{very} Lively cards

Happy 9th Birthday Alex!

2011-11-10T19:35:00.001Z

Today is my gorgeous son's 9th Birthday - I don't make him cards, I make him mini-posters, and this years is at the top of this post, pre-printing. As you may deduce, he's been reading Harry Potter recently :)

Its been a lovely couple of days, as Alex has been sooooo excited about his birthday - we went out for dinner yesterday and it was wonderfully stress free (which is a major achievement for us!). Today, my DH & I took the day off to spend time together: shopping, wrapping presents & searching high & low for a cake decoration I'd especially ordered for Alex & then put in a 'safe place'. Ho-hum.

I can show off one more thing today which I made for Alex - for his bedroom door actually (though someone suggested it would be perfect for the bathroom too!).

Its a A5 sized fun poster made using another of Kate Hadfield's new digital stamps. This time its been coloured using the bucket tool in Photoshop. The original monster didn't have hairy feet, but I wanted them, so with the magic of cut 'n paste he now has them! This is why I love digital stamps - lots of control & customisation possibilities.

PS My birthday poster was made with A Wizarding World by Jady Day Studio, the font is HarryP, and there is also just a little added sparkle from Platform 93/4 by Valorie Wibbens & Emily Merrit too!

New ventures & lovely digital stamps

2011-11-06T08:36:00.000Z

You probably know I occasionally make hybrid printable goodies for Kate Hadfield - well, she has recently started producing her own line of digital stamps, and I decided to be cheeky & ask if I could be part of her team for this venture, and I am delighted to say she said yes!!

The card above is my first using her Sally & Sidney Scarecrow stamps. I used some of her other doodles to help set the scene & then coloured the digital stamps with chalks.

I have another project ready to photo using her fun monster stamp, but the lighting over the past few days has simply been too awful for photographing. Too many grey days for my liking!

Did you enjoy Digital Scrapbooking Day yesterday? I spent a scary amount of money - I was definitely naughty, so it good job I'm working extra hours at school at the moment! Remember the sales are still on today - so why not treat yourself?

I had another lovely surprise recently. I've been featured on the Me So Scrappy blog here - how nice it that!?

A number of the projects highlighted were for CatScrap - a fab digital store based in Scandinavia. I've had a great deal of pleasure in undertaking a 3 month guest CT spot there, having the opportunity to work with a wonderful team of designers, which includes the lovely Ju Kneipp! I've tried to use kits that I guess would often be outside my normal comfort zone - including this one by Fiddlette that I used to make this (& one of my new favourite) card:

I'm off now - its our son's birthday this week so we're kicking of the celebrations by going to the cinema later to see TinTin ;)

...and she's back!

2011-10-12T14:42:00.000+01:00

Its been months since my last posting - I've been a little overwhelmed by work, school holidays, life & more work and its definitely taking its toll. Especially on this poor neglected blog!

I've a few links to how-to's, freebies & generally 'look at this' things to share with you today.

Also - you may have noticed 'cos of a missing blinkie - that I'm no longer on the CT for the Sweet Shoppe. I decided to step down for many reasons, including work volume & general 'comfort' in my position there. Its a store full of talent & gorgeous goodies, but I just didn't feel like a good fit anymore so it was definitely the right time to go.

I'm delighted to say I'm still having the honour & pleasure to work with SuzyQ Scraps, Heather Roselli, Ju Kneipp & the team at DigiScrap Addicts, plus every now & again I have the joy to play with Kate Hadfield's lovely doodles - in fact I would recommend that you check out her store at The LilyPad on Friday as you'll find some spookaliciously hybrid goodies (if I do say so myself!) :)

What finally prompted me to post today was that I've found a fab new font source, and wanted to make sure you knew about it too! A very talented designer called Kimberly Geswein shares all the fonts she makes on her blog. Her fonts are for personal use, though CU can be purchased.

Here are a few I simply had to have!

You can never have too many fonts...

If you've never made your own cupcake wraps, then if you pop over to Heather Roselli's blog here you can grab the wrappers & toppers you can see in the photo above for free! They were made using Heather's DIY Printable templates & Sugar High Night kit.

How about something to decorate your room for Halloween? Then to grab this fun freebie printable you should check out SuzyQ Scrap's blog here. I used her collab kit 'In the Graveyard' to make this 'lil number.

The blog posts containing the freebies contain how-to's too :)

Finally - please tell me you've discovered Pintrest??? This is the site you can use as your online notice board for all those recipes, ideas, colour schemes, photos & so much more that you hope to one day try out... without cluttering up your own hard drive or wasting ink by printing! Its such an amazing Aladdin's Cave of ideas - you MUST investigate it if you haven't so far. But I warn you is rather addictive! My boards are here if that helps you get started & the general idea :)

Before I go, I must give you the details about the hybrid craft above - which was made using the Featured Product in The Enabler (DSA's magazine) this October: it was made using Journey of the Heart by Elise’s Pieces & KimB Designs. It was a sincere pleasure using this kit - totally gorgeous!

Artful templates

2011-06-12T13:30:00.000+01:00

As you may know, I'm lucky enough to be on the team at Sweet Shoppe Designs, so I get the amazing opportunity to play with lots of goodies that I probably wouldn't do otherwise. That includes templates designed for LO's - I don't often purchase this sort of template, predominantly using freebies if I use them at all.

Between you & me, I have issues with photographs: the minute I introduce them into something I'm creating my mojo leaves the building. Plus I take so few photos - I just forget to take my camera with me or I get very self-conscious using it. Very silly, really.

Back to those templates... Janet Phillips is a template designer at the Sweet Shoppe - and I love the simplicity and clean lines of her designs. Last week she introduced a new range of templates to her collection called Artful Expressions. They're based on subway art, that is soooo popular today. Anyway (I'll get to my point now!), I've been playing & am in l-o-v-e with the results.

The one at the top of this post is the first of her collection (here). I reduced the canvass size & rotated it, then added the photos: one of a very happy Alex & one of the cup of coffee I found via Google. After decorating with papers by Shawna Clingerman & Heather Roselli, I printed it onto photographic paper & framed it - the frame definitely needs replacing as soon as possible, but I was impatient to show it off!

The next of Janet's templates I used was her new Artful Expressions #3. This time I reduced it to card size:

I printed the hearts out separately so I could layer them by their centre lines, so they'd look less flat. The card looks so pretty & was a snap to make, I would definitely recommend having a go. I used pretty papers from Kiss Me Kate by Susan Bartolini to decorate.

Finally, I just wanted to show a very sweet gift bag I made recently using a template by WendyBird Designs. I am in love with her templates - they're just that little bit different & all CU-friendly too :) I'd recommend checking out her blog, as she is very generous with freebies if you're considering starting to give hybrid templates a go.

I guess it was maybe a little more fiddly to put together than other heart bag templates I've used, but the finished result really is rather special and the paper bow finishing touch is perfect. I used Life is Beautiful by Ju Kneipp to decorate (couldn't resist the tartan paper!), layering the flower image from her kit with sticky foam pads, & topping it with a real button to complement the colour scheme.

That's all for now folks! I'm off to listen to Alex read - he's very proud to be a 'free reader' now, which means he can choose any book he wants to read, rather than the selected ones at school. His first choice? Horrible Histories: The Groovy Greeks. That's my boy :)

Easy-peasy idea for Fathers Day

2011-05-21T17:59:00.000+01:00

I just had to share this straight forward suggestion for Fathers Day (or your DH's birthday) - though I totally lifted the idea from Martha Stewart, here.

Grab a bucket & fill with the man-of-the-hour's favourite treats, new DVD's, gadgets, things for his hobby or, as in my husband's case, things for his second love: his motorbike. Add a simple tag, fun banners, ribbons or even get your children to put painty hand prints all over it & voila!

I used Susan Bartolini's Mission To Mars kit to decorate mine, plus lots of ribbon, mini star buttons, even a little hessian-style ribbon (all of which will mysteriously disappear back into my craft stash when DH has 'opened' his gift of motorbike cleaning goodies (trust me, he'll be putty in my hands after he sees this lot - he's a little OCD about cleaning the bike!)

Bye for now!

Book clubs & other things

2011-05-20T10:25:00.000+01:00

Hello!

I recently joined a book club - my first ever. Its an on-line club run via the Sweet Shoppe's community forum, and we're just into the second month of books, so its all new, fresh & welcoming new readers all the time.

This month so far I've read 'The Girl Who Cased the Moon' by Sara Addison Allen - and just loved it. Its a really light, charming & simply happy book to read. I've already ordered another of hers. I'm finding myself progressively reading more & more light-hearted books, rather than the more 'educational'ones. I find I more & more appreciate a little escapism in my choice of books - too many harsh things going on in the world without reading about them in a novel too.

Truthfully I rarely read books - I listen to them instead! ...which is precisely what I'm doing with a second of the book club book choices for May: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

I felt like I'd given into popular demand & downloaded a heavy, deep book, but about 4 hours into the audio unabridged version, I am a total convert. Its a beautifully written story - the audio version is told by 2 actors, an older Jacob & a younger version, and it works splendidly. If you've never tried listening to a story - give it a go with this book, its worth joining a club like Audible for this one alone.

I hope you like the 'lil Love Bot box above (the little robot makes me smile) - the papers worked perfectly to make this more masculine themed gift box, don't you think? Its complimented by this card - perfect for your man on any special occasion :) The designs are all by Ju Kneipp, though the box template is by Heather Roselli.

Have I mentioned Heather has a new-look blog?? She's also beginning to sell her templates for commercial use too!! I've been pestering her for this for ages! Her range of Stick Learnings are also worth a peek if you've small children - made in happy collaboration with Rebecca from the CT team. I've a couple of how-to's on the blog if you're interested too :)

Finally, in response to a art journal themed challenge this month, I had a go at making a journal cover in this new-to-me style. This was the result:

I didn't have a journal to actually cover so I made one with recycled card & key rings. I will definitely try this style again - including the 'she would...' quote idea. It was fun & nice to try something a little different :) Its made with lots of SuzyQ Scrap's goodies!

I'm off to dry my hair after swimming (30 lengths this morning!), and get more washing on the line :)

Wishing you a sunny day too,

Happy iNSD!

2011-05-07T19:44:00.002+01:00

Happy {inter}National Scrapbooking Day - when we all have a lovely excuse to shop the extraordinary sales, play games & hopefully have time to scrap, create & have fun using all the lovely goodies in our stash or on our hard-drives!

Everyone is having a sale today, and have created new goodies to pop into their shops too. Here are some of my personal fave goodies:

Heather Roselli has just launched her gorgeous, new-look site, plus a new range of fun and very colourful teaching aids called Sticky Learnings - well worth a peek if you're home schooling or simply want another play resource for your little ones - you can see one of the previews above.

I have a little something in stores today too!!! I have had the sincere pleasure of playing with Kate Hadfield's wonderful doodle designs again to create these two mini sets - available only at The LilyPad:

These mini ready-to-print and assemble sets are perfect for Mother's & Father's Day, but are also suitable for birthdays, or any time you simply want to give a little something special. Lots of how-to's are included if you're new to 'hybrid' :)

I'll leave it there for now, and let you go shopping! ...oh, but I should tell you that there is a fun blog train departing from DigiScrap Addicts, with fun & lots of freebies along the way!

Crafty Project: Dry Erase Board

2011-04-17T20:18:00.002+01:00

Hi!

Celeste is a lovely lady I know at the Sweet Shoppe. She is full of amazing ideas & inspirational sources that she readily shares. Recently she showed off an idea for a DIY dry-erase board - the type you write on with a special pen then rub off when you're done with the message, again & again. Very environmentally friendly :)

... and I can honestly say I don't think I've tried a simpler, cheaper or easy to personalise project! Here's what I did:

I went all digi for my first attempt: a small memo board for Alex to use.
First I bought a very, very cheap clip photoframe - seriously it cost me less than £1 from ASDA. Next I created a file in Photoshop the same size as the frame aperture, then the best bit: I had fun with the papers, banners & elephants from Alphabet Soup for Boys & School Days, both by Zoe Pearn.

After printing, I put the finished page into my frame, and let Alex loose with a dry-erase pen. This is a perfect way to encourage him to keep track of all the things he has to do or take to school! ...and when he gets fed-up with this image I can simply create a new one from my ever-growing digi-stash!

Loving Alex's board, I had to make one for myself to pop next to my craft space, using a slightly more expensive frame - this one cost just shy of £3! Again, I started by opening a file in Photoshop sized to match the frame's aperture, but this time I wanted a more grown up look, and chose to play with the gorgeous Everyday Moments from Lauren Grier & Jenn Barrette.

After printing, I added a little ribbon, glitter glue, a Doodlebug Designs flower plus button - and then popped it into my ever-so-expensive frame, & ta-da!

Andrea, of The Ribbon Girl on-line store, and HybridBabe extraordinaire, has just added this article to her blog, showing you how to make the most gorgeous dry-erase board I've seen. Her blog is always worth a peek for card inspiration, but this post is a definite must-see!

I made a LO!

2011-04-15T13:18:00.012+01:00

...I know its only a very simple one, but hey its still a LO - there's a photograph and everything! I made it using Ju Kneipp's new collaboration kit Everyday Love with Valerie Wibbens, over at The LilyPad where Ju is guesting for the month. I have to admit a bit of an addiction to Val's designs so I was delighted that Ju got to collab with her!

Just one more thing to mention before finishing this post. Many of you are aware that Lauren Grier has been very ill recently. La is an amazingly talented lady, who creates some of the most original, fun & funky doodle-icious kits, alphas & element packs out there. A huge group of her friends within the digital scrapbook community have got together to create a not-to-be-missed kit which will be sold to help La & her beautiful boy, Ce.

The contributors, led by Shawna Clingerman include everyone at the Sweet Shoppe plus too many others to mention (except I will mention Kate Hadfield 'cos I love her). Its going to be sold at the Sweet Shoppe for sure, but I have a feeling it will be available elsewhere too including DigiScrap Addicts. The kit is called 'With A Little Help from My Friends'.

I promise you, its too beautiful a kit to miss, and you'll be helping out a lovely lady & her son too.

Hybridy blog post to share

2011-04-13T17:12:00.007+01:00

Hi there! Quick post to say I've a blog post up here, on the Sweet Shoppe Design's blog that I think you'll enjoy - especially the bookmark idea! No more hints, just go & read all about it :)

Sara x

PS If your mojo is in need of a kick start you should have a peek at the Sweet Shoppe's monthly portfolio challenges, which a packed with a variety of prompts, & ideas for you to spark off. Well worth making a coffee & taking 5 minutes to relax & wander through!

Hot off the Press

2011-04-08T20:32:00.004+01:00

Look what I made! I have never made an 'explosion' box before - the number of photos have always intimidated me 'cos I am lousy at taking them - but Heather has a huge release scheduled for tomorrow morning, and needed her team to make up examples. I got to make the hexagonal & pentagonal boxes as you can see, and I loved it. Heather's templates are (as always) a breeze to use, and these boxes only required the minimal equipment to assemble: a printer, a knife & ruler for straight edges, my Scoreboard for neat creasing & some adhesive. As Heather wanted printables that were already good to look at, I didn't add any 'real' embellishments - but the possibilities are endless! My mum will love them as a gift for sure. ...well worth looking at when they hit the Sweet Shoppe store! Sara x

Starting the year over...

2011-03-31T13:59:00.008+01:00

Hi! Its been months & months since I last posted - all for sad, heart-breaking family reasons I'm afraid. I'm not going to go into details - this is not that kind of blog, but I'm doing this quick post simply to say that I'm starting 2011 over from today, the very first day of April... I know its All Fool's Day, but I figured that its as good a day as any to take a deep breath and begin blogging again!!! :)

I've been crafting throughout the time I've been absent here, and there's lots to share, which I think I'll do in a little side bar slide show, but let me quickly show you something NEW, and that I'm beginning to post around the digi-community today:

The card above & this cute alternative party treat presentation idea were made with a kit by Ju Kneipp & Dunia Designs, called A Boy's Diary - and the easy-peasy hybrid template is by WendyBird Designs. She's a CU hybrid template designer I've just found, and I've already bought several of her designs to play with!

The digital stamp is from DigiStamp Boutique, and is coloured with my preferred medium of chalks. A few layered flags & ta-da!

Miss Evie Witchy...

2010-10-21T10:05:00.021+01:00

Doesn't she make a cute witch? This cute character is called Miss Evie Witchy - she's one of a set that I've started collecting from Squiggle Stamps. If you like digital stamps, this store is a gold mine - their entire rubber stamp range is available digitally, which is wonderful news for people like me who are totally challenged by doing neat, unsmudged ink stamping...

Like a regular stamp, you simply start with a black outline of the digital character - I coloured mine using two methods: cutting & pasting of digital papers for the clothed, hat & boots using Photoshop, and then once she was printed I used my chalks to colour the rest. I finished Miss Evie off with a little glitter glue on her petticoat & star accessories! After all, what girl doesn't like a little sparkle?

The papers I used throughout the card (plus the Boo tag, clouds & moon) are from Fee Jardine's Spooky Ooky - one of my all time favourite Halloween kits!

Next, I wanted to show off this cute set of printables I put together for SuzyQ Scarps recently - I adore this time of year as there is so much orange about. The set is in her store at Scrap Orchard, as is the Lil' Spooks kit I used to decorate the set:

How about something a little more Autumnal? I wanted to share this adorable Fall Fairy card with you. It was made with a kit called Basic Fall by Ju Kneipp. When I opened the kit, the first thing I saw was a simple flower with drooping petals - I saw it and thought it would make the perfect skirt for a flower fairy! I know, strange, but true. I already had the pretty fairy stamp by Claire Keay (a wonderful illustrator) in my ever-growing digi-stamp collection, and you can see the resulting card below:

My little fall fairy was coloured in exactly the same was as my witch at the top of this post :)

Finally, I know I've mentioned the wonderful KevinandAmanda.com as a great source for free fonts (and recipes and other interesting bits 'n bobs!), but the very talented Miss Tiina also generously offers lovely free fonts for people to use too, right here. If you do pop over for a look, you should also take a moment to browse her store at Sugar Hill Co., as I guarantee you will find it v-e-r-y tempting :)

I think its time for a cup of tea! Bye for now...

My fabulous new siggy & links to FREEBIES!!

2010-09-24T10:25:00.017+01:00

This is one of two cards I recently made using the designs of Dani Mogstad. I simply wanted to make feel-good cards to make someone smile. I think it worked :)

You can find the full card details here, but the little girl image is one I found at Clipart and Scrap - she is one of a set, and is 'dressed' by layering papers from Dani's kit and using Photoshop to make them fit, plus a little chalk to finish her face and hair once she had been printed and cut out.

On a side note, Dani recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and is taking time to enjoy her with the rest of her family. Lovely, happy news :)

Yesterday, I made my first post on SuzyQ Scraps blog. I'd love to know what you thought of it! I was showcasing one kit, Pumpkin Patch, which from the name alone has a distinctive Autumnal/ Fall flavour. I was trying to demonstrate that it can be used for so much more than the obvious theme. I think it worked - but I would be interested in your opinions! The post included this pretty, purple presentation idea:

If you like it, you are very welcome to download the freebie file, for both the pillow box and tag, directly from Suzy's blog, here!

I'm hoping to do this sort of thing again with more kits in the future - I'm signed up for the January hybrid post on Suzy's blog and have a 'lets get organised' theme (appropriate for the New Year!) rattling about in my head, but want to do it with a not-so-obvious choice of kit.

Well, that's my current plan.

Maybe.

....truthfully, I am totally subject to my whims & fancies, and regularly start cards and projects with one idea and finish with something completely different! I'd love to think of it as my 'artistic nature', but its probably a lot more accurate to say I am easily distracted by pretty, shiny new things :) I'm 6 at heart.

On to other news now: In my blog post for the Sweet Shoppe this month, I also had a little giveaway - this time card templates for you to play with! They are definitely meant as starting point templates - aimed at those of you who insist that they can't make cards! Honestly - if you can make layouts, I promise you can make cards too! Have a look at my post here, grab the templates and see for yourself :) These are a couple of examples I made using the templates:

You can find full credits for both cards in my gallery at Sweet Shoppe Designs, and yes the cute owl is sat on a hand stitched 'branch' - I really must learn how to use my sewing machine! ...though I actually prefer the rough 'n ready look of handstitching here.

Now, take a look at this:

I am very proud of this little tree, my family {apple} tree, as I called it in my galleries. It was made for the current issue of The Fix from Digiscrap Addicts to showcase a sweet kit by Pixel Perfect Designs. I used a template by Heather Roselli for the tree itself, and then added the apple frames as you see. It was a little fiddly to make, simply because of the reduced scale - and if I do it again I would print the photo frames onto photo quality paper as I think it would have a better finish.

I'm rather hoping Heather makes a similar Christmas Tree template - but if she doesn't I may try to adapt this one :)

Finally - just look at my FABULOUS new signature!!! I am so in love with it, and just had to show it off here! I 'bought' my siggy candy (as its known) from Fizzy Pop Designs over at 9th & Bloom - I definitely recommend a peek!

...and actually, thanks to Lizzy of Fizzy Pop fame, I've started looking at this site for colour ideas recently. Its just a nice site to browse around for pattern & coordination ideas if you've 5 minutes and cup of coffee!

Wishing you sunshine and fewer September showers :)

A cute zebra and a bucket

2010-09-12T18:16:00.025+01:00

Hi! How were your Summer Holidays? Mine were not exactly relaxing, but I have to say its nice to get back into the old school routine again.

Incidentally, I'm hoping that my Mum will brave the internet and start popping by to read this blog (Hi Mum!!!) - firstly 'cos its good practice on browsing the internet (!), and secondly I'm hoping that knowing she will be looking, I will start posting regularly! Honestly, who wants to be told off by their Mum?

She's just beginning to get the hang of using a mouse, and needs ideas of things to go and look at - after all, it is rather a large digital world - so I may start posting interesting things to peek at, like that lovely esty shop I previously found.

I hope you like the first card above - I couldn't resist treating myself to a kit or two from Kasia Designs, who's just relocated her store. Her style was always clean and uncluttered, but she's refined her work even more and I just love it. I used The Bucket List to make my card.

Isn't this little chap a cutie? I've just added this card to my galleries - so its nice to show it off here too! The original digital image is what is referred to as a digital stamp. It started out as a black outline in SuzyQ's signature oopsie doodle style, to which I added colour by layering digital papers and cutting them to size with Photoshop. I like doing this - its time consuming, but oddly very satisfying!

I have had a really wonderful response to these babygrows which I decorated using Ju Kneipp's I {heart} Animals kit - the photo is even going to be featured in the Hybrid Standouts feature in Digishop Talk's October magazine. How wonderful is that!?!?!

In case you were wondering: the crocodile is (naturally) saying snap, snap, snap, whilst the fish is blowing love heart-shaped bubbles - so I added 'love bubbles' below, Finally the monkey is singing 'oh oobie doo' from the song from the Jungle Book movie.

I made them by using iron-on transfer paper from my local supermarket. Its a really special way to personalise clothes for children, or even a tote bag for yourself....:

This was made for the Digiscrap Addicts magazine in July, using a really beautiful kit by Veronica Spriggs.

I have literally just finished photographing this last card, which I made especially for the husband of a friend, who (you've guessed it!) is turning 40 today and is apparently not too happy about it.... although he is enjoying the opportunity to indulge in a bit of a mid-life crisis ;)

It's made using Over the Edge by Lauren Grier & Eva Kipler, and completed by layering the funny little doodle man and a funereal black ribbon! The font is called A Truer Blue , another freely available one from the very generous Kevin&Amanda.com - and is just perfect for this card.

'til next time....

Sara

PS Full details for my cards etc can be found by clicking the links below:

Bucket Full of Love

One of a Kind

I {heart} Animals babygrows

Butterfly tote bag

Look what I found...

2010-08-20T20:24:00.007+01:00

How wonderful is this - breakfast in bed, without the calories!! I've just found this delightful Etsy store and had to share it. Its called:

...and is an adorable store of perfect felt food design patterns. I love the donuts, this bakery set....

...and these cakes are irresistibly pretty:

If I had a little girl, I would be indulging! You can find the Bakery store here!

My poor neglected blog

2010-08-16T19:17:00.009+01:00

Wow - doesn't time fly!

How about a couple of photos to show you that I haven't been completely idle?

The first card, above, was made with Lil' Bundle from SuzyQ - I wanted to make a card suitable for either a baby boy or girl, and fortunately this kit gave me full flexibility, which is a nice change as so many are specifically for one sex or the other. I have to say that little bear makes me sigh.

I also want to show you a couple of cards I've made with Ju Kneipp's designs recently too. Both are made with her Under the Sun kit:

I love the colour she packs into her designs, and I loved being able to use the lyrics to 'You are my Sunshine' in a card :)

Have you ever visited Andrea's blog? If you haven't, you are definitely missing out, its brimming over with inspiration! Well, this incredibly talented and very sweet lady & her mother have a new store of their very own - but theirs sells real ribbons and trimmings, rather than those of the digital variety! Since my beloved Poppicrafts disappeared, I've been looking for a new supplier, and I think I've found it with Andrea & her mum. Their store is called The Ribbon Girl and its more than worth a peek!

I've one last little something to share with you today:

...a cute little something to fill with jellybeans for my boy - when he decides to play nice this summer holiday! Made with another of SuzyQ's kits: Under Construction.

If you would like to see the full credits for any of the things I've shown in this blog post, please just click on the photos.

I'll be back again soon with more - really, really!

Just a suggestion...and a card

2010-06-02T15:15:00.006+01:00

I mentioned in my last post, that I have just started working for the very talented Ju Kneipp. She lives in Brazil, and is a designer at Cat Scrap and DigiScrapper Brazil.

Every Wednesday is Dollar Day at DigiScrapper Brazil - and I have to say WOW at the number of fab kits they regularly include. If you want to sample Ju (or any of the other designers!) work, this is the perfect day to snag a bargain. Today, for example she's got 4 kits up for $1 (which is under 80p!!), including one of my faves:
...seriously, who can resist these cute frogs? Needless to say, I've been spending.... :) I would have a couple of cards made with her designs to show you today too, but my DH has put our camera somewhere 'safe'. Humph.

Its the school half-term holidays over here in the UK, and I've just had a lovely day with Alex: going to the cinema to see Tooth Fairy, and then for noodles afterwards. He's growing so fast, that its lovely to have him all to myself. I doubt I'll be so sentimental towards the end of the Summer holidays (!), but half-term holidays are just wonderful. It does mean alot less crafting time, but I do have one card to share today that fortunately I had already photographed!:

Its a digital card, which I made using Eva Kipler's Barefoot in the Park, carefully merged with a sweet digital stamp from the Pure Innocence range by Heather Ellis. I used a paper from the kit to 'make' the little girls dress, and then added additional colour to her and the butterfly with just a light dust of chalks. The photo above is linked for more details should you want them :)

Enjoy the rest of your week!

New designers and a freebie link!

2010-05-30T07:33:00.026+01:00

Can you believe May is almost over? Its been such a hectic month: I've been at school working a lot of additional days and we've had family visiting too. We get to see so little of our family, that this was an extra special event for us ....but now it is all back to normal.

May was also very special as I joined two more very talented designers creative teams! This is the first:

SuzyQ's home shop is here at Scrap Orchard. I wanted to be part of her team as I couldn't resist her doodly collection (especially the adorable frogs she's created!). Here's a new card from me made using a combination of her designs, including her new dino doodles:

The invite to join the second team came out of the blue - and once I saw the wonderfully eclectic designs of Ju, I couldn't say no as I just itched to make something with her designs:

Ju's fairly new to being an individual designer, but you simply must check out her work - its so unique and vibrant. She sells her kits etc at both Digiscrappers Brazil and CatScrap, which I believe is based in Norway - isn't it wonderful how global our community is?!?!

Here's an all digi-card I made with Ju's Strawberry Swing kit:

I do have lots of other bits 'n bob's to share with you that I made in May, but I'll do that in a day or so as I really, really should be getting ready to go for a day-out to the Natural History Museum. We've promised Alex that we'd go and see the dinosaurs today :)

I've linked the pictures you can see in this post so that you can see all the details as to what I used to make the cards. In the galleries, you'll see more of my work - but do take time to go for a wander about as there is some amazingly talented people out there wanting to share their work with you!

One last thing, I posted a freebie card front on the fabulous Heather Roselli's blog a week or so ago - its the cheeky monkey card you saw at the top of this post! I saved it with wording for both Father's Day and Happy Birthday, sized 6x4in and 7x5in. All you have to do is download, choose the front you want and print. Then cut out and stick to a card blank! You can find the freebie waiting for you right here!

Enjoy your holiday weekend - and if your school is on half-term holiday too, then I sincerely wish you sunny, dry weather and not-too-crowded parks, museums, pools, cinema......!

Sara x

Spring flowers and Chinese take-away

2010-04-18T14:32:00.011+01:00

We are having beautifully sunny weekend here in the UK - I have washing drying in the warm, gentle breeze, my son is happily surveying his kingdom from the top of his climbing frame and even my husband is in a good mood! All is well, in my little corner of the world :)

I wanted to share the card above with you today 'cos it such a nice Spring day, and it was made with a sweet kit called 'Touch of Spring' from the lovely ladies of Polka Dot Plum designs! I made it for the April edition of The Fix, from DigiScrap Addicts - which includes this kit and an additional three others too. Bargain, and well worth checking out, ladies and gentlemen!

The card was made using my Sizzix Big Shot and template to cut the vase out, though I really do think you could achieve a similar look using sticky foam pads.

All the flowers were from the kit; I just printed and snipped them out then dusted the edges with pink chalk. The tag is actually a journalling element from the kit, but it works prefectly as a tag too, don't you think?

Chalk is definitely my favourite colouring medium - I love the delicate hint of colour it gives, plus I never seem to be able to get an even, neat flow of colour when I use pens, though I am very willing to concede it is simply because I don't practice enough with them!

On to other things...

I subscribe to the weekly newsletter from Scrap Orchard, and was very sorry to read that both Megan Turnidge and Yari of Jady Day Studios were retiring from designing. Their creations are just lovely, and I'm sorry to see them both go. On the good side for we consumers, they are both having fantastic retirement sales, and I highly recommend indulging! Oh, don't miss out on picking up a Megan's hybrid templates - they're a real bargain. I made these with her takeaway box template:

...all decorated with Kate Hadfield's gorgeous Chinese Zodiac doodles (but if you like what you see in the photo, you can grab them all ready-to-print from here!).

Wishing you all sunshine and fluffy white clouds...

Sx

Hills made from clouds, and fonts

2010-04-14T13:15:00.009+01:00

Sometimes when I see a kit, its simply love at first sight and I have to have it. This happened when I saw Zoe Pearn's Away We Go (from Sweet Shoppe Designs) - I just fell for its fun retro feel. I teamed it up with some birthday 'And I Quote' wordart by MandaBean, and voila!

I had to modify the wordart a little in order to make it 'fit', and I also printed the large car separately onto card so that I could layer it with sticky foam pads. ....oh, and the hills were made by layering the greeny paper from the kit over an expanded cloud element. Did you guess?

Do you have a weakness for fonts? Well, have you discovered the amazingly generous Kevin & Amanda.com's Free Fonts?

If you like your fonts to look more handwritten, or are looking for something just a little different, then you must, MUST check them out! Their font creations are all free to download, but do check their terms of use if you plan to use them for anything but a personal layout or card. I can't tell you how much I love the fonts from these lovely people!

This card of mine used 'Smiley Monster' from Kevin & Amanda.com - plus Zoo Day by Kristin Aagard, of course!

Bye for now,

It's alive!

2010-03-27T13:13:00.016Z

...well, I am anyway :)

Its been sooooo long since I last posted here, but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things - especially as I have lots of things to show off and news to share.

Firstly, about the mini album above. It originally started life as this:

I have to say I'm quite proud of the transformation, especially as its the first time I've ever tackled anything like this! Take a peek at a couple of the inside pages:

I made it in response to a Sweet Shoppe challenge to use recycled items to make something new - and having recently become addicted to skinny vanilla lattes from guess where, I had no problem sourcing the basics for this album.

Here's a quick-ish 'how-I-made-that' guide:

To begin, I cut the card sleeve in two, then I measured and then prepared my colour cards in Photoshop, sizing them to fit. The colour cards were sooo simple to do as I cheated and used Heather Roselli's new Spectrum Flash Cards (with a little digi modification to fit as shown). I mounted each flash card onto coordinating sugar-coated cardstock from Doodlebug Designs (love this stuff!), and then stuck this onto a Starbucks album page using double sided tape.

Once all the pages were ready, I punched a hole through the corner using my Big Bite, and then added a key ring (from Woodware) to hold everything together.

Finally I added stapled a colour coordinating ribbon loop (from Poppicrafts) to each album page, plus a button or similar for extra fun embellishment, and ta-da!

This project was totally inspired by this post by Fiskars - thank you!

Since my last post I promise I really have been busy cutting, sticking and folding.... Just to prove it (!), here are a just a couple more pictures of recent projects:

Easter Egg card

4 'Sweet' Shoppes

Baby Block Gift Boxes

I'll be back with more card ideas to show you soon!

So, I mentioned I had some news to share. I am sorry to say that I have decided to step down from the Poppicrafts creative team, for no other reason that the shop has changed its stock direction quite dramatically (and I'm delighted to say successfully!!), and I don't feel that I am the right person for the job any more. I hated telling Michelle this, but it was the honest thing to do. Michelle's was the first team I was ever invited to join, and I can never thank her enough for the confidence boost she gave me. Poppicrafts will always remain my main source for ribbons though - promise :)

Oh, I do need a pick-me-up after typing that, so here's a final big splash of colour courtesy of the designs of Heather Roselli:

Rainbow cards

Bye for now!

Guesting for Sahlin Studio...

2009-11-06T10:04:00.001Z

October was a wonderfully hectic month! I was asked to be a guest team member for Sahlin Studio, and got to play with the lovely Kristin's designs. It was a real pleasure - and so I'm going to pester her to let me guest for her again in the New Year!

Sahlin Studio designs are sold over at Scrap Matters, but Kristin regularly and very generously shares substantial freebies on her blog, so its well worth visiting!! If you like her work, you should sign up for her newsletter too as she often adds little coupons and extras to it.

I made several things for the team whilst with them, including the card above. Here are the other cards and thing-ummy-bobs I created:

I am delighted with how everything turned out - I was on a real roll 'mojo-wise' last month! I think my personal favourite is the ABC card. Its was made using Kristin's back to school kit, but I wanted to use it in a other-then-school way - et voila! Oh, by the way the 'Happy Boy' card is based on a digi-scrapbook template Kristin made and uses elements of a collaboration kit she did. I just resized the template to fit my square card - easy as that.

I'd love to know what you think of everything too!

Bye for now

PS Instead of listing all credits here, I have linked all the photos to the cards in the Scrap Matters gallery where all credits are - but you already know who's designs I used!! Whilst over there, take a browse around the community forum - if you like card making like me, they have regular card template challenges that I think I'm going to have a go at, so why not join me!?!

Freebies, news and a few pics!

2009-10-01T12:55:00.000+01:00

Welcome to October!

I am hoping this month is as sunny, but a lot less frantic than September!

Do you like the Halloween card and matching envelope in the picture above? Its a freebie ready-to-print card that I made for Heather Roselli's team blog. Soooo, if you'd like it click here to get it! Whilst over there, take a peek at all the posts from this week as there are other digi-freebies to grab too made by Heather and other members of her team. Who doesn't like a freebie or two?!

I have a couple of other card to show you too, but I do have some exciting news to share too: I am a guest designer for the lovely Krista of Sahlin Studios during the month of October!

I've just introduced myself to the team, and can't wait to see what Krista has in store for me to play with. I have a couple of kits of hers, and she's very generous with her freebies too (hint, hint!). I made this card with 'Enjoy the Moment' papers, alpha and elements. The kit is really perfect for Disney photos, but I do like to find a different way to use designs, to make them multipurpose - 'cos they should never only be restricted to just one thing - and this one definitely isn't limited at all :)

The little card tag reads 'enjoy every moment'. I added a little glitter glue here and there and the organza ribbon (Poppicrafts, of course - yes, Michelle does organza ribbon now!!!!), plus the frame is layered with stick foam pads for a dimensional look.

I've been making lots and lots of other Halloween inspired bits n' pieces for Heather recently:

....but had a little time to make these cards, amongst others, too:

I've just gotten hold of a blog-in-a-box to revamp this page - but it isn't 100% me (just as the current look isn't me anymore). So I think I'm going to rethink my ideas again...

Love

Sx

Halloween treats and the spooky card: Hallo-Tween kit and Paper Dolls, plus lots of DIY Printable templates including Treat Wrappers, all by Heather Roselli
Together: Enjoy the Moment by Salin Studios, plus Ranger Stickles glitter glue and organza ribbon from Poppicrafts.
XOXO: Boom I Got Your Boyfriend by MandaBean, plus organza ribbon.
Whoo-Knows card and pencil box: Imagi-Nation and Its Elementary kits. The template for the box is by The Hybrid Kid and was a free gift from DST, and the font is my current favourite:DJB Neat Feak by Darcy Baldwin.
Chit Chat Message Box: Made with Shabby Miss Jen's devine Chit Chat kit, which was the Featured Product in the Sept '09 issue of DSA's The Fix. Plus, DIY Printable template: Pizza box and album by Heather Roselli, and finally some stick-on gems to act as 'screws' for the hinges and some organza ribbon for final presentation :)
All cards etc required card paper, a variety of adhesives, plus some needed a touch of ink or chalk.

Sweet news and quite a few things to show you!

2009-08-17T13:22:00.001+01:00

It's been a little while since I blogged - and revisiting here, I think my page is definitely in need a of face-lift. Humm, I'm going to have a think about that and surprise you one day!

The past few weeks have been rather busy - with Alex being on holiday and card making. I have just been in the mood to make things, and so have indulged myself when ever possible. I have quite a stock of cards now, so I really am going to have to consider selling them - I haven't had the nerve to before now to be honest! To date I have only 'sold' commissioned cards, not the ones I make 'just because' or for my teams - but unsurprisingly, storage is becoming an issue!

The example below is a commissioned card - my friend wanted a large uncomplicated card that a large group of under 5's could sign for their nursery school. I went completely digital for the design, with no 'real' embellishments at all (so no-one could be tempted to pick things off!). Kate Hadfield's alpha was bright, happy and perfect for the job:

Kate is heavily involved in a site called Gallery Standouts - which does exactly what it implies, and scouts lots (& lots!) of galleries to highlight pieces of work, so if you are looking for inspiration it's another place to checkout ...having said all that, Kate chose this piece of work by me at the end of last month!

I am so pleased to have been selected, as I am quite a fan of Kate's work, so its a lovely compliment that she selected my stuff :)

As you can see from the picture, all the items are designed for a young child's party - if you are, like me, not the most brilliant cake decorator, then do think about making your own cake frill as they are so simple to make: Measure your cake tin for the estimated depth of your finished cake, then for a cake of diameter 7 inches or more, design and print three A4 copies of your frill onto thin card. Stick it together with clear tape, and trim as necessary. If its going to be around your cake for any length of time I would line it with grease proof paper. I do all my 'designing' in Photoshop, so I create a file/ template of the correct depth to match my cake, and then print it three times. You can corrugate the frill, add a ribbon - anything you like :)

Here are a couple more cards etc that I have made recently:

Finally, some HUGE news! You may have gathered how big a fan I am of the family of designers at:

Recently, the Shoppe had a creative team call, and I was awarded the 'hybrid' spot! ...which means I get to play with lots and lots of very pretty digital things, and make cards 'n stuff! Big, enormous wow or what!?!?! Actually, I'm rather intimidated by the company I'm now in - seriously, the other Hybrid Babes (yes, that really is what we get called :) ) produce quite simply incredible work. Our joint gallery is here - more ideas for you to try!

I'll leave it there for now - we're off to the park in about 10 minutes!

I will return soon (-ish!)

Perfect Pair: Made with papers and elements from Tutti Frutti by Zoe Pearn

EIEIO birthday bits n bobs: Made using predominantly Heather Roselli's EIEIO kit!

Little handbags: Made using Heather Roselli's very sweet DIY printable Purse template (she really has an amazing selection of templates to choose from), and decorated with various of her kits too, including Big Spender & Girls and Dolls)

Engagement Party ideas: Made using Armina Design's 'Young Love Sweet Love' kit which is one of the kits available in the August issue of The Fix from Digiscrap Addicts, plus a bag template from Kelleigh Ratzlaff, and the fab new font DJB Get Your Fix by Darcy Baldwin, which is also in The Fix.

Dinomite: Made using papers and alpha from Tough Guy by Dani Mogstad and Ellie Lash's fab dino brush (I love this little dinosaur!)

All buttons, ribbons and blooms are from Poppicrafts of course

There are a few Doodlebug gems, some craft wire, DMC thread, raffia, a laminator pouch for the EIEIO table mat, lots of ink, chalk, adhesives, card, paper, and Ranger Stickles glitter glue too!

Things for Dad, Poppicrafts and handbags

2009-07-05T09:56:00.000+01:00

June had been a {very} busy month for me - well, it may not have felt quite so busy if I hadn't got a bit of a cold (of the summer, and not swine, variety). I was working at my son's school - proper working, with pay!! I felt like a grown-up again :) Still, I had lots of time to make bits 'n bobs for Father's Day - all of which I think work well for a simple dad's birthday too:

My husband thought it was his lucky day to get home-made muffins and a huge box of jelly babies all on the same day. All his favourites...

All the above were made with Dani Mogstad goodies, but the handbag cards below are made with templates and kits by Heather Roselli - I was lucky enough to have about a week to play with the templates before they were issued, and these are some of the designs I made:

During June, I made my usual team blog postings, but the one for Heather includes a little freebie for printing, cutting and sticking onto a card for an almost instant card. If you haven't seen it, go and take a look, and grab it here :)

Have you visited Poppicrafts recently? Michelle is making some significant changes to her stock, and is getting in some gorgeous, gorgeous ribbons and bows, and beginning to introduce lots of hair accessories you can make and buy with the ribbons. See?

Unfortunately, I'm very sad to say that she has decided to stop stocking other card making embellishments, including the chipboard, buttons and brads :( ...but it does mean that she is currently having a HUGE clearance sale. You really shouldn't miss it - so check it out here.

Finally, a new yummy, summery collaborative kit is out over at the Sweet Shoppe. Its free with any purchase over $10 throughout June - and with the £ being healthier then at the start of the year, this is a fab deal!

I have some very, very nice news to share soon here - so look out :)

Enjoy the week,

Ideas for Dad:

All papers and images from 'Father Knows Best' by Dani Mogstad

Ribbons from Poppicrafts of course!

Plus craft wire, Dovecraft chalk, ink, cocktail sticks & Bassetts JellyBabies

Muffins by me :)

Handbags:

All templates, papers and images from a variety of kits by Heather Roselli ('Big Spender', 'You Make My World Go Round' with Lauren Grier, 'Me+You=Love', 'Girls and Dolls', and Tiki Tiki Boom Boom' with Amanda Heimann)

Buttons, bloom & most ribbons from Poppicrafts

Organza ribbon, pearl and craft wire from local craft shop.

Brad and gem from Doodlebug Designs

Hair accessories all by Michelle at Poppicrafts - look out for them, and the elements to make your own, to be available very soon!

Lots of pictures and an apology

2009-06-09T14:40:00.000+01:00

Ok, I'm rubbish - I am full of good intentions of keeping up to date with my blog on a regular basis, and have failed again - for no other reason that I have been rather busy playing with paper, glue and scissors... in a creative way, obviously :) ...oh, and half term got a little in the way too!

Let me show you some new cards and things:

I love these windmills. The card theme was set by Andrea over at the Sweet Shoppe community (check here for details) - I like the challenges 'cos they often encourage me try new themes or techniques.

My husband was happy to play model for this t-shirt, provided he got to keep it afterwards. I think home-decorated t-shirts make fun presents and party gifts. The transfer papers are readily available, and almost all supermarkets sell inexpensive plain t-shirts in any size now.

This clown card was one of my first for Heather, and involves lots of layering and one of my favourite embellishments: twisted craft wire. I planned this card carefully via Photoshop so that it would fit onto my card blank perfectly, and so that when I printed the various elements I did not waste too much card in the process :)

I'd love to say the jam was home made, but it was a little too early for strawberries to be plentiful or cheap enough when Dani released her 'Fruit Punch' kit, with which I decorated the jar. It's such a summery, and definitely fruity kit! If you do plan to make your own strawberry jam (or lemon curd actually), get this kit!

This was one of the simplest cards to make, and I loved it so much that I took my idea and made more to match!

As you can see, the construction is the same, just with the variation on words and accent colours. I do like my Fiskars border punch - and 3mm wide silk ribbon threads perfectly through the holes for a very feminine finish, don't you agree?

Finally, did you like the tags at the top of this post? All made for and using products available from the ever-wonderful Michelle of Poppicrafts. Did you guess that the heart on the purple tag was made from two petals from a chipboard flower, and that its wings were made from the petals of the blooms in the store? Michelle has some very tempting plans for new products over at Poppicrafts, so remember to keep popping back for a look (better yet, sign up for the newsletter!) - oh, and do check out the gorgeous new patchwork heart ribbons over there too ...they are rather irresistible :)

Fingers crossed for sunshine tomorrow,

Sx

Dotty flower tag

Papers: Pink Petticoat, Dovecraft chalk, chipboard flower and all other embellishments from Poppicrafts
Winged heart tag

Paper: ‘Pink Tongue Twister’ kit by Marcie Reckinger, Rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs, Dovecraft chalk & plain chipboard cut to shape. All other embellishments from Poppicrafts (including heart made by cutting down a chipboard flower).

Felt tag

Seed beads: local craft shop. All other embellishments from Poppicrafts (including the tag itself, made by cutting down scalloped edge of Fancy Pants felt)

Windmill card

All papers: 'Girls and Dolls' kit by Heather Roselli, rub-on alpha and sugar coated brads from Doodlebug Designs, flower button from Poppicrafts, DMC thread, Dovecraft chalks.

T-shirt

All images from Dani Mogstad's 'Tough Guy' kit, HP transfer paper, t-shirt from ASDA

Circus Tent Birthday card

All papers and images from 'Life's a Circus' by Heater Roselli, craft wire, b&w modified border by Lauren Grier, Dovecraft chalks, ink, and the font is '4th July'.

Jam Jar

All images & papers from 'Fruit Punch' by Dani Mogstad, raffia from my local craft shop, and a jar of jam from Sainsburys :)

Sweet card & its variations

All paper and images from 'Sweet Cupcake' by Dani Mogstad, Fiskars Threading Water punch, ink, blooms cut into hearts from Poppicrafts, narrow ribbon from Ribbon Oasis (I think), Ranger Stickles glitter glue.

A new team, two cards and warm water

2009-05-26T15:20:00.000+01:00

Back again - finally! We had a lovely week away and then a manic week back home catching up - plus I started my few weeks of work at our son's school (covering medical leave). The pay isn't at all great - but it should help towards my embellishment addiction and maybe a little towards paying for the gym membership I've just taken out!

Let me catch you up with a card or two I've recently made:

There was a recent challenge to make a windmill card over at the Sweet Shoppe (complete with instructions by Andrea), and this was my take. I love the colours I chose - so girly and just right for my niece. I made the challenge extra fiddly for myself by having the bright idea (!) to make mini windmills, rather than one large one, but it has worked beautifully so I will be doing this again 'cos its such a nice idea.

I designed this next card to be a simple one to construct, after assembling all the digital elements in Photoshop and printing out:

I printed the lion banner twice, so that I could select certain areas to layer up (such as the lion's head and the balloons). Inking has yet again added definition, don't you think? As you can see, I printed the image a third time, but at a reduced size, for a quick tag.

All the papers and digi-elements from these cards are from kits by Heather Roselli - who has very kindly invited me to be part of her design team! A very big and excited toot, toot for me :)

I am hoping to make the lion and banner a give-away on Heather's team blog sometime in the near future. I'll let you know....

I can't begin to describe how happy (and constantly surprised!) I am at all the faith in my work shown by these incredibly talented people. Makes me feel very humble - thank you to them all again, and again...

I have definitely decided that 4 full time teams is my limit, especially with working (just a little) and the Summer holidays coming up, when crafting time will be rather limited and precious! ...but may be I can wrangle a guest spot in another team now and again. I live for the variety and challenge!

Have you investigated the digi-worlds of scrapping and creating yet? If not, you must!!! Imagine: unlimited access to papers and elements you love, with ideas for what ribbon/ buttons etc will coordinate with the kit. I know I'm part of the team over at Digiscrap Addicts, but honestly, even I am totally in awe of the scale of ideas, suggestions, friendship, coupons and freebies that are on offer there. All you do is register (FREE!), and you can access some beautiful kits and gallery inspiration - but don't forget to check out the general forums too - they are truly multinational and very welcoming :)

Be brave, stick your toe in - the water's fine, trust me!

I promise to be back soon!

Windmill card:

Made using 'Girls and Dolls' - Heather Roselli (here at Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Sugar coated brads and rub-on alpha - Doodlebug Designs

Dovecraft chalks

Grrreat birthday card:

Made using 'Life's a Circus' - Heather Roselli (here at Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Ricrac - Doodlebug Designs

Ranger Stickles glitter glue, ink, freebie stars

Poppicrafts and a Springy quiz

2009-05-07T14:00:00.000+01:00

Hi! I made the above card for Poppicrafts - the last batch, not the one Michelle received this morning. I was really proud of the L, so here it a little closer:

I really like playing with craft wire. I just twirl it around a smooth-sided pen to make the loops and stretch or twist it into the final shape. But it can be a pain to fix in place, unless there is something to anchor it at both ends!

As I mentioned, Michelle received the box of bits and pieces I made this morning, and I can't wait to see them in the Poppicraft gallery. I haven't used so many blooms in my cards this time - at least not whole ones! ...and wait 'till you see how I've used the hinges from my favourite on-line crafty store!

I have another one of those free, daft and anonymous quizzes for you to try. Wouldn't you like to know 'What Part of Spring' you are? This is me:

You Are Chirping Birds

You are a very caring person. You especially feel for innocent beings, like animals and children.

You are keyed in to the world and very peaceful. You believe that everyone is connected.

You remain focused and in the moment. You are not easily distracted.

You have a good memory, especially for things that you hear. You listen carefully.

What Part of Spring Are You?

I'm not sure my family would recognise this description of me - especially where it mentions me not being easily distracted, and as for the good memory - but things I need to remember leak out of my brain all the time (I really need to start using my Brain Training again).

It was my turn to add to the Girl Talk blog this week. My article is here if you'd like to see it - and is about gift tags and wrapping paper :)

We're going on holiday at the weekend, just for a week, to see family. I am having very guilty feelings about taking Alex out of school, but we haven't seen my family (particularly my Mum) since last August, and we all miss them. Soooo, no posts for a week - I'll be back after the 17th - but remember to check out the Sweet Shoppe this Saturday, as all new releases are 20% off, and I have a strange feeling that Dani may have something yummy in store....

Enjoy your week!

Green flowery paper: Pink Petticoat; Cloud paper: ‘Once Upon a Time’ by Lili & Emily Merritt; Blue sugar coated card: Doodlebug Designs; All other elements: Poppicrafts (including the Fancy Pants felt)

2009-05-02T20:22:00.000+01:00

Good Evening! Its been such a lovely day today - and I haven't made the most of the sunshine 'cos I've been sale shopping on line. Today is National Scrappbooking Day in the US, and its a great excuse for lost of digi-shops and designers to have wonderful sales and give away nice things too.

If you are new to the digi-world, or want to sample it for yourself - today is the day to go looking - though most sales and celebrations are actually on all weekend. Digiscrap Addicts is a brilliant place to start your journey - join the 'blog train' and collect almost a dozen freebies and discover lots of different designers en route.

I spent lots in the Sweet Shoppe sale as usual - but there again I've been naughty all week: new printer, camera and a bind-it-all machine. Honestly, it was all in the sale and I did need it all (though maybe not the Bind-it-All... I just really wanted that). I think I have already had this year's birthday and Christmas presents :)

Did you see my article for Girl Talk? Well, I'm showing 2 of the cards from there now - the other, my favourite, I plan to rephoto as the original pic is just so grainy (hence new camera, as my current one is just so unpredicatble).

I love the sunflower card at the top: Quite simplyt print the same flower out twice, chalkt the edges and then layer on top of each other, gently easing the petal ends upwards. I measured my card blank first before printing the larger flower, so that it would fill the card and I think the border finishes it perfectly.

Here's the second - which is a printed out, snipped out, inked and layered card, but it would be really simple (and a lot less intensive!) to make it a purely digi-card, just remember to measure your card base first:

I added a gem for sparkle to the centre of the stylised flower - which you can equally do with a digi-card making it a little more special than simply a flat image.

On Tuesday, I will be posting a new package of cards and thingummys to Michelle at Poppicrafts - but I have had some trouble with a card I wanted to make. I know it will work eventually, but after two attempts I am going to leave it for another day. Thankfully I had a couple of alternate design ideas in reserve - but I am still determined to make my original plan work some how. I'm being a bit cryptic I know, but when it works, it'll look great - hopefully!

Finally, I'm doing another blog article for Girl Talk on Tuesday (still no thumbs up on the freebie I want to share, but I think Dani's planning a big release of lots of yummy new things soon), so hopefully I'll see you there (sort of!).

Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend...

PS Anyone else re-reading the Twilight books?

All papers are from Dani Mogstad's 'Pop Goes the World' kit
Doodle borders adapted from Lauren Grier's 'Border Line'
Craft wire, Dovecraft chalks, ink, gem all from local craft store

2009-04-28T10:38:00.000+01:00

This card was made using a kit by Heather Roselli called 'Big Spender'. The kit, I think, was partly intended to reflect the current economic climate, but I couldn't resist 'filling' the bag element with gifts and other goodies. I made the tags below using the same kit, and I think I'll make another tag to match the card sometime in the future too - the bag would lend itself to this perfectly, don't you think?

This Thursday will be 'Card Day' over on the Girl Talk blog (Dani Mogstad's team blog). This month I am showing off 3 new cards - and if I get the thumbs up from Dani, a little freebie too... so fingers crossed for a 'yes' :)

I am also doing another article for that blog on the 5th May - 'cos someone else beat me to the card day slot for next month - humph ;)

You know, I never thought I get frustrated being on a design team - but I do, 'cos when you make something you want to show off immediately to everyone, you inevitably have to wait to pop it on the team blog first! Still, I wouldn't stop doing what I do for the world, and as long as the teams want me, I'm theirs - believe me, I know how lucky I am, and constantly wonder just how it happened?

Other elements used in the cards & tag design:

All blooms & most ribbon: Poppicrafts

Green ribbon on card: freebie snipped from a top I bought (the ultimate in recycling!)

Heart sequin, sugar coated card & rub-on alpha: Doodlebug Designs

Dovecraft chalks & flower brads

Ranger stickles glitter glue

Raffia, ink, craft wire, gems & seed beed: local carft shop

Staples

Fonts: 'Born to' is in Gorillaz1 and 'Everyone needs a little' is in Cupcake

Feeling Springy

2009-04-24T09:21:00.000+01:00

The sun is shining, for once I'm organised enough that my washing line is full of clothes blowing in the breeze and I'm feeling quite content with the world... it must be Spring!

I love my little dragonfly on the card above. He's based on a template by MissTiina, but I made his wings out of petals from paper blooms. I think they worked beautifully :)

I was feeling soooo pleased with the result that I made the hanging decorations below for my Easter tree - but they would make a perfect mobile addition too (hummm, I think that may be a near-future project!):

I made the decorations a little more robust by laminating them.

I'm off to sit in the sun and read the final book of the Twilight series - I just couldn't resist the hype about them...

PS Don't forget to check out the latest challenge at Poppicrafts! Its all about using skinny/ thin ribbon and you could earn yourself £20 vouchers - just think of all the dragonfly wings that would make...

Dragonfly template: MissTiina (at Funky Playground Designs)
Blooms: Poppicrafts
B&W border, flower paper and alpha background paper: Pink Petticoat
Blue spotty paper: ‘Flip’ kit from TADA
Acrylic alpha: Shawna Clingerman (at Sweet Shoppe Designs)
Pink gem & rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs

Chocolate and orange

2009-04-14T19:56:00.000+01:00

I've another (belated) daft quiz for you this evening: 'What Easter Candy Are You' - feel free to substitute 'sweetie' for 'candy' if you're feeling very British today :)
This was my result:

You Are a Chocolate Bunny

A traditionalist, you secretly want to dress up like a bunny. And not just on Easter.

What Easter Candy Are You?

Its fun, free and doesn't require knowing who you are, so why not have a play?

I just finished this digital layout using a free template from the Sweet Shoppe community forum, and I love the colours I used (I've been using a lot of blue recently for some reason) - in fact I'm wearing a matching t-shirt right now (the shade of orange that nearly makes your eyes water). Its true what they say about colours affecting your mood, 'cos I'm feeling quite chirpy even though Alex and I have butted heads quite a lot today (its still half term!):

I've made some lovely cards recently (I think!?) that I will be able to share with you here after tomorrow when the first issue of the e-magazine of the new DSA site is available. Do you remember me mentioning it?

Do go and have a peek even if you favour paper and glue to the digital world - there is so much to see, try and take inspiration from. Take from it only what you want and then simply enjoy the community spirit. I dare you :)

Sx

Credits for the LO:'Please Refrigerate' kit by Lauren Grier & Mikkel Paige; 'Button it' by Lauren Grier; 'Give me more Arrows' by Shawna Clingerman and the font is DJB RachelM by Darcy Baldwin. All from SSD.

The wonderful world of Digiscrapping

2009-04-11T15:22:00.000+01:00

Hello - and is it raining where you are too? The British weather can always be relied on at holiday times :)

I have some really great news to share with you: I have been asked to join the design team for a new online digiscrapping publication! ...excuse me while I do a quick happy dance again!!

The publication is brand spanking new, and if you have access to a PC (hello!) and you like seeing the latest papers & designs, enjoy freebies, love competitions & challenges then I recommend taking a look at:

This fabulous forum also includes tutorials, encouragement for aspiring designers and a wonderful gallery to glean inspiration from, plus there is an opportunity to subscribe DigiscrapAddicts' first monthly newsletter, The Enabler!

Did I mention the freebies and money-off vouchers?

So, if you are just beginning to dip your toe into creating with digital products; are a seasoned digiscrapper, or like me, want access to wonderful new paper and element designs that you can print out and use to your hearts content again and again and again - then this new forum is an excellent place to explore and use.

Hope to see you there!!

In the meantime, have a lovely Easter weekend with your friends & family.

A few Easter treats

2009-04-07T20:01:00.000+01:00

Today I added another post to Dani Mogstad's design team blog, that I'm fortunate to be part of - and got to show off all of these Easter themed bits and pieces. The first is my favourite 'cos I am so proud of how I made the bunny ears!:

I made this card for my friend Michelle (of Poppicrafts fame - where else would I get my blooms from?), and as per her excellent advice, here is a close up:

The 'basket' was made by twisting a piece of raffia in to shape and then securing it with diamond glaze (which had the additional advantage of making it hard and shiny). I am particularly pleased with the wire headband on which 'Lilli' has her ears mounted! Her image is coloured with chalks.

I recently made some Easter decorations for Poppicrafts (which I don't think I've shown here - something to rectify - but can be seen in the shop's gallery), and realised just how many digital kits include elements just crying out to be used similarly:

Each image was printed twice, the second copy being a mirror image, then cut out and glued together. Add a little sparkly glitter and a thread to hang by and there you are! These images are from two of Dani's kits: 'In Your Easter Bonnet' and 'Pop Goes the World'. The latter kit in particular, has lots of images perfect for snipping out and mounting onto cards :)

I made these little baskets as gifts for Alex's teachers, and I'm making more to send to some of our family (I just have to work out how to package them so they survive in the post...).

Finally, this is the mini gift I made for my Mum for Easter. The coaster is from YellowMoon.org - which if you have children is well worth a look at. They sell some wonderful crafty things, educational tools and games and even party bag gifts, and a percentage of your purchase goes to your child's school/ nursery too. Hooray!

Finally, if you have a go at making a mini basket (and I do recommend it 'cos they're very cute), they can carry a remarkable number of Cadbury's Mini Eggs. Alas however, they do not take a full packet - especially if you put shredded pink tissue paper into the basket simply because it looks pretty - and you will be obliged (!) to put the last few out of their misery and eat them. You have been warned...

All background papers and most digital elements: Dani Mogstad (all available from Sweet Shoppe Designs)
Templates for mini bags: Heather Roselli (also available at Sweet Shoppe Designs)
The lovely Lilli image: Pink Petticoat
All blooms, ribbon and the pretty flower clip: Poppicrafts
Alterable coaster and tissue paper: Yellow Moon
Plus Dovecraft chalks, craft wire, Ranger Stickles glitter glue, DMC threads, raffia, Diamond Glaze and the pink sweeties were from M&S! My Easter tree was from the late and sadly missed 'The Pier'.

Too much temptation...

2009-04-05T13:40:00.000+01:00

Two of my favourite on-line stores have had huge sales, and its all been just tooooo tempting. I confess to having spent just a little here and there...

Unfortunately, the Weeds & Wildflowers 2nd anniversary sale ends today - but do check their blog for some really lovely quick pages they're giving away to celebrate.

On the other hand, starting yesterday, the Sweet Shoppe designers are simply killing me at the moment with their Gone, Gone, Gone sale for this week only - 50% off, and then some of my favourites vanish forever! How could they do this to my credit card?? ;)

In the meantime, I 'made' this digital Easter postcard to print, add our own messages and post to friends and family for Easter. I used a free quick page, altered the sentiment, added Alex's picture et voila!

The digital world can make life so easy sometimes when you need to do things in large numbers and quickly! ...they're great for thankyou's too.

'til the 7th

'Walking on Sunshine' quick pages: via Traci Reed's team blog; Font: MA Googly Bear

Quick Easter decoration and a seaside card

2009-03-30T10:59:00.000+01:00

I popped over to Hobbycraft recently and whilst there (trying not to overspend!) bought some polystyrene balls, one of which I studded with blooms and brads from Poppicrafts! I think it will make a pretty addition to my Easter tree this year - and very simple to put together too :)

This is one of the cards I recently made for Michelle, of you-know-where. This is the card I am most pleased with 'cos of the way I used my challenge aqua-blue ribbon to make the sea - I think it worked really well, but I wish I had made my 'sun' with a yellow bloom instead of just a button as I think it would have looked less stark up in the corner (but I didn't actually have one - so that's something else to add to my shopping wish list!).

If you are specifically looking for more Easter ideas, I'm posting something special next week on Girl Talk (and here too :) ), so look out for it!

Enjoy this fabulous sunshine!

All card & visible decoration elements are from Poppicrafts; The sky paper is from ‘Weather’ kit by Dawn Inskip; aslo used a polystyrene ball from Hobbycraft, Ranger stickles and Dovecraft chalk.

Fluttery Butterflies and a goat

2009-03-26T16:44:00.001Z

I made this card for my recent post on Girl Talk (Dani Mogstad's design team blog). Its difficult to tell, but the frame and butterflies are all raised, and the edges of the grass, frame and butterflies are inked for definition. The original antennae on Dani's digital images were impossible to neatly cut out so I fell back on a favourite solution and used craft wire. The butterflies were finished with a little glitter glue for sparkle - who doesn't need a little sparkle here and there sometimes :)

I have to tell you about a fab website for free hand-written fonts and doodles - all the owner of the site wants is a thank you (her terms are so generous and worth reading to remind yourself of just how kind people can be!). Its called Fonts for Peas.

One final thing to share today: This is a layout I made based on a LO by a lady called Dawn March - its of Alex being walked by a young goat at the children's farm Abbotsbury, during our lovely holiday last May. Roll on holiday time this year!

Bye!

All digital elements, except acrylic cloud, by Dani Mogstad ('In Your Easter Bonnet' and 'Little Buddies' kits respectively)

Digital acrylic cloud: Traci Reed ('Acrylic-O-holic' kit)
Glitter glue: Ranger Stickles

Craft wire and organza ribbon: local craft shop

Some of my latest Poppicraft cards

2009-03-22T15:40:00.000Z

I love crafting for Michelle of Poppicrafts - she is so encouraging and positive, and doesn't mind if things are a little different. Rare gifts, I think.
Above are two of my new cards for her lovely shop - you can see more and creations by others of Michelle's design team over on the Poppicrafts site.

The both cards have been made incorporating the challenge ribbon Michelle sent me a few weeks ago - remember? I used it to make wings in the first card and a picket fence in the second - I think that qualifies as an unusual way to use my ribbon!

For the 'Bugs and Blooms' card, I have also used Poppicraft blooms, buttons and petals cut from a chipboard flower to make the bodies. The stems are stitched - I love doing this, and you will no doubt notice it on my cards again, and again...

In addition to the ribbon, the New Home card incorporates a gold spiral embellishment (it makes a prefect sun don't you think?) and felt floral ribbon, sniped to fit as bushes around the house - all from you know where!

Other card details are below as usual, but before I go:

Remember to enter your card into the fab

Poppicrafts competition!

Be brave, be creative and send your creation

to Michelle now :)

I can't wait to see what you can do.

Bugs and Blooms:
Background papers: ‘Lazy Days’ kit by Weeds & Wildflowers
Dovecraft chalk, DMC threads, black pen and craft wire.

New Home:
House image & papers to make stone path: ‘Happy Place’ kit by Fee Jardine
Green paper: Pink Petticoat
Cloud papers: ‘Beautiful Day’ papers by Sarah Grimwood

Rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs

Gems in the flower centres are from my local craft shop.

A few cards and a quiz

2009-03-19T13:17:00.000Z

I thought I'd show you a few cards that I haven't displayed here before...

I have also another daft personality quiz for you to check out here. My results are:

You Are Vanilla

You are a delightful, friendly person. You are optimistic about life and people.

You are enthusiastic and energetic. You enjoy everything you do.

You are cooperative and flexible. You get along with people from many walks of life.

You're not a show off. Instead, you're more likely to help other people shine.

Are You Chocolate or Vanilla?

Its just soooo me ;)

Isn't all this early Spring sunshine fabulous?

The butterfly & heart cards were made using Libby Weifenbach's 'Love Shack' kit;

the U R.... card was made using Misty Cato's 'One in a Million' kit. Both kits are available from here.

All blooms and buttons are from Poppicrafts; sugar coated green brads are from Doodlebug Designs; b&w brad is from Dovecraft and the glitter glue is Ranger's Stickles. Craft wire, gem, chalk & ink are all from my local craft store.

Presentation ideas

2009-03-14T11:40:00.000Z

How wonderful does this look? It's true what they say, presentation is everything: The frilled cup is one of Dani Mogstads's Springtime Sweets cupcake wrappers, which complements her fab Easter kit 'In Your Easter Bonnet'. Naturally they are intended as wrappers for cakes, but they do have so many other possibilities, including (obviously!) Easter egg presentation, gift wrap for a mini plant, holders for sweeties or how about for a bath bomb:

or even as an egg-tra special egg cup:

I had fun with this - can you tell?

Bye for now,

Exactly what is says on the...kit

2009-03-11T13:23:00.000Z

Hi! - are you feeling Springy too or is just me?

The card above was made from a mini digital kit called 'Lazy Days of Summer', and it is almost exactly as the kit itself was advertised in its preview pic. I layered the papers a little more tightly, added hand-stitches for the stems, and 'lifted' the flower petals and cloud - all to make the final card more tactile. The butterfly was printed directly onto the blue paper and I added the text using rub-ons. Sometimes digital kits intended for scrapbooking are just as perfect for cards without too much playing around - serendipity at its best :)

This was such an easy card to put together that I have already made it again, this time setting the foreground at an angle. I think it will be another staple card - we all need them for those days when we need a card fast!

Changing to a totally different subject now:

Have you checked out the new stock at Poppicrafts yet? I have already indulged my addiction by getting more blooms - the coordinated packs are just perfect ('Leah' and 'Rosie' are my current favourites!). I think I need help.

I think I mentioned that Michelle (of Poppicrafts fame) set her design team a challenge to use an item in a new and interesting way. This is what she sent me:
The blue ribbon photographed more cornflower blue than the teal it is in reality - David Bailey has nothing to worry about from me! ...anyway, I have made some cards (and other bits and bobs) and posted them to Michelle today to add to the fab Poppicrafts gallery. I am soooo pleased with one card in particular - you don't often see ribbon used like this on a card, I promise you! I actually have a couple additional cards 'in progress' too, so that's what I'm off to do now :) after I just mention:

The amazing

Poppicrafts March Competition!

What can you do with

paper flowers?

Stamp them, emboss them, fold them and cut them...

Make something beautiful with them and you could win

a £35 Poppicrafts voucher!

Just imagine how many blooms that will buy.....

Take a look here for ideas and details!

Enjoy your day!

The 'Lazy Days of Summer' kit is from Weeds and Wildflowers Design, and the rub-ons are from Doodlebug Designs.

Flowers say so much...

2009-03-05T13:10:00.000Z

...yeah, right. I usually have to buy my own flowers as my husband never remembers too!

I had a go at another blogthings.com 'quiz' and selected my preferred bunch of blooms, and this is what they tell me about myself:

Tulips Say You're Very Positive

You are very popular and universally admired.

You are often hopelessly in love, and you connect to other people easily.

You are a naturally cheerful and upbeat person. You have an amazing smile.

You have a fresh perspective on things. You have a different way of looking at the world.

What Do The Flowers You Pick Say About You?

Universally admired? Often hopelessly in love? Right, that's me. ...but I do like the 'different way of looking at the world' part - who wants to be a sheep all the time?

Have a go and have a giggle - its completely anonymous too :)

I'm off to buy lots of tulips for myself, 'cos they're pretty.

Girl Talk & cake frills

2009-03-04T09:57:00.000Z

What do you think - isn't it sweet?

Today was my turn to add a post to the Girl Talk blog - which is the design team blog for Dani Mogstad. We new additions to the team were asked to give ideas for a birthday party based around Dani's Sweet Cupcake kit, and this was my main contribution (though I did add a couple of other suggestions too!).

Pop over to the Girl Talk blog to download the instructions and to have a look at the other team members fab ideas too. I warn you though, the frill's instructions are so incredibly easy you'll be wondering why you didn't try it before :)

Today's post over on the DT's blog was actually my second - I had an opportunity to do a 'card day' article last Thursday, in which I introduced myself to the world (!). You can read the article and see all the cards I featured here, but the card below is the one which took longest to construct but turned out so beautifully:

I have volunteered to do a 'card day' on the last Thursday of each month over on Girl Talk, and I really hope you'll pop over there to see my contributions (and you can be sure that I'll be reminding you of this again!).

I'm off to play with pretty ribbons and blooms now :) Enjoy your day too.

Sx

Poppicrafts

2009-03-02T19:03:00.001Z

As you may know, I'm a member of the design team for Poppicrafts - a small but perfectly formed online shop which sells lots of yummy embellishments (and some rather nice Fancy Pants papers and bits 'n bobs too). My favourite goodies are the mini blooms, but the rainbow of narrow grosgrain ribbons the shop stocks has to come a close second. I like pretty things... sigh

...where was I? Oh yes:

Michelle, the heart behind the store, has just sent the members of her team a mystery embellishment (!) and has challenged us to use it as the focus of one of our creations for her - preferably in a new and interesting way. Brilliant! I love a challenge (once I get over the initial panic of 'what will I do?', 'can I do it?' etc).

Look out very soon for annoyingly tantalising hints of new designs using blooms, buttons and ribbons so tempting that you will have no choice but to pop over the Poppicrafts shop and gallery to see the final designs by myself and the rest of the team, and take the time to indulge in a little shopping too!

In the meantime, did you see my last two batches of cards that I had fun creating for Michelle? Here are collage pics of them - for a closer look, you know where to go :)

By the way, sorry I haven't posted for a week or so (family, what can you do with them?), but I plan to make up for it this week. So do pop back Wednesday!

Bye for now

I'm late!

2009-02-22T19:59:00.000Z

I missed a birthday last week, and so decided it was a good excuse to create a belated card - which I've never done before! I'm usually very (even annoyingly) organised, but in recent months I've been seriously struggling to remember to even write things on my calendar, never mind to do the task itself!

However, if I was bad before, I've been terrible in the past month. With the snow days, Alex being unwell, inset days (aka teacher training days) and half term, I haven't known whether I'm coming or going! I think I need consistent sunshine - I tend to get mild(ish) SAD.

Regardless of all my blah, I hope you like the card. Its cheerful and pretty, which can only make you feel better :)

The quote is from Alice in Wonderland - but I bet you knew that already:)

Have a good day!

All the papers and the digital elements - the baking tray, with the heart cookies 'iced' with a mini cookie alpha - have been designed by Dani Mogstad, MandaBean & Fee Jardine. The kit is aptly called Littlest Bake Shop. Its available from Sweet Shop Designs

Blooms: Poppicrafts

Buttons: Doodlebug Designs

Thread: DMC

Chalks: Dovecraft

Seed beeds: JoMil

Guess what?

2009-02-18T08:00:00.000Z

Oooo, I have some lovely, lovely news to share with you.

I have been asked to become a member of another creative team! The designer who asked me is called Dani Mogstad, and her rather fabulous designs are available from Sweet Shoppe Designs. Her work is so varied from the bold and feminine All You Need is Love to the amazing and grungy Punk'D.

The card below was made using All You Need is Love:

...told you Dani's designs were lovely didn't I? I recreated her heart design in felt as I wanted the main embellishment to be a little more tactile (and I like felt!) - substituting a bloom for a button in the process.

I hope you'll pop by Dani's creative teams blog, Girl Talk, too - I have joined a very talented group of people (and I'm feeling just a little nervous about it!). The blog is full of ideas and challenges - and at least once a month I have to pop a post on it too (ahhh, quick panic...).

By the way - the mini bloom I used on the heart was from Poppicrafts, who are having a bit of a sale right now, which includes these mini blooms now available in packs of 10! Good job 'cos I use loads of this colour. Pop over and indulge!

I now just have to go and figure out how to get Dani's blinkie on to my PC....

Sx

Other bits & bobs used: Ribbon was also from Poppicrafts, buttons & rub-ons by Doodlebug, and chalk from Dovecraft.

{Mega} sour cream containers!

2009-02-15T17:46:00.000Z

I had no idea that these cute twisty gift parcels were sour cream containers in the US. I have to thank Liz at the-ever-so-fab PP for educating me!

Alex and I made them as part of Liz's blog challenge for February. Her originals were nice, delicate little parcels, but our are daddy-sized - literally, as my son & I made them as Valentine's gifts for my husband! ...if I'd only put one delicate chocolate in he would have been most upset so we made one large enough to hold an entire packet of minty Aero chocolate balls and the other a packet of Jelly Babies. He was a very happy man.

Only one complaint though, Liz - my son said that the papers I showed him were too girly for his Daddy (honestly! He finally chose a cute space design for his parcel). So please could you come up with some papers with added grrr for the boys in time for Father's Day : )

Sx

Valentine parcel: Image and paper - Pink Petticoat
Space parcel: Moon and paper - Nitwits

Daft, but a bit fun too.

2009-02-12T14:51:00.000Z

I decided to do a quiz to see what kind of person I am (!) - a handful of (totally anonymous) multichoice questions et voila!

Your Word is "Think"

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations.

And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in.

You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now.

When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced.

What's Your Word?

Yeah, that's me.

Daft but, as I said in the title, a bit of fun too.

I've noticed that Michelle of the ever so fab Poppicrafts has some new blooms in. I don't really need them, but they are so pretty...

Pizza {box} anyone?

2009-02-10T18:20:00.001Z

I made this mini pizza box as a challenge over at the Sweet Shoppe (love this site!). It's my first diy box and it turned out beautifully.

I found this template via this lovely blog. I did fiddle with the dimensions to make it fit my card, but it worked out so well that within minutes of the photo being taken, my son claimed the box as his own (I managed to grab the flower & ribbon back though!).

My big tip, if you decide to have a go: when folding the box into shape, check and double check which flaps to apply adhesive to before its too late. I 'dotted' the appropriate flaps just to be sure!

Sx

PS I actually got a mention on the Sweet Shoppes blog for this box too!

Designs: Libby Weifenbach (Love Shack kit - which is really, really lovely)
Bloom, ribbon & button: Poppicrafts of course!
Plus wire, seed beads, a black pen and my mini tag punch from Woodware.

Handbags and a digital layout

2009-02-08T15:20:00.000Z

I made this beaded handbag card this week - it a variation on a theme I've used before, but I was so pleased with how it looked with the addition of beads, I thought I'd share it with you.

I also had a go at another community challenge with Sweet Shoppe Designs (SSD) - I'm getting quite addicted to it to be honest! The challenge was to 'lift' a layout by a lady called Amy Stoffel - her work is so beautiful, it was quite difficult to select one to 'lift'. Eventually, thought I created the the digital layout below:

...and I am delighted with it!

Love,

Sx

Handbag
Dottie paper: Pink Petticoat (Sweet Cupcake kit); black 'velvet' card: Doodlebug Designs; seed beads: JoMil

Layout
All paper & most embellishments: Traci Reed (Vanilla Pear-adise kit @ SSD); stitching: Christie Lyle (Unscary Tricksters kit @SSD); font: Little Days

A fairy nice card (get it?)

2009-02-05T19:40:00.000Z

A pretty little card for a soon to be 2 year old - and the most girly card I've ever made on behalf of my brother. It's for his god-daughter, and being the closet sweet heart he is, he asked his friend what his daughter would like for her birthday, and found himself lost in the scary world of The Night Garden. I don't think he's quite recovered yet.

This week has been a bit of a card makers nightmare as my son, like lots of other children, have had school cancelled due to the weather. Unfortunately, he has been unwell and so we haven't been able to get out and indulge in the amazing snow fall we've had. We are beginning to show signs of cabin fever - its a toss up as to who's the grumpiest, him or me...and there's more snow to come apparently!

Keep warm,

Sx

All papers & image: Kay Miller ('Enchanted' kit)
Alpha: NitWits ('Never Not Talk')
Organza ribbon: Ribbon Oasis
Jewels: Lakeland Ltd & heart freebie
Chalks: Dovecraft

Nice & simple

2009-02-02T11:15:00.000Z

I like this type of card, you know the type that when you need a card for a friend in a hurry, you can just pop together (reasonably!) quickly and know it'll be just right.

My last post mentioned a challenge by Liz at Pink Petticoat. That challenge is now closed, but the very good news is that she's going to make it a regular monthly thing! The winner will be randomly chosen, but we get to share ideas and stand to win something useful and pretty (which is always a nice incentive) plus some chocolate - check this out:

Fab idea, Liz! I will be looking out for the February challenge for sure!

Whilst on the subject of pretty nice things, I found this amazing blog, which is guaranteed to inspire and make you go 'oooooo'. Take a look: An Altered State (I need to find a source of colourful good quality plain felt 'cos I want to make stuff like her too... any source suggestions would be welcome!)

Sx

Paper & Image: Pink Petticoat (of course); Ribbon & bloom: Poppicrafts; Button, sugar coated card & heart sequins: Doodlebug Design; Font: Cupcake (naturally!); Sequins: Jomil

Pink Petticoat challenge

2009-01-28T09:35:00.000Z

Liz, of Pink Petticoat fame, set a nice blog challenge recently to create a new look with her papers using our printers. I made a tablecloth!

I opened, rotated and printed striped duck-egg blue paper of her Lola's Boudoir kit in Word, so that the stripes were quite compact. I then repeated the process with pistachio stripes, et voila!

The cakes and the 'plate' are from her Cupcakes kit printed on a washed out duck-egg blue background, then layered onto another duck-egg blue background. The cups are part of a font from Scrapnfonts , again coloured and layered.

I've printed the stripes using the pistachio and pink, which will make a very cute little girls dress on a card sometime in the near future - or maybe a picnic blanket!

By the way, my source of card blanks has dried up (why, Lakeland Ltd? How could you do this to me? sniff...), so if anyone could recommend a new source of excellent quality blanks I would be really, really, really grateful. Or does everyone make their own - and if so where do you get your card? Liz - may be this is another query that could be added to your mini forum along with the printer question (which I was very interested to read by the way)?

I'm off to add Liz's lovely new logo to my blog (if I can remember how...)

All papers and cakes: Pink Petticoat; Cup images: Scrapnfonts; Ribbon & bloom: Poppicrafts; Brad & rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs; Chalks: Dovecraft

Cupcakes or fairy cakes?

2009-01-23T12:22:00.001Z

My son and his best friend Millie made and decorated some fab cakes together recently - and they are simply too nice not to share (plus they tie in nicely with a Sweet Shoppe blog challenge!). But when is a cake a cupcake, or can I be all British and still call them fairy cakes? Maybe its all to do with the volume of topping - and believe me the children layered it on with a trowel! They selected pink icing as its Millie's favouring colour - next time Alex gets to choose (they are amazingly democratic for 6 year olds!). By the way, the cakes were yummy!

Sx

PS My new DT cards are now on the Poppicrafts gallery - please take a look!

The {cute} fat cat sat on a mat...

2009-01-20T13:27:00.000Z

I rather like my cat on a handstitch-finished mat. He handily enough comes with whiskers and so constitutes my 'This Thursday' entry! ...and you may not have noticed, but I am 24 hours in advance of the deadline in adding my card to the blog - amazing, I know!

Although there is not a single item from my beloved Pink Petticoat on this particular card, I must just mention that Liz has still got some fab designs up for sale. I gave in to myself (I believe I have mentioned that I am weak...!) and bought the downloadable templates last night - there are sooooo many included - bargain! And more unbelievable, some of the Lola Rose images are for sale too. Is this the end of my favourite grown-up girly character? Really hope not.

Enjoy the winter sun...

Sx

Background orange paper: TADA ('Something Fab' mini kit)
Cat image & mat paper: Nitwits ('Farley & Friends' kit)
Brad: Poppicrafts
Rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs
Ribbon: freebie from a t-shirt!

Growing up is optional (Hooray!)

2009-01-15T14:07:00.000Z

Hello!

I was wondering why I was feeling a bit wobbly - then I remembered to have lunch, and feel soooo much better! So much so, that I want to share the above card with you and show you some lovely bits and bobs from Poppicrafts! Take a look:

Yummy isn't it?! I've just used some of the paper to make a little favour box with a new template I bought for my Big Shot - when its finished I'll share it here. I love the brads and new shaped buttons - these brads are very fairy tale-esque with princesses, hearts and frogs. I really like all the new themed brads, though I think the chocolate & cream birthday celebration ones are my favourite. Take a look for yourself at Poppicrafts before Friday, when the sale ends!

I have to confess to being very, very naughty and spending way too much at Michelle's shop. Ooops!

Back to the big card above which, you may be surprised to know (!) is for an up and coming male 40th birthday. I have wanted to use this paper from TADA for ages, and managed to match it perfectly with some ribbons from you-know-where. The quote is from Chilli Davis and reads: 'Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional' - I couldn't resist using it once I'd found it.

I am having a grown-up evening tonight, off out with a group of Mum's from school who are such great company. It'll be nice to wear something other than jeans for a change!

Enjoy your evening too.

All paper: TADA ('Flip' kit); All ribbons, pin, felt star and button: Poppicrafts; Seed beads, Dovecraft chalks, ink pads

Candy cane 40th

2009-01-12T18:29:00.000Z

...or my take on a card for an almost 40 year old Southampton supporter! I was asked by a lovely friend to make a 40th Birthday card for her husband - and the only thing she mentioned was that he follows Southampton - et voila! I'm not particularly into football, and had to Google the appropriate colours for this card, and on principal I did not want to include a football (even though I do have some themed brads!).

I've been longing to play with(real)tags since drooling over the digital tag designs available from TADA, and I think it adds some fun to the card.

Its weired, but I do find it so difficult to make cards for specific people - especially for ones I know on behalf of others I know (is that too confusing?) - anyway, I did struggle to start this card.

My friend Claire has also asked me to make three other 40th, one 50th and a handful of general birthday cards. My biggest commission! ...I just really hope she likes the results 'cos I value her opinion so much (and her custom:)).

I have also been been in card-making Paradise on behalf of Poppicrafts. Michelle has asked for 5 more cards from me (I must be doing something right!) and I've had fun again trying to use some of her products in alternative ways to what they were originally designed for. I can't wait for you to see them in a couple of weeks on her site (but I think I will add a sneaky peaky here soon!).

Have a good week.

Sx

Numbers: Kate Hadfield (Candy Cane numbers)
Paper: Made by me using Photoshop!
Cake brad & bloom: Poppicrafts
Rub-ons, sugar-coated card stock, ric-rac, flock brad & sequins: Doodlebug Designs
Stickles glitter glue
Dovecraft chalks
Stick on pearls: Lakeland Ltd
Other items from local craft store

A friendly card

2009-01-07T13:28:00.000Z

Hello!

I have a nice bright card to share with you today - a friendship/ friend's birthday sort of a card.

I made it for another of the Sweet Shoppe Community challenges - I'm going to try and do lots of them, to help get me into a better rhythm of making cards and some digital layouts. This particular challenge was set by Andrea (aka Geordie Girl): use a brush pack from the store and add your own colour with crayons, pencils or paint and use the finished product in a card, tag, bag etc.

I used some floral brushes: some as they were intended, one to represent the sun and the petals of another as raindrops. I coloured the images with my trusty Dovecraft chalks.

I hope you like my finished card!

Sx

PS Poppicrafts is back open with a fab New Year sale... be quick!

Brushes: Libby Wiefenbach ('Things that make you go bloom' set)
Paper: Lauren Grier ('Area Codes' kit)
Ribbon: Poppicrafts
Sugar-coated card & button: Doodlebug Designs
Chalk & brad: Dovecraft

Font: MA Cupcake

Elegant...and Alex too!

2009-01-05T10:02:00.000Z

Is this elegant? Oooo, I'm really not sure whether it is or not - depends upon your own interpretation of the word I guess, though I'm glad this week's 'My Time to Craft' challenge was specifically 'easy elegance' as the easy part may just help this card qualify!

I was also wondering if I'd blown one of my few resolutions at the first test. I had planned to be more prompt in adding my cards to challenge blogs - and technically (!) I have improved, as last time I posted after lunch and this week I'm posting before! Stretching it a bit I know, but hey, I'm trying!

I've also made my first official purely digital scrapbook layout - its for a scraplift challenge with the wonderful Sweet Shoppe Designs . Only problem is that I am having soooo many problems uploading it to their web site I'm probably going to miss that deadline too - I was actually early (really!). I just haven't a clue what I'm doing incorrectly, and I think I'm reasonably computer-literate. Ah well, I'm happy to show you instead!:

We had our first snow this morning, much to the delight of my son, though as he's back to school today after the holidays, he won't get too much time to enjoy it. I wish it had snowed over the break - it would have been perfect for him.

Card:

Paper - Miriam Lima (Bohemian Market kit)
Butterflies and flower sequins - Lakeland Ltd

Thread: DMC

Stickles glitter glue

Celebration layout:

All products from Sweet Shoppe Designs (Unscarry Tricksters, Deep Blue Sea, Gimme More & Harvest Moon Kits)

Feeling green...

2008-12-29T14:32:00.000Z

This card is/ was intended for the current 'My Time to Craft'challenge: Green. I think though I am a little late uploading it (I've been a little under the weather with flu - perfect timing for Christmas:))

I made the paper by combining some lovely coloured paper by KSharonk with music frippery (sort of digital confetti) from the wonderful Tracy Ann (TADA) , and chalking the edges with black and blue. The sentiment reads: You make my heart sing (in MA Smiles font).

I am so in the mood to play with pretty papers and twiddly bits following my enforced abstinence over Christmas - just think: Valentine hearts, Easter eggs and bunnies, Mothers Day and flowers and of course Spring in all its wonderful colours are all not too far off... Hooray!

Hope Santa was kind to you!

Sx

Heart sequins: Doodlebug Designs
Ribbons: Ribbon Oasis
Wire & seed beads: local craft shop

New challenge and another Christmas tree!

2008-12-19T14:52:00.000Z

I have discovered a new challenge blog via Sarah's fab blog. Its called My Time to Craft Challenge.

Their current challenge is ' Contemporary Christmas', and I think this card fit the criteria nicely.

I doubt you'll be shocked to know that the paper is by Pink Petticoat! There are silver stars scattered across the card, but they are very difficult to see in the photo I'm afraid.

By the way, have you ever investigated Tracy Ann Digital Art site? She's reduced prices store wide and I guarantee you'll be oooing and aahing over her papers ...and just wait to you see the 'frippery' (I guess you'd call it digital confetti but with beautiful style and imagination).

I'm off for a nap - our son was up at 3am and would not go back to sleep. Still it gave me time to tidy my kitchen drawers... woohoo.

Sx

Paper: Pink Petticoat
Ric rac: Ribbon Oasis
Black ribbon for tree trunk: Poppicrafts
Beads and felt from local craft store
Stars (they really are there, honestly!): freebies

This Thursday & Cosmo Cricket

2008-12-17T10:54:00.000Z

This is my 'naughty and nice' card for the final This Thursday challenge of the year.

I love Christmas pudding - hence the nice - but sincerely wish it was less naughty (I really should be a good girl and not eat it, but hey, its Christmas!).

I made this card for my son's class to sign and give to their classroom assistant - its difficult to see on the photo but the snowflakes are punched out, 3 at the top and 3 at the bottom.

The card below is the one for their wonderful teacher Miss Porter (who most of the boys plan to marry!).

...maybe what is inside the gift is nice or just a little bit naughty too!?

I hope my number is chosen by the random generator, 'cos all I want for Christmas is the Cosmo Cricket prize (and some nice smellies, and an ipod, and just a few other bits and bobs!).

I'm off to help at the school again - its Christmas lunch today!

Bye for now,

Sx

Pudding card:
All papers: Pink Petticoat
White sugar coated card & rub-on alphas: Doodlebug Designs
Bloom & button: Poppicrafts
Organza ribbon: Ribbon Oasis

Gift card:
All papers and black & white border: Pink Petticoat
Ribbon: Poppicrafts
Button: Doodlebug Designs
Wire & beads from craft shop.

Runner-up! ...and lots to say.

2008-12-13T18:46:00.000Z

I had intended to mention this on Thursday, but somehow its now Saturday, and I'm not very sure how I lost the time - I was lovely and organised for Christmas, but now I'm in a bit of a spin about it!

Anyway, my good news: I am a runner up in this years Card Maker of the Year Competition, with the wonderful Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine! Hooray for me - I'm feeling quite proud of myself - but determined to be back next year to win it, so look out! The winner (Kath Stewart - you should check out her lovely designs) and all the runners up are in issue 53 of the magazine. The card of mine that was shown was called 'Party Girl'.

Believe it or not, this was the first time ever I forgot to take pics of my cards before sending them out. Two of the cards (the published one and one I called 'Us') were second incarnations so I have pics of my first attempts, but the third was completely new for the competition - complete with a little pic of my son on... Heed my bitter lesson, everyone!

This is the first incarnation of 'Party Girl' - the competition entry was even more girly (this original card was made as a commission for my brother again - hence less frills!). Forgive the rubbish pic, please! Do you like my home-made 'cocktail list' paper?

The next card was made for a friend to give to her sister for her 40th - I redesigned my competition entry to have 'Us' on the front. The sentiment at the bottom says: "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful". This is a Mae West quote and I love it!

I love the paper and '40' - all from The Shabby Shoppe 'Wild Love' kit. They are having a sale this weekend too...

As I said, there is no pic or forerunner of my last card, which again used papers from the Shabby Shoppe, and was scrapbook-ish and messy in a cute way (I thought!), but this was the picture of my son. The card was called 'Big Kiss' - you can guess why:

My boy just can't help being cute....

Enjoy your day.

Cocktail Card: Background paper made/ designed by me using MA Googly Bear font again!; Heart & dotty paper by Kay Miller Designs (Love Bug kit); Cocktail drink paper by Karen Foster Designs; Pink starry paper by Grazieli Niclass aka Lili of ScrapArtist.com (Once Upon a Time kit), Bloom from Poppicrafts, black card and free gem.

40th: Black background paper by Nancy Kubo, All other paper and alpha by The Shabby Princess, organza ribbon from Ribbon Oasis, Silk flower and button by Doodlebug Design, wire, beads and other elements from local craft shop. Quote by Mae West!

One for my brother

2008-12-10T20:22:00.000Z

My brother is a very particular person - he does not like fussy cards or the obviously feminine. He wants cards that reflect his tastes. ...and I think I got it right with this card he commissioned - he paid me for it with a smile on his face, which is always a good sign!

I think its quite a 'clean' and simple card - and is a hybrid production of digital and physical embellishments.

I have some brilliant news to share with you tomorrow...

Sx

Blue paper and Alpha: Tara Dunstan Designs
Green background paper: lauraskathi
Circle frame: Debbie Fisher
Sequins and rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs
Seed beads, black pen

Sneaky peek... and some Fancy Pants

2008-12-07T14:03:00.000Z

A quick sneaky peek at the latest cards I designed for the very lovely Michelle of Poppicrafts. She lets us indulge our imaginations and create whatever we want without restricting us to a theme - so I tried this time to avoid Christmas, though there is a wintry card amongst my 5. You'll be able to see my new cards in full very shortly in Poppicrafts gallery, but you should check it out regardless for the gorgeous work by the amazingly talented Debs, Dawny, Sarah, Tracie Jane and Hannah.

Did you see my previous creations for Poppicrafts?

... I am rather pleased with my ribbon bee in particular - I plan to redo him again with lighter Spring colours, so look out for him buzzing around again!

By the way Michelle is having a final sale before taking a break for Christmas - on some lovely Fancy Pants merchandise. Check out the mini kits, she has compiled which are a fab way of sampling lots of things at once! I'm trying the Rough & Tough kit 1 and Sweet & Pretty 2, so don't be too surprised at what elements some of my future cards include!

Got to go - we're off to see Father Christmas now!

This Thursday...its my turn!

2008-12-04T12:49:00.000Z

This week its my turn to be guest designer for the challenge blog - the theme is 'Mistletoe & Wine'. I made two cards, the first is above, with a matching tag, and is my favourite ('cos it has lots of pink and lime!). It was nice and easy to make: each loop of the mistletoe is a separate piece of ribbon initially secured together with a glue dot and then with a sugar-coated white brad, which obviously acts as the berry and helpfully hid all the ribbon ends too!

The second reminds me of cosy evenings together, and is wine coloured with a lovely Pink Petticoat image coloured with watercolour pencils and a touch of chalks. I have added seed beads to represent bubbles and to add sparkle too (all stuck on with the amazing Diamond Glaze):

I hope you like my creations!

Mistletoe card & tag All paper:Corina Nelson Designs; White sugar-coated card (for frame & punched snowflakes) & brads: Doodlebug Designs; Ribbon: Poppicrafts; Pen: Sakura; Gems: Lakeland Ltd

...to us card All paper: Natalie Braxton; Image: Pink Petticoat; Ribbon: Poppicrafts; Rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs; Watercolour pencils: W H Smiths; Chalks: Dovecraft

Lime, pink & chocolate - yum!

2008-12-03T12:08:00.000Z

Oh, I really didn't think I was going to make this challenge on time - I ran out of glue! Fortunately my husband saved the day (and his own sanity as I was most upset at this predicament as I'm sure you will appreciate), and here we are!

This is my chocolate, lime and pink challenge card for the lovely This Thursday...

I love these colours, and was determined to make a non-Christmas card with them, although paper for the 'cake' is from Funky Fairys wonderful kit 'A Chocolate Covered Christmas'.

Keep an eye out for the next challenge on This Thursday... and you might just notice some more of my work!

Cake paper: Funky Fairys

Background papers: Pink Petticoat

Ribbon, gorgeous brad and bloom: Poppicrafts

Beads and wire: Local craft store

Floral Birthday

2008-11-30T12:38:00.000Z

What a hectic couple of weeks it has been, made worse by colds and a mild dose of man-flu (poor dear!), and with Christmas rapidly approaching its only going to get more busy. I rely on my calendar so much - but I am often still rubbish at remembering things... like my friends birthday. This is her card, which I have posted a day late. Sorry Julie!!!

Paper & sentiment: Pink Petticoat

Blooms: Poppicrafts

Button & Sugarcoated black card: Doodlebug Designs

Ribbon: Ribbon Oasis

This Thursday...No.22: Paint!

2008-11-24T11:23:00.000Z

This Thursday's current challenge is to produce something involving paint. Since its been a while since I attended my watercolour classes (I plan to rejoin in January - if I can get myself organised) and I've been wanting to paint a peg for a while - and who doesn't - I decided to indulge myself and play!

I'm rather pleased with the results - I love simplicity combined with bright colours, particularly pink and green (with a dash of orange for variety). I attached all the elements with Diamond Glaze. I cannot praise this produce enough: its so useful, though you do have to be quick!

Wrap up warm...

Sx

Flower and butterfly felt ribbon: Poppicrafts
Gems: Doodlebug Design
Stickles glue, own peg and freebie magnets on reverse
Paper: Traci Murphy Designs (available at Funky Playground Designs)
Paint: Crown paint in 'Shocking Pink' - I want this in my bedroom, but my husband isn't too keen for some reason.

A little snow

2008-11-23T08:51:00.000Z

This card is for this weeks Papertake Weekly Challenge: Snow! ...which is apt as we've finally had the threatened white stuff overnight (and it looks like we're in for a lot more!).

The images, boarder and paper are all of Zoe Pearn's design - you can find her beautiful and very feminine designs at Sweet Shoppe Designs. The flakes are punched from household foil and I stitched my beloved pink seed beads onto the trees for a special finish.

I am now off to ice and decorate 50 mini cakes for my son's birthday party this afternoon - a fancy dress party for thirty-plus 5 and 6 year olds...

Keep warm,

This Thursday...Challenge 21

2008-11-18T14:44:00.000Z

The card above is my entry to this weeks blog challenge by the lovely ladies of This Thursday...

The theme is 'marvellous metallics' - and being the mum of a car-mad boy, I naturally had a go at making a car out of kitchen foil. Humm - not as easy as it sounds as my (very cheap) foil tore in the most unanticipated directions… The final result wasn't even worth mounting onto a card - but it does represent another challenge in itself, which I vow to crack one day!

I then decided to make snow flakes punched from my foil (which did work!), but finally chose to make a night time card. I used some metallic silver mini-stars, metallic silver sequins and a lovely (you guessed it!) metallic eyelet charm to represent to moon. I really love the pea-pod baby image, which I coloured with chalks.

I can't wait to browse the other challenge entries.

'til next time...

Sx

Image: Scrap n Fonts, ; Papers: Lauraskathi (Alicia kit); Eyelet charm: Poppicrafts; Organza ribbon: Ribbon Oasis; Rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs; Dovecraft chalks; free stars & sequins from a magazine; Little Days font.

Wishing you a {very} pink Christmas...

2008-11-15T16:14:00.000Z

I hope you like this girly pink card which I made as part of an order for my Mum.

Its been a bit hectic this week and I have missed adding to this blog, entering a couple of challenges and host of other things - but all for very good reasons: my husband had to go to Paris for some meetings (he claims this to be a hardship... hello: Paris!); helping with the school Christmas fair and, most importantly, it was my son's much anticipated 6th birthday! He was so excited to be 6, and can't wait for his party next week, which he's sharing with his best friend (and thirty 5 & 6 year old guests - it seemed like a good idea in September...).

You've seen the invites, so I thought I would also share these digitally-prepared thank you post cards for my son to send:

Enjoy your weekend.

Sx

Christmas card
Paper & image: Pink Petticoat
Sequins, card & ric-rac: Doodlebug Designs
Stickles glitter glue

Postcard
Background paper, frames and images: Heather Roselli (Construction Zone kit)
Notepaper: Traci Murphy Designs
'sequins' on notepaper: Tracy Ann Designs

Simple and bright

2008-11-08T17:40:00.000Z

I promised a lime green and in-your-face pink card, didn't I? I used double sided tape to attach the (slightly overlapping) ribbon to my card template, and sealed the edges of the trimmed ribbon with some Diamond Glaze (amazing stuff). Its not so easy to see on the photo, but the snowflakes are punched out, so you can actually see through the front of the card - I like doing this.

Is anyone else humming 'Rain, rain go away'?

Sx

All ribbon and button: Poppicrafts; Paper: Pink Petticoat; Stick-on gems: Lakeland Ltd (they've stopped stocking them unfortunately - though you should check them out for their excellent blank cards).

Daring Card Makers: Scaredy Pants challenge

2008-11-06T09:45:00.000Z

Ok, so may be Halloween was so last week, but here is a cute and spooky card regardless. It is my entry to the current challenge by the Daring Card Makers.

The spider image originally came with its own legs, but I ruthlessly (!) chopped them off and added wire ones which can be bent into any configuration - I also added a blob of diamond glaze for a more 3D nose (do spiders have noses?). I really like my 'boo' too - though I do think the web I stitched should maybe be a little thicker or darker... I live and learn.

I'm really enjoying the challenges I'm starting to enter - keeps me on my creative toes! Thanks for the encouragement, Dawny.

Have a good day!

Sx

Spider & papers: Nitwits ('Can I be Frank' & 'Eeriesistable' kits respectively); Sequins: Doodlebug Designs; Bloom: Poppicrafts; Sheer ribbon: Ribbon Oasis; Other products: Stickles, craft wire, free alphabet beads, DMC thread, Diamond Glaze.

This Thursday...(No.20)

2008-11-04T18:25:00.000Z

I am so pleased with my card for this weeks challenge! As directed, I followed the blog trail to my fifth, which lead me to Tammy. Believe it or not, I found a challenge she had set - to use orange, purple, green and black for a Halloween themed creation. As Halloween is so last week (!), I decided to take these fab colours and make a non-spooky card - and here it is!

Take a good look at the wonderful orange background paper - just what's needed on yet another grey day.

Mini Blooms and brads: Poppicrafts ; the really gorgeous orange paper: Tracy Ann Digital Designs's 'Something fab' kit; Ric-rac and sheer ribbon: Ribbon Oasis ; green paper: lauraskathi's 'Gabs' kit; rub-ons: Doodlebug Designs.

Digital cards

2008-11-04T13:15:00.000Z

I thought you might like to see two 'cards' I recently made. I put them together using digital papers and elements in Photoshop - though I have used Word reasonably successfully in the past - my main niggle with Word is it can be difficult to angle elements.

The first is an invitation for my son's birthday party later this month. I printed the image out as postcards for each child. I'm really pleased with how it has turned out - and will definitely make postcard invitations like this again, especially for young children.

The second is a digital card I'm sending to the son of a friend. It has been a little experiment to see if I like this means of card making. Truth be told, whilst it was fun messing about with the images on screen, I didn't find it nearly as enjoyable to make as the more tactile cards I usually produce.

I do plan to have a go at digital scrapbooking, but as for cards... I'm going to continue to print and play as usual!

Sx

Invite:
All elements and paper (except fancy dressers): Nitwit Collections
Fancy dressers: Kate Hadfield
Font: MA Googly Bear by Digital Design Essentials

Pirate card:
Pirate, ship, hat and map: Kate Hadfield
All other elements and sky paper: Kay Miller Designs (Dino-mania, The Blue Lagoon & Jungle Boogie kits)
Sparkly felt paper by Two Sister Designs

Bright flowers

2008-11-02T15:13:00.001Z

I originally made this card intending it to be a sort of example for the Poppicrafts blog challenge, but I've just re-read the challenge parameters and completely blown the colour palate! Ooops.

...still its a pretty card with no images so I thought I'd show it to you anyway!

I'll just have to have another go (though I'll be out of time) using the black, white, green and pink palate as instructed. Lime green and a little in-your-face pink I think....

Term restarts tomorrow!

Sx

Mini blooms & brads: Poppicrafts; Paper: Nancy Kubo; Alpha beads (stuck on with Diamond Glaze) were free with an old craft magazine.

How to make a happy boy...

2008-10-31T14:24:00.000Z

I couldn't resist adding this photo of my son today. I simply ironed on a printed image he chose from the 'Happy Haunting' kit by Pink Petticoat onto a t-shirt, and... voila!

Sx

Image: Pink Petticoat; hp iron-on transfer paper (readily available from stationary shops); and the cute bat toy is from Thorntons!