A bit of this and a bit of that.....

Here's a card I made for the Craftwork Cards blog using their lovely Candi bloom stamps, I added lots of gems and embossed the image in bronze embossing powder so it looks nice and glittery in real life... to see the other cards I made for them, go HERE

Here's some new photos of my pride and joy, the grandchildren. I haven't seen Kiki and Monty for a few weeks, but they sent me these photos and are coming to stay for a few days in a couple of weeks. Here is Kiki in the park......

and Monty has decided he is Peter Pan.......

Then we went for Sunday lunch to see Max and Milo who both have birthdays this week. For some reason Milo decided that his dressing gown was a cozy thing to wear - mid afternoon!

and here is Max, having one of his profound conversations with me, and showing off his new gappy teeth - yes, the tooth fairy is on red alert......

See you tomorrow x

A Pretty Box, and win a Limited Edition set of Promarkers...

It's my turn to post over at the Letraset blog today, here's a peek at what I did, go HERE to see what it's all about

Now I have a set of the new Limited Edition Spring/Summer Promarkers to give away to someone. All you have to do is leave a comment over on the Letraset blog under my post, then pop back here to leave your name. You can enter wherever you are in the world, and the winner will be drawn on Friday 17th May. You will get twelve ProMarkers, and a blender pen in the set. Gorgeous colours too....

Heatwave 

SandDune

Starfish

Pineapple Crush

Green Shoot

Oasis

Rock Pool

Capri Blue

Reef Blue

Spring Lilac

Peony

and

Fresh Bloom

So good luck and thanks for dropping by x

4th Birthday Cards

 I saw a box that had been made to look like a lego cube - I can't remember where so I can't credit the genius who thought of it - and thought it was such a good idea it would make a great birthday card for my two little darlings who both have their fourth birthdays soon. I used a 1 1/4" square punch and a small round punch to make the lego tiles.....

I had a couple of people ask me about the embossing folder I used for the candle card I showed yesterday, it's a Cuttlebug folder from a cut and emboss set called, I think, Birthday Wish. I did a quick google search, and you can still find it on Amazon and various craft suppliers

A miracle happened yesterday, it was HOT, not warm, but really hot here in Solihull, nice enough to sit in the garden with a cold drink and a good book. Bliss. Apparently we have more of the same tomorrow before a sudden plunge in temperature on Wednesday sends us all shivering back to the winter woolies. I am enjoying Summer whilst it lasts!

Thanks for dropping by, see you tomorrow x 

Embossed Candles...

Now that I am in an embossing sort of mood, I can't put the folders away, typical of me, I don't use stuff for ages, then rediscover them and go a bit overboard. This row of embossed candles is another folder that I have never used. I embossed the candles onto vellum, and just coloured the flames lightly in pale yellow. I needed to stick the cut out panel onto the card, always tricky with vellum, so I used some foam pads, then covered that with a ribbon that has the sentiment stamped directly onto it......

I think Max has been having etiquette lessons. I usually have a very hasty little phone chat with him if I am lucky, but yesterday when asked to come and talk to me he said 'how are you, very nice to meet you' - the extreme politeness then disintegrated a bit while he chattered on about how the tooth fairy had forgotten to collect his tooth, then I had a very formal 'goodbye, it was very nice to talk to you today'. The whole elegant conversation was marred a little bit by the sound of three year old Milo yelling in the background 'I don't want to talk to Ma, I want to play in the garden....' Ah well, you win one, you lose one..

See you tomorrow when I'll show you the little boys birthday cards, they are turning out rather cute.....      

Flower Wreath Card

They've done it again - another clever idea from Craftwork Cards. These flowers are embossed onto a square of beautiful white card that fits perfectly onto the front of a 6 x 6 card base which seems to be my default size.....

I used some of their die cut flowers, just rolled and shaped them a bit, and added a sentiment label to the center.....I coloured all the flowers and dots quickly with a buttercup promarker before sticking on the flowers...

and used candi dotted here and there, adding a gem to the center of some of them. I like the overall effect, nice and cheerful

 I seem to be turning into one of those people who is constantly talking about the weather, but........today was sunny first thing, gorgeous blue skies, but sweater weather rather than tee shirts. Obviously a couple of people looked out of the window, shouted YIPEE at the sight of the sun, and dressed without just popping their heads out of the window to feel the temperature. So there I was, in my cozy sweater sipping my coffee next to a woman who thought she was in the Caribbean. Strapless floaty maxi dress and flip flops, the sort of thing you would wear as a beach cover up in a smart resort. Not even a cardigan - 'she'll catch her death in that'  was my first thought. My second thought was that I am turning into my mother....

See you tomorrow x

Candi Flower

Here's the finished candi flower card. I used papers from the tiny prints set, also by Craftwork Cards (I love gingham). The sentiment stamps are bold and gorgeous - I cut mine, so that I now have effectively three sentiments - celebrate, in style, and celebrate in style.......I used an aniseed flexmarker to colour the leaves and little dots, and added just a few tiny gold beads

the butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch....

Going back to gingham - I have no idea why I love it so much, and always did, even as a child. When I dabbled in dressmaking in my teens in a desperate effort to extend my wardrobe, I seem to remember pink ginham - I think I wanted to look like Doris Day. (Younger readers, go and google ). I have had gingham curtains, cushions.....but these days, I get my gingham fix from pretty papers. Don't even get me started on polka dots, I could bore for Britain on that subject. So spots, dots, stripes and  checks  are all firm favourites. What patterns do you return to time after time?

See you tomorrow x 

Embossed flowers....

I've been messing around with those border embossing folders again, sorry about the rather badly cropped photo - I was so focused on getting the embossing to show clearly that I didn't notice that I had cut the top of the card out completely, still, you get the gist......

and here is what else I have been doing today, these new flower stamps are by Craftwork Cards, and are designed to take the card candi - I am sure everyone who comes here regularly know what candi is, but just in case, they are clever little domed discs of cardstock in every colour and pattern you could possible want, they take the place of brads, much easier, and very very reasonably priced so you save pennies as well as time

 I'll show you the card I made when I finish it tomorrow...

Has spring sprung in your little corner of the world yet? Here in the UK it remains a little bit on the chilly side, bright sunshine but cold enough for a couple of hail storms! Last week I saw a desperate sight, a guy of advancing years wearing rather short shorts (which his wife should have smuggled out of his wardrobe years ago), sandals and that great fashion faux pas, beloved of some Brits - grey socks. Having a keen sense of the ridiculous, I did have a secret little smile at the stupidity of his appearance, and I must admit, when it suddenly started to hail, I laughed out loud....it was so funny to see his wife trailing behind him, trying to pretend she wasn't with him....ah, men!

Embossing borders....

 When I was having a much needed tidy up of my craft stuff I found some of those narrow embossing folders, the ones that make borders. I have loads of them, and realized that I have never used one. So, I am making a resolution to use some of the stuff that I have and made a couple of cards. The first one uses a star border - I embossed it three times, and cut into strips, then mounted it onto a navy panel. The stars were cut from the George cartridge on my Cricut, and the sentiment is a Studio G wood mounted dollar stamp.....

While I had all the red white and navy stuff out, I made this next card for Max, who will be six next month. His bedroom is decorated in these colours, and he loves things that match! I used a numbers border strip, and highlighted the six with a silhouette circle, also from George....... The red panel was the negative from the superstar card above, I just stuck it onto the navy background, then cut some slightly smaller white stars and popped them on with foam pads....

So I feel virtuous, using up scraps, using unloved supplies...is this a new trend? Maybe I will try the exercise again soon

Three year old Milo was waiting with his mum for Max to finish his mini rugby class - 'I want to go home' he cried 'my legs are getting bored'

See you tomorrow x

Marker winners and a tag book.....

Thanks to all of you who put your name into the hat for the limited edition ProMarkers. I used random.org to draw the winner who is

CARDCHICK'S WORLD 

Congrats, send me an email and I will get the markers in the mail to you

Now the original winner of the neutral flexmarkers has not been in touch, so I did another draw, and the name that came out was

UTA

Congrats again, send me your details

Now if either of these winners haven't contacted me by seven days, the prizes will be redrawn, I think that's fair, don't you?

Here is a sneak peek at a scrapbook project I did for Papercraft Inspirations magazine this month - a heritage tag book. The magazine is on sale now in the UK, 1st May in the USA

I made this commission while I was in Florida, and didn't have any family photos with me, so I had to 'borrow' some ancestors from a friend in my craft group - thanks Bev

Those of you who visit me regularly know that my life seldom goes exactly to plan. So my day of lounging around with a good book and chocolates? Didn't happen. As the painter was (finally) packing up all his stuff after almost a month of work here, he dropped a heavy tool box on the newly laid floor in the hall. It made quite a dent, so today, we have the floor guy back again......sigh. Still at least the painter has finished, nice guy, but I have heard so much about wife number one, wife number two, long-term significant other, and a current crush on some woman from a jive group, I could write these people's biographies...in fact, I could tell you a tale or two, but as they are not my tales to tell, I will have to keep silent - a model of discretion..... 

New Baby Cards

Here's a couple of new baby card made for a past issue of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. This first one has a large letter B cut from the Plantin Schoolbook cricut cartridge, gingham cardstock is by Kanban, and the sentiment is by Stampin Up. I made the baby out of a nestability oval and a small punched circle. I drew the face with a fine tip pen.......

This second one was made with an embossed frame from Craftwork Cards, that I folded in half and backed with pattern cardtstock to form the base card. The pram was done with a nestability circle with a quarter cut away, more punched circles made the wheels

When I was at the trade show at the NEC, Letraset had commercial display stands to hold the markers. I remarked (in pleading tones) that one of those would be PERFECT for my desk....well, back at the office they found two redundant units that needed a bit of glueing and repairing, and just look what I have now.......

It is big enough to hold all my ProMarkers and Flexmarkers (I have the full sets of both), with some spaces left over, and sits on a turntable so it spins around........it is actually two units stacked one on top of another, but just one unit would hold the whole ProMarker collection......I find it incredibly useful, I can see all the colours at a glance and everything has a place

Now I would love to hear what you think of this storage - would you love something like this to hold your markers? Would you put this on your wish list? Would you prefer a spinning unit or a stackable unit? All your comments will be forwarded to Letraset - they value customer ideas for storage. If you are looking to add to your collection, they have a special offer over on the Letraset site at the moment,  buy three ProMarkers or Flexmarkers, and get the fourth free. Click the link on the sidebar to take you to the site

The decorator finally finishes today after three weeks of work here. You are probably thinking that I will be rushing around tomorrow with my rubber gloves and feather duster, putting the house back together again. No, I think I will be on the sofa, with my feet up and a good book, maybe a celebration chocolate or two, just relishing the peace and quiet.  Bliss!

More winners....

Happy Monday everyone. I totally forgot to draw the winner of the Craftwork Cards bundle on Wednesday - the number that came out of the random number generator was

SandraH

Congrats Sandra, email me with your details and I will get your package in the post to you

The winner of the Neutral flexmarkers (Kraftychick) has not claimed her prize, she doesn't have a blog so I have no way of getting in touch with her. If she doesn't get in touch by Wednesday evening, I will draw another winner from all those who left a comment on that post

On to today's card, I have had this stamp for ages and never used it, it cried out for a bit of paper piecing - I used the Stonewash paper stack by The Paper Studio which I got from Hobby Lobby. I added a few button brads and a bit of stitching - I like stitching on men's cards, it adds an extra touch without being flowery or glittery! 

The stamp is called Gent's waistcoat, and is by Funstamps, a UK company - I know someone will want to know the make, and I can't tell you the hassle I had - considering I only used the stamp yesterday you wouldn't think that it could vanish. Nowhere to be seen, I turned my space upside down. I eventually found it lurking behind the door. The search confirmed a few things:

I am a very messy worker
I have far too much stuff
Behind the door needs to be dusted occasionally 

We had a glorious day on Saturday, sunny and really quite warm - not warm enough to warrant shorts and flip flops, but warm enough to sit outside and enjoy it. I decided to power wash the patio, a job I love doing, it's so satisfying seeing all that winter grime lift right off. It does mean that I needed a long shower afterwards -  and managed to get every single item of clothing I was wearing both filthy and soaking wet - never mind, at least the patio was clean, even if I wasn't

See you tomorrow x

Limited Edition Promarkers.....LOOK!

Here's one of the cards I made for my Letraset post this week - it's all about 'grounding' your images...... the little boy image, papers, and ticket sentiment are all  from the Pretty Tuff CD by Polkadoodles

and I have a treat to offer you, a pack of the brand new Spring/Summer limited edition markers. You will get twelve ProMarkers and the colours are just lovely:

Heatwave 

SandDune

Starfish

Pineapple Crush

Green Shoot

Oasis

Rock Pool

Capri Blue

Reef Blue

Spring Lilac

Peony

and

Fresh Bloom

 

All you have to do is pop over to the Letraset blog and leave a quick comment on my post, then hop over here to tell me your details. It would be really nice, if you have a blog, if you could mention the giveaway with a link - make sure I can identify you if your name comes up in the random draw - especially if you don't have a blog where I can find you. Once you have done both comments, you will be in the draw. I will do that on Wednesday 24th April.Good luck, and thanks to Letraset for their generosity

This post is short, no chance to chat as our internet connection keeps going down and I need to post this before it gets moody again, but I will be back tomorrow x

Flexmarker winner......

Thanks to all of you who took the time to leave comments on the Letraset blog, but only one winner (until the next time :) and the name that the random number generated is:

Kraftychick (Jackie)

 Congrats Jackie, email me with your address and I will get your markers in the post

On to today's card - one of the few I have made lately, we are still in a state of chaos here with paintcans everywhere, piles of pictures propped against furniture, and dustsheets on all the chairs. I so want my house back, but I am looking forward to that light I can see at the end of the tunnel...

A story behind today's card, a friend of mine from my Florida craft group emailed
me and asked if I could do her a favour. She wanted a sissix die and had been unable to find it in the USA, but had found it on clearance at a store in the UK. They didn't ship to the US, so could I get it and send it on. It was such a bargain price I got one for myself at the same time. Quite funny that a friend in the USA is finding bargains for me to buy here in the UK!

Here's the first card I made with the rather cute telephone.....I think this die will get a lot of use

I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of the Craftwork Cards prize, and a Letraset post (I hope I can get to my desk to produce something!)

See you then x

Shop till you drop....

 It's my turn to post on the Craftwork Cards blog today, they have a delightful new collection called Dolly Mixtures and my post is a mini handbag book made with the Colleen collection. The Scottie dog is perfect, here in the UK we have a range of very desirable handbags made by a company called Radley, and each Radley bag has a tiny leather scottie dog hanging from the handle......

Would you like to win a Craftwork Cards paper pack?......read on......

lots more photos of the pages on the Craftwork Cards blog....

I have a pack of CHERYL 6 x 6 papers to give away, I will add some card candi and other Craftwork Cards goodies for the winner



All you have to do is pop over to the Craftwork Cards blog to leave a quick comment, then pop back here to leave your name. I will mail anywhere in the world, and will pick a random winner next Wednesday - good luck

You know the photos of the pristine kitchen I showed yesterday, not so pristine today, three workmen with puzzled faces trying to sort out a leak underneath the floor (which had to be partially lifted). It turned out to be a leaky connection on the washer hook-up. All sorted now thank goodness, I had to escape for a restorative cup of coffee, I was all kitchened out!

Have a great weekend x

Kitchen is back in action!

After three rather long and busy weeks, the kitchen is finished apart from a few minor details. For those of you who have put up with all my witterings about it, here is the finished room - the oak kitchen units have been painted, and are the only thing left of the original kitchen which has otherwise had a total facelift............the photos make the cabinets look,white, they are a pale cream

I love my damson accent wall............and the canvas prints I found are perfect...the colours were totally influenced by the ivory/biscuit/plum/pink striped linen fabric that I fell in love with....the canvases look a bit wonky, must play around with them......

that long wall needs more pictures........and the rug for the sitting area isn't down yet......

and although the kitchen is more or less finished, we are not straight yet - the hall and stairway is being painted now....

and in case you think I have forgotten all about crafting, here is one that I made for Papercraft Inspirations magazine, the theme was 'drinks with friends'

I did manage to fight my way to my desk today, so I'll be back tomorrow with - at last - new projects!

Masks and Markers - win some Flexmarkers..

It;s my turn to post over on the Letraset blog today, and just in time I found this spare pack of six neutral shade Flexmarkers which I am giving away to one of you.  

To win, you must go over to the Letraset blog and leave a comment, then back here and just leave your name, making sure I can identify you if you win. The winner will be randomly drawn from all the entries on the Letraset blog, in one week, so next Friday, 12th April I can announce the winner  

My post is all about messing about with masks.......

I am having real problems with staying connected to the internet, and as I am home alone with the little ones, nobody to ask, so this is a quick post that I hope will publish. A small boy is at my elbow, madly trying to delay bedtime......'I think Mummy said I could have two treats before bedtime'.....'I don't think so Max, I will have to ask her'.....
'oh well, I am ASSUMING that if we asked her she would say two treats would be fine....'
Where does that child learn to talk like that at the age of five......he is so funny

Clean and Simple

After all the messy stuff yesterday, I was more than ready to try a clean and simple look for this card. I used papers from the new 6 x 6 paper stacks from the Dollies range by Craftwork Cards, love how all the elements came together so effortlessly. The banner strips are all in the stack, and I just hand cut a square and triangle for the house, and punched a heart. Sentiment is a Studio G dollar stamp.......

 I am in Surrey for a couple of days looking after Max and Milo. Max has a burning issue that is causing him a lot of worry (he tells me). He is very worried about getting a job when he is grown up - he just doesn't know where to start looking, and does he have to pay them to work as a scuba diver, or do they pay him? Such a lot of questions - he is only five, so no need to lose sleep over career matters just yet Max, just carry on with the swimming lessons, they may come in useful!



See you tomorrow  with my Letraset post - maybe a giveaway?..... 

What a mess!

 I have been busy with some design team stuff - this is what my desk looked like when I had finished. Time for a tidy up I think.........

So desk clean (ish) I got out the gelli plate that caused so much mirth among my friends when I bought it at the NEC. I know little about this technique, my computer was playing up, so I couldn't search YouTube,  but I vaguely remembered that you put blobs of acrylic paint onto the gelli, so I squeezed generous blobs out...............

What's next? Ah yes, brayer the paint over the gelli plate. Cue: frantic search for a brayer. I know I have one, in fact I have two. One that is kept here in the UK and one that came over from the USA with the rest of my craft stuff. I have turned the house upside down and can't find one of them. I considered using my rolling pin, but on the assumption that, unlikely though it may seem, I may need it for pastry, I decided against that. So I used my fingers. Splodgy green and blue nails, not a good look, but never mind.......Note to self, I think less paint would probably work, and then I wouldn't get horrible blobs of green paint running down off the table onto my jeans......

Then I remembered that you are supposed to press stuff onto the gelli plate, like bubble wrap. Another house-wide hunt, not a scrap to be found, so I made do with the mesh thing that came with the dratted lovely gelli plate......

and the result. A muddy, horrible mess. Will I ever use these horrible artistic backgrounds? No way........

Determined to salvage something I tried again. By this time I had used a whole pack of baby wipes, and the paint had transferred itself to my face as well, or so Mike told me. It must have been when I was scratching my head in confusion....

This time I almost quite liked the result. I used hot pink, orange, and a pearly white Martha Stewart acrylic paint, then pressed a mask into it.  (Why I am giving instructions for this is a mystery, this is one project none of you are going to be interested in reproducing....)

I was determined to salvage something out of this marathon, so here is the card I made. Sorry if the picture is a bit dark, by this time it was so late the rest of the 
UK were all in bed - sensible people......

So the gelli plate has been packed away into a distant cupboard, probably to make friends with the two brayers that must be lurking there. There it will stay until I see some clever person doing something that looks so easy, and if the paint has disappeared from my nails/hair/jeans by then, I will have forgotten the trauma and will dig it out to have another go - if I can remember where I put it!

See you tomorrow x