Playing with Stamps

Hubby asked me to make a thank you card for his parents and I decided to try out my new stamp set that I bought a few weeks ago. They are really cool and made by Pebbles.

The main photo is my fave, JT will like this one, as she loves the lighthouse paper, it was a freebie, it's by Kirsty Wiseman and this piece is the 2nd to last piece of it :( The dark blue card is by Co-redinations.

Using the stamp to make the thank you card inspired me to make a few more, all with the same theme -
- use the label dies
- use the stamps
- use something decorative for the smaller die-cut or within it

Here are the other 3 cards I made

1 - love this digital stamp by Pink Petticoat (I don't have a printer yet, but I had a sheet of these). I coloured it using colours that fit with the backing paper, which is by My Mind's Eye and the ink is Chocolate by Martha Stewart.

1 - Hello Friend

2 - this version uses some of my paper flower stash, a self-adhesive pearl and a piece of pretty Hippie Chick paper by DCWV. The ink for the greeting is by Martha Stewart.

2 - Just a note

3 - the final card uses a flower (is it a flower?) from my last visit to the Range - x6 in a strip for £1 bargain!! The spotty backing paper is ancient and I believe my Ma bought it for me years ago..The red ink didn't stamp as well as I would have liked, but it works well enough. I like that the embellishment / flower has spots in, so matches the paper nicely.

3 - Hello

All in all, this was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon in NYC and now I have x3 cards ready to go to new homes.

Hubby has the day off today, so we are going to ride the ferry down the East River, as we haven't done that yet.

Cx

New with old..

..so all of our boxes finally arrived from the UK on Friday - YAY!!

I have been most overjoyed by their arrival, as it means I now have my entire craft kit at my disposal. It's not quite organised yet, as I don't have all the storage/shelving required, but rooting through the boxes to find certain things is fun.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon making cards (Father's Day card will be showon Sunday) and as I was working I realised that there had been certain things I really really missed and hadn't actually realised! What are these key things I hear you ask? Well, I missed my promarkers, punches - esp the circular ones and the corner rounder, Candi's, washi tape, various size card blanks, glitter glue, peel-offs, inks and different size acrylic blocks. Two things made me squeal with delight (yep I am that childish) - my beloved ATG and my large paper trimmer. Such joy to have my old friends back again.

The title of my post relates to all the cards I made yesterday, which inadvertently mixed my new NYC purchases with my existing kit.

The main photo is one of my favourite makes of the day and it uses a new stamp from Michaels (bought with my free gift card, that I got for signing up to the NY Times delivery scheme), new backing papers also from Michaels, new chevron ribbon from Marshalls by American Crafts. The ink was an old Martha Stewart one, I punched the stamp out with my scalloped circle punch, the greeting is a peel-off and I glittered it up a bit using a stickles glitter glue. I have a thing for chevrons, so was very happy to acquire all of these new chevon stuff. I have also had Eiffel Tower stamp envy for a while, as JT has a cool one (it was a gift so I can't steal it). Below is a photo of the stamp in a different blue ink, I had to try several before I found a perfect match and I thought it would be worth showing you the lighter version, so you can see why I am so happy with the final card.

Blue ink too pale for the backing paper

The next card uses a new stamp, also from Michaels, everything else came out of my existing kit - papers, promarkers, glitter glue and the greeting stamp. The white paper that the boat is stamped on, was an offcut I found in my white paper box and it already had the star punched in the corner and I thought it was a good fit for the stamp. See I do use offcuts :)

Happy Birthday Boat

The next card was a bit of an experiment, as I bought a very long stamp from my new fave shop in NYC - The Ink Pad. I haven't been able to use it since I bought it, as I didn't have any tall card blanks with me. I also haven't used all of the stamp as it is very long! I used a pink ink and a brown ink to create the vignette effect, which I am pleased with. It's something JT does well and it scares me a bit..The flower is new and does clash a bit, but I think that it's a nice touch. The washi tapes are all from my existing kit. I can't decide if I need to add a greeting or not...

Long dress stamp

I made a few more things, but this is turning into one of those epic posts, so I'll post them later in the week - it's nice to be able to say that :)

Cx

p.s please note the improvement in my photo taking, I've figured out the light in the apartment and I bought the cool NYC paper as a bit of fun.

Gift that keeps on giving...

...we all love a gift that keeps on giving right?

Well this gift for me is JT my craft buddy.

She kindly hooked me up with her parents, who are AWESOME. It was very nice of JT to hand over her parents to me, but I promise to take good care of them.

They invited Hubby and I to spend the Memorial Day weekend with them (last May bank holiday), but Hubby had to work, so I went on my own.

They were fantastic hosts and showed me their part of the world, fed me - lots, drank with me - lots, re-taught me how to play Backgammon (I am the World Champion now...), took me to the casino - I won money, took me shopping and generally were just awesome.

The main photo today is of Sally and Mike in New Hope next to the old clock.

To say thank you, I made them a set of notecards, featuring their home.

I took the photo below and treated it to create some cool pics, that I then stuck onto some cards.

Original House Photo

Here are the finished cards - which have now arrived with the Nixons and they are very happy with them, so that makes me happy too.

Finished Cards

I am pleased with the end result and the lack of printer meant I got to investigate how to print out photos at my local drugstore - x6 prints for $1.10...not bad at all and super easy.

Have a great weekend, we will be unpacking our boxes and I will be making a Father's Day card, so I can post it on Monday.

Cx

Crafting in NYC

Hello!

Well Hubby, the Fur children and I have now been in NYC for a month. We are getting settled nicely and I am starting to get my craft mojo back...it went missing for a while with all the house stuff to do :(

I have been a teeny bit naughty and have acquired bits of new kit here and there, whilst I am waiting for all our stuff to arrive from the UK. So I thought I'd show you what I have been up to - apologies for the quality of the photos, I am not used to the light in the apartment yet!

The main picture today is of a birthday card I made for my friend Carrie's husband Tom. The robot punch is a new purchase and had 50% off, so I felt it was rude to not buy it!! It's by EK success, the papers are from a scrap of the American Crafts set that I love and use often.

I also purchased some cool moustache stickers. I have made a few fun cards with them, but I think this one for Carrie is my fave. Carrie and I have a moustache thing, too long to explain here, but we are always buying each other moustache things!! I like the simplicity of this card.

Moustache!

My SIL had her baby on the 17th of May - a niece Florence Mae, she is gorgeous, sad we aren't there to give her a cuddle, but I did manage to make this card for her. Yep, they are the usual butterflies from JT's punch, I punched a bejillion of them before I left!!

I bought this very cute bunny stamp in the sale (stamps are rather expensive here in the US) and thought it would be fun if I stamped lots of them in a row. I like this, JT suggested I could use the bunny for new baby cards..this particular card is going to JT's folks to say Thanks for a wonderful Memorial Day weekend - more about that in another post :)

Lots of Bunnies!

So that's all from me for now, just wanted you to see that I am still alive and crafting!

Cx

WOYWW #206 - First one from NYC, advice needed!

Hi ladies and happy WOYWW - live from NYC :)

Go and visit Julia at Stamping ground if you don't know what WOYWW is!!

So we have arrived in NYC safely. We have moved in to our new apartment, the furchildren made it in one piece, we have internet and some furniture. My desk is a work in progress but I love it!

Before we move on to my desk. I just wanted to ask the USA based WOYWWer's what online sites do you use for purchasing supplies? I am far from ready to do that yet, but I love to browse :)

The main photo today is my desk - it is a bit random, but that is because A) the rest of it has yet to be purchased - this will make more sense in a few weeks, B) majority of my craft stash is in on a ship in the Atlantic - yet to arrive. You can see some bits and bobs from my stash littered around. My new improved desk has space for my laptop and on the top of my shelves you can see some cards that we were given and have been sent since we arrived. You can also see my shiny new 'C' which I bought as a treat from Michaels - yay! I love Michaels

Here are a couple of pics of our apartment = semi-empty!

Boscat, on our new bed, complete with Union Jack cushions

Archie in the empty living room

Hope to see you next week, looking forward to trawling through some desks today.

Cx