On This Day....

Hello friends...

I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and you're all ready for a new week of adventures!! My week is quite full already and there's lots of projects piling up on the craft table waiting for my attention but today, Mr Mojo isn't playing too nicely even after I coaxed him with copious amounts of coffee and cake!! Oh well, maybe tomorrow... :)

In the meantime, I thought I would share another card that I made for a recent issue of Making Cards Magazine. I know there's a few of my followers who can't get this magazine easily, so...for those people who can't get a copy of the mag, I thought it would be nice to share my cards here on the blog and I really hope you love all of them and especially, this one...

Every month, I work on a project for the Designs With A Difference feature and it's always challenging to come up with a new ideas, sometimes they come together easy, other times...they're a bit more challenging but this card was one of those that just worked perfectly and I was so pleased with how it turned out. For all details of how to make this very special card that was in the August issue, you can buy back issues of the magazine HERE! As you can see, there's quite a lot of detail, so...grab a cuppa and enjoy all the pics...

The papers I used are by Kaisercraft and from the On This Day collection.

With the stepper section closed...

The flowers are by Petaloo and coloured with Distress Stains. I then added die cut leaves around the cluster and a paper bloom through the centre.

Inside the card and a stamped image, together with some fussy cutting.

Well, that's it from me for today and I hope I've inspired you with this card. As always, I really appreciate your visits. At the moment, visitor numbers do seem a little low and my blog is feeling a little sorry for itself so...if you can spread the word and I hope to see some of the old faces back so, I can say hello!!

See you all again soon...love Emma xxx

The Impossible Is Often The Untried...

Hello friends...

Hope you've all had a great week and looking forward to a good weekend...

I'm sure most of you all tuned into the Craftwork Cards launch shows over on Create and Craft on Wednesday and I just wanted to say a big congratulations to the wonderful and super talented Julie Hickey, who did an amazing job, as always demonstrating all the gorgeous new products that they had on the show. I can't wait to get my hands on some of the kits, I already have a million and one ideas buzzing around in my head...it's definitely going to be busy here at Chez Williams'...

...but before all those new ideas and trying to make space in the craft room for the new goodies, here's something I made earlier and I really hope you like it!!

This little box canvas is covered in Distress Paints before I piled on all the elements. I added Tim Holtz Tissue Tape around the edges of the canvas and used Sizzix/Tim Holtz die cuts, one of my favourite Tim Holtz quotes which I stamped on a mini canvas that I made myself, lots of Idea-ology, some Junkyard Findings from Finnabair and finally, some Petaloo flowers, which I covered with more Distress Paints.

For the little feet, I attached some bottle tops and applied Treasure Gold to highlight the raised areas of GrungePaste which I applied through a stencil. 

So, I hope you love what I've made today and thanks so much for your visit and for leaving all the lovely comments that you always write!!

Have a fab weekend and take care!

Bye for now...love Emma xxx

You're Invited!

The weather is absolutely beautiful and as the sun streams through my window, the soundtrack to my day comes courtesy of the Scissor Sisters and Kylie Minogue. And seeing as I have a feeling that next week might be quite busy, I'm going to take this opportunity to relax and enjoy this weekend....

So, what better way to do it ~ than a barbecue and here's what I thought would be a fabulous invitation...

I  was fiddling around with folds and wanting to make something different, when all of a sudden, this style of card, came to me and I really like it...I think it makes a fabulous style for an invitation or menu and it would look wonderful, decorated with beautiful papers to make wedding stationery!

The image itself, once again comes from Lili of the Valley, stamped onto white card, die cut with a Nestabilities die and I used Promarkers to colour in and highlighted with some Stickles Glitter Glue. I combined it with some papers from one of my very favourite companies, K&Company and punched along the border with the Martha Stewart Pansy punch and matted them with some Bazzill Basics cardstock. As finishing touches, I added this glorious fabric flowers from Petaloo, which can be layered to give a dimensional effect and then I attached a button in the centre. I added die cut leaves, buttons threaded with twine and some glitter paper flowers.

The invite itself is just run off on the printer and then I used the corresponding punch from Martha Stewart on the corners.

Whatever you're doing this weekend...have fun, take care and enjoy!!

Emma

xx

Here Come The Girls...

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and didn't get too disheartened over the football. Hmmm, our goalkeeper seemed to have a touch of nerves on the night and a bad case of butterfingers but as they say, ~it ain't over 'til it's over!!

Anyway, today I thought I would bring some femininity back to this blog! Don't get me wrong, I'm supporting our boys over in South Africa during the World Cup but I think it's time that we left the football cards behind for a while...

And you couldn't get more adorable and pretty, than this...

It's another lovely stamp from Lili Of The Valley and I thought it worked perfectly with a scalloped card blank from Craftwork Cards. These images all remind me of time gone by...and I wanted to capture that feel within the card. I matted and layered it with Bazzill cardstock and some gorgeous papers from DCWV. The image is once again stamped onto white card and coloured in using Promarkers. As finishing touches, I added a greetings plaque, spotty grosgrain ribbon, tied into a bow and some of these pretty little flowers from Petaloo, which I then popped adhesive gems into the centres of.

When In Doubt Dance!

Today's spotlight is on those fabulous Kraftin Kimmie stamps that I bought last month, from Dies To Die For and features, Monique.

I combined quite a few products to make this card...Promarkers, Martha Stewart punches, Petaloo flowers in different textures and finishes, ribbon, adhesive gemstones and Spellbinders dies...

I also used backing papers and cardstock, that I printed from the Polkadoodles, Paper Boutique~CD Rom. The main base card itself, is made from Centura Pearl Snow White Card, which you can buy from Crafters Companion. The one thing that I absolutely insist on in my crafting is quality products...there's nothing worse that seeing a card that starts to bend as it sits on the mantlepiece and I was really impressed with the Centura Pearl cardstock. I urge anyone who uses CD Roms to invest in this, as it's a good, heavyweight card and gives the most luxurious pearlised finish to your print out and my other little secret for quality printing paper is, Tesco. Their "Finest" range of printer paper is fabulous...give it a go!

More Than A Woman

Hope you're all enjoying a relaxing and peaceful Sunday....

I was planning to get this card posted earlier than this but my internet has been down right up until now, which has meant that, I could indulge in the summer sun and sit in the garden for a while. But to tell you the truth, I am more of a winter girl...give me snow over sun any day!!

Anyway, today's card features one of the Kraftin Kimmie stamps that I bought from the fabulous Dies To Die For and who I mentioned in an earlier post. Once again, I can only reiterate what a great company it is and I'm sure that these stamps will be my first of many purchases over the coming months.

So, I introduce you to ....Vivienne! Isn't she fab and so very glamourous, all the way down to her extra special shoes. Yes, *smiles* she owns the Louboutin's that I've always wanted...

The image is stamped onto a scalloped circle which I die cut with a Spellbinders die and then coloured in using Promarker pens. To make the card even more glam, I think it needed a touch of glitter. So, I added highlights to the peacock feathers, using various blue and green tones of Stickles glitter glue.

You might also have noticed that I've also made a little gift tag to attach onto a present and be presented alongside the card... I cut this out by hand from white card and then used the same backing paper on this as I did on the card. I stamped the same image but this time onto a Labels Four die cut shape and then finally stamped "Shake Your Tailfeathers" at the bottom of the tag.

SO, WHAT DID I USE?

Backing Papers: QVC, K and Company

Colouring Mediums: Promarkers, Stickles Glitter Glue

Flowers & Card Candy: Craftwork Cards (card), Petaloo (tag)

Dies: Spellbinders Large Scalloped Circle Die (card), Labels Four (tag)/Tim Holtz Alterations Flourish

Ribbon: QVC

Adhesive Pearls: Papermania

Border Punch: Martha Stewart

Ink: Memento

Stamps: Vivienne ~ Kraftin Kimmie

Elegance...

Well, I'm still buzzing with excitement about all the fantastic things that have been happening since Crafts Beautiful, featuring my projects using the fabulous new Gorjuss papercraft range from The Crafthouse Press, came out. I'd like to thank everyone who has commented on the spread or been kind enough to comment, here on my blog. You've all been amazing and every single word has been greatly appreciated.

It's been a wonderful, sunny spring day here in London and together with some new and exciting products that I've received in the post over the last few days, I think it gave me plenty of inspiration to work on some new cards.

Today's card is probably a familiar image to some of my friends and they know how much I enjoy working with this image and how much I love the art deco period.

To make this card, I used a variety of techniques. First of all, I stamped the beautiful image of the Deco lady by Hero Arts onto cream card. If I'm working with Promarker pens as I used here, I prefer to use a Memento ink pad as it doesn't bleed the lines of the image, when combined with the alcohol in the pens. Once the image is coloured in, I matted and layered it, together with, some plain background papers, the beautiful gold mirror card and a layer of card, that I handstamped, using Anna Griffin's background stamps and aged with distress inks.

I covered a cream card blank with this stunning aqua coloured paper, that I thought co-ordinated so well with the red and then using Martha Stewart's Deep Edge Border Punch, I punched some of that red paper on both sides and was left with this wonderful filigree style, flower border which I adhered down the side of the card. I punched out some fronds from the same background paper, using another Martha Stewart punch and then glittered the edges and then built up a flower corsage at the bottom of the card, using a Petaloo silk flower, popped a gorgeous gem in the centre and entwined some wire and adhered this to the card, to look like a stem. Finally, as a finishing touch, I used a Spellbinders label die and die cut the greetings plaque and stamped a message.

So, now it's time for me to get back to making some more cards ~ I hope you're all having a wonderful week, enjoying some sunshine and I'd like to say a big "hello" to all my new followers and I hope that you keep coming back and enjoying what you see.