Friday 7 December 2012

Down to earth with a bump!

Well, after my lovely weekend, this week has been a great example of falling from a great height.

My lovely, wonderful 16 year old daughter (well, she's nearly 17) announced first that she was dropping out of college, and then that she was leaving home - this was done from the doorway with backpack already packed.

I felt so gutted, I have tried to make her the centre of my world, whilst at the same time trying to teach her the independent skills required to go out into the world. I know I should see this as the ultimate consequence of the way we have tried to bring her up, but I was kind of expecting it in a few years time.

Thankful she has not tried to go it totally alone, she has moved in with her boyfriend and his parents, so at least there are adult influences, and they are staying here over Christmas (Christmas eve and Christmas day). I wouldn't be her mum though if I wasn't worried whether she's eating enough, getting enough sleep, being good and polite blah, blah.....

So I haven't done a lot of crafting this week, as I've just been feeling a bit low. Daughter did phone last night to see how I was and let me know that she's okay - perhaps we can have a better relationship now that she has a bit of distance (I do so hope so).

Anyway, must go and get ready for work - back soon!

Sunday 2 December 2012

Oh such a perfect day!

Well, actually it's been a perfect weekend, I've had such a brilliant time.

Firstly when I got up yesterday I found some inspiration to make a card, and it was finished by 9 a.m. - I was up early yesterday as I was going to a bag making workshop. That was where my day got better and better. I spent the day with some amazingly lovely women, chatting, eating amazing food and learning how to make a bag. For me there was more learning than most, I managed to cut one of my pieces wrong and didn't take enough material with me to correct it - thankfully one of the other ladies gave me some material so I started all over again. I didn't finish either bag at the workshop, but that's where its been the perfect weekend, as I came home with the skills and put them into practice this afternoon, finishing both of the bags while cooking a lovely roast dinner.

I can't imagine a better weekend, ever, it's been just BRILLIANT!

 

Sunday 11 November 2012

Beautiful box

Well, I had a great time yesterday and managed to make a whole project in one go!!!

I have to say that I really love Pinterest, and this project was one I found through browsing there, although the actual project is from Splitcoast Stampers and can be found here.  It looks quite complicated, but I have to say that it is really easy to make if you follow the instructions carefully (I should have followed them more carefully and ended up having to re-do a few bits, but hey ho, you live and learn!).

The backing paper and images are from one of my snowman CD's (think it's the Walking in the Air one), the images are stunning and the only thing I have to decide now is what to put in it, the individual trays are about 3 inches square by about 7/8 inch deep, chocolates or jewellery are the obvious choices.

I did have a ribbon on the box to tie it closed but it actually holds together just as well without, so I took it off, it also was making the box open slightly when it was tied.

One last mistake of mine for you all to learn from - when you adhere the image to the top for decoration, make sure you stick it to the side that doesn't have the box directly underneath, otherwise you won't be able to get anything in to the top draw of the box.




 
Anyway, hope you like this & see you soon.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Morning all

Well, it's not even 8 a.m. On a Saturday morning and I SHOULD NOT BE UP, but my scooter needs fixing so I've got to take it to the garage in a minute.

I have had the most crafty week I've had in ages, I made some lovely cards with Alison last weekend and have managed to carry it on throughout the week - I've even inked up a stamp and coloured it! and will probably turn it into a card today.

I thought I'd show you a couple of cards that I've made with the help of my new favourite toy, the ebosser

This first one I made last weekend when Alison was here, we were looking at one of the folders and trying to decide what you could do with it. I started with a 6x6 card base and embossed the lovely swirl onto it, I then used worn lipstick distress ink around the card, next I cut out two butterflies (diesire die) and inked these up too, I glued one to the card and glued the other on top but only glued the centre so the wings are free, I put gems down the body of e butterfly and small gems on the eye stalks. The sentiment shape was another diesire die! And I think the sentiment is a Kanban stamp.

This next card is a bit brighter, but is finally using up some card I've had for ages. The background is an embossalicious folder and again the dies are from the diesire range, they work really well, the sentiment is from Lily of the Valley.

Anyway, I'd better go and get ready - crafty afternoon ahead!

 

Sunday 4 November 2012

I'm back - again

Well, this post should have happened on Thursday morning, but I managed to hit the wrong button & everything I handwritten was deleted, I didn't have time then to re- post and then forgot to do it until now.

Thanks to my lovely friend Alison, who I spent a brilliant afternoon with yesterday crafting & helping her to spend money, I now feel like I'm getting back into Cardmaking - I actually managed to make 3 yesterday!! But I will save posting pictures of those for another day and just give you the details of one I made last weekend.

The stamp I used for this I've had forever and never used until now (hangs head in shame), I decided to stamp in versamark ink and then embossed with Wow ebony embossing powder - heated from behind it gave a lovely glossy finish. I then used some TH distress inks (I only possess 6) to create the ground and sky, then I used watercolour pencils and spectrum noir pens to colour in the buildings, tree and star. Then I mounted it onto some lovely sparkly blue card, then mounted onto a 5 inch square card blank that had been completely covered in a backing paper (again I've had this forever so couldn't tell you where it came from), The corner is the frostyville corner by Memory Box. It's a really simple card, but I'm quite pleased with it - it's nice to be making cards again!

Anyway, I'll try not to leave it so long next time.

 

Thursday 20 September 2012

Creepy Crawlies!

I don't have a card to show you (have made a few, but only a few) and it's been absolutely forever since I blogged, so I thought I'd show you what was blocking my path as I went to go to work a few days ago.  Luckily I'm not scared of spiders, both hubby and daughter call on me when the little blighters need removing.


Time to start thinking about Halloween as it's only just over a month away (and avoids the C word for a little bit longer!).  I saw on pinterest the other day a lovely idea, Gingerbread skeletons! and I managed to find on Ebay a gingerbread cutter that then comes with a press to put the skeleton into the finished man - so I've ordered on and all the children that come to the door will be receiving gingerbread skeletons this year.

Well, best go and get ready for work in a minute.

TTFN.

Friday 24 August 2012

Crafty Week

Well, I've had a week off work this week & as my 16 year old daughter wouldn't be seen dead with us (well at least thats what it feels like), I've had plenty of time for me.

On Monday I took a pdf cut file freebie that I got from Waltzingmouse (available on the webshop under freebies) and had some fun turning it into a cut file for my Silhouette, it cut brilliantly and I now have a beautiful green Three Kings box sat on my desk - I am soo going to make loads of them for Christmas, I seem to remember that if you put 6 together they fit into a circle which would make a great centre piece to the Christmas table, and a great alternative to the British cracker.  I will remember to take a picture of it at some point.

I have decided that blogging on my iPad is still not great as the camera is rubbish (mind you I am spoilt having both a Nikon D50 and a Sanyo Xacti), really doesn't do the cards justice and that will not encourage me to share!

On Tuesday I turned my hand to upholstery and re-covered a seat pad for my hubbies most comfortable stool - very proud of my modest efforts although I doubt I'll win any awards.

The rest of the week I have spent slowly playing - I've been cutting up t-shirts into strips so I can make a woven rug - will definitely show pictures of that when I get started!  I've also been trying to get involved with some challenges, I found one on Docrafts, which is their bear challenge - so I dug out my lovely new Lili of the Valley stamps and set to work.  I coloured the image with my watercolour pencils and I'm really happy with how well that turned out, much more subtle than alcohol pens, the papers are from a Laura Ashley 6x6 pad I've had forever - couple of Quickutz punches (corners & tag) and a cuttlebug embossing folder used on the green panel.

Anyway, hope you like (who am I kidding, nobody reads my blog) - off to find some more challenges to do.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Holidays are coming

Yippee! I have a week off work coming up soon - more crafting time, well, after more sleep first. I can hear those bells in my head though when you say 'holidays are coming', and I think of coca colas Santa and truck - am I the only one who cannot make Christmas cards without humming Christmas tunes in my head? With this card it was the tune 'baby it's cold outside'.

The stamp is from Elzybells and I've had it for ages - I used my spectrum noir pens to colour it, and then used a kohinoor black pencil to add some more depth to the penguins black, I was really pleased with how it turned out. The paper is from my stash, I used the snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder for the Matt, which I inked up with a versacolour 5 colour pad before embossing to give it a coloured background to the snowflakes. The tag is a whimsy stamp and tag set that I got from quixotic paperie (really great shop, with some fabulous and different stamps). The punch is a tonic studios snowflake punch.

Anyway, hope you like today's offering, sorry for the poor iPad photo quality.




 

Monday 30 July 2012

Half a card

Well, I didn't want you to think I was doing nothing, but I got half way through making this card & completely lost my mojo - don't know where it went, must have lost it under a pile of papers!

Anyway, this is what I've got so far - the topper and sentiment are not stuck down, I'm still trying to decide what to do, the card looks so bare, all ideas gratefully received?

 

 

Testing




Well, I've just downloaded a new app for the iPad, which I'm hoping is going to be better than blog press, which I've never really got on with - so far this looks much easier to use (as long as you don't hit the wrong button &delete everything you've just entered like I did a minute ago).

Photos are easier to upload too, look:

Well, now I'm going to play with the fonts and colours so this post is going all rainbow!

Yay! This is fun.... May even post more often, just need to get apple to improve the camera now

Monday 9 July 2012

Ho ho ho




Hi, well I had a great weekend, I made some lovely chocolate brownies to have with coffee and a chat with my friend Laura - she had the same thought and brought cupcakes, so we had both!

I also got a bit of crafting in and decided to enter the crafters companion monthly challenge, which is "ho ho ho" - as there is a lovely Humphrey stamp with one of humphrey's family meeting Santa, I thought this would be perfect.

The backing papers were printed from the Humphrey CD, also called 'ho ho ho', the image is coloured with spectrum noir pens and the tree I cut out on my Cuttlebug and the I put some distress ink on my mat, spritzed with water and then dabbed the die cut through the ink, it gives a lovely mottled look to the tree (I got the idea from katrina Werners blog).

Anyway, hope you like (one Christmas card down, loads still to go!)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday 30 June 2012

Fun afternoon


Well, I had a great time this afternoon - finally got to catch up with my buddy Alison who has not been having a great time recently and seems to have caught the lost mojo bug that so many of us have. So we sat and caught up and actually managed to make some stuff too!

This is what I managed to create - not quite as I originally planned it, but the instructions were a bit awry (or I read them wrong!) - anyway, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and I finally managed to use some of those blasted peel offs that we were all convinced were a 'must have' by the shopping channels but end up stuck on a shelf doing nothing.

Anyway - hope you like this & sorry for the poor photos, they were taken on my IPad.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday 31 May 2012

AWOL again!

Blimey, it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted, sorry.  The pen thing I mentioned previously is taking F O R E V E R!!! and I only hope all of the time and effort will have been worth it.

I have been making cards as well, just not got round to putting them online - hopefully I can start to change that now.  The gift set I mentioned in my last post is now finished and so I thought I would show this to you, it's all been made with bits and pieces from the Humphrey CD's and bits from my stash - there are 5 cards and envelopes and I was thinking that I might be able to get £5 for it at a craft fair:

Outside of gift set
Inside of gift set





Anyway, hope you like this little set & I'll try and get back to show you some of the other things I've done soon.

TTFN

Monday 14 May 2012

Back again

Well, had a bit of break after the fair in the square, which from my point of view was a disaster, only sold two cards, but that's the way it goes sometimes.  Alison had a card stand & we both think that it was drawing peoples eyes, so I now have my very own card stand courtesy of Ebay.

I have started to make cards again, I'm working on a little gift set at the moment, with my favourite elephant, Humphrey.  In the meantime, just so that you don't think I've completely dropped off the planet, I thought I'd show you some stamped images I've been colouring.  The image is the same, I've just used some different mediums for colouring - Top right and bottom left are Spectrum Noirs, bottom right is coloured with Koh I Noor pencils (similar to prisma colours), and the top left is water colour pencils.


Hopefully, I will be able to show you the set in the next few days.  I'm also working on a storage system for my pens, but I'm almost beginning to wish I hadn't started.  It all began when I saw this photo on facebook by Louise Sharp


I thought, Wow, that's a brilliant idea - so following a search of the internet, I managed to find some tubing which looked suitable - it came as 5 x 5 metre lengths, which I worked out would be plenty to do what I wanted.  It all seemed so simple - cut the pieces to length, then glue it all together with either card or MDF, well it should have been simple, but the tubing is quite thick so it takes ages to cut each tube into 13 cm lengths - I've done 3 so far, and then once they're cut, the tubes have to be smoothed, luckily Geoff lent me his dremel to do them.  This however has it's own issues, I ended up looking very grey yesterday as all the fine grindings from the tubes went all over me!

Anyway, when it's finished I'll let you know.

TTFN


Wednesday 2 May 2012

Humphrey in da house!

I have my Humphrey - YAY!!!.  I've only had a little play and not actually inked up any of the stamps yet (still stroking), but the CD is to die for, the images are just breathtaking and so to the cards:

This first card was created from one of the complete easel cards, it comes on several sheets, which you print, cut out and use the embellishments to create the layout which pleases you most.  I did print out an additional sheet from my other Humphrey CD as having folded the card base, the printed side ended up underneath.  The only other thing not on the CD is the sentiment, which I stamped from one of my existing Humphrey stamp sheets, but the tag was on one of the printed sheets - this is really great if you need a quick card.


 This next card moved away slightly from just using the CD - I printed out some of the topper sheets (I printed 3 sheets and had 16 images!), the images are truly breathtaking and I almost don't know which to start with, but start I did.  The CD is arranged by month, and I'm sorry to say that I can't remember which month this one comes from, but isn't he just gorgeous, I added some glamour dust to the bubbles, but then I used existing papers from my stash and stamped Happy Birthday (using an old Humphrey stamp plate), then cut out with a nestie.  Again this is a really simple card, but hopefully one that will be really appreciated.
This last card is really dinky (under 4" square) and is made from one of the complete card sheets, these are fab, and would make a great card set to give to someone.  It came with 5 layers of decoupage, but I only used 3 as I thought on a small card all 5 may look wrong.  The sheet came with some additional tags, which I may use on the inside, but not sure yet.  I will make an envelope for this card on my Ultimate Pro.






Well, that's it for the moment - I've slowed down a bit with the card making over the last few days, but I really shouldn't as I've still go the Fair in the Square to prepare for - it will be interesting to see which cards are preferred (if any).

TTFN

Saturday 28 April 2012

Last of the Popcorn!

Well, having printed some toppers, I have actually used all of them - even went beyond and and stamped a Popcorn as well and made another card with that!

This first card is with the last of the printed toppers - I decided that with the end of the school term coming up, I needed a couple of teacher cards for my collection so that I might be able to sell them at the fair in the square I'm doing with Alison in a few weeks (Arghhh!! not nearly ready for this).  I'm very proud of the stoppers on this easel card, they were hand drawn and coloured apples done on shrink plastic.  The 'abcd's were done using my Moxy alphabet for the quickutz, spellbinders for the tag at the bottom and shape for Popcorn, the papers were free in a recent magazine (love that word - FREE).  The bookshelf was stamped from the matching Popcorn stamp set and coloured with my Speccies.
This next card was the continuation of my brief love affair with Popcorn (don't worry, it's not over - he will be back) and is a stamped and coloured Popcorn done in a tunnel card - again he's coloured with my speccies, the paper on the outside is from the matching Popcorn Kids CD, but the paper inside the tunnel is again from that freebie pad from a recent magazine.  I've also used a sentiment from the CD and I've used some Dew Drops for accents.




I thought it was important to show you the back of the tunnel card so that you can see how I've decorated this so that you can put a message on it (always important with a card).  I used another paper from the CD, cut and embossed a plain piece of card and then chalked through the nestie frame for detail and then added another detail from the CD which was on the sentiments sheet.







Anyway - hope you like these, I will be moving on to a Humphrey obsession now as I have recently taken possession of the latest 'year of Humphrey' CD and ALL the stamps (SQUEAL!!!!!), they are so gorgeous and I was close to hyperventilating when I saw how much wonderful stuff is on the CD - you must take a look at the toppers section, there is so much there, I printed off 3 sheets and now have 17 images to work with.  There are all sorts of Easel cards and so much other stuff to get the Mojo flowing, have to highly recommend this one, just go here to see for yourself!

See you soon with some Humphrey TTFN!




Monday 23 April 2012

Friends

Wow, sorry it's been a week since my last post - I have been crafting & will try and get my creations on line during the course of the week.

My card for the moment was from last weekend and uses another one of my Popcorn images.  The backing paper started life as a paper bag, I can't remember from where as I've had it so long, but when I first saw it I thought 'hmm, I'm sure I can use that' (closet hoarder, yes, I know!). The copper pearls on the right hand side are from one of my Viva paper pens - the flowers are from my stash and have been glued together with a candy dot centre (I had to add some glitter as the glue squidged out so I needed to cover that up).  Yet again I've used one of my Whimsy Stamps ticket stamps and die for the ticket - definitely think I've got my value out of these.

Well, I sold my Gypsy last week and now I'm waiting for the latest release of Humphrey to arrive, so not patient, especially having seen the online show with Leanne Chivers yesterday on Create and Craft - I am a huge Humphrey fan & this latest delivery will ensure that I have EVERYTHING Humphrey.

Anyway - got to go get ready for work - boo for Mondays!

Monday 16 April 2012

More Popcorn

Well, I've been playing again with the popcorn images I printed off & I've had a great time, one more stepper card (much simpler than the last one) and, I think they call it, a tunnel card (will definitely be doing these again, I can see them being fab for Christmas scenes!).

The Baby card is really simple and uses a backing paper from the CD, I also stamped and coloured a picture of popcorn's dog - the word and squares were cut on my Silhouette, boy does that machine cut really well, detailed and small!

The tunnel card again used a backing paper from the popcorn Kids CD, and nesties for the shapes - the sentiment is back to my Whimsy stamps ticket stamp and die - I sooo love these.  This was such a simple card to make and practically threw itself together, it fits in an A6 envelope.

Anyway, suppose I'd better go and get ready to go to work (got to earn the pennies for crafting somehow!).

TTFN



Saturday 14 April 2012

Troublemaker

This is what my friend Kirsty calls herself, she isn't but I think she would like to be!

This is actually not a card, but a topper, but it could easily be added to a card front & a quick card is born!  The image is one of the one's I've had coloured for absolutely forever but I just haven't got round to using, I believe it's a Penny Black stamp, the paper is from my stash & I've had it for so long I couldn't tell you where it's from.  The ticket stamps are from Whimsy stamps which I got from Quixotic Paperie, together with the die that cuts out the ticket too - they are fab & you will definitely be seeing plenty more of these (I bought loads and need to get some value out of them - Lol!).  I would highly recommend a trip to Quixotic as they have some lovely stuff, and Elaine is so helpful - when I was looking at the ticket stamps, the matching die was out of stock so I emailed to see when it would be coming back in - Elaine emailed me back very quickly to say that she had found one hiding away & would keep it back for me, hows that for excellent service! - having ordered, my stamps and die arrived the very next day, which was a good thing or I would have been glued to the window waiting!

Anyway, hope you like the topper - I'm off to play with popcorn bear again!

Have a great crafting weekend all


Friday 13 April 2012

More Popcorn

Well, there would be more popcorn bear, I printed a whole sheet of different images ready to turn into cards & this is only my second.  I have been playing with my Silhouette Cameo in the meantime & have upgraded to the designer software so that I can make use of some of the amazing .svg files that are out there (free too!).

Anyway, back to the card, the papers used were from a freebie Serif paper pack from a magazine, the pack is called 'picnic in the park', it seemed to work quite well with the image of popcorn eating strawberries.  The doily in the background was created using my silhouette, so you will probably see more of these!  The embossing folder was from a pack of border folders done by Docrafts/papermania (not sure what name they went under for this range).  The strawberry embellishment I am most proud of as I created this from scratch using translucent shrink plastic, I drew a basic strawberry myself on paper first and then traced it onto the shrink plastic with my pilot drawing pen, then coloured with my speccies and shrank it (it nearly didn't work as the edges stuck together but I managed to get them apart).

Well, hope you like it, finally I'm starting to have some fun again!


Monday 9 April 2012

For Alison

Well, I have to say I've had a brilliant day today (shame I have to go back to work tomorrow!).  My buddy Alison came over for some crafting & I think I've encouraged her to spend lots of pennies on a Silhouette Cameo machine, it really is the bees knees as they say - every time I get it out I surprise myself at what it can do, so I will be selling my Cricut as soon as I can get round to sorting out piccies and putting them online.

This card was started while Alison was here, but not finished until after she went, but I was determined to finish it properly (I've even printed out a paper to put inside!), all of the papers and the topper were from my popcorn kids CD and I have to say this was really easy to put together, well when I got the hang of where to put the creases for my stepper, but I was using a pre-scored card.  I used a quickutz die I've had for ages to make the hearts, they are not actually hearts but wings for a butterfly but I thought with the white gel pen they looked really good and finished the card off nicely.  Thanks Alison for nagging me into making a card - I had soo much fun today.

After my fab afternoon, I even continued it into tea and had a ham and pineapple homemade pizza for my tea - it was delicious, however I've eaten waaaay too much and so now will have to stay very still on the sofa for the rest of the evening (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

Hope you like the card & see you soon.


Friday 6 April 2012

Where did that come from?

Well, in an attempt to start using some of the images I already have coloured, I picked one out the other day and it just sort of fell into this card - I am soo pleased with it, the papers I've had for ages, the purple card I layered it with did not start life purple, it started white and I coloured it with my speccies.  I have a new pair of decorative scissors with a postage stamp edge which I used to cut out the ted, then layered him on some very fancy purple mirror effect card which has been lurking in the bottom of a draw for more years than I care to remember!  I cut a doily in half and inked it with my TH distress ink, which I also used on the ticket (my anniversary pressie from hubby - I have loads of the stamps and the die!).

Anyway, hope you like this card as much as I do - I keep staring at it, I love it soo much.

Well, must be off - going to play with my other new toy, I've just invested in a Silhouette Cameo machine and early signs are, this is the best thing since sliced bread!!!!

TTFN

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Finally, I'm back

It has been so long since my last post, but I kind of lost my mojo for a while - still having difficulty, I sit down and the ideas just don't seem to come, I blame the fact that the new series that have started on Watch are just sooo good - have you seen Grimm and Alcatraz?!

Anyway, whilst sitting watching telly the other day, I had the idea for this card, the layout is sort of the Sketch Saturday layout from this week, and I'm really proud of this card as it is one for the boys, which are always more difficult, the image is a Mo Manning digi (so lovely!) and I've used my speccies to colour it in, the papers I've had forever and the alphabet stamps are from a set I unburied and I've had but not used for at least 6 years! (bad isn't it?).

Speaking of finding stuff, as I was digging through stuff, I found a whole load of images that I've already got stamped, some are my own and others were given to me in swaps, however I cannot believe they are just sat there, I even found a whole load of images that are not only stamped, but are even ready coloured!!!  Okay so quite a lot of them are Christmas images, but even so I really need to just sit down and use these images.  It's also given me the idea that I could just stamp out a whole load of images and when my mojo is lacking I could sit and colour so that when the mojo returns I can get on with cards a lot quicker.  The Boys Toys card took about an hour and a half to make, but most of that time was spent colouring the image.

Anyway, hope you like, and hopefully I will be back slightly sooner with some more cards - need to, I've agreed to do a craft fair with my buddy Alison.

TTFN

Monday 30 January 2012

Testing

OMG I think I've finally got this working - please excuse if I don't do a big explanation of this card, but just being able to share is amazing!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad