Country Garden Gift Boxes (for Craftwork Cards)

Posted on 22nd April 2014 by perfectly4med

Here are four gift boxes, with self-designed construction, featuring the new, and fabulous, Country Garden papers from Craftwork Cards. They are embellished with Card Candi from the same range, as well as paper bows from the offcuts. A smidge of Liquid Pearls here and there, and hey presto, a lovely project. And they got even more air time during the Craftwork Cards Birthday Bonus on Create & Craft on 15th/16th April – thank you Julie!

Full instructions and links to the templates are available at the Craftwork Cards Blog, here.

Craftwork Cards Dressform Workshop

Posted on 12th April 2014 by perfectly4med

Unfortunately, not enough people booked for the workshop to be held at Craftwork Cards HQ near Leeds on Saturday 26th April, and it has now been withdrawn.

As I’d got everything ready, I have sets of templates ready to go, so I have decided to run the workshop at my home studio in Leicester. Please book with me directly by following this link to my workshops page and scroll down to the April section.

Even more samples on TV…

Posted on 3rd April 2014 by perfectly4med

Being on a design team is all about working to deadlines. Julie Hickey does such a stunning job when presenting on Ideal World/Create & Craft TV, you really don’t get even the slightest hint of the frenetic activity behind the scenes. Now I have no idea what was happening at Craftwork Cards HQ, but I do know that the samples that I had to make up didn’t arrive as planned and had to be emailed to me at about 10:30 and I had these three samples into the post by 4:15pm for special delivery the next day for the show that evening. How’s that for pressured deadlines – and I wasn’t the only one… being on a DT isn’t all fun 😉

All three projects feature the brand new Country Garden papers. The first is a small pop-up box card with punched roses. The second is an adapted large pop-up box, with freehand cut vase filled with roses. I cut one of the sheets to resemble a table cloth, cutting the corners off the flaps and adding two pop-up triangles to create the ‘table’ surface as the card opens up. The vase and flowers are mounted on springs:
This way, the card still fits in the envelope, but depth still appears as the card opens. The card is braced by a tabbed insert that keeps it open and the table top taut. The final one is a self-closing collapsable box which I have created and decorated up. All of the papers are edged with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink for a bit of definition.

The samples all featured on the Craftwork Cards Pick of The Day shows on Tues 1st – Wed 2nd April, although if you blinked you’ll have missed them as the paper packs and card packs sold out and the samples weren’t featured in later shows. Good for CWCs, but not so much for me 😉

Topiary Trees with Candi

Posted on 3rd April 2014 by perfectly4med

I’m a bit behind on my posts this week… This is a pair of topiary trees that I made especially for the Craftwork Cards Candi Week, and they’re a giveaway prize over at their blog (still chance to enter if you’re really quick!). To see more on how I made them, go to this post. The planters are made from sheet greyboard, covered with titan buff acrylic and weathered with dry brushed Vintage Photo Distress Paint and Distress Ink. The balls are 8mm beads skewered onto cocktail sticks. The trunks of the trees are wound paper, and I rumpled tissue paper round it to add a bark effect.

Botanica goes three dimensional

Posted on 25th March 2014 by perfectly4med

I’ve created these two pieces for Craftwork Cards using their fabulous Botanica kit which includes papers, die cut toppers and bows as well as the Candi – read more over at their blog!

Kitsch Easter Basket

Posted on 8th March 2014 by perfectly4med

I’ve done another 3D item using the Craftwork Cards Kitsch kit recently featured on Create and Craft TV – I recommend leaving buying the mini eggs until just before you finish the item, else the basket seems half empty by the end of the project. More pics and a tutorial over at the Craftwork Cards blog.

Botanica Tag Triptych (for Craftwork Cards)

Posted on 25th February 2014 by perfectly4med

It’s my inaugural blog post as a member of the Craftwork Cards Design Team over at their blog. I’ve been given the new Botanica Collection to play with and after a bit of thinking, I came up with this triptych. Making details for those that want them are on their blog here.

More TV air time – not me, my samples…

Posted on 22nd February 2014 by perfectly4med

It’s the Craftwork Cards Weekender on Create & Craft TV today and tomorrow – they are launching a C&C exclusive pack of papers, die cuts and card candi. The Paper Artistry pack also includes a useful handbook with instructions for making the various cards. I had a sneak preview when a goodie package arrived on Tuesday, and having spent the day making on Wednesday, I can tell you that they are superb quality and super designs – and you should all know by now I don’t wax lyrical about things I don’t like! Excitingly, the two samples I made are also being featured:

The dress form is 12 inches high, and features paper crafted skirt and bodice with the bow and ribbons from the die cut kit. The plaque features the papers (Silhouette cut) and the die cut flowers and dog from the kit.

The shows continue at 12noon, 6pm and 7pm then tomorrow at 11am, 2pm and 7pm, while stocks last. Create & Craft TV is on Freesat 813, Virgin 748, Freeview 36, Sky 671, and some shows are online via their website.

Exciting news – another design team!

Posted on 7th February 2014 by perfectly4med

It’s official… and I can share exciting news I’ve had to keep quiet about for the past month or so… I’ve been invited to join the Design Team for Craftwork Cards 🙂
I’m really looking forward to working with Julie and the rest of the Craftwork Cards team and my first official post will be towards the end of February on their blog.