Fiskarettes Card W/C 21/06/10

Just a quick one! I thought I would share my latest card for the Fiskarettes blog :) Full instructions are here.

If you haven't visited before why don't you pop over for some ideas, inspiration and to join in with the Monday challenge!

WOYWW - 23/06/10

As it does for everyone it started with an idea. I had recently downloaded some digital stamps from Hero Arts, I have never thought of using digi stamps before but they were a bargain compared to their woodgrain cousins and I thought what the heck. I have also recently started acquiring a number of promarkers and as stamps such as Magnolias aren't quite my cup of tea I have been looking for images more suited to me to color, hence the digi download. It started off well, they printed perfectly and I had no trouble colouring in the images.

I then had the braniac idea to make double images and layer them to add a bit of dimension, cutting out 4 sets of gerberas were a little taxing, the rounder flowers slightly easier, but I also decided to use glossy accents on them. A job I anticipated would take about a day (I can be a very slow cardmaker) took about 3 days stretched out between running errands and going to work and setting up a summer tea party seen two blog posts down.

I am pleased with the final result, I promise they look better in person, I had to take them in the evening and I still haven't learnt how to correct the colours in my photo program so they look a bit better! I hope you like them!

If you are new and wondering what WOYWW is all about, hop over to the lovely Julia Dunnit's Blog Stamping Ground to join in the fun!

Have a wonderful week and thank you so much for the kind comments you leave :)

Summer Fete June Card Kit - DT Crafty Templates

So many gorgeous templates this month and the cardmaking kit Summer Fete can only be described as yummy! Go to Crafty Templates to get yours!

First up is my favourite - A British Tea Party using the union jack bunting and teapot templates. I added in the cake stand, cake slice and crockery. The pretty polka dot paper and twine were from the kit.

Next is Today's Your Day using the second bunting template with twine and sentiment label from the kit. I used extra bunting to decorate the envelope.

This one is also a favourite of mine. I used the bunting template, AC papers, little ladybug pegs from John Lewis and more of the lovely polka dot, twine and flowers from the kit.

This one Mr Paper declared was his favourite, Ice Cream Wishes. All papers and sentiment were from the kit, I used a sheet of the paper to weave the cone and also added a touch of glitter :)

and lastly there is Tea for Two, using the prettiest paper I have seen in a while, doily and teapot template from the kit. I used promarkers to colour in the teapot and added a punched accent and pearls.

Leo really does put together some amazing kits. If you prefer Scrapbooking have you seen her Quirky Kits? Gorgeous papers and carefully considered accents, you'll have to act fast though as these sell out quickly!

Be back later this week, hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Tea for Two

It's all about the bunting baby!

A few weeks ago I was thrilled to be included on dotcomgiftshop's list of 50 more superb craft blogs and this week I was even more thrilled to receive a package from them containing the pretty Vintage Paisley and stunning Paper Lace bunting. Gorgeous, sturdy and a whopping 8 metres long!

Their store is filled with the most beautiful things for home and garden and I have already dropped heavy hints to my husband for our upcoming anniversary for the vintage wall mounted organiser or to search for anything green :)

Bunting is very popular at the moment and can be seen on everything from cards to cushions and it also holds a soft spot in my heart. Reminiscent of school fetes with thick, jammy slices of victoria sponge, pretty fairy cakes, airy butterfly buns, crowded bouncy castles, throwing bean bags at coconuts, balloons slightly wilted in the midday sun, lips stained from drinking panda pop cherryade and sticky hands clutching pocket money wondering what to spend it on first.

Today, whilst the men spent Father's Day relaxing down by the river fishing with a picnic of doorstep ploughman's sandwiches and cold cider the ladies left behind decided to have a tea party in the garden.

It was just gorgeous, cucumber sandwiches, big, juicy fat strawberries with strawberry meringue drops and fresh cream, mini cream cakes, tea and lashings of bucks fizz! The sun was shining and the music accompaniment came in the form of the birds singing and the soft flapping of the bunting in the breeze. Definitely a lovely way to spend a summery afternoon.

Be back soon to share some creations from Crafty Templates, some of which have a bunting theme too!

Fiskarettes DT Card June

Here's my first card as a Fiskarette, I thought it turned out really cute, apart from the slightly wonky pricked holes! Why don't you come over and join in the fun!

WOYWW 16/06/10 - Buttons!

Good morning WOYWW-ers. Most people can attest that I am very anal retentive when it comes to tidiness, hence why my workdesk always looks like organised mess, which in a way it is. I admire people that can work in, how do i put it delicately, creative chaos! I look at lots of WOYWW bloggers and see their desks and I am envious, I wish I could craft that way, it seems so much more freeing and, well creative than mine and I wonder if my neatness hampers my creativity.

What seems to be a clever idea at the time, in hindsight can prove to be an unwise decision. I had lots of little jars with all my buttons separated by colour, except it was such a pain dragging them out of my storage unit I didn't use them very much so I decided on a whim to empty them all into a kilner jar. I could not believe how many buttons I had, although I have now discovered I am woefully short on purple buttons which I guess gives me a good reason to go stash shopping!

It did cross my mind briefly that when I next wanted to make a project that required a specifc colour it would be a pain in the posterior to find the right one, this was also backed up by Mr Paper, who, when I proudly showed him my new jar, said 'good luck with that, I know you and you'll wish you hadn't done that'. Meh, was my response to this and I sat there all superior thinking it would inspire me to use them more and it was so pretty to look at and didn't think it would be that much of a problem, until today.

I am joining in with the Monday challenge on the Fiskarettes blog and I decided I needed buttons for the centre of some stars I was decorating, I sifted through the jar and each time came up with a button either too big or not the right shade. 'Damn, it would be so much easier if these were separated by colour' but alas, I had already had that bright idea and thought I knew better! I promptly dumped 2/3 of the jar on the table and sat for a good 15 minutes picking through them to find the right ones. Next time I have a clever idea like that somebody stop me!

Here's the card

If you have stuck with me till the end, thank you, I didn't know I had so much to write about buttons! Have a great week :)

WOYWW - 09/06/2010

Hello! If you visited last week you will know that Mr Paper took a bit of time out to create a scrapbook page for our album as there were no pages just about me, I was so proud of of him, snapped a pic of him and the page and duly posted it for WOYWW. In the words of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman...

"Big Mistake, Huge"

When he came home from work I got him to read the post and he was quite touched about what I wrote, but then, then he started to read the comments. Ladies, I appreciate every last comment left on this here blog but oh my goodness what did I unleash? He sat and read every last one and lapped it up, he sat at the computer with a smile like the proverbial cheshire cat, every few moments asking me 'have you read this, have you?' he loved it, a bit too much methinks, loudly proclaiming that he had won himself 'husband points' for being so romantic as he isn't one for romance usually (I did tell him that it wasn't something to be too proud of!) however, he did say that it wasn't something he was planning on doing often, but with so many kind, sweet comments he may be inclined to do it again in a few months, although I suspect that has more to do with you ladies than me, so, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, as does Mr Paper.

So, on to this week, here's what's on my desk as of midnight last night:

A little sneak peek at a Cratfy Templates DT project i'm working on involving promarkers and shrink plastic, however I am not holding my breath with this one, it may be destined for the bin as shrink plastic and a drill bit do not seem to be friends which really ruins the whole thing!

Here's a card I made this week, trying to go victorian vintage, it feels like something is missing though, my head seems to be all in a muddle this week, I am on call for 1 week out of 5 and this is my week, 7.00am-11.00pm and it really deprives me of my much needed creativity sleep!

I was so pleased to visit 95% of WOYWW posted on the Stamping Ground last week and hope to manage every last one of you this week! It is just so much fun :) Have a great week and I 'll hopefully see you here next week :)

Exciting news!!

Just a quick post, I am so excited to share that I have been chosen to join the Fiskarettes Design Team for the next 3 months! Looking forward to sharing my creations on the Fiskarettes Blog and on here.

Click here to visit the Fiskarettes Blog to see lots of stunning creations!

WOYWW - 02/06/10

I was so excited to have so many visitors last week, it's so much fun receiving comments and visiting everyone elses blog to see what's going on in your space. I didn't managed to get to everyone but I did visit a fair portion and saw some beautiful spaces and some lovely work on desks.

A strange occurence happened in my room this week, as I walked down the stairs I could hear rustling, banging and an anguished cry, almost animal like, my heart raced and my pace quickened, wondering what on earth could be in my room. Did I shut in a cat and it was tearing my precious paper to shreds? Had a rogue tortoise snuck in in the night and was rooting through my ribbon drawer? or was it a hired ferret assassin that was making light work of my acrylic stamps?

As I flung open the door I was faced with this incomprehensible sight.........

It was the lesser spotted Mr Paper! 'What on earth are you doing?' I asked and was met with the rather forlorn, yet lengthy reply 'You've been asking me for a long time to scrapbook with you, and as I was looking at our album I noticed there were no pages about you, so I thought I would surprise you and make you a page'. I was overcome with emotion (ok, that's a bit dramatic) but thought it was such a sweet idea, followed by the following thoughts, what paper did he cut into? I hope he didn't use that embellishment that I have been saving for yonks.

I had to stop myself and appreciate the moment, Mr Paper likes to comment on what I am making and I will often ask him, what do you think is missing? have I over-egged it a bit? and he will usually give me a thoughtful and constructive reply, but papercrafting is definitely not his cup of tea, far preferring xbox games to anything remotely crafty

I promptly sat on the floor next to him and created a page about him and how wonderful he is to me, it was a really nice way to spend a couple of hours and by the time he was finished I was very impressed, and maybe a tad jealous, how did he get to make such a nice page on his first attempt? So here is the page, the reason it is so momentous is I detest having my picture taken and this is the first picture of me that he has taken in a number of years which I think prompted his decision to make a page.

Et Voila!

The title actually swings out to reveal hidden journalling. Hidden journalling I tells ya, I guess my constant chatter about crafting really paid off! Here is the page I created about him, god bless him!

I'm a lucky gal, and appreciate that he is mine every single day. I hope you have all had a good week :)