What A Lovely Surprise

Hi everyone.  I was totally amazed and delighted to be presented this award from Mustavcoffee.  Thank you so much hun!!

 

Apparently upon receiving this award I need to tell you 7 facts about myself and pass it onto 7 people.  So here goes-

 

1) This won't come as any surprise to those of you who visit my blog but I absolutely LOVE rubber stamping.  When I very first discovered rubber stamping I was told that it was VERY addictive and I must confess at the time I though 'What a load of rubbish!'. It just shows how wrong you can be!!

 

2) I'll be another year older this Saturday!  Will I be taking it easy and just relaxing and enjoying my day??...................................No!!  I'll be demoing all day at The Glitter Pot's Christmas Spectacular Weekend!

 

3) I just LOVE squirrels - both our native red ones and also the cheeky grey ones!  I was VERY fortunate to have a close relationship with several wild grey squirrels several years ago now, and because of this I discovered what great and individual personalities they all have.  There is something very special about a wild animal totally trusting you.

 

4) As you may have already disovered from my posts on my blog, I just LOVE shopping - whether it is for craft related products or clothes, shoes, make-up etc... I LOVE IT!!  Infact both Mum and I are the original 'shop 'til you drop' girls!

 

5) This will also come as no surprise to you (considering the colour of my blog) to know that my favourite colour is lilac.

 

6) I must have one of the biggest rubber/clear stamp collections ever and although I have got rid of some of the stamps that I no longer use (several times!) my collection shows no sign of dissipating as I just keep buying more!  What can I say??  There are just too many lovely designs out there!

 

7) I like things to be neat and tidy but unfortunately my crafting table can NEVER be called that - lol!!

 

Ok so now comes the hard bit.........................passing this onto just 7 people!  There are so many wonderful blogs out there but after a lot of thinking, I would like to pass this onto the following bloggers -

 

• Louise - Craft Lou's Small World
• Chris - Always About Colour
• Debbie - Made With Love
• Isabelle - Eclectic Art
• Dawn - All Pink Girl
• Suzanne - ScrapBitz
• Elaine - Quixotic Cards

I hope that you are all enjoying the bank holiday weekend!

Me In My Hat!!

Good morning.  After Julie saying I should show the photo that I was referring to in my last post; here it is!!

It turns out that I wasn't 4 years old in this photo as I originally thought.  I was actually almost 2 years old.  See what I mean about the hat - lol!!

Everything Goes

Morning guys.  Today I thought I'd enter the current Belles and Whistles challenge of Everything Goes.  The only rule is to use a Belles 'n' Whistles stamp in your creation so that's easy for me then considering how many of these cuties I have accumulated recently!

For this card I chose to use the Tea Time stamp by Belles 'n' Whistles.  Every time I see this stamp it makes me quite envious as I would love to be sat outside just kicking back whilst having a cup of tea and a biscuit!

In a way this stamp reminds me of when I was younger as my Mum took a picture of me of when I was about 4 years old, sat on a sun lounger with a big straw hat on (to protect me from the sun), eating my marmite sandwiches!

Anyway I am digressing..................back to the card!  The background papers are by Bo Bunny, the wording is from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and the image was cut using a Labels Three Nestabilities die.

I stamped the main image onto Craftwork Cards Digital Smooth cardstock (which is just excellent to use with your Copics) in Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then coloured her using Copics. (I don't currently have the list of Copic colours with me but if I find some time I'll edit this later to include them.)  You might also just be able to distinguish that I add a slight shadow around the girl using a light blue Copic (B60), just to give a hint of sky around her.

All the products used on this card (apart from the Digital cardstock) are from The Craft Barn.

Been Buying!

Hi guys.  Sorry I haven't been posting this week but it has been all go here.

Today I thought I'd share my 'buying sins' with you!  Why is it that I have a craft room filled to overflowing but it doesn't prevent me from buying and wanting more stuff??  One of these days I really must have a good turf out otherwise soon the walls will be bulging where I can't cram anything more into my room!!

As you know I was demoing at the Stevenage Show last Sunday and I was able to have a very quick look around and so stumbled across a few items which then fell into my hand!  Strange how that happens isn't it??

First up are these punches which I'm unable to remember which stall they came from - sorry!!  They are widely available though.  The punch on the right punches out the shape and then you put it into the punch on the left and it embosses it.  Of course I just had to have both sizes of these flower punches and then thought the stamen punch would be handy too!  Wish they did snowflakes in these.

Next door to the 'punch stall' was Stamps and Memories and Wendy had some gorgeous packs of flowers.  (See what I mean?)  Now I know that I have just shown you the punches to punch out my own flowers but this doesn't stop me buying pre-done ones I'm afraid, especially when they've already got their own gemstone centres!  Being white means that I can colour them to match any project too!

The blue packet is my favourite as the flowers are all glittery................. see!!  (How could I resist?)

Now I just love embellishments and wanted to make sure that I found time to visit The Hobby House as I just love their packs of rhinestones and pearls.  In my opinion you can NEVER have too many!  I wasn't banking on them also having lots of packs of wonderful silver charms too though.............so what was a girl to do....................??

Also came across these wonderful brads which is something else that I feel you can't have too many of.  The photo really doesn't do these justice but the actual brads are silver coloured with different coloured middles such as purple, blue, yellow, green etc.... I got the smaller brads in pastel and bright colours and the middle sized brads in pastel colours too and then some wonderful spacers for the brads to sit in.  (Oh The Hobby House has a lot to answer for - lol!!)

It seems on that day my resistance to lovely things was VERY low as I came across the Fantastic Ribbons stall too and yes you've guessed it..............I just LOVE ribbon as well........................Actually it seems that I LOVE everything doesn't it?  Stamps, papers, embellishments..........................I LOVE IT ALL!!  LOL!!!  So I really think it best that I don't even mention what came through the post this week!!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Watering The Flowers

Hi guys.  Sorry for being absent for a few days, but you know what it's like!!

Today I thought I'd enter this card into the Belles 'n' Whistles Warm Colours Challenge.  The main image is of course a Belles 'n' Whistles stamp called 'Watering', the papers are from the Double Dots range by Bo Bunny, the flowers are a mixture of Petaloo and punched out flowers and the flourishes and wording (stamped in Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink) are from my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet.

I tinted the paper Petaloo flowers using a light orange coloured Copic so that they matched the card.

I stamped the main image using a black Versafine inkpad onto watercolour paper and coloured her using Distress Inkpads - Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters and Pumice Stone.

All of the products mentioned came from The Craft Barn.

Talking of Belles 'n' Whistles - for those of you who haven't seen it yet I have got a 4 page project in the (current) September issue of Craft Stamper using some of these delightful stamps along with Copic markers. The project concentrates on showing you different ways of grounding your imagery to give a more realistic result to standing/kneeling figures and in the next  issue  of the magazine (October), I have an article showing you a few more tricks on how to 'ground' sitting figures too.

Anything Goes Easel Card

Hi guys.  Well it's time for another Stamp Man Challenge and this time we want to see your easel cards.  The theme for this is Anything Goes so the subject matter is entirely up to you - the only criteria is that it needs to be an easel card.

This is the one that I made for this challenge and is actually my first easel card ever!!  I like the idea of easel cards - I just don't get the time to play around and do them as they are a little bit more work than a normal card.

The stamps are all from my Funky Frames stamp sheet and the paper is Arabella by Basic Grey.  Both of which came from The Stamp Man.  For this card I just had to use my Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly and Floral Lace edging punches too as they went so well with the stamps - both of these are from The Craft Barn.  Infact it seems I went a bit 'punch mad' as I also used my EK Success Flourish punch and Retro Flowers. (The Hobby House)

Here's a closer look at the main panel of the card.  As you can see I used the flourish (from the Funky Frames sheet) to stamp onto the background of the card to add some interest using both a Versamark inkpad and a Starlite Black Brilliance inkpad.

I didn't have any ribbon to match my card so I simply took one of my green Copic markers and used the chisel end to colour a length of white ribbon.  These markers are just SO handy!!  Not only do I colour ribbon with them but also things like pearls and gemstones when I don't have the right colour to match my card.  (Jill - take note you should definitely stock these!!  LOL!!)  This time around I had the perfect match with my gemstones though which came from The Hobby House.

So no prizes for guessing what I coloured my image with!!  What can I say.....................I just LOVE the crisp, clean, printed look that can be achieved with the Copic markers.  You just don't get this with any of the other colouring mediums.  I am most definitely hooked on them!! (I'm afraid I didn't make a note of the colours I used for this though so no numbers this time!)  I  managed to get my hands on some Craftwork Cards Digital Smooth White card (which I used on this card) and I must say that the Copic markers blended really easily on it.  It's really affordable too - retailing at £9.95 for a pack of 50 A4 sheets! 

So don't forget to head on over to The Stamp Man's Challenge Blog to find out how to enter this challenge and to check out all the wonderful samples that the rest of the DT made.

Stamperama Is Nearly Here

Morning guys.  Another quickish post from me again this morning as time keeps marching on..............  At the moment I am busy preparing for this Sunday for the Stamperama Show (at Stevenage)!!  Once again I will be on Stamp Addicts's stand working with some of the latest releases by Denami Design!!  Just LOVE the simple lines of these stamps.

Above is one of the cards I made for this time last year which was such a simple and quick card to make.  This was made using two of the tree stamps that Denami released last year along with the Denami Large Dot Swirl stamp to add some interest to the background.

As for which of the new stamps I'm working with this time..................................well you'll just have to come and stop by my table on Sunday and see!!  Hope to see you there!!!

Wishing Well Wishes

Hi guys.  This is going to be a quickish post from me today as I've just got back from the chiropractor and am supposed to be resting! 

Todays card is the other card we made back in June at The Craft Barn!!  Yes I know it's been a long time in coming!!  I still have lots of cards to show you from the June Extravaganza too!!  I'll get around to it sometime I promise!

Anyway back to this card. The papers are by Bo Bunny and I stamped on them using flourishes from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet.  (The wording is from this sheet to.)

The main image is a Belles 'n' Whistles stamp called Wishes and is coloured using Distress inkpads first with Copic Spica pens added afterwards for some subtle shimmer which you can't see from this photo.  You'll just have to take my word for it!

All products came from The Craft Barn.  And talking of The Craft Barn it won't be long now until their September Extravaganza which is being held on 11th and 12th September at both the Community Centre and The Victoria Club.  I hope to see you there!!

A Day At The Glitter Pot

So tomorrow I will be at The Glitter Pot all day teaching a couple of classes based on Copics.  So in honour of that I thought I'd show you a card today that I made when I was demoing Copics last month there.

The background paper is a double-sided one by Imaginisce called Frilly Floral and as you can see I punched one of the panels with my favourite Martha Stewart edging punch - Floral Lace.  The flowers were made using EK Success Retro Flower punches - I just love these and use them all the time!

The main image is called Kira With Flowers and I stamped her with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured her with my Copics.  The wording was taken from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and I used Diamond and Platinum glitter glue to add some sparkle to the card and image.

COPIC COLOURS

Skin - E11, E00, E000 and R20 Blush

Hair - E35, YR23, YR21 and YR20
Basket - E47, E43, E31 and E50
Flowers and leaves - Y15, RV25 and RV21
Clothes - R37, R35 and R32
               RV25, RV23 and RV21
Grass - YG67, YG63 and G40
Background - B02, B00, R00, BG000 and 0

All materials used came from The Glitter Pot.

For those of you that have booked on the classes..............I'll see you tomorrow!!  Personally I can't wait to see how the new premises are shaping up as it has been a few weeks since I was there now.

Time For A Break

Hi guys.  Thanks so much to all of you who have been leaving me such lovely comments recently - I have had great pleasure in reading them!

Today I thought I'd share one of the cards that we made on my class at The Craft Barn back in June using the Tea Time stamp by Belles and Whistles along with Copic markers.  I must say that everyone on the class did an excellent job with their colouring.

As I'm sure some of you are aware, Belles and Whistles recently launched some more stamps(!! ) -some of which I've been lucky enough to receive in my DT pack from The Craft Barn - I really can't wait to ink them up! (Click here to view the range.)

Anyway back to this card!  The dotty papers are from the Double Dots range by Bo Bunny and as you can see I used my favourite Floral Lace punch by Martha Stewart to add some interest to the dp.  The dotty flourish and wording are from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet.

The large circle and scallop circle were cut using Nestabilities dies. I stamped Tea Time with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured her using Copic Ciaos first and then added some of the Copic Spicas for some subtle shimmer.

You can see the colouring a bit better in this photo. Once the card had been put together I gave it a light misting with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist.

All products used came from The Craft Barn.

COPIC COLOURS
W1, W3 and W5 Warm Greys, E47 Dark Brown, E43 Dull Ivory, E50 Egg Shell, E31 Brick Beige, E11 Barely Beige, E00 Skin White, E35 Chamois, YR20 Yellowish Shade, R20 Blush, R27 Cadmium Red, R22 Light Prawn, R00 Pinkish White, YR02 Light Orange, YR00 Powder Pink, Y06 Yellow, YG67 Moss, YG63 Pea Green, G21 Lime Green, YG11 Mignonette, B63 Light Hydrangea, B60 Pale Blue Grey, 0 Blender

SPICA COLOURS
Sand, Silver, Red and Clear

Thanks for looking!

The Stamp Man's Second Challenge

Hi everyone. Today is the start of The Stamp Man's 2nd Challenge which is Take Two Colours. As you can see from my card I opted for some nice bright colours of purple and green which I thought would make a nice fresh looking card. 

For the background I used the Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers embossing folder and some plain vellum. After I'd embossed it I coloured the reverse side of the vellum with some markers in order to pick out the detail of the embossing.

For the main panel I used one of my stamps from the Funky Flowers stamp sheet and coloured this using Coloursoft pencils and Sansador in order to give it a soft muted feel.  I then took one of the flourishes from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and stamped and embossed around the flowers using Versamark and Crystal embossing powder.

The birthday wording is from my Funky Frames stamp sheet.

I really hope you like the card and fancy having a go at submitting a card of your own into our challenge. Click here to go and visit the Challenge blog and find out what you need to do to enter.

Enjoy your weekend!

Summer Rain

Good morning everyone.  I thought I'd stay with the Denami range of stamps and show you the card that I made back in May for my class at Stamp Addicts.  As you can see this one is a bit more involved than the one I showed yesterday!

I just LOVE the Mimi range of stamps as she is just so chic and stylish looking.  They don't take long to colour either!

For the background of the card I stamped and embossed the Decorative Flourish using Versamark and Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder and then stamped a couple of the Large Dot Swirls using a soft brown inkpad.

For the Mimi panel, I stamped Mimi using Graphite Black Brilliance and then stamped the flower heads (from the Whimsical Flowers set) either side of her using the same inkpad and drew in the stems and leaves using a fine black pen.

I then coloured her in using Polycolor Pencils and a Splender pencil and added some shimmer using the Clear Sakura Stardust pen which you can't see from the angle of this photo!! Once I'd finished my colouring I used a brown Polycolor Pencil to go around the edge of the panel and then pulled this colour into the panel using Zest It blending solution and a paper stump. Lastly I added that Large Dot Swirl using the soft brown inkpad and then using Versamark and Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder.

All of these products came from Stamp Addicts.

Denami stamps used:
Mimi In The Rain
Whimsical Flowers stamp set
Decorative Flourish
Large Dot Swirl

Simple Flowers

Sometimes...................just sometimes...............I like to make a relatively simple card and this is one of those cards.  As you can see there are no 'extra bits' at all on this card keeping it very clean and uncluttered looking.

All the stamps used on this card are by Denami and can be bought from Stamp Addicts. The pink paisley paper is by Denami too and I simply stamped the large dotty swirl over it to jazz it up a little.

This was such a quick card to make as the colouring is very minimal.

I first stamped the Wavy Stem Trio and then stamped the individual flower heads onto each stem and coloured them using Polycolor Pencils and a Spender Pencil.

For the stamped background on the main card I used a Denami flourish stamp and a pale pink dye based inkpad.

Denami stamps used:
Wavy Stems Trio
Whimsical Flowers
Decorative Flourish
Large Dot Swirls

At Last!! - Sharon's Card!!

Morning guys.  I have been meaning to show you this card for absolutely  ages, that I was very honoured to receive from Sharon when I was last up at Stamp Addicts.  Just after the class finished that I took up at Stamp Addicts in May, Sharon (one of the ladies on my class) presented me with this gorgeous card!  I was so thrilled to receive it - especially as when I opened it I found that Sharon had been really kind and had stamped me out some different 'cute' images to colour with my Copics!  Now I must confess that I haven't had chance yet to actually colour any of them in but I have looked at them several times and am itching to find some time to attack them!

So what do you think?  Isn't this lovely!!  It is currently displayed in my craft room as I can't bear to take it down.  As those of you who read my blog regularly will know, I don't often get hand made cards and truly treasure those that I do get.  (I still have those Christmas cards that some of you were kind enough to make me last year!)

Here's a closer look at that gorgeous teddy stamp from Lili Of The Valley. I'm pretty sure that Sharon coloured him in with Pro Markers but I'm afraid that I have no idea on whose papers she used.

Sharon doesn't currently have a blog of her own but she does visit mine regularly so I am sure she would love to read any comments that you might care to leave!

I really am so lucky with the ladies that I get on my classes - you are all such a fabulous bunch!!

The Craft Barn's Candy

Hi everyone.  I thought that maybe some of you might be interested in some blog candy that is currently available over on The Craft Barn's blog!! Click here to go and check it out!!  I have seen some of Carol's cards first hand that she has made using the stencils and paste and they are absolutely amazing!!

Milton

Well in my last post I introduced you to Mille so this time I felt it was Milton's turn!  This particular image is called Milton With Card and again he is by Wild Rose Studio.  The background paper is by Bo Bunny and is called Peacock Lane/Tweet, the flowers are from the Athena range by Prima, the leaves are a punch and the wording came from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet. The sheer ribbon was originally white but I coloured it with a Copic marker to match the rest of the card.

I stamped Milton using Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured him with Copics.  I added some sparkle to the Prima flowers using Platinum glitter glue.

Here's a closer look at the colouring of Milton so you can see that I added some texture to some of his fur to make him more scruffy looking than Millie. This was done by using a flicking motion using my second darkest fur colour of E33.

COPIC COLOURS
Fur - E35, E33, Y11, Y000 and E30
Inner ears - R20 and R22
Card - V15, V01 and V000
Ground - C5, C3 and C1
Dotty background - C1, V01 and V000

Millie

Morning everyone.  So sorry for my lack of postings this month!!  I do have loads of cards to show you I just keep running out of time to blog!  Anyway today I have managed to snatch a few minutes and thought I'd share this card with you that I made for The Glitter Pot when I was there demoing the other Saturday.  The stamp is from Wild Rose Studio and is called Millie With Pot.  I think she is so sweet!  There is also a male teddy bear called Milton who is just as adorable.  Infact Wild Rose Studio have just released some Christmas stamps featuring Millie and Milton and I can't decide which one I like the best!  Click here to see.

Anyway back to the card.............I used my Nestabilities Labels Twelve die to stamp Millie onto and two of my Martha Stewart punches edging punches - Floral Lace and Flower Patch to add some interest to the actual card.  The backing paper is by Bo Bunny and the punched out swirls were done with an EK Success punch.

I stamped Millie using Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then coloured her using Copics which of course I just LOVE!  I wanted her to look very smooth and neat (as if she takes pride in her appearance!) so I blended the colours really well to give her a nice smooth appearance.  (For the male teddy Milton, I actually made him more textured looking, in order to make him look more scruffy, which I'll show you another time.)

Here's a closer look at Millie so you can see how the colours blended together.  I think I am right in saying that I actually used 5 different colours to achieve this result.   As you can see I also added a soft background to her using the Copics.  Once I'd finished my colouring I used a few different colours of the Copic Spica pens to add some subtle shimmer and then applied some Stardust glitter glue.

COPIC COLOURS
Fur - E35, Y13, Y11, Y000 and E30
Inner ears - R20 and R22
Flower pot - C5, C3 and C1
Flowers and leaves - Y13, V15, V000, BG15, BG10, YG06, YG03 and G20
Dress and hair bow - V09, V15, V01 and V000
Ground - C5, C3 and C1
Spotty background - B00, B32, BG000, and V000

I hope you like the result!

The Craft Barn's Summer Sale

Hi guys.  Just wanted to let you know that The Craft Barn are currently having a summer sale!!  There are all sorts of bargains to be had including 40% off Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, over 50% off  selected Woodware's clear stamp sets and lots of other things that are too numerous to mention apart from my particular favourite of 40% off the Dahlia Box Blends.  So what are you waiting for?.......................... Go grab yourself a bargain because once they are gone..............they're gone!!

The Stamp Man's First Fortnightly Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of The Stamp Man's new Fortnightly Challenges over on their new Challenge Blog. Click here to head on over and find out what you need to do to enter and don't forget to read the few rules that we have whilst you are there.

The first theme to get us up and running is Anything Goes which means that you can make anything you like!

Here's what I came up with for this challenge.  First of all I used my Nestabilities Blossom die to get my centre piece and then stamped components from my Funky Flowers stamp sheet to make up my own arrangement within the die-cut - just like I showed how to do in the May 2010 issue of Craft Stamper.  The beige background papers were stamped with two Hero Arts cling stamps (Flowing Flowers and Leaves and Reversed Flowers and Leaves) and a Distress Inkpad in Antique Linen. I then stamped over this using my fine flourish from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and Walnut Stain Distress inkpad.

The brown swirls and squares were punched out of brown Bazzill card using a medium square punch from Woodware and an EK Success Flourish punch from The Hobby House.

I coloured my main image using Sakura Stardust pens and a water brush which gives a lovely soft shimmer to them. Once I'd done this I took the dotty stamp from the Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and a light green inkpad and stamped all around the edge of the die-cut to give the speckled effect. I then used this same inkpad to stamp the leafy flourish from the Flourish stamp sheet at the base of the flower stems to add a subtle background.

I hope you like it and that you now feel inspired to join us for our Anything Goes Challenge!

Little Miss MissMatch

Hi guys.  I thought I'd share this card with you today that I made some time ago as part of my DT work for The Craft Barn.  I really like the colour scheme of this one as I thought the pink and aqua colours really complemented each other.  The main stamp is called MissMatch and is from the Ketto range by Stamping Bella.  Isn't she great?  The DP is from the Alyssa range by Bo Bunny which came from The Craft Barn - not too sure if they still have it now.  The stamped and embossed flower sprigs came from my Daisy Flutters stamp sheet.  The circles along the bottom of the card are the Craftwork Cards Card Candy.

I stamped Miss Match with Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her using my Copic markers. By using the lighter colours of markers I was able to give her a nice pastel look to go with the rest of the card. (Can't remember now which colours they were though!)  I then added lots of Stardust glitter glue to the card to give lots of sparkle. 

All products came from The Craft Barn.