Happy Easter

Hope you all enjoyed WOYWW yesterday, despite being very productive and packing up the living room and all the photos in the house, I did manage to view a few blogs. Great for inspiration.

Today's main photo started out as a Happy Birthday card, but Ma saw it and she works as a carer and thought one of her 'ladies' would like it for Easter. I was happy to oblige. I like the idea of a non-traditional Easter card.

Not a big difference really, but here is the original version.

Pink lady birthday

The papers are all by Pink Petticoat, and as I can't take my printer with me and I have a nuclear war stash of ink, I will be printing like crazy - it's an awesome excuse. The ribbon is one of my faves and was a gift from JT. I learnt how to make these faux bows and they really work. I added some bling to the bow and the dress has glitter here and there.

It's all about dresses today :) I've been playing with some new digital stamps / images and think they are working out well. The new card magazine subscription is inspiring me to sew more and be a bit adventurous. The 3 cards that I am showing you today are my attempt to do that!

This card uses the same image as before, I wanted to try and use just one colour and see how it would work.

Green lady birthday

I think it's come out quite well, as you can probably guess, the images were too close to each other, so when I die cut the pink lady, I ended up with the scalloped effect on the green lady - I decided to make it a feature. The papers are all by American Crafts. Border punch by Martha Stewart, floral tape from Tiger and a couple of Candi's. I am not normally a big fan of gold peel-offs, but think with the green it works well.

The final card uses a digital dress form. I love dress forms, perhaps because I don't have the space for a real one, it is high on my wish list, like Hubby's piano :)

Dress form card

I wanted to experiment with different patterns and layers, I think this works really well. The ribbon was a gift from my MIL and it's beautiful, I thought it suited this card, has a kind of vintage feel. All papers are again by  Pink Petticoat. I like the random stitching, I've realised from things I've seen that it doesn't need to be perfect. The dress form was black, but I went over it with a pink fineliner, to tie it in with the card more.

So what do you think?

Happy Easter.

Cx

WOYWW #199 - It's Chaos

Hello everyone!

The title of my post does not relate to the state of my desk, which is reasonably tidy this week, but to the state of my home.....Hubby and I had our move to NYC confirmed and we leave in 5 weeks, hence the state of the flat. Boxes and stuff to go into boxes everywhere....

Let's forget about all that for a moment shall we and focus on my desk. Get over to Stamping Ground and meet Julia and the gang if you have no idea what I am talking about :)

Today you can see two layouts that I am playing with. I really want to try and use more different colours and patterns on one card, but without it being too hideous!! You can see an almost finished card. The blue version is done and these are for my Ma, I am making her a stash of cards for when I am gone... Different glasses, these are the ones that are normally in my handbag, no idea how they made it to my desk. A pile of doilies and papers and some flowers that I have been making. You can also see my shiny new hot pink stapler - finally one that works!

Here is the finished blue version of the pink card that you can see.

Layered Flower Birthday

I am really enjoying making these layered flowers in colours that contrast with the papers I am working with, it gives me so much more control. These cards were inspired by x2 scraps that I found that had the scalloped square cut out. I figured I could use these up, as there was so much paper left around the cut out. The border was made using a border die I bought, hated, forgot about. I quite like it here.

I'm off to get on with the packing, but not before I have a nose around some desks.

Cx

Trying new things

Hello, hope you all had a nice weekend. 

Hubby and I had an amazing dinner at L'escargot on Friday night as part of London Restaurant Fortnight and the rest of the weekend was spent doing NYC admin (we are leaving on 2nd of May - eeek) and crafting.

As Hubby bought me a new tablet to go with my digital subscription to Cards, I have been in the craft room flicking through the magazines and getting ideas.

I thought I'd show you some of the things I've been making this weekend. One of these cards is winging it's way to JT as part of Card Exchange, not telling which one though :)

The main photo was based on this idea - 

Robot example

I really like the general structure of the card. It uses a fair few techniques, but I think that is ok when you are making special cards.

Next up is a card that is quite straightforward and I think you can fussy it up a bit if you wanted to.

Card Example

My version is below, I like the different papers, I just happened to have a circular paper, which works well with the blue spotty paper. The glittery frame is new and part of the Making Memories Chips range, the floral tape is new too and from Tiger.

The final card is one I chose to make as I thought it would be easy to make using my fave Spellbinders label dies.

Hello Example

 I used Pink Petticoat patterned papers and a peach co'ordinations paper. The flower I made using the scraps and a Sizzix die that came with my Big Shot. I am really into making these flowers right now :) I do wish I hadn't bothered with the faux stitching, but I still like it.

My Hello Card

That's all for now, I have been working on some other great over the top girl cards, which I'll show you tomorrow.

Cx

Good Friends

 Hey there, I've been a bit distracted this week - I didn't even manage to participate in WOYWW :(

I have had lots of random things to do, but I have found time to make a few things and catch-up with some good friends.

I made the card in the main photo for JT, as part of our Card Exchange. I love this 1950's digital stamp - it's such fun to work with, I had to draw in a shoe, part of her face, her hairline and part of her belt, but this all made it more fun for me.

This is the card JT made for me -

Pinwheel Thank You

I love it, it's so me! I will be using it as a Thank You for my MIL. Here is a close-up, so you can see the glittery detail.

Pinwheel Close-up

I had dinner with JT last night and we had such fun, we are going to try and organise a stay-cation before Hubby and I leave for NYC.

I also had lunch with another good friend Suze, she placed a little order with me, so I thought I'd share a couple of things I made for her with you.

Dress Form Birthday

I keep the leftovers from the dress form die cuts and use them in various ways. I like this version, the 3 little pearls are a nice touch to balance out the card.

I had made a card similar to this one as a challenge entry and when Suze said she wanted Thank You's I thought I'd make another one and then she'd have a pretty almost matched set.

Butterfly Thank You

I really enjoy working with this sketch, it's so versatile.

Finally here is a Mother's Day idea that I had made and decided it was too much work for the website. So I modified it as a gift for Suze's Mum. I cut a contrasting oval scallop, stuck it over the original greeting, added peel-offs and had a set of 4 cards ready to go..I'll be rooting through my leftover special occasion stock and trying this again.

Flower Happy Birthday

It's fun to make things for people you know well :)

Cx

It's a Kenny K day for me :)

 I've been playing with some of the ones that I won a few weeks back and thought as well as entering the Kenny K challenge this week (#134 Happy Birthday) I would show you what I have been up to.

The main photo is Madison Attitude and my entry to the challenge. I've been playing around with the size of these stamps. I like the size of this one. The background was a free paper, I printed the sentiment using Harrington font from FontSquirrel and used a small oval scallop punch for a bit of stand-out.

This card uses the Lady Victoria stamp. The stamp is so intricate that I had to print it big inorder to see it properly so I could colour it :)

Lady Victoria

I like the contrast of the stamp against the black card.
Finally here is Bodacious Bev, as I was colouring her, I realised how perfect she would be for my friend Lora, so I left it blank, as I can see her wanting to frame it or something.

Bodacious Bev

Happy Saturday everyone, Hubby and I have dinner guests tonight, so off I go to bake something yummy.

Cx

Working the sketch

I was a bit under the weather yesterday, so no dinner date with JT and I didn't trawl through the WOYWW blogs as much as usual :(

To make up for yesterday's inertia, I have been playing with this week's RetroSketches #54 Sketch.

It is really cool and reasonably straight forward to master. Because of this, I have made several versions - including the main photo. I thought I'd share them all with you.

But first here is the sketch -

The main photo uses my Range paper roses, I coloured the edges using a pro-marker, the spotty tape is part of the SMASH range and the sentiment I printed and punched using my fave tag punch.

Next up is another birthday version, this could have been a bit dull, but I think the corrugated card livens it up. The star was created using an Xcut star die and the stripy paper is from JT. This card is going into my personal stash and is actually my entry for the challenge :)

Blue Star Birthday

This card was inspired by the millions of scraps kicking around on my desk (incl the scallop punched sentiment), I figured that using a few of them would make me feel like less of a desk slob :) The red bling is leftover from my personal Christmas cards and I wish I had bought more of them, as they are really nice and unusual.

Red Bling Birthday

The final card is a little bit of a departure for me, I don't normally use 'ambiguous' sentiments, but I have this sheet of adhesive chipboard sentiments that I bought in Vegas a year ago and wanted to use one! Celebrate works here I think, as the card is neutral enough for you to be celebrating a whole host of things and I finally got to use one of the heart Candi's that I struggle to find homes for. I am going to put this card in with the rest of the cards I am giving to Ma for her to gift to her work colleagues.

Celebrate

Before I go, I wanted to mention that JT and I are doing card exchange via snail mail - basically you make a card for the other person to use and then send it to them (so no writing in it) this is week 2 and I just got my first card from JT - it is superb and about to wing it's way to my Auntie Connie. You can check it out on her blog. Stupidly I didn't take photos of either of the cards I made for her, must do this next time...

Anyway if you fancy joining us, let me know and we can exchange postal addresses.

Cx

WOYWW 197 - Making Plans

Happy WOYWW, I know it's corny, but seriously how is it that time already?! Where did the week go? Maybe it's all the planning I am doing for the big move that has made time flash by.

If you are wondering what I am waffling on about then go over to Stamping Ground and meet Julia and the gang for the weekly global desk nose.

My desk is in a bit of a state, infact it is exactly as I left it Monday evening!!! I was out all day yesterday so didn't get anywhere near the craft room :(

On my rather messy desk is a card I am making for Lemon for her work colleague who is an expert baker (due in the post TODAY), there are some mini babygrow / peg embellishments that I have been making, as I want to try out some new baby card ideas (post coming soon). There is also a partially used sheet of sentiments - I make these myself, as I find buying them is never cost effective and they look exactly as I'd like! There are a few stray Promarkers that didn't make it back to their home. My glasses, the ATG, a heart punch, a corner rounder and right at the back you can see a Z-fold screen card.

The stray Promarkers were used to make this card on Monday afternoon to say thanks to Hubby for being so supportive and understanding and not making me feel like a loser for STILL being off work.

He loved it and I do too. The stamp is a new one 'SexyCupid' by Kenny K, I bought it to make anniversary cards and the first one is nearly finished so you'll see that at some point.

I'm off to have brunch with my parents and then back for a serious nose at everyone's desk, before heading out to dinner with JT.

Cx

Stamping Crazy!

Before I get onto the title of my post, I wanted to show you the gift I made for my Ma for Mother's Day - not a great photo, as I had to take it on my phone after she opened it as I forgot before...

It is my first attempt at using Fimo, but I think it came out well. I used microwaveable Fimo, which is AWESOME!!
The box frame was super cheap from The Range and I bought it because of a post on Ria Gall's blog - have a look at some of her later posts, you will see the amazing frame she created. More Fimo later in the week.

Back to stamping..as I am not working I have restricted myself to a rather tighter budget thast usual, which is fine, but restricts the craft goodies I can indulge in :(  I stumbled across a new magazine called 'Get Stamping' - the first issue has these really cool stamps -

I wouldn't call the stamps free, as the magazine was quite expensive, but I think it was worth it, as I have been playing with the stamps and they have inspired lots of ideas.

The main photo today is one of my fave ideas from my little trying out the stamps session. Making one of the mustaches red makes the rest of them seem really sharp. I need to work on cutting out the Happy Birthday stamp, it's a bit crooked :)

The next photo is another fave - I totally love Foxes and so having a Fox stamp is awesome in my mind! I got to use one of my new charms (bought a few weeks ago from The Works), some of my fave paper twine and brown craft paper from Paperchase. 

Foxes!

Foxes close-up so you can see the charm

I like the idea of alternating the Foxes. The brown Fox was stamped using Gingerbread Tsukineko Dew Drop ink. These are my absolute all time favourite inks. The colour you get from them is amazing.

I've never been a big fan of stamps that are lots of words, but I thought the one that came in this set would be easy to use. I tried a few ideas and settled on this one - 

Happy Everything sums up this stamp for me :)

I have more examples using this stamp set, but I think this post is starting to take on a life of it's own, so I'll be off now.

Cx

Happy International Women's Day

What better way to celebrate International Women's Day than entering a Kenny K challenge this week - #133 Lace and Pearls.

I have spent most of the week looking around the craft room for lace...to no avail. Then yesterday I was out and came across this amazing tape, which totally looks like lace!

The main photo (slightly blurry...) is my entry - using the Jayne Jettpack stamp that I won in a Kenny K challenge. I coloured her with Promarkers and added some glitter glue for standout. 

It's a bit of an unusual thank you, but I like it!

Here's a close-up so you can see the tape.

Love the lace tape!

Have a happy weekend everyone, I will be mostly 'doing' Mother's Day this weekend with Ma and my MIL.

Cx

Another taste of Spring..

Following on from yesterday's bright yellow card, I finished up the other card that was on my desk.  It is also has bright yellow elements.

I am entering it into the Retro Sketches #53 challenge this week. Here is their sketch -

As you can tell today's main photo is my card and I think it's a good interpretation of the sketch. I didn't want to use the flag style bottom of the strips of paper, it had been done a lot and I wanted to mix it up. So I dug deep through the punch box and voila! teeny tiny butterfly punch! Yes JT it is mine and it's really old.. Oh and the best bit is that it was made using only scraps!

It's another card that I think works for teenagers.

Last week I showed you an oops - well here is this week's one for this card - just how busy is that embossed background?? I'll figure out a use for it and show you once it's done...

Oops!

I'm off to purchase a few low budget necessities as I was playing with Fimo yesterday (which I love) and realised I need a few things to add the finishing touches to my items...which will be posted after Mother's Day so that my Ma doesn't see what she is getting :) I totally loved WOYWW this week, so much cool stuff going on, keeps me inspired.

Cx

WOYWW 196 - Still loafing...

Ha ha yes I am still at home, despite the fact that I need to go back to work for financial and sanity reasons. The market is a bit slow, so I am sitting here waiting for my next job...

All good for me really, means I still get to do 'live action' WOYWW with Julia and the rest of the gang over at Stamping Ground.

This is how I left my desk last night before rushing out to see my friend Lianne who is over from Dubai.

I was midway through a couple of challenge entries, as you can see from the two stacks of yellow - they are separate cards. I have been feeling spring focussed this week, so there are leaf punches and papers to use for leaf punching. There is also my random circle dot punch. And in a little pile at the back of my desk are a few punched hearts, a charm and some twine for a random project I have in my head. No glasses...hmmm wonder where they are?!

I finished one of the cards this morning after I took the photo, so I could show it to you and enter it into the Mojo Monday #283 challenge.

Here is their sketch -

And here is my card - you can see it on my desk - only change being that I embossed the yellow rectangle of  paper for a bit more stand-out and added 2 pearls. I really like this card, feels a bit teenage girl? What do you guys think?

Mojo 283 entry

Mojo283 entry - close-up

So that's my desk for another week, now time for a nose.

Cx

I love playdates!

Saturday's playdate with JT was lots of fun, as you might have seen from her blog.

The main photo is one of my fave from the day and the one I am entering into the Simon Say's Stamp challenge this week - Anything Goes. I really like this card. I feel like I channeled my inner Mary Fish with this one! I used free paper for the background, scrap for the navy blue strip, JT's star punch and cool pearly / glue dot style things. The label dies are JT's and the sentiment was made using my new 3Dumb font from Fontsquirrel. Here is a close-up.

We made so many great things. I used lots of JT's tools :) so here are a few that mainly feature JT's stuff..that is the best bit of a playdate, playing with someone else's tools.

Birdy says..Just Because

This card is from JT's stash and her coral paper's co-ordinated beautifully with it. The label die and stamp belong to JT too.

Pink Cameo

JT bought these cute Xcut cameo's die's last weekend when we were together, so we had a little play, along with her new label die's by Sizzix. We both wanted a Nana's wallpaper feel to the cards - these free papers work well. I layed up the die cut's using foam tape for more depth, here is a close-up.

I am loving layering right now. Here is another card using layering - my 3rd one this post :) I managed to use my own bicycle stamp/die set and tag punch..

Bicycle birthday

This final card is one of my fave's and uses none of JT's kit surprisingly!! I used a nice plain piece of card, with a hand drawn border, the butterfly clothespin is from the Range and the Hello! arrow was made once again using the 3Dumb font from Fontsquirrel and a die cut arrow.

Hello Butterfly

There are a couple more cards, but I'm thinking they might be challenge worthy, so keeping them up my sleeve :)

Playdate's totally rock, I do hope you all have someone to playdate with.

Cx