July Challenge

This post will stay at the top until 31st July. Click HERE for the challenge

Cricut Frenzy and the winner is.......

I am in a Cricut frenzy at the moment as my Gypsy is alive and well, the TV repairman managed to fix it, and it works perfectly. Sighs of relief. So as I had made such a hoo-ha over it, I thought I better use it.......

I used A Childs Year for the shaped card, second cut, top row at 5 1/2". The shaped frames are from Elegant Edges, popped on with foam pads, and the flowers are from Mothers Day 2010. I cut three sprays in white, then coloured them with ProMarkers. The centers are newsprint Card Candi, from

 Craftwork Cards. Gingham cardstock by Kanban

I layered the flowers for dimension, and distressed them with a ball tool and foam mat

Anyone into the Olympics yet? I am now a world authority on Beach Volleyball, and Archery. Funny how listening to commentators discuss the game means that after an hour you can yell tactical advice at the screen. I expect to become an expert on rifle shooting, diving and a couple of other sports today, armchair sports can be very satisfying!


Thanks to everyone who threw their name into the hat for the Quick and Easy Cards magazine. The person who random.org picked as the winner is

Nancy from Ohio (Blog Kindred Spirit)

Congrats Nancy, email me and I will send your prize over to you  

Olympic Pride

Well, what did you think of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Me? Bursting with patriotic pride, I thought it was fantastic. It opened with an incredibly pure young voice singing that great British anthem Jerusalem. That was Humphrey, Kiki and Monty's cousin. Well done Humphrey, what a brave young man at the age of eleven, to sing like that in front of 80,000 people (and a billion more on television worldwide!)

Here are the four cousins together on an adventure day out to the zoo earlier this year. If I can get a clip of him singing from YouTube, I'll post it soon

and here is a quick card I made today, the rings were cut with the silhouette feature on George, the star and font is from Making the Grade

I found some music brads which were perfect

It will be mailed to him first thing tomorrow.

Wasn't the Queen a good sport? Mind you it just shows you are never too old to resist an offer from James Bond.......

Kiki's Birthday Card

Kiki will be eight in a couple of weeks, so whilst I was exploring the new Wild Card 2 cartridge, I decided to make her a cake! I embossed the icing layer the wrong way round (by mistake), so the swirls are debossed rather than embossed, but as the rest is raised, there is plenty of texture which is what I wanted. The little 'yummy birthday' tag is a clear sentiment from Papermania, I spelt her name using Making Memories rub on letters, and the glittered number 8 was cut from the George cartridge

I am giving her a birthday treat this year, we are going together into London, we'll have dinner (how grown up!) and I have bought tickets for the evening performance of Matilda the musical. I KNOW she will love it!


I have to say it................................

GO TEAM GB!

 
I hope the Olympics rekindles our national pride wherever in the world we live, and I am sure we will see some amazing feats of endurance, skill and bravery over the next few weeks. Be sure to watch the opening ceremony tonight at 9 PM (4 PM EST), I have a very special reason for watching but I can't share until tomorrow

In an English Country Garden...........

 I haven't been at my craft desk for a couple of days, but I know that some of you love seeing photos of what I have been getting up to, and the English countryside, so I took lots for you. We have been away, visiting good friends in a Yorkshire village where we lived when we were first married. Always a treat, even more so at this time of year, Graham is a fantastic gardener, just look how beautiful it is. The weather was hot and sunny, and we spent all our time out there, watching the bees and butterflies, it was so peaceful............

 We went on a train journey on the North Yorkshire Moors railway. They are old steam trains that have been beautifully restored by volunteers, running through some of the most glorious countryside. If you are ever that way, don't miss it. They put us in a first class carriage, so the four of us sat in a rather splendid carriage in armchairs, sipping coffee from paper cups which rather destroyed the illusion of grandeur!

we chugged past lovely little country stations...........

one of the beautifully restored steam trains..............

lovely stacks of old suitcases in the waiting room........

for the signalman to flag down the trains.........

in case of fire.........

Sir Nigel took us back to Pickering. A more recent steam train, but very famous............

We ended up having lunch in Pickering, and a browse around the town, where we discovered this cake shop, a visual feast! 

The whole trip was a nostalgia fest, I loved it. Hope you have enjoyed the photos, I'll be back with crafty things tomorrow

Embossed Wedding Card

Here's a pretty card that looks as if it took ages to make. Wrong, it was very quick, I used the embossed card and matching frame from Craftwork Cards. The frame was threaded with the message band before being popped on with foam pads

I added a couple of Martha Stewart punched butterflies, and finished with tiny gold gems to echo the gold on the message band

Anchors away..............

I bought Wild Card 2, the Cricut cartridge without really researching it, I was hoping for some lovely card shapes like the doily cut on Wild Card that I have used so many times. Mistake. There are some lovely card ideas on there, but few that can be used in an imaginative way. Still, I had it, so I decided this card would be perfect for a friend who is a keen sailor and has a special birthday soon.......The card was cut at 5 1/2"

I noticed that a lot of the cards on the cartridge, although they look very cute, would never be able to stand alone - for me, an absolute must for any card. When this happens, I cut a rectangle of card, score and fold in half, and attach it to the back of the card to make a little stand...........

I ran the rope through the cuttlebug, using a herringbone pattern folder, to give a textured rope like finish. The metal dots are stick on, from a packet I got in Jo-Anns

Win some inspiration!

The editor of Papercraft Inspirations has sent me this great new book to giveaway here, it has 130 pages of inspiration for you, papers and templates to reproduce the published cards. On sale now in the UK, I have seen it in WH Smith's, but it's selling fast............

lots of my cards made their way into this one, but don't let that put you off! All you have to do is leave your name under this post, and I will draw a name on Sunday 29th July and as always, I will mail to anywhere in the world

Safmat

Ever heard of Safmat? It's a transparent printable film that you can apply to almost anything, the only limitation is your imagination.............. go and see how I made this candle HERE

Ever wonder what the inside of a Gypsy looks like? I thought I had nothing to lose, it's broken anyway, and got the back off mine.............

and found this little thing rolling about inside. Now all I need is a chap with a soldering iron and a knowledge of circuit boards. Well, it's worth a try! 

Our daughter is home for the weekend, so lots of chat, shopping and fun, but I'll be back tomorrow with a giveaway

My Minds Eye and Warren

Here's a couple of cards made with the lovely My Minds Eye papers, available from Craftwork Cards. I went with the bicycle theme for the first one, cutting this bike (before gypsy demise) from the Stretch your Imagination cartridge

and for the second one, cute Warren holding a horseshoe, I thought it would be perfect for the 'goodbye and good luck' sentiment I just picked up in the dollar bin at Michaels. I added some stitching and a little leafy branch or two

So my kids continue to have fun at my expense about the Gypsy. I replied to the email ( in yesterdays post) telling them what the gypsy was, how much was invested in it, and how would gadget boy like it if his xbox/ipad etc broke...

So back, quick as a flash came this reply: 

Sorry Mum, I should have shown more empathy. When is the wake? Are you collecting for a suitable floral tribute? I think this one would be nice.........

Another Day.....

Here's a couple of cards that were made for a past commission for Papercraft Inspirations/Quick Cards. My brief was humorous female birthday cards, these fall into the mildly amusing bracket rather than roll around on the floor laughing category......

Talking of amusing, my darling kids have a very acute sense of (dark) humour. can't think where they get it from. I posted on Facebook about my Gypsy dying on me, and had an email from middle sprog....
'Mum, what's all this about? Is Gypsy your pet name for Dad? Some people are posting condolences' Yes, yes, very funny Edward................


So mojo still missing, the rain is still raining, and now a crown has fallen off my tooth. I go today to have it fixed, £400! Ah well, tomorrow is yet another day.........

Pretty Little Prints.......

The latest genius idea from Craftwork Cards is 8 x 8 sheets of embossed frames, all nesting inside each other, pop out and use whichever size you want. For this card, I took the very largest frame, ran double tape around the edges and backed it with one of the new 'pretty little prints' papers....they are actually the weight of a light cardstock, which is why I was able to use them for this card, and as always, all the colours blend perfectly. I realised afterwards that this particular embossed card  could double for Christmas, but hey, it looks good with flowers as well.... 

I added a spray of flowers and leaves, punched from two of the co-ordinating papers, and added a bit of bling................

Here's what the card looks like opened - pretty on the back as well as the front! I cut the smaller frame in half, as I can find plenty of uses for a half frame! I am working on more cards with this kit, so watch this space

If you are at CHA (lucky things) be sure to pop and see  Richard, Sue and Julie on the Craftwork Cards stand. I hear it looks very pretty!


Disaster has struck! My Gypsy has died. I tried to connect it to my Cricut, and the little connector just wasn't there, a shake and a peer showed it rattling about inside the machine. It really is a bit of a blow for me, I use the Cricut a lot, quite often just for cutting cards, borders, scalloped rectangles etc, and about 90% of my cartridges are back in the USA. Luckily I bought about a dozen of my newest ones home with me, but it's irritating. I guess a loooong phone call to Cricut support will be the next thing to cope with.


The sun shone today. Breaking news - it was out for about an hour, unfortunately I was tied up (not in a 50 shades of grey way you understand, just busy) and missed it. By the time I went to Sainsburys it was gone, never to reappear - well, not today anyway


Sigh, tomorrow is another day. See you then x

Emma Canning Digis

A soggy good Monday morning to you all from rainswept Britain! Today I have a couple of cards to show you made with some super digi images by Emma Canning, available only from Polkadoodles.

This first one is Millie Birthday, I coloured her with FlexMarkers, and mounted her onto a card cut from the TBBM2 Cricut cartridge. The birthday sentiment is by Craftwork Cards

and here's another one, I kept it simple, kraft cardstock and white, always a good combination....

I have really struggled with jetlag over the past few days, funny how sometimes it is a lot worse than others. My crafty cupboard is, at last, up and running again, but I seem to have left my mojo behind in the USA. Someone send it over quick please, i need it! I have unpacked the essentials of life, unearthed all my winter woolies that I had optimistically packed away, the cases are sitting on the landing waiting to go up ito the loft, life is getting back to normal x

Happy Baby Naming Day.....

All the posts I scheduled to cover my travelling days have gone missing, so here's a sneaky peek at one of my cards published in this month's Papercraft Inspirations magazine - loads of inspiration this month, just as it says on the box! The Freebie with the magazine this month, is a very useful set of printed shrink plastic, can't wait to play with that

Look out for this new book as well, there are lots and lots of my cards in there, it was fun to see them all again.......

including this one, it's another baby card, made with punched hippos.....

Well, we are home, and I seem to have lost the sunshine I packed. It's poured with rain since we got home.
The journey was, as always, tedious and boring, but not without a bit of light relief. In the airports, they all seem to vary a little, the security lines are longer each time we fly. This time, in Newark, they have introduced a new instruction, to add to the barked 'take your belt off' 'empty your pockets' 'place your laptop in a separate container' -  'those over 75 years of age need not take off their shoes'...........WHAT? Is there something we don't know? Do people who do nasty evil things on planes retire at 75? Who on earth decided that anyone over 75 was incapable of hiding heaven knows what in their sturdy walking boots? Bizarre. So shoes off, pockets empty, belts off, we march through a little tunnel and the bracelet that didn't cause a problem in Tampa sets off a series of alarms.


A serious breakfast conversation between Max age 5, Milo age 3 and their Mummy. They were talking about important jobs, and she was telling them about doctors, lawyers, firemen, policemen etc, then asked them what they wanted to be:
Max: Anything with lots of fighting
Milo: Ballerina
Right, that's them sorted then.............football hooligan and Billy Elliot!


See you tomorrow 

Deer me......

Here's a 'scene card'. I will list the materials used below, it was a bit of an experiment, but I was quite pleased with the way it looks

Shaped easel card - Craftwork Cards
Sky cardstock - Kanban
Deer, grass and tree dies by Memory Box cut in white and coloured with Promarkers
Tiny flowers - Martha Stewart hydrangea punch


I headed the post with a punny deer me because -
number of times I walked into a glass door I thought was open - twice
number of times I deleted the memory of my camera - twice
number of times I started to do the ironing and got distracted - about twenty
number of times I went for a restorative coffee - once, but it was large and lasted a long time!


The winner drawn by random.org of the fine tips and coloured dots is

EIYIYI

Congrats, send me your address and I will get them in the mail to you


The suitcases are open - here we go again! Back to the rain drenched UK on Wednesday...........

Dots and Tips

Dots and Tips? Go HERE to see my post on the Letraset blog, I have a spare pack of the coloured end dots to give away, and a pack of ultra fine tips for your promarkers. Just leave a comment under this post and I will draw a winner on Sunday.

 Here's a card for today, the frame and sentiment are by Kanban, the orchid is a Memory Box die......

I forgot to wish all my American friends a happy 4th July. It's the first time we have been here for the 4th - boy, you guys really like your fireworks! It has been lovely seeing all the firework displays on the TV, and seeing people out and about wearing their red white and blue. In the drugstore, the teen serving me wished me a happy 4th. 'Well, I'm British' I smiled 'but I am enjoying it'

'You don't have the 4th in London?' Ermmm, no!