In the spotlight

Hi everyone,

Wow it is horrible weather today here in the UK I hope you are having a nicer day wherever you are. I wanted to spotlight some of you today. I have looked back and found a couple of my favourite creations from you :D

 

So here goes this amazing creation is from Lizzy and she has used the gorgeous Believe.

 

I love the way Lizzy has used the lace and border punch with all those tiny butterflies scattered around to bring it all to life.

 

 

 

And my second pick is Janice. Janice has used the beautiful Flapper girl Melody

I just love the way Janice has given her such a great retro style and I LOVE they way her hair has been coloured to have that great shine :D

 

Thank you all for all your inspiration and I hope you have a great rest of the weekend.

 

Huge hugs

 

Amy xx 

 

 

Sweet Valentine

I should have had this post ready for this morning but hey better late than never, my excuse well i was so excited about going to Crafts and Me,s 1st Show at Stamperama what with meeting Teresa,her lovely family and my lovely teamie Tracy that i completely forgot about making my DT card, and i had to finish 24 Baby shower invites yesterday.I am gutted though coz i just missed our Gina too!!!Peeps were loving the New stamps which i,m sure Teresa will have available very soon at the store,Teresa was a bit cream crackered yesterday so had a rest day.
Right onto my card i decided to ink up Flapper Melody HERE
I colored her with promarkers and did you notice her necklace i used Liquid Pearls and it looks fab.
You still have another week to enter our current challenge which is RED over on the challenge blog HERE Teresa is the sponsor and theres a £10 Gift Voucher to spend at the store and with all those gorgeous new Jasmine stamps you will be spoilt for choice if you win.
Bye for now)
(hugs)
Trish (-:

A round up!

Its meeeee again with my round up of creations! I'm really spoilt for choice with all the new designs and many more coming so keep an eye out so you can be amongst the first to grab em! Also if you pick up this months Craft Stamper (Feb 10) you'll see one of Teresas stamps, The Butterfly Keeper by Hannah Lynn in there for my project on the easel post it note holder. Its a lovely stamp, one of my favs, very bold, can colour any way you like for a variety of occasions. This is a blue and turquoise one below which was inspired by one of my kids snakes lol! Well its more a piece of fluffy material stuck to a stick but they think its a snake :)

This is one from Lemon Shortbreads range and is Gift Melody. When Vera was designing these Teresa asked me what design I'd lke so I said one holding a parcel because change the colours and you can use her for xmas - versatile! She has such a pretty face Melody doesn't she? Theres some new ones coming soon which are also stunning, I absolutely love ALL of them! On top of the parcel here I used a tiny scrap of pink organza ribbon and tied it in a knot and secured with a glue dot just for a more 3d look - see not even tiny offcuts of ribbon are wasted!

This one is Christmas Melody, again versatile as you could stick a posy on there to cover the christmas candles and its an any occasion ;) I did the dress in white on this one but then I scribbled some clear sakura stardust pen on and spread it with my fnger to get rid of the scribble lines and gave the dress sparkles!

This is also one of my favs, Flapper Girl Melody, I love exploring this stamp! My DD asked for an altered candle for someone with black and white decor and she was just right for this. The lady loved it!

Flapper girl done a totally different colourway again, experiment and play with these images to your heart's content!

This is the very beautiful Wintergreen by Hannah Lynn who I've done in green, Blue, red and pink and she looks lovely in any colour you choose. I went for an afro-caribbean tone on this just to experiment and think she turned out lovely with darker skin :)

This is another of Hannahs called Glacier-Lily Fairy I was playing with my new airbrush with this to do the background :D For the bumps on the mushroom when you colour dont worry about going round them just colour over them and use an opaque pen such as sakura souffle or any opaque paint such as the 3d lacquer in the Crafts & Me shop here and then do the bumps at the end :) For smaller details that your nib is wider than such as if you use promarkers then switch to a pen like sakura stardusts or gel pens to do finer detail ;)

This is another angle showing the finish to the card. I use Glimmer Mist on most of my cards and own just 3 colours - Iridescent Gold, Pearl and Dazzling Diamonds. As you can see from above it doesn't affect the design and underlying colours until it catches the light then its wowzers sparkly! I tend to use the iridescent gold on yellow/orange/red colour group cards, pearl on pinks and pastels and dazzling diamonds which is almost clear and the one to use for a really subtle sparkle on darker colours, the blues and purples. You only need a couple of squirts, I tend to squirt it in the air and waft the card through the spray so I dont get big blobs. It really is a beautiful finish to a card and also when your bottle gets down to a quarter add more water back up to about half as theres plenty of mica left in the bottom ;)

This is a stamp by Whiff of Joy - Yes they're at Crafts & Me too! This one is Dancing Willow. I made this for my mates 40th as she's a party girl just like that lol! I actually won this stamp on a challenge blog for my pink version of Wintergreen, this was the prize and then I made this card with her and won more stamps lol! We have challenges at Crafts & Me too so if you've not played before pop over HERE and join in!

And finally Cinderella by Kraftin Kimmie, I just love love love that dress!

I'll be back soon with more - many many more!!

Tissue Box Tutorial

Hello everyone I am mega late today it really has been one fo those days so I'm gonna get on with my post for you. Last week I said I would be back today with a tutorial for you. Well here it is I have put together a tutorial for the 'Tissue Box' I made on my 1st posting for Crafts & Me.

There are a lot of piccies in this post cus I have tried my best to explain all of the steps, if however you get stuck or something isn't clear then simply e-mail me & I will help out any way I can. My e-mail address is on my blog in my contact page.

Materials you will need are as follows;

Score Board

Paper cutter & scissors

Glue & double sided tape

Nestabilities

3 Sheets of A4 card

Designer Paper 6x6 or larger & you will need 6 sheets, 2 designs 3 sheets of each design.

Lace or edging

 For every little black mark in between the numbers I call it a quarter....not sure if thats right or not. I've also drawn down each score line with a pencil, you dont need to do that I've just done it this way so you will see the score lines easier & I've also wrote on the card at which points to score i.e pic shown above means score at 5 1/4 which is the first little mark after 5.

So place your A4 card longest edge along the top of your score board & score at points shown below.

Turn the card so that the shortest edge is along the top & score down at 6.

Rotate it back the way it was & cut out the bottom corner like in picture below.

Then cut a slit on the middle score line cutting up to the 1st score line going across.

On the right side cut the corners away like shown...only do the right side.

Now repeat each of these steps on your 2nd piece of A4 card.

Now fold along all the score lines.

So now you should have this...

On 1 piece of card either attach double-sided tape or glue to the end strip as shown below.

Glue is firmer & more secure I have used tape for quickness.

Lay the 2 pieces of card side by side & the strip you have put the glue on attach to the 2nd piece of card as shown below.

Distress all edges & folds with ink. I have used 'Tea Dye' distress ink.

When you have distressed all edges you can put your designer paper on at this point or leave it til the end. I have left mine until the box is made up.

Attach glue or tape to the end strip as shown above.

Then fold the other side in attaching it to the strip you have just glued. This should then form the box.

Turn the box upside down & on the flaps where you have cut the corners off attach glue along the 2 sides.

Then fold all sides in making sure the ones you have put glue on are folded in last as shown above.

If you wish to strengthen the bottom cut a piece of card to the same measurement as your box & glued it to the bottom. I have used a paler colour card so you can see easier what I mean.

Next we move onto the lid. So for this you will need your 3rd piece of A4 card & score as shown in picture below.

Turn the card 90 degrees & do the same score lines.

On each corner cut a slit as shown below, 1 slit in each corner tab.

Now fold each score line.

For the next step you will need your nestabilities. The shape is entirely your preference as this will be the hole where your tissues come out.

Make sure you have your nestie in the middle & make sure it is not larger than the opening on your tissue box.

Next step is to distress all edges like you did to the box.

Have ready the papers that you will be using to decorate, choose papers that will co-ordinate with your image. I always work back to front & colour my image then choose my papers lol.

For my image I have used 'Flapper Girl Melody' which I got for crimbo off hubby, you can get this stamp from here. For my images I use this card here, its smooth so colours blend easily & I dont get any bleeding & I can also use it for my digi images as well, it goes through my printer with ease.

You can distress 1st then attach your designer paper before cutting your shape out I just forgot which is why I've done it this way lol.....either way will work the same though. So once you have distressed all the edges then attach your paper of choice. Then turn it upside down & place the same nestie as used before into the cutout & run throught your die-cutting machine. This will then cut the shape out of the paper.

Put some glue on all 4 corners of your lid & then fold in to glue it all together as shown below. I use either paper clips or mini pegs to hold it in position while its drying.

While the glue is drying you can decorate your box if you havn't done so already.

You will need your 6 sheets of paper 2 sheets of each design are for the box leaving 1 sheet of each design for the lid.

I cut the sheets just slightly smaller than the panels on the box.

When the glue on the lid is dry its then time to attach the lace or edging which ever you are using.

You can either cut into 4 strips, 1 for each side or 1 long continuous strip to go all the way around.

Each strip should be just slighter longer to avoid having gaps in the corners.

Excuse the choccy in the pic I needed a fix lol.

To make measuring the strips easier I cut a piece of card from my discarded pieces the same length as I want each strip to be. I just find it easier than putting each strip against my ruler.

Glue along all the bottom edges of the lid & then attach your lace.

You can also use paper lace which ever is your preference.

You can now decorate the lid to match your box.

Here is my completed tissue box.

I have cut around my image & attached it to card cut with the same shape nestie as used on the lid. It helps to make the image pop out a little bit more. The papers I've used are K&Co.

I made a butterfly for the back using a Marianne die. I then did different heat embossing & attached pearls to the body.

This is the lid all finished. You can decorate as little or as much as you want.....keep it simple or lavish it with flowers & embellishments the choice really is yours.

Well that is it for my tutorial I hope you made it to the end, get yourself another cuppa if you did lol.

Thankyou so much for looking at my tutorial & I hope it was ok. I'm still not used to doing these, this isonly my 2nd now so its took me a few hours to do this as well as what it took to make the box lol. I'm sure I will get quicker lol......I hope so. This box will take a standard square box of tissues it is slightly bigger though to accomodate any that are slightly larger. Any questions please feel free to e-mail me & I will gladly answer any questions I can.

Dont forget the challenge 'Tearing' we still have going over here.

Tatty bye for now & I hope you enjoyed my tutorial.

Huggles

Introducing our Newest Artist - Lemon Shortbread!

Good Morning!! I'd like to have the pleasure of introducing Crafts & Me's latest stamp designer LEMON SHORTBREAD who's designs are as sweet as her name!

Vera has developed her very own character named "Melody" who is such a pretty thing with a range of stamps coming to Crafts & Me which are on pre-order from today! Please go and check these absolutely beautiful designs out in the shop and pre-order to get your hands on them the moment they are released!

To celebrate Melody's world we are giving newsletter readers 10% off this fabulous new range from 23rd-30th November for one week only while stocks last by entering the code melody at the check-out.
Don't worry if you are not a newsletter reader just pop over to the store and register it's FREE
then place your order.

Lemon Shortbread is a graphic illustrator from Singapore who likes pop-art, ukiyo-e, surrealism and old stuff. She says "I hope you will find the Melody series fun and groovy like how the Sixties were, they are inspired by actual fashion during that era!" You will find more of her works on Etsy.

This is one of the new designs by Lemon Shortbread called "Flapper Girl Melody" I just couldnt take my eyes off the design when I first saw it, she's an absolute beauty! She can also be used for any occasion or age group and dressed up in any colours you like! I've made her into a Christmas card for this one to show how versatile she is. Melody is coloured with promarkers and a white gel pen for the beads and she has a little swarovski hat pin and I've also made a little swarovski pin on the side because she's worth it!

These are exclusive to Crafts & Me and I'm sure you'll love Lemon Shortbread's "Melody" as much as we do!