Louise Sims Papercrafter

Edited to add: I have had problems with uploading photos and blogger in general and would like to apologise to the Pan Pastel DT for the lateness of this post showing. This is week 2 of "Use a stencil" for the Premium Craft Brands Pan Pastel Challenges and each of the DT have further inspiration using all the wonderful products. I decided that I really needed to tidy up properly the other day and with it being half term, I really had no excuse. Whilst tidying I came across several paper pads that were gathering dust ... not complete pads but the pads where you had several papers left in them because they were not your favourite and you really didn't know what to do with them pads! The papers were too good to go to "crafting heaven" but in the same breath, you just couldn't see you using them on a project. So my mission was to start using these papers .... somehow .... I struggle using green on my projects other than as an accent colour and in

Oh no my half term week is flying past rather too quickly for my liking and I still haven't finished all the tasks i set myself for this week. The main one and the hardest, is decorating my youngest son's bedroom! Trying to gauge what he would like from a grunt and "whatever","don't mind", "sounds good" has been very painful to say the least. He finally made a decision yesterday (aaaahhhhhhh) but that could be because I brought home this very gaudy purple, silver and lime green wallpaper .... it was obviously the incentive he needed! On to the crafty, sanity side ..... the theme this week over at Polka Doodle Challenges is "Sugar and Spice" and I decided to actually stick with the themes title and make a card to welcome a new baby girl. Well Spring is (allegedly) around the corner and the season of new arrivals ..... I have used a complete array of Polka Doodle yumminess of my card as had a definite idea in my head which I was

I was a very lucky person and have been sent a lot of wonderful products to play with from Dutch Doobadoo and am so in love with them, that it's my new "crush". They are going to be sold by Your Creativity Store and if you haven't seen them before, you need to go and investigate. The theme this week at Twisted Tuesday Challenges to make "anything but a card" with the added twist of adding chipboard to your project. I haven't used traditional chipboard on my project but delish softboard elements that are very similar to chipboard. For my project I have used the back piece of a frame .... the bit that holds your picture/photo in place and also becomes the stand (gosh, I hope that makes sense). Luckily I took a photo to show everyone what I meant if my explanation fell a little short! I have used papers from Kaiser Craft which I have layered and cut in to, creating my background. I added the softboard (chipboard) honeycomb to the side coloure

Whoops am a little late sharing my card with you all for my DT project over at Polka Doodles Challenges but am in "Half Term" mode I'm afraid. The theme this week is "Love/Romance" and the DT were asked to use the new " Dollie Daydream goes East" CD . Nikky packs so much on to her CDs and one area choker full is always the embellishment and sentiment sections. Nikky is also kind on us crafters who find that time can be against us as she always gives us coloured versions or black and white digi versions for all her images ... definite "phew" moment for me on many an occasion. For my project I have used the stunning flower arbour on bridge ... I simply adore this sentiment and just had to use it on my project. I have printed it our twice on to my chosen backing paper, mounted one of the sentiments and then cut a freehand heart shape using the other printed sentiment. I lightly inked the edges of the heart so it stood out a little.

For the new challenge over on Pan Pastels Challenges, the DT were asked to make an embellishment using a stencil and I have cheated a little by making a flower and probably not "pushed the boat out" as much as I could ..... don't tell Nikky! I used the ever so versatile 12"x12" dots with corners stencil on a gaudy, glittered yellow mulberry paper that I have had for eons. Using the corners, I covered the paper with gesso and let it dry. I have then used a labels die to cut out different layers from the gesso'd paper. For my background of my card, I used a piece of Teresa Collin's paper (precious scrap), dry brushed gesso on to it and once dry, tinted the edges with Hansa Yellow Tint pan pastel. I then die cut some border strips and have used my wax paper as a layer as it looks so delicate and it seemed such a waste to throw it away! The butterfly edging is a Tim Holtz die which I have embossed using the Barok Border stencil, coloured with Hansa y

This week over on the Premium Crafts Brand Pan Pastels Challenge blog , the DT were asked to add or use fabric on their projects, which at first was an "eeeekkkkkk" moment for me but then loads of ideas came flooding in to my head. I have an old white shirt that was too good to become a duster and I knew one day would be perfect for a project ...... well this week was the week! As I began getting all my "stuff" together it suddenly dawned on me that it would probably be advantageous to everyone, (especially crafters who were either unfamiliar with Premium Craft Brands or new to crafting, how I actually put the components of my project together), so with that in mind my DT make this week is not completed but a snap shot in to the "making process". At this point I am going to apologise for my photography skills because although I do work in a light and bright area, it was hard to photograph each stage using the best light (real and artificial) .... and i

I have become a real convert to stencils and masks and within my daily crafting find myself using them more and more. I appear to be reaching for them first over embossing folders solely due to their versatility as they can be placed anywhere on your project. This week over on Premium Craft Brands Pan Pastels Challenges , the DT were asked to showcase their love of stencils and I decided to try something different with mine. I have used the " Pink Flower " stencil for my focal point. I ran the stencil through my big shot to emboss the design on a piece of  canvas card. I then covered the raised areas with Versamark using a Versamark pen (so I could be a little more precise), finally covering latter with detail black embossing powder. It has really turned out bold and the main focal point, (which was what I was hoping for). I wanted to use a phrase sentiment on my card but didn't want it to stand out too much, hence it's placing. I then masked off an are