Product Giveaway

*** Closed due to lack of interest ***

 

March marks the end of my design team term with Couture Creations. It was a fantastic experience with great opportunities so rather than be sad about the term ending I want to celebrate it. Couture Creations was a very generous company to be involved in and now that I have completed all my required projects I thought I would pass along some of their terrific products to share the fun. All the paper packs are brand new and still in their plastic, the embossing folders and dies have been used a couple of times only.

 

 

The main prize consists of:

- Vintage Rose Garden 12" x 12" paper pad

- 20 sheets of Black Magic Potion No. 9 Core'dinations Cardstock

- Bold Bouquet ornamental lace die from Floral Lace Collection

- Nativity Scene intricutz die from Merry Little Christmas Collection

- Devonshire Lady and Gentleman intricutz dies from Glamour Days Collection

- 1950's Albert and Simonetta intricutz dies from Glamour Days Collection

- Panama Branch decorative die from Secret Treasures Collection

- Tabbed Journal Tab decorative dies from Secret Treasures Collection

- Polaroid Frame decorative die from Secret Treasures Collection

- Cog Border intricutz die from Metricon Collection

- Only One embossing folder from The Marriot Collection

- Large Wire Barbs embossing folder from The Marriot Collection

- Great Lazy Days embossing folder from The Marriot Collection

- 3D Foam Strips

 

What can you create with these products? Here are a few examples of some of the different die-cuts in previous projects I created with them.

 

 

Here is a closer look at the embossing folder patterns too.

 

Due to postage costs, the main prize is only available to Australian residents.

 

 

 

I also have a small international/2nd prize consisting of:

- Vintage Rose Garden 6" x 6" paper pad

- Paris embossing folder from The Ambassador Collection

- Babette embossing folder from The Marriot Collection

- Siblings intricutz dies from Metricon Collection

- Discover decorative die from The Van Roe Collection

- Aztec Gold Glitzin' Glamour

 

How to enter:

1/ You must be a follower of my blog: Blogger, Bloglovin', Networked Blogs, Google reader etc.

2/ You must share details of the giveaway publicly, such as on your blog, facebook, instagram etc.

3/ Leave me a comment stating how you are following me, how you have shared it and which country you live in. 

 

Competition will run all through March and I'll announce the winner in early April.

 

 

I made the Couture Creations Design Team!

 

I cannot tell you how excited and surprised I am to be able to announce I have been named as part of the 2014 design team for Couture Creations! You can see the official announcement here. If you're interested in details of the full team, here it is:

 

Couture Creations 2014 Design Team

 Adriana Bolzon

Amanda-Jayne Baldwin

Joanne Piccirilli

Jowilna Nolte

Lauren Tomecek

Lesa Bird

Mel Connell

Patricia Basson

Sue Smyth

Tina Connolly

Tracey Cooley (Special Projects)

Kerrie Gurney (Design Team Coordinator)

 

I have just checked out all the other ladies' blogs and they are an amazingly talented team. I am certainly in awe of the projects they created for the DT call. My term officially starts in April so look forward to seeing more projects from me then. :)

Couture Creations Design Team Application Round 2

I can hardly believe it, but I have made it through to Round 2 of the DT call for Couture Creations! This round required participants to create a new project using Couture Creations embossing folders and dies, with an optional bonus requirement to use Core'dinations Cardstock too. 

I have taken the opportunity to create a motivational canvas to go up in my new craft room.

Because Couture Creations have fantastic step-by-step tutorials on their blog and in their Creative Inspiration Magazine part of this round is also to create a walk through of the project's creation.

Prepare the Background

1/ If necessary, prepare your canvas by giving it a coating of gesso. Lots of canvases now come pre-primed so you might be able to skip this step.

2/ Paint the canvas. This is an optional step and depends on your end plans. I chose to paint mine because I'm a bit haphazard when it comes to layering my background paper and I don't white spots showing through. I think it also gives a more finished look to have a painted edge to the canvas. 

3/ Cover your canvas in scraps of paper. It's up to you whether you want to cover the while thing or just cover sections of it. I like the effect of having the rough torn edges showing through and a bit of a haphazard design.

4/ Create a gesso wash by mixing gesso and water, then cover the whole canvas with this. I have found it's better to make a more watery wash as you can always build up successive layers if you decide you want a whiter finish but it can be hard to dilute down once the paint in on your paper if you start too thick. This wash also helps seal all the paper to your canvas.

Put the canvas aside to dry.

Making the Doll

5/ Sketch out your paper doll shape. I have only drawn the left side of mine along a folded piece of paper because I like to have symmetrical dolls, this is up to you of course. The legs have been done as a seperate piece so I can change the height of the doll and also to add the paper lace under the skirt.

6/ Cut out the relevant sections of the doll to paper piece your doll together. As you can see, I slowly cut my paper model down to suit each section I need.

7/ This is the section where the magic happens! I have used the fantastic Core'dinations Cardstock for the dress, which is black on top with a coloured core and underside. I ran it through the Trellis embossing folder to give it a beautiful floral pattern, which is then further brought out by lightly rubbing the paper with a sanding block. Make sure you think carefully about the way you put your paper into the embossing folder so the pattern ends up raised and not debossed, unless that is the effect you're going for of course. I also ran an offcut of the cardstock through with the Blossom Yarn doily die from the Royal Jewels Collection, which I will use as a lace trim to the skirt.

8/ Stick your doll together. Add additional embellishments if you desire. I ended up adding a sparkly bling for a belt buckle after taking this photo.

Decorate the Background

9/ Place your doll and any embellishments/quotes on the layout WITHOUT gluing them down. This is so you can play around with placement until you find one you like and then decorate around those areas. You can see I have also added a couple of extra dollies (Ivy set of die cuts from the Fantastia Collection) cut from dress-pattern paper to the canvas for some added texture too.

10/ Go crazy creating your background! Yes, these is a big difference between the last step and this one but the fun part about creating these backgrounds is that there is no right or wrong approach here so do whatever you feel comfortable. If you don't like it, just add something else over the top. If you want so ideas for what you can do here are the techniques I used:

• Add some washi tape strips;
• Apply texture paste thickly in one area, spray an embossing folding with water or GlimmerMist and then press firmly into the paste. I have used the Celebrate folder from the Elegance Collection in the bottom left corner (bottom right close up photo). This technique takes a bit of practice;
• Gesso over a template or two;
• Use of couple of different coloured Gelatos around the border and blend this in to the middle;
• Stamp circles onto the canvas using toilet rolls and bottle lids;
• Flick mist or watered down paint over the canvas;
• Stamp an image around the edge of the border. I found the unmounted clear stamps work best as you don't need complete images for this effect.

11/ Glue on all the embellishments to the canvas: doll, quote, flowers, metal trim.

12/ Paint on the hair and you're done! :)

I'll leave you with some close ups of the canvas, including the quote I've used: "Live with purpose, Love with passion, Laugh with pleasure". If this tutorial inspires you to create your own canvas I would love to be able to look at your finished work.

If you're interested in finding out more about Couture Creations products, projects and give aways why not like their page on Facebook?

Couture Creations 2014 Design Team Audition

Couture Creations is an amazing scrapbook company who specialise in decorative dies and embossing folders, as well as lots of hand tools and other accessories. They are currently having a DT call and I figured you have to be in it to win it, so here is my entry.

First up we have a birthday card with an embossed acetate panel. I then filled in the embossed part of the image with orange paint to highlight the design of the beautiful Trellis folder from the Serenity Collection.

 

This tag uses the Blossom Yarn doily die from the Royal Jewels Collection. I loved this die and it creates a stunning shape but it used to take me so long to clean up all the little holes so I would only use it occasionally. That all changed when I discovered the benefits of Couture Creations ejection foam sheets while at an expo. Using these sheets makes pressing out detailed die cuts a breeze.

 

This tag and card set feature the beautiful Ivy set of die cuts from the Fantastia Collection. Again, they are so quick and easy to create using the ejection foam sheets.

 

 This Valentines Day card has used a letterpress effect with the Party Time embossing folder, so the ink is applied to the folder itself prior to running the card through the embossing machine. A doily from the Ivy set of die cuts from the Fantastia Collection is the perfect embellishment to ground the card and some Gem Stones give the project a finishing touch.

 

Lastly, an example of how an embossing folder can perk up an otherwise plain photo mat in a scrapbooking layout.