Tell Your Story...

Hello friends and happy new year everyone ~ I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas and a good start to the new year! I"m sure many of us are currently watching the events that are unfolding in Australia and my heart goes out to everyone who is being affected by these horrendous fires! I know many people who live in this amazing country, including some very close friends of mine and my thoughts and love are with you all ~ please stay safe!

Today, the Simon Says Stamp DT are back on the Monday Challenge Blog and this week our theme is called SOMETHING NEW and the team are showcasing Darkroom Door within their projects.

I actually made this project at the beginning of December, it's been such a busy crafty month from that point on and I just knew I wouldn't get the time if I didn't make it at that point ~ so, I chose to create a card that celebrated the brand new decade and all those wonderful adventures that lie ahead and used a combination of metallics to create some sparkle and shimmery shine!

It's time to say hello to 2020 here on my blog and let's get the new decade started...

To begin with I chose to use the Starry Night Background stencil from Darkroom Door and placed this over a panel of black card 14 x 17cm. I then applied Transparent Texture Paste through the stencil. After carefully removing the stencil, and whilst the paste is still wet, I sprinkled Vintage Platinum Glitter Dust over the top of the paste, tapped away the excess before setting it to one side to dry THOROUGHLY!! No poking at it with your fingers, just let it do it's thing and set.

Whilst the paste is doing it's thing, I moved onto the globe and used Tim Holtz's Destination die to die cut Mixed Media Heavystock Card, that I had previous painted with a combination of Ground Espresso, Walnut Stain, Black Soot and Antiqued Bronze Distress Paints. After putting down the first solid layer of paint, Ground Espresso, I then applied a dry brushing of each layer of paint individually, heat drying between the layers and just building up the colour.

Once it was dry, I then placed the die cut onto foam pads and mounted the globe onto a piece of black card, stamped with the gorgeous sparkles stamps from the Great Outdoors stamp set. I stamped the stars in clear embossing ink before applying gold embossing powder and heat embossing the powder until molten. You can see the stars shining through from behind the globe die cut in the photo below.

To complete the starry night background, I lightly splattered Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink over the surfaces of both the stamped background and the larger glittered panel, before inking the edges of both pieces with the Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Put the globe to one side and taking the glittered background, matt onto gold metallic kraft card, followed by a layer of pewter coloured card, a second layer of gold metallic card and finally a layer of kraft card. Then mount the layered background onto a pewter coloured card blank.

I then mounted the dimensional die cut globe, complete with the stamped starry night background, onto the front of the card using foam pads to add some dimension.

Now we can move onto the sentiment banner that sits below the globe. For this I cut a strip of blackout kraft card and used the Alphanumeric Label die to die cut gold metallic kraft stash to create the words "The Adventure Begins". Top Tip: Applying adhesive sheets to the back of the gold metallic card makes it so much easier when it comes to sticking the letters to the banner.

Matt the banner onto a piece of champagne coloured metallic 3 kraft stash and then a piece of black card before mounting the banner onto the card blank with foam pads.

Add a Hardware Head to either side of the quote.

For the 2020 that sits on top of the globe, I used the Handmade Die to cut my numbers from chipboard that I covered with some of the gold metallic card.

Once the numbers were cut, I then inked them with Mushroom Alcohol Ink to knock back the brightness of the gold.

I mounted the year onto the surface of the globe and then placed a Tim Holtz metallic quote sticker, "Tell The Story", directly beneath the globe. The sticker came from my stash.

Finally, I added three shimmering bursts of gold using the amazing Radiant 3D Die to cut more of the gold metallic kraft stash. I used the smaller sized die cuts and placed them onto my card, adding a Metallic Droplet in the centre of each.

To complete the project I added a clip at the top of the project.

So that's it from me for this week and I hope you've enjoyed the process behind this card and how I've combined all the metallic elements to create vintage sparkle and bring this project to life! The one thing that I will say is....OH. Em. Gee....was this a pain to photograph! The camera just hated all that glitter and metallic shine but I hope I've managed to capture it and I hope the photos do this project justice!

Don't forget, if you would like to see more inspiration from my talented teamies over on the challenge blog and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today and hope to see you again soon, love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Darkroom Door Starry Night Stencil

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Alphanumeric Label, Handmade Alphabet, Destination, Radiant 3D Die
Stampers Anonymous: Great Outdoors
Distress Paint: Ground Espresso, Walnut Stain, Black Soot and Antiqued Bronze
Distress Oxide Inks: Antique Linen

Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Metallic Quote Stickers, Metallic Droplets
Prima Marketing Rusty Metal Clip

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Gold Embossing Powder, Vintage Platinum Glitter Dust, Transparent Texture Paste, Mushroom Alcohol Ink
Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Blackout Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash, Metallic Kraft Stash 3, Pewter Card, black Card
Glass Media Mat

Heat Gun
Big Shot

What's New Pussycat?

Hello friends...

Hope you've all had a fabulous start to your week. Here in London, the sun is still shining, it's still hot and very humid and even though we had quite a downpour yesterday, it was so shortlived it didn't do a thing to cool anything down!! Put that together with the fact that at the moment, I'm being terrorised in the living room by the biggest moth I've ever seen in my life, had to deal with a small army of ants in the kitchen and don't even mention the spiders!!! Eek...don't you just love the British summers...lol!!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at Chez Williams' and today, is the first day that I feel I'm actually coming up for air, before getting back on the rollercoaster tomorrow and starting all over again but today, I thought I'd share a card that I made last month for a Clarity Stamp show. I don't actually think that at the end of the day, this stamp kit was included in the show, which was a shame but at least I get to show it here and as always, I hope you like it!!

I was sooooo pleased with this card and the way it turned out!! I couldn't have been happier...I just wish I could've kept it!! The wall for the little pussy cat to sit on is created using a Wendy Vecchi stencil and PaperArtsy Grungepaste, before I then painted it with Tim Holtz Distress Paints. Don't ask which colours, it was all trial and error until I got it looking right but doesn't it look fantastic!?!

The background is created using Distress Inks and the cat is stamped and then decoupaged to give the appearance of it sitting on the wall.

As a finishing touch, I created a starry night sky!!

So, that's it from me for today and as always, I really do appreciate all your comments and visits. I must apologise for my lack of visits to your blogs over the last few months ~ as some of you know, at the beginning of the year I had pleurisy and I also managed to crack a rib from the continual coughing due to the chest infection. To cut a very long story short, along the road to my recovery I have suffered a few complications which I now hope are going to be sorted out with a new GP but this has taken up a lot of my time and energy and that's why I unfortunately haven't managed to visit you all as much as I would like too!! I do follow all your work through social networking sites, etc and have seen all your fantastic creations but I really do hope you all understand why I don't visit you atm, but I can't thank you enough for all your support over the last few months!! Here's to feeling 100% soon and hopefully, fingers crossed, getting my life back on track!!

Thanks again for visiting and I'll see you all very soon!

Love Emma xxx

Christmas Sparkle....

Evening everyone...it's another quick share from me for tonight and some more Christmas card inspiration!!

Once again, as with the last couple of posts that I've shared with you all ~ this set of cards were made for the December issue of Making Cards Magazine and feature some gorgeous stencils, Sparkle Medium and decoupage stamps from Imagination Crafts.

For more detail of how I made these cards, you can buy back issues of Making Cards Magazine, HERE!

Some of my regular blogging buddies might remember in my last post that I mentioned I'd taken some pictures of the Christmas lights in London's West End. If...I say, IF...I get all my jobs done, I'm hoping to get back into London this coming week, to take some more photos and be part of that Christmas spirit that you get wandering around the bustling streets of my favourite city but for now, here's some of the photos that I've taken so far!! Enjoy....

Oxford Street, London W1

South Molton Street, London W1

Regent Street,  London W1

...and of course, no visit to London is complete without a visit to my favourite shop!!!

That's all from me for today but thank you so much for taking the time to say hello and visit me and take a look at my latest creation ~ I can't wait to read all your comments!! I'll be visiting all my lovely blogging buddies asap to say hello but until then...bye for now and see you tomorrow!
Love Emma xxx

Christmas Rose...

From a dull, cold and very damp London...hello everyone ~ Happy Monday!!

Hope you all had a good weekend and you're now ready for another week. It's a flying visit from me, as I need to get back to the craft room, (previously known as the dining room...we haven't eaten off that table since Christmas, I'm not sure I even know what it looks like anymore...haha)!!!! At the moment, I'm working on an exciting new project that I will be able to tell you all about very soon but for now, and as promised...here is the second card project that I made for Imagination Crafts. As always, I love hearing what you think about my cards and I hope you like this one.

It wasn't the easiest card to photograph, but I've taken lots of pics to show you all the details, including the gorgeous decoupage stamps and the yummy Sparkle Medium Paste, that I used through a stencil. Also to show you the versatility of these stencils, I also used the same stencil to dry emboss the card stock that I used on the front of my card.

So, I really hope the cards I've shown so far has inspired you to try some of Imagination Crafts gorgeous products...if they have, then click HERE to see the full range of what they sell.

I'll be round later for a long overdue catch up and to see what everyone has been up to, since my last visit...see you all soon!

Bye for now...love Emma xxx

All That Sparkles...

Hello everyone!!

Remember me? Eek, I can't believe it's been nearly a week since my last post and to everyone who has emailed me or sent me messages, I am ok...just been run off my feet making lots of new cards and projects to share with you all on here!! I've also got a few exciting developments in the pipeline which I'm working on and will be able to share with you all very soon!!

In the meantime, this is the first of one of my new projects that I made for Imagination Crafts. When I got my DT parcel, I just didn't know where to start with all the lovely goodies that I'd been sent but this is the first card that I made, using stencils, the gorgeous Sparkle Medium and the decoupage stamps!! As always, I hope you like it and I can't wait to hear what you think...just be kind!! tee hee....

If you haven't tried this paste...then it's a MUST HAVE!! Just look at that sparkle, it is gorgeous and it's not just for stencilling...you can do so much with it ~ please try it because you will love it, just as much as I did!! As you can see, the stamps are equally as fabulous, fantastic quality and I just adored this Christmas tree design.

Right, time for me to go and try out my new glasses that I picked up today!! Let's hope that they work, otherwise if you see any squiffy lines on my projects...blame the glasses or call it artistic license!! lol!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at what I made and I'll be visiting all your blogs, later!!

Bye for now....love Emma xxx

Another day, another Christmas card!

One of my favourite crafting materials to use is Dreamweaver's embossing paste, together with their stencils. It's not always the quickest or easiest card to make but in my eyes, once you get the hang of working with the paste, the end result is always worth it.

On this card, I used a clear paste on a snowflake stencil. After removing the stencil carefully and whilst the paste is still wet, I sprinkled glitter all over the image. I always like to use a fine glitter, as you get a better finish and also I find it much more sparkly and twinkly. Once the image is completely dry, it's ready to matt and layer on a beautiful backing paper which I punched the corners with, using Martha Stewart's "Loop Corner Punch".

A gorgeous piece of turquoise satin ribbon is attached across the card, all finished off with the final touch of a matching bow!