Wednesday 31 October 2018

It's Penguining to look a lot like Christmas!

Hello, Tallie here with some chilly little penguins getting ready for Christmas. I know it's Halloween but I don't celebrate the spooky holiday so I'm going festive today. Not to panic anyone but we only have 56 days to make all the cards!


I started by stamping out all the cute penguins and accessories in the Mama Elephant Cool Penguins set onto some blending cardstock using MFT Extreme Black Ink. I coloured these in with my Copic markers, sticking to a pretty basic festive colour scheme. When finished, I added a few finishing touches with my white gel pen and added a layer of Wink of Stella for some sparkle. I cut these out with my Scan N Cut, though there are coordinating dies available.


To build up the background scene, I used a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die to cut out two white panels. From one of these I used a Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Border die to cut out some snowy hills. I used some Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Ink to add some dimension to the top of the hills.

On the other panel, I blended on some Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet and Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide Ink to create a bright background sky. I flicked on some water droplets and some watered down acrylic paint to give the impression of falling snow.


For the sentiment, I white heat embossed the sentiment from the Mama Elephant Cool Penguins set in the top left corner. Then all that was left to do was to put the scene together! I used a mixture of liquid glue and foam tape to give some dimension. Lastly, a few sequins to add a little sparkle to the background!

Thanks for reading and I hope I didn't panic you too much! :)

Tallie


Tuesday 30 October 2018

Cool Penguins


Today I have two Christmas cards to share, using some lovely products from Mama Elephant and Lawn Fawn.

 
I die cut the Lawn Fawn Snowfall Backdrop Portrait die from both kraft card and dark blue card stock. Layered over a white card base, it gives a really lovely effect, but I wanted some extra Christmas sparkle for my cards.


I added some double sided adhesive to my card bases, then sprinkled on some Lawn Fawn Prisma Glitter. Using my finger, I burnished the glitter in to remove any excess. I then adhered the panels onto the cards.


Next, I die cut a couple of Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillsides from white card. This die set is currently out of stock. As an alternative, you could use the Lawn Fawn Simple Stitched Hillside border dies, or even the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Backdrop Portrait die.
 
On the hillside pieces, I heat embossed a greeting in gold from the Mama Elephant Scripty Xmas stamp set. I then adhered the hillsides to my card bases.


I stamped and coloured some images from Mama Elephant Cool Penguins, and also the Mama Elephant Little Reindeer and Santa Agendas. I cut out all the images and added them to my card with foam tape to finish.

 
Which is your favourite background – kraft or dark blue? I can’t decide!
 
Thanks for joining me today,
Gemma


Lawn Fawn Prisma Glitter
Lawn Fawn Snowfall Backdrop Portrait

Mama Elephant Little Reindeer Agenda

Mama Elephant Little Santa Agenda

Mama Elephant Cool Penguins


Monday 29 October 2018

Coffee and Wine


Coffee and Wine??... in the same sentence and on the same card!!

Hi there, it's Jenny here to start your week off with this great quote.... 
we all know someone who should receive a card with these words on!! 😉


This is a fun, small stamp set from Newton's Nook and I decided to use it for no-line colouring with Polychrome pencils. The quote is embossed in white onto black card for a chalkboard effect... the frame is simply strips of brown card adhered around the words in a rectangle.


I added the coffee beans but actually I think they look more like biscuits now
 I've tucked then in behind the cup 😊 ....the perfect accompaniment for coffee.


Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

Sunday 28 October 2018

Floating Angel

I fell hook line and sinker for this new Angel Wings set from Neat and Tangled - I just love the coy angel with her hands behind her back, her bold sister is cute too but I just loved her shy look.  I decided to make a really simple card and have her floating in a window on it.


I stated with the background adding some sequin stars from my stash around a sentiment from Mama Elephant's Holiday Messages to keep it all really simple.  I die cut a frame from foam and some subtle patterned paper and set it aside whilst I concentrated on the Angel.


She was coloured with copics in soft blue-greens and then I added lots of fine glitter to her wings and halo.  I die cut her with the co-ordinating die and cut a second plain white die cut to aid the floating element.  I simply added a loop of white sewing cotton between the two die cut layers and sandwiched the other end of the cotton between the paper and foam layers of the frame.  This allows her to float and swing by keeping her a little off the front of the base card.



NEWS FROM THE STORE

The MFT penguins we ordered sold out in under 2 hours even though we bought a lot - obviously more popular that we guessed for a new designer, so we managed to dive back in and buy more before MFT sold out - they should be here by Tuesday customs willing!   Use the out of stock notification system to be told the second they arrive back - just add your email (make sure you type it correctly) to the box on any out of stock item and the system emails you as soon as we get it back.

The new oxide colours have shipped from Ranger so will be in store this week - not sure what day yet - all depends on customs clearance - watch our Facebook Page for news of its arrival.

Avery Elle restocks should be here early this week too.

We have some new papers and stencils from Echo Park which will be in store on Monday.

That's for today.

Happy Crafting

Tara






Saturday 27 October 2018

Soak Up The Fun

Hey stampers, Anni here!

After all the Christmas cards I showed you in the last weeks, I have now a card with a summer vibe for you. And the best about it: The stamp set I used for it is on sale right now: It is My Favorite Things' Soak Up The Fun. The frog borrowed the balloons from W Plus 9's Friends For All Seasons: Fall.


I started by stamping the images, coloured them with alcohol markers and fussy cut them. The balloons I decorated with the tiny shapes and the HB2U in the set. To emphasize the eyes of the critters I used a black gel pen.


I die cut a sqaure from My Favorite Things' Stitched Mini Scallop Square STAX. To create the frame I cut a square from the inner part with a cutter knife. It would have been easier to use My Favorite Things' Stitched Square Scallop Edge Frames but I don't own them.

Then I assembled the card. It was easy to make and didn't take too much time apart from the coloring process.

Thanks fro stopping by and hace a great and grafty weekend.
Anni


         

Friday 26 October 2018

Birthday Surprise

It's our friends' son's birthday today and he loves cake and martial arts so I came up with a fun card for him!

I used Top It Off from Concord and 9th  and I stamped a chocolate cake using Espresso and Mocha inks from Altenew's Coffee Break set and then set about hiding a ninja inside - well where else would a ninja hide on your birthday????


There are 3 layers to the card to make it all work.  The cake is stamped and fussy cut and will eventually be stuck to the front of the card with foam tape in 5 places only.  I added foam to the edges of the bottom two layers, and the left hand side only of the 3rd - the right hand of that layer and both edges of the top layer are free of foam to allow the ninja free movement up and down.

I started with the middle layer first through as this is the layer where the pull mechanism goes so I cut a white card the same size as my base card and stamped the sentiment from MFT's Twice the Wishes at the top - it seemed appropriate to go with the surprise hidden inside the cake!

I placed the cake in place and drew a pencil line so I knew where to stamp the candles as they need to be underneath the ninja or you wouldn't see him when he pops out.  I stamped them shorter than the stamp but any excess is hidden by the cake anyhow.


Then comes the die cutting - centralise the double slider loop slot die from MFT and underneath cut a notch (I just grabbed a handy oval die but any shape would do, you just need space to see and grab the pull tab).  I stamped the pull and arrow onto a strip of kraft (matching my chocolate cake theme) using the mini interactive labels stamp set and then stamped and fussy cut the ninja (you could die cut him but the dies are currently out of stock) then with the addition of a 1cm wide strip of plastic we have all we need to make the mechanism slide.
  1. Thread your plastic strip through the slots and secure behind (I use redline tape as it holds strong.)
  2. Secure your pull tab BEHIND the stamped panel lining it up so it is level with the bottom - this will be the default position.
  3. Line up your tab so it pulls down as far as it will go - hold your cake in position and then line up your ninja and secure his bottom foot to the front of the plastic.
  4. Check it all works!   This is really important as it's hard to undo once you stick it all together and discover it's stuck (ask me how I know lol!)
  5. Secure the cake in place over the ninja.
  6. Secure the stamped panel to your base card with more foam tape ensuring none gets in the way of the slider mechanism.


You don't have to use a ninja obviously - you can have anything you like pop out of your cake - a present, a punch of flowers, a cocktail or bottle, or even an animal - whatever is most appropriate to surprise your intended recipient - why not give it a go!   As an extra incentive - from now through the weekend - the cake stamp set and it's co-ordinating die is on sale so you can grab one at a discounted price to make your own pop-up surprise!  (no code required)

Catch you Sunday

Tara











Thursday 25 October 2018

Good Vibes Autumnal Plaid Card

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Thursday!

It's only really when Halloween approaches do I start to think it's 'Autumn'. Obviously I noticed the seasons change a little while back when the temperature started dropping and the leaves started falling, but there's something about the end of October drawing near that really drives it home.

When I start to detect that chill in the air my thoughts immediately turn to feeling cosy, with warm blankets, favourite jumpers and Autumnal colours and fashions grabbing my attention. Case in point - plaid!

I love plaid for its versatility. By just changing up the colours or even their proportions and position it can create a totally different look. And what better way to experiment with that than a customisable plaid builder stamp! There was one released just recently - the Concord & 9th Happy Plaids Stamp set - that I just couldn't wait to put to use!


Gorgeous, right?! I love how this turned out!


I built up my plaid pattern with a very seasonal mix of yellows, oranges, browns and even a little touch of grey-green! The stamp set made it a breeze to create my own patterns. I can't wait to experiment with more looks!


When my stamping was complete, I blended some yellow ink over the whole thing to tie everything together, then splattered on some water droplets and mist droplets to create a more 'worn' look. I used a white gel pen to draw on the fine line after re-stamping some of the stripes.


I pulled out the Concord & 9th Fill-in Phrases set and heat embossed my sentiment using black embossing powder. I love all the details of this card - I even stamped my design onto letterpress cardstock so that it would have a 'fabric' texture to it!




I'd love to hear what you think of this card. Is there someone you know who'd love to receive it? Thanks for stopping by!




Wednesday 24 October 2018

Uniquely Wonderful

Hello, Tallie here sharing a really simple one layer card featuring the Mama Elephant Cat's Meow stamp set. This was partly colouring practice for me and partly a colour play with the sentiment.


Starting with an A6 white blending cardstock panel, I stamped out the background of cats from the Cat's Meow set using some MFT Extreme Black Hybrid Ink. I knew I wanted to use the unique sentiment from the Mama Elephant Dragon Wishes set, so I selected one cat that I could colour in normally and aligned the sentiment underneath.


I then got out my alcohol markers and coloured away! I stuck to cool greys for the background cats and some browns and oranges for the ginger cat.


A simple, easy and striking card that really didn't take all that long!

Thanks for reading, catch you next week.

Tallie

 


Tuesday 23 October 2018

Rollercoaster Box Pop Up


Today I’m sharing a Lawn Fawn Coaster Critters box card pop up. This is still one of my favourite interactive dies as it’s not overly complicated to put together or bulky to post.



I die cut the Lawn Fawn Scalloped Box Card Pop Up from a sheet of 12x12 paper from my craft stash, using double sided tape to put it together.

I then stamped the Lawn Fawn Coaster Critters images on white card and coloured them with copic markers, before die cutting them with the coordinating dies.



I adhered all the images into the box, making sure to add something to each tab for lots of dimension.

I cut a piece of blue patterned paper to adhere the back panel for the sky, then added some extra images to the box card pop up, from Lawn Fawn Happy Village and Village Shops stamp sets. These sets work so well together.



Finally, I added a panel to the front with a sentiment from the Coaster Critters stamp set, along with a panel at the back for my written message.


Thanks for joining me today,
Gemma

LF Happy Village
LF Box Card Pop Up
LF Coaster Critters
LF Village Shops