Little Pots and Urns.....

Remember I showed you the little pots that I fell for at the trade show? Well I got my hands on the moulds from Katy Sue Designs I know those of you in the USA will be happy to know you can buy these from the website - click on the USA flag, go to cake decorating and then embellishments. They are $12.99 for all three pots

They are such fun to make - fill the moulds with air dry clay and leave, then when dry, unmould and out pop some lovely little pots. I didn't discard the ones that weren't quite perfect, because in my experience garden pots often have little flaws that add character....

Then I spent a happy afternoon decorating them, I used distress inks, distress paints, glimmer sprays, colourwash spray and some gilding waxes. I varnished the little pots with glossy accents, but left the 'stone' ones just painted....

I think they look quite authentic, do you?

Then since I was in a messing about sort of mood, I dug out my Susan's Garden Sissix dies and made some pansies. They will go on a project some day soon....

I had to watch a video to remind myself how to make the (fiddly) little Susans Garden flowers. As I was watching you tube videos, I marvelled at how many of these people skillfully manipulate  little bits of paper with a pair of tweezers. They niftily pick up a tiny piece of paper with their tweezers, lightly dip it into glue - just the right amount of glue, no big blobs for them, then apply it neatly and perfectly onto their project, in exactly the right place and without a trace of glue.  When I use tweezers, the bits of paper drop into the glue, or on the floor, if I do manage to hold onto it long enough for the glue dip, the glue is then transferred messily onto my card  - I need to take a course in tweezering skills. It made me wonder what they do for their proper job. Work in a brow bar? Neurosurgeon? Honestly, I expected one of them to say 'swab please nurse' as I watched in awe...

See you tomorrow x

Flexmarker Giveaway....

My turn to post on the Letraset blog today, which means a Flexmarker giveaway for one of you. Pop over there and see what I've been up to...

Leave a comment on the Letraset blog, then pop back here to leave your name, and you will be entered to win TWO packs of Flexmarkers, the Neutral set, and the Mid colour set - that's a total of twelve lovely markers to add to your collection. No rules, but you must leave a comment on BOTH blogs to be in with a chance. I'll draw a winner next Thursday and let you know on Friday. Good luck

See you tomorrow x

Happy B-day

As soon as I spotted this new hexagon die and letterpress plates for the Fiskars Fuse, I knew that I had to have it. I started off with a bit of stencilling with the Tim Holtz honeycomb and some Wendy Vecchi white embossing paste which was sponged with spiced marmalade and lemonade distress inks..... 

Would you believe that this bee stamp is the first one I ever bought. It cost me a dollar from Walmart and I have used it countless times. The hexagon was letterpressed with the honeycomb design. I deliberately stamped off the sentiment, inking it only once for all three stampings, I wanted a faded look.... 

and here, after my build up yesterday (hopefully) is Kiki's design which she has called Pimpernel (I must ask her why she chose to call it that). Not bad for a nine year old, I must ask her to design some digi stamps I can use!

Off to meet friends for lunch today, so a long chat by a cozy pub fire and good food will keep me away from my desk for a while, but I'll see you tomorrow x 

Special Friend.....

I've been without my laptop for a couple of days, major panic as all my work is on there, but a nice man fixed it so I am back in business......

After the photo fest of last week, back to my stuff now, here's a card made with the latest shaped cards from Craftwork Cards, I used Sherbert papers and some punched flowers and leaves.....

++

The butterfly is from the Flying High collection

I'm sharing this with you today, I gave Kiki a set of my spare 'older' ProMarkers - she is a talented little artist at the age of nine, and I thought she would appreciate having some nice pens. This is what she has been doodling today....

Now call me a biased granny, but I think that shows a sense of style and design that is quite remarkable for a nine year old. I like the way she has just shadowed the design in Blue Pearl - at that age the impulse is usually to fill in all the spaces with bright colours. The design could be one of those really expensive wallpapers....I think I may have a little budding artist in the fold, what do you think?

See you tomorrow, when I will have finished battling with my latest magazine commission - and breathe...... x 

Stitches - Part Five

Woodware is an established name in the stamp industry, and over the past couple of years their designs have improved in leaps and bounds - there must be a new designer on the scene. I bought a couple of the Christmas stamps this year, and there are a few among this lot that I will buy - in fact I already have a couple of them. I do like these large sketchy letter stamps they have started making, I bought a SNOW word last Christmas.....

This sample was clear embossed on a dark background, very effective, I'll have to try that idea.....

A lot of you have commented that you would have spent a fortune at the show, well so would I, but here's the thing, at the trade shows it's all about showcasing the products, spotting the latest trends, catching up with other design team members and so on, you can't buy anything. So my bank account is intact, but my wish list is a mile long...So what's on the list? I want some Pebeo clear glaze and some sand textured paste, some of those gorgeous little KatySueDesigns urns and moulds for fimo clay embellishments, Lots of Tim Holtz stuff, but especially the shadowpress folders, lots and lots of stencils, some of the huge embossing folders (because the fuse is big enough to take them), and a multitude of stamps, pan pastels and some more lovely dies for my fuse....and that's just for starters. Better start saving the pennies then 

Stitches - Part Four - and another winner

 More samples for you today, these first ones are by Hunkydory - now this isn't my style of crafting, but some of the samples were really cute, and I know that some of my friends from the USA love this type of card. So enjoy! I did like this card to congratulate someone on passing their driving test....

You buy all the components needed to make a few cards in these packs....

and a congrats Grad card......

Next was the Marianne stand - lovely dies and stamps. The sentiments are Dutch (I think)......

 On to the Wild Rose Studio - pretty samples as you can see......

Just one more lot of samples to show you tomorrow. But first, the winner of the ProMarkers this week is

LAURA HOLT

Who commented on here and the Letraset blog where she said

laura holt February 13, 2014 at 9:56 pm # 

I would love to play with these new colors……..

Congrats, email me with your details and your prize will be on it's way. 

Have a great weekend, see you tomorrow x

Stitches - Part Three (and a winner)

I told you Stitches wasn't all about papercrafting, lots of knitting, sewing and other hobbies too, but the one that fascinated me the most was the cake decorating - I could so easily be seduced into buying all the stuff to make cakes like these.......

These first photos are from one of my favourite stands at the show, KatySue, and the really clever thing is that you see the cute buttons and hearts on the owls? They were made with moulds and icing, but you can use them with air dried clay to make embellishments for your cards as well.....

such a pretty cupcake....

and this Christening cake is a pure work of art....

They do stamps and CD's and the images are so up my street, love them. All these projects were from a male themed collection, and I am always up for new ideas for those hard to make male cards... 

You remember the shoe card I showed you HERE? So many of you loved that. I didn't know at the time that these products are available in the USA as well as Europe. Go HERE to take a look - click on the American flag to take you to the USA site

and here are some of the urns and vases made with Fimo clay and burnished with gilding wax or distress inks. They were made with Flower Soft in mind, but I can imagine them filled with tiny sprays of die cut leaves and flowers as well.......

and a card made with one of the little vases and filled with Flower Soft blooms (love those little pieces of curled wire....)

and I couldn't resist taking more cake photos, this time a company called Cake Lace, so feast your eyes on these....

Then I stopped by to see the lovely, funny and very talented Hels Sheridan, who is a queen of all things inky here in the UK. She was using a crackle resist medium from the Cosmic Shimmer range by Creative expressions, now I want some of that as well.... 

and some of her samples.....

Phew, and I've still got loads to share with you! But enough for now. Sorry this is late, but here's the name that Mr Random came up with to win the Craftwork Cards Amelia paper pad, and sheets of matching paper bows

WENDYP

who said
Hi Enfys - I love your canvas. I've been itching to make one for ages, but haven't yet plucked up enough courage to try - yours gives me fresh inspiration so it's off to the craft shop to suss out canvasses. Stay safe, Wendy x

Congrats Wendy, email me with your details and I will get them in the mail

See you all tomorrow for more crafty reveals, and if you are reading this post with your coffee, I hope I haven't stirred the sweet tastebuds too much with all those cake photos!