Its difficult to know where to start with this venture! I’ve been crafting and card making for over 15 years. Yes I know! I’ve been secretly building up my crafty skills subjecting family and friends to all kinds of arty gems (horrendous mistakes ) for years. I’ve been gathering craft materials like a women possessed.  Experimenting behind closed doors, a lone crafter. But no more. I’ve decided I’ve probably learnt enough ( and spent enough) to justify coming up for air to share my passion. Yes it’s therapy and yes nothing is safe from glitter but who cares! I hope that by writing this blog and sharing my mistakes and successes I can inspire someone. I’ve been wanting to do this for a very long time but like everything else life and lack of confidence has got in the way. So…. Here goes! Gulp! ….

I’ve decided to start with something a little out of the ordinary. I’ve been experimenting with the Todo machine. This is a machine that die cuts, hot foils, letter presses, embosses, and stamps. My first picture above shows what can be achieved by combining the hot foiling function with an embossing folder.

Once the foiling has been transferred on to the card it has been inked to create a scene using distress inks and a Sheena Douglass scene stencil. I then have cut some flower shapes from black card using tattered lace dies and a ‘hello’ spellbinder sentiment. Oh yes and obligatory bling added too!

You can see what the card looks like on a plain black card base. Very simple! I will go into more detail in regard to the foiling technique in my next post and look at some other examples. Todo really is fun!