Visible Image - Finally got to play!

A big hello and welcome to anyone that is out there and reading my ramble for today. :D

I know have been absent from the blogging world again and somewhat detached from the real world a bit too. Luckily I have some fabulous crafting friends who are there for me, a few days away to visit my wonderful friend Diana (who also stepped in as nurse to help me look after my severely badly burnt and very painful hand) and a small spend up at the nec and a smaller craft show are all helping me try to get back on the path to my 'normal' (as if lol!) self. :)

As I've been feeling a bit down my mojo seems to have wandered off too so what better way to search for it again now that my hand is healing nicely, than playing with some new stash; and the challenge over at the visible image blog this month is to "Get Stamping!", so I have!
My card today therefore uses some fabulous, wonderful, gorgeous (yep ok, I know, you get it already, enough with the adjectives lol, but I love them!) stamps from Visible Image.

For my focal point I have used the gorgeous small butterfly which is so lifelike, detailed and delicate, oh and it looks fab using gilding flakes but I haven't made that piece into a card, yet...

Ok, so, first I stamped the butterfly onto the back of some chocolate brown card and cut around the image to give me a solid base layer, then on top of these I added a version stamped in aged mahogany distress ink (thanks Diana! x) and blended all over with tea dye.
I don't know if you can see it from the picture but I added some tiny beads from a nail art set (found in Pounland!) to their bodies for a bit of texture.

I made a horizontal a6 Kraft card base and stamped over it with the amazing Grunge Flourish in tea dye ink for a kind of watermark effect but with a bit more depth. This flourish stamp is so clever, you can just use the grungy edge, or the flourish bit or both, a great touch.

The sentiment is a new die I picked up at the nec for a bargain price, so good it would have been rude to say no. ;) I just cut it from the same chocolate brown card and added it to a Kraft strip that I snipped at the ends to make into a banner. Easy.
Now I look at it I'm thinking I might add some ribbon tied around the spine, any thoughts welcome. I'll have a play with it again tomorrow and see.

I have really enjoyed playing again thanks to having some super stamps to kick start my creativtiy and I've already ordered another one so look out for a card featuring that very soon!
Also starting from this weekend I'm going to be back with a 5 day Funky Hand feature here, sharing some projects made using their fabby new downloads.
Thanks for stopping by, Ni. x

Build a Scene Dies - no.2 Hot Air Balloon

Wow what a week! It started ok but just got worse lol!
It went from one then to three members of staff off (in a shop with a total of only 6!), an unexpected visit from some Head Office managers and me managing to strain my back and ending up hobbling around the shop like I was 90 instead of 30! Luckily its easing off a little now but I may have to go and see someone next week to get back to 100%.
The highlight of the week was a superb Friday evening spent with my friend Lisa at one of her Stampin' Up classes. We made 2 gorgeous cards with new products, saw some of the sale-a-bration items in the flesh and I came away with a huge bag of goodies I'd already put in my order for, can't wait to play!
Saying that..... I really need to stop buying for a while and start playing, my 'inbox' tray is overflowing with things waiting to be created with for the first time, oops! :)


Right, on to my shares of the day and as the title says I'm carrying on with the new Xcut Build a Scene die sets. I know some people seem to have had some trouble with these dies but me and my Bigshot have had no issues at all, just be careful with the string section for the balloon, maybe add some wax paper, use a tumble dryer sheet on the die or Jo Austin's new tip shown on Create and Craft recently, a dry baby wipe between the card and your die!

Ok so obviously this first card is a stepper card, I created the base from scratch and got a bit over excited with the clouds which meant they ended up being a bit high, but you get the idea, I just loved the 3D feel of it.

The cloud dies have no bottom to them, as in they do not cut a complete shape, just the top of a cloud outline so that you can cut the dies next to each other to get long cloud strips (great for a scrapbook layouts) and so that you can make them any depth you choose. The set also comes with some little whispy sort of shapes you cut into the clouds to look like the wind blowing, love those sort of details!

Now this one uses the die a little differently and shows the versatility of it. I have just cut the solid base section of the large balloon in some of the gorgeous Spots and Strips capsule collection papers and overlaid them onto a DL card, anchored them with twine tied round a button and cut myself another little cloud strip. This would be a lovely card personalised for a child. :)

I've also done another card using the small balloon shape turned upside down, cut from gold card and mounted into red/green to give a gorgeous (yep you guessed it, sorry!) Christmas bauble! Check out my super talented crafty friend DianaC's Docrafts gallery for her 2 bauble cards as I just copied her idea.

Right, time to hobble off for breakfast and then see if I can manage to sit in my craft chair for an hour or so and play with some of that lovely new stash that's calling out to me! I'll be back Tuesday for one of my last Creativity Club DT posts. X

Creativity Club DT Tuesday - A sketch and a 3D flower.

Morning bloggers! Well I am now up and about to set off to work ready for my 6am start but before I go I wanted to post my Creativity Club DT share for today and again I am sharing 2 cards.
Sorry about the poor light this early in the day lol! I'll redo them later.

Both of my cards today use the Country Companions, Sunshine Meadows collection.
This first card uses one of the exclusive daily sketches available to download within the creativity club and I have so far kept the card very simple and true to the design. However when it is ready to be sent to one of my young cousins I will add personalisation with the recipients name and age in the blank areas. I love Sketches as they are a great way to help you in those moments when your crafting mojo has deserted you!

This next card uses one of my favourite techniques from the Creativity Club the 3D flower embellishment made using the Xcut abloom nesting die. I have used two coordinating papers from the Sunshine Meadows collection, a pale blue/white spot and one with floral pattern.
The watering can Embossabilities sticker has been added to a tag cut from the Happy Days die and I have threaded it onto a strip of the striped paper, layered with a blue ribbon from the same pack.

I hope you like my cards today and don't forget to stop by the Creativity Club downloads section for a new sketch every day and a new download collection every Monday, this week it is the gorgeous Paisley in Cream set with a Mothers Day theme. If you are not a member of the Creativity Club yet then head over to the Docrafts website, here, for more information.

Docrafts meets Tim Holtz, Cogs everywhere!

Well, hello to you bloggers!
I had another fantastic demo yesterday at Capture the Magic, showcasing the most recent Docrafts releases and whilst having a quick broswe around the store myself I noticed the Steampunk, On The Edge die on sale at half price! Needless to say with my current fixation on the Chronology products I HAD to buy it!
So today's first card is one I made earlier today whilst having a quick play with that new die. :)

I've also been watching Ali Reeve on C&C and wanted to try embossing on a drinks can so first used the Cogs Tri-Boss folder and then inked it with a promarker before cutting the metal with the on the edge die. It gives a really fab effect, I need to stock up on fizzy drinks cans I think!

Originally the cog strip was going to be on the left side of the card, on the edge! ;) Ok fine, but then I realised that with the metal being light in colour and quite textured it would not show up against the orange clock paper so it had to be moved to the other side and make it into a split card. Not bad for a first attempt, want to play with it a bit more though so watch this space.....

The Pocket Watch die is fabulous, so many combinations of faces and using card in different colours means that no two watches need be the same!

Next onto a couple of quick mini projects from my demos,

The card is one of my favourite 4" notelets and the other project is actually a coaster to match my altered clock I posted here recently.

All the products are from the Chronology range except I additionally used the 'wave' border from the Nautical, Build a Scene die again to make a scalloped strip. The cog embossing folder was used on orange card and inked with black dye ink.

Right that's it for my shares today, I'm off to do some blog hopping this evening, love seeing what everyone has been creating over the week! Back Tuesday for another CC DT post. :)

Creativtiy Club DT Tuesday - Love but not love!

Well the original post I had planned for today has completely gone out of the window as I HAD to make a new card to share the fabulous new weekly downloads from the Creativtiy Club with you!

There are 2 collections this week, Love in Pink and Love in Red, featuring heart images and lovely text backing papers as well as more generic patterns and those patterns are what I have used to make this bright funky card today.

I have printed the stripe and zig zag papers from the Love in Pink download and then cut them down into strips and mounted them onto a card blank covered with a burgundy textured card.
The swirls are cut from one of the xcut border die sets, the happy birthday sentiment is from the Bookprint travel stamp set mounted on to one of the dies from the Speech Bubble set and the 40 was a blue cardstock sticker but is now red after being coloured with a zig alcohol marker!

I hope you like this bright card, its is perfect for the bubbly lively recipient and although it is a love download, not a heart in sight!

*****

I can not believe that it has been 6 months already since the first Creativity Club design team was announced for their 6 month term and now it is time for a new team! I have offered to give up my space on the team in order for a new crafter to join and showcase their talents with you; but you are not rid of me yet, as a demonstrator I may be popping up on the Docrafts blog in the near future!
I want to say a big congratulations to all the new recruits who will be sharing their work with you from March. The announcement was made today over on the Docrafts blog so why not pop over and meet them! :D