One of the classes I teach at paper Flourish is called Not So Shabby because although I love the shabby chic look I still haven’t mastered the genre and so have created my own take on it.I also need a fair bit of practise so that I can stay one step in front of my pupils so you will be seeing my progress here. This is a card I made with a paper collection called House of Roses by a company called Lemoncraft. lemoncraft have the most amazing shabby style papers and also A4 sheets full of fussy cutting options, both of which I have used on this card. I did a little die cutting ,fussy cutting, added some lace and the focal point on my card is the resin frame which I made with a silicone mold and No More gaps ( available at your local hardware store!). I didn’t paint this one , it is as it came out of the mold. It has been a busy morning full of housework, Roast is in the oven and after lunch I plan to relax in the craft room – can not wait!! Til tomorrow….
Tag: vintage
stamperia letters and flowers..
Another card today using the gorgeous Stamperia letters and Flowers papers,and some stunning lace! The frame which I painted with Prima Sparks acrylic paint is interesting because I made it with a silicone mold and some No more gaps from the hardware store! it takes a couple of days to dry in the mold but comes out beautifully! I have made a lot of these molded frames and flourishes so you will see them from time to time on my projects.For now though i have picked up my new kaisercraft papers and it is a Christmas range so I am all ready to start the Christmas makes! off I go… til tomorrow….
Book Cards..Shabby Chic style..
This week I have been making book cards. These are my new favourite thing to make ,but a word of warning …they use a lot of paper! I didn’t come up with this design, although I did modify it a little bit, one of our talented teachers at paper Flourish taught something similar this week to a group of ladies. I have also made boxes to pop the finished product in and decorated the box as well, and I have included in the box a die cut card stand to stand the book up on for display. now to the nitty gritty… there are 5 layers of card and paper, the bottom layer the card and then 4 layers of papers, getting smaller by a centimetre for each layer. I have done them in a shabby chic style so I distressed and inked all my edges with tea dye distress ink, once the papers are cut and inked I folded them in the centre and then bowed out the pages to curl them. I stuck the layers through the centre fold and put 3d mounting foam on the page edges . It was then just a matter of decoration with ribbon, flowers and various die cutting of leaves and flourishes!. The papers I have used here are from two companies – I have just discovered them and their papers are gorgeous so you will see more of them on my blog. they are Lemoncraft ( the papers here were from their range House of Roses, ) and Stamperia. The bottom photo gives you a better idea of the card upright. For now I am off to teach a retirement village calss, til tomorrow….
Kaisercraft Miss Betty double zigzag..
Sorry I have been missing for a few days, I have been busy with work, creating classes and then the usual running of the household!As we speak there is a man on my roof restoring it, it is old and tired and had developed leaks….something some of us can commiserate with !The Two cards today are made with kaisercraft Miss Betty collection, I keep promising to make a you tube clip showing how to do this fold, and it will get done, Nathan has had a few problems with the cameras, but I think those kinks may be fixed so we shall see.. The sticker sheet that comes with the kaisercraft collections is perfect for doing these cards, they usually have long borders on them that I never know what to do with but they fit perfectly along the thinner zig zag strip. In other news I have taken the first step towards starting my Christmas cards.. I have been out to the shed and collected some christmas papers! I will take it over to mum and dads place today and sit and chat and craft with them.. til tomorrow….
Not so Shabby Chic…
I have been experimenting with Shabby Chic, and although I really still haven’t mastered the whole “rip the paper” technique ( too fond of paper to willfully rip it!)I have been teaching my experiments every month at Paper Flourish.This card is one of two we did a couple of months ago. I will pop up its partner next post.For this one we took a white sheet of cardstock and coloured it with Antique Linen distress oxide ink and stamped over it with a Darkroom Door French script background stamp, distressed the edges and inked with tea dye ink. Cut diagonally and roll those inner edges in and ink again.Add lace, string of pearls,flowers and die cut leaves. Some of the leaves and flowers are coloured with a spray we made with Tumbled glass re-inker ( just a drop in a spray bottle topped up with water) and a small scoop ( just a smidgeon!) of gold mica powder .Give it a good shake before use. Today is going to be a crafty day… I am working on a technique to teach in september and continuing on with cruise card ideas, and of course my mind is starting to drift towards Christmas card ideas! Til tomorrow…..
Prima Lavender card..
I bought this range before I went on my cruise, and only had time to make one or two cards with it, but hopefully I will find a little time to get it out again!. The range is Prima Lavender, and I also bought some Amelia Rose, which is very similar colours and so I may mix and match the ranges ( something I don’t normally do)on future cards. I added some Prima flowers and some rose gold sequins. I am off to Mum and Dads today, I have lots of new dies to play with so I am taking them with me to cut some for mum. I have been going through all my papers in the craft room this week, sorting out which collections are going to the craft fair. I have to reduce my stock so that I can fit more in! Managing the stash is as much of a hobby as the actual creating! Til tomorrow….
Kaisercraft Miss Betty number 1….
I have managed to find a little time to play with Kaisercraft Miss Betty. This is my favourite kind of paper, it has a vintage shabby kind of look and I can go to town using my ribbons and lace! For todays card I distressed all of my edges ( 12 x 12 papers) and inked them with tea dye distress ink. I did some die cutting, including a lovely leaf die which I used on an old book page, and inked with more tea dye ink, and added some of the collectables from the same range , extra flowers, pearl strip, and a ribbon bow.Til tomorrow…..
Oops missed one!Couture Creations..
I thought I had shown all my Couture Creations C’est la Vie makes, but I missed one! I think this is my favourite too! All the papers are from that colection, and distressed and inked around the edges.I found a few birds and butterflies to fussy cut from the papers, and the gate die and flower dies are also from the C’est la Vie range by couture creations. I inked up the die cut flowers with distress inks, and the brad in the centre of the largest flower is a stampin up vintage brad. I inked a little versamark ink across the top of the gate die cut and heat embossed with gold powder to experiment with aging the gate…I will be experimenting more with this idea. Assorted greenery was added, from bits and pieces on my desk from other projects. Thats all for today, Til tomorrow…..
Couture Creations C’est la Vie ( final for now)
This is the final in my Couture Creations C’est la Vie collection for now at least, and I have used a couple of the bits and pieces that are available with the collection, but the main thing here is the embossing folder which is also available as part of the collection. I tried a couple of different things on the embossed cardstock so this is truly one of Helen’s experiments! I used a Versamark ink pen to ink the wavy line and then heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. this technique needs a little more perfecting on this style of card but the “not so perfect ” look would be fine on a shabby chic card. I used some Antique Linen distress oxide ink on a sponge to colour the lower part of the embossed cardstock. I added random white flat backed pearls to the top part of the cardstock. At the moment I have my mind on May lessons, and will only be happy when I have a couple completed, so all crafting for the next while will be about that!Til tomorrow…..
Couture Creations C’est la Vie..
Before I went Cruising I bought some papers, dies and embossing folders by couture creations from their Cest La vie range. I didn’t get much time to play with all my new buys, but did manage a few quick makes. This card was the first one ..I think you can always tell my first card made from any range as it’s always quite simple and it is really just a testing out of how the colours work together. I added some lace and twill ribbon and one of my gorgeous resin frames which are getting very few in number..If anyone knows where I can get more of these please let me know!Til tomorrow….
Helens Card Designs 