Wednesday 31 March 2010

SEW SIMPLE SET

Good morning, its Karen here for you today!  I have been in sewing mode for this project and LOVED it hahaha!  I have been working with a fantastic new set called 'Sew Simple' and made up a picture/canvas for you with the large set.


You can really go to town on this lot or you can just colour them up.  They would be brilliant for scrapbooking as they are a good size for 12x12 papers.  I turned my canvas round and after painting the edges gold I rummaged through my pattern stock & covered it with old pattern instructions.  Then I sprayed over with Cosmic shimmer mists.  A bit of lace & an old tape measure completed the canvas ready for the bits to go on top!  I have so many bits of fabric (and got a bit confused) that in the end I used my Fiskarette scissors for inspiration on colour combos hahahahaha!

The Dress Form - I attacked the base with various mediums till I got the look I wanted...couldn't tell you what I used if I tried hahaha.  Then I padded out the top to make hips & boobs and covered the lot with fabric, pulling it taught as I went.  Couldn't quite get the waist in though, sorry!  I had a paper measure from a cracker in my stash so cut it in half lengthways & hung it round the neck!

The sewing machine - I made a table out of lolly sticks and treated it the same as the dressform base before sticking it inside the frame.  The machine was painted with gesso then Distress Ink's (old paper) added.  I used my own machine for inspiration for the decoration of this piece and am pretty pleased with how it turned out!

The scissors - I basically copied my Fiskarette scissors for these and then hung them on a little hook!

The cotton reel - this was 'battered' as before and embroidery thread wrapped round.  I added a needle & thread to it before sticking it on.

A banner & sign was added to finish it all off.  Hope you like what I have done as I had soo much fun with this.  Thank you for looking today, HUGS XXX

Tuesday 30 March 2010

6 x 6 Ring Binder

Hi it's Kaz again, finally with another project to show! I've been working for the last few weeks on one of the Ring Binders. I opted for the 6 x 6 inch folder which comes with a whiteboard cover and 8 chipboard pages.


I wanted to make a folder for my sister and her family that showed the early weeks of their puppy's life, using photos from the breeder and ones I have taken.

The front cover had a really good bashing from me as I took a while to get what I was happy with and, as Carol and Joanne discovered, it can take it!! To start with I put Distress Inkpads onto a board and sprayed water on them, then dunked the cover in. It didn't get the coverage I was after as I think it's a bit too big for this to work. Next I applied the DI's using foam, but again, it wasn't quite what I was after - I think I must be very fussy! I then applied gesso over the cover and once dry, gave it a bit of a rub with fine sandpaper to get rid of some obvious brushmarks. I then put a circular mask over the front and sprayed using Glimmer Mists, then did a bit of doodling. You really wouldn't know the battering the folder went through to get to where it is as it still looks in great condition!


I've added a photo, grungeboard letters and die-cut flowers to the front and decorated the whole book with MME Pretty Please papers and Bazzill card.

For the inside covers, I simply painted a couple of coats of gesso and sprayed Glimmer Mists over a circle mask before doodling and adding photos.



As I used dimensional decorations inside, I used just 6 of the chipboard pages which leaves 2 for any other project. They are already hole punched so you could make wall hangings from them along the same lines.


I glued the patterned papers onto the pages and filed the edges to neaten them, then doodled and added photos and decorations.


I'm not a scrapbooker at all, so I used the same LO for all of the pages as it gives it uniformity.



I love this photo of Jess as she had just come back from a walk in the woods where she met some of her other puppy friends and they had a great time! She is a very good girl and knows to sit to have her paws wiped. On this occasion, she needed just a little bit more than paws! I thought this was a good last page as it shows how she's settled in with her new family, where she it totally adored.


Kaz xxx

Monday 29 March 2010

Catchin' a wave

Hello, Joanne here - very excited to be joining the talented ladies on the Design Team and continuing the journey that Carol and I started with testing the white board shapes!

I have another piece of inchie jewellery to share with you today - a brooch made with the wavy inchie and an old CD (you know, the freebies that come with magazines etc).

I coated the inchie in Ferro paste, stuck on a strip of CD, stamped into the paste and then sponged on some Precious Metal paints once it had dried. I cut another piece of CD to make the base and took advantage of the edge of the circle to get a gentle curve on the base of the brooch. A couple of flat back gems and some teeny tiny nail art gems finish it off.

I've added details of the stamps and products used to my blog {here} if anyone would like them.

Thanks for stopping by for my first "proper" post!

Saturday 27 March 2010

Only 5 days left...........

Just to remind you.....you only have 5 days left to enter our March competition.....look for the link on the left at the top.

At the moment you have a REALLY GOOD chance of winning as we only have 2 entries LOL so....go on.....have a go.

Friday 26 March 2010

Exciting news................

I have some really exciting news to give you today.

As you know, Carol Plume and Joanne Allison have been doing some testing on our new white lined board as guest designers over the last few weeks.

I'm sure you'll agree that they have been producing some amazing pieces of art and, I for one, was so disappointed yesterday when it was their final blog post as I had really looked forward to their twice weekly creations.  They have introduced me to the most amazing products and have been truely inspirational.

Well, I am delighted to tell you that they have both agreed to stay on permanently on the Tando Creative design team.  They will be doing 1 or 2 projects each a month for us which is absolutely fabulous.

They will be joining our already incredibly talented team, Caroline Scattergood, Karen Gist, Kaz Boughton and Sharon Sim.

And if you're not getting enough of our amazing team here then why not pop on over to their blogs where you will find endless projects to admire and inspire.

Thursday 25 March 2010

Our last Technique Thursday...

Today sees the last of Joanne and Carol's technique's on white board....we have both enjoyed using the different pieces and using different products to see how well it performs and we hope that we've encouraged you to try your own techniques on some too...

So, today its a "Free for All" session:-

Here's Carol's piece:-

The base is the wavy edged arch and distress inks were applied direct to the board using a blending tool...several colours were used, but, kept separate rather than merged together. The lady stamp was then stamped ontop of the inks.....and her skirt coloured in using watered down distress ink...she was then masked off and the foliage stamp stamped over.....this was hi-lighted using a glitter pen...the edges of the arch were then daubed with gold acryllic and the woman coated with glossy accents.


Joanne has created this gorgeous piece:-


The base was coloured using adirondack dye inks and the text stamp stamped with the same ink. Along the bottom a layer of terra was applied and then heated until it bubbled, acyrllic paint was then used to hi-light the area. Beads, wire and stems were added and a gorgeous dragonfly added to finish off the piece. Pop on over to Joannes blog here for more information.

Thank You all for visiting our technique posts - we hope that we've inspired you to try the different shapes and techniques.

Please leave a comment if you've used any techniques and we'll pop on over and see what you've created.

Happy Crafting....

Wednesday 24 March 2010

KARENS FRAMES - PART 2

Hi, its Karen here with the 2nd lot of my frames!  These are fabby liitle frames as you can use them on any project to add an accent!  Here are the ones I used today...






For the Double Arch frame I just painted it with Distress Inks then spritzed with gold glimmer mists.  Its been mounted on a little recycled chocolate box that was already covered in gorgeous papers!  I added some leaves & roses and put the tiddly push out hearts onto wires.  Though they do look a bit like antennae hahaa



I did the same treatment on the 5 Hearts frame too but this time used it on a card...


Lastly comes the little Arch frame...I think this is my favourite!  I have embossed this one with gold and added it to a tealight holder, along with some white embossed stamped images...


If you would like more info on the stamps etc that I used then pop over to my blog soon!!!  Thank you for looking today, HUGS XXX

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Colour crazed

Carol and I thought it would be a shame to put the white board through its paces and not do something that specifically took advantage of the white surface! Although our earlier experiments with Distress Inks and spritzed colour took us in that direction, we set ourselves the explicit target of adding colour to the white surface rather than covering it in gunk this time!

Carol chose one of the arch shapes and combined with a wavy domino to make this lovely piece. Being an inky kind of gal, Carol coloured the arch by using a Versamagic pad direct to the surface before overstamping various images in black. She wrapped a beaded wire around the arch and topped it off with a wavy domino covered using versafine and stamped then embossed with clear powder and matted onto some brown card.

I love the arty collage effect and the combination of the different chippie shapes looks great! Visit Carol's blog if you would like more details.

I also chose an arch but I seem to have a thing about turning them upside down! This wavy arch made me think of a tulip (or perhaps I'm just hankering after spring!) so I combined with a tulip girl stamp and knowing that Carol wouldn't use Copics, I decided to go down that route so we got maximum variety!

I'm happy to report that the board performed well - it took a nice impression of a stamp that has lots of fine detail and the surface took the Copic ink nicely - it blended and it didn't bleed out of the stamped lines. I even tried a little airbrushing to get a soft fade of blue around her having masked her first - worked fine!

Here's a closer look at her face and hair so you can see how the ink took to the board. Details of stamps and supplies are here if anyone would like them.

Would you believe this is already week four of our experiments with the white board? That means we only have one project left to share with you so I hope you'll be able to join us on Thursday when Carol will be here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday 22 March 2010

Framed to perfection.

This is the gorgeous card that Caroline made for Mothers Day recently.....spot one of Karens Frames on there, absolutely fab.

The frame was simply inked a couple of times with a Dewdrop Inkpad but if you want to know more about how Caroline made this card then pop over the the Fiskarettes site.....the post is HERE.


Saturday 20 March 2010

Pretty in Pink......

Just take a look at this gorgeous Heart Wreath, Angela over at Angel Crafts has made this.  It is going to be one of our products she will be showcasing on her stand at the Hobbycraft Show in Glasgow in October so if you're going to the show do pop over and say hello to Angela.

Friday 19 March 2010

Fabricated binder......

Caroline has made this gorgeous fabric album by covering one of Tando's chippie 6" x 6" binders.  The cover is removable too which is fab.  Such inspiration!

Thursday 18 March 2010

Technique Thursday again...

and its "Ferro Feeling" today as Joanne and Carol are putting the white board thro' its paces with Viva Ferro.....

Ferro is a very grainy paste, quite heavy and moist - imagine the consistancy of cement.....

Joanne has created this gorgeous frame....

Four of the dominos have been adhered together and coated with the ferro - whilst still wet a stamp was pushed into the paste. When dry some metallic paint was used to hi-light the area. Gorgeous embellishments really make the piece truely gorgeous....pop over to Joannes blog for further instructions and list of stamps used.

Carol created:-

For this piece I've used the wavy bottomed arch. The tag was painted with acryllic paint and then ferro plastered onto the bottom, whilst wet a criss cross stamp was pushed into the paste (its best to spritz your stamp with water before pushing it into the paste and also clean the stamp immediately after!), once dry this was then rubbed over with gold acryllic and then black acryllic, wiping off most of the paint before it dried. The painted area was then stamped and the edges painted before stamped images and a key were added.

Board report:- once again the board withstood all moisture and paint without any distortion at all.

Thank You for looking at our techniques - Joanne will be back with you on Tuesday for the start of our last week.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Flourishing.....!

Just look at this gorgeous layout by Janice, the photos are fabulous aren't they.  You'll notice our Tando flourish in the bottom left hand corner that has been decorated perfectly to fit in with the layout.

You can find more of Janice's creations HERE


Tuesday 16 March 2010

Spritz blitz

Hello, Joanne here again with another couple of projects from me and Carol with the white board. We decided to use spritzed inks today.

Carol likes to subject her pieces to the full treatment so she had several goes at this one with her Glimmer Mists before getting a result she liked - the board seemed happy enough, despite the abuse!

This wavy edged arch is such a sophisticated shape and Carol's chosen the perfect stamps here. The rich colours and shimmer make me think of an expensive silk brocade fabric - gorgeous!

Carol's blogged a bit about the trials and tribulations of creating this piece here if you want more low down on what she subjected the board to!

I also chose one of the larger pieces today - the wavy tag. I turned it upside down and used the waves as a guide to punch a couple of hanging holes with a Crop-a-Dile though. I made "glimmer mist" with reinkers and Perfect Pearls in a mini mister and gave the board a good soaking. The fact that you're starting with a white surface means you get great colour vibrancy and depth.

Details of stamps and supplies are on my blog if anyone would like them.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you can join us again on Thursday when Carol will be here to show you some more white board projects.

Monday 15 March 2010

CHIPBOARD MINI BOOK - SQUARE


Hellooooo everyone!!!  I was sent this little square book to play with.  Like the OCTAGONAL BOOK, this one also has laminated pages inside.  But I wanted to think outside the box with this one so I put the covers to one side & just used the laminated pages.

I used wire & beads to link them together to form a hanger with pockets.  You just need to stick some paper inside each piece to make the pockets.  I have just popped some ATC's insde a few pockets to show you.  I like the idea that you can change picures etc around when you fancy a change!!!

Thank you for looking and don't forget the fabulouscompetition Tando have thismonth.  Take a look HERE for details on how to win a gorgeous selection of Tando Chipboard!!!  HUGS XXX

Thursday 11 March 2010

Thursday's Technique Tando

Today, we, Joanne and Carol, are using Viva Terra on our white board pieces.....

The best way to describe Viva's Terra is a coloured paste which is thick to apply, and when dry has a grit like feel to it - not to be confused with the Ferro paste which is grainy to apply - the texture is almost like fine pebble dash! Once again, the white board has stood up well - no warping or seperation and retained the colour of the paste.

Joanne has created this gorgeous jigsaw piece:-


the base of the jigsaw was coated with Terra and whilst still wet a crackle stamp was pushed into the paste, once dry black acryllic was painted over the top and then copper precious metal paint. The gorgeous butterfly is made from metal and painted with turquoise precious metal paint, a copper wire suspends it from the piece. Pop on over to Joanne's blog for more details.

Carol has used the shaped arch piece this time:-

the arch was painted with the terra and left to dry - distress stickles were rubbed into the corners and along the side to add sheen, a cogs stamp was then stamped onto the piece.

Pop back again on Tuesday for some more techniques using the white board.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Feel the heat

Hello, Joanne here again to show you what Carol and I have been up to - a little triple embossing! We chose this technique to see how the new white coated board stands up to some heat. Even fairly substantial chipboard can warp with repeated application of heat and UTEE is unforgiving stuff if you flex a piece to flatten it out. The cracked glass look is fine if that's what you wanted but sometimes you just want it flat and flawless!

Carol's used another one of the jigsaw pieces to make this beautiful textured piece.

Two layers of clear cosmic shimmer embossing crystals were melted and then topped off with two blues and a red tone UTEE, remelted and then stamped while still molten.

This makes me think of weathered metal or a carved semi-precious stone like lapis lazuli - just gorgeous! More details of the materials Carol used are available here on her blog if you would like them.

I decided to go for a masculine monochrome look and did some sponging over masks and some layered stamping on two of the wavy twinchies to make a focal point for a card. The larger black clock at the bottom was stamped on the top layer of UTEE and covered in detail black embossing powder which was then melted into the surface so it "floats" slightly.


I then heated again and pressed a smaller clock stamp in to give a textured impression. The jump rings and Dewdrops are embedded in the hot UTEE and I filled the spaces between the twinchies with some Rock Candy crackle paint after sticking them to some black card. Full details of the stamps and materials I used are here on my blog if anyone would like them.

I'm happy to report that the board performed well here, no warping and a nice flat surface to stick to the card.

Thanks for visiting today. Carol will be here on Thursday with another couple of projects using another product on the white coated board, hope you can join us then!

Monday 8 March 2010

Janice's 21 retro card...

How different is this!  What a fab card Janice has made using her Photoshop skills to convert the photo of her son into this real retro style card.  The Tando Creative 21 today piece has been coloured brilliantly to match.

Hop along to Janice's blog HERE to see more of her work.


Sunday 7 March 2010

Don't forget........

.....our monthly competition to win some Tando Creative goodies.

All the details are HERE or look for the Monthly Competitions page top left.

Saturday 6 March 2010

Finlay's canvas

Sarah Jane has made this gorgeous canvas using our Tando Town chippie.  Do pop over to Sarah Jane's blog too, it's HERE.

This is what she said about it:
I love home made projects - especially ones that help personalise the space you live in. Finlay's room is all about blues, yellows, clouds etc - so as soon as I saw the house and scene chipboard I new I wanted to create a little canvas for his bedroom.


CANVAS2a
I first stuck some paper to an A4 canvas - and then I embellished it using the chipboard shapes. Chipboard takes paint really well - and for this project, I used water colour paints to give them their colour.
I really really enjoyed seeing it come to "life".. Finlay loves it too!!!
 
This canvas has also been featured on Bubbly Scrumptious HERE.

Friday 5 March 2010

Mum Heart with Flowers

Hello again, it's Kaz this time and I've been playing with this gorgeous hanging heart in the run up to Mother's Day.



I've covered the heart and the smallest flowers with MME papers and sanded the edges to make them smooth. I've painted all of the edges with white acrylic paint - it's really worth the effort it takes to give the chipboard a complete finish.

The medium flowers have been inked with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink (expect to see lots more with this colour it's gorgeous) and the larger flowers and Mum word have been inked with Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson.

I've added the hole at the bottom of the heart to hang one of the flowers from, then finished off with a heart charm and fancy bead caps for the flower centres.

Kaz xxx

Thursday 4 March 2010

Thursday and we're

"cracking up" today!! not literally, you understand - Today, Joanne and Carol are putting the white board thro' its paces with the fantastic viva croco crackling paint. This paint is exceptionally thick in consistancy and depending on how thick its layered depends on the deepness of the cracks it forms...

Joanne has created this gorgeous necklace..

The base is a wavy edged inchie which was coated with turquoise crocco and then to hi-light the cracks even more she has given the paint a coat of precious metal paint in blue Azure....pins were threaded with beads and left as "fidget" beads and secured to the bottom of the piece. A piece of pipe with cord threaded thro' finished off the piece. Gorgeous isn't it?

and Carol has used the jigsaw piece and created:-


I'll be honest here! this piece has had a fair amount of abuse, but, it hasn't shown any signs of being warped or mis-shaped in any way.....I first painted it and let it crack, then I decided to add some distress stickes, but, didn't like the effect so then re-painted it....as you can tell the board doesn't let on at all!! The cracks were hi-lighted using a gold dauber. A moo card covered with textured metal created the centre piece and the watch pieces at the top finished it off.


We will both be back next week with some more new shapes and some more techniques - hope you'll join us Tuesday.