Cutting like a dream – Chiswick Cardstock and your electronic machines.

If you are lucky enough to own an electronic cutting machine like a Cricut or Silhouette then you are always looking for a cardstock that will cut like a dream right? yes you are! So this week I tested the Chiswick range of cardstock and put them through my Cricut machine – and it cut like a dream. While playing on my machine I created a recycled project as part of my keeping it green motto. I cut a sentiment band to wrap around an empty metal food tin
I used the cardstock as a band layered on top of a sheet of Prima patterned paper strip – this way my pattern peeks out from underneath my bright pink cardstock wrap.
Don’t you just love the detail and texture of the cardstock! Here’s how I went about the process
step 1 – I cut my word onto the cardstock using my Cricut machine. I then trimmed the cardstock to measure 5mm thinner than the width of my recycled tin. I cut my patterned paper the exact width of my tin as i wanted it.
step 2 – Remember to keep the inside parts of the letters like “O”, “P” etc. I inked the edges of my cardstock strip using a dark brown chalk ink to finish it off. Add your adhesive to the back of the cut out sentiment strip  – make sure that you add your adhesive as close as possible to the edges of the cut-out letters.
step 3 – Carefully wrap the cut out band around the tin (on top of the patterned paper strip). I made sure that my overlap piece is at the back of the tin.
step 4 – Finish it off by adhering the center part of the “O” to finish it off. Decorate the tin with punched flowers using your Chiswick flower punches and cardstock.
A fun an easy project that is perfect for recycling and easy enough for kids to make during the holidays with a little help from mom.
So there you have it – cardstock perfect for your next cutting project using your Cricut of Silhouette machine.
For my project I used these products:
SB5000 Taffy Textured cardstock 216gsm
Get your favorite cardstock colours from your closest craft store – or ask for it by name by
visiting www.chiswick.co.za and view the entire range of colours for all your crafting needs.
Remember to contact Denise (031) 569 5673 if you have any trouble locating your favorite cardstock colours.
Happy cutting and creating until next time!

Vintage ATC cards using Couture Creations dies.

Welcome to another blogpost with me Jowilna - today i am sharing a set of 
Vintage ATC cards with you
If you are a paper crafter then i am sure you are a hoarder right? you say what if, and one day really a lot don't you? yes you know I am right!
So todays project is one of those one day's....
years ago when i had more time on my hands i started a set of ATC cards. They were (are) really pretty and vintage looking but needed something to finish them off and a home. So when I was cleaning up the studio last week I found them in a packet all ready and waiting to be finished...and here they are
I used some of the amazing Couture Creations dies to dress them up and finally finish them off - and i love how the die-cuts just adds enough of a something different
 I used this cute little Rocking Horse | CO723518 from the Secret Treasures range. I cut it out of a smooth thick brown cardstock and inked the edges in white Brilliance pigment ink to soften the edges a bit and add a worn vintage look to it. Once the ink was dry and I adhered it to my ATC card I added a layer of dimensional glaze and left it to dry overnight.
For my next card I used the gorgeous Paddington Street Lamp – CO723740
from the Metricon Collection as well as the Art Deco Border – CO723738 from the same collection.
 I cut the Paddington lamp out of white cardstock and then separated the cut so that i had two pieces to work with. I coloured them separately using dark brown ink and left them to dry. The scroll part of the die was adhered to my other ATC card and dressed up simply with a couple of adhesive diamante.


I adhered the light part to my third ATC card with a halved portion of the Art deco border I stapled to the top of the card. Once the lamp part was set and well glued down I added some "Sepia" dimensional accents inside and left it to dry. Once it was dry it gave the look of old stained glass.
 I think this Art deco border die must be one of my favourite and most versatile dies ever!
and one more detailed image....

And here's a quick access link to all the wonderful dies I used!
Thank you for stopping by - remember to like us on Facebook and visit the blog to see what the other design team girls do with all the wonderful products available from Couture Creations! 


Step x step Chalk Watercolours Using Memento Luxe Ink Pads.

I am an inky girl at heart – and I say that lightly because I don’t throw every ink I own onto a sheet of paper and call it good. I use my inks to carefully create accents and backgrounds and elements that enhances my design rather than distract from the focal point. Imagine my excitement when I got to play with an old new favourite ink. The Memento Luxe ink pads.

Memento Luxe ink pads is a chalk like pigment ink

  • It’s a really wet ink and gives the most amazing effects when stamp with
  • It can be used on porous surfaces like fabric and canvas and will be an amazing ink for mixed media projects
  • It is quite fast drying depending on the surface but can be heat set
  • It’s a great ink for techniques on all kinds of paper types and other surfaces: I tested it on glossy cardstock, glossy photo paper, smooth cardstock, matt cardstock, ribbon, paper and silk flowers and fabric and I loved all the different effects I could achieve
  • Because it is a pigment ink and will stay wet for a while, you can also emboss it
  • This ink also surprisingly loves water, and I could ink a surface and splat it with water and it would create beautiful water drops
 And here’s my little project I did to show case the versatility of this ink
I used the ink in 3 different colours to create my card. I combined Teal Zeal (blue) and Rich Cocao (brown) together to create a background. And then added Angel pink (pink) as an accent colour. To create your background

 Press the ink pads directly onto your craft sheet so that some of the ink transfers onto the sheet. I did blue at the top and then below it my brown. TIP: leave a small space between the ink colours and do not overlap the inks to avoid contamination
 Mist the ink with water until the ink starts to lift and mix with the water on the craft sheet
 Dip your cardstock into the ink and press lightly with your hands on top of the ink. Do not rub or drag the paper across the ink on the craft sheet. By pressing the cardstock you simply transfer the ink onto the cardstock upwards
 Leave the ink to dry and then die-cut a tree out of the side of the background piece. I used a strip of washi tape to hold my die in place while cutting
 Ink a sentiment stamp using the Rich cocoa ink pad and stamp the sentiment next to the tree – on my inked background my ink was dry instantly once stamped
 Die cut another tree out of matt white cardstock. Use the pink Luxe ink and ink the entire tree by lightly pressing the ink pad onto the tree until it is fully coloured
 While the ink is still wet add a layer of clear embossing powder. Work on a scrap piece of paper to avoid getting the powder stuck onto your surface, and then return the excess powder back into the container

Heat set the embossing powder. You can repeat this step again. Leave the powder to cool down, then ink the tree again with the same pink ink and add clear embossing powder. Heat set and let it cool down.
  • TIP: when you emboss a second layer onto your tree like I did, you will see that the second layer of pink ink seems to float inside of the embossed layer – a neat effect when you re-ink again with the pigment ink pad in between embossing layers.
Once the embossing is cooled down, adhere the background to a folded card base, then adhere the embossed tree inside the cut out part on the background you created. A fun and playful effect using this gorgeous new ink range.

You are going to love this ink for so many reasons and the versatile applications – plus the 24 colours in the range will get the creative juices flowing.

Chiswick textured paper - perfect for embossing and die-cutting elements.

I am continuing to have good fun with the Chiswick range of cardstock and textured paper pad. The paper pad is really like cardstock with a beautiful linen finish and bright bold colours. So today I am sharing a card I made using the paper pad. I pulled out a few cardstock colours and embossed and die cut the papers to create the card. The papers cut and embossed like a dream on my Cuttlebug machine – and that’s what I wanted to test – how well can they strand the test of blind embossing and how smooth is the cutting edges? Perfect on both accounts!
I picked the navy blue cardstock as my background layer and embossed it with a nice dot embossing folder. As in some heavier papers I did not have to first mist it with water – the embossing folder worked nicely as is with crisp and deep embossing. The white core in the inside of the paper made it possible for me to sand the embossing afterwards adding to the distressed and worn look – just beautiful!
 Sanding tip: If you have a sanding block like mine, place it flat with the largest surface on the cardstock and lightly in a circular movement sand the cardstock – this way you will only touch the raised surface and not remove any more of the colour than anticipated.
I used a polaroid frame type die to cut the turquoise paper – the cut was clean and neat which i liked, and yet firm enough to be handled and manhandles at the same time!
 clean and simple cuts from this paper range!
 You can dress up the cardstock cuts with inking the edges and adding patterned papers inside to form a background onto which to add your focal point elements. I added a few additional elements to dress up my gorgeous coloured papers and cardstock.

Look out for your textured paper pads at your nearest craft store or visit www.chiswick.co.za for more information.

Until next time! have a wonderfully creative week!

Dressed Up Border Punch Card.

It really is all in the details when it comes to creating with paper and punches. Punches are amazing tools that can help you add the necessary details to any projects in the smallest and simplest of ways. They can stand along wonderfully and together with other elements they shine just as bright. So how do I dress up my plain border punches to add interest to a project?
For this card I have found my new favourite border punch (sounds familiar right) – well I really have. The humble border punch filled with lots of little circles. Perfect in every way!
For my patterned paper I used the Kaisercraft Bow & Arrow range of papers that worked perfectly with my design.
Step 1 - I used the punch to punch a border from salmon pink cardstock and a brown patterned paper.
Step 2 - I then aligned the punched strips off-set from each other so that the pink would show through the back of the brown strip layered on top and adhere it to the background of my card.
Step 3 - I made small pierced holes using my Couture Creations paper piercer and sewed small pink seed beads to the inside of the punched circles using the pilot holes I made. I also added some thin gold straight stitches to the card from one hole to another connecting the punched circles to each other.
Although not that visible on the card – I truly adds the most beautiful texture and dimension in a subtle way to my punched border. It just goes to show, that the simplest of details really can made a difference to those everyday punched borders – making your basic tools more functional.
Products used

Chiswick Cardstock – budget friendly table center pieces.

This week I am playing with the super cool range of Chiswick cardstock. Have you seen this range? It comes in a huge range of colours in a gorgeous soft textured weave perfect for all my crafting needs – and perfect for any budget. So to showcase how versatile their range of cardstocks can be in any crafters’ life I am posting a set of projects here on the blog this week, starting with a cute centre piece I made. I was commissioned to make some table center pieces for a party and came up with this budget friendly center piece idea using two colours of cardstock in a fun and easy to make pin wheel. These are super easy to make and by combining the two colours of cardstock you can achieve a colourful feast for the eyes that young and old will enjoy.
 
To house my windmills I used the cute little ice-cream cups i found at my local grocery store just above the ice-cream fridge. I almost missed them – but luckily those coloured stripes attracted my attention and i could see the possibilities a mile away! you know what I am talking about right? To add some finish g touches I used bakers twine in matching colours and wrapped it around the cup tied into a knot. The windmill is grounded in a piece of foam and covered with green moss and a few decorative pins.
I love how quick and easy this project was!
be sure to check out the entire range of cardstock colours over at www.chiswick.co.za
and don’t miss the equally popular paper pad  – together they make an amazing team of basics.
If you have any queries don’t hesitate to contact Denise 031- 569 5673 or visit www.chiswick.co.za
I will be back later this week with more great ideas on using this cardstock range – happy crafting!
And here’s a direct link to the wonderful products I used for my windmill project!
Textured c/stck 216g 12x12" Alma sb5260
Paper Pad sb1000
Craft Guillotine - 8.5" pct808

Die Cut Layers for a quick and easy card.

Welcome to another post at the Couture Creations blog!
I love layers of late using my die-cuts. The challenge is to not find dies that would match perfectly but dies that would otherwise not match so perfectly.
So for today i didn't do any spectacular techniques but rather played with simple die cuts using some of my pretty scrap papers. We all have so many scraps left from other projects and die cuts are perfect to use those pretty papers and not let them go to waste.
I combined two lovely dies together - the Fancy frame from the Metricon collection and the Splendour Doily from the Treasures Lace die collection.

I added some simple elements for this quick card - layered silk and paper flowers combined with diamante and rub-ons.
step 1 - Cut the Splendour doily using patterned paper. Use your quick release paper to make sure that the cut is clean and releases easily.
step 2 - Cut the Fancy Frame from red cardstock scrap. For this die you want to definitely use the quick release paper - with all it's small and delicate pieces it can be tricky to remove it without using this handy product.
step 3 - My patterned paper had a grey distressed look. So it turned over the center part and stamped my sentiment onto it to use back in the center of my doily cut.
I assembled my card by adhering the doily to the front of my card, then adhering the fancy frame part and then using foam tape to adhere the center stamped sentiment part on top of everything.
I love that i can make a ten minute card using beautiful products that make a statement - like these two beautiful die cuts. And best of all i get to use my scraps that i love so much!

These are the products i used for my card
Fancy frame  – CO723746 
Double sided foam tape
remember to like us on Facebook and to visit the blog to see the other wonderful designs the design team are making with the Metricon and Treasures collections of dies.



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