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

Old Bird

Happy Saturday peepsicles!

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend :o)

It was my Uncle Roy's birthday on the 13th (Happy Birthday Uncle Roy! - sorry the card was a day late - oops) and I decided to put together this little creation.

What you need...

Stamps: Bird Assortment (97729) - Inkadinkado

Papers: Swagger 6 x 6 Paper Pad - Fancy Pants Designs

Promarkers: Burnt Orange, Ice Grey 1, Mustard, Pear Green, Petrol Blue, Rock Pool

Dies: Framelits Circles (657551) - Sizzix

Card: white

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Button: mustard

Parcel string

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp and colour the owl. Die cut into a circle and mount onto a larger circle of pale blue paper. Cover a top fold 12cm square blank with a smaller square of patterned paper. Cut a panel of the petrol blue paper and die cut a part circle from the lower left side. Adhere the panel the right side of the patterned paper.

Mat the owl onto the blank so it sits in the cut out circle of the panel. Stamp a sentiment and trim into a banner, fix above the owl and finish with a button tied with frayed string.

I know the sentiment is a bit cheeky, but Uncle Roy has a good sense of humour so I know he can take it. Plus, this bird stamp set is just so cool. The bored/not impressed look on the birds' faces is classic.

I based the layout on the Retrosketches #99.

Click here to link to the Retrosketches site or you can find them in the sidebar under Brilliant blogs I follow.

Anyhoo, that's me for now. People to do, places to go, things to see....

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday! xx

Thinking Of You

Howdy peeps!

Isn't the weather just lovely at the moment? Everything is starting to come alive in the garden; Bren, Babs, Dolly & Hattie seem happier that the weather is a bit better. At least the breeze blowing up their fluffy pantaloons is not as cold as it was a couple of weeks ago.

They were trying to 'help' (I use the word 'help' very loosely) me in the garden on Sunday. Every time I raked things up, they jumped in the pile and kicked it all back out again. Doh!

Of course Bren (the most gobby and nosiest one) followed me around constantly and never shut up yakking all afternoon. Didn't understand a word of what she was saying...I just agreed with her.

Now on to making stuff. The card I have for you today is way back from the March 2012 issue of Crafts Beautiful. It is taken from a seven card project I did using one paper collection.

What you need...

Papers: Cara Marie 12" x 12" Paper Pad - K and Company

Card: white

Stamp: Big Sentiments - Personal Impressions

Ink pad: Olympia Green - Versafine

Ribbon: aqua

Glitter dots

Adhesives

What you do...

Cover the top two thirds of a 10.5cm x 15cm tent fold blank with the embossed floral card. Trim a length of the waste from the large die-cut card frame and fix underneath the floral panel.

Cut out some of the circle flowers and leaves from the blue floral paper and a couple of stems from the dark brown. Arrange and stick on to of the floral panel, trimming off the stems at the join.

Wrap a length of ribbon around the join and tie in a knot at the right. Stamp the sentiment in the bottom left corner and finish with a few glitter dots.

I adore this paper collection, it didn't seem to be around very long and was quite difficult to get hold of. You can still get the odd one if you browse the web. The kraft card really makes the colours pop out. This is one of my favourite projects I did for Crafts Beautiful, I'll show you a couple of more cards from the set later.

I'm going to sign off now, better get supper ready.

Thanks for popping by, until next time xxx

Good Luck 2 Ewe!

Good afternoon peeps!

I have another card to show that I did for the September 2013 issue of Crafts Beautiful. It featured in a booklet showcasing celebration cards.

What you need...

Stamp: Shirley Sheep

Patterned papers: So Happy Together - Echo Park

Card: white

Promarkers: Bright Green, Chestnut, Ice Grey 1, Ice Grey 4, Ice Grey 5

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Punch: corner rounder

Adhesives

What you do...

Round the top right corner of 12cm square blank and a piece of spotty paper 9cm x 12cm. Mat the paper onto the blank. Cut a curved section from flower patterned paper and fix to the bottom.

Stamp colour and cut out two sheep. Attach to the blank, tucking the legs of one under the flower paper and the other lower down, to the right.

Cut a small cloud from white card and adhere to the top left with foam tape. Cut a small circle from the centre of a yellow flower and attach behind the cloud. Finish with a printed sentiment mounted centrally at the bottom.

I love this Shirley the Sheep stamp, the expression on her face is so funny. I purchased the stamp from The Rubber Stamp Gallery, pop on over and have a browse, there are lots of other farm animals available.

Well, that's me for the nonce. Thanks for popping by! xx

March Blog Candy!

Good aft'noon me ol' chums!

 

What a beautiful day it is today. The cat is exploring the garden and the chickens are dust bathing in the sun.

 

The thing is, at this time of year you don't want to get too excited because the weather can change just like that. It's hard not to get excited though when the sun is shining like it is.

 

I have another candy for you. So hang on to your braces....

 

What do we have this month then?

 

1 x 5.5" x 7" sheet Stamped Stitches stamps by Hot Off The Press

1 x 5.5" x 7" sheet Expressions stamps by Hot Off The Press

2 x boxes Alphabet Stamps Sets (Studio g) by Hampton Art

50 x 6"x6" assorted patterned papers

6 x printed die cut labels

1 x bag chipboard flowers

1 x bag metal edged tags

1 x bag fabric flowers

 

There are 45 HOTP stamps in total and 60 of the Hampton Art stamps (they are little wooden peg stamps and come in a handy little storage box). The HOTP stamps have never been used (I ended up with two sets of each) and I've only used a couple of the alphabet stamps.

 

The papers include K & Company, Making Memories, Prima and My Mind's Eye. The metal edged tags come in different sizes and shapes, such as diamonds, squares, circles and either have a cream, white or vellum centre.

 

 

Now the technical stuff...

To have a chance of winning this fab candy:-

1. Be a follower either through, Bloglovin, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Networked Blogs or email (see sidebar)

2. Post a piccy of the candy with a link to this post in your sidebar (if you have a blog)

3. Leave me a comment (with your blog address if you have one) ta da! You are entered!

If you do have a blog, it will be great to have a look and see what you are up to :)

This candy will close on 31st March 2014, I will then use RANDOM.ORG to choose the winner!

The candy is open to all, nationally, internationally, those in outer space and previous winners. However, anyone who has a blog that does not show or appear to have any crafty makes, will not be entered.

Thank you to all who enter each month. The numbers are growing! I wish I could send you all something - imagine the postage costs - yikes!!

Good luck all! xx

 

 

February Candy Winner!

Aft'noon me lovelies!

 

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend. It's nice to escape to my craft room at the moment as Simon and I are being plastered (the hall, landing and living room... not actually us). Then again, a few glasses of wine would get us plastered :o}

 

Exciting stuff afoot now. The winner of the February candy. Before I do the list of entries, I would like say a big thank you and hello to my new followers and another big hello and thank you to all my existing followers.

 

Here is the list of names in comment order, each one has been allocated a number and the winner has been picked by Random.Org.

1. Cebelica
2. Elly
3. Ardilla
4. Nikki C
5. Kelly-Anne
6. Berina
7. Jenn
8. Catherine
9. Sindhu
10. Olenkaja
11. El
12. Glo
13. Divya
14. Rebecca
15. Iris
16. Robin
17. Jaya
18. UT
19. Kiranmayee
20. KT Fit Kitty
21. Phi
22. Carmen
23. Bev
24. Suman
25. Lucretia
26. Susan
27. Charlotta
28. Paperkate
29. Leanne
30. Dawn
31. Hridya
32. Sidelle
33. Dzej nej
34. Doris
35. Roudi
36. Paperpapier
37. Tindaloo
38. Neha
39. Vinita
40. Tatushka
41. Joolaa
42. Meredith
43. Laila
44. Marta
45. Anjali

Could we have a drum roll please? You'll have do it because I can't do that brrr noise with my tongue.

The winner of the February Candy is....#11 - El!! Congrats to you! If you email me your postal address I will ship the goodies to you.

 

It's amazing where my candy ends up. I've sent goodies to USA, Canada, Italy, India, Egypt, UK, Sweden even Kazakhstan; to name but a few. It's nice to know that the crafting stuff is being put to good use - thank you all for entering the giveaways.

 

I will be back later with another candy for March, so don't be too downhearted if you didn't win this one.

 

Until then, take care xxx

Crafts Beautiful March 2014 - Part 2

Good Friday morning peepsicles!

Hope you are all well and starting to feel the joys of Spring.

I'd like to share with you today, if I may, another project I did for the current issue of Crafts Beautiful (March 2014).

With out further ado do....

They asked me to create a couple of birthday cards suitable for children; one with a shaker element. I found this great stamp and die set by Sizzix which was perfect; especially teamed up with bright, zingy colours. I decided to make the jelly beans for the shaker part, I die cut them and added a highlight rather than stamp and then die cut. I think they look rather mouth watering.

The good thing is, these cards would be perfect to send anyone with a sweet tooth, young or old!

Why not pop over to the Crafts Beautiful website? It's packed with ideas, projects, inspiration, free downloads, hints and tips. There is also a lovely forum you can join. You will need to register if you want to download and print any templates/papers. It is free and is simple to do.

So, my lovelies! I'm going to pop off for now. Will be back soon...I promise. Take care xxx

Crafts Beautiful March 2014 - Part 1

Happy Saturday peeps!

It's a beautiful day here in Norfolk. Hope the weather is good where ever you are :o)

I have designs in Crafts Beautiful every month, but I never seem to get round to giving you a sneaky peek. So now I am.

At the moment I am doing the 'Master Class' section where each month I show you how to do a paper crafting technique. This month it's tea-bag folding; as usual I've put my own quirky take on it.

Here goes...

The Master Class section is great as it takes you through the technique with six hand shot stages (by the way, lovely as they are, they're not my hands).

I'm having great fun doing these classes as it's introducing me to new ways of crafting that I've never really been interested in. I have surprised myself in that I've enjoyed trying out these new techniques.

The March issue is out now, and for more crafting ideas, projects and inspiration, visit Crafts Beautiful (the Robot Moustache and the Love Monster projects on the site's homepage are actually my designs. They've made a boo-boo with the designer's name - oops!). You can subscribe to CB, or download it as an app or to your Kindle Fire.

I'm going to love you and leave you for the mo. I will be back soon with another project I have in this month's CB.

Until next time xxx

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