MOTHER NATURE

This weeks challenge over at THE SECRET CRAFTER was to use stitching on a card, so I put mine around the edges. Still trying to do some cards that aren't too cute, I tried for an oldish look.

Mother Nature stamp is from Paperartsy and the papers are HOTP.

TEA TIME

Another challenge from the I LOVE PROMARKERS blog. We had to follow a sketch and also add stitching. I found using two images and two flowers quite difficult, but I also didn't want to do 'cute' again, I wanted something a little vintage so I came up with this.

The teapot images were from THE GRAPHICS FAIRY. They didn't really require much colour, but I did colour them a little with my Promarkers and I also coloured the flowers and brads with Promarkers. Scattered Straw distress ink was used to ink the edges. The paper is from the Sunshine range of the Papermania Capsule collection. The grey card is from Basic Grey's 'Scarlet Letter' and a strip of lace finished it off.

BOOK BOX

My friend, Kim, gave me a set of boxes a while ago that look like books. They're made of cardboard and have a few rough patches, but I really liked them. Today's project was to decorate the middle sized one to keep my pearls and crystals in.
I used Basic Grey 'Blush' papers, Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and acrylic paint in Wine and Dusky Rose.

I used the floral papers from the set for the exterior and cut the embellies from a sheet and 3D'd them. The striped paper for the interior is a much better match in real life. It doesn't look like it matches the floral sides at all, but it does. Oh, well. It's only a piccie, eh?

THINK PINK

A new challenge blog has started, called I LOVE DIGI challenge blog. It is just for digi images and this week they started with their first challenge 'Think Pink'. I used an image called Sophie by Mo over at DIGITAL PENCIL TOO. The papers are Pink Parfait from the Forever Friends range and Sophie was coloured with Promarkers.

I wish I Love Digi every success with their new blog.



Meanwhile, back at the homestead, I'm playing with a few new toys. I've found another lovely card that works perfectly with Promarkers. It's Personal Impressions premium quality smooth white and it's lovely to work on. I also got myself a new edge punch as I was a bit heavy handed the other day and broke one in half. Oooops!

I was also inspired by an article in Craft Stamper magazine on a Nestability storage book, so I got out my Basic Grey Infuse papers and made myself one. Much more my usual style of crafting. I do prefer the grungy, muted colour stuff. I must admit though, I love it. It's so much quicker and easy to find the nestie I want.





See you again soon. :o)

JUST BECAUSE....

I can now!! Woohoo!!! Finally, I've cracked my Promarkers, so I've done my very first challenge over at I LOVE PROMARKERS. We had to follow a sketch AND use pink and brown. The image is a digi image from Mo at DIGITAL PENCIL TOO. It's called Prairie Girl and I think she's just lovely. Mo also provides her with a plain dress and hat if you want to do your own thing. The papers are from 7 Gypsies and HOTP and the ribbon is American Crafts. I used my nesties to cut the sentiment card and Kaiser rubon words.



Now, I have to say two more things. After weeks and weeks of trying to use these Promarkers and nearly throwing them in the bin, I have at last found the perfect paper. No bleeding and easy to blend. I would not have found it if not for the help of the lovely Dawn over at ALL PINK GIRL, who answered all my emails for help and sent me some paper samples to try before I buy. I was so impressed with her work, that I contacted her, so thank you, Dawn. I will be forever grateful and you've saved me a fortune in wasted pens, lol.

Secondly, I just want to send my friend who is going through a tough time, lots of hugs. You know who you are, hun. Hang on in there. xxxx

So, that's it for today. I'm sure I'll be back soon though. :o)

GRRRRRR!!!!!!

Spammers are really getting on my nerves now so I've enabled word verification for a while. Sorry, I know it's a pain and I find it a pain on other sites, but now realise why it's done.
Oh well...the nature of boring, sick people without a life eh?

FRIDAY SKETCH

It's been a while since I made any cards, so thought I'd have a go at a couple. The first one is for Challenge 88 over at FRIDAY SKETCHERS. I struggled to find papers to match so ended up resorting to some HOTP ones I got ages ago. It's a bit TOO purple for me, lol but it follows the rules. :o)


This one is something I was playing around with yesterday. I downloaded Mitzi the duck from PC Crafters as I thought she was just so cute, lol.

LOST YOUR KEYS?

My daughter and her partner are forever losing their keys, so she asked me if I would make her a key holder. Hmmmm, well yes, probably, but paper and card wouldn't be very strong.
So, I bought a piece of wood and six hooks from the hardware shop for the grand price of £1.00. I put two coats of gesso on the wood and then painted it with Wedgewood Blue acrylic paint. I cut the letters and shapes with my bug, added a bit of card, ribbon and brads and it was done. There are two small hangers attached to the back.
I might even make something similar for myself now. :o)

IN THE POST..

Well, this years Circle Journal went in the post today. I didn't want to send it, lol. I find it really hard to spend days or weeks on a project only to send it off in the post. I was really pleased with my pages and hate the thought of it being a year before it comes home. Still, there's no doubting the fact that when it does come home it's going to be fabulous. My crafting friends are brilliant.

Last year, my theme was 'Renaissance Art in Italy' and some of the girls were pulling their hair out at the thought of it. This year I thought I better go a bit easier on them, so my theme is OPERA! Well, my trying to be kind failed miserably, some of them still have the shakes, lol. Nah, I think they're looking forward to it really. They each have to choose one composer and one of his operas and include info and pics. It will be a great read for me when it comes back. As my favourite opera is Rigoletto by Verdi, obviously that is what my pages were about, but of course, I can't show you any pics yet. I must keep the surprise element...at least for a while.

Here's a peek at a couple of pages from last years 'Renaissance Art'.


















It looks beautiful doesn't it? If this years is as bright, colourful and interesting I shall be a very happy bunny indeed.

SPAMMERS...

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! what is it with these darned spammers? I'm constantly having to come and delete nonsense comments. GET A LIFE YOU LOT!!!!

Gripe over and I do have some good news.

I HAVE A NEW GRANDSON... and he's adorable. Aidan came to join our family on 16th and we are all so pleased to have him.

Well, despite my promise to be a better blogger, I've already failed miserably, lol. Still, I am at least back in crafting mode. I'm working on a CJ at the moment and am quite excited to be a part of another one. I swore I'd not do any more after the last 3 years, but can't resist. :o)

Anyway, more soon. Bye for now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I would just like to wish any of my readers a happy and healthy 2010.

I've made no resolutions as I never stick to them, lol BUT I am going to try and be a better blogger. I've been really off my crafting for some time now, but hoping to get back in the swing of things very soon and get some more stuff up. :o)

DISTRESSED

I've been playing at being Tim Holtz and distressing some tags. I really like my distress ink pads and the more I use them, the more I like them.


I used my silicone mat this time and started with some ink tapped onto it and then spritzed with water for the background on the large coloured tag. I blended more ink in from outside to get the soft edges, then just stamped some images on. The image on the right hand side of the centre tag was stamped with Fired Brick which was gently spritzed to 'blur' the image and then overstamped with Black Soot to get the double image. The stamps are by Rubadubadoo (watches) and Prima Marketing. The luggage tags are from the newsagents as they're much cheaper than buying them from a craft shop. :o) When I'd finished stamping, I blended a bit of Black Soot ink around the edges.

I've added a couple more slideshows to my blog today too, so take a look if you want to see some of my parchment work and jewelry.

NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED..

Oooops! It's been a while again, hasn't it? I must be one of the world's worst bloggers. Oh well, not to worry. Not many of you read it anyway, lol.

I've put away the Promarkers for a while and decided to get back to 'ME'. The cute and coloured phase has passed and I'm going back to my own style - arty farty. I much prefer the darker colours, the grungy distressed look, so that's what I'm doing.

I made myself a book. A proper book, and I'm well chuffed with it. It's going to be my art journal. I've had an inkling to do one for quite a while so finally made a start. Here's a couple of pics and if you want to see more of how I made it, you can take a look HERE.

Now, does anybody know where I can find some nice pictures of lollypops?

THOSE DARNED PROMARKERS!!!!

Am I the only person alive that can't get on with these things? I am getting so frustrated that they've actually stopped me from crafting...I'm soooo peed off with them.

I know it's not my colouring skills at fault and I am using the correct inkpads, but I just can't get a 'clean' image. Why? Well, it must be my cardstock and I've tried half a dozen different types. I am, as I feared, stuck with 200 concord index cards because the colour bleeds. So far, the only way I've got anything near a decent image is to stamp and colour on Letrasets bleed proof pads then stick that onto some white card, but it's not the way I want to do things really.

If anybody out there is having total success with no bleeding colours PLEASE let me know, 'cause I'm about to bin the dratted lot. UK supplier of card preferable. :o)

A couple of my friends have mentioned certain cardstock to me, but they're not getting 'perfect' results either, but there must be SOMETHING that works.

SUMMAT A BIT DIFFERENT....

So....I thought I'd try something different (well, different for me). I made a tri-fold card. I don't actually think I'll be making many of these though 'cause it took forever to cut all the panels to fit and then cut the inner panel mats too, lol. Still, I must admit, I'm rather pleased with how it turned out and being a fan of certain shades of green, I think this looks lovely and fresh. They're a doddle to make too.





I've also succumbed to the 'craze' of Promarkers. Had to be the ProM's as I couldn't afford Copics and most definitely couldn't afford Tria's, lol. I had a bit of a practice with them tonight and at the moment, I'm not too impressed. The bullet tip is bigger than I thought it would be, so colouring around fine details is quite difficult. I also found my ink was bleeding too but I reckon that's probably the card I'm using as it's a little porous, so I've just been to an office supply store and bought myself a couple of packs of concord smooth white. I've heard that it's great for using with these pens, so fingers crossed it is or I'll be left with 200 unwanted index card thingies, lol.

Buzzzzy Day

Challenge No. 44 over at SECRET CRAFTER this week was to use a cute bug, lol. I struggled a bit with this one as I only had a couple of little bug stamps and they didn't quite do the job. So, I downloaded an image and used that. :o) The background was stamped with Versamark and the greeting is computer generated. Probably one of my 'simplest' cards but it fits the theme. :o)

FEELING ROUGH

Oh, boy. Am I feeling rough? I've got the most dreadful cold, and haven't had the energy to switch the computer on or do anything else for a couple of days. Still, it's only a cold and it will pass, but my craft room is calling me so it better be quick, lol.

Anyway, I just thought I'd tell you that there's a new tute over on MAKE SOMETHING NICE for an adorable little book made from one sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock, so why not go take a look. Meanwhile, I'm off to Secret Crafter to see what this weeks challenge is.

BLOOM WHERE YOU GROW.

Challenge no. 43 over at SECRET CRAFTER this week was a sketch and this is my take on it. I'd just last night, finished a LO of my granddaughter using the My Mind's Eye papers 'Bloom where you Grow' and matching Bazzill cardstock, so I thought I'd use some scraps to make my card. As I don't have oval nesties, I cut mine on my Craft Robo.


Lots of LO's now seem to have little journaling blocks on them and even though I did one using them ages ago, I thought it would be a perfect way of documenting Mia's favourite things at aged 2. I really like these papers, they're so cheerful. :o) The title and subtitle were cut using Sizzix alpha 'Ida Lou's Flowerbox'.



I've also uploaded a couple more tutes over at MAKE SOMETHING NICE so check it out and maybe you'll see something you haven't seen before, especially if you're new to papercrafting.

SCSC No. 42

The challenge this week over at SECRET CRAFTER was 3, 2, 1.

3 buttons, 2 papers and 1 ribbon. I thought I'd do something a little different and NOT use an image. The papers are MMM Wild Asparagus. On the 3 cream buttons I used 7Gypsies elements rub-ons, which is something else I'd not done before and the swirls are Kaisercraft rub-ons.

SPOTS AND STRIPES

Well, sometimes I suppose we ought to post something on our blogs that is far from what it should be, and this is one of those times, lol. I'm so short of time this week that I practically threw this card together for the SECRET CRAFTER Saturday Challenge. This is my entry for challenge 41. I promise to do better next time. :o)

MAKE SOMETHING NICE

Well, we had a super weekend here. My daughter held a big barbeque party for family and friends to celebrate my granddaughter's 2nd b/day. Mia had a wonderful time playing with all her new toys and bouncing on her new trampoline with all her little friends. My son, Lee, whom I've not seen for nearly two years came up from London to join us and it was a good do all round. :o)

Anyway, onto MAKE SOMETHING NICE my other 'new' blog. I will be posting tutorials over there so hopefully, you'll find something you like to inspire you. I'll start with some I did in the past, so you may well have seen the techniques before, although new crafters may not have done. New techniques and tutes will follow though, so keep your eyes open and you may yet discover something new. The link has been added to the sidebar.

Now, I must get on and finish a 60th b/day card I have to make. It's causing me a nightmare as my Craft Robo decided to give me grief and ruined 3 sheets of card, including my last brown sheet. Still, never mind, I'm sure I'll cope, lol.

Secret Crafter Challenge 40.

This is my entry into the Secret Crafter challenge. I really liked the sketch they did and I used some nice feminine papers. I carried through the polka dots on teddy's PJ's with the cuttlebug swiss dots (sanded over the top) and some dotty ribbon.

It's been quite a while since I took part in these challenges and it's nice to be back. :o)

LONG TIME NO SEE....

Well, here I am again. It's been a while again hasn't it?

I went through quite a time where my mojo deserted me and I did very little crafting. Mind you, I was tackling a very overgrown and untidy garden and I did get a little absorbed in it to say the least, lol. Anyway, I'm back in crafting mode now and have done some LO's and quite a few cards as well.

I'm going to try the Secret Crafter challenges again too as I really enjoyed doing them.

So, here's a couple of LO's I've done the last couple of days.

This one was inspired by a sketch by Becky Fleck. It's my granddaughter following closely in my footsteps, lol.


This is Mia again, having a lovely tea party in the garden.

STICK YOUR NECK OUT...

The challenge (#17) on SCSC this week was to use a Zoo animal. Sheesh, I struggled with this one, I can tell you, but after trying different things for a couple of hours, I came up with this. It's a zoo animal with a twist, lol. Personally, I hate shopping and the shops, in my opinion, are often like a zoo too, so this is my contribution this week, lol.

I stamped and watercoloured the Giraffe and then just faded a background image in Photoshop and printed it. The words are a stamp too - not my handwriting!!!!

AINT' SHE CUTE?

Well, I think she is - which is a surprise really, because I just don't 'do' cute. I've never been a cutsie kind of crafter (or person come to that), but the other day I had a hankering. I popped over to Cuddly Buddly and bought myself a few cute stamps. I've only got round to using this one so far though.

I'm hoping to have a go with some others tomorrow and also do a challenge for the Secret Crafter too.

1, 2, 3

I'm not the greatest card maker in the world and the other night I was doing a bit of surfing and came across some fabulous crafting blogs. One of them was Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge (SCSC) so I'm going to join them and see if I can't muster up some inspiration and some cards that are a little bit different from my norm. This is my first challenge entry (#16), although this one isn't much different from my norm, lol.


The challenge was 1, 2, 3. One image, 2 papers and 3 embellishements. My 2 papers are Basic Grey Periphery, stamped with Tim Holtz Weathered Wood (my beloved distress inks), Fancy pants velvet ribbon, Creative Acrylics greeting and I can't remember where I got the blossom or the stamp.

The link to SCSC is under my 'fave places' if you want to take a peek.

JUST A QUICKIE..

Yay!!!! I've finally managed to make a couple more jewellery pieces and upload them to my site. It's been that long, I'd almost forgotten how to use Dreamweaver, lol.

So, I've done some beading, done some claying and now I'm in the mood for more papercrafting.

A LONG TIME GONE...

Well, I've been gone a while again haven't I? I did warn you I wasn't the best blogger in the world, lol. I've not really been up to much as like many people this time of year, I've been a bit poorly. I also fell down my stairs over Christmas and put my back out for nearly 3 weeks. Still, my article for my Mica Shift Pendant has been published in the Polymer Cafe mag and is now on sale so that cheered me up no end. I've only done a bit of crafting and got no photography or photoshopping done at all. Still, here's a couple of bits that I did recently.

I was playing around and started making these double hinged ATC's so I made quite a few for RAK'S for my crafty friends. These are just a sampling.










I did this LO of my Granddaughter very simply. At least, it's simple by my usual standards. No title and no journaling as there is no story with this one. Simply Mia.



It's also been quite some time (a couple of months) since I've made any jewellery but yesterday I got my polymer clay out and made this focal bead. I've strung the bracelet with Swarovski crystals and sterling silver beads. Now, I really must get some more stuff made and update my website.



Hopefully, as well as getting more crafting done, I'll finally get round to posting some tutorials over on 'Make Something Nice' and then put the link up for you.

YAY!!!!! I GOT ONE.

I'm dead chuffed. I got my first blogging award today, so thanks a million to Bobs.

I've not done a lot of crafting this week what with a funeral and a minor bout of the sniffles, but I'm hoping to get back on track this weekend and also, very soon, get round to posting the tutorials over on 'Make Something Nice'.

I did however, manage to get hold of a DS Lite so I'm now trying to find my way around Dr Layton's Curious Village and not doing very well, I may add, lol.

LEST WE FORGET....