Sent From Above

I recently posted a couple of images I was playing with for a Christening card. Well I'm happy to say the girl who ordered the card loves it and to be honest quite happy with how it turned out.

I used Linen, Satin, Tea Rose, Almond, Putty and Dusty Pink from Skin Tones 1.

For the balloon I used Butter Cup, Lemon and Yellow.
The hair I used Sandstone and Caramel.
For the frilly pants I used Patel Pink, Dusty Pink and Rose Pink.

The stamped image is Sent from Above stamp from Tina Wenke which I stamped onto Neenah card in Pitch Black Adirondack.

The lovely papers where the inspiration for the colour palette and obviously the main colour was going to pink and that is always going to be the focal colour i wanted a more muted ice cream tones to compliment it. I used Graphic 45, Baby to Bride Collection, Always on My Mind and Unforgettable along with Coredinations card stock.

The tag and label die cut is from Crafter's Companion, Scalloped Tags and was cut using Centura Pearl Hint of Gold.

The focal die is from Spellbinders Nestabilities Floral Ovals.

The Christening sentiment stamp from www.stampingallday.com and the smaller sentiment is from Just Rite.

Tim Holtz Tattered Straw distress ink on the edges of all bar the pink matt and layers.

Floral flourish die cut in green vellum using Marianne Creatables Die, Anja's Vintage Swirls.

Ribbon, mulberry flowers and some pink pearl just finish the card off. 

A Spot of Colouring In

I got distracted today, but just for a short while. I'm suppose to be making a Christening card for a customer and couldn't decide between two images. So rather than just pick one and colour I just had to colour the two.

I have a selection of Pro Markers and realised that mu collection was lacking in skin tone colours suited to a baby skin. So off I popped to my local craft store but unfortunately they didn't have the 'normal' Promarkers but the Flex Markers, so reluctantly I purchased them. As soon as I got home I opened the packet and tested them on a scrap piece of paper and wow oh wow they are amazing. Blending them is a dream and they work fantastically mixing and matching between the normal and the Flexi's.

So I started with the Sent from Above stamp from Tina Wenke which I stamped onto Neenah card in Pitch Black Adirondack.

I used Linen, Satin, Tea Rose, Almond, Putty and Dusty Pink from Skin Tones 1.
For the balloon I used Butter Cup, Lemon and Yellow.
The hair I used Sandstone and Caramel.
For the frilly pants I used Patel Pink, Dusty Pink and Rose Pink

The second image is a free image I found on the internet - sorry cant remember where.

I coloured her skin tones again from Skin Tones 1. I used Patel Pink, Dusty Pink and Rose Pink to colour her clothes. I used Linen, Almond, Sandstone and Caramel for her hair.

Eventually I have decided to go with the girl with the balloon for the card and I will post a blog when done.

On a bicycle made for two

So what do you do when you get that dread request to make a card for a man? If your first reaction is panic then don't. Try and find out if they have an interest or a hobby. For this card the husbands who's birthday the card was for love cycling so I used that I the inspiration.

Kept with the masculine black and white theme and love hounds tooth check and inked with Pumic Stone Tim Holtz Distress Inks to create a shadowed edge.

Sentiment and label stamped in black and embossed and coloured in red, by hand some red elements.

Used an elegant frame die from Sizzix in black card that has a gloss stripe - used it also as a matt and later and you can just see the light hitting the stripe at the top if the card.

The main focal point of the card is the bicycle. I chose a tandem as I loved that it worked so well with the fact that is from a wife to her husband. I used a digi stamp from Fancy Dog Studio - you not only get this but lots of others so definately a great addition to my stash. Printed onto super smooth, coloured with Pro Markers and carefully cut out using my craft knife.

Embellished with some quilted metallic and glitter love hearts from my stash. 

Hopefully the Husband likes it by I know the Wife loves it, phew another happy customer.   

Perfect In Pink

Using the Ulti Bags Board from Crafter's Companion the possibilities are endless. To promote the board to the German market I was asked by Crafter's Companion to design a few bags using the board. The samples where shown this week on HSE24 (German shopping channel) and have been used in a DVD in German that accompanies the Ultimate Pro. For the DVD I made a step by step for both the samples so I've decided to share these with you.

Yesterday was all about Christmas, so today I'm going to show you how to make a cute pink handbag gift bag...

Products Used:

·         Floral pink card stock

·         Scissors

·         Craft knife

·         Scoring tool

·         Extra strong double sided tape

·         Spray and Slide

·         Ulti Bag Embossing Board

·         Collall Silicon glue

·         Collall Tacky-Glue

·         Embellishments, brads and raffia

·         Ulti Make Pro – Bow Maker

1.      Spray selected patterned card stock with Spray and Slide

2.     Place patterned card stock onto board using sticky tape to secure to board to stop it from moving. Trace around the bag design with embossing tool.

 3.    When outline complete, cut out.

4.     Fold all folds as indicated.

5.     Add Collall Tacky-Glue to the areas indicated with an “X” on the outside and stick.

6.     Add Collall Tacky-Glue to the areas indicated with an “X” on the inside and stick.

7.     Add Collall Tacky-Glue to the areas indicated with an “X” on the inside and then the outside and stick.

8.    The Handbag Gift Bag is now ready to be decorated.

9.     To create the bag handles cut 3 equal lengths of co-ordinating raffia and plait to the desired length. Attach to the top inside flap of the bag with strong tape.

10.  On the inside of the bag flap, find the centre point and pierce a small hole with a sharp pointed tool.

11.  Insert the brad from the outside. Attach a small piece of hook and loop tape to the back of the brad and to the front of the bag and close. This allows the bag to open and re close.

12.  Add co-ordinating floral embellishments of your choice.

13.  Using a piece of the patterned card stock trace around the smallest scalloped tag and cut out.

14.   Using your Ultimate Pro Bow Maker tie a small bow in the same raffia as used for the bag handle and glue to the tag. Attach tag with Collall Tacky-Glue to the gift bag.

Little Festive Gift Card Boxes

So ladies, who amongst us wouldn't like a new handbag for Christmas with a gift card inside? I WOULD love it...I'm a designer handbag junkie and am lucky to own bags from Prada, Gucci, Fendi, and Mulbery to mention but a few. However, sometimes my shopping for crafting goodies means not as much pennies to spare. So I've found the perfect alternative...make your own.

Using the Ulti Bags Board from Crafter's Companion the possibilities are endless. To promote the board to the German market I was asked by Crafter's Companion to design a few bags using the board. The samples where shown this week on HSE24 (German shopping channel) and have been used in a DVD in German that accompanies the Ultimate Pro. For the DVD I made a step by step for both the samples so I've decided to share these with you.

Today I'm going to start with the festive bag...

Products Used:

·         Christmas card and paper stock

·         Gold card

·         Scissors

·         Craft knife

·         Scoring tool

·         Extra strong double sided tape

·         Spectrum Noirs

·         Spray and Slide

·         Ulti Bag Embossing Board

·         Collall Silicon glue

·         Collall Tacky-Glue

·         Festive Embellishments and ribbon

1.    Select card stock to be used. Lightly spray with Spray and Slide. Tape card to Embossing Board to stop card from moving. With your embossing tool draw round the scalloped bag design on the board with the patterned paper facing onto the board.

2.     With the outline now done, using your scissors cut round the outline. Use your craft knife to cut out the bang handle insides.

3.     To colour the white card core, use a co-ordinating colour from your Spectrum Noirs and colour round the white edges. Use a piece of copy paper to protect your matt.

4.      Follow the score lines and fold in with the patterned paper facing outwards.

5.      Choose co-ordinating card stock/patterned paper and trace round all 3 of the elegant frames on the board using your embossing tool. Cut out.

6.     Using Collall  Silicon glue matt and layer the three frames.

7.     Trace round the square buckle with gold card stock and cut out. Thread red ribbon through the buckle and secure with Collall Tacky-Glue to decorative frames.

8.     With a gold fast drying ink pad, ink around all the edges of the pre cut bag.

9.     Using the Collall Tacky-Glue add glue to the far outside flaps on the patterned side. Bring the two outside flaps in towards the centre and then bring the front and back panels of the bag to meet the flaps and hold until dry.

10. Add decorated ribbon and buckle frames to front of bag with Collall Tacky-Glue.

11. Add festive embellishments as desired to decorate.

And that's you all parcelled up and ready to give to some one special. 

Tomorrow I'll blog the step by step for this little bag.

Get them while you can

If you have been glued to Create and Craft TV this week you will have been drooling over the gorgeous new Die'sire Christmas Dies, the Christmas Embossalicious folders and the Christmas Die'sire Sentiment Stamps which are on a 4 Day Deal.

Hopefully (fingers crossed) the lovely Leann Chivers will show lots of the samples I have made, using the fabulous new products. I previously blogged them but if you missed them or just want to know what and how I made them then here's the links to the relevant pages:

Jingle Bells - http://peonyandtwine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/jingle-bells.html

Christmas Magic - http://peonyandtwine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/christmas-magic.html

Happy Holidays - http://peonyandtwine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/happy-holidays-set-b.html

Misteletoe Kisses - http://peonyandtwine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/misteletoe-kisses.html

Only 5 Months to go..get them while you can - http://peonyandtwine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/only-5-months-to-goget-them-while-you.html

Well I hope you managed firstly to decide what yo go for and managed to get the before they sell out.

'Pram'tastic

Well there seems to be a bit of a baby boom happening. In the past week I've made 23 invitations to a Baby Shower and 2 cards for two little baby boys who have just been born.

I just love the Marianne Creatables Pram/Stroller, it's such an elegant pram not like the modern contraptions you see today beeing pushed along the High Street. Wanted to try an steer away from the baby blue so added a dusky lemon as an accent colour.

Unknown to me at the time of making this card the nursery for this little bundle of joy is green and lemon. I love this shade of green and the same lemon I used with the card above just creates a fresh and elegant colour combinations.

I used the Pram/Stroller die as the main focus on both the cards and the Marianne Pretty Paper Bloc, Eline's Romantic Nursery has such gorgeous papers. The colour pallette of this paper block, is that of pale lemons, dusky greens and blues. In addition I used my Coredinations Roy G Biv paper stack to enhance the colours for my matts and layers. The card blanks where made using Centura Pearl Accents.

In a completely different colour pallete a good friend who is about to me a new Mummy asked me to make Baby Shower invitations, which I was deeply honoured. The colour pallete of these cards is the same as the nursery (as the main purpose of having the baby shower is to show it off). I used my Cricut machine to cut the fret work design and used gingham and spotty paper in white and mocha and accented with chocolate ribbon and pearls. They just look so cute. Cant wait till her little bundle arrives so I can use the pram die again.