Staple Inn

Just along the road from my office is the following building, Staple Inn.

It was originally attached to Gray's Inn, which is one of the four Inns of Court. The Inns of Chancery fell into decay in the 19th century. All of them were dissolved, and most were demolished. Staple Inn is the only one which survives largely intact.

Staple Inn dates from 1585. The building was once the wool staple, where wool was weighed and taxed. - from Wikipedia

In the centre of the building above is an archway through which I found this charming square.

There is a plaque on the wall that says the following:

I think its brilliant to have such history available to view and enjoy every day.

ProMarker Sketch Challenge

Now that I am the proud owner of my own ProMarkers, I thought I would enter the latest challenge.

The image is a new Kimmie stamp called Suzette and she was coloured with Cornflower and Pastel Blue's

enhanced with a touch of stickles.

The papers are some scraps I had in my box.

I added some lace and ribbon flowers I have had in my stash for ages now and some adhesive pearls from Cardinal Colours.

Spring Watch Update

Recently I posted about the bulbs in my front garden.

Just wanted to update you at the speed with which they are growing (I'm not green-fingered!!)

The dwarf daffodils are blooming and the tulips have come on leaps and bounds.

Will update again when they flower :)

Julie, I saw these and thought of you...

Julie Hickey recently mentioned that she loved dress forms and had been given one as a present that she was going to decorate.

I was in my local florist recently, saw these, and thought of her.

The first one has been mounted onto a board, the second hanging on the wall.

Decorated simply with a Gerbera or Rose and ribbons, I though they were quite stunning.

New Venue for Crayford Scrapaholix Club

We had outgrown our old venue so Lynn managed to get a room at her office to rent.

This is a picture of the building taken when I arrived on Thursday.

Along with some some photos of the ladies working hard on their pages.

Thanks Lynn for find a wonderful venue, I'm sure we'll be very happy there.

ProMarkers vs Copics

Have set a little poll - on the right hand side - to see which you all think are best?
Being the very lucky owner of both I am divided.
I love the brush tip of the Copics but also the small tip of the ProMarker which is great for precision on smaller areas.

What do you think?

Mother's Day

I've been a very lucky girl today.

Lianne got me these lovely pink and lemon tulips plus a card (shop bought!!) with lovely words.

And my other baby, Jess the cat, bought me some ProMarkers as I couldn't decide which I liked best between these and the copics - I think they both have good and bad points :)

Off to try them out now.....

Sunshine Award

I was very lucky to receive this Sunshine Award from two of my very good friends, Lynn & Anita.

Both have been scrapbooking and card making a lot longer than I and have been an inspiration to me.

I feel very honoured that they chose to award this to me.

Check out their blogs, A moment in time and Inky Blossom (links to the right) to see the fantastic work they both do - Thanks Ladies.

They are both regular visitors to my blog leaving lovely comments - I feel very humbled.
I would like to reciprocate and award the accolade back to them too & to my other blogging buddies, Jill & Liz.
xxx

Ben 10

I'm going to call my friend "Last minute Denise" as she always requests cards and when asked when they are needed by, the answer is always now!

Tonights request was Ben 10 for her Grandson whose birthday is today.

Luckily I had some gift wrap with Ben10 on it and managed to cut and decoupage the following image onto an A5 card!

Happy Birthday Lianne

It's my baby's 20th Birthday today and I made her this card.

Cut from Lynn's Paisley Cricut cartridge and mounted onto an easel card covered with BG Lemonade papers. I enhanced the image with Stardust Gel pens and jewells.

Back to Nature

I used Lynn's pro-markers this week as a comparison and to enter the challenge.

The stamped image is from Penny Black and was coloured using the following pro-markers,

Dusky Pink, Coral, Cocoa, Chestnut, Terracotta, Cool Aqua, Lime Green and Grass.

BG Lemonade paper was used for the background along with some Lime coloured bazzil.

Ribbon and Prima flowers from stash with liquid pearls for centres.

I really liked the pro-markers as they have quite fine knibs which helps when colouring small images and getting into smaller areas.

New Home, New Shoes.

I used my Bella stamp - Imeldabella - for this card.

I was asked to make a new home card for a lady who loves shoes so this image seemed ideal.

BG Lemonade papers are used for the background, I added a lacy border cut with a Martha Stewart punch.

Coloured with Copic Markers, cut and decoupaged.

Finished with some pearls.

Rosy Posy

Another fab day at Jill' yesterday - Cardinal Colours - for our monthy crop.

Great company and good fun - Thanks Jill.

I used some of Lynn's stamps, this one is a Kimmie, I think her name is Posy.

Lemonade papers were used for the base with a deep edge Martha Stewart punch down the edge and some ribbon from our visit to Snape Maltings last week.

Coloured with Copic Ciao Markers.

Anita's Card

Happy Birthday Anita!

This is the card I made for Anita's birthday.

I cut the image from my Tinkerbell & Friends Cricut cartridge and glittered the wings and hair etc with Stardust gel pens.

The backing paper is BG Eva collection.

I "blinged up" the greeting with Stickles in Aqua.

This scheduled post will be published while we are meeting on Saturday so I hope she opens it then! :)

Matroyshka Dolls

These Russian Dolls were cut with Lynn's Paisley cartridge.

I wanted them to sit in front of each other so I used a strip of card A4 in length and scored at various places along so that each doll had her slot. The smallest one was placed with 3d foam pads.

This view from the top shows roughly how they are placed.

Pop over Lynn's blog - A Moment in Time - later to see what she did with hers.

Tinkerbell

I had great fun at Lynn's over the last few days, Thanks again Lynn for your hospitality!, and finally managed to spend some time playing with my Cricut.

I had purchased the Tinkerbell & Friends cartridge back in October/November but not had the time to sit and actually do anything from it. Soooo, we cut some images and stuck them together.

As we didn't have any flesh coloured card, we used white cardstock and coloured with Copics.

I also used copics to highlight the edges, then added glitter glue to the wings and edges of the dress.

Papers from Bo Bunny Flutter Butter collection with punched daisy embelishments.

The wording was from a stamp set I already had and felt it worked perfectly with these images. I created the sprinkling of fairy dust with stickles and gems.

I then cut the image below and also the Tink Logo which is quite complicated as there are lots of little bits which you have to piece together like a jigsaw.

I used BG Eva papers and made an easel card so it looked as though she is leaning on her name.

The wings on this one were cut with the filigree feature which gave a lovely pattern and texture.

Fresh as a Daisy

I made this card for a good friend's birthday.

I used all CWC products from the Richie collection and except the scalloped circle which I punched with a SU punch.

I hope she likes it.

Spring has Sprung?

I had to attend a meeting this morning and when we were leaving a squirrell was on the fence. He just sat there watching us. I wound the car window down and he still just sat there even while I got my phone and took his photograph. Shame it's into the sun so I only got the silhouette but thought I'd share it with you.

The photographs below were taken in my front gardens this morning.

I've been watching the snowdrops for a while but it's always been too dark when I leave for work and return home to capture them.

The bulbs are some Tulips planted last year so I thought I'd chart their progress.

I love this time of year when things come back to life and the days start getting longer again, I think it makes you feel so much better to have some sunlight in your life :)

Hello Kitty

This card is for my friends daughters birthday.

I used the Cricut cartridge to cut the Kitty and Happy Birthday.

Papers from BG Urban Prairie.

Terries 50th continued...

Another LO for Terries 50th Album.

Papers by Bo Bunny.

I gutted the centre of the base sheet then place the scalloped sheet over.

I used the leftover piece to cut some flowers and also some from the orange dotted paper which I mounted the photo and journalling on.

Card candy in tropical colours were added to the flower centres.

Snape

Today, Lynn & I went to visit The Maltings at Snape.

Left is a photograph of a barge sail on the river.

This was our yummy lunch...   :)

Then we had a walk around the shops and saw this chandelier made from Whisks!

And walked along to the river.....

A lovely day out with beautiful weather.

Scrapaholix March Kit Page 2

I made this page with the leftover pieces from page 1. I cut stems from patterned paper and added flowers cut with a Martha Stewart punch and put gold card candy in centres. The fancy edge was cut from the main page, I just used the reverse side.

BG Marrakech papers were used to make this DLO based on a SLO in Scrapbook Trends.

I used Lynn's Cricut Heritage cartridge to cut the flourishes and colour tinted some flowers to embellish.

I found some chequered brads to fix in the centre of the flowers.

Scrapaholix March Kit

This months kit has paper from the Basic Grey Origin's collection.

I cut around the patterned shape and removed sections of the centre. Mounted the photograph on a mat of yellow and green bazzil cut with a Martha Stewart round the edge punch.

I then cut and layered some of the floral images on the background sheet and cut the coloured flowers from the second sheet. I created a rosette from the reverse of the floral sheet.

Pearls were added in a line to accent the photograph and to the centre of the flowers.