Trial…

Well..  I’m stuck in traffic  so thought I’d try a blog post just using a mobile phone and see what I can do....

Firstly…  check out the amazing deals on the ‘Last Chance List’ come Tuesday 11pm…. 

Secondly …a quick creative share… a little something we were making in the last week.. which proved so very popular…

Amazingly I have been able to do more than I thought just using my mobile phone… a tech improvement for once!! As it is years since I have tried to do a blog post using just an iPad or iPhone 

Fiftieth Birthday Conservatory card...

So an up-graded card to last week's Greenhouse card (for which the Tutorial was posted here) for a fellow demo friend... on her special birthday...

I added a bit more furniture... a couple of chairs using the Seasonal Layers dies & the Wood Textures papers... and a Big On Birthdays greeting on the table top...

And a tip... I had to give my chairs legs so that they were the right height! Easy to create from the left over bits from the tables... about 2 cm/3/4" in height...

And then I added the sentiments for the 50th special birthday... from Milestone Moments (Retiring!!)... on both the front of the windows and the flower pots... though you will have to look closely at the flowerpots to see it!

But that is where I came unstuck... as OMG.... I was a whole year early!!! Oh my... what am I like... Luckily she loved it.... and reckons it is even better in the flesh than these photos portray... 

And more importantly in the circumstances... it has thoroughly amused both of us... though I get the feeling that I will NEVER EVER live it down!!! 

Fancy Fold Friday - The Greenhouse Card Tutorial

Otherwise known as the Conservatory card... OR the New Extension card!! And great for a New Home card too...

Well this one proved very popular when I shared it here last weekend... so... by popular request... here is the Tutorial as promised...

Craft Spa Recipe
Thick Whisper White 20 cm x 10 3/8" (7 7/8" x 10 3/8")
Window Sheet 20 cm x 6" (7 7/8" x 6") NOTE - this works best if slightly shy of 6" H
Sahara Sand 14cm x 1 1/2" (5 1/2" x 1 1/2")
Embossing Paste & Soft Suede ink refill
(D) Thick Whisper White 7.4cm x 21 cm (x3) for the windows
(St) Thick Whisper White 6 x 18cm for the 3D'd hanging baskets & plant-pots
where (D) is for die-cutting and (St) is for stamping

Stampin Up Products used
Hearth & Home dies
Hanging Garden stamps
Bookcase Builder stamps
Barn Door stamps

Pattern Party Masks
Embossing Paste & Palette Knives
Wood Textures papers
Window Sheets
A4 Thick Whisper White card
Inks - Memento Black ink; Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Always Artichoke
And Stampin Blends or Many Marvellous Markers for colouring


Craft Spa Tutorial

1.       Mix a few Soft Suede ink drops with the Embossing Paste

2.       Mask & apply the embossing paste to form the bricks

3.       Remove the mask (and quickly clean everything up!)

4.       Leave to dry (I reckoned they were touch dry after 30-40 minutes or so –maybe sooner)

5.       Score large Whisper White panel LANDSCAPE (long side across top) at 1 ½”, 2 ¾”, 4” & 10”

6.       Turn scored card over (so mountain fold to top) and lay down PORTRAIT (short side across top) with the thin/1cm score line to the top

7.       Ink up & stamp the 3 hanging baskets (Memento Black) down from the top score line

TIP: mark along top score line at 7, 10 & 16cm if you want to stamp the baskets equidistant (1 ½”, 3 15/16” & 8 7/8”)… though I have my stamps all lined up on my Stamparatus tool so that it is a quick job for my ladies in class

8.       Optional –for 3D baskets…  Ink up and Memento stamp the 3 hanging baskets again on scrap Thick Whisper White & colour as necessary with Stampin Blends – and fussy cut!! Does look really nice…

9.       OPTIONAL : for 3D pots on the table… Ink up and stamp Cajun Craze pots and Old Olive/Always Artichoke grasses… and fussy cut!

10.   Ink up & stamp Early Espresso Barn Door on a piece of Wood Textures paper

11.   Cut Table as shown below

12.   Die cut 6 Thick Whisper White windows

13.   Make up a door (Quick pictures for you here… but click here for the full door tutorial)
And sorry - I do not know why they have turned on their sides!! But it is the same pic after all...

14.   Make up 2 windows (Again pictures here…but click here for more step by step  - though note that I used a double joining “slat” for this one)

15.   Trim the brick wall piece to 7 cm (2 ¾”)wide (x2)

16.   Grab all your decorative parts… and lets make the card!!

17.   Bone Fold main card -  Bottom Front= Valley, then Peak, then Valley and last one/thin Top Front section = Peak

18.   Pencil mark centre of Bottom Front section 3 cm (1 ¼”) down… and then at 7 and 13cm (2 ¾” & 5 1/8”) across at 3 cm (1 ¼”) down. Cut out notch

19.   Apply Tear & Tape adhesive to back of Top Front/narrow section  & back of Bottom Front ( ie at the top edge to either side of the notch)

20.   Stick in the acetate to top and bottom ( I didn’t but… you may find you need to trim a sliver off the height to get it all to lay flat… depends on your prepping/scoring… )

21. Finish internal decoration... there are also the terracotta pots on the table... but these are missing from this shot as I have made another as a surprise for someone... and they would give the game away...

22.   Stick brick panels to the Bottom Front sides
23.   Stick in windows to left and right hand side

TIPS:-

(a)the tops line up with the top of the card and the bottoms just cover the bricks….. AND
(b) the outside edge of the window moulding (top and bottom) is lined up to the outside edge of the card…so you can see the acetate to the side of the main part of the window… you can trim this if you like…I didn’t bother… keeps the card stronger that way

24.   Stick in door so that it covers the windows very slightly to left & right (well that’s the plan!!)

And the eagle eyed will have noticed a slight addition to the internal decoration in this tutorial... but more on that another day... again a surprise... 

The Greenhouse Card... aka Hearth & Home final outing..?

A quick share from me today as I try to catch up with a few things over our Bank Holiday weekend in the UK...

But this card made us all very happy in class today... so I wanted to share with you straightaway...

Originally intended as a Greenhouse Card... hence the simplicity of the decoration.. but also suitable as a Conservatory Card too... 

Edited to Add... click here for the Tutorial

In the meantime... I used...
Hearth & Home dies
Hanging Garden stamps
Bookcase Builder stamps
Barn Door stamps

Pattern Party Masks
Embossing Paste & Palette Knives
Wood Textures papers
Window Sheets
A4 Thick Whisper White card
And Stampin Blends or Many Marvellous Markers for colouring

Can this really be the final class outing for my lovely Hearth & Home dies... definitely my "saddest to see these go" product on the retiring list! Enough so... I could actually cry!!!!

I just don't think you can beat these for making special  - and fancy - and clever - decorative cards... as well as simple ones too!

And have to admit that I loved using the Embossing Paste again... so you may see more of that in the not too distant future... 

What's in Your Wardrobe....? And the Tutorial...

But first...  a belated Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers... I hope that you had a lovely day with family & friends... and are now enjoying the madness of Black Friday!

So back to my wardrobe... though I think that my regular blog readers will already know this year's answer!

For me... it has to be a Narnia-esque scene from the The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe... a favourite book of mine when I was young... and this was my first thought when I spotted the Christmas Lamppost dies in the Autumn Winter catalogue... and so glad it was... as it has been the class favourite this year...

And so glad it all came together in this way... just a shame that I hadn't photographed the wardrobe shot when I first shared the alternative Narnia scene... it kind of spoilt the overall plot!! Just click here for that variant using Card Front Builder dies instead of the embossed white trees...

And  I do so wish that I could share the glittery sparkle on this card better ... as that is what really sets this all off to Narnia perfection!!

Want to make one for yourself ... well here you go! And apologies for the laughing heard around these parts for one of the later steps in the how to make a more Narnia-esque lamp!

Craft Spa recipe
Thick Whisper White A4L x 16.5cm H (US Letter 11" x 6 1/2")
Paper 28.1 x 12cm H (US 10 1/4" x 4 3/4")
Lamppost - Basic Black card 2.5 x 14.8cm (US 1" x 5 1/2")
Lamp Glass - Vellum 2 x 4cm (US 3/4" x 1 1/2")
Doors - Thick Whisper White x A5 (ie 14.8 x 21cm)(US 5 1/2" x 8 1/2")

Stamps - Lovely as a Tree; Snowflake Sentiments
Dies - Christmas Lamppost; Hearth & Home; Seasonal Layers
Paper - Christmas Around the World
Punch - 1 1/2" Circle Punch
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter & Glimmer Paper
Wink of Stella Clear
Stampin' Blends marker - dark Daffodil Delight

Craft Spa directions

Making your card
1. Large A4L (US 11 x 6 1/2") Whisper White panel LANDSCAPE
2. Score at 7.4cm from both sides (US 2 3/4")
3. Valley bone fold both score lines

Decorating the little scene
4. Mark bottom of paper at 6.9cm & 21.2 cm (US 2 1/2" & 7 3/4")
5. Ink up & stamp tallest Tranquil Tide trees up from those marks
TIPS
(a) avoid stamping the ground level part of the image onto the paper
(b) "second stamp" a smaller tree to the side whilst you are it... ie stamp a second smaller tree without re-inking the stamp... so that you get a faded tree in the background
(c) Always Artichoke inked trees also looks nice... hence the sample card shared here yesterday...

6. Continue stamping and second stamping green trees as desired...
7. Swoosh with your embossing buddy
8. Ink up & stamp Versamark trees and white emboss...
9. Add glue & liberally cover with Dazzling Diamonds glitter
10. Leave paper panel to dry for a while! Otherwise you will have very gluey/glittery fingers, card and worktop!!!!

Making the Doors
11. Die cut 4 x Heart & Home windows
12. Make into doors as shown here...
13. Die cut a Seasonal Layers large snowflake in Foil (Champagne Foil used here) and pull the small circles out from the waste to add as door knobs... I just use a really really tiny drop of Tombow and add the circle on top...

 Making a more Narnia-esque lamp
14. Colour vellum with dark Daffodil Delight and die cut (that's the 3 plant pot flat looking die!!)
15. Die cut other Basic Black Lamppost parts... hopefully this picture will paint a 1000 words... for the bits to cut... and the next few assembly steps (16-22)...

16. Colour your yellow lamp glass with clear Wink of Stella to add that shine..,.
17. Apply glue very sparingly to back of black lamp and pop onto the lamp glass
18. Tiny dab of glue onto the centre of the 3 prong twirly/ partial bit and stick lamp on top
19. Trim off the 2 side arms at bottom of base
20. Tiny dab of glue onto top of lamppost & stick lamp on top
21. Tinier dab of glue about 1cm (US 3/8") down the lamppost & stick cross-member on top
22. Crop the cross-member to the left (LOL!!! Maybe I should say cross-piece... nah... leaving it so some of you can have a laugh too... ! Though I did change the word trim to crop and put the cross- back in the member...!!! So glad this is not in video format... )

Finishing off
23.. Cut Landscape paper panel down to 6.9 cm and 14.3 cm (aka 6.9cm from either side) (US 2 1/2" & 7 3/4" - aka 2 1/2" from each side)
24. Adhere to inside of card
25. Ink up & stamp Black greetings
26. Adhere punched Glimmer circle & Lamppost...

Brick Wall embossed At Home with You

Simple card to share today... but one not to miss if you like a door .... the Tranquil Tide green green door of home!

Showcasing the At Home With You door, 2 of the pots, welcome mat and the lantern... simply set onto a Brick Wall embossed panel (and yes I did ink up the embossing folder with Sahara Sand ink before embossing... best way to get good grout!)

Now I wonder which new product I opened second from my new big box!!!? Just after the Love Today planner...... 

And for those of you waiting for the At Home With You class-in-the-mail details... and anyone else that wishes to register interest by clicking here... I will be back to you shortly... my cold has pretty much forced me to to bed for 2 days!! Yuk! But I hope to be back on it tomorrow.... I just have one last play (with that 2nd item opened from my new stash box!) before I can finalise the cards for the class and get back to you!

The Front Door Centre Step Easel Card

This was my favourite card from my Happy Home/Hearth & Home classes last week... and one which will be made again... probably very soon... as I have another idea ...

As you will see from this card shared earlier I had opened up the Circle of Spring stamp set - and then this card idea came to me in a flash... and it had to be done...with only seconds to spare before my class arrived!

So glad I did! Love it!

And before I get asked about how it fits in an envelope again.... this one has a tweak from my original Centre Step Easel Card and so it now fits in a 6" square envelope...

The tutorial for making the door is here.... 

And the card tutorial is here... 

More Hearth & Home Furniture - Chest of Drawers

I had a few of you ask for directions to make the chest of drawers featured in this "What's in Your Wardrobe" post... and seeing as it is Tuesday's Tips, Tricks and Tutorials Day today!!!

Here you go... a few extra details to fill in the gaps of my "snippity snip" expression!!
And a bit of wallpaper this time so you can actually see the chest of drawers!!

(1) Die cut 2 Hearth & Home windows and cut a piece of card 9.5 x 8cm (3 3/4" x 3 1/8")

(2) Snip the 2 windows as per photo below...

(3) Adhere top "window" on top of bottom - the thicker/bottom section of the top one lining up over the narrower/centre of the bottom one...

(4) Adhere "windows" to cut piece of card & pierce centres of "drawers"

(5) Attach & close mini brads through for "handles"

(6) Adhere to project... but don't forget your wallpaper!!

(7) Optional ... add penguins, snowmen and clothes as desired! Or baby clothes would look cool too...

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