Car Mad

When I was sorting out another box of my craft stuff from the USA, I found this sentiment stamp which I haven't used for ages, and remembered some print and cut cars that I had in my Silhouette library. Perfect! 

I am getting the hang of this print and cut feature of the Cameo now. I coated the diecuts with glossy accents which doesn't show in the photos..

and here is the finished card. I know quite a few 'classics' that would enjoy this card!

Embossed Notecards

When I bought the irritating lovely flower dies from Blitzy, I also bought these embossing folders, heaven knows why, I have so many that I never use, but I did rather like the bare trees. I seem to be having a spell of making quick little notecards at the moment, it's amazing how useful they are. I inked it lightly with Vintage Photo distress ink and just dotted a few little pearls about...

and for this next one, I just stamped some white card with a music score stamp, and attached just a few flowers punched out of the card. 

Another reminder, you still have time to win a Polkadoodles Cherryblossom Lane CD, some Letraset fine tips and a storage wallet, and a bumper box of Craftwork Cards goodies. I can't put links to the posts you will have to scroll down to find them

Violets are blue....

Here's another card made with those irritating lovely Sissix flower dies. This time, violets. I used one of the gorgeous embossed frames by Craftwork Cards and attached it to cover the front of a square card, then I added a smaller embossed frame with foam pads. A simple little flower spray was all it needed to finish it.......

We are in the second week of our cruise now, as I write this, before we even leave home, I wonder how I am getting on? I do hope that I am able to add something to the basic posts I have done for you...

Going Fishing....

I wanted to make a card using this lovely silhouette that I got from the Silhouette store. I spongled a panel with distress inks before attaching the silhouette, and added just a couple of Memory box clouds to add interest...

I really like the way this turned out, I must say, the Cameo does a great job of cutting out these detailed intricate cuts. I don't think it would be possible to do this on my Cricut without tearing the cardstock. I used quite heavy cardstock, but it cut through it like butter. I still turn to my Cricut though, I have favourite cuts that I turn to over and over again, and my George cartridge is permanently in the machine for quick circles, ovals and letters. I didn't think I would turn into a two-cutting-machine-crafter, but that's what seems to be happening, each machine has it's own star quality

In the Spotlight

Oops, the post I scheduled for yesterday with the mystery box didn't post. Scroll down to see what it's all about!

I am currently sitting in the sun enjoying a coffee in Ajaccio, Corsica. They seem to be very proud of the fact that this was Napoleans birthplace as there is a statue of him every few yards - never has a man been so immortalised in bronze, granite and plastic! We sail on to Gibraltar later today and all is well. Yesterday was Citiciveccia for Rome, but as we know Rome and wanted just rest and relaxation on this holiday, we stayed in the little port town and found a beach to lie on and read our books. Bliss! The colouring of images has been demoted to the bottom of my 'I'm on holiday and too lazy to do anything but read and eat' pile. I'll check in later in the week, expect masses of photos when I get home....

Have you ever tried a spotlight technique? Usually this is done with stamped images, you stamp it once, then stamp again and colour the part of the image you want to highlight, then attach just the coloured part over the original image. I saw this paper from Craftwork Cards, and immediately wanted to try a spotlight card - I punched out areas of the flowers first...

and here is the result. The coloured portions were backed with cardstock before being attached exactly over the corresponding base image with foam pads. I like the way it turned out

Don't forget, you can win a Polkadoodles CD by just leaving a comment - scroll down to the post made on 15th June

Don't forget, you can win some Letraset fine tips for your ProMarker pens, and a (almost new) Letraset storage wallet - scroll down to the post made on the 20th June

Don't forget, you can win a mystery box crammed full of lovely Craftwork Cards goodies - scroll down to the post made on the 22nd June

Mystery Box...

One of the great things about being on design, teams is that you get all the latest products to work with. Now I have been on Craftwork Cards team for some years now, and have a huge pile of gorgeous papers, sentiments, candi....I decided to have a big tidy up session and have made up my very own Craftwork Cards mystery goody box for someone to win. Some of the papers may not be in the current range, which means I can't use them for design team or magazine projects, but they are all the same beautiful quality that you expect from CWC (and I've shared some of the current collections as well)

Oh my! look at the box, it's so crammed I don't think it will close...

Do I spy Candi? Yes, there's loads in there, I put an assortment for the winner to play with....

and Messages....is that an embossed frame lurking behind .....honestly, it will be like Christmas day for whoever gets to open this box

and here is the box, all sealed and ready to have the winners name on the label.....

All you have to do is pop over to the Craftwork Cards blog and have a little browse at all the lovely posts that have been made this week, then come back here and tell me what you loved the most - the design team post every day so there is some great inspiration over there.  I will draw a winner on the 2nd July. Good luck!

Today is my sister Gwendydd's birthday and I probably won't be able to call her, so I hope she sees this. Penblwydd Happus cariad x

Susan's Garden Pansy

I spent ages (too much time!) in the week before I came away, trying to master the new Sissix dies by Susan Tierney Cockburn. Of course, it would have made life a lot easier if I had done a search for you tube videos BEFORE I spent all those wasted hours. I have a feeling that I missed one of the petals off this pansy, but it looked enough like a pansy to make it onto a card, and after all that effort I certainly wasn't going to throw it away.....The embossed scallop frame is by Craftwork Cards, and the leaves are also by Sissix

Lookout for a bumper giveaway tomorrow...

Letraset Ombre, and win some Fine tips

Today is my day to post over on the Letraset blog, I have been playing around with ombre (no, I didn't know either, but kept hearing about ombre hair, nails, clothes....)

Go HERE to see the post (I would love it if you can leave a comment there)

Then, if you would like some fine tips, just leave your name here. They are very fine nibs, that just click on to your ProMarkers and convert them into very fineliner pens, perfect for colouring tiny details, or for writing a sentiment to match your card...You will get nine fine tips, and they are interchangeable, all you do is scribble onto some copy paper to get rid of the old colour, then clip onto your next pen....If the winner would also like a Letraset wallet, I have a lightly used one that they can have, they hold 24 pens

I will draw a winner on the 2nd July,  from all the comments left under my post on the Letraset blog

Dropping you a quick line from Valencia. We have been wandering around looking for wifi in the cafes. We finally lucked out when we discovered that we have to ask for weefee! All is well, ship and food, fabulous, sailing off to Barcelona tonight and busy taking lots of photos to show you. Ships wifi costs the equivalent of the national debt of a small country, so I am avoiding that! X

Mo Manning Images

I found these ready coloured Mo Manning printed images that I bought in a die cut sheet from a craft fair, time to use them. I found some paper that is printed with boat outlines, and even though only a tiny bit of the pattern shows on this card, I think it really works. The figure 4 was cut from the George cartridge on the Cricut, and I added a bit of stitching....

Since the little boy card seemed to work so well, I decided to reproduce it with one of the little girl images. Same layout, but what a difference, I really don't think the second card works at all, it just shows how the right colours/papers can make (or break) a design.....

Cameo Shoes

I found this sentiment label by Kanban in a drawer, and right next to it was this animal print paper, well, I had to use them. I decided to cut some spiky heeled shoes with my Cameo, I added a few drops of liquit pearls, and a strip that was punched with a Martha Stewart deep edge punch....

the sentiment is perfect for a shoe card.....

Golden Wedding Gift

We went to a lovely Golden Wedding lunch the other day - 50 years! Gulp!

The invitation specified no presents - our friends are hoping to move house soon, and I think the thought of more stuff was just too daunting. So I took my camera, and took loads of photos, then set to work on this.....

The chipboard book is by Bo Bunny, and I covered the pages in the glitziest golden papers I could find, and added quite a lot of bling - well, fifty years deserves a bit of sparkle......look, there's me, in the blue top at the bottom of  one of the pages....

I loved these photos of Jan with her daughter and granddaughter

I love doing these books as gifts, but find that you can't really use the latest scrapbook styles - there just isn't room. The other pages have a collage of all the friends and family that were there at the lunch - it's a lot to fit into one little book.
They loved it, I sent it by mail and they called me as soon as it arrived, Jan was quite tearful (I THINK they were tears of joy, at least, I hope so....) 

Ship Ahoy! Win a CD....

As you read this, we are probably on our way to Southampton to board the ship. I have been quite organised and printed out lots of stuff to colour just in case I get crafting withdrawal while I'm away. I printed out some of the cute rabbits from the Cherryblossom Lane CD by Polkadoodles...........

and a few cute girls and boys from the digistamp heaven CD, also by Polkadoodles....

The good news is I have a copy of Cherryblossom Lane to give away. The winner will be drawn from all comments on this post on the 2nd July. If you have never used a Polkadoodles CD you are in for a treat, they are so packed with printable papers, stamps, sentiments and lots more. Good luck!

I have switched off comment moderation for when I am away, which means your comments will show up straight away. But to do this, I have also had to disable anonymous comments to get rid of spam - I am sure none of you want to read about red-hot mamas or cheap vitamins?

I have scheduled posts for almost every day while I am away, there are a couple of giveaways coming up as well, so keep looking. I hope that when we get to port I will be able to add some photos and give you an update - there may well be a tale or two to tell, all that people watching I will be doing from the comfort of my sun lounger.....

What a mess!......

Here's another of the samples I made with the Nellie Snellen embossing punches for my friend Mandy of Scrappy-go-Lucky

Again, I used the flower punches, large, medium and small, but this time I layered them. The leaf sprigs are called large rose leaf embossing set. The base card is by Craftwork Cards

I have been in a bit of a frenzy trying to get things done before I head for the ocean waves on Saturday. Here's what my desk looked like tonight.......

and the floor......

and the sofa.......

In fact, the mess seems to have crept like an unruly plant into every room in the house. Every time I go up and downstairs I leave a trail of gems, little bits of paper and glitter. I have a very small crafting space, but this is ridiculous. Everything has now been tidied away - bring on the suitcases...

More Nellie Snellen punched flowers...

I promised I would show you the Nellie Snellen flower punches. They have been hidden in a drawer and out of mind for a while, but after struggling with the Susans Garden dies, which are very pretty, but fiddly, I remembered these, and fell in love with them all over again. The green oval was also done with a Nellie Snellen die cut set, you cut the oval and all the little pieces and slot them in - another fiddly job, and I don't do fiddly, but the flowers are another matter........I love the embossed lines and the little raised centers..

You get two punches for each flower/leaf, you punch out the flower from the die with the solid silver flower on it, then pop it into the embossing punch (with the dotted outline), press down......and you get a beautifully embossed flower...I have quite a few sizes so they are easy to layer. They look just like the expensive Prima paper flowers you find in stores

This is so much easier than having to score the little veins on the leaves yourself, so these are back in my favourite-of-the-moment drawer. Expect to see more! Mine came from Scrappy-go-lucky in Australia.

I have been busy busy busy making cards and catching up with design team stuff for while I am away. The desk looks as if a bomb has dropped on it, ah well, I'll have a quick tidy up before I go....

See you tomorrow x

A Basket of Flowers

Here's one I made using the Nellie Snellen flower dies that I got from my pal Mandy of Scrappy-Go-Lucky. You get two punches, one punches out the flowers, then you put the die cut in another, and press, all the embossed lines and little raised centers on the flowers appear as if by magic. I'll take a photo of them and show them tomorrow. The basket, fence and scallop frame were cut with my Cricut (basket doodlecharms, scallop frame Elegant Edges, fence Bloom). I embossed the fence and basket with a woodgrain embossing folder. The flowers were cut in white, then I just sponged them lightly with faded jeans distress ink......

I have no idea what happened to the photos of the boys, they were there when I posted, then poof, gone - let's try again. First of all, Max and Milo, love the way Max is giving his little brother a hug....

and Monty, taken on his fourth birthday on Saturday.....

I am in serious list making and packing mode now (we leave on Saturday). Because we are sailing from the UK, with no flights and baggage restrictions to worry about, I may be going a bit overboard (unintentional pun). Do you think fourteen pairs of shoes/sandals and ten handbags may be a tiny bit excessive? The guidance given by P & O is that there is no limit on the number of cases we take, but that we should remember that they have to fit into the cabin...right....so the  packing frenzy means that we will probably be clambering over cases just to get to the loo, or into bed. That may not go down that well with Mike....better go and make another list....

See you tomorrow x

A Garden Trellis.....

Here's another card made with the Silhouette Cameo - I cut the base card with a cut out front which I purchased from the Silhouette store. I thought it cried out to be a garden trellis, so I cut some Memory Box vines and flowers to trail up the card. I added gems to the flower centers - oops, I missed one, and added a pale green cardstock to the inside of the card......

It made a pretty and delicate looking card - I would probably write a greeting on the back of the card so that the effect isn't spoilt by my scrawled handwriting....

I emailed my friend Mary to ask about the can-can girl stamp, here is her reply - thanks Mary

 Go to 7kidscollegefunds.com
and then choose kraftin kimmie and then choose Cheryl Alger stamps and
then choose saucy girls. There are several really cute stamps in this
section!  The stamp is.............Suzette, yes you can-can! 

I haven't shown photos of the children for ages, here are my birthday boys (all photos 'lifted' from facebook, so they are not edited). First of all, Max and Milo who were six and four two weeks ago at their joint birthday party.....




and here is Monty who was four yesterday. We didn't get down to London for his party, but I spoke to him on the phone. He loved the pirate ship we bought him but when I asked him what present Mummy and Daddy had bought him, he whispered 'I can't remember'
Can't remember Monty? That's supposed to be my line not yours......





Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I am enjoying the sunshine....

Goody Box Cards....

It's my turn to post over on the Craftwork Cards blog today, here are a couple of the cards I made, using the Happy Days goody box and the Paper Bows pad. They have started a new subscription for the goody boxes, go HERE to see what it's all about, and to see the rest of my cards....pretty please!

I spent a couple of hours today making some Susan's Garden flowers with my new sissix dies - oh my goodness, talk about tiny, some of these are positively microscopic. I have a feeling that my (a) natural messiness (b) impatience and (c) inability to pick up teensy pieces of paper with a tweezers may make this a short lived passion. I'll share the results next week. Anyone else who is thinking of buying some, go and look at YouTube videos BEFORE you spend an hour trying to figure it all out, the instructions are hopeless!

We are promised a sunny weekend here in the UK, so wherever you are, I hope the sun shines upon you - especially if you are a little boy called Monty and you are having a fourth birthday party today. Happy Birthday sweetheart xx

Using Prisma Pencils for a change......

When I was lounging around on the sofa after the recent hospital stuff, I had a few withdrawal symptoms from crafting, I didn't dare get out my ProMarkers because the sofa is pale cream and I am a messy worker. So after a bit of thought I dug out my Prisma pencils. Wow, they took a bit of getting used to, I haven't coloured with pencils for ages, and had forgotten how different it is. I used this can-can girl stamp that belongs to my friend Mary in Florida, stamped before I came home. I have no idea who made the stamp, but I can find out if anybody needs to know........

I rather like the sentiment, it would make a great encouragement card

While I am writing this post the TV is droning on in the background and a programme I have never seen before (or ever want to see again) has started. It's called Embarrassing Bodies, and consists of people consulting with good- looking TV doctors about their embarrassing condition, often it seems to be a quite intimate part of their embarrassing body, which is then filmed in enthusiastic close-up by a film crew. Now two things spring to my bemused mind: 

Don't these people know that we have a national health service in the UK, so they can see a doctor free, and take their embarrassing body into a nice little room with no camera crew following them.......

Have they given a bit of advanced thought to this, before letting them film their most intimate parts in technicolour close-up. I mean, how embarrassing would it be to take your embarrassing body into work tomorrow, to be greeted by everyone saying 'ooh, I saw you and your ******** on the telly last night' .......just saying....

See you tomorrow x