A morning filled with butterflies

This morning I've been playing with some more new toys that arrived the other day. I finally have a Vagabond by Tim Holtz for Sizzix. As usual, my first thing when I get new toys is to try them out and see what I can achieve with them. So far, so good...

Until I got to some of the other toys I was given at Stitches a few weeks ago. Among my gifts is one of the Spellbinders M-Bossabilities folders. Fantastic idea. It takes the embossing folder one step further by making them double sided so you have two choices of patterns for the price of one. This does make them a little thicker than the Sizzix embossing folders, so the normal "sandwich" recipe doesn't work. Still, I didn't want to break my brand new Vagabond, so I approached with caution. No help out there on the Internet that I could see from a google glance and the sandwich I used in the Big Shot doesn't work on the Vagabond. Please note: never force a sandwich through your die cutting machine or you may break it. Approach with caution and start with it being too loose and shim up as needed. It is better to waste a few sheets of card trying to get the perfect result than busting up your machine because you tried to jump ahead too quickly.

So, with a little trial, here is my sandwich recipe.

- Solo Platform with Solo Shim in place

- 3-7 sheets of cardstock, depending on how thick your cardstock is - start with a few and build up until you achieve the result you want. I used the thickness of my Texturising Pad as a guide.

- The diffuser of choice, taped to

- The M-Bossabilities folder

The tape will prevent the Diffuser from shifting while you run it through the Vagabond. Since it will be upside down as it goes through, you won't be able to see it if it shifts.

So here are laid out all my ingredients and the sandwich made up ready to go through (I left the card shim sticking out for the photo, but you should tuck this in before sending it through the machine.

Completed embossing with diffused centre

Finally, the completed embossing with the centre diffused. What I like most is that there isn't a harsh line between where the embossing ends and the diffused section begins, as there is on embossing folders where there is a gap. I also like that you can choose where the diffused bit is. Plus the set also comes with the cut out centres so you can choose to emboss a section in the middle and leave a border unembossed.

Generally, when I make cards, I make a card front separately from the card itself. This allows me to get mucky without wasting a perfectly good card blank. There are so many other freedoms it affords: I can choose a different colour card blank from my card front, I can put my A6 front onto an A5 card if I want a bigger card and I can make all the mistakes I want.

Completed card fronts

I ran two fronts cut down to A6 size (11.5 x 14.8cm) through as outlined above and here are the completed fronts.

The butterfly on the left is made using the Layered Angel Wings Die by Tim Holtz for Sizzix. They were sprayed with Dylusions Ink Sprays and dried with my heat tool. I then ran around the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and swapped the two smaller pieces from one wing with the same from the other, turned them upside down to give the feel of a butterfly. The body was created by simply painting a stripe down between the two wings. The edges of the front were inked with Broken China and Peeled Paint Distress Inks using an Ink Blending Tool.

The right side is a bit more of an experiment. Using Jet Black Archival Ink, I stamped the butterfly from the Fairytale Frenzy set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous in the diffused centre and then blended Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges but it was missing something. So I spritzed Bubblegum Pink, Crushed Grape and Postbox Red and dried with a heat tool. Better, but now the butterfly had disappeared, so I stamped the butterfly again and cut it out.

You can see that the texture of the sprayed background is different from the cut out butterfly. I simply brushed the ink on rather than spraying. Not only does this give you more control, but the inks blend so beautifully. If you've seen Dyan Reavley demonstrating her inks, she uses water brushes from Ranger to paint with. This is a great idea, especially when you're travelling but at £9.99 per brush its going to take me time to buy 12 (and a further 6 for the new colours about to arrive). So, in the interim, simply twist the lids off and turn upside down next to the bottle and use the open bottle like an ink well.

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It's amazing what you get done...

...when you don't have a three-year-old going "Mummy, Mummy, Mummy"!

Yesterday afternoon while G was having her afternoon nap (I'm not sure how much actual sleeping she gets done, but it's two hours of quite time for both of us), I hauled out my travelling crafting stuff and started to play with some of the things I was given at Stitches (the UK craft Trade Show) this year.

So this morning while G is off having her first trial morning at Nursery School, I'm compiling together some of my discoveries. Most of this will be old hat to the more seasoned crafters (I'm Leading Edge, not Bleeding Edge), some of you may have not had a chance to play or have had failed attempts.

I'm playing today with the Spellbinders Nestabilities Majestic Elements. I took at workshop with Kim Hupke at Stitches and she very generously gave us each something to take home. This was my choice.

This is the set as it comes out of the packet. There are seven different dies in the set but the possible combinations are amazing. I understand that they are also sized to work with other Nestibilities so if you have them, it becomes mind boggling as to what you can achieve. The first thing I do when I get a new set of dies is to cut them out on plain paper to see what they look like cut. This gives me ideas of what might be possible. With these dies, they are so incredibly intricate that I think doing a plain cut is essential. Even if you choose to use them rather than keep them for reference, at least you'll have an idea of what is possible with them.If you're doing this with the Nestabilities, note that it is fiddle to get them lined up properly. You will need some low-tack tape. If you don't have any to hand (like me), normal tape will do, but rub it a few times on your trousers to remove some of the stickiness.

If you own a shop, position your low-tack tape right next to the spellbinder dies so that customers can easily pick them up when they buy the dies and if they approach the counter holding the dies, take the opportunity to suggest the additional purchase.

After taping all the dies down, I ran them through my Big Shot. Here is my sandwich recipe for the perfect cut using standard cardstock:

- Multipurpose Platform with all the tabs on it

- 2-3 sheets of lightweight cardstock

- Cutting plate

- Cardstock I'm cutting face up

- Dies cutting side down

- Cutting plate

When you run this sandwich through the machine, it should resist going through but not completely halt. If it goes through relatively easily, add another sheet of cardstock at the second layer. If it is too stiff, remove a sheet. I ru. It through and then just before it releases, rewind it back through the machine just to be sure. Never force a sandwich through the machine.

On these very intricate designs, you may find after a couple of uses that the dies are difficult to remove. Spellbinders advise to put a piece of wax paper between the die and the cardstock. since we don't have wax paper here in the UK, rub over the surface with a wax candle, blitz it with your heat gun and then rub down with a cloth to take off the excess.

This is the set, cut, embossed and stencilled. You can see there is some really fine detail that gets picked out when you emboss over the top. I've used Walnut Stain Distress Ink to really show up the details.

Some of the dies only emboss and stencil, not cut. It's fun to play around and see what you can come up with.

Next thing I've done is cut each die out separately so I could see exactly what each die is capable of.

You can see from the above photo that the fourth largest and smallest dies don't cut out a frame, but I'm imagining how the fourth largest would look on a photo.

My final thing I've done is to try out the die cut in a couple of ways. Firstly, I used No.1 and No. 3, taped both dies down and cut and embossed them. I removed the tape while leaving the dies in place and inked over the dies. I really love the sharp edges you get from inking over the die.

Finally, using No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 I cut using a tomato paste tube. I have a few tips for using these.

- Cut the top and bottom off the tube as close to the ends as possible.

- Cut a sliver of tube off the side and unfold.

- Wash thoroughly (I throw them in the dishwasher).

- Run them through your die cutting machine as though you were embossing it to flatten it.

- now it's ready to die cut.

My sandwich recipe for cutting and embossing the tomato paste tubes on a Big Shot using Spellbinder dies is as follows:

To Cut:

- Multipurpose Platform with all the tabs on it

- 3-4 sheets of lightweight cardstock

- Cutting plate

- Tomato past tube I'm cutting with the inside face up

- Dies cutting side down

- Cutting plate

To Emboss:

- Multipurpose Platform with the top tab pulled back

- Cutting plate

- Die face up with cut cardstock on top

- Embossing pad

- Embossing plate

There are a few things you need to take into account when cutting metal. Firstly, metal picks up more detail than cardstock does. If your cutting plates are very old and therefore quite marked, some of this texture may show through on the final cut. Secondly, you'll need to tape the dies down before you run them through for the cut pass. No matter how steady your hand is, they will shift. However, if we go back to the previous point about metal picking up more detail, you need to remove the tape before you run through for the embossing pass or you'll end up with some very nice tape marks on the metal. Finally, the tiny little holes will not cut on tomato tubes. Although the metal is very soft and pliable making it ideal for this treatment, it is thick enough that it simply cannot cut these tiniest of holes. I actually like the look - little dimples.

If you're a teacher like me and you're planning to use these dies in a class, can I please advise you of one thing: design the class so that the students cut out their own die cuts. Although this will complicate things if you've either got lots of students and/or only one machine, trying to cut out all the dies needed for a class will drive you insane. In fact, if you can't see any other way of doing the class than having the dies pre-cut, hire a errant teenager to do this. The hours of poking little pieces of paper out of the dies will be punishment enough for any transgression committed.

I think you'll really love these dies. The delicacy of the finished die cut is amazing. They almost look like lacework. I almost wish they were my idea!

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Craft, Hobby & Stitches Show 2012

Hello Blogosphere. I've just spent a wonderfully busy day at the UK Craft Trade Show in Birmingham. My feet are killing me, but my head is spinning from the inspiration I found there.


First stop was the Personal Impressions stand. The crowd around Tim was so big I couldn't see anything, so I wandered over to where Dyan Reavley was demonstrating. Her Dylusions stamps and inks are wonderful. The colours are so vibrant and pure, but still retain enough of the Ranger Earthtone look that they would co-ordinate well with the other product ranges. The Dylusions stamps have a quirky, almost Bratz feel to them. Dyan has made sure that the various figures within the sets are all interchangeable with each other, so that if you don't like the head on one, you simply cut it off and superimpose another head in its place. They all lend themselves to being coloured in so that you, the crafter, choose the look and feel of each of the figures. The other stamps on each sheet are strong enough to stand on their own, but really come out when you bring the various sets together. Dy was working in her journal while I stood there and had a lovely mushroom stamp and then brought out a stamp of a caterpillar from the same stamp that fits perfectly the mushrooms.


Next stop was with Lord Tim of Holtz himself. The crowd had thinned out a little, so I managed to find space right next to his elbow. While I've seen the demonstration of Distress Markers online, it was useful to see the pens up close and personal. The fine tip is exceptionally fine. I think I've only seen as fine on a Zig Millennium pen or a professional Rotring pen. I can see that these will bring non-stampers into the Distress world, but will supplement the products that crafters like me already have. Using the Specialty Stamping Paper from Ranger, Tim was able to get some amazing results from the pens.

I stopped to have coffee with my friend, Carol Hornby-Clements and her husband and a quick natter about what we'd seen up to that point.


Over to Sizzix and Stephanie was demoing her new range of dies with matching outline and fill-in stamps. I like that each set comes with the outline stamps for each image (2 or 3 in each set), the co-ordinating fill-in stamp, plus the die to cut them out and the die to cut an outline background. Retail price could be high - in the US the MSRP IS $30, so we could easily see these retailing for around £25 - but an investment that would be good if you don't like colouring in and can't be bothered to cut out the stamps yourself.

Around lunchtime, I forgot that I was supposed to be taking photos and spent a lot of time meeting and hob-nobbling with various people.

My favourite US distributor, Product Performers came over this year for the first time. They have such low minimum order requirements and have leveraged such a good deal with UPS, that importing from them is very easy and competitive with the UK distributors. Their only problem is they don't have electronic products for the European market and there are restrictions on some of the things they can sell so they don't step on the toes of manufacturers with a European operation, like Sizzix. But, they are a family-owned and run company and the family are lovely, generous people. I recommend them to anyone trying to get some of the brands that are difficult to find here. Their catalogue is very extensive.

It was great to see Stacey Caron and Kim Hupke again. Kim showed me the new M-Bossabiities which look like larger versions of other embossing folders available, but they're double sided, so you get two patterns for the price of one. I love that Spellbinders products give a nice deep emboss. But, with a few exceptions, the patterns are not to my personal taste. They're too uniform in both pattern and texture for me.

I also stopped at Artemio. They are a Belgian distributor in their second year of pushing into the UK market. Their emphasis is mostly on scrapbooking and home decor, but they have a few things not seen here before. It will be interesting to see how their UK involvement colours their offering.

I took the opportunity to take a class called "Crafting with Sizzix" to find that in our one hour workshop, we were going to cut out the shapes necessary to make a quilted placemat, and there seemed to be an expectation that we'd stay to hand-stitch. My feedback was this, a) if you're going to have a class on quilting, please state it on the description b) make it a simple shape that even sewing morons like me can produce something with in the hour and c) don't do a quilting class when you've only got an hour.

I decided that with time running out I should at least see the Bright Sparks Pavillion. This is a section of the show where first-time exhibitors get a smaller, discounted stand space and get pushed and promoted a little more. I didn't know about the Bright Sparks Pavillion in my first year and didn't qualify in my second year, but it seems to be a good place to showcase the new talent. There was one stand that really caught my eye.


IndigoBlu make a small but perfectly formed range of UK themed vintage stamps. Without having an overtly steampunk look, they evoke that feeling of an age gone by so would fit into work headed that way. If one of their vintage union jack stamps had inadvertently fallen into my bag, I wouldn't have been disappointed. Later on, they won the award for Stamp of the Year. Congratulations and well-deserved.



So, after the show there were the annual craft awards. It's nice to see people getting recognition for the hard work they put in over the year, but you can only be nominated if you design for, advertise with, or sponsor the magazine who runs the awards, so it's hard not to be cynical about them as it's not a complete representation of the crafting industry.


But congratulations to Joanna Sheen for winning Card Designer of the Year and Leonie Pujol for accepting Online Craft Retailer of the Year on behalf of createandcraft.tv and to Stephanie Weightman for getting Celebrity Crafter of the Year (just pipping Leonie to the prize). I first met Leonie when we spent a day demoing for Personal Impressions at their retailer training day back in 2005.

So, a hike back to my car where was parked in Outer Mongolia (otherwise known as North 10 car park), then it was a gentle 2 hour drive home to see Zandy and G. Tired.

Location:Birmingham NEC

Recycling and Repurposing

Zandy turned 45 this week and as usual, he is still one of the most difficult people in the world to get a stable present for.

But he's been wandering around with his iPad not in any case and he's been drooling over suitable models on the Internet. Unfortunately, he still has champagne tastes even though we're living on a Coca-Cola budget,so buying one was out of the question.


So, here's my solution. A fused plastic sleeve. I got the idea from a video I saw on YouTube (search "threadbangers laptop bag"), using shopping bags ironed flat to make a durable, but sewable material. It is lined with an old knitted jumper and the padding is all the off cuts of plastic from the bags. It seals with self-adhesive Velcro and there's a bit of Duck Tape to give the top flap a little more sturdiness.

Initially, I thought it had come out too small, but as the padding settles and the seams ease, it is turning out to be exactly the right size.

And it looks much better than I thought it would. I've just made Zandy promise to never turn it inside out as the stitching inside is truly awful.

But, instead of taking the few hours I thought it would, it took nearly three days. I think as I get more practised at both sewing and construction, it'll take less time. I'm now working on one for me that will be made by weaving the strips together to make interesting patterns. I may also apply alcohol inks to brighten up the strips.

And I'm not going to run out of shopping bags in a hurry!

Repurposing Cards - The Photos

Hello cybersphere! I've been asked to share the photos of the Repurposed Baby Announcement/Christmas cards, so here goes nothing. Let's see if my blogwriter can do what I want it to do.

Firstly, the original Birth Announcement card:


I took a black and cream paper stack and cut a series of 10cm x 15cm panels and distressed the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I cut some ATC sized cards from black Coredinations card stock and embossed them with a script Texture Fade (which I can no longer find listed on Sizzix's website). I sanded the ATCs to reveal some of the lighter core and then inked around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I stamped the Baby and Postcode stamps onto cream card stock in Black Soot Distress Ink, cut them all out and then edged them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then it was just a case of assembling.

Using a standard card blank, I wallpapered the front of the card with the black and cream panel, then added the ATCA card. The baby and postcode stamps were then arranged on the ATC and two small heart gems were stuck to the Baby plaque.

Now, the Christmas card:



I removed the Baby and Postcode stamps and the black hearts.

On cream card stock, I stamped the lamp post and the holly leaves from these two sets


















I cut them out (sitting in front of the television one evening) and inked the lamp post with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and the ivy with Forest Green Distress Ink.

I stuck the lamp post on the edge of the ATC, and the holly leaves on top of the lamp post. I filled in the holly berries with Red Pepper Dimensional Pearls.

Easy, really.

Repurposed Christmas Cards

Nearly two years ago when my daughter was born, DH asked me if I would make birth announcements or should he buy them. Given that G at that point was sleeping a fair amount (mostly on my Mum), I was prepared to give it ago. "How many do you want", said I. "Oh, I don't know. Lots", said he in reply.

Now, "lots" in my book is now clearly different in my definition than his. But I didn't know that at the time. Mum and I went shopping for bits and I ordered inserts from a printer friend of mine.

I made 100.

We used 30.

A year later, at the approach of G's 1st birthday, I wrote the details of her party on the back of the inserts of another 30 and sent them out as invitations to all the people who wouldn't necessarily read email or who might especially like to be invited by post.

That still left 40 sitting on the shelf.

As usual, I set myself up with a task list of things I needed to do this Christmas and completely forgot about cards. You see, having been brought up a Quaker and told that all days are as equally important as Christmas, and we should treat every day as sacred, Christmas cards were something that mostly got bypassed in favour of making cracking gifts for ours friends and families. DH came home from work about 2 weeks before Christmas and asked "Do we have any Christmas cards left over from last year?".

Argh! Busted!

I have a lovely studio filled to overflowing with things that I could use to make Christmas cards. In fact, I need to sort through it and throw some of it out. But I've got a half-built kitchen in there at the moment and it's been used as a general dumping ground since G was born.

Could I get in there, find what I needed and come out alive?

Then I remembered the birth notice cards. They weren't pink and fluffy because, as those of you who know me know, I'm not a pink and fluffy type of person. So, could I do something that would turn them into tasteful Christmas cards? This meant that I would only need to grab a box of Distress Inks and one or two stamps. Survival of the studio chaos was possible!

With the use of some adhesive remover and an evening in front of the television cutting out lamposts and holly (and the removal of the birth announcement sheets), I have created 39 lovely Christmas cards.

39? What about the last one?

I've saved one card to go into G's baby scrapbook.

I have all the bits needed. They're in my studio somewhere.

PS. For those of you interested, I will post a title tutorial on how I turned the birth announcement cards into Christmas cards.

Big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show at Ally Pally 2011

Today, I went up to London and spent the day at the Big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show at Alexander Palace - or Ally Pally as it is commonly known. All in all, it was an okay day. There were some highlights and some extreme lowlights.

The highlights first:

If I were able to give out awards, there is one particular stand I would give one to. For me, if it were a movie, it would've one the Oscar for Best Film. Remembering that the stands at these events are temporary, haphazard and need to attract attention because there is a lot of competition, www.laviniastamps.com had an amazing stand.

The stand had a great flow. There was a demonstration table at the front stage left of the stand with the products ranging around the back of the stand and the register at front stage right. So, once people were attracted to the demo, they could work their way around the stand, picking up product as they went and pay at the register at the end. Right next to the register were a selection of tiny, mini stamps that have probably been fitted into the waste space on the sheets. These were priced at £1 each, so someone could pick up three or four for not a large outlay. Additionally, across the top of the back of the stand were hundreds of samples. The stamps required to make up the stamps were directly underneath those samples - very clever. The stand was packed. While I was there I could hear people all around me saying "I need those stamps to make that card, and those stamps to make that card". No sample used less than 7 stamps. The only downside was the stamps were pricey. Probably 20-30% more than I would normally be prepared to pay for an unmounted, acrylic stamp. But the demonstration being done was simple with impressive results. Even I, in my cash-strapped state, walked away with three stamps.

The award for best customer service has to go to www.decoupatch.co.uk. Again, their stand was clear and it was obvious what they were selling. Although they had no demonstration going, it was obvious from their samples, what you could achieve with their products. They were selling papier mache items that could be covered with their bright colourful papers, using glue and a brush. Once you had made your selection, it was clear where you needed to pay and to whom. The lady in the queue in front of me was buying a small papier mache giraffe. "that's £3.95, or you can select two sheets of paper and we'll give you glue and a brush for £7.95". The woman accepted. Brilliant. She walks away with everything that she needs to get started and they've doubled their sale in 20 seconds. OK, it didn't work with me, who said "No. I'm going to ink them", but her response was "Ooh. That sounds interesting, if I include our business card in your bag, will you send us a picture when it's complete?". Has she won me over, or what? Their only mistake, I believe, was not checking out the competition. They were selling wooden cutout words and had LOVE in a square, a la Making Memories for £10. The stand directly behind them was selling almost exactly the same item for £4. Did they not notice when they were setting up? If they didn't, hmmm. If they had and it had been me there, I would have either brought the price down (not necessarily to match, but closer) or pulled that item from the stand.

The lowlights:

The award for the worst stand goes to a company tucked down the back of the hall. They also were selling only acrylic stamps. But a huge difference. No demonstration going on, no samples to speak of and then hundreds and hundreds of stamps crammed onto hooks, with each design butted right up against the next. Admittedly, they were grouped by theme, but just looking at the display gave me a headache. My friend expressed an interest to look and I just said I couldn't concentrate. Too Much Information...

The rest of the show was a bit of a disappointment for me. Although I think footfall was down from the last time I went (which was pre-recession), it still felt very crowded. This made it very difficult for people with mobility issues to get around. They do get an extra half an hour before the show opens, but that is nowhere enough time to see everything before the walking hordes arrive. I felt most sorry for one woman behind me at one stand who was in a self-pushed wheelchair and therefore didn't take up as much space as someone in a mobility scooter. But this made her less noticable and there were people stepping in front of where she was trying to go, oblivious to her plight and no one with her to back her up.

I felt that the number of show offers was down considerably. It used to be that nearly every stand was offering a deal of the weekend. Only a couple were offering anything at all. One stand offering stamp sets for £8.50 each, or three sets for £24.00. Hmm. £1.50 off? Really? Considering that most of the shops will get more footfall over the course of this weekend than they might get in a normal weekend (even taking into account that most of them will have closed their businesses back home for four days), or in fact a month of weekends, they can afford to do better deals. It encourages repeat business. Two positive days at this show are better than thousands worth of advertising. Just being there means I learned about half a dozen companies that I didn't even know existed and some that I thought had gone out of business were still there. The good ones will probably get business from me in the future. The bad ones I will actively ignore.

After the show, I met up with a lovely group of people from the Yahoo Group, All Things Tim. While fanatics for all things that have Tim Holtz's signature on them, they were enthusiastic about lots of other things and we had a great opportunity to share the spoils of our spending sprees!