Backgroung

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

A Happy Occassion

I am happy to be able to share a card I made a while back for a friend to give her daughter on her wedding day - Congratulations to Jaye and her husband on their recent marriage!

The card is 8x8" with a pale green background and a cream overlay punched with a large Martha Stewart PATP set.


I added lots of die-cut stems and some stamped and die-cut flowers from Heartfelt Creations in cream and pale pink.


The flower centres are a Martha Stewart snowflake punch with gems added. 


The name was cut with a QK alphabet, lined in black and coated with glossy accents.


Die-cut, layered, butterflies were added next along with a generous amount of crystal glitter and gems to add sparkle.


Jenny, her Mum, wrote the most beautiful poem for the inside too.

I hope the happy couple had a wonderful day and wish them happiness for the future.

Thanks for taking a look.
xxx

Monday, 9 June 2014

A different kind of Blog hop.

The lovely Karen aka Scrapdolly invited me to take part in a blog hop tour. 
Karen is a member of our DT over at Scrapology and makes the most amazing digital & Paper layouts and cards. I love reading her blog entries as there are always so many different, interesting, facets involved -not always about crafting. She also shares my love of cats.

It’s a little different to the usual blog hop, because the posts are a week apart and the hop spreads OUT as it goes.  My task was to answer a set of questions, then link to three fellow bloggers.  
Click here Karen's answers from last Monday.  I have added my links at the end of this post.
Thank-you Karen for tagging me! :)

So............I have to answer a few questions now............. 

Firstly - what am I working on?

Well - this is top secret as I am working on future projects for the Scrapology Challenge Blog at lot of the time! However, I recently made a layout for the Merly Impressions Challenge here which I was delighted to have won - Yes I know I am still going on about it but it's the first thing I have have won anything! :)
This weekend I have been making some cards for friends at work as below - I will blog them in more detail later on:



How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I don't really have a "style" and tend to just try things out.
At the moment I am really into layers of die-cuts and punches - they have been appearing on a lot of my layouts and cards over the last few months. I also love making my own flowers, especially roses as taught by Hels Sheridan. I try to do messy and get inky but have to keep washing my hands! LOL!



The new thing creeping in now is the Gelli plate but I can't share this just yet.
I love colouring with Copics and am always trying to improve in that area - I love seeing how Elaine of Quixotic Paperie colours her images, she is such an inspiration.



I try to "think outside the box" and when working with our sketches at Scrapology to make them my own.


or add my own twist to a kit -


Why do I write/create what I do?

I've always been a "creative" person starting out with Embroidery whilst at school - I remember winning a prize for an apron I made one year. I progressed onto sewing and made a lot of my own clothes including tailored suits - one in particular I recall is making a pale grey woolen Chanel style Jacket and skirt.
I quite often used to sew dresses for my friend and I using the same pattern but different materials - I must dig out the old photos! Jewellery making came next followed by cards which were inspired by the lovely Lynn who then got me started with Scrapbooking.
Together we started the Scrapology blog which was originally just a monthly layout challenge but soon progressed into cards too.
Blogging initially was a way to show my friends and family things I had created and a medium through which to sell my cards, but, is now a useful way to share hints and tips on crafting, things I have picked up along the way & keep a record for future generations to be able look back and know more about me and mine.

How does your writing/creating process work? 

A lot that I do relates to our monthly challenges so will depend on the sketch, technique or theme to be used.
I don't really have a particular process as sometimes the papers make me think of a photo or vice-versa.
Usually I will just sit and shuffle things until I am happy with the result. 
Sometimes, however, I have to leave them sitting for a while and just "ponder".
Working full time means that I'm often on the back foot and playing catch up with both my creations and especially blogging. I have an app on my ipad for blogger but the photo's always come out huge so I don't often use it at work - plus the fact that lunchtimes are just for "vegging out"

Now for the best bit..........I am tagging the following

I would love to have tagged Lynn but Karen had asked her & I at the same time - but I'm going to add the link to her blog anyway. As I said before, it was Lynn that got me into all this in the first place so it's only fair that she has a mention! Thanks Lynn :)

Sue - Soojay 
I first came across Sue's work via the Sweetpea Stampers blog and we soon became friends.
I love the style of her work and her colouring is exquisite.
We invited her to become part of the Scrapology team and she fits in very nicely - always creating beautiful layouts and cards.
Sue is brilliant at blogging and always keeps a constant stream of inspiration flowing.

and

Sandra and I first met years back at a Craft Barn event where she was showing her latest range of stamps.
She is also a "teamie"at the Scrapology blog where her unique style complements each challenge.
We have been lucky enough to go to retreats together and I watch in awe as she creates the most stunningly intricate works of art. I have never seen someone put soooooooooooooo much thought and detail into everything they create - I remember in particular watching her glue hundreds (no exageration) of tiny crystals onto a tuille bow individually.
I'm sure we are in for a fun time together at the Merly Impressions retreat in 2 weeks time - can't wait!

I'm going to be naughty too, I asked Louise Nelson via Facebook to join in with the fun but have not heard back from her - she may not have got the message - but, I find her work totally inspiring so just had to include her in this list. 
Louise, if you see this post I hope you don't mind the tag.

Well - That's the end of this major missive - I hope you have got to this point and not been "bored out of your skull!" as they say in the best cartoons - That's all Folks!

Have fun checking out the links above.


Sunday, 8 June 2014

Proud to announce.............................

That I won the Merly Impressions May Challenge.......



for this layout


I shall wear my badge with pride :)

Thanks Chrissy and the team for choosing my entry!

Looking forward to spending my prize at the retreat in less than two weeks time - wahoo!

xxx

Monday, 26 May 2014

If you go down to the woods........................

I have been busy lately making layouts and cards for upcoming Scrapology Challenges which I can't share as yet so today I thought I would take some time to make a page for the Merly Impressions Blog challenge instead - Spring is in the air.

For me that means Bluebells and Arlington Bluebell Walk, East Sussex.


I used a 12x12 greyboard and coated with 2 layers of white Gesso, then splattered Distress inks in 3 colours.


The photos are 6x6 cm each side and 6x12 cm in the centre and have been mounted onto some pale lilac/grey bazzill.
Torn strips of Kaisercraft Basecoat III were added behind - I used the bark/woodgrain sheet to reflect the trees in my photos, plus some of the sticker elements in Denim which I wrote on in white gel pen.
I then stamped around the edge and along the bottom with some Allium stamps by Lavinia which I got at Alexandra Palace in April. The ink is SU Espresso.


Then back to what I like best at the moment, I added fronds, leaves, blooms and butterflies which have been die cut/punched. Little lilac gems were added the the centres.


To finish I used the letters from the collection, finelined in black and coated with glossy accents.

Hope over to the Merly Impressions blog for details of how to enter, there is still time.

Thanks for taking a look 
x

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Prima Dolls

I was playing recently with my Prima doll stamps and made a card for my great-niece Abi for her birthday.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a photograph :(
This is another one though.............

I used an old book and some scraps of paper to create this one and made a tag with a Sizzix die.


The outfit was stamped several times and layered up.


I added some hessian under the tag and part of a Martha Stewart punched circle.


Flowers and fronds were added to along with a butterfly.


The base card is DL size.

I have others dolls to and hope to have another play again soon.

x

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Fabulous at 50

I was asked to create a card similar to the one I made for Lauren recently for my colleagues sister in law.
Back to my Basic Grey Eva collection to make the following:


It's an 8x8" with lots of white die cuts - seems to be the style I'm favouring at the moment.




Sunday, 18 May 2014

Scrapology May Card Challenge

Lynn and I recently went to Alexandra Palace and met Mark and Helen from Visible Image stamps who have sponsored our May Challenge.
The quality of the stamps and the images they produce are fabulous, really crisp and clean.

This is my card -


The images are Bradley and Emma which we masked and stamped together.
I used a 6x6" shaped card from CWC covered with one of my favourite dotty papers.


The image was coloured with Copics.
(The background stamps are Lavinia)


The image was glittered too and mounted with 3d foam.
I then added lots of white die cuts around the edges.

This is the beautiful card by Visible Image which inspired us.


Hop on over the the Scrapology Blog to see the lovely cards created by our DT and the fabulous prize offered by Visible Image.

TFL
xxx