Home Sweet Home..

Hi folks. Just as I thought the weather had turned from winter to spring! It appears it has taken a full 360 (or should that be a 180?) and gone back into winter! Yuk!! Whilst it was sunny, for a while! it got me into a bit a crafting in some more Springtime "fresh" colour ways! However! its eyes down now for some not so fresh colour ways (maybe) as I finish of prepping for our Tim Holtz style'ie day on Saturday.. Inky finger will defo be the order of the day!! What colour they will be is anyone's guess! See you soon. Andy.

New Home...

Hi Blogland.... The idea for this card has always been in the back of my mind when I have had to make a New Home card, but I never seemed to have the right products to use, until now..I say I have always had this idea in the back of my mind as, when I was younger, I visited the Greek Island of Symi, as you approach the Harbour you are greeted by the houses built into the hills. The amazing thing about these houses is that they are all painted in pastel colours. So, this is what I have tried to replicate on this card, albeit in a more city environment!There are two house shapes in this Die set (Amsterdam LR0207). So, I cut out both images several times in different coloured card stock. It wasn't until I had cut the images out that I realised that all of the windows were cut out,meaning that when mounted onto my backing card, you could see right through them.. Good thing for windows, seeing right through them! But I wanted the buildings to appear much more solid..So, I cut some Acetate and card stock to size to back onto the windows.I applied the Acetate to the back of the building as fuax glass,and then layered on a piece of dark card stock to make the image look fuller.I did this for each of the large house shapes.I repeated this process for the smaller houses. But, as you can notice, there is a skylight at the top of this shape, and to be honest I really couldn't be doing with cutting my Acetate and dark card stock to fit this shape.So, I took some of the waste coloured squares which had popped out when cutting the Diesand placed them in these spaces.So, all the prep done, now time to build my street!Finishing off with a simple sentiment...And there you go! Not quite a Greek Island, but a nice and bright New Home card none the less.
Thanks for checking us out.
See you soon.
Andy.

From "Owl" House to your House....

Hi everyone. Yes, I am still around.. I know it's been a while since my last post but things here at Pinnacles have been a little hectic of late and finding time to blog has proved a little difficult.. But, I'm back now and I hope to share some of the projects I have been working on over the past few weeks with you on a bit more of a regular basis...
So, here we go with Today's offering...Back in January I was asked by Liz from Cricutolics to be a guest designer on her website.. Obviously, I said yes, as I think it's such an honor to be asked to showcase my work other than here on my Blog... As Cricutolics is a forum for those of us who have been bitten by the Cricut bug my project obviously had to be Cricut relate..So, here is what I came up with.I cut out the Birdhouse shape from the Stretch Your Imagination Cricut Cartridge @ 3.75". Cutting the shape in Grey card stock using the Blackout and Silhouette functions and the "normal" image in Pink card stock..Layering the images together with some Pinflair Gel to give them some dimension..I then punched a border in White card stock using the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo Punch,adding it to the base of each of the 3 Birdhouses that I had cut to act as snow...I then cut out a few Branch shapes using the Mariannes Creatables Pine Tree Branch die (LR0181) using some Green Glitter card.And then added them to my base card which I had already placed my Birdhouses onto.Next, I cut out these little Go Kreate Owl figures adding some googlie eyes to give them some character,before popping each one on it's perch and finishing off with a "From Our House" peel off as my sentiment...So, there you go.. Not only a Christmas card but I think the concept could be used as a New Home / Moving card too?!.. And, for all you Cricut fans out there, just look at all the new Cricut Cartridges that will be winging their way to us at Pinnacles very soon...
Anyway, it's good to be back and hope to see you again soon.
Thanks for checking us out.
Andy.

New Home!!

Hi Blogland. How's things with you today?
I've had a bit of a manic week this week. So sorry for the lack of posts! On top of that my "mojo" seems to have deserted me!! Don't you just hate it when that happens... I've just had no inspo what so ever...aaaarrrggghhhh!!
So, although I have not created anything new this week I did put my down time to good use. Firstly, I tidied up my Blog and gave it a new look, hope you like it? I also finished off a few projects which were half done and just lieing around.. They are pretty simple but effective, just like me!!I want to introduce you to this great Digi Stamp Website from Australia.. I think their images are fantastic. A refreshing change from cutesy and the everyday kind of images...
I just loved their take on ideas for new home projects..
And here's a few that I made..I coloured this image using Copic Pens and of course it totally had to get a glaze of Glossy Accents!! The image is soooo detailed and just allows you to be completely creative with your colour selection.. Metal, Wood, Water, Gravel.. And the best bit! "No Flesh Tone" to worry about!!! This was a joy to colour in. Just as crafting should be..
I was thinking about cutting the image out and adding it to a scenic piece of card stock, but there were bits that looked just too fiddly to bother cutting out, the washing line for instance!!!So I left well alone and just matt and layered onto some Slate Grey and then Black card stockbefore mounting it onto a White base card and finishing off with a Peel Off sentiment...This is another one of their house images... Printed, coloured and glazedand then mounted onto an Acetate card.
Now, if you are not a fan of colouring your own images, with some of the Digi's you even get pre coloured ones!!This is one of them. Obviously, I had to glaze it before cutting it out and applying it to my card which I had prepared using the Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set Cherish.
I hope these projects give you some inspo, and here's hoping that my mojo returns toute sweet!!!
Thanks for checking us out, have a great day and see you soon.
Andy.

More Inspo....

Hi Blogland. Another Cuttlebug Spot Design Team Challenge for you today. Throughout January our themes have been "Inspiration".. Where do you get yours from?
Well, today we were asked to take inspiration from a magazine... You may recall our first challenge of the year was inspiration from a Book. I said at the time I don't really have the time to read, so therefore I have even less time to check out a magazine. Although I do occasionally flick through the Financial Times or the Independent Newspapers. Ok, more like the Sun or the News of the World!!
For this project I worked backwards. I knew what I wanted to do and use, so I therefore found an article from an on line magazine to match the inspiration...And here it is. The magazine was about gardens, and specifically gates!!.. Yeah! Not my cup of tea and doesn't exactly rock my world either, but it takes all sorts to make the world go round!!
And here is the project I came up with. It's a play on a New Home card I recently sent to a friend who has just moved..
And here's an "Andy" step by step for you if you fancy giving something similar a go..I started off by cutting out my Flower Shapes. I used a Marianne Designs Creatable Die (LR0128 Flower Fantasy). To cut these dies through the Cuttlebug you will need your A and B plates followed by your card stock and dies.Finishing of the "sandwich" with your C plate and pass through the machine.Once cut you are ready to emboss the image. Turn the dies over and place on top of an A and B plate.Add your "Tan" mat,and then this time another B plate. NOT a C plate as the "sandwich" will be too thick to go through the machine.Once embossed I coloured in the centre of each Flower using a Copic Pen (Lionet Gold Y28)and flicked the pen from the centre of the flower outwards.I then curved the petals of the flowers over the edge of my desk to add dimension.Added a foam pad to the centre of the larger flowerand popped the smaller one on top.Finishing off with a "blob" of Glossy Accents in the centre.Cool eh?!Now for the vine... You will need the Extra Long Cuttlebug plates to cut out this die fully, but if you are only going to use a bit of the die then the standard plates will be fine.
Again, to cut you will need your A and B platesfollowed by your card stock and diefinishing off with your C plate.To emboss the die, turn it over so the cutting side is facing upwards.Add your "Tan" mat and then your B plate.I used the No Shims Maxi mat as this is the one I had to hand at the timeand just did the process twice, but normally I would have used the larger 12" x 12" Tan mat which I could have cut to size.Et Viola!!Now for the brick wall.. This has proved a very popular Embossing Folder since I used it on my last project. It's a 5" x 7" Folder and at only £3.99 a bargain to boot!!
I coloured some light Cream card stock with Frayed Burlap Distressing Ink, popped it into the Embossing Folder and passed it through the Cuttlebug.I then went over the image with some Pumice Stone Distressing Ink to bring out the brick work patternand then cut the image to the size I needed.To give the brick wall a little bit of interest I punched an edge along the top using the Martha Stewart Double Arches Deep Edger Punch Around the Page Punch.I then added the wall images to my gate image. The gate was cut at 7.5" from the Ornamental Iron Cricut Cartridge.Time for the background.. I was struggling of bit with this one... But eventually came across some card stock from the Bird Song Collection from the current Do Crafts promotion Which fitted the theme perfectly.Unfortunately I had already opened up the 12" x 12" version before I realised that the images were repeated in the 8" x 8" version. However the 12" version had a large tree image printed on it which was better for the project. The scaled down 8" version I decided to use for the back of the card.So, I added the tree paper to the front of a side folding Easel Card (Instructions can be found here). Measured my gate and wall images against the front of the card and trimmed them to size.Added some hefty "blobs" of Silicone Gel to the backand mounted it to the base card.Whilst this was drying I mounted the 8" tree image onto some Gold Mirror cardand added it to the inside of the side folding easel card.I then added the Vineand the flowers as my easel card "Stopper".Finishing off with my "New Home" sentiment...And there you go... When it's closed,and open
Don't forget to pop on over to the Cuttlebug Spot to see what all the other Design Team Members have come up with for this weeks theme...
Have a great day and thanks for checking us out.
See you soon.
Andy..