Topaze

Good Afternoon and wishing all mums out there a Very Happy Mother's Day.

I had such fun with the new Groovi plates that Rossella is showcasing today on Hochanda at 11, 2 and 5. I am completely in love with the nested scallop rectangles, ovals, squares and circles plates. If you do not have them yet, a definite must to put your wish lists.

I only had time to play with the Topaze plate so here is what I created ...

Plates used:

A5 Rectangle - Nested Scallop Rectangles

Topaze

A4 Straight Basic Piercing Grid

A4 Square - Nested Squares Extended

Border Plates - Straight Border Pattern Piercing Grid No. 1

Step by Steps to create this card ...

Step 1 -  Emboss, on regular parchment, the rectangles 4 with the scallops and 5 (I think) from the inside on the nested scallop rectangles plate.

Step 2 - Emboss Topaze inside the rectangle and the filigree design outside the rectangle edges.

Step 3 - Emboss rectangles around the filigree work leaving one set of rectangle/scallop between the design.

Step 4 - Emboss the Honesty plant leaves (or are these the flowers?) with a large followed by medium ball tools.

Step 5 - Still working on the back, roughly colour Topaze with bendable pencils.

Step 6 - Using blending solution and a paper stump, blend the pencil work so the colour is smooth, removing the rough pencil lines. Between the borders, I used Perga Colours Exclusive felt pens to color but you could use the pencils.

Step 7 - On the front, with a 2 needle perforating tool, perforate inside the scallops and inside and outside the filigree work.

Step 8 - Cut between the perforations with parchment craft scissors or Perga Cutters.

Step 9 - On pale blue parchment, with the glossy darker side up, emboss the largest square from the extended nested squares plate. Inside the square, emboss the pattern from the straight border pattern plate No. 1.

Step 10 - Turn the piece around to the front, align the dots on the A4 straight piercing grid, and perforate the holes inside the pattern dots.  Work one edge at a time and turn the parchment around on the grid for the next edge.

Step 11 - On the back, emboss the extra Honesty plant stems on the left and right side of the square and emboss in the leaves.

Finishing - Mount the Topaze piece on the trimmed pale blue piece and the designer backing paper using brads. Stick this whole piece on a 8x8 folded white card. I added a few sequins on the card and also used Wink of Stella on the leaves to add a bit of sparkle.

Well that's it for this piece and hope everyone gets to watch the shows today for lots more inspiration and ideas from the amazingly talented design team and Rossella herself.

Take Care and Enjoy.

Love and laughter

Tina

'Tis My Faith

Good Evening,

Did you catch Maria on Hochanda today. Bet there was lots to learn and lots of inspiration from the Clarity design team. I have not watched the shows as I was on hospital rounds with my dad but I have recorded them so will watch them tomorrow after the kids are sent off to school. Unfortunately I was unable to help with samples for the show so I thought I would create a step by step to put on here ... Any excuse to have a little play with these gorgeous new Groovi plates.

Plates Used:

A5 Square - Lily of the Valley, Daffodils, Scalloped Nested squares, Basic Diagonal Grid

A6 Square - Vases

Step 1 - On regular parchment paper, emboss the pretty border on the Lily of the Valley plate to make a square. Emboss part of the 4th from the outside scallop nested square and also use this plate to emboss extra borders on the top and bottom as seen in the photo (that part is too difficult for me to describe in words. Lol).

This is what it looks like on the back.

Step2 - Emboss the verse - I broke it down into 4 lines and moved it around the square and rectangle.

Step 3 - Emboss the pot from the baby vase plate and the flowers and leaves growing out of the pot from the Daffodils and Lily of the Valley plates

Step 4 - Over the Basic Diagonal Grid, emboss dots on the pot using the No2 ball tool. To create a light texture, rub the ball tool lightly between the rectangle and the square on the grid.

Step 5 - Colour on the back. I used the Pergamano Perga Colours Exclusive this time but Distress Markers or Pencils would work very well too.

Step 6 - Emboss the 4 petal flowers around the border and in the rectangles between the double outlines using the No4 followed by No3 ball tools.

This is what it looks like on the front so far.

Step 7 - Using artistry ink pads or distress ink pads brush some colour on the back around the work after masking the rectangle area.

Step 8 - On the front, inside the scallops, perforate using the 2-needle perforating tool.

Step 9 - Cut between the perforations using parchment scissors or Perga Cutters.

Step 10 - Cut the worked parchment piece to size as well as blue and regular parchment squares (14x14cm) and designer paper from the Brighton Rock Clarity paper pad (16.5x16.5cm). Attach all these pieces together using brads between the 4 petal flowers (I got carried away but 1 in each corner would be enough). Stick this whole piece on folded white card (17x17cm).

To finish, stick sequins on the card and add a bit of sparkle on the flowers using Wink of Stella (unfortunately the camera did not pick up the sparkle).

Well, that's it from me. I'm going to bed... Maybe...

Take Care. Enjoy.

Love and laughter

Tina

Filigree Butterfly

Good Evening.

It's been a while since I was on here but as I am having a quiet Sunday (a novelty) I thought I would give my poor neglected blog some attention. I had taken photos of the step by steps for this project a couple of months ago when the poetry Groovi plates were the One Day Special but hadn't got round to blogging it. Seeing as most of you who ordered the plates must have got them by now, you can give it a go, especially if you like this sort of filigree work. If you haven't got them yet, it would great to put into your wish lists.

Plates Used

A5 Rectangle - Nested Rectangles, Happiness is a Butterfly, Serenity Prayer, Sunbeam Moonbeam, May the Road Rise

A5 Square - Floral Circle

I have done all the embossing on the back, colouring on the back and perforating and cutting on the front.

1.) Emboss the butterfly frame from the Happiness is a Butterfly plate on regular parchment paper and part of the double rectangles from the Nested Rectangles plate. This is what it looks like on the back.

2.) Emboss the tree from the May the Road Rise plate on the other side of the partly embossed rectangles. Place the parchment back on the Nested Rectangles plate and finish embossing the rectangles missing out the embossed tree. In the centre of the frame emboss the hanging stems from the Serenity plate, the landscape and sun from the Sunbeam Moonbeam plate, the birds from the May the Road Rise plate, butterfly and the word 'happiness' from the Happiness is a Butterfly plate.

This is what it looks like on the front.

3.) Emboss inside the circles around the frame and the ovals inside the butterfly wings. I coloured using distress markers on the back as in my next step I am going to use pencils and blending solution to colour inside the rectangle.

4.) Using bendable pencils, colour the sky in yellow, red, pink, purple, dark blue, light blue and the hills in green. As you can see, I have just scribbled the colour on. When you do this, do not use the point of the pencil but use it colour lead flat against the paper so that there are no sharp lines.

5.) Blend the colours using blending solution and a paper stub. 

Emboss the design from the Floral Circle plate between the double rectangles.

This is what it looks like on the front.

6.) Perforate inside and outside the filigree butterfly frame using a 2-needle perforating tool.

7.) Cut between the perforations with parchment scissors or Perga cutters. Mount this piece on Clarity designer backing paper and black card using brads in the rectangle corners and stick this whole piece on a folded white card.

8.) On a spare piece of parchment, emboss a butterfly and colour the body on the back. Perforate inside and outside the wings and cut between the perforations.

9.) Stick the white butterfly on the butterfly on the main card as a 3D element with the teeny tiniest amount of Perga Glue on the back.

I hope I have not missed any steps as I explained this was created a while back. If I have .... Oooops and Sorry. Don't forget to watch Maria Simms with some stunning/gorgeous new Groovi plates on Wednesday 15th March between 1-2 and 5-6 on Hochanda.

Take Care. enjoy.

Love and laughter

Tina