Horrible news

Rob just had some horrible news. His father has prostate cancer. He doesn't know how serious it is yet, or whether it has spread to his bones, but it is a terrible shock. I'm not letting my parents go on holiday any more. Last time they went my dad had a stroke, this time Rob's dad finds out he has cancer.
Rob has taken it really well, or is in shock, or just deals with it practically, I don't know. The trouble is he is off on a course to York tomorrow, so if he needs me I won't be there. He'll be gone until Wednesday.
I feel horrible, I was so unkind about Rob's mum and dad when we went on holiday with them. I just wish I could take those few days back and redo them.
I guess that's what life is for! To teach us a lesson. I guess we just need to let him know how much we love him and are there for him whatever!

Horrible photo

This is a much better photograph of the card posted below. I have a new digital camera and I am having so much trouble getting a decent image. I know I will crack it! I just have to practice I think!

Shaky Snowflakes

God, I don't know what is going on with my camera, it looks like I am taking the photos in fog.

I had an idea for this card in my head last night, so I made it today. I am so pleased with how it turned out. It is a shaker card using Snow Flurries for the shaky bit.

I am just loving the new Stamping Up colors, Cool Caribbean and Vintage Violet.

I also love non-traditional colors for Christmas cards. I get fed up of red and green or lilac and silver, especially if you have lots of cards to make.

I think I might use these colors for the majority of my cards this year.

About as quick as I get

This card was a weird one, it sort of made itself. I was inspired by this card from an artist named Yvette. If you get the chance look at her whole gallery, I just love her work, it is clean but she is bold with colour.

I love that palm tree image, I think I am going to get a lot of use out of it. I like trees because they are great for all sorts of occasions, men and women's birthdays, anniversaries, thank yous. You name it, you can use a tree for it.

I absolutely love these colors, true thyme, really rust, vintage violet. I think I will try more with these colors.

I am inspired today, I am going to play with some new Stampin Up sets that I got.

At last, my waterfall card

At last, here is my waterfall card all done and uploaded. I have a new camera and I'm still learning how to take a decent photo, so sorry it is a little bit blurred.

The main card is in artichoke green, with bravo burgundy panel. The stamped panels are bordered in bravo burgundy and the piece that you pull is bordering blue.

I made my squares about 1/2" bigger than the instructions and forgot to allow for that on the piece that you pull, so now that panel is too small. Rats!

Never mind, I'm really happy with how the card turned out generally.

Here is the second square of the waterfall card. I used an aquabrush and craft inks (pigment ink) to watercolor all the images, except for the sky which I sponged with bordering blue.

This is the third panel of four.

This is the final panel of the four. It was my least favorite of the four for some reason, I don't know why because this is usually one of my favorite images, I think it is because there is no child in the picture.

I find this image incredibly serene, I think it is a lovely image to send to a friend who is going through tough times. There are times when I would love a place like this on my own to think.

I'm all blocked up

I don't know what has been wrong with me for the past few weeks, I just can't come up with anything that excites me. If I'm not working to a deadline, I really struggle. I think it is the problem of having too much stuff.
Maybe I should give myself a challenge once a week and force myself to play with the rubber stamps I hardly ever use.
I suppose everyone goes through it. It's just so frustrating.
Maybe I should be happier to play and throw stuff away, I just get so frustrated when I make a card that doesn't come together. I made a horrible card with a retro snowman I just received, I'll try again with him, he's not going to defeat me and I'll post the result, I promise!
I'm doing the splitcoast challenges this week, I promise. The technique is a waterfall card. I have done the images, I just need to put the card together, I'll try that today.

The cutest stamp ever!

So how cute is this stamp? I just fell in love with it straight away. It is an American stamp from the Lockhart Stamp Company. I was a little disappointed at how small it is, but it is just so beautiful I can forgive the designer.
I also love the Merry Christmas background stamp. You may have seen it on QVC UK last week. It is by Inca and I can imagine so many uses for it. I must admit my weekness is background and Christmas stamps, so to find a background Christmas stamp just fills me with joy. I know, I know, it's a stamp, but I seriously love new rubbah!
I also really like the unusual colors that I used, burgundy, pale blue and mossy green? But I think they really work together.

Christmas card

I saw this Father Christmas image at the same craft show as the stampscape images, I just had to have him. How gorgeous is he? He really encapsulates the magic of Christmas to me.
I stamped the Merry Christmas onto chipboard that I had colored burgundy. After I made the card, I decided that the stamp I used didn't work, so I sanded it and restamped, but I can't get a good photo of it.
I also used the cracked glass technique on Father Christmas but you can't see it in the photo, but in real life this card looks very vintage and old.
I am going to submit it to a magazine competition where the winner will be a designer for the site, so fingers crossed everyone!

Falling in love!

OK, this is so stupid! Do you ever fall in love with stamps? I went to a stamp show on Sunday with Fiona and they had Stampscape stamps there. I fell in love, they were so gorgeous!
The lady demoing made the technique look so easy. She used fluid chalks and swiped them across the glossy card with a sponge. I tried this and wasted so much glossy cardstock trying to do it.
So eventually I swapped to a Kaleidacolor pad and brayered half of the sheet, then turned the card around and brayered again and then stamped the cottage scene on the card. The moon was next, then the banks and finally the trees around the top.
There was a big hole in the middle so I put a sheet of acetate over the top of the picture with the word always stamped with Stazon. I am so happy with how this turned out.
If you want to look at Stampscape stamps just go to www.stampscapes.com but coming soon is a British site called www.stampscapes.co.uk

Oops

Do you ever remember that you need a card for tomorrow in the middle of the night? That's what happened to me yesterday, I suddenly remembered that my son was going to a 6 year old's birthday party at midnight.
So this is what I came up with. It is Stampendous Fluffles clear set. I stamped the cat on the oval and then mounted the birthday cake on foam pads. The sentiment is another clear set from MSE.
I love prima flowers so I used three on the corner on top of the striped paper and voila, a card that took about 20 minutes.
Now 20 minutes for me is 5 minutes for most others. It takes me such a long time to make a card, lol.
Tomorrow I'm going to a craft show in Surrey. I am determined not to come home with £100s of stuff that I will never use. So I am going to wander around, take photos and see what the new trends are and then see if I can duplicate them at home! That reminds me, I must put the camera in my handbag!

It's hard sometimes

I am probably my harshest critic. I throw so much or give so much away, I also find it impossible to make a number of cards the same. I struggle so much at Christmas because I just cannot make 10 or 20 of the same card.

This was definitely a card that I struggled with a lots, it nearly got thrown in the bin a lot! This card is for the card sketch and color challenges on www.splitcoaststampers.com.

So the card had to be in these colors and be pieced together this way.

This card started off looking nothing like this. My main image was a butterfly. The ribbon was horizontal and I had brads and no primas. I absolutely hated it when I left it late last night, so this morning I took it apart, as you can see if you look to the right of the main image, there are tear marks.

I changed from a butterfly to a flower, I added the primas and changed the ribbon from horizontal to vertical. I'm still not wowed by it and I have nowhere to put a sentiment, but sometimes you just have to walk away from it.

I'll see if anything comes to me and I might change it again. This is why I give all my finished cards to my best friend Fi, because I end up binning cards like this because there is something about it that is not quite right and I can't work out what it is.

Hard at work

Here is one of the ladies hard at work on her flip flop card. We really crack the whip, lol. But they really achieve some great things in the 2 hours we are there.

Demoing at Sheppey craft club

My best friend, Fi, and I demo once every two months at a craft club in Sheppey. This months we demoed flip flop cards and this is the card that Sam made with See D stamps.

I think she did a great job, but we have so much fun I love that club.

Fi sits at the top of the table and bosses everyone around. Sorry, that should be assertively organises everyone and I sit at the bottom of the table cracking jokes with all the naughty ones!

The ladies at the craft club are incredibly talented crafters, they just like new ideas and trying new things. Well done girls, you all made fabulous cards!

Little terror

My son went back to school today, hurrah! I love him to pieces and I get more joy from him than I ever thought possible, but, my God, I'm glad he went back today. The weather has just been so up and down and he is like a caged tiger if he has to stay inside.
We have also had a few scrapes. He has been grounded twice. I thought I had a few years before he would give me heart failiure, but they go up so quickly and he is your typical boisterous 7 year old boy!
He starts junior school today and he just looked so cute in his new school uniform this morning. I don't know how long it will stay white for! I'm sure it will be grey by Christmas.
Tonight, I am teaching flip flop cards to a craft club with my best friend Fi. I love demoing, I have so much fun, I should be paying them. I'm going to take some photos tonight of Fi at work and I'll post them tomorrow!

I also got this warm fuzzy from Lisa today. She used her beloved primas on my card, now I know she loves me, lol!
I have learned so much from this bunch of talented artists in such a short period of time, but I will never be able to match their originality or artistry, but I'm going to carry on trying. Lisa, I love you girlie!

I am such a slow card maker, it takes me forever to make a card. That may have something to do with the fact that I have too much stuff and too many choices.
I also wish I could just stamp images and keep them for when I need a card. My best friend, Fi, does this and it makes life so much easier and crafting so much easier. But I can't do it, I have to see each card in my head before I start and then work to the end.
I also wish I could production line cards, but I can't. I have an extremely low boredom threshold, lol, and I very rarely make more than one of the same card. I very rarely go back and make a copy of that card either.
I think it is because I enjoy the thought process of designing a card, rather than the actual making of a card. I find that quite boring. I know, I know, I'm weird, that's very true!

I got this warm fuzzy from Kristin this morning. How gorgeous is this? I love receiving art from Kristin, she is so talented.

She also wrote the most gorgeous little note inside telling me what a nice friend I am, right back at ya, sweetie.

I really am blessed with the nicest bunch of friends. They leave me speechless with their talent and their kindness.

Love ya girls!

I am a member of the Chatterers thread on www.splitcoaststampers.com and one of my friends Amy had the great idea of sending a warm fuzzy to someone to tell them why you treasure them as a friend.

This is the first warm fuzzy that I received from Jody, isn't it gorgeous. The message she put inside made my cry, she is such a special, wonderful friend and I feel very blessed to call her a friend.

I have a number of Jody's cards now and I treasure each and every one.

This is a challenge I did on www.splitcoaststampers.com. I had so much fun! The challenge is here.
You had to use one sheet of 12 x 12 paper to make as many things as you could, cards and gifts. Gift making is not my favorite thing,I prefer card making, but I am so happy with how this turned out.
The sheet of 12 x 12 is Chatterbox Parlor Paisley and this challenge really got my juices flowing for some reason. I have really been struggling with my cardmaking lately, no ideas are coming, I spend all my time on the computer instead of making cards and I owe so many RAKs to so many friends, so hopefully this will inspire me to start creating so I can pay back all of my wonderful friends.

My new clean and tidy blog

Wow! I have managed to set up a blog. Now see how long it takes me to mess it up!
I am going to use this blog to post my ideas, stories about my family and friends.
I am so excited about this blog and I hope to visit it often to update it, hope you like it too!