I need a pintervention.

Do you ever find yourself in a creative slump? Sit in your space and not know where to start? Have lots of ideas but don't get round to committing them to paper? That's what I am experiencing right now. The last card I made was at the beginning of April and it took 5 minutes, tops, before then, the last time I properly crafted was the end of March, my mojo has officially vanished.

Today I thought I would share two cards that I made for a submission call at the beginning of the year that were rejected, fortunately a third card was picked up for publication :) As I like to prepare all of my submission forms I thought I would include the full product lists and instructions.

I love this card, the colours, the chevrons (yeah, I still dig chevrons), just all of it!

Cardstock: (Kraft) Recollections, Michaels. Other paper: (Vellum, White), Making Memories Clear stamps: (Hello sentiment from Mini Blooms), Papertrey Ink. Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko Embossing powder: (Gold) WOW! Color media…markers, pencils, pens: (Turquoise Perfect Pearls) Ranger. (Mango Orange Mica Powder) Cosmic Shimmer Paint: (Gelatos) Faber Castell. (Tarnished Brass, Distress Stain) Ranger. Accent: (orange, turquoise and gold seed beads) Michaels. Fibers: (Gold thread), Korbond. (white thread) Gutermann Dies, embossing folders, brass templates: (chevron placemat #53724 Jillibean Soup) Silhouette America.  Other: (Watercolour paper) Finished size: 51/2" x 4 1/4"

Instructions

• Make card base, cut watercolour paper to almost cover card base and roughen the edges with scissors. die cut chevron frame to use as a stencil and spray the reverse with repositionable adhesive. 
• Adhere stencil over watercolour paper and paint random chevrons in orange, turquoise, brown and gold, leave to dry. Once dry peel off stencil and adhere panel to card base. 
• Stamp sentiment on vellum strip, emboss and stitch to card base. Wrap gold thread around the vellum panel adding in beads, tie off the thread behind the panel and trim ends.

and here's the next one, a little more simpler in style.

 Cardstock: (white) American Crafts. (Cotton Candy) Bazzill Basics Paper. Clear stamps: (Hello sentiment from Mini Blooms), Papertrey Ink. Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko. Embossing powder: (Gold) WOW! Color media…markers, pencils, pens: (Putty, Dusky Pink Promarkers) Letraset. Paint: (Tarnished Brass, Distress Stain) Ranger. Fibers: (gold thread) Korbond. (white thread) Gutermann. Dies, embossing folders, brass templates: (chevron placemat #53724 Jillibean Soup) Silhouette America. Finished size: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Instructions

• Die cut place mat stencil from cardstock and spray the back with repositionable adhesive, reserve some of the chevron die cut centers for later.

• Make card from card stock, sew on white panel, place stencil over card and color in random chevrons with coloring pens and distress stain, remove stencil. Sew various chevron pieces to card with gold thread. Stamp sentiment and emboss.

So, back to the mojo-less-ness. I have tried numerous things to try and find some inspiration;

1. Blog challenges - There are so many great challenge blogs out there, I read the prompts, look at the DT inspiration then at the entries and then feel doubtful I could successfully pull of the theme.
2. Reading other blogs.
3. Pinterest.

and that's where things went seriously wrong, I can spend hours on pinterest, pinning random things, targeted searches, following link after link, yet still creating nothing. Julie Comstock on the Cosmo Cricket blog summed it up perfectly in once sentence for me in a recent post she made regarding social media.

"Seeing things on Pinterest takes ideas from me because I don't like to copy. I may have come up with that on my own, but after seeing someone else do it I feel like it's not an option."

This is exactly how I feel, I need to step away, try and avoid crafting sites altogether for a few days to recharge my batteries. Its going to be hard as pinterest is universally used on my laptop, phone and iPad, however, just as I typed that I thought "Why don't you just sign out of the apps for a few days" Doh, that's what I will do (because I can't sever ties with pinterest forever!) I am officially giving myself a pintervention.

I haven't really spent any money on craft items for a while and during that time I had amassed myself a wishlist of new goodies, fortunately I have had the funds recently to have a little splurge (thanks ebay!) and I have now amassed quite a little pile of new things to play with in the hopes that I will feel inspired. We'll see how it goes.

What do you do to kick start your creativity?

Ang

A Tall Order

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

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?

52 Cards Challenge Week 19

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

52 Cards Challenge Week 18

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!

52 Cards Challenge Week 16

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

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

100th Post Prize Giveaway and 52 Cards Challenge Week 14

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.

Crafty Templates - Granny's House

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 11

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 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

A Time To Remember - Daring Cardmakers

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.