Dovecraft Tis the Season

Tis the Season - Feathered Friends

I have been trying for a couple of days now to take photos of cards, but daylight really is in short supply here. And even today, on a Saturday, it did not want to make much of an appearance on a stormy and very wet day. So artificial light will have to suffice for most photos at the moment. I cannot wait for the days to get longer again.

Here are now two more Christmas cards created with the Dovecraft Tis the Season collection by Trimcraft. These products showcase beautiful images with lovely colours and are a great combination of traditional Christmas elements and modern twists.

Tis the Season - Christmas Baubles

Product lists and step-by-step instructions for both projects are available in my Trimcraft gallery. Clicking onto the links below the photos will take you straight to the relevant project page.

Doesn't time fly?

Our nephew is now an adult and celebrating his 18th birthday. It is just incredible how fast the last couple of years have gone by.

And, of course, I had to think about a birthday card. We all know how notoriously difficult male cards can be. And I did not want the card to be too serious, as he is still very young. So I was looking for a cheeky sentiment - and I just love one of the Indigo Blu Dinkies. It is originally a Christmas stamp, but the Christmas images can be masked before inking up the stamp. Another bit of inspiration was his job as apprentice joiner. An old stamp that I had not used for years, kraft card and tool brads by Woodware just seemed to bring it all together.

I used:
* 8" x 8" kraft card blank and kraft cardstock
* black textured cardstock
* parchment paper in combination with a black Brilliance ink pad
* ivory glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield
* Daisy & Dandelion DIY stamp
* Indigo Blu Dinkie 'Good All Year'
* Memory Box number dies
* Marianne Designs die for the parchment section
* black spider web net
* Woodware tool brads
* Tim Holtz washers and brads
* black Memento ink pad
* ProMarkers
* adhesive: double-sided tape, Collall glue gel and Dovecraft 3D large foam squares (one of my desert island products)
* toolbox basics

I hope you like the result.

Grace Taylor Eclectic Emerald Part 2

Here is now the promised blog post with more project ideas for the Grace Taylor Eclectic Emerald collection, which is distributed by Trimcraft.

I am starting with another card. This time I have layered up some of the Grace Taylor die-cut shapes to give them more of a 3D feel. You can view a list of the products I used together with step-by-step instructions in my Trimcraft gallery. The decorative border is created using a Cheery Lynn die.

But it does not always need to be a card. The die-cuts and sticker flipbook from this collection are also great to embellish smash books or journals.

I am a massive rugby fan (rugby union to be precise). Before last weekend's match between Scotland and South Africa I was so fortunate to 'bump' into the Springboks on two occasions. There was even the chance to chat to a few of the guys. Just when I suddenly ended up right amongst some of them I was glad that we were at their team bus and not on a rugby pitch with an egg-shaped ball in sight ... The Springboks are amongst the best three teams in the world, so these were incredible moments that I wanted to capture - just for myself, so that I can bring back the happy memories of these encounters each time I come across the pages.

In addition to photos I managed to take I collated some further information and arranged all printed materials together with Grace Taylor Eclectic Emerald die-cuts and stickers on the pages. A bit of doodling and stamped rugby balls complete the layout.

Grace Taylor Eclectic Emerald

 Grace Taylor Eclectic Emerald - Good Times

Trimcraft are distributors for the new Grace Taylor Eclectic Emerald products. And I have selected this collection, which is great for scrapbooking, cards and more, for my brand-new projects. The colours are fresh and pleasing on the eye. And especially the glittered stickers are very tempting.

These Grace Taylor products are great for quick, yet effective cards.

Grace Taylor Eclectic Emerald - Bingo Fan

The two cards featured in this post just include Dovecraft 6" x 6" textured cardstock, 15cm square linen textured ivory card blanks, Embossalicious embossing folders and adhesive pearls as additional products. A full list of required products as well as step-by-step instructions are again in my Trimcraft gallery.

More is already in the pipeline. It would be great, if you would check for further project ideas on Sunday.

Twisted Easel Calendar

As the year 2013 is already nearing its end and Christmas will shortly knock at the door, desktop calendars make great little presents that we can create ourselves. A brand-new Trimcraft project is a twisted easel calendar - and Trimcraft are even supplying the calendar tabs as free template.

Here you can see my take on the project, which I created for Trimcraft using their great new Back to Basics Monochrome collection. You can view the product list and step-by-step instructions in my Trimcraft gallery. And for those particularly interested in dies: I used Britannia dies for the numbers. All other products used for this project are by Trimcraft.

Santa's Workshop Aperture Card

Today I would like to show you a card that combines the character collection Santa's Workshop by Trimcraft with the currently so very popular Tonic Verso dies.

I used the Santa's Workshop aperture card and envelope set. And the bow ring die set proved to be just the right size and provided a perfect match. In addition to these products I used

* Santa's Workshop designer paper pack
* Santa's Workshop glitter stickers
* Santa's Workshop metallic ribbon bows
* Santa's Workshop premium adhesive gems and pearls
* berries
* Liquid Pearls
* textured cardstock

Have a good start into the new week.

From doily to flower

Have you ever wondered how you could use paper lace doilies for your craft projects? What about using them to create a flower? This is exactly what I did for the card above, which I created with Dovecraft Back to Basics Monochrome products.

I used one paper lace doily as base. For the additional layers I cut away the centres of doilies, cut open the then achieved doily rings and arranged and rushed the lace strips on the base doily with generous amounts of tacky glue whilst moving further and further into the centre with each layer. A fabric brad is ideal for the centre of the flower - the size is perfect, it has a lovely texture and it hides the edges of the final layer as well as any traces of adhesive that secures the last lace strip. But you might want to protect your work surface with a craft sheet or glass cutting mat, as the tacky glue will really soak into the material.

The pierced holes in the layers are created by hand, but I like to use a Tim Holtz idea-ology ruler for evenly spacing.

If you are interested in re-creating this card, you can find instructions in my Trimcraft gallery. Please just respect my intellectual rights for this card design.