Pop-out Letters

 Hey! How is it nearly September?! I had one of those days where nothing really went right and after a piece of annoying news, I decided to experiment (only on your behalf of course ;-) )
I wanted to do something different with my alphabet dies & had an idea to partially cut them in a circular fashion. Can't say I've ever been very successful with partial cutting, so decided to have a go!
First off... draw a circle around a die-cut circle (you'll need the same size as the die for later)

 Now you can see what I ended up with- how did I get to that point? By adding the letter slightly below the circle so it would remain attached after the next few steps. The photo below shows part of the die sticking out from the top cutting mat (so it doesn't get cut) but actually I ended up moving the mat further away so there was more letter showing as otherwise the pressure cuts the whole letter anyway!

 The beauty of the circle is that no matter where you start and finish, it looks perfectly placed. I did have to keep my piece of cardstock fairly small so I could fit it onto the cutting area and turn it as each letter needed to be aligned straight with the cutting mat.
Next I cut out a central piece. The idea behind this was saying to a couple of friends that they were a blessing, but I decided to go with a ring shaped idea so you could use this for a wedding or blessing.

 To create the cut out part- this took a little more thought. I added washi tape just below the edge of each end letter. I then had to line up the cutting mat (so the bits protruding were the bits I DIDN'T want cutting)
 yep, scuse my messy cutting mat!

 Once I'd cut nearly up to the washi, I rearranged the mat so it lined straight with the other side and die cut again.

You end up with this shape cut into the cardstock. At this point you could use a craft knife to cut between each letter and create a standalone shape if you preferred.

I should mention here that the alpha dies are Cole's ABC's from Lawn Fawn. They're a great price too.

I could have left it there, but wanted to bend the letters forward and add a contrast with some patterned paper. I die cut the letters again using this Beachside patterned paper pack

I flipped the piece over to the back- this was the easiest way to line them up. I added little dots of glue to the base of each letter and adhere them that way. Once I'd added glue to the back of the piece it meant when I turned the piece over, the letters didn't move from their position.

It might have seen a lot of work for one card- but I loved the process and want to include partial die cutting in my projects now. I added some tiny heart dies from a Lawn Fawn set 'Hello Baby' .

That's it.
No stamping.
Shocker ;-)

See you soon!
Keren xx

Under the sea

Hello.

Have you seen the new mini set from Lawn fawn? 

I love these sets for a small price you get a stamp set full of possibilities. 

I'm using the so jelly set along with Owens ABC and blissful botanicals die but it would work so well with critters in the sea as well as many other lawn fawn sets.

I started by cutting some of the beachside papers into an offset panel and adhered to my card base.

The i added the die cuts from blissful botanicals as my sea weed.

The jelly fish were coloured with pencils and the die cut and were added with some foam tape.

I wanted have some bubbles so i made them from Owens ABC and some glossy accents.

I feel it doesn't need any more embellishments as there is a lot going on.

Please click the images below to go to that item in store.

 

Thanks for looking.

3 little bears

Hello.

Just because something masculine doesn't mean it cant be cute to.

These bears from Lawn fawns party animals are perfect as a card for kids for their dad.

I stamped the bears in archival black ink onto watercolour card then coloured with Inktense pencils and a water brush.

Once coloured and dried i cut the panel to fit my card base that was already covered with beach side papers and used the new stitched borders dies from lawn fawn to add some extra detail.

I kept the sentiment super simple with the fun Owen's abc also from lawn fawn with their matching die cuts.

Once everything was put together i added some lawn fawn twine to finish. 

   

 

Thanks for looking. 

Otters and Elephants

What a week it's been at store HQ - we've never had so much stock arrive at the same time and it's been a little tough - there have been a LOT of late nights and early mornings to get through it all and this weekend looks like more of the same as Lawn Fawn's latest release is flying out of the door so fast!   I know some items have sold out already but I now have a faster shipping method available for some of the larger brands so if Lawn Fawn haven't sold out I will get in back again next week ;-)

I have managed a couple of quick makes with the new stock - firstly my personal favourite from the Lawn Fawn release which is the otter from the Year 5 mini stamp.

I used the stitched circles dies (both large and small together to get a nice thin mat) to cut the circle to stamp him on and a mat from the beachside papers.  I used their new black licorice ink, which does give a brilliantly crisp image, but it does take a lot longer to dry than standard dye ink pads so do take note of that when you use them or you could smudge your lovely work.  The colouring was done with pencils and blending solution.   I used some more of the yummy new papers to finish it off.

The really exciting news is that we have already got the new Avery Elle release in store - I can't sell it yet - but I can play with it ;-)    So here's a little taster of what will be available on Friday!

The Wplus9 elephants were so very popular and sold out in about 4 hours, so if you missed out, then let me introduce Elle - isn't she adorable!

She is stamped directly onto one of their new range of A2 cards which come in packs of 12 with 4 cards in each of 3 colours which match their ink pads (and yes we have the new range of those too!)  This one is from the range called Sugar.   These cards are such good quality!   Really thick card stock - so much so that I water coloured Elle directly onto them and there wasn't a hint of warping or pilling (I wasn't heavy handed with the water though - I used distress inks and a water brush on my craft sheet)   The little balloon is paper-pieced using one of their new pads which again co-ordinate with the inks and cards - this one is from "happy"     Another simple design, but hey - it's been a busy week - I didn't have time to get Picasso on you ;-)

NEWS FROM THE STORE:

New arrivals this week if you missed any were:

• Mama Elephant
• Wplus9
• Paper Smooches
• Lawn Fawn

Avery Elle will be on sale as soon as its released on Friday

Altenew are just waiting for some stock to arrive and then I will arrange a speedy shipment

I will get restocks back as soon as they are available...........

MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER FOR ANY ITEM THAT IS OUT OF STOCK USING THE "EMAIL ME" FUNCTION.   Not only does this mean you get an email telling you when it's back, it also lets me know how many people want each item so I make sure I order enough for everyone!