Day at Creative Expressions

As I have just mentioned within my last entry that I had a day with the Creative Expressions team, I thought I would further "embellish" on the day and our "gettings up to!!!".

With the craft team of 5 at my place of work (I have a part-time job working in the craft department of a local garden centre), we had a workshop day at the Creative Expressions office.

We got to play with some new and not so new products, to help us better understand and help customers who are looking at these products whilst we work.

We are all crafters in different things....and so it was interesting to see that we were all able to create different, yet equally stunning pieces of work, using the techniques, tips and tools provided by the lovely team in Kettering!

We split into 2 groups - one started with the messy table - where I started, and of course, my favourite!! Seeing the Melt Pot, ultra thick embossing powders, cosmic shimmer sprays and mica powders had me into a crafting frenzy of anticipation and I couldn't wait to get stuck in!!

Using the Stamps Away masks, we sprayed Cosmic Shimmer mist over the little A6 sheet of card. We got to play about using various masks and mists, to create an interesting background. We then used Ranger Distress Inks, either directly or stamped on, to further enhance our backgrounds. Each of us ended up with very different looks - mine was the most messy and grunged up!

We then got to play with the Melt Pot!!!! We used some clear ultra thick and also the coloured ultra thick embossing powders - and wow, what colours, using the mica powder shades, like lava black! I have used fine embossing powders (and in fact have a stack of the Cosmic Shimmer lava black, etc range), so I was very keen to play with the ultra thick, having seen it used on the television!

We poured directly onto our heat mats, stamping into our blob to get a wax seal effect - then adding cosmic shimmers and the ultimate of all ultimates - Guilding Wax!!! This was able to give the most stunning effects - we also poured onto a piece of hessian, which was really effective.

We poured directly onto a Texture Tread - these look like black stamps, but have been infused with a release agent, so you can easily remove the embossing powder once it has dried.

We also poured into a mould, and into a cookie cutter whilst it was sitting on the texture tread. We applied mica powder and guilding wax to each....

Another fun thing we did with the Melt Pot was to dip skeleton leaves into the clear, and paper flower shapes into the lava black (though I dropped mine in and it was exceptionally blobby!!)...

Then we took our original A6 bit of card that we had done and dipped the edges into the melt pot - we dipped into the coloured one and it framed the paper, and also made it more ridged. Once everything was dry, we stuck our embellishments we had made onto our sheet (using Cosmic Shimmer glue of course!) and then got ready for our next project!

The next project gave us an opportunity to play with the new Cosmic Shimmer Polished Silk Glitter - and boy, is this stuff fine and so so shiney!

This time, we had an adhesive sheet and using masks, we masked up areas and applied the glitters by rubbing them into the sticky! We also applied some gilding flakes to some areas....We stamped and heat embossed, and did all sorts!

At this point, I would like to mention that Sue Wilson popped in to say hello and see what we had been creating - and having seen her on the TV, I thought she was lovely in person (and she looked smaller and younger in person too!!!)

We stuck all the embellishments (flowers, etc) to this and then had a break, to swap with the other team...!

After lunch, we used the Grand Calibre and Spellbinders Nestabilities dies. We embossed an A6 card using the Creative Expressions embossing folders, which I inked up with distress inks (I think I used aged photo and then walnut stain).

Then die cut using the nestabilities in a green card and a white card. We stamped using perfect medium onto the white card and then used a gold embossing powder, which we heat embossed then coloured in with the Cosmic Shimmer drawing inks - never used these before and they have such rich colours! Almost like stained glass windows!!  Inked up all the edges with walnut stain distress ink and then mat'n'layered with foam pads.

Once again, we took another A6 card and embossed - I chose this one as I thought it looked a bit like trellis and as we were adding flowers, it seemed to work for me.

So, of course, I inked up, using Spiced Marmalade and either Fired Brick or Barn Door (I just can't remember which!!)

We then die cut flowers and leaves from the Spellbinders range of dies and inked up - edged the daisy and inked the other flower using both inks blended together on the petals of the big flowers. We had already added alcohol inks to some Micro Beads - didn't know you could do that, so a brilliant top tip from the team at Creative Expressions!!!!  Die cut a shape using gold card, which I inked the edges of and then we glued everything into place with Cosmic Shimmer glue - including the micro beads - these were added by applying a big dollop (technical term!) of glue and then pour beads into place and leaving to dry!

The butterfly was created using the Cosmic shimmer flake and glitter glue. We applied the glue to the stamp with a piece of cut and dry, stamped the butterfly and then added Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Flakes. Brushed off the excess of flakes, cut around the shape and glued into place!

Apart from the little heart in the first image on this page, that my little girl just loved and wanted to keep!!, all of these are now at my place of work, though I haven't added them to the display yet!

 I have not had much chance to play further with any, having been so busy - so will try my best to update with any future crafting creations!

Peace & harmony to all!