Tomorrows demos

These are 2 of the inexpensive gifts I'll be featuring at the openhouse tomorrow.

A cheap 48p candle from the supermarket. Image from Summer by the Sea and stamped onto tissue, coloured with watercolor wonders then melted onto the candle. Simple acetate box made from a single sheet of chocolate chip card and the scallop edge punch. A small strip of acetate which I often get from packaging but this piece is courtesy of a good mate. Raffia is cheap to buy although this bit was part of the packaging from a set of teatowels.

These are 4 small jars of jam and cost 80p. The box is made in 2 sections from a sheet of chocolate chip cs then both attached to a heavy weight card covered with dsp. I used an image from fast & fun notes and it's sentiment seperately. Would make a great pressie or even for fund raisers.

3 new cards

I saw a circular penny slide card while blog hopping a while back and thought I'd see if it would work in acetate. Yep, it works although I could have done with a larger bee stamp and a larger channel for the penny to run around.

Everything was cut using scal & the cricut (I know I'm lazy lol) then I used an image from Pocket Silhouettes and Orchid Oppulence to create a pattern around the frame. The flower is doodled on with sakura tiara pens and the bee from Bloomin with Beauty is coloured with markers from the Bright selection.

This is another image from Pocket Silhouettes stamped with Chocolate Chip onto Blush Blossom. I used the stampamajig to keep things straight. Wish SU would invent something that guaranteed by matting and layering would be as straight or my photography ;o) Chocolate chip cs to layer and ribbon to match. Then I ruined it all by not washing the ink off of my hands. Thankfully butterfly punches are dead handy to hide dirty marks.

You must be getting used to this image by now. I didn't think that much of it in the catologue but I keep finding myself reaching across the table for it.

I don't normally do distressed/vintage, mainly because it always looks a mess when I have a go instead of being artistically aged. Really chuffed with this one though. I didn't intend to give it a distressed look it's just once I'd overstamped the En Francais backing I couldnt help but think it would be perfect for a scrap book page of a WW1 soldier.

Enough with the waffle, here's how. Poppy stamped with classic black onto whisper white cs. I then stamped again onto layout paper to cut the mask. (layout paper is really thin so you get more detail around the edges when you over stamp.) Using the stampamajig to keep the writing straight I over stamped with Close To Cocoa. I then used berry red & orange promarkers with g21 & g05 copics to colour. Once I'd allowed the inks to dry thouroughly I used a cotton ball and some blush blossom pastel to age the writing but stayed well away from the poppy as I wanted the colours to remain vivid. Then I sanded the edges until they started to rip then wiped them over the close to cocoa inkpad. From there I didn't even bother matting or layering, just added some of the wide Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon and stuck the image straight down. Few blood red gems added to the corner to give it a bit of balance.

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.