Tuesday 30 April 2013

WALL ART CREATED using EK Success Daisy Chain Edger Punch

Just recently received EK Success Daisy Chain Edger Punch. The quality of these punches is excellent, however you will need to apply some force while punching. To be honest the only reason i bought Daisy Chain Edger Punch was a picture showed during show on Create and Craft TV. I decided to recreate similar, just using my card stock and different colour scheme.







I placed punched daisy chain on white card,

Sunday 14 April 2013

GO WILD WITH KIDS AT SOFT PLAY CENTRE IN BURY (1)

Today I spent a wonderful afternoon with my kids at children's soft play center and cafe 'GO WILD' (Check this link). This centre is located in Bury, Lancashire. It is equipped with 3 lane astraslide, a helter skelter slide, canon ball shooters, ball pool, spinning poles, rope bridges and many more! It has got a separate baby area. And the most important parent can go free and interact with their children on all play equipments. Fun is unbelievable and it creates stronger bond with the child.

If parents get tired (what is not a child's case:)) they can have some rest in cafe area from which they can observe playing kids. To provide more safety the play areas

Thursday 11 April 2013

TONIC STUDIO DIES SET BUTTERFLY BOUTIQUE REVIEW



Few weeks ago crafters' world was presented with new dies from TONIC STUDIO.These dies are amazing. Easy to use and patterns have endless possibilities. You can cut them, emboss, stencil, use them in different ways to achieve different results.
It is enough to tap to the table surface from the back side of the die to release cuts outs of the dies . Die does not require much cleaning after cut, but contains plenty of details.

The bundle came in the beautiful box. with bonus 15 metal Butterflies in five different shapes.
The butterflies can be powder embossed, shaped, alcohol inked or gilding flakes cloloured.




HOW DO THESE DIES LOOK LIKE?


There were 5 dies in full packet. Flowers and butterflies. Decent size, up to 15cm height, 10 cm  width. Designed in the way that it is easy to create two separate images with one die cut.



I cut out images in two option to show their versatility. When you stenciling or emboss image, the butterfly is mainly affected during this process. Flowers have tiny delicate shadows. Each die was named in exotic, Spanish sounding names.


Wednesday 10 April 2013

SPRING IS HERE


Despite Winter fights Spring over dominance, there are many evidence that last one wins.
I took this beautiful blooming branch of pear tree in my garden. It seems that my trees are in hurry to enjoy the sun, warmer days and shorter nights. Unfortunately, many of my strawberry plants were not so lucky, seems that only less than half of them will enjoy this summer. But all fruit trees look gorgeous and soon all will be dressed in white dresses. 

Love this time of the year. It makes everybody to reconsider what we live for. The circle of seasons, and the most important - life, - repeats.



Friday 5 April 2013

DREAM CATCHER

I was fascinated  by native Americans culture since i read a book 'Winnetou' written by Karl May. I found their spiritual world so pure and delicate and their believes based on values so different from the white man. As soon as i saw a stamp 'Dream-catcher' made by PSX on sale i had to have it. As soon as it arrived, i created a card which associates to me with the mystical world of Native Americans.


I would like to explain the meaning of this card along with tutorial.

I chose the words 'Peace', 'Journey', 'Faith' from Spellbinders set 'Positively Me'. These words are symbols of possible destination, if you seek for something and you believe in yourself and others. The fence (die cut with Spellbinders D-LITES 'Wrought Iron')  symbolizes similar for the most of us, behind them a peaceful home is waiting. Faith is the drive to continue our journey. The peace of mind is a luxury what everybody seeks, but not everybody can find.




The black background was cut out using Spellbinders 'Stately Circles', the same dies were used for the main image Dream Catcher. I cut out another black circle and created a shadow (cutting in the middle and gluing it behind the image circle).
The dream catcher itself has got a mystical meaning to protect child from bad dreams. to read a bit more about it i would recommend Tara Prindle article "NativeTech: Dream Catchers".

With die from Heartfelt Creations 'Timeless Amour' set i cut out 2 shapes from silver and black card. created shadow placing them one on another and then i positioned them behind the main circle.


I used Sheena Douglas embossing folder Wood Panel to create background. I applied a distress ink Stormy sky, on embossing folder first and them embossed the card (20x14.5 cm).  The wood panel was chosen to create a union with nature and a bark of willow, the one of the basic materials used to make a dream catcher.

Further i assembled everything on embossed piece of card. I used a special thread to create a hanging effect and added few feathers.

Then i cut out white card (23x17cm) for base, inked its edges with distressed Story sky. On top of it I placed silver card (22.5x16.5), which i debossed first with A4 M-bossabilities EG-002. Then on top of base card I placed dark blue card, plain silver card, black card and assembled topper on top.

TIP: each backing layer I did half centimeter smaller.
TIP: I double layered main base card and created  tilting effect, to make it more like standing picture rather than a card.

I hope you enjoyed this journey to spiritual world of native Americans. And even knowing this is a part of other nation's culture do you use Dream catcher at home?