It's not just for christmas! - 1 cutting Die, 3 Cards. :)

That's right it isn't, even though it might look like it at first glance!
Today my post is about the versatility of a new Me to You product, the Candy Cane die.
With just a bit of tweaking it becomes such a versatile die and anyone who knows me knows I LOVE die cutting so it's my product of the moment! :)

Ok, so on to the first card!

Now honestly does that look like it was made using Christmas products to you?!
Personally I think the pattern of the embossing folder and papers looks like firework explosions, especially in these colours.

The die is part of the Winter Wonderland range; as are the Snowflurry embossing folder (used on the purple coredinations card) and the white/pink backing paper.The extra bits are the Quickutz Mini Present die, some card candy and the Me to You, Happy Birthday senitment stamp.

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Now this next card is a christmas card yes, but you'll notice something a bit odd about it.....

That's right, Tatty Ted is no longer his trademark grey colour but a nice chocolate brown!
If you just want to use the die as a non-brand-specific (yes I know thats not a word!) bear then I thought why not make him brown, or maybe even 2-tone with lighter paws and muzzle?!

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Lastly I thought I should share a card using the die as originally intended, a christmassy Tatty Ted, complete with glittery hat!
The ribbons, senitment and border strip are all from the Winter Wonderland Ultimate pack.

Hope you enjoyed these cards and it was sucessful in displaying the versatility of the die. :)

I'll be back soon with some hints and tips for using the die itself.

Thanks for reading! x

The Day After Demo #1! One sheet Hinged Box - Tutorial

Well, what can I say?!
Such a FABLOUS day!!!!! :)

I left early (remembering this time to eat breakfast to keep my strength up lol!) and arrived in good time to settle myself in.

Terri the owner of The Craft Den was very welcoming and offered me a tea/coffee before the shop opened whilst we were arranged where to put the samples. :)

I think overall that the demo went well, there were lots of people in the shop and I had some very friendly ladies sit for a while to watch me demo the samples and some techniques (and have a craft related chat!) throughout the whole day.
Everyone was so lovely and couldnt have made me feel more welcome and I even had to be reminded that I needed to stop for lunch, especially when the very talented Sue turned up with a GORGEOUS chocolate cake! Yum! :)

Anyway, the point of this post is that I promised to share the measurements for one of the favourite samples of the day, a one sheet of card Hinged Box (aka a Pizza Box).

 A very simple box (even if my diagram doesn't show it!) but there were so many suggestions of different uses for them and ideas for adjusting the size to fit specific items and that along with the fact they are so simple to produce (very quickly!) makes them a big hit!

EDITED TO ADD : Oops! Forgot to mention about the covers.
You can make these using nesties or just rectangles of card slightly larger than your finished box and cut the edges with decorative scissors etc.

Enjoy! Ni. x :)

A CRAFT ROOM - At last!

.....Well strictly it's half a room but give me some time and I'll take it all over!!!
*insert evil laugh here!*

Good morning all!
With the fab news of me becoming a Docrafts demonstrator and my ever growing stash I have been allowed to remove the bed from one spare room and my fab and very handy Dad has put me up a workspace with the promise some shelves to follow!! :)

This first pic is before the bed was dismantled but shows my new work top, an off cut from when the kitchen was updated! See I'm being thrifty too, that way I have more pennies for new stash, lol!

Next is the pic of when I quickly and very roughly 'moved in' and was trying to find a home for some bits and pieces.

In case anyone is interested the square units are from Argos, they were a buy 2 get 1 free offer and then I added the small bookcase from the same range.

Lastly pic 3, taken Monday during my 1st demo prep session!
I had gone to get some lunch about 3pm after working from 11am and when I came back I looked into the room and thought it looked like a whirlwind (albeit a quite tidy one!) had stopped by, lol!

Hope you have enjoyed your lil sneaky peek into my new craft space, I am so lucky to finally have an area to call mine instead of crafting on the floor for everyone to trip over!
I'll be back with more photos once I add new storage and work out where everything is going to live! :)
Thanks for stopping by, Ni. :) x

Spellbinders Nestabilities - Basics & Beyond.

YAY! It's finally here! Now for a quick flick through and, as promised, my mini 'book review'.  :)

The Basics & Beyond book lists 45+ projects using the Spellbinders Nestabilites dies which are broken down into four sections that I'll give you a brief overview of shortly...

...BUT the book begins with a Special Techniques section covering the basics of die cutting and embossing, shaped cards, frames and apertures.

There are mini tutorials for using the dies as stencils and for a reverse stenciling technique (Hoping to try this soon and will blog the results!), as well as a pyramage technique, flower making and other mini embellishments.

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The four main sections are as follows:

Baby projects include;

Cards, Bibs, Invitations, Favours, Mini Album, Keepsake Box.

Birthday projects include;

Cards, Cupcake Pinwheel (trying this out soon too!), Treat Bag, Tag, Candy Wrapper (that's a chocolate bar wrapper if you're in England like me lol!), Gift Box/Bag.

Christmas projects include;

Cards, Gift Box, Decorations, Tag, Decorated Notebook.

Life's Moments projects include;

Cards, Invitation, Place Card, Memory Book, Frame, Decorations, Box, Candle.

***

Each project comes with a materials list if you wanted to copy the projects exactly or just wanted to know details of the products used.

There are handy 'Did You know?' boxes on some of the pages throughout the book which contain extra little hints of how best to utilize your dies.

On the back page is a list of the featured designers with their blogs addresses and a product stockists list.

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Overall I am thrilled with the book and personally I think it is well worth the money; there are some gorgeous projects in it to recreate or just to use for inspiration.

I honestly think that if you love your spellbinders dies you wouldn't be disappointed with this book, I'm certainly not!

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As I dont have permission to post any pics etc and dont want to infringe any copyright I have added the links below to the publishers website and some of the DT and/or offical reviewers blog posts which have some pics included. HTH! :)

Publishers website, there are a few pics on here http://www.anniesattic.com/paper_crafts/detail.html?prod_id=83189

There was also a blog tour which can be viewed:
Here - http://thewillowgarden.blogspot.com/2011/02/spellbinders-nestabilities-basics.html
here - http://stopandstamptheroses.blogspot.com/2011/02/spellbinders-nestabilities-basics-and.html
here - http://tamimayberry.blogspot.com/2011/02/spellbinders-nestabilities-basics.html
here - http://valeriestangle.blogspot.com/2011/02/spellbinders-nestabilities-basics.html
here - http://creativepad.typepad.com/creative_pad/2011/02/spellbinders-nestabilities-basics-beyond-blog-tour-.html
and here! http://hopartstudios.typepad.com/hop_art_studios/2011/02/spellbinders-nestabilities-basic-beyond-blog-tour.html

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Thanks for reading if you've made it this far! Hope this has been of some help to anyone wondering whether to buy the book or not, I'd definitely say, you need to get it lol! Ni. :) x

Fabulous news - I'm now a Docrafts demonstrator! :)

...well its fabulous news for me anyway lol!



I can finally reveal what has been taking up all my time recently, yes that's right the post title says it all.

I have been asked to become a docrafts demonstrator! YAY!

I carried out a trial demo with the new July/Aug products a few weeks ago and the prep was definitely a lot of 'work' (although I can't say it was unpleasant!) ;)
It took longer than I realised to work out how to use all the goodies I'd been asked to demo and in the end I made 20 or so projects just for my 3 hour demo!

* All the cards are being added to my DC gallery over the next few days, although I've uploaded a pic here of the full demo table on the day! * I'll also be sure to add a button here in my sidebar to link directly to my demonstrator gallery.*

I will definitely be posting on here a lot more here now as I will be trying to upload all my demo cards along with the products used and the details of how I made them.

Lastly I would like to say a huge Thank You to those few people that knew I'd applied and wished me good luck and also for their congratulations.
Also, to the people that have been over and commented on the new cards already, I'm glad they seem to be ok!
Am now looking forward to my first 'real' demo in September!

Thanks for reading, from a very happy, Ni. :)