Remember, Remember The 5th Of November

Good evening blogland, followers old and new and friends.  Another Papermill DT project from me and news of this week's offer over at the Papermill.  This week we have Black Buckram 270gm card a pack of 20 sheets for £5.00.  This is a beautiful card with a textured feel, ideal for those bonfire invitations and using as contrast with the other wonderful coloured cards the Papermill stock.

October is coming to an end and November beckons, we have the Guy Fawkes Carnival here in Bridgwater and visitors come from far afield to see the fabulous floats which pass through the town.  With this in mind I decided to make a Guy Fawkes tag using this great black card.

 I cut a tag from the black buckram card using a Sizzix die then added the background using various stencils, glue and very  fine glitter. The Guy Fawkes image and words were printed onto tissue paper and pasted onto the tag.   The word tag was printed onto vellum paper, torn and tattered and covered with distress ink .  The edges of the main tag were coloured with distress paints and the word tag attached to the top with a clip.  A piece of cord from my bits box was tied to the tag, three silver stars and a number 5 were added to finish.

I have been playing around with the make your own calendar from the Papermill and thought the black card would be ideal  for November's page, here it is.

The black buckram card was mounted onto yellow card and the fireworks were drawn using a glue pen and sprinkled with glitter.  The house border was hand drawn and cut out, coloured with Promarkers and mounted on the card.  The rocket was computer generated along with the 5th November tag, these were attached to the card after it was glued in position on the calendar page.

Why not pop over to the Papermill Blog and take a look at the other DT makes for bonfire night.

Witchy Inspirations for Halloween

 

Good morning followers old and new, and anyone passing through.  October is rushing along and over at The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge this month it is Anything Goes, there is still time for you to get your entries in.

Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Rick St Dennis, the Design Team have been working with Rick's images for their inspirations, fly over to the blog and take a look at their fabulous creations, I am sure you will be inspired to enter the challenge.

 

My contribution to the DT inspiration Monday today is an invitation to a Halloween party, I used the Rick St Dennis Bratty Li'l Witch image which I coloured with Promarkers.  The invitation was put together using Serif Page Plus, Pink Petticoat halloween image papers, computer printed invitation details and Bratty Li'l Witch.  I printed out the invitation on white linen paper, coloured the images and added a little black soot distress ink to the outer edges of the invitation and some glossy accents to the eyes.  To add a little impact I mounted the invitations onto black card which I tore at the bottom edge, all card and paper from Papermill Direct.

I just love this image and used her to make tags for favour bag for party treats.  After finishing the tag I realised I should have printed "Trick or Treat", or a name to personalise each bag  at the side of the witche's broom, have made a mental note to do so on any more I make.

A Start On The Christmas Crafting While Enjoying A Break

Hi everyone, hope you are all well and enjoying your crafting.  Over at the Papermill things are getting very Christmassy and I am getting on nicely with my Christmas cards and gift boxes.  Papermill Direct  have a fabulous offer on red card and red and green light card so pop over and check it out in the Christmas goodies shop, It's great for Christmas crafting. 

Not a lot of craft materials with me while I was away but I did manage to make a gift bag, matching card and a card for one of the grandchildren.  Using white linen, red and pale blue card from Papermill Direct and a little patterned festive paper I made a start on my Christmas cards, here they are.

Firstly I printed the penguine digi from Pink Petticoat, coloured him with Promarkers and added Glamour Dust, cut him and the backing circles out with Spelbinder dies (done before I left home).  The image and circles were glued together ready to be added to the card.  The card was scored to make a triangle stepper card, (three equal sides and two shorter front folds)  my idea was to make a triangular box to slip into the card for sweets  when I got home but I managed to make that too.  The front folds were covered with patterned paper (not sure where from) and the image attached.  The triangl box was covered with some of the patterned paper too.

The box and matching card were made using red card stamped with a snowflake and embossed with white powder, two blue stars were stamped with a red snowflake.  Ribbon and tag were attached to the box and the card.

A tutorial for the box can be found HERE, a very simple box to hold sweets or small Christmas gifts.

Papermill Direct have a wonderful selection of card in beautiful Christmas colours,  check the shop out for special offers and the Christmas Goodies too.

Some good ideas for Christmas and Special Postage Offer at the Papermill

l was lucky enough to received a Papermill make your own calendar this week and one of their artist watercolour sketch pads.   I just had to let you know about them, they are fabulous quality and such good value.  I have also been told there is free postage on orders over £25 from Friday 5pm until 5pm Monday with the code OCT25.

The calendar is something I would not usually think of buying and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived.  The quality of the calendar is excellent,  the pages are heavyweight card not flimsy like other calendars I have come across.  They come in A4 and A3 sizes and if you buy more than one there is a multi buy discount.  A4 calenders are £4.50 each and A3 £5.50 each.

The calendar pages are blank at the top half with the month printed on the bottom half.  The thick pages give you the option of techniques to use when decorating your pages.  It would be ideal for mounting photographs, postcards, pre-made artwork, and also perfect for drawing,  painting and stamping directly onto the page.

Now on to the new artist water colour sketch pad, this would make a fabulous present for a crafty friend  or for youself to use for sketching, journaling etc.  The pages are a fabulous 300gm weight card  perfect for paints, inks and watercolours.  The pads come in three sizes A4, A3 and A2 at £8, £10 and £15.  This one is going to be for me, I will be using it as a techniques book.  When I try out new techniques I use a sketch book this is now rather thick and doesn't close, the artist watercolour sketch pad will be my new techniques book, starting with some stamping and watercolouring, will be playing around with the cover too, a little altered art maybe.

I would certainly reccommend the calendars and sketch pads, they would be ideal Christmas presents for your crafty friends, I will be buying some of the calenders for my grandchildren they will love adding their artwork to each month.  Pop over to the Papermill shop and check them out HERE in the Christmas Goodies section.

I am away at the moment but will be back with some photos of how I have used the calendar and sketchpad, see you soon.

It's Looking Even More Like Halloween

Good morning , here is my  twinchie half way reminder post, it is Halloween over at the Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge blog so pop on over and take a look at the challenge and check out some of the fabulous entries.

Here are a few twinchies for Trick or Treat 

Here are a few more fun twinchies which were turned into gift tags.

My twinches were created with children in mind and I used some bought Halloween stickers to put on my twinchies bases. These were then made into tags to add to gift bags/boxes.

Here is short tutorial on how to make these bags which can be adapted for any occasion.

Take an A4 piece of card and score lines down the card at 21/2 inches, 51/2 inches, 8 inches and 11 inches

These are the box sides.

Turn card 90 degrees and score a line down at 21/2 inches, this will make the base of the box.

Cut up to the score line on the box base trimming the end fastening flap.

Here is a close up of the fastening flap, it is shortened for ease of sticking when putting the box together.

 If you want to stamp on your box, or stick coloured panels onto it now is the time to do so.

Fold the sides round tucking in the base flaps. stick the base flaps one on top of the other, taking car that one of the wider flaps is at the bottom of the box, then stick the small flap (inside or outside) down the length of the box.

The finished box, push in the sides at the top and pinch together, fasten in whatever manner you want, I punch holes at the top and attach ribbons and tags.

Hope you have fun making some boxes, they are fun for any occasion.  I will be making some for Christmas they are perfect for small presents and home made sweets and chocs.

It's Very Christmassy Over At The Papermill

Hi everyone, here I am with my first DT post for the Papermill team.  this week we are getting all Christmassy, after all there are only 10 weeks until Christmas and it is time to get festive.  Take a look at the Papermill Blog and check out the fabulous DT creations using Christmas reds and greens.

 

For my DT project I used various red and green card I had in my stash but the DT team used the beautiful Christmas red 240gm card and forest green and postbox red 160gms papers (a light card).  The card comes in a box at £6.00 and the papers come in a box of both colours for £5.00.  Fabulous card to work with and fabulous traditional Christmas colours.

As I only had a short time to produce a DT sample I made a a CAS card using my Silhouette to cut out the holly and berries.  The base card was made with red card, matted with white linen card.  Three inchies stamps (not sure who by) were stamped onto red and green light card and embossed in silver pearl powder, cut to size and added to the card.  I embossed the flourish with the same embossing powder, added it to the card with the berries and leaves.  Finally a greeting was stamped and the card finished inside with a white linen paper insert.

I had some berries and leaves left so made a few festive tags.  All the card and paper used is from Papermilldirect, pop over and take a look at the fabulous range of cards on offer and check out their special offers.

Ho Ho Ho, getting into the Christmas mood now, pop over to the Papermill and check out their fabulous cards and papers, there will be all the colours you could want to use on your cards this Christmas.

Esmeralda Will Tell Your Fortune For Halloween

Good morning followers old and new, and anyone taking a peek at my blog.  October is here, another month is flying by and over at The Crafty Bloggers Network the theme is Anything Goes.

This month's challenge is  sponsored by  the very talented artist Rick St Dennis, pop over to his Etsy Shop and take a look at the fabulous digi images on offer.  Check out The Crafty Bloggers Challenge for more details and to see the amazing DT cards using Rick's images.

This is a Halloween DT card using Rick's Esmeralda The Fortune Teller digital image.  This is a fabulously detailed image and I had so much fun colouring her I did a second Esmeralda using different colours.  I have been away for the last three weeks and this gave me time to practice some colouring with my Promarkers.

My card started life as an A4 sheet of white linen card which was cut to make a 15cm x 15cm square card blank.  I created the moon and bats using Serif Page Plus desktop publishing and printed it onto the card.  The background was coloured with distress inks using chipped saphire and a little black soot.  A piece of Pink Petticoat Spooky Doodles Scratches paper was printed,  torn and distressed a little and stamped with Halloween words and images from Indigo Blu and My Mind's Eye then layered onto the bottom of the card.  A little spiced marmalade DI was added for the moon's reflection. Esmeralda ws printed and coloured using Promarkers, fussy cut and attached to the card.

Above is Esmeralda using different colours and mounted on a white fancy background ready to be made into a card.

An exciting week for me lots of great news.

Good afternoon followers, friends, passers by and all out there in blogland.  This week has been very exciting I am very proud to share some exciting news with you, I have been accepted onto the Papermill Design Team and I am over the moon.  I am looking forward to working with the team and eagerly awaiting my box of goodies to start producing cards etc with the Papermill's fantastic card range.

I am sure you all know the Papermill from the Papermill Shops which were dotted around the country, but sadly had to colse.   Fortunately for all of us you can still buy their fantastic range of card from Papermill Direct, pop over and take a look at the fabulous selection available, and check out the Papermilldirect Blog for tips, tutorials and weekly news.  

As it is the Halloween month I thought I would show you a box I made last year using card from Papermill, cut out on the Silhouette and stamped with my favourite Halloween stamps and Autumn colours.  The card cuts beautifully and the inks and stamping went on like a dream.  The top photo shows the contents of the box, a little like Como's matchbox, full of leaves and creepy crawlies.  The leaves and insects were printed onto white card, fussy cut and stuck into the base of the box.

Will be back on Monday, family visiting this weekend, with my Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge DT card which was made using the Papermill card and paper.  Hope you all have a good weekend and enjoy your crafting.

Taking A Little Journey With The Alpha Chalenge Letter "J"

Good morning followers old and new, friends and all you lovely ladies in blogland.  I am working at full speed this week despite being under the weather and have managed to finish my Craft Barn Alpha Challenge "J" page, no last minute dash for me this fortnight lol.  

No word really jumped out at me except journey so I ran with it and this is what I ended up with, on reflection jumped is a nice word too may do another page if I have the time.

 

Anyone checking out my blog posts this week will have noticed I have made a few tags and the Stampers Anonymous Road Trip stamps were still out on my desk, they were perfect for my word choice I also found a case stamp with the word journey, Indigo Blu's Grand Tour III. 

The definition was masked off and the tyre image stamped in frayed burlap distress ink to frame it .  The car was stamped directly onto the page using black Archival ink.  The journey case and  the mileage gauge were stamped onto parchment paper and fussy cut.  I used Archival sepia for the case and Marvey Markers for the colours on the gauge.

A mini map was made from an old map and the letter "J" was cut out from it too, you can't have a journey without a map or sweets come to that.  I thought jelly babies would be fine.  The map, gauge and sweets were layered on the page, the "J" added above with a stenciled "A" and "B" at either side (journey from point A to B!).  Lastly the words Road Trip were stamped in black Archival over the top of the map, and a little distress ink splodged around the page.

The year has flown by, we have done 20 letter and now have only 6 left, you can still join in so pop over to the Craft Barn and check out the challenge, or just take a look at the fabulous pages created. 

Its Looking a Lot Like Halloween over at the Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge

Good morning ladies in blogland, followers and friends.  Its Halloween time over at the Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge blog, why not pop over and check it out and enter a few 2" x 2" Halloween works of art

Firstly I had to cut out some twinchies, I use my scrap card for these, a great way to use up bits and pieces.  These twinchies were white linen card and pearlescent card from Papermilldirect, the linen gives a texture and the pearl card is fabulous for colouring with distress inks.

I had great fun making my twinchies this month, I used two sets of stamps I bought last year to make Halloween cards.  The stamps are Indigo Blu "Hocus Pocus" and My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found Halloween".  The twinchies were stamped and embossed with black embossing powder before being coloured  using Promarkers and Distress Inks.

Witches, webs and full moons, always a favourite for Halloween.  These two were stamped and embossed with black powder and coloured with distress inks, I used a cut out circle as a template for the moon.

A touch of the gothic here the raven and a spooky abbey.  Both stamped, embossed with black and coloured with distress inks. 

 

And lastly who can resist owls and haunted castles, these were stamped, embossed and coloured with Promarkers and distress inks. 

I look forward to seeing your Halloween twinchies, so fly over to the Show Us Your Twinchies site and check out the challenge.

Watch out for the midway reminder post where I will be showing you how to use your twinchies for some Halloween crafting.