Jeepers Creepers! Woodware sneaker card.

Welcome back to my crafty little blog.
Today I'm sharing a card design we made at our card making workshop at my shop Out Of The Blue in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol.
This card design went down very well with our craft ladies. They said it would be perfect when they find it hard to come up with a card for a male or someone of that 'inbetween' age.

For this card we used the Jeepers Creepers Sneaker stamp set from Woodware.

The main sneaker image was stamped twice in black ink & heat embossed onto watercolour card & then coloured with koi brush markers.
The images were cut out & holes created to thread twine through for the laces.
One sneaker was layered with 3 d foam onto the other.

The backgrounds were created with the background sneaker stamp & the other stamps in the Jeepers Creepers set.
The sneakers were raised up onto die cut circles along with the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Please leave me a comment & pop back again soon.

Amy x

Clean & Simple designs for Out Of The Blue

Hello again blog friends.

Today is Thursday & also the day we hold another of our Card Making Workshops at Out Of The Blue.

We held the same workshop last week with the theme of CAS cards - clean & simple.

This is not a genre of card making I normally turn my hand to very easily as I sometimes struggle to know when to stop adding more to my designs. 

Less is generally more with clean & simple cards along with a good amount of white space.

However, once I sat down & got started making my samples for the Workshop, I really got into it & was pleased with the results. 

So, here's what we've been creating for our August workshops

These cards are all A6 in size & made using the Flower Head Stamp set from Woodware & Color box cats eye que ink stacks in various colour combinations.

These stamps are great as they stamp a solid flower so no colouring is needed as the ink does all the colour work for you!. So, dead easy & quick too!.

We used masking techniques to layer the flowers one behind the other & some of the flowers had more than one colour ink applied.

Finishing touches were stickles glitter glue, faux pearls, ribbon & cosmic shimmer pearlescent PVA glues. 

I'm particularly liking the Decadent Teal & Decadent Grape colours in the range by Phil Martin & have ordered other colours, due to arrive in the shop today.

We intend on completing at least 3 cards each if time permits but there's always lots of chatter & tea & cake at our workshops so we'll see how it goes!.

Thanks for stopping by

See you again soon

Amy x 

Julia Watts demo day & Festival Window

Hello blog friends, sorry it's been a little while since my last post. Lots has been going on in the land of Out Of The Blue & so my post today will be a bit picture heavy, please bear with me.

On Saturday 7th June we were very lucky to have Julia Watts visit us at Out Of The Blue for a day of demonstrations. 

We had split the day into five 1hour sessions & people then chose which hour they wanted to book onto. 

As always Julia was very informative about all of the products she was demonstrating & some great tips were picked up on how to use the gorgeous new shimmer paints, masks & sparkle texture pastes from Creative Expressions. 

We had all hands on deck in the shop, me running backwards & forwards between the hall & the shop & we'd also enlisted Carole's help to be Julia's 'magic hands' for the day.

It was a very successful day with over 80 people attending in total. We've had great feedback from all who came & I'm sure we will be inviting Julia back for another demo day again soon.

Here's a pic of me giving Julia a little gift to say thanks.

After Julia's visit my focus then had to turn to our window display for the Chipping Sodbury Festival.

Every year the town hosts a festival with lots of events taking place over 1 week. Lots of local people get involved including the schools & there is a street procession with floats & a princess with her attendants to end the week. 

The shops & businesses in the town are encouraged to join in by creating a window display using the theme of the festival.

This year the theme is 'Disney' & there is also a 'spot the error' competition with prizes for the person who can spot the most!. 

I decided the theme for our window would be Tinkerbell/Peter Pan. I ordered in lots of Lavinia stamps & Sweet Poppy stencils as I thought their beautiful fairy designs would fit in quite nicely & we could then use them for our card making workshop for the festival too.

I decided to hand paint 3 canvas panels with one of the Lavinia designs. Here's how it all came together.

You can just about see my pencil drawing of the fairy in this one.

All that was left to do was paint in her wings & add some glitter with sparkle texture paste.

Then I had to attach the 3 panels to 1 big wood panel to put in the back of the shop window. I then made other bits & bobs relating to my theme & added some fairy items that we sell plus some distressed ladders with faux trailing ivy intertwined. 

Here are the finished results.

Did you spot the error?!

Anyway, thanks for staying through until the end!, I'll be back soon to share my card I made for the festival workshop.

Hope you'll pop back.

Amy x 

Julia Watts Demo Day Announcement

Hi all, bit of a busy week or so since my last post.

 The nice weather has encouraged some extra customers into the shop with Easter just around the corner & we've had lots of new ranges arriving for the Spring/summer season which means all change & lots of rearrangement of displays.

 Trouble is, once you change one display, they all need changing! It can be a long job to say the least but one I enjoy. 

We've also been arranging an exciting craft event in the shop.  We have booked Julia Watts to come & do a demo day for us at the beginning of June. 

Lots of our workshop ladies have already booked their spaces for the day & we've been busy sorting advertising, tickets etc.

Here's the advert that will be going in local press over the next few weeks. 

Be great to see you on the day if any of you fancy a trip to Chipping Sodbury!

Here's a picture of our Easter dresser display in the shop.

We always have an Easter tree with lots of lovely, pretty hanging eggs, chicks etc. I have great intentions to make some of my own decorations to hang & sell but never seem to get enough together to make a nice selection.
Will try harder for next year.

This picture is our current Easter window display featuring Herdy the sheep.

We came across this range of products when we visited the Lake District last year & fell in love with herdy & all those lovely bright colours. Its been selling well in the shop, especially since putting this window together. We think it makes a lovely gift for Easter for all ages. The range is based on the Herwick breed of sheep which you see everywhere up in the Lakes.

I was also really excited to visit Ally Pally at the weekend. I'd never been to this craft show before having mainly only attended trade ones so was interested to see what it would be like in comparison. I went with a different head on (makes me think of Worzel Gummidge!) as I was looking at things from a customer's point of view rather than my usual retailer view point. I found it much more relaxed, very friendly & very inspiring.

Me on the left, Julie on the right, just arrived at Ally Pally

I took my friend Julie along with me who I am enjoying spending lots more time with since she has moved back up here from Cornwall. We had a lovely day out & spent lots of time watching Leandra from Paperartsy doing a fab demo with their gorgeous range of chalky fresco finish paints. Julie was very taken with these.
We also had a very lovely conversation with Helen & Mark from Visible Image, admiring all the samples on their stand & I came home with a few stamps to play with. Can't wait!

Then finally we had a chat with Julia who was demoing on the Creative Expressions stand & she told me off for not stopping by for a chat sooner!
I'm so looking forward to her coming to the shop for the demo day, Im going to start counting down the sleeps!.

Time had just run away & it was time to head home, heads full of lots of inspiration & itching to use my new purchases.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, its quite a long one!
See you again soon with a craft project to show you.

Amy x 

Through the arched window

Hi all, as promised my post today is a card I made using the Tonic Domed Window Die & Window Basket Die.

I've had great fun playing around with this die & have lots of ideas of future cards & projects I'd like to make using it.

In my last post my card made using this die was quite clean & simple really. This time I wanted to do a card with a bit more of a distressed look to it.

After cutting & embossing both the window & the window basket, I distressed them with brushed corduroy distress inks.
On white card & using brushed corduroy, I stamped the tree design & the owl leaves & flowers. The owl was stamped twice. This is a Kanban stamp set that I've had for quite a while.
 I cut around all the leaves, flowers & owls & then coloured them with brushed corduroy, peacock feathers & mustard seed. I also die cut some of the leaves from the Window Basket die & coloured those as well.
I cut a cloud shape from a post it note & used it as a mask with peacock feathers for the sky behind the tree & stuck the window frame over the top.
I used turquoise card & a couture creations embossing folder, craft card & a dark teal card all mat & layered & distressed around the edges with the blade of my scissors.

The owl, leaves & flowers were layered & stuck into place & I added a few punched craft card flowers too plus some glossy accents & gold cosmic shimmer pearlescent pva to finish.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog.
See you again soon!

Amy x

 



Ella Bella Blue

Hi all, another week has passed since my last post & I just don't know where the time has gone yet again!. I have great intentions of posting a few times a week but my plans always seem to get scuppered.

 I'm squeezing in this post whilst getting myself & my 3 year old ready to leave the house to get to nursery & my afternoon working in the shop.

Hoping to get crafting this evening when I get home as it's Daddy's turn to read the bed time story & tuck her in tonight.

 

My card today is one I made a little while ago using the Ella Bella stamp from IndigoBlu.

 

 

I stamped Ella Bella in peacock feathers distress ink & heat embossed her with clear embossing powder, I then distressed around the edges of the card with shabby shutters & brushed corduroy & used a pair of scissors to distress the very edges of the card.

She was mounted onto aqua card & then a piece of kraft card that was embossed ( can't remember which folder!) & a bit of brushed corduroy on the raised areas.

The background was stamped using the tendrils of her hair all around the edges also with peacock feathers & distressed further with scissors & the same colours as before, & mounted onto a kraft card blank.

 

 

I stamped & distressed the sentiment with brushed corduroy & attached it with 3D foam & added some sheer ribbon, flowers made with my tattered florals die & some gold flat backed pearls.

 

 

I love using IndigoBlu stamps at the moment & I'm really looking forward to placing another order for the shop & getting my hands on some of their new Christmas designs.

 

See you again soon, thanks for taking a look & as always your comments are very well received.

I'm trying to be really good at commenting on all of your blogs too!.

 

Amy x

 

 

All You Need Is Love - Beatlemania!

Hello there my crafty friends & a big 'Hello' to my new follower Sharon.

 Thank you for joining me & taking the time to see what crafty projects I've been creating.

It's very exciting when someone new joins us!

 

 Hope you all had a good week last week? Mine was full of all things Beatles. Might seem a bit odd but let me explain.

Every year we hold a festival in Chipping Sodbury over the space of a week. The local community are encouraged to join in & attend the various events taking place in the town & the week ends with a street procession led by a carnival princess & decorated floats & a 'Last night of the proms'.

 The local businesses are all asked to join in by decorating their windows with the theme of the festival which this year was Beatlemania to celebrate 50 years of The Beatles.

 

Here's a few pics of my window display

 

 

As you can see, we won second prize in the Best Dressed Window competition!

 

Carole & I held an afternoon workshop on Friday & the card design was based on one of The Beatles songs. Carole came up with the design for this workshop & we used a stamp by Crafty Individuals that was perfect for the theme. The stamp had jumped out at me when we were on the Crafty Individuals stand at the NEC trade fair back in February, so we knew straight away this was the song we would be basing our design around.

The stamp was used to create the heat embossed background, the stopper on the base of the card & the flower which was cut with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die, this has become a firm favourite of mine.

 

Here's the card we made at our workshop

We also used the Creative Expressions Heart Lattice A4 embossing folder

 (like gold dust to get hold of at the mo!) 

All our ladies really enjoyed the workshop & the new ladies who attended did a great job even though they'd never used any of the techniques before & I'm pleased to say a few more spaces on our regular workshops got booked up as a result!

 

Having made the above card, I couldn't help use the same layout to create a couple more.

I couldn't resist adding a bit of black soot distress ink to this one & although I really like the effect, I think for a 'love' themed card it may be a bit dark.

 

We had just had a new Creative Expressions delivery in the shop, & I thought this heart stamp would fit the theme too, so I added a bit of  red & some roses to the mix ( although it looks a bit orange in the pics!) & I think this is my favourite.



  

 

Well, thanks again for taking the time to look at this long post today!!

I'm off up to the shop now to change my window display & looking at how sunny it is already today, I think I might melt in the process!

Later on I'll be preparing all the bits & pieces for our next workshop tomorrow evening which will be the same project as my previous post.

 

See you soon

 

Amy x