Cheers!

I hope you have all been having a wonderful Easter weekend - we have been busy catching up with friends. I was hoping to launch an attack on the garden but the weather has been wild and windy, so it's back to the crafty desk for me

Here's an idea for a male card....

I cut a rectangle of white card and handcut the handle. The 'beer' is strips of brown cardstock, and the froth was made with lots of different sized punched circles. I put a layer of glossy accents over the whole tankard

We are off to lunch at another friends house today, so a quick post from me today before I say cheerio for now. I have a little giveaway planned for tomorrow so drop by then x  

Bird Crazy...

No, not those crazy birds! I'm crazy about the new intricate shape punch from Fiskars - I just find them the perfect size for my cards. Both of these cards were made with the birds punched in white, and sponged with distress inks

So I am off to another craft fair on Thursday - this time it's a retail show at the NEC, and I will stock up on the few basics that I need (that's the plan, it usually turns into a shopping frenzy, but I am resolute........), but my main reason for going along is to catch up with my Fiskars buddies, Caroline, who is my boss and over from Paris, Kath and Hina. 

And pull up a chair, make a coffee, here is a video I made for the facebook page - I wonder how many of you have this tool languishing in a drawer? When I finally got the hang of it (who knew you had to take that little orange thingy off, not me!) I use it all the time, so I hope it helps someone.....

Stitches Workshops....

The last of the trade show photos - this astonishing display was a bit of a show stopper - all the costumes, and the wolves were knitted!

 and I promised you a peek at the results of some of the workshops we attended. Now these are all about teaching you new techniques with the latest products, so I am not always crazy about the results, but take away something that I can adapt and use in another project which is more my style. 

First up was the Indigo Blu workshop. The stamp - called Elsie was stamped onto fabric. I did love the background, which had all sorts of techniques on it

This canvas was done in a Kuretake workshop - I can't tell you what an inky mess I was at the end of that one! I messed around with it a bit when I got home and overstamped a few trees onto the canvas

This one was a Paper Artsy workshop - I loved making this little box frame. Can you see on the glass some writing which looks as if it's etched on the glass? that was done with a new product called Fresco Finish Frosting Glaze - such an innovative product. You simply apply it to your stamp then stamp onto glass, acrylic or any transparent surface and get the effect of etched glass. I liked this so much that as soon as I got home, I ordered a bottle, so look out for a project or two made with it 

and lastly, I thought you would like to see the view from my kitchen window - these horses stand patiently at the fence every afternoon waiting for my neighbour to cross the road to give them some carrots - I just love them!

See you tomorrow x

More from Stitches

First of all a cute sample made with Karen Burniston dies - Kath and I met Karen and chatted for quite a while, she is the sweetest most unassuming person you could wish to meet.....

Next up a few samples made with Woodware Stamps - this is a company who have really upped their game in the past couple of years and seem to be developing a line of stamps which are big, bold and beautiful

Lastly for those of you who sew, I loved the quilt kits made by Craft Cotton Co - I really would be tempted to attempt one of these if I had a little baby to cherish with an heirloom from Grandma......

If you have a sewing area in your craft room, how cute is this thread holder?

I'll be back tomorrow to share the projects we made at various workshops, see you then x

Inspiration from the Stitches Show

Last week was pretty hectic with the big trade show at the NEC - which is only about ten minutes drive away from where I live, so an extra treat was having my buddy Kath to stay with us for the weekend - mind you, walking around the show with her is a bit like going on a walkabout with the Queen - she has been doing workshops at the retail shows for years, so everyone knows her........ so we walked about two steps then heard yet another voice saying 'KAAATH!'

Our first visit was on set up day - have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes to get these shows ready? A lot of boxes to be unpacked......

and some of my Fiskars makes on the stand...

I know you all like to see photos of the samples on show, so over the next couple of days I will be showing you some of the ones that caught my eye, starting with the wonderful Paper Artsy

I just adore these dandelion puff stamps, this sample was stamped onto fabric, so pretty......

I'll be back tomorrow with more... see you then x

Cute little birdies.....

Here's a cute new punch from Fiskars - the Intricate Shape little bird....and a card made with them, I love the way the shapes look inquisitive!

So we had a power cut. It was bizarre - the only electricity in the house was the oven which carried on cooking our dinner. So we had to find torches, candles and leave the oven on just for the internal oven light to eat our supper. Mike was about to light the large candle that lives on the dining table, and jumped when I shrieked 'not that one, that candle is not for burning!'.........well, it's the perfect colour for the dining room and was the result of a week long trawl around various shops to find the perfect match. 

Funny, he didn't understand it at all. Just didn't get it. 'But why is it here if we can't light it?' 

Sometimes men can be so insensitive! The finer points of interior design just floats right over their heads.....any woman would get it in a heartbeat. 
But thank goodness for the design challenged males in our lives. Happy Valentines Day everyone x

Tutorial for Z ~~Fold Card

I've had some requests for details on how I made the cascading hearts Valentine card I showed earlier this week. I did a tutorial on the Fiskarettes page on Facebook, but I know some of you don't do Facebook, so here it is. There is nothing new under the sun, you can find lots of YouTube videos on this type of card, but I like this one because you get two card bases from one A4 piece of cardstock, and if you use good quality double sided card, you don't have to mess around cutting out panels, so it is quick and easy

Take a piece of A4 double sided cardstock (8 1/2 x 11"). Score into three at 7 cm intervals,  and mark a point 11cms along one long edge

Turn the paper around, now mark 11 cms along the other long edge - I have marked these points with washi tape in the photo so you can see clearly where your marks should be

Now position these marks along the cutting line of your trimmer and cut

 You will have two shapes looking like this......

Now fold the card bases, one mountain and one valley fold like this.....

The two cards will look like this...

 #

Now punch out various sizes of hearts, or it could be flowers of course. If you use a single sided paper, glue two hearts together so that the card looks pretty from all angles...

Glue some hearts flat to the top side of the card, attach some with foam pads, tuck them behind each other so that you have a pretty waterfall of hearts

I added some sequins for a bit of glitz - my new favourite way of adding a bit of shine to a project, and so much cheaper than gems

So there we go, I hope this answered your questions  Josie, Ann, Brenda and Maureen - thanks for taking the time to email

Glitter Butterflies

I have been playing around with glitter - well, what's better on a cold grey day?

This is the card I ended up with......

I just punched out some butterflies in white.....

Ran them through the xyron to make one side sticky.....

 and just dumped various glitter - use the extra fine stuff - in patches onto the butterfly

Then shake it off, and use a bone folder to burnish the glitter onto the sticky cardstock. Amazingly, it stays put, and you get a pretty two or three tone effect

I have a marathon unpacking session ahead of me today as my box full of new Fiskars products has just arrived - I'll be sharing some of the gorgeousness with you once I have fought with the packaging and emerged victorious from an epic  cardboard battle.....

See you tomorrow x

Locked out

Well that was a bit scary - I have been locked out of my own blog! I think some gremlin decided I was an undesirable person (how did it know?) and poof - I wasn't able to get on here and post at all. 
Then they obviously checked my references, did a thorough background check, and decided I wasn't a danger to the general public after all, and here I am again...

Sharing a couple of Valentine cards I have made, the first one is a Z fold card that I did with a cascade of heart shapes....

and I rather like this next one, the simplicity of the gold and black appeals to me somehow...

So we are already into February - my least favourite month of the year. It's a bit of a nothing sort of month isn't it? Apart from Valentines Day there is really nothing to make it in any way special, (and let's face it, I am not going to get misty eyed at the thought of Valentines Day, however dearly I love my other half!)   The tinsel and glitter of Christmas seems like a distant memory, but the bank balance is still reeling from the shock of it all. The days are still short and cold and Summer seems light years away - but then the unexpected sight of a couple of Spring crocus bravely making an appearance can totally lift the February blues. Maybe Spring is just around the corner after all. Then there is the big trade craft fair at the NEC to look forward to later this month, with my pal Kath coming to stay for a couple of days.....there, February doesn't seem so bad after all....

See you tomorrow if blogger thinks I am a suitable person to be chatting to you x

and the winner is......

Here's a little birdhouse box card I made for Fiskars.......

I took a basic box card base and altered it a bit - I measured 3cms down from the top on the tall back piece, then cut into a point. It was easy to use the shape as a guide to cut out a little roof. I was going to use a brown wood pattern paper but thought that even little birdies can have pretty pink houses.....

These power punches make short work of cutting out the thickest cardstock...

I punched out some flowers using the bloom punches, and attached them to strips of sturdy acetate.....

and punched out a tiny bird (his wing is a little heart punch)....

On to the winner of the tag maker duo punch who is:

KRAFTY KAREN

Congrats Karen, email me and your parcel will be on it's way