Summer in Venice 3

Here's the third card I made with the stamp - now you can scroll down and tell me which card is your favourite... for this one I made a pretty label, more of that later

and this one is the only one I coloured, with ProMarkers,  I used very neutral tones, to me she looks like the type of lady who would always wear soft restrained colours and look totally fabulous. I would dress like this every day if I could, but washing the kitchen floor and getting inky would make me look a bit silly - I can imagine the look on the postman's face if I answered the door in this get-up! I was imagining her going to a fabulous Venetian wedding, or maybe to a rendezvous with her lover.....sigh. There's quite a lot of embossing on the base card, not showing up very well in the photo

I was playing around with punches to make some pretty sentiment labels.....

I just cut strips of cardstock, and inserted one end into one of those corner Martha Stewart punches.....

This strip was a bit wider, but not a problem....

I just snipped off the corner, following the curve.....

an ended up with this. I did use a regular long punch on a couple of them, it works just fine as long as you turn the punch over and position the card very exactly before punching - the one on todays card was made with a long punch, you can see the little notches on the ends, but I quite like that look

That's it for today, I'll be back home tomorrow, probably with a couple of Max and Milo tales to tell, see you then x

Summer in Venice 2

 Here's Summer in Venice 2 - that sounds a bit like the sequel to a film from the Cannes Film Festival! Not at all, just a card made with the same Penny Black stamp as yesterday.......

For this one, I made a background by sponging a panel with distress inks, blending the lines together, then I just stamped the image over that. I love this effect. The sentiment is a stamp by Katysue Designs, and I coloured some white seam binding from The Ribbon Girl with the same distress inks for a bow. The broken line background stamp is by Hero Arts, and the taupe background paper is from the Tea Dance collection by Craftwork Cards

Thanks for all the good wishes about my tooth (or rather, my late lamented tooth and the trouble it caused). I am finally feeling fine again now. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my last elegant lady x

Venice in Summer....

I found this unused Penny Black stamp called Ventian Summer in my drawer, once stamped, I was in love, so expect a couple of cards this week using this, hopefully all looking a bit different. I used papers from Craftwork Cards Paper Floristry and Tea Dance for this one....

and the stamp has very little colouring. I just shaded the buildings a tiny bit with grey and added a slash of red lipstick and a wash of colour on the water. Her clothes were paper pieced. I love how elegant she looks

We are off to London to do a couple of days baby sitting - Max and Milo will be in school, so apart from the mad morning rush and the chaos of after school, it should be a quiet sort of visit

You will have seen my post about the Letraset design team call, if you love colouring, I urge you to have a try, they are a lovely company to work with

See you tomorrow with another elegant lady x

Poppies

First of all, here's the first little animal I made with my Peachy Keen face stamps. Cute? There are a lot more, and the card I made with this little dog on today's Scrappy-go-Lucky post. Pop over there to see what you think, and don't forget that the stamps are now available in the UK store

Here's a card that I am entering for three challenges, that's unheard of for me.

First of all, Daring Cardmakers asked for Poppies or Gladioli

Penny Black have an open challenge this week

and Allsorts specified the colour red

This is one of my favourite Penny Black stamps, called simply 'Poppies' I have used it over and over. I ran the red piece through the cuttlebug using the vine and birds folder, added some raffia ribbon and a fancy button threaded with black organza ribbon. The sentiment is by Craftwork Cards

I have been making a start on Christmas cards - I know, quite ridiculous in August. Mind you, the weather was right for it, I was freezing yesterday and had to dig out a winter sweater. Between the weather, the economy and rioting thugs.........I could write reams about these destructive thieves, but you don't come here for that, so I'll button up and seethe quietly to myself, as a proud UK citizen, about the lack of respect for people and property being demonstrated, with no evidence of a shred of human decency. What are we coming to? I feel really sad........I better go and have a coffee and find someone who will make me laugh

See you tomorrow

Grandad Card

Here's another Papercraft Inspirations card. The stamp is by Penny Black, cardstock is core-dinations, and I forgot to make a note of the Promarker colours I used - slap wrists.... I just cut two narrow slivers of the blue card and stuck them down each side of the green layer, the 'brads' are card candy from Craftwork Cards.

We had our daughter-in-law Annabel visiting last week with Kiki and Monty. It was such a joy to spend time with them. We headed down to Bicester Village one day - a very upmarket outlet mall, selling serious designer stuff - Jimmy Choo, Vivienne Westwood, Mulberry, Dior - you get the picture. Even at outlet prices you can only gasp at the price tags. So we were browsing in L'Occitane (selling soaps, body lotions and so on), sniffing the samples and comparing the different scents.

'Can I help you?' asked an assistant

Before we could answer, Kiki (age 6) turned to her and said in a very gracious way

'We're not buying, we're only smelling'

That kid is a trip!

Penny Black Challenge

I just found time to do this week's Penny Black challenge. The textured blue card base is Bazzill, the other papers are from We R Memory Keepers. The sentiment is by MFT, and the 'brads' are card candy by Craftwork Cards

Here is the sketch I followed

I am still experimmenting with the Wall Decor cartridge, here's another one................

I love layering borders, this one is by E K Success, punched in shell, black, and shell again

I have been hampered a bit this week in my cardmaking by the fact that it is just so hot in the garage where all my stuff is, but I have had to get on with it as I have a few deadlines to meet. I come up for air, gasping and in need of a cold shower every ten minutes or so. Makes it rather slow going......
See you tomorrow

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

I haven't done the Penny Black challenge for the longest time, but I am loving this sketch (see below)

This is another stamp that I totally forgot I had, I really must have a good sort out one of these days

These papers by WeR Memory Keepers are among my favourites, so bright and cheerful

Papers - WeR Memory Keepers 'over the rainbow'

Stamp - PB 'Gone Shopping'

Sentiment stamp - hero arts

Nesties - mega curved rectangle, and scalloped oval

Copics - face E00, E02, RV13

Hair Y13

Dress and Bags YG23, YG 13, RV06, B93

Shadow - Prismacolour cool grey 10%

I have started putting the numbers of the Copic markers I use down, I don't know if it will help anybody. I have more emails about Copics than anything else. I am no expert - I would love to do a Copic course, and you will see that I have supplemented the markers with some Prismacolour markers that you can buy in Michaels, so when they are on sale, I stock up - I use the cool grey 10% all the time to add a shadow around a stamped image. They are alcohol based inks as well, so work perfectly well with the Copics. I have a mixture of sketch (the oval ones) and Ciao (round), the Ciao are cheaper, they don't hold as much ink, but they are both refillable and have the same nibs. I prefer the sketch, only because they have the number stamped on the cap, so it saves a lot of rummaging for colours. I am going to try Promarkers to build up my colours as well, they are more reasonable and seem to give lovely results.
If you are just starting off down the Copic road, my best advice would be to look online for the best deals, and buy shades that look pastel to start with, you can get a depth of colour by going over the colour you lay down first with the same marker, to add shadows.
Another question I get asked is how I store them. I have a round kitchen utensil holder from The Pampered Chef, it's on a turntable so just swivels round, and has compartments so that I can keep each colour family together. If I remember, I will take a photo of it tomorrow......

Seriously fed up with the white stuff now, I went to the dentist yesterday. 'Oh my' he said, as I rolled in like the michelin man, 'you are well wrapped up against the cold'. Honestly, it took me more time to take off enough layers to sit in the chair, than it took him to scale and polish my teeth.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

On Penny Black this week, the challenge was a sketch, the design team samples were just lovely, so I had to join in

Mine is a really simple take on the sketch, I have gone into overdrive with my favourite tartans though

Before you look at the next photo, I have to tell you that it is only in the little creative bubble that I inhabit that I am such a slob, my house is very clean and tidy. However, when I get out there into that garage, stuff gets hurled to the floor, drawers get left open, it is frankly, chaotic. Every couple of days I have a major tidy up, which usually involves finding an element/stamped image/ that I searched for in vain the previous day. New year resolution maybe..........I have a feeling it may last until January 5th before I start hurling again.

Birthday Hugs for Penny Black Challenge

I enjoyed doing this one - the challenge on the Penny Black challenge this week was to use red white and blue. I used this sweet little dog stamp that I forgot I had. The scallop squares were cut with the cricut - storybook cartridge, and the glittery red background paper is from the DCWV citrus stack

The dark blue cardstock was white core, so I distressed it at the edges with a nail file. I found the blue button which has been hanging around for ages, and added the ribbon
I inked the edges of the white scallop square in red. I don't know who made the epoxy letter stickers, again, they were hiding in the bottom of a drawer, but I really like them

I hope all my American friends are having a wonderful 4th of July

Penny Black Card

This is a new Penny Black image I just got, isn't it the cutest little elephant? The embossed frame and the paper is by Craftwork Cards, and the sentiment is Hero Arts. The scalloped border is a MS punch, and the plain and scalloped ovals are by Go-Kreate

This weekend has been a whirlwind of feeding the ducks in the park, playing on the swings and doing other grandmotherly type activities. Kiki was so good, very funny though. She marched around the bedrooms, telling us very graciously 'you can sleep there, in that bed, if you like'. She is definitely the boss of the house when she is here.

Doodling for Penny Black Challenge

Over on the Penny Black challenge blog, they asked us to doodle, just up my street, I love doodling and sometimes think that all those doodles I did all over my maths book at school, although it never helped me pass my maths exams, was good practice for cardmaking. The papers are 'whiteout nonsense' by We R Memory Keepers. You will notice another scallop card, you are going to see a lot of those, as I bought a huge pack at the NEC, I inked the edges pretty heavily, and added a few swirly thingies from Sandylion. The hedgie was coloured with copics.

Penny Black Challenge

Another sketch, this time for the Penny Black challenge this week, I reckon I will be one of the first past the post this week - I just happened to have the image already stamped, coloured and cut out, the flowers were diecuts and the lacy border was just sitting around waiting to be used. I added pale pink liquid pearls to the centres of the flowers, they look like huge blobs in the photo, they are quite dainty in real life - you will have to trust me on this.

Penny Black Birthday Card

Got to love this ridiculously indulgent cat and his cute mouse friend in this Penny Black stamp. I added a load of dew drops (by Robins Nest) randomly to look like bubbles. Coloured with Copic markers, I left the design really simple as the stamp is such a busy little image.


It's Pancake Day here in the UK tomorrow - yes it really does exist. The pancakes we eat are similar to the French crepes rather than the more substantial ones in the USA, we eat them with lemon juice and sugar, and jolly delicious they are too. Very more-ish. There are all sorts of ancient customs and traditions as well, some towns have pancake races (no the pancakes don't run, the contestants run holding a pan with a pancake, tossing it as they go). There are probably pancake gluttony contests somewhere as well, now I could be a winner if I entered that one.

Penny Black Challenge

This is the sketch for this week's Penny Black Challenge, you will see that I turned it on it's head...........

The image is one I got in a swap from my Funky Hand team mate Kath, who also happens to be on the design team for the Penny Black challenge site, so lots of PB to play with. Thanks Kath!

When I first made this, I put a black ribbon on the side, it looked so funereal I changed it for the lilac gingham and at least the person receiving it won't be depressed for days. I will probably add a sentiment circle - get well maybe. The stamped image and pale lilac mat were cut using my fabulous nesting frames from Go-Kreate.

Thank You Card for 2Sketches4You

I followed Laura's great sketch on 2 Sketches 4U for this one - it was not the card I intended to make, I may have another try later in the week, but I had a need to make something sunshiny to cheer me - see why in a minute! The image is one that my Funky Hand team mate Kath sent me (we recently did a design team image swap, so I have all sorts of fabby new images to play with). This is by Penny Black. The papers are Martha Stewart, as is the punched border, flowers are primas. I stickled the flower centres, and put diamond glaze on the balloon. The photo colour is a bit off, because by the time I took it, all light had faded, I can never get a good photo using flash.

So why do I need sunshine in my life? Well, our three year old boiler has packed up, and it's cold. We waited all day yesterday for a chap who didn't bother to turn up, found another guy who showed up today. He took one look and did that sharp intake of breath thing that workmen do - you know the one, they purse their lips, suck in a big breath, shaking their heads sorrowfully at the same time. I often wonder if it's part of their training, monday morning lectures - 9-10am safety guidelines when fitting new boilers, 10-11am safe disposal of old boilers, 11am-12noon group session on effectively taking a sharp intake of breath whilst shaking head. Anyway, he fixed the old one, went on his way wishing us a cheery farewell, and I took off four of the five sweaters I had been wearing to keep warm. As the house started to heat, so did the boiler, which suddenly made a huge bang and died. Yes folks, it's new boiler time again, huge expense that we hadn't bargained on, but hey, we need heat. Have you ever tried making cards wearing 5 sweaters, a fleece jacket and hugging a hot water bottle? No? Go on, I challenge you.........

Penny Black Frogs

This cute stamp is by Penny Black, as it's a 'busy' little image I kept the card quite simple, and immediately thought of this sentiment stamp that I have had for ages. The frogs were coloured with prisma pencils and a goo gone pen, and a layer of glossy accents to add shine. The background was cuttlebugged with swiss dots.

So we saw the doctor today, and have the all clear to fly home. Small problem, the airline said they couldn't fly us back (without a huge price hike) until, wait for it, December 25th. So I put on my well rehearsed wobbly 'oh no I'm going to burst into tears' voice, that I have perfected over the past ten days, and they relented and gave us a flight for next tuesday. Which brings me to the next little episode of having to unpack all my carefully stowed crafty stuff again, well, I can't sit around and do nothing for a week can I?

Happy Birthday

I do love Penny Black stamps, they are always such fun to colour. I played with my prismacolour pencils, and the sentiment stamp is one I got free from a magazine.

My mojo has gone missing, has anybody seen it? I have some magazine commissions to do, and a deadline to meet and I have just wasted a whole evening messing around with a card that is just not good enough. I tidied my scrap area so that tomorrow everything will be tidy and nice for me to start work, I'll let you know how it goes. Lots of you have asked me how magazine designing works, do I just make the cards and send them in? The answer to that is a definite no. You are given very specific guidelines on what they want, it has to fit in with the whole issue, supplies have to be current and available, and you write the text as well, including a list of materials used and suppliers, plus of course deadlines to meet. My goal is to give every card a 'I would never have thought of that' reaction from the readers. It's fun, challenging and very rewarding to see your work in print. My deadlines are shortened by a week when I am in the USA to allow for the airmail times. So with all this going on, there may be just a slight hiccup in my 'christmas card of the day' project.

Penny Black - Mouse Card

I just bought this stamp, and love the little mouse having a bath in the cat's dish. I coloured with prismacolour pencils and a goo gone pen. The papers are from a pad by Making Memories. Dew drops by Robins Nest, available from Cropstop. The sentiment is a stamp by Great Impressions, and the border is the two hole scallop by Martha Stewart.

Male Birthday

A male birthday card today, this is for the Penny Black Challenge Site, a sketch this week. Better late than never, they issue the next challenge tomorrow, I may have the distinction of being last to do this challenge. I love sketches, and keep a portfolio of them on the computer. If I am short of inspiration, I pull them up and can always find a card layout to follow. The stamp is, of course, Penny Black, and the papers are by American Craft. The little metal dots were a Big Lots find, and the sentiment stamp is by Hero Arts. Colouring was done with prismacolour pencils and goo gone. Oops, the striped paper looks crooked in the photo, it isn't in real life, how strange..........

So I am fast becoming an expert on the flora and fauna of Florida. Thanks to all of you who contacted me to tell me that the black and orange caterpillars will turn into tiger moths, and that the caterpillars STING. The upside is that the spray seems to have worked and there isn't a sign of them. I am also relieved that I am not depriving the world of a beautiful butterfly.

Penny Black Lambs - Just for Ewe

The challenge on the Penny Black challenge site this week is the farmyard, I have some cute cow stamps by them, but went for these little sheep. I do like the aqua and red colours, which were dictated by the little panel of pattern paper. The words were computer generated, and the red background was embossed with the swiss dots folder.
At last the weather is glorious here, it's so nice to feel warm and to have a coffee in the open air watching the world go by. Mind you, they forecast rain tomorrow!