Sneak Peek of the new In Colors & 2 new bundles...

Wow... been a while... sorry for the radio silence... but we had a well needed break... and I never like to publicize the fact that we are on holiday... 

Though I REALLY have to laugh at myself as I type that... as of course we didn't go anywhere (apart from lovely long daily walks out in the Yorkshire countryside!) so it really wouldn't have mattered! Yet more proof that the brain isn't quite back up to speed...

I'll be back with more details very soon... but in the meantime here's a quick card using 2 new products, Elegantly Said and Flowers of Friendship... along with 4 of the 5 new In Colors... 

I did use all 5 but I then covered up the flower centres with the gorgeous Pastel Pearls... as they arrived whilst I was mid flow... and the co-ordination was just too good not to share!

Not long to wait now... as the new catalogue goes live on 4th May... 

And for those of you waiting for a hard copy of the new catalogue from me... these will be going postal tomorrow so you should have them for the weekend... 

Hearts Come Home... a bit of Bright & Sparkle!

As per an individual request... I have added something bright and something sparkly to one of the Hearts Come Home cards I shared a few weeks back...

So... take this card... add an extra 1 3/4" Circle punched Silver Glimmer moon and a bright Real Red house to make it pop... and she is very happy now!

And of course a quick change to the sentiment to sum it all up!

Smitten Mittens coming soon...

Introducing Smitten Mittens... another Sneak Peek from the new Autumn Winter aka Holidays aka Christmas Catalogue for you... available from 1st September... in photopolymer... as a bundle (with 10% off) or as the stamp set or dies separately...

So first a few projects to share... hot off the press...

And here are the dies...

And click here for a video showing these stamps and dies in action...

I think this will be a very popular bundle... Different sizes of mittens for all types and sizes of crafty projects!! And I know the single mitten punch etc from yesteryear was really popular... and that there were lots of people that regretted not buying them when they could... 

The Simplest of Them All... Hearts & Hometown #8

Finishing off the series (as made so far) with the simplest of them all.... definitely one for the glitter and shine lovers!

But before I start...  please think "Get Better Quick" vibes for my son today!! Yes it is finally Knee Op Day... we have had to wait a long time for this cruciate ligament repair! 11 months since it was damaged... Just hope everything has healed and he is walking normally by the time he goes to uni in 4 weeks time... how much nagging will there be about his physio programme....

So back to the card... die cut house panel in Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper... harder to cut through than standard card but worth it! 

I place the die cut face down over the up turned glimmer paper ... roll through twice... then I turn over the paper and the die intact and roll through twice again... as I do find that the turnover does make a big difference to the standard of the cut...

Note that the Glimmer panel is narrower than the Night of Navy panel...

Glimmer panel stuck in place... 

Smoke trails stamped in Whisper White craft ink... 

Greeting white embossed to finish...

Joy to the World... Hearts & Hometown #7

Decided I should keep my makes using the Hearts Come Home and Hometown Greetings dies altogether on the blog after all... so another CAS card for you today...

White emboss resist sleigh & smoke then Night of Navy brayered night sky

Straightforward die cut front white panel with Smoky Slate stamped and hand cut house added... note that the front panel is the same width as my night sky panel...

Night of Navy stamped greeting... oh I do like a large greeting!

Finished off with plenty of Dazzling Diamonds glitter over Tombow glue on the roofs, trees, snowman and horizon...

Simples...

And a little tip for you... the white embossed smoke trail & Santa's sleigh were simply positioned by laying the die cut houses temporarily over the white panel for my night sky, stamping the trail & sleigh in Versamark... then heating to melt. Finished off with plenty of Sponge Brayer action. 

I do find that the Sponge Brayers give me an easier and neater (as less hard lines/streaks)  finish than the old rubber version... though I do have to brayer over more times to build up the depth of colour as in this case... 

Tri Fold Hometown Greetings card #6

Remember this Tri Fold card from 2 years ago... Well I had to make another with my new -very favourite- Hometown Greetings houses dies didn't I!! 

Front layer finished off with silver foil behind the church and house to the right... though that was a bit tricker than first envisaged!!

A just Score, Fold, Cut and Go card... tutorial here if you fancy a go... Though I did pop this one onto a Night of Navy card blank I happened to have laying around...

And did I share the Hearts Come Home & Hometown Greetings video with you!? Well just in case I didn't... here you go... click on the pic...

Now I might just have something different for you tomorrow!! Though I do still have more Hearts Come Home projects to come at some point as I had such a good creating session with them!! Think I made 10 designs in total with a few more ready to assemble... 

Simply Coloured Hearts Come Home!! #5

Now this is one of the simpler ones with Hearts Come Home and Hometown Greetings... but one that had my ladies jumping for glee looking at the display from across the room!

Die cut houses border quickly watercoloured with a blender pen and ink... Spot the details...

The Smoky Slate roof on the white house...

The pop of the red doors (by marker direct for those)...

And the texture on the tree... which unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of... but I used short strokes of my blender pen with Garden Green ink to get a layered effect going down the tree... looks quite lifelike!

Popped onto a Night of Navy mat and finished off with a Whisper White smoke trail and a Tombow and Dazzling Diamonds glitter snow line underneath

And an admittance... this card will have to be made again... as I had a major boob... the house on the right was supposed to be the same Smoky Slate as the house on the left ... but
(a) I picked up my Aquapainter by mistake and
(b) I was using the scrap paper that I had been sponging lots of Pear Pizzazz on for my Dino Rama scene...
(c) I didn't realise until just now

So the house ended up as a funny shade of green grey! Good job it really doesn't take very long to make..

Hearts Come Home & Hometown Greetings Bridge U Fold card #4

A Simple Fancy Fold in the Navy & White series for you today seeing as it is Fancy Fold Friday...

A perfect Card Fold for this set of dies.... whether you call it a U Fold, a Bridge Fold or a Centre Box Card Fold.... or even a Bridge U Fold Card that I used for the title!

So the one today has been tweaked in size a bit to fit the full length of the border die cuts across the central section... and still fit in a standard C6 envelope... but I think I want to further tweak so I will be back to this fold another day!

EDITED TO ADD - Tutorial now available. Just click here...

Or click here to see my Hearts Come Home chalets in the snow version posted earlier... the chalet one being based upon the U Fold Card tutorial I posted here... though using just one box insert...

So 3 simple borders die cut for the 3 main elements of the scene...

A bit of Whisper White stamping on the background to create the starry night scene... Spot the smoke in the centre!

A couple of Smoky Slate stamped and hand cut houses to add some interest at the back and finished off with a couple of die cut trees using the Card Front Builder dies...

Hearts Come Home & Hometown Greetings #3

Keeping to my Night of Navy & White theme....

Two of the three house lined border dies in the set used here... both panels cut centrally and then hand cut to the end

Glimmer trees die cut using the same border dies and added...and small glimmer pieces stuck behind the windows for a bit of extra shine...

Nightsky panel achieved using the Baby Wipe Swoosh (or Swipe) technique and then die cut using the Card Front Builder dies... I used this die twice across the top - starting at the right hand side so that I didn't end up with 2 moons!!

There is a small starry die in the Hometown Greetings set that can be used... but I was feeling lazy and the other dies were still out!

Finished off with a white embossed greeting...

And the one thing I would do different next time... put a piece of silver glimmer behind the moon aperture to get that "by the light of the silvery moon" effect....

And some simple instructions for anyone not familiar with the Baby Wipe Swoosh technique...

(1) Grab a Baby Wipe and an ink pad...

(2) Press the top of the closed ink pad so that ink transfers onto the inside of the lid...

(3) Open up the ink pad and dab your baby wipe onto the lid to pick up the ink...

(4) Swoosh (swipe or wipe!) your baby wipe across your piece of card... 

(5) Swoosh & build up colour & texture until you are happy...

Hearts Come Home & Hometown Greetings available from 1st September... but Card Front Builder dies and co-ordinating Carols of Christmas available now... in wood or clear mount

Hearts Come Home & Hometown Greetings #2

STOP PRESS... The Clearance Rack has just been updated!! Click here to go straight there... and remember you can add anything else to your order whilst you are there...

And a quick Tip: Select NEWEST in the SORT BY drop down field at the right hand side... then all the newly added items pop to the top of the list...

Back to today's card ... Bit of a series coming your way with these... as I have just had a few hours to "play"... and I am loving what these Hearts Come Home and Hometown Greetings dies do... from a super simple card to something more fancy...

There again the architectural element of this bundle is right up my hometown street!!!

Front die cut Glimmer panel... Middle die cut Smoky Slate panel with a stamped Smoky Slate house covering the Slate house to the right... 

2" Circle punched moon in the Back Night of Navy panel... with Santa and his sleigh stamped in black . Finished off with white embossed wording... and a Night of Navy Crinkled Seam Binding ribbon & bow 

And seeing as it Tuesday Tips day! A quick tip about the glimmer panel... I hand cut the top curve to the left... that way I could see my Slate snowman and the curve was in a downwards direction instead of an upwards!

Hearts Come Home & Hometown Greetings for Merry Monday

Spoiler alert!!!

I can't wait to share a sneaky Autumn Winter (aka Holidays) catalogue peek with you today... using the coming soon set Hearts Come Home with co-ordinating Hometown Greetings dies... which I know will be a VERY popular bundle!

Available to all from 1st September... while stocks last.... as I have that feeling about this one...

So I mentioned that I had created a Snow Rama scene when I shared the details on my Dino Rama scene a few days ago... click here for that as I have used the same method...

Well I had to quickly make a snowy U Fold Card with the beautiful house die-cuts dressed up as chalets in the snow... care of the Wood Textures papers... Click here for the U Fold Card Tutorial... though I only used one box insert this time... (Note that this card fold is also called Bridge Fold or Centre Box Fold...)

Now as an avid skier for most of my life this little glittery scene around a lake in the snowy mountains gives me a lovely warm feeling and makes me very happy! And I am sure that some of you can relate to that....

One thing I particularly love with these dies.... is that you can cut a card strip with a die and then move the die along & line it up again to extend your houses with a second cut... as I have done for the front part here... Or you could use a different die for the second (or third) cut... I can see a 12" house strip on a scrapbook page coming sometime soon...

Want to see more of these stamps and dies... well you can... click on the picture below for a video introduction from the Home Office...

And I will be back with more Hearts Come Home creations pretty soon....

Spring Summer Catalogue video

Just thought I would share... hows about a very quick peek through the Spring Summer catalogue!

Worth a minute of anyone's time to get a flavour for some of the exciting new products just released... and some inspirations for projects using them...

Just click on the picture above to load up the video...

Enjoy!

Thoughtful Branches - Happy Christmas Topiary

I guess that some of you will have guessed where I might go next after yesterday's post....

Well... it is August... it is Stampin' Up! pre-order month for us demos... and I do so enjoy my Christmas makes...

So here is my Thoughtful Branches topiary bush all dressed up for Christmas... with some more Autumn Winter Catalogue Sneak Peeks!

Plant pot and banner from the Seasonal Bells stamp and punch Bundle... available from 1st September

Bows from Holly Berry Happiness stamp and punch Bundle. And note... this punch also punches Baby Bear's Bow.... Yay! Available from 1st September.

Oh and little robins from Thoughtful Branches. Available August only...