WOYWW 203 - for the last time from London, England

So WOYWWer's this pic, pretty much sums up the state of my home right now, as we are in the final throes of packing!

If you don't know what WOYWW is - go to Julia's blog and learn more.

As you can see I am still trying to craft, despite the fact that my head says 'Pack it up monkey, pack it up'

What horror do you see here...well, there is a big RUB of promarkers, various RUB's that should be packed and aren't, misc crap I have found and need to find a home for, some cards that I am making for Lemon to thank her for last week's Tenerife trip (good god I am brown) and my goddaughter's 18th Birthday invites, that I am frantically trying to finish before we leave on the 2nd...

I won't have internet access for approx 2 weeks, I can email and skype, but blogging will be a challenge, but I promise, I'll be back with pics of the new NYC craft space and updates on life in the big apple.

JT wrote this wonderful post and I am so chuffed, my heart is bursting.

I want to say thank you to all you wonderful craft bloggers out there. There have been some dark days for me this year, waiting for the move and you have kept me sane.

Here are some better pics of Lemon's cards, which I designed myself to fit her crazy sense of humour and hand coloured.

Robot card

Woof card

Much love.

Cx

Thank You JT

So as some of you are aware, JT and I had our last face to face playdate - not forever, but for a while at least! It was lots of fun and sad at the same time.

JT is a great friend and a superb craft buddy. I waited a long time to get a craft buddy and she is totally worth the wait.

Not only does my CB like to craft and discuss craft in detail, but she also likes to drink, shop, eat, gossip and party!

This is a picture from our Tuesday pub lunch - Pulled Pork Burgers and a pint of Aspinalls - yum!

JT and the burger

On Weds JT MADE me tackle the craft room and I am really glad she did, I am now on target to have that finished before I leave for Tenerife next week, meaning I will then be able to concentrate on the misc precious items crap that is left and my clothes!

She didn't go home empty handed :) She left with some of my cast offs, but you know what they say, one man's rubbish is another man's treasure!

Today's photo is of a card I made on the last playdate, using JT's Little Claire stamps and my fish folder. Simple and effective I think.

Have a great weekend, Hubby and I are off to MM to see family and friends for the last time before we leave.

Cx

p.s I have a number of large-ish items that I need to get rid of - I have a Lucky 8 punch, a sew easy tool and mat, some papers and a host of other things. I don't want money, just need you to pay the postage or come and collect. Leave a comment if you are interested or send me an email.

Layer it up

Hope you all had a nice Easter.

Hubby and I have been slobbing about, hanging with family and friends - in amongst some packing!

As you know, I have been talking about wanting to experiment using different patterns and colours together. I've seen a lot of cards around lately that are using this idea, they are also layering up using different shapes. They are all so nice and you need time, which I have...so here are my attempts!

The main photo today is my interpretation of an idea I saw. I thought that if I kept all the tonal values the same that this would prevent the card being seriously busy.

Thank You Butterflies Close-up

I think it's a really great example of what I have been trying to achieve. Using cream as the main colour, has toned the card down a bit. I matched the ink to one of the colours in the patterned papers. The backing paper was a freebie, the stripy paper is American Crafts, the butterflies were die cut, then embossed with a small dots folder.

The next cards are actually the finished versions of the layouts that were on my desk during WOYWW last week.

Layered Birthday - Blue

I pretty much stuck to the layout that was on my desk during WOYWW. I made 2 changes - I embossed a pattern into the cream card background, to lift it a bit and added x2 more label die cuts, so there was a place for a sentiment.

Layered Birthday - Pink

I hate to have favourites :) but the one with the pink & purple tones is my fave - I think the patterns work much better. I am glad that I got to use the chipboard flowers, they are from the Range and come in a strip of x5 flowers for £1 - bargain!

Along with layering and playing with patterns, I am also currently obsessed by birdcages?! I have no idea why. I remembered that I have a Lettering Delights set that has a birdcage, so I dug it out and the card below shows you how I used it.

Happy Birthday birdcage

The birdcage stamp and the bird were separate and colour, so I converted them to b&w, then merged them together, so you can see the bird without me having to cut out teeny little white boxes (NO). I hand coloured and glittered the leaves. The backing paper and the stripy paper are by American Crafts and the yellow spotty paper is by Pink Petticoat. The little green dot is from a random sheet of weird bling from Paperchase.  I am very pleased with this card, I think the colours and the patterns all work really well together. Ma has her eye on this card :)

My final card is one I made ages ago, that has been hanging on my drying rack! I saw a similar idea, using a bingo card. I have a bingo card digital stamp, so I modified it so I can have a month instead of bingo at the top.

Bingo Baby Girl

Once I had the background and the bingo card in place, I was at a bit of a loss over the sentiment. After many different options, I settled on the one you see and it works well, as it's not too busy. I have just noticed that this card might have some subconscious message..my SIL is expecting her second child, it is due in May....do you think I want a Niece?

I really enjoyed making these cards, it's also a great way to use scraps.

So ladies, what do you think? Do you think I've finally got the hang of this pattern / colour / shape layering thing? All advice welcome :)

I am most excited about tomorrow - JT and I are spending 2 days together, we are going to have our last London playdate and pack my shoes (gulp), go and play bingo and get really drunk so we can say farewell for now. Hurrah!

Cx