Happy Birthday to You

Hi Bloggers.

Not sure what was up with Blogger yesterday morning. It was up and down like a yo-yo! If you missed yesterday's twofer, please do go and have a look.

Here's today's card -

This is an actual propper card! I folded an A4 piece of Milk Card in half. I placed the largest but one die from the Spellbinders Fairmont Labels Die Set with part of one of the cutting edges outside and ran through the Spellbinders Platinum Machine using the cutting sandwich.This gave me my shaped card blank. I cut the same die again out of a single piece of Milk Card and inked through the die using Plum Cobbler Colour Cloud using a Smoothie. I added this to my card blank.

I cut the middle die in the Spellbinders Fairmont Decorative Elements Die Set out of Rich Plum Card. I cut the corresponding sized die in the Fairmont Labels Die Set out of Milk Card. I added Clear Perfect Medium to the Fairmont Labels die cut, added CS Black Mirage Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder and heat set. If the powder is patchy, it's a good idea to add more ink, more powder and heat set again. I added the Rich Plum die cut using CS Glue.

I stamped the sentiment from the Justrite A Flower for Your Thoughts Stamp Set (hope you managed to get yours!) onto Milk Card using Jet Black Archival and and cut out using the smallest die in the Fairmont Labels Die Set. I inked through the die with Plum Cobbler Colour Cloud.

I cut the smallest die in the Spellbinders Decorative Accents Die Set out of Milk Card. I added Clear Perfect Medium then CS Black Mirage Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder and heat set. I repeated the process for a really good coverage then added to my card as shown, securing with CS Glue (I have decanted some into a little bottle so I can be more precise when applying my glue). I added my sentiment using 3D Foam.

John Lockwood is launching a One Day Special on Hochanda this evening at 8pm with some Sue Wilson Dies and co-ordinating stamps. I believe he has some CS Gilding Polishes on the show too. I am offering 10% discount on items I have on the shows. You can find them here. Discount applies till midnight tomorrow night. I'm afraid there's no Gilding Polishes available on my website as I have put my stock aside for my workshop on Saturday. If you're coming to the workshop, you'll get first dibs. Any stock not sold will be available to purchase some time on Saturday evening.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (11th May) - Creative Expressions Stamps to Die For Heart Striplet only £3.99!

One Day Special Shows continue on Hochanda today

Hi Bloggers.

One Day Special shows continue on Hochanda today at 9am, 12noon, 4pm and 7pm. Hope you're loving this Art Deco range from Spellbinders as much as I do.

I have a twofer for you today - simply showing how the Fairmont ODS dies work just by stacking them up.

In this first one, I've used Milk and Coconut White Card with the Spellbinders Fairmont Labels and the Spellbinders Fairmont Decorative Accents. The background is embossed using the Creative Expressions Fine Finials Embossing Folder. The sentiment is from the Creative Expressions Petite Lavish Sentiments Stamp Set, stamped onto Coconut White Card using Clear Perfect Medium and embossed with CS White Gold Brilliant Sparkle Embossing Powder.

I've used the smallest and the middle die in the Decorative Accents set, cutting them together out of Milk Card (I cut the larger of the 2 first then slotted the smaller inside and cut again - easier to cut this way). This gave me a pretty frame. I used little pieces of 3D Foam to mount this onto my Coconut White Fairmont Label then I added the pretty Decorative Fairmont die cut inside it securing with CS Glue. I added my sentiment using 3D Foam. I popped all this on top of the largest Fairmont Decorative Accents die cut and then onto my background.

I assembled the card as shown adding some Craft Consortium Pearls to the corners and piercing around the edges using my Tim Holtz Ruler, Precision Probe and Piercing Mat.

Here's the second card - more dramatic in Black and Coconut White and this time using the Spellbinders Fairmont Labels with the Spellbinders Fairmont Decorative Elements.

This is simply just stacking the die cuts up, alternating between the Fairmont Labels and the Fairmont Decorative Accents. The Labels are all cut from Coconut White Card and the Decorative Accents are all cut from Black Card. This time the background is embossed using the Creative Expressions Art Deco Fanfare Embossing Folder. The sentiment is once again from the Creative Expressions Petite Lavish Sentiments Stamp Set but this time stamped using Jet Black Archival. I've added some 8mm Black Pearls to the corners.

2 easy cards to make. Across the 3 die sets, there's lots of variations.

The offer of 10% discount on items I have in stock from my shows continues till midnight tonight. You can find them here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (10th May) - Sue Wilson Alexandra Die Set only £11.99!

 

One Day Special on Hochanda this evening

Hi Bloggers.

Back from an enjoyable weekend at Inspirations in Preston. Thankfully, John and I both had good journeys back to our respective homes yesterday.

I'm launching a Spellbinders One Day Special on Hochanda at 8pm this evening with some beautiful Art Deco dies designed by Stacey Caron who is the co founder of Spellbinders. Hope you can join me.

Here's today's card -

So, for the background, I have used the gorgeous Spellbinders Deco Lux Die Set. I cut both the dies in the set together out of Coconut White Card, I removed the outer die when I ran it through the emboss sandwich and then inked through the die with Summer Sky Colour Cloud using a Smoothie. I then cut the outer die only out Coconut White Card and then glued the 2 die cuts together using Cosmic Shimer Dries Clear Glue.

I stamped one of the foliage stamps from the Justrite A Flower For Your Thoughts Stamp Set onto Coconut White Card using Decadent Teal Colour Cloud applied using a Smoothie. I then added the flower head using Decadent Denim Colour Cloud applied using a Smoothie. I also stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set using Decadent Denim. Now, the stamp set is on the show at a VERY SPECIAL PRICE - so this is your heads up! I have none on my website as I can't match this price so get it while you can. Once stock has gone, there will be no more. To tempt you, you can check out other cards I have made using this lovely stamp set here.

Back to today's card - I cut the stamped image and sentiment out using Spellbinders Fairmont Labels and inked through the die with Summer Sky Colour Cloud. I cut the middle die in the Spellbinders Fairmont Decorative Accents. I cut the corresponding sized die out of the Fairmont Labels die set and inked through the die with Summer Sky. I stacked all these die cuts using 3d Foam.

I tied a bow using 3 lengths of Off White Satin Ribbon and added a Craft Consortium Pearl Heart Charm.

I assembled the card as shown adding some Craft Consortium Pearls to the corners and piercing around the edges using my Tim Holtz Ruler, Precision Probe and Piercing Mat.

I'm offering 10% discount on items I have in stock from my shows. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tomorrow night.

Today I will do my very best to get all the website orders out that were placed at the weekend. They'll be processed in the order received so apologies if I don't manage to get them all done.

The winner of the card from Freebie Friday on May 6th is.....................

Tracy w

Please email me at juliawattscrafts@gmail.com with your address and I'll pop it in the post later this week.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (9th May) - Phill Martin Leafy Background only £4.99!

 

Sneak Peek

Hi Bloggers.

Day 2 of demoing at Inspirations in Preston with John Lockwood. We're there 11am till 3.30pm today. Pop by if you're in the area.

Today I'm sharing a sneak peek from my One Day Special shows on Hochanda starting tomorrow evening at 8pm. It features some lovely Art Deco Dies from Spellbinders.

For the background, I embossed a piece of Milk Card using the Creative Expressions Art Deco Fanfare Embossing Folder.

I cut the Spellbinders Arched Diamond Die out of Vintage Gold Card twice. I added them to the top and bottom sections of my background. You could easily use this die cut to wrap around a candle (remove when candle burn approaches the die cut) or you could use it as a napkin ring.

I cut the largest die in the Spellbinders Ritz Decorative Accents Die Set out of Rich Plum Card. I cut the middle die in the same set out of Vintage Gold Card. I stamped the sentiment from the Creative Expressions Petite Lavish Sentiments Stamp Set onto Milk Card using Plum Archival. I cut it out using Spellbinders Ritz Labels.

I assembled the card as shown adding some 8mm Cream Pearls and piercing around the edges using my Tim Holtz Ruler, Precision Probe and Piercing Mat.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (8th May) - Couture Creations Cappuccino Die only £6.99!

Pretty Flowers

Hi Bloggers.

John Lockwood & I are demoing at Inspirations in Preston today 10am till 4pm. Please stop by if you're in the area.

Here's today's card -

For the background, I embossed a piece of Coconut White Card using the Creative Expressions Provencal Lace Embossing Folder.

I cut the largest die in the Spellbinders Ornamental Crest Die Set with the deboss frame die from the same set within it out of Dark Grey Card. I place the deboss frame over a section of paper from the Craft Consortium English Garden 12 x12 Paper Pad using 3d Foam and trimmed away the excess paper.

I wrapped some Craft Consortium Rose Satin Ribbon across 2 corners of the background adding a Craft Consortium Circle Diamante Buckle Charm to each piece of ribbon.

I cut some flowers out of Coconut White and Dark Grey Card using the Spellbinders Crossing Crescent Die Set and added some Rose Resin Flowers.

I assembled the card as shown piercing around the edges using my Tim Holtz Ruler, Precision Probe and Piercing Mat.

Phill Martin is continuingwith his One Day Special on Hochanda today with shows at 9am, 12noon, 4pm and 7pm. I'm offering 10% discount on items I have in stock from his shows. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (7th May) - Spellbinders Heirloom Oval Die Set only £9.99!

Freebie Friday

Hi Bloggers.

I have a demo card that needs a new home this week -

You can read how the original card was made, in a different colourway, in this post.

Please leave  lovely comment below to go into the draw to win. I'll announce the winner in Monday's post.

The projects are almost set for next weekend's workshop in Yardley Gobion. I'm sharing a few sneak peeks of the projects here but you'll need to come to the workshop to see the whole designs!

If you're interested in joining us, you can book via my website here.

Sorry, I didn't manage to get out to the Post Office yesterday as I'm knee deep in prep for my One Day Special which starts on Monday night.

I'm heading up to Preston this afternoon (hoping the M6 will be kind to me this time!) for a weekend of demos at Inspirations with John Lockwood. If you're in the area, please pop by.

Phill Martin is launching a One Day Special on Hochanda this evening at 8pm with his range of dies and his latest colour collection - Precious Metals. I'm offering 10% discount on products I have in his shows - you can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (6th May) -  Sue Wilson Lavish Swirls Diagonals Die Set only £7.99!

Order of Service

Hi Bloggers.

Here's today's card -

 

For the background, I embossed a piece of Milk Card using the Creative Expressions Swirling Hearts Embossing Folder.

I cut the Spellbinders Quatrafoil Panel out of Aqua Card. I trimmed a section out of the centre. I cut a piece of Milk Card to fit and glued it to the back of the trimmed die cut.

I stamped the 'Order of Service' from the Creative Expressions Vintage Typewriter Wedding Stationery Set onto Milk Card using Clear Perfect Medium and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Bright Gold Detail Embossing Powder. I cut it out using Spellbinders Decorative Swallowtail Tags.

I cut the embellishment die from the Spellbinders Regal Allure Die Set out of Milk Card twice. I rubbed Enchanted Gold Gilding Wax over. Once dry, I carefully buffed them up using a dry wet wipe.
I added them to the top and bottom of my sentiment panel using CS Glue and then added them to the trimmed Quatrafoil Panel using 3d Foam hiding the join.

I assembled the card as shown adding some Craft Consortium Pearl Hearts and piercing around the edges using my Tim Holtz Ruler, Precision Probe and Piercing Mat.

Lisa Horton continues with her One Day Special on Hochanda today with shows at 9am, 12noon, 4pm and 7pm. I'm offering 10% discount on items I have in stock from her shows. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (5th May) - Phill Martin Sentimentally Yours Baroque Relative Corner Sentiments Stamp Set  only £9.99!

Cherish Every Moment

Hi Bloggers.

Here's today's card -

For the background, I ran a piece of Rich Plum Card through the Spellbinders Platinum Machine with the inner die from the Spellbinders Loopy Die Set using the emboss sandwich only as there's no cut on this die. I also set the tan mat back from one edge so that I did not get an embossed line on that edge. I then set the die back in to extend the design, this time making sure that the edge overlapping the already embossed area was ourside the tan mat (ensuring I didn't get that line again!). I trimmed the card to size and then rubbed Enchanted Gold GildingWax over it. Once dry, I buffed it up using a dry wet wipe.

I stamped the sentiment from Phill Martin's Mini Baroque Inspirational Sentiments Stamp Set onto Milk Card using Jet Black Archival. I cut it out using Spellbinders Labels Fifty and inked through the die with Plum Cobbler Colour Cloud using a Smoothie. I cut a piece of Rich Plum Card using Spellbinders Labels 50 Decorative Elements. I rubbed Enchanted Gold Gilding Wax over. I cut the largest die in the Spellbinders Labels 50 Decorative Accents Die Set out of Milk Card and inked through the die with Plum Cobbler.

I wrapped a piece of Black Satin Ribbon around the background towards the right-hand side, tied a bow using 2 lengths of the same ribbon and added a Vintage Bronze Button.

I assembled the card as shown adding some Black Pearls and piercing around the edges using my Tim Holtz Ruler, Precision Probe and Piercing Mat.

Lisa Horton is launching a One Day Special on Hochanda this evening at 8pm. I'm offering 10% discount on items I have in stock from her shows. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (4th May) -  Sue Wilson Delphinus Gemini Die Set only £7.99!

Love you

Hi Bloggers.

John Lockwood continues with the Justrite One Day Special today on Hochanda so I thought I's share another card that I made for the Trade Show featuring some Justrite Dies -

For the background, I embossed a piece of Coconut White Card using the Creative Expressions Provencal Lace Embossing Folder.

I stamp the sentiment from the Justrite Doodled Roses Stamp Set uisng Clear Perfect Medium and embossed with CS Silver Shine Detail Embossing Powder. I cut it out using the smallest die in the Justrite Heart & Frame Die set. I cut the rest of the dies in the set and stacked the die cuts up using 3d Foam.

I cut the vines from the Justrite Stitched Oval and Vine Dies out twice and made a couple of flowers using Justrite Floral Trio One Dies.

I assembled the card as shown adding some White Pearl Corners, some 5mm White Pearls and piercing around the edges using my Tim Holtz Ruler, Precision Probe and Piercing Mat.

I'm offering 10% discount on items I have in stock from John's ODS. You can find them here. Offer applies till midnight tonight. Don't forget that Hochanda is back on Freeview Channel 39 today.

 Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.
www.juliawattscrafts.co.uk
Free card with all website orders (ask for one in the comments box at checkout).
Deal of the Day today (3rd May) -   Creative Expressions Stamps to Die For - Lotus Inner Frame only £2.99!