Wednesday 28 December 2011

January Shows

Hello everybody
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I have been busy getting the samples done for my shows in Germany on Monday. I am doing Spellbinders for the first time so I have been having fun playing. it is going to be a mad day though. I leave home at 5.30am on Monday morning and get home at 5.30am on Tuesday morning with three shows and two flights in between!!!!! Keeps me out of mischief though..... allegedly!
My shows for Bramwells in January are on the 18th and 19th. I will let you know times and product as soon as it is confirmed.
Off now to take Matthew back to the station to get his bus back to Glasgow :(
Take care
Love
Melanie xxx

Monday 26 December 2011

Step by Steps

Hi Crafters
Happy Booxing Day. I have just posted below the step by step instructions for the Chest of drawers.
Enjoy
melanie xxx

Penelope's Secret Garden project



Penelopes' Secret Garden project.


 

Cut twelve 5 ¾" squares from the violet cardstock. Now you need to score all the four sides of the squares at just short of 1 ½" in from the outer edge. I want you to be very accurate with these measurements.* Try one piece first and make it up in to the base and then make one of the outers and make sure you are happy with the fit before you go ahead and score the rest of them.*


 

When you have scored all your squares, lay a square in front of you and I want you to cut up the right hand scoreline from the bottom to where the two sorelines intersect. Then cut from that point to the bottom outer point on the diagonal. I hope that makes sense!!!!! Repeat that on the left side. The two cut sections should mirror each other. Then turn the card 180 degrees so the cut sections are at the top of the square and repeat the whole thing again making sure it mirrors itself.


 

Next cut twelve strips of card 3" deep by 12" long. Score thes at the following increments: 3", 4 ½", 7 ½", 9". Make sure the remaining section is 3" long. Crease the scorelines really well and then fold them so they create an outer for your box base. So the first 3" section will be the base. The next 1 ½" section will be a side. The next 3" section will be the top. The next 1 ½" section will be the other side and then the last 3" section will be the part that sticks it all together and strengthens your outer slightly. Put each base inside the outers.

Glue three of the drawers on top of each other. Repeat this until you have four sets of three drawers.

Cut two 6" x 6" squares of violet card. Glue your sets of drawers on to one of the squares, making sure you ONE set of drawers that open on each side of the 6" base.

When you have completed that then attach the other 6" square card to the top of the drawers.

Cut four pieces of violet card measuring 3" wide by 4 ½" deep. On each side of your chest of drawers you will have a section that can't be opened. Take one of the pieces of card you have just cut and attach it to each one of those sections. Repeat on each side of the drawers. Then cut four pieces of gold mirri card 2 ¾" wide by 4 ¼" deep. Then cut four pieces of the Garden Girl paper of your choice 2 ½" wide by 4" deep. Glue some ribbon around the paper as seen in the photo. Then using foam pads attach each piece of paper to a piece of the gold mirri card. Using glue attach each of these to your sealed sections of the drawers.

Next, cut twelve pieces of gold mirri card 2 ¾" wide by 1 ¼" deep. Then cut twelve pieces of Garden Girl paper of your choice 2 5/8" wide by 1 1/8" deep. Glue the paper to the gold mirri card and then using foam pads attach each section to the front of each individual drawer.

Using the stamp from the Garden Girl collection stamp twelve of the medallion onto CLEAR shrink plastic using black STAZ ON ink. Allow to dry. Cut each one them out without leaving a border. Punch two holes in the middle of each one to create the holes in your button. I used a cropodile but a hole punch will be just as good. Just make sure that the holes are big, as they will shrink down when you heat them. Place each shrink plastic piece on to a piece of tin foil. Have an acrylic block ready. Hold it down firmly with a pair of tweezers and heat it until it has shrunk right down. Turn of the heat gun and put the acrylic block on top of the shrink plastic button to flatten it. Do this with all twelve. Put a small piece of ribbon through the holes and tie in a knot. Attach one to each of the drawer fronts with pinflair glue.

Stamp and colour the Penelope stamped image and the flower pot image. Cut the flowers pots out as a 3 ½" circle. Cut a gold mirri frame at 3 7/16" and 3 5/8". Cut a flower shape from violet card. I used my Cricut and a flower on the Essentials cartridge that is inside the E2. Just choose a flower you like and use that. I then hand cut the orange flower so that it is slightly bigger than the violet one. Build up the flower as seen in the photo. Cut Penelope down to a rectangular shape and mat on to gold mirri card.

Next cut a piece of the violet card to 6" wide by 12" deep. Score it at 6" and 9" to create an easel. Attach a sheet of the 6" Garden Girl paper to the base of the easel card. Cut two pieces of gold mirri card, 5 3/4" wide by 2 ¾" deep. Cut two pieces of Garden girl patterned paper 5 ½" wide by 2 ½". Stick the paper to the mirri card and then attach these to the front of the easel as seen in the picture.

Attach the flower pot section to the front of the easel as shown. Cut a strip of thick acetate 5" long by 1" wide. Fold it in half. Attach to the back of the Penelope picture and then stick the other piece to the base of the card. This will allow the Penelope picture to fold back and lay flat.

Using a border punch, (I used an EK Success punch) Create a border 2" deep by 6" wide from gold mirri card. Make a slightly narrower border from paper and lay on top of the gold one. Attach this to the bas of your easel to create a stopper.

Stamp the medallion stamp you used for the buttons on to three different garden girl papers. Cut out different sections from each piece and layer up to make an embellishment. Attach to the bottom of your easel card. Add a little extra ribbon as shown in picture.

Sit back and admire your work.

Enjoy

Melanie xxx

Sunday 25 December 2011

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Hello Everyody
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
Just wanted to say a really BIG THANK YOU for all your support and wonderful comments, it really does mean a lot to me.

I am determined to make 2012 the year of the on line tutorial so watch this space.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy and crafty new year.
Love to you all
Melanie xxx

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Happy Christmas from my little Pipster

Hello Crafters,
As most of you know I got a new puppy this year. He is called PIP or fondly known as the Pipster!
A lot of you have asked for an up to date picture of him. This was captured during a totally out of character quiet moment.
Happy Christmas to you all
From Pipxxx

p.s My Mum will (Melanie) will put a special message on her blog on Christmas Day xxx

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Cricut Samples


Materials used..

3 Birds on Parade Cricut Cartridge
Red Card
White Card
Green Card
Blue Card
Yellow Card




Materials used..

Jubiliee Cricut Cartridge
Red Card
Pink Card
Lilac Card
Dark Purple Card





Materials used..

Ashlyn's Alphabet Cricut Cartridge
Violet Cardstock
Garden Girl Papers
BoBunny Ribbon






Competition Winner Announced...

And the winner of our Christmas Competition is Lynne who posted 14 December 2011 08:27. Lynne please email your full postal address to mary@bramwellcrafts.co.uk and she will have this sent out to you. 


Thanks to everybody who took part! I do hope to bring more competitions to my blog as and when I can. Word has it that Bramwells are having a mega prize draw tomorrow (on their facebook page) as it will be their last one of the year. Make sure you have them added as a friend so you don't miss out. 


Also keep a look out for the Bramwell Crafts January sale. This is going to be one not to be missed! 


Take care,
Love Melanie xxx

Monday 19 December 2011

Following my blog...

We have had lots of people asking how to become followers of my blog. Being new to blogging myself I've been researching ways of doing this...

The first way I discovered was to click the 'join this site' button which is under the followers heading and then signing in from Twitter. Once signed in it gives you the option to 'follow'. If you dont have a Twitter account it gives you the options to sign in from yahoo, google account, AIM, Netlog or Open ID. If you don't have any of these accounts click here to open a google account.

We also found this information handy..

'You can follow any blog, even if it isn't hosted on Blogger or doesn't have the Followers gadget. Just go to your Reading List in your Blogger Dashboard, click the “Add” button, and type in the blog’s URL which is http://www.bramwellsblog.blogspot.com/

Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/follow-your-favorite-blogs.html

If any fellow bloggers can share any more hints or tips for those struggling it would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Melanie xxx

Thursday 15 December 2011

A Quick Catch Up

Hello
Just wanted to let you know that I have been locked in my attic today making samples for my Cricut shows in Germany on Saturday. I am demonstrationg the Cake machine and am vey excited. I have also done some card samples and will get them on my blog when I get back.
Hope you all have a fab weekend.
Take care
Melanie xxx

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Christmas Competition..

With Christmas spirit in full swing Bramwell Crafts have kindly donated another competition prize for the followers of my blog. It's a gorgeous set from Kaisercraft called Silly Season and includes everyting you need to scrapbook your festive period or to create gorgeous Christmas cards.

Kaisercraft products are proudly brought to you by Bramwell Crafts as they have a passionate and experienced team which gives them a practical understanding of their customers needs. They integrate product development and design to bring fresh ideas to the scrapbooking and craft industry. I love the Magic Happens range, it's perfect for little girls projects.

To be in with a chance of winning the goodies below simply tell us why you love shopping with Bramwell Crafts..
Competition closes Monday 19th December. Good luck!

Contents include 6 x 12x12" double sided papers, 2 x 12x12" foiled papers, 1 x 12x12 sticker sheet, 1 x paper pad, 1 x clear stamps set, 1 x coloured rub on sheet, 1 x printed chipboard sheet, 1 x journal tags (24)


Ps. If you haven't bought anything from Bramwell Crafts yet you can get 10% off your first order by entering vouchercode 11115 at the checkout..
 
Happy Crafting,
Love Melanie xxx

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Flower Card Using Ornamental Iron 2

Flower Card


Check which pressure and blade depth your machine needs for this card stock.

1.       Place the dark purple card on your mat. Load mat. Set the size dial to 3 ¼, press LACE 1 SHADOW,  GATE 8b (page 40) eight times and CUT. Unload mat.  Repeat this with the violet pearlescent card. Unload mat. Remove LACE 1 SHADOW.
2.       Put the patterned paper on your mat. Load mat. Adjust your settings if necessary. Press SHIFT LOCK,  LACE 1 SHADOW  and GATE 8b  eight times and CUT. Unload mat. Remove LACE SHADOW 1. Remove SHIFT LOCK.
3.       Adjust your settings for card. Put medium purple card on your mat. Press LACE 1,  GATE 8b eight times and CUT. Unload mat.    Put light purple card on your mat. Load mat.  Press REPEAT LAST and CUT. Unload mat.
4.       Put bright pink card on your mat. Set the size to 2 ½”. Load mat. Press LACE 1 SHADOW, GATE 8b  eight times and CUT. Unload mat and remove LACE 1 SHADOW.
5.       Put the patterned paper on your mat. Adjust settings. Press SHIFT LOCK, LACE 1 SHADOW eight times and CUT. Remove mat and take off the SHIFT LOCK.
6.       Put the light pink card on your mat. Re-adjust the settings. Press LACE 1,  GATE 8b  eight times and CUT. Unload mat.
7.       Put light pink card on your mat. Set the size to 51/2”. Load mat. Press GATE 8d and CUT. Remove mat.
8.       Put dark pink card on your mat. Press BASE SHADOW, GATE 8d and CUT. Unload mat.
9.       Put the green card on the mat. Load mat. Change the size to 5 ¾”, press REPEAT LAST and CUT.
10.   Build up each petal and card as seen in the photograph. The base card is 6” square.

Gate 7a Ormanental Iron 2 Card.



Gate 7a Ormanental Iron 2 card.

For those crafters who have the smaller Cricuts set your size to 5” instead of 5 ½”.
Make sure your machine is set to relevant size and NOT REAL DIAL SIZE!
Set your pressure and blade depth to suit mirri card.
1.       Put black mirri card on your mat. Set the size to 5 ½”. Press BASE SHADOW, GATE 7a (page 29) and CUT. Remove mat. Remove BASE SHADOW.
2.       Put pink mirri card on your mat. Load mat.  Press SHIFT, BASE SHADOW, GATE 7a and CUT. Unload mat. 
3.       Put silver mirri on your mat. Load mat.  Press GATE 7a and CUT.
4.       Put purple mirri on your mat. Load mat. Press SHIFT LOCK, BASE SHADOW, GATE 7c (page 49) and CUT. Remove mat. Remove BASE SHADOW. Remove SHIFT LOCK.
5.       Put black mirri card on your mat. Press GATE 7c and CUT.
6.       Put purple mirri card on your mat. Press GATE 7b and CUT. Unload mat.
7.       Cut out the centre (butterfly) section using SCISSORS.
8.       Put black mirri card on your mat. Press SHIFT, GATE 7a and CUT.
9.       Build up card as shown in picture.

More samples..


Materials used..
Buttons
Sentiment Stamp












 

that I used to make the flowers








Materials used..

Ivory Shimmer Cardstock
Dark Blue Shimmer Cardstock
Offshore Paper Collection
Henri Stamp
Jean Luc Stamp






Materials used..

Isabelle Stamp
Bright Pink Shimmer Cardstock
Green Cardstock
Lilac Cardstock
Jewels
Buttons




These are the Helz Cuppleditch stamps I showed on Create and Craft on 7th December. Can't wait to get them onto cards. They are..







Monday 12 December 2011

Thank you

Good morning Crafters
I would like to say a really BIG THANK YOU to all my followers. The level of support has blown me away and I just want you all to know that I am really grateful. we are planning lots of new things for 2012 for both the blog and shows. I can't believe how quickly this year has passed!!! we have some fabulous new product for 2012 and Alison and I are going to CHA trade show in LA in January. You can probably imagine how excited I am about that. Off now to do some prep for my shows in Germany this weekend. I will post the cards from my Cricut class I taught at Inspirations yesterday. I used Ornamental Iron cartridge.
See you soon
Take care
Melanie xxx

Catch up on classes

Good morning
I have been asked a lot recently if I will post my class dates for next year! So here is the list as it stands at the moment.
Saturday 7th January  Stampavie and Bo Bunny class  Portfolio Blackburn 01254 665053
Sunday 8th January  Copic Beginners class  inspirations  Preston  01772 880852
Tuesday 10th January  repeat of the 7th class.
Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th  Cricut Flower Shoppe class  Inspirations Preston
Saturday 21st Scrapbooking  Portfolio  Blackburn
Sunday 22nd  Shades of warm grey Copic class Inspirations Preston
Monday 23rd  Scrapbooking  Portfolio Blackburn.

Friday 9 December 2011

Latest samples...


Materials used..

Pink and purple jewels
                         
 
Materials used..

Buttons
Flower Punch
Sentiment Stamp



 
Materials used..

Buttons





Materials used..

Sentiment Stamp
Buttons
Jewels






               

Materials used..

Orange Cardstock
 Sentiment Stamp
   
                 Materials used..              

      Light Pink cardstock
       Yellow cardstock
       Buttons
          Light pink jewel 

Materials used..



Happy Crafting,
Love Melanie xxx

Thursday 8 December 2011

Competition Winner Announced...

Our Prize draw has just taken place, the winner of The Paper Companys Scrapbooking kit is 'Alysha' who posted on 2 December 2011 06:55.  Alysha please email mary@bramwellcrafts.co.uk with your postal address and she will send this prize off to you.

Once again thank you for all your lovely comments and for taking part in the competitons. I've just heard Bramwell Crafts will be holding a NEW competition today on their Facebook page! Make sure you have them added as a friend so you don't miss out! If you love BoBunny, you'll LOVE their prize!


Happy Crafting,
Love Melanie xxx

Friday 2 December 2011

Competition...

Hi Crafters,

As you may already know I am a huge fan of scrapbooking so imagine my delight when Bramwell Crafts donated this entire kit for my blog competition! The Paper Company have so many brilliant crafty goodies, remember to take a look online if you get chance. I love using their Clearly Better Inks when I'm stamping my images, they help me get that clear image every time. Their cardstock is also second to none and will always be a staple in my stash (you may have noticed from my samples that I use a lot of the metallic violet and iris colours). The Paper Company's cardstock packs are great for starting out too, with 50 assorted colour sheets working out at just 16p each.

About the competition. Simply write 'win' under this blog entry to be entered into the prize draw. Winner will be picked at random on Wednesday 7th December.


Contents include..
Enchantment 12x12 Paper 
Mosaic Tile 12x12 Paper
Teal Geo Circles 12x12 Paper
Agean Swirl 12x12 Paper
Morocan Tile 12x12 Paper
Whitewash 12x12 Paper
Alahambra 12x12 Paper
Grecian Blue 12x12 Paper
Mirage 12x12 Paper
Meditteranean Tile 12x12 Paper
Oasis 12x12 Oasis 12x12 Paper
Happiness rub on sheet
Moments rub on sheet
Mediterranean Summer Clear Stamp sheet
Fabric Buttons
Ribbon
Shaped Jewels
Rub ons with jewels
Chipboard Tags
Chipboard Tiles
Chipboard Monogram Stickers

Good luck,
Love Melanie xxx

Competition - Prize Draw Winner Announced...

Our prize draw has just taken place. Name picked at random is 'Angie' who posted 29 November 2011 06:06 

Congratulations Angie, please send your postal address to mary@bramwellcrafts.co.uk and she will forward this prize on to you.

Thanks to every body who entered. Bramwell Crafts have very kindly donated another prize package (must be getting into the Christmas spirit) so I will be adding another competition to my blog very soon! Watch this space!


Love
Melanie xxx

Thursday 1 December 2011

Preparing for next weeks shows!

Good afternoon crafters,
I am sat on my bed typing this and watching Create and Craft at the same time! just taking ten minutes out from colouring in the new Stampavie stamps for my shows next Wednesday. It's a tough job but somebody has to do it!!!!! I am like a pig in mud playing with these new stamps and papers. really looking forward to the shows next week and for all you bloggers that have left comments about my Penelopes secret garden project I am going to make part of it as a demo on air next week so please tape or watch the shows. (Wednesday at 10am till 12pm  and 3pm) I will put instructions on my blog by the end of next week though....promise.
Please check out bramwells website to as you can now buy direct! if any body out there uses Copic Markers and would like the pen nimbers to match the paper collections then please let me know and I will post them on my blog.
Well that's my ten minutes up. Back to colouring in and making samples. Have a great weekend and keep crafting.
Take care

Love
Melanie xxx