Yay, she's going for the hat trick!

Yep folks, that's 3 days in a row now and I've actually managed to bring you a card & today that includes sitting for 3 hours through the 2nd instalment of The Hobbit, brilliant film but does not stick very closely to the book (apparently, I haven't read the book for years so they could have put anything in it!).

This latest card has had the topper made for ages - it was actually all cut on my Cameo as a little experiment but never got made into a card, so as I'm trying to get more organised I decided to finally make the effort.  The sentiment is an Elzybells one I got many years ago (shame the store is no more, but she at least has gone on to design for Penny Black).

Not alot to say about this really - I kind of followed this weeks Saturday Sketch challenge, just moving the sentiment to fit with what I had done.  Hope you like & see you back here in the New Year for some more craftiness (no sore heads now!)

Yay! Go Me!!!!

Two days in a row, not only that I've actually made two cards today - well, one and a half really as the bebunni one I started yesterday.

Now, before you view this first one, I would like you to get up and go find your sunglasses, I apologise it is a bit bright!  I've had this image coloured and ready to go for a while now, it was even cut out and mounted ready to use one of the Saturday Sketch challenges (think it was no. 271) but I'd never got around to doing anything with it (story of my life!).  Anyway, as I was having a bit of a tidy up and realised that I have millions of images all coloured and ready to turn into cards, I thought I'd better make a start somewhere, and this was it - with such a brightly coloured image, it kind of needed to have something a bit more psychedelic in the background, so here is what I came up with. The stamp for anyone who's interested is from Susanna Loves Stamps from the Oddly Sweet Curiosities range, which you can buy from Quixotic Paperie (hope the link works, she's closed until 7th Jan).

My second card is the one started yesterday, just had to put the finishing touches to it today, it is one of the Bebunni stamps from Crafters C. coloured with my new spectrum noirs, I've even used one of the new dies to do the frame and cut out the image, these images are really big - I did consider doing this as an 8x8 card but thought if I kept the card fairly simple it would work.

Boy am I having a good day, done some sorting out, tidying up AND made two cards!!!, right I'm off for a lie down in a darkened room before I make a start on tomorrows stuff - loving having the time off to do all of this!

Belated Merry Christmas & early Happy New Year!

Wow, I'm not very good at this blogging lark am I?  Sorry, it's been ages since my last post - I would blame the festivities, but i could have found 5 minutes if I really wanted to, but family, work, telly, pretty much everything else got in the way.

I had several orders for my candles in boxes for Christmas so that was a huuuugggggeeee boost to the ego, along with orders for the square crackers so that was great & must say a big thanks to Crafters Companion for the wonderful CD's without which I would not have been able to print the wonderful card to make them (or make the milk carton that the candles went in).

I'm already starting to think of ideas that I can put together for next Christmas & hopefully will be brave enough to hawk my wares around some craft fairs next year, well, we'll see....

In the meantime, I thought I should catch up with a couple of cards that were made before Christmas, the first was made some time ago, when I first got the BeBunni stamps, which I believe was during Crafters Companion birthday week, which I think was in October.  I thought I had blogged it before (stupid me, haven't blogged that much - doh!), anyway it uses one of the stamps, from the Bebunni range, together with a sentiment - the frame and the tag are both from the Crafters Companion Diesire range and the balloons are really old Sizzix dies - the papers are from a Wild Rose Studio Christmas collection of 6x6 papers.  Its a lovely simple card to make (even with the outside the die bit with the balloons).

Then next card is a fab Christmas card made with the Santa stamp from Crafters Companion (are you spotting a bit of a theme here?  I use an awful lot of Crafters Companion stuff!!), in fact everything on this card is from Crafters Companion, well except the base card and cardstock used, but all the dies and stamps, and even the embossing folder are all CC.  I'm not a slave to the brand, but boy do they do some great stuff!

Speaking of great stuff, my Christmas pressie was Crafters Companion too - it was a full set of the new version Spectrum Noir pens - have to say they are absolutely gorgeous, I have been using them the past few days to colour in some more of the BeBunni stamps - I really am trying a bit harder to make more use of the things that I have bought, instead of just putting them in boxes and stroking them!

Anyway, enough waffle, off to craft & I hope your Christmas has been as peaceful and relaxed as mine has - long may it continue!

On a roll now

And still not a card in sight.  I shopped in Morrisons yesterday and happened past their cleaning isle, and tucked in a corner they had some lovely big white pillar candles which were only £1.70 each (they had some even bigger ones for £2.50 as well), and I decided there and then to buy one and have a go at printing onto tissue paper, as I've now found my tissue paper!

It was soo much easier than I imagined and the paper did not get stuck in the printer once.  I printed my images onto copier paper first (standard print, nothing fancy) and then used repositionable tape to stick tissue paper over the image (all round) and then sent the paper back through the printer again printing a second time, this then printed the image onto the tissue paper which I then stuck to the candle using greaseproof paper and a heat gun.

Once I'd made the candle, I realised that one of my new Sweet Treats boards from Crafters Companion would allow me to make a milk carton which was just the right size for the candle (I did cut down the height, but this was more so that the candle was easier to get in and out).  I used paper from the Snowman & Snowdog CD for the outside of the carton & printed a different paper from the Barkley Christmas onto the inside.   Once printed, embossed and cut out, I then cut an aperture and used some snowfall acetate behind it so it looks like it's snowing in the box, then some little tiddly bits with my diesire snowflake dies and the snowdog and voila!

Anyway, hope you like - really must sort out a Birthday card for hubby now!

Hugs

Rach

x

Not a card in sight

Well, I was left to my own devices today as Alison has family down for the weekend, so we didn't get to craft, but now my crafting area is permanently in the dining room and not in the corridor, it's so much easier to sit for the entire afternoon & just craft, which is what I did.  First I thought I'd show you a picture of the new crafting cupboard - I'm still deciding the best places for stuff to go & have already added some inserts to the draws to hold my little embellishments.

Gorgeous isn't it?

Anyway, I had some fun making things other than cards, the first is a square cracker, which really would hold quite a decent little present (some chocolates or jewellery - you could even fit a pair of socks in there probably).  It's made from a single piece of A4 card & was a doddle with the instructions from Claire Murphy's blog.  The sentiment is one of the ones that comes with the Tonic cracker die.

And finally (yes on a roll here!) I made a gingerbread house using the Crafters Companion sweet treats board, all jazzed up with the Studio 12 Picknix 2 CD.  I've left one side of the top open so that you can fill it with sweets or cookies for Christmas & although it doesn't show up very well, the roof is all glittery!

Well, hope you like all of these & hopefully this is the start of things to come!

Hugs

Rach

x

I'm in!!!

Well, my craft room (well, space under the stairs) has now been moved into the dining room with my brand new shiny craft unit, I will take pictures of it at some point to show, but it's lovely.  It was however a week of complete disruption as it took 3 evenings to put together and then several more days to fill - oh and then there were the 16 boxes and tons of polystyrene to get rid of - such fun!

Alison and I got to sit down in it on Saturday & have a bit of a play - no cards made but lots of fun had!

On Sunday I did sit down to the serious business of making a card & got out a freebie pack from one of the magazines with Mulberry Wood Christmas - may have to get that CD & stamps (must have stamps, although I have discovered that I do actually have millions of them - and quite a lot of them are Crafters Companion).  Anyway, after several hours, yes even with my crafty organisation it still takes me forever to make one card - still don't know how some people make loads in one day, this is what I came up with.  I made the beads with the triangular strips that came on the decoupage sheet with santa, the little wreath I've had in my stash for probably 10 years, forgot I had and re-discovered when I moved - so some good has come from all of this.

Anyway, here's the card

Hope you like & see you soon.

ooh, nearly forgot - I followed the sketch from Friday Sketch Challenge but used a square in place of the circle.

Love

Rach

x

Booooooo

Well, as it's Saturday, was hoping that my crafty buddy Alison would be over & we could set the world to rights over some glue & paper (no sniffing involved!).  Unfortunately, having managed to look after herself all week to be well enough to come over, she pulled something in her back putting something in her wardrobe - oh the perils of tidying!!! - Ah well, get well soon Alison & stay away from the housework, it's bad for your health.

Speaking of housework, I always try and do some on a Saturday morning just so I can justify having the afternoon for myself.  Today however, I decided to carry the housework onto my craft desk too & did some tidying up there & putting away some stamps that have been sat on my desk just gathering dust (seems to be a lot of that about at the moment!).

I did make time to finish a card I've been working on, it's a Party Paws image (Bamboo) from Crafters Companion, coloured with my Speccies.  Believe it or not the background paper was made with a 6x6 mask and blow pens (I discovered them at the back of a cupboard and decided that as my daughter is all grown up she won't mind me playing with them), the butterfly is an EK Success punch, the sentiment was from the same Crafters Companion set - nice & bright considering the dull and grey weather we are having.

I also had a bit of a play with one of the new Crafters Companion embossing boards released for their birthday week.  This one is the Takeout box, and I think will make a brilliant gift box for small things - you could get some jewellery in there, or some sweets, or even a cupcake.  The base of the box is 2 inches by 2.5 inches, at the top its 3 inches by just over 4 inches and is about 2.5 inches high.  This was just a test piece so I just used plain white card, but I can't wait to have a play with printing off some of the wonderful background papers from my CDs and using them to make boxes - I've yet to make the popcorn box, milk cartons or gable end box, but I will get there.

I used some scrap paper to make the panels - finally trying to use some stuff up rather than just stroking it - I have a mountain of paper that I really need to unbury myself from (but then I think most crafters have - you have to see this video here, it is soooo familiar!!!).

Anyway, it's Saturday night and I have a Terry's Chocolate Orange (it's not Terry's it's MINE!!!) with my name on it.

Take care for now

Rach

x

Unexpected fun day

Well, yesterday I was supposed to be helping my mum tidy her house and like the dutiful daughter I am, I phoned her in the morning, about 10.30 a.m. to ask if she still wanted my help - I got the answer machine, which was not unexpected as she walks her dog first thing, so I left a message.

I then carried on with my day, expecting a call at any minute, well lunchtime came and went, and two gift cards and a Christmas card later, she finally phoned about 3 p.m. to say that she'd done 1471 and had a call from me - when I explained that I'd left a message she said, oh the answer machine isn't working, HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!!! Anyway she'd done some tidying on her own, and in the meantime I'd had great fun with my cards - more than I usually make in a day.

This card I made using the Friday Sketch Challenge, which can be found here it's not a site I've used before, but my best buddy Alison has just become a design team member so I've now 'discovered' them, the sketch this week was just brilliant and I thought it would give me the perfect opportunity to use my new EK Success Circle Cutter pro - have to say it did a brilliant job (although I've just noticed that I mounted the teddy wonky - hey ho).  The image is a Lili of The Valley, coloured with my trustee Spectrum Noir pens, with a bit of Wink of Stella in clear over the gold tinsel and silver for the star.  The sentiment is one of my Whimsy Stamps (I have loads of these ticket stamps with the matching die - so brilliant for all sorts of occasions), as for the papers, I've had them for more years than I care to remember (hoarding runs in the family).

These two cards are gift cards, they are made from an A5 piece of card, which I folded at 7 and 14 centimetres on the long side so that it effectively makes a tri-fold card, I then took 2 c.m. off one side and stuck this down at either end so that it leaves a pocket in the middle so you can put a gift card in, and then decorated the outside.  The snowman one I very extravagantly used card from the Hunkydory kit to make the actual card.  I even made envelopes for these using my Ultimate pro!  If I ever get round to doing a craft fair I hope to have a few of these to sell.

Anyway, that's me for today - hopefully I won't be gone so long, I'm trying desperately hard to get back into blogging, but life keeps getting in the way.

TTFN!

Exeter Spending fun!

Well, I had my annual pilgrimage to Exeter Westpoint for the craft show on Friday with my best buddy Alison (see her blog here) - thanks Alison for a great day.  It's always great to go with someone who is as 'into' crafting as you - no one understands a crafter like another crafter & it's nice to get someone else's opinion as to whether the stuff you are buying is rubbish that will end up in a draw gathering dust (yes you do get dust in a closed draw, I can personally testify to that!).

We headed for the Storage 4 Crafts stall first as I've had my eye on a crafting cupboard for some time & with some measuring and re-jigging in our dining room, I have been given the go-ahead to buy one, this is the one that will be arriving with me in the next 3 - 4 weeks:

I am sooo hoping that all my crap, I mean stuff will fit, so much so that I am starting to have a clear out and ruthlessly look at what I have and whether I use it, I suppose part of the problem is that some of my stuff is hidden in corners and I forget that I've got it - I hope that by having it all in the boxes and easily accessible I will make better use of what I have (that's the theory anyway).

Well, once we'd finished with Storage 4 Crafts (Alison got a great deal on a small storage trolley too) we then headed off to have a look around.  In spite of being late due to an accident on the A38 and not arriving until about 11, it was still REALLY busy, but we struggled on and managed to get round everywhere eventually (except the last few isles of college displays and 'special features', which weren't the reason we went).

I've taken some pictures of my purchases & I'm really happy that everything I've bought this year will get used, in fact I have played with most of it already!

This is an overview of it all laid out, with the other photo's detailing the individual bits

Like I said, I have played with lots of this already - I have tried printing onto the pearl paper - boy is that stuff amazing!  I have cut out circles with the EK Success Circle cutter pro & it is brilliant, so many of my cards are going to have circle apertures in future.  The wink of stella pens are amazing & got an outing on the card I will show you in a minute, along with the tiny santa and sleigh die I got, which I don't think made it into these photos (I hid it in my handbag as it's so small I thought I might lose it).

Well, onto my most recent card:

The stamp is one of the new Father Christmas stamps from Crafters Companion, the backing paper is from the CD of the same name, the sentiment is on the same stamp sheet, the embossing folder was a freebie when I ordered the snowman and snowdog dies recently and is from the Snowman range.  The mistletoe is one of the Diesire dies and I used a pearl pen to put the berries on it.  I coloured the image with my speccies and you can just see the wink of stella glinting on the reindeer (I've also used it on the fluff on Santa's hat and wrists but you can't see it so well).

Hope you like, I'm off to do some more tidying and playing (not necessarily in that order!)

Crafty Fun

Well, sorry for the absence again, life keeps getting in the way (well building work & general mess!).  Hopefully, this is all now sorted, I even have my new fridge freezer in place and looking gorgeous!

Alison came over yesterday for a crafty catch up & it was great to see her - she has some fab news but cannot share so my lips are sealed, but it really is amazing & I'm totally chuffed for her!

I managed to make 2 cards - yes, 2 cards!!!  I was lucky enough to get hold of all of the Snowman & Snowdog stuff with the free Father Christmas kit from Crafters Companion recently and used the stamp sets to make these two cards, I even printed a backing paper from the CD for the Snowdog one, hope you like.

I used the Saturday Sketch sketch for the layout on the Snowdog card but the Father Christmas card kind of just fell together.

Anyway TTFN - hope to be back soon!

Wow! mad rush of something!

Well, not only have I managed to make a card today, but I have also stamped the back with my 'handmade by' stamp AND put a liner in the card!!!!!

It actually felt really good to get back to card making. The image I used was a pre-coloured Lili of the Valley image that I won a couple of years ago for having a card in a magazine, it got buried in a box and I only re-discovered it the other day.  The Ivy is one of the new Crafters Companion Diesire dies, which I absolutely adore, as is the icicles at the top and the snowflake behind the sentiment.  The sentiment is also from Lili of the Valley but is a rubber stamp.  Sorry for the poor photograph but I think my beloved camera may be on it's last legs.

Well, I hope you're all enjoying our last bank holiday before Christmas (yep I know, I'll actually have to start using my holiday allowance for time off now).

Not a new card but..

At least I'm posting something!

This card was made before my recent crafting hiatus, with a lovely new stamp from Susana loves Stamps, which I got from Quixotic Paperie I love all the stamps in the 'oddly sweet curiosities' range, they just make me smile - hence the card, and as it's hump day, I thought this may help to get us all through the day.

I coloured him with spectrum noirs in the pointillism style, I just thought it added to the oddness of the image.  The sentiment is from a set of ticket stamps by Whimsy Stamps which I also got from Quixotic (just love that shop & she is very efficient at getting your order out too).  Everything else is from my stash.

Anyway, hope you like - I am trying to work on some new stuff, but getting back into crafting is difficult - Ooh, I have bought a new toy to help though, a Fiskars Stamp Press, I bought the big one because I thought I would need it that big but it's HUGE!!  Having said that though, it is amazing and I really think it will help a great deal with stamping, don't get me wrong I like my rock-a-blocks, but this thing is just fab and if I'd had it first, I probably wouldn't buy any other blocks, you just wouldn't need them.

Anyway, must go & get ready for work - TTFN

Woo hoo!

Yay, I've finally made a card!

After having to hide my desk away back in June when we started having some building work done, I've finally been able to get my stuff back out again.

My very bestest crafting buddy Alison came over yesterday and we were finally able to craft together. It was great to see Alison after so long, and fab to make a card (was begining to think I'd forgotten how to).

We had a great time catching up and just chilling with our craft stuff. In spite of not having made anything for ages, I did buy some stuff (well it was just too good a bargain to miss!), I bought all of the Crafters Companion Christmas Diesire dies, and used these on my card, well the trees and snowflakes - the image and sentiment were from the popcorn Christmas CD.

Well, hopefully this post will publish okay (doing it on my iPad), and hopefully the card will be the first of many.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

It's nearly the weekend!

I seem to spend most of my weeks wishing for the weekend, so I suppose it's no surprise that January, February & March have screamed past with barely a blink (there is that joke that even on the calendar it goes M,T then WTF!).

I do love my weekends, I spend Saturday morning cleaning so that I can spend Saturday afternoon crafting, preferably with my buddies Alison & Sharon.  Last weekend, this is exactly what I got to do and it was soo much fun, very relaxing and always just what the doctor ordered after a week at work.

Alison and I were playing with her new Tonic Studios pick of the bunch punches and having a go at making flowers - the pictures that go with the instructions are tiny, but we managed to come away with some lovely flowers.  Sharon made a lovely card for a young boy's 7th birthday using a kit from Chaplins which looked amazing.

This week has been really slow on the card making front (I usually work on cards between 7.30 and 8 am in the morning) but I am hoping the addition of some LOTV stamps should correct that (when they arrive).

Anyway, onto a card, afterall that's what this blog is supposed to be about!  This card was made a little while ago, but I hadn't got round to putting it on my blog.  It was made shortly after I did my colouring day with Tracy, and I think it really shows, I just love the way I've coloured this image!  The papers are from the CD (bamboo), I used a spellbinders die to cut out bamboo and mat & layer, and the swirl in the corner is a diesire die.  The sentiment is from the hunky dory paper pack that I got with bamboo.

Well, hope you like it & sorry it's been a week since I last managed to get on lines, time just flies when you're wishing your life away waiting for weekends!

See you soon...

Things with wings

Okay, this card was supposed to be made in time to enter the Mo's Digital Challenge for this week, which was 'things with wings', and I even went to the trouble of buying a new set of digital stamps (well, rude not to!), but I didn't quite get it finished and published in time.  In fact at time of typing this I was almost exactly one hour outside the time.

In spite of that I'm in love with this card, it is the most cluttered card I've done in ages, but I think it's really pretty.  The backing paper was a free pad with a magazine ages ago (I've stopped buying them now as they get addictive and take up lots of space!), the roses were from Wild Orchid Crafts, the sentiment and tag die are from Whimsy Stamps, the leaves are a Sizzix sizlets die, the blue is embossed using a Darice embossing folder, and the picket fence is a magnolia die (not one of mine, a friend cut some for me ages ago).

The beautiful fairy is coloured using my wonderful Prismacolour pencils, they give such a beautiful soft finish to this - love it!

Anyway, best go before I burn the tea!

Monsters

It was my wedding anniversary yesterday, 21 years of happy (well mostly!) marriage, and as my present hubby got me a couple of stamp sets, which was what I asked for.  These were the new "The oddly sweet curiosities" sets no. 3 and 4 by Suzana Loves Stamps - she's not the only one, I think these are amazing & you can get them here, have to say I Love Quixotic Paperie, I ordered the stamps on Wednesday at about 10 am and the delivery despatch email came through before lunchtime & they were delivered on Thursday - you really cannot get better service than that!

Anyway, I just had to get inking up these stamps & this little cutie screamed to be first - he's just lovely, although I have to say I am not very happy with my colouring, but you can't always be happy, other than that this card really makes me smile.  The paper is from a First Edition Pad (up, up and away, I think) and the card stock is from my stash, I embossed the card stock using one of my embossalicious folders from Crafters Companion.  All things being equal and forgetting that my colouring is still not great, I'm quite pleased with this.  

Expect more monsters soon! - I'm entering this one into the Sketch Saturday challenge

Having fun

I have been having such a brilliant day today.  I spent the morning cleaning the house (boring I know, but essential), so that I could spend the afternoon doing crafty stuff with my friend Alison, who was finally feeling up to coming over (dodgy knees are such a bugger!).  We had such a great catch up, showing each other our recent crafty purchases!

Anyway, I'd been colouring another of the Bamboo images all week (only get about 20 minutes in the mornings to play before I have to get ready to go to work) so I had that ready to turn into a card, and I pulled off one of the old Saturday Sketch challenge sketches to work with it, then I got out a stash of old papers I'd printed off from Crafters Companion CD's and set to work, I borrowed a die from Alison to do the layer around bamboo, the finished result is this lovely card!

The next card is straight from the Party Paws papercraft collection and features the new pendulum cards, thought this one was lovely, not made for any other reason than I just felt like it, sometimes it's nice to just put something together (though there was a lot of thinking about which way round everything needed to go!).

Hope you like, I'm off to play some more, cook tea, yada, yada..... same old, same old!

SWALK

Okay, so I've now moved on from my Bamboo obsession, however my love of all things Crafters Companion continues.  The image for this card actually came from the SWALK stamps  CD, which I printed out onto Neenah card stock and then coloured with my trustee spectrum noir pens, think I'm finally getting the hang of them!

All of the papers are from the SWALK Christmas papers CD, the punch is a Tonic Studios ribbon punch, had great fun doing this one, but it took longer than I was hoping to put together.

I would like to enter this into the Sketch Saturday Challenge and the Spectrum Noir challenge, which is currently a 'spring' theme - most appropriate the 'I love the rain' stamp!

Hope you like & hopefully I'll be back again with another card really soon!

Bamboo

I have been having great fun playing with Bamboo, well it actually started out as playing with a new card design from Splitcoast Stampers, which uses an 11" x 11" sheet of patterned paper as the card base.  Now as STILL have the Papermania Claire Curd signature range paper pad that I bought years ago & am still trying to even make a dent in, I decided to use a sheet of this, didn't really matter which sheet but that's where I started.

Having used a black & white design, I then realised that this fitted perfectly with a little black and white panda and so inked up one of the lovely Party Paws stamps, which I then decided needed to be coloured in a monochrome scheme (apart from his lovely rosy cheeks!) using my Spectrum Noir pens, once I had this, the rest was easy.  The sentiment stamp is from the same stamp sheet as Bamboo.  The flower was a Quickutz die I've had for absolutely forever, and I cut out several (you only get 4 petals per cut) using black and silver, then layered up and finished off with a glittery blob in the middle.  The butterflies were cut with an EK Success punch, which has several different cuts on it to allow you to layer up the butterfly, I only used the deepest as I wanted the finer detailed butterfly, not sure if you can see it particularly well but some of the butterflies are silver and the other black.

It folds down to make it's own envelope as well (providing you're not putting it in the post) and just looks amazing (well I think so anyway!).

I'd like to enter this into the Crafters Companion Challenge Blog for april, which is flowers appropriately enough!

Well, hope you like, I'm off to play again!

I played in the Glitterpot!!!

Well, I'm enjoying a well earned (well I think it is anyway!) break from work this week, and as hubby had just sold his tennor sax and needed to deliver it (halfway meet), we decided to take a day trip to Sussex.  Yes, I know it's a long way to go, but it was a one off opportunity to go and visit far off lands and all the goodies to be had there.

The Glitterpot is well worth a visit if you're ever up that way (or fancy a very long day trip!), it is really well organised with loads and loads of stamps, papers, dies, inks and anything else crafty you can think of - it really is one of the best craft shops I've ever been in for variety (although our local shop, Just Tracy's is brilliant too).

Anyway, I restrained myself (mainly because we didn't take a transit van with us!) and bought a few little gems - a couple of sets of nesties, some stamps, some ink, more glue and knife blades oh and a paper pad, but not too much!

Well, when I got home I just had to play with it all, and the following two cards have used bits from my purchases.

This first one used a new stamp I bought of a Mo Manning image, she is just soo beautiful, but then I love all of the Mo images, she is such a talented woman and I love the fact that she shares her creations with the world and gives us the opportunity to craft with them.   In the background the lovely lacy doily is a Magnolia doohickey die, this comes as half of the circle and you then have to twiddle it round (technical term) and cut the other side - really easy once I'd got the hang of it & it creates a stunning shape.  The other items used on this one are from my existing stash, oh and the image was coloured with my Speccies, thanks to Tracy from Just Tracy's for the colouring day, I really learned so much from it, all put to good use on this image.

The next one is an image I stamped a few days ago and coloured but was waiting to turn into a card.  Bamboo is again coloured with Speccies, the backing paper is from the Bamboo CD, the die cut leaves and shape around bamboo are Diesire dies from Crafters Companion.  Flowers from stash (Wild Orchid Crafts and some from a craft show so I can't remember the company).  The butterfly and sentiment are from the Party Paws Luxury Card Collection oh and the peachy lace section you can just see behind the image, we that was a new stamp that I bought at the Glitterpot - gorgeous isn't it?

Anyway, hope you've had a good easter & overdosed on chocolate to your hearts content - diet can always start tomorrow!

Humphrey again

I don't mean to keep using Humphrey stamps (they are a lovely range though!), but I went to a colouring class on Saturday with Tracy at Just Tracy's using my Spectrum Noir pens.  I really enjoyed myself and learned some new things, and then just had to turn the images into cards.

These were the images I coloured in their raw form:

And here are my completed cards:

I'm really pleased with the results, and their not Christmas cards!

At the moment I'm working on my new Party Paws stuff, so hopefully in a few days I may have something to show, until then, have fun!

Humphrey

Or should that be Humph!  This post should have been done yesterday, I had a list of things that needed to be done, and all were ticked off, except blogging my latest make.  I know I have loads of other cards that are sat there just waiting for me to share with the world, but I made this one on Saturday and I was really pleased with it, it's simple but I just loved the image and have had it sat on my desk for weeks waiting to be turned into a card.

On Saturday I tidied up my craft desk so that I could actually see the desk underneath all of my crap, sorry stuff, and I even lined some cards, put my stamp on the back and bagged them up ready to sell (if I ever get around to going to another craft fair or table top sale).  I have decided that I have waaaayyy too many Christmas cards and really should stop making them (but I love all the glitter!!!) and not enough of everything else.

So when I rediscovered the image and remembered the sheet of Popcorn bubbles backing paper that I had, I knew I just had to turn this into a card, then all I needed was to add a sentiment and the letters B A B Y stacked to look like childrens building blocks and a few dew drops finished it off beautifully (oh and not forgetting the stickles glitter - had to get it in there somewhere!).

Anyway, hope you like the latest offering - oh and ending on a high note, for all those that follow my blog - my darling daughter has finally decided to return home - she's brought the fiancee with her but I don't mind, at least I can keep an eye on her and make sure she's okay!

Saturated Canary Freebie

Well, I'm not going to keep apologising for my absence, I just keep forgetting to update my blog, I'm making cards and doing loads of colouring with my new Prismacolor pencils (they are just so much fun to work with & always give lovely results), but I just keep forgetting to take photos & put them online.  It was my mums birthday the other week and I even forgot to take a picture of the card DOH!!!!

Anyway, I've finally caught up and taken pictures of some of my cards, but I shall put just one online tonight - this may encourage me to switch the 'puter on slightly more often and post the others.

This card has been made for a few weeks, it uses a Saturated Canary freebie that I got aaaagggeess ago, printed a few off and have just been waiting to colour, I used my Spectrum Noir pens to colour the image, the papers were freebies, the card is core'dinations core essentials 'so mod', the sentiments are from Quixotic Paperie and are Whimsy Stamps, and the coordinating Whimsy Stamps die, these ticket stamps are my absolute favourites and I have loads of them.  I made the paper roses with the same backing papers and the punch for the leaves was from woodware (I think).  The glitter is one of the stickles range.

I'm really happy with this card, though I have no idea who it will be for - hope you like it too....

And I will leave you today with a message re stress that was posted on the docrafts website today

A Great Lesson on Stress

A young lady confidently walked around the room with a raised glass of water
while leading a seminar and explaining stress management to her audience.
Everyone knew she was going to ask the ultimate question, 'Half empty or
half full?' She fooled them all. "How heavy is this glass of water?" she
inquired with a smile.

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. To 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I
hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for
an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.If I hold it for a day, you'll
have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer
I hold it, the heavier it becomes."She continued, "and that's the way it is
with stress. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the
burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.""As with
the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before
holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden -
holding stress longer and better each time practiced.

So, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don't
carry them through the evening and into the night. Pick them up again
tomorrow if you must.

1 * Accept the fact that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're
the statue!

2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat
them.

3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle
of it.

4 * Drive carefully... It's not only cars that can be recalled by their
Maker.

5 * If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably
worth it.

7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning
to others.

8 * Never buy a car you can't push.

9 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you
won't have a leg to stand on.

10 * Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

11 * Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.

13 * When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

Don't know what happened to #15! Who cares, you have 5 more to read!

16 * Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

17 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and
some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they
all have to live in the same box.

18 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

19 * Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

20 *Save the earth..... It's the only planet with chocolate!

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the
devil says~~ "Oh Crap, She's up!"

Footprints

First, sorry for not blogging for a couple of weeks, I really didn't realise I had been gone for that long!  I have several cards that still need to be shown & I did manage to make one as well, but it took me about a week of faffing about (I keep getting side tracked with reading other peoples blogs, watching TV, working etc...).

The cards I've got to show today are from a recently purchased stamp set - as soon as I saw them I just had to buy them.  The stamp set came from Joanna Sheen and is one of the new 'our daily bread' stamps.  I'm not a religious person, but I have always loved this story, so like I said I just had to get them.

Both cards are 6x6, the first one is just a plain and simple white embossing on Kraft card, unfortunately, the writing goes onto the footprints background a bit and so isn't completely clear.

The next one is in colour, I got out my glossy cardstock and used some Tim Holtz distress inks to colour the background so it looks like sand and sea, the footprints were stamped in chalk ink and then the story was stamped in black using an archival ink.

Not sure where I will use these cards, but I love them anyway.

Well, that's it for me today, I have to go and get on with a birthday card for my mum, but as I have a stinking cold, I'll have to plug my nose with tissue while making it!

Have fun & see you soon.

Today is a good day

Well, today has been a really good day - no, darling daughter is not home, though she is still very well, still speaking to us and knows she can return home if ever she needs to.

Today is a good day because we (gorgeous hubby & I) had his ESA tribunal today.  Wonderful DWP put him in the 'Work' group when he can barely walk down our front path, is in constant pain, can't wear shoes due to his condition and generally has a very restricted and cr*p life, but they think he can work.  Well today the tribunal upheld our belief that he should have been put in the support group and so he should start receiving some money from them - Yay us!

Though I have to say it will probably be short lived as they are bound to re-assess him again very soon and so we will begin the cycle of appealing again - for all of you reading this, lots of your hard earned money is going into the appeals system because whilst weeding out the benefit cheats, DWP and the government are squeezing those people who have worked and contributed all their life but due to circumstances outside their control find that they need some support to continue to live anything close to a life!  Right that's my soap box sorted for the day, I'll get off it now and back to cards, which is really the point of my blog...

This card was made using a Hunky Dory kit from Crafters Companion, which came as part of something else I bought with vouchers that they gave out when they changed the points system before Christmas - I don't normally make cards from kits, but the images in this kit are so beautiful, I just love them, more will follow as I am going to try and start using up some of my extensive stock this year.

The card took really no time at all to make, but, if I do say myself, it looks really good.

Anyway, I'm off to carry on celebrating a victory for one of the little guys against the system.

Very, very sorry!

Must say a big sorry to Foster Mummy, who reads my blog, there may be others as well, so to you all I say sorry for suggesting you are not out there.  Please let me know you are there, otherwise sometimes it does rather feel like I'm babbling to myself.

This card today was created completely from CD's, which I am getting into more and more recently, though I must get back to more stamping (I have today, but will be blogging that later in the week).  The image is from the SWALK CD and the backing papers are from the SWALK Christmas CD.

Just a quick post today as I've been running about cooking, cleaning, shopping - you know all those jobs you don't get to do Monday to Friday.

Hopefully I'll be back again tomorrow so TTFN to ALL my followers!

OMG doesn't time fly!

Crikey, just realised I have not posted since 1st Jan!  and that's with having the computer in a much easier place to use and upload photos - sorry folks (well, Alison, as nobody else reads my blog, and Alison has been nagging me today to update it!).

It's not that I haven't been making cards, in fact I've been much better than normal at getting them made, I just now need to get back into the habit of blogging them too.  I also think I need to get back to colouring as the ones I've made recently have all been done with decoupage and pre-done images.

For now I'm just going to show one of the cards I've done (will give me something else to blog tomorrow if I don't have anything else made).

This card was made using the Fizzy Moon pad I got cheap from The Range - really pleased I got this as it's allowing me to get ahead with Christmas cards for 2013 (yes I know I should have my mouth washed out with soap for that but hey ho).  The sentiment stamp is one of my many Lili of the Valley stamps.  I think I have too many stamps and always want more, but have not used even half of the ones I already have - perhaps I should make that my resolution (from now - I have already bought some new stamps this year) - no more buying new stamps until I have tried to use all of the ones I have.  I think I could probably stamp an image every day this year and still not use all of the stamps that I have, but I couldn't possibly part with any of them as I know that the moment I do, I will find a use for the one that's gone!

I have had a really good crafting time this afternoon with Alison who gave me a wonderful and totally unexpected present of the Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 28 - they are so gorgeous and I can't wait to find a use for them, in fact just as I'm typing this an idea is forming.....

Anyway, I'm rambling so I shall leave you for today - see Alison, I did as I was told!!!

Happy New Year!

Well, I should have posted these cards yesterday, however Virgin broadband was being very temperamental (thank you Virgin for now having sorted out the problem).

I went to the Range recently, not to buy craft stuff, but it would have been rude not to have a look around & they had loads of stuff reduced, so when I stopped hyperventilating at all the loveliness, I narrowed it down to a couple of items.  I bought a set of clear stamps with penguins on and a paper pad of Fizzy moon which had four decoupage sheets and then some gorgeous papers (some of which are glittered - which fits in nicely with my love of all things shiny!).

So the other day when there was nothing of interest on the telly, I set about constructing the decoupage.  The first one I did as one decoupage, but then I decided that I could make better use of the sheets if I used layer one of the decoupage as a topper and then just constructed the rest, this gave me 7 complete toppers, I then cut out the front from the paper pack and gave myself another topper - not bad for £2.50!!

So far I have only turned 2 into cards, but I'm getting there, hope you like

The papers used were from the paper pack, the embossed circle with the snowflake is a cuttlebug embossing folder, the snowflake corner is a Memory box die, the tag is one of my new diesire dies from Crafters Companion, all the other dies were given to me as part of the Christmas card and present swap over on the DoCrafts website by Marilyn - thanks Marilyn!

Anyway, I have to be off to go and make my dearest darling daughter's birthday card.

Hope you are having a wonderful New Year & only upwards from here!