Jigsaw Die Cuts...

Hey!

Gosh, those bank holiday weekends just zoom by so fast - I hope you had a nice one.  I'm lucky to have this week off (yay for half term!) but my week is already chock-full of things I need to get done!

Still, I'm finding a few moments to pop by with a quick heads up that I'm over on the Top Dog Dies blog today with this card. I'm talking about how I've been playing with dies like jigsaws - fitting the negative pieces from one die cut into another. Such a simple technique! Check it out if you're interested.

This card also features some ancient alpha/number stickers from S.E.I. I can't even tell you how long I've had 'em but I'm glad I rooted them out. See, it totally pays to hoard....sometimes! ;)

OK. I really am keeping this super-short and sweet today. I'm back tomorrow with a scheduled post that features some more 'exploring'...!

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N.B Some products are listed twice to show availability in the UK and USA.

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#congratulations

Hey!

Happy Monday! It's a crazy, tired, busy one after one wonderful weekend with Clearly Besotted Stamps peeps Stephanie, Caryn (and Stephanie's husband, Dean!) promoting CBS at a show on Saturday and teaching a CBS workshop on Sunday (Check out my Facebook page or Instagram for pics of it.) Such fun, but I'm playing catch up with sleep now - especially after losing an hour (hello, BST! :D)

But tired or not, nothing stops for some sneaky peeks Top Dog Dies stylee:

Yup, this week the Top Dog Dies design team are sharing some projects created using the new Top Dog Dies release that will be available for purchase April 5th.

As a literacy teacher, my heart skipped a beat when I spotted this speech mark die from the Top Dog Dies Camera Finishers set. I'm a sucker for punctuation.  It then skipped a little faster when I saw the hashtag die too! So combining the two, I created a card suited to congratulating someone who is a tweeter or tech savvy at least. :)

I used the Top Dog Dies Vintage Alphabet Die to create my main sentiment and some silver, scrap, sparkly, sticky, stuff to die cut from. 

• To keep the hashtag flush with the white panel, I removed the white hashtag that was created with the die and inserted one die cut from black card. To keep it secure, I simply adhered a thin strip of card behind it.
• I went a little patterned paper crazy here! I find that if I'm struggling to use a detailed pattern, then it usually makes a nice background pattern for a card and makes a tiny dent in the huge stash of the stuff that I'm hoarding LOL!
•  The hashtag die comes in a frame that is longer than this. I simply trimmed it down to fit my sentiment on but you can fit longer sentiments on it if you wish! 
• Like the idea of a hashtag greeting? Keep it authentic and don't have spaces in-between stamped words: e.g #happybirthday . Simply ink up each word separately and stamp them close together. 

It's going to be a crazy week here on the blogeroo so I hope you can stay tuned. I have a couple more projects to share with the new Top Dog Dies release as well as the sneaky peeks of the new Clearly Besotted Stamps release. Crazy, busy times ahead!

*Shameless Plug Alert!*
As always, I'm so grateful and thankful for your visits! If you like visiting here, then I'd really appreciate it if you could possibly vote for me as I've been shortlisted in a competition to find the UK's best arts and crafts blog. Thank you! ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

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New Top Dog Dies products will be added once they're available for purchase. :)

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Iron Crafting and a Video Interview...

Hey!

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was a busy one here again with a lovely day out to a craft fair with my mum (purchased waaaaaaay more than I originally intended to buy - just need to find time to play with it all now!)

Today's card is part of what has been a blast with Chaitali Narla (she's the sweetest!). If you didn't know already, Chaitali is the brains behind Iron Craft: a weekly feature in which she invites a crafter over (virtually!) to craft with the same ingredients and see what they come up with.

Well Iron Craft is back for season 2 and I was beyond flattered to be asked if I would join in. For the common ingredient in our creations, we decided upon a set a designed for Clearly Besotted Stamps - Post It: Love.

• I love this notepad edge die from Clearly Besotted Stamps. When using it to add a decorative edge, I like to measure and make sure the pattern ends evenly on each end. I simply trim my panel first, then secure the die to the top with washi tape to make sure it stays put.
• I paper-pieced the postage stamp of the design using a solid grey paper from the same pack the grey and white paper came from. Mix and Match paper from the same collection of patterned paper to help keep things coordinated. 
• Stamp and emboss the heart first before stamping the postage stamp frame around it and cutting it out. This ensure that embossing powder doesn't stick to the postage stamp and means you can emboss on a larger piece of paper rather than a tiny piece! 

Please do pop across if you can to check out the feature in full to see what Chaitali created with this set. There's also the chance to win this stamp set for yourself thanks to Stephanie from Clearly Besotted Stamps!

One more key thing about Iron Craft: Season 2 is that Chaitali now features a video interview with each crafter. So there's a video of us having a chat about all things crafty. I'm going to be honest. I babble. A lot. I can't help it! However, it was cool to chat face to face with a fellow crafter. :)

Right, I'm off for a bit but that's not all from me today: I'll be back in a couple of hours with a Top Dog Dies post. Hope you can join me!

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Rain or Shine...

Hey!

Happy Tuesday :)

Now I really hope I'm not tempting fate with today's card. You see we have some glorious summer-style weather here in Sheffield and I have to go and post a card that features an umbrella and raindrops - ha! Still, a card very typical of a British summer methinks; let's focus on the 'shine' part of that sentiment eh? *wink*

Enough about the weather, let me tell you a bit about this card: Clearly Besotted Stamps are ready to hit you with another fantastic release come June 6th and the DT are giving you some sneaky peeks. I couldn't resist inking up the sweet set, April Showers (don't you just love that font?!). It game me the perfect excuse to *finally* use my Memory Box raindrops die too :)

I said we should focus on the 'shine' element of the sentiment. I did just that on the umbrella too with a good dollop of Glossy Accents on a little paper-punched heart :)

• The orginal die used is actually much longer than the section I used on this card. To partially use a section of a die, I lay the section that I don't want to cut hanging out of my cutting sandwich (I'm talking die cutting machine sandwiches here, not your regular yummy sandwiches!)
• Add embellishments to images to emphasise to your focal point. A simple punched heart covered in Glossy Accents not only makes that umbrella a little more interesting, it also echoes the sentiment too.
• Save your scraps of pretty paper - they're perfect for paper piecing!

Be sure to pop across to see Stephanie if you haven't already - you'll be left counting down the minutes and seconds until release day I'm sure!

As always, and I really do mean this, thank you sooooooo much for checking out my creation today - I really appreciate your visits.




 



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