Starlet Circles Gatefold Card and A Handy Hint

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you're all having a brilliant week, I've been making some cards for family birthdays which I can't share just yet so I decided to take part in this week's Passion for Promarkers Blog challenge. I haven't been able to take part since their anniversary blog challenge so I was really pleased when I saw that this week's theme is "anything but square" - though it's actually quite rare for me to make a square card so maybe it would be more of a challenge to make a square one lol. If you would like to join in this week's blog challenge or you are just curious about what the design team have come up with, then please click on the link http://promarkerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/week-349anything-but-square.html .

Starlet Circle Gatefold Card

 I don't have an occasion in mind for this card so I've used my current favourite stamp - CC Verity Rose 'Starlet'. I decided to make another circle gatefold card as it's about as far away from being a square as you can get plus I really enjoy making this style of card. I made the card blank first out of a sheet of Sheena's stamping card cut to 4 1/4" x 11". I scored it at 2.5", 4", 7", 8.5" and die cut it using my 4" Sizzix Bigz die - you really need a Bigz die if you are using card above 250gsm (you will need to run your thinner dies and card a couple of times as they have to cut through three thicknesses of the card to make this card blank). I die cut another piece of stamping card using the same die and also a black circle. I used the biggest of my large circles nesting dies by Spellbinders to turn the circle into a frame and used the waste circle for my right hand panel, I centred a Creative Dies nesting star die on this black circle and ran it through my Big Shot machine. I then die cut the same sized star out of silver mirror card. I die cut five small stars out of the silver card waste and put them to one side, then I die cut the next size up star out of another piece of silver mirror card. I stamped the 'Starlet' image out onto the stamping card circle and coloured her in using Flexmakers. I added the black circle frame over the stamped image using a Stick It! Glue pen then went around the edge with a black marker to cover up any white areas showing. I placed the silver star into the die cut space inside the smaller black circle and stuck a white card circle to the back so the star wouldn't fall out or show when the card's open and added it to the right hand half circle panel of the card blank. You have to add this piece first before the main image. I closed the card blank so the star circle was centred over both halves and added a thin line of glue around the circle panel of the left hand half circle then added the main topper to this glued area. You need to hold it in place for a few minutes until the glue sets firmly. I tucked the inner right hand panel behind the front panel in the 'pocket' that was formed by only gluing the outside part of the topper to check that it was placed correctly. I added the silver single star to the black star with glue then added this double star to the middle section of the card blank. I added the five small stars around the large silver as shown.

Close up of the left panel

Open Circle Gatefold Card

Right hand 'gate' with inset star and raised mini stars

Centre double star

I really enjoyed making this card, there was a lot of die cutting but my job was made a lot easier using this:-

Not just a tool holder!

You're probably wondering why I decided to share my tool caddy and the reason is those two black strips on the front of the plastic pot. The strips are actually magnetic tape and I use them to keep my dies safe while I'm die cutting. The tape is self adhesive but I added Scotch Glue to the back because the strips kept falling off to begin with but since I've stuck them with glue, they've not shifted. Sizzix have recently come up with a tool caddy that attaches to the side of Big Shot machine - I think it's partly magnetic but it inspired me to make my own magnetic storage for when I'm die cutting. My machine isn't on my desk as I don't have room for it so I line my dies up at my desk then take the pieces to be die cut at the machine. It made sense for me to have the tape on my desk so I can put the dies I'm not using straight away on the strips to keep them safe for when I do want to use them.  Here are the magnetic strips in action.

No more losing dies for me!

Since taking these photos I've added a third strip of magnetic tape so it can hold bigger/more dies. I bought the magnetic tape from Amazon and it was very cheap - I would recommend adding a stronger adhesive to the back of it if you use this idea as it it rather annoying for the strips to fall off with the dies attached (and defeats the purpose!) I'd love to see what you come up with if you make your own so please leave a link in the comments section if you do. As always I'd love to hear from you so please leave any questions or comments in the section below and until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

Fifteen Shades of Grey

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend. It's hard to believe it's June already, it doesn't seem like five minutes ago we were celebrating the start of 2016 and now we're nearly halfway through. Talking about 'June' I lost the month of June stamp from one of my Kaisercraft stamp sets (which as it was a calendar stamp set made it a bit useless) last year and I finally found it yesterday! I only have to find my Cat's Pyjamas Villain-esque moustache die and I'll been as happy as a cat in PJ's (which probably isn't that happy really when you think about it lol). It's even smaller than the June stamp so I'm not going to hold my breath.

Sorry the image isn't very clear - I think the camera is sulking.

Today's card features my beloved 'Starlet' from the Crafter's Companion Verity Rose range. I'm not sure what it is about Starlet that's captured my imagination but I'm really loving colouring her in different ways at the moment. Today I've coloured in Greyscale and as the title suggests I've used 15 shades of grey to colour her in! I used Promarkers Warm Greys 1 - 5, Cool Greys 1 - 5 and Ice Greys 1- 5. I stamped the image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Sheena's stamp card and there was a little bleeding outside the outside edge of the image when I coloured her in but not too much. Once I'd coloured the image I added white highlights to her eyes and pearl necklace using a while gel pen and added some Spectrum Noir clear Sparkle brush marker to her hair gem then covered it with a thin layer of Glossy Accents. I used a ticket corner punch to remove the corners and mounted the topper onto a piece of black card stock. I layered this onto a piece of silver glitter card. I cut a sheet of A4 black card down to 28cm and scored it in half at 14cm. Using a score board I dry embossed two lines down each side of the card front and three top and bottom of the card for added interest and then added some thin strips of glitter card between the embossed borders. I added the topper panel to the card leaving a larger space below so I can add a sentiment at a later date. I decided the silver glitter strips were a bit 'in your face' so went over them with a black marker so that the card appears a slate grey. Unfortunately as I was colouring the strips in I managed to smear black marker ink all on the topper - I nearly cried! Luckily I remembered it was alcohol based so used my Promarker blender pen all over the outside lines of the stamped image paying special attention to the smudge marks. I'll be honest with you, to begin with the blender pen made the marks look worse but I decided to let the piece dry and see what happened before panicking. I watched a couple of programmes on TV then when I went back in to my crudy I found that the marks had practically vanished.

Here are a couple more photos.

A close up of the Starlet 15 shades of grey card

Can you spot where the smear marks were??

I really enjoyed making this card today even if I did nearly ruin it with smudge marks *note to self - remember to wipe your hands in future*. I got a couple of small orders in the post today (both from Craft Stash - a Let's Celebrate stamp and an emoji die by Spellbinders) so I'm hoping to have a play with them over the weekend. I'd also like to colour one of the Verity Rose images in browns so it looks sepia. I've never tried that before but I think the images would suit that style. As always if you have any questions or comments then please leave them in the comment section below. I hope you all have a brilliant weekend, hopefully the weather will improve and it won't be quite so cold! Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx