iris folding

I had a go at iris folding a few weeks ago using this pre-cut sail boat card, it was really fun to do using paper scraps and quite relaxing, however i was unsure what to do with all the white space on the card. Then i got introduced to chalks and thought the soft focused two tone blue made a really nice sky and sea background without actually detracting from the lovely effect on the sails. I will definitely be giving this technique another try, i just need to find some card blanks that i like and then i'm away :-)

Flowers and peel offs again.....

after my play around with black peel offs on my black and tan card i decided to do a busier, more colourful card, and this is what i came up with.  The backing paper, ribbon and candy were from stash and the flowers and sentiment were coloured using pro markers 

I would like to enter this into -

Crafty Creations - May flowers (flower, patterned paper and ribbon)
Paper Pretties - flowers
Claudia and company -girls birthday card
Clear it out challenge - Colors

A great give-a-way......

if you are not already a member Crafters Digital Art Centre then you may not be aware of what a great site it is, or of the great giveaway that is currently running.
Please see the links on the side of my blog and go and have a look, you won't regret it :-)

The Black and Tan effect

I recently got some black peel offs to play around with and with this card i decided to keep it simple by mounting the hat silhouette onto white then bronze coloured card that had been cut out using nesties. I then mounted the flower peel offs onto white card, cut them out and coloured them with promarkers to tone with the bronze card. To keep with the bronze theme i then added tiny bronze coloured gems on alternate scallops to bling up the card. I haven't added a sentiment as i didn't think the card needed one and this way i can make it relevant on the inside when i want to use it.

I would like to enter this into - 

Card Cupids - No patterned paper

Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything goes

Creative Inspirations - Glitz & Bling

The Paper Shelter - Black + White + One

new look and new cards

After a busy couple of months ( i became nan to a gorgeous little boy in March) i have finally found time to sit down, create some cards and give my blog some attention. To mark the return i have updated the look and name, what do you think?

I've made quite a few cards over the past few weeks so will try and get them on here at a steady pace rather than all in one go. The first is a diamond fold card i made this week.

The sentiment and central topper were given to me, so i don't know where they came from but i really liked playing with such a different shaped card and will definitely make more.

I would like to enter it into :


One Stitch At A Time - Fancy Folds

a good luck card for a friend

This lovely little Mo Manning image called Sprout is part of the Help for Katie package that Jak Heath is running in aid of a lady with cancer. I thought it was perfect for a friend at work going into hospital for a mastectomy, she loves her gardens and i thought the little seed starting to grow represented the start of her beating her own cancer battle.

I coloured Sprout in with Promarkers and used a backing paper from the Wedding collection from Paper Cellar. The ribbon was two different ones from Crafty Ribbons that i doubled up to give the rusty pink colour that i wanted. The flowers were from stash and also coloured with Promarkers.

another birthday card

I love this card that i made for my teenage neice. The backing paper was freebie in a magazine, the topper was made from white card i inked up with Tim Holz distress inks which i then stamped and coloured using my Promarkers, i  mounted it on glitter paper from Hobbycraft. The handbag, silver shoes and sentiment came from candy i won last year.

my poor neglected blog :-(

Things have been so busy at home that i haven't got round to updating my blog for far too long, but i have been busy making cards and crafting.
My camera was poorly so all pictures posted today were taken on my mobile, hence the poor quality. It's fixed now so the next lot will hopefully look better.

This card was for my youngest brother, known for his love of fishing.

and this one was for his young son who loves all things skate board related.

Both cards were free digi images that were coloured with Promarkers, and mounted on card and papers from stash (which were kindly donated when i started crafting)

Playing with alcohol inks is messy....but oh so much fun :-)

I made this card for a work colleague to say Thank You for doing something really kind for us this week.
I made the image by blending two colours of Rangers alcohol ink and the silver mixative, then overstamped with a tiny rubber stamp i picked up in a sale using Stayzon ink, i mounted it on card stock and decorated with ribbon from Crafty Ribbons. The sentiment is another stamp from a sale, i wasn't 100% happy with the way i stamped the edge so i cut it down using my Big Shot and a scalloped circle nestie. Unfortunately the metallic look hasn't shown up too well in the photo but i was really pleased with it.


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges


Crafty Catz Challenge 65 - Thank you
Delicious Doodles  - Use 3 colours
Fairy Knolll Challenge - Thank you

it's catching this craft bug....

my 12 year old has never shown any interest in craft and his drawing is limited to badly drawn stick men, however on seeing my Christmas cards he wanted to have a go and fell in love with some Manga art books in Hobby Craft. So Santa got crafty and bought him a big 'how to draw Manga' book, some ProMarkers and paper (as well as a box to keep it all in).

His first attempt was the weapons.....not my aim for him, but a start, then a character.... and my husband and I were completely stunned at how good it was.

He then decided he wanted to make his brothers birthday card by drawing the same figure but smaller and in a football strip with his age as his shirt number. He decided how to lay it out and i helped him just a little bit with the stamping. His brother was really impressed and so were we, so much so i am posting it on here even though it wasn't my work.

Didn't he do well :-))

Happy New Year...and happy birthday

Happy 2011 :-)

For me a new year means my eldest sons birthday on the 2nd, so a challenge was afoot to make a non Christmas based card.

As he is football mad i was really grateful to be sent this digi image of a little footballer by a good friend. I used a free backing paper from a disk i received with a craft magazine and the sentiments came from my favourite shop, Hobby Craft. I coloured him with ProMarkers to match my son's team and outlined the picture with Glamour Dust. The card i mounted it all on came from stock.

He was really pleased with it :-)

just a little bit more of Christmas.....

Well it's over with for another year, i hope you had a good Christmas.

Before moving on with new cards and ideas i wanted to just add a few more photos of cards i made for Christmas, these are some of my favourites.

and another three....

the border on this one was made with blue card and gold mirri board from stock, i used a small snowflake punch to give detail. I was rather pleased with the effect.

everything else used was the same as the previous three, however i did find double sided tape failed to hold the layers as well as i liked, so i used Glossy effects as glue - as advised by Lindsey Mason - and found it was better than all the other glues i had in stock. 

as if like buses........

 then i started on my Christmas cards.....

i didn't make a note of the name of the stamps and digi-images i used for these...lesson learnt! but they were coloured with promarkers, and decorated with Hobbycraft metallic 3 colour Ink, Stickles Icicles and/or Frosted Lace, Glamour dust and papers and ribbon from stock.

and then there were two!!

this was my second card for a friends new baby boy, Edward. I wanted a plain blue background so created one on word that faded out and cut and pasted it onto a blank card. I used a clip art image stretched out along the top and using Tim Holz Distress Ink in Denim Blue and some mini stamps i created the image on the front.

Here it is at long last, my first card!

This was done for Angie to say thank you for the lovely Candy i won on her blog using Peel Off's and ProMarkers, the sentiment was handmade on scraps of card.
The photo isn't great quality as my camera has died, so i used my mobile.

A lovely end to a rough week!

Well after a hectic week i thought i would pop down to the new Hobby Craft store to pick up a few items and get on with some cards, what a great decision it turned out to be.
A very lovely lady by the name of Lindsay Mason was there doing demo's and apart from being very patient answering my 1001 questions she gave me some invaluable hints and tips.
While chatting about the items i have so far i mention the one rubber stamp i had bought a couple of weeks back, a bauble design that doesn't have an outline, just uses the holly and script to give a shape, and that i really loved but couldn't get it to do quite what i wanted....only to find out it was her very own design! What a co-incidence.
If you want to have a peek this link should get you to it http://www.personalimpressions.com/product_item.php?supplier_code=LMAS01&stock_id=5304
I managed to loose a couple of hours listening and watching and my poor husband is now worried sick he will be on the streets soon as there wont be room for him in the house if i get everything i want :-)

what a weekend!

after an accident last week that meant i was unable to get around very easily i had a hectic weekend moving my daughter home. Chaotic as we had to move all sorts round to fit her in...and we had a blizzard going on at the same time! All went as well as it could though and apart from a few boxes we still need to find a home for, all is as done as it can be.

It's a bit strange having her home after so many years, but nice and i can keep an eye on her and the bump much easier now :-))

Hopefully i will be able to continue with my first set of cards this week, i have some bits done ready, i just need to get them finished. I have a huge list of things i want ready if anyone asks what i want for Christmas, as i will need to get going on non Christmas based cards in the new year, i have so many ideas.... i just hope i can make them work.

A good end to the weekend is hearing i have won my first blog candy, thanks to Angie, so i will be watching for the postman in a few days :-)

making progress

Well i now have a few bits and bobs so hopefully will be making my first card this week, meanwhile i have been looking round the sites/blogs/forums for tips and ideas. There are some fantastic sites out there.

Adding links

Well I thought I should try and do something while waiting for my craft supplies to be delivered, so I have been looking round loads of sites and I've come across 'free candy'. It's been a bit tricky trying to work out how to add links to it on here but I think I've managed it.....
If I've got it wrong please feel free to let me know, I am grateful for any and all help :-)