Friday 28 December 2007

Last few days...

Dont forget you have until the 1st to enter the challenge to use the sketch below. You could win some American Crafts thickers!!!


Friday 21 December 2007

Christmas pages!

SO that time is upon us and the shop is full of christmas papers, stickers and embellishments. But i have to say christmas pages are one of my nightmares. THe photos are terrible and do not match with the christmas papers are available. I normally turn all my photos to black and white to make it easier, but our design team girls Chloe and Angie used coloured photos in their christmas pages.

So feast your eyes on these......




And i wanted to say i hope you all have a wonderful christmas and we will be back after with new challenges and ideas for you.

Wednesday 19 December 2007

Maze Book

Time is fast running out to finish off Christmas presents, but if you need a quick make as a gift why not have a go at making a maze book, it can be made and decorated in an hour.

Supplies
1 sheet 12x12 cardstock
Two 8.5cm x 8.5cm squares of thicker card or chipboard to make the covers
1/4" Ribbon, about 1 yard
patterned papers and embelishments to decorate

We will make the covers first
Take 1 of your 8.5cm x 8.5cm squares of thick card and cut 2 squares of your patterned paper about 10.5cm x10.5cm.

Glue 1 of your cardboard covers onto the centre of 1 of your squares of patterned paper, I found a wet glue to be the best for this.


Next we need to mitre the corners of the patterned paper. Cut the corners of the patterned paper a couple of mm from the thick card



Now we need to fold 2 of the edges of the paper in around the thick card, then open the edges back out and glue down, press the sides down making sure the adhesive has stuck the edges down firmly.

Fold in the little flap of patterned paper at each corner, just like you do when wrapping a present. This will guve nice neat corners.




Wrap the two remaining flaps around the thick card and glue down. While the glue is still wet, press along the edges of the covered thick card to square off the edges.


Repeat the above to create the second cover for your maze book.





Now you have made the covers, put them to one side and we will make the pages for our books.

Take your sheet 12x12 cardstock and fold in half, I used a bone folder to make the creases nice and sharp.

Then fold the free edge of the card back to the centre fold.



Do the same thing on the other side



Then unfold your sheet of card and it should look like the picture below



Turn your sheet of card so the folds lie horizontally, then we are going to fold the card in half again, repeating what we did before.


Then fold the free edge of the card back to the centre fold.

Do the same thing on the other side


Unfold the cardstock and you will see you have created 16 squares with your folding!


Now we have done all the folding we can create our maze book.

Take some scissors or a craft knife and make the cuts as shown in the picture below.





Now you need to fold your cardstock , start folding from the bottom left square. Keep following the folds and flip your pages over




When you have folded all the pages you are left with a nice little stack of pages


Now we need to put it all together.

Take your 2 covered card squares and place them side by side about 1.5cm apart, with the inside facing up.

Run a line of adhesive horizontally across the centre of each cover.

Lay your ribbon across the glue line so there is an equal amount of ribbon on either side of the covers and press down to make sure the ribbon is attached securely.


Now take your stack of folded card and isolate the first page.



Stick this page to your front cover, making sure you centre it on your cover, press down firmly to make sure the card is attached to the cover.



Now do the same with the back page and back cover






Your book is now ready for you to decorate





I hope these instructions make sense but if they dont and you have any questions just leave a message here and I will try to answer any questions
Deb x

Christmas Cards

Oh my goodness! Not long to go, loads to do and there's the cards still to make! If you're making some or all of your Christmas cards this year and are running out of ideas, read on for inspiration. And if you weren't planning on making any Christmas cards, read on anyway. You never know, you might just get inspired to make one or two this year!


Wendy's scraplifted her own design and created this lovely card using some of the gorgeous Rusty Pickle Snowflakes & Mittens papers.


I created the tree on this card with Queen & Co Bold Sequins and then added some gems for ornaments.


Next, a folk art style tree made from fabric and ribbon. I laid fabric and ribbon strips onto a tree shape cut from copier paper and attached them with adhesive. I turned the tree over and cut around the paper tree template leaving a small border of fabric. Turning the tree the right way up again, I stitched across the joins with zig-zag stitch and then all around the edge of the tree with straight stitch. I added fabric for the tree trunk, stitched a few button ornaments into place and then attached the tree to a card blank. Finally, I used Ranger Glossy Accents to attach a golden button to the top of my tree.


Finally, a simple embossed card. I placed a Making Memories snowflake brad under a piece of white card. I then ran an embossing tool around the edges of the snowflake. I repeated a couple more times to get the design I was after and then mounted it onto a card blank with a small mat of hot pink.

Have fun creating!

Tuesday 18 December 2007

Scenic Route loveland.

I am one of the biggest fans of Scenic Route EVER!!! i have bought the same sheets over and over and over from each line. The Loveland line is no exception.
Here is what i did with the Loveland collection. Lets just say my husband was not at all pleased when i told him to pose for me!!! lol!!




And as i had soo much left over i made this card, and took photos so you guys could see how it was put together.

TO make this card you need to use a square card to start with. I cut a piece of the Loveland paper and cut a piece so it would fit like a thin strip across the centre of the card
Before sticking it down , i used a corner punch and punched a scalloped edge along the end of a piece of co - ordinating cardstock and then attached it to the back of the strip of paper.
Before sticking it down i edged all the edges in black ink.
I then used one of the line stickers and stuck it across the bottom of the green paper.
Then i cut out a circle and inked round the edges
I turned it over and stuck sticky pads on the back, to give it some depth.
And attached it to the card.
This sheet of the Loveland line screamed out to me to cut out the little hearts.
So i cut out 7 hearts and inked them in black ink.
The i stuck them on with sticky pads, again to give the card depth. I then covered different parts of the hearts with the glossy accents to give it a shine.
I then added bling all the way round the circle,and volia the finished card!!!


Have a try and see what you come up with!!!