A few makes

It's the 11th May today, I actually started to put these on the blog in March, but saved them as I wanted to do little write ups for each card.....I then totally forgot about them, due to various things going on, so now I've finally got round to finishing it......but now I've got loads more to upload on to the laptop. One day I'll be organised and know what I'm doing, but not today :)




These black & white cards were originally designed by Shirley, one of the tutors at Craft Inspirations, Sutton Coldfield but I think they were mainly female ones, I had to make 2 male cards at short notice, and black and white were the only colours I could think of to make them look 'masculine' The numbers and tags were cut using my cricut 'base camp' and 'George'. Paper from S.E.I 'Black Orchid'. This is double sided paper, the other side is varnished black flowers, really nice and different. Thanks to Shirley, I never have to buy chipboard numbers, she told me to cut out several numbers and layer them on top of each other, the result is stiff numerals.


This one is also designed by Shirley, the only difference being I used prima flowers with silver stickles in the middle of them, instead of punched flowers. The image is from Woodware clear stamps JRCL308 'Flower Frames'


I used H20's on this Sarah Kay stamp 'Precious Moments' along with papers from Craftwork Cards 'Enchanted' range, card stock was from DCWV mat stack 'Brights' flowers from Prima.


Another Shirley design. She's really very good when it comes to designing, and I'm sure if she were to send her cards to some of the crafting mags, they'd snap her up as one of their designers. This was made in one of her workshops. Embossed border strips 'Floral Fantasy' from Craftwork Cards, the edges were done with colorbox fluid chalk. I think the tag was cut using the Cricut. The flowers were punched.



The above 2 cards were made in workshops with Shirley. The stamp is from Woodware (FRCL055) Flower Fairies, that's been coloured in using Sakura Stardust pens, Bazzill card stock matted with Colour Cordinations card that had been run through the cuttlebug and then lightly rubbed over with a sander. White flowers were then stamped using Inkadinkadoo inchies. The card with pink flowers was very different to make as we had to cover an aperture without using acetate, just different size punched flowers stuck to each other.


Sugar Nellies 'Daisy' painted using H20s scalloped circles cut from Nestabilities, flowers done with Woodware punch. Papers by Papermania 'Spring Burst'


Penny Black 'Delights' painted using H20s, as were some of the embossed flowers on the frame 'Julie's Daisy' from Craftwork Cards. Edging of frame was done with colourqueue fluid chalk.


Paper 'Enchanted' & embossed tile 'Spring Collection' from Craftwork Cards, tile painted using H20s and the border was done with colourqueue chalk.


Penny Black stamp painted with H20s, nestie circles, 'Enchanted' paper from Craftwork Cards.


Again 'Daisy' painted with whispers/marvey pens, can't remember whose paper was used, sentiment from Craftwork Cards and Prima flower. I don't think I cleaned my brush properly after using a white Art Kure brush pen as there are some white blobs here and there, even after going over them they were still visible.


Penny Black 'Uplifting Occasion', using a mixture of Whisper/Marvey and Art Kure pens, Basic Grey paper 'Meltaway' from the Bittersweet range. Craftwork Cards sentiment edged with colourbox chalk pad.


Paper and embossed tile from Craftwork Cards, tile coloured in this time with chalk.



Sugar Nellie stamp 'Reflective', Basic Grey 'Bon Bon' and 'Soar' from the Lily Kate range, flowers from Prima. I can't remember what I used to paint the stamp with, as it's on pearlescent card and the efeect is the same, whether using H20s or pens. Sentiment as usual from Craftwork Cards.

Blog Candy

Lisa over on CraftBugs is giving away this lovely clear stamp set from Inkadinkadoo 'Garden Flowers', all you have to do is leave a comment on her blog....you don't have to have a link to the blog either. I've chosen to do one. The closing date and time is 6pm 31st march. The winner will be announced on 1st April. Good luck.

I'm in the middle of adding some makes, but there's so many it's taking ages to do the write up about them, so I'll finish it tomorrow night, hopefully.

Thanks Lisa

I got my runner up candy today, I'll be having a play at the weekend with it.

Blog Candy

Clare at Clare's crafty card clutter is celebrating having over 10,000 visits to her blog. She's doing this by having some candy to give away, as you can see from the pic it includes Basic Gray papers. To be in with a chance of winning just leave a comment, become a follower and post a link from your own blog to hers. You have until 28th February. Good luck.

I've won some candy......

from Lisa over on The Craftbugs blog, it's the runner up candy, I don't know what it is yet but whatever it is I'm sure I need it :)

Thankyou Lisa

Blog Candy

To celebrate over 6000 hits, Lisa over on The Craft Bugs Blog has some candy to give away, the above stamp set from Inkadinkado is just part of it. All you have to do is leave a comment, sign her guest book and join her blog network on Face Book. You have until 6pm Monday 23rd February to get your hands on a wonderful give away.

My Mum

Today would've been my mum's birthday, but she died in September 2003 aged 67. This is the last picture I took of her 2 weeks before she died, Shane was only 21 months, so obviously doesn't remember her, but there are photos of her in his room. I'm guessing she still wouldn't look her age if she were still alive.


The valentine cards were made on Sunday, a mixture of the good old cuttlebug and dufex and holographic card 1 of which i'm sending to Shane. The sympathy card was given to the family of a classmate of Shane's.



I've got a few cards to make to get in the post before Friday, so I'd better get cracking.
x

A massive success

I'm really happy to say that Fee's debut on Create & Craft on Thursday morning was a massive and overwhelming success. It should've been an hour long show, but ended after half an hour as everything sold out!!!! If any readers watched the show you'll know that Deb's who was appearing with Fee was only able to do about 2 demos, in fact, I think she only managed to show how to make a gift bag, the discs sold that quickly.

I'll be letting you know when her show appearances are by displaying the picture above. In the meantime you can visit her site by clicking her banner on the right hand side.

x

Another award....so very nice

Thank you so much to Maureen at Glitzzy blog news for my award, it's nice when other bloggers take the time to look at each others makes. She's new to blogland, but has put some lovely pages on her blog.

Christmas and everyday cards part 2

These were made on Wednesday at a workshop at Craft Inspirations, Sutton Coldfield, the tutor again was Shirley.




The card with the 3 tiles was done by stamping onto chipboard, then coloured in with coloursoft pencils, it was then covered over with a versamark clear pad and dipped in to UTEE (ultra thick embossing powder) and melted using a heat gun. The coloured card was Bazzill stock and edged using a Fiskars border punch called Threading Water(Fiskars haven't got it in the UK for some reason, it's sold out most places I've looked). We all found out that if you colour on the wrong (matt)side of the chipboard the colours stay true, but on the shiny side they come out paler, which is the look we were aiming for. My flowers look orange, the lady who was sitting next to me her's looked a lovely pale peach. The greeting is from Craftwork Cards.

The pink card was done by triple embossing a small circular chipboard that had been coloured using a pink colourbox chalk queue, and again covering it with a clear versamark pad, dipping into UTEE, then heat embossed, this was done 3 times (that's why it's called triple embossing...lol) stamping an acrylic stamp (or woodbacked, the choice is yours) with black staz-on ink and stamping directly onto the melted embossing powder, you have to be quick to do the stamping part, the best way to do it is have your ink already on the stamp, and leave it resting on top of the pad to keep it moist ready for stamping on to the melted powder. Wait for at least 20 seconds before removing the stamp off the circle. The next pink circle was normal card stock that had been patted all over with a colour box chalk queue and edged with a deeper colour, then stamped using staz-on with the same design, the circular tile then covers the top part of the flower. The scalloped circle was done using a Cricut cartridge (sorry, I can't remember which one Shirley told us). Backing paper is on a 6x6 pad by Craftworks. Small black flowers punched, with sticky gems in the middle. Greeting is black peel offs.



The stamps were from Woodware 'clear magic stamps' JRCL308 Flower Frames.

The next two were made last week with Shirley. The owl and branch is on the Storybook Cricut cartridge using black and dark pink Bazzill card stock, and purple brads. Backing paper again is off the 6x6 pad by Craftwork Cards as is the greeting and frame. The frame was coloured using a pink colour box chalk queue and edged with black chalk queue, this will look like dark grey when it's done.



The next one as you can see is another frame card, backing paper and greeting as above. The frame was coloured in yellow by chalking (not chalk queue) over lightly till it was completely covered, then the flowers were gone over again in the same colour to make them darker, flowers were also punched out an stuck on randomly, stickles then added to the middle of the punched flowers. The frame was edged in a darker shade of yellow using a colourbox chalk queue. Woodware punch was used for the large flower, and a small circle punch for the middle. The flower was then put through a cuttle bug using the swiss dots folder and then lightly sanded over. The card stock for this is from the coredination range. This is instead of having a white core, it has a core colour that co-ordinates with the surface colour. It's so much better than having white all the time.

It was also used on one of the christmas cards in yesterday's post. The blue 3 wise men that's also cuttlebugged.

The 2 below are what I made when Lisa was the tutor at Craft Inspirations earlier this month. She showed us how to create a background using stamps. If you take a look at her blog The Craftbugs she will tell you so much better than me how to achieve these 2 cards!




Inkadinkado '97632 Sketchy Flourishes'


These are my versions of the ones made at the work shop. I used white core for the punched flowers.


The dufex ones are quickies that still have to have bits and bobs added, don't know why I thought they'd be quick, as I sat for ages cutting them out.










I couldn't find some christmas cards that I'd made last month, especially one that I hadn't finished.....I found them last night in the drawer with cards that I'd made at craft classes. I'm still putting them on here as they'll be a reminder that I haven't sent them to anyone!

The waterfall card, again was made at Craft Inspirations with Shirley as the tutor. I can't tell you how it was done as I can't remember the measurements. If I remember, I'll ask Shirley what they were. I do know that they're slightly bigger than the templates I've seen, they all seem to be very small and fiddly to put together.


The next two were made using Kanban toppers, papers are from my stash.



I used Art Kure brush paint pens to watercolour the snowmen, Penny Black 'Snow Family' and discovered that if used on pearlescent card that the colours also have that nice pearly look as well.


Penny Black 'Snowy' again watercoloured with Art Kure brush pens on pearlescent card. The one beside it was made using Kanban toppers.

Flippin Men

Get over to Crafters Kitchen Jak Heath's wonderful blog, in case you don't know she created Flippin Men. She's had over 200,000 visitors to her blog and to celebrate she's giving away the whole range of Flippin' Men, just leave a comment about whi ch one you'd use and who for.

Uploaded some pics that have been on the camera for ages, I've still got to take some more photos but the batteries ran out, so for now I'm putting these ones on. A mixture of christmas and everyday cards.

Penny Black 'Snowy & Hedgy' watercoloured using Art Kure and Whispers/Marvy brush pens, matted and layered on to green holographic card.


The following 3 cards were done at a workshop with Shirley at Craft Inspirations in Sutton Coldfield.

Image from Fun Stamps '3 Wise Men' FL27. Core'dination card cuttlebugged with 'Joy & Peace' embossing folder then sanded over.


White/black card cuttlebugged with 'Snow Dots' embossing folder, and covered with black peel off 'cat in the window' snow flakes done with a 2x2 cuttlebug die 'Snow Flake #2'


Peel offs were again used on this, stuck on to self adhesive glitter paper. I can't remember who the other papers came from.


I was trying to base the following cards on christmas carols. The image used on this is from Penny Black 'Silent Night' but I printed on to acetate the words for 'O Little Town Of Bethlehem'

This one looked better in the 'flesh' than on photograph. The words to 'We Three Kings Of Orient Are' was printed on to acetate


This one is 'The Holly & The Ivy' the stamp is from Butterfly Kisses 'Holly Tree' I managed to find some ivy leaves after I'd already sent the card. Again the words are printed on to acetate.


This was sent to a forum friend who's in the process of adopting a little boy. Topper from Kanban


Papers were from stash, I've had it for a while.

Kanban topper.

Cuttlebug 'Lace Tree' snowflake peeloffs and stickles were used on it. This was for my OH mum. She loved it.

I was asked to make this for someone's grand-daughter, it was her first christmas. I used 2 Kanban toppers and made a spinner card.




Shane coloured this in for one of his nannie's. Penny Black 'Duck Noel'.


The following 3 are from FeeJDesigns disc 'Saucy Ladies 2' and 1930's fashion.



I owe the inspiration for the one above to Debs Mitchell over on Fee's site...lol she knows what I mean!



The image and paper was a freebie from 'The Lilac Garden'. I really like this image.


The Cliff Richard card is all thanks to Fi on the Crafts Beautiful forum, my OH mum is a huge fan and Fi very kindly let me copy her design.


Lilac card was embossed with Cuttlebug 'D'vine Swirl' Penny Black 'Rainin' Daisies' watercoloured with Whisper/Marvy pens.

I was asked to do a card with the Laurence of Arabia portrait on, so I tried to make it as simple as possible, to look like it was framed.



Dufex pansies, and though you can't see it very well in the photo, the card was also embossed

Lilac card was embossed with cuttlebug folder 'Textile' flower is from HOTP bought at the NEC off Stamp Addicts. As I didn't have any suitable ribbon at the time, I used the type you wrap presents with, and curled some for the tag. Tag made from Sizzix die cut.

I got a hug.....

....from Maggie aka craftynanna. Thankyou so much Maggie, a much needed hug as some scumbag smashed my front passenger window on the car the other night when my OH went to get a takeaway, they had the nerve to do it while he was just a few yards away, all they got was the loose change from the drawer, but now we can't use the car until it's replaced.

I've picked these ladies because they've either been going through a worrying time lately or because quite simply they're nice to know.

In no particular order..........

Aims

Louise Pinkpuppy

Maritrez

Jane

Chris

Jules

Beverley

Eve

Martine

Lauren

Whooo, my first award

I've been awarded this by Tasha at Millie's magical moment. She gave me this last month, but I'm only picking it up now as I haven't been here since November. Tasha has some wonderful makes on her blog, she's a very talented lady, who combines her uni studies with looking after her daughter Millie and still manages to have time to craft. I'm passing on the award to the following ladies, as with Tasha, they're very talented in all that they make and do, and provide lots of inspiration. Pop over to their blogs and you'll see what I mean.

Chris (Cambiel)

Louise (Pinkpuppy)

Sarah (Tiggertastic)

Martine (teeniebop)

Natalie (Sequin)

Congratulations ladies.

Yesterday I went to a workshop at Craft Inspirations in Sutton Coldfield, where I met Lisa, usually when I've gone to these classes it's been Shirley who's shown us what to do. Lisa had come up with two fab makes, which I'll post on here later. She has a blog also, I spent hours last night just reading it! Lisa is also a demonstrator for Bramwell (craft supplier) she has some fantastic makes on her blog along with snippets of family life. Go visit her on Craftbugs