Going for Gold

I loved doing these projects for Cardmaking and Papercraft.  I think it could be my favourite commission yet.  The brief was to make Christmas gifts using the technique of gold leafing.  I've not really used gold leaf before but I'm now a complete convert.  It's super easy to use and gives a luxurious effect.

I always get a buzz when my projects make the front cover of a magazine.

Here's the notebook and matching bookmark which would make a great Christmas gift and as such I'm entering it into the challenge at:

Moxie Fab World - Holiday Gifting

 The step by step was on the frame.  This one I'm entering into the challenge at:

Moxie Fab World - home decor

To finish off the set I made a matching greeting card.  This one I'm entering into the challenge at:

The Shabby Tea Room - pearls and pastels

The Crafty Pad - Christmas sparkle

Moxie Fab World - Jolly Holiday Greetings

Supplies used:

Frame - IKEA

Patterned paper - Prima

Die cuts - Slice Mistletoe and Vintage Findings

Gold leaf

Easy metal size primer

Quickie glue pen

Pink paint

For a detailed "how to", you'll need to get your crafty little hands on issue 84 of Cardmaking & Papercrafting

xxx

Oh Bullocks!

A first I thought it was Groundhog Day as today started the same as yesterday with a bacon buttie and coffee in bed - not that I'm complaining.  Then I decided it was time to do my homework before anything else.  Not that my homework is a bad thing as it's another magazine article and all I can tell you is that I'm covered in gold leaf!

Today's adventure (other than gold leaf) was a 4 mile walk up at Broadbottom.  I'm loving discovering my local area on foot there's so much to see.  Today I found the dye vats, that were once used to bleach and dye cloth.  How cool is it to find some thing from 1800 on a local walk.

Me on my merry way.

Not so cool was finding some cows blocking the footpath!  As you can see from the photos I did manage to get past them after we had a little chat!

Blocking the path

The cow and I having a chat about them being in the way.

Where the little cow on the left is, is the stile I'd just come over!  Thank you cows.

So back home and a little crafting to relax after my adventure.  I made a few bits including this frame full of flowers.  This was inspired by the Tuesday Trigger at  Moxie Fab World.  I have to admit when I first saw this trigger it intimidated me slightly but intrigued me too and I felt the need to be challenged by it and I was and love what I eventually came out with.

Here's the trigger

Here's my frame full of flowers.  The whole thing is made with plain card and just 2 flower rubberstamps from a set by Paperartsy, plus one box frame and a white rub-on.  Don't you just love it when a plan comes together.

Apologies for the quality of the photo but as the flowers are behind glass it was a tough one to get a picture of.

Next up is a card made with bits left over from my gold leafing projects and my lovely little Slice machine and was inspired by challenges at:

Allsorts Challenge - July Love - not a huge heart but 5 little hearts all wrapped up in love

Twisted Sketches - Sketch 15 with a twist of frames - I turned the sketch 90 degrees and framed my images in gold.
Colour Create - baby pink, peach and black - I know added a bit of gold but the other colours were my base.

Another fabulous weekend.  I love my life.

xxx

Meetings and makings

I headed into Manchester first thing this morning for a meeting, which was a good way to start the day.  I also manged to track down some gold leaf that I need for a project I'm working on this weekend.

As for what I've worked on tonight.  Just one card but it is a whopper.  I thought I'd use some of the A3 card I've got to make a large card!  The papers and the box frame are printed from the Popcorn Platinum CDs - florals and men's.  The card was inspired by challenges at:

Allsorts challenge - create a scene

Tuesday Taggers - make a scene

2 Sketches 4 You - Kazan's sketch 56

I bought my sister a few presents for her birthday but tradition now dictates that one has to be some sort of mini scrapbook item that's a summary of the last year.  I'm over the moon with the way this one turned out and I know she loves it as she phoned me up whilst she was still a little bit misty after opening it up.

Inside the box (thanks to Lida deWitte for teaching us how to make the box and flowers at the Inspired Retreat back in February) were 4 mini books with photos and snippets.  One book for friends, one all about Jo, one about her and Ian and one about sisters.

You'll be glad to know I'm not going to bore you with each individual page of the books!

The whole thing was made with papers, chipboard and stickers from Prima - so beautiful and easy to work with.

Now to catch up on some sleep from the weekend.

xxx

Here comes Popcorn

Popcorn the Platinum collection launched tonight at 9pm.  Popcorn is a beautiful Platinum monochromatic colour, surrounded by elements of vibrant colour. The new range comprises three CDs, Popcorn Platinum 3D Builder and 6 co-ordinating A6 stamp plates. Each CD includes two themes CD1: Baby & Birthday, CD2: Kids & Floral, CD3: Men’s & Romance. The CDs are available individually or as a Collector’s triple box set.  Wow, wow wow!

 I've been lucky enough to have these for a few days and have loved playing with the CDs and the stamps.  As I'm a stamper at heart, I love the CDs for my backgrounds and then being able to add a stamped image and make it whatever colour I like.  So Popcorn can be grey or brown or even pink if I want him to be :)

So here he is in one of the box card frames.  Then the little bear is stamped and then coloured in with my beloved Copics (it's true, I do love them).  It means you can make his football kit whatever colour you want too.  This card was inspired by challenges at:

Stamp Something - colours of your flag - red, green and white from the Welsh flag - yes I really am Welsh

CardPatterns - sketch #71 - I flipped in 90 degrees

Cupcake Craft Challenge - world cup wonders

Daring Cardmakers - rubies for July - I've gone ruby red

Also I thought I'd share the card I made for my sister for her birthday.  As it was quite dimensional I made a co-ordinating envelobox to go with it.

Just one more thing for today - why does your boyfriend always steal your Green & Blacks Butterscotch chocolate out of the fridge!!  grrrrrrr!!

Will I ever learn

So why do I watch TV programmes that I know will make me cry!  If Steve was at home he'd definitely ask me why do I do it.  Sometimes I think it's because I should watch certain things, even if they make me sad and reflective for a bit.  It also makes me realise what a privileged life I lead.

Queen and Country on the BBC Documentary following the Grenadier Guards as they prepare to lead the 2010 Trooping the Colour.  But these men have had precious little time to prepare; as fighting soldiers, they have just spent six months on the front line in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. This is the story of how one and a half thousand men and women join together to create one of the greatest military ceremonies on earth.

So after wiping the tears away (it was a bit more that a misty moment), a little bit of craft therapy was in order.  This first card was inspired by challenges at;

Clean & Simple - sketch challenge

Cupcake Craft Challenge - dazzle us
The papers are Cosmo Cricket and don't you just love the bling from Prima. For me it's very decadent to use all of it on one card!

 

This second card was inspired by the challenge at:

Twisted Sketches - a sketch challenge with the twist of using yellow

Now I know some people have trouble using yellow but I think it's pretty.

The stamp is from Cute Companions, Play Days set and has been coloured with Copics.  The papers are Cosmo Cricket

And especially for Pat - no food photographs today but I did have butternut squash and sweet potato soup for lunch and yummy vegetable lasagne for my dinner.  Both homemade and low on Syns - see I'm a good girl sometimes :)

xxx