My Craft Room!!

Do you remember some time ago now when I shared with you pictures of my studio from where we used to live??  If you don't remember click here to refresh your memory!!  Well since then we have moved and because eventually I will take over one of the existing bedrooms once the loft conversion is done I am currently working downstairs in the front room of the house.  Unfortunately though I have nowhere to unpack anything to so this is how I am working!!

Here's a picture of my card rack that I brought with me along with my 12x12 papers on top.  To the left of the picture you can see some Really Useful Boxes that are full of stamps and as for the rest of the boxes - well they are full of craft stuff!

Here you can see yet more boxes - the ones on the right are full of stamps again - the ones in the middle contain different colouring mediums such as H20's, Tombows, Marvy's, Chalks etc... and the boxes on the right contain loads of different pens, refills for inkpads, glitter glues, glimmer mists etc...

And just when you think I couldn't possibly have any more stuff.................. here is another wall full of boxes - this time 2 deep!  The ones in the front row contain things like inkpads, 12x12 background papers, more cardstock, my own range of un-mounted rubber stamps etc... and the row at the back I currently haven't got a clue as it is too much bother to get there!

You have no idea how much I am looking forward to getting my own craft room where everything has got it's own place to live instead of forever rummaging in boxes!!  However this won't be for at least another couple of years yet!  Still I am lucky in that I do have this room to call my own so at least I can just walk away and shut the door on it at the end of the day.

How Cute??

Morning guys.  Today I thought I would post up the other teddy card that we did last year for my last classes in 2009.  This is another StampAvie stamp that I have just GOT to have - he is just soooooo cute!!  Just like the other card (that I posted up the other day) this was coloured using Copics.  The background stamp is by Penny Black and is called Scrolling Along and the papers are by MME.

Here's a close up of the bear!

My Stash!!

Today I managed to find some time to take a photo of what I came away with from The Craft Barn on Saturday.  Underneath all these bits are 6 sheets of background papers too.  As you can see I have got quite a few new things to play with including Stamping Bella stamps, an Inkadinkado clear stamp set, Martha Stewart punches, some Distress Inkpads, 2 Smooch Inks, 2 Cosmic Shimmer mists, some paper flowers, assorted brads, Candy Dots and of course those background papers!!  So all in all quite a little haul!

I had a lovely day yesterday as not only did I have a 'work free' day which in itself is most unusual but the show that I went to see at Brighton was absolutely fantastic!!  I honestly think this is the best Holiday On Ice I have seen for the last few years - I thoroughly enjoyed it!  When we got home we caught up with Dancing On Ice too - you can never watch too much ice-skating!!  So now I am already looking forward to the next one this coming Sunday!

Well I've got a bit more work to do before I go to bed so I had better get back to it..............

A Day Of Rest!

Hi Guys.  Well with all the paperwork I had to catch up on and then with the preparing I needed to do for my classes at The Barn yesterday I never did get round to trying my hand at making any more things!  Today I am having a day of rest as I am shattered from my day teaching yesterday and then this afternoon I am off to Brighton to go and see Holiday On Ice.  We normally go and see this every year as it is such a good show - each year the theme is different and all the ice skaters in it are absolutely incredible!  It does mean that I won't be at home to watch Dancing On Ice though but I have already Sky +'d it so I can catch up with it later!  (I am soooooo sad as this is currently my highlight of the week!!  I can't wait for Sundays to come around!!)

Anyway back to crafting and I must say a huge thank you to all the ladies on my classes yesterday - without you the classes wouldn't go ahead so I really appreciate it when you spend your pennies to come along!  It was really lovely for me to see some familiar faces as well as some new ones and I hope that you all enjoyed it!  I know that I worked you hard but the cards you made looked stunning!  When I get my act together I will post up the cards that we made so that everyone can see what we got up to. 

I will be back at The Craft Barn again for another day of classes in March. Meanwhile I have some classes booked at The Glitter Pot in a couple of weeks time on Saturday 6th Feb.  In the morning we will be colouring with Distress Inkpads and then using these inkpads to create matching backgrounds. In the afternoon we will be making some Cute Cards - not giving anything away about this one just yet though as I currently have such a list of favourite cute images that I haven't made up my mind which ones to go with yet!  For more information on these classes just click here.

While I was at The Craft Barn I decided to make the most of my time there and did a little bit of shopping!  After being in the doldrums for the last few days I decided that perhaps I needed to buy a few more craft things to get my excitement back for crafting and I think this may have worked as I feel more positive today.  Also I was able to pick up my DT pack whilst I was there so I have lots of new things to play with!!  I'll take a photo of everything this afternoon so that I can upload it in the next few days and show you what I got!!

If you are still reading this I want to say a big THANK YOU to Nicola (winner of the Christmas Card Competition) as yesterday I received an absolutely beautiful card from her thanking me for the Colouring Techniques DVD.  Nicola your card is absolutely stunning and I was absolutely thrilled to receive it.  Would it be ok for me to post it up so everyone else can see it too?

I also have another thank you to make to Jo - I won't embarrass her and say what it is for but my sincere thanks Jo. What you did really cheered me up and was soooo thoughtful!

Well it seems that I have got verbal diarrohea today so I had better go and have something to eat before getting ready to head on over to Brighton.  I hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend.

When I Could Make Cards..........

Morning guys.  Here's a card that I made last year back in the days when I could craft!!  The main image is a Sugar Nellie stamp available from Funky Kits.  The subtle flower background stamp and the flourish in the top left corner are both by Judikins and the daisy flower in the bottom right corner is a Stamps By Judith stamp. The background paper is by Denami and all of these products are available from Stamp Addicts. Lastly the sentiment is by Craftwork Cards and came from The Craft Barn as too did the tiny Prima flowers.

Here's a close up of the image which was stamped onto watercolour card and coloured using dye-based inkpads.

Giving Up Crafting!!

Well my class cards are finally completed after most of my efforts going into the bin!!  Isn't it strange??  Sometimes cards come together so easily and other times it doesn't seem to matter what you do, nothing goes right at all!  This isn't so bad when you have got lots of time to sort it out but is a nightmare when you are really pushed for time.  I just hope that what I've finally come up with will be ok for everyone!

Meanwhile I am giving up crafting for a couple of days in the hope that my mojo comes back!  I have some text and paperwork to catch up on so will devote a couple of days to this and then see if my creating skills will come back!

Anyway here is a card that I didn't struggle with and is one that I made near the end of last year when Jill and I did a live TV show on Create and Craft back in November.  The main image is from my Funky Flowers stamp sheet and the flourishes and wording on the background are from my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet - both of these can be bought from either The Stamp Man or The Craft Barn. 

Aaarrrgghhhhhhhhh!!

Hi guys.  A late post from me today as I've been busy banging my head against a brick wall!!  I have seriously not had a good day today at all!!!!!!  For almost 2 weeks now I have been waiting for some products to turn up so that I can begin on my prep for my classes this Saturday at The Craft Barn - for 6 days we didn't get any post because of the snow which I can understand but since the snow disappeared (several days ago now) the products still haven't turned up and I know that they were posted ages ago!  So I have been hanging on, hoping each day that today will be the day that they turn up, all to no avail.  So today I had to make the decision to go with something else instead, only everything that I have produced so far I am not at all satisfied with!!  I cannot tell you how frustrated I am!!!  I just hope that tomorrow the cards come together - all I can say at the moment is that currently my bin is very full!!

Anyway here is a card that did come together!  This is one that I made for one of my classes in December at The Glitter Pot (that I originally posted up a sneaky peek of a couple of days before the class went ahead).  This was another class that was based on using Copics.  I absolutely love this main image as it is just sooooooooo cute - it is a Penny Johnson stamp by StampAvie.  I haven't yet got this in my own collection but I'm sure that I will have before too long!  The background stamp you will probably recognise as the Scrolling Along stamp by Penny Black - as you know I use this a lot!  The papers are by My Minds Eye. Everything can be purchased from The Glitter Pot.

Here's a close up of that colouring for you to see. Several shades were used to colour the bear to achieve the graduation in colour.

Wish me luck with my endeavours for tomorrow as I think I may need it!

Watercolour Flowers

Morning everyone.  First of all my thanks to those of you who have commented on my last two posts especially to those who commented about my colouring!!  I really feel do love those Copics!!

For todays post though I thought I would go back to a technique that I used to do years ago (which you will also find on my DVD - Basics and Beyond).

I have always loved Penny Black stamps and in particular their Brushstroke range as you can make such stunning cards with these with very little effort.  Also because there are no stamped outlines you can pretend that you actually painted it yourself!!  To get this sort of effect you need to use water-based pens such as Marvys or Tombows.  You then take several complementing colours and colour directly onto the back of the stamp, spritz with water and stamp out onto your cardstock - simple but very effective!!  (Look out for a project coming soon in Craft Stamper using these stamps where I show you step-by-step how to do it!)

And here is a close up of the flowers.  The particles that you can see are specks of glitter glue as I always lightly add a touch of glitter glue over these stamped impressions to give them life!

Stamps used:

Main flowers and wording - Penny Black from Sir Stampalot

Flourish - Judikins from Stamp Addicts

Dotty swirl - Denami from Stamp Addicts

More Magenta

Morning everyone. I'm so glad that you liked the last card!  I thought that I would show you the other card that we made on that class using the rest of the tile stamps that were in that same Magenta stamp set and the same technique of colouring using the Copics.

I've got to say that I have had great fun using these markers over the last few months and experimenting with what they can do.  I most definitely LOVE them and now that I have got all the Ciaos I plan on adding to them with the Sketches gradually because as we know they aren't exactly cheap!!

Here is another close up of the middle tile so that you can see the colouring a bit better!!  The funny particles that you can see is specks of the glitter glue - just incase you were wondering!!

By the way don't forget to tune into Create and Craft tomorrow as Jill (from The Stamp Man) will be doing a live Moonglow based show at 11am which I am sure will be full of techniques!!  I for one will definitely be setting my Sky+ box!!

And More Snow!!!

Yes it is snowing here again on the south east coast of the UK.  I couldn't believe it when I woke up to find yet another thick coating of snow on the ground and it has been snowing here all morning!!  Normally any snow that we get in our region of the UK tends to be more inland so I am truly amazed at how much we have had here.  I had great fun this morning drinking my cup of tea while watching our neighbours trying to dig a pathway out with their snow shovels!!  All their hard work paid off though and they were able to get out.

I am just pleased that I took advantage yesterday of some of the snow thawing to nip out and stock up on milk so luckily I don't have to go out today at all!!  I just hope that the postman makes it through as I am waiting on some packages so that I can get my prep done for my classes next Saturday at The Craft Barn.  There have been a few days that the postman hasn't risked it which I can understand but it is annoying when you are waiting for stuff!!

Anyway talking of classes here is one of the cards we made for the classes that I took at The Glitter Pot in early December. This class was based on using the Copic markers and how to obtain shading and blending using different colours.  The main image is from a Magenta cling stamp set, the background (on the green panel) is one of my favourite stamps by Penny Black called Scrolling Along and the leafy branch that you see (stamped with white StazOn onto acetate) is by Art Impressions.  Here's a close up of the main image too which has had Diamond glitter glue added to it.  All of these stamps can be bought at The Glitter Pot.

I Can Get Out!!

Hi guys.  Well after having been snowed in for a few days it is really nice to have made it outside today!!  The snow is beginning to melt but where it was quite deep there is still about 10 inches in depth to get through!!  Luckily (as we live at the bottom of our unadopted road) I have got a 4x4 and it managed to plough its way through the snow and ice.  Once we got onto the main roads it was fine as the snow had been cleared in the middle of the roads - the pavements on the other hand were absolutely treacherous!!

Anyway onto todays card.......again with all this grey weather we are having at the moment I thought I'd post up another bright and cheerful looking card.  This is another card that I made last year using the birthday cake stamps by DeNami Design - available from Stamp Addicts.  I just love these stamps for their clean and simple lines as this makes them quick and simple to colour.  For a change I used my Zig Brushable pens to colour these.  The dotty swirl that you can see in the background is also a DeNami stamp too and the black background paper is by Pebbles Inc but unfortunately you can't get this any more!  The wording is an old Penny Black stamp.

Did anyone watch Dancing On Ice last night?  I just LOVE this programme and have been eagerly awaiting its return and I must say that I wasn't disappointed.  I thought that most of the girls did really well and am looking forward to seeing how the boys fair next week!!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful....

......but the fire is so delightful..................well the log burner is anyway!!  Finally after weeks of me whining that we didn't have much snow in our part of the UK we have finally got a few inches with more forecast for today!!  It really does look quite pretty here now.  The downside though is that we are snowed in!!  We live down a small unadopted road and as you turn into our road there is a very, VERY steep bit which is now covered in both snow and ice.  Infact I have been having great fun watching our neighbours trying to get up our road in their vehicle - they have now given up as it just can't be done!!  They even went as far as to clear the road (as best as they could) of snow but there is such a thick layer of ice underneath that they still couldn't get out.  So I have got absolutely no intention of making an idiot of myself and trying to negotiate the slippery road and am staying firmly indoors and keeping warm round our log burner.  Talking of the log burner it is such a god send when the weather is like this as it really does keep us toasty and allows us to turn the central heating right down therefore saving a few pennies!

Anyway me thinks that you haven't stopped by to hear all about our snow and I'm guessing that you are hoping to maybe see a card???

So not being one to disappoint here is one I made earlier!!  Quite a bit earlier actually as this card I made back in the summer months of last year.  This is another Ketto stamp by Stamping Bella called Kenya. Click here to see the full range of these stamps.  As I've already mentioned The Craft Barn stock these stamps in the UK but just don't have them on their website so if you like any of them just give the Barn a ring and they will soon sort you out!  The background stamp that you can see on both the lilac panels is one of my favourite stamps by Penny Black and the wording stamp I believe came from a Hero Arts clear stamp set. The black swirl in the bottom right corner of the card is one of my Fancy Flourish stamps that can also be purchased from The Craft Barn.

Talking about The Craft Barn reminds me...............they have recently moved their blog from Wordpress to Blogger.  To celebrate this move they are offering up £10 worth of vouchers to 3 lucky people!!  If you want to find out more about this simply head on over to http://thecraftbarnblog.blogspot.com/ to find out how to be in with a chance of winning.

Well I'm off now to go and sit round my log burner before braving my craft room as there is no heating in there!!  I have to keep nipping back to the sitting room to thaw out every so often!!  Hope you are all keeping warm!! (By the way you would probably laugh if you could see me at the moment as I have got two long-sleeved tops on with a long short-sleeve thick jumper on over the top of them. Then on my bottom half I have got on long socks, which finish above my knees, with black skinny leg jeans over those and long black boots over my jeans!  And this is just for indoors!!!! LOL!!)

Here She Is Again!

Morning guys.  Today I thought I would share Lulu with you again but this time using a different layout and some different papers.  I actually show you how I colour Lulu in my Colouring Techniques DVD using Copic Ciaos and Copic Spica markers.

As you already know from yesterday's post, Lulu and the other Ketto stamps can be purchased from The Craft Barn as too can my DVD's.

The papers are by Bo Bunny and I honestly can't remember where they came from and the wording is one of the die-cut birthday messages by Craftwork Cards that I also purchased from The Craft Barn. 

This ended up being a very quick card to make as the only thing that was stamped here was Lulu and of course she doesn't take much colouring!!

Bright and Colourful

Well outside it may be snowing and the sky may be grey but I thought that today I would load up a nice bright card that I made last year for one of my DVD's.

I had never come across this particular stamp range before until Sandy (from The Craft Barn) told me about them!  This little cutie is from the Ketto stamp range by Stamping Bella and is called Lulu.  There are quite a few others in this range too and I just love them!!  What I particularly like is that they are so easy to colour and so quick too!!  The Ketto range are available from The Craft Barn and although you can't see them online they are stocked in the bricks and mortar shop.  You can view the whole Ketto range here and then order them from The Craft Barn.  I coloured her using both Copic Ciaos and Copic Spica pens in order to add some sparkle to her.  I can't remember whose background paper this is now but I have a feeling that it may have been a range from Daisy Bucket but don't hold me to it!!

The Stamp Man Blog Hop Winners

Hi all.  Just a quick post to let you know that Jill has now picked the winners to her recent blog hop and they are as follows.  (By the way the names straight after the letter are the blog hop hostesses and the names at the end are the winners - just incase you were wondering!!)

H – Jill - Selection of Moonglow products - JulyeB




N - Janet - Choice of one of the new 3 Kay Carley DVDs - Charlotte



Y – Debbie - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Susan



T – Michelle - 400 assorted round brads - Helen



O – Vix - Selection of Moonglow products - Cheryl



Y – Tracey - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Stamping Sue



O – Avril - 400 assorted round brads - Wilma



U – Kay - Choice of one of the new 3 Kay Carley DVDs - Shairon



A –Teri - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Laura



N – Emma - Selection of Moonglow products - Ginger



D – Lisa - 400 assorted round brads - Zoechaos



Y – Sarah - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Sid



O – Christine - Choice of one of the new 3 Kay Carley DVDs - Brenda



U – Lynne - 400 assorted round brads - Julie Riley



R – PatR - Selection of Moonglow products - Lynne in NI



S - Lyn (blackdragon) - A choice of a Aspects of Design Stamp Sheet - Sally H


Congratulations to you all and my thanks to everyone who left me such lovely comments - I really enjoyed reading them all.  Jill will be emailing all you winners shortly.

WE Have A Sprinkling Of Some White Stuff!!

Hi guys.  So sorry that I haven't posted for the last few days.  I have had my head down with deadlines which thankfully is now done so I can now raise my head up from my work table and live again!!

We have actually got a very light sprinkling of snow here - just enough to colour the ground so in honour of this I just had to post up this card even though Christmas is now done and over with!!

After having such a failure with our January sale shopping trip Mum and I were going to hit Tunbridge Wells this week to see if we could grab any last minute bargains there but with all the snow forecast for our area we have decided to stay at home instead!!  Just think of all that money we will save - lol!!  I just hope that we do actually get a few cms of snow this time!!  I'll keep you posted............