Backgroung

Thursday 29 April 2010

Special Request, Bella's.

My friend also asked for the following:
Her brief - A lady under a towell about to have a massage.
I used my Bella's here and adapted them to fit the brief, see below for the original images.

The letters were cut with my Cricut in 2 shades of purple, the top layer being CWC glitter paper.
I added stickles in dots to highlight then dotted around the outside with a white gel pen to make them stand out more, detail below.
These are the Bella's- Scissorbella and Spabella

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Special request montage.

A recent order from a friend (the same one that wanted the Glam Skiier cards) requested the following:
Happy Birthday Ste with:
A backpack and hiking boots,
A hammer and a saw,
A bicycle,
A bottle of red wine with 2 glasses and
40 in a circle?
This is what I came up with...

An A4 card, landscape.
I covered it with silver and blue foiled paper.
Two circles form the centre with letters cut with Don Juan Cricut cartridge.
I added the embellishments as follows:
A metal bicycle from my stash (Mad about cards I think)
A backpack and boots from Jolly Nation decoupage sheets.
 
A metal saw and hammer also Mad about cards (I think) and wine bottle decoupage from my folder.
 
Close-up of the centre circle with the 40 on foam pads.
Hope she (& he) likes it.

Tuesday 27 April 2010

More Tulips...

More tulips from Chelsea Flower show.
These were not the ones I ordered as their crop had failed so a replacement was sent.

I was quite pleased with them though.
They were supposed to be pale cream but they are shot through with pale yellow too.
Very pretty though and make a good display as they are quite tall.
One more set to go....

Monday 26 April 2010

Scrapaholix May Kit - Isle of Wight

The papers for the May kit are from My Minds Eye with Chipboard Shapes as the technique.
I based my design on a Page Map DLO and coloured the chipboard shapes with Adirondak daubers.
The edges were stamped with a swirly stamp (courtesy of my friend Anita) and glittered with stickles.

Sunday 25 April 2010

Wedding Card

A colleague at work asked me to make a wedding card for her Dad.
The brief was: Yellow and Cream, pretty, girly with bling - but not over the top.
This is the result.
I used a CWC 8x8 card and layered K&Co papers onto it.
I cut a pale lemon mat and a smaller cream one onto which I mounted a ring embellishment from my stash.
The letters were cut with my Don Juan Cricut cartridge, an antique gold shadow and the pale lemon on top.
I stamped the lemon letters with a sage cream chalk ink then traced the patter with a yellow stardust gel roll pen.
I added some gold and silver card candy and some gems for the bling then traced the flowers with Crystal Stickles. I was pleased with the results, I hope they are too.

Saturday 24 April 2010

Debden 2009

This is the last of my crafting from Debden this year and just happens to be of Debden 2009.
I chose BG Wisteria papers and used a page map for inspiration.
I added a prima flower spray and some BG element stickers.
The letters were cut with a Cricut.


The scalloped edge was created with my new SU punch.
The Dragonflies were cut from the paper, matched in size and joined at the bodies, after the edges were inked. The wings were separated with foam pads and dotted with stickles.
The bodies defined with glossy accents.
Of all the things I did, I think this LO has to be my favourite.

Friday 23 April 2010

Frillies

Just wanted to update the Springwatch as my beautiful white frilly tulips are blooming.

We got these from Chelsea Flower Show 2 years ago and I look forward to them opening.
Still waiting for the others - will post when they open :)

Thursday 22 April 2010

Grape & Grey

Grape and Grey papers were the inspiration for this card.
I used the grape paper with silver dots as a background onto to a scalloped card, added a knotted ribbon to the side.
The flowers were punched from some lilac pearlescent paper from a CWC pad and the centres from the small woodware punch.

Below is a close-up of the flowers.

Wednesday 21 April 2010

Monochrome

Black and white was the theme for this card.
I used CWC paper for the background and mounted a black scalloped square onto it which I had edged with white gel pen dots.
The flowers were in a kit from CWC which I edged with Black Diamond stickles.
Card Candy in black was added to the flower centres and the corners of the card.

The message was mounted onto a scallop and circle cut with SU punches.
Below is a close-up of the flowers.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

Black and Pink

I made these cards at Debden too, using my favourite products from CWC.
The first one has black and silver paper edged with Black Diamond stickles.
I mounted a white scalloped square and added black card candy.
The flowers were cut from ribbed card and edged with ink. The centres cut with a small woodware punch and edged with the same stickles.
I used the SU round and scalloped punches to mount the message.

Below is a detail of the flowers.
I used a pink scalloped edge card for this one and inked the edges with charcoal ink.
A scalloped circle with card candy edges was added onto the white background paper.
A knotted ribbon was added to the side.
The flowers were punched from Black card and I dotted the edge with a white gel pen.
The message was mounted onto a circle cut with a SU punch in black card and also dotted with the white gel pen.
A close up of the flowers below.

Monday 19 April 2010

Inspired by

At Debden recently, I thought I'd try to make some cards by Julie Hickey.
This one divides the front of the card into 2 pieces then re-joins them with flowers, a message and a butterfly.
I really love the way this one works.
The paper is from CWC Richie collection with inked edges.
I used glossy accents to join the pieces and card candy in the flower centres.


Below is a close up image, I'm not sure glossy accents was the right medium to use as it buckled slightly.


The card below was copied from Julie's latest book.
Her design was in cream but I only had white cards with me.
An aperture is cut from the front of the card and the flowers are linked over the gap.
In white I felt it looked too stark so I used a yellow stardust gel pen to add detail to the edge of the flowers and card.


Below is a close up of the flowers.

Sunday 18 April 2010

Blogger Award

Liz (Crafty Educator) was kind enough to send me this Blogger Award, visit her blog from the link on the right. Thanks Liz!
Now I have to list 7 crafty things I have done.
1. I love cooking and used to create lots of different recipes, especially cakes and gateaux. I like making novelty cakes and made Liannes birthday cakes every year and some for other people too. (must dig out some photographs to scrap!!)
2. I used to make and sell Jewellery, mainly with semi precious stones.
3. I like sewing and used to make all my own clothes. I actually won an award at school for my embroidery.
4. I love card making and have my own website to sell them.
5. I created my on website and this blog - which I am quite proud of :)
6. Lynn introduced me to scrapbooking which I also now really enjoy.
7. I now run a Scrapaholix class with Lynn where hopefully we are able to pass on our creativity and inspire others to craft.

Thanks again, Liz, for this award.
I would like to award it back to you, to Jill (Cardinal Colours) who CAN make cards!! and to Anita who creates the most beautiful LO's and cards.

Saturday 17 April 2010

Suzi Quatro

Imagine my shock, I am sitting in the hairdressers waiting when out of the corner of my eye I see a lady come in. Nothing shocking there I hear you say, but I immediately recognised her as Suzi Quatro.
My jaw dropped :)
She was an idol of mine in the seventies, an original female rock star.

I said hello to her and exchanged a few words but she was done and gone before I could get a photograph :(
My hairdresser confessed she was his first crush but the rest of the staff didn't even know who she was, I'm feeling my age now LOL.
The one above is courtesy of Google.
It's not what you expect on a visit to Bluewater!!

Wednesday 14 April 2010

CWC Card Candy competition

CWC have launched a competition to create a new card candy flavour.

Follow the link below to enter your flavour..

http://craftworkcards.blogspot.com/2010/04/card-candy-challenge-create-your-own.html

Mine would be Precious Gems which would inlude:
Amethyst
Emerald
Ruby
Sapphire

I wanted to included Diamond but am not sure they can create candy with glittery crystal card.

Good luck if you enter....

Tuesday 13 April 2010

At last some crafting....

As I have been spending so much time sorting and tidying lately, I have not had a lot of time to craft.
Luckily our weekend away arrived - such a joy.
I have been working on a scrapbook for my Sister-in-law on her 50th Birthday.
I had already created one page when staying with Lynn but needed to make page 2.

I used BG Indian Summer papers for this one and based it on a Pagemap competetion sketch below.


I carried the theme over with the small punched flowers with card candy centre.
Below is an image of how they worked together.

Monday 12 April 2010

Scrapaholix April Kit - Workshop

This months kit is from Kaisercraft with Frames as the technique.
The frames are cream in colour so I altered them using Adirondak paint daubers in Pool and Gold, dulled down a little with a brown ink pad.
The centre of the frames were used as embellishments with punched ovals (from SU) of the paper.
I added some fabric flowers from my stash along with a feather butterfly.
A line of lace and some BG buttons were used on the second page along with a Martha Stewart punch to create a border.

Photos were taken at Julie Hickeys recent card workshop in Horley.

My pencil box.

I took my pen pot along to Debden with me, undecorated.
My clever friend Anita decorated it for me as below.
It was a lovely surprise :) - Thanks Anita.


Below are some of the lovely pressies I received.
Pop over to Lynn's blog to see the fantastic knitted cupcakes.

Thank-You everyone.
ps it was a box of Lindor chocs but I ate them :)

Sunday 11 April 2010

Debden Gifts.

We went off to Debden on Friday for the annual Blossom Babes Retreat.
This is only my second year and last year I received some lovely handmade gifts from the girls.
This year, I thought I'd return the favour and this is the result.
I got some brown faux leather pencil boxes, lined with soft brown felt from Rymans.
The face measured approx 4x4" so I thought I'd try to personalise them according to the recipient.
Below is a picture of the finished articles.

Here are the individual photographs.
Anita - Punched flowers and Butterflies.
Lynn - Suzette stamp by Kimmie, coloured with promarkers and decoupaged.
Sue - Hello Kitty cut from Cricut Cartridge.
Liz - Jane Nestorenko stamp, coloured with Promarkers.
Jill - Elephants cut from Zooballoo Cricut cartridge and decoupaged.
Karen - Stamped and embossed cat, decoupaged with bell.
Feet fluffed with Flowersoft.
Ange - Sizzix die cut horse with fibres for the main and tail.
Jackie - Decoupaged image of Chickens.
Really hoped they liked them :)

Saturday 10 April 2010

Spring Update....

Nearly there.
I have been trying to keep a pictoral record of my tulips this year.
As you can see from photo below, they are close to opening.


I really loved these ones chosen at Chelsea Flower show 2008.
I wont spoil the surprise but they are really spectacular once open.


Mmmmm, is that a weed below? Shall have to remove that and quick!