Notelet Set

This is a set of four notelets, made using the Taylored Expressions Sew Happy Stamp Set.

The notelets are all made with a small square white card and then decorated using a similar theme. 

This one has a piece of white felt and a piece of kraft card, both die cut using the Spellbinders Swatches die set, but you could use pinking shears. The stamped image comes from the Taylored Expressions Sew Happy stamp set and has been stamped with clear Perfect Medium and then heat embossed using Cosmic Shimmer Ivory embossing powder. The image has been coloured in using the Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Paints.

This time a teal felt swatch has been die cut. The dress form stamp has been stamped a second time onto a piece of co-ordinating paper and then layered up on the top part of the dress form. The base has been coloured in using the Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Paints. The ink used around the two white card pieces is Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.

For the third notelet I used the blue felt from the Blossom Felt Pack by Creative Expressions.

Happy crafting!

Screen Card

This card was made from a piece of A4 coconut white card, which I embossed using the Couture Creations Hemlines embossing folder, extending the design as required.

I then scored and folded the card into quarters along the long edge, to form the screen panels. The floral border along the top edge was cut from the Couture Creations Sew Jo paper pad. Four co-ordinating panels were then die cut from the same paper pad.

To shape the bottom of the screen, a labels shaped die was used to cut a small portion out of each panel.

The dress forms shape were die cut using the Couture Creations Dress Form Die and coconut white card, which was inked with Distress Inks. The felt flowers were die cut using the Creative Expressions Blossom felt pack.

The little labels were stamped using black archival ink and stamps from the Taylored Expressions Sew Happy stamp set.

Happy crafting!

The Sewing Room

I really enjoyed making this sign from a Pronty MDF Plaque.

I painted the plaque using Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Paints, sponging on a few different shades (Warm White, Shy Violet and Shallow Sea). Once dry, I used the Creative Expressions All Sewn Up Mask with some Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Sparkle Texture Paste in small sections over the MDF. Whilst this was drying I die cut the letters to read sewing room from one of the patterned papers in the Couture Creations Sew Jo Paper Pad. I also used the That Special Touch Just Sew Mask with a Faded Jeans Distress Ink Pad, randomnly around the plaque.

Once I had attached the words, I outlined each letter with a white pen. I also used this white pen to add a line of faux stitching around the outside edge of the plaque.

I then had lots of fun making an assortment of embellishments to add to the plaque. I die cut the scissors, bobbin and spool (from the Sewing Kit die by Couture Creations) and sewing machine from the Couture Creations Sewing Machine die. I then coloured the white card die cuts using the Faded Jeans Distress Ink pad.  I die cut flowers using the Blossom Felt Pack from Creative Expressions and some of the Sew Jo paper pad. The dies used were the Classic Rose die set by Sue Wilson and the Bitty Blossoms die set by Spellbinders. A couple of the flowers were made with the felt, by just rolling a strip of felt which had been snipped all along one edge.

I also die cut the Dress Form from a piece of denim material, using the Couture Creations Dress Form die. The tape measure was cut from one of the pages in the Sew Jo Paper Pad. I added Perfect Medium and heat embossed with Cosmic Shimmer clear embossing powder. I then shaped the tape using my fingers. 

I added a bit of bling with some glitter jewels on a few of the paper flowers and a few self adhesive flat back pearls. I also added a few mini spools, which had been painted using the Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Paints.

Happy crafting!

Icy Buttons Background

For me, this card is all about the sparkly background! I started with a piece of coconut white card, which I embossed using the Couture Creations Buttons Galore embossing folder. I then blended Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans Distress Ink over the whole area. Once this was dry, I added a piece of double sided adhesive sheet and then poured on some Cosmic Shimmer Glacier Ice Glitter Jewels.

The centre mat was die cut using the Couture Creations Lotus Filet die. The dress form shape was die cut using a piece of felt from the Blossom Felt Pack and the Couture Creations Dress Form die.

The sentiment comes from the Taylored Expressions Sew Happy stamp set. A vintage button and a couple of mini spools were then added. The spools had been wrapped with Bakers Twine from the pastel pack by Creative Expressions.

The bow was made using two shades of Seam Binding Ribbon, two shades of Pastel Bakers Twine and a felt flower made by rolling a piece of felt.

Happy crafting!

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!