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I hope you enjoy your visit and like what you see.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX..

Another weeks challenge over at I ♥ PROMARKERS and this week (#12) it's a sketch and one I really liked. Our sponsor this week is Susie at DIE CUT DREAMS and the prize is some lovely door hangers for you to decorate.

I didn't want to do cute this time, so I started thinking 'outside the box' and then remembered I had the perfect stamps from PAPERARTSY, one of my fave stamp sites, and here's what I came up with.


I stamped the lady (which includes the diamonds) and then masked her off and used a Prima stamp for the background. The background paper is, I think (had it so long I can't remember), an SEI one and it had clock faces all round it. I cut a piece out and then cut the four required squares out, inked them with Black Soot distress ink and attached them to the background card that I'd coloured with my Cinnamon Promarker. The mats and circles were also coloured with this. The dress was coloured with cinnamon, cocoa and burnt sienna. I finished by stamping the sentiment, stamping clock faces and attaching a real watch face to one of the circles. Oh yeah, there's also a real watch part over her mouth.

I'm not sure what occasion this card could be sent for or who would even want it, lol but hey! it's a card and I like it. :o)

Monday, April 26, 2010

TIME TO PLAN

Do you like to plan your Layouts or work on the fly? I've always worked on the fly. The problem I have though is remembering a title. I see a photo, think of the perfect title and then promptly forget it or scribble it down on a bit of paper that gets lost. When I come to scrap the photo...I'm stuck.

So, I thought I'd make myself a planner. I downloaded some very handy pages from ORGANIZED SCRAPBOOKS, resized them to A5 and made myself a book to keep them in.






The papers are from the K & Co's 'Life's Journey' pad. To make the flowers, I stamped with HERO ARTS LARGE FLOWERS 9 times on some of the cover paper. Cut out three different areas, inked with Distress Ink Tea Dye and then curled and layered them up to make 3 flowers. The centre is a dew drop. I made myself a template for the tabbed pages and stamped them randomly with the same stamp, colouring just a few dots on a flower on each page. A couple of pieces of mountboard made my covers.

I'm going to print out little inchie photo's to stick in the swatch boxes and write the title as soon as I think of it. Then, all I have to do is come up with the actual LO design itself. :-) I think this is going to come in very handy.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

TIME FOR A CHANGE

Well, as much as I liked my previous background, I thought it was time for a change, so I've been playing with my blog today. I've gone to 3 column which I really like and a lighter, nicer background. It's still not finished as I need to alter text colours and stuff, but so far ~ so good. :o)

Don't you just love Maukie the cat, lol. Play with him with your cursor. Listen to him purr, but watch out that he doesn't grab your cursor when you go past.

Elsewhere, I'm getting on well with my crafting amd I'm enjoying being a member of the I ♥ Promarkers design team.
I've been asked to do a guest spot on IT'S A CREATIVE WORLD. This is a fabulous website. They post every single day of the year and there's always something to inspire you. For my guest spot, I made a domino necklace and it will go live on 10th May.

I also sent off pictures and a link to Letraset for my PROMARKER STORAGE TOWER that I made and I'm very proud to say that they loved it and that it is now on the design production table at Letraset HQ. So hopefully, Letraset themselves are going to produce something very similar for us.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 11

Well, good morning everybody and happy Wednesday. I've got a very busy week ahead of me so doubt I'll have much time for blogging (nowt new there then, lol) but here's my DT card for I ♥ PROMARKERSs challenge eleven. This weeks theme was black and white with one other colour. My 'flower' is made up of two stamps cut into three layers from Elusive Images. The centre was coloured with green PM, and then each dot of colour had Diamond Glaze applied and a clear bead stuck in the middle. The swirl stamp is by Lost Coast Designs and the green card is coredinations.
We are sponsored this week by SIMON SAYS STAMP and he has a $15 gift voucher up for grabs, so come on over and have a go.


I've just come back from a fabulous weekend crafting retreat in Coventry with all my lovely friends from our forum. We had a super time and got lots of crafting and challenges done. It was a pretty sober weekend too, surprisingly, lol.
My car has gone in for its MOT this morning, so keep your fingers crossed as I've no money left, ha ha.
My niece and family are here visiting and I've got my 2 little grandchildren until late tomorrow while my DD and partner go off to London to see 'Phantom'.
Anyway, must go and run the hoover round before everything kicks off.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 10

This weeks challenge at I ♥ PROMARKERS is a fabulous sketch, I think it works so well. Our sponsor this week is WHIMSY STAMPS and the prize is a $15 voucher to spend in store. She has some gorgeous images and some digi images too. I used a rubber stamp for my card as I just loved this duck. Take a look at the rest of the DT's cards to see some of the newest digi images.


Nearly everything on this was coloured with my Promarkers. The scalloped mat, the quack 'ribbon' card, the sentiment backing and the 'eyelets' which in fact, aren't eyelets. They're coloured circles of card with a black gem in the middle.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

ON CLOUD NINE

18 of my crafty friends and I are going to Coventry this weekend for a get together and do a bit of crafting. We've got challenges and a couple of other things set up although it's far from a formal 'retreat'. We're all just going so we can meet up, have a good old natter and maybe a Photobucket or two too, lol.

Anyway, I popped into my local craft shop today ~ CLOUD NINE CRAFTS ~ in Horncastle, Lincs and asked the lovely CLAIRE (Distressed Miss) if she would donate a prize for us and she did Photobucket so some lovely papers and a rubber stamp will be finding a new home very soon. Thank you, so much, Claire. I'm very grateful for your generosity.

Claire's craft shop, Cloud Nine Crafts will be going online soon, so don't forget to pay her a visit but meanwhile, click on her name and visit her blog. She makes the most stunning cards.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

SCSC #78

THE SECRET CRAFTER challenge this week is 'Get Well'. I thought, seeing as they seem to be all the rage at the moment, I'd make an easel card. It's the first one I've done, but you've got to start somewhere, eh?
The image is from MY GRAFICO and I coloured it with my Promarkers. The papers are Daisy and Dandelion 'Some bunny loves you' and the rose is from WILD ORCHID CRAFTS. I used my Nestie label set with a computer generated greeting and e line pearls, the ribbon and lace were from my stash.
I'm not sure if I'll be making any more of these though, I'm not 100% keen. :o) Anyway, I hope you like it.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

I ♥ PROMARKERS # 9

This week's challenge over at I LOVE PROMARKERS is a theme. No sketch, but you must use an animal. This can be any animal, including birds, dragons and butterflies. The prize this week is a £10 gift voucher from JOANNA SHEEN. Come on over and have a go. :o)

Dragon Luck is a Lisa Victoria stamp and I used the Crafts Too butterfly embossing folder, Nestie label die, Cordinations cardstock and purple velvet paper. Other elements from my stash.

Saturday, April 03, 2010

A RIGHT ROYAL.....

I'm really into masking at the moment. I mask all sorts of images so the other night I thought I'd get out my T.H. Distress ink pads, some stamps, (Tattered Angels Screen Prints) wipe the dust off my glimmer mists and have a go. I also used a Tim Holtz mask of a crown, but I was disappointed. I couldn't get on with it at all and I've never done well with the glimmer mists. They promptly went back on the shelf to gather dust for another year. The crown looked appalling and just didn't blend well enough with the owl so I tossed it. Tonight I got it out again and tried to figure out how to salvage it, so I ended up using the mask as a template, drawing round it and cutting it out. It's still not good. Anyhow, this is what it ended up like...one of my less than perfect pieces, the crown is too dark now.


I thought I'd have another go and do a better one. The tags are lovely thick chipboard tags and the distress inks work well on them. This time, I stamped a crown, masked the owl and crown and stamped the text. His eyes are watch parts covered with diamond glaze. This isn't what I wanted when I started out, but it's where my stamps took me, lol. A Right Royal Hoot was born. :o)

Thursday, April 01, 2010

PROMARKER STORAGE

What have I been doing for 3 days? I've been making myself a storage tower for my Promarkers. I was fed up of rooting in a box for the colour I needed and every other storage idea I'd seen was either too expensive, didn't hold enough pens or both. So I came up with my own idea and it's NOT made with an Ikea DVD unit. :o) It works a treat too.


If you want to see how I made it, pop over to MAKE SOMETHING NICE and take a look.
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