A 'Starburst' of inspiration

After hours, days and weeks of trying to find home furnishing in Cyprus I'm beat. Everything is all sleek and modern and as I've got older I'm definitely not sleek and modern. So what is a girl to do? . . . the answer is to spend hours on Pinterest looking for inspiration.

Back in the UK I have a wonderful Starburst mirror from Laura Ashley which takes pride of place in my livingroom. Sadly it was took big to fit in our air freight boxes so was left behind.

I struck gold on Pinterest and found this as an alternative. Who would have thought you could make a mirror surround from paper?

I did bring with me a cheap white mirror I purchased from The Range for less that £5.00 that I was going to use in the master bedroom. So this was going to be perfect to build onto.

I started by using the mirror as a template and on thick cardboard I drew round the mirror. This is what I would attach the starburst to.

I needed to find something suitable to make the starburst and I knew Crafters companion Centura Pearl card would be perfect. I played about for a while deciding on the length, width and angle of the points for the starburst and decided on three different shapes that I would use. 

Once all measured and drawn onto the Centura Pearl, I cut out, scored and attached to the cardboard circle with Collal Tacky Glue.

Adding a layer at a time. 

To be completely honest I was blown away with how it looked, I never imagined it would look so good.

Although I loved it in the basic white, and the mirror surround was white, I wants to add some colour. The room that it is going in is very large, bright and airy with loads of Cyprus sunlight flooding in. I was afraid it might just disappear once on the wall.

The colour scheme of the room is going to be grey and white with hints of heather. So grey was the obvious colour. Before spray painting it grey I thought best to give the card starbursts a light coat of mod Podge. I done this as I thought the wetness of the spray paint might soak into then Centura Pearl and warp.

Once Mod Podge was dry I have it a couple of light coats along with the white mirror and left to dry over night.

I attached the mirror to the surround with a very strong bonding agent and left for at least 24 hours.

Once hung on the wall above the fireplace I left it for a few days. I wasn't sure if I liked it in flat grey or if it needed some definition, in the way of paint effects.

After a fee days of living with it and seeing it in different lighting I decided it definitely needed to be "attacked" with some paints and inks. So I set about attacking it firstly with some dry brushing of white acrylic paint on the purchased mirror surround.

Then with my Pebeo Prism paints, Moonstone and Eggshell White I added paint to the pointed ends of the starbursts and to the purchased mirror. I also dry brushed some Tim Hotlz Vintage  Photo for some depth and it was finished...

I'm so delighted with how it has worked out and will defiantly make a great substitute for the real thing...well until we move all our stuff over that is.

Hope you like x

Day 20

Well it's been an age since I posted and even longer since I crafted. We arrived safe and well on the 8th January 2014 in sunny Cyprus. It's going to be an amazing year and the days are passing so so quickly already...been here 20 days.

Delighted to say all our stuff arrived safe and well a day earlier than scheduled. Cannot say how much of a relief that was. Box number 10 was the last to be unpacked...my scaled down crafty stash. Was so hard deciding what to bring as craft shops are so thin on the ground here.

Last year I concentrated my crafty efforts on card making, which I will return to soon, but I wanted to take this opportunity to try other crafts. I'm not the biggest fan of Cypriot decor, they like the sleek modern Italian look when it come to interiors and me not so much. So I set out with a list of thinks that make a house a home and I'm going to 'try' and see what I come up with.

So what did I start with? Tie back for the living room. I loved the lace curtains I had in my craft hut in Scotland, lace ones from Ikea which checking online the Nicossia store stocked them, yey. In my local Hobbycraft Store back in Scotland I purchased enough of these wooden love heart to act as embellishments for the tie backs.

I would normally have sanded them but loved the rough and raw edges created when they where cut. First coat of paint was slate great, left to dry and then the white coat was applied. 

Once white top coat dry I lightly sanded the edges and surface just enough to let the grey undercoat show through.

I wanted the love heart shape to have a pretty design on it and knew instantly which if my stamps would be perfect.

The shape of the love heart would make it difficult to stamp the design directly onto the heart. So I stamped the design in London Fog on to bog standard white tissue paper and left to dry over night. 

Now you are ready to attach the stamped design to your heart. Carefully trim off the excess tissue paper with scissors. Apply a light coat of Mod Podge and lay your stamped image onto the heart. Do to worry if your design is to big for the snap, I just trimmed off the excess. With your fingers gently work out the creases and leave to dry. Once dry apply a coat of Mod Podge over the entire surface of the heart, including the tissue paper. Again leave to dry.

I made my own tie back cord using good old fashioned garden twine which I braided. The love hearts where attached to the tie backs again with garden twine. To decorate the heart further I tied a double knot from garden twine and attached with silicon glue.

I have fallen in love with this gorgeous stamp design and I think the pattern will definitely be featured in my new grey, white and cream colour scheme. I have another make using the image which I'll post tomorrow.

Bye for now x x

Lots of mixed emotions

Well it's all official I am heading of to the sunny Cyprus as of January 2014. So, so excited but sad as the realisation of what I am giving up for my new life is setting in fast.

I have had such a wonderful 12 months. I started card making back in October 2011 and 12 months later I have:

• been a member of the Die'sire Design Team for Crafter's Companion. 
• been published in Crafter's Inspiration, Issue 3 Winter Edition.
• been published in Simply Homemade magazine, Issue 35.
• (and about to published in another mag Dec 2014).
• been a member of Crafter's Companion Demonstration Team - all be it just for one appearance!

I am so very grateful to Crafter's Companion for taking on such a novice and for all their support and encouragement over the past months. I am so going to miss being part of the 'family' and wish al the DT members and staff every success for the future. I leave with a sad and heavy heart but pleased to know I go with their best wishes, and with some very  nice new friends.

So it's a rest from crafting for me as over the next few months I need to get organised for the big move and settled in to my new home in Cyprus, but rest assured I will be back.

Yia sou x

Winter Faerie Poppets

We have all fallen in love with the beautiful Winter Faerie Poppets from the very talented Christine Haworth, well it's time to fall in love with them all over again.

Make sure you tune into Create and Craft TV on Monday 7th October for another amazing products launch from Crafter's Companion.

Here is a sneaky look at 2 of the samples I had fun making using the stamps: 

The Snow Berry Faerie

Products Used:

Snow Berry Faeries Stamped onto Neenah Card

Backing paper: Design set 12, paper 6 colourised
Stamped image coloured with Spectrum Noirs: 
LY2, LY3,LG1,LG2 - LEAVES
LG1, LY1,FS1 - BERRIES
FS7, FS2, FS6 - SKIN
FS2, GT1,FS6, LY1, PP1, P4, HB1 - WINGS
F21, CY2, CG3, LY1, PP2 - SKIRT
LY2, LG1, LG2, GT1, LY1 - JACKET
EB2, EB6, EB3 - HAIR
CR3, PP2, PP3, PP5 - SHOES
EB6, EB3 - BRANCHES

Crystal Star stamp:

Products Used:

Dies: Snowflake and Scalloped Tags
Paper: Centura Pearl Hint of Silver
Spray and Sparkle Iridescent
Spectrum Noirs:
Dress - F58,PP1,CR1,CR2,CR3,CR4,IG1,IG2,IG8,BG4,BG6,BG1
FUR - TN3,EB1,EB2,BG3
HAIR - EB1,TN1,LY1,GB7
BOOTS - LY3,GB2,GB10,GB11
FLOWERS - JG7,DG2,PP1,PP3,CR4
SKIN - FS1,FS4,FS6,FS8,CR2,CR4,CR1
WINGS - PP1,CT4,CG2,CR4,PL1,LY1,LY3,LG2

Hope you will be watching and spending.

Road Trip to Kelso

Been super busy this week preparing for my first official demonstrator with Crafter's Companion. So tomorrow I'll be at Mayfield Garden Centre 10 till 4 showcasing the fabulous ebosser along with fab new The Snowman and Snowdog, stamps and dies along with the Father Christmas stamps.

Next week I promise I will do a post a day for the samples pictures below . . .

Gift Boxes:

Cards:

The main focus of my demo samples are based around setting your table for Christmas dinner: decorated straws for kids, decorated bottle of wine, napkin rings, crackers, wine glass decorations and name place settings:

Wish my luck and week checking in next week when I'll give you all my hints, tips and products used for the above projects. Have a great weekend x 

 

One Last Visit

So it's back to where it all began, Paris.

For my last card I tried to capture everything from our Journey...

I've taken pieces of the papers and created stamps to keep as a momento.

This time I used from Crafter's Companion website:

Dies: Marianne Craftables - Ivy Corner (CR1253), Eiffel Tower (CR1220), Stamps (CR1223), Circle and Flower Stitch (CR1248). Creatables - Classic Mailbox (LR0275). Collectables - Cutting Dies and Clear Stamps Everyday (COL1324)

Charms: Marianne Travel (JU0894)

Ribbon: Marianne Rose are Red (JU0897)

Paper: Marianne Romatic Journey (PK9096)

Folder: Emossalicious Perfect Paisley A4

Thank you for being my travel companion, it's been a pleasure. I hope you have enjoyed the journey and my cards and hope you will have a go at some of the techniques I've tried. If all else fails tune into Create and Craft on 5th Seeptember to my samples and those created by other team members.

Au Revoir...for now.

But the Journey doesn't end here... I wanted to see what other project I could use this amazing selection of dies, embellishments and papers along with my stash. Whilst our shopping one day 'something' caught my eye that I could alter using these products....I would so LOVE to show you the end result but fingers crossed it's going to appear in a magazine....so like me you will just have to wait...but I PROMISE I will blog it as soon as it hits the shelves.

So this is the last of my set of samples for the show on Create and Craft TV on 8th September 2013 at 9am and 12 noon.

Lavender Fields

So we have been on all those Romantic Journey's and we need somewhere to store all those love letters and postcards we collected along the way.

I took one of those Papier Mache books and set about decorating the inside and outside.

I didn't have a 'plan' with this one, which is not like me. I pretty much got as much as I could out of my stash that I though matched colour wise, texture and style and just set about,cutting, layering, embellishing until I was happy with how it looked. 

From Crafter's Companion store cupboard I used:

Charms: Marianne, Travel JU0894
Lace: Marianne, Vintage Fleur JU0898
Folders: Die'sire, Regency Damask 8x8
Paper: Marianne Romantic Journey (PK9096)
Marianne Creatables Dies: Anja's Small Corner (LR0214), Anja's Vintage Swirls (LR0271), Anja's Vintage Ornaments 2 (LR0270), Classic Mailbox (LR0275)
Marianne Craftables Dies: Ivy Corner (CR1253), Circle and Flower Stitch (CR1248)
Marianne Collectables Dies: Banner and Text Everyday (COL1248)

I love that the Marianne products have helped me use paper in different ways - I've torn paper to expose layers underneath and this time I turned a corner over and let flowers spill out from underneath. So easy to do.

So we now have a perfect place to keep all those romantic letters and postcards.

So it's back to Paris tomorrow to catch our flight back to the UK so we can tune into the show on Create and Craft TV, 8th September where 'hopefully' you'll be able to see my samples on the big screen.