Yvonne's Craft Spot

Roses

2012-02-23T14:18:00.000Z

I have been wondering what to put on my grandaughter's next birthday card. She is seventeen next month.

I saw a tutorial on making paper roses on a blog recently and thought I'd give it a go. I didn't have any of the tools that were suggested - such as various punches and shaping tools - so I improvised.

I made a paper pattern for large and small petals and a cup shape for the sepals which I then scanned in to my computer and traced in SCAL so that I could cut the petals, sepals and leaves withmy Cricut. I shaped the components using an ordinary embossing tool with a large ball, on a sponge stamping mat and used my normal tweezers to help shape the petals.

The tutorial used card to make the roses but I used ordinary white copy paper to make it all and coloured the leaves and sepals (they are there even if you can't see them) with my Promarkers (Holly Green) and the Letraset Airbrush. It worked quite well as the airbrush gave the leaves a sort of natural mottled appearance - luck not judgement. lol

I then coloured the petals with a sponge and several different ink pads to get a sort of pink and yellow shading. This is the result. I had to photograph it as of course it wouldn't fit into my scanner so it's not as clear as I would have liked but it gives an idea.

I mounted the rose and leaves on a plain white card which I had embossed and added a sentiment which I printed out on my computer. I coloured the sentiment, first using the airbrush and the same green Promarker (keeping it a long way away) and finishing it by sponging lightly with the same inkpads as I used for the rose.

I like the simplicity of this card and hope Lauren will like it too. I think I'll have to make a box for it to go in though as it won't fit into an envelope.

The tutorial on making the roses is a very good one and there are some lovely cards there using different sorts of flowers - there is a link to a video on the blog which I also watched. It was quite labour intensive to make the rose but really enjoyable.

I found a piece of vellum that had been lying around for ages and tried making another rose using that. This is the result.

This hasn't made its way on to a card yet but I think the vellum worked very well - saved a lot of colouring too although I don't think it's quite as realistic. It's not quite as garish as this in real life though - it's the poor photography. Now I'm on the search for suitable pieces of paper to make more......................... watch this space.

Hope you like my efforts.

Cards at Last.

2012-02-21T21:31:00.000Z

Hi everyone - a long time since I've posted anything on here as I have found it very difficult to get into my craft room after it has been used as a storage space while we have been decorating - and has also been full of Christmas stash. I have at last taken the plunge and tidied a path to my desk.

I have decided, before I tackle anything else, to look in my project basket and finish a few items that have been lingering in there for far too long - waiting for me to complete them. I have managed to put two cards together.

The first one is an image by Sheena Douglass that I have used before - using the Paint Fusion technique. This particular image didn't get onto a card but I have at last mounted it, although because of the black edging this isn't really apparent in the photograph.

I haven't added a sentiment as I think it would be suitable for a lot of different occasions.
POPPIES

This second card is my attempt at using distress inks. I must admit this is not my usual style but I thought I'd give it a go - I think that's why it has stayed in my project basket for so long - I'm not really sure it's my style - or that I am very pleased with it -  but I think it's good to try something different from time to time. I do like the stamp though but I can't remember where it came from I'm afraid.

                                                                       BIRDS and CAGE

I haven't put a sentiment on this card either as I think this can also be used for several different occasions.
I'd better go and have another look in my project box I guess and see what else I can find.

Done it!

2012-01-28T21:25:00.000Z

I have finally managed to upload a new page for when I can get into my craft room and find all the things I have planned to sell. I hope that when I do there will be some of you who are interested in my wares!

I have had to re-arrange my blog a bit so that I could set up a new page that everyone could see easily.

Hope everyone has had a good day - see you all soon.

How Frustrating!

2012-01-28T16:01:00.000Z

Hi everyone

I have been trying to add a stand alone page to my blog so that I can use it to sell a few of my spare crafting items.

Despite following the instructions on both the new interface and the old one - and watching their video which goes at the speed of light several times - I can't do it!

I can follow the instructions, open a new page and write whatever I like on it but when it is published is simply appears as a new post on this homepage. I have seen a question in the Help section from someone who has the same problems but all the answers have offered her is to look at the page of instructions on how to create a new page - catch 22.

I'm not sure if it's me (and the other lady presumably) being stupid ( very likely in my case) or if it simply isn't possible!

What's even more frustrating - the Docrafts Forum isn't working so I can't ask for help on there. Grrrrrr.

Perhaps I'd better do some housework. lol

Hope you are all having a better day than me.

First Post This Year!

2012-01-15T17:51:00.005Z

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. This is because I haven't been doing very much in my craft room except wrapping Christmas presents and making a mess since long before Christmas.

I felt I had to write something today as I have had a lot of visitors since I last posted, despite there being nothing new to see! Thanks for your visits and I am sorry!!! I have just added a flag counter and am really surprised to see I have had visitors from other countries - welcome and thanks for looking.

We have been doing some decorating recently and my craft room has been used as the repository for all the things that had to be moved/stored while this was going on - I haven't been able to see the desk for weeks. I am slowly getting back to normal and who knows - I may even get my enthusiasm for crafting back soon.

My enthusiasm for crafting took a bit of a nose dive when we lost our lovely cat Woody (see post below) in October. He was run over outside our house which is in a very quiet close so we didn't think anything like that would ever happen to our lovely cats as we are surrounded by woodland. He was very old and getting a bit senile so we think he must have got disorientated and walked behind a car without the driver realising as it was backed out. Anyway - it was awful as I didn't know it had happened until a neighbour called me and I had to get him to the vet to have him put to sleep which was the worst hour imaginable - and it has taken me ages to get over it.

Still - I have my other five lovely boys and girls to keep me busy so I thought I'd post their photos here to remind me of how lucky I still am.

This is Willis - known as Willy - who is the twin brother of Woody who died. He is now seventeen.
I had them colour coded as they were so alike. Woody had a blue collar and Willy a red one.

These two - yes there are two here - are Marmaduke and Orlando who are inseperable.

They are also twins and were born in July 2010. They are rather naughty!!!!

Below is a picture of one of their escapades - they were about 20 feet up this oak tree and had to be encouraged down by my poor husband balancing on a ladder.

This is Mummy Badger (she looked just like a badger when she was born with her black fur and white stripe) and her kitten Sox. Badger had four babies and the other three went to family and friends as I couldn't keep them all unfortunately - but I still see them. They are not always as friendly with each other as this - being girls they have the odd spat - but they are very sweet when they do cuddle up. Badger was born in 2009 and her baby was born in 2010 (a teenage mother).

Hope you like the pictures - I promise the next post will be some more crafting!

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Time to say goodbye to a dear old friend.

2011-11-20T12:58:00.000Z

Woody. Died October 12th 2011 - aged 17.

Nothing I can say to explain how this has made me feel - except that he was loved so much and will always be remembered.

Just a very few more of my 600 photos from Egypt.

2011-09-22T14:25:00.002+01:00

Abu Simbel - cut into the rock - absolutely breathtaking. We had to drive over three and a half hours into the Sahara desert to visit this - well worth the drive and the heat. It was moved several years ago (the move took years to complete) and re-built in a higher spot to prevent it being covered by water when they created the Aswan High Dam.

Franco and me outside the temple at Edfu.

A Sphinx in Memphis.

Karnak Temple in Luxor

The Step Pyramids in Memphis - older even than the Great Pyramids.

The Aswan High Dam - taken from above.

Salahadin's Citadel outside Cairo

We weren't able to photograph in the Valley of the Kings or the Valley of the Queens which was very sad but we have lots of postcards to remind us of what we saw there.
Hope you like this small selection.

I'm Back!

2011-09-20T14:11:00.001+01:00

We got back from Egypt on Thursday morning after a long 22 hour trip. The plane was delayed so we spent a long time in Luxor airport waiting to come home and were very tired when we finally got back.

It was a wonderful holiday and I can't recommend Egypt enough!
We were so well looked after by the agents and all the staff on the boat and in the hotels and although things in Egypt are very difficult for the Egyptians they made sure that we had a fantastic time. There are usually around 400 boats on the Nile at this time of the year but at the moment there are only about 20 working because people are frightened to travel there due to the revolution and have either not booked or have cancelled their holidays.

So many people have lost their jobs because the tourist industry is such a big area of employment for them and it is such a shame because it's still a really wonderful place to go.

Just to prove I was there, here are a few photos.

Luxor Temple - the avenue of the Sphinx

Party night on board the Nile boat. We entered into the spirit of the Egyptian evening.

Finally at the Pyramids - it was 45 degrees on this day - and most others too.

Sunset over the Nile - taken from our cabin.

I haven't even opened my craft room door since I got back! Hope I'll soon get crafting again.

See you all in Two Weeks

2011-08-30T17:11:00.001+01:00

Off on my holidays tomorrow morning - really early. We are going to Egypt which has been something I've wanted to do for many years.

We will be sailing down the Nile for a week and then spending three days in Cairo visiting the Grand Pyramid and the Sphinx and then we will have four days on the coast chilling out before flying back home again.

The restful day I planned for today didn't quite work out as I had a flat tyre whilst doing a last minute bit of shopping. It was the same tyre that I had a puncture repaired in last week! So - spent 75 minutes exactly in a car park waiting for the good old RAC - their estimate was 75 minutes so I was really impressed with the timing. lol Thank goodness I had my E-reader with me - pity I had forgotten my mobile phone though. lol

See you all when I get back!

Paint Fusion Christmas Candle

2011-08-20T20:14:00.000+01:00

Tried my hand at painting a candle today using the paint fusion technique. Not too sure it has worked that well but thought I'd put it on here anyway - as a record of my first attempt at painting a candle.

Can you spot the 'deliberate' mistake? lol I put the light spots on the berries and only after I had finished did I realise I'd had the candle upside down!!!!

Oh well - so it has been lit from below!

Never mind - I'll keep this one on my craft room shelf and hope I can see my progress. I think I'm going to end up with a lot of candles on the shelf before I get one good enough to give away! lol

Hope you are all having a good weekend - I'm looking forward to my last week at work before I go on holiday on 31st!

Finally Made it!!!

2011-08-14T17:09:00.001+01:00

No crafting for me today as we finally managed to book a balloon flight that wasn't cancelled. It was a Christmas present to my husband from his son and we have been booking dates ever since - only for the wind to be too high for the flight to go ahead at the last minute.

We were really surprised when last night - at 11.00pm - we heard the flight was on at 6.00am this morning and that the launch site had been changed due to the wind direction! That meant an hour's drive to get there and about three hours sleep for me by the time I got myself organised and worked out how to get to the new launch site.

It was quite an interesting experience but, if I'm honest, I'm not sure I would rush to do it again - certainly not if it meant all the booking and re-booking we have had to do this year. I don't want to sound ungrateful but it has taken up so much time waiting to see if the flight was going to take place or not and not planning anything else for that time - just in case. Some of the people on our flight had been trying to get their booking for over a year though so I guess our eight months wasn't bad after all. lol

In the end we were away from home for just over four hours and in the air for about 45minutes which passed very quickly. They took some photographs with a camera that swung outside the balloon on a boom - here we all are!

Franco and I are the two in the front left hand corner of the basket.

It was very misty as you can see and I was a lot less nervous than I thought I would be as there was very little sensation of moving. I wrapped up in several jumpers but it was really warm in the basket because of the flames over our heads so I felt very overdressed especially as the pilot was in a short sleeved shirt. lol. They were a really lovely group of people and we had a lot of laughs

en-route.

Getting in and out of the basket was fun - I'm glad there aren't any photographs of that! I was tipped unceremoniously out of the basket which was laid on its side after we landed - that was easier than climbing in before we set off though I can tell you.

Once we were down in a farmer's field - with a bit of bump or two.................. the younger members of the group were comandeered to roll on the balloon to get all the air out and to help pack it away while I watched with a glass of Bucks Fizz - that was a good bit. lol. We then had to wait for the recovery vehicle to come and find us to take up back to our cars. It took us about 15 minutes to get back by road.

I haven't been very energetic since we got home though - getting up at 4.15 on a Sunday is not going to be a habit - bad enough having to rise at 5.30 three days a week to go to work. lol.

I'd be interested to know if any of you have been up in a balloon and how you enjoyed it?

Happy Boot Sale Finds!

2011-08-07T18:39:00.001+01:00

I dragged my poor husband to a boot sale today for the first time in ages. I was half hoping I'd find some storage for my craft room but couldn't have imagined how lucky I was going to be.

First I found two sets of shelf type compartments that were perect for stacking on the back of my desk to keep all the bits that I like to keep at hand. I thought the seller was using them just to display the items that he had for sale and was really surprised when he said he would sell them to me.

It was just starting to rain as I bought them so we went back to the car to put them in - as the rain had stopped by then we decided to go back in and then I found yet another wooden rack with twelve small square compartments which I thought would fit on a second desk I use to keep my paper cutters on.

I then bought twelve little plastic boxes with lids which would fit inside the holes and headed for home.

I've spent the rest of the day re-organising my craft room and trying to sort out what could go where.

I can't believe my luck as they are just perfect. I've taken a few pictures to show you what I have done with them.

These are the compartments that I found first - they fit the desk perfectly. They cover the gap behind my desk where all sorts of thing used to drop down so they actually make the desktop a bit larger than before. When stacked on top of each other they make ten large square compartments - and there's still room to keep my MS punches and the desk light on top so now I actually have a bit of room on the desk to craft!

This is the second find - I wish there had been two! I'm hoping my husband will be able to make me another one to go next to it as I could fill it twice over. I can even store my Cuttlebug and tiny sewing machine on top.

This is part of the other side of the room which has a large Ikea cabinet on the wall (not a boot sale find unfortunately) - I can't believe I have filled it all and still need more space.

I paid £4 for the compartments on my desk and £1 for the other rack. The twelve little boxes cost me £6 so I have done all this for just £11

I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the nearest boot sale - who knows what you might find.

I'm now absolutley exhausted - my craft room has never looked so tidy but my husband says he doesn't hold out any hopes that it will last!

Do you think he's right???

Africa

2011-07-31T19:10:00.000+01:00

Two cards in One Day!

I have also finished off this card which was inspired by a mask I bought from Imagination Crafts.

I used black acrylic paint with a stencil brush through the mask. The white mat is a simple shaped piece of card on which I stamped an Accacia tree and zebra, both stamps from Barbara Gray and the foliage was also made using one of her tree stamps. I was pleased to see that when I put the elephant on the card, the white mat looked like a window against the black and white background - a very happy accident.

The elephant is a Jane Netley Mayhew stamp which I coloured with an Ice Grey Promarker.

I think I am beginning to be a bit nostalgic for Africa given that I have featured elephants in two of my most recent cards.

I'd love to know what you think of it.

Naughty But Very Nice

2011-07-31T18:53:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone

I have just finished another little cup cake card which I hope can be sold on my friends cake stall - along with the others I made earlier and which are shown below. I wanted to give her a selection of six so can now hand them over.

The main image is a sweet little Lilly of the Valley stamp.

I mounted her on a white scalloped shape and backed it with a round mirri card shape. The backing paper is from my stash. She was coloured with Promarkers in Cocktail Pink with Ivory, Vanilla and Blush for her skin and straw hat. I also used alittle Sky Blue and Ice Grey1 for her shoes and the shadow round her. Her hair is Sandstone and the cake stand is in Warm Grey 3.

The stack of cakes is a stamp I bought on Ebay and I'm afraid I can't remember its name. That was also coloured wit Promarkers - same shades as previously mentioned plus Berry Red and Lemon. The sentiment was also backed on mirri card and finished with a mirri card heart.

Nor sure how I have managed to complete these cards as I am currently on a strict diet to get ready for my holiday at the beginning of September.

They make me feel really hungry!

I do hope you like my latest effort.

African Elephants - with a twist.

2011-07-26T15:47:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone

This card was made using a lovely little stamp called, 'Are we there yet' by Little Claire's Designs.

I thought it might just fit in with this week's Promarkers Challenge - Animal Crackers.

I made the background using the Letraset Letrajet Airbrushing System again. The sky was airbrushed using a Sky Blue Promarker and I masked out some little clouds with a new product I found on E-bay, called 'Mask It.' It's a see through low tack paper so you can see exactly where you have put the masks and you can use the same mask several times too. I really like it as I am always losing my masks and it's easier to keep them now they are sticky.

The background hills were airbrushed with Apricot Promarker and the foreground with Marsh Green Promarker. I used torn paper masks to make the hills while I was airbrushing the hills and foreground. The Accacia tree and the birds are stamps from Barbara Gray and the grasses were also made using a couple of her little stamps. I used Marsh Green Promarker and Forest Green Promarker to stamp the grasses and the trees, elephants and birds were stamped with Black Memento.

I stamped the little family group of elephants out on plain white card and coloured them with Promarkers, Ice Grey1 and Warm Grey 2 with the little flower being Cocktail Pink. I then cut them out and stuck them into the foreground of the card and added a little shadow with Ice Grey1 under their feet.

The card reminded me of one of the many elephant photograph I took in Tanzania in 2009 and has brought back some happy memories.

I thought you might like to see the photograph too.

This was part of a really large group of elephants which passed in front of us -they were so beautiful and I just adore elephants!

Change is as good as a rest!

2011-07-24T11:21:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone - just spent some time working out how to change the font on my blog. Wish my handwriting was like this.

I will probably get bored with it before long but hope you like it - let me know if not and I'll change it back now I know how. lol

Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday

I'm on a roll - or rather a cup cake!

2011-07-21T17:22:00.003+01:00

I have been asked by a friend of my daughter to let her see a selection of cards featuring Cup Cakes.

She runs a a cake stall and said she thinks she could sell cup cake cards as many people buy her cakes for gifts. She makes the most scrumptious cakes and often brings us the ones she hasn't sold - hence my need to go on a very strict diet before I go on holiday!

Anyway - these are a selection of five that I have made today. I have kept them simple until I am sure they have a market. I'd love to know what you think.

The one with the silver heart has not scanned very well as it's a bit more 3D than the others.

Thanks for looking!

Another Gingham Card

2011-07-18T21:31:00.003+01:00

I rediscovered this lovely little stamp while tidying my craft room - I must do this more often - who knows what I might find next!

I put her together with some little flowers from Wild Orchid to make this card which I thought I would also enter into the Promarkers Gingham challenge.

The sentiment is from a Barbara Grey stamp.

I stamped Daisy onto card and cut her out - that was fun! The flowers around her hair were very difficult to cut out I can tell you.

I used some paper from my stash to create the gingham and heart background. The image was coloured with Promarkers and the sentiment background was made using the Letraset Letrajet airbrush system which I have only just discovered and absolutely love! The colours used were:

Ivory and pale pink for the skin tones.

Ivory, vanilla, and gold for the hair.

Ice Grey 1 was used to highlight her white top.

Blossom for the pink tones in the jeans, the flowers in Daisy's hair and for the sentiment background.

The leaves were made by cutting petals from a paper flower and colouring them with grass green Promarker - highlighting the veins by using the new fine Promarker tips and the butterfly was from my stash -it was folded and stuck onto card with silicone glue to make it 3D.

The lace was also from a piece I bought from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I really enjoyed making this card which is a little more fancy than the cards

I usually make - I do hope you like it .

My Youngest Babies are One Today

2011-07-17T20:48:00.000+01:00

Marmaduke and Orlando my ginger twins are one year old today.

They are the youngest of our six - yes - six cats. They were never meant to be living with us but the family who took them in originally decided they couldn't keep them so they came to us at ten weeks of age to join our already large enough cat population. Now we wouldn't be without them but they are very naughty!

These pictures of them might show you why we love them.

They do everything together - even getting stuck up the tree in the garden.

Gingham Sunflowers

2011-07-17T14:26:00.002+01:00

This is an image I have had stamped in my bits box for some time. As I have been tidying up my craft room I thought I had better start to use up some of the items I had already started.

I saw that the Promarkers challenge this weekend was for a card using gingham so thought I'd enter this card.

It's a very simple card This is what I used.

Moss and Marsh Green Promarkers for the leaves.
I used the new fine tip to enhance the veins on the leaves and found they worked very well for this task.

The flowers were coloured with Gold and Apricot Promarkers with
Burnt Sienna and Apricot for the centres.

The image is backed, first onto a piece of green gingham card and then with a flower border square made with a Martha Stewart round the page punch - a small green gingham bow from my stash was added in the corner - and that's it.

Sorry but I can't remember where the stamp came from - if anyone recognises it I'd love to know!

I love sunflowers, they are one of my favourite flowers and I remember growing them when I was a little girl. They seemed to be enormous then but I don't expect they were - it was me who was smaller back then .............
in every way. lol

Hope you like this effort.

Airbrushed Butterflies

2011-07-10T21:00:00.002+01:00

It's been absolutely ages since I've posted anything on here. I have been marking exam papers again so haven't been able to play with all my craft goodies for a while. In one of my breaks, a few days ago, I saw on the Docrafts Forum that people were talking about the Letraset Airbrushing system - called Letrajet. I remembered that I had bought this some time ago and had it in my craftroom waiting for a chance to play with it. Today I got it out and had my first go.

It is used with Promarkers and enables you to use any of your Promarkers like an airbrush - creating lovely shading and backgrounds. I can't pretend to be any good yet but the above card is my first attempt.

I used a butterfly mask that I bought recently from Imagination Crafts to create the background, using the sky blue Promarker straight on to the card. The image is a Sarah Kay digi stamp that I had coloured some time ago and I created the scalloped shading round her by masking her with a shape cut with my Cricut and spraying round the edges with the Letrajet in the same shade as the background.

I mounted the image on a piece of dark blue mirri card and added three, 3d silver butterflies to tie it all together.

I'm not sure how quickly the Promarkers will run out using this system - or how long the can of air will last - but I really enjoyed using it and can think of lots of different ways to use it in the future. I wore a thin plastic glove on my left hand as I was using that to hold the mask down and otherwise I think I would have had a very blue hand! It's also probably a good idea to wear something old in case the spray goes where it shouldn't while you are learning how to use it - but to be fair I didn't make much mess at all. I was just expecting that I would.

Hope you like my first effort! I'd love to hear from anyone else who has this system.

Emma's 18th Birthday

2011-06-11T21:50:00.001+01:00

I can't believe my first grandchild has reached the age of 18 today!

I started to make this card for her on Thursday but, probably because I had been feeling a bit unwell all week, it proved to be a mammoth task and just about everything that could go wrong did - you know how it can be sometimes. Anyway - I managed to get it finished just in time for the BBQ planned to celebrate her birthday and I'm pleased to say she was very appreciative.

She is the artist in the family so her approval meant more than usual. lol

I wasn't able to scan the card this time as it is very 3D and because the scanner didn't close properly the light kept getting in so I had to resort to photographing it - hence the strange grey outline but I hope you can see it well enough.

The image is a digi stamp from Kenny K. which actually reminds me a little bit of Emma and the papers were from a batch I bought from C&C a while ago. The white mat was made with a MS round the page punch. The flowers are from Wild Orchid and I edged them with a blue promarker to tone in with the colour scheme and then edged the petals with frosty stickles. I also coloured the ribbon with a promarker and the sentiment label was cut with my Cricut and the words computer generated.

I found the little silver key and the butterfly charms in my stash box which completed the card.

I hope you like it.

Phew!!!!

2011-05-30T11:41:00.000+01:00

Haven't been able to do much crafting this month and none at all this week as I have been busy marking exam papers - just finished the last of 300 this morning. I just wanted to say thanks for all those who have looked at my blog while I have been neglecting it myself and for the lovely comments on my last card as well as a welcome to some lovely new followers.

I have another marking session coming up next month so must get crafting in the meantime or you will all forget me! Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend - despite the weather.

Grandson's Birthday Card

2011-05-01T22:54:00.001+01:00

I suddenly realised today that I had a birthday card to make for my grandson who will be 12 on Wednesday. It's always difficult to make cards for boys - especially so as they get a bit older and much more fussy about things. I haven't made many boys cards lately but now I have made three in quite quick succession!

I decided to use my new founded ability to merge digi stamps and make a card with his dog Barney on it. He loves Barney more than anything and I know he will be pleased to see him on his card. Of course - I couldn't find a stamp that looked anything like Barney who is a Yorkie Poo - a cross between a Poodle and a Yorkshire Terrier but was able to find a stamp among my digis that looked quite like my grandson!

In the end I thought I'd try to see if I could use an actual photograph of Barney - this was the result. I guess I could have cut the image of the dog out and decoupaged him over the boy's image but I must admit I enjoyed playing with Gimp again. lol

It took quite alot of fiddling to get the proportions right but I was quite pleased with the result.

The front of the card is covered with paper from my stash and a piece of bright blue mirriboard which I embossed with a cuttlebug folder of birthday greetings.

The digi image of the boy is 'Music Micky' which I bought from Charmed Cards and Crafts and I coloured him with my Promarkers to look as much like my grandson as possible. I used three shades of Warm Grey for the hair, Ice Grey for the shading on the shirt, shoes and discs and cornflower blue for his jeans. The skin was done with Ivory, Vanilla and Blush.

The image of the boy and the dog, which was one image, was then cut out and mounted on the mirriboard using silicone glue to make it stand out in relief.

The greetings banner was made in Word, using Word Art and this is the first time I have made a sentiment like this - I think I might use it again.

I am going to put this card into Here Come the Boys first challenge which is 'Anything Goes'. Hope you like it. xx

You're a Star

2011-04-30T23:22:00.002+01:00

This was quite a labour intensive card and a bit different from any I've done before but it gave me the chance to try something new - weld together two different digi stamps to get a similar result as masking a stamped image and stamping a second image to look as if it's behind it.

These are the two stamps I used.

I read how to do it a little while ago but haven't tried it before.

I used the photo programme, 'Gimp' that I downloaded when I bought my recent watermark as that allows me to work with layers and after a few attempts I managed to sit the little 'Ride em Cowboy' stamp from Digi Doodles on to a dinosoar stamp from Digi Sparkle. I had to do a lot of resizing because the stamps were differently proportioned but I finally managed it and I thought it would suit this week's Promarker challenge which is 'Prehistoric.'

Once I had printed my efforts out I realised I had to draw over the cowboy as the lines were lighter than those of the dinosaur which loked a little odd! When I had done that, with a very fine black marker, I scanned the image into my computer so that I could print it out and then wait for the ink to dry so I could use my Promarkers. I said it was labour intensive!

I enjoyed colouring the dinosaur to match the striped and spotty papers from my stash. I used Marsh green, Olive green and Light Lime green to colour him. I then used Ivory, Vanilla, Blush, Ice Grey1 and Sienna to colour in the little boy. His star badge was cut from a piece of star patterned card.

The speech bubble was cut using my Cricut and SCAL and was backed with a slightly larger version in the spotty green paper. The sentiment was from the new LOTV selection of sentiment stamps.

The mat was also cut with SCAL and shaded with a pesto ink pad and a shaving brush over a moon shaped mask. It was edged with a bronze Kraylon pen. I then cut the image out and shaped it before mounting it onto the mat with silicone glue to give it a bit of movement, placing the little boy just in front of the moon.

I finished off the card with three little card candy circles to match the dinosaur's lighter colouring.

Phew!!!

I am entering this into the Promarker Challenge - 'Prehistoric'
and Here Come the Boys' first challenge - Anything Goes.

Precious Baby

2011-04-29T15:01:00.002+01:00

I was making this card when I saw Pink Gem's challenge for 'Pearls and Swirls' so I thought it might fit the description.

The stamp is a digi stamp that I have had for some time and I can't remember where it came from I'm afraid.

The flowers around the card are made with a Clarity Stamp and coloured with Promarkers, as is the main image, with tiny pearls in the centre of each flower.
The pearls are from my stash and the swirls cut with my Cricut and a swirl cut with SCAL from mirriboard to match the image and sentiments' backing. The mirriboard does not scan very well but does look nice in reality. The sentiment was computer generated.

I'm late in posting this because I have been watching that wedding!

Wasn't it lovely?

Lattice Card

2011-04-25T21:49:00.002+01:00

Hi again everyone

Well- we didn't get to go on our balloon ride again today as it was too windy again! I think it's going to be a long time before we actually find a day that's suitable at this rate. So - I decided to do a bit of crafting instead.

This card was made from an SGV file and cut with SCAL on my Cricut. I
bought the file from Sue Playing with Paper's webpage. The file cuts a card with a latticed front and leaves a square mat in the centre. It's alovely file and I think I'm going to use it a lot - I have already thought of several different ways I can use this particular card front.

For this particular card I backed the latticed front with a piece of blue and white shaded vellum that I have had in my stash for a long time. I then made a flower using the same method that I used in my tutorial further down this blog, although this one is a bit bigger than the little ones I made before and it's very three dimensional.

I edged the petals with pale blue stickles to give them a frosted appearance and to pick up the blue of the backing paper and I also edged the sentiment with the same colour.

My computer seems to be on a go slow today and it has taken me ages to upload this card so, although it hasn't reproduced as well as I would have liked in the picture, I think I'm going to leave it as it is and hope you can use your imagination a bit. lol

This is also the first time I have used the new Watermark that I bought from Whimsy stamps to go with the signature below that came with it.

Hope you like my efforts of today and that you have all had a lovely Bank Holiday Monday.

Happy Easter Everyone

2011-04-24T22:00:00.001+01:00

Hope everyone has had as nice a day as I have. My husband and I shared a lovely long lunch with my daughter and her family and her very best friend (she calls me her surrogate mum) who is staying here with her husband and little boy from their home in Rhodes.

I got home to find the signature that I bought last week from Whimsy stamps had arrived by e-mail and I couldn't wait to try out how it looked. So - no card today, just a new signature! It was really large so I followed the information given on the DC forum by Kathleen Mc. last Thursday on how to make it a bit smaller - hope this size doesn't look too ostentatious!

I also bought a watermark to use on my cards - that will have to wait until I've caught up on my zzzzzzzzzzs and made some more cards, as I am very tired after all the talking I have done today.
Let's hope the sun shines again tomorrow.

Poppies - White on White

2011-04-22T17:57:00.002+01:00

This card was inspired by the Promarkers Challenge, 'White on White.'

Ingredients:

Poppy stamps by Sheena Douglass

Sentiment Stamp LOTV

Promarkers used:

Poppy and Magenta for the petals

Apricot for the petal edges

Black and Moss Green for flower centres

Moss and Olive Green for the leaves

Pesto Adirondack stamp pad for the swirls
The white Poppy mat was edged with a black Promarker

The backing mat was made with a Martha Stewart Punch, the sentiment was mounted on a white paper flower and it was all mounted on a white 6x6 card.

Adding a script in Paint for watermarks

2011-04-21T14:12:00.003+01:00

I saw a question on the DC Forum today about how to add a font for use in Paint when making a watermark for a card - which made me want to know the answer. I have seen lots of lovely fonts used to watermark other people's cards but didn'thave anything like them in my fonts folder - neither did I know how to add them.

I had a look on UTube and found the following tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLReYRkVG1s

I followed what it said and managed to download a script from the site they suggest. The font I chose is called Precious. I also learned how to add other fonts that I have saved at various times but not managed to add to my computer font folder!!

I am uploading an old card of mine which I used to try out my new font so you can see what I have managed to do today - thanks to JustAng who asked a question that I didn't even know I wanted to know the answer to. lol

I have used black which shows up against the background but of course it can be any colour you choose from the colour box.

Time to Celebrate

2011-04-16T18:50:00.003+01:00

Happy Weekend Everyone.

This is a card that I made today which I think would be lovely for a little football fan. I have more than one in mind!

I would like to enter this card into the latest

'I love Promarker - make your own embelleshments' challenge.

The main embelleshment was made using a Flowersoft stamp from the Moments in Time range called 'Man of the Match.'

The image was stamped and coloured with Promarkers with the boys standing on a patch of grass green flowersoft.

It was then cut out and shaped to make my embellishment before being fixed in relief with silicone glue onto a shield shape embellishment which was made by cutting two shapes with my Cricut, one from gold paper and another slightly larger from white card and finished with gold adhesive stones.

The papers used were from my stash and the sentiment was made by stamping in black on to a plain matching blue paper which was then cut out and mounted onto another circular shape cut with my cricut, in white, and in turn layered onto a mat with vertical stripes to compliment the horizontal stripes of the backing paper. I finished it off with some card candy in a toning blue.

I hope you like it!

From Balloons to Blackberries

2011-04-10T16:19:00.001+01:00

Yesterday my husband and I were booked to go on a hot air balloon ride which was a Christmas present from his son. Well - despite the lovely weather apparently the wind was too high so it was cancelled and we have had to re-book. So I decided to do a little crafting instead - no surprise there then!

I had another go at one of Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion projects. I actually had two attempts but I haven't decided how to use them yet so it they aren't mounted on cards but must admit to being quite pleased with my blackberries so wanted to post them to see what you all thought.

Sheena encourages you to go over the line of the stamps as the paint covers up all the lines but I am afraid that they still seem to show when the image is enlarged online. You will have to take my word for the fact that in 'real life' you can't see any blurred edges!

I'd love to know what you think - should I keep trying? lol

First attempt:

This has been worked straigh on to a piece of acrylic suitable paper without a background. This is actually edged all the way round with a bronze pen but for some reason the scanner won't show all four sides and has made them look unequally edged!

Second attempt:

I stamped the leaves onto a piece of acrylic suitable paper after having shaded the background with a denim ink pad and a 'shaving brush' and painted them following the instructions on Sheena's DVD. (well sort of!)

The blackberries are made with a thumb print of shocking pink ink which is then covered with little circles made in dark blue ink and using a pencil with an eraser on the end! The highlights and other bits are then added with a normal paint brush.

First Attempts at Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion Technique!

2011-04-07T17:25:00.001+01:00

I've been wanting to have a go at this technique for ages and have had some Sheena Douglass stamps in my stash waiting for the day to come - but until today didn't have the time to spend. I have really enjoyed the afternoon.

I can't pretend it's not a messy affair - at least for me it has been today but I hope as I get better at it I might make a little less mess.

I have made two cards - the first one I did, the Poppy card, I painted on a piece of Acrylic suitable paper and I think it worked quite well. I think it would have been better with a background but I was in too much of a hurry to get started. Then I realised I didn't have the right colour paints for the second card I wanted to make so went to my local craft shop and - Oh dear! There were lots of the Pebeo Acrylics there that Sheena Douglass recommends so of course I had to buy some more pots and then some mount board just fell into the basket too...............

So - for the second attempt, the Sweet Peas, I made a background on a piece of mount board using the method I saw in a Sheena Douglass demonstration.

I've posted them both below with some information about how they were made. I do hope you like them as I am feeling quite pleased with myself that I have managed to create something that looks a little like they are supposed to look. lol

Poppies

I used some scarlet acrylic paint that I have had for ages mixed with some red Pebeo acrylic for one of the colours. I also used a yellow for the outer side of the brush to get the dual colours for the petels. I found it quite difficult to get the right technique but hope I'll get better with practice!

The leaves are done in Forest Green and Yellow Pebeo acrylic and the centres were made with a stencil brush using Forest Green, Yellow and Black.

I edged the paper with a black felt tip pen and mounted it straight on to a cream card.

Sweet Peas

This time I made a background on the mount board by first painting it with a dark blue acrylic paint. When it was dry I made some vertical marks on it using a cotton bud and petroleum jelly. Then I painted it again with Antique White acrylic paint and left it to dry again. As it dries the jelly acts as a resist and when it's completely dry I rubbed it with a tissue to make the distressed background. I thought it looked a bit like an old garden shed!

I didn't have a pink paint so tried painting the flowers a lilac blue with a soft yellow edge but when they dried I didn't like the effect at all, That's when I realised I could just paint over them again using different colours.

This time I made a pink by mixing the red and antique white and also used a white edge. Because this was painted over the blue and yellow it ended up a really interesting shade!

Sometimes mistakes are good. lol

Sad Day Today

2011-03-26T11:48:00.001Z

Sorry to report that we have lost one of the little kittens that I posted about on Thursday.

It is the little black one who, it was quickly obvious, was not thriving.
She was not feeding and so my daughter in law and oldest grandaughter have been feeding her by hand with kitten milk every two hours day and night in an attempt to save her.

She did take the food but unfortunately died this morning despite all their efforts. It seems there was an underlying problem that was not immediately obvious and that she could not have survived whatever was done but at least we know she died being loved and cared for and didn't starve to death - poor little thing.

I'm pleased to say that her two sisters and one little brother are all doing well so we must be grateful for that!

My 'Grand kittens'

2011-03-24T21:04:00.008Z

These four little kittens were born at 2.am on Wednesday morning to Lola who is the daughter of my cat Badger who is pictured in my sidebar with Lola's sister Sox who still lives with us.

Lola is just under one year old now and lives with my daughter in law and grandaughters. She is now a mother herself - which makes my Badger a Grandmother cat!

I saw the babies today and they are just lovely! Needless to say I didn't get time to craft as I spent far too much time just watching them with their very proud little mother.

Just Saying Hello

2011-03-20T17:51:00.004Z

This is a card I have made today using another of my favourite Sugar Nellie Didgi images. I think the little girl images are so sweet.

The card is actually white but because it's very three dimensional the light kept getting into the scanner and it looks a little grey on here. She was coloured with my Promarkers as were the leaves attached to the white flowers.

I used my cuttlebug to emboss the backing to the image in white and it was then matted onto a red glitter circle - both circles cut with my Cricut. The sentiment was made using two separate stamps. The outer circle was from a freebie stamp given with the Stamper Magazine which had a different sentiment inside and the words were from a set I've had for ages.

I spent some time making the flowers and leaves I used and thought some of you might be interested in seeing how I made them so I have had a go at producing the instructions which are below - I hope they might be of interest to some of you.

This is the first time I have spent a whole afternoon crafting for ages and I think I'm getting back into the swing. Pity I have a really busy week or two coming up as I won't be able to indulge myself very often.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Creating Paper Flowers

2011-03-20T17:38:00.003Z

I have seen some lovely flowers on people's cards and thought I'd show you how I did those on my latest card. I hope you find it interesting.

I have a lot of plain white flowers that I bought from QVC ages ago - they can be coloured how you wish but I have left them white for this particular card.

These particular ones have six petals but you can use flowers with any number of petals using the same process and you could use flowers cut with a die too.

First of all I got my main materials together.

This was:

Three flowers of the same size.

Tacky Glue

Scissors

Then I cut one petal out of one of the flowers, two out of the second and left the third intact.

The pieces that have been cut out are not used for the flowers so can be thrown out - or saved of course if you feel like sticking them all together to make another flower if you are a really thrifty crafter!!

Then:

Put some tacky glue on the far right petal of each piece you have cut and stick it under the left side petal to close it into a flower shape again. You will then have two conical flower shapes, one smaller than the other and one full flower.

Bet you're well ahead of me now --- it's time to stick them together.

Put a good dab of tacky glue in the centre of the whole flower.

Put the larger of the shapes you have made in to the centre of the full flower and hold in place for a moment or two using an embossing tool or something similar.

Then do the same with the smaller piece and hold it down well - press a little while you are doing this to help get the new flower shape. Then leave to dry.

When they are completely dry you can tease the petals a little to shape the flowers.

I wanted to frost these a little so I touched the petal edges with white frosty stickles and then put a gem in the centre of each. I think they would look lovely with pastel shades of stickles on the petal edges too.

I then wanted to add some leaves so chose a couple of larger flowers from the same pack and coloured them with a grass green Promarker. No doubt a leaf green would have been better but I didn't have one!

When they were cut like this they made really credible leaves.

Hope you like my first effort at a tutorial and that it isn't too old hat for you all!

Baby Boy

2011-03-17T17:35:00.008Z

I think I havebeen neglecting the baby cards recently so have dug out another of my Sugar Nellie digi stamps. This one is called Bambino. although I guessif I coloured the hat pink I could call it Bambina.

I think it's such a lovely image of a baby.

I coloured the white linen textured card with a shaving brush and a denim ink pad, leaving a white circular shape behind the image. It's the first time I've used these brushes although I've had them for ages - I think they work well and I'm sure I'll use them again.

The flower is cut from a piece of paper from my stash - not sure whose it is I'm afraid but it matched the blue of the baby's hat quite well I thought. Both the hat and the baby are coloured with Promarkers.

The sentiment is computer generated and attached with a brad.

Hope you like it.

Hello to my lovely followers

2011-03-17T11:21:00.003Z

It's lovely to see I have some followers! Some of you I already know and others I hope I will get to know soon - thank you for your interest in my little blog. It's very exciting to see my blog growing and to learn how to add all the different elements. etc.

I must thank Judi for inspiring me to get going in blogland and her help with some of my problems and Kathleen at Crafty Bloggers for all the help her blog has given me too.

I have been so busy playing with the blog that I haven't done any crafting so I think I had better try to put that right soon. Hope you are all having a good day.

Hi again -been busy today

2011-03-13T17:01:00.000Z

I have uploaded a few more cards this afternoon from my stash. I hope you like them.

These cards are all 6x6 as I have been making more of them this size recently instead of A5. Just for a change. It took a while to get used to the different proportions but I think I am getting there now.

I have realised that my cards looked out of proportion on the blog because my computer monitor is a wide screen and it was stretching them - now I have adjusted it to look at the blog everything is back to normal. I thought I was doing something wrong when uploading them. Drrrrrr!

It's taking me quite a while to work out how to do things on here - largely because I'm the sort of person who does things first and only reads instructions when I am about to tear my hair out. Stupid I know but I'm too impatient to get going to read the help pages first.

Off to look at more Sugar Nellies I think.

2011-03-13T16:57:00.001Z

Here she is again - Connie in blue this time. I have backed her with two mats made with the same MS punch as the one below and added blue flowers this time to match her shirt.

Hope you like her as much as I do - I'll have to go and look at somemore of these Sugar Nellie digi stamps methinks!!!

2011-03-13T16:50:00.001Z

I just LOVE this image - it's a Sugar Nellie digital image. I came across it by accident while browsing the sites and have had to use it twice this weekend. She is a dream to colour in with Promarkers
.
I have backed this image with a frame made with a Clarity Corner Stamp

(are you seeing a pattern emerging here?) and then backed it with a square made with my newest Martha Stewart punch. I love this punch as it punches in two inch increments - much easier to manage.

The flowers are some I bought recently from QVC, They are all white so easy to colour with Promarkers.

2011-03-13T16:44:00.001Z

This is a dark and moody card. I sell all my cards for charity so need to make lots of different styles of card. I guess this is good for me as I have to try to change my style regularly otherwise all the cards I offer for sale will look the same!

I often find the ones I don't much like are the ones to go first ---- not sure what that says about my tastes.

This one is backed with some paper that I have had for ages so can't tell you where it came from but the image is created with sponged alcohol inks and overstamped with a black ink pad. I have stitched the image on this time as I think it adds to the 'rough' look of the card. The sentiment is from Clarity Stamps.

2011-03-13T16:40:00.001Z

This is one of my digi images - I think it is from Sarah Kay. I am enjoying using these digii stamps more and more as I love being able to change the size. I've collected quite a few now and a lot of them I haven't got round to using so watch this space!

This was quite a quick card so I have used peel offs for the sentiment. The image is coloured with Promarkers and the shaping was done with my corner chomping scissors.

Hope you are all having a good Sunday - did you watch Barbara Grey?

2011-03-13T12:27:00.000Z

I intend to scan in a few more of my cards today if I get the time - not sure why they are looking an odd shape on my screen though. I wonder if they look that way to everyone? All the cards I have posted so far are A5 but they look a bit mishapen. Maybe I am doing something wrong?
Oh well - we shall see, practice makes (almost) perfect.

Saturday 12th March 2011

2011-03-12T21:02:00.000Z

You can see I am not a very active blogger yet. I am still learning how to manage my blog so it's going to be a slow process I think. I have had a bit of a break from card making lately as my craft room has begun to resemble a tip and whenever I tidy it up and get enthusiastic about making something new - it is back to looking just as it did before!

I have made a few cards recently so shall try to add them this weekend.

2010-06-06T18:27:00.002+01:00

This is of course using the same folder but using different colours and I used a distress inkpad to edge the image. The sentiment is a Clarity stamp which was coloured and edged in the same way.

This was made using a Cuttlebug embossing folder which was then coloured using alcohol inks in a spritzer. The bird was then picked out with a Promarker as were some of the grasses.

This card was made using the relief method - the image was stamped with Versamark and then a brayer was used to colour the image. I've had the stamp for ages and can't remember where it came from I'm afraid. When the image is polished with a piece of tissue or kitchen paper the image shows through It is backed with a piece of mirror card cut with a MS punch and the card edged with an inkpad.
Ooops - looks a bit crooked though!

Judi has reminded me I haven't described this card so I have done so in the comments.

2010-06-01T19:01:00.000+01:00

Another inked background - this time using cut and dry foam and a selection of ink pads. The stamps used were a variety of stamps that I have had for a long time so I can't say where they came from but I have tried to give the impression of the ground and the sky behind. This was then mounted onto a landscape A5 card.

2010-05-31T22:24:00.002+01:00

This is the same Barbara Gray stamp used in a different way

This time I used apiece of A6 coated card which I spritzed with several different shades of alcohol ink. I used blending solution and a foam pad to move theink around until I liked the effect and then left it to dry.

I went round the edge of the card with distressed ink on a pice of foam to add shadow and depth and then used the swirl stamp with a black stazon ink pad.

Once it had dried I wiped the whole piece over with a versamark pad and used clear UTEE (Ultra Thich Embossing Enamel) and a heat gun. Idid this three times to create a thick coating which left the card looking like a tile.
This was then set onto an A5 card using double sided tape and finished with a simple peel off message. The edgesof the card were finisged witha gold Pen-touch caligraphy pen,

Hope you like it.

2010-05-31T21:54:00.001+01:00

This A5 card was made using a relief stamping technique.

A piece of white card was cut, smaller than the A5 card and an oblong shape was masked off on this piece of card using low tack tape and then the swirl was stamped across the masked off area, using a versamark ink pad. The area was then brayerd using a Big and Juicy Spice ink pad and polished with a piece of kitchen roll to allow the swirl to show through. The tape was then removed and the rest of the swirl was stamped to connect up with the relief swirl, using a light green ink pad. Smaller swirls were added around the edge. The piece of card was edged with the light green pad - as were the edges of the main card and the smaller piece stuck in place with double sided tape.

The stamps used were Barbara Gray's large and small swirls from Clarity Stamps.