Wednesday 26 May 2010

Quilted

Hey Blogland, how's things where you are today? I hope the weather is a little better than it is here! Looks like traditional British Bank Holiday weather is on it's way!! Late May, erm feels more like late October!! As it's Pinnacle Crafts Club Members Weekend this weekend there have been lot's of things to do in preparation but I did manage to sit down and have a little creative time this week.And here is a project I came up with. Hope you enjoy it..I took a 5" x 5" piece of Pink Mirror cardand placed it colour side down onto a Martha Stewart Scoring Boardso that when I embossed the lines they would be raised on the coloured side.. I.E Embossed as opposed to debossed..Any Scoring Board you have would be suitable or even an Embossing Tool, a Ruler and a Foam Mat.. Whatever works for you..I counted 13 lines in from each side and then made a quarter turn and repeated the 13 lines.This made a criss cross pattern on the outer squaresand I then went over the inner squares, just embossing to the 13th line to complete the effect and leaving a plain square in the centre of the card.I liked the effect but wanted to add something to the edges, so using the Martha Stewart Quilted Corner and Border Punches.I firstly punched my cornersand then completed the around the page effect with the Quilted Border Punch.I punched a flower in Red Mirror card using the Martha Stewart Pop Up Water Lily Punch.. Make sure when using this Punch that you have your card stock upside down as the Punch pushes the petals of the flower downwards.I also cut a couple of leaves from the MS Frond Punch and adhered them to the Red Flower.I cut out a few leaves using the X Cut Beech Leaf Punch. You just gotta love these punches, they not only punch, but emboss at the same time. How cool is that!!
Finally mounting all of the pieces onto some embossed Silver Mirror card and adding a few gemsand a simple sentiment to complete the project..
So there you have it. I hope it will give you a little bit of inspo to come up with a project of you own..
So if you are coming to the Club Members Weekend this weekend I'll see you there, and if not, I'll see you soon in Blogland...
Thanks for checking us out...

Andy..

Wednesday 19 May 2010

More punches...

Hi everyone, today I'm going to share with you some more measurements for using your Martha Stewart Corner Punches as circles... These have proved very popular, and although not difficult to work out (once you know how!), I have done all the hard work for you... So get ready to add a few more measurements to your list..
The first punch I used was one of the new ones, Lace Scroll..
You will need a 4 3/4" Circle. I cut mine from my Cricut, but any way you can cut the circle will be sufficient.Divide the circle into 8 equal sections. Because I have been making so many of these I produced myself a template to make it easier and quicker for me, which we have been taking orders for in the shop... Who knew these would be so popular.. I didn't realise that I would have to go into manufacturing is such a big way!!Colour the non dissected side of the circle with some chalks,Emboss through the Cuttlebug or Big Shot machines with a 5" x 7" Embossing Folder. I used Goochie Script on this project. I suggest the 5" x 7" Folders as your circle is 4 3/4" wide and the standard sized Cuttlebug Folders are too narrow to fit the whole of the circle on it.Then reapply some more chalk to highlight your embossing.Turn your circle over and aline your corner punch with one of the pre drawn lines, make sure the line passes into the "V" of the punch and is straight and evenand then punch through the card.Repeat this on the next line..And then all the way around the circle until the image pops out..Off set it slightly from it's original position and glue it to the frame.Next take 2 squares of White card stock measuring 5" x 5". This must be a precise measurement if you are to achieve an around the page measurement using a combination of the co ordinating Corner & Border punches.Chalk these pieces of card stock to complement your circular image.Once done, firstly punch your corners,Then line up the edger punch to connect all 4 corners to achieve the around the page effect..Apply these pieces of card stock to your base cardand mount the circular image on top.I punched out a Pop up Water Lily flower and coloured it with some chalks. Added a few gems and placed it onto the middle of my project.
And there you have it, something a little bit different to do with your corner punches..
Here are a couple more that I have been playing with...
The new Butterfly Corner and Border co ordinating punches. The process is the same i.e chalking, embossing etc and the corner also suits a 4 3/4" circle.This one was using The Eyelet Lace set..And finally for today, the Cupcake and Party Co ordinationg Corner and Punch..
I hope you like them and they give you a few ideas to take your punches to the next level..
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon..
Andy...

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Flower Power

or more to the point Flower Soft power.. Hi Blogland, you know when you haven't used a specific product for ages and then you go back to it and think "WOW" why don't I use this more often? Well, that has been the case for us here at Pinnacles this week.. As we revisit Flower Soft in our lessons..To be honest it is quite a niche product to use, but can add dimension, and you all know how much I like dimension,and texture to your crafting projects.
So here's how to use it.From a patterned piece of card I cut the following measurements, 2" x 5 3/4", 1 1/4" x 5 3/4" & 3 1/4" x 2".You will need 7 pieces of Flower Soft wire cut at different lengths.To your first wire, add some Glossy Accentsand sprinkle your Flower Soft over it.Whilst the glue is still wet, sprinkle some fine glitter. The glitter will stick to any exposed glue and add a little bit of sparkle to you project.Stand the wire in a foam mat to dry.Repeat this process for the other 6 wires.With the widest piece of card stock which was cut earlier, punch a border down one side.On this particular project I used one of the new release Martha Stewart Border Punches called Modern Garland/Petal Frame. This Punch also has a co ordinating corner, so you could also achieve an Around the Page effect with the right measurements of card stock.Apply this punched card and the other thinner piece of card to your base card. The base card was cut to 5 3/4" x 5 3/4".Take a vase Peel off and apply it to the smallest piece of card stock you cut earlierand cut it out.Curve the image slightly to add some dimension.Place a piece of double sided foam on the backand start applying your flowers, which should now be dry.Punch out some foliage. I used the Martha Stewart Frond and Pine Leaf Punch.Apply another layer of double sided foam tape and apply your remaining flowers and then the leaves.Finally finishing off with another layer of foam tape to hold everything in place.Move the flowers around until you achieve the effect you require..Stamp your sentiment onto your prepared card,and mount your vase & flowers onto your card to complete your project.. Simple and effective, just like me!....
Here are a few others I have made using different sized vases, different coloures of Flower Soft and different Punches.Using Autumn Flower Soft, Rain Drop Martha Stewart Punch, which also has a co ordinating corner to form an Around the Page set, and Metallic Gold StazOn, oh yeah!, Stazon has now gone all metallic and is available in Gold, Silver, Copper & Platinum.Green Flower Soft with an Art Deco PunchUltra Fine Koala Grey Flower Soft with a Martha Stewart Modern Garland/Petal Frame Border PunchYellow Flower Soft with an Art Deco PunchDelphinium Blue Flower Soft with a Rain Drop Border Punch and Polar White Flower Soft with the Modern Garland/Petal Frame Border Punch
So, all in all I've had quite a blast making these, and it's only Tuesday!!.. Off to play and make some more me thinks..
Hope you like? & thanks for checking us out..
See you soon..
Andy (Pinnacles).