I love sewing!

This is another sample I made for Kim Robertson's recent shows on Create & Craft.

I made the bunting using some mount board triangle shapes, which I covered with papers from the Couture Creations Sew Jo paper pad. 

The first "flag" was decorated using a die cut bobbin and a black zipper rose. The bobbin was cut from black card using the Couture Creations Sewing Kit die. I also added a couple of mini half spools. One I wrapped in green twine, the other I painted using the Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Paint in Corinth Blue.

The second flag was decorated by die cutting some silver mirror card using the Couture Creations Dress Form die. I sponged Perfect Medium through the die and added Cosmic Shimmer Detail Embossing Powder in Black, before heat embossing. I added a mini half spool, which I had painted using the Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Paint in Corinth Blue.

This piece was decorated with a die cut pair of scissors, using the Sewing Kit die and silver mirror card, together with a mini half spool.

The fourth flag was decorated with a die cut sewing machine and bobbin.

For the last flag, I cut out a dress form shape from one of the patterned paper pages and attached this to the top of a die cut dress form from the Couture Creations Dress Form die. 

The pieces were attached together using Bakers Twine.

Happy crafting!

Little Fisherman

Such a sweet image! I stamped the little fisherman using Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and then coloured the image using a wet paint brush and the same ink pad. 

The backing papers are from the Sew Jo Paper Pad by Couture Creations.

I added a thin line of stickles around the stamped image, which I had die cut using one of the Striplet dies by Sue Wilson.

I also added a couple of thin lines of stickles on the sentiment tag.

The ribbon is red Sheer Wrinkled Edge ribbon from Creative Expressions and I completed the look with a die cut using the Faux Quilled Leaves die and a vintage button.

I made a paper flower using Sue Wilson's technique shown on her blog and her Classic Rose dies.

Happy crafting!

A view of the Seaside

For this card, I used quite a few of the children/seaside stamps from Creative Expressions. The little girl is called I Spy and the boy is called Little Fisherman. The scenery in the background was stamped using Beach Flora and Marina Bay. 

The little girl and boy were coloured in using Cosmic Shimmer Drawing inks for the skintones and Cosmic Shimmer Watercolour Paints for their clothing, etc.

The background was coloured using Scatterd Straw, Broken China and Stormy Sky Distress Inks. 

Happy crafting!

Beauty and the Beach

Here is another of the cards I made using the children/seaside stamps. This time I stamped using Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. 

The papers are from the Couture Creations paper pad called Sew Jo.

The dies I used were from the Italian Collection of the Dies by Sue Wilson, together with the Faux Quilled Leaves die from the Finishing Touches Collection.

For the largest die cut shape, I attached self adhesive sheet to the card before die cutting, and afterwards added Cosmic Shimmer Polished Silk Glitter.

Happy crafting!

Kite Dreams

This is one of the cards I have made using the beautiful children/seaside stamps from Creative Expressions.

I stamped using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and blended the colour out with a wet paintbrush. 

I added a small bow made using a piece of black tulle, some pearl string, and topped with a satin ribbon rose.

The stamp also comes with a small stamp of a kite, so you can have the young boy flying the kite. However, I decided to use the kite to make the bunting, by folding the top of the kite over a piece of pearl string.

The backing papers all come from the Couture Creations Paper Pad called Sew Jo. It has a lot of beautiful sewing designs but just as many other designs which can be used for any occasion.

I matted the papers on to some dark brown card and added metal corner embellishments.

The dies I used with this project are from the Californian Collection of the Dies by Sue Wilson.

Happy crafting!

Prize Winners!

The winners of the Creative Expressions Blog Hop have just been announced over on the Creative Expressions News blog. If you took part, click here to see if you are one of the lucky winners! The lucky winner, chosen at random, from my blog was Beryl Treble - congratulations Beryl! Thank you to everyone that visited my blog and for all of the wonderful comments left. I hope that you gained some ideas or inspiration along the way. 

Happy crafting!

We are still hopping!

The Creative Expressions Blog Hop ends at 5pm on Tuesday 17 June, so I thought I would show you another card sample I made for Julia Watts' recent shows on Create and Craft, using the beautiful Frame stamps.

For this project I used some of the mini frames Floral and Scrollwork.

I decided to make a tea-light card and gift all-in-one. I know these have been around now for a while but I have never made one. I had some purple tea-lights so started with some rich plum card. 

I edged one side using Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA dots. I stamped a piece of coconut white card using a Lettuce Adirondack Dye Ink Pad. I then inked through the Criss Cross Mask using a Currant Adirondack Dye Ink Pad. Once this was dry, I embossed the white card using the Couture Creations Irish Clubs embossing folder. I cut this into the two panels, as shown, and inked around the edges using the Currant Ink Pad.

I coloured the floral mini frame image using the two Adirondack Ink Pads already used. This was then layered onto two die cuts made using the Spellbinders Ornate Squares die set. 

A few flowers were added, using the rich plum card and Faux Quilled Flower Die Set by Sue Wilson.

A bow was added, made from Champagne Silky Crush Ribbon, and a couple of the die cut flowers.

If you haven't entered the prize draw competition yet, here is a link to the start of the Blog Hop at Creative Expressions. 

Good luck everyone!

Creative Expressions June 2014 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Creative Expressions June 2014 Blog Hop! Hopefully you got here from Kim Robertson's blog , but if you didn't, here's the start at the Creative Expressions News Blog!

The four new large Frame stamps from Creative Expressions have been designed with co-ordinating mini frames inside, which can be used separately or as a whole and also swapped with other frame designs in the range. There are also an additional four mini frame designs, plus sentiment sets which have been designed to fit inside the various frames. 

One randomly selected person commenting on this blog post before the closing date will win a fabulous prize of some of the new stamp designs.

For my project, I used the Rose Frame stamp design. I stamped the middle section a second time, added the sentiment, and then raised this above the main stamped image. The images were stamped using clear Perfect Medium and then heat embossed using the Cosmic Shimmer Detail Embossing Powder in Bright Gold. I coloured in the flowers and leaves using Cosmic Shimmer Watercolour Paints.

For the base of the card I used some gold card and the Couture Creations embossing folder called Irish Clubs. I added a layer using the Filigree mask with Apple Red Cosmic Shimmer Sparkle Paste.

I finished the card with some striped grosgrain ribbon, a small die cut and a decorative vintage button.

Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave a comment below in order to be in with a chance of winning a prize!

Here is a photo of the prize allocated to my blog.

Once you have done that, you will need to click here to visit Donna Ratcliff's blog. 

To help you along the way, here is a list for the Blog Hop:-

1. Julia Watts

2. Kim Robertson

3. Tracey Laughton (you are here)

4. Donna Ratcliff

5. Neil Burley

6. Tracy Heaton

7. Kerry Hickton 

8. Pam Smith

Start page, prize details and how to take part: Creative Expressions News Blog. The blog hop started on Thursday 12^th June at 10am and ends Tuesday 17^th June at 5pm.

Thank you for taking part in our Blog Hop – good luck!

Sewing Caddy

This is one of the samples I made for Kim Robertson's shows on Create & Craft at the weekend.

It was a Creative Expressions Stamping Show featuring sewing themed stamps, dies, papers and masks, as well as lots of other lovely Creative Expressions items.

The set of drawers is one of the mdf kits sold by Stamps Away. Once assembled, I painted the edges which would show using Cosmic Shimmer Shallow Sea Matt Chalk Paint. I also painted the heart shaped buttons which came in the kit. These were later attached to the drawers using some pastel Bakers Twine.

I then covered the mdf using various papers from the Couture Creations Sew Jo Paper Pad and Ranger Matte Finish Glue N Seal. 

I added a few die cut embellishments which were cut using the Couture Creations dies: Sewing Kit and Sewing Machine.

I also added a tan coloured zipper rose from Creative Expressions.

I filled the drawers with reels of cotton, pins, needles, etc.

Happy crafting!