Tutorial Inches card :-)

Today has been the first day i have really noticed Autumn is on the way not just weather wise but looking around the garden i am spotting lots of brown leaves blowing around. This has inspired me to make an Autumn card and use some of the bits blowing around to decorate it. I have been going to try inchies for ages and i decided there was no better time to get on and make some as i wanted to do a card tutorial over the weekend, this has also got ideas going for my new scrapbooking adventure also.

What you will need.......

1 Sheet A4 card in black

1 Sheet of A4 card in brown

Backing papers

Small square die

Bigshot

Liquid Pearls

Double sided tape 

Double sided foam pads

Tim Holtz dies

Memento Inks

Twine

Twigs

Dry sticks

Wool 

Embossing folders

Sticky Gems

Letraset ProMarkers 

Scissors

Butterfly Punch

Ruler

Scrap of White card

Folding bone

Firstly take your A4 sheet of black card and fold it in half then take a folding bone and run it down the fold.

Use the small die and cut 12 squares from the brown sheet of A4 card to make your inchies and emboss 4 of them with different folders.

Take your card and select some backing paper, i chose some burnt orange mulberry paper. Trim it to 19.6cm x 12cm ready to place on the front.

Next measure the black card to make sure the backing paper is central.

Take a pencil and mark these measurements to make sure the panel is central.

Layer up the back with double sided tape and get ready to attach to the black card following the pencil marks.

Fiddle around and decide what spacing you want to use for your squares then stick your foam pads on the die cut squares ready to stick.

The measurements i went with 0.3cm on the outer edge, 0.6cm on the vertical lines and 1.3cm on the horizontal lines. I started with the middle row and worked outwards.

Next the fun bit of decorating the squares, i have left the embossed ones blank to add texture to the card. In the garden i found lots of little brown leaves, dry twine and dry grass heads i wanted to add to the card. I also wanted to use some of the toppers i had made a few days ago.

I cut this with my Tim Holtz Alterations Bigz flowers die using mulberry paper and distressing the edge with the Memento ink to place on one of the squares.

Next i wanted some stamping on the card so i decided to partially stamp on to the scrap of white card, colour with Letraset ProMarkers and cut to fit.

I thought these were cute so i bunched them and wrapped them in green wool finished off with a bow for that bouquet look.

I decided to cut one of the leaves with the butterfly punch to layer up with a larger butterfly punch. I do love my Woodware craft punches, i use them for most of my projects.

How cute is this?? Cut from a bay leaf.

I also snapped some dried twigs and wrapped in twine secured with glue. The best one to use for this was my glue gun to make sure it wasn't moving. I attached a little leaf onto the twine to give it a little extra Autumn feel.

Arrange all your bits and attach when you are happy with the layout. This is my first inchies card i have made and i am very pleased with the outcome of it. I will deffo be doing this again for the festive season, ooooo the ideas are flowing already.

Hope you all like it Emmie xxx

I think summer has gone!!

Well i think it's safe to say that summer has left the building and Autumn is well on the way, i can't believe the X Factor starts this weekend either or as i call it countdown to my holiday. To be honest this isn't a problem for me as i love my winter wardrobe and all my comfy knits, boots and waistcoats. There's nothings better than when it's dark and stormy outside and you are all tucked up cosy on the couch with a hot choccy and a dvd. It also gives me lots of crafting time and a chance to try out new projects, for me this Autumn it's going to be scrapbooking :-) I did the 31 days f December last year and i loved it, in fact i really can't believe i haven't done any scrapbooking throughout summer but i a all over it for Autumn for sure! I have been having a look about on Pinterest and have found a few inspiration lists so here is the one i am going to be following from the 1st September till the 31st October 2014.

I can't wait to get stuck into it especially with my gorgeous new camera to snap my piccies with and really make lots of pretty pages to look back on! If anyone else fancies taking part i'd love to see what you can come up with :-) I will share my prep kit over the weekend ready to embark on this fun project.

Emmie xxx

Scrapbox challenge 3rd make Toppers

Yesterday was a bit of a off one so i just created a quick post to share with you some pretties i had created and today i have made a little tutorial to show you how to make these cute lil toppers for all papercraft projects.

If you do throw away the off cuts from your projects then you are wasting lots of opportunities and monies.

For these gorgeous toppers you will need......

Scraps Box

Punches

Dies 

Buttons

Cutting machine

Double sided tape

Gems and jewels 

Double sided sticky foam pads

I use my Sizzix bigshot for cutting my shapes and an assortment of dies

Here i am using a Muller yogurt sleeve that was too pretty not to use to cut some bases for my toppers. I use lots of different papers and materials from the scrapbox but heavier based scraps work better for building on for your bases.

When using punches avoid mulberry woven style papers as they rip and jam in the punches but card and papers are fine to use.

For these i cut a selection of things with mixed dies and punches all from scraps out of the box, i love my new Marianne Design alphabet die, along with my Woodware Craft Collection punches.

Once you have a nice selection of colours and shapes start playing around and layering up the bits and bobs you have cut. Once you are happy start to stick them in place with double sided foam sticky pads and double sided tape.

Then when you are happy with positioning add the sticky gems, buttons (which have been removed from old clothing) and pearls wherever you think they they will enhance the designs.

I think these are gorgeous and am going to make up some packs to give to my crafty friends at Christmas. They are in a sense 90% free to make as the bulk of them are made from bits that would go in the bin.

Hope you enjoy trying this out :-) 

Emmie xxx

Right off day!

Today has been one of those you wish you had just slept through for me, it's been a disaster from beginning to end but never mind we all have them i guess. othing a good meal, a long hot soak and a nights sleep can't help to fix!

I have had a fiddle around with some bits and was going to post a tutorial but my mind is just not on it so i shall share with you what i made in anticipation of the tutorial to come over the next few days. I hope you like them, i am totally in love with these fun and funky toppers, i think i have found my latest addiction for the next few weeks.

Once again these have all been cut out of the good old scrap box to see what i can create from bits that would usually go in the bin.

Normal service shall resume tomorrow all being well :-) and i shall be making a few pretties to share with you all.

Night night all

Ems xxx

Scrapbox challenge 2 paper girls

I have been looking at the scrap box again thinking what other goodies i can make from my every growing scrap box and decided to make some fun girls heads to use as toppers for my cards and scrapbooking projects that i am going to make a start on once i can move to get into my creation cave, just waiting for my legs to start working to get me there.

Anyways what you will for this project.....

Scrap paper and card

Circle Dies

Scalloped Edge circle dies

Gems

Flesh coloured pen

Fine liner pen

Start by cutting out your hair and faces with a circle die and scalloped die.

Take the larger black circle and cut it in half.

Tale a half and cut a v out of it to make a fringe type effect.

Attach some double sided tape to the back and stick on the flesh coloured circle.

Take the scalloped cuts and attach double sided tape to the lower edge of them.

Attach them to the back with tape like so.

Add gems to the hair and draw in a face with a little blush on the cheeks.

And there you have it a fun paper girl for loads of projects.

Fiddle around with different colours and hair styles to make more funky girls.

Let me know if you try them out and what you use them on.

Emmie xxx

                     

Szechuan Beef Slimming world friendly Recipe

Anyone who knows me knows how much i love food!! I am currently following the slimming world plan as calorie counting and portion control isn't for me at all, i gain weight easilyand very quickly when my body isn't playing the game but this plan if i stick to it works even if it's only 1/2lb a week, it's 1/2lb off and not on. Anyways one of my all time fave foods is Chinese and luckily i have a Chinese Uncle that is an amazing chef who i have been lucky to learn from over the years and adapt what i have learnt into Slimming world friendly recipes. I love beef and especially Chinese style and am really into szechuan so i decided to share my recipe with you.

What you will need..........

Frying Steak

3 Spring Onions

1 Onion Sliced

75ml Beef Stock

1tsp Sesame oil (2syns)

Frozen peas

1 Green Pepper

2tsp Szechuan peppercorns Whole

2 Garlic Cloves

1tsp soy sauce

1tbsp Artificial sweetener

Rice

To start off prep your ingredients......

Start by cooking your rice as you do or instructed. Then begin the prep (my lovely man does mine for me as i can't use knives without injury) by peeling and slicing the onion, roughly chop the spring onions, chop the pepper, crush the peppercorns, make up the stock and add the soy sauce to it and cut the beef into thin strips trimming all the fat off. Chinese cooking is usually very quick in beginning to end cooking process so it's better to have your ingredients ready to go.

Add your oil to the pan and heat until smoking then add the garlic to brown off.

Add the strips of beef and cook for 4 mins on a high heat constantly stirring.

Crush the szechuan peppercorns ready to add while the beef is cooking.

Add the onions and cook for another 2 mins.

Add the crushed peppercorns, peas, peppers and spring onion and cook for 1 min

Add the stock and boil for 2 mins 

Lastly add the sweetener and stir in then cook for 1 min then serve on a bed of rice and enjoy...

This dish is just  2 syns for the whole lot of it, win win situation! 

Scrap box challenge

As most paper crafters know that when we are creating pretties we end up with endless amounts of off cuts and spare left over pieces of paper. I personally cannot bare to throw anything away and i am always looking for other uses for things so i ended up starting out with a little tin and now it's turned into a basket full of scraps in every colour and texture you could think of. 

As you can see it has turned into a crazy collection of bits just dying to be reused and reworked into something pretty and usable. I'm venturing into the world of scrapbooking over the next few weeks so i am looking for fun embellishments and accents to use on my pages as well as on my cards and papercraft projects. 

I'm starting to build up a fab collection of paper punches which are ideal to use on scraps, but not mulberry paper scraps as they get chewed up in the paper and only end up jammed or ripped sadly, but card and most other papers are fab for punches. I decided to make some fun strawberries from some of the pink, red and green scraps using a heart punch and a flower punch, it really was that simple. Personally i adore Woodware craft punches! The range is amazing, the are affordable and usable over and over again.

 

Simply cut the heart shapes from the pink and red card and the flowers from the green scraps.

Cut the green flowers in half.

Use a dot of glue or a bit of double sided tape and attach the half pieces of flowers to the hearts and there you have it gorgeous strawberries for any paper crafting project.

Amazing to think these were made from scraps that a lot of people would chuck in the bin and wouldn't use a new sheet of card to make them with.

Hope you give them a try :-) 

Emmie xxx