Pan Pastels...

in metal shades.

Yep, there are now 6 metallic colours that have been added to the range of shades - four golden shades and two silvery ones.

Now these have been in the shops for a good few weeks but today was the first time that I got to play with them. Andy (Pinnacle Crafts) held a half-day workshop where he demonstrated a variety of techniques and then we were allowed to play.

Starting with an embossed square of black CS and...

 ...a die-cut sentiment (this was from the Tonic Christmas set 1). The CS was completely covered with Versamark before the Pan Pastels were dabbed all over...

 ...I went with Silver/Light Gold/Copper...

 ...on both items. Both pieces were sealed by spraying with Spray and Sparkle in gold.
The base card was created from white CS...

 ...then gold miri card and glitter vellum covered pearl CS were used to matt & layer.
Some holly branches were cut from gold miri card...

...and the sentiment was cut in gold miri to create a drop-shadow for the coloured sentiment.
As you can see here...

...the embossed panel and the sentiment have been raised up using 3D foam...

...and this was the finished piece.

Of course, a few new toys jumped into my shopping basket before I came home but I was very good LOL - I only bought 3 of the 6 metallic Pan Pastels (I went with the three I used today) as I can always get the others at Members weekend.

It was a lovely way to try out these new Pan Pastels as they do behave a bit differently from the normal ones. Thank you Andy for providing lots of ideas and letting us play. I really enjoyed myself and am very pleased with my finished card. It also goes to show that you don't have to have pictures on a card...a bit of texture, colour and a sentiment and you are well away...........................................

Winter Birthdays...

...can be difficult to find cards for as everything is geared-up for Christmas.

Ignacio over at Nicecrane Designs has some lovely new images that will make it easy to make cards for Winter birthdays or Christmas (if you prefer).

This little Miss is from the new Four Seasons collection here...

 ...the colours in the artwork are beautiful.
I have tried to keep the embellishments to the same colours...

 ...and the whole card has been created in shades of browns/creams/white.
I die-cut the printed image using Spelbinders scalloped ovals...

 ...and matt & layered the image onto some cream CS and a paper doily.
The embellishments are a selection of silk & ribbon blooms from my stash...

...and you might just notice a molded rose (one of the items I made with the Thermomorph that I reviewed).

The perfect card for a Winter birthday but if you want, you can add a seasonal sentiment and use it as a Christmas card.

There are lots of new images available over at the Nicecrane Design site and if you'd like some inspiration as to how to use them - hop over to the Nicecrane blog and see what the DT have been making..............................................................

Steampunk...

...the last couple of class projects.

Spellbinders do packs of thin metal sheets and this aqua colour is just fabulous. It was run through the rustic wreath embossing folder...

 ...and then rough cut before giving it a light sanding to reveal a little of the silver behind the colour.
The overall detail on this embossing is super but it was still very fiddly trying to identify where to stick the gems to create the holly berries...

 ...but I managed it and the finished card was a simple creation of layered CS and glittered vellum with the wreath mounted on top using 3D foam.
This was Andy's sample for the next project...

...who would think that it started out as a wooden shape covered in strips of thin card with a few jems attached.
This is mine before the assembly...

 ...the bell was painted with silver acrylic paint - dry-brushed with gold to create a bit of tarnish (the others used gold first then silver but I wanted to see what it would look like the other way around) - then it was distressed using black StazOn ink. The poinsettias were cut from silver miri card, coloured with the black StazOn and then gently sanded back.
This was my completed decoration...

 ...I love the grungy metal look that has been created.

We all had a fabulous day but as is always the way when you are having fun - time runs out.

These were two items that we never had time for...

...aren't they cute! The lovely Andy very kindly gave us the templates so we could go away and play if we wanted to.

Next week Andy is having a half-day workshop playing with Pan Pastels (including the new metallic ones) I can't wait............................................................................

Baubles...

...from a Steampunk die.

I'm sure we all have craft items that we just had to have but once we used it (if we used it) it got put away - never to see the light of day again??? After all, some things are quite stylised or specific so they can have quite limited uses...or can they?

One thing about Andy (Pinnacle Crafts) is that he likes to get his money's worth out of a product and is always looking for new and unusual ways to use things.

If you like Steampunk, you will know that in addition to the cogs, metal & grunge, hot air balloons are a regular image that appears - but just how many hot air balloons are you going to want to die-cut...and dies can be rather expensive.

Take a look at these two die-cuts - once again the 'waste' was swapped to back-fill but can you tell what the die was...

...yep, it's a hot air balloon with the basket part snipped off.
Trimmed and turned around...

...and you have a couple of elegant baubles.
With the addition of some more miri card die-cuts (branches and holly leaves), some chain and a couple of bows...

...it doesn't take long to create a pretty Christmas card.

Andy is a clever old thing but I'm sure many crafters could produce some pretty amazing stuff - just by thinking outside of the box - and look at all the extra use you can make out of those crafting products.

I love this hot air balloon die set but probably would not have thought to buy it because it would have limited use for me - however, turn it into a bauble...oh dear, another item gets added to my wish-list LOL...........................................................

Have yourself a Merry...

...Steampunk Christmas.

Today was one of Andy's workshops (Pinnacle Crafts) and we got to play with some of the new Cheery Lynn steampunk dies.
The first project used the larger of the two owls from the die set...

...we cut two in slightly different shades of wood-grain embossed cream CS. Then we used the 'waste' from each to backfill the other before distress inking them with 'frayed burlap'.
Some poinsettias were also cut from the wood-grain CS...

 ...and these were gently inked with the same distress ink...

 ...before they were curved and assembled.
This compass chipboard die-cut...

...was coloured using copper distress stains...

 ...before being backed with a stamped clock face printed on holly PP.
Although it doesn't show in this photo, the compass was distressed with frayed burlap...

 ...and the owl was given some decoration by adding bronze brads to the centre of the cogs.
A bit of matt & layering followed by some assembly...

...and there you have it - a little bit of steampunk and one completed Christmas card......................................................................

They're back...

...the Starbucks red cups hit the stores yesterday.

During October we had the Pumpkin Spice Latte and I have been making the most of that before it came to an end (although the Chelmsford Starbucks tell me they have gallons of the stuff so I could quite happily continue with that flavour) but now my choice is even wider.

I love the Gingerbread Latte and it would be difficult to decide between that and the Pumpkin as to which is my favourite. The Eggnog Latte is pretty yummy too and at a push I'll even have a Toffee Nut Latte (not often though as this is a little sweet for me).

Now they have another flavour to choose from - Orange Mocha.

With Terry's Chocolate Orange in mind, I gave it a try...YUCK!!!

Sickly sweet and watery (I think they used 'skinny' milk) - I will not be trying it again.

Never mind, I think there are enough other flavours to keep me happy over the Winter months.

Despite my verdict, Weasel (Suzie) has said she will have to give the Orange Mocha a try - purely in the interest of scientific research of course.........................................................................

The Witching Hour...

...is almost here.

(This is a photo heavy post so go grab a cuppa and settle yourself comfortably)

To start off with, I just wanted to show that I treat all my staff alike...

 ...one spooky Halloween lollipop hat - a la Stratford **cackle**

For those of you who have been crafting a while - who remembers Doodlebug Designs Inc ?

When I first started scrapbooking, it was one of the few ranges that did co-ordinated 'stuff' at a reasonable price. It was a great starter range but I soon moved on to the likes of Junkitz, BoBunny and Basic Grey. Now you know what I'm going to say next **giggle** - whilst tidying & re-organising...LOL...

Yep, I came across a whole load of Doodlebug Halloween papers and stickers along with a load of ribbons and fibres that I had obviously bought for a purpose - but equally obviously, never got around to using. All change!

Grabbing some C6 buff envelopes, some book rings and some Black soot Distress ink along with some wonderful images from Nicecrane - some pre-coloured, some I've coloured with Inktense pencils, Spectrum Noir pens or Copics - I came up with this...

 ...lots of lovely ribbons and stuff decorating the book rings...

 ...on a little Halloween mini-album. Fun & funky.
A closer look at the front of the book...

 ...and you can see that I added some tabs to some of the pages (not the best of photos).
The right-hand page here has one of the pre-coloured images from the Halloween Kids collection...

 ...that you can find here.
This little Miss is coloured using the pencils for everything except for the skin...

...for that I resorted to my tried & trusted Copics. This image is part of the collection that you can find here.
Another image from the Halloween Kids...

...I just love the artwork on these images.
I left these pages to speak for themselves...

 ...at least until a suitable photo adorns them.
Another Nicecrane image...

 ...and you can also see some of the tabs on the pages more clearly in this photo.
The perfect image to go with all those pumpkins...

 ...don't you think?
The next couple of photos contain images that I have coloured myself...

 ...this one was a 'freebie' that Ignacio kindly offered on his blog and I've coloured it using a mix of Spectrum Noir & Copic pens. The next one was also a 'freebie'...

...and she was coloured using just the Spectrum Noirs.

There are some fabulous images available over at the Nicecrane Design site - and don't worry, if Halloween isn't your 'thing' there are plenty of other subjects to choose from. You can also hop over to the blog to see all the fab items that other DT members have created.

If you are celebrating Halloween - have a Spook-tack-u-lar time.........................................................