About Me

My photo
Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
I have been crafting since May 2008, when in desperation to find an unusual birthday card for my Mum, I gave up looking in the shops and decided to have a go at making my own. I soon realised that crafting is addictive and I haven't brought a card since. In 2011 I completed my certificate in papercrafting as a result of the work I did as part of the course I started entering challenges on line and in magazines. I applied for design teams and also started making samples for Ooh La La Creations for their shows on Create and Craft. I have now completed my Diploma in professional crafting and most recently been runner up in the Papercrafter of the Year 2013 a competition run by Papercraft essentials magazine, I don't have a particular style I like to use elements from lots of styles and techniques, although I do love all things vintage. In 2014 I started to move more towards scrapbooking to take care of the huge family archive of photographs that were stored in my attic. I have continued cardmaking and Scrapbooking through 2015 and 2016 but have also become interested in off the page projects. I hope to be able focus on these in the future.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Nuts about you

Well as Valentine's Day draws ever closer I have been looking for something for my husband which is a bit different. I thought about it long and hard before I cam up with the following design.


My husband is an engineer by trade so the gears and nuts and washers were rather fitting.

I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder to emboss the white card panel with the gears design, and then rubbed a distress ink pad over the surface before embossing with clear embossing powder to highlight the gears.

I coloured a tag using distress ink in Barn Door and stamped the image on it I can't remember who the stamp is by as I have had it for so long. The embellishments were made by cutting out the gear shapes using a Tim Holtz die and colouring using Barn Door, I embossed 2 of the dies with clear embossing powder and the third using black. The nuts and washers were chipboard shapes that were coloured using dew drop brilliance and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The ribbons and the buttons were from my stash and the sentiment was from the Tim Holtz Adage collection.

I printed an insert which reads 'I'm nuts about you, 'cause I think you're gear' - cheesy I know but hey that fits perfectly with hubby's sense of humour.

I am entering this card into the  following challenges
http://inkyimpressionschallenges.blogspot.com - use hearts in the design
http://thestampmanchallenges.blogspot.com/ use red
http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - use embossing either wet or dry - this card uses both

Monday 23 January 2012

Seeing Double OLL Design Team

Well it's Monday so it's time for a new challenge over at http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com
Congratulations to the winners from last week and thank you to all those who entered there were some fabulous cards and projects.

This weeks challenge is about seeing double and using the same image twice for my creation I chose a lovely fresh image from the Passion for Fashion CD .


I decided on making a double easel card this time, and kept the design really simple to reflect the simple fresh lines of the image. I used one of the toppers for the right hand side of the easel and then cut a frame from around the topper for the left hand side. My double image was a smaller topper of the same image used as the 'stop' inside the card. I lined the card with parchment and used peel offs to get the corner accents. the roses were from Wild Orchid crafts. To add a bit of sparkle the toppers were mounted onto cream glitter paper before being stuck to the card.

I hope you like it and that you will check out the cards that the other members of the design team have created and leave them a comment, I am really looking forward to seeing the entries.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.

Sunday 22 January 2012

Oriental flavour

I've been a bit quiet of late mainly because my internet connection decided to impersonate a yo-yo and has been bouncing up and down for a few days, but touching wood, and fingers crossed it appears to be stable again. I have been busy catching up and when I saw this picture at http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com I knew exactly what to do.


The image just screamed Japanese garden to me. The wonderful rich oranges and yellows of the Acer trees immediately made me think of some toppers I have had in my stash for at least a year, they are by Kaban and I went searching and found them there were three so the most difficult choice was which to use.


I used a black base card and in the absence of suitably coloured backing paper I used white card with a Chinese characters on it and gave it a colour wash of 'Wild Honey' distress ink to get the right colour.

 I also coloured some plain white paper using the 'wild honey' ink and promarkers in bright orange, and spice before cutting out circles and ripping them into rough spirals to form the three roses, The leaves were again cut from white paper which this time had been coloured using 'Peeled Paint' distress ink.


The large leaves which form the backing for the embellishment started life as plain brown skeleton leaves which I dabbed with dew drop brilliance 'copper' ink and then coated with Papermania enchanted gold embossing powder and heated them to melt the powder, to give the metallic sheen. The pins I made myself from old beads collected from Charity shop Jewellery buys, and I finished the card by adding the sentiment which is from the Tim Holtz adage labels range, and the bows and buttons from my stash.

I am entering this card in the following challenges.

http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com inspiration photograph
http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com - ribbons every which way
http://lilredwagon.blogspot.com - 2 different ribbons
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com - buttons and bows

Friday 13 January 2012

Live, Love and Laugh ....

Something my husband and I have been doing for the last twenty two years since we first met as work colleagues. So when I came across this sentiment in my stash during a sort out last week I just knew it had to be incorporated into a wedding card. I had a search around a few blogs and found this wonderful inspirational photograph at http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com


I felt that this would work well as the basis of inspiration for my card so here is what I came up with.


I found the backing paper lurking in my stash and it appears to have been one of those impulse purchases that I knew at the time would come in useful.
The sentiment is from the Kaisercraft Gypsy sisters range as is the peach panel which was embossed using an embossing folder from Coture creations called Victorian plumes but I thought the pattern reflected the arches in the photograph, to add a bit of glamour it has been highlighted by dabbing with a Dewdrop Brilliance - Galaxy Gold inkpad,

I knew I wanted a doily in the design to emulate that magnificent rose window in the picture and this one was cut using my e-craft which was a present from Santa (well my dad actually) once I had cut the shape I used antique linen distress ink from Tim Holtz to age it a bit.

The Cream and gold lace ribbons were in my stash but I know originally the cram ne came from Wild Orchid Crafts as did the flowers, which I 'glammed' up by edging with gold pearl paint following a tutorial I had watched on the Wild Orchid website Thank folks.

I knew from the start of the design I wanted to include a balcony and in the absence of a balcony die I used a Marianne bid cage die to cut two birdcages from gold card which I then snipped the tops off and used the bottom half only to form the balcony behind the bride and groom, the leaves are actually part of a length of ribbon that I rescued from being thrown in the rubbish and were originally part of a head band.


I was in a bit of a 'pickle' when it came to my bride and groom I had found the die cut in my stash but it was silver so the dew drop brilliance ink pad was employed with a liberal sprinkling of gold embossing powder to create the 'Midas touch' and turn them to gold.

I hope you like it and thanks for dropping by and reading my blog.

I am entering this card in the following challenges
http://foryourinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com - see photo above
http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com - celebrations
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com - use something new (the e-craft and the embossing folder)
http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com  - something new - Wedding and the e-craft and embossing folder
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com - recycle it - the green ribbon round the balcony

Monday 9 January 2012

New Beginnings OLL DT

Well it's Monday and therefore time for a new challenge at http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/. This time the challenge is all about new beginnings and I would like to start by thanking the team at Ooh La La creations for giving me the opportunity to join them for six months as a DT member and have my own new beginning.

There were over 180 entries in the last challenge anything but a card and because the winner is not chosen randomly but by members of the DT who take it in turn to pick the winners it was a huge task checking all the entries and there were so many wonderful projects I'm just glad it wasn't my turn to pick the winner, as it was really difficult for me to pick a favourite
.
Anyway onto my first card as a member of the team and I have to say there are some fantastic designs from the DT this week for several different 'New Beginnings' so do check them out.


As my new beginning I chose the arrival of a new baby, I used a mixture of elements from Ooh La La CD's and it just goes to show that the possibilities are endless as the designs will work well across a range of CD's as well as from the self contained elements available on each one.

Materials
papers and topper from the Kidiwinks CD from Ooh La La
Tag from the Fleur d'Imagination
The doilies used were from my stash as were the brads and gems.

Method
I started by printing off the papers, topper and tag, I used a HP deskjet 1000 printer and white 100gsm paper with a normal print setting for the papers and 120gsm cardstock on photo setting for the tags.
I used the shaped card blank as a template to cut the backing paper and trimmed a doily to fit over the backing as a base for the card. The topper had it's own frame but I cropped this before printing the image and mounted it on blue backing paper. The tag was wrapped with two pieces of organza ribbon and mounted on blue backing paper that had been shaped on the bottom edge using a Martha Stewart punch and I added a satin bow to the top before sticking it to the card.

I used a second doily which I trimmed using decoupage scissors to get the flower and leaf motifs and these were then overlaid on the background doily before the flower centres were highlighted with the brads and the gems added.

I really enjoyed working with the fabulous images on the CD and am looking forward to using them much more in the weeks to come.

Finally all that remains is for me to wish you luck in entering the challenge at  http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/. I am looking forward to seeing all the entries.

I am entering this card into the challenges at
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com - A new beginning
http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/ - Something New - the Ooh La La products are New to me

Sunday 8 January 2012

The Stamp Man 3rd Annual awards


The Stamp Man are holding their third annual awards all you have to do is pick your favourite project of the year full details can be found  here .

My favourite has to be my very first attempt at a Stempunk style card. Made for a friend's birthday.


I didn't enter it in any challenges at the time but I did send a photograph to 'Simply Cards and Papercraft' magazine as I had followed instructions in an article in the magazine for making the 'pearl pins' for the card and  yesterday I discovered that it had been chosen as the star letter in this months magazine.

More importantly though my friend loved the card as it was so different from any others she had received.
For full details on the process for making the card click here.

This card really does sum up my card making in 2011, I have become more adventurous with my designs and been prepared to try new techniques and styles way outside my comfort zone. Thanks in no small part to joining the ranks of bloggers and seeing the wonderful designs that are out there, something I only did initially to find challenges to provide briefs for me to fulfil as part of my certificate in paper craft. Tomorrow all being well will see me submit the final units of the certificate for assessment and following the support and encouragement of my assessor and all the wonderful crafters who have so kindly commented on my blog in the past few months I have a new found confidence in my own abilities something I have always lacked because of  an art teacher telling me I didn't 'have an artistic bone in my body' many years ago when I admit I couldn't draw for toffee and if I am honest I still can't draw for toffee, but I have come to realise that just because I can't draw doesn't mean I am not artistic.

So huge thanks from me to everyone for your encouragement. I'm looking forward to continuing to develop in 2012 and find new techniques and inspiration out there in blog land. I hope you all have a wonderful 2012 and that your hopes and dreams are fulfilled.
Hugs
Alli D  xx

Saturday 7 January 2012

Thank You


The New Year always sees a number of thank you cards being required plus lots of scraps left over from Christmas crafting, so this card is the perfect combination a thank you card made from scraps and as an added bonus using one of my Christmas presents in its creation.

All the papers used were off cuts from previous projects and are from the Kaisercraft 'Gyspy Sisters' range. I started by sorting the bits out to decide how they could best be combined and the largest bits were set to one side to form the background. After this process I managed to find the patterned strip for the edge, the dark red plain paper and two pieces of cream paper that were double sided and approximately A5 size but the edges weren't straight on any of the pieces so I decided that as the colours would work well with a vintage theme I would tear the edges and ink them I used a Momento ink pad in 'Rich Cocoa' for the inking. One of the cream pieces I tore in half to give me more paper to play with for the embellishments and stamped details of the card. I then stamped the background image for behind the birdcage using the same ink pad to provide consistency and using one of the images from the Papermania Urban stamps 'Bird Print' range. Unfortunately I managed to smudge the first image so had to stamp it again which used more paper than I wanted but I was able to use the smudged image in my die cutter for one of the flowers. I stamped the bird from the same stamp range onto another scrap of paper and the sentiment stamp was from a set of free stamps with this months card making and papercraft magazine.
Once I had cut out all the stamped images I took the off cuts of paper I was left with and placed them over the cutting areas of the Tim Holtz 'Tattered Flowers' die I had received as a Christmas gift. From these scraps I was able to obtain one large flower, one daisy and one medium flower, and a total of six of the smallest flower on the die. As the papers were double sided this gave me quite a variety when layering the flowers up.
I found a tag from the same paper range in my stash and a circular topper. I mounted the bird on the tag, and the sentiment on the circular topper to give more depth to the design. The bird cage was cut from a small piece of purple of mirror card that was left over from a friends birthday card, and the ribbon for the bows and purple feather were in the 'it might come in useful box' along with the blue flat back gems that I used for the flower centres.
I arranged everything onto an A5 card blank before sticking everything down, but the background seemed a bit dull so to add interest I debissed the dark purple paper piece using a cArt us embossing folder, and then dabbed the surface against the momento ink pad, Once I had done this I was much happier with the overall look of the card and stuck the backing papers down using double sided tape and then used glue gel for the other elements to raise them slightly from the background image.

And there it is a thank you card from scraps.

I am entering this card into the following challenges
http://trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com - Thank You
http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.com - Thank you and use up your twine or ribbon
http://craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com  - Anything Goes and distressing
http://inkyimpressionschallenges.blogspot.com - Anything Goes
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.com - Bird Day (include a bird in the design)
http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.com use any sentiment but you must use your scraps
http://cinspirations.blogspot.com - With Thanks

Tuesday 3 January 2012

2012 gets off on the white foot.


When I saw the challenge this week over at Die Cut Dreams I couldn't resist giving it a go. Design a card using only white and no other colours, relying solely on textures and shapes to give the card interest.
The card above is the result and uses materials from both ends of the crafting scale from luxury hand made paper to cheap copier paper.

I started by wrapping three layers of different ribbon - cotton lace, satin and organza around the bottom section of a piece of paper from the 'Artoz creamotions' range the design being 'glitter twine white', which had been cut to cover an 8" x 8" card blank. This panel was then stuck to the card blank using double sided tape.

I then turned to a box I keep all my try outs for new cutting dies in, whenever I add to my collection of dies I always do some test cuts on plain paper to see the results and keep these in a box 'in case they come in useful'. In there I found a number of flowers that had been cut from plain paper using the Tim Holtz tattered flowers die that had been part of a crafting bundle my husband had given me as a Christmas gift I added to these by cutting out some more flowers from white glitter paper using the die and from the remained of the piece of glitter paper I was able to cut some flourishes leaves using  Marianne dies. I also found a piece of vellum that I had put through the Sizzix using a Marianne designable cutting and Embossing folder. I stuck the vellum to the base panel in the top right hand corner using small dots of glossy accents behind the embossed areas so they wouldn't show through.



The Happy Birthday sentiment had been cut using the craftwell e-craft electronic cutter, which I had purchased with Christmas money from my dad. It was just cut from plain 160gsm card stock so I traced the letters in PVA and covered the sentiment in white glamour dust glitter and stuck this at an angle across the vellum panel.

I am a great believer that any 'new toy' should be used even if I haven't got a specific project in mind at the time and therefore also found in my little die cuts box a doily shape which had also been cut using the craftwell  from 160 gsm card. I used off cut strips of the same card to quill a flower to sit on the centre of the doily to add interest.


I then arranged the die cut flourishes,leaves and flowers on the top left and bottom right of the card mixing the glittered flowers and plain flowers to add interest with different textures and the centres were made using flat backed beads that I have had in my stash for ages.



The pearl pins were made using 'pearls' recycled from old jewellery and pushed in behind the flowers at the bottom right.

The finishing touch was a butterfly again cut using the craftwell and then covering n PVA and glitter before adding the teardrop shaped flat backed beads.


I really enjoyed the challenge of using just white and looking at combining textures and shapes rather than colours and patterns.

I am entering this card into the following challenge.
http://diecutdreams.blogspot.com/ - use only white