Christmas Samples for Creative Expressions part 4

Today is the last instalment of the samples that I made.  I hope that you have enjoyed seeing them.

Today I am showing how I used the new grey board packs, created by the very talented Lisa Horton and Danny McIntosh for Creative Expressions.

These baubles were so much fun that I created two and decorated them very differently.  The first used crackle, texture, rust and shimmer sprays, teamed with stencilling.

The second was decorated in more traditional colours.

Both look so different and I love them!

The star was really simple.  I actually used off cuts left over from last year's Christmas cards.  How cool does this look.  I distressed all of the edges to make it look imperfect!

The next sets certainly put me outside of my comfort zone!

I started off with the Christmas tree.  This was great fun.  I created a snowy night and added stencilled snowflakes in the background.

I added a bit of glitter (I think you only ever see me using glitter at Christmas!).  I loved how easily the Christmas tree fitted together.  So much fun - it would make a wonderful alternative Christmas card too!

Next is the rather cosy fire scene with the sticking hanging.  I used stencilling in the background to give a vintage wallpaper look.

And finally….

The Nativity.  I didn't use the little sections to make this totally 3d like the others.  I also used rust to give it a grungier look.

So, there you have it.... the final of 4 posts to share the samples that I have made for Creative Expressions.  A massive thanks to Lisa Horton, Danny McIntosh and Giedre Vilimiene for the fabulous opportunity - it has been a blast!

Christmas Samples for Creative Expressions Part 3

For my next instalment, I wanted to share 2 mini books that I created using the amazing new Festive dies.

Here is my first:

I used a small canvas journal for this book.  To decorate the pages, brayered paint and stencilled the backgrounds on every other page.

I then teamed lots of the die cuts and went to town decorating the pages.  I snipped parts of the die cuts here and there and used off cuts to create frames for journalling or small pictures.



These dies all went so well together.  The were so fun to use.



I just loved how this little book turned out.

For my second mini book I used the Eileen Hull Passport die.



For the 'book' I used watercolour card.  I then created simple distress backgrounds using Distress Oxides.



Once my backgrounds were dry I added lots of stencilling and inked around the edges of every page.



I then set about decorating the book using loads of the die cuts, creating frames and little pockets for photos or journaling cards.



I teamed everything up using the Lisa Horton tags.  These tags are amazing - they can be used for any time of year.  I just love them!

I cannot tell you how much fun I had creating this book.  It took me a long time, but I enjoyed every minute of it!

Join me again in a couple of days to see the final instalment of the samples that I created.

Thanks for joining me.

Christmas Samples For Creative Expressions Part 2

Hello again.  Today I am sharing the samples I created for Creative Expressions that were created using the warmer and more traditional reds, greens and golds.

I'm starting by showing you how I have used a Christmas die for a non-Christmas card.  Here, I have used the air ship from the Sue Wilson Industrial Chic Festive collection and teamed it with the fabulous background die and sentiments from Lisa Horton.

For this sample I wanted to see if I could use some foiling to look distressed through the stencilling,  I didn't think this was going to work at first - then realised I was foiling with the foil the wrong way around!! lol!

I loved how distressed this looked when the foiling wasn't 'perfect'.  I teamed this background with the Gear Flower and Poinsettia from the Sue Wilson collection.

Here is another example of distressed foiling - I love how imperfect it is - but that's just me!!

This was a simple card using Distress Oxides through a stencil in the background and then teamed with the fabulous wreath die.  What I love about this die the most is that it can be used for so many things - not just the Festive season - and if you don't like traditional Christmas designs, these dies are perfect.

Again, I have used a simple Distress Oxide background through stencilling and then teamed it with two of the dies.

A simple Infusion background, using the Santa that I cut from the air ship that I used for the birthday card, teamed with the frame and a greeting.

Infusions again, this time with the offcuts from the Gear Flower, teamed with the Poinsettia, the Holly Sprigs and the Xmas greeting.

And finally for today, another wreath.  I think you can see how much I loved these dies!

So, there you have it!  My samples using more traditional colours.

Join me again in a couple of days to see some of my other samples.

Thanks for joining me.

Christmas Samples For Creative Expressions

I was incredibly lucky recently to be asked to design some samples using the amazing new Creative Expressions Lisa Horton stencils and Sue Wilson Dies.  I nearly had to pinch myself when I saw them - they were steam punk themed for Christmas - totally me!!

Once I started to create using them I got a bit carried away, and so my samples will feature over a few blog posts over the next couple of weeks.

Most of my samples appeared on Hochanda - hearing the lovely things that Lisa and the presenters said about my work was so wonderful.

A massive thank you to Lisa, Danny and Creative Expressions for letting me loose to play!

Today I am sharing with you the 'cooler' coloured projects that I created - the blues, whites and silver:

I started really simply by using texture paste through this gorgeous Lisa Horton stencil and then covering it all with glitter while the paste was still wet.  The shine was beautiful when it dried.  I simply added pearls in the middles once it had dried.

Here, I used Distress Oxides in the background and then used the same stencil as before, this time with crackle paste.  It shows that you don't need to use a whole stencil to achieve a lovely result.  I love the crackle on this.

To make it into a card, I used 3 of the Sue Wilson Industrial Chic Festive dies.  These dies cut so well first time too!

For my tag, I painted a tag from That Craft Place and then used stencils to decorate it.

Here, I used Distress Oxides to create a snowy background and added Lisa's stencils.  I then used the fabulous Flying Santa and the separate wording that matched it.

This sample was very 'me'!  I created a brayed paint background and then added lots of stencilling and marking.  I cut the snowflake die to create corners and highlighted in black to make everything 'pop' on the page.

Again, I created a brayered background and added stencilling which I highlighted with a white pen.

I layered the cog wreath onto a burlap panel and added extra cogs, finishing with a ribbon.

For my final card....

This was really simple.  I created a background using PaperArtsy Infusions.  I then die cut the snowflake and wording in silver mirri card.  To finish, I edged the card using walnut stain ink.

So, there you have it… if you're still with me!!

I had so much fun creating these.  A wonderful selection of stencils and dies that can be used for clean and simple or grungy projects.

Thanks for joining me.....