Ivory & Platinum Diamond Wedding Anniversary Cake

I love it when my crafts cross-pollenate; and that certainly was the case recently when it was my parents Diamond Wedding Anniversary.  I've already shared with you the card that I made for them, which acted as inspiration for the cake I made for their surprise party.

Platinum and Ivory Diamond Wedding Anniversary Cake and Card

The cake is a two-tier sponge - using my own recipe, and I can promise you, it's moist, tender and yummilicious.  The bottom layer was 8"/2ocm and is covered in platinum-coloured sugar paste.  I achieved this finish by colouring my sugarpaste grey - which doesn't look good until you add the magic touch of Pearl Lustre spray! The top-teir is an offset 6"/15cm cake, covered in ivory paste.

When I first started cake decorating in earnest two years ago, I invested a wide range of Little Venice Cake Company baking and decorating equipment.  The equipment is made by DoCrafts, a brand I was familiar with from my papercrafting and I have to say I have been extremely impressed with the quality and value of the kit that I've bought from LVCC.   I especially like their baking tins (I have 2 complete sets in both round and square), the extra long rolling pin, their cake knives (serrated and cranked) and my absolute favourite - the acrylic work boards that I use all the time and is actually the bases beneath both cakes (don't do this if you're giving the cake away, but it's saves so much money on disposable cake boards if the cake is for a personal event or occassion).

However, this is most definitely a fusion of crafts - for my regular blog readers, can you guess what I used to emboss my flower cut-outs?  Yes - my new Tonic embossing folders!  I need to give a disclaimer here, as obviously these folders were not designed to be used with food.  Also, I have kept the ones that I used for sugarpaste work entirely seperate from the ones I use for papercraft. I washed the folders in warm, soapy water and dried them thoroughly with a clean tea-towel before use.  

My technique was to roll-out the sugar paste into sections roughly 15cm x 15cms, then I transferred it into the embossing folder which I had lightly dusted with cornflour, closed the folder, then rolled over it 2-3 times with my medium sugarpaste rolling pin.  (I did not put the folder through my Grand Calibur, as I think this would make a very sticky mess). Then I carefully lifted the embossed paste onto my acrylic workboard and cut out the flowers (again, please note, I did not cut out the flowers whilst the paste was still on the embossing folder, in case the cutting edge of the dies damaged the surface of the embossing folder).  I used Tonic Studios Martha and Amelia Embossing Folders.

The focal point of the cake is this fantasy flower with a pave-pearl centre, made with the same ivory sugarpaste as I used to cover the top tier but strengthened with some CMC.














Finally, I added a kaleidoscope of butterflies, also decorated with sugar pearls, echoing the design of my anniversary card. Here's one final look at this cake and card together.  Do you combine crafting inspiration across more than one craft, do let me know?

I'd like to enter this cake into the following challenges:
ABC - J is for Just as You Like
Crafty Calendar - Things with Wings
Crafty Catz - B is for
Creative Card Crew - Girly
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Monochromatic with Ribbon Pin It Now!

Altered Halloween Trick or Treat Brown Paper Bags

Trick or Treat!  This is a fun project to transform brown sandwich bags into Spooktacular treat bags.  Lots of techniques used, including: Dry Embossing ● Heat Embossing ● Stamping  ● Decoupage ●  Die Cutting ● Punches ● Accenting ● Charms

Project Recipe:Stamps: Inkadinkadoo All Hallows Eve
Colouring Mediums: Versamark Ink, Versafine Ink, Martha Stewart Embossing Powder, WOW embossing powder, pigment ink pad, Black Soot Distress Ink
Paper and Card: DCWV, WRMK, vellum
Tools: Tonic Studios Gothic Die, Tonic Studios Gothic Border Punch, Tonic Label Dies, Grand Calibur, Embossalicious Embossing Folder, Silhouette Cameo
Embellishments: silver-tone charms, Bakers Twine, glossy accents

My "Oldies" (ie using up bits and bobs from my stash that's over 6 month's old) are everything apart from the Bakers Twine and Charms. 

Step 1 - Creating the Topper

The topper has lots of great detail to it.  First of all, I die cut a label shape the stamped my Happy Halloween in Versamark Ink which I then heat embossed with WOW extra fine black embossing powder.  Once melted, the embossing powder acts as a resist, meaning that I was then able to over stamp with the cobweb corner stamp, but it has the illusion of sitting behind the Halloween greeting.  I also stamped on the filigree spider and accented the spider body with glossy accents to create dimension.  For the pumpkins and Versamrk ink, I first stamped "off-the-edge" of the main label and heat embossed with Martha Stewart Peridot Glitter Embossing Powder.  I then stamped the image twice more onto a slightly lighter piece of orange card and heat embossed with WOW black.  I layered up the pumpkins to create some lovely dimension.  

Don't think you always need to buy finishing accents for your projects, they are quite easy to make yourself.  I printed off the word SPELLS onto another offcut of the lighter orange card, cut it out with a tiny banner die and edged it with black ink.  I then tore a small strip of calligraphy-printed vellum and rolled it into a scroll, and glued the SPELLS card around it.  A lovely little accent and made from a few scraps.





Step 2 - Creating the Tag

That said, I did use some sweet silver-tone charms to accent my Tag, attached with sppoky halloween Bakers Twine and a tiny brad.

The tag was cut using the very aptly named Gothic Die Set from Tonic Studios, and I used Black Soot distress ink around the edge.  The mat was cut on my Cameo Silhouette using the trace method.  I have imported all of my Tonic Dies into my Cameo to do this, very useful.

The Trick & Treat sentiment was stamped and heat embossed.


Step 3 - Finishing the Bag

My brown paper sandwich bags fitted perfectly into an 8" Embossalicous embossing folder, so I used the Polka Dot folder and then swiped over the raised embossing with an orange pigment Ink Pad.  

I had a sheet of 12" WRMK cardstock that was Halloween borders, so I cut this into strips and mounted it onto black card that had been edged with the Gothic Border Punch.  This created a decorative edge to the top of my Altered Halloween Trick or Treat Brown Paper Bags.

Here's one final look:

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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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Dressed in Roses and Butterflies

Embossing is the theme for this fortnight's challenge over at an Oldie But A Goodie Challenge, and we're sponsored by Rick St Dennis.  There's some fabulous inspiration by the Design Team, so have a good rifle through all your old stash (you need to use at least one element that is over 6 months old on this challenge and, if you mention it in your post, you could win a fab prize by Rick St Dennis) and come and join in! I've used both hot and dry embossing techniques on this Dressed In Roses & Butterflies card for a teenage girl.

Card Recipe:

Stamp: Hampton Art Stamps Dressed in Roses

Colouring Mediums: Promarker Pens, ColorBox Cat's Eye Fluid Chalk Ink, Versamark, Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink Purple, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist

Paper & Card: Bo Bunny, Pearlescent, Stardream, Elegance Satin
Tools: Tonic Studios - Gothic Die Set - Butterfly Border Punch - Maria Butterfly Die, Grand Calibur, Embossalicious Flower Power Embossing Folder, Heat Gun, Cameo Silhouette

Embellishments: Bo Bunny ribbon, crystals, mulberry flowers, glitter, clear embossing powder

Again, quite a lot of detail on this card.  For example, I've used heat embossing and dry embossing and a combination of both.

To start with, I stamped the Dressed in Roses stamp on stamping card and a mat for of patterned Bo Bunny paper using Encore Ultimate Metallic Ink in purple.  This is such a lush and vibrant ink pad, but to allow me to colour over with ProMarkers, I used clear embossing powder over the stamped image and then heat set it.  A quick spritz of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist provided a pretty sheen to the final image.

I trimmed the background mat to size then ran it through an 8x8 Embossalicious Flower Power Embossing Folder.  To enhance the dry embossing against the busy pattern, I rubbed over the raised embossed pattern with a versmark ink pad and applied clear embossing powder before heat setting.  This gives a really textured finish to the background.  

You can see on this picture where I've scattered tiny glittered butterflies as accents all over the card.  This is actually the "waste" from my Butterfly Border punch (although I punched this from offcuts of glittered stardream card just for this project).


To keep with the Butterfly theme (what teenage girl doesn't like both Butterflies and Dresses?), I die cut a butterfly and flower image using the Tonic Studio's Maria Butterfly Beautiful Die, which I then accented with glitter and more scattered, tiny butterflies.

The sentiment was computer generated and then die cut with my Gothic Square Die Set. I created my cardstock mats for these by scanning the die-cut shapes into my Cameo Silhouette, then traced them and offset them.  It's so easy to create perfectly sized mats this way.

Here's one more look at this summary teenage birthday card.

The "oldies" I've used on my card include my stamp, design papers, cardstock, ink, pens, embossing powders, glitter and ribbon.  However, in order to join in the challenge of an Oldie But A Goodie all you need to do is use one item from your stash that's over 6 months old. Hope to see you over at the challenge.

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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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