A Floral Birthday (if your name is January!)

Hello there! I've popped back for a quick visit whilst Lydia is having her brief break.

It's lovely to be back with you all, and today I wanted to combine two Concord & 9th sets to create a bloom filled birthday greeting.

First up, the newer 'All Year Long' set

Don't dismiss this set as one for planner people or just Birthdays; there are some lovely flowers that are incredibly versatile. Granted , this card might only be suitable for people called January ;-) but the sentiments are perfect for lots of occasions and the contrast in fonts is really beautiful.

I decided to pair it with another set; Flourish

To add colour to the flowers and leaves I used some of the Hero Arts Ombre inks

 I've secured most of the fussy cut stems to the reverse of the die cut circle although I did have to use a little extra acetate 'scaffolding' in a curved shape. Granted it may not fit in a standard envelope but with the dreary January days, we all need a riot of colour, right?!

Thanks for joining me today, hope you enjoyed seeing how gloriously these two sets combine!

Keren xx

So long,friends

Hi! How are you all?

I thought I'd take advantage of one of the newest Mama Elephant releases and pair it with one of the slightly older ones. 

Here's my rationale behind the card; you've all got those friends- the ones who are deliciously different and are completely unique? Well, this card is celebrating that. The new 'Words Defined' set

is brilliant and you don't need to use the whole stamp. Cut (yes, I do do that!) or mask the definitions to get even more versatility from your sets. The definition made me think of that unique friend and so I coloured her pink and left all the other friends 'gray' in comparison. It makes for a fun colour scheme too.

For the dogs, I've used Playful Pups

I've trimmed into the legs so that they could hang off the sentiment area and stand on each other. It's a really useful trick that avoids more complex masking.

For the pink background I blended a little Bubblegum ink from MFT

It's a easy and clean design and just a lot of fun, which is what I've had a tonne of too whilst at Seven Hills Crafts. 

I've been on the Design Team for quite some time now and I'm really sad to be saying 'so long' friends to you lovely blog readers and customers. I am having to change how I spend my free time (whatever that is!) so have reluctantly stepped down from the team. Tara has agreed to let me back onto the blog onto the blog occasionally (so you haven't got rid of me that easily) but can I take this opportunity to say a big Thank-you for supporting this blog, business and me too. You have no idea how much the Design Team value all of your comments, and it really does make it all worthwhile.

Tara will pick someone splendid to replace me, so please consider trying out for the team. It might seem a little daunting, but you'll never get picked if you don't actually apply!

I've loved being a part of this wonderful community and business, and know that you'll continue to be inspired by the other fantastic Design Team members.

Hugs, and much love!

Keren xx

Shrinking & Pokemon!

Hi! How are you?
This is a post of two halves. One more labour intensive and one so simple, my 8 year old supervised me making it!
I guess I have been unconsciously affected by seeing lots of lovely Pinterest type pictures of weddings or parties with those lights streaming down from the ceiling and an elegant array of flowers on the table. That was my starting point for this card using the Shine Brighter set from Concord and 9th

It's years since I've dug out my shrink plastic, and I really needed it as several of the full sized images wouldn't have fitted on the card.

You can see the difference when shrunk . I stamped onto the shrink plastic using Stazon black ink, cut out around the lines and then added some alcohol ink. You can see just how much darker and vibrant the colour is, so you can be a little more sparing initially.

The light bulb bottoms needed some black shrink too...

This photo shows you the glue. I used glue dots as they both stuck the twine to the card and then I could pop the 'tops' on. The issue with other glues is that the shrink surfaces aren't always completely flat so it's harder to adhere them.

I've coloured in the flowers brightly as a good contrast and needed another colour to help finish off the scheme. I'd spent a while trying to get the right colours and as I was finishing off, I thought of another card- ridiculously simple, but is definitely my favourite. I couldn't devote a whole post to it, so thought I'd add it today!

We (like probably millions around the world) have been playing 'Pokemon Go'. It's a surprisingly good game that you play on your phone and has taken us all around our city 'catching' 3D 'Pokemon' (I can't call them animals or I'll get told off, but they kind of are'. 

Anyhow, I was just thinking about the design of one the Pokeballs and realised it would be so simple with some circle dies and a fun sentiment from Mama Elephant's 'Wanderlust'

I just thought the top sentiment would be perfect. This card could be an invite, a birthday card- you name it. It was using simple circle dies like these Lawn Fawn ones.

Die cut 3 same sized circles in black, red and white cardstock. Cut a circle out the red and white cardstock and then cut them just under in half and place onto the black circle. Die cut a smaller circle and then assemble

After William (my little boy) had made sure that it was correctly representing a Pokeball, I remembered some M&M's I'd got cheap at the weekend, specifically for use in crafting ;-)

They were the perfect colours and I recreated smaller balls using punches.

For any of you with kids or nerd friends, this would make a fun greeting and some great party favours or snacks to keep them quiet!

Have a great day and I'll see you next week!

Keren xx

Not Just For Christmas?!

Hey!

Don't worry, you can breathe again. I'm not doing Christmas. Not at all!

Concord & 9th brought out a fun set of dies especially to create a 3D Christmas tree. I made one or two and had plans to create non-Christmas projects, but they've only just come back into the store. If you use them like they're designed, you can create this type of thing

                                     

 But, enough of that (unless you are getting organised already!).

With it being the Olympics in Rio, my mind wandered over to laurel wreaths for the olympian victors. The little 'berries' are part of the die set too!

Granted, its pine not laurel, but I reckon no-one would notice! To make them, you first need the Take A Bough set and simply snip off the middle sections, cutting in a curved direction so they look more natural.

I thought I'd create a more summery wreath, this time, die-cutting from white cardstock and colouring in the centre areas with Zig Clean Color Markers

I stacked them around a circle (to help get an even wreath) and then added some small flowers from the Flourish set

I hope this gives you an idea of the scope of this set of dies. They're a lot of fun to play with.

See you next week!

Keren xx

Getting Organised!

Hi! How are you?

Well the organising part is the second project. This project came out of the first one because I had lots of sets lying out whilst I was trying to choose one. I love this Wanderlust set.

I wanted to use the background stamp to onto acetate

Maybe I had Smarties on the brain, but it does look a little like sweets!

                                       

Anyway, on to the organisation. For those of you anticipating the back to school uniform buying, it can be a hassle and as I have several to buy for, I thought I'd make the buying a little more pleasant and make myself a proper list so I don't forget anything.

I started off with the Mama Elephant New Family set

This set and the coordinating Creative Cuts are on special offer now- so do grab a bargain here!

I created the tag using Embellished Tag Creative Cuts

I added a strip of stamped stars so I could colour each one as I buy them

I put the tags together with a D ring and added some seam binding to decorate. 

This would make a perfect record of your family 'measurements' for shoes and collar sizes etc that you can slip in your bag or add in room sizings or curtain measurements. Just the thing for when you spot a bargain!

Hope you are inspired to get organised.
(just wish I could get organised in other areas)

See you next week
xx

A Musical Birthday!

Ta-dah! Birthdays are always accompanied with music; whether it's whilst blowing out the candles or dancing!

I recently got two Avery Elle sets and thought they combined perfectly to make a pretty birthday scene.

I die cut a circular portion off the card blank by slotting the card into the centre of a circular die so only the bottom edge of the card is touching the die. Make sure the back half of the card is lying flat or you'll die cut that too.

Then add an acetate bottom to the card. I love doing these as they really add more of a focal point to the card elements.

I've added the cut out floral element onto the card with foam pads. It helps make the scene look more dimensional and gives depth to the images.

I've added lots of little gel pen dots to the images- it makes them seem less 'flat' and adds more detail.

I've trimmed all of these animals out, but you could use the Band Camp Elle-ment dies to make your life a whole lot easier!

Hope my little musical interlude has inspired you to combine your stamp sets. 

Am off to sing in an opera right now.

Not.

Would love a voice to be able to do that. I'll live vicariously through the band camp stamp set instead ;-)

See you next week

xx

Sticker Stamping!

Hi! Happy Tuesday again!
Thought I'd revisit a technique I tried years ago. It's great fun and you've probably got some in your craft room already... label sheets.
Any plain ones will do. Round ones look particularly fab.

You only really need label sheets and colouring supplies.

I've used a stamp set from WPlus9- and this one is in stock and would do perfectly

First off- grab a sticker'label sheet

 Next, I stamped and heat embossed

Colour in next. Be warned- the paper for these stickers is super thin so it won't take much water without tearing.

Lastly, just transfer them using something sticky- a transfer sheet. I use Oracol (for use with my Silhouette). Then, pop it onto a card blank and finish the project off

Fancy doing something a little more contemporary? I've used thinner labels and only partly covered the card. I die cut the sentiment

Just add a layer of black cardstock underneath the negative die cut space to help give dimension and then add the word using foam pads

It works for larger sized labels too- I've created this simple unisex card

using the My Favorite Things Undeniable Chemistry set

These label sheets look fantastic brayered over too. Stamp in black or white emboss and then add different brayered colours. Hope this inspires to give it a go!

See you next week!

Keren xx