Downton Abbey

Okay, I've never watched Downton Abbey as I'm really not a fan of period dramas (except The Paradise, that was brilliant, but it got cancelled after just 2 series!).  Anyway, having said that I love card making and when I got a sneaky peek at this range from Crafters Companion at their 10th Birthday party in August I just loved it, it is very grown up and elegant and there is so much there for men you should not be lost for a male card again - ever!

Having seen the samples on the screens now, I can honestly say my fellow teamies have done the most amazing work, and I'd like to think I've contributed a little bit to that, so without further ado, here are my little contributions which were created as step by step instructions which will appear at some point on the Crafters Companion website.

With this project I wanted to show how well the collection would work with things that you may already have from CC, such as the gift bag template, this is such a fabulous size and with everything on the CD you can coordinate your gift packaging, card and anything else you fancy! (I used the downstairs CD (2) for this one)

This twisted easel was done to show off one of the gorgeous male elements that are available on the CDs and also makes use of the Regency Swirls embossing folder that you may already have, bit of gilding wax and your away! (I used the upstairs CD (1) for this card).

Anyway, I hope you've been enjoying the Downton Abbey collection on Create and Craft over the past few days and that your CD's, dies and embossing folders are winging their way to you!

TTFN

Rach

Just playing

Well, I've had a very busy week off work and spent some time with the most AMAZING people to celebrate the upcoming 10th Birthday of Crafters Companion, I say busy, but when you spend most of 2 days in a car driving, that kind of uses up your time & I also needed a day to recover!

Anyway, I'm back to it now and managed to get together with an old crafty buddy back in Plymouth, it was lovely to see Sharon & I hope we can get together more often now, it's been waaaay too long.  I even made a card!

I recently ordered the gilding waxes from Crafters Companion, and in order to make use of the discount code I had, I also ordered some embossing folders, which like any good crafter stayed in their packet being stroked and cooed at every time I went past.  Well, I finally got them out of their packets yesterday, labeled them up so I know which is which in future and decided to make a card using one of them.

This card uses the Wood Grain embossing folder, and I actually used the cardboard back of the packet as it has such a lovely colour to it.  I then used the Renaissance Gold gilding wax over the top and cut this into 6cm squares, I layered these up with Coredinations from the Neutrals set and cut out the leaves using the Diesire Wildflower Trio (again with card from the Neutrals set), the sentiment is from the Sentimentals Nature set which I stamped (memento Rich Cocoa) onto a frame cut using the Nouveaux Stamping Frame, which was inked using Brushed Corduroy distress ink.

Well, anyway hope you like it & hopefully I'll be back soon with more to show you - I have another Crafty buddy, Alison due over this afternoon so we'll see what else I can get made!

TTFN

Rach

xx

Where does the time go?

Wow! its been ages since my last post - sorry about that, before you know it it'll be time to start singing carols again.

Speaking of which, have you started making your Christmas cards yet?  I don't think I ever really stop, can't help it, Christmas is my favourite time of year, and Crafters Companion are releasing today a really fabulous and quirky CD from the fabulously talented Abigail Mills with a Christmas theme, it's called Romany Christmas and there are also four stamp sets with some amazing characters.

My make will actually be a tutorial on the website, so if you like the look of this one you should be able to re-create it (I will happily share how to do things if there is ever anything you want to know, just get in touch).

This is a waterfall card using a section from the CD called 'Blended Tags', there are some incredible images, which will make fabulous quick toppers for cards, or like here, you can use them in combination, the backing papers are to die for - oh who am I kidding! the whole CD is just outstanding (as always).

Anyway, hope you can tune in later to Fiona on Create and Craft (4 p.m.) for the One Day Wonder.

TTFN

Rach

x

How to make a Trinket Box

Ever wondered how to put together one of the trinket boxes on the Crafters Companion CD's?  Well, I've put together a step by step for one of the ones on the new Nordic Christmas CD (they're just gorgeous!).

First, let's show you what you're going to make, here's the finished card:

Okay, so first you need to print all of the pages out (print two of the second page, it does tell you at the top of the page that you need two.

I start by making the drawers (these are labelled 'box base'), so cut these out and the wraps first, then score along all the lines using a scoreboard such as the ultimate pro and burnish all of the creases.

Drawers

Box wrap

Score on the lines

Score on the lines

 Next, snip along the solid lines on the drawers, and then glue the triangle tabs inside, this will form your drawers.

Sorry that the pictures are all over the place, hopefully you can see what was done....

Now you have your drawers, you need to make the wraps for them, so fold these up and glue along the small end and adhere this inside.  Put a draw inside each, you may want to do this as the glue dries so that you can make sure that the wrap fits well (if you use a wet glue you have a little wiggle time before its set).  You can use brads through the white dots at the front for handles, or punch holes and thread a loop of ribbon, a tassel, button.... you get the picture.

Next you need to cut out the two squares of card on the first page of the trinket box.  Glue your boxes to one of these so that there is a narrow border all the way round the drawers, you might want to dry arrange them before using glue to stick in place.

 Once your four drawers are in place (you can arrange them with one opening on each side if you like), then glue the other square of patterned card on top.

Now cut out the card, which is page 3 of the design, and score and burnish along the dotted lines

I have folded this so that the image is facing up on the base, this forms the easel top of your design.

 Next cut out the topper page of your design and create your easel design, this is very much a personal thing and you can go as mad as you like with this (especially with these stunning Christmas designs!)

Next, glue your easel to the draw base you have made

Once you have your easel on the base, you need to create a stop for the topper so that it stands up - there is a strip on the card page (page 3) of the design which you can use, raised up onto foam or 3D glue gel, or your can create rolled flowers from the last two pages of the design, which is what I've chosen to do.

Once you've created your lovely flowers, glue these into place, I also cut out some holly from the Die'sire Holly die to add an extra detail under the flowers, but again all the embellishments are down to you, there is so much scope with these lovely designs for adding your own personality.

Anyway, I hope this has helped if you were at all unsure of what goes where with these and I hope you all have loads of fun with this.

TTFN

Rach

x

More Flights of Fantasy

Well, looks like you are loving this range as much as I do, there really is so much on these two CDs that every time I look, I find something else I hadn't seen before.

These next two cards are made using the card companions and toppers sections of the CD, with a little bit of backing papers thrown in, the second card even has the backing paper printed onto vellum for the flowers.

In the first card, I added some sakura glitter pen to the topper, unfortunately I don't think you can see it, but it does sparkle beautifully in the light - really think these images lend themselves to being covered in glitter!

Well, just a quick post from me today - hope you have a great Wednesday & see you again soon.

TTFN

Rach

x

Flights of Fantasy

Well, as I'm blogging again, it must mean that there is another launch coming up for Crafters Companion and I've managed to un-bury myself from my craft room!

I know we probably all say it, but this really is a HUGE favourite of mine, these images from Morgan Fitzsimons are to die for, and there are so many to choose from on CD1, and then, to top it all off, you get CD2 which has even more images on, this time FOR YOU TO COLOUR YOURSELF!!!!!!  It really is such a stunning collection, but wait, there's more, there is a paper pad too, which has double sided papers and FOILED papers as well.  Excited really does not do my emotions justice, I'm already in love & I hope you will too.

Anyway, to my sneaky peaks.  This first one is from the A4 decoupage section of the CD, where there are some wonderful images, this beautiful little lady being one of them, I decided to turn her into a wall hanging, so had to put the decoupage onto a larger base.  I wanted to have the fold back frame look so used some of the backing papers printed double sided onto lightweight printable paper, cut them into triangles, rolled and glued o the edges, I wasn't happy with how they looked so I then cut out some Ivy in various greens, used some spray & sparkle irridescent to give them an early morning dew look and then weaved them around the frame, simply stunning!  I added a couple of flowers using the Forget me Not die, which I cut out of some offcuts of double sided centura pearl and then coloured up using distress inks, I put gems at the centre and dotted these around the frame as well as a bunch in one corner.  A bit of glitter on her wings and around her headdress and a ribbon for hanging and your done.

This next card is one of the card companions from the CD, these are a real go to favourite when you need to make a quick card (though I seem to make them take ages!) as everything you need is on one sheet and it's guaranteed to coordinate.  I used some core'dinations in complementary colours, the blue in the background I embossed with the Embossalicious folder 'tumbling leaves' and sanded back.  The doily has been coloured with Antique linen distress ink as I thought the white would be too harsh.  A couple of buttons finish the card off nicely! 

Anyway, hope you like these - I know you'll love the CDs and the paper pad which launch tomorrow on Create and Craft as the four day deal with Sara and Fiona!

TTFN

Rach

x

Do me a favour

Well, I hope you managed to get your hands on the four day deal, in fact for some of you the goodies will have already arrived to play with!

These next makes come from CD2, which has some wonderful 3D goodies on it - these are Favour boxes (well, pyramids), and each of the selections has the designs to make two, hence my makes, which as you can see are the american/broadway ones.  These are sooo easy to put together and you can decorate or not as you see fit (the statue of liberty is one of the stamps, which I coloured with my spectrum noir pens - BGR1,2 & 3).  

They would be great for a few sweeties or for small trinkets from your travels to give as gifts, don't forget there are 12 different designs on the CD (each with two trinket boxes), so plenty of choice depending on your destination! (see what I did there!!!).

Anyway, s'pose I'd better go and get ready for work, have a great day all.

TTFN

Rach

x