Sew-Nice Mice!

These cute little Mices were just "sew" nice, that I couldn't resist them, especially when paired with my Mannequin die set! 

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Crafter's Companion
Colouring Mediums: Memento Rich Cocoa Ink Pad, Promarkers, Distress Ink Pads (Antique Linen and Pumice Stone)
Paper and Card: Stardream, My Mind's Eye, Neenah
Tools: Tonic Studios Layering Squares and Scallop Layering Squares Die Sets, MannequinTag Die, Grand Calibur
Embellishments: Lace, Double Satin Ribbons, Spool Button, Lace Doily, recycled MOP Button, Metallic Thread, flat-back pearls, hand-made Pearl Hatpins
My main image is Sewn with Love Makey Bakey Mice from Crafter's Companion, stamped onto Neenah card, and cut out with the oh-so-useful Tonic Layering Square dies using the off-the-edge technique so that the upper-most mouse and the top of the stamped mannequin poke off the top of the die cut edge. I coloured the image with Promarkers, paper-pieced the mannequin body with an off-cut of my patterned paper and then ink-dusted the edge of the image with a combination of Antique Linen and Pumice Stone Distress Inks.

Those mices do look industrious in their activities!


I echoed the patterned paper piecing technique on my Mannequin Die Cut (one of my favourite dies of all time), and embellished the neckline with flat-back pearls.  

My mats and layers are some lovely My Minds Eye papers that I've had in my stash for quite a while, all cut with the new Tonic Studios Layering and Scallop Layering Squares Die Sets.

I colour-matched my double satin ribbon by colouring two different widths with Promarker Pens, before weaving the narrow length through the top edge of a piece of lace.  I do love this effect, it's a bit of fiddle to do but worth the effort.


It's always great when you have the right embellishments already in your stash to accent your card, such as this lace doily which I topped with a MOP button recycled off an old shirt.  

I've had the wooden thread spool button in my button box for about 10 years, and I wrapped some coordinating metallic thread around.  I always make my own hatpins (I have a tutorial on making decorative hatpins here) and am happy when my card lends itself to using them as an embellishment.

This card was a Top Pick in the following challenge (Thank You!):
Crafting for all Seasons - For the Girls

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Altered Christmas Cannister Tin

It's new challenge time over at an Oldie But A Goodie, but before I get onto the new challenge, can I just say thank you to all the wonderful crafters who entered my Dies and Punches challenge.  With well over 200 entries, I think it's been our biggest response ever!  If you pop over to an Oldie But Goodie to see this fortnight's challenge, you'll see the winner of the fantastic prize from Tonic Studios and the top picks.

I partake in a Secret Santa Swap on a craft forum and I always use it as an opportunity to do something a bit different from a card.  This project alters a canister of Biscotti Biscuits into a really feminine festive treat.   


So this was a perfect project to showcase the current challenge at an OBAG, which is a BINGO grid and I've chosen Ribbon, Pearls and Glitter. The "oldies" on my project include stamp, DCWV paper and card, lace, ribbon, crystals, charm, pearls, beads, promarker pens, ink and more!

I've also used a number of techniques including

Paper piecing ● Ribbon threading ● Fussy Folding ● Digital Die Cutting ● Manual Die Cutting ● Glittering ● Spritzing ● Charm Making ● Inking ● Accenting ● Decoupage ● Chalking ● and Lace Colouring 

Project Recipe:
Stamp: A-may-zing Crafter's Companion
Colouring Mediums: Memento Black Ink Pad, Promarker Pens, Cosmic Shimmer Mica Mist, Peebles Inc Chalk
Paper and Card: DCWV, Sateen Elegance
Tools: Spellbinders, Grand Calibur, Silhouette Cameo
Embellishments: Lace, Organza Ribbon, Double Satin Ribbon, rhinestone crystals, glitter, eye-head pin, glass and pearl beads, silver-tone charm.

There are quite a few stages to altering this canister, so I'll take it step-by-step.

Step 1 - Altering the Cannister Tube

I choose as my inspiration an absolutely gorgeous sheet of DCWV Christmas Glittered Card Stock that came in a QVC TSV year's ago - I loved both the beautiful images and the striking combination of black, magenta pink and white colours.  I carefully measured the height and diameter of the cannister twice before cutting, with only 1 sheet of this lovely card, I couldn't afford any mistakes.  I used Collall glue to adhere the sheet of card to the cannister.

To make the trimmings, I first coloured a piece of lace with one of my Promarker pens. Although I had used Cerise on my stamped image (see step 3), when I tested that on a small piece of lace, it looked to neon for my taste, so I used a softer pink instead.  I then threaded a narrow band of 3mm black double satin through the lace.  

Finally, I layered this onto the top and bottom of the cannister, starting with a wide band of black organza, and topped this with the lace threaded with the black satin.  On the top trimming band, I added a triple bow made from more wide black organza and 15mm magenta double satin.  Finally, using a eye-head pin, I created a hand-made pearl and crystal drop with snowflake charm.

Step 2 - Altering the Cannister Lid

I chose a cannister where the lid went inside the tube rather than fitting over the top.  This helps when doing an altered project as once you've added the extra papers and trimmings to the tube, the original lid may no longer fit if it needs to go over the outside of the tube.  If you are altering something like a Pringles canister, you may need to make a completely new lid to fit over the extra thickness of the tube once altered.

I used an origami fold to create the outer circle of the lip topper.  This is made by fancy folding 8 circles (in 2 patterns) and then adhering them to a scalloped base.  It would have been preferable to have had double-sided paper for this element but more coordinating papers were single-sided, so I colour-washed the back of the black patterned paper with a very pale shade of pink with a FlexMarker pen. 

On top of this layer, I added a layered Spellbinders Poinsettia and hot pink rhinestone  crystals.  Finally, I spritzed the whole lid with Cosmic Shimmer Mica Mist to give it a subtle shimmer.



Step 3 - The Stamped Topper

I love this sassy boot stamp made by Crafter's Companion in conjunction with Nigel May and have been itching to use it since I bought it in a sale in the New Year.  I started by stamping the image onto a piece of Elegance Satin stamping card.  I also stamped the image onto hot pink textured card, and patterned paper.  Using the paper piecing technique, I layered together the different cards and papers to create the boot.  I then coloured the rest of the image with a promarker pen before adding glitter accents and tiny rhinestone crystals. Finally, I chalked around the image and also spritzed it with Cosmic Shimmer Mica Mist.

I cut out the image with a spellbinders label die and created the matching narrow mat on my Silhouette Cameo using the trace technique.



Here's one final look at this Altered Christmas Canister:














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Football Men's 70th Birthday Card

This week's card combines a Men's Football 70th Birthday card with a review of the new Loopy Lace Verso Die Set and Punch from Tonic Studio's.

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Crafter's Companion
Tools: Tonic Studios Loopy Lace Die Se, Loopy Lace Border, Grand Calibur, Cameo Silhouette
Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, Momento Ink Pads, Versamark
Paper and Card: HOTP, Neenah, Stardream
Embellishments: Buttons, Metal Corners, Pearl Gold Embossing Powder

Despite this die set being named Loopy Lace, I actually don't think that it's overly froufrou or feminine, so I've used it on a Men's Birthday card (which I find can be a bit tricksy, don't know about you?).

The largest die in the Loopy Lace Die set is approx 11.5cm x 14.5cm, the perfect size to be a frame for many stamped images.  So if like me, you love to stamp your card's focal point, then this die set will prove to be very useful.  I cut the oval of stamping card using my Cameo Silhouette, so was able to create the perfect match for my die cut frame.

This birthday card was a commission for a 70th Birthday Card for an ex-West Ham footballer.  I wanted a football themed image but something a bit fun, not just a football shirt or boots, and Crafter's Companion's Popcorn Bear fitted the bill perfectly!  It has been stamped onto Neenah cardstock and coloured with Promarker Pens.  I also 3D- decoupaged the football, so it looks like it's in-flight.

The medium size die makes a super frame for a sentiment or message, and makes a lovely change from a scalloped circle! And the coordinating border punch is so easy to line up, as per usual from Tonic.  Here I've punched along the top and bottom of an offcut of Startdream cardstock.  You can also see here clearly the difference in result from die cutting (which also gives an embossed finish) and punches (which give a flat finish).  

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the 70 from claret coloured cardstock from my stash.

I don't have a lot of gold-tone embellishments in my stash (and by not a lot, I think I mean none!) - but I wanted something to "finish" the corners of this card.  So I took some white metal star corners, dabbed them with Versamark ink, covered them in pearl gold embossing powder and heat set them (be careful if you do this too, the metal gets very hot under the heat gun, so I did this on my Tonic Glass Mat and left it to cool for a good 5 mins before touching them).  It needed two layers of pearl gold embossing powder to completely hide the underneath colour, but I like the old-gold finish - not too glitzy.



Here's one final peek, I think Tonic Studios have "hit the back of the net" with this lovely die set!

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Tonic Studios Verso Christmas Die Sets Wreath Rings Sneak Peek 1!

Jingle Bells! - Santa's Elves at Tonic Studios Towers have been very busy, would you like a sneak peek? It's their new Verso Christmas Die Sets which are unbelievably gorgeous!    Doesn't it combine so well with my Christmas Wreath stamp?

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Crafter's Companion
Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, Anna Griffin Pigment Ink Pad
Paper & Card: Anna Griffin, textured card, Satin Elegance
Tools: Tonic Studios Decorative Wreath Die Set, Regency Swirls Embossalicious Embossing Folder,  Grand Calibur
Embellishments: Microbeads, satin ribbon, jingle bell,  acrylic flowers, rhinestone crystals, glitter, metal corners

To start this card, I stamped my Christmas wreath image twice onto stamping card and coloured both images with Promarker pens.  Then I cut out one image using scissors for the outer image and a craft knife to remove the centre. I accented this layer with red glitter, tiny red rhinestone crystals and gold ribbon bow from Anna Griffin double satin ribbon.

I cannot even begin to describe how wonderfully versatile this new Christmas Verso Die Sets are.  To start with they create beautiful wreaths (and I love a wreath on a card) which you can choose to either inset into your card, or have as a topper, as the outer ring cuts separately.  This is my first card, and I used the Wreath Rings Set. 

 I cut the outer wreath with the centre removed but I could have chosen to keep the centre in place, as this is an entirely separate die.  I had also covered my paper with a double sided sticky sheet, which can be tricky with an intricate die but wasn't with Tonic quality (I did do a double pass and twisted the die cut around for the second pass, just to be sure).  I then covered the wreath in tiny microbeads - the effect is so textural and quite stunning.

The little lacey corners are another die in this set, which I've chopped into 2 to make a decorative feature.

You can just about see here where I embossed the gold mat with my Embossalicious Regency Swirls Embossing Folder - I love the larger 8" size of this folder and it perfectly complements the Anna Griffin patterned papers that I used. You can see the embossing a little bit more on the picture below.

Here's one last look:

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Crafter's Companion - Embossing (Embossalicious Regency Swirls)
Craft-room challenge - Trees or Leaves
CountryView Crafts - Layers
Deep Ocean - Goodbye Summer
I ♥ ProMarkers - 3 Different Shapes
Joanna Sheen - Ribbons
Paper Playtime - Use Three Different Papers
Pile it On - Tic Tac Toe (metal, image, bling)

 I love to know who's visited my blog, so why not leave a comment and tell me what you think of this card, it would be much appreciated!

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Vintage Lace Christmas Cracker Place Settings

It's Christmas in July over here at DipsDesigns and this week's blog uses the fabulous Tonic Christmas Cracker Die to make Vintage Lace Christmas Cracker Place Settings.  This it the sort of project that you can start now, and then come Christmas Day, everyone will think you are a SuperStar with your gorgeous, bespoke Christmas table settings!

Project Recipe:

Stamp: Crafter's Companion

Colouring Mediums: Promarker & Flexmarker Pens, Fluid Chalk Ink, Memento Ink

Paper & Card: Glitter Card, PaperCraft4You, Neenah Stamping Card
Tools: Tonic Studios Christmas Cracker Die, Star Box Die, Butterflies Beautiful Dies, Crafts-Too Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Score Board, Grand Calibur

Embellishments: Rhinestone crystals, glitter, double satin ribbon, lace

I used my Tonic Studios to make the cracker but I extended the die to make a longer cracker - you can see how I did this on my blog for Tonic Studios here. 

To make the topper, I stamped the pretty little holly sprig from a great set of A-May-Zing Christmas Stamps from Crafter's Companion twice onto Neenah Stamping Card and coloured with Christmas 2012 Limited Edition Promarkers, before washing the whole tag with Antique White Flexmaker Pen. Finally, I cut out the holly leaves fromone image to decoupage on the other, before adding some sparkling crystals as berries.  To make the cracker into a place setting, from my computer, I printed "Mum" out in a pretty font in pink ink onto a tiny banner die cut, also washed with Antique White Flexmaker Pen.


I used my Tonic Christmas Star Box die, but once again, cut off the tabs and then used my Martha Stewart scoreboard to crease the star so that I could fancy-fold it.  I glittered the edge with a quicky glue pen and Martha Stewart glitters.  Finally, I cut a 3.5cmx30.5cm strip of patterned paper and scored it every 0.5cm, concertina folded it and made a rosette from it before putting all the elements together.

To make the cracker, I cut strips of polka dot patterned paper and embossed them through a Crafts-Too polka dot embossing folder.  I then trimmed the ends with a pretty cotton lace and pink double satin ribbon.

Hope you've enjoyed this little festive post for Christmas in July, Seasons Greetings to all my blog readers - Ho Ho Ho!

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