This is what I call a party pinwheel:

Step 1
Start with a square of double sided paper. The size isn’t crititcal – this one is about 4 inches.

Step 2
Cut along the diagonal toward the centre of the square. Stop about 1 cm before the centre.

Step 3
Punch a hole in the centre of the square, and on the right hand corner of each triangular flap you’ve just cut:

Step 4
Now’s the time to bring out all of those daggy brads we all bought by the hundred when we were just starting out. These I mean:

What were we thinking?! Anyway, they can be used here because they’ll be completely hidden from view. Poke the brad legs up through the centre hole:

Step 5
Now feed the hole on each triangular flap onto the brad legs:

Step 6
Spread those brad legs to hold everything in place:

Looking good

Step 7
Now cover up the daggy brad legs. I’ve used a button here, and because that didn’t seem enough, I tied twine through it and into a bow:

The embellishment is now ready to be placed on a card or layout.

Thanks for looking. Remember to come back on Monday for Nicole’s Marker Monday post – always full of handy information for getting the most from our Copics.

Share this post:

Her name is Ebony. I like Ebony. I decided to play around changing the colour of her hair.

Here she is as a blonde:

As a brunette:

As a redhead (future prime minister maybe?):

and last of all, with black hair:

Now I can’t decide which is my favourite! Not only did I change the hair colour each time, I also played with different skin tones as well as colours for her clothes (check out the denim skirt especially).

These images are going to look great in my swatch book.

I’ve had fun playing with Ebony. Who’s next? Mmmmm…Stella I think!

Share this post:

Stamps with large solid areas (like this one in the shop) provide the opportunity to apply some pretty awesome techniques. Here are some I tried out on the cards I made for the gallery this month:

Clear embossing over a patterned background
The patterned background I used here is a page from an old book. I used Versamark ink and clear embossing powder. I heated the embossing powder to melt it, and once it had cooled, I sponged some dark brown ink over the top. The embossed area repels the ink:

Chalk ink
Here I’ve used a subtle colour of Versamagic ink. It gives a soft, chalky effect. The trick here is to get a smooth, even layer of ink on the rubber without any lines from the ink pad. Once the ink dried, I trimmed the image down to size and sponged some extra colour onto the edges.

Watercolour effect
This is one of my favourite techniques because it’s so unpredictable. What I did was smear three colours of dye ink randomly over the rubber,(I used Marvy, but you can do this with Distress Inks too for example) and then gave it a light spritz with water to mix the colours slightly. If it’s too wet, the image is distorted, and if it’s too dry, the colours don’t blend very well. It involves a little trial and error, and when it works, it’s magic!

You can see close up images of these cards in the June gallery.

We found another technique on the Hero Arts blog by Jennifer McGuire here.

There are so many things you can do with this image - I hope I’ve inspired you to try some out.

Share this post:

Step 1
Cut a piece of patterned paper 14 x 9 cm.

Step 2
Using the decorative edge on the Best Thing Ledger Girl paper, trace the shape onto the back of the piece:

and cut out to make a tag shape:

Step 3
Stitch some polka dot paper to the card front using a zig zag stitch:

Step 4
Adhere some of the tassel trim over the tag shape. Don’t glue down the top of the tag just yet:

Step 5
Attach one of the stickers to a scalloped circle punched from some of the brown patterned paper in the kit:

Step 6
Punch a small circle from the brown paper, adhere to the top of the tag and punch a hole through it. Thread some of the green pom-pom trim through the hole and tie a knot:

Step 7
Take a piece of the Notebook Page card and adhere it on an angle to the front of the card. Put the decorative frame sticker on some brown patterned paper and cut a small border around the sticker. Attach this to the card with mounting tape to add dimension. Place the round flower sticker with some mounting tape on top of a couple of leaves on the side of this frame sticker.

Step 8
The card is now complete:

When it comes time to give it away, all I need to do is add the sentiment with either a stamp or a rub on.

Thanks for stopping by – have a wonderful weekend!

Share this post: