A masculine embossed card

Hope you like this card that I made for my brother in laws birthday.

Crocheted Snowflakes

Knew that I had a photo somewhere! Here's a quick look at what I've been up to with a crochet hook and some perle cotton!

I'm off to try and get the ink off my hands before the meetings this afternoon!
Bye for now!!
D

I've been getting Christmassy!

Thought that I would show you what I have been getting up to with my new Waltzing Mouse Stamps.

The Candy Jar stamps arrived this morning, and I couldn't wait to get inky! Should really have been ironing, and getting ready for a meeting with R's teachers, however...

I have been colouring in little Christmas cottages over the past few weeks, and should have enough for the postal Christmas cards by the time they are due! I have stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Bristol Board, which I find works really well with the Promarkers which I use to colour.

I have also been crocheting snowflakes with the aim of giving one to each child in the class that I work with. I have got to 24 so far, and there are 32 children, so I seem to be on track there! I will post some pictures of those too, thought that they were on this memory card, but obviously not.

Hope you like the creations so far. Looks like we are having a Waltzing Mouse Christmas!

I made my first decoupage from stamps!

I used a large clear cling stamp to create this multi layer card. I have never tried this before and was pleased with the result. I sent the card to my mother later. She obviously liked it, as she said "It's a shame that you wrote in it, now I can't send it to someone else!"
I used watercolour Derwent pencils and Windsor and Newton Sansodor solvent with paper blending stumps to create the soft purple colouring of the petals. I coloured in 4 flowers in total to be sure that I would have enough parts. I guess that I will be able to colour fewer flowers another time as I now know how it works! I stuck the layers together with sponge pads, and used a white gel pen and glossy accents to create  the "middle" of the flower. Hope that you like my handiwork!!  The backing paper was a freebie from Simply Homemade magazine.

Also this weekend I have finished my entries for CDACPC2 (The Progressive Freebie Challenge at CDAC) This time the theme was "Back to School", and the free digis provided supported this theme.
I  used the digi called Mum & Sons by Ellephantastic, and just printed it onto printer paper, and coloured it with Promarkers, cut around and mounted it on some paper from WeRmemoryKeepers, White Out range. The crocheted frame was made by my Mum. I have been practising, but am not quite this standard yet!!

I liked this digi so much that I used it again in another colour scheme!

I also used the digi called TG Angelheartgirl, by Linda Tieu. I paper pieced her, and coloured with Promarkers. Then I added glossy accents for her glasses, and a sequin or two to embellish her dress.

TG- CDACPC2

Hope you like these. I'm looking forward to the next load of digis!! Bring it on!! xx

Writing this post from the new family Mac.

Not sure how this will go. Have never really used a Mac before...we fancied a change and were impressed in the shop by the look and feel of the Mac. It has a 27 inch monitor too, which is cool! I'm going to try to post a picture later.

CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge- Entry 2 -Sandisample- teapot

I haven't had a chance to do much in the way of paper craft for the last week or so, as we have been away in Scotland. Had a great time at the Edinburgh Festival.

This card is my second entry to the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge. This time I have used the digi kindly provided by Sandi, thanks Sandi! I want to use the teacup one too if I have the time!

For this card I used various papers from my stash and my trusty Promarkers. then I traced the image onto shrink plastic to create a sort of pendant charm of a teapot, and tied it on with a piece of pale pink ribbon. I hope that you like it!

My entry for the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge 1 cdacpc1 (tag ds4j)

Well, I've never used a digi stamp before, but I was invited to take part in this challenge by the wonderful ladies at CDAC, and thought that I would give their freebie stamps a go before I commit myself to the purchasable ones. The artists over there are willing to share their talent and art for free, and I thought it would be rude of me not to join in the fun! If you hurry on over you can sign up too till 31st August, and it's all free!!

THANK YOU TO ALL ARTISTS FOR SHARING THEIR WORK!!!

I have added an embellishment which I made with a rubber stamp from Waltzing Mouse Stamps, and I hope that doesn't disqualify this entry?! I was pleased with the result, and will be using more of the CDAC free stamps this month...you are allowed to enter up to 18 times this month! So here's my card using the little chef image from Jenlee'n (ds4j)

I used my Letraset promarkers to colour his face and hands, and to add some shadow. I paper pieced his checked trousers and coordinated his hat!

I thought that he was very cute, and think that he would make lovely cards for lots of occasions.

More digi based projects to follow!

I'm back!

Haven't posted anything for a while, but I have been making and crafting. I will try to catch up over the summer holidays, which are nearly here.

Thought I would show you my crocheted gift tag embellishments and cards that I made for my children to give to their teachers at the end of the school year.

The cards are all stamped using  Frame-It from Waltzing Mouse Stamps and a great set of stamps called Sweeter than Apple Pie from Paper Make up. I used a mixture of paper piecing, heat embossing, and Versamark and chalk pastels for the apples. All paper was from my stash.

The crocheted flower embellishments were all made using embroidery cottons of various thicknesses. The patterns are all from a fab book that I got from Amazon called 200 Crochet flowers, embellishments and trims by Claire Crompton, and was great for me as a beginner, so I would really recommend that if you are going to have a try yourself!
I would also recommend the blog attic24, which has excellent patterns for crochet and lots of pictures for inspiration.


Here are a few more pictures of my handiwork...I was quite pleased with it!

Hope the teachers like them too!

A good morning's work!

Back from school by 9, and eight cards made by 11! I have been planning these for a while, but everything came together, and here they are! I hope that the teachers and teaching assistants at school will be pleased with them at the end of the year...only 18 school days to go...

Here are some close ups too. For these I used a fabulous stamp set called Apple Additions from Paper Makeup Stamps, as well as Frame -it and Vintage banners from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. The background papers are all either freebies from Simply Homemade or from the DeLovely minideck from Cosmo Cricket.

Add a little glossy accents, Versamark, silver embossing powder and chalk pastels and "Bob's you uncle!"

Better get back to the ironing now!

Tami Mayberry: Sneak Peek!!! Win it Before You Can Buy It!!!!

Tami Mayberry: Sneak Peek!!! Win it Before You Can Buy It!!!!: "Just a little peek of what I am working with right now. My new stamp set releasing Thursday night (6/30). This set coordinates with the Spe..."

Crochet has taken over!!!

Haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks...have spent some of that time refreshing my crocheting skills, such as they were!
Have managed i-Pod cover and a couple of phone covers as practice pieces, and started to make flowers and hearts.
I will post some photos when I have made something with the bits that are all around my house at present.

Am hoping to make flowers fine enough for cards soon. Have gathered loads of fantastic ideas on Pinterest, please have a look if you are "hooked" on crochet too! Sorry about the bad pun! :)

Last Day of May! A chance to craft, shhhh should have been ironing.

This is my card for the Lizzie Ann Designs Sketch Challenge.

 

The sketch asked for a repeated focal image x 3. I used a Rose stamp from the Fiskars flower set. I die cut the images using a circle nestability, and a circle for the greeting too. I used a technique that was in the tutorial on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ yesterday, "cracked glass effect". I have never tried this before, and I haven't got the UTEE(Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) but I found that the technique worked in a similar way with ordinary clear embossing powder. I used 4 layers on each image, and cracked them and applied Tea Dye distress ink to age. It's hard to see the shiny effect on the photo, but they are lovely and glassy looking, maybe more like china that glass. The greeting is from http://www.waltzingmousestamps.com/ from the Teeny Trees set. I made the background paper with the swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder, and coloured it with green and brown inks. I did my best to match up ribbons with the ink colour. I hope that you like it!

New baby boy card

I have two colleagues at work who are expecting, and both are having boys. The only baby cards that I have made before were for girls, so this was a new challenge.
I used a stamp from Lili of the Valley (LOTV), and Papermania Colour Capsule paper. Paper piecing is quite a new technique to me. Here I combined the technique with my promarkers, which are also a new acquisition!
Hope you like it!



Used the same stamp in a simpler card, just stamped directly onto kraft card and coloured with Promarkers.

I saw the idea of colouring directly onto kraft card while looking for inspiration on Google! Here's another example. This is another LOTV stamp with Promarker colouring.

I know that the photo is not the best quality, I still haven't found the best way to

photograph my cards without a light box. Any ideas I would be glad to hear them! :)

CAS card to start the week!

This is idea that I wanted to CASE when I saw it. Original by Carlyrobertson@typepad.com .

 Hope you like what I've done with it!
Using the Half Pint Heroes stamps from Waltzing Mouse Stamps and DeLovely paper from Cosmo Cricket.
I know I should have used a better camera, this was just on my phone, but I think it shows the idea.

Productive Afternoon!

Should have been making the Sunday lunch and then doing some ironing, but when the crafting mojo calls you have to use it or lose it!

Used Mind's Eye doilies stamps in black and white ink on red cardstock. Made a button using my tool from Epiphany Crafts, and tied with some embroidery floss. The greeting is from Waltzing Mouse Stamps Vintage Ornaments set. Finished off with some small red crystals for some "bling!"

Same idea as above, but in a different colour scheme. This one I am using for a relative who is getting married and moving into a new home. The greeting is from Waltzing Mouse Stamps Frame-It set.

Then I thought that I would have a go at a sketch challenge on Waltzing Mouse Stamps, WMSC48  and celebrate their 2nd birthday at the same time! I've never managed to get a card made in time for a sketch challenge before!
Here's the sketch:

And here's what I came up with!

Used Waltzing Mouse Stamps Set Bitty Banners and the bigger Pennants set for the greeting on this one. I embossed the greeting with silver powder to give a bit of shine!

I was pleased with my afternoon's work! I hope you like it too! :)

Waltzingmouse Makes...: ...WMS 2nd Birthday Tea party - link here!

Waltzingmouse Makes...: ...WMS 2nd Birthday Tea party - link here!

Tea bag baggie!

This is my entry for the Waltzing Mouse Stamps 2nd Birthday Tea Party. Now I just need to work out how to link it!
I seem to have linked it. So I'll give you a quick run down of the products that I used.

Stamps: Teeny Trees, Frame-It- Waltzing Mouse Stamps. Date stamp set- Purple Onion. Butterfly- Kanban.
Inks: Sea Glass, Aqua, Cyan, Heliotrope- Colorbox Cat's Eye. Black- Ink it up.
Brad: Papermania
Fabric Flower: WHSmith
Beads, Fittings and adhesives: from craft supplies.

May 2011 New Cards

Some new cards that I've made recently

Delia's stuff: Welcome

Delia's stuff: Welcome: "Hello, this is a brand new blog! I don't really know what I am going to do with it yet. Let's just see what develops!"