Thrilled To Be Picked

Good afternoon!

I hope you are all well. I have a cute little card to show you today. It is an adorable little carrot design from a stamp set by Paper Smooches. I have wanted to use this little chap for a while and I finally got round to it.

What you need...

Ink pad:

Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder:
Detail Clear - Stampendous

Stamps:

Vegtastic - Paper Smooches

Dies: 
Vegtastic Icons; Clouds - Paper Smooches
Square Small - Gina K Designs

Copic:

Yellow Green YG03, Grass Green YG17, Celadon Green YG25, Cadmium Orange YR07, Chinese Orange YR09, Caramel YR14, Blender 0

Card stock: 

White, Kraft, Pale Aqua, Dark Brown

What you do...

1 Stamp the carrot with Onyx Black and whilst still wet apply embossing powder. Heat to set. Die cut the carrot.

2 Cut the medium frame once in pale aqua and once in dark brown. Cut the dark brown piece in half to form a 'hill' and stick to the pale aqua panel.

3 Secure the medium frame within the large frame with masking tape and cut in Kraft card three times and stick together. 

4 Create a small 9cm x 11.5cm Kraft blank and attach the frame to the top. Insert the pale aqua/dark brown panel inside.

5 Add the carrot and two small clouds die cut from white card.

6 Stamp the sentiment underneath the frame with Onyx Black along with a small heart at each end of the sentiment.

Is he cute or what? It would also be good with a different sentiment such as 'For You' and then a packet of seeds could be popped inside to give as a little gift for a keen gardener.

Paper Smooches stamps are always a joy to colour in, I think it's because they have lovely bold outlines. I wish craft shops over here would start stocking the new collections.

Anyhoo, I'm going to have to sign off for now. I hope you like this little make and thank you for stopping by.

Keep safe and well xx

Feel Better Soon

Hello blog friends!

I'm back with another cute little make. A friend of mine isn't too good at the moment and is feeling pretty lousy, so I thought I would make him a little card.

I am a big, big fan of Paper Smooches and have quite a collection of their stamps, so I delved through them all to find the wonderful Healthy Vibes set.

What you need...

Stamps: Healthy Vibes - Paper Smooches

Embossing ink: Clear Ultra Slow Drying Embossing Pad - WOW!

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Copic markers: E50 Egg Shell, E51 Milky White, RV00 Water Lily, RV02 Sugared Almond Pink

Card stock: aqua

Ink pad: Extreme Black - My Favorite Things

Masking paper: Stamping Mask Paper - Inkadinkado

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Cut a 9.5cm square of aqua card. Mask off an area near the bottom of the card where you want the sentiment to be.

2 Stamp the plaster randomly over the card with the clear embossing ink. Cover with the embossing powder and heat set.

3 Remove the mask and stamp the sentiment with black ink.

4 Stamp the plaster and colour in. Cut out and attach above the sentiment with foam pads.

5 Mat the panel onto a white 10cm square blank.

I find that when heating the embossing powder, it is best to do it from the back of the card. This gives you a bit more control and stops the powder over heating. 

I did use this stamp set years ago for some fun makes in Crafts Beautiful. I managed to find a photo showing one of the cards I made.

Image Copyright Crafts Beautiful

I have just finished making a couple of cards using the Silhouette, so I will be back soon with those. One is a St Patrick's Day card (June if you are reading this you know that is for you and Stephen and will be winging it's way to you soon). The other is a Mother's Day card as here in the UK Mother's Day falls on the 22nd March.

Well, I'm going to sign off for now. Thank you for stopping by. TTFN!

Bright Birdie

Hi blog friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. My husband and I had a lovely quiet Christmas at home. I'm back now in the New Year with lots of magazine and illustration work which is going to keep me busy for months!

I do hope to post often between commissions if I get the chance to sit and make some cards for myself! I do have a stock of Christmas cards in case I don't - it is never to early to start on one's Christmas cards.

I did create a cute little card for my Auntie's birthday using a sweet stamp set by Woodware. Here is the card...

What you need...

Stamps: Sweet Tweet (JGS573) - Woodware

Card stock: white

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Alcohol markers: Copic

What you do...

1 Stamp the bird with black ink onto white card and cover with clear embossing powder. Tap of and melt the powder with a heat gun.

2 Colour in the image with markers.

3 Trim the image to 10.5cm x 14.5cm and mat onto a white top fold blank the same size.

4 Stamp the sentiment near the top left of the bird, cover with embossing powder and melt. Tada!

This is such a cute stamp set. The main image is the one I've used and then there is a couple of flower images, a small stamp of circles and two sentiments. 

Woodware is now trading under Creative Expressions, they have some beautiful stamps available, why not check them out?  I love Woodware stamps as their designs are usually clean and crisp, perfect for colouring in.

I hope you like this fun little card. Thank you for popping by and I'll see you soon x

Magnificent Magnolia

Hi there lovely people!

I'm back with an elegant card featuring a beautiful magnolia. Our tree in the garden is clinging onto the last few flowers, it's a shame the flowers don't last longer. I'm still enjoying going through my craft stash and using stamps that I haven't used yet or haven't used in a long time.

This magnolia stamp I've had for a while, I think I grabbed it in a sale online.

What you need...

Stamps: Outline Magnolia (CG193) - Hero Arts; Sentiments Stamp (#10105761) - Bo Bunny

Card stock: white, pale pink

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Copic: Begonia Pink (RV14), Macadamia Nut (YR30)

Promarker: Pale Pink

Gems: clear

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Cover a 12.5cm square blank with a 12cm square of pale pink card.

2 Stamp the magnolia onto white card and cover with the embossing powder, heat to melt.

3 Shade in the magnolia.

4 Cut out the magnolia and stick to the lower right of the blank, overlapping the bottom and right edges. Trim away the excess.

5 Stamp the sentiment in the top left corner. Add a few gems to finish.

I know that the magnolia stamp is no longer available, but this card would look lovely with any large outline flower stamp. I've got a few of these floral outline stamps from Hero Arts in various sizes. They make a beautiful simple and elegant card that is quick to make.

I'm going to say ta ta for now, thank you for stopping by!

Say Cheese!

Hello crafty peeps!

As usual, because it's a Bank Holiday here in ol' Blighty the weather is miserable and wet. I can't ever remember an August Back Holiday where the weather has been glorious!

I'm just about to start my card for my new Cosmic Colours Challenge (#17) which starts tomorrow, but I thought I would share an amusing little card with you. It stars some funny fruit from one of my fave brands - Paper Smooches!

What you need...

Stamps: Fruitastic, Alphadot - Paper Smooches

Dies: Polaroid - Paper Smooches

Patterned paper: Brights Color Basics 12x12 Paper Pad - K&Company

Card stock: white, black

Washi tape: red stripe, black stripe, black hounds tooth

Baker's twine: black, orange

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers

Gems: black

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp and emboss an apple, lemon, orange and peach onto white card.

Colour in and cut out.

Die cut two Polaroids, one in black and one in white. 

Stick the fruit onto the black centre so they overlap the edge, trim away the excess.

Stick lime paper at an angle onto a top fold A6 blank, snipping away any excess.

Attach the white Polaroid frame, insert the fruit section and stamp a sentiment at the bottom.

Tie a length of black and orange twine around the top of the blank.

Add three pieces of washi tape and black gems for the eyes.

This card, along with another two in the set, featured in the September issue of Crafts Beautiful. 

Okey dokey! I'm going to sign off now. Thank you for popping by and I'll be back soon with the Winner and Top 3 of the current Cosmic Colours Challenge and the new palette for Challenge #17!

TTFN xx

Mumpkin

Happy Sunday my lovelies!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I've been for a nice walk with a friend this afternoon and have just had a lovely glass of Pimms (naughty - I know).

Well, this morning I made a little Halloween card. I don't think I made any last year and absolutely adore Halloween. Anyway, I came up with this cute little card...

Isn't he just the cutest little Mumpkin? I've had the stamp a couple of years, I've checked on the Internet and youcan still get it if you shop around. The paper is from a K and Company 12x12 Halloween collection that I've had in my stash for some time.

What you need...

Stamp: Cling Mumpkin (CRH280) - Stampendous

Card stock: black, orange, white

Patterned paper: black/white striped

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers: Lime, Pumpkin, Ice grey 1

Stickers: stars, black

Font: Evil Bunny

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp the image onto white card, cover in embossing powder and heat set. 

Colour in and cut out. Mount onto black card and trim.

Make a black 12cm x 12cm square top fold blank. 

Mat a piece of orange card 11cm x 11cm centrally onto it followed by a 10cm x 10cm piece of striped paper.

Attach the mumpkin image to the lower left corner and stick a few stars around it. 

Type and print the sentiment onto white card, trim into a banner, mat onto black card, trim and adhere to the top right corner.

Cool or what?

Unfortunately there isn't an equals sign in the Evil Bunny font, so I had to put in a dash and add the extra line with a fine liner, but I don't think you can tell.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges....

One Crazy Stamper - Halloween/Christmas

retrosketches #131

Why don't you hop on over to these cool challenges and have a go?

I'm going to sign off for now. Thanks for popping by and I'll be back soon. xx

What's Perking?

Good afternoon :o)

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend! We're off out with some friends tonight to go and see Mrs Brown's boys D'Movie and then go on for something to eat. I know Mrs Brown's boys isn't to everyone's tastes, but we love it...can't wait :oD

Here is a little card I did for the 'Stamping with Style' Masterclass for the April 2014 issue of Crafts Beautiful.

What you need...

Stamps: Breakfast Club - The Alley Way Stamps

Patterned papers: Color Crush 6x6 Pad - KI Memories

Card stock: white

Promarkers: Cool Aqua, Magenta, Pear Green, Turquoise

Ink pads: Onyx Black, Vintage Sepia, Smokey Gray - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Ribbon: turquoise velvet

Adhesives

Heat gun

What you do...

Stamp three mugs and steam in Onyx Black ink, apply embossing powder and heat. Colour in the images and cut out.

Stamp three shadows in Smokey Gray ink along a piece of white card 7cm x 15cm. mount the mugs onto the shadows using foam pads.

Stamp the 'What's perking?' phrase with Onyx Black and heat emboss. Over stamp the coffee stain with Vintage Sepia. Punch or die cut into a circle and mat onto a larger circle of aqua paper. 

Cover a 15cm square blank with a slightly smaller piece of dotty paper. Mount the mug strip onto aqua paper 7.5cm x 15cm and adhere across the blank.

Finish by attaching the sentiment to the top right and a length of knotted ribbon along the bottom of the mug panel.

The lovely thing about this paper pad is that it is double sided; on the reverse of each patterned sheet there is a co-ordinating plain colour.

Check out the Crafts Beautiful website for more ideas, inspiration, projects and free downloads - you won't be disappointed.

So, that's me for now, thanks for popping by and I'll be back soon.

Oooh! Don't forget that this month's challenge ends tomorrow at 11:55pm (GMT+1), so you still have time to get those entries in. xx

Batty In Love

Hello chums!

Well, what a difference from yesterday. We have blue skies and no wind! Yippee! It's quite mild as well. Even the chickens are sunbathing this morning.

Hopefully this clement weather will last long enough to dry out the garden a bit. I can't moan really, when all those poor people down in the South East have had their homes ruined by floods. What's a soggy, boggy lawn compared to that?

As promised in my post yesterday, I have another quirky 'love' card to share with you. Again, this is part of the set I did for the February 2013 issue of Crafts Beautiful. I think this would be good for an engagement or anniversary card.

Here goes...

What you need...

Stamps: Falling For You - Paper Smooches

Dies: Labels Eight - Spellbinders

Card: white, purple, lime, aqua

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers

Punch: corner rounder

Ribbon: purple

Button: aqua

Twine: white

Glitter dots

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp, emboss and colour in the bat, two plain hearts, a plaid heart and the sentiment. Cut out the bat with a label die, mount it onto a larger lime then a large aqua label. Trim a small section from the top and attach to a top fold A6 blank.

Cut out the hearts and sentiment and mount onto purple card and adhere to the blank. Round off the two bottom corners of the blank, wrap and tie ribbon around the top of the card. Finish with a button tied with twine and a few glitter dots.

There we have it, another bright quirky card. I just love the colour combination of this set. They are some of my fave colours and I tend to use them quite a lot. Bright and cheerful is the way to go. Don't be afraid of using bright, clashing colours together; they look great against a white background.

That's me for the nonce. I'll be back soon to show you a sneaky peek of my makes in the current issues of Crafts Beautiful and Papercrafter.

Take care. xxx

Nutty For You

Good afternoon peeps!

I've got wind. Sorry, Norfolk's got wind, as most of the country has. It's not good, it's not nice, I don't like it, it scares me, I want it to go away now.

Okay, moan over. Just in the middle of commissions (got loads to do), but I thought I would take a break for a few. As yesterday was Valentine's Day, I thought I would show you a couple of cards I did for an issue of Crafts Beautiful last year. I'll show the other card in my next post :o).

So, without further ado do....

What you need...

Stamps: Falling For You - Paper Smooches

Card: white, purple, hot pink, lime, aqua

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers

Punch: corner rounder

Glitter dots

Adhesives

What you do...

Round off the top right of a 12cm square blank. Repeat with an 11cm square piece of hot pink card and mat centrally onto the blank.

Stamp, emboss and colour the acorn, three plaid hearts and a sentiment. Trim the acorn, round off the top right corner and mat on purple card then aqua card, again rounding the top right corners.

Adhere the acorn panel to the lower left of the blank. Cut out the three hearts and sentiment, mount onto lime card, trim and attach to the blank. Finish with a few glitter dots.

Ta da! There you have it, a modern Valentine card. It would also be suitable for any time you want to let that special person know how much you love them.

As you probably know by now, I'm a huge fan of Paper Smooches. The images are so bold and clear and are perfect for clean and simple cards and colouring in. There are now a few suppliers in the UK selling Smooches goodies. Why not have a browse on t'internet and treat yourself to some yummies?

Right, break over. Back to the commissions. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday and I'll be back later with another quirky 'love card'.

Toodle-pip! xxx

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.

Scooting By To Say Hi

Hello Peeps!

Hope you are all fit and well! Before I show you the card for today, I want to thank you all for all the lovely comments you leave me, not only on here, but also on Busymitts. I really appreciate it :o)

So, onto my card. I am absolutely mad about Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, especially from the 1950's and early 1960's. I have been watching a few of late (on my laptop whilst being creative) and I was inspired by the quirky backgrounds on some of the toons.

There is this fantastic stamp set by Paper Smooches called Spiffy Scooters which I've had for a while and have been dying to use.

You know what it's like when sometimes you don't have inspiration, then suddenly something pops in your head. Thanks to Looney Tunes it did! I also have some WRMK stamps from the Tiffany collection called On the Town, they are a little set of houses which again are very 1950's retro, perfect for what I wanted.

Here is the grand masterpiece...

The set came with a little flag for the scooter, which is wonderful, but I had the idea of making one out of white florists wire and red/white striped washi tape.

What you need...

Stamps: Spiffy Scooters - Paper Smooches; On the Town (Tiffany Collection) - WRMK

Card stock: turquoise, white, lime, grey

Ink: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers: Eggnog, Ice Grey 1, Ice Grey 5, Icicle, Poppy, Pumpkin

Washi tape: red/white diagonal stripe - MT

Florist wire: white

Glitter dots

Adhesives 

What you do...

Create a white 13cm x 15cm top fold blank. Stamp a row of houses along a piece of turquoise card. Adhere to the blank at an angle and trim the excess. Cut a piece of lime and grey card at an angle and attach under the row of houses, again trimming any excess.

Stamp and emboss the scooter, two large and two small cloud shapes, colour and cut out. To make the flag, bend over one end of a length of florists wire, lay in the centre of a piece of washi tape and fold over so it sticks to itself, then trim into a triangle. Secure onto the reverse of the scooter.

Attach all the elements to the blank and finish with the sentiment stamped in the bottom right corner and glitter dots on one of the clouds.

You can use any little house or town landscape stamps for the background. I didn't stamp them perfectly straight to help give the 'quirky' look.

I love this card, the inspiration came at the right time and it's perfect for the 'oh so difficult to make for' men. Sorted!

Right, me lovelies. I'm scooting (sorry - bad pun) off meself now. Take care, have a great weekend and I'll be back soon enough.xxx

   

Thump... I'm In Love

Good afternoon all you lovely peeps!

Hope you are all having a great weekend so far. We woke up to a bit more snow this morning, but the sun is shining and most of it has gone now. I made a load of toast and we both sat in bed and had toast and marmalade and nice cafetiere of coffee...perfect on a cold wintry morn.

Today I'd like to show you a love themed card. I'm not the mushy type at all and Simon and I don't usually do the Valentine thing, but this image and sentiment is so cute I couldn't resist.

What you need...

Stamps: A Little Lovin - Paper Smooches

Patterned papers: Love Struck 12"x12" Collection, Love Lines, Smitten, Love Blossoms - WRMK

Dies: Homespun Hearts - X-Cut

Punch: corner rounder

Card stock: white

Ink: Onyx Black

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers: Pink Mittens, Baby Pink, Icicle

Adhesives

What you do...

Round the top left corner of a top fold 12cm square blank. Cut a 9cm x 10.5cm piece of Love Blossoms paper, round the top left corner and attach to the right of the blank in line with the edge.

Die cut the largest heart in Smitten and the next size down on Love Lines paper. Adhere to the blank at an angle. Stamp and emboss the bunny, heart and sentiment. Colour in the bunny and heart, cut out and mount onto the blank. Trim the sentiment into a banner and attach to the top right edge.

Ta da!

I love the bunny's face. It definitely has that 'I'm totally smitten and in love with you' look. The Paper Smooches stamp sets are so versatile and they mix and match each other perfectly. You could use the bunny with a sentiment from one of their other sets. I think I might have to see what I can come up with. Hmmmmm...

So, I'm signing off for now. Going to get all mucky lighting the open fire. Bwah ha ha ha!

Thanks for popping by. xxx