Happy Father's Day!!

Hi Blogland... Well, today's the day we celebrate those great guy's in our lives! Our Dad's... I had several ideas of the kind of card I wanted to make for pop'sand "eventually" settled on this one!
It's grunge(ish), it's vintage, it's distressed, it's Steam Punk.. It's all the things I enjoy playing with.. It's me in a card really!! Can't get much more personal than that can you?..I started off by Brayering a White piece of card stock with some Latte (Beige) Adirondak Ink.And then embossed the piece of card through the Cuttlebug Machine using the Pocket Watch Embossing Folder from the Tim Holtz Textured Fades Embossing Folder Set Pocket Watch & Steampunk.I then brayered over the image using Slate Adirondak Ink to highlight the embossing.Then matted it onto some Slate coloured Mirror card.I got the idea for this card from my last Brayering lesson, a day spent with some great crafter's who were not afraid to get a little bit mucky!! Hands covered in Ink, and in some cases forearms and up to the elbow's too, eh Emma!!For the next part of the project I Brayered another piece of White card stock, again using the Slate coloured Ink. I also stamped my image using the same Ink, tone on tone can look so effective and I think that if I had used a Black Ink it would have been too much of a contrast! This train image is from a stamp set by Sam Poole... A great UK artist with a great style.. Take a look at her Blog for some great inspo...I also matted the Train image with some Slate Mirror card to tie the theme with the Pocket Watch image.On one of Sam's (Sam, get me using her first name! like I know her personally! Don't you just find that you do that with the crafting elite! Sam, Tim, Martha, Dawn.. lol)! Anyway, on one of Sam's other set's of Stamps is this Ironic Sentiment.. Which sums me up to a tee, and many other's no doubt! Again, this was stamped using the Slate Ink onto a piece of card stock which had also been coloured with it.. Then matted onto some more mirror card.
I put these images to one side so that I could get on with making my base card.I had a piece of this Clock backing paper left over from another project. As it is White it would not work with this project,so I coloured it using the Antique Linen Distress Stain, going over the Clock faces a second time to give a contrast to the background. Once the backing paper was dry, (it doesn't take long!)I cut it to size and added it to a prepared Easel card.Adding my embossed and stamped images to the front.
For the stopper of the Easel card I wanted to keep the Steampunk, Vintage theme going..So, I cut out some shapes using the Sprightly Sprockets Die from Spellbinders!These shapes were cut from some new Mirror card we now have in.. Now, you know I use a lot of Mirror card on my projects! I also feel that I waste a lot of Mirror card!! A little while a go I found a whole box of Mirror card off cuts (and shamefully some whole sheets too!!). I totted it up and there was £75 (US$120) worth of Mirror card in the box!! ouch!! I have put it to good use now though!
So I think that this new Quad cut Mirror card is going to help me no end.. Sometimes I either only need a little bit, or certainly don't need a whole sheet.. So I can now be a little bit more economical with it! Why didn't they think of this earlier!! Lesson learnt!Once the shapes were cut out I applied them to the bottom of my Easel card to finish the project off...Ta Da!!! Have a great day all you Dad's out there and thanks for checking us out..
See you soon.
Andy..

Happy Birthday Leigh Leigh...

Hi Folks... The weather is set to be hot, hot, hot here today.. So that means that the pins (legs) are out. Well, whilst they are still brown form my holiday I might as well enjoy it!It's one of my best friends Birthdays at the weekend, so I thought I'd share with you the card I have made for her..
She is Purple mad and every year I usually make her card in a shade of it, and I'm sure she will expect the same this year, but I thought I'd ring the changes a little bit and do anything BUT Purple... Or maybe I will just do the whole thing again! We'll see...And look what arrived just in time to start this card. The new Marianne Designables!! I just knew I had to have these when I saw them a couple of Month's ago..It was a difficult choice of which one to use first but I went for the Classic Design (DS0911) for this project...
If you have not used these products before, they are just like normal embossing folders such as those from Cuttlebug or Sizzix and can be used through most of the leading manufactures die cutting machines including the Grand Calibur, and now with the introduction on the new embossing plate for the Calibur they will go through the machine much easier... These Designables not only emboss but also cut at the same time...I thought that the circle frame in the middle was just crying to be cut out, so I took a Circle Nestabilitie which fitted the shape and cut it out.I added an even layer of double sided foam to the back of the imagebefore matting it onto some Gold Mirror card.This was then mounted onto my base cardwith a piece of Ribbon attached to fill up the space on the side...Finishing the project off with a pre made Decoupage character from the new Fizzy Moon range from Trim Craft.. And there we go, and nothing Purple either!!
Have a great day everyone, I hope the sun will be shining where ever you are...
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon..
Andy.

Oh So Soft!!

Hi Everyone. A little late in the day for posting for me, but I've had a very busy weekend capped off by ending up in hospital!! Don't panic! I'm OK now... Am I looking for sympathy? You betcha!.. You know what us guys are like when we are ill...!
But I just had to get this project done in a rush, so I'm afraid it's not my best work!!
Today is the last post for the Cuttlebug Spot, as my stint on the Design Team is now coming to an end..
We finish off this Months theme of embellishments with felt...It's not my favourite media to use, but I guess that's what crafting challenges are all about, trying something out of your comfort zone....I started off by cutting four 1/2" x 8 1/4" strips of felt..And then joined each length to the nextto form a long length of felt.I then wrapped the felt around a rulerand then ran a length of double sided tape from end to end to secure the shape.Remove the felt from the ruler and flatten it out. Don't wrap the felt too tightly around the ruler as it makes it difficult to get it off. I learnt that the hard way!!!Wrap the felt around a pencil, removing the double sided tape as you go so that the felt sticks to itself.An unusual shape I grant you, but I think that's it's appeal..And look at the underneath, a funky little Rose. Two for the price of one!!And a little bit of sparkle by way of some Stickles, well it is the last Cuttlebug post for now, so why not?!I then used the Marianne Designables Embossing Folder Swirls on some matt Silver card stock,backing it with some Silver Glitter Card which shows through the cut outs in this Embossing Folder.I cut out some felt leaves using the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves Die,also placing them in the Embossing Folder, just to add a little texture,I forgot that it would also cut holes into the material!! But I think I like it!For my base card I punched a border using the Martha Stewart Eyelet Trim Deep Edger Punch.Adding some of the Glitter Card used to back the Embossing Folderso that it would show through the punch.I then popped on the embossed image, finishing off with the felt flower and leaves....And there we go.. My final project.. I'm proud to say that I've managed to complete all of the challenges over the last Six Month's and I've had a blast doing them all. I've also met some amazingly talented Crafters along the way. So don't forget to hop on over to the Cuttlebug Spot to see what my fellow Design Team Members have come up with..
Thanks for checking us out and see you soon.
Andy..

Charming!!

Hi Blogland... God, it's cold out there this morning, minus 3 degrees... Still, should be another nice sunny day today!
Today is another post for the Cuttlebug Spot. As you may be aware this Month we are sharing with you projects using embellishments. Last week it was Hat Pins and this week we are being oh so charming with you and using Charms.. Doh!!I must admit I struggled a little with this one.. We have pretty much everything else here atPinnacles! But do you think I could find a Charm!! So, I decided to make my own with some Shrink Plastic...I started off by cutting out some Sunflower shapes in Shrink Plastic from the Stretch Your Imagination Cartridge using my Cricut Machine.Before doing anything else I punched a hole into the Shrink Plastic with my Eyelet Setter. I say do this now as I nearly always forget to do this before I have shrunk the plastic and by then, it's too late!!I used a frosted Shrink Plastic, which has a smooth side and a rough side. The rough side is ideal for stamping an image on and then shrinking it. It is also ideal for holding colour. So I coloured the image in using some Copic Pens.I then popped the image in a box and heated it up with my Heat Tool.If you give this technique a try, don't panic!! Just let the image shrink with the heat.. Shrink Plastic generally shrinks to a 7th of it's size.Also any colouring will generally intensify by a 7th,so lighter colours will become darker... Cool eh!!?I then embossed a piece of White card stock with the Autumn Sunflower Set (656653) from Sizzix.Although it's an Autumnal image I decided to matt and layer it with some Springtime coloured card stock.Adding some pre made flowers and some leaves I had punched out using the Martha Stewart Frond Punch.Adding my Charm Embellishments with some cord threaded through those holes I remembered to punch out before the images were shrunk. The hole will also shrink by about a 7th, so make sure you punch a big enough hole to start off with.And there you go.. A bit of a Spring/Autumn mix, but a bright an cheery card non the less... Don't forget to pop on over to the Cuttlebug Spot to see what my fellow Design Team Members have come up with, or visit their individual Blogs for some great inspiration... Links to their Blogs can be found at the top of my Blog on the Right!
Have a great day, and thanks for checking us out..
@ndy.