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



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 



A quick catch up .... again!!

I've been so busy with getting ready for last week's craft fair, orders and work that I've yet again neglected my blog.

The craft fair was a great success, with more sales and orders that any others that I've done - yayy!

That has resulted in burning the candle at both ends though, working all day at my 'proper' job and then working till late in the evenings too.  The hard work is worth it though :)

Here are some of my recent makes:

 

 A card for a real Lady ...

... inside the card.  Don't you just love that shoe stamp?

 

A cute giraffe print 40 shaped card.

 

A card for someone who has become a Deputy Lord Lieutenant.

 

 It's the first time I've used this Sheena Douglass flourish stamp - wow, it's so lovely and definitely a new favourite.

It did a great job decorating the insert too.

 

And finally, this is probably my favourite card from today.  It has been inked and stamped with Distress Inks.  The gorgeous fairies are Sheena Douglass stamps and I just added a touch of holographic glitter to their wings and the number 3.

 

Hope all my lovely followers are well and thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and leave me comments, I really do appreciate it xx

 

Dare I say it?  I'll try to blog again soon!!!

Take care xx

 

 

 



Oops!

This seems to be becoming a habit! May has long gone and I've neglected my blog and it's looking pretty lonely :(  Sorry!

Anyway, here's a quick catch up with what I've been up to.

I'm busy making and preparing my stock for a Craft Fete in Poulton, Lancs, on Saturday 15 June and I've also been catching up on orders.  One of which is for a VIP - someone with a Title, no less! Cant wait to share this special make with you :)

For now, though, here are a few of the cards I have made recently:

 

 

Thank you to everyone who visits my blog and leaves a comment, I really do appreciate your time xx



Where did April go?!!

The last time I blogged was April and now we're nearly half-way through May!  I've been really busy with orders and making a start on my Father's Day cards.

I found some fab digis from DigiStamp Boutique and made these cards:

 

 

 

 

Aren't they such fun images?

 

I'm entering these cards into the DigiStamp Boutique customer competition

 

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend - despite the rain!

Have a great week x



Raindrops!

Did I mention that I love this stamp from Ryn? !!

It is so effective and the raindrops really do look 3D:

 

I used Glossy Accents on some of the raindrops on the flower and added some glitter to the flower centre.

The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat and looks stunning in a fancy frame.

 

Hope you've had a fab weekend! Hugs xx



Recent makes

Just popping by to share some cards I made last week.

The first uses a Creative Expressions stamp set that I got at a work shop over a year ago and it's had its first outing!  And just to be different I decided that just because it features a ship, it doesn't have to be just for men!

 

 

I used a soft colour palette to make this a feminine card and I think it works.  What do you think?

 

The second card has been made with a new (to me) Indigo Blu stamp:

 

I embossed the background with a heart mask and brayered it using coordinating Adirondac inks.  Then, I stamped and painted the heart with the same inks. 

 

Have a great day!



Love this heart!

Just stopping by to share the card I made for my hubby on our very special 20th First Date Anniversary.  Soppy, I know, but we do celebrate this every year :)

 

I embossed the black background with a heart mask and then used my beautiful heart flower stamp from Indigo Blu with Flitterglu and Winter Dawn gilding flakes.

I added some gems to the centres of some of the flowers and added a computer-generated sentiment.  Simple but effective!

 

Hope you're having a good week ... two days till the weekend!!

At last ... a Clarity card!

I have been looking longingly for a long time at my new 'Best of' stamps which I bought at Harrogate several weeks ago.  Finally, I have had chance to use them today:

 

This was a bit of a rush job really, as it's my mother-in-law's bithday today!!  However, we wont see her till tomorrow as she has been away ... phew!

 

I've been wanting to make a card for the Clarity Blog Challenge 2 all month (where does the time go?) and as this is the only one I've managed to make so far, so I really hope it will be OK.

 

The theme is In the Garden.  Mmmm, I suppose if you wanted you could have a vase of flowers outside on a garden table and the flowers have come from the Garden.  Fingers crossed it doesn't get booted out!!!

 

Hope you are having a lovely weekend and the sun is shining where you are xx

 

Thinking Cap Required For This One!!

Just stopping by to share some cards I made recently.

The first one was a bit of a challenge to say the least! 

I had to learn how to do some new things with my Designer Software for my trusty Cameo and managed to produce this near-perfect Jack Daniels bottle:

 

When I had finished the card, my next thought was "What about an envelope?" Mmm, it was far too big for any envelopes I have, so I used my Hougie board to make a custom box that measures just 1cm deep.  I dressed it with a slider and a tag that I designed and cut on my Cameo.

 

This next card was again designed and cut on my Cameo.  I think this black/hot pink colour combo is my absolute favourite!  I made some tissue paper flowers to match, sprayed them with pink sparkle and added a flourish:

 

 

My Cameo has had a busy week!! This card was again designed and cut using it:

 

 

Well, it was back to work for me today and I'm exhausted now (and the kids weren't even in school as we had an Inset day!!)

 Roll on the weekend :)

 

Have a good one my crafty friends xx





Big, Exciting News!!!

Hello lovely bloggers and crafty friends.

I'm so happy to announce that my website is now LIVE!! 

After a lot of hard work, both by me and especially by my web designer Jason, it has all come together and I'm really pleased with it.

If you have a minute, please stop by and take a look.

 

The link is here: www.cardsbylouise.co.uk

 

Now, on to today's card.

This is one I made last week and forgot to post it on here:

 

I love this shoe stamp!

My brayer, paintbrush and Spellbinder dies were the only tools I used for this card and the lush colours are Distress Inks.

 

The garden is beckoning me now, the sun is shining and I may get the dead-heading and pruning finished today!

Have a nice weekend xx

 

 



Inks + Masks = Fab backgrounds

Happy Sunday!  Just popping by to share the results of an inky, messy session!

I used some That Special Touch masks with my Distress Inks and stamped a my favourite flower stamp to make these:

 

 

I then got out some of my new embossing folders, printed some beautiful Pink Petticoat sentiments and made these cards:

 

 

As you can probably see, I still have two cards to make using the birds and the compass backgrounds.  Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, and I have a few ideas for the compass background that need a bit more work.  So, watch this space!!!

 

I hope you've had a good weekend and, if you're on school hols like me, have a good week :)

 

 

Hugs,

 

Louise xx