A Whole Lotta Foiling Going On

Good morning, hope you had a wonderful summer - today is officially the first day of meteorological autumn, my favourite season, particularly for the abundance of my favourite foods and the fact that its not too hot to walk around but still pleasant.  Love it.   It's also when thoughts drift towards Christmas so today I have 4 Christmas cards to share - all featuring foiling (without the need for a foiling machine) and lots of new items from the Hero Arts Winter Catalogue that is now live in store.

Firstly I have a crisp snow themed card - quite a quick one to make and could be sped up even more if you didn't ink blend the background (just switch out that technique for some blue cardstock and splatter some white paint to get a similar effect)

I used 3 shades of blue oxides and after blending out from the centre from the darkest to lightest shades and sprayed with water and blotted off with a paper towel to get a soft snowstorm effect.  My foiling on this card is very subtle, but it does add a nice touch which shows up better irl.  I used stick-it glue over teal cardstock and then rubbed aqua foil onto it before die cutting the Altenew Crystal Frame Die from it.   The snowflake cluster die from Hero Arts was cut from Lawn Fawn Pearlescent Vellum (again shows up more shimmery irl but is impossible to photograph) which was glued to white card with more stick-it (then you don't see any of the glue!    Finished with a white embossed sentiment also from Hero Arts and a few teal gems.


Next up, I took the die cut foiling technique to the next level with the new Poinsettia Ornament die from Hero Arts and with the aid of stick-it, gave it a full-on two-tone foil finish which I just love and its really easy and fun to do!

I started with cranberry card from Hero Arts and covered it with a layer of stick-it - and after running it through the die cutting machine with the stick-it side up DID NOT REMOVE the release paper - this is the key to this two colour technique.  I took my craft knife and carefully trimmed through the release paper where the bits I wanted in gold joined the bits I wanted in red.  Removing them one at a time, I could then gold foil the berries and flower centres whilst the release paper was still in place on the red areas.  (see the top two photos below)

Once all the gold is foiled, remove the "waste" areas and then removed the release paper from all the remaining areas and then pop a piece of red foil over the top and rub the foil over with your finger (or a bone folder is a great tool for this technique too) and then you get a perfectly foiled ornament!  Simply added to a card with a heat embossed sentiment from Hero Arts Winter Holiday Messages (tip  - I stamped with the ornament in place but NOT adhered, then removed it before applying heat so I didn't damage the foiling, that way the sentiment is where I wanted it and its easy to just adhere the ornament around it afterwards)  I drew a border with a fine liner to finish.

Next I did some tiny bits of foiling just using wet glue - it you apply a really thin layer of glue and wait until it's tacky but NOT wet, then you can apply foil that way too!  I used it as accents within the new Layering Snow Globe die from Hero Arts.

I used the same technique as from the snowflake to layer the pearlescent vellum onto white card so I could cut each "layer" and know my glue wouldn't show through.  I then applied wet glue to the trees, house roof, snowman and applied the foil once tacky.  Perfect little highlights of foil.  The missnow globe itself I cut from silver mirri card and the background in the globe is from Lawn Fawn's Snow Day Remix paper pad which is my all time favourite pad for Christmas backgrounds so I am so glad they brought it back as I used my old one up!   The sentiment again comes from Winter Holiday Messages.

I have one final card to share, which had a couple of mishaps, but I managed to rescue it enough that I could still share it even if it could be better (will make sure I do better on the next version!)   For this one I used a brand new stencil from Simple Stories with Altenew Embossing Paste as that is another easy way to get foiling without a machine!

I started with a piece of navy card stock and applied a thin layer of paste through the stencil, lifted it off and washed the stencil straight away so the paste didn't dry on it and ruin it.   This is where my error came - as the stencil has solid letter centres, the paste in those letters wasn't as thin as it should have been, so even though I left my foil to dry over night, when I lifted it off this morning, the centres were still wet and therefore the foil hadn't stuck there.   The technique is to lay the foil gently onto the paste, leave it for about 30 mins so it starts to dry a little, and then gently rub it over the paste so it catches the edges, then leave it overnight to fully dry.

So rather than bin it, I took craft knife and carved out the centres, there is a little white edge of paste showing, but I can live with that for this one, and on the next one I know to make sure to check the paste is thinner in those larger areas (or to remove it if you want the letter centres to not be there)

The starry background is from another new stencil which will be in store tomorrow, check out the Echo Park section to find it and lots of new Autumn/Christmas themed papers, stencils, embossing folders and washi tapes.

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas of how to work with foil as its definitely the season for it!

NEWS FROM THE STORE

As I said above, we'll have a few new collections from Echo Park/Carta Bella in store tomorrow

We will have the new MFT release on Tuesday when it goes live in the USA

The new Waffle Flower release is in transit and will go live on release day or as soon as we get it.

We've got the collaborative Hero Arts stamps on order and expect them at some point this month.

We have a new collection from Colorado Craft Company in transit with a fun spooky theme, and that will be in store as soon as we get it after they release it on Tuesday.

We have new Sugar Pea Designs, Concord and 9th and Altenew releases on order, all due mid-September or earlier customs willing.

We have a very large Lawn Fawn restock order in, but we are waiting to see what they have available from the new release and have asked to wait til they get it back before it ships if it is out of stock but we've not heard back form them as yet.  A few items that were on back order (like the notebooks) have already been shipped to us but they went USPS by mistake so will take a couple of weeks to arrive.

We are bringing Flora and Fauna back for their Christmas release, and have added a small quantity of the releases from this year we missed to go with them.  We are waiting on them to ship.

As Neat & Tangled are now only releasing 3 products a month, we are still going to carry them, but will only order every couple of months to make ordering cost effective so the latest release will be coming later this month with their September release.

Our servers are being moved to a new facility by our hosts this month - we have influence over the date so please note that the store will not be online at all from 6pm on 13th September until the early hours of 14th September (there is no finish time as it will just happen as quickly as possible) but if you can't see the store during that time, that's why and it will hopefully reappear on Saturday morning without issue.

That's all for today - catch you later.

Tara

Found on Friday August Part 2

It's time to share more of the fabulous projects made by our customers and shared over in our VIP group over on Facebook.

Kicking us off this time we have this fun interactive card from Silvia Galloni using Lawn Fawn's Be Hap-pea stamps and their Pivot Pop-Up Die.  The two combine to make such a fun card and you get to lots of stamping fun by filling 3 sides of your card rather than just the normal outside front with this design.

Next up we have this really cool summer card from Linda van Wely using the Hey Summer stamps from Sugar Pea Designs - what a great card for all the dudes in your life!

Whilst we are on the summer theme, we have these fun interactive cards from Michele Seifert using Sunshine and Friendship from MFT.  How much fun would these be for kids who I find often show no interest in cards (well when the come with presents who can blame them) but having an element they can play with makes cards so much more interesting!

Next up we have another MFT based card - I love this little hedgie from Mirella Rogan - the sun ray back ground really makes him pop and the panel design is a great device for making a small image into a big feature!   The stamp is from MFT's Happy Hedgehogs and the rays are MFT's Radiating Rays stencil

Next up I wanted to share this fabulous card from Karen Breen - she made this for one of her instagram friends so using the insta-camera die in the background adds a really personal touch and Mama Elephant's Little Panda's are just the perfect accent.  The dies are Mama Elephant's Instalove.

I loved this tone-on-tone leafy stamping from Vanessa Reed Hodgson - the tonal shading around it make for such a classy design - you could do a set in different colours with different sentiments to make a fabulous gift set!   She used Altenew's Leaf Cluster stamp but we have several different leaf sets that could be used in a similar way - just pop "leaf" in the search box ;-)

This floral card also jumped out at me -  just look at all the gorgeous detail Vivien Hodge got into the petals and leaves - looks like a real pressed flower!  The soft striped background picking up the same colours makes for such a coherent design too.  The large flower is from Altenew's Beautiful Day and the other smaller elements from Remember This and the background is their watercolor stencil.

I'll finish this issue with this super cute gift tag from Claudia Emme - how adorable is that little monkey?   The tiny clouds really frame him well and make him stand out from the ink blended backgound too.  The monkey is from Mama Elephant's Little Agenda Monkey set and there are soooo many cute monkeys to choose from (and so many fun Little Agenda sets to mix and match them with!)

If you shop with us, then you too can join our VIP group - just head over to Facebook and provide an order number to gain access to this closed group.  It's a fun place where customers share makes and chat crafts (and get insider gossip on the store too!)   We'll be back with two more Found-on-Friday blog posts in September (and every month thereafter!)

Tara

Too much to choose from

It's always hard at this time of year to work out what to play with - there is sooooo much new stock arriving and I have a HUGE pile of yet to be inked stash on my desk already, but I am guilty of going new first every time!    So today I have a couple of cards using the new card kit stamps and dies from MFT and the new tiny box peacock/turkey dies from Lawn Fawn as I couldn't decide what I wanted to play with first!

The new card kit stamps, starburst die, banner dies and stencil from MFT are so perfect to play together so here I used everything to make a bright and happy celebration card.   I used the stencil first and blended a circle with a darker yellow centre to match the banner I die cut and stamped with the sentiment from the stamp set.   I used the die over the circle and then using the same darker yellow ink I inked up HALF of the circle burst patter and stamped it twice - either side of the die cut lines and then flipped it 180 and did the same on the bottom of the burst so I filled the patter with more rays.   I then used some dots of Lawn Fawns new liquid stardust - the idea of this product is to mix it with paint to make it sparkly, but you can use it like glitter glue (although it does take over 24 hours to fully dry if used neat)

For my second card I just couldn't wait to make a peacock - not surprising that something in green and teal would be my first choice right!   Although this die set is an add-one to the tiny box die so has been designed to make little peacock or turkey gift boxes, you can use them for cards too and they come out super cute!

I die cut him from 3 shades of hero arts card stock - pesto for the base of his feathers, Adriatic for his body and wings, and mustard for the rings around the eyes in his feathers - the eyes themselves and the feathers on his head I cut from glitter card from the Concord and 9th Summer Glitter pack.   The sentiment comes from the Lawn Fawn Peacock Before 'n After stamp.  I framed it all with the A2 Frame dies from MFT.   He'd be super cute on a wobbler so he actually shook his tail feathers (why do we always have a great after thought once we glue sometime down lol!)

NEWS FROM THE STORE

We will be closed tomorrow for the bank holiday in the UK - the store is open for ordering, but nothing will be processed until Tuesday.

We will add the Hero Arts Winter catalogue this week as well as some papers, and co-ordinating folders, stencils, washi tapes from Echo Park/Carta Bella.   Otherwise it will be a quieter week for new stock and will allow us to work on some restock orders.

Catch you later

Tara

Sea Views

I've got a couple of cards to share today using one of the new larger sized Lovely Legs sets from Colorado Craft Company - the new 6x8 sets mean you either get one larger focal image (like the tree on the reflections set) as well as the fab sentiments or two images as here on the Man's Best Friend set.

I am really enjoying colouring these images at the moment so keep finding myself turning to their new releases every month.  My favourite colouring medium at the moment is pencils and they work really well on these detailed image.  My added trick with these ones is I have sealed them with Distress Glaze which stops the pencil coming off on your hands when you've finished.  I used both images in the set and did two different cards with them.

For this one, I had the pets looking out over a sunset so added some yellows, pinks and purples to the sky and a little bit reflected into the sea.  After die cutting with a circle die, I extended the lines on the pier to fill the bottom of the circle (just a few squiggles so not really drawing) and extended the sky at the top to give enough space for the sentiment from the same set.  Then to create an interesting frame for the finished card I used the same die set going up one die size at a time and cut 3 layers of card using colours from the sunset to draw the eye to it.

For this second card I used the image with the people in and made an anniversary card (sentiment is finished inside - it says ....each other.  Happy Anniversary!)   I went with a day-time view this time so stuck to blues in the sky and again I did a little extending of the image this time to the sides so the horizon and clouds were as wide as the pier.  I also added a scribble of hair to the lady so I could crop the image straight across the gentleman's shoulders and it didn't look like part was missing.   Sentiment was stamped with my favourite detail inks - Versafine Clair.

NEWS FROM THE STORE

It's going to be a BIG week in the store this week, as the much anticipated Christmas releases from two of are largest brands are both going to be live in store on Thursday!   Lawn Fawn and Avery Elle will be in store that morning so stand by your beds! 

Release day for those brands is always mega busy, so whilst we do try and combine your orders normally when you place them on the same day and we spot them, please note we CANNOT do that on busy releases as we just don't have the manpower, so PLEASE take your time, and ensure you have EVERYTHING you want in your basket before you checkout, or be prepared to pay postage on every order.

We will also have The Stamping Village Holiday Seals set live that day for those that have been asking about it.

We will also have the latest release from Newton's Nook later this week.

That's all this week - also we are expecting the new Hero Arts release at some point before the end of August the dates are yet to be confirmed as we have to wait for the UK distributor to get it and send ours out.

That's all for this week

Thanks

Tara

Found on Friday August Part 1

It's that time of the month again where I feature here on the blog those makes that caught my eye over in our customer only group on Facebook.


First off this fabulous kitty calendar from Rebekka really jumped out at me.  Newton's Look at all the fun stuff she has Newton doing every month.   Rebekka used a variety of Nook stamps to decorate the Hero Arts Calendar Kit - what a fabulous gift this would be!

I really love how Helen has used the Crystal Frame die from Altenew and decorated it with flowers in the same tone - great way to make a cohesive design and to turn small elements into a focal point.

Sophie's brother-in-law runs a dog walking business so this is the perfect personalised birthday card for him using the Lawn Fawn Critter Chat Pets in their Speech Bubble Backdrop Die.

How could you not be drawn to this super cute pirate card by Emma?  Cutting the dome frame to pop the scene in the background is a really clever technique and gives room to show off the Party Like a Pirate set to it's fullest.

Sympathy cards are never an easy thing to make, but this one Jess made is perfect in it's simplicity.  The vintage flower stamp from Concord & 9th has so much detail that simple monochrome is all it needs especially paired with a big bold sentiment.

Julie had lots of fun making lots of Snapdragon cards and there were all knock-out, but I picked just one that really caught my eye.  I loved how the tonal stencilled background really worked so well with the flowers - especially how the florals interact with the geometrics.  Fab!

Finally in this edition, we have a fabulous Christmas card from Jodie - let's face it, it will be here before we know it so I guess we should all get making Christmas cards soon!   She created a fun little scene using Mama Elephant's Little Agenda train full of presents ready for the big day!

Hope this highlights a few sets you may not have seen in use before - we try our best as a DT to highlight what we can, but there are just too many releases to do justice so sharing as many great customer makes is another way to provide you with crafty inspiration.

If you want to join in and have your makes featured here, then head to the Facebook group and join the fun.   You have to be a Seven Hills Crafts customer to join us, so will be asked to provide an order number before joining the group so grab an invoice before signing up.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/shcvips/

We'll be back with our next edition of Found on Friday at the end of August so you've got a couple of weeks to start adding your makes to the group for a chance to be featured, and we do it every 2 weeks after that!

Laters

Tara

Faux Cloisonné

I've been having fun this weekend playing with different techniques to make stamped images look like cloissoné enamel.

The new Wavy Roses stamp set form Altenew just screamed at me that it needed a cloissoné finish as it reminded me of the art nouveau period when that technique was popular.

I started with the easiest technique and made a card.   For this one, I stamped the double flower image onto 300gsm cardstock and stamped and embossed it 3 times in silver to get a raised silver outline.

I then used kuretake paints - white from the Starry Colours set and Pink, Purple, Green and Gold from the new Gem set but didn't add much water as I wanted a thick paste like consistancy to imitate enamel.   You could clear emboss over the top once dry to get it even more enamel like but I decided I liked my finish as it was so left it.

To turn it into a card, I fussy cut it (there are dies but I wanted it without a white border to make it look more like an enamel brooch) and placed it on top of a cluster of frames from the Altenew Fine Frames Die cut from silver mirri card.   The sentiment comes from a Lovely Legs Set - the Hugging Elves set but I just wanted something that means I can decide later what sentiment I'm sending by stamping it on the inside - so sending you  hugs, thanks, birthday wishes etc.

Then I decided I wanted to try and make an actual faux enamel brooch so had a play with the single rose in the same set in a few different methods.   Let's start with the one I messed up......

I thought that nuvo drops could give me the enamel look so I stamped the image onto craft board which is a thick flexible board (I got mine on Amazon) that you can cut with steel rule dies (thinlets aren't deep enough but will get you 50% through and then you can finish with scissors) but is ideal for 3D projects and wearable things.  Once stamped, I traced over the image with silver drops and then let that dry and filled in with colours - that's where it went a bit wrong as it didn't flow to "fill" the areas as much as I wanted so it got a bit streaky.   I'm told it flows better if you warm it up a bit so I'll try popping the bottles in warm water next time before I use them.

So I decided to experiment again and tried painting with the kuretake paints onto shrink plastic, I favour the frosted variety.  I've only every used alcohol inks before and will only be doing that in the future!   The paints did dry on the plastic but when the plastic shrinks so does the paint so you end up with thick flaky bits on the back which will easy scratch off.   So I did a second one with copics - add a pin badge back to it and you've got your very own on-trend pin badge.

I wanted to have another go at a large pin so went back to the craft board, and this time stamp and embossed with platinum powder twice and then went to work filling in the areas with embossing ink.  I used the versamark refill bottle and just added a couple of drops onto my acrylic block and painted it with a thin brush section by section so I could add different coloured powders in different areas.  I cut with large scissors to finish - you need a decent pair to get through craft board (check out our Fiskars section that will be added to store this week!)

I had a few frames left over so decided to make another card using a similar design.  This time I used the new Rosie Posy Mini Stamp from Altenew and just coloured it with pencils this time.

I added the Mid Century Frame die and fussy cut the image out to pop on top and added a few enamel like accents into the frame using Rhubarb Stickles.

 NEWS FROM THE STORE

We will be adding to our basics section this week with the items we got last week but didn't have time to finish processing.   Our shrink plastic will also be here.

We should hopefully get our Concord and 9th delivery towards the end of the week if they ship it tomorrow as we hope they will.

We also have some Sugar Pea Designs restocks in transit.

Otherwise it will be a quieter week whilst we gear up for the massive Christmas releases from Avery Elle and Lawn Fawn on the Thursday the week after (22nd August)

Catch you later

Tara