Hocus Pocus!

Hi there,

today I wish you a happy Halloween and I would like to show you today a nice table decoration for tonight.

Items I use:

SIZZIX BigZ - Tattered Leaves by Tim Holtz #656927

SIZZIX Texture Fades 2PK - Tattered Leaves Set by Tim Holtz

SIZZIX Die & Embossing Folder - Layered Leaf by Tim Holtz #660039

SIZZIX BigZ - Garden Greens by Tim Holtz #659436

and the wonderful:

 SIZZIX BigZ - Hocus Pocus by Tim Holtz #660962

I used my Big Shot for the die cuts, natural & black cardstock, some green glitter paper, pattern paper and some skeletal leaves from our florist.

  I bought some pumpkins and put on the leaves with hot glue.

Also the black, scary cat, the witch hat and the bat I fixed with hot glue.

I wish you a lovely weekend!

Annika

Flowery and joyful tag celebrates Spring

Hi everybody,

These days, here,  good weather has finally come (fingers crossed!). Also, in May in some cities such as Girona take place great floral exhibitions.

With the arrival of the heat and these beautiful flower shows I wanted to celebrate spring.

So with my Big Shot Plus, some watercolor paper, Color Bloom, and some golden pearls I wanted to make a very flowery and joyful tag

Sizzix products used in this project:
660515 Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White and Gray)
656938 Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die - Tag & Bookplates
657822 Sizzix Bigz Die - Flowers, 3-D #3
657823 Sizzix Bigz Die - Flowers, 3-D #4
657491 Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folders 4PK - Springtime Background & Borders Set

Be Happy!!

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Hola a todo el mundo,

En estos días aquí el buen tiempo finalmente ha llegado (crucemos los dedos!) Además, en mayo en algunas ciudades como Girona tienen lugar grandes exposiciones florales.

Con la llegada del calor y estas hermosas exposiciones de flores he querido celebrar la primavera.

Así que con mi Big Shot Plus, un poco de papel de acuarela, Color Bloom, y algunas perlas doradas he querido hacer un tag muy florido y alegre

Productos Sizzix usados en este proyecto:
660515 Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White and Gray)
656938 Sizzix Movers & Shapers L Die - Tag & Bookplates
657822 Sizzix Bigz Die - Flowers, 3-D #3
657823 Sizzix Bigz Die - Flowers, 3-D #4
657491 Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folders 4PK - Springtime Background & Borders Set

Sed muy felices!!

Christmas Week 1 with Karine

 Hello,

The end-of-the-year celebrations are coming closer now and it’s time to prepare greetings cards! All this week, the entire Sizzix team will show you how to create pretty and easy cards to inspire you again and again…

You can download the wonderful papers and die cuts offered by Sizzix by clicking here: http://www.sizzix.co.uk/free-festive-papers-2014-downloads

Here is a card with my favourite winter colour combo:

Supply List:

Papers: Sizzix downloadables

Cardstock, glitter paper: American Crafts

Coloured dots: Ephéméria

Glitter adhesive: Pause Créative

Label: Freckled Fawn

Others: gold leaf, pin

Dies:

658300 : Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit

659426 : Sizziz Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die-Bow-Tied

658759 : Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK-holiday-greens

660042 : Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folder 2PK-greetings-greens-set

Start by printing the nice snowflake pattern paper – you can download it here :)

I have printed this pretty snowflake pattern paper on a white cardstock.

Emboss a white cardstock with the Season Greetings folder. Cut a nice foliage pattern out of glitter paper.

Add a small bow knotted with glitter adhesive from Pause Creative. Assemble the whole in the lower right corner and you’re nearly done with your card!

Add some volume by inserting a pin and some colourful dots!

I hope you liked my card!

Have a lovely day,

Karine

Bonjour,

Les fêtes arrivent à grand pas, il est temps de commencer à préparer ses cartes de voeux ! Toute l'équipe Sizzix vous propose cette semaine de belles cartes faciles à réaliser pour toujours plus vous inspirer :)

Je vous propose de vite télécharger les superbes papiers et découpes offertes par Sizzix en cliquant ici http://www.sizzix.co.uk/free-festive-papers-2014-downloads

Voici une carte dans mon combo hivernal préféré :)

Matériel :

Papiers : Sizzix à télécharger

Cardstock, papier paillettes : American Crafts

Pastilles couleur : Ephéméria

Adhésif paillettes : Pause Créative

Etiquette :Freckled Fawn

Divers : feuille dorée, épingle

Dies :

658300 : Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit

659426 : Sizziz Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die-Bow-Tied

658759 : Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK-holiday-greens

660042 : Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folder 2PK-greetings-greens-set

Commencez par imprimer le superbe imprimé flocon en le téléchargeant ici

J'ai imprimé ce joli papier flocons sur un cardstock blanc.

Embossez ensuite toujours sur un cardstock blanc la plaque Seasons Greetings. Découpez un joli feuillage dans un papier pailleté.

Ajoutez un petit noeud relié par un adhésif pailléte Pause Créative, assemblez le tout dans l'angle bas droit et votre carte est pratiquement terminé !

Rajoutez un peu de volume en fixant une aiguille et des petites pastilles assorties !

J'espère que ma carte vous aura plu !

Bonne journée

Karine

Clean and simple

If you asked anyone I work with to describe me, the word 'simple' may crop up quite a bit although the word 'clean' would be conspicuous by it's absence (I'm a bit messy when I'm working!). Having said that, when it comes to card making Clean & Simple is what I prefer nine times out of ten. 

A few weeks back I made some cards using hexagons which I have taken with me to various shows and demo's recently and they always seem to be popular which I why I want to revisit the idea but with a festive twist.

I will be using a couple of the new Texture Fades embossing folder sets from Tim Holtz namely the Beaded Garland & Snowflake set and the Greeting & Greens set together with the Framelits Hexagons set.

I will also be using a selection of Distress inks to bring the embossing to life.

I started by using a 44 mm wide hexagon to die-cut an aperture in my base card behind which I placed a printed sentiment attached using adhesive foam pads to add a little dimension. I used the same hexagon to die-cut 4 shapes each of which I embossed using my 'Greens' folder.

I inked over the embossed detail using Ripe Persimmon and Spiced Marmalade before adding a little depth to the edges with Fired Brick. Next, I coloured the berries white using a gel pen (Uni-ball Signo by the way, Good white pens are hard to find!) You may need to repeat the white colour up to three times.

 All that was left to do was attach the separate hexagons around the aperture using adhesive foam pads trimming the bottom one to fit the card.

For the second card, I repeated the first three steps moving the aperture to the right and debossing with the 'Snowflakes' pattern.

I used Shabby Shutters, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord Distress Inks to add the colour. Once dry, I added tiny 2 mm adhesive gems to the centre of each snowflake and sprayed them with silver 'Spray & Sparkle' to enhance the colours and add a bit off 'Bling'.

I attached the hexagons as before and that, as they say, is that!

This is the sort of card I would be more than happy to send or receive and I'm sure that there are endless colour and embossing combinations that you could play about with to equally good effect.

Frozen fractals all around!

What on earth is a fractal I hear you cry and you are not alone? If you really want to know the answer, ask any little girl from the age of three upwards. The title of this blog itself is in fact a fractal of a lyric from the song 'Let it go' which comes from the Disney movie 'Frozen' and if you have a young daughter or granddaughter you will no doubt be familiar with both the tune and the lyrics.

My own daughter dressed up as the character Elsa for a Frozen themed lunch at her school last week complete with regulation blond plait so I thought I would use this weeks blog to create a frozen themed card featuring some of the new Tim Holtz collection.

The dies I used are:

• Sizzix Bigz Die w/Texture Fades - Layered Snowflake
• Sizzix Bigz L Dies - Stacked Snowflakes
• Sizzix Texture fades Embossing Folders 2PK - Beaded Garland & Snowflakes Set

You can see the different dies/folders by clicking on the links above.

OK! so it's Disney, it's one of the biggest grossing movies of all time, and my daughter will never speak to me if I get it wrong.... no pressure!

I took a 10.5 x 14 cm rectangle of white card and applied Broken China Distress Ink across the surface. Next, I applied the darker Chipped Sapphire working closer to the corners before going around the edges with Black Soot.

I next applied Perfect Pearls (Biscotti) which comes in a mister bottle. This serves to add a lovely pearl sheen and it also gives the inked surface a lovely mottled look if you spray enough on. After embossing with my snowflakes folder I used a little white gesso applied with my brayer working from the corners inward. I wanted the effect to be quite random and it brings out the embossed detail beautifully.

I die-cut the gorgeous layered snowflake and inked using Broken China and Chipped Sapphire and embossed with its corresponding Texture Fades folder (they come packaged together). Next, Iused my brayer to apply some white gesso in a thin layer.

Once the gesso had dried I used My Fingertips to apply PVA glue to the arms of the snowflake before sprinkling on a little Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter. Next I die-cut a couple of the smaller snowflakes using the Stacked Snowflakes die (LOVE this die!!!) before embossing both with the same folder. You can use this folder with snowflake die you may already have because they all conform to the same symmetrical six sided shape. I inked, applied the gesso and glitter as before and mounted all three snowflake together using adhesive foam pads to build up a little dimension before mounting toward the top of my embossed rectangle.

I took the final and most famous line from the song 'Let it go' and printed it onto white cardusing several fonts in different shades of the same blue colour. Next, I used scissors to cut them into asymmetric rectangles before lightly inking the edges

I attached the separate words using a combination of glue and foam pads before nervously crossing the room to seek the approval of Nichola and Natalie, our resident 'Frozenologists'

for there stamp of approval which I'm happy to say it received...PHEW!!

Now all I have to do is run it by my daughter (Jorja and Jessica too!!!) like I said, no pressure! 

I hope you like it though?

Father.... Christmas!

Today I want to share an idea which I used as a demo at Sprinkle Twinkle in Kings Lynn recently. The one thing I hear more than any other is that It's not easy finding an original idea for a man's card, they seem to follow the same old worn-out clichés and Christmas time it seems is no exception.

As I said last week, I'm very fond of the new collection designed by Tim Holtz amongst which are some fab new Texture Fades embossing folders. Today I will be using the Holiday Knit Set together with the ubiquitous Framelits Tags Collection . 

I started by embossing a rectangle of ivory card using one of the holiday knit folders. Next, I used a scrap piece of card as a mask before applying Ripe Persimmon Distress Ink, for the red bands I blended this with the aptly named Festive Berries Ink.

Next, I coloured the other bands using a combination of Shabby Shutters and Crushed olive ink pads. The coverage doesn't have to be perfect, in fact slight imperfection is preferred in this case!

NOW! it's time to brake out the scissors because we are going  to cut the embossed/inked rectangle into a jumper shape together with a separate collar. If you prefer you can mark this out with a pencil on the back of the rectangle of card prior to embossing. Once your jumper is cut to size its time to ink around the edges using Vintage Photo to add a little contrast.

 I used my PC to print the 'Merry Christmas DAD' sentiment onto kraft card before die-cutting my tag with one of the Framelits tags set I cut the circle for the top at the same time. To complete the look I used my tracing wheel to add the stitched effect around the perimeter and joined the dots using a fine marker before gently inking the edges.

I covered a blank A6 card with wood effect paper from the Dovecraft 'Krafty Christmas' paper set. Next, I curled the tag slightly so that it stands proud of the base card before threading it with string. Finally, I attached the jumper using adhesive foam pads.

I might just send it to myself but knowing my luck I'll get the Jumper itself!!

Autumn greetings



Hello Sizzix UK friends! Today I want to share with you some ideas for autumn greeting cards. This upcoming season is full of warm colors and wonderful textures. That's why I decided to use browns, greens and some orange or salmon hues with an emboss twist and a "butterfly effect". 

For my first card I decided to use one of the special background with wooden texture that I receive from very special person - Pete Hughes (thanks a lot, Pete!). I was always under impresion how perfectly he use such patterns. This time, on my 1st layer I put 2 different diecuts: an oldie, but still absolutely fantastic On the Edge Die - Butterflight and one of the Frameworks designs (absolutely love each of them!) - Frameworks Die - Courtyard.

On my second card, in a tag shape, I used large, embossed butterfly as a main decoration. I cut out and emboss it using Bigz Die w/Texture Fades - Layered Butterfly and another interesting paper from Pete - the golden one. It is similar to metallic foil, that' why looks like embossed metal sheet. Amazing, huh?

Sizzix supplies used:
658300 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)

659578 Sizzix Bigz Die w/Texture Fades - Layered Butterfly

659704 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Heavenly

659429 Sizzix Frameworks Die - Courtyard

657495 Sizzix On the Edge Die - Butterflight

Thank you for visit us today! 

Have a lovely, creative weekend! 

~~ Karola ~~ 

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Witajcie polskojęzyczni fani Sizzix! Dziś chciałabym podzielić się z Wami kilkoma pomysłami na jesienne kartki. Nadchodząca jesień pełna jest ciepłych kolorów i cudownych tekstur. Właśnie dlatego postanowiłam wykorzystać kolory z palety brązów, zieleni, pomarańczy oraz kolory łososiowego wraz z elementami wytłaczanymi oraz motywem motyli.

Jako tło w mojej pierwszej kartce wykorzystałam specjalny gruby i sztywny papier z motywem i teksturą drewna, który otrzymałam od wyjątkowej osoby - jednego z projektantów Sizzix - Pete'a Hughes'a. Zawsze jestem pod wrażeniem z jaką łatwością i perfekcją wykorzystuje on podobne motywy. Tym razem jako pierwszą warstwę w mojej kartce połączyłam wycinanki z 2 różnych wykrojników: nieco starszego, ale wciąż fantastycznego On the Edge Die - Butterflight oraz jednego z wykrojników Frameworks (absolutnie uwielbiam wszystkie wzory z tej serii!) - Frameworks Die - Courtyard.

W przypadku drugiej kartki w kształcie taga, wykorzystałam dużego, embossowanego motyla jako główną dekorację. Wycięłam i wytłoczyłam go za pomocą zestawu wykrojnika oraz foldera do embossingu Bigz Die w/Texture Fades - Layered Butterfly w kolejnym ciekawym tle od Pete'a - tym razem złotym. Tło jest podobne w kolorze i strukturze do metalicznej folii, dlatego tak wspaniale imituje wytłaczaną cienką blachę. Niesamowite, prawda?

Wykorzystane produkty Sizzix:

658300 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (Powder Blue & Teal)

659578 Sizzix Bigz Die w/Texture Fades - Layered Butterfly

659704 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 2PK - Heavenly

659429 Sizzix Frameworks Die - Courtyard

657495 Sizzix On the Edge Die - Butterflight

Dziękuję za dzisiejsze odwiedziny na naszym blogu!

Życzę Wam cudownego, kreatywnego weekendu!

~~ Karola ~~

Christmas Tri

Now I know what you are thinking, " Silly old Pete has spelt Tree wrong!" well, I wasn't actually trying to spell 'tree'. I have made three different cards using the new Triplits dies from Stephanie Barnard and the word 'three' in Welsh is Tri so it turns out that I knew what I was doing all along...... for once!

Triplits are wafer thin die sets representing staggering value in the sense that they are incredibly versatile and offer multiple options for those wishing to flex their creative muscles.

 I'm concentrating on the Christmas Trees set which includes no less than 14 separate elements as you can see below.

Sticking with the 'three' theme I'm want to demonstrate how easy they are to use by showing the cards from start to finish in a series of three pictures, so without further ado.......

I used my PC to print my 'Merry Christmas' Greeting onto 3 separate A6 blank white cards, Next, I die-cut the base tree from corrugated card and the other elements from matt gold card which I then lightly distressed with a sanding pad.

I then assembled the tree and attached it to the base card using 3D foam pads. I also tied a length of natural twine around the base.

Add caption

For the next card I die-cut the base tree from deep red card and the other elements from patterned paper from a Hobbycraft 6 x 6 paper pad that goes by the name of 'Love Collection'. I attached these separate elements to the base tree using 3D foam pads.

I die-cut the star and attached everything to the base card again using 3D foam pads before decorating the base of the tree using a length of knotted pink ribbon tied in a bow.

For our third card I used the large tree die to cut an aperture through the front of the base card before die-cutting a smaller white tree and a selection of assorted circles from silver mirror card.

I attached a folded rectangle of turquoise card into the base card as my insert and mounted my die-cut white tree onto it through the aperture. I then decorated the tree using the silver die-cut circles and added the die-cut star.

Here are the finished cards seen all together, given time (a luxury in my line of work!) I'm sure I could have gone on to create dozens more even in this restrictive format. I love these clever little die sets and they are one of the first items on my creative Christmas list.

Last week I was in Norway, or to be more exact, the beautiful city of Oslo where I was representing Sizzix as the guests of Global Hobby who are based in Bergen (Stunning place!). They were fabulous hosts and I would like to thank Alf Christian and his team for making me feel so welcome. 

While I was there I thought that I would create few cards with a Norwegian flavour using some of the wicked Papicolor card which they distribute. It folds, cuts, tears and creases so beautifully... I think I'm in love!

The first thing I made was the gift box using the Tim Holtz Pillow Box die which I decorated with torn strips of card replicating the Norwegian national flag. I  then added some die-cut floral elements from the Big Shot Starter Kit.

With the card and tag I took a slightly different approach. I used the flag motif as before but I also wanted to celebrate Norway's proud history for exploration by using a Tim Holtz Texture Fades embossing folder from the Airmail & Compass Set and a few butterfly's die-cut using the Butterfly Frenzy decorative strip die

I really love the colours and it was so much fun to do I hope you like them to?