How To Make Super Quick Cards || Simply Creative Around The World

Hi all!

I have another card making tutorial for you today, showing you how to make super quick and easy cards. These are great if you're a beginner or you haven't much time to craft.

These cards are made using the Simply Creative 'Around The World' papers and Dovecraft large sentiment stamps from Trimcraft. I love the little balloons! 

1.       Cut a 9x13.5 rectangle of white cardstock.

2.       Spray blue ink onto plastic packaging and smoosh onto the cardstock. Leave to dry.

3.       Stamp a large ‘happy birthday’ onto the piece of cardstock.

4.       Fussy cut hot air balloons and stick around the sentiment.

5.       Mount the whole thing onto patterned paper and then onto an A6 card blank.

1.       Stamp two balloons in black into onto white cardstock.

2.       Colour the balloons.

3.       Stamp a large ‘thank you’ onto white cardstock.

4.       Cut a square around the sentiment and mount onto patterned paper twice.

5.       Cut a 8x15.5cm rectangle from balloon patterned paper. Mount onto more patterned paper and stick left of centre onto a 6x6” white card blank.

6.       Add two strips of washi tape across the card.

7.       Stick the ‘thank you’ onto the card.

8.       Stick the balloons to the right of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Simply Creative Chalkboard Cards!

Hi all!

I have a couple of cards to share today using the Simply Creative 'Chalkboard' papers by Trimcraft.

I have to say black and white is never my crafty cup of tea, despite me dressing in black 90% of the time... ha ha! 

I had to drop some colour in there and here is what I came up with. 

This first one uses the new Dovecraft wooden stamps. I stamped them onto squares of white cardstock and added spray ink to each. 

This next one has a pop of yellow. A lot of the Dovecraft ranges have patterned wooden frames but if you flip them over you can paint whatever colour you want onto the other side. 

The mixed media on this card is spatters of yellow watercolour and the stamps are from the Dovecraft 'Blooming Lovely' collection.

Like the look of the fancy folding on this card? You can follow a tutorial HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Spring || Scrapbook Layout || Dovecraft Painted Blooms

Hi all,

I have a layout to share using the Dovecraft Painted Blooms collection from Trimcraft.

When I first saw the floral stamps (before I got my mitts on them) I knew I wanted to make a layout stamping them over coloured watercolour patches....

Here it is!

When I got my hands on the stamps, this project was the first thing I tried but it took three attempts to get right. The first time, I used cardstock that absorbed the water too well and the second time I used too much paint and the result was a brightly coloured Kandinsky-inspired mess.

Fast forward a couple weeks I had another go. Initially I started out using my 'Artiste' watercolour markers I have from my Docrafts days but a few circles in they decided to stop giving out ink. Instead, I bravely got my Reeves watercolour tubes out and squeezed a tiny bit of my chosen colours onto my clear acrylic block. I painted a circle of water and then dropped in a tiny bit of the paint for each circle. The paint spreads out into the wet area but you can help it along with a brush if you like. Once it was all completely dry I added the stamping.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Mother's Day Cards || Dovecraft Painted Blooms

Hi all,

With Mother's Day around the corner I have three blog posts full of inspiration to make a gorgeous card show your mum how much you appreciate her. I had five cards to make so I've been pretty busy!

These cards use the Dovecraft Painted Blooms collection from Trimcraft.

This one is my favourite and I'm giving it to my mum so shhhhh don't tell her
(Mum, if you're reading this, look away now.... Haha.... love you momma!)

It's so pretty yet it was so easy to make, stamping the flowers and colouring with watercolour pencils and then fussy-cutting them.

This one uses the Painted Blooms embossing folder. I find A6 embossing folders a little restrictive but with this one I covered the un-embossed area with shiny patterned paper.

To find out more about how I made these, head to my Trimcraft gallery (link)

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more Mother's Day inspiration on Saturday!

Emily xx

I Don't Think You're Ready For This Jelly || Mixed Media Piece...

HAPPY SATURDAY

I got a couple bits of happy mail this week, yay!

Firstly I caved and bought the new jellyfish stamp set by Visible Image. I didn't think they were released until the 13th but I placed an order and it was shipped the next day. Woo!
The evening the set arrived I spent an hour in the craft room and, in the time I wasn't supergluing my ink pot lid back together I was playing around with my mixed media stash and I came up with this and I'm so pleased with it.

I'm not great with mixed media - I'd like to do it more but things are expensive so.... I started off with some gelatos on a scrap strip cut from A4. I painted water onto them, starting from the top (green) to create an ombre effect. Once this was dry I added gesso (the cheap stuff from The Works is great for this type of thing as it's practically clear) as nothing likes to stick to gelatos.
I used the lid of my foot cream to dip into water and stamp on the page, then dropped in a little blue ink. I also sprayed some ink through a Prima stencil.

Then I just stamped the images across the page. Docrafts ink pads aren't very good but it at least shows up on here and in this case the faintness works. The only good ink pad I have is black (versafine) so I used that for the jellyfish. The little dots on the jellies are made by using 3D pearl effects by Dovecraft.

This week I also ordered some of the new scrapbook products from Hey Little Magpie. There really are some stunning products out of late. Here is my unboxing video, let's call it my pick of the best products and papers from the new collections on a budget!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

First Edition Storyteller Valentine's Card

Hi all

With Valentine's Day around the corner there's still time to get a card made.

On the Trimcraft DT we have each made a Valentine's card. Here's mine, using the First Edition Storyteller papers.

The stampsare by Dovecraft and the flamingo is my favourite.

Check out how I made this, plus see what my fellow DT members made here (LINK)

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Girly MDF Cards!

Hi all,

Some girly cards to share today.

This all started when I was making some steampunk cards and I was colouring in a steampunk stamp. I wanted something a bit different to put behind it and out came my little box of bits from Things To Alter. I found this really cool steampunk piece, a head with gears coming out of the back... I painted it with Distress Paints and stuck the coloured image on top of the head. I used watercolour pencils to colour the image and then went over it with a little water to colour the image. I love how vibrant watercolour pencils are which is why I prefer them over watercolour pens.
The stamp and backing paper are from the Santoro Willow collection by Trimcraft and the sentiment die is by Sizzix.

I used the same watercolour colouring technique with these Belle & Boo stamps (also by Trimcraft, I'm a little addicted to their characters!) This card worked better tiny, it's 4x4" and I would have preferred it on kraft card to match the MDF but I only have white in this size. I layered up the MDF shells, they are the same depth as 3D foam dots so these are perfect to use when you are layering the shapes. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

More Kori Kumi Cards!

Hi all,

More cards to share today using the Santoro Kori Kumi collection from Craft Consortium.

This first one uses a stamped image and pom-poms on an aperture card.

I cut apart the little tag that was on the 8x8" paper pack and put a shaker element in the centre.

And finally a neutral one.. I was inspired by the presenter on Hochanda when this collection was being shown. He said this collection would look good in neutral tones and look all vintage... so I had a play using my watercolours. The flower die set in this collection is so good, I'm obsessed with it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Pattern Stamping

Hi all,

I spent Monday making up samples for Craft Consortium for their Hochanda shows next week (starting Monday 8pm!) and then at the weekend/yesterday I have been working on a guest design project that doesn't want to work no matter how hard I try so today I will try something different instead.
Meanwhile, here's something I made a while back, a card using pattern stamping, inspired by this video by Jennifer McGuire.

For this I used the Folk Floral stamps by docrafts and also the wooden postcard that came free with Creativity magazine a couple months ago. I don't like the docrafts stamps at all, they never want to stamp properly! I like a nice crisp image and these are all a bit faint... 

I traced the oval shape in the centre of the postcard onto cardstock and cut it out.

I arranged the stamps in a pattern around the oval shape and stamped it, then turned the block upside down and stamped on the lower half of the card.

I coloured the postcard with Artiste watercolour markers and stuck it to the stamped piece of cardstock and then stuck it to a 6x6" card blank using 3D foam dots.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Seaside Belle & Boo Card

Hi all,

Finally got back into craft mode today after a week in Spain followed by computer woes that ended up with having to get a new hard drive. Luckily my dad is a computer whizz and got it working again so I've finally been able to edit my holiday snaps. I've topped up my stash with summery bits all ready to scrap my holiday pictures. I found some great bargains in Hobbycraft and The Works. In the meantime I put together this card with one of the new Belle & Boo stamp sets.

The stamp set is so nice to use, they feel better quality than *ahem* other companies and the level of detail is stunning on such small stamps. I love using corrugated card on summery/seaside-y makes. 

I photographed this with shells I took from the beach in Spain... the variety fascinated me and I just had to nab a couple.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Daisy Cards!

Hi all,

I've made a couple of cards using the gorgeous daisy stamp that came free with the April issue of Craft Stamper.

The first one I took inspiration from the ideas for the stamp in the magazine.

The next one I thought was dire but my friend said it was lovely, so it was saved from the trash... maybe if I hadn't used the wood effect stamp...  It looks a lot better than it did and now I understand the technique of layering stamps I'm definitely going to have another go!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Gorjuss Shadow Box Step By Step (Craft Stamper Magazine March 2016)

Hi all

This project is something I made for the new issue of Craft Stamper Magazine.

Here it is in the magazine, out now!
I absolutely adore the privilege of being asked to make things for magazines, and it's so exciting seeing my work and my name in print. I'll never, ever tire of it!

I was sent a shadow box by Docrafts and the instruction to do as much or as little stamping as I wanted. For this project I chose to use the Santoro's Gorjuss collection (also from Docrafts).

So here's a more in depth step by step of decorating a shadow box.

To start with paint the insides of all the little boxes. Paint a little around the outside rim too so you don't see any edges when it's put together. Try and stick to a colour scheme that matches the papers and embellishments you're using. Once this is dry (acrylic dries very fast!), line the bottoms with co-ordinating papers and stick down to hold them in place.

Then line the main box. Use deco sheets and PVA glue for this. I covered the back and sides but not the inside - this won't be seen.

Then cover the frame.

Once the glue is dry (I'd suggest leaving it overnight to be safe), you can arrange the box. 

Then you can decorate the box. 

I used a Gorjuss stamp and matching embellishments. Also I picked up some little glass vials at The Works and covered them with distress paint. The 'it's gorjuss' hanger is suspended through holes in the top of its little box, secured with tape. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamped Scrapbook Layouts

Hi everyone

Today I'm going to share some scrapbook layouts I made as samples for Docrafts to be shown on the Home Shopping Network in the US  to promote their new 'Creativity Essentials' stamp sets. Exciting stuff!

This first one uses the 'Floral Icons' stamp set, as well as a stamp from the 'Inspirational Sentiments' and title using the folk alphabet.. First I sprayed a small area at the top and a larger area at the bottom with lime green ink and stamped the floral icons on top in purple. I've found the stamps don't stamp as well if you put a few on the clear block to stamp all at once... Oh well!
The photo and sentiment have been layered on Gorjuss paper.
The background is Nature's Gallery, which looks distressed anyway but then I wanted to accentuate this so I added purple paint. Finished off with little butterflies and gems.

The second layout uses the 'Steampunk Icons' set as a background. (Anything to avoid fussy cutting...). I arranged the stamps face down on the page, and the full set took about half the page. I pressed my clear block onto the stamps to pick them up and stamped once in the top left, and then again where the design finished in the middle.

The papers are Gorjuss, as are the embellishments. The colour scheme went so well with the picture I used. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Conisbrough Castle layout

Hi all,

Here's a layout I made using pictures from a visit to Conisbrough Castle, a ruin just the other side of Doncaster. The first wooden castle on the site was built by the Normans but then this stone structure was built around it. We visited at the beginning of October when it was still warm out... Oh, how I miss those warm days!

I made the background by drawing vertical and horizontal lines with a biro and then colouring the spaces in between with watercolour pencils and then going over them with water to activate the paint. The rest of the layout uses the new Docrafts ranges - Bare Basics butterflies and ricrac, Creativity Essentials Alphabet and Forest stamps, and the XCut steel embossing folder and adhesive chalkboard sheets.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Cambridge Floral Stamped Layout

Hi all

Another project made using the docrafts Papermania Folk Floral collection.

In the spring we spent the day in Cambridge, and in a park were lots of flower beds, I couldn't resist photographing them.

The Folk Floral stamp set features lots of little flowers and leaves so you can arrange them however you wish on your clear block before stamping.

Then once stamped and the ink is dry, just colour in! Easy peasy.

To find out more, head over to the docrafts website where you can see a step by step guide (X) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Don't be afraid to experiment! (Distress Paint)

Hi everyone,

Picked up some real bargains at the weekend. The garden centre we usually go to while visiting my grandparents is stopping selling craft supplies (Boo!) but on the flipside, I got these lovely goodies half price.

I've never used Distress Paint before. But I do like to experiment with mixed media... So onto Youtube I went and I watched Tim Holtz show a couple techniques...

Then I had a play for myself. Just trying different layers of paint, adding water, adding spray ink both by misting and dripping onto the tag.
Once that dried, on the top left I used the blue paint on a stamp. This would work better on a less detailed stamp - when dry it didn't really look like anything so I went over it with a gel pen.
The top right is stamped and then sprayed with purple 'Cosmic Shimmer' ink.
First on the bottom row is stamped with a lime ink pad, the second is the same in blue. I do love Kaisercraft stamps...
Third is dripping inks in a row to follow the line of the paint.
And lastly stamped with a 3D butterfly at the bottom. Not because I messed up and needed a 3D butterfly to cover it up...

So, don't be afraid to experiment! Some of these I might not use, but it's practice with them so I know how to use them properly. If you've got a spare hour, just have a play with something you've not used before. 

I can't wait to use these paints on a new layout..!

Emily x