Fairy Lantern

Just a quick post today to show this pretty little fairy lantern. It's loaded with detail, so apologies for the picture overload.

I know that there are several versions of this type of lantern knocking around the internet. However, mine is super quick and super simple and avoids all that faffing around with glue and tissue paper. It also avoids the hit and miss painting on glass process!

Want to know more? Check out the instructions below.

1. Cover a jar with Xcut adhesive vellum.
2. Dab Blanc Artiste Acrylic Paint onto the remaining glass areas of the jar. Paint the lid with Metallic Gold Artiste Acrylic Paint.
3.   Using black card, die cut a fairy and a selection of flowers from the Xcut Meadow Flowers die set.
4. Glue the fairy and some flowers to the inside of the jar.
5. Brush Craft Planet PVA glue onto the painted areas of the jar and allow it to dribble in places. Sprinkle sparingly with Papermania Fine Iridescent Glitter.
6. Punch a selection of flowers, butterflies and leaves from using Xcut punches and dies.
7. Create a handle from docrafts Craft Wire, attach to the jar using Stick Hot Glue.
8. Place the lid onto the jar and embellish with a craft wire stems, butterflies and a selection of the foliage, ensure that nothing is obstructing the movement of the lid.
9. Thread Papermania Alphabet Charms onto twine to create the hanging WISH ornament.
10. To finish, place a battery operated tealight inside the jar and replace the lid. 

I hope you like my take on the captured fairy lantern?

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire

Birdhouse Memo Board

I'm kind of in love with this super cute memo board! I created it for docrafts and full instructions can be found here: https://www.docrafts.com/Blog/birdhouse-memo-board/909

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Moroccan Star Garland

I recently created this gorgeous paper star light garland for docrafts. Full details can be found here https://www.docrafts.com/Blog/moroccan-star-garland/864

I hope you like it? 

Thanks for dropping by today.

Claire x

From Cereal Box to Birdcage!

Just thought I'd share another make from the Honchanda Stampin' Unicorn show. This started life as a docrafts Bare Basic box and a cereal box. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I need to apologise in advance for the number of pictures but there's a lot of details that I want to show you.

The first thing I did was to cut several strips of card from the cereal box. They were then painted with docrafts Gold Artiste Paint before attaching the "bars" to the box lid using Anita's Tacky Glue.

Next I ran the gorgeous Fourni Papers through my die cutting machine with the LDRS Picnic Quilt embossing folders. Using my finger, I rubbed Faber-Castell Metallic Gelatos over the raised embossed areas. The box was then covered with the papers.

I then die cut several butterflies from the Fourni papers using the LDRS Dotted Wings Die Set and covered them with Stickles Glitter Glue. The hanging butterfly charm from the die set was attached in the roof of the cage.

I used an old Spellbinders die to cut some foliage and coloured it with Distress Inks. Flowers from here were then arranged and adhered to the base and top of the cage.

The little bird is sat on a nest of reindeer moss. I've curled the stems of the flowers around a cocktail stick and then attached the butterflies to give them the appearance of flying.

The tag has been stamped with the mini flower from the Daisy Friends stamp set and attached with ribbon from the embellishment kit.

I hope you like my project and that I've not bored you with all the pictures.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.....

This was a really quick and easy make using the new Ultimate Capsule Pigment Collection and Xcut Oceanic and Beach Hut Dies. For full details please pop over to the Docrafts Blog.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Pretty in Pink!

This was another quick and easy make for Papercraft Essentials Magazine issue 148 using dies and stamps from Polka Doodles.

I've still got a few more cards from the magazine to share with you, so please check back over the next few days.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire

All materials can be found here.

Winnie in Wonderland is not as it seems.....

As promised I'm back today to share another of my makes from issue 137 of Papercraft Essentials Magazine. It's a really quick and easy card using the Flamingo and backing papers from Polkadoodles Winnie in Wonderland collection (full details can be found in the magazine).

I'll be back on Sunday with my final project that I created for the magazine. I do hope you can stop by and take a peek.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Life's a beach when you're 18!!!

My baby girl is finally 18!!! I say finally, because it been really hard for her as she's the baby of her social group and has waited for what seems to be forever to be able to go out to the pubs and clubs with her friends.

We're taking her on holiday as part of her birthday celebrations, so hopefully she'll get to enjoy a few cocktails on the beach with us. In view of this I thought this card would be very fitting.

I'm not sure that my photos do this card justice but hopefully you'll be able to see all the dimension and glittery bits. If you have any questions, please feel free to message me either by email, Facebook or Instagram. I always respond and promise that I don't bite!

I inked a simple background with Peacock Feathers and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks before cutting a strip of vellum and and heat embossing the Happy Birthday sentiment. Next, I drew a cocktail glass body and traced it onto acetate. Prior to cutting it out I added some "flaps" to the sides of the glass (these are folded and tucked into slits in the inked background to make the glass 3D). Next I cut a simple stem and die cut a circle for the base. I then cut matching vellum shapes.

The vellum was coloured using Distress Inks and secured with strategically placed glue dots. Next I lightly marked where the glass was to be placed on the inked background and cut slits about 1/2cm  in towards the centre of the glass from the edges. I ran double sided tape down the acetate flaps and slotted the glass body into place. I cut a piece of vellum to create the back of the glass and then carefully ran silicone glue around the entire rim of the glass before coating generously with diamond dust. I then assembled the remaining parts of the glass and added a straw that I had cut in half.

I stamped and heat embossed the glasses from the Susan K Weckesser  and added vellum and acetate "glass" to them. Next I stamped, coloured and cut out several flowers, leaves and shells from the stamp sets listed below. and attached them to the card with silicone glue. To finish I added lots of glitter and some 3D gloss glue.

I hope you like my little creation but more importantly I hope she likes it!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Stamp Sets used:

Tropical Flowers 1

Tropical Paradise Flamingo

Tropical Oceans

Celebrations

I am more intelligent

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:

More soup? Today it's Chicken....

Well chick actually! For those of you who haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, it is of course yet another make using the fantastic Stamp Soup collection from Polkadoodles.

Today's offering is this little chick card which was really quick and easy to make. You'll have to excuse the colouring and the card itself.... it was my first attempt at using Lyra Pencils on Kraft. I think I've decided I'm not a Kraft kind of girl to be honest!

I used two different stamps to create the chick. If you check out this post here you will need to use the stamps that I used for the head and feet then simply add a pair of eyes, a little beak and legs and the jobs a good un!

Hopefully you're not too bored with seeing the projects made with this collection? I'm truly loving playing with the collection and seeing what variations I can come up with!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Catz - Stitching
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
Jo's Scrapshack - Anything Goes
Morgan's Artworld - Anything with wings
4 Crafty Chicks - Less is more
Hanna and friends - Easter
Addicted to Stamps & More - Anything goes
Stampotique - It's all about birds (sdc237)

Fairytale Castle Wedding Card

Just thought I'd show you this commissioned card/keepsake that I recently had the pleasure of making. The customer was really specific as to what they wanted and although it was a challenge I managed to incorporate everything they required from the order! This post is really picture heavy so apologies if it's a little slow loading.

The castle is an attempted replica of Herstmonceux Castle where the ceremony was taking place. I say attempted because there were so many details when I started looking closely at it, that it would have been almost impossible to replicate, so I've used a bit of artistic license on it!

The first thing I did was to create a template for the base. I didn't have template for a castle, so I created my own. The project had to be boxed for presentation as it didn't fold flat. Had I made the turrets square then the whole project would've folded flat for posting, which definitely something I will keep in mind for any future similar projects.

Next I covered the walls with papers from Polka Doodles Work & Play Collection 2 and then cut out individual bricks to make the arches on the bridge. I covered the drawbridge in a wood effect paper from Polka Doodles Work & Play Collection 1

I used a variety of cutting dies for the name/greeting plate, shield, foliage, bunting and flags. The tiny flowers are a punch.

The image is from  Mazyart and coloured with Graph'It Markers. I had to alter it slightly as the Groom has a very specific hairstyle which the customer wanted included.

The final request was for somewhere to write a message and place a money gift, so I made a little concertina pocket to the rear of the card which held a tag envelope.

This was a fun project to make and I understand the happy couple were delighted with it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Calendar Challenges - Anything Goes
Brown Sugar Challenges - Anything Goes
Crafts For Eternity - Tic Tac Toe (Dies, Punches, Blue)
Crafty Girls Challenges - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes
My Heart Pieces - Use a digi stamp
The Crafters Cafe - Use Punches and Dies
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Just Inspirational - Wedding
PDE Linky Party - Dies/Punches
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes (see tip re turrets)
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes
Crafting From The Heart - Anything Goes

DIY Notepad For Your Handbag

Good morning it's my turn to provide today's Studio 12 inspiration post. So my project today is a handmade notepad for your handbag using one of the journalling pages from the Studio 12 Piknix Collection 1 CD.

Simply print out numerous copies of your selected journal page onto cheap copy paper, trim to size and then stack so that all of the sides are equal. Then use bull dog clips to hold the pages in position before brushing the top edge lightly with Copydex glue. Once dried, apply a further two layers of glue to ensure a good seal (nothing worse than a notepad which falls to pieces the minute you try to use it).

Then print the paper pattern of your choice onto card and cut it to measure 8" x 2 3/4". Next score the card at 1 1/4", 1 1/2", 4 3/4" and 5". Fold along the score lines, punch a decorative edge and lightly ink the edges if desired, then glue the pad into place. I've used a small piece of magnetic tape to secure the flap. Embellish as desired.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire

I'd like to enter this project into the following challenges:

Finally, The Last TV Sample!!!

Good morning. It's challenge time over at Polka Doodles and this week we want to see your celebration cards. I've picked Christmas as my celebration. The main reason for this is that the time bandit has been back in town stealing hours, so I simply ran out of time to create anything and as I'd not shown you my final TV sample I thought I'd cheat a little! :D

Sooooo this is it! My final TV sample using the Here Comes Christmas CD. This time it's a stepper card with multiple images.

I created a simple stepper base from card and then ripped strips of card to create the snow drifts. These were layered up using pop dots. The log cabin is simply paper coloured with Promarkers to give a wood grain effect, which has been torn into strips and then edged with Distress Ink

I've taken the images from the CD and coloured them with Promarkers before cutting out and inserting into the scene. To finish I've chucked on loads of Stickles, Glamour Dust and Glossy Accents.

The bauble garland has been cut from one of the papers from the CD - ever start a job then wish you hadn't?? Well that was one of them! If I ever do a remake of this, it will be a cheats garland!!

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a fab weekend.

Claire xxx

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafts & Me - Use a digi
My Mum's Craft Shop - Christmas in August
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything goes
Make It Monday - Anything goes

It's Not What It Seems!!!

So what do you think I've got to show ya all today? Another notebook? Wrong :D It's a faux book card!

I've seen a few of these book cards on my travels around the land of blog and eventually I decided to have a go at making one for my GDT project over at Stampotique. I'm going to give this to Hubby for his birthday - if DD doesn't nab it first!!! Anyway, here it is - really picture heavy post so my apologies!

I made the card base using this tutorial - there are loads out there, but this one is really clear and simple to follow. I kinda had a plan in my head as to how I wanted this to look, but there were a few things I hadn't decided upon as I wasn't sure they'd work or for that matter look right. So the card has been constructed in a completely bizarre manner and the actual concertina part was added at the last minute!!! :D

The first thing I did was cut the kraft paper to fit the book/card (I'll call it a book from now on, so that I don't confuse you or myself) and distress the edges by rolling them and inking them. I then added some faux stitching.

Before gluing the papers in place I experimented with my fastener, once I was happy I taped and glued the loop part in place and then added the kraft papers to the book. I poked holes where I needed the button to sit and then simply tied it in place.

I stamped several of the Leaf  images onto an old book page before cutting out and inking with Distress Inks. These were then arranged in the book and around the frame before trimming to size. I used my Spellbinders Foliage Die to cut some leaves and again inked with DI's before arranging them into the book pages. I also cut one of the leaf sprays down and attached it to the branch that Owl With Wings sits on, before colouring the image with pencils.

The background was inked using Distress Inks and then mounted onto the book and the back of the "pages" frame.

I gently swiped the book pages with Antique Gold acrylic paint on a baby wipe, this gives a really distressed look. The sentiment was computer generated. I've popped it out a little from the frame using black pop dots.

The quote was computer generated and then printed onto kraft paper, which again has been distressed and faux stitched.

So there you have it, one Faux Book. I really hope you liked this as I have another one to show you very soon! :/

Thanks for stopping by today.

Claire x

Materials:
Leaf by Jo Capper-Sandon
Owl With Wings
Kraft Paper
Card
Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Forrest Moss, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Brick Red, Walnut Stain and Tea Dye

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp & Show - A Bit Of Brown
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Nature
Stamptacular Sunday - Fabulous Folds
Hotshot Crafts - Distress Inks
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Pixie Dust Studio - Birds