Blog Party day 1 - Craftwork Cards

Welcome to the party. To thank all my followers and to celebrate reaching 3,000 in number, I'm hosting a week long celebration with lots of giveaways, so be sure to check in every day.....


I remember the first time I heard of Craftwork Cards - it was back in the Spring of 2008 at the NEC craft fair. I was ambling around taking everything in when I saw this stand which looked amazing, and stood transfixed taking everything in - then promptly bought up the lot! One of the things I bought was this candle card blank, and the pretty chocolate and pink foiled papers....I would love these cards to be re-issued, I can think of lots of different modern twists I would make now




and these little owls, I think Sue designed those, and look at the ombre type pearly paper, how ahead of it's time was that, it's a look that is really fashionable in September 2014!



Then in February of 2010 I was asked to join the design team - we were quite a small team back then, my buddy Kath was already there, and Julie of course, and I'm not going to mention the others in case I forget somebody, but it has always been a very friendly design team, and of course the products along the way have been varied and innovative. It's been really interesting trawling back through my archives for photos, here are some of my favourite design team makes, starting with the earliest...  



I seemed to have been on a white black and red kick that year - they did those great chipboard letters......



This was one of my favourite collections, I think it was one that Julie was very proud of as she designed the whole collection.....



and I had a lot of fun with this next card, it was one of my samples for the stand at CHA in LA, the focus was on introducing card candi to America, and I thought a USA flag would fly the flag for the UK. I was lucky enough to visit CHA that January, so saw the Craftwork Cards stand in person, and yes, Sue, Andrew and Julie were surrounded by buyers who were as transfixed with the products as I had been that time back in Birmingham....



I wish I could remember the names of all these favourite past collections, I think this next one was called Moorish....



and tiny little prints.....



and they have always done some brilliant embossed cards and frames....



and who could forget Warren?......



So here is my make for today, a countdown to Christmas chalkboard, using papers from The Magic of Christmas collection, to see the full project, go HERE to leave a comment, and sign up for the newsletter which will give you details of all the latest offers and deals right into your inbox....

Just leave your name under this post, and once you have done all that, you are eligible to win this fabulous prize, the Potting Shed mega bundle, thank you Sue and Julie x

The winner will get 48 8 x 8 double sided Potting Shed papers, 16 die cut toppers, 32 die cut sentiments, 34 die cut plant label messages, card candi and a pack of square kraft cards and envelopes

 All the winners will be drawn on Monday 22nd September and listed on here on Tuesday the 22nd. Good luck

I'll see you tomorrow with another wander down memory lane... x

Simple little thanks..

 Just a quick and easy simple little thank you card from me today, I used a new (to me) Memory Box word die and cut the word out three times from pattern paper, then stuck them together and covered with glossy accents, so it looks almost like enamelled chipboard 

I used a simple little stamp from the Flower garden set by Papertrey Ink, a few little sequins, and voila....

Okay, so the party starts tomorrow. What better day to have a party than Saturday, so dig out your party frocks, there will be a load of prizes over the next week for you to pick up, so stay tuned. I am going to feature, each day, a company I have worked for over the years since the start of this blog, they have all been very generous and given prizes for you to pick up

Since this is a quick post I would really appreciate it if you would pop over to the Letraset blog to leave some encouragement for one of my new team mates Samantha Kingdom, it's her first post over there, she has done a video and her colouring is fantastic, so I'm sure it will be great. She is very nervous, so it would be nice to give her a bit of a virtual hug - thanks 

Right, I'm off to dig out my party hat....see you tomorrow x

Playing with distress inks..

I used a Papertrey Inks background stamp for this one, white heat embossed, then just blended various shades of distress inks over the embossing to create the background

The flowers were also from Papertrey Inks, and I used the same method of colouring them, a blending tool and an ink pad, and I love the result. 

Well, update on the video (I really must stop talking about this, I am raising everyone's expectations!), I finally got the hang of editing. Did a voiceover, got rid of Mickey Mouse, upped the speed a bit so that you didn't all die of boredom watching it..........result. Yeah. Except that it turns out our broadband isn't really up to the job, so now I have a man coming to install fibre optic super-fast stuff, and he can't come until September 30th. What a downer, I was so pleased to have got the hang of editing it, and now I can't upload it to show anyone. Ah well, I will just carry on making a few more. Practice makes perfect. Lights! Camera! Action!

See you tomorrow x

Tulips in September...

I took my Flexmarkers up to the Lakes with me, and when we weren't watching ridiculous films (Lucy, and Into the Storm, save your money), I did a bit of half hearted colouring, but I do like the sunny look of this card...I added some wink of stella clear glitter to the blooms, a pity it doesn't show very well in the photos... 

So what have I been doing this weekend? Making a video that's what. Not that you are going to see it anytime soon. What a performance it is doing the editing thing. I have many moments when I start to say something, then get absorbed in what I am doing, so totally forget to finish the sentence! It makes me sound like a total idiot. So I have to figure out a way of cutting out the original sound and doing a voiceover. I also have to trim it in length, so I figured I would speed up bits of it, forgetting that the sound speeds up as well, so for that bit I sound like Mickey Mouse. I expect at least an Oscar nomination for all this hassle. I hope it gets a bit easier once I have figured out what I am doing. At least the picture was the right way up this time, so that's progress

Still no start date for the blog followers party, I am waiting to hear from a couple of companies, but I am ready to rock and roll when I do - after the video antics this weekend, I could do with a large gin and tonic!

See you tomorrow x 

Snowflakes in September...

 I know some of you may be groaning at the thought of another Christmas card this early, look away now....

Well after Simon Says Stamp sent me the Ornament and Presents stamp set, the least I could do was make a few cards. for this one I used the rather fabulous large Fiskars fuse snowflake, covered with my new favourite glitter called a hint of glitter from Katysue Designs. - it has a wonderful large 'grain' and really glitters, perfect for snow. The silver snowflake circles, little background snowflakes and the sentiment are from the stamp set, and I am loving using regular silver sewing thread.

A new trick of mine is to cut down my 6 x 6 base cards to 6 x 4 1/2", that way I can hang sentiments and elements off the side of the card and they still fit into the envelope, so after years of doing square cards I am enjoying this size at the moment

So I did another stint in the charity shop, apart from clucking at some of the rubbish people donate (why would they do that? Do they have a clear out of old underwear and socks and realize their dustbin is full, so have a lightbulb moment and think 'aha, charity shop.....), there was one amusing moment when a woman came up to me with a top in her hand and said 'have you got this in a size 16' I felt like saying, 'madam, this is not Harrods' but I was very nice and smiled and said nice things. Proud of my restraint...

Our little Max started his new junior school yesterday, growing up fast, and I think a quick lesson was given by Mum on how to tie a grown up tie...I bet he didn't look as tidy as this when she picked him up!

Almost the weekend again. Have a good one, I'll be back tomorrow x

Letraset Giveaway

My turn to do a Letraset post today - here's one of the cards I made, very quick and easy, to see how I did it, go HERE - it would be great if you can leave a comment while you are over there, the generous Letraset team love to read them.....

Then pop back here and leave your name below this post to win the very latest Spring/Summer limited edition Promarkers, you will get twelve pens:
Silver Lining, Praline, Summer Sun, Saddle Brown, Herb Green, Pale Blossom, Molton Red, Chilly Red, Cloud Blue, Verdigris, Ocean Teal (one of the colours on the card shown above) and Cadet Blue

I will pick a random winner when I pick all the other winners for a whole host of prizes that have been offered very generously by different companies I work/or have worked for and are going to be offered in a series of posts starting sometime next week - they are all happy to join me in thanking all my followers for sticking with me over the years. So be sure to come by - I'm not quite organised enough to tell you when the big blog party will start, but it will be one day very soon, so keep your eyes peeled, I'm off to buy the balloons and party poppers....

Stamptember day 2...

Here we go again, another card using this new set called Presents and Ornaments from Simon Says Stamps

this time I decided to make a birthday card - I know it's a Christmas set, but there are all sorts of little elements on there that can be used for other cards, so I used two of the little stitched circle dies, the solid star and some of the presents and bows. I used Stampin Up celery ink, Hero Arts pool, and a Studio G orange chalk ink - note to self, ask Santa for loads of Simon Says Stamp and Hero Arts inks

 the presents have all been given a coat of Wink of Stella clear glitter pen, but of course, that doesn't show in the photo, it looks pretty though

and I'm sharing with you a lovely thank you card that I received from Debbie, she recently won some markers, and this arrived in the mail, isn't it lovely? Thank you so much Debbie x

So there I was in the charity shop, doing some sorting, which basically means opening black sacks of donations and praying before you dive in. Along comes a young fellow who dumped eleven bags on the floor and walked out muttering 'you're welcome to it......'

So I dived in, and there was this treasure trove of designer/high end fashion, all very current, all very expensive, all very immaculate (and unfortunately, not my size). Eleven sacks full! So I have a theory (of course), - she has just done a runner with his best friend, and is coming back at the weekend to collect her expensive designer wardrobe.......well, it's all priced up and hanging in the shop, if she hurries she may be able to snag a bargain - okay, so when you are 'black sack diving' for a few hours, you need a few entertaining thoughts to fill your mind.

I wasn't called on to use the cash register this time, I can't think why - they are probably still trying to get the books to balance after my last attempt...

The latest 'grandchild gem', this time from five year old Milo....

'If Max dies, can I have his room?'

Kids!!!!

See you tomorrow, don't forget the poll please x 

Simon Says Stamp Stamptember - my first two cards.....

The wonderful online company Simon Says Stamp are holding a month long stamp party, they generously sent me this set to play with

and here are the first couple of cards I made today. This first one was done on watercolour paper, I just used a blending tool to swirl around chipped sapphire, tumbled glass and evergreen bough distress inks then used the Simon Says Stamps Falling Snow stencil to add some texture paste

 the silver thread is just regular silver sewing thread. The medallion snowflake was stamped onto white card with chipped sapphire ink and given three coats of clear gloss embossing powder by Wow

and the stars? I use this oldie but goodie border punch by Martha Stewart, I don't think I've ever used it for a border, but I love the tiny little stars it punches out, and use them a lot, especially around Christmastime.... 

For my next card I thought it would be fun to stamp the word merry over and over in different shades of green, then cut the panel into a tree shape. I used the tiny trees border for a background....

both the cards were made using a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 white card base from Craftwork cards - my size of choice at Christmas, smaller than I usually make, but I have a horror of being thought a bit over the top when my friends and family open their mail!

You can get a lot of inspiration about using their products by following their blog - I do! Talking of blog parties, I may be having a big party myself very soon - I am one person away from 3,000 followers (that's not counting the other 4,000+ who are email subscribers), so that seems like a good excuse for a party to me. I am getting in touch with everyone I have done work for since starting the blog to beg some prizes to give out to you, so it should be fun....

I found myself all set up with my tripod, camera, all the gear, then realized I didn't really have a clue what to make a video of. So I have set up a poll in the sidebar, giving you a few options of what you would like to see. If you get an email when I post, I would appreciate it if you can click on the grey Going Buggy header at the top of your email which will bring you over here so that you can also have a choice. You can check as many of the boxes as you would like, I'll keep it running for a week and see how it goes. I almost put a box in saying 'no videos, please, no videos' but decided against it! If none of you vote, I'll get the message.....

I'll tell you about my afternoon at the charity shop tomorrow, see you then x

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day to all my American friends - I must admit that although I was living in Florida for ten years of this particular holiday in the USA, I never quite got the hang of it, (but note that I have left the U out of Labour in deference to American custom). All I can ever remember about it is something to do with not wearing white after tomorrow, which always seemed a bit daft to me when I was in 90 degree heat in Florida. Enjoy your last days of summer and a nice long weekend wherever you are.....

On to today's card which is another take on the Penny Black poppy stamp that I used for the pearly flowers on my last Letraset post, looking quite different this time coloured with ProMarkers 

My favourite black and white gingham ribbon got an outing too - honestly, I would use this ribbon on every card I make, I have to ration myself!

A short post today - I have to get a move on with some housework, a stint in the charity shop then a concentrated effort to get on with some outstanding craft projects - I mean that they are overdue, not that they will be outstanding. See you tomorrow x 

Katy Sue Christmas Stamps - and a winner.....

Here are some cards I made with some really lovely Christmas stamps just released by Katy Sue Designs. I used white embossing for this first one, distress inks for the background, and the stars were done with texture paste sprinkled with glitter

this silhouette Santa and tree (separate stamps, I used a mask) were stamped in black, then heat embossed. The tiny stars in the background were heat embossed with Rangers queens gold embossing powder....

I went a bit mad adding strings of liquid pearls and stickles to the tree.....

This last one is one of those cards that didn't photograph well, in real life it is very pretty, and this was the one that took the longest to make for some reason! I sponged a background with distress inks and then flicked water onto it to make it look like a starry sky. The star was stamped in silver embossing twice, once onto the card, then I lined it up so that the bottom of the star was also stamped onto the vellum sentiment panel which I stuck on in just a couple of places with glossy accents, then covered the glue with a couple of sequins.....

We are driving home today after a really lovely week in Ambleside - huge thanks to Anne, for inviting us to stay at her lovely cottage, great company and lots of laughs. Lots of you have said you love the Lakes, so if ever you are looking for a place to stay, you won't find a nicer and more comfortable cottage than Silver Howe - and you can bring your dog!

On to the winner of the Aquamarkers. Congratulations to

SandraH

Email me with your address Sandra and they will be in the mail on Monday

I'll be back at my desk on Monday, creating crafty chaos as I try to catch up after my week off - and I am doing my volunteer thing at the charity shop in the afternoon, so who knows what tales I will have to tell....see you then x

More Potting Shed Cards...

 Here's a couple more of the card samples I made for Craftwork Cards sell out Create and Craft TV shows, using the lovely Potting Shed collection...

For this one, I die cut an aperture and glued one of the toppers onto the back of the card behind it, then I suspended a sentiment banner across the aperture. The embossing was done with a Tim Holtz folder for Sissix then inked with Tea Dye distress ink.... 

and another simple card - I love this chicken wire paper!

are you tired of looking at beautiful Lake District views? Here's a couple I snapped today, and yes, the sun is still shining. These were taken as we made our way to Keswick, a lovely little market town, where we wandered around, sat in the sun to have coffee and lunch, and generally had a good time.... 

I am always fascinated and awed by the precision and skill that goes into the building of dry stone walls - no cement, no mortar, just stones carefully laid, and the walls stand for centuries! Eventually they become mossy and little plants take root in the cracks and tumble over the walls

I'll be back with the winner of the Aquamarkers tomorrow, see you then x

In (another) English Country Garden

No card today, but as promised some photos from the Lake District. Yesterday, we went to a most beautiful garden called Holehird, overlooking Lake Windermere - and were secretly smug that while wind and rain lashed the rest of the UK, we had glorious warm sunshine...

Autumn is just starting to show her face, some of the trees are just starting to turn ....

I love taking photos of flowers, I get such a lot of inspiration for crafting through the camera lens - the way certain colours blend perfectly in nature, sometimes in an unexpected way.....

So there we are, photo heavy, but I hope you don't mind tagging along on holiday with me this week....

See you tomorrow x