Scarlett The Teacup Girl in Aqua

Hi guys.  As you can see the blog has been tweaked a little now in order to add a little more colour to it.

Today I thought it would be nice to show you the other card I made using that same Scarlett The Teacup Girl stamp by Stamping Bella that I showed the other day - this time in a colour scheme that is far more me!!

I stamped and embossed two shades of Bazzill cardstock using two different sizes of stamps from my Daisy Flutters un-mounted stamp sheet using a Versamark inkpad and an old embossing powder that I had in my stash called Bridal.  Then I coloured the daisy heads using a clear Copic Spica marker. The wording also came from this same stamp sheet.  The daisy border was done using one of my new Martha Stewart punches called Doily Lace Trim which I thought was the perfect choice to go with the daisies on the image and the background!  The little snippets of paper you can see are from Bo Bunny, the flowers are Prima and the brads came from The Craft Barn.  Then of course there is my Labels Twelve nestabilitie dies that I used for my main image.  (See I do actually get around to using the stuff I buy - eventually!!)

And here is a closer look at Scarlett herself which I stamped with Graphite Black Brilliance and heat set before colouring her with both Copic Ciaos and Copic Spicas to add a little sparkle. To embellish her further I added some self-adhesive pearls to the centres of the daisies, that came from The Craft Barn and then made her sparkle even more with some Stardust glitter glue.  Unfortunately the photo doesn't do her justice!!

Anyway I hope you like her!!

Pink Butterflies

So then guys what do you think to my 'new look' to my blog?  My great friend Isabelle has been busy beavering away to create this for me and personally I think she has done a fantastic job especially as 'lilac' really isn't her colour! Lol!!  She took her inspiration for the blog background from two cards that I sent to her featuring the Sarah Kay and Whiff Of Joy girl images that you can see and I am absolutely 'wowed' with what she has created!!  What do you think??  I am sure that after all her hard work Isabelle would love to hear your comments!!  There are still a few little tweaks to be made so bear in mind that this is work in progress!!

Anyway onto the card that I have to share with you today.  Not one of my better efforts I'm afraid as I was really pushed for time when I made this!!  Also the materials that I was allowed to work with were really limited as this was done for one of The Stamp Man's TV shows.  I don't know about you but I am never entirely happy with cards I produce when I have to work within a very restricted materials list and always feel that they are rather basic looking but maybe that is just me!!

A lot of you by now will no doubt recognise the imagery! The main image is from my Funky Frames stamp sheet and the wording and flourishes are from my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet both of which can of course be purchased from The Stamp Man.

Scarlett The Teacup Girl

Well after showing you all that I have been buying lately I think it is about time that I actually showed you that I have been card making too - just not with the stuff that I recently bought!  Do you remember a little while ago I came back from The Craft Barn laden with goodies?  Well this stamp was in amongst those goodies along with the designer paper.  So you see I do use the things that I bring home..........eventually!!

This little sweetie is by Stamping Bella and is called Scarlett The Teacup Girl.  I love daisies so as soon as I saw her I just had to have her - you know how it is!!  As you can probably make out I stamped and embossed my Bazzill cardstock to create some more visual interest using a stamp from the Wellspring clear stamp set by Inkadinkado for the top panel and one of my stamps from the Daisy Flutters un-mounted stamp set for the bottom panel.  The DP is from the Nook&Pantry collection by Basic Grey and the flourish is an EK Success punch that I got a little while ago from The Hobby House.  Everything else came from The Craft Barn including the Labels Twelve Nestabilitie dies that I used to stamp and mount Scarlett onto.

Here's a closer look at Scarlett.  I stamped her with Brilliance Graphite Black ink and heat set it before colouring her with my Copic Ciaos and then added some sparkle using glitter glue.

I hope you like her!

Too Many Nice Things & Not Enough Money!!! - Part 3

Hi guys - sorry didn't get around to posting anything yesterday as was too busy trying to catch up with work stuff.  Although I haven't actually managed to catch up as yet!!

After Lisa's comment on my last post I've decided to show you what else I recently succumbed to!  Not only have I got a secret Elisabeth Bell fetish but I am also finding it incredibly hard to resist all the gorgeous flower embellishments that are around at the moment and as you can see my will power totally failed me in this instance.  I just had to have them!

Plus I just had to have these as well!!  Aren't they pretty??  I am a little bit worried that they might end up falling under the category of 'Too Nice To Use'!!  I'm sure that many of you will know what I mean by this!

Both lots of flowers are by Prima and came from The Glitter Pot where they have got a vast array of pretty flowers to choose from as well as lots of brads too which is something else that I buy oodles of!  The trouble is, I already have enough stock to actually fill any craft shop that you care to mention but it doesn't seem to stop me buying more!!

Oh...............one last confession................I also bought some Bo Bunny background papers too!!

Right I'm off to go and do some work now in order to finance my uncontrollable spending urges!!  Next time I'll post up a card.

Too Many Nice Things & Not Enough Money!!! - Part 2

Well I did promise to show you some more of my new craft stash that has come through my letter box this week.  I never used to like Magnolia stamps very much but I have got to say that over the last few months they have been growing on me - not least because of seeing some of the wonderful cards that others create using these stamps.  So I am now the proud owner of these Magnolia stamps plus I have another Tilda stamp (not pictured) of Tilda sitting with a bee perched on her hand.  (These all came from my good friends at Sir Stampalot.)

As you can see I am also gradually adding to my collection of Copic Sketch pens (also from Sir Stampalot) and I now have quite a few of them.  I must admit that when I first started using Copics I did struggle a little with the blending but that was only because I didn't have the right colours to blend with!  So now I am adding to my collection and buying the markers that I need in order to obtain a good blend between light and dark tones.  I've got to say that once you get the hang of these markers they really are superb and can give your colouring a really professional look.  I have even bought some cardstock from the US as well, that is recommended to use with these markers so will try it out once I have a moment and let you know what I think!

Plus I finally had to succumb to the new colours of Distress inkpads and re-inkers - most of which I bought from Stamp Addicts.  I did have a little play with the inkpads the other day - just to make a chart of the new colours and I must say they are VERY nice! Most of them are quite 'pretty' colours!

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For those of you (like me) who like Elisabeth Bell images you might want to look at my sidebar as Elisabeth is currently offering 30 of her stamp designs to win!!  Just click on the picture in my sidebar and it will take you to her blog where you can put your name down to enter the candy!

Now decisions............ decisions...................................................tomorrow.......... do I share a card with you or confess even more of my recent spending!!!

Too Many Nice Things & Not Enough Money!!!

Ok so I have decided from now on I have got to go around with my eyes shut!!  I seem to have developed this compulsive habit of buying things - there are just far too many lovely things around at the moment that I have just GOT TO HAVE!!

Now I think that I have already established that Elisabeth Bell has got a lot to answer for with all these lovely designs that she keeps bringing out because as you know I had to splurdge on some of her stamps not so very long ago.  Well now to make matters worse The Craft Barn have started stocking the clear range of stamps by Belles and Whistles and of course as soon as I discovered this I was on the phone straight away!  These images are just so sweet and the quality of them are great too.  (I haven't always been enamoured with clear stamps in the past as the quality of them can vary greatly but these really are superb and each image that I stamped out came out perfectly first time.)

Of course I didn't just stop at having 4 stamps - I had these too!  Then on The Craft Barn's website I found out that they had got a new delivery in of Martha Stewart punches and as soon as I saw this Cupcake edger punch I had to have it to go with my Belles and Whistles Cupcake stamp - obviously!!

I am REALLY looking forward to playing with these!  As I've already said I had to test the stamps out straight away to see how they stamped out but so far that is as far as I have got.  However keep watching this space and if any of you are going to The Craft Barn's Extravaganza Weekend in June I will have some cards on display using these wonderful stamps there.

Tomorrow I may confess some more of my recent buying sins!!!

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By the way if any of you recently signed up to be a Follower over on The Craft Barn's blog you may want to head on over there because  not everyone left their name under the post to be in with a chance of winning the £30 goodie bag.  You still have until this coming Monday to rectify the situation or indeed to sign up if you haven't done so as yet!  Simply click here to go to The Craft Barn's blog and scroll down and read the Calling All Followers post and follow the instructions given.

Poppy

Oops - didn't get around to posting this card up yesterday after all!  We are having a lot of building works done here at the moment so things aren't always going according to plan currently around here!

Anyway here is that other card from Saturday's morning class using those same two Penny Black clear stamp sets again of Flowers & Wishes and Illumination along with the same materials from the last post.  This time the flower was stamped onto the panel and masked before adding the rest of the stamped images and background colour.  Once again the whole card was created through the use of stamps, inks etc...

Here's a better view of that poppy panel so that you can see the detail.  I wanted the flower and the wording to stand out the most so these were stamped in black in order to achieve this.  The poppy was coloured using water based markers along with a water brush then soft white highlights were added using a white colouring pencil.

I hope you like it.

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By the way don't forget if you fancy a real challenge this month to head on over to The Craft Barn's blog and enter their Mini Album competition.  Each day different pages are being loaded up to give you lots of inspiration and I must say that the DT have done an absolutely amazing job!!  Even Sandy (Mrs Craft Barn) has contributed to this challenge too so you definitely need to click here to go and view and find out how to enter.

Flower Vases

Hi guys.  First of all my thanks to all the ladies who came to my classes yesterday at The Glitter Pot.  It was lovely to see some faces that I already knew and some new faces too - I hope you all enjoyed it!  (Katherine - I don't know if you read my blog but if you do I forgot to give you your project sheet before you left so if you would like to email me I will send you one!)

Our class in the morning was very technique based.  It's been quite a while since I've done a class like that but I must say that everyone did really well especially as there was a lot to take on board!  The class did run over a bit but I think everyone in the end managed to get both this card done (the easier of the two) and the other one which I'll show you tomorrow.  Absolutely no backing papers were used at all on this card - everything was achieved using two sets of Penny Black clear stamps - Flowers & Wishes and Illumination along with Shabby Shutters and Antique Linen Distress inks, Tuxedo Black Memento inkpad, Versamark inkpad, clear embossing powder and a blending tool. (All of which can be purchased from The Glitter Pot apart from (currently) the blending tool which can be bought from The Stamp Man.  These two sets of stamps work really well together - the Flowers & Wishes set is full of outline images and the Illumination set contain bold/solid flower stamps. When you combine two different styles of stamps (like these) you can achieve some really great looks with them.

The vases of flowers were done using water based markers and a fine mist spritzer then the background was created around them using the supplies mentioned. 

I must admit that when I first came across rubber stamping I thought 'What is so great about stamping out an image and colouring it in?', but of course rubber stamping can be so much more than that as you can see here.

Anyway I hope you like it!

Spring Blossom

When I was out and about the other day I couldn't help but admire all the lovely spring blossom that is out on the trees now and so I thought this would be the ideal time to share this card with you as it reminds me so much of the pink blossom. 

I'm sure you will recognise the image as being Mimi In The Rain from the new Denami Design stamps which I combined with some Basic Grey papers from the Sugared Paper pad - LOVE these papers and most definitely need more of them!

I stamped the bottom background panel with the Denami Small Solid Umbrella to help tie it in with the main image and then stamped the Decorative Flourish into the top left and bottom right corners of the card using a deep plum inkpad. The bigger pink flowers were done using my Retro Flower punch (from The Hobby House) and the smaller flowers were stamped using the Solid Flower from the Whimsical Flowers stamp set.

Regarding the Mimi panel - I stamped her using Starlite Black Brilliance, heat set the ink and then coloured her using my Polycolor Pencils along with a Splender Pencil. To make her eyes look as if she is wearing mascara I simply traced over the lashes using a 0.1mm Zig Millenium pen. For sparkle I traced over some of the imagery using a Silver Sakura Stardust pen and then added some Diamond glitter glue.

All of these products can be bought from Stamp Addicts.

For those of you who may be interested I will be taking a class at Stamp Addicts on Friday 21st May from 3-5pm where I will be using some of these stamps by Denami that I have been showing you over the last few weeks.  Click here for more details on how to book. 

Then on Saturday 22nd May I will be demoing using these stamps at Stamp Addicts as part of their May Demo Day so if any of you have any questions as to how I achieve my colouring with these stamps etc...  I'll be able to show you first hand!!

Craft Barn Challenge

Hi guys.  Are any of you feeling adventurous???  Only tomorrow The Craft Barn are launching a new challenge over on their blog.  I don't want to spoil it by telling you too much about it so I suggest you head on over to The Craft Barn's blog and find out how you could win a goody bag handpicked just for you!!

Little Miss Missmatch

Morning guys.  Just recently I've been busy creating some cards with the Stamping Bella range of stamps as part of my DT work for The Craft Barn.  So today I thought I'd share a card with you that I created using one of the Ketto range of stamps called Missmatch.  Isn't she lovely?  She always makes me smile when I look at her as she looks as if she is practising her pirouettes - and in those boots too!!!

I used both my Large Oval and Scalloped Large Oval Nestabilities dies for my main image then for the actual card I used Bo Bunny Alissa Twirls background paper which I punched using my Martha Stewart Daisy Edger. The panel of pink Bazzill card was embossed using my Cuttlebug Daisy Pattern embossing folder and to keep the daisy theme going I punched out some daisy flowers using a tiny daisy punch.

As for Missmatch herself - I stamped her using Graphite Black Brilliance which I heat set before colouring her with Copics. Then added some Stickles here and there to make her shine!!

I hope you like it!

By the way don't forget that The Craft Barn are currently offering a £30 Goodie Bag and all you need to do to be in with a chance of winning it is to head on over to their blog and become a follower!

Flower Power

Well what a treat it is now to see all the spring flowers coming up and to actually see some colour in the gardens and verges!!  When I went out the other day I was amazed to see all the daffodils that were out - there just seemed to be so many of them.  They really were fantastic to see.

So with all these flowers popping up out of the ground I thought I'd post up a flower card today.  I'm sure that some of you will recognise these stamps!!  They are (of course) from the latest release by Denami.

For the main panel I used my Labels Three Nestabilities and stamped the Wavy Stems Trio in Starlite Black Brilliance and then stamped the different flower heads (from the Whimsical Garden stamp set) on top of each of the stems. Then for the border I repeatedly stamped the Rosebud Trio onto a panel of white paper, varying the height of the flowers and then cut around the top part of the flowers.

All the colouring was done with my Polycolor Pencils and a Splender Pencil - hopefully you can see the shading a little better in this image.  To add some shimmer I traced over the stamped impressons using a Silver Sakura Stardust pen and for sparkle I used small amounts of Crystal Glitter Glue.

The background paper is that Denim Paisley by Creative Imaginations which I just LOVE and the Thanks A Bunch wording is by Denami from an earlier release.

All of these products can be bought from Stamp Addicts.

A Craft Barn Goody Bag

Hi guys.  I thought you might like to know that The Craft Barn are currently offering a FREE £30 GOODY BAG to one lucky person!!  All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning this super prize is sign up to become a follower on their blog and the goody bag could be yours!!  So what are you waiting for???  Click here to head on over to The Craft Barn's blog and some super goodies could be yours!

Citrus Flowers

What a lovely sunshiney morning we have got today on the south east coast of the UK.  So as the sun is out I thought a nice, fresh card would be most appropriate!!  This is a card that we did at The Glitter Pot a little while ago using my Funky Frames stamp sheet for the main image and the Fancy Flourish stamp sheet for the background and wording along with distress inkpads. 

By using inkpads both to create your backgrounds and to colour your main imagery it means you won't have any problems with the getting a colour match!

Distress inkpads used:
Dried Marigold
Spiced Marmalade
Scattered Straw
Mustard Seed
Shabby Shutters
Peeled Paint

Happy Easter Sunday

Hi guys.  Just wanted to pop on and wish everyone a lovely Easter Sunday.  I do hope that you are all enjoying your long weekend and that the Easter Bunny was kind to everyone today!

Yellow Roses

Oh what a treat - we have actually got bright sunshine here as I write this!  It's not meant to last though!!

With this being Easter weekend it would have been nice for me to share an Easter card with you but this year I just didn't get round to making any!  So instead I thought I'd share my Yellow Rose card with you as at least it shares the same colour as daffodils! 

This was made using stamps from Denami Design's latest release again.  I stamped the Rosebud Trio along my white panel using Starlite Black Brilliance and coloured using Polycolor Pencils and a Splender Pencil.  For the cream background panel I stamped and embossed the Decorative Flourish using Versamark and Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder and overstamped the Large Dot Swirl using Jet Black StazOn. To create the black panel I actually used a Stamps By Judith stamp called Loose Weeds and a white StazOn inkpad. (In the UK this is available from Stamp Addicts 01234 855833 but cannot be shown on their website.)

To add a little sparkle to the roses I traced over the outline of the flowers, leaves and stems using a Silver Sakura Stardust pen and then added small amounts of Diamond glitter glue.

All products available from Stamp Addicts.

May Classes at The Glitter Pot

Morning everyone.  Just thought I'd quickly pop by to let you know that I will be at The Glitter Pot taking some classes on Saturday 8th May just incase anyone is interested!  Click here for more details!

At the moment I am busy preparing my cards for my classes there in a couple of weeks time - only they are not going to plan at the moment!!  Why is it some card come together soooo easily and others just won't look right no matter what you do?  Still I am determined to crack them so I guess I ought to get back to it!  Wish me luck...........

By the way if any of you have my Funky Flowers stamp sheet and want some inspiration they pop on over to The Craft Barn's blog and check out their post today - you may recognise a couple of the images!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

With all the rain we have been having lately and with more forecast I thought this would be quite an appropriate card to load up today!!  For those of you who visit me regularly you will probably already recognise both the stamps and the paper!!

The stamps are of course by Denami Design and the paper is called Denim Paisley by Creative Imaginations and is available from Stamp Addicts.

I began by stamping the Large Open Umbrella using Brilliance Starlite Black and coloured them using my Polycolor Pencils and a Splender Pencil, omitting the handle.  For this I coloured with my Clear Sakura Stardust pen and then traced over the umbrella lines with my Silver Sakura Stardust pen.  I next lightly added some Crystal glitter glue over the top which you may see clearer in the second image.

The wording was stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black as I really wanted this to stand out, then for the background I used the Large Dot Swirls, Versamark and Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder.  All of which can be purchased from Stamp Addicts.

I hope that the weather is treating you more kindly wherever you are!!