Fiskarettes Card W/C 21/06/10

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

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

WOYWW - 23/06/10

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

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

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

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

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

Summer Fete June Card Kit - DT Crafty Templates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tea for Two

It's all about the bunting baby!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fiskarettes DT Card June

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

WOYWW 16/06/10 - Buttons!

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

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

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

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

Here's the card

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

WOYWW - 09/06/2010

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

"Big Mistake, Huge"

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

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

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

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

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

Exciting news!!

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

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

WOYWW - 02/06/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

Et Voila!

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

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

I promise, these are the last for a while!

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

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

DeLovely Oh My!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

WOYWDW - 13/05/10

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!

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!