It's all about the shoes.... apparently!!!!

Hi folks.. Today's Creative Expressions Design Team Post is in stark contrast to last week’s project...

In fact, I had no idea of where I was actually going with it!! And although it's not my best work, and with a tighter deadline than usual, I'm afraid its ganna have to do...
That said, I guess the contrast from last week’s work shows the diversity of the goodies Creative Expressions have given us to play with this Month...
Back to normal for next week’s project though, I can promise it will be a doozie!! Well, I think so anyway..
Thanks for checking us out.
See you soon
Andy..

Back Filling!!!

Hi everyone.. Quite a simple project for me today.. I say simple, more in the result rather than the technique..

Sometimes you can spend hours on something and the result looks like it took you 5 minutes to do!! Some would call that a skill!!!!....
Either way, here's a step by step if you fancy giving it or something similar a go...

To start with I used the Sue Wilson Die - CED4101 New York Collection - Background to cut into a piece of White card stock.

I say cut "INTO" as this Die is an "Innie" not an "Outie" (There is no complete cutting edge running around the Die, so therefore it just cuts the design into the card stock..)
I have always been a fan of "Back Filling", I.E using the waste from a Die Cut as well as the positive image.. But sometimes this can be a thankless task,

although the result is a million times more effective

than just layering a positive die cut image over a complementary piece of card stock...
Now, you may be saying "Andy, haven't you got better things to do with your time?" and the answer would be a resounding "Yes, I have", but as my old boss once said to me "Any idiot can do it the easy way, it takes a genius to do it the hard way!!" Idiot or genius, answers on a postcard!!
Anyway, over the years I have tried various ways of swapping the background from one image to another..

Taking the pieces out one by one and placing them back in position, a little like a Jigsaw Puzzle was my main way of doing this, But I think I have finally stumbled upon a much quicker way of achieving the desired result in no time at all...

Take an adhesive sheet

and apply the Die Cut image to it.

Next, cut the image out in Black card stock, if you are lucky enough the pieces will stay within the card stock and we can work this to our advantage...

Simply lay the two images over each other
and poke the loose sections of the Black image into the open areas of the White... The open areas of adhesive from the sticky sheet will allow the Black pieces to be held in place....

Ta Da, one back filled image.

I've teamed this Die Cut up with this Month’s Creative Expressions Design Team Stamps. I think the generic design works quite well with "Poppy the Cat", or any of the others come to that!!
Thanks for checking us out.
See you soon.
Andy.

Happy Anniversary #3

Hi folks.. Last Anniversary card for now!... Today is the 1st Wedding Anniversary of one of my besties...
You may recall last year that I was "one of" their Best Men at their wedding!! How the year has flown!! And today, they celebrate their first wedding Anniversary..

Traditionally, this is celebrated with Paper.. And in the modern fraternity it is celebrated with clocks... So, as I use paper pretty much every day of my life that was easy to incorporate into their Anniversary card.. Trying to keep up with modern tradition was the tricky part, but hopefully I have captured both traditions in this project!! However, I still may have to explain the thought behind the process though!! Happy Anniversary Mr & Mrs C.. Hope you enjoy your day..
See you soon. Andy.

Dies: Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish (B117), Happy (B226), Anniversary (B243), Marianne Craftables Clock (CR1234),

Have a Blue, Blue Christmas....

Hi everyone. Just using up a few oddments that didn't quite make it to our demo last weekend...

I'm defo in a Blue phase at the moment, which is a bit of a bind, seeing as many of our suppliers Christmas ranges are coming in in more traditional Christmas Greens and Reds. Oh well, I will just have to adapt I guess..

This is the Santa Stamp I used a couple of post's ago, but I thought this time I'd set myself a little challenge and just use one range of colours to bring him and his puddy tat to life!

It's such a fresh and clean look against the original,

Red and Green and effective in its own right!!

Contemporary or Traditional for you this year? Thanks for checking us out. See you soon. Andy.

Cuttlebug Blogspot Challenge - Sketch

Hi Blogland.. Here we go with another Cuttlebug BlogSpot Challenge... This week’s theme is a sketch which has been designed by one of my Design Team buddies Kerry...

I've never really been one for sketches, as I always thought that you had to follow them exactly! And as I always try to think outside the box I found that quite limiting. However, as I now understand, the sketch is just really a guideline and as long as you roughly follow the design, you are doing it right!

So, here is my project, roughly, very roughly following the sketch.... Ah, but where is the sentiment? You might well ask!!

Ta da! Oh, and look, the layers, which were also part of the sketch, have appeared, and also a stopper for the Easel card...

Here's a closer look at the card. I hope you can notice that, whilst the stopper is still within the card that the background scene is still complete?

The scene is still complete once the stopper is taken out and used as it should be, as a stopper...!

I think that you can see this effect to its fullest extent

from a distance? So, here with go with how it was made... Grab a cuppa, as this is going to be quite a lengthy, picture heavy post!!

I started off by cutting 3 pieces of my patterned card and 2 pieces of Black Mirror card to exactly the same size.

With my first piece of patterned card, I placed the largest die from the Spellbinders Labels One set onto an area of the card and ran it through my Cuttlebug

to cut the die out.

For the next step, I positioned my next layer of card, in this case, my Black Mirror card, directly under the previously cut piece of patterned card stock and lined up the largest die from the Spellbinders Small Labels One set. I could have done this step using the second largest die from Labels One as opposed the Labels One small, but I like the effect that this slightly smaller set gives as it decreases the layer sizes from 1/4" to 1/8".

Before passing this through the Cuttlebug I removed the patterned card stock, as this would have added another layer to be passed through the machine, and although I'm sure it would have gone through ok, it would have added unnecessary bulk to be passed through the machine..

So, once this die was cut out,

I positioned the frame underneath the original patterned piece of card stock.

Now, don't throw away the positive images, as these will be layered together to form the stopper for the card.

So, for the next layer, I positioned another piece of the patterned card stock under the piece of Black Mirror card I had just used. I positioned the second largest die from Spellbinders Labels One set within the frame which had been created. Remove the Black Mirror card and then pass through your Die cutting machine.

This will produce another layer, which will go under the Mirror card. And also another positive layer to form the stopper...

Repeat this process one more time, this time using the second largest die from Spellbinders Labels One Small..

This will create another frame.

The last layer will be a full sheet of the patterned card stock.

This is where; I hope you can see, that because you have lined up all the secondary die cuts with the original cut you will get a concentric shape? And also, because all of your card was initially cut to the same size, the image flows all the way through the project.. Here's a close up which will hopefully show you better than I can explain it!!

And because the positive images are basically the waste from our negative images, when layered all together,

they fit exactly back into our frame... And line up with the picture perfectly!! So, that's most of the sketch followed, now on with the rest of it...

To tie in with and to keep the Steam Punk, Cogs theme going, I cut out some shapes in Slate Grey Mirror card using the Spellbinders Die Sprightly Sprockets.

I used a selection of these shapes to create a "handle" I think I'll call it, so that the topper can be removed from the frame and positioned as the stopper,

I also used a few of the shapes to create the 3 Circle accents which were part of the original sketch.

And under the "stopper" I positioned my sentiment which will be revealed when the stopper is removed!!

I created a Twisted Easel card using Black Mirror card and patterned Vellum for my image to be mounted on to.

And before it was all put together I added Velcro dots to the back of the stopper

and onto the base of the card.

So that when the stopper was removed from the frame and used as a stopper it would hold securely...

To add a little bit of interest to what I considered to be quite a bleak looking area on the card I added a swirl cut from Black Mirror card. I hope I still have you attention after quite a lot of waffling on? I'm really pleased with the result and am happy with the way I have used the dies to try and get a little more out of them other than their intended use... Why not give something similar a try yourselves. And don't forget to hop on over to the Cuttlebug BlogSpot to see what my fellow Design Team members have created this week... Thanks for checking us out. See you soon.. Andy.