Anita Enright: 2017

27 December 2017

"Say Cheese" | Couture Creations

Hi Everyone,

With the end of 2017 coming to a close I thought I would revisit the THE RITZ

collection by Sue Smyth.

I wanted to aim for a more male orientated theme with this photo of my brother Mark and his son Thomas. The colourings in the photo fitted perfectly with the collection. I think I hit the

nail on the head, so to speak.

So, to start I chose the papers that I wanted to use with the photo, and cut the stripe at 6 1/2" along the horizontal and attached it with some double-sided tape on top of the other paper.

To hide the seam I cut a 1/2" strip of some of the Obsidian Ultimate Crafts Cardstock and attached it over the seam of the papers as shown in the next photo.

Taking the Art Deco Tag decorative die from the collection I cut two die-cuts. I then trimmed them down to two pieces shown below.

Working from the outside edges, left and right, towards the centre, I adhered the trimmed down die cuts. The two middle pieces will overlap but this will not matter as my photo and other embellishments will be placed over the overlapped die cuts.

From one of the papers in the back of the paper pad I cut one of the border strips and added it underneath the 1/2" piece of black cardstock that I had earlier adhered over the

seam of the patterned papers. Using the Classy Flower decorative die cut one in the Obsidian cardstock. I cut this in half and attached it to the top left of the page.

Using the Evening Cocktail 6x6" paper pad I took the gold stripe paper and die cut the

Next I chose 4 of the mini gears from the chipboard set and using the Champagne and Midnight Black heat activated foil applied it to the chipboard.

Using a couple of other matching papers from the "Theatre" patterned papers I created three banners, each mounted on to some of the black cardstock.

My photo was mounted on black (it already had a white mat around it when it was printed). I wrapped some white and black twine around the photo. Next I took the three banners I made and attached them around the bottom half of the photo.

I added a paper doily from my stash underneath the die cut Otis doily and attached it to the back of the mounted photo. I then adhered the entire piece to my page.

I added some bling from my stash and then placed the gears to the page.

I added clusters of flowers and other embellishments to the bottom left of the photo, added a title and it was finished. Not too girlie at all I don't think :)

PRODUCTS USED

The Ritz Collection

ULT157824 - "Theatre" 12x12" Paper Pad

ULT157862 - Art Deco Tag Decorative Die

ULT157858 - Classy Flower Decorative Die

ULT157823 - "Evening Cocktail" 6x6" Paper Pad

Other Couture Creations Products

CO724963 - Embossing Powder - Glacier White Super Fine

CO724970 - Embossing Powder - Mirror Gold Super Fine

ULT200007 - Ultimate Crafts Cardstock - Obsidian

CO725695 - Heat Activated Foil - Champagne

CO725693 - Heat Activated Foil - Midnight Black

CO725894 - Chipboard - Mini Gears Set

CO725275 - Ornamental Affair Collection - Otis Doily - discontinued

(but there are heaps of other doily dies from Couture Creations available)

Thanks so much for visiting today. I hope you all have a wonderful end to 2017 and a fantastic and safe start to 2018. See you all back here soon.

Take care, and keep crafting.

Anita

18 December 2017

White Wedding | Couture Creations

Welcome back to the blog everyone.

For my layout today I decided to revisit some of the Ultimate Crafts

older collection of OOH LA LA.

I have a lot of dies from this collection in my stash and it is no wonder why, they are all just so so beautiful.

My mum asked me to make a special card for my brothers wedding so this is what I came up with. I love using white with kraft cardstock and because it was for a wedding added a few hints of gold.

To start using the Snow White Ultimate Crafts cardstock I die cut one each of the Nested Labels and Intrinsic & Ornamental dies.

Next I cut in Kraft cardstock the card base to approximately 6 1/2" x 4 1/2". From some of the offcuts I cut one of the 3rd smallest of the dies from the Fancy Rectangles nesting die set from Couture Creations.

I then cut each of the three different die cuts in half as below.

I then needed some foliage to add behind the flowers that I had decided to use for the centre of the card. My favourite die for leaves come from the Magnolia Lane Collection. It is from the Rose Cutting die set. I cut four of the branches in the kraft cardstock.

I love feathers and just wanted to incorporate them somehow in this card but the feather die from the Ooh La La collection was just too big. I found some wood veneer feathers in my stash. I decided to heat emboss them. The Couture Creations Glacier White superfine embossing powder is just perfect. Once I had coated the wood in the white I then added some of the Mirror Gold embossing powder to the ends.

Now all my pieces were ready to go I then constructed the card.

The larger of the two white dies, I mounted on some chipboard before adhering to the card base. Next I added the kraft die cut followed by the smaller white die cut, again mounted on a little bit of chipboard offcut.

Because there was a one inch piece in the centre of the card, to build it up I added a piece of chipboard offcut. I did place a piece of kraft cardstock over the top of it to blend in better with the rest of the card. (sorry no photo but you get the idea).

I then embellished the centre of the card with the leaf die cuts, added some sprays of white flowers from my stash along with the white flowers. I added a couple of the gold bouquets from the

Be Merry collection.

PRODUCTS USED

Ooh La La Collection

ULT157557 - Nested Labels Decorative Die Set

ULT157558 - Intrinsic and Ornamental Decorative Die Set

Other Artdeco Products

CO723957 - Fancy Rectangles Nesting Dies

CO724918 - Be Merry Collection - Gold and Silver Bouquets

CO724970 - Mirror Gold Embossing Powder

CO724963 - Glacier White Super Fine Embossing Powder

ULT157523 - Magnolia Lane Collection - Rose Cutting Decorative Die Set

ULT200001 - Ultimate Crafts Cardstock - Snow White

With Christmas now just one week away I am sending the best of Christmas wishes your way. I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Christmas. May it be special and you have many wonderful memories that you can 'scrap' in 2018.

8 December 2017

Wedding Congratulations

Hi Everyone,

Anita back here on the blog with you today.

I can't believe we nearly half way through December already. CRAZY!!!!!!

For my post for your today I thought I would share with you a card I made for my younger brothers wedding. Looking at it you would not know it was a wedding card, and I guess it could be used for any occasion.

The real reason I am sharing this with you is because I have found another technique that can be used with your GoPress and Foil machine.

You will have to follow through my tutorial to see exactly what it is but if you love your shabby chic card making or scrapbooking you will love what I have found for you.

So come on this journey today with me and check it out.

Okay, so to start I chose a very pale piece of pink cardstock and it cut it down to 6"x12" to make a square 6x6" card base.

Next I took some of the gorgeous Damask Gold Mirror Board and cut it down to 5 7/8" x 5 7/8" and adhered it to the card base.

Using the Damask Gold mirror board cut out two of the Nostalgic Narelle die from the Ornamental Lace collection of dies.

I attached the two die cuts along the top and bottom of the card base just along the straight edge.

OKAY...... now on to what I've found out!!!!!!!

So many of us have played with embossing or texture paste into silicone molds.

These molds are the same ones that cake decorators use with the fondant icing.

I applied the embossing paste in to my chosen mold. I love using the embossing paste because I tend to find that it dries quicker than the texture paste and remains a little more malleable.

I left it overnight to dry so that it came out of the mold cleanly. If you try and take it out too early it will break and/or stick to the mold. PLUS be very careful taking it out particularly

the more detailed ones.

So this is just how pretty the mold it when you remove it from the silicone.

So, I had been playing with my GoPress and Foil Machine and thought that we can pretty much foil most things so I thought, what about these gorgeous molded embellishments. The one I used is not thicker than a piece of normal chipboard so it had to work.... right??

I played and played and finally I got the result I was after.

So, as per normal heat up your machine.

Place your chosen foil coloured side down towards the black heat pad, dull silver side facing up.

Next, place your mold facing down on to the dull silver of the foil.

Now, I always have protected my plastic plate at the top of my machine with a cardstock shim, but found if I used this with the mold embellishment it stuck to the cardstock. I think this was because of the heat being transferred through the embossing paste and making it slightly sticky for a small period of time.

So the end result was I used a piece of a 'stuffed' non stick mat which I had mistakenly cut with a craft knife. I cut the mat down in to several different sizes and now one stays with my

GoPress and Foil Machine.

The most important thing to remember is that pretty much as soon as you put the foil, mold and craft mat down you need to run it through the die cutting machine. If you keep it too long on the heat plate I found that when you run it through the die cutting machine it squishes flat.

It's all about speed for this one. I let it cool on the mat prior to pulling it off so that it became a little harder again.

So this is final result. I had made the picture big so you can see just how gorgeous it came out.

I used the Champagne Iridescent Foil for this one.

The foil doesn't get down in to the nooks and crannies of the mold but that is the whole point.

We want it to look 'shabby chic'.

I just love it!!!

So I now know you all want to go out and try it..... but let me finish my tutorial first :)

Okay, so next I cut the molded piece in half, and then glued it on to a piece of the pink cardstock, matted again on some of the Damask Gold mirror board.

I mounted this piece across the centre of the card and added some matching flowers to the centre of the mold. To finish I made a matching envelope and added a Simone's Style die cut across the bottom of the envelope, adding another couple of flowers. This die was also from the Ornamental Lace collection of dies.

It was a quick card and I love the new technique I discovered whilst playing.... now I just want to keep playing more and more making pretty things.