Saturday 31 December 2016

Wedding Congrats Card :D


A wedding card inspired entirely by the little stained glass window image from the paper pack included with Die-Cutting Essentials Special Edition Volume 3 :D I also used the stencil, stamps and dies which also come free with the magazine too :D

To create my stone wall background, I used the free brick wall stencil, and some Hickory Smoke, Brushed Corduroy and Black Soot Distress Inks with an ink blending tool :D I then drew on a few bits of moss using a green Promarker, and I cut and coloured some foliage too using the Spellbinders Woodland Wreath die (some of the smaller elements) and a couple of green Promarkers :D I then cut the free ornate window die from some Slate Grey Creative Expressions Foundations cardstock and I added a little bit of Distress Ink to the piece of Slate Grey card before I cut it too, to tie the colour in better with the stone wall :D I then used the window die-cut as a template and created an arched church window which I later added shading to using Promarkers and then combined with the window die-cut (you can see what I mean in the video below :D The main inspiration for this card was the small stained glass window image included in the free paper pack, I know it's meant to be in a front door, as it's not really the kind of stained glass you'd find in a church, but it instantly made me think of this idea, so I just had to create it :D The final finishing touches were then the little Congrats sentiment from the stamp set, and also a scattering of red heart sequins :D Hope you liked the card :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D



Lots more photos below :D






I'm entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, and also the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge :D 

Friday 30 December 2016

Polaroid Birdhouses with Sympathy :D


A pastel tone sympathy card using the gorgeous Birds of a Feather stamp set and embossing folder which comes free with issue 158 of Simply Cards and Papercraft :D I really love this free gift, its gorgeous! And there'll be another video using this stamp set and embossing folder next week too :D This is quite a simple card design, using the embossing folder on white card as the background, then framing the images using the Fuzzy Lemon Polaroid die (which I snipped the HAPPY off of as it didn't go with the sentiment for this card). I like this concept, and I usually just make my own Polaroid using a rectangle of card and square die, but I finally caved and brought this gorgeous Fuzzy Lemon one, it was on a really good offer on CraftStash, so I actually got it for only £2.50 :D Such a bargain :D

For the background of the Polaroid, I used some Aqua Creative Expressions Foundations cardstock and a mix of Tide Pool and Soft Pool Hero Arts inks along with the 'Thinking of You' sentiment stamp and cluster of hearts stamp from the free set :D The for my focal images I just stamped and coloured three birdhouses and some of the two different sizes of flowers too :D Once everything was coloured and cut out, I then arranged it as I wanted, and I added some Sea Breeze Nuvo Jewel Drops as embellishments :D Hope you liked the card! I really love it! and you could easily switch up the sentiment too :D

To see the process behind this card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D



More photos below :D






I'm entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge :D

Thursday 29 December 2016

Umbrella Shaker Card :D


A fun glass micro-bead umbrella shaker card using the jam packed free stamp set from issue 38 of Creative Stamping, which is out today :D Also if you get the mag, be sure to flick through to page 14 to see some cards I made using the free gift :D :D (Plus there's also a few more of my cards using this set on page 66 of Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 158, which also comes out today :D) This was a really simple shaker card to create, and the whole card only took me about half an hour, which is a very quick card for me lol :D For the shaker elements I used a mix of Creative Expressions large glass micro-beads combined with some Martha Stewart iridescent heart confetti :D For the shaker opening I stamped the umbrella, and then just used some sharp scissors to cut out the interior of the shape, and then I used one of the extra patterned umbrella tops for the backer of the shaker :D For all the colouring I used my Letraset Aquamarkers to watercolour :D Hope you liked the card :D

To see the process behind this umbrella shaker card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D



More photos below :D






I'm entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge :D

Wednesday 28 December 2016

Get Well Soon :D


A pair of Get Well Soon cards using the dies, stamps and embossing folder free with the third volume of the Die-Cutting Essentials Special Edition which comes out on the 29th December 2016 :D I'm so excited for this issue, as I have some of my cards in it again :D It makes me so proud to see my cards in a magazine :D Being asked to contribute to a few magazines has really made my year :D This bundle of free gifts is so versatile! It also comes with a fab A6 brick wall stencil which I'll be using in Saturdays video :D And the paper pack that comes with this magazine is superb, there are some gorgeous watercoloured scenes and some cool modern skyscapes (Which I love :D) which you can use as the view from your die-cut window, and there's also some gorgeous pieces of furniture and wallpaper/floor combos for you to create beautiful scene cards too :D



This pair of cards was really easily to create, for the main focal elements, I used some funky foam to cut out the window die, then I used the internal pieces (the vase and the flowers) as homemade stamps to create my little vase of flowers :D For the vase I used the rock n roll technique of inking where you ink the stamp first with your lighter colour of ink (Mermaid Lagoon) then roll the edge in your darker colour (Faded Jeans) :D And for the flowers I used a mix of Worn Lipstick and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks :D Once I had done all the stamping I then used a fine black pen to add in some outlines to make the image coordinate with the sentiment which I stamped in black ink :D I also added in some splashes of the same colours of inks too, and I also used the same colours to create a water coloured background too which I then ran through in the free embossing folder to add some physical texture :D I then added a scribbly border and some more flicks of colour to give a messy style, and voila the cards are done :D Top Tip: If you want to add some sparkle pen to the flowers after you've added your outline make sure that the black pen you used was waterproof, otherwise you'll smudge the ink.... I wonder how I know that!! It's so typical because I always use a waterproof black pen, but just when it matters I don't think ahead and I use a water based pen lol :D Hope you liked these quick Get Well Soon cards :D

To see the process behind this pair of cards, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D



A few more photos below :D








Tuesday 27 December 2016

Tank You Stix2 You're Fintastic :D


A pair of cute punny thank you cards using the fab Fintastic Friends stamp set from Lawn Fawn along with some products from Stix2 including their transfer foils, 2 in 1 glue pen, ultra sticky red liner tape, foam pads and their glue sticks too (these are fab! They go on so smoothly, not like other glue sticks that leave lumps of glue...) I love this Lawn Fawn stamp set, I have wanted it for ages, and now I finally have it! I'm sure you'll see this set up pop up a few times in the next few months as I have a few ideas I'm dying to try :D I thought that the Stix2 foils would work perfectly on this card to make the seaweed, coral and sand pop from the image! That mottled pink colour looks fab on the coral as it gives it a little bit of dimension :D

When it came to the sentiment on this card, originally I was just going to use the Tank You, but as I was placing things onto my layout, I decided that it looked too empty and so I added the You're Fintastic, and I didn't want the whole sentiment to be in the scripty font, it needed breaking up a bit, so the 'you're' is actually from the Snow Cool Lawn Fawn stamp set :D Before I added the foiling, I completely coloured the image, I used my Promarkers Powder Blue, Arctic Blue, Blender, Cool Grey 1 and 2, Gold, Pumpkin, Bright Green, Salmon Pink :D and then I added some of the 2 in 1 glue pen on the individual sections, let them dry, then added on the coordinating coloured foil :D And for the border around the edge of the patterned paper, I used the ultra sticky red liner tape :D Hope you liked the card :D

To see the process behind this pair of cute punny thank you cards, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D



Here's a photo of the lovely bundle of goodies that Stix2 sent me! Thank you so much Ruth! I have had great fun playing with the foils and adhesives you sent on this card :D



Lots more photos below :D








Monday 26 December 2016

Stay Home and Snuggle up This Christmas - Christina Griffiths Collaboration :D


A contemporary Christmas card collaboration video with Christina Griffiths :D We decided to do a collaboration using a few of the same products (Spellbinders Tranquil Moments, Tonic Nuvo Embellishment Mousse and the Winter Wonderland stamp set free from issue 36 of Creative Stamping magazine) I'm amazed at how we both started off with the same supplies but the results are so different, it's just like when we both use the magazine freebies, I love seeing what Christina has created :D To see Christina's video showing you step-by-step how to make her very elegant white and silver Christmas card, pop over to her YouTube channel or blog :D

I had this idea a little while ago for a cool technique, similar to the way I use the Pebeo Fantasy Paints, but instead stacking up the die-cuts but then spreading embellishment mousse into the openings :D And for this card, I actually mixed together aquamarine embellishment mousse and some clear sparkle texture paste from Creative Expressions too, and you can see in some of the really close up photos below that this gives a really cool texture :D And to hide any of the mess I had made I added another die-cut over the top once it had dried :D And for these die cuts I used some Pastel Green Foundations cardstock :D Also you might notice that the stitching detail on the Tranquil moments die on my card looks different to Christina's, well I noticed that if you flipped the die-cut 180 degrees and placed it back in the die, the stitching detail was in a different place and you ended up with this really closely spaced stitching which I really liked :D

I love this mug stamp from the Winter Wonderland stamp set, and I just had to try adding some of that cool knitted texture to the mittens, so once I had added the base colour, I used the scrappy post-it I had test stamped on and I made a stencil so that I could add the knitting to just the mittens :D It worked so well! I must remember this :D I also added some polka dots to the mug as well which I think looks really cool :D Hope you liked the card, and don't forget to check out Christina's card too :D

To see the process behind my card for this collaboration, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D


You can also watch Christina's fabulous video here too, we both used the same supplies but created two completely different cards :D



Lots more photos of my collaboration card below :D








Sunday 25 December 2016

40th Birthday Christmas Combo :D


A double sided Birthday/Christmas card commission for my neighbour whose daughter's 40th birthday is on Christmas day, she wanted a Birthday card and Christmas card all rolled into one, so I decided to create a double sided card that you can flip up the other way to change it from Birthday to Christmas :D I really LOVE the way this card came out, I will have to remember this card for next years Christmas cards, because I think the design is so simple, but so gorgeous at the same time :D

You can see in the video all the processes I was doing to create this card, however I did cut out all the die-cutting footage as it took quite a while to cut all these pieces, and my poor little cuttlebug struggles with trying to cut these intricate Spellbinders Geo dies, so it ends up taking me about 10 passes through to get all of it cut lol :D But anyway, the main products I used in this double sided card are the Spellbinders Symmetry in Space Geo die, a Tonic Studios layering scalloped circle die, a Crea-nest-lies double stitched circle die, the Heidi Swapp happy word die, some vellum, some turquoise mirror card, the silver metallic sparkle pen, Aquamarine Nuvo Embellishment Mousse, Sliver Moondust Nuvo Glitter Drops, Avery Elle Brushed stamp set, Apple Blossom upper and lower case alphabet dies, Lawn Fawn Scripty Merry die, Spellbinders Banner Celebrations die set, Spellbinders Peace Sentiment die, and a small star die from MFT blueprints 13 (along with the large stitched rectangle) :D I think that's everything :D Hope you liked the card as much as I do :D

To see the process behind this double sided card, please watch my YouTube video below, or over on my channel CRaFTi PoTeNTiAl :D



Loads more photos of my double sided dual purpose card below :D