Much happier

Here is my card re-jigged from yesterday and I am much happier with it. Island Blossoms is the set I go to if I have made a hash of a card. I love this set and I am so sad it never made the catalog because it was a hostess set.

All I did was rip the yucky bits off, I kept the Cuttlebug templated background (how cool is that) and just changed the brad and the color of the striped card. I then mounted the flowers that I had cut out on dimensionals (foam pads) and voila, one much happier crafter!

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!

Sorry

For the few of you that read my blog, I am so sorry I haven't updated for a while! Busy life, illness, the stress, sorry joy, of Christmas. I have done so much stuff, but haven't photographed any of it because it was all done just as I needed to give it, but I promise to be a more faithful blogger!

Kissing

Thought that would get your attention! Hee hee!

It is my week to host the challenge on Stamp Shack and I chose kissing. I love this technique and it is so easy.

You ink a solid stamp with a light ink. You then ink a background/patterned stamp with a darker coordinting ink.

Press the solid stamp onto the background stamp just once so you don't blur the pattern and then stamp it onto card stock and tah dah! You will have a really cool pattern.

This card is a CASE of a card I saw on Splitcoaststampers made by Tashers and I thought it would be really cool done as a kissed card.

VSN's over and I'm carded out!

This is the card I made for the quilt challenge, you had to make a card that looked like a quilt. I decided to make a teabag folded tree and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The teabag folding took a while and so I didn't have any more time to add anything as you only have 45 minutes to do each challenge.

I used Stampin Up designer papers for all the elements.

This was a card where you had to use your birthday color, which in my case was purple as my birthstone for February is amethyst, and you had to use beads.

So, I was having difficulty coming up with any ideas, so I turned to my faithul friend, Roses in Winter. This set is just so great for making a card in a rush, because you can come up with a great image with very little effort.

The one thing I learned, stamp and emboss the sentiment before you add the beads. I couldn't stamp the sentiment properly because the beads stopped the stamp from stamping!

I love the colors of this card. I used Vintage Violet, Lavender Lace and Certainly Celery, I will definitely use this color combination again.

I hate how this card turned out. As I was watercoloring the bird, my aquapainter was too wet and so all the colors ran! Hmppppfffff!

I do love this bird on a branch, it is so versatile and you can use it for so many occasions. The bird is raised on dimensionals, so maybe I can do another and replace it after VSN is over, but again I ran out of time.

I was having a bad day this morning, I was making stupid mistakes, but I guess that's what happens when you only have 45 minutes.

I have a new heat gun and it is much more powerful than my old heat gun, so if you look at this card carefully you will see I burned a hole in the top half of the ribbon and in the bottom right corner under the sentiment.

I am really disappointed that my camera could not capture the sparkliness of this card. I used Ruby Twinkle powder and it is just like Dorothy's shoes in real life!

Now I just have to make a birthday card for my son's friend, as Luke is going to his birthday party this afternoon!

Friday's challenge cards!

This is a card I made for the challenge to make a buckle card. I have never made a buckle card before and I tnink it turned out well. I have CASED myself, which is naughty, lol. But I just thought a buckle card really lent itself to this design. Everything is embossed in either black or white embossing powder. It looks really striking IRL, except that I used black cardstock with a texture on it and so the white embossing looks a little patchy in places, lol.




I'm really proud of this card, the only cardstock I used is white and I sponged or stamped all the color you see. It ended up looking quite effective I think. I used Cranberry Crisp and True Thyme ink and the sets I used are Linen, Print Pattern, Snow Flurries, Riveted and Glad Tidings.
I love the VSN challenges because they make you think outside the box and be creative!

Finally, I did this card for a Happy New Year card. I called it What Was I thinking? And what was I thinking, lol? It is sooooo bright, but I also think it is quite cute! I just love that Christmas wire set by Stampendous, it looks so gorgeous when you emboss it.

Now I need to get my vitamins to start on tonight's challenges, lol!

What did I make on Friday?

This is a card I made for the Limited Supply Challenge. I was only allowed to use brown and one other color and I was only allowed to use one embellisment, I chose ribbon.
The snowflake is embossed with white embossing powder and then I sponged chocolate ink over the top and then buffed it with a tissue to wipe off the excess ink.
I quite like these two colors together, just not sure for a Christmas card!
Today, Saturday, is VSN night on Splitcoaststampers, so I am hopefully going to do some of the challenges tonight. Well, I have to do Lisa's challenge (Stampinthyme), or she'll whinge! (Just teasing Lisa!) She usually has great challenges when she is the hostess, so it shoudl be great fun!

Rememberance Day

It is Rememberance Day on Sunday and I made this card for a challenge on Stamp Shack to make a card for Rememberance.
I kept my card simple deliberately to let the sentiment speak. We can only enjoy the dreams of tomorrow thanks to the sacrifice of yesterday.
In our stores over here, we have old soldiers selling poppies for the Rememberance Day appeal. I love seeing them, they are so proud and so uncomplaining and I make sure that Luke buys a poppy and understands the sacrifice that these men and their friends made. He loves to speak to the old soldiers and they seem to love speaking to him, I am so proud of all of them!

I love this card!

It's 10.45am and I have already made a card for this week's card sketch challenge on Splitcoast. It's unheard of for me to make anything before lunch, hahahahaha!
I love how this turned out! I used crayon resist to make the snow and then sponged on the color, I think it turned out pretty good. It may have a sponging overload but that's OK!
I might make this my Christmas card that I send to everyone this year! What do you think? Be kind!

Today's color challenge

This is the card I did for today's color challenge on Splitcoast, the colors are chocolate chip, more mustard and cool caribbean. I must admit, I just love Cool Caribbean with anything, I think it is my favorite SU color.
Rob took the camera to work, so I had to scan the image and I never realised how bad any card looks when scanned, it loses any of it's depth. There are actually 3 flowers and 2 leaves mounted on this card, but you can't tell.
It did not look anything like I expected it to, when I started but sometimes the sketch in your head just doesn't work!

What did I make today?

This is what I made today! I'm not overjoyed by it, but it's OK. I wanted to do cracked glass on a snowglobe, but I don't like the colors I used, so back to the drawing board to try again!
I used prismacolor pencils and gamsol to color the image and I used clear UTEE to "crack" the image.
I love this technique, it is so useful.
I have made some other cards, but nothing worth uploading.
I'm very blaahhh about my cards at the moment, I just can't get excited about cardmaking and stamping at the moment.
Never mind, it is VSN next week, so maybe that will get me excited!

Oh my gosh! I'm in love!

Oh my goodness! How much do I love this stamp? It is a limited edition stamp produced by Sherry from the Stamp Shack (link on the right) and I absolutely love it!
I used it along with some of my precious SU 12 x 12 paper! The trouble is, I love it so much, I will have trouble giving it away, lol!
Now I have to get back to stamping more, as I am way behind!

How dopey am I?

Guess who forgot her anniversary? Yep, that would be me. How can you forget when your anniversary is Halloween, lol!
So this is what I came up with for DH in a rush as I only had an hour and if you know me you will know an hour to make a card is a superfast.
So I'll make his favorite sausage and mash and lucky he left at 5am this morning, so he doesn't know I didn't make it til this afternoon, unless he checks my blog!

Winter Wonderland

I made this today for the challenge on Splitcoast. It was to use letters as a background. I think it turned out to be quite cute.
The background says Winter Wonderland done with A Muse polka dot alphabet and the snow globe is a stamp from Stampendous, how cute is that snowman?
I won it from ebay and I consider that if you win something from ebay, you don't consider that buying something, you consider it winning! lol!
I have a really busy week this week, lots going on! I'll try to get back soon!
Feeling sorry for myself because my little horror of a son has given me his cold! So I have a cold, cough, can't stop sneezing, my nose is red and crusty and my back hurts from coughing, other than that I'm fine, lol!

What else have I done this weekend

I needed to make some scrapbook pages and altered items to add to my portfolio, so this is what I came up with. Neither are amazingly fantastic, but they are OK!
The page is called my big passion and is about Luke and Rob.
The tin is one I will probably give to my mum for Christmas! Now I just need to make the cards to go in the tin, lol!

Stamp Shack Haunted Nite

I had my challenge yesterday on Stamp Shack to make a Halloween card using non-Halloween stamps, as I don't have any Halloween stamps really.
In the Uk we don't send Halloween cards, so although I love Halloween stamps I would never use them.
This is a card I saw on Splitcoast and loved, so I CASED it!

I've been a busy little bee

You can tell that Luke is on holiday, I always get more done because I get to lie in! Yep, I love my pit!

This is a card I made for the color challenge on Splitcoast this week. I never would have thought to put these colors together, but I love them. I might try something completely different in these colors.
I have made a few other cards but they are for classes or for stamp shack.
If you have time pop into Stamp Shack over the weekend we are having a Halloween nite from 7-12 Saturday and Sunday EST, that will be a killer of midnight-5am for me! The website is on the right.

What is up with me?

I swear Rob is putting something inside my diet pepsi! I don't do bold brights! I am terrified of bold colors and now I have made 2 completely lairy cards in 3 days! lol!
This card just makes me fall about laughing, it is in such bad taste. It is based around the paper, which is Chi Chi by Fancy Pants, now how cool a name is that for a scrapbooking company.
The cat and the hat are stamped and then colored in with markers and the hat is then raised on dimensionals (foam dots).
The photo turns are made with a Quickutz.
The whole card opens both ways, it opens first to the left and then to the right. It is the card sketch this week for Splitcoaststampers.
I have no idea who I am going to send it to, or for what reason, but it makes me smile! I love the "Hats All Folks" sentiment, it finishes off the card so well.
If you are ever going to buy just one thing in your life, it should be Karen Foster snap stamps, they are just awesome for stamping any phrase you want to, like mine!

Hold onto your braces

I've made an elegant card. It doesn't happen very often. I made it for a challenge on www.stamp-shack.com to make a card using an aquapainter/blender pen.
I love how this turned out, I just love autumn colors, the leaves turning on the trees! It is a really beautiful time of the year!
I roughed up the edges of the cranberry and rust cardstock with a bone folder and then curled it with my fingers.

Could I make 2 cards that were more different!

I made 2 cards today and they could not be more different if I tried. This was the first one I made for a friend who is having a hard time and needs cheering up. It is in Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip and Almost Amethyst. I am so happy with how it turned out.

The second one is for a challenge on Splitcoaststampers to make a Christmas card in non-traditional colors, well boy, did I take that idea and run with it. I think it is hilarious, it is so bright, not my style at all, but I think that is why I love it so much. It looks like it was made by a color-blind 6 year old! Hee hee! Not a bad day's cardmaking all around if i say so myself!

Another card I made

This is another card I made today. It is for the Splitcoast color challenge for this week, but I don't even like it enough to upload it. I don't know why I don't like it, I just know that I don't. Ah well, aren't I the happy chappy today? Time to take a break and start afresh tomorrow I think! Sweet dreams everyone!

It's one of those days!

I'm having one of those days! I bet we all get them. Female problems mean I feel like someone is kicking my tummy,I have made cards I'm not happy with and I feel like I have wasted the day.
This card is one I created today. It is OK, just nothing special, I like the shape and the image, I'm just not sure if I am happy with the two together, ahhhhh, back to the drawing board, I guess!

Doing a happy dance!

I'm doing a happy dance, I am so excited, I am one of the Creative Design Team for a new website, www.stamp-shack.com. Please go take a look, sign up if you want, we are planning of having lots of fun. The link is over on the right!
This is a card I made for the first challenge on the site. To make a card using white, yellow and green and to make it look a little like the daisies on the title of the site.

I love black & white

If you look at my gallery on Splitcoaststampers, you will see that I am rather fond of black and white cards. I love them! I think the reason is you don't have to think about them, you can't use four different colors of cardstock, ribbon and eight different type of embellishment, you just use black and white.

This card came out exactly as I imagined it in my head, which if you know me, you will know is very rare. I am so pleased with how it turned out.

All the flowers are stamped in versamark and embossed in white embossing powder. My one little tip is always use an embossing buddy if you use white embossing powder, because it does have a tendency to stray.

The top flower has two layers of dimensionals (foam pads) to give it height above the layer below.

The For You rivet is really cool, it is a ribbon slider. I used the double rectangle punch to thread the ribbon through and then mounted the heart centre on dimensionals above, so it moves bakc and fore along the ribbon.

All alone

I dropped my husband, Rob, at the train station today, he has a course in York until Wednesday. I hate it here without him, even though he just left. It is so quiet! I know it is stupid, but we haven't spent a night apart since before we had Luke.
I especially don't like him leaving when he has just found out his dad is ill. I want to be there when it hits him!
Ah well, I'll just have to be nice to him when he gets back!

Quick Birthday card

I was in design mode yesterday and I was in the mood to play. I came up with this quick birthday card which I think is really cute. It is stamped in eggplant, cool caribbean and olive.

I just love my oval punch and I find ways to use it all the time.

Also, I am so cheap. If I have a piece of card scrap, rather than cut into a new sheet of card, I use the slightly too small piece of card, cut it in half diagonally and then mount the layers onto it. I have done that here with the olive piece of cardstock!

Finally, as you can see I use diet coke can tabs as ribbon sliders, I think it looks really cool with this modern card.

Jumping up and down

I am jumping up and down in joy. I absolutely love how this card turned out.

The cranberry and olive panels were stamped with holly and poinsettia wheels. The main panel is a stamp by Stampendous stamped in Brilliance pearlescent olive. As a side note I bought some Brilliance dew drop ink pads and they are just the cutest things you have ever seen. A mini ink pad in the shape of a rain drop.

Best of all the Riveting circle is a ribbon slider. I stamped it twice punched out the centre of one. The bottom circle has double rectangle punched in it and the ribbon is threaded through the holes, then covered by the inner circle, mounted on dimensionals (foam pads), so it moves up and down the ribbon.

The panel is way greener in real life than it appears, it is olive not gold.

This might be my Christmas card this year!

My mum's Christmas cards

My mum asked me to make some Christmas cards for her. Well, rather than leaving them to the last minute like I usually do, I decided to get them done whilst she is in Spain, so she can take them with her when she gets back on Tuesday.

This is the first of three designs and I am really proud of making 10 of them. I always have so much trouble making more than one card, I struggle and struggle, but I did these all together.

The main design is by Stampendous and I embossed it in gold, mounted it onto gold paper, then mounted that onto the gree panel which has my current favorite stamp, Inca Christmas script, stamped onto it. I then used SU terrific tags to make the snowman tag.

I am so happy with how this one turned out! I hope she likes this one. Now I just have to do 20 more!