Tutorial using the NEW Quick Page Templates

I have been asked how my new templates work, so i thought i would do a picture 

tutorial i hope it helps, and shows you how easy they are to use for a quick layout your way :)

I use Paint Shop Pro X8 but as long as you have a program using layers you are good to go.

Step 1 - Open your Template

Step 2 - Choose the Papers you wish to use.

Step 3. Open your first paper in your program.
Copy your paper ( Edit - Copy)

Paste as a new layer on top of the template

Make sure it is UNDER the template

(select and drag down) 

Step 4 - Repeat Step 3 with the second paper, dragging it to the MIDDLE layer

Step 5 - Select (Highlight) your TEMPLATE layer and grab your MAGIC WAND

click the area you wish to delete - you will get marching ants.

Now Select the paper you wish to alter in our case the MIDDLE LAYER and hit DELETE

Step 6 - You now have your two papers in place :)

Next we add our photo, UNDER the template layer but on top of the papers.

For my Photo the template is the wrong way so we will rotate it.

IMAGE - FREE ROTATE - RIGHT - 90 - OK

Step 7 - OK now i am going to size my photo to fit behind the squares.

Or you can fill each square with a different image, or use the large space
for the photo and the small squares for papers or elements.

OK Now select your MAGIC WAND and the TEMPLATE LAYER

select the large area at the side of the squares, switch to your MIDDLE PAPER 

and HIT DELETE.

Step 8 - I am now adding a drop shadow to add some definition

Select the TEMPLATE LAYER and your DROP SHADOW ( White Arrow on Image)

and add a drop shadow of your choosing and press OK 

And thats it, all you have left to do now is personalize it with Elements or Journalling.

You can see the full range of templates in store HERE 

Any Questions please ask :)

-oOo-

Dragons Lair Designs supply an eclectic assortment of digital downloads.  

Buy, download, then either work with the items digitally, start digitally then print out and complete your crafting as a hybrid project, or print straight out and do your usual paper crafting.

Buy your Dragons Lair Designs digital downloads here -

Dragons Lair Designs Store
Dragons Lair Designs Etsy Store
Janette Padley on craftsUprint 

-oOo- 

 Other Dragons Lair Designs sites you might like to

Dragons Lair Designs Challenge Blog
Dragons Lair Designs Fan Group
Dragons Lair Designs Facebook Page

Inspiration by Gwyneth - July

Good Morning Everybody!

I thought it was time I went for a card suitable for a man this time.  I also decided to go "back to basics".

I know I've built up quite a collection of crafting consumables and equipment over the years, but I'm also aware that many are either starting new with cardmaking now, or are not as fortunate to be able to afford to build up a collection of crafting goodies.  So for today's post I decided to use very little to make a simple card, and to show you the steps I took to make it.

I'm sorry that some of the photos are not as good as they should be - I was working in the sitting room and shooting pictures as I was making, so the light was not consistent.

Stamping Dragon Designs Item:

• "Coffee Cream Papers" - found - Here - in the shop.

Consumables:

250gsm Super Smooth white cardstock; Glue; Ribbon

Equipment:

Scissors; Ruler; Pencil; Black Pen

This is how I made the card - I chose four of the backgrounds to print out onto white cardstock.  I then collected everything I needed for the project together. 

As the backgrounds in this case are square, and I'd printed them as "fit to page", I'd got white edges - I cut these off next, keeping the cut off white strips.

I took the unprinted sheet, used my ruler to find the middle point and put a few marks down the half way point.

I put my ruler down the central line and started folding the card against the ruler edge.  Pressing it against the ruler to give a straight line until it is completely over onto the ruler. 

 I then removed the ruler and used the back of my scissors to burnish the fold.

 I took the darkest of the backgrounds I'd printed and marked it on the back at 1.5", 3" and 4.5" to give me three 1.5" strips.  These were then cut out using my scissors.

   I took the other three backgrounds and marked on the back and cut 1" strips out of them, cutting 2 x strips of 1" out of the lightest strip.  I then layed these out on my created card to see how they looked.

 I decided that the paper ribbon strip across the middle needed something else, so I took the paper ribbon piece, my ruler and the black pen and drew a wiggly line down either side.  Holding the ruler on the cardstock while drawing the wiggly line stops the pen going all over the panel so helps get a controled wiggly line. 

When I put it back on the card I liked the look better.  But the paper ribbon is shorter than the card because there was a white edge when the background was printed out. 

 It's easy enough to disguise this - just slide the strip to one edge and then, looking at the downward hanging strip, cut the paper ribbon in two and pull apart where the break won't be seen under the downward haning strip.

 I then decided that the whole card needed something more so did a wiggly line along each side, again using my ruler to have the control of the line staying where I wanted it just in from the edge. 

Now it was time to start sticking.  To get the paper ribbon strip level I put my ruler against the bottom of the card, put a line of glue along the back of both pieces of the paper ribbon, and stuck them in place.

  I then put a line of glue along the centre and put down the ribbon, leaving the ends hanging over the edge for the moment.  This required pulling and pushing down hard.

I cut the strips that hung down the card, making the largest 5.5", with the strip on it being a quarter of an inch shorter.  The next strip was three quarters of an inch shorter and the next again three quarters of an inch shorter.  These were stuck down onto the card front, again I only put a thin line of glue down the centre of each strip.

  I then got to work at cutting out the greetings panels.  The bottom, mat, layers of both are 1" wide strips of the darkest background, cutting them to size by putting them over the card to see what looked best.  The top white layers being a little over 0.5" deep cut out of the spare, unprinted, area that I'd cut off the background edges at the start - but I didn't stick these down yet.

What I did was take a bit of "waste" cardstock and write out my greeting.  I then held it up to of the white, trimmed, greetings label and roughly centered the wording.  I could then see where I needed to write the greeting on the trimmed piece.

 I then did the same for the second greeting. And by writing before sticking, if you are not happy with how your wording looks you can cut another greetings panel strip from the white bits of cardstock and try again. The greeting "Penblwydd Hapus" is Welsh for "Happy Birthday".  Writing your own means that you can make your card in whatever language you want, and being in your writing makes it even more personal. 

By the time I'd finished writing and stuck the greetings in place the glue holding the black ribbon had dried so I just finished off by trimming off the ribbon ends at either side of my card. 

And here you have my finished card -

-oOo-

And that is it from me for today.
Please keep coming back regularly to look at new posts as over the next few weeks you'll find various "Inspiration by ..." posts appear on this "Dragons Den" blog, as well as colouring tutorials and other posts by different Design Team members.  I'll be back with more posts over the coming months as well, so keep an eye out for those.

Stamping Dragon Designs Links

• If you fancy trying out some of Stamping Dragon Designs, please do visit the Store to find all sorts of digital goodies (you'll find great digi-stamps and lots more).
• And why not join the "Stamping Dragon Designs" Facebook group. It's a small, fun, group where we have lots of different activities which include exclusive challenges, daily inspiration and giveaways - and there's a loyalty club for those who take part as well.
• "Like" Us on Facebook
• Stamping with the Dragon - Challenge Blog : new challenge 1st Friday every month
• Follow designer Janette Padley on Pinterest!
• See us on CraftsUPrint
• Etsy Shop - Instant downloads!

Till next time - Have Fun Crafting!

Gwyneth

DT Member

(And if you are wondering "who's Gwyneth?" - then you'll find an "About Me and My Blog!" piece on my blog.)

Inspiration post + FREEBIE...

Morning everyone..

Marleen here with my monthly inspiration post.

Once a month I will grab an image from the Stamping Dragon Design STORE and make a project to share with you.

This month's post is a little bit extra special as I have gotten our designer Janette to make you all a freebie as well.. 

Scroll down in order to grab the shamrock freebie,

Here is what I have made with this freebie.

 

 For this card I used the "Simple man" papers.

I printed the one of the sheets from the paper pack and put it back in the printer.

I then printed the shamrock out on the sheet, cut it out, added glue around the edges and sprinkled green glitter over the glue. While the shamrock was drying I got on with the rest of my card.

Printing another sheet from the paper pack, I covered my card blank and added faux stiches.

I also printed the little dragon from the "Ruperts st Paddy day" pack and coloured him in.

Once all was coloured and dry I simply layered the images on top of each other with pinflair and voila.

 

 Shamrock FREEBIE.. Scroll Down..

"Ruperts st Paddy day" pack

And here you go..  From Stamping Dragon Design to YOU..

Have fun.

 

 Please note this freebie is for personal use ONLY. 

And that is it from me today.. I hope you like what I have made.
Thank you for stopping by & for any comments left behind.

Crafting on a budget - desk tidy

Hi everyone I hope that you are all well and happy.

Its that time againlol the time where I show you something that I have made on a budget and this fortnight I have a desk tidy to show you!

A few things that can be used

 Trying it out as a hat

So I rough cut down the lengths of a sweetie tube and after a kik conversation with Marleen ( she dared me ) decided to try it out as a hat .

 Part done

I used a layer of mustard yellow distress paint , followed by a layer of gesso , followed by a layer of picket fence distress paint followed by a layer of modge podge to seal it. Any paint can be used but distress was on my desk so I used that. On the inside I have put shimmer card although on this pic you can not see it and around the inside top ive used some pink crossgrain ribbon and some stretchy organza ribbon around the top on the outside.

 The finished product

To finish I have simply layered a paper flower from my stash and popped a button in the centre and popped some bits inside. It now has its place on my desk along with tidies made from cola can, pet food can and a cut down washing powder box.

This has cost literally pennies to create and looks lovely on my desk.

Thank you for taking the time to join me and I hope that you like what I have shown you today.

Please pop along to the FB group where you will find lots going on on a daily basis including the loyalty points scheme and daily inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs Tina

HAPPY CRAFTING

xxx



Promarker Colouring Tutorial with Debbie Powell

Please help us welcome the Brilliant Debbie Powell who has kindly agreed top do a monthly promarker colouring spot on the blog :D

Thank you so much Debbie :D we can't wait to see what you have to offer


Hi, I’m Debbi and I live in Manchester, UK. I am an avid crafter and have been crafting ever since I can remember, and has now become my passion and I am now concentrating on turning it into my career.

I run a craft group for a lovely group of ladies and I will also be a volunteer co-facilitator for an arts and crafts group at my local wellbeing centre this year.

One of my (many) favourite crafty things is colouring with my Promarkers. I find it very relaxing and there is always something new to learn. I really enjoyed colouring these images from Stamping Dragon Designs, and I loved the fact you can do them in so many styles.


Debbie used three Alvira stamps from store

Breakdown of Colours
Skin: Ivory, Blush, Vanilla

Eyes: Cool Aqua, Sky Blue, Baby Pink (Eye Shadow)

Hair: Cool Aqua, Sky blue, Azure

Skin: As above

Dress: Cool Grey 5, black, Azure

Hair: Orchid, Amethyst, Aubergine

Skin: as above

Dress: Cool Grey 5, Black, Ruby, Crimson, Burgundy

Shoes: Cool Grey 5, Black

Eyes: Cool Auqa, Sky Blue

Shadow: Ice Grey 1, Warm Grey 3

Hair: Ruby, Crimson, Burgundy

Skin:As above

Dress: Orchid, Amethyst, Ice Grey 2 + 3

Cake: Ice Grey 5, Warm grey 3

Shadow: As above

Hair: Orchid, Amethyst, Aubergine and black fineliner

Skin: As Above

Dress: Orchid, Amethyst

Eyes: as above

Hair: Ruby, Crimson, Burgundy

Skin: As above

Eyes: As Above

Dress: Cool Grey 5, Black, Crimson

And here is her finished card Gorgeous, we cant wait to see what you do next time :D 

Hair: Ruby, Crimson, Burgundy, Lipstick Red +Blender

Skin: Ivory, Blush, Vanilla

Eyes: Cool Auqa, Sky Blue, Baby Pink (Eye Shadow)

Dress: Cool Grey 5, Black, Ruby
Outlined with: Ice Grey 1

Crafting on a budget

Hi everyone how are you all?

Today I would like to share with you a stencil/mask that I have made from a plastic milk bottle, it is the first time that I done anything like it and I am going to be making more of these as they are quite easy to do but I still need some practice ha ha.

 A couple of things I used.

I used a craft knife and scissors to cut the bottle into pieces, the bottom of the milk bottle is going to be used for a future project.

I rough wrote on the plastic and then using the craft knife cut out the letters.

I also punched 3 heart shapes on a separate piece of plastic(see pic below)

I used a washing up sponge to apply Fired Brick distress ink to a 5x5 card blank and using the stencil/masks I used the sponge and fired brick to put a heart in the corners and "LOVE" at the bottom of the card. 

And here is the card !

As you can see a certain dragon has made an appearance! I do love this digi I have coloured her with promarkers but she also comes ready coloured! pop along to the store where you will find her and so much more !

Penny Dragon in Heart

http://dragonslairdesigns.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=403_405&products_id=996

So as you can see this card has cost pennies to make and the stencil/mask was FREE! budget crafting at its best.

Thanks for stopping by

HAPPY CRAFTING

xxx



Tutorial - Shaped Card - Circular Easel Card

I know it's not my usual slot for posting to The Dragons Den, but I'm popping in today with a tutorial for you.

On the Stamping Dragon Designs - Facebook Group we have a "Colouring In" challenge every month.  Everybody who wants to take part is given the same image, and we have until the end of the month to colour and craft with it and upload the photo of our finished item to the album in the group (and there are points on offer for taking part and winning that get you a voucher for the Dragons Lair Designs - Shop when you've got enough points.)

This month I decided to make a circular easel card and offered to make a pictorial guide showing the steps of how I made it.

I used -

• Digi Stamp -  Monsters.
• Backgrounds - Space Case Mini Theme

Firstly decide on what size of circular easel card you want to make - I decided on a 6" diameter card because this is the largest size my circular scissors cuts and it is the largest size that the base card can easily be made from an A4 sheet of cardstock.

  With my chosen size in mind I printed out the digi-stamp and my chosen circular mats and other elements at the right size, and I collected what I'd need together.

I took an A4 sheet of Centura Pearl cardstock and scored it at 3" and 6"

I then folded it at the 6" line and burnished it
(you will notice that because an A4 card isn't 12" long that you have one side longer than the other)

I took my circle scissors and put the blade in the 6" hole and put this just inside the edge of the shortest side of the card, leaving the circle scissors overlapping the card at the fold.
(you can use circular dies in a die-cutting machine, or even draw around a plate or saucer and cut using a pair of scissors or a craft knife, but make sure whatever you use extends out over the fold.)

This will give you a "clam" shaped base card.

I also cut out a full 6" circle out of a second sheet of A4 Centura Pearl cardstock.

And also a 5.5" circle out of a background.

I'd printed one of the circular elements from the kit out at 6"diameter and cut it out by hand.  This was put behind the circular base card, marked,  and I cut off the extra piece that stuck out just inside the marked line.

This left me with a piece the same size and shape as the base card.

This was stuck inside the un-scored side of the card.
(I used Pinflair Glue gel as a flat glue here to allow time for me to slip the panel into the right place)

I then folded the card at the second score line I'd put in originally and put finger-lift tape over the rounded half of the card front.
(I could have used glue gel again to allow for movement, but I didn't want to wait for it to set before continuing.)

Because I used tape and so had no "wiggle time" I put the non sticky side to the top circle first and matched up the edges.  I then pressed the other half together.

I use glue gel and attached the circle of background I'd cut earlier to the front of the card.

 I put 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape behind another of the circular mats I'd printed out from the kit at around 5.3" in diameter, and after taking off the backing I smeared a bit of glue gel behind the foam to give me some movement time.

I put the circular mat on top of my card front so that a wide band of the card top and a narrow band of the backing was visible.

And there you have it - my circular easel card front.

But what about the topper? I hear you ask.

Well I could have attached the digi-stamp topper straight to the front of my card like this after colouring it in and cutting it out -

But I didn't!

I took a strip of acetate about as wide as the monsters between both their outside legs, and I scored it at 0.5"

I then folded it and burnished it at the score line and put one of the paper ribbon strips that I'd printed from the kit on top of this.

Attaching it in place using another strip of foam tape.

This was then put down on the card base as a stopper, with the acetate coming out the front.

I trimmed the stopper bar to match the round base mat outline and put some ultra tacky tape at the top of the acetate.

After taking the backing off the tape, and with the card open, I pressed the acetate backwards towards the back of the card.

And I then put on my monsters - making sure that the head of the taller one was a smidgen shorter than the fold line.  I also put a little world printed from the same kit near the front of the base.

And now the card is complete - when the card is opened the monsters pop up and when the easel is put into place the monsters float in front of it.

And this is what the finished card looks like -

Well, that's it from me for today.  I hope what I've shown you will be of some use to you in creating your own circular easel cards as the same ideas can be used with any theme.

Please pop back often to The Dragons Den blog as there are a lot of posts and inspiration planned by the team over the next few months.

If you fancy trying out some of Stamping Dragon Designs, please do visit the Store to find all sorts of digital goodies.

Till next time - Enjoy Your Crafting!

Gwyneth

DT Member

(And if you are wondering "who's Gwyneth?" - then you'll find an "About Me and My Blog!" piece on my blog.)