My Crafty Life...

King for a Day!

2012-01-30T05:00:00.003Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Kings and Queens". I've always loved this Tim Holtz stamp (I think it's an image of Lord Lucan), and thought that his paper crown definitely made him a king! :)

To achieve the ghosting effect of the colours on the men, I stamped him on a range of different patterned papers which were first "knocked back" with a couple of layers of Picket Fence Distress Stain.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Another Suitcase in Another Hall

2012-01-23T05:00:00.004Z

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blog this week is "a song title" - I've always loved Another Suitcase in Another Hall by Barbra Dickson, and I used it as my inspiration for this piece.

I've had this cardboard suitcase for a couple of years or more, always meaning to tackle it but never getting around to it. I had a lot of fun with it, using paints, distress inks and stamped panels to decorate it. I painted it with Traditional Tan acrylic paint, applied with a baby wipe so that there weren't any brush marks, just a smooth surface and then aged with with Vintage Photo distress ink.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

What will I be when I grow up?

2012-01-16T05:00:00.006Z

#4 - CEO of a multinational corporation

This is part 4 of an occasional series called "What will I be when I grow up?". I think it pretty much speaks for itself! :) The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blog this week is "anything but a card", and since this isn't a card I think it qualifies :)

I designed the Grouch Marx disguise on the computer and cut it out on the Cricut, then got busy with Tim Holtz stamps and Claudine Hellmuth paints! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

A Ticket for the Love Train

2012-01-09T02:53:00.000Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Red Letter Day". Valentine's Day will be on us soon, so I chose that as my special day for this project.

I've been feeling in a very "painty" mood lately (not that I can paint mind you, lol). I started this card by applying a layer of red paint to my white card with a craft scraper, then adding a white layer after that. I love the texture it's given the card. The brown paint around the edges was applied with my finger, to give a smudgy rough look. I used the versamark resist techniqe to give a delicate texture to the 3 hearts and applied them to the card, mounting the centre heart on 3d tape.

The script was stamped with Gathered Twigs distress ink, which I dried with a heat gun (D,I. dries VERY slowly on a painted background!). The ticket was coloured with Antique Linen DI and mounted on 3d tape. Finally the whole thing was matted onto a panel from Tim Holtz's Seasonal card stack.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Roll Up! Roll Up! Come See the Main Attraction!

2012-01-02T05:00:00.003Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Something Old, Something New". The old thing in my piece is the leftover configurations element I used, and the new was two of Tim Holtz's recent limited edition Distress Ink colours.

I started by covering the frame I was using with a couple of layers of gesso, applied with a baby wipe so that they'd be nice and thin with no brush strokes. I dried the frame with a heat gun between layers.

Next, I stamped the "rays" with Festive Berries distress ink and then used a yellow Promarker to colour the gaps between them. I used a blending tool to cover the frame with a generous layer of Gathered Twigs distress ink, and stamped lots of scratches and splodges, also with Gathered Twigs ink.

I cut the circus awning on the Cricut and coloured it with Promarkers, then coloured the configurations box with an Umber Promarker, to tie in with the background panel (from the Tattered Time stack) and the brown I'd used to age the frame. I lined the inside of the box with black card and stamped, coloured and cut out the clown and fixed him in place.

I really had a lot of fun completely distressing the frame, lol My hands were good and inky by the end of it, thank goodness for craft scrubbies! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

It's Tag Tim(e)!

2011-12-19T05:00:00.004Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Tim and Tags". I could have gone with inspiration from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, but decided instead to just use a lot of his products on my Christmassy tag!

I decided not to use Promarkers on this card, for a change, and went back to my trusty Koi waterbrush to paint Santa with Distress Stains. I really enjoyed doing it, will have to do that more often! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

I Believe in Father Christmas

2011-12-12T05:00:00.001Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Through the Looking Glass - Projects with Depth". This 3D diorama card is over 2 inches deep, so fits the challenge perfectly! This has always been one of my favourite Christmas songs, though when you actually listen to it it's kinda depressing! LOL The Polar Express movie played it's part in the inspiration for this too :)

I've used rock candy stickles on the snowflakes and it always saddens me that the sparkly frostiness of it is never done justice in a photo! White enamel accents that I used for the snow on the tree branches is wonderfully dimensional, but alas that too is lost in this picture!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Birthday Sneakers

2011-12-09T00:01:00.001Z

I thought I'd have another bit of a go with the sewing machine on this card. I have to admit, I'm quite liking this sewing malarky so far ;) Add to that, it features my favourite stamp of all time, and I was quite the happy bunny making this! :)

Tick-a-tick-a-Timeless!

2011-12-05T09:14:00.000Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Elements of Time". I've been itching for an opportunity to use one of the Tim Holtz idea-ology pocket watches, so this was my chance! :) It looks so authentic in real life!

I've had this wooden glass-fronted shadow frame for ages so it's nice to put it to some use finally. I started by staining the inside with black soot Distress Stain and then covering the frame and lining the compartments with designs from the DCWV Tattered Time card stack. I have the pocket watch pride of place in the centre (this piece looks so much better irl, you can really see that each section is about 3/4 inch deep).

Other elements were either stamped with Tim Holtz stamps or cut from the Tattered Time papers, then mounted on 3D foam. I added in some genuine watch faces and parts and a generous sprinkle of idea-ology sprocket gears.

Hopefully my friend likes it - she's promised not to look at my blog until she gets it! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

A quick holiday gift and a freebie revisited (now includes print/scissors version!)

2011-12-03T10:04:00.005Z

Those of you who follow my blog regularly will know that I make my designs available for download here for 1 week and then I remove them. As the holidays are approaching fast I thought I'd make a change and repost a file from last April, which I thought would be perfect for a quick holiday gift!

I know that we all put a lot of love and care into the cards we make, using a range of interesting techniques and materials, but this is definitely not about that, speed is the essence here! This is about "Oh no, I need a gift for DS2's teacher by 8am tomorrow, what am I gonna do???".

I'm sure that like me you have waaaaay more sheets of patterned cardstock and paper than you will ever use! Many of them are lovely enough to stand on their own as the front of a simple card, so when time is short, why not let them help you out?

With a little forward planning (keep a few pre-cut boxes aside, ready to go when you need them) there's no reason why you shouldn't have a nice gift ready to go in less than an hour! It took me only 30 minutes to assemble this box and make 10 simple cards to go inside it. I used plain white 5x5 cards and envelopes which were 50 for £4, or 8p (12 US cents) each, with a matte and panel on each cut from my ever growing mountain of cardstock. Let's be honest, the cards aren't going to win any craft prizes, but the if the papers you use are lovely, then the cards are perfectly presentable! How often have we all seen plain cards just like these in museum gift shops or artsy stores?

Here's a quick video demo of how to fold and construct the boxes. It shows the construction of the base, but the lid is assembled in exactly the same way.

Here is a size guide that shows what size you need to cut each template to produce a particular size of box. Sizes are in inches!

Box size	Base w/h	Lid w/h
3 x 3	5.2	4.77
3.5 x 3.5	6.04	5.54
4 x 4	6.9	6.3
4.5 x 4.5	7.76	7.06
5 x 5	8.62	7.85
5.5 x 5.5	9.5	8.625
6 x 6	10.34	9.38
6.5 x 6.5	11.22	10.14

Please remember you are only allowed to download these files for your own use and can not share them or distribute them to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are shared.

Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There are 3 files and I have put them into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the files out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save them.

There are 3 versions:

An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on any of the machines supported by SCAL and Make the Cut.
A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)
A Printable version which can be imported into your graphics or Word program, sized to suit your needs, printed and then cut out with scissors or a craft knife.

Simply click on the appropriate button below to download the file!

Any feedback on the templates is more than welcome, and if you have any suggestions for possible future templates you'd like to see, please let me know! If you make anything using one of the templates, please post a link to it here so that others can be inspired by how you've used them!

I hope you like the templates - let me know how you get on! :)

Files © dan99crafter@gmail.com 2011

If I say it's a birthday card, it's a birthday card, alright?

2011-12-01T00:57:00.001Z

I say that cos halfway through making this card I thought to myself "this looks more like a poster for a missing child" lol I dunno, maybe some of you are thinking that too. And that's fine :) Really. :)

I think that while I was making it, forefront in my mind were things like "the way we were", "years passing", "lost youth" etc I'll be the first to admit that those aren't the cheeriest of birthday thoughts, and rest assured that I didn't include an insert that said "You're older! HA HA!" :) For me, my happiest times crafting are when I just go with the flow, playing about without much planning or particular technique or materials in mind, and this was certainly one of those occasions, and I think that long after the birthday is over this card might still have a life as a little piece of art all of it's own :). Fingers crossed :)

Chocs Away!

2011-11-30T02:20:00.003Z

You may know that I've decided to make a lot of my gifts this year, I mentioned it a few weeks back when I showed my corn relish jars. Well, my mum loves white chocolate, so I've made these individual little bars of white chocolate with almonds and dried fruit in them too. I'm especially pleased with the label, which I designed on the computer and printed out. (I say "designed" but I really can't take much of the credit! The Santa postage stamp came from Vintage Holiday Crafts and the background was a free Shabby Princess fall design that I colourised red and rescaled.)

I plan to make more of these, with different chocolate and different fillings. I'll change the colour of the checked paper and use a different stamp on each one, so watch this space! :)

Edit to add:

After posting this, I got to thinking about how I might package these up to make a nice gift. I took an OHP transparency and cut it to size then folded it on my scoring board to make a plastic sleeve like the ones you often see in stores on this kind of item. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! :)

Seeing Stars!

2011-11-28T05:01:00.002Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Stars". I'm a big fan of the Retro Grunge pad, and this star paper is one of my favorite designs from that stack. It makes a great cover for this pocket journal, don'tcha think? :).

I finished it off with some stamped detail in the central recessed panel and an Idea-ology tassel chain. This is all ready now to become a stocking filler for someone! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Just the ticket!

2011-11-21T05:00:00.002Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "tickets". I really love the vintage photos that feature in Tim Holtz's Lost and Found paper stack, so used some of them on this card.

I also tried the versamark shabby resist technique on two of the panels. I stamped the ornate border with clear versamark ink and dried it with my heat gun. I then applied distress ink over the top of it, and it gave a white resisit where the image had been stamped. More subtle than regular stamp-emboss resist techniques, but very effective! Really great to be able to use the ticket paper in two different scales on the same card too, I love how it looks. Plus I got busy with the sewing machine, I think I threw everything at this card! lol

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Women Only!

2011-11-14T05:05:00.001Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Women only". I've made this card using a female design from a female designer - Wendy Vecchi! I've got a dodgy knee right now, so this is just a short post, hopefully back to normal soon!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Recycling with Relish!

2011-11-07T05:02:00.000Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Recycle/Upcycle". I'm making a lot of my gifts this holiday season, so I've been scavenging for boxes I can recycle as gift packaging. This one started out as the box that my mobile phone came in, you can see it in the pic below!

I've been making caramelised onion marmalade and corn and pepper relish, and this box is perfectly sized to hold 3 of the jars. I wish I had more than just this one! I used a sheet of Tim Holtz's seasonal cardstock to cover the outer sleeve and then made a kraft tag to go with it using the Santa and holly from the Holiday Wishes stamp set. Throw in a few baubles, some holly leaves and a bit of gingham and string and we're all done! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

ATG - I'm stuck on you!

2011-11-04T17:24:00.001Z

You know how sometimes, when something just works exactly like it should, you can only sit and marvel at it? I'm like that with ATG guns, they're like the adhesive applicator that I've waited all my life for, lol I've a bit of a "thing" about adhesive, it's like everything I make has to be able to bear the weight of a grown person hanging from the bottom of a plane or something - not rational, but I like a strong bond, what can I tell you?

I've had one of their yellow ATGs for a while, using the 12mm tape in it, and it's always the thing I reach for first when I need a good strong bond on something, plus no waiting for glue to dry! Prior to that, I'd spent a fortune on disposable tape applicators, which often didn't even stick that well!

Sometimes the 12mm can be a bit too wide for smaller elements I'm using on a card or project, so I've had it in mind for a while to get hold of one of the 6mm (1/4 inch) applicators. Scotch are doing a promotion on them at the moment, just £9.99 for an pink applicator and two rolls of 6mm acid-free tape which is half price, and an absolute bargain (and I know how much most of you like pink too, lol)! Personally, I'm not a scrapbooker, so acid-free isn't an issue for me, but I know many of you out there need acid-free adhesive to ensure the preservation of your valuable photos. Even better, they're donating $1.20 for each kit sold to the Susan G Komen cancer charity, so what are you waiting for? :) You can find their offer here.

A House for Dexter

2011-10-31T05:00:00.001Z

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "a house". After just catching up on the last season of "Dexter" it must have still been fresh in my mind, cos I can't imagine anyone living in this house unless they were a serial-killing-blood-splatter analyst like Dexter Morgan!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

"I'm a rainbow today, all the colours of the world!"

2011-10-24T05:01:00.003+01:00

"I am red today, hopping mad like a playground ball". Anyone remember that song by Kira Willey? It was used in some ad or other, I forget which, but you can hear it here if you're interested - cute song!

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "One colour ... any colour" and to be honest I had a little trouble with it! I started on it a couple of times and both times I didn't like what I'd done and scrapped them. "3rd time lucky" they say (or "3rd time's the charm", if you're over the pond) and I am finally happy with this red card! When I was making it I had a fairground fortune teller's tent in mind, so I hope that comes across a little :)

Last week's cutlery competition - I got no right answers! Several people guessed Ikea, but I had asked for the person's name, which was Carl-Gustaf Jahnsson. I feel a bit bad, perhaps it was harder than I thought! I thought his name would be easily found on the Ikea web site, but maybe my cutlery wasn't easy to pick out on their site, based on my photo, so apologies for that! I'll have another contest next week and I promise it will be easier!!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Stripey Lunch Goodness and a Prize Contest!

2011-10-17T05:00:00.003+01:00

I had a few friends over for lunch earlier this week, and in an uncharacteristic moment of poshness, I decided to make placecards and co-ordinating napkin rings. I know, I know, very Martha Stewart, lol Knowing that this weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Stripes" I decided to tie them to the theme and kill two birds with one stone, as it were.

I have a little contest for you too! All you have to do is tell me the name of the person who designed my cutlery (hint - it's a Swedish person, wink wink). Leave a comment here telling me that you've entered and then email me the answer (you can use the Contact Me button at the top of the page). I will randomly pick a winner from the answers and will send them some crafty goodies! Note - answers entered as comments will not be published and won't be entered in the draw, you must email me so that I can mail you back to get your address if you win! The winner will be revealed next Monday at 5.00am UK time - good luck everyone! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Wings Ain't What They Used to Be!

2011-10-10T05:01:00.003+01:00

Don't you just hate it when the one-eyed flying cyclops hearts you've been keeping in an old bird cage finally chew their way out? I know I do! That's why, when I saw that this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Things With Wings" I decided to work through my frustration by making a piece about it! :) I know lots of you out there have the same problem, so believe me when I say I feel your pain! lol

This actually took me quite a few days to make, simply because I'm the world's slowest cutter-out! All of the detail in the wings seemed to take forever to do, but it was worth it in the end :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Wendy Boat Comes In!

2011-10-03T05:00:00.007+01:00

I've cheated a bit with the title of this post, it doesn't really refer to Wendy Vecchi at all, but to a song my mother used to sing to me when I was a baby. It's sung in the dialect and accent of the part of England where I live, any of you who are from far flung shores might want to check it out, you probably won't understand a word! LOL

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Wendy Vecchi Style". I figured that this was the opportunity for me to get a bit crafty with the sewing machine! :) Just a couple of lines of stitching, but now that I've done it you may see more in the future, lol

Dontcha love the splat effect you get by dabbing a Distress Stain onto card, it looks so dramatic! I used stains in aged mahogany, scattered straw and worn lipstick on this piece. I have to say, the more I use them, the more I love 'em! :) I spritzed the white background card with water and then applied the stains on top of that, it makes them blend together so hazily, I love the effect.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

It's male Jim, but not as we know it!

2011-09-26T05:01:00.006+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Men Only". I racked my brain on this one, and got to thinking about classic male portraits through history. I finally settled on Micheangelo's undiscovered masterpiece "Jonah Lisa" as my inspiration, and here is my version of it :)

Though it looks flat in this photo, the frame is actually wood and is about 3/4 of an inch deep. I covered it in copper metal which I had embossed with the Cuttlebug Clockworks folder. "Jonah" is a Tim Holtz stamp coloured with Promarkers and the bowler had and moustache were hand-drawn by yours truly, then cut out and fixed in place. Quite the jaunty fellow, dontcha think? lol

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Woman of Mystery

2011-09-19T05:01:00.002+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "an ATC". I used to make a lot of ATCs back in the day, and still have a binder full of beautiful ATCs that I've received in swaps. It's quite some time since I last made one, and it was an interesting challenge to restrict myself to a 2.5 x 3.5 inch project again!

The background was spritzed with water and then Distress Stains were applied (Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw and Forest Moss). I punched a circle out of white card and fixed it in place as the moon, then stamped the tree. The Mona Lisa was stamped separately and coloured, then the tree was stamped over her face before fixing her in position on the ATC. The bandana was coloured, stamped and outlined in white pen. Finally the text was printed on the computer and fixed in place.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Steampunk Submarine Suggests Crafted Chronometer - Dutifully, Dan Divulges Details!

2011-09-12T05:00:00.004+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Steampunk", a style that I've always found inspiring. According to the Wikipedia definition of steampunk, "Perhaps the most well known example of steampunk is Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine in Walt Disney's 1954 film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

I've always loved that movie ever since I was a kid, so much so that when I was a student, studying computer animation and games development, I created a game inspired by the movie. A screenshot from the game is shown above. That's more years ago than I care to think about, so this steampunk stuff has been a favourite of mine for a loooong time! :)

I decided to create a porthole clock, inspired by the movie. I started by cutting 2 circles from card and covering them with 10 Seconds Studio copper metal. The bottom circle had first been embossed with the Clockworks embossing folder, as had the metal covering the square of card below it.

I inserted large silver brads into the smaller circle, to act as rivets marking the hour positions and then fixed the smaller circle to the larger one. I used distress stains in a range of colours to age the copper a little. I cut a circle of thick clear plastic from some packaging and stuck it behind the circles to be the glass in the clock. The clock face was stamped and mounted behind the glass using black 3d foam, and the hands were held in place with a brad.

I painted the metal square with Claudine Hellmuth black paint and let it dry, then buffed it with a dry paper towel to reveal the silver of the metal in the raised areas. I stuck the clock onto the square and then stuck that onto a larger square covered in plain copper. That was then stuck to a square of Tim Holtz's Kraft Resist paper and then onto a square of chipboard covered in black card.

Finally, I stuck the "82" plaquette to the hanger, and a couple of cogs and brads onto the hanger's clips. That, as they say, was that! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Blog Hop!!!

2011-08-31T05:00:00.021+01:00

To help celebrate they will be giving a BIG BASKET OF CRAFTING GOODIES to the winner of this hop! PLUS 3 $25 VOUCHERS to the Simon Says Stamp Store ! The vouchers will be the hidden treasure on 3 DT blogs and you have to find them.

The Blog hop will start at on August 31 st, 2011 on the Simon Says Challenge Blog

and will finish on September 5th, 2011 at on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Blog.

The theme for both challenges this week will be ANYTHING GOES. You can make anything you like … a card, an ATC, a Scrapbook layout … the possibilities are endless!

You will need to hop through each blog, find the little parcel of goodies and make a note on which designer’s blog you found them. You do not HAVE to comment on all the DT blogs but we would appreciate any comments you would like to leave. If you lose your way at any time a full list of all the participating blogs with links will be available on Simon Says Stamp Challenge and the Stamp and Show Challenge blogs

The last stop on the hop is the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blog. You will need to leave a comment there with the names of the 3 blogs with hidden treasure. The comments will be moderated so you will not be able to see the answers.

For more details please refer to the Simon Says Stamp Challenge or the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blogs for more details.

If you arrived here from Becca's blog then you are going in the right direction otherwise you need to start at the beginning on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge.

My thoughts have turned to autumn already, probably because the UK hasn't really had a summer yet this year! Doesn't this autumnal triptych put you in mind of crackling log fires, falling leaves and pumpkin pie?

Products that I used included the Psychedelic Grunge, Bitty Grunge, Thankful Silhouettes and Pumpkin Galore stamp sets, along with Promarkers and Distress Inks.

Edit: A few people have contacted me, asking for the names of the patterned papers I've used. I just want to say, in case anyone else was wondering the same thing, the answer is "none"! Everything on here has been stamped, using the stamps listed above.

From here you need to go to the super talented Jo's blog for more inspiration :-) I would appreciate a comment if you would like to leave one

Plane Sailing!

2011-08-22T05:00:00.001+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "travel". I've had this Tim Holtz aeroplane stamp for ages and never gotten around to using it, so today was the perfect chance!

I cut the back panel and the two cloud shapes from the world map sheet in Tim's Kraft Resist pack and applied distress stains to them (Picket Fence, Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire). I also stamped the plane on the same paper and ran some picket fence over it to make it stand out a bit better. I used two idea-ology washers and fed some paper twine through them.

And that's about it! Not a complicated one, but effective - at least I think so! A great "man's" card too, I think.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

For the second year in a row, Simon Says Stamp and Show & The Simon Says Stamp Challenge are joining forces to bring you a SUPER hop and treasure hunt to celebrate the approaching fall and winter holidays. Be sure to come back on August 31st to start the hop. It will run through September 5th. Simon Says Stamp is offering some great prize packages, and there will be other opportunities to win some blog candy, too!

Craft Room Wall Art

2011-08-17T00:01:00.001+01:00

Isn't it amazing what you can do with 2 sheets of brown card, 3 of black, a Cricut with SCAL and 15 minutes? This is on the wall of my craft room, above my desk - hopefully it will inspire me! :)

Just a bit of cardy messing about (again!)

2011-08-16T00:47:00.000+01:00

No plan, no aim to this piece, just goofing around with stuff :) Rather than discard it I stuck it on a 5x5 card, you never know when you might need one! :)

Blings ain't what they used to be!

2011-08-15T05:00:00.006+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "some bling". Those of you who visit my blog regularly will know that "bling" isn't something that finds itself on my creations with any regularity, so I really had to scratch my head on this one!

Having just taken delivery of the new Distress Stain colours, I was itching to give them an outing, so they played a big part in this piece!

The frame was "lime-washed" with a couple of coats of Picket Fence distress stain then I used an ink blending tool to sponge Claudine Hellmuth's red, orange and yellow paint through a star stencil I had cut myself from a sheet of acetate. The centre of each star was blinged up with the addition of an adhesive backed gem.

The figure was stamped and coloured with Promarkers. The wings from Tim Holtz's Royal Script set were stamped in clear ink and embossed with clear powder. I used a baby wipe to rub some of Claudine's black paint over the wings and then cut them out and fixed them on the frame with the figure.

The panel in the frame was spritzed with water from a mini-mister and then swiped with Dried Marigold, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany Distress Stains, to give a blurry, watercolor finish. Finally I applied some black paint down the right hand side. The stars were sponged in white and pastel yellow paint using the same stencil as earlier, then each one was edged with a white pen, which I rubbed with my finger to blur it before it dried.

And that's about it! I had great fun making it, and I think the blingy gems really add to it! Who knows, maybe I'll try to use some a little more regularly in future :) As ever, if you'd like a closer view, click on the picture!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

It'll be all white on the night!

2011-08-14T00:49:00.001+01:00

My friend Hels has been staying this weekend, and what a lot of fun we've been having! We went down to Art From the Heart today to see Dy (and stock up on some stash - I got some of Dina Wakley's new stamps, love 'em!).

Hels hosts her regular Sunday Stamper Challenge, and asked me to be guest "setter" this week, so I chose "white" as the theme.

I had a play with lots of new stuff on this tag - several of the new Distress Stain colours (including white picket fence, obviously), a couple of Dina's stamps and a couple of new techniques! Why not pop over to Hels' blog to see her piece for the challenge? She made it while sitting at the desk next to me, and it's a stunner!! Even better, have a go yourself! :)

A Panel Show

2011-08-08T05:00:00.004+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "a Tim Holtz technique", and I had to think about this one for a while, just because there are so many techniques to choose from!

In the end I went for the Wrinkle-free Distress technique. If you're not familiar with it, Tim has posted a video on youtube demonstrating it. It's the 2nd technique in the video.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

A Night at the Movies!

2011-08-01T05:00:00.005+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "a tag", and I had so much fun making this vintage movie-themed tag!

The green part was white card embossed in one of the Tim Holtz embossing folders from the "Playing Games" set. I then sprayed with green and blue colorwash sprays, which I diluted with water and applied with a mini mister. I then took a Wild Honey distress ink pad and applied it directly to the ticket to highlight the raised areas.

The stamps used were from Tim's set "At the Movies". The popcorn was a bit of precision multi-stamping (which I always love trying - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, lol!). I started out by inking the stamp with Barn Door distress ink and then used a baby wipe to remove the ink from all but the central circle. After stamping, I inked the stamp with black Versafine ink and used the baby wipe to remove the ink from the central circle, before stamping again in the same place. I'm pretty easy-going about this technique and don't mind if the two colours don't quite match up, but surprised myself by getting this one bang in the right place on the first try! I coloured the background and highlighted parts of the popcorn kernels with promarkers and distressed the edges with Frayed Burlap distress ink, before folding it across one corner and running the ink pad down it to give a dark line.

I used a similar technique on the "sister eileen" movie details, but this time stamped the whole thing with Wild Honey and then restamped the top part again with black ink. I wasn't as accurate with the positioning on this piece, so if you look carefully you will see wild honey peeping out along the edge of the black lettering. Things often end up printed like this in real life, so if you try it and that happens, don't worry about it, think of it as extra "character"! :)

Edges were distressed with Frayed Burlap ink, and I added some strips of tissue tape to the left and right edges before I fixed the elements in place. Finally I added a brown button with some baker's twine, to echo the red in the popcorn ad.

Phew! These things take much longer to type than they do to create! LOL

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Hugs and Kisses Card

2011-07-25T05:00:00.002+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "anything goes"! Which such an open-ended theme there's no excuse for entering this week, so give it a go! :) My piece for the design team is this card, which (I hope) is bold and very graphic in style, that was my aim anyway!

After stamping with black Versafine ink, it was coloured with distress inks in Barn Door, Wild Honey and Frayed Burlap. The stamps are from 2 of Tim Holtz's sets, Rockstar and From the Heart, and the main panel was matted onto black card then fixed to the white card front.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

I've got the blues!

2011-07-18T05:00:00.001+01:00

But not in a sad way :)

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "some embossing". As I've done quite a bit of heat embossing lately, I thought I'd use embossing folders for this one!

I'm going to make a set of these colour-themed boxes to store my Promarkers. Obviously, this is the one I've made for the blue ones! I also thought that as the pens would be brightly coloured I wanted to make the holder fairly monochromatic, to balance things out.

The main panels were embossed then spritzed with Denim colorwash spray and Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls spray, before the raised parts were highlighted with a black versafine ink pad. It was edged with tissue tape and monochrome images from the Artistic Outpost Generation Redux plate were added.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Fee, Fie, Faux Stitching!

2011-07-11T05:00:00.010+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "stitches - faux or otherwise". My piece is very definitely in the "faux" department on this one - needle and thread are not my forte! :)

I cut this purse-shaped favour box from kraft cardstock, on my Cricut, then decorated it with stamped panels and stamped (and hand-drawn) faux stitching. Finished it off by dying some cheesecloth using Adiriondack ColorWash sprays and using a strip from it to tie a bow closure.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

A bit like flour!

2011-07-04T05:00:00.002+01:00

(Flourish - geddit?)

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "a flourish". On my tag I used the flourish from the French Connection Texture Fade set - although it's ATC sized, it can easily be used on larger projects such as this!

All the stamped images are inside panels stamped from the 7 Gypsies Rectangle set, which I've had for a while, but hadn't gotten around to using. I have a feeling that today's project won't be the last thing I use them on! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Mmm, ch-ch, mmm, aah!

2011-07-01T02:15:00.000+01:00

First of all, 50 bonus points to anyone who gets the reference in the title! (I'm afraid it also means you're probably over the hill, like me! lol)

Here's another card I made while staying with Hels last weekend. I've shown it twice cos there was a bit of discussion about which way up it should go. My favourite is the first way, which is yours? :)

The spooky heart card

2011-06-29T01:29:00.000+01:00

I'm not long back from a few days spent staying with my friend Hels. Apart from enjoying her wonderful hospitality, it was fun to do a bit of crafting using someone else's stamp collection for a change! This card is one of the things I made while I was there.

The background is a piece from the "paint palette" page in Tim Holtz's Crowded Attic card stack. I used my finger to rub white acrylic paint on it, making it thicker on the left edge and thinner as I moved right, until the paint stopped around 2/3 of the way across. I then applied Fired Brick distress ink around the edges.

The central heart was stamped and masked, then the other two hearts were stamped. All 3 were coloured with a red promarker and I dripped alcohol ink blending solution onto the central heart to make it's colour bleed out. I masked off the area around the heart and stamped the image onto it. The phrenology head was coloured yellow (somehow - I forget what I did, lol) and then Fired Brick was sponged onto it. The eyes were highlighted with a white pen. Elements were edged with a warm grey promarker and the mat was coloured with the same pen. That's about it! I didn't realise it was so complicated until I sat down to type this, lol!

A dream in blue

2011-06-27T05:00:00.001+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "a word". I decided to limit this piece so that it only featured colour as part of the background.

The dream was stamped first, and embossed with clear powder. I tapped the card very firmly before heating the powder, so that the resist technique would be patchy. After colouring the background using Claudine Hellmuth paints applied with a baby wipe, I re-stamped the "dream" using black Archival ink, using a cut'n'dry nib to remove most of the black ink from the letters to give a more distressed effect. The other images were stamped separately and then fixed in place.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

That bluey whiteness you can only get with Daz!

2011-06-22T02:44:00.000+01:00

Another card where I've limited myself as to what I could use on it - in this case just white paint and 2 distress ink pads, weathered wood and bundled sage. It took 3 coats of white acrylic to cover the metal embellishment, but I like how it turned out! :) The photo is a bit dodgy, the mat around the edge is coloured with weathered wood, which is a pale blue, but it looks green in this photo! Ah well, can't win em all! lol

How cool is this?!?!?

2011-06-21T00:01:00.005+01:00

Most of you won't know this, but I was in Los Angeles for the last 3 weeks, visiting some friends for a bit of a holiday. I had a great time (thank you for asking!), and as I left for the airport my friends gave me a parting gift. My jaw just about hit the floor when I saw what it was - a crafting apron with my avatar professionally embroidered on it!!! Isn't it fantastic!

I've included a pic of me wearing the apron so you can get an idea of the size of the embroidery. (If you look at my face in the pic and compare it to the embroidery, I think you'll agree the resemblance is uncanny! lol) I can't get over how thoughtful they were to have this made! AND how sneaky they were! :)

Back tomorrow! :)

Not-so-heavy Metal!

2011-06-20T05:16:00.001+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "some metal". I've always been a lover of the faux batik technique, and having rediscovered it lately, I used it again on this card.

I stamped the main images and embossed them with clear powder and then applied distress inks to the card, adding further grunginess with water splatters. Finally I ironed off the embossing powder and added the metal accent.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

ETA - For Gabby (and any others who are interested) Tim Holtz demos this technique here.

Card in a Hurry!

2011-06-18T02:07:00.000+01:00

I needed a card for a friend the other day and didn't have a ready-made one to hand so I put this one together in just a few minutes! I used squares from the Retro Grunge card stack for the panels and mats and the large mat was white card coloured with Walnut Distress Stain. Not a masterpiece by any means, but it did the job! :)

More tomorrow! :)

All good things must come to an end

2011-06-17T05:29:00.001+01:00

This is the last of the cards I made for the card swap. A bit of paper tape, a bit of Tattered Time, a bit of stamping, a bit of distress stain and a bit of white paint and before you know it, you've got a card! :)

Something else tomorrow :)

Tattered Time Card

2011-06-16T02:12:00.000+01:00

Here's another of the cards from the card swap I was in. The background of the main panel is taken from DCWV's "Tattered Time" card stack. If you like steampunk-y things, I can thoroughly recommend it! The corners are more of the paper tape I bought recently and colouring was courtesy of Distress Stains.

More tomorrow!

10 minute David

2011-06-15T07:56:00.001+01:00

Another card swap card today, and I couldn't make a collection of cards without including at least one with one of my favourite stamps! The great thing about this card is that it only took literally 10 minutes!

I think the stamp is bold enough that you can play a bit fast and loose with the colouring of it, so I coloured this card with distress stains, just drawing with them on the card as if they were pens, not being worried if they strayed over the lines, which they were always going to do because the applicator tips are at least a half inch wide. I'm really happy with the rough-and-ready appearance of the colour and feel that it works well with this image :) In a way it's a bit like an oil painting - if you look closely, you can see where the colours have gone over the lines, but when you step back and look at the card as a whole, it totally works!

More tomorrow! :)

The Pea and Ham Soup Card!

2011-06-14T00:31:00.000+01:00

That green panel on the left side is really making me hungry for pea and ham soup! :) I love the chalkboard style of the numbers on the black paper tape I used as a border for this card. It's the only card I've made with that particular tape so far, but I predict more in the future! :)

More tomorrow :)

Grungy Monday 11!

2011-06-13T13:00:00.000+01:00

I am very pleased to let you know that I am one of the guest designers for this week's Grungy Monday Challenge! Hosted by Linda Ledbetter, this awesome weekly creative challenge celebrates the techniques of Tim Holtz and this week's technique is taken from January 2008, and can be found on Tim's blog here.

After you've read the technique on Tim's blog, I'm sure you'll have no trouble working out how I made this card. The only thing that might not be so clear is how I made the dark brown lines that run through the panels. Quite simply, I just folded a panel where I wanted a line, and rubbed the edge of the fold with an ink blending tool loaded with Walnut Stain distress ink, finally flattening the panel again.

Please bear in mind that although I have listed the products I've used, there is absolutely no reason why you can't try this with the things you already have in your craft stash!

List of products used:

Distress Ink Pads in Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Fired Brick and Walnut Stain.
Top Boss tinted embossing ink pad
Clear Detail Embossing Powder
Heat Tool
Ink Blending tool with foam pads.
Tim Holts stamp sets: Going Somewhere, World Traveler and Creative Muse.

The other guest designer today is Deborah, please be sure to check out her always inspirational blog, her work is amazing! :)

By the way, if you love Tim's grungy style, you'll definitely love the All Things Tim yahoo group! They even have a Grungy Monday file area where you can upload your work for the group to admire, and in turn, you can gain ideas and inspiration from the other group members. Why not give it a look, it's free! (and awesome!) :)

That's Torn It!

2011-06-13T05:00:00.001+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "distressed/torn edges". I had been thinking for a while about making something with a very restricted colour palette, so decided to do that with this funky/retro themed project!

I started off by stamping the circles in Bundled Sage distress ink, and then overstamping in black to give a slightly blurred effect. The circles were masked off and the rays were stamped with Faded Jeans distress ink. Finally the central panel was edged with more bundled sage, applied with an ink blending tool. The mat was cut from white card and coloured in the same way. The barcode stripes were stamped on white card with Faded Jeans ink and then edged with Bundled Sage. The strip mat was coloured with Faded Jeans, applied direct to the card and then torn down each side.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

All Taped Up!

2011-06-11T18:08:00.000+01:00

Another card swap card today, with some of that paper tape I bought as a border around the edges of the stamped panel. I dunno what it is about these 5x5 cards, but the size seems to suit me perfectly, I'm really enjoying making them!

More tomorrow :)

All about the numbers

2011-06-11T02:00:00.000+01:00

Another card today from the set I made for a card swap. The border is taken from another of the rolls of paper tape I bought the other day. The central panel is a Tim Holtz stamp coloured with fired brick and antique linen distress stains, set on a mat coloured with broken china and faded jeans distress ink.

More tomorrow! :)

If I ruled the world ... (ruled....geddit?)

2011-06-10T04:12:00.000+01:00

A real rarity from me today - something that features NO STAMPING whatsoever! I know, I kinda threw that one at you without any warning and now you're feeling dizzy and can't believe your eyes! :) My apologies!

More of the adhesive paper tape i showed yesterday, along with a bit of the DCWV Tattered Time card stack as the central panel, perfect match for the tape, dontcha think? :)

More tomorrow....

Cardswap Card 1

2011-06-09T02:23:00.000+01:00

I've recently taken part in a card swap for which I had to make 8 cards, and here is the first of them. I recently bought a pack of 5 rolls of number themed adhesive paper tape and used a strip of one of them on this card. As for the main panel, I wanted the background to look quite "painterly", so after stamping the main figure I used a small artists paintbrush to paint a mixture of Wild Honey distress ink and water as the background. The small brush left lots of brush stroke patterns behind, which was just what I was hoping for. Once it was dry, I used an ink blending too with Barn Door distress ink around the edges of the panel. The figure was stamped with Versafine ink and painted with distress inks and water.

Next card tomorrow! :)

Just Taggin' Along!

2011-06-06T05:26:00.001+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "a tag". Having recently got a bumper pack of manila tags, I was all set for this theme! :)

I started off by using an ink blending tool and distress ink pads in Barn Door, Wild Honey and Walnut Stain to create the background. The circles were stamped in Coffee archival ink and the fleur de lys, stars and clock were stamped in black archival ink. Finally elements were painted with an artists paint brush using paint dabbers and highlighted with a white pen.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

You shouldn't really have favourites, but...

2011-05-30T05:00:00.003+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "your favourite stamp". My absolute favourite stamp of all time (and those of you who visit here regularly will know this) is my Converse sneakers stamp. Unfortunately it's not available any more, so there didn't seem much point in using it for this challenge! Tim Holtz's "David" stamp is my favourite of his images, so that's what I went with here.

The background is Kraft Resist card stock, wiped with Fired Brick distress stain. The stars were stamped with black archival ink, and the centres coloured with a white pen. David was stamped separately and then coloured with alcohol markers, cut out and fixed in place. I finally added a black matte and then fixed the whole thing to my card.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

All Bottled Up!

2011-05-23T05:00:00.002+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Wendy Vecchi Style". I've always loved Wendy's "All Bottled Up" stamp, so decided I would make a feature of it in my project.

I started by stamping the background lines in Fired Brick distress ink, and then swiped over them with Wild Honey and Antique Linen distress stains. I applied Faded Jeans distress stain to my non-stick mat and spritzed it with water, then moved the background card in it, giving areas of dark and light blue colour.

The bottles were stamped separately and cut out, then swiped with Distress Stain to "fill" them and to colour the lids. The "ART" stamp was applied with Walnut Stain distress ink and the bottles were fixed in place. I tore a strip of white card and stamped the text with Black Archival ink and used my handy "fingerprint stamps" in Fired Brick Distress Ink. The white strip was fixed in place and I created a mat which I edge with Fired Brick Distress Stain. Finally the whole thing was applied to my 5x5 card. I had a lot of fun making this, I hope you like it :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Meet Red-haired Raylene

2011-05-20T01:35:00.000+01:00

I was lucky enough this week to take a workshop at Art From the Heart, taught by the amazing Dyan Reavely. We learned several techniques to paint faces in a whimsical style, and Raylene here is the canvas I painted during the class.

Originally, the background of my canvas was a pale blend of yellow and the rust colour I used on her hair. When I got home, I took a good long look at it and decided I didn't like the background, so I've had a play about on the computer, trying various different colour schemes. I have decided that this reworked version in shades of blue is by far my favourite and am much happier with the result! I may yet get the blue paint out and risk repainting the original! :)

Beware the one...

2011-05-16T05:01:00.002+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "an old wives' tale". After a bit of research and Googling, I decided to do "Beware the one whose eyebrows meet, for in their heart you'll find deceit". It's hard to see the detail in this photo, if you click on it you'll get a much larger view!

I was lucky enough a week or so ago to take a 3 day art journalling course with Dina Wakley - she's such a great teacher and so inspirational! I learned so many techniques with gesso, multi medium and color washes and decided to incorporate some into this piece.

The cheap-o Ikea frames were painted with gesso to give them a lime-washed look. Each panel was primed with a thin coat of gesso and then I used a palette knife to scrape on thin layers of brown, red, yellow and white paint. I cut a large polka-dot stencil from an OHP acetate on my Cricut and then placed it over each panel and used a baby wipe to remove some of the paint through the holes. When it had dried, I applied a little more paint and some Forest Moss distress stain over the top.

The main images were stamped onto vellum and then turned over and painted white on the reverse side to highlight part of the image. I then stuck them (and the computer printed text) down with matt multi medium.

I had some leftover dyed cheesecloth from Dina's class, and incorporated a piece of that on each panel, along with strips from the stencil I'd used, which give a shiny highlight as the eye moves over the pieces. Oh, I also used a black promarker to make sure their eyebrows met in the middle! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

That's the way the money goes...

2011-05-09T11:03:00.000+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "anything goes". I've had this MDF house moneybox for a few weeks now and thought this was the perfect piece to make for this challenge.

I covered the box in papers from the Kraft Resist and Crowded Attic collections by Tim Holtz, and then stained them with Antique Linen and Forest Moss Distress stains. Panels from other Tim Holtz card stacks were placed in bookplates and memory frames and used to embellish the front of the house. I rounded the whole thing off with a plaquette number and a word key!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

A Word in Hand

2011-05-02T05:00:00.003+01:00

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "hands" and I was immediately inspired to use a quote from a poem I've always loved. Most of you won't know this, but I studied British Sign Language for 17 years, eventually teaching in a college for Deaf people and also doing some sign interpreting, both in the UK and overseas. In the course of all this I made many Deaf friends, and one lady who made a big impression on me was Dorothy Miles, a Deaf poet and playright. Sadly she's no longer with us, but her work lives on, and the quote I've used is from her poem "To a Deaf Child". The quote reads:

"Oh, better the word in hand than a thousand spilled from the lips upon the hearless ear."

The arrangement of hands from Tim Holtz's Steampunk stamp set in the picture is almost (but not quite) an illustration of the sign for "talk", which I thought fitted with the quote nicely!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Right on the button!

2011-04-25T10:53:00.001+01:00

I usually prefer my buttons to be made from Cadbury's chocolate, but in this case I've made an exception! The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "buttons" and I've made a feature of Kraft Resist cardstock and buttons (both real and stamped) on this tag. The tag was coloured with Distress Stains, which were also used to dye the white organza ribbon I used.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Time to Breathe

2011-04-19T01:13:00.000+01:00

I don't know about you, but after CHA, when loads of new products flood the market, I need to find some time just to sit down and mess around with them, to get a feel for their properties and how I might use them in the future. This card is the result of such a session - I sat down with a square of Tim Holtz's Kraft Resist pad and just attacked it with Distress Stains, Color Wash sprays and acrylic paint, to see how it reacted and performed.

It doesn't really matter what kind of mess you end up with, you will have learned a lot, and you can always mat the result and make a "men's card" out of it! :)

Dave-in-a-box!

2011-04-18T05:20:00.004+01:00

I read this great quote by Michelangelo this week - when asked about his statue of David, he said "I saw an angel in the block of marble and I just chiseled 'til I set him free". As I had Tim Holtz's David stamp and a silicone mould of part of his face I thought I'd make a piece based around that quote for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge. The theme this week is "a Tim Holtz technique", so I decided to use his Kraft Resist cardstock for a variation on the blended batik technique.

The first task was to cover the Configurations box that I was using in black cardstock - I thought it would make a change from the usual patterned cardstock trimmed with tissue tape that I've always done in the past. This was quite a job in itself, but worth the effort I think!

The latticed label holder and pediment were designed on the computer and cut on the Cricut. The name and quote were printed on the computer and the paper clay face had been made the day before and left to dry overnight. Apart from the black American Crafts cardstock, all the rest is Kraft Resist.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Freebie #64!

2011-04-16T00:01:00.005+01:00

Windowed Pocket Tags

Following a request I received this week, tonight's freebies are windowed pocket tags. Perfect for holding a journalling spot on a scrapbook page, as a cute frame for a small photo, the focus on the front of a card or just as an extra special tag on a gift for a loved one! Why not use these pocket tags to hold special messages or ephemera such as tickets?

There are 5 designs in total - circle, square, heart, scalloped square and solid, just cut them on double sided cardstock, glue or tape down the tabs and you're all set! I've included marks to show where to fold and I've also included reinforcement circles for that authentic stationery look. All 5 are in 1 file, just cut the ones you need!

Please remember you are only allowed to download this file for your own use and can not share it or distribute it to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are shared.

Again, this template will be "live" for 1 week. Next week it will be taken down. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There is one file and I have put it into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the files out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save it.

There are 2 versions of each template:

An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on your Cricut.
A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

Files © dan99crafter@gmail.com 2011

Not all cards are made with Retro Grunge

2011-04-14T00:51:00.002+01:00

... but this one certainly is! When I sat down at my desk I found a square of Retro Grunge paper left from another project, so given my current campaign to use up some of my patterned cardstock, I decided to make it the base for this card!

Add on some swipes of white paint dabber and wild honey distress stain, some splatters of butterscotch color wash spray, a Sharpie white paint pen and some Tim Holtz stamps and Bob's yer uncle! :)

Freebie #63!

2011-04-12T01:20:00.002+01:00

Square Gift Box

Following yesterday's post of a set of notecards with matching gift box I've had a number of emails asking about the box, so I thought I'd offer it as todays freebie :) This shallow gift box with snugly fitting lid comes in either SVG or DXF format, ready to cut on the Cricut, Craft Robo or other digital cutters.

I originally designed the box at 5 1/2 inches square, to fit the cards I'd made, but I've included a sizing chart below, which shows the width and height to cut the box and lid to make a range of box sizes. Remember, this is a square box, so the two shapes you cut should be square in proportion. For example, for a 3x3 box, the base should be 5.2 x 5.2 and the lid should be 4.77 x 4.77.

Note: Although I calculated these sizings I haven't tried cutting in all the sizes yet. I already knew that the 5.5 box cuts perfectly, so I then went on to make a sample cut of the 3x3 size, which also worked just fine. I figured that as the 3x3 was the smallest and most fiddly to assemble that would be the one that was most likely to go wrong, so I was relieved when it worked! :)

Box size	Base w/h	Lid w/h
3 x 3	5.2	4.77
3.5 x 3.5	6.04	5.54
4 x 4	6.9	6.3
4.5 x 4.5	7.76	7.06
5 x 5	8.62	7.85
5.5 x 5.5	9.5	8.625
6 x 6	10.34	9.38
6.5 x 6.5	11.22	10.14

Please remember you are only allowed to download this file for your own use and can not share it or distribute it to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are shared.

Again, this template will be "live" for 1 week. Next week it will be taken down. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There are a few files and I have put them into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the files out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save it.

There are 2 versions of each template:

An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on your Cricut.
A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

Files © dan99crafter@gmail.com 2011

Boxing Clever!

2011-04-11T05:30:00.001+01:00

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week is "some distress". I decided to make this set of 5 matching 5.5" notecards with a coordinating gift box. I used the Retro Grunge card stack, which already has the distress built right in!

I used Tim Holtz's "The Countdown" stamp set to stamp the numbers on the reverse side of some offcuts that were left from making the box and then coloured some of the numbers to echo colours from the Retro Grunge papers. I only needed 3 sheets for the whole project - 1 for the lid, 1 for the base and another for the panels on the cards. I tore the stamped panels into strips and applied Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to the edges.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Freebie #62!

2011-04-05T01:12:00.003+01:00

Accordion Recipe/Photo Wallet

[These files are no longer available here. Contact me on the link above for details on how to access expired files.]

In many ways this is a cut down version of the concertina organiser I've given away in the past, but this time the entire folder can be cut out of just 1 sheet of 12x12 cardstock!

Perfectly sized for 5x3 recipe cards or photos, I've included a separate file containing tabbed dividers so that if it's used for recipes you can separate them into appetizers, entrees, etc, plus a bookplate so that you can put a label of your choice on the front flap.

I've even included a PDF file with recipe cards you can print and cut out! The base can be left flat, but I have also included fold guides so that the bottom can be accordion folded too - the choice is yours!

Please remember you are only allowed to download this file for your own use and can not share it or distribute it to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are shared.

Again, this template will be "live" for 1 week. Next week it will be taken down. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There are a few files and I have put them into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the files out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save it.

There are 2 versions of each template:

An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on your Cricut.
A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

Time for Simon Says Stamp and Show!

2011-04-04T05:00:00.003+01:00

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week is "anything but a card". Some of you may be aware that I'm battling to reduce the ever-growing pile of patterned cardstock in my craft room. I'm making progress, slowly but surely, and this project takes me one step further in the fight! LOL Having said that, I seem to only be reducing my pile of the Lost and Found stack, which I will be replacing when it's gone, so perhaps I'm not making as much progress as I thought!

I started with a cheap supermarket paper pad and removed the cover and separated the pages and back. I cut a new cover from Lost and Found card and stamped the wings onto it with Versafine ink. I then coloured the wings with a paint marker and then embellished it with the clock image and metal parts. The "TIME" also came from the Lost and Found pad. Finally I bound the pad together with the Bind-it-all and finished the whole thing off with some Tim Holtz Idea-ology charms.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Not Waste Away!

2011-04-03T02:25:00.001+01:00

(With apologies to the Rolling Stones for twisting their "Not Fade Away" song title"!)

Here's another card that uses recycled leftover squares from an earlier project. I've enjoyed making these and really like how they've turned out (which is quite something for me to say, because I can't normally look at things I make without seeing all the faults! lol)

By the way, if any of you have been umm-ing and ahhh-ing about whether to buy the Lost and Found card stack, I'd say go for it! I keep returning to it time and time again and always find something that inspires me or suggests an idea for a project. When mine get's a lot thinner I'll definitely be buying another!

Waste not, want not!

2011-04-02T02:00:00.001+01:00

Life kinda got in the way today and sabotaged the plans I had made, resulting in no time at all to get to my desk until laaaate! Consequently I tried to think of a card I could make that would be interesting to look at, but not a lot of work, lol Kind of like the holy grail for cardmakers I guess!

A few weeks ago when I took the class with Tim Holtz, we lined configuration boxes with pieces of the Lost and Found card stack. These squares were some of the corner pieces that were cut out and discarded (see? I told you it was always worth saving those little leftover bits!). Matted onto black cardstock, I think they make for a striking card, with minimum outlay and minimum effort :)

Watch the birdie!

2011-04-01T00:27:00.001+01:00

All of the stamps on this card are from a great set by Oxford Impressions, which I've had for a couple of years and only used once before, so I thought it was time they had another airing! I used Antique Linen Distress Stain on the background, which was then knocked back with white paint, and on the "oiseau" panel too. The mat around the edge was coloured with Vintage Photo DS.

No patterned paper on this card though, I need to stay focussed on my plan to reduce the mountain I have here! LOL

Love Shrine

2011-03-31T00:01:00.005+01:00

When I started typing this post and I called it Love Shrine, I wish I'd made some kind of house and called it Love Shack, that would have been cool! LOL Maybe next time :)

This is one of the boxes left over from my printer's tray project, covered in Lost and Fond cardstock and edged with tissue tape. The wings, letters, heart and awnings were cut on the Cricut using the Sure Cuts a Lot software. It was fun to make, hopefully as much fun to look at! :)

Time for a facelift!

2011-03-30T00:07:00.005+01:00

After 3 or so years with the same blog design, it's finally time for a change! I promised myself that when I reached 1000 followers I would freshen up the design and now the time has arrived. Thanks to all of you who have been interested enough to sign up as a follower, I really appreciate it! :) Huge thanks to my friend Julian who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help with the complicated coding that was needed to make this redesign work!

It's taken a week or two to get this together so I hope you like it - I'd really be grateful for any feedback you care to give!

Tutorial - How to make your own printer's tray

2011-03-29T01:05:00.006+01:00

I've had a few emails since I posted yesterday's hat-themed printer's tray, asking where I bought it from. The truth is, I made it myself! I took photos throughout the process, so here's a quick tutorial to show how I did it :)

I started out with a bunch of small boxes - the smallest ones I bought at a pound shop, 3 for 49p, the large ones came from Michaels in the US, I forget how much they were but I'm thinking around 50 cents each. I used the lids from 2 large and 6 small for this project. Obviously you can use any size of box, in any arrangement you like.

I used my ATG gun to stick the lids together. Notice that the bottom box was too large so I took a 1/2 inch slice out of it. It doesn't matter if the join is a bit raggy, it won't be seen once it's covered with patterned cardstock.

The small lids were slightly shallower than the large ones, so I added 2 strips of chipboard on the back to even out the height. I then completely covered the back with another sheet of chipboard to make the tray more sturdy.
Notice that I've added a length of wire to hang it on the wall (string would work too if you don't have any wire).

The wire was twisted on the inside and is unseen once the compartments have been lined with patterned cardstock.

Finally, each compartment was lined with patterned cardstock and edged with tissue tape. It's all ready now to be filled with whatever goodies you choose! :) It's also a LOT cheaper than one you'd buy in the shops (I'm sounding like a Blue Peter presenter now LOL) I hope this was useful for some of you - see you tomorrow! :)

If you want to get ahead, get a hat!

2011-03-28T05:01:00.002+01:00

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week is "A Hat". Before starting on this project I thought about hats for quite a while, turning things over in my head, trying to decide what I was going to do. Iconic bowler hat images such as those from A Clockwork Orange and Magritte's paintings came to mind, and were incorporated into this printer's tray, along with a nod towards the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Doing My Bit for the Environment!

2011-03-27T00:02:00.001Z

So there I was, looking at my desk, thinking "I need to throw away all this mess". There were bits of stamped images, scraps of paper I'd colour washed, a mess of leftover elements from other projects. Instead of throwing them away, I decided to recycle some of them, and this card is the result! I'm quite proud of myself for helping reduce the hole in the ozone layer, in my own small way! :)

I've entered this card into the Sunday Stampers Challenge this week, which is themed "embossing folders" - the stars on the right of my card were cut from card embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Freebie #61!

2011-03-26T00:01:00.002Z

Fancy-edged Book

[This file is no longer available here - contact me for info on how to get older files]

Believe it or not, if you cut with a page height of 3.5 inches (perfect size for a brag book), all 7 pages will fit onto 1 sheet of 12x12 cardstock! If you use double-sided cardstock you can cut the whole thing from one 12x12 sheet and just turn each alternate page over for a quick, stylish base for making a stunning keepsake gift!

Please remember you are only allowed to download this file for your own use and can not share it or distribute it to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are shared.

Again, this template will be "live" for 1 week. Next week it will be taken down. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There is 1 file and I have put it into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the file out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save it.

There are 2 versions of each template:

An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on your Cricut.
A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

Converse Revisited

2011-03-25T03:22:00.003Z

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while might feel that you've seen this card before. Well, you have....kinda. I made this card almost exactly a year ago, and a friend just asked me if I'd make one for her, but in green and blue. Always an obliging chap, here's the result! :)

I had made the background paper myself in Inkscape, so it was easy to change the colour from red to green and reprint it. It's matted on black American Crafts linen textured cardstock (basically their version of Bazill) and the shoes are stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink then coloured with promarkers.

As ever, click the image for a larger view. See you tomorrow! :)

A Painted Card

2011-03-24T00:52:00.002Z

More patterned paper today, though I've almost obliterated it with paint! Costco cardstock, Lost and Found stack, brown and white acrylic paint, Stampotique stamps and a white paint pen.

A simple enough list of ingredients, and one of my favourites of the cards I've been making lately! :)

Gingersnap Creations - "Ginger/Copper/Rust" Challenge

2011-03-23T05:01:00.009Z

"Ginger/Copper/Rust" is the theme over on the Gingersnap Creations blog this week. This also marks my last project for the design team. It's been a fun (though crazy) time, with "life" getting in the way for a while, during which time I had to step down from the team for a spell. I'm so grateful that they were kind enough to give me that time when other priorities took me away from crafting temporarily!

This card has copper stars, a copper tab and brads and rusty colours so I think it qualifies! :)

I want to take this opportunity to wish the team every success for the future and hope that the team members, both new and old, have a great next 6 months! Why not pop over to the GC blog to see how the DT members have interpreted the challenge - go on, you know you want to! :)

A Concertina Card Organiser

2011-03-22T00:01:00.002Z

I decided today to be super-organised and get myself in gear to try, for the first year, to send handmade cards at Christmas! I have never done it before, always copping out and buying them, but this year it will be different! :) Plus, making this organiser has helped with my new resolution to use more patterned paper! :)
Those of you who have followed my blog for a while might remember that I designed this file a year or two ago and all the pieces are cut on the Cricut using the SCAL program. As I have bought a huge box of 5" cards with envelopes, that is the size I will be making, so this box is 5 1/2" wide and 6" or so tall. I reckon I should be able to fit about 30 or so cards with envelopes in it.
Now all I have to do is be self-disciplined enough to actually make the cards! LOL Oh, the ingredients... Top paper is from My Minds Eye Christmas Glittered stack, bottom is from a Costco tote full of double sided cardstock. The picture is from Tim Holtz's Seasonal card stack and the ticket is one of his stamps.

Each time I've made one of these I've used a different method of fastening them shut. This time I've used adhesive magnets. They work well, but are so strong that they were coming off the closure rather than unstick from each other, so I beefed up the adhesive on them with a strip from my ATG gun, and now they work fine! :)

A Word to the Wise

2011-03-21T05:01:00.001Z

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week is "A Word". For this dream-y card I started by covering my card base with randomly placed pieces of torn tissue tape, which was then covered with espresso and red pepper paint dabbers applied with kitchen paper. The butterfly from Tim Holtz's Spring Sprung stamp set was stamped on the painted background with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then over-painted with white paint dabber applied with an artist's paintbrush, coloured with marker pens and restamped. The piece was edged with Walnut Stain distress ink. The letters are cut from the Lost and Found card stack and covered with glossy accents for extra shine. Finally, the mat was cut from the Retro Grunge card stack.

Freebie #60!

2011-03-20T00:01:00.005Z

Diorama Card

[As always, these files were only available for 1 week from this blog and have now been removed. Contact me for details of how to access older files]

After posting the diorama card I showed here, I have received several emails asking for copies of the file, so I thought I would give it away as a freebie tonight. Below is a diagram showing how the card goes together. The support strips are used to attach elements at different levels within the card. The great thing about this card is that it also will squash flat for putting in an envelope! Remember to decorate the front and back before you assemble the card.

The file contains elements for the front, back, sides and support strips, which all fit onto a 12x12 sheet of card, to produce a 5x5 card. If you want a larger card, just cut out a larger front, back and strips, and cut the sides on your paper trimmer (they should be 4" x the height of your card).

Please remember you are only allowed to download this file for your own use and can not share it or distribute it to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are shared.

Again, this template will be "live" for 1 week. Next week it will be taken down. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There is 1 file and I have put it into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the file out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save it.

There are 2 versions of each template:

An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on your Cricut.
A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

Not Quite as White as it's Painted!

2011-03-19T00:20:00.002Z

This is the first time in a while I've used the painted mask technique. At least, that's what *I* call it! To be honest, I haven't seen anyone else doing it, so maybe I'm the only one. Or perhaps everyone else thinks it's rubbish so I'm left here on my own, deluded, LOL You can see an earlier (and more ambitious) attempt at this technique here.

This card uses another square of yesterday's patterned paper (hey, two 4 1/2 inch squares in two days, I'll work my way through my paper mountain in no time at this rate! NOT! lol). I stamped the globe and when it had dried I painted over it with white acrylic paint and sanded it slightly to give a smoother surface, before stamping again over the top. It makes the image appear to be part of the design of the paper, because you can slightly see some of the stripes through it. Well, that's how it appears to me, anyway :)

2 more offcuts of patterned paper, some coffee stain images and a text passage, all Tim Holtz stamps by Stampers Anonymous. That's about all there is to it, see you again tomorrow! :)

This is a Declaration of War!

2011-03-18T08:11:00.001Z

This simple card is not imposing in it's own right, it's what it represents, dear reader, that is the important thing! Today I am formally declaring all-out war against the stacks and stacks of 12x12 paper that I have that I never use!

The sheet I have used in the background is from a My Mind's Eye christmas pad I have, and some of the stripes are faintly glittered. It was sitting there, to be honest, looking at me in a slightly arrogant way, thinking it was safe at least until late November. Let me tell you, when I cut into it, it didn't know what had hit it! (insert maniacal laugh here)

This is only the start, the tyrannical rule of the 12x12s over my craft room is coming to an end! :)

What? No Stamping?!?!?

2011-03-17T02:39:00.001Z

I'm almost embarrassed to post this here! lol It's a wooden box I've been saving to keep some stationery in, and I decided to cover it with paper from Tim Holtz's Lost and Found card stack. I took the closure off the front first and then...um... stuck paper to it and put the closure back. The top was cut slightly smaller and edged with tissue tape. So simple, but I think it looks really great, so here it is! :)

All Work and No Play...

2011-03-16T03:00:00.003Z

This was one of those times I like the best, when I just sit down at my desk and start to play with no clear idea in mind of what I'm aiming for :) It doesn't always make for the best results, but it's a lot of fun!

The tag background was brown and red acrylic paint applied with a baby wipe in broad strokes. I deliberately chose to use stamps that don't get as much of an airing as some others, so it was fun to get to know them again. All stamping was with a Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad, and colouring courtesy of Promarkers, a white paint pen and Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The photo came from Tim Holtz's Lost and Found card stack, and was torn, sanded and scratched before being fixed in place with a screw-topped brad.

As ever, click on the image for a better view! :)

Do or Diorama!

2011-03-15T01:12:00.002Z

This is my first attempt at a diorama card, and I had a lot of fun making it, with a few small headaches on the way, lol Basically it's a flat back and a window front, with concertina'd sides that allow you to fix different elements at different levels inside the card. I made a file for the whole thing and cut it on my Cricut, along with the "dream" letters, the house and the birds.

Apart from that it was basically memento, distress ink and promarker wizardry (well, as close as I can get to wizardry anyway! lol)

It's Written in the Stars!

2011-03-14T05:00:00.001Z

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week is "Stars". This is actually the 2nd piece I've made for this theme - I didn't like the first one so I scrapped it and went back to square one!

I lightly "limed" the wood frame by painting it white and then sanding most of the paint off. I covered the box with a sheet from Tim Holtz's Retro Grunge card stack and trimmed the edges with tissue tape. The panels were coloured with paint dabbers applied with a wet wipe to spread the colour out more and give a lined effect. The edges of each panel were distressed with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Stamp sets used included Bitty Grunge, Winged Things II, Regal Findings, and Steampunk, all by Tim Holtz@Stampers Anonymous.

Freebie #59!

2011-03-13T00:01:00.001Z

Gothic Arch Cards

[As always, my files are only free here for 1 week, so this set is no longer available from my blog. Contact me for details of how to access expired file sets.]

It's been a while since my last one, so it's great to be able to offer you another free cutting file this week! This set came about when someone emailed me asking if I had a file for a gothic arch greetings card. I didn't, so I set about creating one!

The photo is rubbish, I know, but it shows that they cut just fine and hopefully you get the general idea of what's included in the file! There are 4 designs of card in the file along with additional panels you can use for extra layers on the front if you wish. All designs are in one file, so after you've unzipped it and imported it into your software you can choose which you want to cut and hide or delete the others to use another time.

Please remember you are only allowed to download this file for your own use and can not share it or distribute it to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are shared.

Again, this template will be "live" for 1 week. Next week it will be taken down. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There is 1 file and I have put it into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the file out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save it.

There are 2 versions of each template:

An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on your Cricut.
A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

He's the King of the castle!

2011-03-12T01:56:00.004Z

As you can probably tell by now, I'm still not tired of doing these 5x5 cards :) I think this one is probably my favourite of the 3 so far.

There was a lot involved with this one, I'll try and summarise just the basic points! Background was misted with weak Meadow Color Wash solution, then drips of full strength Meadow added. 1/2 of background was covered with coloured tickets paper from the Lost & Found card stack. Strip of tissue tape added across the top. "KINGS" was cut from Lost & Found and placed on card. Clock was stamped and cut out then applied to bottom of card and trimmed. Trimmed clock piece added to top right of card. Game spinner and brad added. Boy stamped, cut out, coloured and fixed in place. Stripes stamped and cut out in crown shape, red metallic brads added, then fixed to boy's head. Arm (a leftover from another project) fixed in place. Pale grey promarker border added to key elements. Matted onto square of ticket paper from L&F, then stuck onto blank card.

Phew! I think I've included all the salient points! :)

The Red Shoes

2011-03-11T00:58:00.004Z

Not only the title of this card, but also a great classic British movie and a fantastic album by the amazing Kate Bush! :) In both of those cases, the red shoes are ballet shoes of course, not a battered pair of Converse sneakers! I doubt that they make ballet shoes to fit my canoe-sized feet and I wear Converse Chuck Taylors ALL THE TIME, so it was always obvious which way I was gonna go with this :)

All of the stamps are from Tim Holtz@Stampers Anonymous (except for the sneakers, which is my favourite stamp and seems not to be available any longer If it was I'd buy a second so I always had a spare, lol).

There's nothing specially out of the ordinary technique-wise here, apart from the red background which was acrylic paint applied with a moist wipe, and the orange which was 2 squirts of sunset orange in a full mini-mister of water to give a softer (and more economical) spray of colour.

I'm really enjoying card-making at the moment, expect more soon! :)

It's rude to point!

2011-03-10T02:23:00.009Z

A few weeks ago, while on an outing to York for the day, I bought a box of 5"x5" square cards and envelopes and have been itching to have a go at one ever since! I also got a few of Tim Holtz's new stamp sets a day or two ago, and this card includes some of the images from the "Steampunk" set. The house was inspired by some I saw on the Paperbag Studios blog (though I think theirs may be stamps and mine was hand drawn).

During the Tim Holtz class I took a couple of weeks ago, he gave us a dictionary page to use as we wished. I didn't use mine on the configurations box project, so made use of it on this card. I stuck it to white card and cut out a square for the main panel, a smaller one for the house and a triangle for the roof.

I distressed the main panel with Walnut Stain DI around the edges and stamped some splatters from the "Bitty Grunge" stamp set in Brushed Corduroy DI. I blended Rusty Hinge DI on the roof and Fired Brick on the house. Using a black pen and a white pen I drew freehand lines around the roof, window and house and then used a red and an orange promarker to make the edges a little more punchy.

The doors were white card, embossed with large dots in the cuttlebug then sprayed with Red Pepper Color Wash spray. I cut a "T" with scissors in the panel then folded the doors back, drawing panels on them with a white pen. I then used PVA glue to fix the doors to the house. The Steampunk man was stamped in Walnut Stain DI and cut out then glued in the doorway.

The hands were stamped and coloured with promarkers then cut out. I placed a strip of tissue tape down the right side of the main panel and then the house, roof and hands were fixed to the background and edged with grey promarker. Finally I cut a mat from some patterned cardstock and coloured the edge using the same brown promarker as I had used on the sleeves, to tie the whole thing together, colourwise. I glued mat to card and main panel to mat and Bob's yer uncle! :) I had a lot of fun making this, I think I need to go out and find an old dictionary somewhere so I can do more! :)

I've entered this in this week's Theme Thursday challenge, which is "hats".

Gingersnap Creations - "Office Supplies" Challenge

2011-03-09T05:00:00.001Z

"Office Supplies" is the theme over on the Gingersnap Creations blog this week. After completing the configurations box that I blogged here I had 3 of the small boxes left, which I thought would be perfect for this project.

I started by joining the 3 boxes together with my ATG gun, then covered them with paper from the Tim Holtz "Crowded Attic" card stack, finishing off the edges with Tissue Tape. I pierced 4 holes in the bottom and inserted large chrome brads to act as feet. I added 2 metal handles to the front and filled the compartments with office supplies (of course!). The tickets were from the "Lost & Found" card stack and the vintage eyeglasse came from the Artistic Stamper. Click one of the images for a larger view.

Pop over to the GC blog to see how the other DT members have interpreted the challenge - go on, you know you want to! :)

Moi? Je ne suis pas branché!

2011-03-08T02:43:00.003Z

Which is to say "Me? I'm not trendy!", and believe me, I'm not! LOL (A fact that I'm sure can be vouched for by those who know me!) But I did think this guy from one of the PaperArtsy Urban Snapshot plates is kinda cool looking, hence the "branché" on the tag.

I sat down to start work on this with absolutely no idea in my head as to what I was going to do, other than start out by spraying colour onto a blank tag. I tipped a load of metal stencil letters onto my desk to see what I could spell with them and the word "branché" just jumped out at me, which tied in nicely with the choice of stamp for the main figure :) I've also been listening to a bit of french music in the last couple of days so I'm sure there's a residual influence there too!

I sprayed the tag with Cranberry and Stream Color Wash sprays and then laid down some of the stencil letters and sprayed again with Sunset Orange. The top panel is a leftover piece from a sheet from the Tim Holtz "Crowded Attic" card stack. The guy was stamped seperately and cut out then fixed in place and coloured with Promarkers. I used the stencils with a white pen to spell out the word, and then doodled a bit with black and white pens. I stamped the star, cut it out and fixed it in place, then finally edged the whole tag with some Walnut Stain distress ink.

As ever, click the image for a better view! :)

It Ain't Heavy Metal!

2011-03-07T05:00:00.002Z

The theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week is "Metal", so when I started making a frame for last week's piece I decided to encrust it with metal embellishments to fit with this week's theme!

I painted the frame with a mixture of Red Pepper and Espresso paint dabber and sanded it to give a smooth surface and to distress the edges. After that, it was simply a case of raiding my embellishment boxes! All items were fixed in place with Claudine Hellmuth's Matte Multi Medium.

Doing what comes nature-ally!

2011-03-06T05:15:00.005Z

The theme set by my friend Hels over on the Sunday Stamper today is "Nature". I thought this frame, decorated with variagated leaves fitted nicely with the theme, so, um, here it is :)

I painted the wood frame with white acrylic paint dabber, then sanded it to give an even, "limed" look. The leaves were stamped with tuxedo black memento ink, then coloured with a variety of green promarker shades. I didn't want to post the frame here with nothing in it, so I filled it with an image cut from Tim Holtz's new "Crowded Attic" card stack.

As ever, click on the image for a better view! :)

Tim Holtz Class Project

2011-03-05T00:32:00.004Z

As I mentioned here a couple of days ago, I was lucky enough to take a class with Tim Holtz a week or so ago. I've finally finished off the project I started in class, one of his "Configurations" boxes. It hasn't photographed that well, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out! I have 4 more of these waiting to be started, so you'll be seeing more of them in due course! :)

As ever, click either of the images to get a better view!