Open House

If you're in Bristol on Sun May 17th you're invited to join me and a few friends at my first open house.

With the school year drawing to a close I'm going to be featuring inexpensive but quick & easy presents to make for the teacher and cards to match. You don't have to have school aged children as these gifts are perfect as all year round or xmas pressies.

If you'd like to come please email me and I will send the address and directions.

spinner card

While watching create and craft earlier they had some spinner card blanks for sale. Seeing as I'm particular about the card I use I decided to see if I could make my own template. 10 mins with paintshop pro and voila 2 templates, 1 that I used for this card the other with a circle in the middle.

Pixie pink cardstock stamped with the hearts from Loads of Love using versamark to create a background. Lorry & sentiment also from Loads of Love stamped on whisper white and coloured with Bold & Bright markers applied with an aqua painter. The lady is from the Loads of Love accessory set and I matted on Tempting Turquise card. The sentiment was looking a bit bleak so I stamped the hearts around the edge using Pretty in Pink inkpad. Surprisingly quick and fun card to make.

Attention span of a gnat

I'll admit I have a very short attention span when it comes to new stash. I start playing with one thing then veer off to something totally different and before I know it I'm knee deep in a pile of boxes, inks & stamps and the table is covered with bits of dst backing.

This is using lavender lace & mellow sage shadow stamped with Baroque Motifs and versamark with an image from Blooming With Beauty. Coloured with f&c watercolour pencils, think I used mauve, olive green yellowish and light ultramarine.

This is a case for me to store my embroidery needles and is nothing more than an a4 sheet folded into 8 and cut to create pockets. Perfect plum and pale plum cs, image stamped in perfect plum using thefrom the Mr & Mrs set and the matching wheel using versamark. Organza ribbon from stash.

Not too sure on this one, same stamps as the last but stamped in bashful blue and matted with brocade blue and designer papers in bashful blue. Scallop edge punch and I used a white gel pen to add some detail. I did add some to the dots from the pattern wheel but think it's ruined it... I might see if I can repair the damage by adding a whitewash in some of the flowers.

Pocket Silhouettes this time and I've used the Stampin' Up! markers to colour the stamp as well as the white grosgrain ribbon. Lovely lilac and green galore are the colours used with Lovely Lilac and Chocolate chip cs.

I don't normally do bright primary colours but with the lorry image from Loads Of Love I couldnt resist. Brilliant blue, tempting turqouise & real red cs with the same coloured SU markers. Those eagle eyes might be noticing the sparkle on them... winsor & newton Iridescent medium.. painted over the top of the image before I 3d decoupaged it. Fab stuff and because the pigment level in the markers is so high it doesnt water them down at all. Scalloped square punch, sentiment, parcles and man in lorry from the Loads Of Love accessories set and a cuttlebug folder.


I've been missing my cricut and scal so decided it was time to make a babys bottle template.

Bashful blue cardstock, pram from Fun & Fast Notes, Baby from All in the Family. White grosgrain ribbon and some lace trim from stash. Doesnt really show on the pic but the handle from the pram didn't survive the knife so I used a small piece of wire instead.

lolly sticks

Somewhere while blog hopping or reading a mag I saw a picture of a card using a lolly stick and a packet of seeds and thought wow, must have a go at that. On a trip to the local craft shop I saw a bag of lolly sticks and duly bought them then as per usual couldn't remember exactly what it was I was going to do with them.

The lovely ladies at the ILWS forum couldn't help with the exact card I'd seen but they did post some lovely links where people had used lolly sticks.

Thanks to hubbies generosity in saying buy all I need (same as want in my book lol) the very nice man from DHL arrived this afternoon with a big box of goodies, including the Summer by the Sea stamp set so.. this is todays playing.

I stuck the lolly sticks to some scrap card then used the stampamjig to get the image central and straight, no cutting the image out at an angle to hide my weakness for squew any more ;o) Stamped with Chocolate Chip and used the aqua painter with the weeniest bit of ink from certainly celery, pretty in pink and apricot appeal and dragged the chocolate chip ink from the stamped image. I wasn't looking to colour, more a tint.

Mounted on Tea and Crumpets dsp, mellow moss and so saffron card. With a border made with the scallop edge punch and some pretty in pink taffeta ribbon.

Bloomin Beauty

Something a bit different today, this is using an a5 piece of Lavender Lace card stock and scoring and cutting. I then mounted some strips of white and stamped the small flower from Baroque Motifs with versamark, added poppin pastels in Almost Amethyst & Lavender Lace and a sentiment from Cheer & Wishes.

The poppy from Bloomin Beauty has been stamped on a sheet of white 160gsm laser paper before being coloured with v91 & v95 copics. The leaves are g21 & g05 and for both I picked up the darker colour from acetate with the lighter pens. Once coloured they were then cut out and mounted on the Whisper White. I've left the central block so that I can add a suitable verse at some point in the future.

Still having fun

My mate Tracy is going to be the guinea pig for my first SU party so I'm busy making up some samples.

This is using Barely Banana card with the Garden Whimsy stamp set. The butterfly has been stamped twice and mounted with some silicon glue for depth. Pic doesnt show it but I succombed to Tracys request for sparkles and added some gems & glitter to it.


This is a small box that is held together with 2 buttons and should be some gold elastic cord. I've had elastic cord on the desk for months.. until today when I wanted it!! Butterfly from Garden Whimsy stamped with versamark and embossed with gold ep on Sage Shadow cs.






This isnt a card, it's an exploding tag book. Apricot Appeal cs with the poppy from Beautiful Blooms. I used various pale reds and orange copics to colour. If I remember I'll try and photo the inside on Mon.










These are using my favourite swirl from Baroque Motifs, the first is just stamped in classic black then cut into 3 panels and mounted. Ribbon from stash and I used a corner rounder and the making memories ribbon slot punch to create the panel for the sentiment.





Orchid opulence ink, and a sentiment from Cheer & Wishes, a few gems and some organza ribbon from stash.












A couple of quick paperclip bookmarks using 2 other stamps from the Baroque Motifs set. Bashful blue, pretty in pink and apricot appeal.

I've not long had All In The Family stamp set and have fallen in love with these little stick figures.

The first is a bag made from a 6" envie and decorated with the spot on wheel using pretty in pink ink. I thought this would make a fantastic party bag that with a bit of help most children would enjoy making.

Carrying on with the party theme this is a co-ordinating invite. Same stamps, pretty in pink cs stamped with versamark. The invitation banner (Cheers & Wishes set) is attached with some jump rings.

I've already started on a cake slice box but it's still on the table to be finished.

Well that's it for tonight, I've got to be up early in the morning. I'm off to Newbury for a colouring in class or for those who'd understand it, a lesson in how to use copic pens ;o)

Been playing again

I'm having so much fun with boxes at the moment that I've only 1 card today.

Using the Fun & Fast Notes stamp set and Spot On wheel. Bashful blue & certainly celery card stock and the image is coloured with copics.








How can 2 small pieces of paper drive a person insane? Turning them into a Danish woven heart basket is how!! I haven't made one of these for over 10 years and I'd forgotten just how fiddly it is getting those last 2 strips into place.


Sweet Always paper and a bow. I've stuffed it with cotton wool to take the photo but I'll be filling it with sweeties.







Another acetate box, this time I thought it would make a cheap set of 99p pencils/pens into a great thank you gift for a teacher. Apricot appeal card stock, Spot On stamp set, some nesties, a few small jup rings and whisper white grosgrain ribbon.









I've always loved favour boxes and this one is so easy to make. Certainly celery card stock, garden whimsy stamped in versamark then dusted with gold perfect pearls. 3 ribbon roses from stash glued onto a gold nestie circle. Quick and easy, I hope the kids don't go hunting for the choccy inside.