a little mattie

I love these "mattie" designs. The decoupage is so easy!

The card on the right, has an apperture in the front and the picture is then attatched to the inside.
The decoupage is added to the outside of the card and hopefully you will be able to see the little dragonfly (top right-hand side of the apperture) which has been attatched to a piece of acetate so that it looks as though it is flying over the lillies!

The main picture in the second card has been set into a recess to give it depth. The decoupage is applied as before, together with a peel-off border and the birthday greeting. I couldn't resist adding the ducks/ducklings because they were so cute!

These pictures don't really do the designs credit, but I hope they will show the effect of 2 very different ideas.

Happy crafting,

Pat x

mushrooms

I love toadstools, even the "real macoy" so this design (that I saw in a craft magazine recently) really appealed to me.

It used the "my minds eye" papers, which I think are really good quality.

To start with the pattern needed to be enlarged by 155%. It was a print of the finished design as a whole,so I had to take it apart to form the background and seperate mushroom pieces. When it came to the grass I realised that I needed a"Sizzix Big Shot" and a grass die! As I don't possess either I struggled to design my OWN.

Undeterred, I put all of the pieces together but then realised that I didnt have a fence. I drew one in, and it didn't look look too bad. I cut out the top shape and folded the card together. The front fold cracked and the little orange mushroom flipped up on the left as it was over a fold and needed to move! I tried to flatten the whole lot in a book but then the grass pieces cracked as well. When I looked at the picture in the magazine I realised that the front fold on their card was also cracking and any others had been hiden by the display. It had taken a lot of time and work but eventually the card ended up in the bin!

Wouldnt it be refreshing if some of the magazines gave us whole patterns that didnt need to be enlarged and for which no special equipment was required? Surely then the nock-on effect would benefit everyone!

Fell better now Iv'e got that off my chest.....normal services will soon be resumed!

Till next time,
happy crafting,
Pat x

simple flowers and acetate

There are some beautiful printed acetates on the market at the moment and I couldnt resist this one for a special anniversary card.

I attatched a 13cm square of pink paper to a 14cm card blank. Then I made the central rose. I pushed the brad through the middle of the rose, then the acetate and then the white card behind that. I stuck the diamond shaped card to the pink layer with double-sided tape. I attatched a silver peel-off to each corner of the acetate to complete the card.

I really love making the flowers as they are appropriate for so many projects. For more ideas and a full tutorial visit www.thepinkshopblog.com Have fun!

Until next time,
happy crafting
love Pat x

oriental stamps

These oriental stamps are a pleasure to use! The images are just lovely!

I stamped the flower onto some card as a base. Then I stamped the same image again onto a green and a white card, and cut them out. I applied the green and white pieces to the original card and cut the whole lot out a again. I did the same with the little girl, so that it looked as though she was wearing a red dress and shoes. The hair and leggins were coloured with a black felt pen.

Then I created a "view box" I applied the stamped pieces to acetate and stuck them into the box. The fan and sentiments were put onto the front of the box together with a gold peel-off edge, and a little bit of green paper for grass.

Hope you like it!

Until next time,

Happy crafting

Pat x

Oriental butterflies

There are some lovely oriental papers on the market at the moment and I couldn't resist having a little go with them!It's a butterfly card (of course)

I stuck 2 matts onto a square card blank, then concertina folded another piece of paper to hold the butterflies. I threaded cocktail sticks into the edges and made some black beads for each end. I didnt have any butterflies that I hadnt used so I lifted the "waste" butterflies from a peel-off sheet. These were then stuck to the "blind" and the blind applied to the centre of the second matt. I added 2 strips of paper and 6 more beads to the side, and an Chinese greeting peel-off on a mount of black card. It reads "friend"

Although these papers are of an oriental theme they are very versatile and some of them could be used for other projects.