Busy Bee...

Here I am, back again from my travels and hopefully able to now catch up with you all Grab yourself a cuppa as I got a bit of rambling to do.
When I last blogged I was going off to Burton on Trent to demo for IndigoBlu. Well what a fab day that was. I had ladies already  waiting for me as soon as I had arrived, all eager to see the fabulous IB products in action.
Unfortunately as it was sooo busy I didn't get to take any photos of the event but here's one of the designs on show

I also taught this design at my monthly card making class in Kendal at the Paper Warehouse.

The next day I was off on my travels, yet again. This time I was in Nottingham for the Jones Craft Retailer Day where I was teaching a mini book made with some amazing Kaisercraft papers. The lovely Hels Sheridan was doing another class making two fabulous tags so the retailers had a great time.

I've used the Latest release of Heirloom Collection, I really think you're gonna love these designs

Then Thursday, as I  said, saw me back in Kendal. I had an away day yesterday at The Crafty Bunch in Telford where I did a Hels Sheridan workshop. A photo of my project will follow on shortly.

I've got a much quieter week this week, well that's craft wise. I'll be looking after two of my grandchildren so not so quiet in another sense!!!!

This quieter week will help me to prepare for an even busier time the following week when I'll be off to Inspirations, Preston to do a demo day followed by an extravaganza weekend at the Craft Barn. Both of these events are for Jones Craft.

Okay, finally time to say a really big thank you to my new followers. Welcome on board and I hope you find a few things here to inspire you. So what I would like to do is a little bribery (well I don't want to call it bribery really)

I'm approaching my 250th posting here and If I could also celebrate approaching 100 followers (well 81 at the moment, I have just lost a follower which was sad to see) I thought it may be time to do another GIVEAWAY!!!!  YAY!!!!

I have some Kaisercraft stamps and goodies if anyone is interested. So as usual all my followers will automatically be entered in the draw. If you are a lurker (my description for someone who comes to look but doesnt actually follow me) now maybe the time to start following.

there's some lovely stamps, papers and embellies just waiting for a new home.

Monochromatic....

Hi there,
Its Challenge time again at IndigoBlu and the theme this month is monochromatic. The challenge DT have worked hard again and done some amazing samples, so why not pop over there and take a look.http://indigoblublogchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

Here's mine....

I've used Pan Pastels to swipe the colour across the white card, starting with pale pink and blending down to a strong magenta.

I then coloured another panel of white card exactly the same and stamped and embossed the butterflies in white. I then cut them out.

The words were stamped with clear embossing powder.

I stuck the butterflies onto the stamped panel and put it onto a plain white A5 card

Look out for some changes on the challenge this month and also the DT will be doing a reminder post later in the month with more design samples.

I will catch up with you all again very soon but I off now back to Kendal in the lovely Lake District to do my monthly card making class at The Paper Warehouse

Burton on Trent......

Here I come!!!

Just a very quick posting tonight with a bit of info about my visit to the Strikes Byrkley Garden Centre tomorrow.
I'll be there with my IndigoBlu apron on demonstrating with all the fabulous products and stamps.
The demo is from 10-4pm and I would just live you to come along and say hi if you're in the area.

On Sunday I'll have my Jones Craft hat on for their retailer day where I will be running two workshops making a mini book with one of the latest Kaisercraft collections.

So photos from both events will follow I promise
Have a good weekend all
P xx 

Sunrise Workshop....

What a great day we had, have to say a huge thank you to Bhanu and Ian for inviting me back to do a workshop with their lovely ladies. We had a fun day using a Candy Box Crafts shadow box  frame and Graphic45 Botanical Tea Collection papers.
The ladies could choose whichever of the papers to work with, so we had such a variety of designs. Then we added a lot of cutting out from all the elements on the sheets. It was great to see all the different finished frames.

The only thing extra on the frame that wasn't included from the papers was dies for the leafy flourish and the leaf stem

Don't ask me why but all day long I kept calling the tea pot a coffee pot!!!

And here's the finished frame

We made a little concertina card that fits snuggly just inside the bottom of the frame

Look out for the new 12 x 12 frames coming soon

Here's the lovely Sunrise ladies working hard on their frames

It was fab to see old friends and meet new ones

and especially our Margaret

I hope to be back at Sunrise Crafts soon

Folded Frame Tutorial.....

Here it is guys, let's hope you understand it!!!!
You may want to grab yourself a cuppa and get sitting comfortably before you begin

Firstly you will need and 8" square of double sided paper
A 10 cm square of co-ordinating paper
And a 7 cm square of card colour to match paper

This are the sizes I used for the ones shown but as long as you start with a square you can make any size you wish.
 I sometimes start with a 12 x 12 inch paper and use it on a scrap layout

Start by folding the 8" square of paper in half.
 Open it out, turn it round and fold again

.
Now fold each of the four  sides into the middle - to meet the folded line - then open paper out again.

Turn the paper over and re fold those folds - this will help with the finished folds.

Okay so now you need to fold each point into the centre to meet the score lines.

Open paper out and re fold on the other side.

Next fold each corner point just into the first scored square - you can leave those triangles folded in, they don't need to be re folded as they stay where they are.

Now for the final bit.....
You need to lift the sides in whilst making sure those points stay tucked in. It's a bit like making those folded thingies we used to make at school.

When all folded go over with a bone folder to flatten edges.

The folded frame is now 10 cm square and you need to fit the 10
cm square of paper into the corners of the frame.
If it doesn't lie flat you may need to trim off a tiny bit from the paper square.

Now glue the top and bottom edges together.
If you want to leave the frame as it is to add a photo glue the other side edges too, but if you want to make a folded mini book leave side edges open.

Now take the 7 cm square of card and fold it diagonally in half.

Apply glue to both sides of one triangle

and insert it into the side of the frame.
If you are making a frame with two sections just repeat the gluing for the other triangle and add another folded frame.
This will now close together and can be used as it is.

If you are making a concertina frame add another folded card to the other side panel but this time it must face the opposite direction - to allow it to concertina

                                         I hope this is helpful to you all, especially you Jo xx

Coming soon....

A Tutorial!!!

Morning all, I had a message here yesterday, from Jo about a sample I'd done at Inspirations in Preston. It was a folded frame which can be made into a concertina mini book.
Jo bought all the papers to make it but had no instructions on how to do it. I've said I would try to help her out.
So today I'll be doing my very bestest to do a tutorial so you all can have a go. It's a design that's been going around for years, not something I've thought up, but if you've never seen it before it will be new to you!!
Hopefully you can all call back here tomorrow and (fingers crossed) and have a go too.
Wish me luck......
To be continued.......

IndigoBlu....

Retreat Project.
I had almost forgot to show you my beautiful frame!! how very remiss of me.
I was so very fortunate to have a place on the last IndigoBlu Retreat and was taught how to make this fabulous project by Kay.
We had a fabulous day (yea sadly I was only there for the Friday class) and my frame has been admired by all who have seen it. So thank you Kay xx

 

We learnt various techniques and used lots of IB products including Altered Ego's, Stencils, Gesso, Cottage Paints, Mega Flakes and of course the stamps.

It's a huge frame that Kay had especially made to fit the bible sheets.

I love it

 

Normal Service....

Has been resumed YAY!!



Thanks to my lovely friend Jane and her hubby Ray (my knight in shining armour again) I am now up and running once more.

So I won't keep you waiting any longer but I hope I don't scare you away because  I've got a couple of Christmas cards to show you today.

Everyone is doing these pop up box cards at the moment and I hadn't had a go so I thought it was about time to do one. OMG they are so easy to do and you can just about do anything with them. The fact that they fold flat is an added bonus....

      I've used the Craftwork Cards Christmas Post Collection on this one and the die cut elements are just made for the pop ups.
This one is a little bit of a vintage style and It's made from a Tim Holtz paper.

 

Now if you are around Leicester tomorrow why not pop along to Creative Crafting World in Oadby because they are having an extravaganza of an open day and yours truly will be demonstrating there.

I'm gonna be doing IndigoBlu designs and the delightful Kay Halliwell-Sutton will also be there.

Looks like a great day to me so I hope you can join us there.