Tuesday 25 November 2014

The Magic of Winter...with Papermill

Something really pretty about snowflakes and sparkly fresh snow, even though i don't much care for the coldness of it all, it is still something really pretty and festive when it snows.

If you get the newseltters you will have seen the beautiful snowflake embossing that Sharon has done with This week's +papermilldirect offer it's something a little different, it's a fabulously blue shiny 270gsm card called, yes you guessed it 'Shiny Blue' and it's on offer for just £6-23 per samll box, grab it whilst you can as I doubt stocks will last.

This week I'm sharing a design I have made to stand on my own mantlepiece this Christmas, featuring an Ice Dancer dancing in the snow.  (As always Materials, links, and Challenges entered are at the end of the post :) )

This one sort of evolved around my love of a scene in the movie Edward Scissorhands, where the girl is dancing in the snow flakes / ice.  Whilst my figure is an ice dancer it just conjured up that feeling of joy as the crisp pretty sparkly snow falls.


I designed most of this one on my Cricut Explore.  The base card is cut and layered using Papermill Teal and Sky Blue card.  I added a piece of white hammered card which I had torn and added glitter jewels along the torn edge to create a snowy feel.

The ice dancer was cut from Buff, Baby Pink, and Plain White papermill card. I added some subtle detailing with a versamark pen and the blades of the ice skates have been coloured with a pale grey pro-marker.  Mini faux pearls and a metal snowflake charm were added to her dress.  I attached her with 3D foam pads to give depth to the design.

The sentiment was cut and layered from Teal, and Sky Blue card, I used Buff card to create the shadow base.

Some of the snowflakes were cut with my Cricut Explore but the majority were dies run through my Big Shot.  I added various adhesive gems and pearls in pale blue and pink to the snowflakes. I love the colour combo of the pale pink and blues with the buff and teal.

Materials Used: 
Plain White and White Hammered card - Essentials range - Papermill Direct
Teal, Sky Blue, Baby Pink, and Buff card - Colours range - Papermill Direct
Faux gems & pearls, metal snowflake charm, tiny faux pearl string
versamark pen, promarkers and glitter jewels

Challenges Entered: 


Week 286 No Design Papers Allowed - Allsorts Challenge Blog


Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week: 

Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon




Monday 17 November 2014

P...P...Penguins!! ... with Papermill

Hello, welcome to another week and news of a +papermilldirect special offer.  
 This week it is a 120gsm Snow White Pearlised paper at a bargain price of just £16-22 for an A4 small box (approx. 160 sheets that should keep you going for a while!!)

Let's talk Penguins!!  Penguins are cute and seem to be everywhere at the moment, so I thought I'd theme some Christmas cards around this popular cute character.

It was my birthday recently, and one of my B'day pressies was the new Cricut Explore, although I was a bit naughty and tested it early (well I needed to know it worked okay ;) )  One of the features I was wanting to test out was the 'writing pens' and the 'cut & write' at same time, so these cards feature my first attempt at that.

I started out by cutting the Penguin with candy lollipop using the Cricut Explore and the ‘Winter Frolic’ image set. I used the white hammered card for the body of the penguin as I felt the texture would add interest and a hint of fur to the penguin's tummy.  I was really surprised how well the cricut cut the teeny tiny cane / stick for the lollipop, I was using the papermill buff card for this and it cuts so smoothly and cleanly even with that tiny sliver.

 The wording ‘Sweet Winter Wishes’ has been created using the ‘Cricut Alphabet’ font using the ‘write’ option and a ‘Midnight’ black cricut pen. The wording panel has been cut and written at the same time in the cricut (first time I’ve tried this) using papermill's ‘Plain White’ card, the writing was even and sat neatly on the papermill 'plain white' card surface.

A touch of detail Glitter has been added to the Santa Hat and some ‘Glitter Jewels’ by Cosmic Shimmer provide the snow for the penguin to stand on. The Penguin has been attached to the card front with 3D foam pads to give a little depth to the design. I made 2 cards with a ‘Post Box Red’ card base and 2 using the ‘Sky Blue’ card. Each card measures approx. 5.5” square.  I think it's nice to use bright colours for card bases, you can add a white insert and it really makes the designs more eyecatching, Papermill Direct has a whole rainbow of coloured card to choose from.



Materials List:
Plain White Card - Essentials Range - Papermill Direct
White Hammered card - Essentials Range - Papermill Direct
Post Box Red, Sky Blue, Black, Daffodil Yellow and Buff card - Colours Range - Papermill Direct
'White Shimmer' Detail Sparkle - Imagination Crafts
Cosmic Shimmer 'Glitter Jewels' - Creative Expressions
Cricut Explore (using Winter Frolic, and Cricut Alphabet)


Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week:  

Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon



 

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Party!! with Papermill

Hello and welcome to this week's makes with +papermilldirect

The theme for the Design Team this week is Parties!!  Yay!!  and if you're holding a party over the festive period or looking to New Year then you may be thinking of making your own invites.

Have you ever checked out the Special Offers section?, well worth taking a look as not only is a new special offer launched each week, but there are often some previous offers still available whilst stocks last.  This week there is a yummy sounding Biscuit card (240gsm) at just £5-50 for 80 sheets.

So back to the party then!! and sharing my design for a New Year's Eve party invitation but it could be adapted for other occasions too.




 I started off by creating a tent fold card base from 'Navy Blue' card to which I added a panel of 'Sky Blue' card across the centre.  I used my little Cricut Mini to cut a layered clock design from Navy Blue, Grey, and rich cream hammered card.  Adding the numbers '2015' die-cut manually from 'Post Box Red' card.  (As the clock is basically layered circles you could also cut with a manual die cutter if preferred). I also cut the 'Party' sentiment in post box red and navy blue card, and layered slightly to give a slight shadow effect.

The layered champagne glasses were cut from smooth white card and the 'glass' part coloured with an ice grey promarker, the 'champagne' was coloured with a pastel yellow promarker and topped with Detail Sparkle glitter glue, I was hoping to give the impression of sparkling bubbly wine.

The simple  shapes are easy to line up and if making a large quantity you could get away with not having so many layers to the clock and maybe stamping the '2015' and 'party' wording.
 I like using the red card to add a pop of colour to the classic blues and greys.

So will you be having a Party this year?  Are you making your own invites?  If you have any questions or just want to say hello, then please do comment, and thank you so much for popping by today :)
 

Materials used: 
Navy blue, Sky Blue, Grey, Post Box Red card - Colours Range - Papermill Direct
Rich Cream Hammered card - Essentials Range - Papermill Direct
Detail Sparkle in 'White Shimmer' for the 'wine'. 
Ice Grey & Pastel Yellow promarkers
Mostly cut using Cricut Mini

Papermill Design Team:
if you have a moment, please do pop over and check out the other papermill teamies blogs and see what they got up to this week:  

Barbara 
Lisa  
Sylvia  
Sandie  
Sharon