So it's just me, the dog and my copics!

Saturday afternoon, Chris has just left to take Amelia to her drama and dance club, Jack has agreed to go with them as he reckons we have no decent food in the house.....how to make a 17 year old boy go shopping....refuse to buy chocolate, ice cream, biscuits, cakes.....easy! LOL

Once again, I am sat here colouring...might even venture up into my craft room and work on the 12" square space I have cleared from y worktop!!!

I did manage to complete another few cards yesterday, so I will at least have a few to put on my table at the school fair next week!!! EEK

The first 2 I am showing are something a bit different, I thought they would be quite quick and easy to make but I still enjoyed adding a bit of detail in the inking and embossing. Not really my comfort zone but thought I needed some variety in my stock box.

The 3rd card is much more "my thing" and I loved colouring this little bear. Kept the card quite simple and just finished it off with a little dangly charm.

Once again I am trying to take motivation and inspiration from a bit of blog hopping:

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge - #26 Anything goes

One Cray Stamper - July Anything Goes

A Perfect Time to Craft - July

Right, best get up in that craft room before the boys get back with cake to distract me!

Adele

xXx

Catch up blogging! Little Book of Love.

It's been manic this last week or so. Parent's Evening for Jack, reports at work, Sports Day for Amelia, Children in Need Respite meeting today, the list goes on and on. It hasn't helped matters that Chris is working all over the place, in fact he set off at 5am this morning for Cheltenham, on to Liverpool at 1.30pm, last heard of around Birmingham and homeward bound back to Kent! 

We are all fighting flu and absolutely shattered, roll on the Summer Hols!

Thought I'd spend a few moments to catch up and share the last few pages of the little book I made for Hubby's Birthday. I will happily admit, I didn't really finish it, I could have made loads more pages but just didn't have the time.

I know the little verse is a bit corny but I had so much fun making this book and all the little tags, which I colour coded; Amelia had little blue tags, Jack green and I had red. We all hand wrote our own ideas of why we love him so much.

Hubby loved it, so I suppose I should be pleased with the outcome!

My pages meet the criteria over at;
Crafty Girls- Anything goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - June

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

Book for my man, another page complete!

The process is sloooooow but day by day I am starting to feel a bit more human. I will be so glad to see the back of this rotten flu bug! Earlier in the week I managed to get another page of my little book complete, and today I have almost done a double page spread. Just as well it's starting to come together as it needs to be finished for Friday!!!

Kept it quite quick and simple; used one of my new embossing folders then inked the paper and high-lighted a few details with metallic rub-on. Unfortunately my pics don't really pic that up! The little car embellishment was cut from chip board and heat embossed with a nice black glossy finish with a little bit of metallic sparkle for good measure!

Can't wait to get this all put together, I absolutely ADORE making things for the ones I love.

This page meets the criteria over at;

2 Sisters - Make your own!

Rhedd and Rosie - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - June

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

Gift Book for my man, page 2!

It's been an awful week, full of colds, restless nights and loads of sessions at work. I feel shattered and cannot wait for the weekend.

Today, in between a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I did manage a short time in my craft room to, very quickly, play with some of my new crafty stash!

Only page 1 and 2 complete....got lots to do before it's done and time is once again against me!

This meets the criteria over at;

Totally Gorjuss - Embossing
Aud sentiment - For a Guy
Papertake weekly - For the boys

Adele

xXx

A little book card for my man! Cover page!

Two weeks ago I started making some embellishments for a little book for my darling husband. They have sat on my desk ever since and I have had little time to do anything. (I am afraid it's report writing time at work but I am up to date now...for the moment!)

Now yesterday my (ahem) first parcel of goodies arrived and as today was my day off, I made it a priority to get up into my craft room and try some out.

This month I set a challenge over at Crafts by Carolyn and I called it Patterned Paper + 

My idea was to take a piece of patterned paper and add to it; emboss on it, ink it, doodle on it, sew on it, mask it.........make it unique, make it your own.

Here is the paper I started out with.

 

 I inked the edges, embossed swirls of opaque white, spritzed it with glimmer mists, made a mask with my new harlequin die and attacked it with more ink....and last of all sewed around the edges!

Not sure I am 100% happy with the finished effect but it was fun.

My cover page meets the criteria over at;

Rhedd and Rosie - Vintage

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - June

Totally Gorjuss - Stitching

Sweet Stampin' - Father's Day/ for a boy/man

That's all for now, luckily I did also have time to make a few more embellishment for the next few pages so hopefully I have a bit of a head start! 

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

More crafting for men.....

....Well, THE man in my life I think I may have actually found my long lost crafty mojo. Shame really as I have had to work this afternoon and I am working again all day tomorrow! I'll probably have lost it again by the next time I get some do some crafting. LOL

This morning I didn't actually make anything, but I did start compiling a few papers and embellies ready for my next little project. I had great fun, playing with some inks and embossing powers. I am also loving some of my newly organised stash storage. I MUST be strict with myself and tidy up as I go along. The only problem with actually crafting again is that I am never going to finish organising my craft room.

When organising my room I cam across a few little chipboard wings. I had already painted some of them so this morning I decided to attack a pair with a music sheet stamp and some sparkly embossing powder. Then finished off with some inked edges.

I cut myself a chipboard heart using the Sizzix Primitive hearts die, and then applied several coats of rich red embossing powder. 

Just as I was leaving for work Mr Postie arrived with a few new crafty goodies for me, including some white embossing powder. SO, as soon as I got home  I tried it out and embossed a few white flourishes on the backing paper. 

Last job of the day was to make a quick start on some of the wording I want to use.....but then hubby arrived home earlier than expected.....well, he did leave at 5am this morning!

Cannot wait to get back into my craft room to play some more!

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

Mish mash Father's Day card.

Got a hectic week at work this week so, as today was my day off, I ignored the housework and paperwork and hibernated in my craft room for a few hours. I shuffled around some more of my unmounted stamps then I set down to "actually craft!"

The next cards I needed in my diary were Father's Day Cards , I have 3 to make and this afternoon I made two of them. How organised am I? LOL, makes a change from the lastminute.com attitude I usually adopt.

A total mish mash of stamps and styles but hopefully they all work together. I did enjoy working with these colours, once again I used a snippet of recycled ribbon of of some packaging.

My card meets the criteria over at;

Crafts by Carolyn - Time to Create, something for a man.
ABC Challenge - L is for lots of layers
Rhedd and Rosie - No flowers/nothing floral
Open Minded crafting - Use some ribbon
CraftyHazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - May
Crafting at the weekend - #1 Anything Goes

It's been a long time since I have really crafted so today was a real treat and some much needed me time.

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

Vintage Card for a Man!!!

Please don't fall off your chairs, BUT.....(drum roll please) I have actually made a card today!

A colleague asked me to sway sessions with her so I had an unexpected day to myself. I was a good girl, did a bit of housework first, then sat down to do some work records. I had a light lunch and spent some more time organising and re-shuffling "stuff" in my craft room then I set to work.

I really cannot remember the last time I made a card, it must have been months ago!

I have recently treated myself to a few new stamps, some from Lili of the Valley, which I was eager to try out. I had already stamped out several image so I thought they were a good place to start my creative journey again!

Yesterday I organised all my ink pads and embossing powders and seeing as they were so accessible I thought I'd dabble with a little bit of heat embossing. I have never really done much, or been that successful but I have a few new embossing powders on my crafty wishlist so I had to justify them. It does help add dimension and texture too.

I would have loved to have got my sewing machine out and sewn around the edges of this card but I just ran out of time.

The background stamp and tags are from Lili of the Valley, the little frame and sentiment are from a very old set, possible Anna Griffin...and the dragonfly is from the recent freebie IndigoBlu set.

I recycled the ribbons, the striped ribbon was some packaging from Next, the textured crinkly red ribbon probably needs no clues, especially if you are partial to a bit of chocolate.

My card meet the criteria at;

Crafts by Carolyn - Something for a man

Open Minded Crafting - Use some ribbon

Rhedd and Rosie - It's all about texture

Totally Gorjuss - Don't be square

Men's Stampin'Up Tri Shutter Card

I am loving my new toys and stamps, it's really helping me to attempt a few new things. With my new 

Simply Scored board, I thought I'd try a tri-shutter card. How easy was it to make the base- 

I was a bit daunted at first but it was really simple.

I followed the instructions HERE

It;s still a bit bare, I need to personalise it with a name and age.

I used my "old faithful" SU Clockworks with a combination of blue and green Stampin' Write Markers to build up a background, then overstamped the gorgeous SU Postage Due image over the top. I also used SU Meauring Stick and Travel Journal stamps.

Same background technique, and a few little ticket embellies from SU That's the Ticket set.

Now I decided to add the flourish from SU Everything Eleanor after I had already stuck on the tickets so at first I was a bit unsure about lining it up...then I thought I'd use my Stamp-a-ma-jig....super cool. It made it so easy to position the flourish exactly where I wanted it!

I am no stamper, even the most basic of techniques put me out of my comfort zone but here I also had a little go at masking, to create a gap around the phone box image. Oh, such fun. 

This took me most of the afternoon, but I had fun playing.

This card meets the criteria over at;

A Card a Day - 10th June

Crafts by Carolyn - TTC Tutorials

Craft Mojo - Anything Goes

Crafting Musketeers - Use a stamped image

Here Come the Boys - Use Ribbon

Ok, what shall I try next?

Adele.

xXx

Last one for a while - Exploding Box no.9

Well, the other boxes have been posted, I did nearly all my work records yesterday, my intention was to try something new today BUT I had box number 9 still sitting on my desk partly done. It was madness not getting it out of the way so I held fire on some new things I want to try and finished it off.

Same papers but look closely and you will spot that I have got use out of some of my new 

Stampin' Up  stamps too!

Ferris wheel and penny farthing are from - Feeling Sentimental

Tape measure stamps - Measuring Stick Wheel

The Postage Stamps from - Postage Due

The script - Travel Journal Wheel

I also used SU Clockworks for some background here.

This box meets criteria over at;

A Card a day - 3rd June

Simon Says Stamp - Masculine

Right, feel quite pleased with myself that I never pushed it to one side.

 Now I can play with a clear conscience....hmmm....what to do next?

Hopefully I'll "see you soon!"

Adele

xXx

And yet another box! Box no. 8!!!!

Not  another box I hear you cry, in fact this is the 8th box in just under 2 weeks. I do have one more half completed on my "temporary desk" and then I am back to cards for a while methinks..or perhaps I should make a start on teacher's gifts as well! 

Box no 8 is VERY similar to no.7. I like the papers combo so I just added a little SU birdie and a few different words. I also made up some little removable "Dad tags" shown in picture below- I do like to personalise my work but didn't want to limit buyers. 

I have such a  lot to do today on my "day off!" I have already blizted the kitchen, bleached the toilets and handbaisns, got one load of washing on the line and another in the tumble dryer. I have now made myself a nice mug of tea and some marmite toast before I start on my key-children's report. I have 3 to do today and I know I must get them done quickly as I am expecting my Stampin'Up order to arrive today, and once it is here......my mind will just not be on the job! LOL

This box meets the criteria over at;

A Card a day - 3rd June
Craft Mojo - Anything goes
Cards for men -Dad
ABC Challenges - O for Open

Right, best get a wiggle on with those reports. I may be back later to share some pics of new stash.

Bye for now.

Adele

xXx

An exploding box....for a man!!!

Now, I struggle with cards for men so I did feel a bit daunted about trying to make an exploding box. but I desperately needed a change from all those girlie boxes. I dug deep into my stamp collection, found some old but scrummy papers and got to work. 

I have used this box as my first "share" over on 

A Bit of Crafty Genius 

so pop over and take a closer look.

I have almost made another, very similar box which I can hopefully share with you soon, and I have enjoyed making a few little removable "DAD tags" with them too.

I am all excited, as any Stampin' Up lover will know, the new catalogue is out soon and my copies along with some fab goodies are due to be delivered tomorrow! (Happy dance) I CANNOT WAIT!

This box meets the criteria for challenges over at;
A Card a day - 3rd June

Bye for now.
xXx

A Father's day Card....NOT A BOX!!!!

Yes, IT'S NOT ANOTHER BOX!!!! LOL

Mother and Father In-Law are visiting today so I had to make a rushed card ready for Father's Day as they are going away on holiday. It's a bit of a mish mash card, thrown together as once again I have no forward thinking or organisations skills. (Especially when your head has been full of cold for 19 days!)

I used some old Basic Grey Paper, Stampin' Up Vine Street embossing folder-which I also used as a stamp for the background of the main image. I over stamped in black the lovely phone box from the SU Feeling Sentimental set. I then made up a "manly flower" by layering a small round sentiment stamp.

Lots of destressing, inking and a bit of  metallic rub ons to enhance the textures.

I took inspirations from a few challenges today;

Cards for Men -Dad

Sketch N Stash - No 114. 

Daring Cardmakers - Make it Yourself 

A Card a Day - week 27th may

It's been a loooong time since I used a sketch challenge and I really found it helped me speed up my dithering this morning! Thank you for all the inspiration......tomorrow I will be back to boxes! 

Another Men's Card using Stampin' Up Clockworks!

I had a "day off" today, and apart from a frozen walk to the Post Office and a bit of housework, I didn't really have much else planned. SO, I decided to brave the chaos of my cluttered craft room and attempt to make another card. I was so tempted to take the "easy option" and make another pwetty card for a lady but seeing as I had some uninterrupted, child-free time, I thought I'd try to tackle another men's card!

I have been looking for inspiration on Pinterest recently and have seen several projects made up with small individual shapes, so I thought I'd have a go.

I used Black ink to randomly stamps assorted images onto white card stock, then I cut out little squares to layer onto the 9 stamp shapes. A bit of de-stressing and inking and a touch of embossing with silver and I was done. I decided to use bright red card stock for my lettering.....and whoop, whoop, another card made off my April to do list.

This card meets the challenges over at
 Crafts by Carolyn TTC
Creative Card Crew- Masculine

Men's card with Stampin' Up Clockworks.

It's been another hectic week, with so much new crafty Stampin' Up stash to play with and no time to do it. However I did manage to sit down yesterday and start a card. I am always out of my comfort zone making men's cards but considering my Father In Laws birthday is next on the list, I thought it apt to try my new "Clockworks" stamp set.

I used the various stamps with a mixture of Soft Suede, Marina Mist and Baja Breeze inks to create extra detail onto both the backing paper and the central oval layer.

I used a combination of a Framelit Labels die together with a plain oval shape to make a frame like embellishment, which I added detail to a gold metallic rub on.

 A bit of stitching, lots of de-stressing and inking, a bit of twine and a button...a lot of faffing around.

One thing I did enjoy on this card was using my dotty embossing folder as a stamp. I found this via Pinterest and a bit of blog hopping and I had never tried it before. Fab idea, I had inked up my embossing folders to add detail to embossed card, but never as an actual stamp before. I will be looking at them in a different light now!

This cards meets the criteria over at;

Crafts by Carolyn, TTC Colour Challenge.
Totally Gorjuss- Something Borrowed
Stamp with Fun - Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew- Masculine

Thank you for looking.Hope to be back again soon!

x X x