Is it a boy or a girl?

Hey everyone,

I hope you guys had a nice week? We are moving into a new home in the next few weeks and I was cleaning up my room, when some of the pink little elephants got into my hands. Do you remember my elephant parade part 1 & part 2? :)

I think you know that feeling... You have to clean up a bit and to sort out all of your bits & pieces, but  when there is a chance to craft, you craft. Right? :) With the elephant duo I die cutted some dark blue elephants, for baby cards. You can never know, when you need one! ;)

To get a little more depth on this cards, I die cutted the thought bubbles and stamped the sentiments on them, before I used 3D adhesive tape. Do you like them? I love all the gold glitter dots. :)

And here is the supplies you will need to make cards like these:
Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) #660515
Sizzix Accessory - Standard Magnetic Platform for Wafer-Thin Dies #656499
Sizzix Accessory - Cutting Pads, Standard, 1 Pair (Mint) #660522
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Elephant Duo #660496
Sizzix Bigz Die - Thought Bubbles #659741
Clear Stamps from Danipeuss and Pinkfresh Studio
StazOn Ink Pad in Jet Black
Heidi Swapp Gold Shimmer Mist
Sewing Machine and cardstock

Thank you for watching and have a nice day, xo Julia

Elephant Parade - Part 2/2

Hey everyone,

do you remember my project from last week? Yes, this is the second part of it. I love the elephants! That´s a fact. ;) I am always looking for pretty gift wrapping ideas, especially things that I can make by myself. When I saw the elephant dies I had the idea to make my own garland for birthday gifts, maybe for a little baby girl or a little girl who loves pink. :) 

I die cutted a lot of circles in a light pink and a cardstock with a floral pattern. For the elephants I choose a white and a pink cardstock. Believe me, the pink elephants are a blast! :) Need to make a project with them very soon. :) 

Of course I needed a sparkling detail on my gift-wrapping-garland, so I took some sequins in white and gold to sew them onto the circles. :)

List of Supplies:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) #660515

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Elephant Duo #660496
Sizzix Framelits Die Set 8PK - Circles #657551

Sizzix Accessory - Die Brush & Foam Pad for Wafer-Thin Dies #660513

Do you like it? I think I have to make some more… Sewing with paper is so much fun! Can´t wait to wrap it around a beautiful gift. :)

Have a nice weekend, xo Julia

Elephant Parade - Part 1/2

Hey everyone,

I hope you had a nice week. Man, I got a big box of happiness from Sizzix last week with beautiful items. And yippieh, the elephants from the new collection with Craft Asylum were in it. Immediately I started to make two projects. And this week I will show you a pretty card. So let´s start die cutting! :)

The Die Brush & Foam Pad is a supercool tool, love how easy it is to remove all the little pieces from cutting with your dies. I think this is a totaly must-have. :)

For my card I wanted a lot of pretty pastel colors for my cute elephant (I really love it! ;) ). 

If you can see, I needed to cut some of the elephants to get a colorful one. BUT, don´t mind! You can use all the little pieces for a lot of more projects. ;) This is what I will do, for sure. :)

Supplies you´ll need:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) #660515

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Elephant Duo #660496

Sizzix Accessory - Die Brush & Foam Pad for Wafer-Thin Dies #660513

Cardstock in your favorite colors

Hope you like my card and psscht, did you see the tiny sneak-peek of my project for next week? ;)

Have a nice weekend, xo Julia

 -----------------------------------------------------

Hallo ihr Lieben,

alles gut bei euch? :) Es ist so warm… Unfassbar.

Aber egal, gebastelt wird natürlich trotzdem. Und ich bin echt vor Freude rumgehüpft als ich das tolle Päckchen von Sizzix in der Hand hielt letzte Woche. Es enthielt tolle neue Stanzen aus der neuen Kollektion von Craft Asylum, mit dabei die hübschen Elefanten. :)

Kaum ausgepackt habe ich mir auch schon meinen Cardstock rausgesucht und zwei Projekte gewerkelt. Eines davon gibt es heute schon zu sehen - eine Karte - das andere folgt in der kommenden Woche. Also schaut unbedingt wieder rein. :) Aber erstmal: Ran an die Big Shot! :)

Das Die Brush & Foam Pad ist total klasse. Ich mag ja dieses Gefizzel nicht so gerne, was bei detailreichen Stanzen eben nicht zu vermeiden ist. Aber mit diesem Werkzeug kriegt man die Teilchen schnell raus. Einfach auf das Schaumstoffpad legen und mit der Bürste drüber gehen, fertig. Hervorragende Arbeitserleichterung. :)

Wie ihr auf dem Foto oben sehen könnt, habe ich den Elefanten ein paar mal ausgestanzt um die vielen bunten Akzente setzen zu können. Ist ein bisschen mehr Arbeit, aber es lohnt sich auf jedenfall. UND, mit den übriggebliebenen Elefanten lässt sich auch noch was schönes machen. ;) Bei mir kommen sie aufjedenfall nicht weg. 

Materialliste:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit (White & Gray) #660515

Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Elephant Duo #660496

Sizzix Accessory - Die Brush & Foam Pad for Wafer-Thin Dies #660513

Ich hoffe euch gefällt meine Karte. :) Psssscht… Habt ihr den Sneak zum 2. Teil des Projekts entdeckt? ;) Schaut mal genau hin.

Habt noch ein tolles Wochenende, xo Julia

Tribal inspiration

I have been looking forward to using the dies from the new Tribal range since I first used them in December to prepare for our upcoming trade shows. Tribal textiles and designs are all over the high street as we speak and this range is perfect for both paper crafters and textile artists with the inclusion of so many gorgeous Sizzix Bigz dies.

The dies are all designed by my good friend Debi Potter who has a wonderful eye for the next trend in die cutting.

I'm using just one set of dies from the Tribal range namely the Elephant Duo Thinlits set which comprises two super cute elephants and a couple of heart dies.

I had the great pleasure to be demonstrating at Sprinkle Twinkle in Kings Lynn last weekend, we had a wonderful time and it's so nice to see a retailer which goes that extra mile for it's customers. 

It's a great shop full of inspirational ideas and products. While I was there I fell in love with a couple of stamp sets from a US company named Precious Remembrance Shop. Apparently, Sprinkle Twinkle are their only UK stockist at the moment but I'm sure they are going to be huge. The set I used is called Positive Thoughts Stamp Set which is just one of many great collections.

Don't you just love it when you stumble across a great new product and want to share it with the world?

Anyway... Back to the cards! I die-cut the large elephant from a warm grey card and applied a little Distress Ink around the edges (Pumice Stone). Next, I die-cut a strip of rust coloured card across the heart detail on the die. I Attached a couple of strips of sticky tape to the rear of the main elephant and  lightly inked the top of each heart before attaching them into their corresponding aperture holes

I continued with this process until I had decorated the whole elephant. Next, I cut a 12 x 12 cm square of ivory card before rounding of the corners with a punch. I applied some Old Paper Distress Ink around the edges and added some stamped detail. Next, I stamped my sentiment onto ivory card before colouring the heart using markers before trimming it to size, inking the edges and attaching to the rectangle using a stapler.

I attached the rectangle to a deep blue base card with staples and added a couple of Die-cut hearts from the same set.

I was only going to make one card but then I looked at the other cute little elephant and it seemed a crime not to make another! I die-cut the elephant in two shades of brown and inked the edges as before. Next, I cut an 8 x 14 cm rectangle of ivory card before rounding off the corners. I inked and stamped as before and applied my sentiment using adhesive foam pads.

I die-cut three large and two small hearts and I placed the large hearts and the elephant onto the rectangle, roughly in the position where I want them to sit before using a marker to make a dot at the top of the elephants body and at the bottom of each heart. Using a ruler I joined up the dots with the marker and added some bows to give the illusion of balloon strings.

And here is the finished card, I love the combination of the contemporary shapes and super cool stamps, hope you do too?

Congratulations card

Welcome Sizzix friends!!
Today I want to share with you a lovely card for a baby with a sweet elephant! This card was created using the Free New Baby Paper Downloads which I love so much!

I used:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit 660515
Free New Baby Paper Downloads
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Speech Bubbles

Sizzix Framelits Die Set 8PK - Circles, Scallop

Scissors

Glue

White cardstock

Cut out a white cardstock of cm 19x15, cut out the pois paper from Free New Baby Paper Downloads cm 19x7,5. Paste the pois paper on the white cardstock. Die cut the flowers paper with Thinlits Plus Die Set (Basic Shapes)included in Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit 660515, Cut out a rectangle in the center of flowers paper. Cut out the elephant from embellishments paper anche paste it on the center of white cardstock. Paste on card the flowers paper.

Die cut a bubble and paste "It's a girl!" phrase on it.

Die cut three different circles. Cut out "Congratulations" phrase, "Sweet baby" oval and assemble the card.

Do yuou like it??

 PER LE LETTRICI ITALIANE

Bentornate amiche!

Oggi voglio condividere con voi questa carinissima card con un dolcissimo elefante che annuncia la nascita di una bimba!

Splendida idea per accompagnare un regalo!

Questa card è stata creata usando le Free New Baby Paper Downloads che io adoro tantissimo!!

Ho usato:

Sizzix Big Shot Plus Starter Kit 660515
Free New Baby Paper Downloads
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - Speech Bubbles

Sizzix Framelits Die Set 8PK - Circles, Scallop

Forbici

Colla

Cartoncino bianco

Ritagliare un cartoncino bianco delle dimensioni di cm 19x15. Usando il cartoncino a pois, ritagliarne un pezzo di cm 19x7,5 e incollarlo sulla parte alta del cartoncino bianco. Con la fustella che crea i bordini fustellare la carta a fiori creando solo un decoro. Al centro di questo cartoncino creare un'apertura rettangolare come se fosse una porta. Ritagliare l'elefantino e incollarlo al centro della card, quindi incollare il cartoncino a fiori. Fustellare un fumetto e incollare la scritta "It's a girl!".

Fustellare diversi cerchi di dimensioni differenti. Ritagliare la scritta "Congratulations" e l'ovale "Sweet baby" quindi assemblare la card.

Vi piace????

Alla prossima!

Giovanna

Patchwork Fun

Quilting, patchwork and applique and indeed all forms of textile based crafts are experiencing a resurgence all over Europe, not that they ever went away! Sizzix steel rule dies, namely our Bigz and Originals ranges are perfect for cutting any type of textile from wafer thin voile through to leather. 

I was flicking through our Quilting catalogue when I came across an elephant die which was designed for Appliqué/patchwork applications and I thought it was too nice not to share with my papercrafting buddies. The die in question is Elephant (658638) and is a Bigz L die.

When we talk about elephants and patchwork in the same breath the first thing that springs to mind are the wonderful 'Elmer' series of children's books written by English author and illustrator David McKee. These books have become classics enthralling generations of children, in fact, I am reading a copy of the first Elmer book to my 3 year old daughter which belonged to my 22 year old son.

I started by choosing 6 bright fresh patterned papers from the lovely people at Echo Park, the 6" x 6" paper pad is called 'A Perfect Summer' as the sun is shinning as I write this I thought it was appropriate, I hope the weather is great where you are too!! I cut the papers into 3cm squares and fixed them to a rectangle of stiff ivory card measuring 15 x21cm which covers the die perfectly.

Once I have my patchwork rectangle I placed it face down onto the die and ran it through my Big Shot resulting in a body, four legs and an ear.

I took each die cut and pierced a row of holes around the edges (you can use a pin or piercing tool) and joined up the dots with a fine brown marker to give the illusion of stitching. You can of course use a sewing machine if you have one to hand. Weathered Wood is one of my favourite Distress ink colours of all time, it's a lovely smoky grey colour and its great for edging your die cuts to add subtle contrast. Finally, I attached a white pearl button for an eye with a black adhesive pearl at the top this looks like the elephant is deep in thought trying to remember what he has forgotten, the knotted string around  his trunk completes the visual pun.

Here is the finished card, the text was printed using my PC and the assembled elephant was mounted using 3D foam pads. Hope you like it, see you all next Wednesday!