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!!!

Last of Tilda

Morning guys.  First of all my sincere thanks to everyone who responded to my question about storing Nestabilities - after receiving your comments I have decided that magnetic sheets (of some description) are obviously a must and I may see if over the Christmas period I can make some sort of book (using my Bind-It All) machine along with the magnetic sheets.  I'll let you know how I get on!!

Now that we are into December I actually WANT to be making Christmas cards - after doing nothing but since July!!  However working within the crafting industry nothing could be that simple and of course within this industry Christmas has been and gone and we are now onto other stuff!!  For instance I am currently working on cards for my next classes at The Glitter Pot which are on the 10th December - being that this is quite close to Christmas and most Christmas cards will have been made by then I am designing cards which are non-Christmassy!!  Once I have fnished those I plan to make a start on my next submission for Craft Stamper which will be for the April issue - so again a non-Christmassy theme for that then!!  See it is a topsy turvy world I live in!

Anyway here is the last of the Tilda cards that I made the other weekend when I was at The Glitter Pot (which is Christmassy).  Tilda was stamped using Graphite Black Brilliance and coloured using Copics, then I lightly rubbed a light blue chalk inkpad around the edges and added some subtle stamping using that same ink.  For the rest of the card I used My Minds Eye background papers which I embellished using the Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly clear stamp set.  I hope you like it!!

More Magnolia

Oh my goodness my posts are getting later and later aren't they??  I had to go out this morning to do some mundane shopping bits and it took so much longer than anticipated that I am now only getting around to some computer stuff!!  Before I get too engrossed in all that I have to do I thought I'd better start by showing you a card that I did the other weekend when I was demonstrating with the new Magnolia Christmas stamps and the Copic pens at The Glitter Pot.  I quite like this card as I think it looks as if she is perching on the top of the background paper and she certainly looks quite Christmassy in her Santa's hat!

All the other stamps that you can see on this card (including the wording) come from the Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly clear stamp set.  The background paper is by Fancy Pants and has most definitely been one of my favourites to use this year.  To get the white highlights on Tilda I used the Ranger Inkssentials White Opaque pen as I have found that this gives a really good dense white.  (If I get time I think I might make some duplicates of this card as well for some of my Christmas cards this year!!) All products can be obtained from The Glitter Pot.

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Before I disappear again for today I just want to remind you all that Jill (from The Stamp Man) will be live on Ideal World tomorrow at 12 midday along with Tracy (another Stamp Man stamp designer) so don't forget to tune in or to set your boxes as I am sure that they will have got some wonderful demos lined up for you to see!!

We Have Sunshine!!

Morning everyone.  Well what a welcome change it is as finally we have got some sunshine here on the south east coast of the UK rather than the gales and rain that we have been having for the last week!!  However I have got to say that it doesn't feel at all Christmassy as yet as the temperature is far too mild.  Apparently this time last year we had snow!!  Much more appropriate!!  Still I am keeping my fingers crossed (just like every year) that we get a sprinkling of snow for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day - I can live in hope!!

Anyway talking of Christmas I have yet another Christmas card to show you which is the other card that the class made when I was last at The Glitter Pot.  This particular Tilda stamp I believe is from last years collection and has again been coloured using Copics.  Talking of the Copics now that I have all the Ciaos I am gradually buying some of the Sketches too - my aim is to have the complete collection!  Anyway back to the card - the background paper is by Fancy Pants and the light blue Bazzill card has been embellished using stamps from that Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly clear stamp set again.  All of which can be obtained from The Glitter Pot.

Under The MIstletoe

As promised here is another of those Tilda cards from Saturday.  She was stamped using Graphite Black Brilliance and coloured using Copics.  The wording is from a Popcorn Bear Christmas stamp set and the snowflakes that you can see on the blue Bazzill panel came from the Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly stamp set and were stamped and embossed using Versamark and Crystal embossing powder.  The background paper is called Bough of Holly and is by Fancy Pants.  All products can be obtained from The Glitter Pot.

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I have been thinking about running some sort of competition but before I go any further with this I'd like to get some feedback from you as to whether you think anyone would enter!!  I absolutely LOVE receiving handmade cards but I don't often receive many and with Christmas coming up I would love to receive some beautiful handmade cards so I am thinking about running some sort of competition where you send me a handmade Christmas card and are then entered into a draw to win one of my new DVD's (of your choice) plus a few of the cards that I made for that particular DVD.  Please let me know what you think!!

Silent NIght Tilda

Today I thought I'd give you all a rest from bears and show you one of the Tilda cards that I did for Saturday instead.  I never used to be ovely keen on the Magnolia images but just recently they have grown on me plus of course they work really well with the Copics!!  The Glitter Pot have just had their delivery of all the new Christmas Magnolia stamps so over the next few days I'll show you some of the other cards I made with some of the other designs.

Meanwhile back to this card.......I stamped Tilda with Graphite Black Brilliance and coloured her using the Copic Ciaos and also the Copic Spica pens to add some shimmer here and there and then added some Stickles glitter glue to the ground area for some extra sparkle.  The papers that you can see are by My Minds Eye and I just embellished them here and there using the Hero Arts Winter's Butterfly clear stamp set.  All of which can be purchased from The Glitter Pot.