Mystery Box to win

Here's a treat for someone. One of the delights of being on a design team is that you get to play with all the latest great products, but it also means that you move swiftly on to the next new thing, and can no longer use older stuff for design team projects as they are no longer available for sale, so obviously, you promote the new stuff. 

So what's in the box? It's stuffed full, jam packed with loads of Craftwork Cards products/ Gorgeous papers, die cut flowers, sentiments, even some stamps......a total surprise for someone, who will be blown away when they open this. All CWC products are the very highest quality, all made in the UK and all very desirable. All you have to do is leave your name under this post, and I will announce a random winner on the 6th June, when I tell you who won the CD's from the Polkadoodles blog hop (if you haven't entered this yet, scroll down to find the post). As always, I will mail worldwide

Good luck x

New Home Card

 Here's one I made for last month's Papercraft Inspirations magazine. The basic cut was a shape from the Silhouette store, but I messed around with it a bit, cutting it out in various colours then piecing all the bits together. The black dots were made with the black enamel liquid pearls

I liked the result. For some reason I love the look of red and aqua together, and black and white gingham ribbon has always been my favourite

Another disaster emerged from the big tidy up. I have lost my precious DCWV burlap stack. How could that happen. It's only 6 x 6 but is really bulky. So not only have I thrown my mojo out with the rubbish, it seems a few other things may have gone missing as well. But somethings have climbed into a box all ready to be posted to someone. Drop by tomorrow to see what it is. See you then x

Dylusions BIG stamp.......

 When I went to the USA recently I got a bit carried away before I went when I saw that Jo-Ann's had an online stamp sale with 60% off, well, I couldn't refuse, it would have been rude...

One of the stamps I ordered was with Dyan Reaveley Dylusion stamps, I just loved the elegant back view of that coat. When it came, I was a bit horrified to find out that the coat stamp is about 9" tall. I NEVER make cards that big, my hand should have hovered for a bit longer over the 'buy' button.....

Then I had a bit of a brainwave, I stamped just the legs onto cardstock, and the coat onto another, which I cut out. Coloured with ProMarkers and then stuck on top of the legs, but it's now a midi coat rather than a mini, and, I think, looks just as stylish. I cut out the hat and popped that on with foam pads. The sentiment is an acrylic one from Katy Sue Designs - I chopped it up so that I could mount the two parts separately. I know you can ink just parts of the stamp, but somehow that doesn't work terribly well for me, and I get in a bit of a mess - another reason why I like cling stamps these days....

 
This card was made before the massive tidy up session of my crafty cupboard. Today, I sat down at the immaculate desk...........and sat...and sat.........oh no, I seem to have tidied my mojo away. My mind was a total blank. No inspiration at all. Hey ho, maybe I need a break

So a break is what I am having, I am off to EuroDisney tomorrow with a very excited Kiki and Monty - Kiki has been calling me non-stop 'did you know Ma that there are SIXTY SEVEN restaurants there? One of them is Thai and sounds really nice.....'
Ummm, I was thinking more along the lines of chicken nuggets and fries, or maybe a burger if I wanted to push the boat out!
She has also sorted out exactly where we need to stand to see the parades, so I am in capable hands...

I am scheduling some posts for while I'm away, and will add to them if I can, but if they seem brief, well, I'll tell you all about it when I get home on Sunday x

A peek at my craft space....

I've had one of those awkward moments when you literally fall over the heap of craft stuff that's piled up on the floor. Time for a clear out, so I thought I would take some photos to show you my craft space. I really am very tight for space and have had to make the best of the available space without sacrificing bedroom or living areas. We have one of the bedrooms in our three bed house set up as a study with a sofa bed. This end of the study is supposed to be craft free, but I am gradually and sneakily taking over......

The bookcase has gradually been emptied, and I have taken over about 50% of the space. In the aluminium CD case I have my Flexmarkers. The cases below I picked up from Poundland and use them to store (some) clear stamps...

I had a load of clear sentiment stamps that had strayed from their original packaging and were abandoned in a drawer. The very fact that they made it out of the packaging in the first place meant that they were useful stamps, so I organised them into the plastic document holders. I stuck them onto a sheet of acetate and stamped the image in the corresponding place on a sheet of copy paper which sits inside the case....

Right, here we are at the business end of the room. There was a large built in wardrobe (closet) and I had it adapted to be my work space. The 'desk' has a fold down flap, so when we have guests staying the flap goes down, the chair folds up and the doors shut (well, almost..). I had a second shelf put in, and had a light attached to the underside of the original wardrobe shelf. Plastic shoe tidies hang on each of the doors and are filled with all those essential bits and bobs. I have three drawer units under the desk, one holds 8 x 11 cardstock, a drawer for each colour, another has wood mounted sentiment stamps, embossing powders, coloured ink pads etc, and the last one has all my Design team papers, ongoing projects etc....

Those Ikea rails are useful for punches and the containers have paint brushes, glue dots etc. My Scan N Cut has ousted my Cricut as my machine of choice, and the sewing machine lives there as well. 

I have my distress inks and the foam blenders sitting on a small shelf - I would love a couple of the Ranger holders, but just wouldn't have any space to put it. I screwed a tin tray from Poundland to the underside of the shelf running across the cupboard, attached magnet dots to the bottom of my stickles and they hang upside down from the tin tray....the bit of paper on the wall in the bottom right of the photo has dots which correspond to dots on the plastic document folders that I showed you earlier, so I know that my Heartfelt Creations stamps are in the box with a green dot, and so on....

Pattern papers are kept in those useful boxes on the shelf. They are in some sort of order, but it's a bit it and miss. I have them grouped by colour 

I have a lazy susan turntable thingy with all my tools close to hand - amazing how much I cram in there, pencils, bone folder, scissors, fineliners, distressing tools, picks, you name it, I've got it in there!  

One quite big bit of storage which is indispensable is the shop display unit for  ProMarkers that Letraset gave me. It is on a turntable and needs a whole side of the cupboard to allow it to turn, but I love it, it gives me such instant at-a-glance access to my pens. My big archival black inkpad and Fiskars stamp press sit nicely on top!  

I've even crept into the en suite bathroom of that room. Behind the door I have one of those plastic towers, they hold gems, spare adhesives, watercolour pens, more wood mounted stamps, stencils, more ink pads.....

and on top of that sit a couple of storage units, one with little drawers filled with all sorts of rubbish stuff (that I will probably never use), the other a smart storage box which is filled with acrylic paints, ink sprays, glimmer mists and all things painty. So guests can sit on the loo and marvel at all the junk I've collected. The apron hanging behind the door is a Papercraft Inspirations one that I was given when I went to help out at their stand in Olympia, London, it was a great couple of days, and I can't bear to throw it away!

So there we are, I hope you've enjoyed wandering around my crafty space, now that it's all tidy again I must get down to work.......see you tomorrow x

Liquid Frisket - and a Letraset givaway..

It's my turn to post over on the Letraset blog today, pop over there to see what I have been up to with liquid frisket.......do I hear cries of 'liquid WHAT?'.......Go HERE to see the post  

and as always, the generous folk at Letraset have given me not one, but two prizes to give away this week. Two of you will get an Aquamarker Artist's Set

AquaMarker - The unique alternative to water-colour paint!

AquaMarker Artist's Sets are an ideal comprehensive introduction to water-based markers. Bursting with essential colours, water-colour paper, a fine-liner and a detailed instructional booklet – you’ll become an expert in no time!

Each Set Includes:
- 6 Twin-tip AquaMarkers
- Black Fine Liner
- How-to Instructions
- 4 Sheets of Water-Colour Paper

Read more: http://www.letraset.com/products/2196-AquaMarker-Artist-Sets/#ixzz32OUTIRSL

All you have to do is leave a comment under this post AND on the Letraset blog. As always, I will mail worldwide, and will draw random winners on Saturday the 1st June

Good luck x

More shoes....

Here's a couple more from a recent commission for Papercraft Inspirations magazine, my brief was cards with a shoe theme. This first one uses the Fabulous shoe stamp from Katy Sue Designs, coloured with Promarkers. I know a lot of you don't live in the UK, and it must be frustrating when I use products you can't get hold of, but the good news is that Katy Sue sells worldwide......

the ribbon bow is white seam binding from The Ribbon Girl, coloured with a Promarker

this next one is an image from a Polkadoodles CD, called Dollie Daydream Girl Talk -  love those summery wedges.....the sentiment is a Memory Box die cut

The photos are a bit dark today, sorry - I probably finished the cards at midnight or some other silly-o-clock then packed them up ready to go to the publisher. I work months in advance so I can't remember, but the photos look like a late night session to me!

That's it for today, come back tomorrow, it's my turn to post on the Letraset blog, and you know what that means...yep, giveaway day. See you then x 

Watercolour Get Well Card....

 Now this may seem like a simple little card, but I am quite proud of it, it's a freestyle watercolour card, and I love the way it turned out. I picked up so many tips from the Online Card Classes watercolour for cardmakers course, but this is the first chance I have had to put any of those tips onto paper......

I used Letraset aqua markers - I scribbled the colour onto an acrylic block then picked it up with a wet brush and started sloshing it onto the watercolour paper. I added a few tiny drops of stickles and liquid pearls.... 

So we went down to Surrey on Sunday for a family party for Max and Milo, Milo was five on Sunday, and Max is seven today. They had a big party for their friends on Saturday, so Sunday was our turn. Max announced that he was going to give us a magic show and that we would have to pay nine pence admission. 
'Wow, that's a bargain' I exclaimed
He did a hasty rethink......
'Oh, I got it wrong, it's £1.97 each, but anybody under 26 gets in free'

Random! Okay! 

So he rigged up his 'stage' and kept disappearing under a blanket, aided by his brother......we waited for ages....and ages.......

but all was well eventually when he pulled a scarf out of his hat.....I tell you, the cheering that went on from the proud grandparents, you would think he had produced a live rabbit......

Great fun. See you tomorrow x

New Home for Papercraft Inspirations magazine....

Here's a new home card I made for a magazine commission - Papercraft Inspirations, on sale now in the UK, June 1st in the rest of the world. Of the four I made, this one was my favourite I think...... 

I love that Tim Holtz brick wall texture fades embossing folder by Sissix, lightly inked it looked just like an old whitewashed wall with the paint flaking off to show the brick underneath. The little birds are a Fiskars die

Thanks for all the enquiries about my back, it's a lot better now, and I am out and about again, it was lovely to sit in the sun with the newspaper and a coffee today, although everyone was behaving perfectly normally so I don't have any tales to tell. If the weather forecast is to be believed, we are in for a bit of a heatwave over the next few days, but it would be lovely if it does happen as we have two little boys celebrating birthdays this weekend - Max will be seven, Milo five

See you tomorrow x

Beach Days....

Here's a Emma Canning image on the Digistamp Heaven CD for Polkadoodles, I cut her out using the Scan N Cut - it did a pretty good job I think. Then I coloured her clothes using buttercup, mustard and ivory ProMarkers....

I wanted her to look tanned, so decided to start by colouring in the areas that always catch the sun in Coral.....

then I added Tan, going over the areas already coloured with the Coral marker as well to blend it.....

then I went over all the skin with ivory, drawing in the other colours. Her hair was done with Ginger and Spice, and the deckchair with Lime and Lime Zest

I used the lovely new Harbour Boulevard papers from Craftwork Cards and cut a wave border with a built-in design on the Scan N Cut - I positioned her so that she looks as if she has pulled up her chair to the waters edge and is having a paddle. I hope she remembered the sunscreen with those red shoulders!

See you tomorrow x

Me again - and a winner.....

Here's a card using digi me - made not by me but by Pat Bately who is a regular reader here, I was tickled pink when I saw it and asked Pat if I could share it with you. It's an easel car - she's given me a black belt in shopping!....

look what the little case says......

and I've got a full loyalty card - I can't imagine where I got this reputation for being a red hot shopper.....

Thank you so much Pat, I'm sure everyone will love this! You can still pick up all the free digi images - go HERE to start hopping...

The very delayed winner of the Promarkers has been drawn. Apologies for the delay, but I have been busy nursing my back.

The name drawn by Random.Org is

BethAnn M

Congrats BethAnn, email me with your address and I'll get them in the mail to you

I'm doing another online card class, Watercolouring this time, or, as it's an American class, Watercoloring! Have you ever signed up for any of these classes? I love them, you get videos to watch every day and loads of new ideas, the designers are so talented. Mind you, I watched a watercolour video today, beautiful results, then I got my paints out, it looked a blotchy splotchy mess. Where did I go wrong, search me. But I refuse to give up until I produce something I can actually share with you. You can sign up for these classes at anytime, and you have lifetime access to the content - I often go and browse past classes for some inspiration. I think the recent Stencil class was my all time favourite Just a heads up for you.

I'll be back tomorrow, maybe not with watercolours, but I have messed around with my ProMarkers a bit.....see you then x

Little Boxes

It's my turn to post over on the Craftwork Cards blog today, here's a couple of the things I made for them - these pop up box cards are everywhere at the moment, but the clever designers at CWC had the idea of producing packs of these base cards already cut and scored, so making them is a breeze.

Those of you who haven't seen them before, they have no base, so they fold totally flat for mailing, and they certainly have the wow factor. Here's a link to a YouTube video on making them

This first one uses the Kitsch paper collection....

and this one uses the Jacob collection, with all the little die cut elements cut with the Scan N Cut die cutter......

So here I am again, still not up to full speed yet, sitting at my craft desk would be a stretch too far at the moment, but I have stuff to show you, so hopefully as far as the blog goes I will be back in production now. I still haven't drawn a winner for the last Letraset giveaway, I'll post that tomorrow

As for the back - well! Who would have thought that putting a pair of socks on would require the endurance and training required of a marathon runner. All the things we take for granted when we are well, suddenly become terribly significant - who would have thought that climbing the stairs in an upright position rather than crawling up would be so exciting! So all these little things are magnified and seen as triumphs at the moment. I have the mantra 'I MUST get fit , I MUST get fit'................I have booked to take Kiki and Monty to Disneyland Paris in three weeks time. I MUST get fit......

It's nice to be back, see you tomorrow x

AWOL

Just a very quick post to say I am in real trouble with my back, the long awaited trip to France and Belgium has been cancelled - I was due to leave yesterday. Have seen my GP and am currently floating somewhere between here and Scotland on some very potent pain meds. let me come down to earth and get this horrible back sorted, and hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days with my Letraset post x

Happy Birthday Polkadoodles - a giveaway for ALL of you

It's five years since Nikky Hall opened the doors of Polkadoodles for business, since then Polkadoodles has gone from strength to strength. We all love Nikky's quirky and individual style, she is fast becoming a national treasure! 

Back in the day, we were quite a small exclusive little group, and to celebrate five years Nikky has come up with the most fabulous gifts for you all

Here's what I'm giving you ..................a digi stamp of ME, now I must say Nikky has been very kind, I haven't looked this good for a long time....she gave me a little UK and USA flag as well................to get your free digi stamps, click on the link below,, go to checkout and enter the code, you will get an email with your downloads

and here's a couple of cards I made using the Enfys digi....you get the backing papers as well! Read on, there's lots more in store for you yet......

I couldn't resist making a card that says Happy Birthday from Me!

that scarf is exactly how I wear them!

Go HERE to get your free download, and enter the code PD5001 to get it

I am also giving away three CD's - the fabulous new Work and Play collections, I have 1, 2 and 3 to give away, I will draw three winners from all the comments under this post on the 6th June and will mail worldwide




That's not all, there are free digi images of all the original team, and 5 backing papers with each, so if you go to everyone's blog you will have five free digi images and 25 lovely papers to use AND each blog will be giving away three CD's

Kath (and buddy)

Louise

Enfys (that's me, you are here....)

Ruth

Nikky

as if all this wasn't enough, Nikky says this......(if you have a blog this must be worth a posting!....)

In addition to the candy on each of our blogs, once you've completed this little hop make sure you link to the hop on your own blog and then pop back here (polkadoodles blog) and leave us a link to your post and we will draw a Random Winner to win a Massive blog candy worth £100 (that's about $160 USD of Polkadoodles goodies which will include Stamps, cd's, ribbons and a whole lot of other stuff! We will leave the draw date open until 30th May.

So good luck to everyone, enjoy the hop, don't forget to comment under this post to win a work and play CD - and let me see what you make with the Enfys digi!