Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies,

What have you ladles all got planned this weekend?  I think it's going to be a 'stay inside & craft' kind of weekend looking at the weather.  

Do any of you make your own Christmas puddings, cakes or mincemeat??  I know that Sue always had the whole family round on 'stir up Sunday', I think our lovely Margaret was the head baker but everyone got involved even the tiniest of the Grandchildren had a stir!!  I think I have left it a bit late for this year but I would like to make my own Christmas cake, I'm pretty sure that either Nigella Lawson or Delia do a last minute Christmas cake, failing that I thought I might try making Margaret's boiled fruit cake and 'feed' it with Brandy for a couple of weeks.  I'm not fussed about Icing it, my absolute favourite way to decorate is with fruit & nuts like a Genoa cake,  we used to buy one of those instead of an iced cake but there haven't been any about this last couple of years. 

Diecutting Essentials Issue 96

Issue 96 of Diecutting Essentials comes with a decent Free die set,  the die when cut twice creates a Pillow Box, also included are a snowflake and some Christmas foliage dies fir you to decorate your Pillow Box, or use independently to make cards etc.

The first feature of the magazine quite rightly showcases the free die set, Emma was tasked with created a selection of Pillowboxes and cards with the free dies to inspire us!  She has designed some fantastic pieces including that lovely hand bag style gift bag, some great catds and both large and mini pillow boxes that would make a great Advent Calendar ! 

I learnt something knew from this feature !!! I knew that you could die cut Funky Foam but I had no idea that you could SHRINK it with your heat gun!!  Cathy has created some lovely cards by simply Diecutting the Funky Foam, then colour the die cut pieces,  lastly you heat them until they shrink and them adhere them to your project. Not something I'd do on a regular basis but I will definitely have a play, what do you think, would you try it?  

Another way to get more use from your Die stash is to try 'Two Tone Inlay" technique.   From what I can see you use different tones of one colour card thst you die cut with a die of your choice, you then place a piece of double sided adhesive slightly smaller than your card front,  you then place the main piece of the die onto the card front and infill the die cut pieces using the other tones of card that you die cut, I can speak fron experience when it comes to using adhesive sheets over glue, as it doesn't matter how careful you are the glue does ooze out!   I like the look of the cards and I guess if you are cutting each colour you should end up with 3 different colour ways for each die/card design you choose.  

I don't usually feature the pages that are just advertising / promoting a certain die/ stamp brand BUT I really like these cards and thought that you could easily make them with dies that you have in your stash, .there are some fantastic men card ideas here.  

This feature uses the free die set to create some lovely Pillow Boxes, some really great designs here, something for everyone! 

"Learn how to add colour to your embossed designs with blending brushes & ink pads"  Is the description of this technique,  I'm just not a fan of how some of the cards look, what do you think?  The second card looks OK,  the rest look to me like the embossing has lost its definition. The jury is out on this one!! 

Lastly another technique I'm not sure about, you are creating a "Brushed Velvet " look using your Dies and your glitter stash!!  You are basically taking your chosen butterfly and diecutting from double sided adhesive sheet, attaching it to your white card blank then peeling the top of adhesive sheet and add your glitter. Some of the cards look really effective.  It's glitter though....messy messy messy!! 

Thats all for this edition of Diecutting Essentials,  the free gift is useful but I don't think many of the features were that useful this time, in my opinion of course!! 

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Maria's NEC Shopping 

Maria has kindly shared her NEC shopping with us, you made some great choices Maria, I love the Aall & Create stamp that you bought, those vases are amazing.  That John Lockwood small foliage die is so useful, for filling in flower sprays or adding a bit of extra detail to a card, that frame die is lovely too. I haven't seen that finishing touches flower die from Sue, I can't wait to see what it looks like made up.  Ooh the colours of glitter card that you have picked are gorgeous Maria. 😍

Thank you so much for sharing your shopping with us, like you I am looking forward to going to Ally Pally in the Spring, especially if you ladies are going too. XXX

That's all for today my lovely friends, 

I hope that you all have a fabulous Saturday, 

Love and hugs to all,

Sandra                                                                                  xxxxxx