Clever Frames

I was really excited last month when I saw the preview Concord and 9th sent me to order their latest release as I loved the idea behind their new frame die set and mistletoe add on (I think we might see more add ons in future releases "wink") so I've been having a play with all the elements so far.

The main die Happy Card Frame Die includes two rectangles one of which has a "break" in the cut lines into which you slot the "elements" which go across the frame and fill in the "breaks" and when you use the two rectangles together creates a delicate frame.  Its a REALLY clever concept, just what we've come to expect from Concord and 9th as they do many innovative products like this.

There are two elements in this set - a happy script and a floral spray so there is lots of versatility and then this month they have also brought out a mistletoe add on which is great for Christmas but could be tweaked for year round floral sprigs too.   I couldn't wait so used them all!

I started with white on white using the floral element and simply added some colour with markers and some ombre stamping on the greeting.  I think they would make really elegant wedding invitations.  As the die is US A2 size - I trimmed my standard UK 6x4 card down to make it fit.

Now on this card I got a bit tricky and turned the frame around cutting it twice and making it the right length for a standard 6x4 card too.  This meant I could add two floral elements with my greeting in between which comes from the co-ordinating Happy Words stamp set

Next I moved onto the Happy word element and went for something a little more masculine adding a Yeti from Beast Friends from My Favorite Things - a little guy who is so not just for Christmas!  The sentiment from the co-ordinating set fits nicely onto the mini banner element that is included in the die set.

Finally I used the mistletoe add-on die to create a neat and quick Christmas card.  I love the elegance that thin line across the card brings and decided to highlight it with a strip of plaid from the delicious new traditional paper pad from Echo Park "Deck the Halls"  (did I mention my pretty paper addiction - I can't resist Christmas papers in particular!)   I stamped and embossed the sentiment onto the plaid in red and used white enamel topped with glitter for the mistletoe berries.  [Its not a great photo of it sadly - no matter what I did I couldn't get a good shot of the berries and it looks really washed out - sorry I need to go to photography school!]

NEWS FROM THE STORE

• We will have the Lil Inker Designs release on the 25th October
• The latest Neat and Tangled release is in transit, as is the upcoming release from Newton's Nook along with the September items we missed.
• As we've had lots of requests for Neuvo Drops - we are also going to be stocking Tonic Studio products and our first delivery should be in store this week too.  We plan to add their lovely new range of glitters early next month too once a certain shopping channel's exclusivity period is over.
• We hope that the new release from Altenew will also ship this week so there is a slim chance we'll have it online by next weekend but we often encounter customs delays with their products so don't hold your breath!

That's all from me this week folks - catch you next Sunday after a lie in as don't forget the clocks go back then ;-)

Tara