Monday 24 March 2014

Hello

Hi peeps!
Ooh! This is a late one. I'm not going to bed just yet, I'm wide awake and I'll only toss & turn if I do go and then I will get frustrated and have to get up again anyway. The best thing to do is to say hello to all my lovely followers out there in blog land (or wherever you wonderful peeps follow me from).
This is another card I did as part of the seven card set for the March 2012 issue of Crafts Beautiful, using some beautiful papers from K and Company.




What you need...

Papers: Cara Marie 12" x 12" Paper Pad - K and Company
Card: white
Stamp: Big Sentiments - Personal Impressions
Ink pad: Vintage Sepia - Versafine
Adhesives

What you do...

Create a white blank 8.5cm x 13.5cm and cover the top with a piece of the tulip paper 8cm x 10cm. Attach a length of the large die-cut card frame over the join.

Layer up a few of the matching flowers, then cut some extra leaves and a stem. Arrange on the patterned paper making sure one of the flowers lies over the border. Finish with the sentiment stamped in the bottom right corner.

Pop on over to the Crafts Beautiful website to download free, papers, templates, patterns, ideas and inspiration. You need to sign up to be able to download, but it is free and easy to do. The web address is http://www.craftsbeautiful.com.

I hope you like this simple little card. It just goes to show you don't need a load of stamps or dies to create a card; one lovely patterned paper pad can work miracles.

Just before I go, don't forget to get your comments in before the end of 31st March to win the blog candy (click on image in the sidebar for details).

I'm off now to make a cup of tea. Thanks for visiting and sleep tight! xx
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Thursday 20 March 2014

Happy St Patrick's Day #2

Happy 1st day of spring all!
Yippee! There's no going back now (hopefully).
As I promised in my last post here is the second of the St Patrick's Day cards I created. This is the one I gave to Liam & Alan. It's a bit crazy, but hey ho!




What you need...

Stamps: A Little Lovin - Paper Smooches; Picture It - Avery Elle
Paper: Country Drive 12 x 12 Collection 'Just Dandy' - Echo Park
Promarkers: Bright Green, Green, Lime Twist, Lime Zest
Card: lime, white, green
Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine
Baker's twine: green
Gems: green
Adhesives

What you do...

Cover the top three quarters of a 12.5 cm square blank with lime card. Wrap twine around the edge a few time and knot at the right side. Stamp the photo frame (with the comment part), the bunny and pieces of tape. Colour in a and cut out.

Fix the bunny at an angle to the reverse of the frame and trim the excess, then mat a piece of the Just Dandy paper behind. Attach to the blank at an angle, so it cover the knot.

Create a sentiment and adhere to the blank above the bunny. Create a mad pair of specs from green card and attach to the bunny. Embellish with the stamped tape pieces and a few gems.

The font I used to print out the sentiment is called Homegirl Sweet Barista and it was completely free! I downloaded it from Fonts101. There are some great sites out there that offer free fonts for you to download, check out the sidebar for links to some of the font sites. There are hundreds to choose from, you'll end up spending hours just browsing and downloading - I betcha!

Well, that's me for the nonce. Enjoy the rest of the 1st day of spring! xxx

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Tuesday 18 March 2014

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

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Saturday 15 March 2014

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

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Tuesday 11 March 2014

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

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Thursday 6 March 2014

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

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Wednesday 5 March 2014

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

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Sunday 2 March 2014

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
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