Paper and Ribbons

Mini Matryoshka Notecards

2012-01-22T18:56:00.000Z

I have been enchanted with matryoshka dolls since I was a child, I remember having a basic set of 5 dolls and would spend hours creating stories and little worlds for them but inevitably over the years they disappeared, never to be found again. My lovely father in law purchased me a set when he visited Russia a number of years ago and after playing with them for a little while they have been stored safely in my keepsake box, but that doesn't stop me from taking them out and having a little play every now and again!

I have had my eye on a set of matryoshka doll stamps for quite a while and decided to take advantage of My Cute Stamps* 50% off sale to snag a set (if you are quick the sale is still on here) I created a mini notecard gift set for my 10 year old niece, I'm sure she'll like writing little notes to her friends on these, I might have to make a set for myself!

I layered Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue papers and added the stamped and coloured matryoshka's. I am still learning to use my promarkers so please don't laugh!

I used my silhouette to cut out a box, stamped the border from the doll stamp set around the front, affixed some acetate to the inside and finished the outside with some matching chipboard shapes. I'm not sure why the top of the box has come out that icky khaki colour in the photo!

Hope you are having a relaxing Sunday!

*I am not affiliated with My Cute Stamps in any way.

It's OK not to be awesome.

2012-01-17T23:00:00.000Z

As I sat down to make a card for my husband's birthday I could not think what to make, and as he's not into the whole 'keeping of cards' thing like I am, I decided to create a scrapbook page for him to celebrate his birthday in lieu of a card.

I'm very much a beginner scrapper, I know that, I only have 1 album with about 12 LO's, but in my mind? well, I'm just plain awesome, and that's when the procrastination kicks in, I feel the pressure to make something awesome. I fiddle with tiny elements and patterned paper choices, never sticking things down until everything is just perfect (and I have taken a picture so i know where to stick things) and I do all this because? I want things to be like the lifestyle put forth by the perky 30 some-things that have seemingly endless talent and are able to 'whip up a page' in a matter of minutes, can post one-handed whilst drinking a cup of coffee and living a life that looks straight out of a catalogue with the brooding, but sensitive, husband and perfectly coiffured kids and manicured dog.

When I realised that I was pretty disgusted with myself, because I am sure if you chip the veneer of their toothy smiles everything isn't sunshine and rainbows, and whilst I would love it if my life is like those on picture perfect blogs, it isn't and I don't think I would want it to be. Where am I going with this ramble? I think it comes down to wanting to scrapbook more and share my pages on-line for family, friends and readers, but not having to feel like I have to portray an exaggerated, sanitised and polished version of my life.

I need to feel the love for scrapbooking that I felt when I first started, I need to ignore what's popular or the done thing to do and that's what I have tried to do with this LO. I shut down the computer, turned off the TV and just started pulling scraps and embellishments out and 'played' with paper, and do you know what? It was fun, I finished the page in just over an hour, I told a story with hidden journalling and, whilst it may not be awesome, it is something I am proud to put in my album.

Supplies used (that I can remember!) 'Boyish Charm' - MME, Yellow Frame - K&Co, Patterned paper - Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, Journaling Card - MME, Epoxy Accent - Making Memories, Number Stickers - American Crafts, Doily - Cheery Lynn, Other: Graph paper, vintage textbook

As I was super quick with my page I used up the scraps on one 'fussy' card and one 'clean and simple', I even had time to dress up the envelope!

I have pressed the draft button on this post too many times, but after reading a similar toned post by another blogger i'm hitting the publish button, in the hopes that when I feel bogged down when creating a page I can re-read this post and give myself a kick up the bum!

A reasonable start to the year!

2012-01-14T23:18:00.000Z

Craft-wise, that is! I have been in quite a craft slump for the past couple of months but since the start of this new year I have started to pick up the pace, I have even managed a couple of scrapbook pages which I hope to share!

I have really been enjoying using the Papertrey Ink Daydreamer set after entering MIM. After making this card I decided to use the die cut shape on a second card.

Confession: I am trying the whole '-if I make something, I should use up all the scraps before I can start another project-thing' which, if I know myself well enough, I will do for the next 3 projects, then I'll start saving the aforementioned scraps intending on using them up later but will inevitably end up throwing them in the scrap drawer and forget about them!

It all started well enough, until I got to the very end and had the lightbulb moment where I decided to stamp the sentiment on felt, I tested it on a piece of scrap felt and it all seemed ok so I went ahead and stamped it on the felt on the card. Let's just say that I should have left my test piece to develop a bit longer before stamping, as, this happened......

Yup, I clearly didn't think that one through. I stamped the sentiment on a matching piece of card and stuck over the mess!

Not as nice as when the sentiment was first stamped on the felt, but it rescued it so I am happy! Have you had any crafting mishaps that you have had to rescue recently?

Supplies: Note card-Hero Arts, Patterened paper - Making Memories, Felt - Dainty Paperie, Stampset - Papertrey Ink.

Happy saturday!

Make it Monday Challenge

2012-01-08T13:17:00.000Z

For the first time I thought I would have a bash at entering Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge. All you have to do it pick a technique that has been featured on a previous MIM and get creating!

For my first card I chose MIM #35 Custom Stamped Washi Tape.

I used the Daydreamer stamp set to make each strip of tape which I then adhered on some white card stock. I embellished it with co-ordinating stamped tags from the Tiny Tags set and matching twine.

For this card I chose MIM #1 Go-To Sentiment Card

Lots of various thank you related sentiment stamps from different PTI sets.

And for this one I chose MIM #2 Vellum Sentiment Strip

For this I chose one of my favourite stamp sets, Year of Flowers Gladiolus and Think Big Favourites #1. I stamped the sentiment on vellum with Fresh Snow ink and embossed with white embossing powder to make sure it stood out.

I think I'm going to take a little nap now :)

Post Holiday Round Up

2012-01-06T23:31:00.000Z

I hope that this year finds you all happy, healthy and you had a wonderful festive period? I managed a few projects over christmas and I thought I would share a few.

Here is this year's christmas card to our immediate family, this is the final version.

Tim Holtz Reindeer Die cut from silver glitter card stock, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, some simple stamping and frosty coarse cut glitter makes for a snowy scene, you can't forget the red noses! Here is the first one I made..

I like the final one better! The background on the second took quite a bit longer, I used Tim Holtz Stormy Sky distress ink and Ranger Perfect Pearls Turquoise Spray but it just didn't feel quite right.

I dressed up a gift card envelope for gift giving

The envelope and snowman were cut using my silhouette and I just 'gussied' it up a bit! This is the outer envelope, in the next picture you can see the actual gift card holder. I hope the recipient liked it!

I did spend quite a bit of time making 7 magnetic fridge notepads using the lovely Crate Paper Farmhouse papers but plum forgot to take a picture, I am going to try and snaffle a pic of one when I visit my mum next.

That's all for today, see you soon :)

Holiday Lists Notebooks

2011-10-28T16:29:00.000+01:00

After having a wander through various blogs I saw some adorable notebooks on Michelle Wooderson's blog and had to make my own!

Mish has good instructions on her blog so I won't give you all the details here. I used Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar and Holiday Fillers on the cover along with some yummy Basic Grey Nordic Holiday paper and some Waltzing Mouse Stamps Seasonal Remedies on the tag and inside the cover.

I can't wait to give these to family and friends in the next few days! They are super easy to make and look so pretty, I am looking forward to creating different non-holiday versions!

A Cute Christmas Gift

2011-10-26T23:49:00.000+01:00

I am not usually an organised christmas crafter, I tend to start things at the beginning of December and find myself frantically trying to finish various projects just a couple of days before christmas! This year I have decided to try and start things a little earlier.

I love anything sewing related and seem to have amassed a number of various supplies that I need to put to good use instead of admiring and putting back in the drawer. It all started with a set of small glass jars with cork tops that I bought on sale from Habitat. I had no idea what I was going to do with but an idea slowly morphed after looking at various bits and bobs on the net and via pinterest.

Without further ado, i give you...

{the project with no name} I'm not sure what to call it, it's a pin cushion jar filled with single use button shaped soaps for your guest bathroom, once the soaps are gone you can reuse the jar to store actual buttons. Any ideas on what to call it?

I took a circle of Cath Kidston fabric, sewed a basting stitch around the edge and stuffed it as full as I could with fibre fill, drew the ends of the stitch together and sewed shut. I added some decorative stitched and a button in the middle and hot glued it onto the cork lid, adding some ribbon on the edge to finish it off. I added some decorative pins, wound some bakers twine on a mini wooden spool and a pretty mini pastel safety pin to attach the tag.

The tag is stamped with Papertrey Ink's Button Boutique stamps, I loved that they included the washable word stamp because it fits in so nicely with the contents.

I purchased the soaps on Etsy and the most tedious part of the whole project was placing the soaps one at a time using a pair of tweezers so they all faced outwards.

By the time I was finished I didn't want to give it away (I eventually managed it!) but plan on making a few more as cute gifts!

Supplies used:
Stamps: Button Boutique - Papertrey Ink
Fabric - Cath Kidston
Soaps - The Charming Frog
Twine - Divine Twine
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa
Ribbon - Maya Road
Lace, Pins, Wooden Spool, Buttons - Dainty Paperie*

*In interest of full disclosure, Dainty Paperie is my Etsy store.

A Tall Order

2011-09-02T11:00:00.000+01:00

I like to try different card sizes now and then, I usually like to use 5x7 or 5x5 and when reaching for a packet I came up with some DL cards. I don't usually use DL cards as they are a bit too long for my liking, I always end up with some negative space that doesn't quite flow.

I bought some 8x8 paper pads recently and found that quite a few of the sheets have designs that only cover one side of the paper and sometimes it can leave me a little lost! However, when paired with a DL size card I love how simple and elegant they can look, and with very little work!

This paper is from DCWV Garden Party stack, sentiment and label is from Papertrey Ink and the ribbon was in a bag of scraps. I was quite sad to give this one away as I'd grown quite attached to it!

This paper came from the DCWV Citrus Stack, as with the other card it has pretty much all the same elements, all bar the button. The one thing I like about these papers is the heavier weight cardstock and the thermographic glitter they use in the patterns, guaranteed no shed!

What card size do you usually use? Is there a cards size that you avoid and why?

Re-run of an old favourite

2011-08-31T11:59:00.001+01:00

Over the past few years I have created quite a number of cards, but I do have a handful of favourites and this is one of them.

I made this for my Mum's birthday. The card was created using a piece of Papermania acetate, I handcut a bracket shape from K&Co paper and attached on the inside. All that was left to do was to go to town decorating it! I added a dangling charm, which, if I had thought about it I should have made it detachable so it could have been used as a handbag charm!

I like to do commissions for family and friends and this is the most requested one. I thought that I would share a different version that I created recently.

In essence it's the same card with a small change to the embellishments.

Sometimes I have a little bit of a mental block when I am creating something in a short time frame and often find that it is helpful to refer back to previous cards that I have made and either make a direct copy or take some elements or the basic sketch and twist it slightly to make a new card. A good idea when you are in a pinch for an idea!

Is there a card that you have made that you like to remake? Do you use your own cards when feeling a bit low on mojo?

Hello

2011-08-29T12:35:00.000+01:00

I hope this bank holiday finds you all well? I have a few Crafty Templates creations to share today!
These two are from the pretty July kit which has unfortunately sold out! I just love the first one, so cute and easily adaptable for that special man in your life

'He' is quite easy to cut by hand and all materials used were from the kit apart from the woodgrain and silver tone paper which were from my stash.

I was a little bit daunted when I saw the 8x8 card blank as I have never worked with such a large size before but once I got going I liked the 'space' that it gave me. Here I used the balloon template which I duplicated 2 further times to create the bunch and adhered using different heights of foam pads and sewed the hearts to the page and 'fluffed' them out for more dimension.

These cards were made using the August kit from Crafty Templates called Sweet Summer which is currently still available and features gorgeous papers and embellishments.

This is made using the bottle template which is kawaii cute! I simply added some letter stickers and gems!

A cute little mushroom which would be great to use on a male card 'For A Funghi'!

I like this one so much, again it's a great base to use for a male card, bon voyage or replace the plane with birds or the balloons for any occasion!

Until next time when I have some exciting news to share :)

A Teeny Toot!

2011-07-08T23:04:00.001+01:00

A couple of months ago Leo at Crafty Templates sent the DT some fabulous ice cream templates to use as part of a project in conjunction with Papercraft Inspirations, and to my surprise my card is featured in the magazine! I was so excited, I've never had a card published before :)

Here is the card in the magazine

and here is the card!

I took the scoops and cut them from Bo Bunny double dot cardstock and highlighted the edges with chalks, I cut the cones from yellow cardstock and stamped in rich cocoa Memento ink with my Hero Arts Envelope Pattern stamp to add a grid texture. I layered this all up with foam pads and topped with a coordinating pearl. A nice summery but cool card! Thanks for letting me share :)

Just a quick one..

2011-07-05T00:41:00.000+01:00

I know, I said I was a bad blogger last month and it seems to continue :( Before I forget I just wanted to share the cards I made from the Crafty Templates Vintage Indie cardmaking kit and templates, if you pop over now you can still pick one up, a lovely mix of papers and embellishments for a fantastic price!

This one has to be my favourite, dress form? check. polka dots? check. I just love it!

This one didn't use the kit but did use the templates. I love anything owl related.

I would love to own a pair of fancy shoes like this!

Cute vintage radio.

I have got a couple of exciting things to share over the next few days, so I hope you'll come back soon :)

Crafty Templates - One for the Guys

2011-06-09T19:54:00.000+01:00

I am a bad blogger! I completely forgot that I had not shown my Crafty Templates 'One for the Guys' cards that I made for May. Lots of lovely American Crafts Campy Trails and Cosmo Cricket Social Club, it is still in stock in the Crafty Templates store so I urge you to check it out :)

If you are looking for the 52 cards challenge you can now find it at the lovely and talented Nat's blog Kool Kitty Musings, please do drop on by!

52 Cards Challenge Announcement

2011-05-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

Hello Friends!

Since starting the 52 cards challenge I have made some lovely new friends, seen some beautiful cards, boosted my own creativity and hopefully helped a couple of you increase yours.

It is with a heavy heart that I have decided I can no longer continue with the challenges. I could post the prompts every week, but I like to participate too and don't feel I can carry on without being fully 'invested'

Unfortunately other things in my life have taken over and I just don't have the time to continue. If you would like to take over please let me know and I can email you all the prompts so you can carry on.

I will still be posting here on my blog and look forward to creating more projects in the future.

Thank you for your continued reading and participation :)

Ang

52 Cards Challenge Week 19

2011-05-09T00:01:00.018+01:00

Hello. I hope this Monday finds you well? Here are the prompts for this week's challenge

Green, Embossing, Get Well

Here is my take on it

I covered the base in paper by October Afternoon, inked the edges with Spun Sugar Distress ink and sewed it onto the card base. I stamped the sentiment on the journalling card and glued it down, I then cut a circular shape using decorative scissors from Bo Bunny Paper and sewed this to the card base. I didn't have any matching embellishments so I created one using my scalloped and circle nesties. At this point I realised I hadn't used embossing! so I embossed the layers of the flower :)

Until next week x

Supplies used: Paper; Bo Bunny, October Afternoon. MME journalling card

Some more challenge cards

2011-05-08T18:52:00.000+01:00

I had so much fun with the card I made for the challenge this week that I instituted a new rule, if I cut into a sheet of 12x12 I have to use the whole sheet up, so I did!

This one uses and old Stickeroos sticker I had, a piece of a doily from Basic Grey and some yummy lace and Maya Road pleated ribbon.

More of the same but this time I added a cute cabochon earring that I had from a set from Primark.

I purchased this photo frame the other day from The Range and thought it needed a little something extra

I added some handmade flowers, gems and some leaf ribbon. I lightly rubbed over the wood with some Gelatos to add some subtle colour, I just adore the way the 'shingles' came out. The insert is removeable so you can add your own photo (the glass is also kept within the frame) I love it!

52 Cards Challenge Week 18

2011-05-02T01:26:00.000+01:00

Happy monday to you and I hope you have been enjoying the extra days off work we've had recently :)

Here are the prompts for this week's challenge:

Yellow, Plastic and Gingham.

I did consider using yellow as my accent colour but after finding the perfect paper for it decided to theme it around the colour;

I used Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Fabrics paper as the base and reversed it for the die cut label, Melissa Frances tiny tag and envelope, paper roses and a little acrylic flower as the 'plastic' element. This card turned out just how I wanted it to and I don't want to give it away :)

Supplies used: Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Fabrics paper, Melissa Frances tiny tag and envelope, Recollections paper rose, American Crafts gingham ribbon, seam binding ribbon, lace, gingham card and gems.

I hope you have fun with this week's challenge :) Don't forget to leave a link to your's in the comments!

And the winners are....

2011-04-26T20:40:00.000+01:00

I have entered the numbers into the Random Number Generator with the adjudicator Mr Paper present :) and the winners are...

Suzie! You have won the main prize giveaway, congratulations!

Brenda! You have won the Martha Stewart punch, congratulations!

Nora! You have won the clear stamps, congratulations!

Winners, please email me cards @ paperandribbons . co . uk (remove the spaces) with your address. Thank you to all those that took part :)

52 Cards Challenge Week 17

2011-04-25T10:58:00.001+01:00

Apologies for the delay, birthday shenanigans took over! Here are the prompts for this week:

Red, Kraft and Tools.

I went with the tools prompt for my theme and used a miniature gardening trowel on a Father's Day card ready for my father-in-law.

I used the cute Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety paper and Papertrey Ink die and sentiment.

Have a great week!

52 Cards Challenge Week 16

2011-04-18T00:01:00.001+01:00

Good morning friends :) I am so excited as I type this, I am looking forward to a week and a half off starting from Thursday and I hope to get some quality crafting in during that time!

Onto the prompts for this week:

Tangerine, Yellow and Garden.

I decided to use some of my lovely new Hero Arts stamps and Gelatos for this week, here's mine;

I misted the stamp with water and rubbed over different colours of Gelatos and stamped on a textured card base, added some white twill and the sentiment.

Supplies used: Hero Arts CL431 Watercolour Petals stamp , Faber-Castell Gelatos, white twill, Papertrey Ink sentiment, Martha Stewart Classic butterfly punch.

Have a great week and remember there is still time to enter my prize draw which is open until 23:59 Monday 25th April and I will be drawing the winners on Tuesday April 26th! (my birthday - yay)

52 Cards Challenge Week 15

2011-04-11T00:01:00.001+01:00

Hello! I hope you are all continuing to enjoy the challenges. Remember, this is to help you create more, don't worry if you 'fall behind' you don't need to catch up, pick and choose the challenges as they suit you and your busy schedule. I must admit I have so many projects on at the moment, I have missed a couple of birthday's/anniversaries and I need to make some belated cards to apologise, I have my DT cards to finish and I have a few other projects on the go so I really had to use the prompts for this week to get it done!

The prompts this week are

Brights/Bling/Ribbon

Here is mine

I added some gems and sequins to the paper and a little bit of ribbon and it was finished, a nice quick easy card that looks nice qand sparkly in real life :)

Have a great week!

Supplies used: Cosmo Cricket Delovely Paper and Sentiment and Doodlebug Ribbon

Craft Stash Shopping in New York

2011-04-09T13:50:00.001+01:00

I have been lucky enough to visit New York on a number of occasions and always find myself looking for good crafty places to visit before I go and I thought I would share some tips here.

Michaels
The good news is that you no longer have to travel to Staten Island to visit Michaels as there is now a location in the city which opened in 2009. Located at 808 Columbus Avenue, take the 1 subway to 103rd street, walk 2 blocks towards downtown and 2 blocks left and you will find yourself on Columbus. Alternatively you can take the 11 or 7 uptown bus. It looks small from the outside but the actual store is located in the basement and carries a good range of crafting materials. Don't forget to sign up and print the discount coupons before you go!

The Ink Pad
37 Seventh Avenue on the corner of 13th street. Take the 1, 2 or 3 Subway exiting at 14th street. The Ink Pad is one block south. What the store lacks in size more than makes up for in the number of stamps that they carry. Lots of wood mounted and acrylic stamps from over 100 different companies including Hero Arts, Unity and Ranger Industries. They also have a great range of ink pads (obviously!) crafting tools and magazines. The staff are very friendly and helpful and I would definitely recommend a visit.

Kate's Paperie
The website has excellent instructions on how to get to their 2 locations. It has the feel of an upmarket stationers but it does carry some cratfing materials such as stamps, embossing powders and ink pads.

The Garment District
You can take up many hours wandering around the garment district located roughly (to me) around 36th and 40th streets between 5th and 7th Avenue. There are so many bargains to be had but be careful to shop around, there are some stores that are priced much higher than others and the difference in price between 2 stores that are ocated next to each other can be surprising. Here are some of the places that I have been to:

M&J Trimmings
1008 6th Avenue West 38th Street. The store has a stunning array of ribbons and findings, however this was the priciest store I visited, I really wanted seam binding ribbon but decided to leave it at $1.98 a yard (I found it at $0.50 a yard a couple of streets over) Also be wary when buying white or cream ribbons as all of the ribbons I purchased had dirty marks and smudges on the outside, however I did pick up some beautiful teal velvet ribbon.

Joyce Trimmings
109 West 38th Street. Located just across the road from M&J Trimmings this happened to be my favourite trimmings store in the area. Beautiful ribbons, trims, cameos, flowers and cabochons all at great pocket friendly prices. I also loved the $3.95 mixed button bags containing approximately 300 buttons, whilst not all are suitable for crafting the ones that are were well worth the cost of the entire bag. They also have mixed packs with various off-cuts for bargain prices. I strongly recommend a visit.

Tinsel Trading
1 West 37th Street. A gorgeous looking store inside with a vast array of vintage ribbons, trims, flowers and home decor items. Expect to pay higher prices in here as a lot of items are stated as being vintage, an inspiring shop to visit, however I saved my pennies and looked at other stores for cheaper alternatives.

There are also lots and lots of bead shops in Garment District and it is hard to choose one specific store. They all seem to carry pretty much the same base selection of stock and as before the prices of particular items can vary from store to store. I went specifically looking for flower cabochons, and most of the bead stores sold them but they were $1.00 a piece, whereas you can buy a whole pack of prima brand ones for £2.99. I like to buy mine from eBay where there is a great selection for really good prices.

If you have any questions or any shops to add please do let me know! Happy shopping :)

100th Post Prize Giveaway and 52 Cards Challenge Week 14

2011-04-04T00:01:00.001+01:00

Hello! When I started this blog I did wonder if it would be a passing fad and I would lose interest but I love sharing what I make with family, friends and visitors and it has really helped me boost my creativity!

I am happy to celebrate my 100th post! and to celebrate I am pleased to have a blog candy giveaway filled with some of my favourite things and there are 3 prizes :)

Prize number one

Fiskars Threading Water Punch
Hero Arts Clear Design Everyday Sayings CL342
Hero Arts Clings Hearts Trio CG160
5 packs of Studio G clear stamps and stamping block
1 Studio G wooden stamp
6 bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles
2 packs of American Crafts Gem set brads
4 Promarkers
1 Sizzix Sizzlet Flourish Die
1 pack of flat back multicoloured pearls
1 bottle of turquoise glitter glue
1 set of flower earrings (just remove the backs!)
1 peach cabochon bracelet (easily separated)

Prize number two

Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly trio punch

Prize number three

Inkadinkado Paperwork Greetings Clear Stamps 97614

All you need to do to enter is:

1 - Be signed up to follow my blog if you aren't already;
2 - Leave a comment on this post :)

Entries are open until 23:59pm GMT on Monday 25th April and I will draw the winner using a random number generator on my birthday Tuesday 26th of April.
Now, on to this week's card challenge. This week's prompts are:

Blue, Stamping, Circles

I needed to make my Mother's Day card and decided to use the prompts for this week. I wouldn't normally have gone with a blue colourway but I was really happy with how it turned out. I decided to use 2 out of the 3 prompts.

On a recent trip to the US I bought some Faber Castell Gelatos and they are just fab to work with. Solid sticks of colour in a lipstick style tube, you just lightly mist your stamp with water and run the gelatos over the stamp and stamp. They give a lovely watercolour look and you can stretch the colour out further using a water pen brush or add more colour by taking a damp brush directly to the gelato and painting on the stamp. I just love them!

I had bought my mum a necklace for Mother's Day but wasn't keen on the box so I made a matching gift box and tag to put it all in and finished off with stamping on the envelope. If you would like to make a gift box take a look at my easy tutorial here.

Supplies used: Hero Arts Botanical Etchings Hydrangea stamp, Papertrey Ink Sentiment, Faber-Castell Gelatos, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, American Crafts Cardstock

Have a happy week and thank you so much for reading :)

PS - All of the challenges so far can now be found under the 52 Cards Challenge page under the header.

52 Cards Challenge Week 13 - Guest Post

2011-03-28T00:01:00.018+01:00

Hi everybody - it's Trish from Doodles and Swirls. Ang is living it up in the Big Apple this week and she asked me if I could host the challenge which I was more than happy to do!

The prompts for this week are pink, diecuts and flowers.

Green and pink is one of my favourite colour combos at the moment so I thought I would use it for this card, along with a couple of different Nestabilities for my die cuts (Lacey Circles, Standard Circles and Labels 14). I also used my Craft Robo to cut out the leaves for the flower. The lovely pink flower is from Prima and I added some stickles to the leaves to give it a bit of shine, and finished off with a bit of stripey twine....

Can't wait to see what you all do with this weeks challenge - make sure you leave a link in the comments so I can come and visit you!

Supplies used - Basic Grey Phoebe papers, Nestabilities Lacey Circles, Standard Circles, Labels 14. Waltzingmouse Vintage Labels 14 stamps, Hero Arts sentiment stamps, Prima flower, Bakers Twine.

Crafty Templates - Granny's House

2011-03-24T09:00:00.002Z

Hello! Just popping in to post a couple of the cards I made with this month's Crafty Templates Granny's House card kit and templates. The templates had a very vintage feel to them this month coupled with the cute doily papers I was in heaven!

I just loved the vintage style sewing machine and I was so pleased with the little details that I added, the 'sewn' love tag and threading a tiny little bobbin, so cute!

I could not decide on the right sentiment for this one, but then Mr Paper suggested 'Just 2 Chair You Up' and I loved it. He is my go-to-guy when I get stuck with sentiments, we sit and throw different ones back and forth until we find one that fits. I should really write them all down in a book so when I get stuck again I can flick through it and find the right one.

I loved the fabric Leo provided this month, so colourful, I had to create a rolled flower with the excess (now I know how to do them!) and the great little sentiment from a Hero Arts mini set.

Hope you are having a good week!

52 Cards Challenge Week 12

2011-03-21T00:01:00.001Z

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing you make turns out how you envisioned? That's just what happened to me today. After pulling the prompts out of the bag I sat and just stared at my clip it up, filled with visions of this and that and got quite excited, until I started pulling it all together and it just didn't 'fit' right. I was almost at a point earlier where I wasn't going to post what I made, but I think I should share the good with the bad ;)

I also didn't photograph the prompts because I clean forgot! They are:

Brights/Stickers/Unisex

I pulled out a pack of American Crafts stickers and went from there. I was happy that Unisex was featured this week as I have a number of male birthdays coming up and find it hard going to make suitable cards so I hoped this would push me to get some ready.

Here is the first. The circles were going to be polka dots on a white background, but it just looked so plain, I added the lime card and the word 'happy' but it still looked too simple, I popped on the candles and decided to leave it, I have a habit of adding stuff when I should stop and I knew if I kept going I would hate the finished product, so far this is tolerable.

I then decided to use the excess circles, mounting them on foam pads to give them some dimension, and adding the number stickers from the pack as I knew I wouldn't use them on another project. Once I was finished it didn't convey 'birthday' so I added a sentiment on some acetate. Still, pretty blah.

The brown 'best ever' used to have the word birthday in it but I cut it out so I could position it next to the cake. I had initially stamped birthday candles, cakes and hats on a blue card blank but, as my day was going I hated that too. I added some Making Memories paper and highlighted the blue dots with stickles, mounted the stickers on some gingham card and left it at that.

*sigh* I hate days like today and I hope that you have a better one, anyway I am off to the Big Apple this week so that gives me something to smile about :)

Have a great week!

97/100

52 Cards Challenge Week 11

2011-03-14T00:01:00.001Z

Hello there! I hope you are all enjoying the challenges? It is lovely to see so many beautiful cards being made each week, it really does make me happy that so many of you are taking part. Don't worry if you have only just found the challenges, you can start mid way through or catch up from the very beginning, it's all about helping you create!

Here are the prompts for this week

Red, Folding, Journalling Spot

and here is mine

I scored lines at intervals on a strip of paper and then folded to create a pleated strip, to keep it's shape I then sewed across the middle.
Supplies used: Hero Arts notecard, Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper, Making Memories Noteworthy paper, Nestabilities dies, Papertrey Ink stamp, ribbon (etsy)

Until next week x

96/100

52 Cards Challenge Week 10

2011-03-07T00:01:00.004Z

Happy Monday to you! I have recovered after my crafting escapades at the weekend. See here for a refresher! I am so excited, I am off to New York in a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to picking up some crafty items, some of which will go towards my giveaway on my 100th post which should be on Monday the 4th of April, and I am excited about that too!

Sorry, I digress. Here is the challenge for this week!

Vintage, Layers and Decorative Pins.

I would have normally gone at this in my usual way, using pastel colours and lots of flowers and lace etc, but this time I decided to attempt a more grungy vintage style which is not really in my comfort zone, but I really like how it turned out!

I went with the vintage style, used lots of layers and a decorative pin.
Supplies used: Crate Paper Restoration papers, K&Co Die Cuts, TH Ticket, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, Prima Flowers, Vintage Looking Lace, Crystal Topped Pin, Vintage Button, MS and Fiskars punches, Vintage book page.

Looking forward to seeing your creations. Have a great week!

95/100

A productive but painful friday night!

2011-03-05T13:18:00.003Z

I have been on a handmade embellishment kick of late and last night I decided to make a batch of rolled flowers and 'singed edge' flowers. Having never made them before it took me a couple of tries to perfect the process and in doing so I had a number of little accidents, I will share them with you so you don't make the same mistakes!

1. Never hold a cable with your teeth to get 'better precision', it may end in a blob of very hot glue getting stuck to the end of your nose.
2. Ensure that you don't get glue on your scissors and rest them on your leg, you may find that you have a new 'embellishment' on your brand new pair of trousers.
3. Always wear a good bra. Bosoms that roam free on the desk top may find they are adorned with rolled flowers, on the other hand, if you are a burlesque dancer by night you'll have some pretty cute pasties.
4. Whilst fingers are essential for crafting, be aware of the effect of hot glue when holding something down to get 'good adhesion'. Surgically removing a layer of skin to remove an errant piece of fabric can be painful.
5. TIE YOUR HAIR BACK, I cannot stress this enough. I do however have a lovely new asymetric hairstyle that wouldn't look out of place in the 80's.
6. Pearls covered in hot glue stick really, really well to the skin. Unless you are channelling Lady Gaga, be careful where you put them.
7. Waft the fabric above the flame, don't get too close and make sure you have a cup of water nearby. A damp baby wipe is not the same as a fire retardent blanket.
8. Move the candle if you need to reach for something, don't reach over the candle, burnt arm hair is not a nice smell.

After all that, and if you persevere, you may end up with a batch of pretty little flowers like these

Only 1 human was harmed during the making of these flowers ;p

94/100

52 Cards Challenge Week 9

2011-02-28T00:01:00.002Z

Hello, I hope you had a great weekend and are ready for this week's challenge!

Here are the prompts

Grey, Lime and Handmade Embellishment.

Here is mine

I love bright green so I was happy to be able to work with it this week. I created the embellishment from small circles of felt which I pinched and stitched onto a small strip of felt, I sewed gathering stitches on some ribbon to make the flower and added some buttons. The swirl was cut using my Slice machine and I went around the edge with a sakura stardust pen to make it pop (which it's not doing in the picture!) and finished off with thickers and some gems.

Until next week, have a good one :)

93/100

52 Cards Challenge Week 8

2011-02-21T00:01:00.002Z

Hola amigos! Hmm, don't know why I came over all spanish then! I know I say this every week but boy does monday come around fast! Ok, so here are the prompts for this week..

Raspberry/Plastic/Just Because

Well, this week I interpreted the prompts on how I saw them (and also what I had in my collection!) I took the Raspberry prompt as an accent colour (although it looks a little more burgandy) I then found an Anna Grfiin transparency (the plastic element) and I recently got a new MME die cut that doesn't really have a clear sentiment so I created this card 'Just Because' i liked all the elements together! That's what is the fun part of these prompts, feel free to interpret them how you want to, it's all about getting you to be more creative!

Here is mine

Looking forward, as usual, to see your creations, post you links in the comments section and I'll pop on over! Have a great week!

92/100

Crafty Templates - Nursery Rhymes

2011-02-17T23:00:00.001Z

Just popping in quickly to share my cards made with the Crafty Templates Nursery Rhymes card making kit and templates. Based around classic children's nursery thymes like Hickory, Dickory Dock, Polly Put the Kettle On and Hey Diddle Diddle there are plenty of cute templates to choose from and of course the delicious card making kit which is available here.

Hey Diddle Diddle

Polly Put the Kettle On

Hickory Dickory Dock

Why don't you pop over to Kathy's Blog to see her take on this month's kit! Have a great day!

91/100

52 Cards Challenge Week 7

2011-02-14T00:01:00.002Z

Hello again :) I hope this week finds you well? I find myself looking forward to the weekend when I get to pick the catagories for the challenge, and I enjoy sitting down and creating even more. I didn't think when I started that I would manage to get so many cards made, it just makes me happy!

Here are the prompts for this week:

Purple/Monochromatic/Thanks. As usual you can choose just one of the prompts or use a combination of the three. I managed 2 for this week, only because the original butterfly on the first card was destined for the second card, however the tone just wasn't quite right!

I used a Hero Arts notecard, Inkadinkadoo stamps set for the background, Hero Arts butterfly and sentiment, gemstones and Fiskars punch. I stamped 2 butterflies to give an nice depth to the card, unfortunately you can't see it in this picture but I also detailed the butterly with perfect pearls, it looks so pretty when it catches the light.

Here is the second

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's day (and the prompts from last week helped you with a card for that special someone!)

I am also excited as this is my 90th post, 10 more and I am going to have a little giveaway of some of my favourite things so I hope you'll visit again soon :)

Have fun creating!

52 Cards Challenge Week 6

2011-02-07T00:01:00.001Z

Welcome to another week's challenge!

This week I have forgone the paper bags and little strips of paper and chosen to acknowledge Valentine's Day.

The prompt for this week is Valentines/No use of red or pink/Hearts. You can choose to use all the valentine's prompts or just one, the aim is to have fun creating!

Here is mine.

I stamped the heart doily using my lovely new Hero Arts stamp and used white embossing powder, I then used TH Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass all over and wiped off the excess, mounted and stitched it on some blue gingham paper and added a doily at the bottom (kind of hidden by the sentiment) some ribbon and a sentiment. I really had fun creating this although it turned out far 'girlier' than I planned so I will go back to the drawing board to make a more manly card for Mr Paper!

Have a great week :)

52 Cards Challenge Week 5

2011-01-31T00:01:00.001Z

Goodness me, how did week 5 get here so fast? It seems like just last week that I started the challenge!

Here are this week's prompts:

and here is my take on it:

I love the combination of orange and aqua together. Looking forward to seeing your take on it!

52 Cards Challenge Week 4

2011-01-24T00:01:00.001Z

How are you this week? Hope that the prompts have been helping to give you a little creative 'push' I know that it has for me. I have managed to make a record number of cards this week, I decided to pull out a paper pad and all the matching embellishments and stickers and went to it, it was very cathartic and on the plus side using it up means I can buy more stash!

Here are the prompts for this week

Buttons, Pink, Congratulations.

Here is my card

Of course I went with the obvious and made a baby congratulations card, although looking at it now it doesn't have anything that screams baby, it just seems 'babyish' if you know what I mean. I'd love to see what you have come up with, please leave a link to your card in the comments so I can pop on by!

Have a great week :)

Crafty Templates - Retro Honey

2011-01-19T23:55:00.001Z

It's Crafty Templates time again and this month I have been working with the delicious Retro Honey kit, featuring all kinds of yummy papers and embellishments, couple this with the cute templates and you have a match made in heaven!

First up is my favourite, featuring the retro dress template and some goregous papers

I simply added a little lace, some of the packaging tape the kit came with and some pearls. So sweet!

Love this one, I have always wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer and this was so much fun to make!

How to use a Hoover template?? It had to be for a domestic goddess! featuring one of the yummy rolled flowers.

Love these darling birds...This card will definitely be going to my honey for Valentines day.

Perfect for Valentines Day or Easter, I see this bunny being used as a tag for the kiddies easter bags.

I just loved the paper for this one and could not bring myself to cut it up so I mounted it onto some card, added ribbon and a sentiment and it's finished!

I hope you enjoyed these and if you haven't checked out Crafty Templates, I urge you to do so! Please also pop over to fellow teamie Kathy's blog for her take on this month's templates!

Just as a reminder, the 52 Cards Challenge is up for this week, I hope you will take time to join in :)

52 Cards Challenge Week 3

2011-01-17T00:46:00.000Z

Hello, thank you for those that entered last week, there were some beautiful cards made!

Here are the prompts for this week: Blue, Flourishes, Hello

I had fun making this card as I got to use some of my lovely Making Memories Noteworthy papers!

Remember you can use just one of the prompts or all three and it's up to you how you interpret them :)

Look forward to seeing you next week and I hope this is helping you create some stunning cards!

52 Cards Challenge Week 2

2011-01-10T00:01:00.004Z

Wow, I am so pleased that so many people intend to take part in the 52 Card Challenge. If you aren't sure what it is please take a look at the post below for full details, however to recap the challenge is to create a card using the 3 prompts given.

You can choose to use just one of the prompts or all three it's completely up to you! I have developed a very hi-tech and complex system for picking the prompts. I take 3 paper bags, each filled with prompts that cover a colour, a technique and a theme/style and pick one from each bag - tee hee, i told you it was technical!

Without further ado, here are the prompts for week 2

You can choose to create a card that features purple, or one that has die cuts or one with stripes, you can choose to have a combination of two, or, you can be like me and use all 3! Remember, it is completely up to you how you interpret the prompts, they are there to be a little kick start to the whole creative process :)

It was nice to be able to dig into some newish stash of MME Penny Lane, I also used my beloved Nesties and a cute stamp I picked up in the US whilst on holiday last year. For some reason the ribbon looks very dark in the photo, it's much more the colour of the lighter purple in the stripes.

Please feel free to add your link below, or within the comments section or in the challenge thread on UKS

I look forward to seeing all your creations!

Happy New Year and a new 2011 card challenge!

2011-01-06T23:58:00.001Z

Happy New Year to all my lovely readers I hope 2011 finds you happy and healthy! I have decided to make 2 new years resolutions:

1. Create more.
2. Update my blog more often.

and I have found a way to do both.

Introducing Paper and Ribbons 52 Cards Challenge.
I am in awe of those crafters that can make a card a day, unfortunately I can't keep up and one a month is too few, so every week I will set myself a challenge to create a card a week based on three simple prompts. It could vary from:

Cosmo Cricket/Ribbon/Male Card
Stamping/Die Cuts/Buttons

See? pretty simple! and to upload the picture to my blog. This week's challenge started on Monday uses the following prompt:

Embossing/Lilac/Yellow

I'd love it if any of you wanted to join in and posted links to your cards (tags or other projects using the challenge theme) in the comments, if enough people join I'll add Mr Linky to make it easier.

I am also nearing my 100th post so hope to offer up some blog candy or a prize at random to someone who has entered the challenge!

Here is my card for this week

I hope to see you next week :)

Gift Box Tutorial - Last Minute Make

2010-12-19T21:07:00.000Z

A little while ago I was flicking back through some old magazines and came across some instructions for a simple gift box using 2 sheets of 12x12 paper. I was thrilled that it actually worked and it has really come in handy on the run up to christmas for boxing up home-made candy and cookies, even small christmas presents. Even though this might be old to you it's new to me!

Gift Box Tutorial

Start with a sheet of 12x12 paper

Fold it in half, patterned paper to patterned paper then fold in half again. Open the paper back out and turn over patterned side down.

Fold the paper as shown to form a square.

Fold the paper to meet the middle

and repeat with the other side

Turn the paper 180 degrees and fold the paper into the centre

open the paper out as shown

open out one end of the paper

fold the paper inwards as shown at one end. This was the hardest part for me but once you figure out the fold you'll be whipping lots of these up in no time!

fold the paper over to create the side and part of the base

repeat with the other end, this will be the box lid. To create the box base repeat all of the above steps but start with an 11.5x11.5 sheet of paper

The finished article!

It's so easy to make smaller boxes to fit little gifts. The boxes here are made using 12x12, 8x8 and 6x6. I set an eyelet in the lid of the 6x6 box, threaded ribbon through and hung on my christmas tree!

I hope this is useful to anyone that has not seen this technique before!

A Time To Remember - Daring Cardmakers

2010-11-15T23:45:00.000Z

Here is my card for the Daring Cardmakers Time to Remember card challenge in honour of the service men and women who have given their lives for our freedom. May we always remember them and the sacrifices they made.

Christmas Gift Ideas - Part 1

2010-11-15T22:55:00.000Z

I'm hoping to post a small series of ideas on quick and easy christmas gifts. My first idea is creating small 'Brag Books' easy enough for any proud parent, grandparent or auntie to carry around in their handbag.

Supplies needed:
Wood ware Blue 2" Craft Punch
Paperchase Clear 4x6 slip in Photo Album
Paper Scraps
Letter stickers
Ribbon

1. Punch 15 squares from co-ordinating paper, this is a great way to use up some of those scraps.
2. Mount the 15 squares on a sheet of card, use a small dab of pritt stick to attach so the glue does not gunk up the needle when sewing.
3. Sew a running stitch around the edge, pull the end of the thread through and tie underneath.
4. Using a zigzag stitch sew across the edges of the squares to create the patchwork effect, pull the end of the thread through the last hole and tie underneath.
4. Trim off the excess card and adhere to the front of the album.
5. Decorate the front with letter stickers, ribbon and any embellishments that you like

Finished! This little project takes about 30 mins, and is simple even for those challenged by a sewing machine (I count myself as one of those people!) I have taken the additional step of placing some paper on the inside cover and adding a MME Daily Dose journalling card;

so the proud receipient can have all the important details close to hand! Here is one I have made in blue.

Apart from the cost of the album (£1.50) you should have most of the products on hand, so this is a nice, cheap but reasonably expensive looking gift! If you make one I would love to see it!

Back soon x

Birthday Sprinkles!

2010-11-14T23:28:00.000Z

After a little holiday break I am back again with November's Crafty Templates card kit 'Sprinkles', filled with sugar sweet papers and cardstock, tickets, tags and some scrumptious ribbon. I used the fun stacked cakes template for the first card

The cakes look so adorable at a jaunty angle, I think this is one of my favourite templates! The second card features the stack of gifts template and can be used for so many different occasions, change up the papers and you have got a great card for those difficult men's cards :)

I know I sound like a stuck record but I really cannot say enough good things about Leo's kits. The Quirky kits are perfect for scrapbooking and have such cute little touches, the Card Making kits are a joy to work with and the Crafty Bales kits sell like hotcakes, so much so that I missed out on getting one they sell so fast, they are filled with paper crafting goodies and can contain components for mini books, fabric and much more.
Take a look at fellow DT Kathy's blog to see what she has done with this month's kit!

Hope to be back later in the week with a little gift box tutorial (it's new to me but may be old to you but they will be great for xmas!)

Bits and Pieces

2010-11-13T21:32:00.000Z

I'm busy beavering away making christmas gifts and various other bits and pieces. Using an idea I saw in an issue of CK I decided to create a chart for my distress inks so I can see at a glance what colours I have because looking at the ink pad itself isn't a good indicator!

It's pretty and functional!

I was fortunate enough that Mr Paper agreed to take me to the NEC last week. I was a little disappointed as it wasn't as large as I thought it would be and it was definately more crowded so I didn't come home with as many bits and pieces as I would like but I made up for it by ordering a few things on line. This is what I came away with..

I was pleased to add some more distress inks to my collection and grabbed some lovely little 4x4 cards for my christmas cards along with the reindeer flight die, but more on that later. These are the other goodies I bought on line..

I have been itching to get some of these for ages and was pleased to find them for £2.50 a pack from here.

Some bargain basic grey pads and embellishments from here.

Some cute fabric cones from Ikea and little christmas wood shapes from Tesco which are destined to be used as card toppers or on scrapbook pages.

And I finally succumbed and bought the Tattered Florals die!

At the NEC I declared to Mr Paper that I was going to make my own christmas cards. He reminded me that the last time I did this I said to him to tell me that I was not to do it again and I was crazy if I considered it. 'Ha' was my response, 'it will be better this time, this time I have a plan' to which he rolled his eyes and said 'just don't expect any sympathy when you get frustrated with it', I was confident that this time would be different.

Take some silver glitter paper, one reindeer die and....

Argh, WTH was I thinking, this is how many reindeers I managed before I wanted to sit rocking in a corner quietly weeping. Mr Paper was sympathetic and compromised that I would make snazzy christmas cards for the family and I would buy a box of generic cards to send to everyone else, thank goodness!

If I say next year that I will make my own cards, tie my hands together, lock my craft room and remind me to re-read this post. I am in awe of you if you make all your own christmas cards!

Just a quickie

2010-11-05T22:39:00.000Z

I know I have been a little quite recently, scrapbooking seems to have sucked up a lot of my time! I have a new Crafty Templates kit to work with this week so I hope to be back to a more regular posting schedule shortly!

Crafty Templates Circus

2010-09-20T20:58:00.000+01:00

Roll up, roll up, the circus is in town! I have had lots of fun working with the September Crafty Templates Card Making Kit and Templates called Circus. As I have said previously Leo has such a great eye when it comes to putting kits together and this month's certainly did not disappoint. Filled with lots of My Minds Eye yumminess with some Cosmo Cricket thrown in for good measure.

The templates are fab for children's birthday cards or for making your own miniature toppers to have handy for decorating cards or embellishing your scrapbook page. If you haven't tried one of Leo's kits, I urge you to do so, they are such great value and filled with quality supplies and ideas!

Here is my personal favourite, the sea lion!

I used the sealion coupled with the big top template, it was so much fun to put together. I added some American Crafts stamped clouds and an acrylic sentiment tile.

Here he is juggling some brad 'balls'. I love, love, love the Cosmo Cricket tiny type alphas!

Mrs Nellie Phant is just adorable in her little felt hat set at a jaunty angle! Finally there is Mr Robot

I added the tag, Cosmo Cricket cogs rub ons and some Heidi Swapp chipboard lettering, perfect for that special little boy's birthday.

I don't know where the time keeps going, yet another busy couple of weeks where I have done much less crafting than I would like. I am going off to the land of the mouse this week and hope to pick up lots of crafty goodies and come back feeling all inspired.

Have a great couple of weeks and see you when I get back!

Two cards for two Mama's

2010-09-11T12:00:00.001+01:00

I have so many birthdays in September, 6 at the last count! My beautiful mama's is on the 6th and Mr Paper's Mama is on the 18th so I was tasked with making two very special cards.

I tend to keep lapsing back into the same style, shabby chic but with a cleaner edge, I love it so much and I think they look so pretty that I can't help myself, it's like falling into a comfortable armchair. I need to start making things outside my comfort zone otherwise I will get stuck in a rut and that's not good!

Here is the card I made for my mum

I had to walk away from it because I just kept adding more embellishments and I think I nearly 'over egged the pudding' Supplies used: Paper; Making Memories, Flowers; Making Memories, Prima, Imaginisce, Lace; Crafty Templates, Frame; Melissa Frances, Letters; American Crafts.

This is card number two

Supplies used: Paper; MME, Sticker; Stampendous, Flowers; Prima, Lace; Crafty Templates, Badge and Letters; American Crafts.

I love them both although the blue one just edges it for me, I love flocked paper, especially when it is damask!

Happy days :)

Better late than never!

2010-09-10T19:02:00.000+01:00

Ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day? Yup, same here, I've got quite a few cards that I have made that I haven't got around to sharing so I'll be posting a few over the next couple of weeks :)

Here are last month's Crafty Templates using the 'Chilled Out' card kit which includes a summery mix of yummy Sassafrass Lass papers. Go here to get yours before they sell out!

This is my favourite, I adore Mary Janes and it makes it even cuter that my husband thought of the sentiment!

I like the simplicity of this one, sit back, relax and enjoy your retirement. Oh how I'd love to be retired, sitting crafting all day, bliss!

Well, that's it for now, be back later with some more x

WOYWW - 28/07/2010

2010-07-28T06:44:00.002+01:00

Hello WOYWW-ers, hope you are all doing ok, I've missed the past couple of weeks as things have been a bit hectic! No workdesk today as I forgot to take a picture (what a doofus!) instead I have a picture of my home made clip it up.

I had been bugging Mr Paper for a couple of years about buying me a clip it up and the silly, silly man, instead of parting with the cash said "why buy when I can make you one", of course I bugged him for weeks and weeks to make it and it never materialised, eventually I was resigned to the fact that I would never get one and would have to continue raking through a large cardboard box to find my supplies.

One day, many months later, he came home from work and placed a large object wrapped in a bin bag on the table with a heavy 'thunk', imagine my delight when I saw what he had made! I am lucky that he works in a manufacturing plant where he has access to lots of tools, metal, paint and such like. The only change I made was to spray it white. I bought lots of clips and hooks from Ikea and now have my very own rotating, albeit and bit heavy, clip it up!

So, here is the card I made today on the workdesk I forgot to photograph!

If you haven't seen it yet, have a little look at the post below which has a tutorial on how to make a rolled spiral flower wreath.

Have a great week!

Use Those Scraps! Blossoms and Butterflies

2010-07-19T18:01:00.001+01:00

I have entered the weekly challenge on the Fiskarettes blog entitled 'Blossoms and Butterflies', as soon as I heard the theme I knew what I wanted to make and this is a great way to use up those scraps.

I am terrible, I keep the tiniest scrap of paper and in all honesty I don't know how I would use it but I just can't bear to throw things away, it's the pack rat in me!

For this project you need:
Thick chipboard, twine, paper scraps of all sizes, hot glue gun, butterflies. I also used a quilling tool which is optional as you can just use your fingers but I find it makes the task a little easier and helps make tighter flowers.

Cut a ring out of thick chipboard, you can use a plate as a template if you wish, I used a compass.

Tie the twine in a knot to secure then glue a portion of the ring and start wrapping twine around to cover the ring, this is a nice job to do whilst sitting in the car or watching TV. I used a glue tape runner to secure my twine. When you get to the back tuck the twine underneath the last loop and tie in a knot.

Using a fiskars shape cutter, fingertip knife or scissors cut circles out of paper in varying sizes, I did not have a set size of circle, I just cut them as big as the scrap I was using would allow.

Take your circle and cut into a spiral. You can also use paper edger scissors to get a pretty fluted or raggy effect.

You can use your fingers to curl the paper into a spiral, I like to use a quilling tool as it allows me to get a tighter coil in the centre. Once coiled you can then loosen the flower to get the look you want to achieve. I then add a dab of glue to secure it in place.

Make as many as you think you need, be sure to make some smaller ones to fit into the little gaps. You can use any colour theme you like, as I was aiming to use up some scraps I went for a rainbow affair!

Using a hot glue gun, glue the flowers to the ring, the twine allows better adhesion. I started by gluing the larger flowers down then filled in the gaps using the smaller flowers. I did need to make an additional 10-15 flowers from what I had originally made to fill the gaps.

Using a hot glue gun, glue a length of ribbon on the back to allow you to hang the wreath up. I then coloured in some digital Hero Arts butterflies from the Winged Friends digi kit with promarkers, added stickles and covered with glossy accents. When dry I cut them out and mounted them on a thin strip of acetate which I had creased into a Z shape and glued to the wreath, it allows a little bit of movement so the butterflies look like they are hovering over the flowers.

I had so much fun making this and it only took a few hours to do and you end up with a pretty piece of home decor! I hope you like and are having a wonderful week!

Island Bliss - July Crafty Templates

2010-07-17T16:33:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been a while :) I have been so busy just lately and I hate the fact that I have neglected my blog a little, I hope to make up for it in the next few days!

Here are some cards made with the Crafty Templates July card making kit Island Bliss along with this months templates. Leo really knows how to put together a fabulous kit, gorgeous papers and lovely embellishments. She also makes Crafty Bales mini kits which sell out quickly, I encourage you to visit her shop and have a browse!

My favourite this month is the guitar, perfect for a music loving teenager or for a more hippy chick vibe

I added some music paper, polka dot paper from last month's kit and thread to make the guitar strings.

This fun cocktail glass coloured with promarkers and glossy accents. The umbrella is made by folding paper accordian style, glue a strip around the top then fluff out and add a cocktail stick.

This one is using the versatile tropical flowers template

and finally using the hot air balloon template, I had fun adding on faux stitching to create a patchwork effect.

That's all from me for now, be back soon with more creations to share!

Fiskarettes Card W/C 21/06/10

2010-06-27T21:31:00.004+01:00

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

2010-06-23T06:53:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-21T06:30:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-21T00:23:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-19T13:30:00.000+01:00

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!

2010-06-16T06:47:00.002+01:00

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

2010-06-09T06:30:00.001+01:00

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!!

2010-06-04T23:32:00.000+01:00

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

2010-06-02T06:30:00.002+01:00

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 :)

I promise, these are the last for a while!

2010-05-31T13:53:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I had a real thing for the CC DeLovely line last week, so here are the last 2 cards I made and I promise these will be the last for a little while :)

Pears are my favourite fruit (well, along with cherries and strawberries) I love anything pear flavoured, scented or in paper form and as soon as I saw the 'pair' strip I knew just what I was going to do. This card is for my best friend for when she returns from overseas, I have missed our gossip and shopping sessions and we both think that we make a great pair! I also used a small square of hambly overlay, I love this stuff and hate cutting into it, but I keep telling myself that it is there to be used!

This card was quite simple, based around the bloom circular sticker, I just added the paper that complements it along with the border strip.

I have had to complete my WOYWW today as I won't be able to post what's on my desk on wednesday, I definitely had fun with it this week and for a change it will feature a scrapbook page! I'll be back later this week to share some exciting news :)

Have a great week everyone!

Just a quickie

2010-05-29T00:00:00.001+01:00

Just dropping in to share some notecards I made recently using more CC DeLovely!

DeLovely Oh My!

2010-05-26T17:14:00.001+01:00

Just a quick one! I submitted my photo frame and 2 cards I made using CC DeLovely to the Cosmo Cricket Blog and to my delight it is featured today! If you hop over and leave a comment you could win some DeLovely goodies! I'm so happy today, the laborious task of 15 coats of paint on the frame seem worth it now!

Hope you are all having a fabby day! :)

WOYWW - 26/05/10

2010-05-26T06:30:00.002+01:00

Howdy! I hope you have all had a good week and are looking forward to a lovely bank holiday weekend? I'm really getting into the spirit of WOYWW and find it gives me something crafty to look forward to in the middle of, what can sometimes be, a pretty mediocre week! Onwards to the desk..

So what can we see today? Lots of Cosmo Cricket Delovely, I fell in love with the bright cheery colours and had to get stuck right in. On the left you can see my pink ribbon and lace jars, a Disneyland bag that is almost 20 years old that contains lace from when I used to make crafty things as a teenager, I think that counts as being vintage doesn't it?

Last week a lovely commenter asked to see a close up picture of my storage drawers:

The unit is a Quickutz Magpie unit, I purchased mine from Home Sense for the bargain price of £9.99, so good in fact that I went back and picked up a second. One set has six of the magpie nesting tins (it's been a pain to try and find another set of 3 to complete the unit) and the other is perfect for storing my promarkers. I have been told that they can be stored upright but I prefer to store mine horizontally, I simply added some white dot stickers coloured with the pen to make it a bit easier when choosing my colours. At some point I would like to paint the units white, they look a bit hefty in black!

I picked this photo frame up from a charity shop this week, it was a murky dark red and black colour when I bought it, I primed the frame, painted a few layers of fuschia pink paint then overlaid this with white acrylic paint. When it was dry I sanded it in some areas and bashed it a little to distress then painted on more of the pink paint and wiped the excess off with a baby wipe. I was so pleased that it came out how I intended. I then added some Cosmo Cricket paper, lace and ribbon, the perfect accompanying gift to the card..

I think that this will be a gift for my niece when she and her family return from living in Canada. I just can't wait for them to arrive, they have been gone for 3 years and I have missed them all so much, hopefully not too long to go now!

Have a great week and a lovely bank holiday weekend!

Poppyseed Crazy

2010-05-21T00:16:00.000+01:00

I recently bought some of the new K&Co Poppyseed range and I love it, gorgeous colours, lovely embellishments with a contemporary feel. I couldn't resist and got straight to it!

The paper is from the paper mat pad and the butterflies are from the beautiful heavy cardstock borders pack. The lovely striped velvet ribbon was from Paperchase, it matches perfectly!

The words and butterflies are also from the borders pack.

This one was a bit of an experiment but it came out ok, I love the coloured dymo tape, lends itself perfectly to more retro themed cards.

I can't wait to make some more but that will have to wait, I just received a pack of yumminess called Delovely!

Hope you are all having a good week, thank goodness it's Friday, more craft time!

WOYWW - 19/05/10

2010-05-19T07:00:00.003+01:00

I have been hankering for ages after a metal drawer unit my mum has had laying unused at her house and finally she allowed me to whisk it home and fill it with all my bits and bobs! I love it, it holds so much.

I also got straight to work with my label maker so I know what's in each drawer. Here is a peek at my two favourite drawers right now, my inks and my flowers.

Mmmm, I just keep opening the drawers to look at them!

So, on to WOYWDW (Which in my case should be WOYWDT as I had to clear it all away to start a new project tonight) This is a photo of the calm before the storm!

Then this is what it looked like during....

You can see that I managed to pick up a second set of Magpie storage drawers from Home Bargains so I can now use one for promarkers and the others for my nesting tins. I am using a pad of MME glittered paper for my project this week, along with my beloved corner chomper and little bags of bargain flat back pearls.

And this is the result. A set of little thank you cards for my mum to give to her students at the end of their year. I love the pretty mint green against the pink and I love paisley so I am sold! Hope you have all had a great week and I am looking forward to blog hopping to see all the other workspaces out there!

Old Time Anniversary

2010-05-17T23:38:00.000+01:00

I am amassing quite a stash of cards in my little card box but I noticed that I have plenty of birthdays and simple sentiments but none that really cover anniversaries. I set right to work making a card and it all started with the rose. If you haven't seen Wendy Vecchi's tutorial, hop on over to have a look, you'll be glad you did, and as she says they are addictive!

I took the basic 5 petal rose and added in a number of individual petals to make a more ruffly rose, instead of using grungepaper as suggested I used MME Wild Asparagus paper. The best tip I can give when using paper, as it is less forgiving than grunge paper, it to cut your petals, then take each individual petal and to screw it up into a ball, flatten it back out and to gently curl it using either your thumbnail or a bone folder, it allows you to curl the petals without hardly any rips and tears. I then inked the edges using cat's eye chalk ink.

It sat on my desk and I played with it for a good couple of days turning it this way and that before commiting myself to putting it on a card, they are just so pretty! I added a mat of MME paper, stamped a postcard on some cream card using a Prima stamp, distressed it with distress ink to add some age and rounded the corners, I popped the postcard and a tag behind a die cut piece of K&Co paper (I love that paper, I have one and a half sheets left and keep telling myself to just use it up and not hoard it!) I then stamped a clock image using a Hero Arts stamp which I found in the land of bargains known as Home Sense! and dusted it with perfect pearls for a more subtle look.

I sewed some ruffles using MME paper, added it to the card and layered it with some Prima lace and added some gems, buttons, ribbon and a stick pin dyed to match using alcohol inks. The sentiment is from one of my favourite Hero Arts sentiments sets.

The card is quite bulky so needs to be sent in a boxvelope. I love how it turned out, it came out quite vintage-y which is what I was going for, I think I am going to send this to my husband's grandparents for their anniversary this year, they have been together for 63 years and are still very much in love, I only hope that my husband and I are as happy as they are when we have been married for that long!

Happy crafting, looking forward to WOYWDW, hope you consider joining in too!

Sweet New Baby

2010-05-15T17:48:00.000+01:00

There are a couple of impending births happening around me, however the parents want to keep the sex a secret so I have made cards that cover me for one of each, thinking about it now I should have made some unisex cards, however I just received my new Hero Arts baby boy and girl stamps so I had to use them in all their stereotypical pink and blue glory :)

I'm also slow to the party but I am also loving kraft card blanks right now, I'm also looking forward to the Basic Grey kraft mix pack, just wish it would start shipping soon! Have a great day :)

More Bee Creative cards from CT

2010-05-15T00:07:00.002+01:00

Just another couple of cards from this month's Crafty Templates Bee Creative kit. I used an acetate front for this one with the template flowers and branch, I just added some tissue paper behind the flowers to make them pop a little more.

I like this from the 'Birds on a Wire' template, I simply stitched a border and line, mounted the birds on foam pads and added some little brackets on the edges to pep it up a bit, simple but looks pretty IRL.

Back later this weekend with a few more cards, have a great one!

Bee Creative - Crafty Templates May

2010-05-12T21:53:00.000+01:00

This month's Crafty Templates kit 'Bee Creative' is filled with lots of yummy Pink Paislee loveliness! As soon as I saw the watering can template I knew that I had to use it on a Father's Day card. Both my Dad and Father-In-Law are avid gardeners and love to grow their own veg so it didn't take long for the 'seed' of an idea to form (see what I did there? ok, ok, no more puns!)

The card uses paper from the kit liberally doused with some distress ink, stamped with a vintage text stamp and chalk ink. I cut the watering can from one of the sheets and accented it with a complimentary pattern and highlighted the edges with black pen and white sakura pen. The plant pot is an Art Impressions stamp and coloured with pro-markers and the little seed was drawn by hand with a dash of glossy accents. I mounted them all on the card and added 'fig 1.' etc like you would see in an old diagram and wrote planting instructions on the side edge. I finished it all off by mounting some of the letter stickers from the kit on a seed stick for the greeting. I love how it turned out, like really love it, I have mentioned before how I struggle with cards for men but I think I managed to pull it off this time!

As the card went so well I pulled out a notebook from my stash, painted it brown and decorated it to match. I also used my McGill tab punch to add tabs for the months.

I also die cut some paper and folded them over some seed packets finished with twine and another watering can.

I now have a lovely little giftset to give for Father's Day, I just need to make another one for my Father in Law!

WOYWDW - 13/05/10

2010-05-12T21:13:00.001+01:00

I love looking at all the different work desks on WOYWDW (what's on your work desk wednesday) created by the fabby Julia Dunnitt, I have always wanted to join in, however I have a little problem, I either don't create on a wednesday, I forget to take a photo or I tidy up then realise I should have taken a picture!

This week however I remembered and decided to join in! So what can you see? My lovely new Magpie storage I mentioned a few weeks ago filled with my new collection of Promarkers, it's just perfect! My vintage button jar with all the scrummy buttons that I want to use but prefer to just look at and finally what's actually on m desk. Lots and lots of Carolyn Gavin for K&Co Greenhouse line. I purchased it all when I went to Florida last year and I just love the bold patterns and cute shapes, I managed to pull it all out just to make one card then neatly tidy it away again straight after, I'm a bit of a neat freak.

I have since started another project and there is twice as much mess and I am finding it very hard not to tidy as I go but I am trying to relax and go with the flow! So what's on your work desk?

Happy Birthday Charlie!

2010-04-18T23:47:00.001+01:00

It is my good friend's son's birthday next week, I cannot believe how much he has grown from the cute 3 year old to the sassy 10 year old he will be on the 28th of April.

I think I have said before that I am not good when it comes to boy cards so here is my attempt :) I used my new promarkers to colour in the robot and stars. I love using promarkers, streak free finish and so many options. I am finding it hard to find images I like to colour, I am not into magnolia stamps or the cuter images so I think I need to try and draw my own *gulp* the only drawback is I'm not that good an artist!

For some reason the bling cardstock I used for the title looks like it doesn't tie in when photographed but looks much nicer in person.

I didn't manage to create anything card related today but I did embroider a t-shirt for my friend's daughter and made some matching hair clips so I have a small sense of accomplishment!

Have a good week!

Love you more than rainbows-Crafty Templates April

2010-04-12T22:38:00.000+01:00

It's that time again :) Had lots of fun with the new Crafty Templates 'Love you more than rainbows' April card kit. Such bright and cheerful colours and lovely embellishments, Leo really knows how to put a kit together.

Here is my first one, and I just love it! I uses squares of paper from the kit and sewed them on in a patchwork style. The bird was from the template and coloured with my new promarkers (love them so much!) Everthing is from the kit except the jewels.

This one uses the apron template and all materials from the kit except the sentiment and jewels. So sweet as an embellishment on a cookbook mini book, or as card for someone who likes to cook!

I love the happy colours in the one. I chose to use the rainbow and card shape template but added paper for the rainbow from a previous kit and AC paper for the background, glitter and stamped sentiment are from my own stash.

Hope you like them! Are you a Crafty Templates subscriber? I would love to see what you create with your kit, please add a link in the comments and I would like to come visit :)

Sweet Talia - Altered Photo Frame

2010-04-05T13:41:00.000+01:00

I recently reconnected with a dear friend who lives in the US who I had lost touch with and was delighted to find she had a beautiful 3 year old little girl. As part of a parcel of goodies I am sending to her I altered this photo frame for her daughter's bedroom.

This is the second frame I altered. The first one was a very pretty frame and I had distressed it just how I wanted with pink paint showing under the white and I decided to use crackle glaze, so far so good, I then thought I would rub some pale pink paint over the top and wipe the excess off. BIG mistake, it looked like the frame had a bad case of eczema so I started over again!

I use Crate Paper for the background and letters, lots of lace, velvet ribbon, sizzix die cut swirls on bo bunny paper distressed with distress inks, imaginisce & prima blooms and some vintage millinery flowers all topped off with glitter, gems and pearls.

I love it so much, I just wish I knew some more little girls so I could make more :)

American Crafts and Quickutz Bargains!

2010-04-04T23:24:00.001+01:00

I don't usually make stash posts but I had to share some bargains I picked up yesterday and hopefully it helps someone else nab a bargain or two!

I was in my local Home Sense store and found that they had a lot more craft related items. A few months ago I was able to pick up a Doodlebug 12x12 scrapbook for £16.00 complete with paper pack and stickers, this time I found lots of things from pebbles, making memories, doodlebug and american crafts.

I picked up this:

A lovely album with 20 papers, thickers, remarks stickers, flair and chipboard shapes for £14.99 and remarks sticker and flair packs for £2.99 each and each packet had 4 sheets to it.

And this:

Quickutz magpie unit for £9.99 and the magpie nesting boxes for £3.99 a pack, unfortunately they only had 2 packs so I need to look for a third! I only own 1 quickutz die and don't plan on branching out into buying lots more but I though it would be great for storing little embellishments in on my desk. I debated hard in the queue whether I really wanted it but I think I would have kicked myself if I hadn't!

I hope it helps someone pick up a bargain. Hopefully I will be back this week with a home decor project and some cards to share!

Mother's Day Part One

2010-03-12T13:00:00.002Z

I was inspired by a card in a recent Cards magazine which showed a white embossed damask print which I thought looked so pretty. I decided to give it a go myself but I'm not thrilled with the end result. I think it is missing some stamping at the top and the embossing powder I managed to find didn't give a nice thick white finish like I wanted. I like the flower decoration and my Martha Stewart punched edge but it just doesn't 'do it' for me, however I hope my MIL likes it.

I hope to be back with a part 2 with the card I am making for my mum. Do you have a card you have made that you can share? I'd love to see it!

Easter-y Goodness - Crafty Templates

2010-03-12T00:11:00.000Z

I love Easter, it's always the sign that spring is here, even though the weather at the moment has hampered the spring flowers, I can't wait for them to come in to bloom. Also, Easter = chocolate, yum yum yum :)

I loved the cute bunny from Crafty Templates this month. I paired him with the adorable Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety papers, carrot themed paper? it was begging to be used with a bunny!

I used him, or should I say her this time on a little mini egg gift bag for a special little girl I know, I just love these Making Memories Cosmopolitan papers, I've had them for a while and love to dig them out now and again for a project, they are just so pretty.

Lastly this little chickadee from the templates, he also worked perfectly with the CC papers! Now I need to get cracking on a Mother's Day card, I made one for my MIL which I'll share tomorrow, I've been pondering on what to do for my mum's card, I think I just need to pull out all my favourite pretty bits and pieces and see what happens :)

Market Fresh!

2010-02-28T21:41:00.000Z

I was excited to receive my latest parcel of goodies that I had recently ordered, some lovely American Crafts cardstock and stickers, Cosmo Cricket Material Girl and Garden Variety Mini Deck, Elements and Stickers. I set them all out on my desk and decided to work with Garden Variety. They are really lovely papers but as I looked through them I was increasingly perplexed as to how I was going to use them. Carrots? Pea Pods? how would they work? what occasions could I use them for? Fortunately I found inspiration from the elements paper sheet and it kinda went from there, I made the following cards from it and some others which I can share next week but it wasn't the easiest task I've come up against but that's what it's all about isn't it? Trying new things :)

I loved the cheeky little smiley strawberry so pulled out some felt and made this little guy, if I had the patience I would make more as he is so cute!

I loved the little 'flash card' type of cards included on the elements paper and used them on this one with that cute little berry again. I made an aperture and glued acetate inside with some ki memories die cut paper behind, I liked this technique so expect to be bored with more cards featuring the same technique!

Next up is another of the little cards with adorable little pea pods. I am still learning how to stitch on paper and found curved edges a bit of a challenge but I will persevere! I'm loving the Prima lace at the moment, so very pretty.

Now this last one was a bit tricky, a tomato, on a card? Well, I just sat and merrily cut the veggie paper up and stuck it all together and I like him, he's such a jolly little guy!

If you have made any cards using this line I would love to see them! I'm going to try Material Girl next :)

I love it when a plan comes together!

2010-02-27T18:52:00.000Z

And this is the result of my 'plan'. It doesn't happen that often to me, I envision it in my head and then proceed to become extremely frustrated when I can't translate the idea from my head to the paper! I had been asked to create a card with the specification that it should be for 'A Special Friend' and this is the result.

I had been playing with acetate earlier in the week and liked the idea of the window revealing a tone on tone stamped image background, in this case butterflies using a Stamposaurus stamp. I made a 5x7 card blank from Americam Crafts paper, cut an aperture and adhered the acetate, I then lined the inside with bazzill and decorated the outside with gems, pearls, glitter flourishes and thickers.

Products used - Paper: American Crafts, Bazzill. Stamp: Stamposaurus. Flourish: Sizzix, Pearls: Queen & Co. Gems: Swarovski. Ribbon and Flowers: Etsy. Ink: Versamark. Acetate: Papermania.

I must admit that it will be hard to part with it but I hope the recipient likes it! It's been a strange day here today, sunshine, rain, thunder then sunshine, I did enjoy this view from my craft room today -

I'm so fed up of all this bad weather, I can't wait for spring to arrive! Lots more to share this week, hope you are all enjoying the weekend!

Wedding Day - Caardvarks Challenge

2010-02-15T23:16:00.001Z

I've decided to enter the Caardvarks challenge this month, and the prize? have your card featured in Cards magazine. I love Cards magazine, beautiful cards, pictures and inspiration.

The theme was 'Wedding'. I used a romantic feeling victorian 'With Love and Devotion' heart, my favourite K&Co buttons paper, MS punches, pearls, gems, tulle and ribbon. I really like it, it's a bit different from what I would normally have designed for a wedding, it did start out in varying shades of cream and white but needed the colour to avoid it looking washed out. I also used german glitter glass which gives a fabulous patina as it ages.

Hey, you never know what will happen but it doesn't hurt to try ;)

Fresh as a Daisy - Crafty Templates

2010-02-14T17:00:00.000Z

Loving this month's Crafty Templates Fresh as a Daisy card kit. Such lovely spring-y colours using yummy papers from Basic Grey Origins collection among other lovely bits and pieces. Leo creates such lovely kits and some great templates, I really look forward to them dropping on my doormat each month!

I am really sucking at photos just lately, my craft room (or should I be posh and say 'studio') gets some great light but with the crappy weather we have been having they look a little washed out. I promise they are zingy and fresh in real life!

I have some time off over the next couple of weeks so I am looking forward to relaxing and getting plenty of crafting done, I may scrapbook some more, I haven't done that in a little while!

Sweet Baby

2010-02-08T22:29:00.000Z

I love making baby cards as I always have to try and include a little ducky as often as I can! My husband's friends wife is currently in labour so this card will be winging it's way to them as soon as the little one arrives.

I started playing with scallop cards last week, I'm not keen on the edge at the fold, I think I should be attaching a scallop onto a card blank instead of making a scalloped blank. I've typed scallop so many times now the word has lost all meaning :)

I had to squeeze in a baby girl one, always good to keep a spare handy just in case! Be back later this week to share this month's Crafty Templates kit, it's yummy!

Hi, Hello, Howdy

2010-01-28T17:00:00.001Z

I love making little notecards. They are a great way to use up scraps of card and also a fun way to try new things. I am addicted to making cards in 2.5"x4", mainly becuase I have a stash of envelopes in that size!

I wanted something bright and cheery that would allow me to use my newly amassed stash of Accessorize/Paperchase stickers which are just too, too cute! I also tried magic mesh which I have had kicking around for a few years and have never thought to use before.

This one came about when I was making the get well soon card and had the stripy paper leftover. The papers are K&Co Greenhouse as is the journalling spot and some die cuts. The pretty felt flower is from crafty templates sugar, sugar kit. Hopefully it's cheerful colours will brighten someones day!

Valentine Presents

2010-01-26T17:00:00.001Z

My best friend moved overseas a couple of years ago taking my adorable niece and nephew with her :) I try to send cards as often as I can and created these for my niece, nephew and BF's husband (BF gets an extra special card!) The stamp images were all cut using decorative scissors from K&Co paper, along with some embossed Doodlebug card and some paperchase stickers, I love how they turned out!

I'm also sending a ton of valentine and easter chocolates, a pack of notecards and these babies...

I've been working on this flower hairclip for a while, I had the outer petals and ribbon ruffle finished a couple of months ago but didn't know how to finish the centre. I found these pretty diamante flower buttons on eBay and they were just what I was looking for and add a nice little sparkle. My niece has the most beautiful, romantic looking curly hair and I hope this will look so pretty in her blonde curls.

I really like making handbag keychains out of pretty beads so I made this one for my best friend. The beads were an absolute steal from Accessorize, in my local store they have a section for broken jewellery and I picked up some beautiful necklaces, brooches and bracelets for 10p-50p each. I was able to fix 2 and they would have cost me over £25 to buy! Anyway, I digress, one of the beads on a bracelet was covered in thread which had frayed so it was reduced to 10p, I simply removed the beads from the elastic and rewired them onto a length or keychain with a lobster clasp. The finished keychain is in shades of taupe, mushroom and soft rose, sounds a bit blah but looks really expensive, I'd like to keep it but every time I would see it on my bag I would feel guilty :)

Get Well Soon

2010-01-24T19:15:00.000Z

There are so many people around me at the moment who are poorly and whilst I might not be able to visit I can make them a card to let them know I am thinking of them. I had a good day of crafting today and was pleased to get a couple of projects finished in time for posting, I'll pop a couple of pictures up later.

I love the green get well card, it's much more vivid IRL but the light was v. sucky today and I am still learning how to use my camera. It felt a bit different from the usual cards I make, I'm still experimenting with colour which you can see here

Okay, not ground breaking, but very, very bright for me! I think I like it, I also made a similar card with a different sentiment which I also post soon.

I don't have any specific rhyme or reason to my cardmaking, apart from specific occasions, I like to pull out different bits and pieces, see what works and generally have a 'play'. I have noticed that I tend to make the same birthday/hello cards so I am trying to cover some different occasions to plump out my card box in case I need a one in an emergency or if I don't have the time. I do need to make a baby card so I think that will be my next project and I'll make some extras for my box!

PS. Have you tried these?? I am convinced that they are the work of the devil because they are so delicious, you must try them, no, resist, run, save yourself!!

One for the boys!

2010-01-17T16:21:00.000Z

It was my darling husband's birthday on Saturday and I had been stressing about making him a card and having enough time to get it done. I had purchased him some XB360 live points for his birthday and decided to use the box as a card to go with the points.

I made a template for the 360 itself, cut out the various buttons and doo-dads and embellished them with metallic pencils, krylon silver pen and dimensional adhesive before attaching them to the template. I wanted it to 'pop' out a little when opened so I mounted it on a strip of card with a couple of creases so it would lay flat when closed. I added on some decorated die cut circles (although one dropped off leaving that little blank of white card to the template!) some stickers and finished it off by mounting the points card on with repositionable adhesive.

I didn't have as much time as I would have liked and there are some changes I would have made but I was happy with the finished card and fortunately for me he loved it and it now sits proudly in his office. Phew!

Lovely Letters - Crafty Templates

2010-01-13T21:21:00.000Z

I was excited to find my Crafty Templates Love Letters kit in my letter box last week and couldn't wait to get started. Full of lovely red and kraft papers with splashes of cream and black, you can pick one up here

I loved the shape of the tree template and paired it with some accessorize stickers from my own stash.

I liked the look of the plain kraft hearts in the background as it doesn't overwhelm. I just added MM sticker sentiment from my own stash.

This is a combination of two templates, the button heart and banner birds. As soon as I saw the birds I knew that I wanted to colour them in a 'tattoo style', I don't have the fancy markers so I used my good old watercolour pencils and was happy how it turned out but would have liked them to be a bit more vibrant!

I used the mug template and added tabs on the side to make a little pouch and added a sachet of hot chocolate and a chocolate covered spoon as a sweet treat for the recipient :)

This one was made using some scraps from the kit, ribbon and chipboard button from previous kits, a sweet little gold birdie from a MM Vintage Findings kit (oh how I love MM vintage stuff) and a stamp from my dad's old stamp collection!

Till next time, I've been scrapping a bit over the past few days hence the lack of cards and I am seriously stressing over hubbies birthday card, I hope my idea translates but even if not I know he will appreciate the effort!

Just a quickie

2010-01-10T15:57:00.000Z

It's my husband's birthday next week and I am stuck for ideas on what to make for him, I don't tend to lean towards themed cards but I have a feeling it's the only way I am going to be able to come up with something. Dang it, I'm rubbish at creating male cards! It's also his Nanna's birthday the day after so this is what I whipped up for her using my new Sizzix lilac die, a Brenda Walton butterfly and lots of brads and i-dots.

Hope to share more later in the week using the yummy January Crafty Templates card kit!

Thank you very much, thank you very, very, very much!

2010-01-05T16:00:00.001Z

The thank you very much ditty from the Roses chocolate advert has been running through my brain whilst making these cards. I love giving cards and thank you cards are no exception, we received some lovely christmas gifts so these cards were a must-make.

The peach and green card is for my mum and dad who spoilt me rotten and I knew they (ok, my mum) would appreciate something frilly and girly! It looks a bit squiffy in the picture but I promise it's not!

These were made from some paper I have had for a while but it felt christmassy yet not which suited the purpose perfectly!

Shield your eyes!!

2010-01-04T15:00:00.001Z

I decided to try and make some cards outside my comfort zone but didn't really succeed as well as I would have hoped as they still were too comfortable to make, I thought using brighter colours and colours I wouldn't normally use would be a challenge, turns out not so much.

I think I need to frequent some 'challenge blogs' to really get me thinking differently, if you know of a good one please leave me a comment and let me know!

Ushering in the new year.

2010-01-03T21:55:00.001Z

Happy new year! I'm a few days late but I am back nonetheless. I moved house in early December, I knew that I would rather move before christmas than straight after but forgot what an upheaval it can be (seriously, who forgets that?) but I am now all moved in and settled and everything is where it should be and all I can say is thank goodness!

The biggest revelation was how much craft stuff I have, and it appears that I have enough to last until the end of this decade. I hope to give a few bits and pieces away on here then donate the rest to the local arts and crafts for seniors group.

I haven't had many opprtunities for crafting since I have moved and all hopes of making my own christmas cards were dashed due to work commitments and not being able to find anything! However, this week I was able to sit down and (semi) relax and create a few bits and pieces which I'll post over the next couple of days.

As I was organising my bits and pieces I found that I had quite a bit of K&Co Madeline papers and embellishments so decided to use some on a couple of cards but have hardly made a dent! I used some die cuts, seam binding ribbon and some hand tinted paper roses all finished off with some sparklies and pearls on the card at the top.

This one felt a little more out of my comfort zone, a little shabbier than usual. I used the aforementioned papers, some die cuts, gathered tulle, velvet ribbon and some sizzix die cut swirls painted with crackle paint and alcohol inks.

I hope you have all had a wonderful christmas and I wish you all a very happy new year and I am looking forward to sharing more craftiness during 2010!

By Request

2009-11-15T23:24:00.002Z

A lovely lady emailed me asking how I made my Butterfly Birthday Wishes card, so I thought I would share it here. For me, this card was all about texture, it is a little time consuming but gives you a very stroke-able card in return!

To make the card
1. Cut a piece of thick card half the size of your card blank, cover with wet glue, apply a layer of batting and allow to dry
2. Cover the top half of your card with patterned paper, I used flocked paper by Making Memories. Cut a frame from Bazzill, stamp with the stamp of your choice and apply perfect pearls. Mount the frame over the flocked paper.
3. Cover the batting with fabric, pull the fabric taut and glue in place. Evenly stitch over the top of the fabric and pull tight, tie ends in a knot and fluff the end of the thread.
4. I sewed small seed pearls along the bottom edge of my lace, then glued the top edge of the lace on the back of the fabric covered board then flipped it over to make a seamless finish. Glue the board and slip it under the edge of the frame so it slightly overlaps then stick in place.
5. Add your sentiment.

To make the butterflies
I used some K&Co chipboard butterflies which I traced onto grungeboard and then cut out. There are lots of digital templates or dingbats that you could use to create yours, or run it through a die cutter with your favourite die to make it even easier!
1. Cut out your butterflies, sandwich in your chosen embossing folder and run through your die cutting machine. I used Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl.
2. I painted mine white with acrylic paint, you could paint a coloured layer of base coat, then paint over with white paint and lightly sand to reveal the colour underneath.
3. Once dry, lightly smooth versamark ink over the top, don't press too hard as you only want to ink the raised detail. Dust over the top with perfect pearls, I used interference blue for a nice lustre.
4. Lightly ink the edges, then apply small blobs of distress stickles around the edge (a little goes a long way!) and smooth around the edge with your finger.
5. Gently pull the wings together to create a more 3D effect. Embellish with sequins and gems to create the body.
6. Flip the butterfly over and glue ribbon 'tails' on the back and top with a tuille bow. Take a length of wire, fold in half, curl the ends and glue for the antennae.
7. Adhere butterflies to card.

I have also added a list of the supplies I used, it does seem quite long but most things you should have in your stash already, all of my cardstock, fabric and ribbons were offcuts so it's great to use up all those bits and pieces you have lying around.

If you do make your own, please post a link to yours in the comments section, I'd love to see it!

Until December!
p&r

Supplies needed:
Card blank
Patterned paper
Bazzill
Card
Fabric/lace/batting/needle and thread
Ribbon and Tuille
Grungeboard
Glitter/gems/sequins/beads
Embossing folder
Distress stickles/Distress Ink
Perfect Pearls

Drought

2009-11-06T23:43:00.000Z

A bit of a drought at the moment, i'm in the process of moving house and unfortunately all my crafty stash is the first casualty when packing!

Hope to be back mid-december with some new bits and pieces!

Spooktastic

2009-10-12T21:13:00.002+01:00

I am rather accident prone at the moment, from hurting my back, tripping over my own feet and now I have 2 fingers strapped together which makes typing and crafting a rather slow process!

I have been working with the latest Crafty Templates kit Autumnal Treats and it is scrummy. Filled with papers and embellishments that work for both Autumn cards and Halloween Treats . As soon as it landed I had so many ideas and the templates that come with it are adorable, unfortunately I have been hampered somewhat by my unbendy fingers so I only managed a couple of cards and a mini book by deadline, but I'm hoping to work on some more cards later this week!

Apologies for the small pictures, they are clickable for a large size, Blogger seems to be stretching out my pictures if I make them any bigger!

How cute are the halloween characters? I added the apple, candy and the letters which die cut from sizzix Wingo Zingo alphabet.

The front of the mini book. The wrap is made from Bazzill Just the Edge wavy cardstock strip with a velcro closure topped with Elle's Studio Halloween Mini Paper.

The pages were die cut with Spellbinders Labels One then backed onto black card. Each page was set with eyelets and threaded with ribbon, I added Elle's Studio Vintage Label cut outs then miniature halloween characters from the templates provided.

Cute little Halloween treat bags. I folded the bag into 3 and stapled the back to make a smaller bag, die cut a label and added a pumpkin from the template and more Elle's Studio paper. I made a few of these to give to my friends kids. I tried making little bags for any trick or treaters that knocked on my door last year, but because we live on a dark, country road no-one dared venture out of the village to us!

Finally, an autunal card using the template for the trees, yummy Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice papers, handstitching on the leaves and as a border and Hero Arts sentiment.

I'm off to rest the fingers after the epic post and look forward to posting some more during the week after I get the splint off. Happy Crafting :)

Christmas is a-coming!

2009-09-13T18:38:00.003+01:00

I used to be very bah humbug when it came to christmas but last year felt a resurgance of christmas spirit and threw myself into decorating and baking and loved it (could have also been because I didn't work over the christmas period for the first time in 7 years!)

I've noticed some changes around me recently, mince pies, stollen and family tins of sweets in the supermarkets, plans at work for the all important 4th quarter and finally the christmasalicious September Crafty Templates kit that arrived the other week! What's a girl to do but try to embrace the season so I popped on a christmassy movie and here is what I came up with.

I loved the little stockings, especially coupled with the sweet little bells, made me think of elves which in turn prompted me to watch Elf while making these!

The house template was so cute, I liked the idea of opening the windows like you would with an advent calendar.

I cut the jumper template from felt and embroidered. It's perfect to send to my friend in Canada where it's so very cold.

This is not a template card, but I liked how it turned out. I love using my cuttlebug embossing folders and this one is a firm favourite, it adds just the right wintery touch.

Hope this week has been kind to you all, have fun :)

Zig-a-Zig-GAH!

2009-09-08T23:23:00.002+01:00

I am at odds with my sewing machine. I love the look of sewn cards and it took me quite a while to be brave enough to use my sewing machine on a card for fear of ruining it and sure enough I did the first time but I keep persevering with varying results.

I started this card for my mother in law's birthday and decided that I wanted to sew the paper on for a more finished look and with some trepidation started with the sewing. The first inch went well then it all started to go wrong, it started missing stitches, zigging when it should have zagged and so on and so forth. I continued onwards and after i was finished it just looked...ugly. I took some thread and oversewed the parts that had been missed, it looks much better but I can still see where I had to correct it, I just hope the MIL doesn't!

A Special Lady's Birthday

2009-09-04T18:00:00.003+01:00

I was going to give my mum a card that I made a while ago that she really liked, but decided she required something a bit more special. So for her birthday this Sunday I came up with this:

My first full acetate card. I used the same template as the Celebrate card for the inside paper, added a Bo Bunny dotted card strip on the front used with my new Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch (oh how I love it so!) some grosgrain ribbon, a K&Co butterfly, a beautiful paper rose I found on etsy a while ago then added a handmade beaded embellishment and some sparkle stones. I was so pleased with how it came out, almost exactly as I had imagined it!

To while the time away while making some of these recent cards I have become addicted to the Gilmore Girls tv programme and I am working my way through the boxset. Has anyone else watched it? I just want to pack my bags and move to Stars Hollow!

Duly Noted

2009-09-03T18:00:00.001+01:00

It's my wonderful Mum's birthday on Sunday and I wanted to make her a little something. I knew right away that I wanted to create a set of notecards after my first attempt the other day with the sunflower ones.

I have a box of gorgeous K&Co Madeline chipboard butterflies and a paper pad that I have been waiting to use so I went ahead and created some simple notelets using the papers, a butterfly, ribbon and a sentiment. I made 2 each of three designs complete with lined matching envelopes. They measure 4 1/4in x 3 3/4 in.

A bigger picture can be seen here. I love them, they are such a cute size and perfect for a quick little note. I also made a box using Chatterbox papers, sizzix die cuts and ribbon which I think she will love.

I want to keep it for myself now! I guess I'll just have to make another one :)

Princesses and Baby Love

2009-09-02T18:00:00.003+01:00

I adore my Niece, she is so huggable, bubbly, chatty, cute as a button, adorable, ok I think you get the picture! Unfortunately she, along with my best friend and Nephew emigrated a million miles away (well, maybe not a million but enough that I can't visit every month) and I miss them all so much. They have been at the forefront of my thoughts just recently and although her birthday isn't until December I wanted to make her card now, it made me feel good knowing I was creating something for her and I also want to make sure I can package up a big parcel for all of them for christmas and need to send it mid-November to make sure it gets there on time!

She is a proper little princess, beautiful blue eyes and blonde ringlets so I know that she would love a very girly card and this is what I came up with:

I adore the Imaginisce 'Fairest of them All' collection and was sad that it has been discontinued so have been buying up as much of it as I can. I used two different papers, a chipboard sentiment, some glitter sizzixed (is that a word?) swirls, velvet trim, ribbon roses and sparkly stones. I love it and I am hoping that she will too. I now need to scrap some photos of her using the aforementioned papers!

During my little stamping session the other day I also stamped this cute giraffe, again from imaginisce, colouring him with watercolour pencils.

I used some of my new whitewash coredinations card, cuttlebug embossing folder and some other bits of stickers and trim. Please note the stitching, not something I am used to and I was quite pleased with it. I am not so pleased with the card I am working on at the moment, I used a zig-zag stitch and it zigs more than it does zag so I am currently oversewing parts of it by hand grrrrr.

I don't have anyone around me expecting so I don't usually make baby cards, but he was too darn cute so I went ahead and made one anyway. You never know when you might need a card for such an occasion, right? right?

*crickets*

Shhh, it makes me happy and you never know, someone in the family may have some type of 'tuplet' and that will excuse the ten ton of cards I plan on making - athough I hope they don't weigh ten tons, ouch!