The Crafty Pad: March 2010

Sunday, 28 March 2010

Challenge 64 and new Releases of Anna

As you know my new releases of Anna are out and available in clear and digi stamps...HERE Please do go and check them out if you haven't already. ;) :)

Did everyone remember to put their clocks back last night? Brighter nights coming - yayyy. :) :)

The challenge this week is - British Summer Time begins today and it is Palm Sunday -

so lets see the colours yellow, orange and green on your projects.

The prize shall be 1 week GDT and a Crafty Pad digi stamp

that the DT shall be working with too. :) :)

If you use a Crafty Pad stamp then your name is entered twice.

If you do not use a Crafty Pad stamp then your name is entered once.

Please give a lovely warm welcome to Marianne
who is our GDT this week. :) :) :)

The DT ladies have been working hard again and creating beautiful things for your inspiration -

hope you enjoy their work. :) :)

Marianne has created this beautiful card -

so fresh and cheerful

Suzi has made these wonderful napkin ring holders -

aren't they just gorgeous. You can imagine them on a beautifully laid table.

Maxine has made this beautiful cheerful card

Pat has made this beautiful plant holder -
perfect for a gift

Rozzy has made this beautiful card -
lovely vibrant colours to cheer you up

Ester has made this beautiful card and
added flower soft to enchance the whole look

Debbie has altered a CD and made it into a wall hanging -

the whole CD looks like the centre of a flower

All projects have been created using The Crafty Pad
Butterflies and Verse set - available in both
clear and digi stamps - HERE

All entries to be in by Saturday 8PM GMT.

Please do go and visit the personal blogs of all the DT & GDT's (links are in the side bar)
You will find all the information on how they created their examples. :)

All email entries - please email me and I shall post up
your entry here. :)

Here is an email entry from Joani -
what a fabulous cheerful card. Great use of Roshell and Chickie.
Love that big orange button..:) :)
The whole design is great - thanks Joani - good luck in the draw.

Here is another email entry from Janeta - what a beautiful card. :)
Love the prymage - very effective. :) Fabulous Easter card.

Thanks for entering it Janeta - good luck in the draw. :)

Look forward to seeing all your entries. :)

xxThe Crafty Pad Teamxx

Challenge 63 winner

Thank you for your enteries last week - only 4, but thoroughly enjoyed visiting your blogs and seeing your creations.
I appreciate that you can join in every week and that we can all get very busy. :) :) :)

The winner this week is Pinky - can you please email me Pinky with confirmation of your GDT spot with us.
Here is Pinky's stunning card - she followed Rozzy tutorial to make her stunning butterfly, but used glitter instead of beadazzles.

isn't that Butterfly just amazing?

I just want to reach into the photograph and touch it...lol

This card will also be in the spotlight because it is totally gorgeous. :)

Tracey - lalkygirl, Suzi and Joani please email me too

and you may choose whatever digi image you like

and I will send it to you. Just a wee thank you

for entering our challenge. :) :)

Sunday, 21 March 2010

Rozzy Tutorial for Beautiful Butterflies

This is a tutorial on how I have made the largest of the decorated Butterflies on the recent Mother's Day Basket, I have also used this one to make a card for my DT project this week following the Sketch below. For these you will need the following….

The 4 sizes of Butterflies from the Crafty Pad Butterfly Stamp Set.
Card to stamp on to, preferably thin white, coated cardstock.
Acrylic Block for stamping.
Ink Pad in black or dark brown. I have used Memento, as I will be colouring with Promarkers.
Colouring Pens/pencils….. I have chosen three colours of Promarkers, but this is entirely up to you which you choose. I haven chosen, Cocoa for the Butterfly's body and Meadow Green along with Cool Aqua for the wings.
Scissors or craft knife.
Ranger Glossy Accents or similar, like Diamond Glaze.
A small cheap Paintbrush.
Ranger's Beadazzles… For this example I have chosen 'Electric Blue' and 'Disco Ball'.
Tray for collecting the loose beads… they get everywhere!
Adhesive flat backed black beads or pearls in small and large sizes.
4" piece of florists wire or similar for the Antenna.
Silicone Glue or Similar …….. you can use 3D foam pads but the result is not quite as good.
Double Sided Tape

For each completed butterfly you need to stamp out two of each size butterfly onto suitable cardstock.

(If you want smaller butterflies, you wont need to use as many layers).

Colour in with markers or pencils.

Then paint over each butterfly with a thin layer of glossy accents. Leave to dry flat.

Don't worry about going over the edge with the glossy accents as once the butterflies are dry you need to cut them out carefully around the outline… it is safe to cut off the antennae as this will not be used on this project.

When dry, curl the wings using the handle of the paintbrush

Separate into two piles containing one of each of the four sizes of Butterflies.

Take one pile of butterflies and carefully paint the edges of the larger sizes, one at a time with the Glossy Accents again.
Whilst wet, sprinkle over the Beadazzles over the tray and leave to dry.
The smallest of the butterflies can be completely covered in Glossy Accents and then covered with the Beadazzles, but be careful not to coat the body of the butterfly.

This is what they should look like.....

When fully dry, pair up using the other pile of butterflies and place the one without the beads underneath each beaded butterfly.

Using some silicone glue to give the paired wings height, add the glue to the wings close to the body. Leave aside to dry.

Then assemble all the paired butterflies on top of each other, the smallest on the top, using a thin layer of silicone glue. Press the body flat and adhere the flat backed beads/pearls along the body, starting with the largest at the head end.

When the butterfly is fully dry, bend the florists wire to form a pair of antennae and attach to the underside using some double-sided tape, making sure that it is laying flat. The butterfly is now ready to use on your project.

Below is my DT Project for this week over at The Crafty Pad. I have used my Butterfly as made above and made a card following the Sketch below, which is this week's challenge.

Papers are from K&Co and plain card is DCWV. Flowers are from Prima and all other embellishments are from stash.

These Butterflies do take a long while to make, but they are well worth it.

They are enjoyable to create and they look stunning. Glitter could be used in place of the Beadazzles if you wish.

I hope you have enjoyed this Tutorial

If you have got this far, thanks so much for staying with me and for reading all this. I hope you have found it useful…. This is my first ever tutorial, so I would be happy to receive any feedback… good or bad, or if you have found any different ways of creating similar I would love to hear from you and see any of your creations.

Hugs rozzy xx

This tutorial is really worth a try as the effect you get is stunning. Anyone who uses The Crafty Pad Butterflies and this tutorial please link back to us and you will get your creation in 'The spotlight'

xxThe Crafty Pad Teamxx

Challenge 63

Thank you everyone for all the fabulous entries in the last challenge - we had great fun visiting you all. :)

Thank you to the lovely Lou from Creative Craft World for sponsoring the last challenge. :) :)

Great News too to share with you all - my digi images are also being sold at

Card Making Downloads now. So you can buy the digis from The Crafty Pad Designs

or Card Making Downloads. :)

And have you seen the brand new releasese of Anna that are now available too -

click HERE to see them all. :)

Now to our challenge which is a sketch this week:-

The prize shall be 1 week GDT and a Crafty Pad Digi stamp

that the DT shall be working with too. :) :)

If you use a Crafty Pad stamp then your name is entered twice.

If you do not use a Crafty Pad stamp then your name is entered once.

Our GDT this week is the lovely Lou. Please give Lou a lovely warm welcome -

our pleasure to be working with you Lou. :)

We have some super stunning DT examples again this week and if that

was not enough we have another special treat from Rozzy who has

done a step by step tutorial for you all.......

you will love it and won't beable to wait to try it out. :) :)

Lou has made a few GDT cards for us this week -
to show many variations of this sketch and different stamps.
I unfortunately was unable to open some of the files - so
please pop along to Lou's blog and check out her fab creations. :)

Lou has used Snoozin' Albert & Just Ted Flower

Pat has made this stunning monochrome card

Maxine has made this wonderful card

Suzi has made this delightful easel card

Ester has made this lovely card

And last but certainly not least

we have the glorious butterfly card

from Rozzy - CLICK HERE FOR HER FAB TUTORIAL

All DT examples have been created using The Crafty Pad Stamp Designs butterflies - they are available in clear stamps or digi stamps HERE. :)

All entries to be in by Saturday 8PM GMT.

Please do go and visit the personal blogs of all the DT & GDT's (links are in the side bar)

You will find all the information on how they created their examples. :)

All email entries - please email me and I shall post up

your entry here. :)

Here is an email entry from Joani - thank you
Your card is gorgeous and I love your colouring around the trellis. :)

Look forward to seeing all your entries. :)

xxThe Crafty Pad Teamxx

Winner of Challenge 62

Thank you for all the wonderful entries - great to see so much inspiration. :)

Don't forget to check out the new challenge post for the new challenge and all the good news - new releases and new outlet for my digi stamps. :)

The winner this week is
.
.

Julie - trulyjulie

Congratulations Julie - please contact me with your addy details and I will get the beautiful prima flowers in the post for you - courtsey of Lou from Creative Craft World

Thanks again Lou for sponsoring us on this challenge. :)

xxThe Crafty Pad Teamxx

Sunday, 14 March 2010

Challenge 62 and a lovely sponsor

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE WONDERFUL MUMS -

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A LOVELY DAY.

A huge Thank you for all the wonderful entries in the last challenge - so nice visiting you all and seeing such wonderful inspiration out there. :)

Get yourself a cuppa and pull up a chair - you are really going to enjoy this post. :) :)

Lou of Creative Craft World is now going to be our monthly sponsor - she has put forward a great prize this week of some fabulous Prima Flowers (us crafters just can never have enough, can we? lol)

She has a wonderful craft site with everything you need right there. You can pre-order the brand new Prima's now and if you order 3 you will get the 4th free - now how is that for a great bargain. :)
Pop over to Creative Craft World and check it out. :)

Our challenge this week is:- Ovals and Ribbon -
please use at least one oval and 2 ribbons on your project.
This is a great challenge for regular or Easter projects.

If you use a Crafty Pad stamp then your name is entered twice.
If you do not use a Crafty Pad stamp then your name is entered once.

Please give a lovely warm welcome to our GDT this week -
Debs from handcrafted especially for you. Great to work with you Debs - your work is gorgeous. :)

Now I know every week I say that we have some great inspiration for you - but this week my extremely talented DT girls have really excelled themselves again. :) I don't know how they do it - obviously one very talented, creative bunch I have working with me. And I am very lucky to have them. :)

Just feast your eyes on the examples below:-

Debs has made this beautiful card and mini egg pouch..Mmmmm