Dress Up Starts Here.....

Hello Everyone

Have you see the Dress Up dies in the Spring/Summer catalogue from Stampin' Up! Since I bought mine a few weeks ago they have lived on my craft desk! I just love all the things you can do with these dies.

I have a couple of videos to share with you over the next two weeks and lots and lots of different samples. Here are a few just for a starter....I told you I had made a lot! LOL

Here are a few close ups so you can see the embellishments and techniques I have used...

Below you can see ribbon and a brad on the Red Glimmer paper dress, a Vanilla Flower trim with a Large Pearl, small Basic Peals and Victoria Crochet ribbon on the DSP dress and on the final dress layered ribbon and an In-Color Dahlia.

Below I cut down the dress with a punch and the scallop edge of one of the dress dies to create an apron. The one on the right has the bodice stamped with a stamp from the Artistic Etchings stamp set and the skirt is cut with the Scallop Circle die.

 

 

The dress on the left below was first cut in Whisper White, then embossed using the Vintage Wallpaper die, them rubbed over with Frost White Shimmer Paint. I finished with a piece of Silver Glimmer paper to extend the length of the dress. On the right I used ribbon and Bakers Twine to create a bow to go on the jacket. I have a video showing another type of jacket made with this die coming up on Tuesday. 

 

 

As I said - this is just the start - keep visiting for more ideas and techniques!

Love Elizabeth X

Sparkling with Love

Hello Everyone

I have a couple of Valentines ideas for you this week. Today I am sharing a card I did a while ago, (the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice some retired DSP - shhhh), but all the other sentiments and stamps are still with us.

The Scalloped Heart of Hearts embossllit makes such a sweet element and the stamps are predominantly from Artistic Etchings.

The sparke, which shows a little better on the picture below is Champagne Shimmer Paint, mixed with rubbing alcahol and spritzed from a Stampin' Spritzer bottle - which I am delighted to say we now carry in the big catalogue. (page 179, £2.75 for 2).

The little LOVE sentiment is from Tiny Tags and is punched using the co-ordinating Jewellery Tag punch.

Back on Sunday with another Valentines project...


Love Elizabeth X

VIDEO Apothecary Accents Card

Hello Everyone

Well it is time for another video from Elizabeth's Craft Room and today I will be sharing the card on the right below.

Like the one of the left? - you are seeing a sneak peek of stamps that you can recieve FREE during our annual Sale A Bration promotion, that starts on 22nd January.

I hope you are enjoying the videos - do leave me a message and let me know what you think.

  Love Elizabeth X

July Team Swaps

Hello Everyone

We had a great day at training last month with my lovely upline Amanda. I always love to do the swaps and share ideas with my fellow demonstrators.

These are the ones I made for team training.

These little handbags were made with the Scallop Envelope Die, trimmed and corner rounded to get the shape right. I used the Large Oval and Small Oval punches to create the handles and the 1/2" circle punch to make the faux brad closures. I stamped on the bags with Artistic Etchings.

The sentiment comes from Notably Ornate and the beautiful background is made with the Manhattan Flower embossing folder.

I loved how they looked in all the different colours. :) Hope you like them too.

Emerging Colour

Hello Everyone

Today I am sharing a technique I demonstrated at my Customer Thank You Party. It is something that works really will with the glossy cardstock although the sample below was made with Whisper White card.

I started by stamping images from Artistic Etchings onto the white card. Next I inked up the Medallion background stamp with Versamark ink and stamped over the top of the coloured imanges.

I covered the card in Clear Embossing Powder and heat set the Medallion image. 

Next I applied Chocolate Chip ink with a brayer over the whole white card, wiping the excess off the embossed area with a tissue - and hey presto! - the Artistic Etchings images show through where the clear Medallion.

I enjoyed showing this technique - is it something you have tried?

Mini Book Class

Hello Everyone

I have had a few requests for a Scrapbook Mini-book Class, so ran one for 6 special ladies earlier this month. We made three little mini books, suitable for different occasions. In fact this class was so popular, I have to run it again for those that couldn't get a spot!

This is the room set up ready for everyone to arrive...

Inside the packs, which featured the fabby Elegant Soiree Designer Paper, were enough goodies to make all three mini books, with plenty of goodies to take home to do more craft projects. This is what was in each pack...

So do you want to see what we made....? We did three little mini albums for a range of occasions.

With the Royal wedding in mind, I though I would teach a wedding mini album. I designed this many, many years ago and updated it with some fabby Stampin' Up! stamps and pearls.

After unlacing the ribbon at the front the mini book unfolds....I love the paper lace and vellum layers...

Inside the mini book folds out to a 12" X 12" page with plenty of room for pictures and journalling. We used lots of stamps from Notably Ornate, Always Elegant and Baroque Motifs to create the panels.

Next we made a funky Top Note mini book. You will notice a colour theme here. The class included half a pack of Elegant Soiree designer paper, matching cardstock and pearls.

My lovely ladies could bring photos, or make up the mini books ready to add pictures and journalling later. We all had a go with the Big Shot and Top Note die, to make our chipboard, cardstock and designer paper pages - I love the way the Big Shot cuts through so many materials.

Inside we decorated those pages using punches and layers. You can see the Ornate Bloom stamp used as a background here.

So after a break for refreshments, we were back to make our final mini book - this time a pull out book, (similar to those we used to be taught to make with toilet rolls - so much nicer to do with card stock! LOL)

The front panel here is made with a mixture of punches and one of the Lots of Tags dies, made with the Big Shot. Inside is stamped with images from the Nature Walk stamp set - this would make a lovely summery album.

As you can see, Diana, Jan O, Jan S, Sophie, Rita and Sara had a great day - I hope you like our mini books.

We have more 'special' classes coming up shortly- let me know if you would like to come along.

Royal Wedding Class

Hello Everyone

You may have noticed we have a bit of a big wedding going on in the UK this month - so with this in mind I planned a slightly wedding themed class for my lovely ladies this month.

We started with a cute all in one box with a pop up lid. I learned how to make this from lovely Catherine, whose wedding is also this month. (Different Catherine - I don't think Kate Middleton made her own invitations and decorations!)

Now we actually made a Baja Breeze one in class, but this is a similar style, (I don't think I have a photo of the Baja one). It is hard to see quite how it pops up - but you may be able to see from the photo below...

I did lots of wedding samples recently to inspire some special people. Laura who just got engaged, Diana whose daughter's wedding is this week and Jan S who makes and sells wedding favours.

I will share some more of these in more detail over the next couple of months, but in the meantime I will be back with more projects from our April class soon.

Simply Thank You!

Hello Everyone

Whenever one of my lovely customers places an order, I like to send them a little Thank You card to show my appreciation. I usually make about 12 at a time and then do another batch.

This time I decided to use Artistic Etchings, a stamp set that keeps jumping on to my craft desk recently!  It is strange because this wasn't a set I chose for myself, which just shows what I know. LOL!

I love the gentle effects you can get with the images, as with these cards where I have used them to create a background.

I used Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze ink for the background and Not Quite Navy ink for the Thanks sentiment. That sentiment stamp is one of the A La Carte choices at the back of the Stampin' Up! catalogue and is called So Many Thanks. 

So here is another chance for me to thank my lovely Stampin' Up! customers. Thanks to each and every one of you.

Altered and Distressed!

Hello Everyone

Well you know I don't really 'do' distressed - but I think I am getting better. Having the right tools certainly helps and the Distress Essentials Kit from Stampin' Up! definitely fits the bill.

I took a simple notebook and had a play! I started with Baja Breeze cardstock and stamped it using the Artistic Etchings stamp set and the distressing inks from the kit - this stamp set works so well for a vintage feel project. Next I used the daubers and application tool to work ink into the edges of the card.

I chose a piece of Newsprint DSP and did some more stamping and daubing.

You can see a bit more of the stamps on the back of the book.

 
I then played with the embellishments. I used the distressing ink and a dauber to colour the ribbons. The one on the pen is actually Whisper White organza coloured with Tea Stain ink. I used pearls and lots of ribbons and made a tag with punches to hang from the spine.

I stamped the E (for Elizabeth) with the Broadsheet Alphabet and curled the edge of the card with the round file from that fabby distressing kit.

I am really pleased with how this notebook turned out. Hope you like it too.

Happy Valentines Day!

Hello Everyone

To wish you all a Happy Valentines Day, I thought I would share this card I taught at my February classes.

We used Artistic Etchings, Newsprint Designer Paper and Tiny Tags to make this card.

Every layer was stamped and daubed, but I kept it with neat edges - so not TOO distressed!

Hope you have a LOVEly Valentines day!

Back soon with an more distressed and altered project.

A Vintage Birthday Card

Hello everyone

I hope you all had a GREAT Christmas.

Today I am going to share a birthday card I made for my DH Michael a couple of weeks ago. He has a December birthday, so it is a good time to take a break from making holiday cards and create something especially for him.

For those of you that don't know, Mike is a songwriter - so I decided to use my new Music Note wheel and some images from Artistic Etchings, Notably Ornate and a scrap of Newsprint DSP. Oh and the background image is the Medallion stamp. My desk was really messy by the time I was done.

Now I have been waiting to play with these toys - sorry I mean tools LOL. I was lucky enough to have my name called by the Prize Patrol at Stampin' Up! convention in November. I was given both Artistic Etchings and the DSP, neither of which I owned. It was so exciting to get freebies. :)

I used a colour theme of Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Crumb Cake to create a vintage feel card. There was lots of use of the dauber and punches too. I used the Tiny Tags set too - see I keep remembering something else I used as I look at the picture!

Here is a close up.

I hope you like and I will be back really soon with a lovely SaleABration project.

Have a great day.