Liverpool and Blackpool

But first, I wanted to let you know that Personal Impressions are now supplying the white card which I use with Distress inks in my demonstrations....hoorah! This 300 gsm cardstock is a superior quality which can take plenty of water being brushed onto it, making it perfect for the faux bleaching technique that I use to creat skies, trees, snow and general bleached out effects. I get lots of emails about the card I use, so I can now give a definitive answer! If you are interested in purchasing the card, ask your local craft shop if they can get it for you...the product number is PIP300CWH and any store that sells Personal Impressions products will be able to get it for you. Not only is it the perfect surface for Distress inks, it's also ideal for stamping onto as it is very smooth. It also works perfectly with Big n Juicy rainbow ink pads - I like to stamp a collage style image using Hydrangea, Vibrant Primary or whichever colourway you prefer, heat set the ink for a few seconds and then waterbrush over the surface to create a softly blended image. Imagine getting so excited over plain white card! Lol! (You know how it is though!)

Anyway, tomorrow I shall be at Crafty's in Liverpool, and have been busy with samples for this demonstration as well as for the Sunday at Burnside Garden Centre, Thornton, near Blackpool. I got a few new Martha Stewart punches and have a couple of quite simple cards to show you how pretty the punched designs are. This first one has a double border of the Four Petal Flower punch (punched through Best Creations adhesive glitter paper....how good are these punches?!). The new punch, though, is the Large Flower, M42-30004. I cut a strip of white card to fit down the right hand of the card (after placing a strip of my Red Gingham card and two thin strips of the red glitter paper) and punched a flower at either end before punching the centre one. This is a pop up style punch, so it only cuts part way through. I edged the petals using Barn Door Distress ink (I put paper beneath them to keep the rest of the card clean) and then stamped the sweet, delicate floral circles into the centres using Paula Pascual's stamp set "All Year Round" PPCSA6007...I couldn't believe how perectly they fitted! Paula's stamps are "just so". As I said, this is a very simple card as I wanted to show off the punched flowers - the effect is so pretty once the petals are lifted up. This punch is not a Christmas one, but I immediately thought that it would work as a Poinsettia type of embellishment. I punched six of them (Large Chrysanthemum Flower M42-30008) from white card and then gently swooshed with Fired Brick Distress ink. I made double flowers by adhering the centre with Glossy Accents (I recommend this when Distress ink has been applied to a surface as the ink tends to repel 3d Foam, DST etc) and I moved each top flower around a few mm to ensure that the petals didn't line up. A few spots of gold Stickles in each centre and a few upward flicks of the petals really gave them the festive feel. The card has my Holly cardstock, Vanilla Teddy topper and message from my "Ggggreat Christmas Words" stamp set. I smudged some more Fired Brick around too...well you have to really! I have more new punches, so I'll try to get some snaps of them this weekend. Lastly, here are a couple of Christmas tags that I made yesterday. The left one has Pine Needles and Fired Brick Distress inks blended over the tag (made from that brilliant card!) which I lightly spritzed with water for the snowy effect. I used two more of my new MS punches (nearly forgot about them!) the Postage Stamp M283006, and Medium Holly and Berries M232316. I love the dinky stamp punch. I cut two little festive images to fit within the stamps which I had lightly darkened with ink. I applied Crackle Accents once they were on the tag. I used a little piece of Tim's Symphony Tissue Tape to wrap around the tag near the base. An Adage Ticket, which I inked and spritzed and the numbers were some 3d card stickers which I applied red Stickles to. The holly was punched from Glitter adhesive paper from BC again. The words are stamped using an image from a lovely stamp set by Marion Emberson, which I will be using on Sunday - amongst other things! The main image from the set is the lovely swirling tree on the blue tag, as well as the message which I curved to fit the edge of the tag. The stamp set is called "Christmas Wishes" PICSA6160. I added punched holly again. Both tags have ribbons which I dyed using alcohol inks. Hope you like them! Well, time to relax for a while now. My bags are packed, I'm ready to go.....oh oh, I'll be bursting into song in a minute! So, I'll be back after the weekend with more photos - if I remember to take any! Have a great weekend whatever you are up to. Lindsay