Well it's snowing!

Hi friends, we have snow today - it looks lovely from inside, but I glad I haven't got to go out!

I thought I'd show you another Chrissie card I'd made recently using a border die in different way, but then I had a message from Glenda saying that her new stamps called Pretty Birdcage and  Bees were launched yesterday.  The details are over on the DT blog (link on my sidebar)and if you pop over there you could be in with a chance of winning a lovely Chrissie present as Glenda is giving away two sets of stamps - so don't forget to leave a comment at the end of Glenda's post! The draw is open until Monday.

Now I can take you from a winter's day to a glimpse of summer

This was a challenge to me as I got out my paints for a delicate look.

I stamped the image on a full sheet of watercolour paper and completed the painting, I find this the easiest way to position the stamping in a shaped die.  From this close-up you will see that I have used an octagonal die, and as I like very narrow borders when I layer - I did a bit of crafty cutting!  I first cut a burgundy shape to match the base card, and embossed the edge.  Next cut the same size from the white watercolour paper, and embossed the edge.  After positioning the die over my painting I cut and again embossed the edge.

You may be thinking why cut two white octagons, well  I wanted depth the the finished image.  So on the plain paper I cut away the embossed edge to give me my narrow border.  (On this shape die this is much quicker that tracing and  cutting round the die.  If you don't have the full set of squares or rectangles you could also used this method for ease of layering.) Now I could use the cloud template from Diamond Cards that I illustrated a few weeks ago to give interest, which I  lightly inked with DI's.  Next I also cut away the embossed border from the painted image and embossed the cloud pattern again.  Having embossed the clouds I then cut part of them away and I had my depth!  Hope all this make sense - it may sound complicated but it very easy to do and any complication may be from my writing.  If you click on the close-up image you will see the finished image more clearly. 

Stay warm and safe and enjoy your crafting.
 

Using your borders in a different way

Once I make a start on Chrissie cards I find all sorts of things that have been packed away since last year and my mind goes into overdrive thinking I must use these this year?!?!?  
Many of my bits and bobs I like, so I 'm making a big effort to add them to cards.  Bet many of you have just such a stash!  Another thing, I just do not want to buy any more stamps or dies at the moment because I have other beady things that I want to spend my cash on.  BUT, how to make the old look like something different and new!?!!??  There's one way to make a border - can you guess which border die I used?
This is the die.   It's a Nestie borderabilitie.  It cuts on one side only and then you have the option to emboss the pattern.
 
But I've made it into something different.  To make the shape I cut two strips of paper from straight edges, turned them round and fastened them with tape, then added a strip of ribbon over the join.  Different and it gave some creative satisfaction! AND, I used some old embellishments, old paper stash from Basic Grey, ribbon that's been in the box for at least three years. 

Now what else can I use?????  
Back soon, happy crafting,

My first Christmas card

Hi there, talk about time flying I cannot believe that the last month has past by and although it looks like I've been a very lazy blogger, I can assure you that I have been working away in my corner, but with work that until now I have been unable to blog about.  I'm talking about my design team artwork for the new stamps Texture Fragments released last week by Glenda of Chocolate Baroque, and if you pop over to the Design Team Blog (link on my sidebar) you will find three new videos to inspire you with your own artwork.  Later in the week the DT members will be displaying their work using these stamps so I hope you'll be able to drop by again - you will not be disappointed because they have created some great artwork. 

In the meantime my first Christmas card......

I've not lost my love of decorative papers and this design is from a paper pad from Hot of the Press.

Just lovely!

I've teamed it  (fancy that) with some Nestie dies - an oval and petite scallop oval, a vintage corner, a grand square to cut the DP, I find these really useful and a very easy way to cut an exact square, and I've even used a piece of the corner die to decorate the tag.

I will definitely be back soon, and thank you all for all your visits and comments over the last month.   I hope that you are still finding the Cupboard a useful tool to help with your die-cutting and embossing. 

Clouds

Hi, back again with how the clouds were created.....a stencil.....

This is the stencil  

 (the outer comes in one piece - but I have cut mine cause I've been playing and will show you why later)

The inner part of the stencil with which you can use inks or chalks to create layers of  "clouds" or moons, or stars

This A6 image was made by Phyllis from Diamond Card Crafts who produce the stencil.

Good, don't you agree?

Me being me(!)wanted to play to see if the outer piece could be used in the Bug and the answer is YES! 

You can emboss or deboss an A6 without the outer lines marking your card.

 

Here you can see that I have cut into the stencil.

Without cutting the stencil, on a larger card the lines show, but without the outer edges.....    

a 6" square card embossed

and the effect of debossing. 

So now you have two shapes with which to make your clouds!

 Sandwich for the Bug

Embossing:  A plate, stencil, card right face down, tan mat, 1/2 shims, 2 B plates

Debossing:  A plate, stencil, card face up, tan mat, 1/2 shims, 2 B plates

The stencil costs £2.75 plus postage from Diamond Card Crafts

Nice one Phyllis! 

Halloween

Hi, I've not been about for a week or two there's so many things going on, but today since it's Halloween I thought I'd drop by and show you this .......

I made this for my granddaugthers, Caitlin and Megan who are really in to bats, cats, and spooky things!

I used my Provocraft alphabet to cut the word  and added a touch of nail varnish for good effect.  I only wish I'd thought it through and added a spider or two to give them a real surprise!  Still there's always next year - so watch out girls, nan's about!

Now for all you lovely peeps who have been dropping by to visit to Cupboard, for which you have my grateful thanks, I have something new to show you .....

Have a good look at the picture and see if you can work out how this effect is achieved?

  I will post more info tomorrow, because I think it brill!

Joy Trouvaille

Hi, have you missed me?  I have just returned from a holiday on the Riveria de Fleur in Italy.  A beautiful part of the world, pity the holiday company forgot to tell me that the hotel was in a not so good part of the town, that is   was  situated on a very main busy main road into town and next to a 24 hour self service garage!  If I go missing again I will be write a very long letter to the coach company.  In the meantime......

My design teamster, Miranda, has managed to get this reply from Joy Craft:

" It's possible to use embossing folders for the Trouvaille if they are not thicker than 2,5 mm.

 When the folders or stencils are thicker than 2,5 mm, you have to use two D plates.

Hope to be at help in this matter,

 Best regards,Ilona van StokkumJoy Crafts BVH.R. Tiel 11064651
ilona@joycrafts.nlwww.joycrafts.nl

This is useful and my thanks to Miranda for getting a reply which I failed to do, as did many others!

Unfortunately, embossing folder suppliers do not tell you the thickness of their folders and they do vary, so it means you will have to check them all!  OR, your machine will break!!  As many have done!!!   Pity they failed (like Spellbinders with the GC) to inform us of this very vital piece of information!!!!

Now, do I have two 'D' Plates?   NO!  I have an A. B.C.D plates and a black foam mat as supplied with the machine. By eye the B and D plates look the same, so I'm  now looking  for a micromater to check the thickness of the plates and will let you know later.  I will also check out the thickness of my folders because saying 2.5 mm means nothing to me! 

You can see why I have advise you to be very careful when using embossing folders!  If you should by any chance have two 'D' plates with  newer machine, please let me know and I will post the information on to others.

Christmas Cheer

Another card using the new Chocolate Baroque Christmas stamps called Christmas Cheer.....

If you would like to view these stamps check out this link or pop over to the CBDT blog and have a gander at what my teamsters have been up to  - I've some super talented crafters to work with and their art makes me think and keeps changing my outlook on crafting, but then that's how we progress!

 

New Christmas stamps from Chocolate Baroque

This week see the launch of new Christmas stamp sets from Chocolate Baroque.

The DT have been working with these stamps and have produced some stunning pieces off artwork for your inspiration and each day this week you will be able to view a new card over on the CBDT blog. 

This is one of my cards using the stamps from the Fat Robin theme plate...

If you would like to know more - pop over to the CBDT blog  (link on my sidebar) for full details.  

If you would like to view this set of stamps - click on this
link. They are a delightful set of stamps to work with! Robins, holly and christmas trees...my favourites!

Joy Trouvaille A4 machine

This......machine keeps cropping up!   Another crafter has contacted me regarding the breaking of this machine.  If you are also having problems, or just looking for information, you will find a list of all the posts (including a questionnaire) on my sidebar under "Joy Trouvaille". 

I have found that the machine works okay with die cutting, and embossing masks, BUT it does NOT  like embossing folders!   And, I would definitely NOT recommend you use it for this purpose, which makes you wonder if it's worth buying??!?!??!?!?  It was a similar situation with the Grand Calibur until they made a new plate which you had to buy as an addition.  If you didn't want to buy the new plate, the suggestion was to emboss with a number of shims, this could possibly work with the JT!? but I have given up on the embossing with it.

Sorry to sound so down on this because the thought of a A4 embossing machine sounds great and would be if it worked!

Hi, today another question to answer.....

Quite some time again I posted this picture from a post showing how to use magnetic mats to create a border frame straight onto your card.....

Pat Morgan has asked me about how I made the little flowers.  I wish I could say I made them because they would look real cute, but NO they are actually very small toppers from a kit I purchased from QVC many moons ago! 

As you can see they look insignificant used alone - but with a bit of layering, wire, beads and my Nestie squares....not too bad! 

IF, you should NOT have a magnetic mat, you can still emboss dies in this way with your Bug.

The Sandwich is

A / tan mat / card / die cut side down / possibly shim(s) / 2 B plates

             TIPS : try without shim first to test pressure

            secure your die/dies in place with a low tack tape

For other sandwich recipes on embossing (or die cutting) - you can check out the appropriate page at the top of any post. 

Music Fanfare

Another card using the new Music Fanfare stamps from Chocolate Baroque - slightly different for me colourwise, but I did manage to use my Bug, an embossing folder, and a few dies......

I received this message,

Hello. I stumbled across your blog today whilst doing a bit of research on cutting machines. I need a machine that will cut shapes for my pendants accurately and quickly. I have 3 shapes that I use: 25mm rounded square, 25mm love heart and 25mmx18mm oval. I don't know whether the cuttlebug is for me? I can't seem to find templates that will do my shapes. Am I looking at the wrong machine? Thank you so much for reading. Your work is just beautiful

Well thank you MissRini, but unfortunately you left no contact addy and I'm not sure what you want to cut!  The Bug like many of the die cutting machines will cut paper, card, acetate, material, foil, felt, but not a thick metal.  For this I think you would need the Big Shot, but I have no experience of this machine.  As far as sizes, you can check out the ovals and squares from my sidebar, or go to the Spellbinder site and there you will find info on the sizes of all the dies they produce.   

I'm sure my readers would be interested to hear more about your pendants, so please let us have more info and I'm sure someone will have the answer for you.

Update:  Thanks PeeJay for your response to this query.  I was asked if the Bug was the machine to look at for certain size dies, but as I said I didn't have enough info to answer this question because MissRini gave only sizes and not the material she wanted to cut.  I pointed to Spellbinders on the question of sizes for dies because I know they give acurate info on the sizes of all their dies and I know that these dies do cut well in my  Bug.  The only problems with cutting in my Bug has been with some of the Nellie Snellen dies, and this was overcome by replacing my very worn B plate. 

Sorry to hear that you have probs with a heavy acetate, I have only used a medium weight and that was okay, but interesting and informative to learn that although your Bug will not cut heavy acetate with Nestie dies it will cut with Sizzix dies!  Thanks for sharing this. 

Sorry if my reply caused any confusion, I'm hoping MissRini will respond with more information, but in the meantime if anyone else has had problems with dies and cutting materials - please tell of your experiences and help others! 

. 

COLOUR MY LIFE WITH MUSIC

Hi folks, today is my birthday and I'm celebrating the event with my daughter and two grandchildren in Edinburgh.  I'll be home later in the week, but thought I remind you that Chocolate Baroque has recently released new stamps sets call Chess and Music Fanfare.  Over on the CB DT blog (link on my sidebar) you will find lots of ideas from my DT mates using these stamps.  Well worth popping over!

This is one of my design using the  Music Fanfare stamps.

I've used my trusty nesties squares and a masking technique and you will find full details of how to achieve this look over on the CBDT blog.

I'll be back home on Tuesday and will have another idea for you.

Another winner!

I seem to be saying sorry such a lot these days - life is very complicated at the moment and I seem to be playing catchup daily with my list of to do's getting longer!  Hence, I'm very late announcing a winner of the board kindly donated by Diamond Card Crafts.

From the random number generator......the winner of the board is..,....

No.5 with this comment "Two great projects here - wouldn't have thought the boat could be mnade using a score board - you live and learn!! "

from Aquarius.  Congratulations, will you contact me please  and I will arrange with Phyllis to delivery your board.

My  thanks to Diamond Card Crafts for their generous gift of such a clever piece of equipment.  I'm sure Aquarius with make good use of it.

Since posting free download projects, Phyllis now has another download for you which shows how to change the colour of your printer ink on your computor.   Another free gift from DCC, so why not pop over and get your copy.

Chat soon.

A winner!

I was really pleased to find this morning that one of my followers,  who left the first comment on my card "Home Sweet Home" has been drawn as the lucky crafter to receive a set of these lovely useful stamps as a gift from Glenda Waterworth  owner of Chocolate Baroque. 
Well done Julie W - I'm sure you will enjoy using these stamps. 

How could you make this?????

and this.....

the answer is......

with a Diamond Card Easi-score shape board!

If you are interested in learning more......on this link you will find free project sheets to download to help you make these fab designs and more!

Phyllis the owner of Diamond Crafts has also offer to supply one lucky crafter with a Easi-score shape board - to win all you have to do is comment on this post. 

 The deadline is midnight on Wednesday 10th August. 

Thanks Phyllis for your generous offer.

                                     
                                 Remember you have to be in it to win it - so please left a comment.

If you are a follower of my blog, please leave a second comment stating this.

If you would like to tell your friends of this candy on your own blog, please leave a third comment.

One lucky crafter will be very happy!

                                                                               

Tippy ~Thursday

I have received a message about the Cuttlebug all in one folders.  I have no knowledge of these folders but assume that because they are Cuttlebug they will go through the Bug!  However, as far as the JT machine is concerned - I would not on use them. 

My JT machine broke a few months ago for the second time.  My supplier, Liz of Make a Lasting Impression could not have done more to put the matter right at considerable cost to herself!  When the second set of cogs arrived, I would not have been able to fit them, but fortunately I know a man who could.  (Bless him).  The machine now cuts, and will emboss masks but I have only tried embossing a folder once, and I had to hold my breathe - it took the folder okay, but then  tightened and it was a real effort to get it through.  The machine just does not like the double thickness of folders, this was the same with the GC and they produced a new plate which you had to buy! So, Jilly and answer is No where the JT is concerned.  When you get to using your new folders, perhaps you would like to let us all know of your experience.

Just a word if you are thinking of buying new dies and folders - my suppler Liz has reductions on some of her dies and also a good selection of embossing folders and masks.  You can view by using the link on my sidebar.

Have you entered my blog candy?  The prize - a board from Diamond Crafts. 

Home Sweet Home

This month Chocolate Baroque has launched a set of stamps called Home Sweet Home - the DT have created some amazing designs and you can now view them over on the CBDT blog. 

This is one from me.....

you will see I have used my scoreboard to create a sunray  -  but do please check out how my teamsters have used other ways to create this effect.  I have listed all the materials used and instructions over on the DT blog. 

Also over on the DT blog, Glenda is offering a set of these delightful stamps to one lucky crafter.  To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is leave a comment here, and ( if you want more than one go) on any of the other DT members blogs (including the DT blog) and Glenda will do a random draw from all the comments posted (hope it's from mine!)  Good luck!

Hello

I'm back!  Thanks for your messages and for dropping by so often, I really do appreciate your support.  You have been asking where I've been so.....well, various happenings have interupted my postings - I was recently diagonized with an underactive tyroid, not too serious but explaining why I was not feeling very well.  The treatment unfortunately has also had adverse affects, like not sleeping for more than a couple of hours!  Being so tired certainly affects one's motoviation  and I found for the first time in five years that I was facing a blank canvas as far as crafting was concerned.

A holiday was needed!  So I packed our bags and off we went to Canada.  What an experience!  Beautiful country - wonderful sights and memories.  On return, guess what - yes, my sleep pattern was badly affected by jetlag!  So it was back to the sleeping pills!

If you are a regular visitor to the Cupboard you will know that I'm on the Design Team of the very exciting stamp company Chocolate Baroque, so on returning I had to dig deep and get designing!  I'm unable to show you any of this month's artwork as we have been working with new stamps yet to be released, but over on the DT blog you will be able to view some great designs on (well, only 6 months to go and we crafters have to get organized!) Christmas stamps from past EI leases.  This is one from me.....

You will find the material list over on the CBDT blog. 

My fellow DT mates have producted some fab work to get you thinking of your own Christmas cards so do pop over and join us, you will not be disappointed!

A video to watch!

Want to learn how to make a background for your stamping?  Pop over to Glenda's blog and watch her video.  This is not to be missed! 

May each day....by ikki

My post today is over on the CBDT blog  and illustrates using the new stamps launched this week by CB - the link is on my sidebar.  I think for a difficult occasion card the new Nature Swirl stamps and the Words of comfort are ideal! 

Hope you are enjoying seeing the artwork from my team mates - they are indeed a very inspiring group of crafters.

A winner!

Congratulations Jean Straw on winning the set of 4 stamp plates from Chocolate Baroque - you will be soooo pleased with them!

Unfortunately we cannot all be winners, but over the next few days on the CB DT blog you will be able to  view the artwork created with these stamps by Glenda and the Design Team .  The link is on my side bar, and you will be amazed at what these talented crafters have done with these fab stamps. 

Enjoy your day!

Chocolate Baroque - New Stamps GIVEAWAY

Here's some great news for you - Glenda of Chocolate Baroque is launching new stamps this weekend and as a gift to one lucky visitor to the Chocolate Baroque Design Team Blog who leaves a comment, she is giving away 4 stamp plates!!!!  Go peeps and have a look - you could be that lucky visitor....the link to CB is here. 

Wedding Belle Stamps from Chocolate Baroque

Like many peeps, I watched the royal wedding and was touched with the love and understanding that the couple shared. It was a beautiful and memorable day that we were allowed to share with them. 

At the time I was  working with a new stamp theme plate called Wedding Belle from Chocolate Baroque so I couldn't resist using their initials. 

Materials used:

Cardstock: Lilac hammer card

Silver mirri

   Paper from Essence of Nature CD

Stamps: Wedding Bell

Alphabet: Provocraft Harmony

Hearts: Marianne Creatables

Gems, feathers, flowers, ribbon