It's alive!

...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!

Sx

Guesting for Sahlin Studio...

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

Sx

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!?!

Lots of pictures and an apology

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.