I'm a little off at the moment!

This card was for today's card sketch challenge on splitcoaststampers, but I am really not happy with it, the balance of it is off. The baby heads are too big and the tag doesn't look straight in the gap, even though it is, so back to the drawing board for me!

I like the background so I'm going to try to save that and do something different with the diagonal stripe!

Cuttlebug

The ladies at the craft club I run think I'm mad and they might be right! lol! But I am terrible for having to have the latest craft toy. So what did I do when I was fed upover the weekend, I ordered a Cuttlebug. For those of you that have been under a rock, or live in the UK, it amounts to the same thing, a Cuttlebug is a die-cutting machine.
But more excitingly, it dry embosses too! I had 2 embossing folders arrive yesterday, Birthday and Congratulations. Excitingly, they work in a Sizzix until my Cuttlebug arrives. Unfortunately, I can't show the results of my playing because I made some samples for the design team I work for at www.ribbonmad.co.uk.
But I promise to come up with something soon and I'll post it I promise!

Cricut

This is a card I made to submit for a design team job. I have decided not to submit it because it is too simple. I made it using my Cricut die cutter and some primas that Lisa sent me. Thanks honey!

It is very simple but easy to do. Now back to the drawing board! :)

I am also determined to get published this year, so I am going to make some cards over the next week to send to magazines, I can but try you never know.

Other bit of news, Stampin Up is coming to the UK, I am so happy about it! I just so want to be a demo for them. They have such great products at really reasonable prices and nearly every card I make is made with their stuff, so I am really happy to not have to buy them off ebay!

I found out today why my photos have been so terrible, my 7 year old has been sticking his manky fingers all over the lens of the camera! Took me ages to clean it! But at least my photos won't look like I have been taken them in the fog now!

Yucky! Yucky! Yucky

What drugs was I taking over the weekend? This card is hideous! I am teaching a dry embossing class next week and this is one of the cards I made for that class, although I don't think it will be leaving the house!

I like the ribbon and the Basic Grey paper, but it doesn't go with the pink card and the lilac piece looks vile, ah well maybe I can save the paisley peice with the ribbon on and just change the rest. Back to the drawing board for me, I think!

Why can't I take a decent photo?

Why, oh why, oh why can't I take a decent photo? My camera just doesn't like taking photos, sigh! So it's my camera's faulty, not mine!

Anyway, this is the card I made for this week's technique lover's challenge on Splitcoaststampers. We had a choice today as it is TLC100! I chose color blocking! It is hard to see but all of the pieces except the friend piece has backgrounds stamped on it. The friend piece is a shaker, I am pleased with how this turned out! But I did cheat I have a piecing template which makes color blocking so much easier.

I'm also getting much better at using stuff, lol, there are 6, count them, 6 brads on this card! Now I just need to start using my 12 x 12 paper!

I've Been Tagged

A - Available or Taken: Taken
B - Best Friend: Fiona
C -Cake or Pie: cake
D - Drink of Choice: Diet Pepsi
E - Essential item you use everyday: My PC
F - Favorite Color: Purple, to wear black
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: bears
H - Hometown: Port Talbot, South Wales, UK
Indulgence: ebay craft items
J - January or February: February . . . my birthday is in February
K - Kids & Names: 1 Luke
L - Life is incomplete without?: Television, music, friends
M - Marriage Date: October 31st 1992
N - Number of Siblings: 1
O - Oranges or Apples: I don't like either
P - Phobias or Fears: large crowds, parties
Q - Fave Quote: Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination - Oscar Wilde
R - Reason to Smile: I have my family, my health and many many wonderful friends
S - Season: Autumn
T - Tag 3 or 4 People: Fiona, Kristin, Lisa
Unknown fact about me: I am really, really shy and hate social situations
V - Vegetable you don't like: brussel sprouts
W - Worst Habit: biting my nails
X-rays: teeth
Y - Your Fave Food: chocolate, spaghetti, butter and parmesan - my comfort food
Z - Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Thanks Dorinda! It wasn't too bad, lol!

Color Challenge

My new stamps arrived this week and so I just had to use my Bella to make a card for this week's color challenge.

The stamp is cakeabella from www.stampingbella.com go and check out the fantastic images and even better the shipping is only $4 to the UK.

The colors for this challenge were Sage Shadow, Close to Cocoa and Pale Plum. They worked so well with this image I think.

I can safely say you will definitely be seeing more of these stamps on my pages, I am in love! lol!

Dry Embossing

I am teaching this at a craft club in a few weeks and so I have had to do some samples. I must admit that dry embossing is something that I never do, I just can't be bothered to get my light box out. But surprisingly, once I started making some samples, I really enjoyed doing it!

The other problem I find is that you just can't take a decent photo of dry embossing, I think you just need to see it in real life.

I do love the elegance of this craft though. It is a way to make a simple but elegant card of the type I struggle to make. Anyway, this is one card I made to demo. I dry embossed, then turned the template over and sponged through the template with lavender brilliance ink, it is so sparkly in real life.

I'm also getting much better at using my embellishments up, so I used 3, yes 3, brads on this card, lol!

Another one!

Here's another one that I did for the class. I think I should have done it in a different color from pink, because now I can't give it to DH because it is pink and I can't give a pink card to DH, however secure he is with his own masculinity! lol!







The only trouble with this card is that when you open the card, the hearts lay sideways which looks a bit funny, but never mind, I still like it!

Craft Club

Last week I taught a class at a craft club I run with my best friend Fi. This is what we taught them!

I first saw a card done like this by Cambria on Splitcoaststampers and I immediately fell in love.

It is a 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 trifold card, where the triangle pieces meet up to close the card.

The next photo probably makes the fold more obvious. The ladies at my craft club made some beautiful cards and I am very proud of them!

Here is the card when it is open, cute huh!

I finally found a way to use the giant circle punch, it goes so well with polka dot posies set.

Don't you just love good customer service?

Here in the UK, we are used to customer service being appalling, unlike in the US, where it is really impressive.
But I received wonderful customer service today. I ordered a scalloped circle punch from an ebay seller and I received a wine bottle, lol! Anyway, I informed the lady of the mistake yesterday afternoon quite late. This morning, I received the right punch and a message saying keep the old one! Wow!
I know this is wnat you would expect in the US, but it very rarely happens over here, so thank you maggiep1949 (her ebay id) for the wonderful customer service.
At the moment, I am working on some dry embossed cards, as that is what I am teaching at a craft club next month, so I'll upload some examples tomorrow!

Overkill

My really good friend, Jen, set me a challenge to case one of her cards whilst my mojo had gone out drinking and partying and I finally although it looks nothing like Jen's original card, lol which is

here

She insisted it be in black and white, so it is definitely black and white, lol. It is also a card I did for this week's technique challenge on Splitcoaststampers which was to use a set you had never used before. Well, I have had this set for months and just couldn't think of anything to do with it, everything I thought of had already been done! sigh!

It was also to use embellishments that you rarely use, I rarely use the gingham ribbon or the eyelets, I use brads and grosgrain.

I have also find it really hard to use my scallop and word window punches. I had to have them and now rarely use them. The scallop punch especially is not as versatile as I thought it would be, but now I will use it more as I now have my Cricut which can cut smaller or larger circles for more depth.

The sentiment at the bottom is actually mounted on the back of the card and hole is cut out of the front.

I really like how this card turned out, so thanks Jen, you're one in a million (that's what the sentiment says) I love ya sweetie!

My mojo

I was starting to get worried, my mojo went out partying with Gamblemom's (Karen) and I didn't think it was ever going to come home, it was obviously having lots of fun and wasn't having to work. Well, it's home now, bleary-eyed, smelling terrible and with a terrible headache!

I'm glad to see it though, even if it is refusing to do much work! These are the cards I made over the weekend!

The frog card I made by just deciding to go in my stamp room and do some coloring with my prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Once I finished coloring it and it had dried, I noticed it went with some scraps of paper I had left from a card I did last week, so I used the scraps.

The row of frogs at the bottom of the card are embossed in white embossing powder, so they are all raised and shiny and finally there was a big gap at the top, so I used three brads.

I had some really nice ribbon that I could have used on this card, but it was competing with the paper, so I left the ribbon off!

I promise after this card, I am going to step away from these colors, lol! I just love these colors. I have had this card in my head for a few days and I am really pleased with how it turned out!

The flower is cut from acetate with my Cricut and the "hi" is my A Muse small polka dot alpahabet, one of the most versatile sets that I own.

Again, I used a brad, these little wonders are so useful and I find myself reaching for brads constantly. I really need to find a cheap supplier of brads.

This was a card that I cased from a card that I saw on www.cricut.com by a really talented artist called Regina Easter. I really wanted to attempt it and I am so happy with how it turned out. Wow, this post is just like buses, you don't get anything for ages and then three cards come along at once, lol!

I'm so retro baby!

Sorry about the poor quality of this photo, but I can never take a decent photo once it's dark and I don't have the patience to wait until tomorrow, lol.

This card is for the sketch challenge on Splitcoast. I used DCWV retro papers along with Island Blossoms set, I still love this set even though it's been discontinued.

The spotty paper is actually cut in a circle but it is hidden by the flowers. I used my new toy, my Cricut, to cut the circle.

Maybe this card will inspire me to make more, I have been really struggling with making cards since Christmas, I just can't get inspired!

I got a cricut

Just before Christmas I got a Cricut, it is supposed to be for my 40th birthday in February, but it is cruel and unusual torture to make someone wait for 2 months to use a new gadget, so thanks Mum for letting me have it now. Here is a card I made using my Cricut, I am starting simple and working my way up, lol!

Happy New Year everyone!

From tomorrow, I am going to get back into the swing of cardmaking as I need to make some thank you cards and my New Year's resolutions, to get published, not to put so much pressure on myself, to actually enjoy the process of making cards rather than constantly leaving it to the last minute to make everything.

Finally, I am so happy, my husband has turned our smallest bedroom into my stamping room and it looks so amazing, he is such a wonderful man! Well, for the moment he is. I'll post some photos soon!