Happy St Patrick's Day #1

Good evening chums!

Well, did you all have a fab St Patrick's Day yesterday? Simon & I did. Our friends Liam and Alan had an Irish themed get together last night (Liam is half Irish, half Yorkshire - now there's a combination).

There was eight of us and we had lots of Guinness, Champagne, Irish food, wine, Irish music, wine, limericks, wine, Irish songs, wine, Irish jokes, wine, daft hats, wine and Irish whisky. Liam even wore an Irish kilt and went shopping to Waitrose in it! Apparently he got quite a few stares. It was an absolutely fantastic night, thanks lads :o)

I would like to share with you one of two cards I made. This one I sent to our friends June and Stephen up in Yorkshire, Stephen is Irish and I always send him a card for St Patrick's Day.

I don't have any four leaf clover stamps so because the leaves are basically heart shaped I used a heart from one of the delicious stamps sets by PaperArtsy to create the clover. The border stamp in the set is just perfect for the stem.

What you need...

Stamps: Squiggly Ink Love & Kisses (SILK1) - PaperArtsy

Papers: Poppy Seed - K and Company

Promarkers: Bright Green, Green Shoot, Leaf Green, Lime Green, Lime Zest

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Punch: corner rounder

Button: black

Twine: white

Ribbon: green

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp the block heart four times and the border to create a four leaf clover. Colour in with shades of green, trim and round off the top right corner.

Fix a panel of lime patterned paper slightly off centre to a top fold A6 blank and mat the clover onto it.

Snip a banner from green patterned paper and attach to the top left of the card in line with the fold. Create a sentiment and fix to the blank so it overlaps the banner. Finish with a button tied with twine and green ribbon.

You could stamp the basic clover shape, then stamp four more hearts, cut each one out, colour in and layer over the original to make a lovely flower. A button or a large gem could be added to make the centre of the flower. Full of bright ideas aren't I?

So there you have it. I will be back soon with the card I made for Liam and Alan. Thanks for popping by and in the words of Liam..."ta-ra a bit!" xxx

Mistletoe

Afternoon my lovelies!

Are you doing anything for Halloween? I just haven't had the time this year to get anything organised... I haven't made any cards or bought any candy or pumpkins to carve. Oh well! :o(

For those of you who are going trick or treating, have a good time and be safe (that's my Good Samaritan bit out of the way).

Okay, onto another Christmas card. Not long ago on one of my trips into Norwich, I saw this lovely box set of stamps by Yellow Owl Workshop (drool). Well... I had to buy it didn't I? It was calling to me and I am not going to ignore it as that would be rude.

You can also purchase Yellow Owl Workshop goodies from Fred Aldous (click here to have a goggle).

This is what I came up with...

What you need...

Stamps: Mistletoe - Yellow Owl Workshop; JOFY Collection 6 - PaperArtsy

Card stock: olive green, white

Ink pads: Spanish Moss, Satin Red - Versafine

Pearls: red

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp the mistletoe a few times with Spanish Moss ink in the top left corner of a piece of white card 11cm square. Stamp the bow and sentiment with Satin Red.

Mount onto olive card 12cm square and then onto a 12.5cm square blank. Finish with a few pearls.

There we have it. I think this is a classy little card and is so quick to do. This layout would look good with holly in the corner or pine twigs with a bauble.

Well, that's me for the moment. Don't forget, today is the last chance to enter the October blog candy.

I will be back tomorrow with the candy winner and the candy for November, until then. Cheerio!

P.S. Babs has started doing the 'squat', so I don't think it will be too long before she starts laying her eggs - I'm so excited (chews knuckles in anticipation). xx 

Crafts Beautiful Christmas Special 2013

Good afternoon chums!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far. The clocks went back an hour last night here in the UK. Even though it's only an hour it really knocks your body clock for six - weird!

I forgot to show you my projects I did last month for the Christmas Special issue. I really enjoyed doing this Christmas set. They wanted me to do a stamping project using modern and unusual colours... so I did.

The first one, 'Twinkle, Sparkle, Shimmer, Shine' had four photo stages with the instructions and was the main project.

This one is called 'Bah! Humbug!'

 

I chose shocking pink, zesty lime and bright purple for the colour scheme. I think against the white background of the card blanks they really stand out and are an unusual colour combo for Christmas, but it does work.

To make these cards you will need...

Stamps: JOFY Collection 1 - PaperArtsy

Card stock: white, lime, bright pink

Promarkers

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Gems: pink, lime, purple, white

Baker's twine: purple

Adhesives

I'm so in love with the JOFY stamps, they have a lovely quirky, sketchy look. They would also look good stamped and just left black and white, maybe with just a hint of one colour. Hmmmm... might have to give that idea a go.

Okay, so that's me for now. I'll post the projects I made for the November issue (out now) soon. You can of course visit http://www.crafts-beautiful.com/ for more yummy ideas, projects and inspiration.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for popping by.

You Make Me Happy

Mornin' all!

Sorry I've not been around for a couple of days, haven't been feeling 100% (finally gave in to the cold bug that's going around - boo yah)

Any hoo! Did manage to get another little card done. So here we go...

What you need...

Stamps: Fanfare - Avery Elle

Dies: Grunge Flower #1, Grunge Flower #2 & #3 - PaperArtsy

Punches: 1.5" circle; corner rounder

Card stock: lime, turquoise, orange

Ink: Key Lime, Sea Breeze, Persimmon - VersaMagic; Onyx Black - Versafine

Resin flower, turquoise

Crochet cotton, white

Adhesives

What you do...

Create a top fold 12cm x 15cm blank and round the bottom corners. Stamp the scalloped border along the top of the blank with Sea Breeze. Repeat with the Persimmon and Key Lime. Stamp the sentiment in black in the lower left corner.

Die cut the largest flower in turquoise, the medium one in orange and two leaves in lime, also punch a circle of lime card. Scrunch them all up and assemble, catching some strands of cotton between the orange flower and lime circle. Glue the resin flower in the centre. When dry, attach to the right of the blank at the lower edge of the scallop border.

There we have it, another quick and simple card. I think the colours are so fresh and spring like. I apologise for the photography (just can't seem to get it right these days) it really doesn't do the card justice.

So that's me for now. I'm going to make a fresh hot lemon and honey drink, then get on with my Crafts Beautiful commission.

Thanks for dropping in. xxxx

Beautiful

Howdy chums!

Hope you are all well and happy :)

I'm on a roll mojo wise at the moment. Ideas keep popping in my head left, right and centre. So, here is another one of those 'ideas' (which came from the left, I think).

What you need...

Dies: Flower Layers #9 - Sizzix; Grunge Flower #1- PaperArtsy

Patterned paper: Soho Garden 6x6 Paper Pad - American Crafts

Stickers: Doodle Deux Typeset Tiny Alphabet - Prima

Adhesive tape: Washi aqua, lime - MT

Card stock: aqua, lime

Buttons: pink

Baker's twine: pink

Punch: corner rounder

What you do...

Create a top fold A6 blank and round off the lower right corner. Apply a length of aqua and lime Washi tape from the top left of the card, cut a notch in the ends.

Die cut one large, one small and two medium flowers in brown floral paper, then die cut one medium and two small flowers in aqua card. Use the leaf from the Grunge Flower set and cut two in lime card. Scrunch all the pieces up and then layer.

Attach the flowers and leaves to the card over the top of the Washi tape. Tie baker's twine through three buttons and stick to the centre of each flower. Apply a word sticker over the bottom of the Washi tape, just above the notches.

There you have it! I'm pleased with the way this card turned out. I did initially have it the other way round - a side fold landscape, but I like the way the Washi tape looked coming from the top, rather than the side. The photo turned out really well too. I didn't have to do much tweaking. Overall I'm a happy bunny - woo hoo!

Well thanks for stopping by today. I'm going to make a nice hot cup of tea. Until next time. xxx

Let's Be Merry

Aft'noon Christmas Chums!

Here, as promised is the Christmas card I made for my Husband, Simon.

I saw Jenny's fab card over at the Make the Day Special blog using stamps from Paper Smooches. On one of the snowmen she used the bug stamp from the Healthy Vibes set as a 'splat'. I've used the splat idea, but with my own twist on things.

Snowball fight!!!

 

Gotcha!!

Oh Ohhh...Incoming!

We're winning!!

What you need...

Stamps: Warm Hearts, Swanky Snowdudes, All Yule Need, Freezy Fellas, Christmas Sampler, Healthy Vibes - Paper Smooches; Flora & Fauna 5 - PaperArtsy

Ink: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers: Red, Lime Green, Lime Zest, Lime Twist, Bright Green, Pear Green, Cocoa, Ice Grey 1, Ice Grey 4, Mandarin, Black - Letraset

Card stock: white, turquoise

Glitter card: iridescent

Peel-offs: snowflakes, white

Glitter dots

Adhesives: double sided tape, foam tape

How you do it...

Cut large, uneven scallops in a piece of turquoise card and attach to the top of a landscape A5 blank. Create the snowy hills by cutting white card in a wavy pattern, repeat with a piece of glitter card and adhere to the blank. Make another piece from white card and attach to the bottom of the card with foam tape.

Stamp, heat emboss and colour the trees, snowmen, snowballs, star and splat. Cut out, arrange and adhere to the blank, as shown, tucking two snowmen and the trees just behind the hills.

Stamp and emboss the sentiment in black, trim into a banner and attach at the top left with a few snowflake peel-offs. Finish with a glitter dot on the star and the heart.

I used the flower centre circle from the Flora & Fauna 5 set for the snowballs. If you don't have a circle stamp, you could punch out circles from white card and draw a black sqiggly line around the edge for detail.

The snowman behind his mate getting the snowball in the kisser, didn't have a mouth, so I used one of the tiny circle stamps and coloured it black to give him that element of surprise, knowing he was going to get a snowball in the mush just like his mate.

It's great when you can mix and match stamps, you can create amazing things that you would not necessarily think of just using the one set.

Sadly, this is my last Christmas card to show you. Back to normal every occasion cards now, though I might do the odd Christmas card when I get a bit of spare 'twiddling my thumbs' time.

Right, I'm off for the nonce. Thanks for popping in and will speak soon. xxx



Kissing Santa

Hello Peepsicles, hope you are well this fine Wednesday afternoon.

I have another Christmas Card for you. Here we go....

The sentiment is from a fab stamp set I came across whilst browsing Country View Crafts website. It's called Egg & Nog 9 (SIEN9) from the Squiggly Ink range by PaperArtsy. I absolutely adore Squiggly Ink stamps, I've got quite a few in my collection now.

So..on with the card. Firstly, I stamped the sentiment on white card with black Versfine and trimmed it to size. I cut a section of patterned paper (Mistletoe Collection 6x6 pad - Bo Bunny) and adhered the sentiment at the top. White seam binding was tied and knotted around the patterned paper under the sentiment.

I die cut three mistletoe branches (Vixen Limited Edition dies - QuicKutz) in green card, arranged and stuck them to the lower right hand corner of the paper panel. I embellised the mistletoe with pearls and a tiny red button threaded with white cord.

I don't usually follow the traditional red/green combo, but the new Bo Bunny Mistletoe Collection is gorgeous with really bright reds and greens. Very retro.

That's me for the time being, thanks for visiting. xx

My Mum and an enormous apple pie!

Hi all! It's been a busy week. I've had my Mum visiting from Yorkshire since last Friday. My Dad was supposed to visit but he chickened out at the last minute, so it ended up just Mum. We've had a fab week, spent lots of money and had plenty of laughs.

I thought I'd post a pic of a recent Christmas card I made. Something quite different. I bought the stamp in the sales earlier in the year and have been dying to use it. It is Egg & Nog 5 by Paper Artsy. I stamped and heat embossed the images, shaded in with the old faithful Promarkers and then mounted onto a black card blank and finished with a simple tied ribbon. I'm really pleased with the result.

I also made a felt brooch for my sister, Yvonne. Mum and I clubbed together and bought her a Cuttlebug for her birthday, but I wanted to make her something extra. The photo doesn't really do it justice, it turned out really well, she nearly never got it!

Something else I made this week was an apple pie, it was enormous. We decided to call it 'The Blob'. I went a bit mad with the apples and I nearly didn't get it in the oven it was so huge. It wasn't the prettiest pie I've ever made, but it tasted really yummy. Definitely no pics of that creation!

I'll sign off for now, I have another commission to start for Crafts Beautiful. Ta ta.

Simple Anniversary Card

Hi there, it's a lovely day here in sunny Norfolk. I can't believe it's the 1st October, it's like July out there! It's Simon's Mum and Dad's Anniversary today. This is the card I made for them. They are not into the lovey-dovey, slushy style, so I did this simple, chic card. Definitely my style! They are having a little get together later on, so hope they like the card. Off now to have a coffee and maybe a bit of cake, yummy yum.

What you need to make this card:

1 x 14.5cm square card blank (with fold at the top, trim 3cm from one side), Basic Grey 'Hopscotch' papers, Paper Artsy Grunge Flower dies,Tim Holtz Scallop On The Edge die, American Crafts Dear Lizzy 'Whistle' stamps,1" circle punch, dark brown card,  brown ink, metal button, white cord, pale yellow ribbon

Layer top two thirds of card with Hopscotch paper. Cut out a wide strip of brown card, edge with the scallop die and lightly distress. Fix under the paper punch a circle and hand cut 3 leaves in contrasting papers. Distress lightly, assemble and stitch a button in the centre. Arrange and attach to the left of the card, above the ribbon. Finish with the stamped sentiment in brown on the bottom right of the card.