Double Trouble

Trimcraft have just released new products for the so popular Me to You range: the Tiny Tatty Teddy collection. The products are not only perfect for baby cards, but also for toddlers, the first birthdays in a young life or cards for new grandparents. Some of the cute images are also suitable for older or grown-up 'kids', which makes the new products even more versatile.

Tiny Tatty Teddy comes with a girl line and a boy line. Or why not just mix the products like I have done for today's card? Iopted for neutral colours in the form of kraft cardstock and the wooden embellishment to bring the two colour schemes together.

I really like that the papers are substantial enough to be embossed, i.e. it is possible to add more dimension and interesting features to papercraft products. And the available alphabet stamps make it easy to personalise projects and to turn them into keepsakes.

As usual, you can find a product list and step-by-step instructions for this card in my Trimcraft gallery.

Going Maritime

Today I would like to share with you the first card that I created with the new First Edition paper pad 'Sail Away'. I deliberately did not want to 'overdo' the design in order not to distract from the beautiful background paper. Simple household string seemed to be a suitable addition to add an interesting but not overpowering feature.

The dies I used are a round die, a set of decorative round dies by Spellbinders as well as maritime dies by Marianne Design, Joanna Sheen and Die-Namics.

A product list and step-by-step instructions are again in my Trimcraft gallery.

Further new projects will follow over the next days.

New First Edition Paper Pads

Trimcraft have brought out some more fabulous First Edition paper pads. For today's project I selected the 6" x 6" Botanical Notes pad, which contains some simply stunning designs. These designs are also available as 8" x 8" pad and as 12" x 12" pad.

Especially the pearlescent butterfly paper with a lovely gold shimmer is so gorgeous that I did not want to cover it up too much and just let it work its own magic. I combined it with a large floral corner and butterfly die-cuts (all created using Tonic dies) in vintage gold. I glittered the edges of the paper roses and rosebuds by carefully applying PVA glue and then dusting them with DecoArt Glitter Dust in gold. which is also distributed by Trimcraft. Cream coloured adhesive pearls are highlighting the bodies of the butterflies.

A product list and instructions for this card are available in my Trimcraft gallery.

Winter Woodland Festive Cards

Oh gosh, now it is already November! Christmas is only a few weeks away and have not even thought about the design for the Christmas cards for our own use - especially the ones that we need to post and that need to be flat and light. Something is telling me that these cards might get made in a mad rush yet again and might require a trip to Southfield Stationers to get more card blanks and envelopes ...

Good that the design team cards are progressing much better. Here are the newest cards created with the Winter Woodland collection by Helz Cuppleditch and Trimcraft. I just love the adorable images.

Both cards use 15cm square white card blanks.

For the snowman card I 'misused' an aperture card blank by turning it into a frame. The decoupage image does not completely fill out the aperture, but matching snowflake background paper as well as the flowers and holly pieces disguise the edges. For the holly pieces I used the die strip by Britannia Dies.

For the second card I used glitter stickers and wooden elements from the collection for the toppers. For a more natural feel I decided to display the underside of the frames rather than the coloured side. As further embellishment I tied Woodware organza ribbon into a decorative bow and attached a fabric brad with the help of glue gel.

Product lists and step-by-step instructions for both cards are available in my Trimcraft gallery.

Floral Christmas Cards in Traditional Colours

Firstly apologies for the lack of blog posts over the last few weeks. I just needed a bit of time and a 'creative break' to get over everything that happened recently. I had already started crafting a bit again, but a visit to the Hobbycrafts Show at  the SECC was exactly what I needed to bring final closure and to focus again on the future. Christmas might still be challenging, but hopefully lovely memories will be dominating.

Back to Basics Christmas - Joy of Christmas

But now back to 'business as usual'. For the first cards I would like to share with you I used the Dovecraft Back to Basics Christmas collection in traditional colours in combination with the doily die set from Trimcraft's Me to You Christmas collection. Both cards also have in common that cardstock in vintage metallic colours is used for the matting and layering.

For the card above I used the entire doily set, which cuts and embosses just beautifully and can easily be combined with circle and scalloped circle dies, to create a focal point.

Back to Basics Christmas - Floral Season's Greetings

For the second card I just used one of the frames, which can be created with the doily die set, and mounted it onto a vintage gold scalloped circle. The Me to You Christmas mistletoe embossing folder helped to create some texture for the scalloped circle and the green cardstock of the banner.

As I designed both projects for Trimcraft, product lists and step-by-step instructions will again be available in my Trimcraft gallery.

A weekend dominated by mixed emotions

Saturday started in a lovely way with the Ross Papercraft Show at the the Meadowbank Stadium. It was fun, there were more exhibitors than ever before and I managed to secure some good bargains. And did I stick to my budget? Erm, ... no ... But the lovely tools, embellishments and dies were worth it.

But as soon as I was home and started to put my feet up with a nice cold drink the sky seemed to literally cave in. It is difficult to digest that our family got hit by two tragic losses at both ends of the age spectrum on Saturday - one expected and limiting suffering but still extremely sad, the other one completely out of the blue.

I have been feeling sad and tearful all day, but instead of tossing and turning in bed I might as well still get a bit of work done and catch up with my blog.

Visitors at the Ross Papercraft Show could see these two cards amongst the sample cards at the Stampers Grove stand.

For the Jacobite card I used the Crafty Stamps images 'Jacobite Warrior' (SC165N) and 'Arthurs Seat' (SC159M). I combined it with paper roses by Wild Orchid Crafts, thistles from Stampers Grove (the home of Crafty Stamps) and an embossing folder from Sheena Douglass' Indian collection.

The second card is created using Crafty Stamps' rockhopper penguin (AN143B). It is based on  a Dovecraft 5" x 7" card blank that I transformed with the help of Sue Wilson's background die from the Californian collection. The Sue Wilon die and the wooden shapes on this card are also from Stampers Grove.

Both images are stamped with VersaFine ink pads and coloured in using Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Derwent blender pens.

Winter Woodland Hedgehog

I think I only realised how stressful the uncertainty and fear around the outcome of the referendum was when my stomach decided that it was payback time. So instead of a relaxing and crafty weekend I spent a good part of Friday (after I came home from work) and nearly all day Saturday and Sunday wrapped up warm in bed or curled up on the sofa. Not really what I had in mind ...

But now it is business as usual again and I can share the next card with you.

I just love the wee hedgehog from the Trimcraft's Winter Woodland collection, which is based on the lovely illustrations by Helz Cuplleditch. For this card I opted for an image from the glitter decoupage pad.. And I also could not bypass the gorgeous embossing folder. I hope that Trimcraft will bring out a lot more embossing folders and dies, as they are great to work with and I am impressed by their quality.

If you would like to re-create this card (only for personal use and not for competition entries, please), you can find a product list and step-by-step instructions in my Trimcraft gallery.