Fabric card

I haven't made a fabric card for ages, and this little lady just fitted the bill for a quick card I needed. The linen effect background paper is by Sassafrass, I stamped a few branches (Hero Arts) onto the paper in versamark ink, just to break it up a little. I used a new punch by Recollections (which I think is the brand name for Michaels own brand products). I love super large scallops, so snapped this one up.

The fabric is Loralie cat fabric, the sentiment is Stampin Up

If you are new to the blog and don't know how I use fabric on cards, scroll down to labels, and under 'video tutorials' there is a quick video on using fabric as images on your cards

Well, we have a winter wonderland here - we have had about six inches of snow, it looks lovely, but is very frustrating as we were planning our 'santa' run down to London tomorrow to take down presents and see Kiki and Monty. That would be foolhardy and stupid since the journey is not strictly necessary, but I am disappointed. Hoping it clears enough for us to make the journey to my other son for Christmas day. I am NOT dreaming of a white Christmas.

I think I will spend the time I would have spent travelling, getting productive in my crafty cupboard, I am beginning to get withdrawal symptoms from my lack of inky fingers

Thick and Thin and a bit of fabric......

First another Loralie card, love these golfers. I got the wide ric-rac on sale at Jo-anns, this is the first time I've used it, and now that I have, I wish I had bought more. The black and white check paper is by Making Memories.

The second card today is one I made for a challenge blog last week, where they were asking for a tag or label on the card, I think it might have been Allsorts challenge. Anyway, by the time I had made it, time had run out and it was time for the next challenge.

I made a base card from Kraft cardstock, and used a rather strange woodgrain rub-on that I got from Tuesday morning to make a background. The paw stamp and the image is by Great Impressions, coloured with copic markers. The script is a hero arts stamp that I stamped in coffee versamark ink onto coffee cardstock, and I stamped the same stamp onto some white prima flowers

Some of you suggested that I posted a photo of my new hairdo. Are you crazy? At the moment I am only venturing out after dark, and even then I have a brown paper bag over my head

Okay, you are an inventive lot of peeps, I need a bit of help. We have been invited to a lunchtime birthday party for a friend, in July - when we will be back in England. The dress code is 'The 1940's'. I am stumped and in need of EASY fancy dress ideas. The only thing I have thought of is to wear khaki trousers and shirt (which I don't possess), tie a headscarf around my head (which would solve another pressing problem), and go as a Land Army gal. Now you also have to consider Mike, who is quite, ermm............rotund I think is a nice word. No, he doesn't have a double breasted suit with a waistcoat, so I think Winston Churchill is out of the question. You have my permission to come up with ideas that will make us both look quite ridiculous if that makes you happy..............

Anyone for golf?

Okay, so I have been fabric crazy this week, I promise to give them a rest next week.........maybe. Here is another of the fabulous golfers by Loralie, the sentiment was from an acrylic stamp by Studio G for father's day, I just cut off the word Dad. I thought the black doodling and stitching added a bit of contrast to what is a very bright card.

If it's your first time here, see my tutorial on making cards out of fabric.

I have had to put everything to one side for a few days while I got a magazine commission finished, all done and in the mail now, but today there hasn't been a lot of crafting done, just a lot of scratching - we went out with friends for dinner the other evening, to a place on the river. We asked for an outside table, it was a beautiful evening. 'The deer flies are biting' said the server helpfully. We sat outside anyway, and they certainly were biting, nobody else, just me, so I have these great weals all over my legs and the discomfort is driving me mad. I will never look at Bambi in the same way again.............. I have Benadryl, Clarityn, and an aloe cream, if anybody has a magic cure for bites, let me know.

We have been here for six weeks now. You would think that I would be used to the steering wheel being on the 'wrong' side of the car by now. Not a bit of it, every day, I walk confidently to the passenger door, peer in through the window, realize my mistake and slink around to the drivers side. If someone is sitting in the next car in a parking lot, I nonchalantly try to make it look as if I did it on purpose, open the passenger door and deposit my bag on the seat before walking round to the drivers side. They must think I am crazy, I mean, how many women open the door for their handbags. The daft thing is, I will just have got the hang of it when it is time to go back to the UK, and the whole saga will start all over again............the confident walk to the wrong side of the car.

A True Friend.............

No apologies for another fabric card today - this is another image from some of the new Loralie fabric I tracked down on Ebay. I turned it into an easel card, added lots of stitching and an Inkadinkadoo sentiment.

If this is your first visit to my blog and you haven't used fabric on cards, scroll down to labels and click on the tutorial.

Well you won't believe what happened yesterday, yes, at Dunkin Donuts. I was sitting in the sunshine, reading a magazine, two women were at the next table. Up drove a sheriff's car, I thought he had come for the free coffee that the cops are allegedly given. No, he was there by appointment with these two women, sat down and started interviewing them - in a loud voice and in full view of everyone, it was like an episode of Miami Vice. Apparently the husband of one of them had tried to strangle her with the car safety belt on saturday night. So there she was, weeping and showing her bruises (quite nasty they were, well, you didn't think I was going to carry on reading with all that drama going on did you? No, I was pretending to read, but behind my sunglasses my eyes were fixed on the wailing woman). I'm going off that place a bit, I seem to be the only normal person who goes there.

Today is our little Milo's first birthday. Happy birthday sweetheart. xxx

Loralie again

I heard the other day that Loralie have made some ladies stamps, I believe they are cling mounted rubber and stamp beautifully. I have about ten yards of fabric to use up before I invest in any, and this sassy little lady is on the Gone Shopping fabric. See my tutorial on using fabric on cards if you haven't already.........

The sentiment is a MFT stamp, papers DCWV. Border punch MS

So I had a call on my phone from the bank, which I missed. As I had made a rather large purchase the previous evening on a US site, I assumed they were checking this, and called Mike at home. Now bear in mind that we have a joint account. Yes, the bank had called, no they wouldn't talk to him, it had to be me. 'But it's OUR money' he said helplessly...............nope, it had to be me. Eventually they caught me 'hi' I said 'I assume you want to know about the dollar transaction..............'

No, they wanted to tell me that I had a new number to call for personal banking (is there any other sort?)

'Oh, okay, while you are on, I will just tell you the dates that I am going to be out of the country'.

'Thank you' she said in a sombre voice 'but I must tell you that even with this information on our screens, your transactions may still be subject to scrutiny.'

Well I doubt it somehow sweetie, if you can't check how I come to be spending $$$ in the US when I am talking to you from Costa coffee .........

It's all down to data protection or something, and I am sure it drives the people who work for banks/electricity/water companies just as crazy as the rest of us. A friend of ours is driven insane by it, and when someone calls and insists on talking to the account holder i.e his wife, he noisily clatters the phone down, and then picks it up 'hello' he squeaks in a high falsetto 'yes, this is me' and of course, being his wife he can answer all the security questions that are thrown at him. Trouble is, he's getting rather good at it and now fancies himself as an actor, adding little chatty feminine type snippets to the conversation. 'Must go now dear' he squeaks 'just going to get my legs waxed'

Max and Milo's Christmas Card..............

I recently did a swap with a blog friend, she desperately wanted some images from one of the cards I made, so I stamped her some, and in return she sent me a Loralie christmas panel, these cats are BIG, but I thought it would make a super card for Max and Milo, so here it is, I kept it simple so that the image popped. Stuck the fabric onto white card and then cut around it. The letters are DCWV chipboard, papers are making memories. The card measures 8 1/2" x 6" to give you an idea of size

Jet lag is an odd thing, I slept like a log for about 11 hours last night, woke up feeling bright and full of energy, then suddenly - POW - it's like being hit with a sledgehammer! I always take longer than most people to adjust, last time it took me about a week to get back into a real UK time zone, so I should be just about normal again by Christmas day - well, what passes for normal anyway. In the meantime, in energetic mode, I braved the crowds in the town centre, it was lovely, they had a German Christmas market there, in the town square, selling mulled wine and gorgeous little decorations, with a live oompah band playing festive music to add to the jolliness of it all. With a sprinkling of snow on the ground, it really did feel like Christmas

The Good Girls................ Fabric Card

It's been a while, so here's another Loralie fabric card. If you want to know your nearest stockist of Loralie fabric there is a button on the sidebar linking you to the site, you can't buy there, but there is a 'find your nearest stockist' button

Made in the usual way - roughly cut around the image, swipe the back liberally with a glue stick, stick to white cardstock and smooth down with a bone folder, leave to dry, cut out and use as you would any other image

I really love this sentiment stamp, it's made by Inkadinkadoo. I inked the edges of some white prima flowers, and added a bit of bling

This little lady looks to me as if she has far too much going on in her life to write a diary.......... she's obviously getting ready for a pretty hot night out

I have taken the plunge and ordered a Gypsy - lots of you will know all about the Gypsy, those of you who don't have a cricut machine won't have a clue - I don't have much of a clue either, I have a vague hope that it will put a stop to my lugging cartridges and handbooks backwards and forwards across the Atlantic. It's electronic, you need your computer to get it working, and it is, therefore, an absolute certainty that it's going to give me grief. Even though I have to wait for it to be shipped, I have already been and bought a cute little jacket thingy to put on it when it arrives. No matter that I won't have a clue what to do with it, at least my machine will be well dressed. Another 'watch this space' moment

Howdy - Fabric card

I found this great trim in the clearance aisle at Joannes, and snapped some up, I knew straightaway that it would look good on a man card. The cowboy hats were from a remnant of fabric from the same store, I covered the back with a glue stick, stuck them onto cardstock, then cut them out when dry.

I cut the feather thingy off another hat, and popped it on with a foam pad for a bit of dimension. The howdy letters are thickers by American Crafts
Two frogs seem to have taken up residence outside my front door. I don't know if they are frogs or toads, because they are orange in colour. They are probably sitting there waiting for the huge spider to come back, you're wasting your time guys, he's dead!
Have a great weekend

Cat Fabric Card

Time for a fabric card I think. These Loralie images are much smaller than the others I have been using, so I was able to do something different. I treated the fabric in the usual way (instructions under labels:fabric cards) then cut her out and mounted onto a large scallop circle. I cut away 1/3 of the front of the card and added some tiny alphabet stickers by making memories. If you love the Loralie fabrics and don't know where to get them, there is a button on my sidebar which will take you to the site and you can search for your nearest stockist.

I was sent this blog award from Kaye. Thanks Kaye ...

I am supposed to pass it on to friends with blogs, but I am breaking with tradition and passing it on to some of my lovely online pals who so faithfully visit this blog and send me nice emails

Joan from Port St Lucie

Carolyn Wilkerson

StampinSher

Bev N from Tiverton

Carol from HP

Even though all of you haven't got blogs, this circle of friends award is for you x

This next one was sent to me by Sue Ramsay, who is a teamie from polkadoodles and I am passing this on to all my followers who have blogs - pass it on to others x

and now for the winner of the blog hop candy, the name out of the hat was



Freetimegone



Congratulations!
you win the Papermania black and Ivory papers, a Heidi Swapp stamp set and a Heidi Swapp paper piercer

email me with your address and your parcel will be on it's way to you

Fairy Fabric Card for the Creative Card Crew

Here's another fabric fairy - this time the image was only partial, but I liked the image of the little boy fairy (what are boy fairies called? Pixies? Elves?) so much, I worked around it and cut it into a square, then snipped away around the top of the image

aren't these flowers fabulous? They are by Prima
and the double ribbon means that this is perfect for this week's creative card crew challenge which is - ribbons

I heard yesterday that the black and white card I did with the snippy flower won the Inspirational Card Sketches challenge last week, so I have some goodies on the way

Yesterday I met up with an online friend Denyze, who only lives just down the road from me and we went and did a bit of crafty shopping at a treasure trove of a place she had found. It was inside a really scruffy indoor market in Erdington, you sort of navigate around stalls full of junk, then there is this really big craft stall selling all the latest products. Needless to say, we browsed around for a couple of hours, before having a bacon butty, it was a really fun day and we have arranged another meet-up next week

All the moaning about the hot weather has worked, it is now at least 20 degrees cooler here, in fact it's freezing cold. Back to the sweaters. Oh, and you will need a brolly too, the English summer rain is back - yesterday it was like a monsoon.

Fairy Fabric Cards

I'd forgotten I had this really pretty fabric with little fairies on it, I haven't a clue where I got it from, or who made it. Anyway, two card later, both with a lot of bling. I swiped the back of the fabric with a glue stick and stuck it on to plain white card, then when it was dry, cut the images out. I really like the look of fabric images on cards, you get a texture that looks a bit 'different'. I ran a panel through the cuttlebug, using the paisley swirls folder and white core cardstock, then ran a nail file over the surface to highlight the embossing. The sentiment is from Great Impressions.

Look at this adorable little fairy baby, isn't she sweet? The border on this was done with a martha stewart punch, double scallop, and the sentiment is a clear studio G acrylic. I added some gems and a few drops of stickles to the flower centres.

If you want to try your hand at using fabric images on cards, look for fabric that has clear, well defined images with a space on the fabric between images, if they overlap it's really tricky to find a workable image. The added bonus of course is that you don't have to do any colouring.

I am just about to start the task of sorting out who has won the blog candy, bear with me, it's a bit of a mammoth task. I will post the winner later when the official adjudicator (Mike) and I have sorted it

Bathtime Card for Daring Cardmakers

Another Loralie fabric card today, these bathtime images are such fun. I added a few gems, the black border is one of the roll on ones that daisy-D makes. She does look as though that bath is a bit small for her though! The dare over on DCM this week is Wet Wet Wet, so this fits in nicely - well you can't get much more wet than in the bath, and she looks as if she is going to be stuck in there for a while. for instructions on using fabric on cards, scroll down to labels, then click on fabric cards. Ooops, if you commented and don't see your comment on this post, I am so sorry, I clicked the wrong button and wiped out 10 comments.

Another reminder for you to get over sharpish to the brand new, all singing, all dancing PolkaDoodle blog and enter your name in the comments box for that yummy blog candy.

I have come down with the mother and father of a head cold, obviously another 'plane' germ, I seem to get one every time I fly these days despite using that airborne stuff that's supposed to stop all germs. It could be worse, there were loads of people around the airports wearing masks, although some of them hadn't quite got the hang of it and were wearing them slung around their chins.....

Bathtime Fabric

I found some more fabric called bath time again by Loralie. Go to labels, fabric cards to see how I prepare the fabric for my cards. For this one I ran a piece of vellum through the cuttlebug using the tiny bubbles folder, it came out all frosted on the reverse side which I loved, so this was the side I used for the card. The sentiment is by MFT stamps (time for the bubbly set). I added a few rain drops and a couple of gems.
Yesterday we watched as the last space shuttle streaked across the sky, we have seen a few shuttles since we have been here, the most spectacular being a night time launch a couple of years ago. I was once with my friend Barbara by the pool here as we watched the shuttle on it's journey into space, Barbara and I whooped, clapped and hollered and all the Americans watched us in amazement. What a fantastic feat the space programme is, not just for America, but for mankind.

Friendship Card

Yes, it's that fabric again. Well, if I get an idea, I always flog it to death. I have just bought some more as well, so it will be never-ending. So these lovely ladies are by Loralie, the fabric is called Gone Shopping, and I got it off ebay. I stuck them on at an angle because they looked a bit more jaunty that way. The green spotty paper is making memories.

I met up with a new friend yesterday, Net, who is on the cute Daisy May design team with me, and holidaying in Florida. We met at a scrapbook store, where we rummaged like a couple of maniacs, then went to a nearby plaza for some lunch. There was a cafe place with tables outside so we plonked ourselves down and started to read the menu. It dawned quite quickly that it was vegetarian, fine, we had no problem with that....................caffix. Have you ever heard of caffix? No me neither/coffee substitute of roasted barley, rye, chicory and beet roots. Right, so coffee's off then. Turning to the front of the menu we saw that they were committed to serving meals to feed the body and soul. Okay, it's actually my tummy that needs some ballast, we can forget the soul for now. It seems that the restaurant is inspired by their meditation teacher who is a dreamer of world-oneness (?????), musician, poet, artist and world famous athlete. However does he find the time?

At this point along came a very pleasant woman dressed in a strange orange outfit, who informed us that the soup was green. Green what? We didn't wait to find out, slunk away into the Pizza place next door where they didn't even offer to feed our souls, but served some very good ravioli.

'Say Charge' Shopping card for Inspirational Card sketches

I made this one for the ICS challenge this week, I copied their sketch but it has got lost somewhere in my computer, so you will have to pop over there to see........

I wasn't going to post another fabric card for a while, thought you would all be sick of them, but I have had so many emails saying 'more please' that I thought you would be able to tolerate one more. Loralie fabric as before, the 'say charge' sentiment is from the set of that name by MFT, papers are Making Memories, flowers Prima, gems from poundland UK, and my favourite pointed label die is by Go-kreate, embossed with distressed stripes embossing folder.

Funky Fabric

here's another card made with my ebay find, fabric by Loralie called 'gone shopping'. I used the same method as before, swipe the back of the fabric with a glue stick, stick to white cardstock and smooth with a bone folder. Dry overnight then cut out. The border punch is lattice arch by Martha Stewart, and the flowers are Poppicraft.

I have everything ready to go to my crop, how clever of me to condense it into about 10 bags, by the time I unload, it will be time to come home again :) I fell asleep in the sun yesterday by the pool, having applied super high factor sunscreen all over me first - well all over except for my forehead, which I missed, I have a fringe, Big mistake, massive....... I look like a biker chick wearing a bright red bandanna on my head, except it's just my glowing forehead. They could stand me on top of a cliff in an emergency and I would make a very good temporary lighthouse.

Happy Birthday to my Purr-fect Friend

Another fabric card, I am loving these and having fun coming up with sentiments as well. All the how to do it instructions are under the label fabric cards. The paper is by making memories and the sentiment was done on the computer.

Speaking of purr-fect friends, my BFF Anne has a milestone birthday today back in the UK. Happy happy birthday Anne xxx

What's this? shhhh, it's a secret, all will be revealed on Create and Craft TV in the UK on April 27th. Yes, it's the release date for the new Funky Hand CD, and let me tell you, the papers are just gorgeous.

Fabric Card

I did an online search for fabrics, now that I am in the mood for using fabric on my cards and found this, again by Loralie, called Gone Shopping. It is full of the cutest girlie images, and I have had this stamp by Inkadinkadoo hanging around for ages, seemed perfect for this image - she certainly looks as if she would never have time to write a diary. As a matter of fact, I used to keep a diary, gave it up when I was about sixteen. Hmm, read the sentiment and wonder............

For a 'how to' instruction on using fabric, scroll down to labels and click on fabric cards, I tell you how to do it there.

Happy Birthday Glamour Puss

Now for something different - not a bird in sight. This fabulous cat image is a fabric that my very talented friend Phyllis found - she always manages to spot really neat things. The fabric is WildCat Woman by Loralie. It's simple to use fabric on cards, cut roughly around your cat image, then swipe all over the back with a glue stick, I use the really strong embellishment glue. Stick the fabric onto cardstock, and taking a spatula or craft stick (I use the triangular thingie that comes in the cricut tool kit), smooth all the wrinkles out of the fabric. Leave to dry for at least 4 hours, preferably longer, that way you get a really good bond and the edges don't fray. When dry, cut out the image with a pair of sharp scissors, and use as you would any other image on a card. The paper is by Making Memories, and the sentiment was done on the computer. I added a bit of bling.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Day, don't overdose on the choccy. Me? I am still itching. Could I be allergic to chocolate? No, I'll stop eating something sensible like tomatoes for a day or two, see if that makes a difference, that way I can still bite the heads off the bunnies.