Monday 23 February 2015

A Mother's Day Gift Box - with Papermilldirect


Hello, today I'd like to share this Mother’s Day Gift Box with you.  I’ve sized this box so that you can pop all sorts of goodies inside, and  if you want to make an extra special gift it is the perfect size for you to fill with 3” square handmade notecards.


I decided to make the Gift Box using a scoring board and scissors rather then rely on my Electric cutter.  Sometimes it's nice just to get back to basics once in a while.  I did however use a manual die cutter and dies and a border punch to create the decorative panels.  I do like to stamp and so combined a pretty feminine stamp with the cream card and coloured using promarkers.

I have included a materials list, measurements, and lots of pics to show a step by step to create this Gift Box over on my Papermill Inspire Blog post (link here)

Please do pop over and take a look, let me know your thoughts, do you make your own gift boxes?, perhaps you have ideas for things to put into the box? 
 * Please Note - This weeks Materials List is over at the Papermill Inspire Blog link above


Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie   

Craig 


Tuesday 17 February 2015

Looking forward to Spring with Papermilldirect

Brr where did my promise of Spring go?  okay so the sun keeps teasing us briefly and then dashes away again, leaving it still really cold here at the seaside.  I am still wishing for Spring and working with yellows is certainly helping get me in the mood for Easter.
Before I get onto sharing my DT card, I thought I would let you know about this week's special offer over at +papermilldirect If you like blue then you are going to love 'Sapphire Blue' it's a really beautiful intense inky colour and as it is 105gsm it is going to be perfect for sitting behind the cutouts and fretwork that is so popular right now.  It is also easy to manipulate and so it would be perfect for your origami, paper folding projects, and creating flowers too especially as you can get a 50 sheet pack of A4 for just £5-50!! 

The Challenge over at Allsorts Challenge blog is any occasion other than Birthday, and So looking ahead to Easter I thought it would be nice to make a little card featuring an image from one of my favourite seasonal stamp sets.  I love these cute little chicks carrying their Easter eggs on their backs.  I stamped them with black memento ink and coloured with promarkers.  I quite often stamp onto papermilldirect white linen card as i really love how it gives the stamps a more sketchy feel rather then harsh edges I think it made these little chicks look extra fluffy and cute.
I also used papermills Daffodil Yellow and Buff cards to create my mats and layers for a simple colour scheme.  The sentiment is from a set by Clearly Besotted and I think the lower case and font work quite well with the imageI used 3D foam pads to mount the layered panel and also the stamped panel to the card front, to add some extra interest and dimension.

I have a liking for Ric-Rac ribbon, there I said it out loud!!  there is something really just rather nice about ric-rac, even the name is fun, and the zig-zaggy form always makes me think of stripey Easter eggs and so it was the natural choice to add to my card, I chose blue and white and found a wooden button that would match, carefully threading it with blue paper twine and tying it in a bow. 

Materials Used:  
 

'Spring Day' 30-099 stamp set - Penny Black
'Sweet Little Sentiments' stamp set - Clearly Besotted
Summer Sun, Pastel Yellow, Tequila Sunrise, Artic Blue, Baby Pink, Pastel Green, & Pastel Pink - Promarker pens 
Tuxedo Black - Memento Inkpad
Blue Ric-Rac, White Ric-Rac, Wooden Button, Blue Paper Twine - from my crafty cupboards  drawers
Adhesives - Double Sided Tape, 3D foam pads







Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon




Tuesday 10 February 2015

Easter Hare Card with Papermilldirect


 Well the snow has gone, we only had a little but it was bitterly cold along the coast here, and now the sun is shining and birds are singing and it looks to be a spring-like day from my view across the park.  So looking forward to the warmer weather, we are all working on our Spring projects this week over at the +papermilldirect DT.  This week's special offer is a gorgeous 300gsm card in 'Dark Chocolate Brown - you can get your hands on a small A4 box for just £6.  I expect this one will be especially popular as it reminds me of those Chocolate Easter bunnies, yum!!  Speaking of which, do check out Lisa's project using this offer card. (all links at the bottom of the post).


So onto my Easter project this week, I thought I'd play with the Cricut Explore and create an Easter Egg shaped card in pastel colours. Nothing too complicated but it features a Folk Art Style Easter Hare.  I often make these hares and layer different coloured card behind the panels to create different looks, this time for a simple clean look I have kept to using just the New Lilac card to accent the cutouts.  Absolutely love this shade of lilac.
I cut the Card base from White Hammered card then 2 smaller layers from Daffodil Yellow and Pale Turquoise, nesting them evenly on my card base.

A length of Blue & white gingham ribbon I found in my craft drawers was attached across the front and I added a bow.

Then I used the White Linen card to cut the Easter Hare, I do love the slight texture the linen effect gives to the white shape.  Using the New Lilac for the back layer of the hare, so that it shows through the cut out design gave a clean, simple and fresh look. I attached the Hare to the card front using 3D foam pads.

Faux Stitching was added around the outside of the card using a Sakura Glaze Pen in blue, a pale lemon felt flower was added on top of the lilac flower cut-out, and there's a couple of adhesive pearls to finish.

Materials Used:  
 



Blue pen - Sakura Glaze Pen
Felt Flower, Gigham Ribbon, adhesive pearls - from my crafty cupboards  drawers
Adhesives - Double Sided Tape, cosmic shimmer glue, 3D foam pads
Tools Used: - Cricut Explore using Design Space (although it can be cut on other Cricuts too)

Challenges Entered:


Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon



Monday 2 February 2015

Heart Valentines Easel Card - with papermilldirect

Waving hello and welcome to my Blog, I'm trying to get it a bit better organised and will be adding more links and tutorials, so please bear with me as I'm learning as I go. :)

So onto this weeks post and I have news of another fabulous +papermilldirect Offer just launching - it is a 250gsm Lakeland Green Cambric Embossed card, and for just £6 you can snap up a small A4 boxful.  (we also have a brand new member joining the Team - you can find out more over on the website).


The Design Team have again this week been working on their Valentines projects and I have one to share with you.  I thought as I had done the 'grown up' valentine last week I would make a 'cute' design in tradition colours and I am entering this one in the February Challenge over at House of Cards as the theme is 'LOVE'. (as always materials list and links are at the end of the post).

So here is my Heart Shaped Valentine Easel Card featuring my favourite Bumble Bee die set.
 I cut the Easel base card from Papermilldirect Christmas Red card using Framelits dies, cutting smaller mats from the white card and embossing them with a 'bubbles' design embossing folder.


The bumble bee was cut from Black and Daffodil yellow papermill cards.  A touch of white for the eye area and a touch of grey for his legs.  I used pale yellow vellum for the wings and added a little sparkle to them with detail glitter.  I thought I'd add a little to give him a twinkle in his eye too ;)
 I cut 6 small red hearts and stamped them using black memento ink with various sentiments from the Marianne Collectibles set,  the bee is holding the 'Honey' one and the others read 'Love', XoXo' and 'Sweet'.  3D foam pads were used to mount the completed Bumble or Honey bee to the card front and also the 3 hearts at the top.  2 of the bottom hearts were adhered flat to the card and I raised one with 2 layers of 3D foam to create the 'stopper' for my easel.  

 The card folds down to fit into an envelope. I suppose I should really refer to him as a 'honey' bee :D

Materials Used:  

Hearts, Scallop Framelits Die set - Sizzix
Bee Die set - Go Kreate
Dies & Stamps set COL1307 - Marianne Design
Bubbles Large Embossing Folder from the Summer Set - Sizzix
Detail Sparkle in 'White Shimmer' - Imagination Crafts
Adhesives - Double Sided Tape, cosmic shimmer glue, 3D foam pads
Tuxedo Black Ink Pad - Memento
Pale yellow Vellum

Tools - Big Shot for Diecutting & Embossing



Challenges Entered:
'Love' - February Challenge - House of Cards Challenge Blog
 http://houseofcardschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/february-challenge-love.html

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 
Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon