's new collection of Christmas dies are sensational and I can't wait to get hold of some for myself.































Meanwhile, something new to my crafty stash is some embossing folders from Tattered Lace.  Embossing folders are quite new to Tattered Lace yet they have produced some some of the best on the market.  They have taken the embossing technique to a new level by producing corner folders and borders.  The corners are great on backs of envelopes and the borders add a new dimension down the side of a card or across the bottom.

I received the following as a multibuy this evening and I am very pleased with them.  



It didn't take more than a moment to come up with an idea for a card and here it is.  I used my Kaleidacolour ink pad in fresh greens to colour over the lace doily that I embossed onto card stock.  I then used double sided tape around the edge of the card and matching glitter was sprinkled over this.  A great idea when you don't have matching card stock and it is quick to do. I used an embossing folder with the Birthday Wishes sentiment and matted and layered this onto matching card stock.    Let me know what you think.



Sunday 7 September 2014

Bloomin Marvellous

I am told that cards with a gardening theme are appealing to most people.  With that in mind I have been playing with my new Craftwork Cards “Potting Shed” Mega bundle of papers, toppers and  sentiments.  What particularly drew my attention to this set was the pre-cut plant pots and wellington boots in Kraft card.   I have created some cards below using the these papers but first, I am showing you how to put the bloom into your cards!


This idea came from Julie from Craftwork Cards who recently demonstrated it on the Create & Craft Show as a "how to make a pop-up bouquet" that her colleague Neil had come up with.  She used the potting shed collection and the bloom sits on the inside of the Kraft Card flower pot card and opens out when you open the card.  I immediately wanted to try this.  



After several failed attempts I eventually got the folds in the right place and achieved my petal shapes but I was keen to find an easier way and started experimenting with my dies.  I found that I needed a flower shaped die with 8 petals as 6 or 7 petals didn’t work particularly well.  Fortunately I had a die from Spellbinders with 8 petals.  It is their Die D-Lites Medallion One.



So I began passing this die through my E-Bosser until I had cut 7 flowers.  In turn, I put folds into each flower by folding in half at each junction between the petals.  I recommend using printed coloured paper rather than cardstock as it is easier to crease.

This shows the folds before I folded it in half.









Now it is folded in half. with the pretty dots on the inside.

The next job is to cut a way one segment and rejoin by overlapping.  This leaves you with 6 segments.




Here is the finished petal. I have cut away the segment and rejoined it to leave 6 remaining segments.












I laid them out as follows:



The gluing together is a very important step to get right.  Glue should only be applied along the top edge, not covering the whole of the segment.  The first flower had glue placed on the first and third segments before I placed the two flowers either side.  Importantly no glue was added in the middle segment.





Again, I placed glue on the first and third segments, just at the tops of these and then placed the next segment over the top, like this.



I continued adding the flowers in this manner until all the parts were glued in place and had dried.  Only then did I glue it to the inside of my card.    I recommend you watch Craftwork Card’s Bloomin Marvellous video on YouTube to see exactly where to place your glue and how to glue it to the inside of your card.   Here is a link to the video Craftwork Cards Blooming Marvellous.  If you don't own any dies the video demonstrates how to cut each flower to get that perfect shape.

I have also had a go at making a special card for Christmas using a Kraft card plant pot, my Poinsetta dies from Spellbinders and the Craftwork Card Kraft boxes I have in my crafty stash.  The paper is what I have been using up over the last couple of weeks and is by Bo Bunny. It was very enjoyable to do and I made it with a client in mind.  His mother adores my handmade cards.










I have made a presentation box for the card.





Here are a few more cards I have made with the Craftwork Cards "Potting Shed" papers.  

This was the Wellington Card.




Crafty hugs, from Crafty Tash