Surreal Creations retreat

Today I have the pleasure of teaching ladies at the Surreal creations retreat.  It was lovely at every fine detail.  The ladies were beautiful to teach and I hope I inspired them today.  The food... well don't get me started divine comes to the mind instantly!  Not to mention the absolutely stunning accommodation.

It was such a lovely retreat and I was sad to leave as I was just there to teach today.  It was a quieter smaller group and so I wanted to give the ladies something special as a memento for my class so last night I created these personalised tags that they could hang on their tote bags.  They were so much fun to create.  

                                      

I started with some Spellbinders Bezels - Triangles two and using the coordinating die I cut out some triangles out of Spellbinders  luminum Sheet.  I also die cut the smallest of the Hearts one die set as well.  I ran these through the Spellbinders Artisan Explorer with the grate works tow embossing plate.  I just LOVE this pattern.

Next I coloured up the embossed metal shapes with Tuskineko Gold metal StayzOn.  I also added a little purple colour with a Copic Marker.  I made up the bead charm using some beautiful beads and wire from Beadalon  and added that to the Bezel.  I also used the Beadalon  Jump ring mandrel which the lovely Julianna Hudgins shows me how to use at the Spellbinders Retreat.  The last step was to add the personalised chipboard alpha for each of the ladies names and fill the bezels with some Susan Lenart Kazmar Ice Resin.


When cured I added them to come hand made tags that had just a little spray with a stencil and some scripts stamping randomly.  Each tag had the words 'Dare to be the best you can ' 

Here are some pics from the day.

 Busy Busy teaching

The ladies of Surreal Creations Danni and Hailey

If you are looking for a fun retreat to attend definitely worth attending!  I know I will be in the future!

A tutorial and some Downunder shares full of Spellbinders goodness

I am sorry that the announcement for my giveaway is not yet up. I will have that up shortly.  In the mean time, I am here to share a little tutorial for creating some yummy embellishments using Spellbinders dies and metal.

Take some metal stamps and a piece of Spellbinders Aluminium sheet cut/embossed with S4-114 Standard Circles Small.

Using a hammer, stamp the letters for your sentiment onto the circle.

Add this piece layered on the tag with S5-181 Bracket Borders One, in two layers down the bottom teamed up with come cute My Minds Eye papers, and assorted buttons.  Finish it off with a little twine.

You can check out the full product list on the DownUnder site here 

Thanks for stopping by!  

xxxBeck BT

Downunder Direct share full of Spellbinders Goodness

Yes as promised here I am back again to share some more inspiration for you 10 projects in fact!  I have been busy creating lots of projects for the Downunder inspiration blog that I thought I would share some today on my blog.  Hope you like what I have been creating and find something that inspires you to create as well.

I am going to kick off this large share with a little tutorial for a birthday card to show you how to create the perfect coloured frame to the edge of your die cuts.

Start off with the die template here I used Classic Rectangles large (S4-132) #4 die template.

 I took the Dark brown chalk and inked up the die template.

 I first cut out the feature element I wanted to keep in tact (the cake)

 I then placed the inked up die template where I wanted it to cut and stuck in in place with some tape.

 I cut/embossed the paper using the Grand Callibur Machine and die template, transferring the ink to the paper.

 As I removed the paper from the die template it has a beautiful colour frame to help it stand out.  I added some dimension behind the piece as well as the cake for some added impact.  I finished off the card with some die cut Spellbinders Sprightly sprockets.  The perfect male card for my brother that was turning 40.

 Here are a number of other projects I have been creating...

I really enjoyed playing around with the background on this layout.  The whole layout was made using white cardstock although you'd never know it!  Even the brown was coloured using some distress stain!  I added sprays and splatters of colour.  I also used some fun mixed media on this one with texture paste, gesso, metallic melts sealer and tea leaves.  I also created most of the embellishments on this page from the frames to the flowers using Spellbinders dies.  I only added a little lace and twine!

I just love how easily this card comes together with Spellbinders Exquisite labels eleven.  I teamed it up with Spellbinders Carnation Creations, it took me a little time to create them, but how pretty are they!

 Oh how much fun I had with the background on this one.... layers of Tsukineko/Imagine Crafts fireworks and goosebumps teamed up with some stamping and stencilling.  Love how the circles in the various dies I used, work well together on this one.

 Spellbinders gold technology is AMAZING!  I just love that I can letterpress AND emboss all at the same time!  Love the vintage look it gave this card.

I love how simply embossing the cardstock can create more interest to a card as done on this card.

I love the pretty colours of this one.  I added some embossed metal into the hat pin and coloured it with copics to get that beautiful effect.  

  

 The Bezels from Spellbinders are SO versatile. Again I embossed some metal and cut it out with the co-ordinating die, added embellishments some Ice Resin and ribbon and TA DA!  A necklace.  I also embellished it with one of the bird blanks I embossed and coloured... if you would like to see how this is done, check out my 'Emmy's post' for a step by step tutorial

 Recently I taught a class and while showing the participants how to stencil with the ferro I started this layout.  I really enjoyed building up the layers on this one with some stamping, gelatos smudged into the background with a baby wipe as well as stamping with the baby wipe to create more interest and texture.  I also added gelatos over the ferro for a little more interest on the brick pattern.  As I was creating all the colours myself I was able to tailor it to the pictures.  I also used the gelatos to colour the layered pieces of paper behind the main white sheet and stitched them together.  I also added some fun Spellbinders die cuts with the new Tile Works to finish it off.

 For this one I was one again enjoying creating my own background an building the layers as it came along. I used so many different products, including Tinby Metallic melts, stencils, pastel pitt pencil, gelatos, gesso, goosebumps and gauze.  It didn't need much more to finish off this page other than some Spellbinders die cuts in the Captivating Squares, Crisscross expandable pattern, Squares large and also a shield bezel.  I rarely scrap such a small photo, but it just worked on this one.  

Well I hope you enjoyed another large share from me today.

Looking forward to showing you some more real soon!