I don't have Skeletons in the Closet....

But I do have skeleton leaves. In fact I have hundreds of the things, but my quest to use up old crafting materials my have back fired a little! I love leaves on cards, I own many leaf die cutters, often buy paper leaves but sometimes I want something real on my cards, so I dug out my skeleton leaves. Now any one who has been crafting about 5 years probably like me has a good stash of these as they were popular, but they have faded in popularity in recent times (or so I had thought!)
But traditionally skeleton leaves are a little bland, odd colours and not quite what I wanted so I played with them and the only thing I can say is I pimped my skeleton leaves!

 I simply ink them with my versamark and then glaze them with ultra thick embossing powder. It is best to work on your non stick craft mat for this as the leaves are pourous so the embossing powder melts through and they can stick, so if you work on your craft mat you can simply peel them off when they are cool. Now the glazed alone looks lovely and does intensify the colour of them but you can go a little further and really make them something special, all you need to do is brush your choice of mica powder across the glazing (don't brush too hard as you don't want to brush off all the powder) Now the powder will not stay as it is, you will need to heat the surface again, this allows the mica powder to just sink below the surface and be captured in the clear embossing powder. This final touch give the leaves a beautiful lustre and a completly different look to the dated plain skeleton leaves that we all have hiding in the back of our crafting box! With a few of our crafting favourites you can breath new life into any of your old crafting stash, so give it a go.
Happy crafting

Ali

What do you get if you mix Polyfilla.....

With PVA glue? Well amazing dimensional textural paste of course. I love to experiment and explore what you can create for crafting with any item I can lay my hands on!! So a box of polyfilla was not going to be safe was it? But I was concerned that mixing it normally would make it brittle and liable to crack (save that effect for another day!) so I decided to mix it with PVA glue instead, hoping that the flexiblity of the glue would work with the filler as well. I mixed it up and found that it appeared too dry at first but that it was just that the filler powder was clinging to the blob of glue, so just work it more and it will come together as s lovely paste. I worked with it plain but you can add colour at this stage if you wish. Now for the DIY stage, I simply laid a mask down on some lovely Graphic 45 paper and the only way to explain it is to say I grouted over the mask, then removed the mask and left it aside to dry. This only took an hour, and then I inked over the dry surface with distress ink, and brushed over with Mica and low and behold a beautiful steam punk, textured back ground was created. I then used it as a background for one of the stunning Pilkington Transport stamps and there you have it, simple but fun!!

So we are just about back on track after a mega busy couple of weeks, but the plans for the next few weeks are amazing. We have new products, new DVD's to film and soo much more, there really is no rest for the wicked (and I must have been soo naughty!!) Plus I have started to explore mixed media and have some amazing new things to try and can't wait, I just need to find some time, this sleep stuff is over rated isn't it?

Keep crafting

Ali xxx

Waxed Paper fun.

Aren't I doing well!! Another blog post, but to be fair there is so much going on at the moment I don't have any excuse not to update this blog!

Following on from the last post I now have completed another couple of cards with the waxed paper technique and I am loving it more each time! The ingredients you need to complete the technique are distress inks or similar, mask, super smooth paper (I always get great results with our stamp and colour card) and shock horror an iron (don't panic no housework is involved!!) finally you need waxed paper, I get mine from a soap making supplier, you just have to make sure you get proper wax and not wax effect, some nice artisan breads and sausages come wrapped in it, so doesn't hurt to ask your local friendly butcher if he can spare a sheet!.

So to begin, simply emboss the waxed paper with the mask, through your big shot, grand Calibur, cuttlebug etc. Don't panic if the paper tears slightly round the embossing it won't effect the over all results. Now sandwich the waxed paper between 2 pieces of the smooth card/paper. And iron, once over with a hot iron is enough, if you keep going over you can lose the design a bit, if you are using thicker card, go over twice just to make sure the heat has got through. Now simply rub over the waxed design with your distress inks and watch the batik style design appear! Simple but stunning and unusual results. You can ink both pieces of card and you will get different effect. Give it a go it!

It is a busy week this week with the NEC HobbyCrafts show starting Thursday and I will be demonstrating all 4 days so if you are passing pop by and say hello.

See you soon

Ali xx

Not what I planned but....

I had hoped to share the wax paper technique with you but I then remembered I had sent the sample to the lucky person who had their named pulled out of the cup! But fear not (I know you weren't) I am already working on a new one with the new masks and stamps that are launching on Friday so I will share when I can.

So instead I thought I would share one of my favourite simple stamping ideas, label stamping. It is easy quick and very effective. If you can't find labels that have space all around them it is not the end of the world, you simply make up the space, but if you can perfect. I simply ink the sheet of labels (using a brush rather than cut and dry) to create a nice background, this highlights the edges of the labels, enabling you to stamp centrally in a the layout. Then carefully transfer the lables on to your background card, ensuring they are evenly spaced. I find that gently sticking only one edge of the labels allows you to arrange them and move them if necessary before you firmly press the labels down. As well as using this technique with stamped imaged I also use it with the stencil style masks. I love it.

I will leave you with my White on White embossed card from last week, top tip with this is always do these cards first before you pick up the distress inks!! Or they don't stay white on white!!

Well hav another busy week, with some amazing new masks and stamps launching this coming week so I must go off and play (sorry I mean work!!) and if you love Vintage and Steampunk there may just be something for you in this range. I don't think there is much danger of me doing girly cards this week!!

See you soon

Ali xx

Something a bit different

No I haven't come over all funny, but I have moved out of my comfort zone a little this week. Not just because I have blogged, but I have also challenged myself a little crafting wise, to try a very different style for me.

This came about because of the beautiful new masks that we are launching on Friday on Create and Craft. So I have played with White on White (not easy for Mrs Inky fingers), which I will upload later, as blogger keeps rotating it, and you would need to stand on your head to see it!! But really different for me is this pretty girly card. This is a sort of paper piecing (well my version anyway) I embossed the lovely topiary tree mask on a few different small designed patterned papers (they need to be small designs or it doesn't work, and I know as I tried!!) then you give it a little ink, to highlight the embossing, and then cut out the various elements. I then pieced it back together on a nice background, added some paper flowers with gem middles, a doodled line (another first for me!!) matted it on to a nice paper and a pretty doily. Done! Worth the fiddly cutting I think!
So 2 posts in one week can't be bad! I will try and upload more pictures using the new masks and some of the techniques to help you get the most out of them. Happy Crafting and see you Friday

Ali xx

New Start!!

Ok lets start this blog again! And I aim to do an entry every week (let's not make rash promises of more than that, but if I can I will!!) I will try and share on going projects, sneak peaks and explain mad cap crazy techniques!!

Many people have been emailing me about the fabulous Petroleum Jelly technique, so here is a quick outline, but I highly recomend that you grab a pot and have a good old play!.


Place your mask over your paper (I find the Stamps Away stamp and colour card brilliant for this technique)

Then using a piece of cut and dry foam, gently rub a small (you really don't need much) amount of Petroleum Jelly over the mask (just the same as if you were inking through your mask)


Remove the mask, and then apply distress ink or similar over the paper, I find that using a brush gives a better finish as using sponge or cut and dry can smudge the design.

I would love to see your projects using the masks so feel free to post links to your projects so I can go off for a nosey! Until next time keep crafting and keep messy

Ali xx

Well June has been an amazing month!!

Well they say time flies while you are having fun and that is the truth....June has been and gone. In a nut shell - We started our Wednesday night classes, we had 4 Create and Craft shows with some amazing new products, we had another brilliant all day workshop and for my birthday I got 3 adorable chickens!!

I am loving teaching in our purpose built classroom, we even have an over head camera making demonstrating so much easier....I am so excited about what I want to teach I have planned my classes right up to November, and also we will be holding a "Create Away Day" once a month, when you will get to play with all things, inky and mica, embossing and stamping and make 4 projects. Just pop over to CleverCut to book your places.

"That Special Touch" is becoming a more amazing product range all the time, with the amazing sprays and masks already proving popular and we have soo much more up our sleeves!! This beautiful card is made using the sprays to create the background and then using the delicate feather mask as an embossing stencil. Being plastic simply pop them through your Big Shot or Cuttlebug like a brass stencil and admire the effect!! The embossing combined with the shimmer of the mica is stunning and plays with the light in ways photo's really don't do justice!

Another new product I have had a lot of fun with has been the dimensional flower set of templates. This handy set allows you to create truly special 3d flowers for your projects, and with a flower pot, a polystyrene ball, a bit of dowel and some pins, plus an assortment of scraps of paper and you can create this adorable topiary tree, change the colour with the change of season!!

I am looking forward to July with some great things planned. If you are passing by Leicestershire/Northamptonshire why not pop in to our shop and have a nosey you are always welcome. Until then I am off to add numerous new items to the website...