New Class Programme

The new class programme is out with all of your favourites such as cardmaking, scrapbooking, knitting, crochet, parchment craft and sewing plus new for this term, classes with Alcohol Markers!

To download the new class programme for Spring 2014, just click on the link below:

Class Leaflet Spring 2014

Super deals on Spectrum Noir Pens!

The Spectrum Noir stock has arrived and we are pleased to offer you a great deal on  the Spectrum Noir pens!

Buy any three sets of Spectrum Noir Pens and a DVD for only £20.00! This saves you over £15.00 on the full retail price!

Don't forget that for a limited time we are also offering free postage on craft mail orders within the UK on orders over £25.00

Coming Soon! Spectrum Noir!

We are really excited to be stocking Spectrum Noir pens and DVD's, our stock will be arriving in about 10 days time and we will be running a really special promotion so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for big special offers in store and by mail order!

For more information about Spectrum Noir, why not check out www.spectrumnoir.com

Using vellum in layouts

 Today we made this double page spread in class using vellum to add texture and colour. Below are the instructions on how to create the layout.

Take the pale blue 12x12 and mark half of the page into 1 inch squares. Do this very lightly so that the lines are very pale.

 Cut 5 circles and 2 half circles from pink card, do the same for the green card. Cut 5 half circles and 2 quarter circles from purple card. Also cut 18 circles from the patterned vellum. (The circles are 2 inches across)

Place a vellum circle on the embossing grid and emboss a row of dots around half of the circle.

This is what the circle will look like when it is finished. Decorate all of the circles in this way.

Lay a strip of double-sided tape across the second row of boxes. Stick on 6 vellum circles using the grid as a guide. The dots should be showing at the top of the circle.
Put a strip of double-sided tape across the next row of boxes. Add the pink circles, starting and ending with a half circle.

Add another row of vellum circles and the green circles in the same way.

Add the final row of vellum circles and finally the purple half and quarter circles. You will need to put the double-sided tape on the back of the purple card rather than the page this time.

Cut 2   1 inch strips of card in pink, purple and purple. If you have the kit from Stoke Gallery, these have been cut for you.

Use magic tape on the back to stick the strips to the 6x12 inch piece of pale blue, this will create another 12x12 page.

Mark half an inch in from the edge of a pink piece of card and make a pencil line. Use a 1 inch punch to cut 12 half circles. Repeat for the green and purple card.

Glue the half circles along the top of the lowest 3 strips so that they look like they are scalloped.

This is what it will look like when it is done.

Punch 8 half circles in vellum and decorate as before.

Add the vellum half circles along the top of the strips with small pieces of double-sided tape.

Use a ruler to tear 3 strips, 1 inch wide, from the patterned vellum.

Stick a strip of vellum onto the layout, the bottom edge of the vellum should be 2 inches down from the top.

Journal with a white pen on a 1 inch strip of purple parchment. Journal near the bottom edge of the strip as the top edge will be covered up.

Stick the journalled strip on top of the first strip of vellum.

Add the last 2 strips of patterned vellum.

Add photos to finish!

Scrapbooking - Grey and Pink theme

 Here are the instructions to re-create the pages that we made in class on Saturday. I cut the 12x12 from Canford Paper so there were enough offcuts left over to make this into a double page spread.

Cut a 3 1/2 inch strip from the spotty 12x12. Cut this up into three pieces, a 2 /12 inch piece, a 3 inch piece and a 5 /12 inch piece. The bit that falls off the end isn't needed.

Stick the pieces onto the top of the 12x12 grey/brown page with a 1/2 inch gap between them. Because the decorative paper is double-sided you can flip the paper over to have different patterns showing. If you want to decorate the large rectangle (I used iris folding to decorate mine) I would suggest decorating it before you stick it to the page.

Cut another 3 1/2 inch strip from the spotty 12x12 and cut this into three pieces. Cut a 3 inch piece, a 2 1/2 inch piece and another 3 inch piece. The bit that falls off the end isn't needed.

Stick these pieces to the bottom edge of the 12x12 as shown, again leaving a 1/2 inch gap between the pieces on the left.

Stick the 6x4 piece of pink cardstock to the 12x12 as shown.

Cut a 4 inch strip from the spotty paper and cut this evenly into 3 inch pieces.

Stick one piece on the right hand side of the 12x12, in line with the plain pink card.The other 3 pieces will now be used to make the 2nd 12x12 page.

Stick together the 3 pieces of patterned card along with the piece of plain card that you have (which measures 3x4 inches) to make a border. Stick the border to the piece of grey/brown paper (which measures 12x8 inches) to make a new 12x12 page.
Place double-sided tape along the join and cover with silver-grey ribbon.

Cut a 3 inch circle from the pale pink card and a 3 1/2 inch circle from the darker pink card. Stick the circles together and then stick them onto the grey/brown paper. Cut out the circle shape again, leaving a small border showing around the pink circles.

Finish the main page by adding your decorated rectangle, the main photo which I cropped to 5 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches, a mini photo which I cropped to 2 x 3 1/2 inches and the circles. I stuck the circles on with sticky fixers and journalled in the space left with a white pen.

To finish the second page I cut around an extra photo and tucked the bottom edge just under the lip of the ribbon. I also added a large title which I made from leftovers of the patterned and plain card. Alternatively you could add a smaller title or maybe just the date and you would have room for more photos.

New Arrival - The Ebosser

The Ebosser has arrived at the Gallery and I've been able to have a play this week which has been really fun. It's just like the Cuttlebug in that it's easy to use but you can put A4 cardstock through which is a big bonus, especially for scrapbookers. The Ebosser plugs in to the mains and has a motor so there's no handle cranking to do and it has a safety feature which means it won't work if you put your hands inside. Another feature that I love is that if your 'sandwich' is too thick, the machine won't accept it so you know that something isn't quite right. One last thing, the booklet that comes with it is amazingly clear and useful, I think I will be separating the pages of ours and having them laminated.

I made this card with one of the A4 embossing folders which is really quick and easy to use, it really does make a card in one step. I folded the pearlised card along the lines when it came out of the machine and gave it a small trim at the top and bottom. Then I added punched flowers and butterflies to the design to highlight the embossing. The butterflies were punched out twice, I have 2 butterflies stacked together in each position with foam pads between the wings to give them lift.

In the middle of the card I made a slit at each side to poke the ribbon through, this ties the card shut. To cover the ribbon I embossed a scalloped design from Darice on baby blue and cut it out around the scalloped edge. Then I embossed another of the same design on white but cut further in this time so that they layer together nicely. The inside is finished off with some tiny daisies from a plier punch.

This card I made with the Cuttlebug and I embossed some Colorcore card with the stars background, which I then sanded to reveal the lighter colour inside. The decoupage design is from some Emma Ball giftwrap which has just arrived at the shop. As soon as I saw it I knew it was perfect for the bright and jolly card I had in mind!

Scrapbooking - 'Pick a colour'

Today we tried out lots of different techniques in class. A tutorial for the page can be found below. Many thanks to Rosemary for allowing me to take photos of her work for the step-by-steps!

Measure out the 12x12 into the sections on the chart. If you have the Stoke Gallery kit this has been done for you. Cut along the lines to separate the page into 9 pieces.

 Emboss the top left piece of card (in class we used the cuttlebug) and sand back the surface to reveal the inner colour of the Colorcore card.

Repeat with the piece of card from the top right corner. We used a different stencil to give a different look.

The piece from the bottom left corner needs to be stamped, you can use a similar colour to give a soft look, or something with more of a contrast if you want your stamping to be more visible.

The 3 inch square of card from the top row should be inked around the edge and use a fine felt tip to 'stitch' around the edge.

The rectangle from the top row has layers of plain card matted and layered to give a framed effect. You can use 3 or 4 layers, they measure 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches, 3 x 2 inches, 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches and 2 x 1 inch.

The large centre square is stencilled with oil pastel and a stencil brush. Lay the stencil on the square, you may want to hold it in place with low tack tape. Rub some of the oil pastel onto a plate and swirl the stencil brush round and round in the paint to pick it up on the brush. Stencil the paint over the stencil in a circular motion and you will see the colour transferring to the card. The more you work, the darker the colour will be. Remove the stencil when you have finished.

The piece of card below the stencilled square is going to be painted. If you have the kit and you don't have acrylic paint at home, you can call in and borrow some from the gallery classroom.
Choose 3 colours, or choose 2 and mix them together to create a third, and paint them onto the card in dabs or stripes. I didn't bother to clean my brush between colours so I had more variation in my painted dabs.

Punch or cut shapes from patterned paper and stick them to the piece of card from the bottom right hand corner.

The small piece of card that is left is to be stitched on. Rosemary and I both stitched a lattice design but some of the students made a small cross stitch in each corner which looked just as effective.

 Stick the pieces back together using magic tape on the back side of the card. Leave the 2 pieces on the left unstuck for now so that you can punch a row of holes down each side of the gap with a cropadile or small hole punch.
We measured 1/2 an inch in and made marks every inch down the line to mark the position of the holes.

Now you can stick the final pieces together with magic tape and lace through the holes with 75cm of ribbon.
Stick on your photo and you're done!
Again, many thanks to Rosemary for the loan of her page!