Tilda Gift Card

Hi, I`m back with another Tilda card, this image is Tilda with Balloon from the You are so Special collection.
I`d like to enter this into the new Inky Chicks Challenge, this time around it is Mothers Day or Birthday.




I`m trying to get ahead with my Birthday cards for the year ahead and this one will be for my friend Sally who reads as much as I do and she`s always asking for people to give her book vouchers for Birthdays and Christmas. She`s not a crafter so she won`t see this on my blog!



I`ve coloured Tilda with distress inks and markers and added a bit of glossy accents to the balloon. The backing paper is K&Co water colour bouquet.



I found the sentiment on a website that has free verses for card makers and I just used my home computer to alter the layout of the verse and add a different font.



The front flap under the Tilda image lifts up and I`ve created a space you can slide in a gift card, this one fits any of the credit card size gift cards that are popular nowadays. I just punched two holes with a crop-a-dile and used a craft knife to slit in between them to create the slot for the card.



I also decorated the inside of the flap using an SU sentiment, nesties labels four and Cheery Lynn small fanciful flourish dies.
This isn`t the gift card I bought her, this is one I was given at Christmas and haven`t spent yet! how restrained am I? LOL!! I just used it for the photo.

Products also used are WOC flowers, hobby house flowers SU taffeta ribbon and dotty scallop border punch.

Thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx

Distress Reinker Unit

After the success of the Distress Ink Pad shelf unit I made, I fancied having a go at making another unit to house my reinkers. I`ve only got 8 at the moment but they were precariously balance on the edge of a slim shelf on my desk and were forever falling over. It is my wish to collect all 48 eventually so I decided to make a unit that would house all 48 once I have them.... and this is what I came up with....

I hadn`t originally planned to put another unit on top for my distress markers but as I was building the unit I came up with more ideas so the unit evolved LOL!
I started by cutting 12 pieces of chipboard 11cm x 11cm

I then cut 24 top and bottom pieces measuring 4cm x 10.8cm and 24 side pieces measuring 4cm x 11cm - my poor fingers were sore after this as I could only cut them using scalpel and metal ruler!

Using the "Jim the Gentleman Crafter`s" Construction strip method I used for the ink pad shelf unit, I glued the top, bottom, side and back pieces together to create 12 open fronted boxes.

I used a scrap piece of cardstock to make a template for the holes I wanted to thread the dowels through to make sure I got each one in the right place and level on both sides, I did this with a crop-a-dile.

Then I glued 4 of the boxes together in a square making sure they were lined up as neatly as I could get them.

I repeated this three more times to make 3 shelves, each that would hold 4 sections to house 4 reinker bottles creating 48 spaces in total. Then covered the insides with Bazzil Basics Paper - Antique Script and coating them with a couple of layers of Claudine Helmuth Studios Multi Medium - Matte. Then stuck the three layers together one on top of the other.

I used wooden barbeque skewers for the little dowels, you can get them in a large pack from most garden centres and they are dirt cheap, I think this whole pack only cost me 99p!

Can you believe I didn`t have a lick of black paint anywhere in my house! so I resorted to squeezing a little StazOn reinker into a saucer and using a paintbrush to apply it to the skewers! my fingers were totally black at the end of it and the ink took a fair while to dry but the end result was great and as the ink is permanent they didn`t need varnishing afterwards and they dried to a nice matte finish. As luck would have it, the smallest hole punch in the crop-a-dile was exactly the same width as the skewers too!

I used the top notes die from Sizzix (available through Stampin` Up) to cut out 12 pelmet pieces for the top of each box, this looks decorative but also hides a multitude of sins as the areas where the shelves are glued together don`t look perfectly neat and I`m a neat freak so I had to hide that area! I just covered them in matching paper and inked the edges with black soot distress inks.
I also cut 4 long strips of chipboard and covered them in matching paper to hide the sides of the joined boxes and glued those in place. I used a combination of strong double sided sticky tape and glossy accents for the whole project. I know it`s an expensive way of using glossy accents as a glue but it is a very strong and permanent adhesive so it was worth the added cost.

The top section was made using the same construction strip method of combining 4 pieces of chipboard and then I put in the shelves using the same method I used for the shelves in the ink pad unit I made a few weeks back.
I made a collar underneath it so it slides into the top and can be removed. I hadn`t planned this in the original construction like I said, but when I glued the four pieces of each shelf together it left a handy storage void in the top which seemed a waste not to take advantage of, so this is what I did with it ...the top lifts out....

....And reveals the space underneath which I have stored the offending water colour jar in that caused me so much strife when it fell of my shelf a while back (read previous post to find out the ensuing destruction!) so it won`t fall off my desk and cause me such a headache in the future!

I just covered the inside in the same paper (I had a few scraps left from the rest of the unit) and varnished it with more of the multi matte.

The top part then can be turned upside down and I can put the jar inside it while I am water colouring and I can`t knock it over my desk (which I have done before now also!)

The final piece was to add a spinner to the bottom and I found a great company through ebay that provides swivel bearings all different sizes, no postage cost and it arrived the next day! how`s that for service so thank you to Engineers Mate Ltd.
This one is a 4" swivel bearing. I used brads and hot glue to fix it to another piece of chipboard and then I hot glued that to the bottom of the unit. The whole unit then got covered in a second layer of the Mulit Medium Matte just to seal it and ensure the covering paper wouldn`t lift and it would be hard wearing.

And that was the unit finished. I am very please with the outcome, as I said I haven`t got all the reinkers and markers yet so it can store my stickles and other little bottles of products for now but as and when I get more reinkers I can just slot them into place.

Thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx

Cheeky!

Here is another sample I did for Sir Stampalot with Bonny Tilda, coloured with distress inks and markers.
Other products used are Go Kreate die 6" pointy frame, Nesties hearts and scallop hearts, Cheery Lynn - Fanciful Flourish, Magnolia Papers - peaches and something old, Bo Bunny double dot ribbon, Hobby House flowers, stickles - icicle for the wings.

The arrow was created using one of the hands of the Marianne Clock die, I just snipped a bit off the ends and out of the middle which kind of works? not sure, but I didn`t have an arrow die or punch and all my attempts to hand cut one just looked awful so this was the next best thing (although I think Tilda`s aim is off a bit LOL).

......And after I handed it over to Janice at Sir Stampalot I realized that I haven`t grounded Tilda in this image so she`s kind of floating in mid air LOL ! but as Louise pointed out to me she does have wings so maybe she`s hovering! thanks Louise LOL !

I`d like to enter this into the Inky Chicks Challenge, this time around it`s Valentine or Anniversary card.

Thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx

Poppy Tilda

Here is the new Poppy Tilda available now at Sir Stampalot she`s a real cutie and I just had to get her inked and coloured as soon as I got my hands on her yesterday!
I`ve coloured her with distress inks and markers and added a bit of stickles - icicle to the middle of the poppy and some of the flowers.
The background papers are all Magnolia as is the Doo Hickey Doily die.
Flowers are Hobby House, leaves are Nellie Snellen medium punch `n` emboss and the foliage punch is Ash Branch, all products available at Sir Stampalot.

Well I`ve been crafting up a storm today getting samples ready for Sir Stampalot and re doing some samples for Hougie Crafts as the last lot got ruined after a tea related accident on my desk a couple of days ago. I can laugh about it now but I was not a happy camper at the time. I had just finished the samples and was reaching for my camera to take some piccies when I jogged the shelf that the glass jar I use to hold water for painting was sitting on, it fell straight onto a fresh mug of tea which was sitting on the corner of my desk, split the mug into a million pieces and threw tea all over my desk! That was bad enough but as I was desperately trying to rescue all the samples which were gleefully soaking up my tea I realized that tea was seeping down the side of my desk where I keep all my large cardstock for box making. I had to pull out my drawer which holds my wood mounted stamps to clean up the tea spill,and as I did the leg on it broke and tipped the whole thing over which had my acrylic trays resting on top. I tried to grab them from spilling all over the floor and the sharp edge of the tray cut my finger open! I tell you it was like something out of a Mr Bean movie! If I had been watching this debacle unfold I probably would have been on the floor in stitches but I was steaming mad at the time!! So I now have a wonky drawer unit, a badly cut finger, a large pile of A2 size soggy cardstock and no samples to show for an entire days work! That will be the last time I have a cup of tea at my craft desk !! and it broke my favourite mug too! Ever had a bad day?

Well on that note I`ll sign off and go and have a well earned cuppa (away from my craft desk !) bye for now and happy crafting xx

Up, Up and Away

I would like to enter this into the Tilda`s Town challenge, this time around it is "Celebrate".

Another sample card for Sir Stampalot, this is "Up, Up and away" Tilda,
I`ve coloured with distress inks and markers and added a couple of hobby house pearls to her hair bobbles.
The background papers are also Magnolia - Bumble Bee and Mini World Blue rainbow flower
Magnolia Doo Hickey die - Cloud and flag and Martha Stewart POP - eyelet lace.
The flowers and leaves are from Marianne dies, I just made them with some scraps of Magnolia papers and the little butterflies are a carl craft punch also with the mini hobby house pearls. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts mixed messages clear stamp set. All products available from Sir Stampalot

The snow has gone as fast as it came here, I woke up yesterday to a white world but after it rained all night I woke up this morning to a green world and it is actually brilliant sun shine today and we`ve even got the heating turned off! What a change the weather can be in England, we seem to get all kinds of weather within a 24 hour period!

I`m going to make the most of the natural sunlight and get some more images coloured for the rest of the samples I need to do. Bye for now and happy crafting xxx

Sneezing Tilda

I`d like to enter this card in the Inky Chicks challenge which started up recently, this time around it`s "Becky`s Bingo Grid" and I`ve gone for the diagonal option of Flowers-Image-Die cuts.

This is a sample I`ve done for Sir Stampalot with one of the new Tilda stamps from Magnolia - Tilda Sneezing,
I`m not sure who would receive a card like this, maybe a get well card or someone suffering from hay fever LOL ! She is mega cute though.

I`ve coloured her with distress inks and markers and added a little liquid pearls for the pollen drops. The papers are Magnolia mini world turquoise butterfly and turquoise heart flowers.
The fence die is Marianne Creatables and the flowers were created using a woodware daisy punch and I punched some small circles and embossed them with a large ball embossing tool over a foam mat to give them a concave shape for the middles.
Leaves are a Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set and the border punch is Martha Stewart floral lace. All products available from Sir Stampalot.

It`s still very cold and snowy here today, we`ve got more of the white stuff forecast for wednesday too! I did venture out this morning but nearly went top over tail on the pavement in town! so gave it up as a bad job and came home after a short while! I`m not steady on my feet at the best of times and add ice into the mix and I`m a disaster waiting to happen LOL! oh well, a good excuse to stay in and craft!

Thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx

Distress Ink Shelf Unit

I decided (in my infinite wisdom !) to make myself a shelf unit to house my Tim Holtz distress inks. They were all stacked in a box and it was such a pain to keep lifting them in and out and searching for the colour I wanted to use.
I was going to buy one but, after seeing the price of them and the shipping costs, I thought to myself I can make one of those (or something like it) far cheaper ! (this is where I should have thought a bit longer about it!!) Had I known it would take me the best part of four full days, I would probably have changed my mind - that being said, I am very pleased with the end result and it serves it purpose very well.

It`s not perfect as it is all hand measured, cut and glued out of medium weight chipboard but I have to say it is very strong and sturdy and it is going to last.
For those of you that want to know how I made it, I took a series of pictures each step of the way while I was constructing it. The quality of some of the photos is not great as I took them in a hurry while I was in the middle of construction and the light was really bad for shooting but you get the idea of basic construction.

I started by measuring the depth and width of the distress ink pads so I knew how wide the finished size would be and then I cut the back and sides and glued them together using Jim the Gentleman crafters (blog link in my side bar) technique of construction strips of craft card.

Basically they are long strips of craft card 1" x 12" scored in the middle with strong tape applied to the back, they are a very easy and sturdy way to glue two pieces of chipboard together at a right angle.

The inserted shelf supports and the top and base are all fixed in this way.

I then covered the whole thing in patterned paper, I used Bazzill Basics - Antique Newsprint available from Sir Stampaot as I wanted it to be a neutral colour but have some intrest and look kind of old and worn. I just used PVA glue and a sponge brush to paste all the back of the paper before applying, I felt like a wall paperer after I`d finished !!

I then cut 33 internal shelves and drew around a 2p piece and cut that out for finger grab holes to make it easier to slide the ink pads in and out of the shelves. These were all cut using a craft knife and my fingers were sooooo sore after I`d finished. I then cut 72 tiny shelf supports in the same way.(This is when I started losing the will to live!!) but I persevered.

I then covered them all in paper to match the carcass of the unit and sealed them all with Claudine Helmuth Studio - Multi Medium Matte which is a brilliant, non toxic, easy to use product.

I glued the shelf supports in and used a scrap of chipboard the same thickness as the shelves as a spacer between them so I could make sure the shelves would slide in afterwards.

Then the whole thing got covered in a second coat of the multi matte to seal it all and make sure the paper wouldn`t lift or catch on the ink pads as they were being taken in and out.
Then for the feet.

I had originally planned to use the Tim Holtz feet but as they are a corner fixed feet, part of the corned piece would have impeded the bottom shelves for the ink pads to slide out so I had a furtle around in my Dad`s garage and came across some old plastic door knobs he didn`t need and claimed them!

I sanded them back and covered them in tissue paper using the Multi Matte again and then sponged black ink, then daubed SU platinum all purpose ink randomly over them to give a metallic look to them, again covering them in a couple of coats of the Multi Matte to prolong wear and stop the ink from coming off. Then just hot glued them to the base of the unit and Voila! - The finished shelf unit :-

I found the labels for printing out on the Ranger web site and just punched them out using an SU label punch.

Like I said, it`s not perfectly straight in a few places but it was hand measured and cut and a real labour of love. I`m pleased with the end result and it has sorted my ink pad storage problem and now sits proudly on my desk.

I am toying with the idea of making some more units to store other craft procuts but my poor hands need a rest from all that cutting so it won`t be just yet !

Looking forward to getting back to some plain ol` card making now LOL !
thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx