Hello! ... Remember me?

It's so long since I last blogged that I forgot my log in details!!  Now, that is bad :(

 

Well, Christmas has been and gone and after a lovely, relaxing couple of days I managed to spend some time today playing with my new 6x6" Gelli!

 

First though, I am sharing a card that I'm entering into the Clarity Blog Challenge .  Hope it fits the bill!

 

 

This is the card I made using my Gelli plate, Adirondack and Versafine inks:

 

 

I love how the inks give a vibrant quality.

 

Hope you've had a good Christmas and that you stay safe in this howling wind xx

 



Five weeks since I last blogged!!!

Well, here goes!  I cant believe my last blog post was 15th September ... I really don't know where the time has gone or why I didn't publish the three lovely comments that my faithful blog followers have left me... SORRY :(

 

I've been back at work, which has been very busy and quite challenging at times.  I've also been to GNPE Harrogate and Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show at Leigh.  I met some of my crafty friends for a catch up and shopped till I dropped - literally!!

 

Today, I had a successful meeting with a new shop that's opening nearby and they are taking some of my cards to sell. Yay!!

 

I've also been making commission cards and have a selection to show you:

 

As you can see, I have been kept busy with plenty of orders :)

 

Hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend xx



Workshop cards

Today, I went to a workshop hosted by the lovely Maria Simms.  We managed to make three (yes, THREE!) cards at the workshop and prepared the fourth to complete at home.

I decided to make the fourth one straight away because, knowing me, the bits and pieces will still be sitting in a pile next month!

We used Sketchy Lady by Clarity as the main stamp for all the cards ... it's amazing what you can do with just one stamp!

Here are the cards:

 

 

Making a moonscape with Versamark and Mica powders ...

 

 

... stamping and embossing with gold embossing powder.

 

Creating a resist background paper and coordinating inky card to use for paper piecing.

 

Lots of masking in this one!

 

Clean, simple and beautiful!  Stamping, colouring with Promarkers and adding glitter.

 



 

I've had this stamp for about a year now and this is the first time I've used it!! *hangs head in shame*

I'm so glad it's had it's first outing now as it is such a beautiful and versatile stamp.

 

Hope you've had a lovely weekend xx

 



Sunday night ... catch up!

 

Here we are again, it's Sunday night, the X-Factor is on and I CANT just sit and watch it!  Is anyone else like that?  Always needing to be doing something else while watching TV?

 

Anyway, here are some of my recent makes:

 

 

 I learnt how to make these fab tea light cards at a Hougie workshop with Kay Rutter.  The drawer contains 4 tea lights.

 

 I designed a wedge shaped envelope to fit the tea light card perfectly.

 

 

 

 

Well, I'm afraid that's all from me tonight.  Hope you've had a lovely weekend.  I'm back to work on Thursday ... cant believe where SIX weeks have gone!!!

Hugs xx

 



16 AT LAST!!

Well, we're nearing the end of the summer holidays and for us, that signifies Tom's birthday.

He's always been one of the youngest in his class and I suppose that's always going to be the case till he leaves education and starts out in the world of work!

But today, he's sweet sixteen!

 

I saw a fabulously apt image over at Mo's Digital Pencil, called Computer Guy.  Tom loves his computer and computing and it's one of the A levels he's going to be studying.

 

This is what I made him:

 

I painted the background with green, blue and soft gold acrylic paint.  Then, I inked a SplodgeAway steampunk mask with Versamark, ran it through my Grand Calibur and heat set it with black sparkle embossing powder.  I replaced the mask and highlighted certain areas with paint.  I also painted lightly through sequin waste.

 

I coloured the digistamp with promarkers and darkened the edges with acrylic paints.  To finish off, I stamped and embossed the '16' and 'today' using Clarity stamps.

 

Well, my summer holidays are nearly over (sob sob) and I'll soon be starting work again.  I cant complain though, we have had FANTASTIC weather this year and it has been so nice to spend time outside in the warm sun.

 

Hope you're having a fab week and if not, it's nearly the weekend yayy!!

 



Purple version of Best Friend card

Just a quick post from me tonight.

I made another Best Friend card and this time I used shades of purple Pan Pastels to colour it:

 

And then I used some of my lovely Spellbinders and a lovely Pink Petticoat sentiment to make this card.  

The flower is by Stamps By Chloe and I embossed it with silver Wow embossing powder and layered it up.

 

Hope you have a fab week xx



Something a bit different

Hello folks.  I hope the weather hasn't been too bad where you are today.  We've had torrential rain this afternoon, which has left our garden water logged again!!  I have heard that there's going to be another mini heat wave soon, so we'll look at this as a blip!

 

Now on to a recent project.  I decorated an MDF heart that I bought at the NEC last year.  I don't know why it takes me so long to use my new stash!  Is anyone else like this or is it just me?!!

 

I painted the heart with purple acrylic paint, then applied PVA glue and painted a layer of cream acrylic paint.  Heating with my heat tool gave me a lovely crackled effect.  I learnt this technique at a Sheena Douglass workshop and this is the first time I have got it right since!

Next, I stamped the Sheena Douglass swirls and butterflies with various Adirondack and Distress inks.  The final layer of stamping, including the sentiment, was with Brilliance pigment inks which I then embossed with clear powder.

 



 

I covered the back of the heart with a pretty mini daisy print paper and used the off-cuts to make roses and cut swirls with a Marianne die. 

For the finishing touches, I sprayed the plaque with a protective layer of gold Spray & Sparkle, then I coloured cream seam binding tape with Distress ink and attached it to the top of the heart.

 

This was a present for an incredibly brave family, for whom butterflies hold a special meaning.

 

I really enjoyed making this plaque and am looking forward to doing another one.

 

Hope you're all having a lovely, crafty weekend xx 



Bad bad bad bad blogger .... AGAIN!

Oh dear, I've turned into such a terrible blogger! 

In fact, I even wondered if I should carry on blogging. 

After a lot of thought, I decided to go with the flow ... blog when I have time and not feel guilty when I let things slip. After all, it's just for fun :)

 

I can assure you that, even though I've been a lazy blogger, I certainly haven't been a lazy crafter!

I have been really busy with commissions lately, so all is good.

 

Here are a few makes that I've made over the last *cough* month:

 

*You might want to sit down with a brew, as there are quite a few!!*

 

 

 

 

 

 

Told you!!

 

I've finished work for the summer holidays now, so I can spend more time at my craft desk ... I mean, cleaning!  Hope you are all OK and enjoying our lovely weather.

Thank you so much for coming back to read my blog.

Crafty hugs xx