Wishing you a very happy Christmas

Hi everyone, I am sorry to have been AWOL for so long, but my new job plus my college commitments have meant that all crafting and blogging has been on hold.

I'd just like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful and happy 2013.

Love and sprouts everyone!

Yoooohoooo, it's me again!

Hello guys, sorry it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I've been a very busy girl as I've started my new job and am currently trying to turn this into a school library...

And as if that isn't enough I'm also about to start my Teaching Assistant Level 3 training, having completed my Level 2 last term!

As a result of all this activity cardmaking has had to take a bit of a back seat, so I thought I'd drop by and share two cards that I made using a fabulous image by Mazy Green.

I didn't colour her because I love that she looks like a quick sketch!

 

I'll try and do some visiting later as I'm missing my blogland buddies big time!

 

 

Happy crafting everyone!

In the words of Cyndi Lauper...

'Girl's just wanna have fun...'

I love this new stamp from Stampingbella, it's just made to be paper pieced!

The current LIM Challenge is a recipe: 3 of something, 2 of something and 1 of something. The inspiration cards from Mandi and Chrissie once again are gorgeous.

For this card I went with 3 - Flowers, 2 - Girls, and 1 - Sentiment.

Sorry the photograph is terrible but I can't find any useful natural light in the house, and it's too wet to venture outside.

Thanks for dropping by!

A ripping good time!

Morning guys, I hope you are all well and looking forward to the weekend.
I'm breezing in at the last minute with my LIM card for the current challenge which is 'Tearing'.

 

I've had this idea in my head for most of the week but didn't get the opportunity to get into the craft room until yesterday. The 'tearing' element is very subtle and forms the bands of colour on the centre panel. Nice and simple to do, especially if you use a long post-it note!

The image is Em's Mixed Media Flowers from Stampingbella and the 'sentiment' is a very old Technique Tuesday journalling stamp which I found on eBay. I coloured with Distress inks and added plenty of Stickles. IRL this looks lovely, but hasn't photographed well.

That's the end of the crafty bit of this post but if you want to stick around here are a few pictures from our mini-break in Somerset. We stayed at a lovely pub called The Woolpack in Beckington, near Frome.

Frome is pronounced Froom, to rhyme with broom, and is a pretty town with a gorgeous little arts/crafts centre and a great arty vibe.

One of the highlights of our break was a visit to Stourhead House.

The house and grounds are stunning... and the naughty cream tea wasn't bad either!



 

 

Another highlight of our few days away was an evening with Frank Turner and his band The Sleeping Souls. We hung around after the concert and were lucky enough to get to meet and greet with Frank!

And of all the things that I could have said when meeting one of my musical heroes what did I actually say?
'Ooooo, you're tall'

Have a good weekend everyone!



Blue and green - LIM

We've all heard the old adage 'blue and green should never be seen... '.
Whoever came up with this phrase obviously never got inky with Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters!

Apologies that this LIM entry is very similar to my previous card, but sometimes you get an idea in your head and want to develop it further!

The circles are from a Kelly Panacci Clear Stamp set called 360 degrees. I love the different circles in the set and have to hide it from myself to prevent the same images appearing on all my cards.

I coloured the centres of the circles using a water pen. This pen was on loan from my Mom, but today I went and bought her a replacement as I know that I'll be using it again and again!
The sentiment is by Papertrey ink and I added some scored lines and tiny gems to finish the card.

All very simple, but hey, 'less is more'!

I best go and organise our evening meal so that it's ready before the Olympics evening programme begins. I am so impressed by all of the sportsmen and women taking part in these games. Team GB has performed brilliantly and it breaks my heart when someone apologises for not winning gold. Most of us aren't even fit enough to run for the bus and so feel nothing but admiration and pride at their achievement.

Happy crafting everyone!

Beautiful Butterflies...

It's a sketch challenge this week over at Less is More, and what a lovely simple sketch it is too! This one really got all the LIMettes' creative juices flowing, and as always Chrissie and Mandi came up with some beautiful and inspirational work to get us in the mood.

I played around with a few different ideas for the challenge, but finally settled on this...

I love the butterflies on the Hero Arts Clear Design set: Birds and Butterflies. This was the first Clear Design set that I bought and it remains one of my most favourite. Just the perfect stamp for making the 'happy' card that I had in mind. I hope the girls over at The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge agree that there's nothing more cheery than a cloud of bright butterflies as it's a Bright and Cheery challenge this week.

I coloured with Distress Inks and used a water pen for the first time. I need to practise, but it certainly gives a nice effect. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I'll just add that those tiny splodges of ink aren't so obvious IRL - what is it about the computer screen that magnifies all your little errors and mistakes???

This card is for my darling 'big' goddaughter. Sarah is 30 tomorrow, which I find both wonderful and unbelievable!

I'm away to the postbox now, so happy crafting everyone!

It's a been a messy business...

Happy Wednesday!
Now here's something you don't usually find on my desk...
Acrylic paint, chipboard, a paintbrush, Distress ink and what appears to be (but isn't) a tiny pair of handcuffs!

I decided to try and make a little chipboard album into a little book and here's my progress so far. I actually wish I'd taken the photograph at an earlier stage as my desk was totally trashed. This picture was taken after a good tidy up... and the removal of my cat.

I've purposefully kept the colouring to the bare minimum and let the beautiful illustrations and script take centre stage.

If I'm brave enough I'll share the finished book!
As always, I've learnt so much while working on this project. One crucial tip I'll share is not to allow a large black and white cat to sleep on your desk while acrylic paint is drying.
I'd do some things differently on another project, but am amazed at how close to my original plan this little album has turned out.

Time to go visiting the rest of the WOYWW gang starting, as always, with the wonderful Julia...

LIM and a small colouring crisis!

Hi everyone, it's amazingly bright and sunny again today!
I've been sitting in our dining room today as it's just too hot in my craft room. This has meant plenty of running up and down stairs to get all my bits and pieces, so hopefully I've burned a few calories along the way.
I needed a few thank you cards following the generosity of my former colleagues and the staff at the school where I have been volunteering.

I tried two different colouring styles: watercolouring using pencils

... and then with Distress inks.

To be honest I'm not totally happy with either effort, so if anyone can recommend a good colouring tutorial for these mediums I'd be very grateful. The flower stamp is from a Hero Arts cling set and the sentiments are from Papertrey Inks Signature Sentiments set.

The essential ingredient for the LIM Challenge is 'sewing' so I've opted for some faux stitching. If you get the chance you really must drop by at the LIM Blog as the entries for this week's challenge are fabulous!


Happy crafting everyone!

Back in black...

I'm not sure why I've not joined in a CAS-ual Friday Challenge before as I always enjoy taking a peek at the DT cards and entries.

This week the challenge was simply too good to miss as it involves creating a card with a black background. I love making cards with a black base as it always seems to add a little dash of drama!

Here's one of my most favourite Hero Arts stamps making yet another appearance. I would certainly include this set in my desert island crafting kit!

Anyhoo, I'm going to link this one up and then settle back and enjoy a lovely, lazy Friday evening.
I got a new job yesterday so feel like rewarding myself with a take-away and something nice to drink.

Have a good one girlies and happy crafting!

Three...

How can it be Wednesday already??? Who stole Monday and Tuesday???

One good thing about it being Wednesday is that it's 'nosey nosey around blogland' day with the lovely Julia over at Stamping Ground for WOYWW. I'll grab a cuppa and join the fun asap.

As you can see today my workdesk seems to be covered by catfood boxes. I'm not on commission for Whiskers, nor has my cat taken total control of my desk! I've simply discovered that these boxes are great for storing stamps etc. When I get the opportunity I'll cover them or paint them, and rearrange my storage. Does anyone else use slightly 'odd' things for storage? I'd be interested to hear your weird but wonderful storage solutions.

You can also see my list of cards that still need to be completed - it never seems to get any shorter! The stamps that are on view are for future projects...

This week the Less is More challenge is:

Three of anything: three colours, three images, three stamps, three words, the number three.... or in my case three bears.

These little sweeties are obviously missing Goldilocks: life is so quiet without her eating their food, using their furniture and sleeping in their beds.

I wanted to try my hand at colouring with pencils on a textured paper, but I'm not that pleased with the result. Usually, I like texture to show through my colouring but I think this is a bit distracting much! Anyhooo, you can still see that these bears are adorable. Because they are digital lovelies from the very talented Torico I could make them larger/smaller and flip them to give each it's own personality. You'll notice that Momma bear is carrying a few extra pounds bless her!

Happy crafting everyone!

You are my sunshine.

 Hi peeps, hope your Saturday is bright and sunny!

Here's a little card that I made last week for my Mom. She's had a rough time with some tummy problems recently, and has been feeling low. Mom loves sunflowers, so I thought I'd surprise her with this little beauty from the super talented Torico at Birdie Brown.

The image is paper pieced from scraps. I used Distress inks and Envelope Pattern Design Block from Hero Arts to create her little straw hat!

I'm linking up with OSAAT - Sun
and The ABC Challenge - Surprise

Have a happy day everyone!

Using your twinchies

Twinchies make great toppers!

Here's my second entry for the current Twinchies Challenge, which morphed effortlessly into my entry for the current 'Less is More' colour challenge below.

The flowers were cut using a scrap of gold card (thanks Mom) and my new Memory Box Die - so pretty. A sentiment stamped in gold versacolour, the addition of some gems, a little scoring and my twinchie card was good to go.

Happy crafting everyone!

Show us your Twinchies - Challenge #1

Twinchies are 2 inch x 2 inch squares of 'Art' and I have to say that they are possibly going to become a new crafting obsession for yours truly!

Here's my first 'Twinchie': paper pieced using a favourite Hero Arts stamp and some teeny, tiny scraps of paper. The twinchie is matted on black card and looks very sweet IRL!

The new Challenge Blog can be found here and looks like it's going to a fun and inspirational new addition to Blogland.

Happy 'Twinchie-ing' everyone!

 

Less is more/WOYWW

Another wet, soggy day in the UK, but a good opportunity to wall-up in my craftroom and get stamping and cutting.
This is what was on my workdesk earlier today...

A festival of paper piecing AND the beginnings of my Less is More card, drying on the top right of the picture. Don't forget that you can check out all the other Wednesday creativity as usual via Julia's blog.

This week the LIM Challenge is to use their rather elegant header as the inspiration for your card.

I love the LIM colour combo so came up with this card. Possibly not enough black on it, but I like the effect of the Distress inks, which I spritzed with Glimmer Mist.

 I also tried this design in brighter colours and my crafting buddy Mr C came to supervise the outdoor photoshoot!

Happy 4th July to my friends in the USA, and to all my friends in the UK a little advice: take an umbrella!

Whatever the weather - happy crafting everyone...

Rain, rain... and more rain.

It's raining cats and dogs outside yet again... and there are poodles everywhere!
Sorry, couldn't resist that.

At least the weather means that I don't have to feel too guilty about an afternoon in the craft room. I've got a friend dropping by for coffee and to collect a birthday card soon so I'll keep it brief.

Here's a card made to order for my friend Amanda's sweet daughter Felicity (Fliss) who is three next week. I created the big number '3' on my PC, printed it out and ran it through my Cuttlebug. The papers are from the last few pages of my Echo Park Springtime pad. I'd love to buy another pad as these papers are just perfect for little girl cards, but alas they seem to have all sold out.

I thought this Saturated Canary image was just what I wanted for Flissy's card as she always wears her hair in sweet little bunches. I cut out the image very carefully so that I still have her sister to use on another card! The sentiments are from Hero Arts.
I'm linking this card up with the following challenges:
Charisma Cardz Challenge #25 - Anything Goes
MAWTT - Birthday Week 2 (Many happies girls!!!)
Crafts and Me - Challenge #90 Birthdays
Chocolates, Coffee and Cards Challenges - Anything Goes.
OSAAT - Use a Digi (The girl's have got a DT call out).

Well, I best go and put the kettle on as my mate will be here any minute. I'll also go and check for leaks as we had a huge flood of almost biblical proportions in our laundry room the other day.

Happy crafting everyone!

Katie's birthday card!

Hi everyone, just dropping by for a quick share with this little card made using my lovely new Hero Arts cling stamp and an 'old as the hills' shadow stamp.
Very quick and simple - and, for some reason,  much nicer than it looks on the screen!

See you soon, happy crafting everyone!