Plan card by Chris W

This card is great for anyone on the move or for a guy's celebration.

 

I made the grid background with a black felt tip and a ruler and photocopied a sewing tape measure.

Emboss a piece of card with a texture fade and ink it before adding the die cut Eiffel Tower and bakers twine.

The blueprint compass stamped, inked and edged is placed on top adding a sentiment of your choice.

Simple to make and very versatile. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you soon,

Chris xxx

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A JOFY tag by Chris W

How beautiful the JOFY stamps are! (If you've heard JOFY but don't know what it is, it's actually the acronym for Jo Firth-Young, one of the very talented PaperArtsy designers.) This lady has created a fab' range of stamps in both small, one-off, collage designs and full, stand-alone stamp collections. Better still, you can mix and match the whole range!

This tag is simply made using the JOFY 10 Collection of stamps, a tag, a little ribbon, some thread and beads.

You will see that I added cut a mountbord base for this tag but you don't have to. Simply sew around the edge of the tag in pink silk thread.

Stamp and colour a rectangular piece of white card and ink around the edges before tying ribbon around it and sticking it down on the tag.

Finish the tag with glass beads and fine bead wire.

You can create your own version if this tag very easily. Whatever you create, you'll find these stamps a great addition to your tool kit as they mix and match with so many images.

Have fun,

Chris

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Gears and sprockets tableau by Chris W

Gears and sprockets are so popular and I find myself reaching for them all the time as elements on my altered art pieces. I bought the Tim Holtz Gears Texture fade set and the moment I saw it, it cried out for a tableau dedicated just to gears and sprockets.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the metal gears embellishments but if you’re an avid ‘gears’ fan (as I am) then it gets expensive to keep buying multiple packets of the metal ones so the answer had to be investing in dies. A friend told me that die cuts just aren’t the same, no, they’re not, dies are far better because you can choose the material you’re cutting, distress them, emboss them, embroider them, paint them, stitch them, shall I go on, lol? You know me, unless I can get multiple and frequent uses out of a die then I usually don’t buy it. I’m fortunate because over time I’ve invested in the Tim Holtz Bigz die, the Movers and shapers and the Spellbinders sprockets but I use them so often that they’ve certainly paid for themselves.

There are some unusual items on this tableau and I appreciate that you may not have them in your crafting cupboard but there are lots of alternatives you can use instead to get a very close match to mine. The first is a wooden tag and, as you can see, it’s tied with strands of hessian. You can use an appropriately sized die cut for the tag and bakers’ twine or ribbon to tie it.

On the left of the tableau you’ll see I’ve used hessian. The ‘ribbon’ is actually plastic strapping used on parcels that has been stained with alcohol ink.

The Texture fade is quite detailed featuring gears and sprockets small through large. The resulting embossing lends itself to cards and scrapbooks for the guys as well as for your altered art.

This piece would make an unusual present for hubby, Dad, Grandad or any male you need to find a little gift for and remember Father’s Day in June. If you'd like the instructions to make this please click HERE.

Thanks for taking time out to visit, please feel free to comment. 

Chris xxx

Such a simple suitcase! by Chris W

This pretty little suitcase gift box is soooooo simple it'd be an insult to offer you instructions!

If you're lucky enough to have a Sizzix Bigshot Pro machine then this Suitcase die by Jen Long-Philipsen is a must! I'm a big fan of this lady's designs - they're very effective and simple to make.

You can choose from a whole host of flower dies from Sizzix and Spellbinders or, if you prefer, Marianne Design. I've made these from a mixture of Sizzix dies and just added a craft gem for centres.

Whether you like the pre-printed tickets or like to make your own using the Creative Expressions ticket stamps and the Tim Holtz Ticket Strip die (like this one) it really doesn't take much to decorate it. I used a strip of quilling paper for the straps and then just added a small key charm on fine string. How much simpler does it get?

This makes a great gift box for anyone, especially the men or a fabulous favour box for weddings.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for visiting.

Chris xxx