Marmite.. Love it or not!!!

Hi Folks.. Strange title to today's post I grant you. But I think that today’s project is just like that!
It's none to descript in it's make up and I think that's because it's "all about the technique" of getting the effects with the Pan Pastels and Stamps.. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that it's one that you need to see in the flesh as the picture doesn't really do it justice.. So, next time you're in the shop, have a gander...
Oh, and BTW.. Marmite... I'm a fan!! Thanks for checking us out. See you soon. Andy.

Pan Pastels:
470.8 Violet Tint
430.8 Magenta Tint
470.5 Violet
520.1 Ultra Blue Exte Dark
800.5 Black
Memento: Tuxedo Black
Stamps: StampScapes - 19F Pine (Nature Set #6) Fir & Double Pine (Nature Set #1)

Monochromatic Church...

Hi folks... Another Pan Pastel/Stampscape project to share with you today.. Just love this image! I think it has so many uses from Wedding to Christmas and a few other occasions in between!! Although one lady who saw it yesterday did say she thought it looked a bit creepy (in a good way!) so I guess you could use it for Halloween too.. The image may look a little bit "grainy"? that's because I have set the Pan's with Glitter Spray, just to add a little bit of sparkle! Which, unfortunately doesn’t show up too well on camera.. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to pop in and see it in the flesh to get the effect. Thanks for checking us out. See you soon. Andy.

Oh the Blue Ridged Moutains.....

Hi everyone. Hope the first day of the working week (for most of you!) wasn't too stressful!? Its Pan Pastel's all the way for the foreseeable future as I prepare for our FREE Demo Day on the 27th of April! This one I had partially completed on my desk over the weekend and finally had a chance to finish it off today! Love how the scene (stamping) has developed, but not too convinced about the matt and layering! But it'll do for now.. More to come shortly. I can't seem to put the things down at the moment!!! Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.. Andy.

Has Spring sprung?.....

Hi folks... As we approach the end of another Month of 2012, hopefully the weather will start to change and get just a tad bit warmer than of late, heralding the arrival of Spring! (Andy crosses fingers as he is fed up with these cold early morning doggie walks!!)
So, with that in mind, (spring that is, not cold dog walks!) over at the Cuttlebug Blog Spot, this week’s challenge is... Springtime..
And here is my Design Team entry...I'm not 100% sure it screams "Spring" but I guess Flowers in a pot and you can't go wrong! This was one of my other ideas!However, it was too corny for me to send in,as I put "Harold the Hedgehog" on an actual Spring, I thought that was taking the brief a little too literally!!
Anyway, let's make a start on our "How to"I started off by cutting out a pot shape from the Spellbinders Die Flower Pot's (Doh!) S5-060 using White card stock..To give it some colour I added a few shades of Distress Ink, shading in some area's to give it some definition..The colouring needs to be done on both sides as the top part of the die folds down to form the lip of the pot.I then went over the whole of the image with Glossy Accents, leaving air bubbles on the lip of the pot. Not intentionally mind, but we will cover that up later!
Whilst the pot was drying, I prepared the rest of my project.Firstly, I cut out sets of Tulips using the Marianne Creatables Die Tulips LR0209. One set in Green card stock and one in Blue.Cutting the Flower Heads off of the Blue Tulips to attach to the Green ones to make them look realistic..To add another floral springtime twist to the project, I punched into a piece of backing paper using the Martha Stewart Punch around the Page set Wild Flowers (M42-80005).Then added some gems to each of the punched out Flower shapes. I also positioned the now dry Flower Pot onto the backing paper and arranged my Tulips. Finishing off with an "ickle" Ladybird to hide the air bubbles created when using the Glossy Accents.
This lot was then matt and layered onto my base card and finished off with my sentiment...
Don't forget to pop on over to the Cuttlebug Blog spot to see what my fellow Design Team Members have come up with for this week’s challenge.
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.
Andy.

and the winners are......

Hi Everyone... First things first... Our Blog candy Winners are....... Jovan and Jenny...Jovan wins the Autumn Set of Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Jenny Wins the Winter set..Congratulations ladies, I hope you have fun using them when you receive them.
Thanks to everyone else for taking the time to enter. There will be plenty more chances to win some Blog candy in the very near future...Anyway, here we go with Today's project.. I've been very lucky to have been given one of Martha Stewart’s new Punch All Over the Page punches called Nordic Snowflake (M42-90006) to play with.. And this is what I came up with.. Not only a card but a candle holder too...I started off by punching my design onto some printed backing paper and trimming it to size.I then mounted the sheet onto some Acetate to give the flimsy paper some stability..Next, I made my stepper card using my Hougie Board, scoring the A4 Acetate sheet at 2", 4" and then manually folding the largest part of the sheet in half. The measurement for this fold should be 7 3/4", but as the Hougie Board does not measure in 1/4" this bit had to be done manually, which really was no big deal!I then added my punched image to the back of the stepper cardand some prepared Decoupage to the front step of the cardto add some dimension to the project...The fretwork which can be created with this punch seemed perfect for creating a Candle Holder.So, I punched out my design onto an A4 piece of patterned paper, trimming off the excess and then rolled it into a cylinder before placing it over my Candle..Pretty effective if I do say so myself...Great in other colours too to match your Christmas table setting perhaps..And how about this for a backing paper for all you Scrapbookers out there!!..All in all a pretty useful Punch...
Thanks for checking us out.
See you soon.
Andy.

Happy Birthday Sis...

Hi Everyone. I hope you had a good weekend? Yesterday was Joanne's (my Sister) Birthday. And here is the card I made for here...
It was an adaptation from a beautiful card that my Mum received for her Birthday back in September from Mrs Harrison (Pat)..Last week we received a delivery of the new Quilling Punches from EK Success and I was dying to give them a go, so using them on Joanne's card was the perfect opportunity to get them out of the packaging and have a play.I punched one of the designs out of Black and White card stock alternating the colours on each flower just to give a bit of diversity to the flowers... Take a look at this simple video to see how you can create effective flowers with these Punches.
I put the flowers to one side whilst I prepared my base card.I cut out some shapes using the Go Kreate Die XXL Square Frilly Frame #3 and matt and layered them together.Next, I cut out one of the Butterfly images from the Spellbinders Grand Dies Wonderful Wings FL-006. Although these are classed as Grand Die's, each image will fit through the Cuttlebug,Big Shot or Vagabond Machines quite comfortably as well as the Grand Calibur Machine..This was then added to my base card to which I had added the Go Kreate matt and layer and a Peel Off Sentiment..I then added my Quilled flowers.. I guess you can't go wrong with a Monochromatic card, but I felt that it needed just a little something extra to finish it off..Along with the new EK Success Quilling Punches we received the NEW Garland Punches and also the Layering Punches. Take a look at the videos to see these new products in action and with the Layering Punches how you get 3 Punches for the price of one!!So, once my Butterflies were punched out,I gave them a little bit of dimensionbefore attaching them to my project,which really finished it off for me!...
As for Joanne's Birthday present! You may recall last year I got her some Cinema tickets for the Harry Potter film and made it as part of her card. Well, if it ain't broke...So I did something similar this year. But this time for the new Twilight Film, Breaking Dawn pt1.. I have had this idea for ages; as soon as I saw the Immortal Love papers stack from DCWV. The papers in this stack were just made for this film.So, I cut a couple of the sheets down to size and made an easel card with them, printing her Cinema information inside...When I spoke to her on her Birthday she asked my where I had got it from! "Got it from"!! I made it!! Cheek of it!!And for all you Holly fans out there.. Here is the card that she sent Joanne... Yep, she knows how to lay on the cuteness! And is certainly growing up fast. She has now had all of her injections and a full M.O.T and is now allowed out into the big wide world!!
Anyway, thanks for checking us out and see you soon.
Andy.

Embossing with a difference...

Hey Blogland.. September already eh!! Soon be Christmas..
Today, I wanted to share with you a project I made as a sample for this weeks lesson here at Pinnacles..
This week we have been playing around with Embossing.. Now, not the traditional embossing i.e with Embossing Folders. You must know me by now? and that I like to try and get a little more out of a product other than it's intended use..So here we go with a project using a Mask... These have become so popular recently due to the increased use of Mists and Inks. But is that all you can use them for?! Me thinks not!!
Here's a "how to" guide if you fancy giving this project or something similar a go..
There are several different ways to emboss a Mask, and this is what works for me using the Cuttlebug.. If you have a Big Shot, Vagabond or Grand Calibur machine then have a play with your plates to get the right combination and see what you come up with..So, I placed the Mask directly onto my Cuttlebug A Plate,followed by my 290gsm card stock,my No Shims Mat,2 x 225gsm card stock to bulk out the "sandwich",finishing off with my Cuttlebug C plate and passed the whole thing through the machine.Mmmmmm, to be honest, not much to be seen here I grant you!But, with the addition of a little bit of London Fog Memento Ink...and a bit of matt and layering.. Viola!!My intention was to make this project into an Easel card.As every Easel has to have a stand I decided to play with one of our new EK Success Deep Edger Punches... So, I took the Flower Burst Punch and a 2.5" wide strip of card stock. Normally if I was just punching a border I would start roughly in the middle of the strip of card and punch away.. But this punch looked like it had potential to do something much more interesting so I had to line it up at a specific point.. You'll see why in a mo..I chose to line up the end of my card stock with the centre of the pattern on the punch and punch a full border along the card stock..Nice eh!!?But, if you turn your card stock over and line up the end of the card stock against the same guide you used previously and punch a border,you get this!! Now, that's getting good use from a punch don't you think!?This Flower Burst border was added to my prepared Easel Card as it's stopper.To add a little bit more interest to the Flowers, and the card in general I punched out a few Butterflies using the Martha Stewart Large Monarch Butterfly Punch.Adding them on top of the Flowersand to the Embossed image which had now been added to the card.And there you go. Quite a soft and subtle project but very effective and a great way to use this Mask in a very different way than it's intended use..So good in fact that I made another one in a different colour...
So, why not give it a go?...
And don't forget, it's our 8th Birthday Celebrations on Saturday (03/09/11).. A Free Demo with the very talented Lynn Gilbert from Creative Expressions, a 40% sale on all 12" x 12" single sheet papers, 12" x 12", 8" x 8", 6" x 6", A4 and A5 backing paper stacks and all Scrapbooking Albums.. Remember, Pinnacle Crafts Club Members can add their standard Discount onto these items making them Half Price.. Not only that!! Enter our Birthday draw with any purchase on the day and you could be one of the FIVE lucky winners drawn at random who can win one of the new release Spellbinder dies of their choice... Wowzers!! Sorry, new word I've picked up!
Thanks for checking us out, and see you soon.
Andy.