Believe!

Every Christmas around the 21st of December my daughter receives a letter from Santa to say that she has been a good girl and that he will try to get as many presents from her(extensive) list that he can. I have stored all these letters in my bedside drawer till now so I thought it was about time I found a permanent home for them.

I found one of those book/boxes in a local shop and I bought a couple with a view to customisation at some point in the future.

I started by applying a generous layer of modelling paste using a palette knife, it doesn't have to be super flat, in fact a few inconsistencies are preferable.

Once the paste was dry to the touch I set about making imprints using rubber stamps. Always wait until the paste is partially dry before moving on to this step or you could have an ugly mess on your hands.

I took three of the Thinlits Holiday Knit dies by Tim Holtz and used them to create a stencil through which I could apply more modelling paste.

Once the paste was dry I applied white gesso to the book/box cover before painting using assorted shades of blue/green Distress Paint.

I sped up the drying time using a heat tool before applying a generous spray of Distress Stain which I immediately worked on to remove most of the stain with a damp paper towel.

After the dark contrast it's time to add some highlights using white chalky paint applied with a dry brush technique, always start slowly and build it up. Next, I dipped a toothbrush into some of the paint and applied a random spritzed effect concentrating on the edges and corners. Once dry I applied some pewter coloured gilding wax over the raised detail.

For the word 'Believe' I am going to use the Bigz Handwritten Believe die by Tim Holtz. I started by scrunching a piece of thin white paper before cutting a rectangle of mount board large enough to cover the die. I attached this to the paper using spray adhesive before trimming to size and applying pressure from a brayer so that it sits nice and flat.

I die-cut the word with the paper side against the die and sealed it with more white gesso before following all the steps above so that the word matches the box. You can see where the gilding wax has picked out the creases in the paper.

Time for a few final flourishes now. I applied a little chalk paint to the bells and snowflake charm and gently stained a length of crinkle ribbon.
As you can see from the finished box, I thread the ribbon through the bells and tied it into a bow and added the snowflake charm above the letter 'i'. I hope that this is something that Poppy can pass on to her children at some point in the future.

 Here are a few close-ups showing some of the detail. Next week we're taking to the road with a fabulous set of dies which include a magnificent push bike.... see you then!

Quick Knits!

Don't worry, I'm not getting my knitting needles out. In fact the last time I used knitting needles was to drum along to the song 'Born to Hand jive' by Sha-na-na which was featured in the movie 'Grease' as I'm sure you all know? I remember it like it was yesterday but it was actually some time around Christmas 1978!!!

It is September already which means the kids are back in school and it's time to turn our attention to Christmas and all our new festive collections.

Tim Holtz never disappoints at this time of year and he has come along with another classic collection which dovetails nicely with last years collection too. Do you remember the lovely Nordic knitting pattern embossing folders? well now we can enjoy them in die form too.

I know that the title says Quick Knits and that is because I came into the office today thinking that it was a Tuesday! my mental calendar is a bit out of sync thanks to the recent bank holiday here in the UK so I had to come up with a quick yet effective blog idea, I hope you approve?


The Thinlits Holiday Knit set is one that you will be seeing an awful lot of in the coming months I'm sure as it is super versatile. I measured the length and width of the die I wanted to use, added the two measurements together and cut a square of kraft card in that size.

As you can see the level of detail is fabulous and this might be a good time to invest in the Sizzix Die Brush which removes all those pesky bits of card from your dies in the twinkling of an eye.

Once I had made my first cut the rest was easy, it makes a great festive frame! The magnetic platform was a great help too as it held the die in place while cutting.

I measured the square in the centre of the frame and cut another square of kraft card slightly smaller. Next I die-cut the large star from the Festive Scribbles Thinlits Set (It's Fab!) and the word 'Joyful' from the Holiday Words Script 2 Thinlits Set.

Time to add a bit of colour. I'm Using 'Broken China' Distress Paint applied with a brayer.

If you don't load too much paint onto the brayer you can add it gradually to achieve a more random effect.

Finally a bit of white chalky paint added in the same way before matting them together.

Phew! That was a quick turn around thanks to my trusty Big Shot. I promise to spend a little more time and care next week although I'd be more than happy if this card dropped through my letter box come December.

Let it Faux!

That's right folks, the terrible title puns are back! This week we are going to look at one of my favourite die-cutting techniques which is the art of faux embossing.

Faux is of course a French word meaning false or fake but there is nothing fake about the quality of the embossed effect on show today.

I am using dies from the Winter Wonderland range and as we stand on the cusp of September I can already detect a slight autumnal bite to the early morning air so I don't think it's too early to talk about Christmas cards?

The dies I have used today are.....

• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK - Decorative Trees (660878)
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK - Delicate Fall (660879)
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 3PK - Winter Wishes (660882)
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Proud Deer (660884)
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Strolling Bear (660886)
• Sizzix Bigz Die - Wonderland Bird (660887)

I started by die-cutting around a dozen snowflakes from card before attaching them to a piece of mount board using spray adhesive. Next I cut my deer using the Bigz die and primed it with white gesso, this forms a barrier to stop the acrylic paint being absorbed by the mount board.

I chose three different shades of red Distress Paint and painted my deer. Once the paint was dry ( I used a heat tool to speed this up) 

I put a little dark brown paint onto my craft sheet before diluting it with water, I then painted this wash over the deer so that the paint settled in the cracks before dabbing the deer with kitchen paper to remove excess wash. The idea of the wash is to just leave it in and around the die-cut detail to add contrast. 

The final step is to very delicately apply white chalky paint using a dry brush technique. Always start off with less than you think you will need and build it up slowly.

Before adding to the face of a simple white base card I wanted to create a craft card background. I applied Distress Inks around the edges before adding a couple of Christmas postmark stamps from Lily of the Valley. I scrunched up the card concentrating on the edges and attached a length of twine around one side finishing with a bow.

Here's the finished card, as I promised the embossed effect is pretty cool!

Next up is the bear, as you can see I used one of the Framelits Christmas tree dies to add the detail before applying them to the mount board.

 I used two shades of grey and one of blue to get a little subtle contrast adding a dark wash before lifting it all with the dry brush work.

Again, here is the finished card, I DO love this die!

 A slightly different spin, I am using both positive and negative die-cuts this time.

I chose a couple of shades of pink before using a deep red wash finishing off with the dry brush technique.

And last but not least.....

All time faves!

Hearts like flowers and butterflies are universal favourites for most creative people from card makers to quilters. Hearts come in a variety of shapes and sizes and we all have our favourites and the Bigz Hearts, Primitive die is mine!

Not only are they my favourite hearts but it is also one of my all time favourite dies too!

 This autumn I am scheduled to attend quite a few events and shows and one of the things I always like to have with me is a materials swatch which is in the form of die-cut flowers cut from several materials attached to a large jump ring the purpose of which is to show what can be cut using a Bigz die. I was thinking the other day that it is time to retire my old swatch as, much like myself it is getting a little tatty around the edges.

Today's post will show the start of what is quite a long process. I have created three separate die-cut hearts in gingham, marquetry wood and card and attached each to a die-cut tag. When finished they will all be loaded onto a big ol' jump ring and taken out on the road.

Card is always a good place to start so I cut the medium heart and applied a little Old Paper Distress Ink before adding the stamped detail. once dry I scuffed the edges using the blade of my scissors to add to the care worn appearance.

The tag used is from another of my favourite die sets namely the Framelits Tag Collection By Tim Holtz very handy and versatile indeed.

Gingham fabric has a lovely texture and is great for use in mixed media projects. I started by attaching a strip of the fabric to a piece of kraft card and die-cutting my heart shape and next, I applied a little white gesso with my brayer.

After inking the edges using Pumice Stone Distress Ink I stencilled the number 2 using grey acrylic. Once the paint had dried I used another stencil to apply white spots in a random fashion, it's far more controllable than the splatter effect for this project.

I also used the blade of my scissors to gently lift the edges before attaching to the tag.

Marquetry wood is great to use but it is very brittle. I always advise backing it with card or tape to hold it together and add a little strength. I cut a few strips into 'planks' and used Distress Paints to add the colours. Distress Paints are great for this particular project because if you use the sponge applicator on the end of the bottle it's really easy to vary the amount of paint applied giving a distressed appearance without having to lift a finger!

I attached the strips to a piece of dark card beore die-cutting the shape and I also applied a typewriter text stamp using a light grey ink, the effect is very subtle as intended and it all looks pretty cool!

More of these on the way, I'm off to dig out some quirky materials to have fun with... Suggestions welcome!!

Leather and metal

Before we start, I would like to say a big thank you to the staff and customers of Pink Tulip in Warwickshire, not far from Stratford-upon-Avon, I had a wicked day demonstrating all things Sizzix and we had a bit of a giggle too. It is a fabulous shop, full to the brim with all the latest craft goodies so if your ever in the area its well worth a little excursion.

NOW! from the title of this post you could be excused for thinking that I am writing an Iron Maiden fanzine and thankfully for both of us you would be wrong.

I have always been fascinated with combining different textures and materials to create amazing effects with die-cutting and embossing, sometimes the simplest combination of materials can yield some very surprising results. 

I think it is so important to keep exploring the endless possibilities of our chosen medium otherwise we get stuck in a creative rut which would drive me nuts!!!

All this brings us back full circle to leather, metal....... and embossing!

Metal is too tough and leather is too soft for embossing (although there are ways!!) so I need to look for ways to create the illusion of both materials.

metal is easy, but this is a great technique because it is very simple to do and the results can be incredible. I decided to apply the embossed effects to a couple of picture frames.

I am using the new PLUS embossing folders. Excuse the capital letters but they are huge! The folders themselves are A4 in size which opens up so many more creative avenues to explore. The folders that I am using today are Field of Diamonds and Botanical Swirls

I started by attaching a sheet of craft metal to a sheet of heavy weight card, this makes the metal sheet more rigid and less prone to damage when applied to your creation. Next, I used the empty picture frame as a template to mark out the size. It's always good to make it about 5mm longer than needed to allow for shrinkage after passing through the machine, you can always trim off any excess.

I cut the metal/card to size with a Stanley knife and placed it into the folder before running through my Big Shot Plus machine 

I used Black Soot Distress Paint moving quickly over the entire embossed area (any acrylic paint will work for this technique) the Distress Paint is just easier and less messy to apply. Before the paint starts to dry I took a piece of kitchen roll and wiped most of it away. I accelerated the drying time using my heat tool before using a kitchen scouring pad to remove much of the paint from the raised surface using circular motions, this also polishes the metal to bring back the shine.

All that is left to do is to mount the metal onto the frame and insert your chosen photo. Hard to believe this little monster is 18 years old....where does it go!

Let's move onto leather. This is a technique I developed after looking at some beautiful spanish leather wall coverings at a place called Plas Newydd in my home town of Llangollen. I wanted to mimic that rich, deep emboss using paper and this is the nearest I have come so far.

I started by taking a piece of kraft card slightly larger than my chosen frame before scrunching it into a ball repeatedly until it was covered in cracks and creases much like a piece of leather would appear. Next, I used my picture frame as a template to mark out my area before cutting to size using a craft knife.

The next stage was the inking of the folder, I used a StazOn Timber Brown ink pad because for this technique, I prefer the way that solvent ink pads transfer from the folder but feel free to explore other alternatives. I placed the card frame against the clean side of the folder and closed it carefully before passing through the Big Shot Plus debossing and transferring the ink at the same time.

The surface of the leather that I was using for reference is a rich mixture of tones but I didn't want to overdo it so I restricted myself to Wild Honey Distress Ink to add a little warmth. I used my sponge applicator in a random fashion brushing gently over the surface. Next, I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink applied with a tiny piece of Cut-n-Dry foam. I worked around the embossed detail to enhance the effect.

Before mounting onto the frame with double sided tape I used a little Walnut Stain Distress Ink around the perimeter. Be very careful with the darker colours and apply gently to begin, building up the depth gradually. The little monster is magically transformed into a little angel for this picture, funny how they are either one or the other with no grey area in between?

See you all next week!

Mixed Media Hearts

Mixed media projects were making a big splash at the Creativeworld trade fair in Frankfurt which we attended last week to show off all our new products, I shall share some of the photo's with you in a couple of weeks time.

Mixed media can sometimes look a bit scary if you have never tried it before, what I want to do today is try to explain a few simple techniques using Sizzix dies together with inks, paints, stains and waxes to create some stunning effects which are really much easier than they may at first appear.

Becoming proficient with mixed media techniques is all about experimenting and not being afraid to make mistakes because if you believe the old maxim then that is how we learn. As the famous inventor Thomas Edison once said in reference to his attempts to create the first light bulb " I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work". 

The dies I am using today are from the new Tim Holtz collection, click on each link below to check out the individual dies/sets:

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Scribbles & Splat
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Mixed Media
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 7PK - Handwritten Love
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 102PK - Alphanumeric (1" Tall)
Sizzix Bigz Die - Heartfelt

As well as the dies I used a selection of Ranger products including Distress Paints, Distress Stains, Distress Embossing Powders. I also used various gilding wax products, and stamps etc.

This is a quite a big blog post so let's cut the preamble and get under way!!

I strarted by die-cutting the scribbled heart and attaching it to a piece of mount board which is a very heavy weight card. I placed this face down over the largest heart on my 'Heartfelt' Bigz die which cuts no less than 11 different hearts. and with one pass through the Big Shot I now have a beautiful heart ready to decorate. As you will see further down the page I am trying to create textures using a faux embossing technique.

As you can see below, I die cut a selection of different patterns and textures from kraft card (any card will do!) prior to attaching to the mount board and die cutting.

Below are a selection of die-cut hearts which have been painted with white acrylic, this gives me a great surface on which to make a mess...... I mean, create bespoke embellishments of unrivalled beauty, each one as unique and individual as a snowflake (Whatever Pete!!!)

1. Here I painted the heart with black acrylic and applied pewter gilding wax with my finger which brings out the detail beautifully.

2. I painted over this heart with a couple of different shades of green acrylic which I dried with my heat tool before applying a dark blue stain which I then blotted with kitchen roll so that it gives extra definition between the cracks. Next, I applied white acrylic applied with a dry brush technique to pick out the detail before applying the subtle stamped image.

3. For this heart I used Alcohol inks mixing reds and oranges, I applied the same dry brush technique to lift the detail before applying Perfect Pearls powder to give a pearlised lustre.

4.Here I scrunched up some tissue paper before partially flattening it and attaching to the mount board. I  die-cut the heart and applied a couple of shades of brown acrylic. Once it was dry with the help of my trusty heat tool I applied a dark brown stain before blotting the excess. After another blast with my heat tool I applied a little gold gilding wax with my fingertip.

5.The texture was created as with the previous heart but I used green and blue alcohol ink to add colour and once dry I finished off using pewter gilding wax to pick out the detail.

6.I applied a few shades of green and blue acrylic in a really slapdash manner before applying a deep green stain and blotting away the excess where it gets in the cracks. to enhance the die cut detail I again used a little of the pewter gilding wax.

7.I coloured  this heart using two shades of metallic Distress Paint. Once dry I applied black Distress Stain. I also blotted a little white acrylic onto the heart before rubbing away most of it with kitchen towel. Finally, I brought out the detail in the letters with gold gilding wax.

8.I applied an embossing ink pad to the surface before sprinkling with Distress embossing powder which was fixed with a heat tool. I painted with red, brown and orange acrylics and dried with my heat tool. Next I applied a dark blue stain, most of which I blotted away before applying some gold gilding wax to enhance he detail. Notice the wonderful rust texture left by the embossing powder.

9.I love this one and it is the easiest of the lot, simply apply a slightly watered down solution of black acrylic paint before wiping over with a piece of kitchen roll, dry with the heat tool and stamp the text.... simple!

10.I took a plain mount board heart and covered it with black acrylic paint. Once dry, I stamped the leafy branch image using an embossing ink pad before applying clear embossing powder and fixing with my heat tool. Next I applied a thin layer of pale Distress Paint (Victorian Velvet is perfect). While the paint was still damp I very gently rubbed over the embossed motif with a damp piece of kitchen roll thereby removing the paint before it had a chance to fully dry (timing is everything with this technique!) Finally, I stamped into the top left corner using a white ink pad to leave a very subtle image.

11.Here I painted the die-cut heart using shades of green and blue acrylic and dried the paint with my heat tool. Next, I applied metallic Distress Paint before spritzing with clean water, I started to dry with my heat tool and half way through I placed a sheet of kitchen roll flat against the heart and pressed down firmly. When I lifted off the kitchen roll some of the metallic paint has remained and some has been lifted. Timing again is very important with this technique and if you want to see how it is done then why not check out Creative Chemistry 102, a great series of technique demo's from the master himself Mr.Tim Holtz. I finished by adding some stamped detail.

12.Last but by no means least... I attached the metal cogs using assorted faux screw head brads before applying a coat of white acrylic. Next, I applied a couple of shades of metallic Distress Paint which I dried with my heat tool. I applied black Distress Stain which gets into the cracks and adds definition before blotting most of it away with kitchen roll. Finally, I enhanced the detail with a little white acrylic applied with a dry brush technique

 
I attached the hearts to the glass on the front of a box frame and I'm going to take it around trade and retail shows with me to explain some of the several mixed media techniques that can be used to enhance our marvellous die-cuts.

Take it easy, see you all next week!