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An inky week!

Been having a play with my inks and stamps using my new stampin up! stamps. The card on the left is finished but the two images on the right are matted panels ready to be stuck on a card blank. The background have been recycled from my craft desk. While I was stamping and distressing a set of cards I used a plain white sheet of A4 to protect my work surface and clean my stamps. I thought it was a shame to throw this sheet of paper away as it had such lovely images on. So I used my cut and dry foam to add more ink to cover any remaining white patches. I then used these gold rub ons from Paper Celler which I got from Create & Craft. When I complied the green card I added some co-ordinating ribbon from Stampin Up! Recycling at it's best!

Parisian Lady

When I attended Leonie Pujol's workshop last June we made a card using acetate and these black lady die cuts. A customer saw the photo on my facebook page and asked if I still had the card. One of my friends had bought the card at one of my coffee mornings so I have made a set of new cards. The base of this card is a glittered acetate made by Kanban. I cut it to a 6X6 square. The papers are from Craft Work cards and was a paper pack included in making cards magazine. I cut two pieces of the patterened paper and stamped the Eiffel tower on one of the pieces using a stamp set from Stampin Up! I attached the paper to the base card using 3D foam. It needed a strong adhesive due to the high level of glitter on the acetate. I attached the die cut using micro dots and covered the image in glossy accents. Round the edges of the paper I used Enamel accents to add detail. I used 3 different pieces of co-ordinating ribbon to tie around the spine of the card. To make the flower I used 2 blank card flowers and stamoed using another of the Stampin Up! stamps using a classic black ink pad. Usinf cut and dry foam I distressed the flower by adding more ink. To finish the flowers I used a nail file to take off some of the ink. I attached a co-ordinating brad in the centre. Really enjoyed making this one and am really happy with the finished result!

2 in 1 day!

Well I did start the new year saying that I was going to blog more but 2 posts in 1 day!?! Had an enjoyable 'craftanoon' making some jubilee themed cards. My topper pack from MCS arrived this morning along with some gorgeous ribons so I had to get stuck in! The background was distressed using Tim Holtz distress inks and stamped on with a stamp set from Stampin Up! I added a few green gems here and there and some wooden embellishments. I like this colour scheme as an alternative to red, white and blue. I think I must have been in a patriotic mood after watching the documentary about the Queen last night. Did you see it? I loved the 'little' house she used to play in!

Today.....

What a beautiful crisp winter morning. Just been out to let the ducks and hens out of their houses. The hens don;t seem to mind the snow but the ducks are not keen and keep looking at me waiting for the hose pipe to come out not understanding that the water won't come out of the frozen pipe. Everything was really quiet while I was out in the garden apart from my pink snowboots crunching through the snow apart from the birds singing and a car crunching it's way slowly down the road. Even though we live in an area with loads of houses it still feels like the countryside when I'm out feeding the animals. Left over pasta and salad for the hens and bread for the ducks. we are hoping to get some more hens at the weekend if the roads are ok to the rescue farm. There is something satisfying about collecting eggs from the garden and I think I will pop in a rasberry and white chocolate cake in the over before I get on with the next jobs of event organising and an idea for a new event. At the coffee morning on Saturday everyone went crazy for my rasberry cake which has given me ideas of where to go next ...... But must not spend all day researching on the laptop as I want to get making!

DB Flower Patch collection

Just a quick post. Here is a piccie of the cards I have created in the last week using Dawn Bibby's new flower patch collection. The colours are so fresh and springlike. Let's hope Spring is on the way as I am freezing today!!

Why is my picture upside down when it is the right way around on my computer?! Answers on a postcard please!

Green and Brown . . .

. . . seems to be the colour choice today! These were made with some of the papers and rub ons I won in an Abi's craft competition. I have also used the Funky Four stamp set from Stampin Up, along with their Lucky Limeade ink pad. The ribbons were bought at the NEC and the wooden flowers are from Handy Hippo. The luggage label was purchased in a pack of different coloured lablels for 99p in The Works!

Let the tidy up commence!

Well I'm half way through the major sort of the craft room and am putting everything in it's place! Really must stick to the plan of not purchasing anymore big kits as I have boxes of stuff!!! Best get busy! How are you getting on with your resolutions?!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone in Blog Land!

Have you made any new years resolutions? My crafty resolutions are -

1. to finish my papercraft certificate

2. not to buy any more large card making kits until I have used what I have already got

3. keep my craft room tidy

Well number 2 has been broken already as I am awaiting the arrival of Dawn Bibby's new spring collection. I wasn't going to buy it but then she teased us with the hint of more collections to come over the year and also responded to me on her facebook page that I should leave my shelf clear for later in the year!

I'll let you know how I get on with the other 2, although to achieve number 3 I will need to tidy the room first!

xx

Having a play!

Been experimenting with distress inks, stamps, cosmic shimmer, chipboard and UTEE embossing powder and here are the results! To make the tags I stamped them using a background stamp and used the same colour distress ink to ink the edges. Then I stamped the main image in the middle of the tag and rubbed cosmic shimmer over the top of the tag with my finger. I gave a little spritz of water to fix the powder. I used my ink pad to ink around the edges.

I started with a blank chipboard shape from papermania and covered with a perfect medium clear inkpad. I then covered with either gold embossing powder or extra thick white powder. Once heated with my heat gun I allowed to cool then with the white powder I repeated this 3 times to create a thick covering. To make the tree I used a combination of white and gold powder.

Colouring in!

Have had a play with my blank Kanban toppers and had a theraputic colouring in session this evening! I used my Pro Markers on the foiled blank toppers. There's nothing like a bit of colouring in! Pictures to follow :-)

Christmas is coming!

These were all made using a Kanban kit. In the kit there are foiled blanks and foiled toppers. I've added a touch of ribbon and stuck some of the images on using 3D foam. In the kit there are also white foiled toppers for you to colourise. They are on the list for the next play session!

Another 50th Birthday!

There seems to be a run on 50th Birthdays recently! This is a card the girls at work asked me to make for our friend and work collegue Heather. She likes purple and butterflies. I started with a scalloped base card which I really love using at the moment. I cut a piece of purple card to size and then cut a slightly smaller piece of purple glitter acetate (Kanban). I attached these together using white flower brads from paperchase. I then used a strip of the purple card with white ribbon over and wound these round the panel. I stuck the panel to the base card using double sided tape. I used a scalloped and circle punch to create the half moon shape which I then stuck the peel off numbers to. The bottle top was made by adding a beaded flower and filling with glossy accents and allowing to dry. The butterflies are white peel offs which I stuck onto patterned paper and cut round. These were attached using 3D foam to make them stand out. Using the peel off waste I punched out some white flowers to add into the corners to match the brads.

50th Birthday

This is a card I made for a lady who asked me to make a card to give to her twin sister on their 50th Bithday next weekend. I used polka dot paper from the Kanban Cambridge collection, card to matt and layer the images from my stash, along with the glitter sticker and gems. The die cut champagne bottles were found on ebay. I layered up the paper and once I was happy with the design I stuck the backing paper and card down. I used a quickie glue pen and silver glitter to make a 5 and 0 on each bottle. The greeting was printed from my PC and cut out with a circle punch and then backed with a scalopped punch. The champagne bottles are attached with 3D foam. The ribbon and gems add finishing accents. Congratulations to the 2 ladies on their special birthday!

Must blog more!

I always seem to say this but now that I am working towards a cetificate in papercrafting I must add to this blog as well as my facebook page. This will provide evidence for module 2 which demonstrates your continued professional development in papercrafting.

These candles are a recent project. I stamped the images onto very thin baking parchment and coloured them in using pro markers. I cut round them and lightly adhered them to the candle. Using my heatgun I gently heated them until the wax began to melt and then the paper adheres itself to the candle. I sold 2 of them at an event last weekend!

Hello!

Yesterday I recieved a lovely letter and ATC swaps from my crafty pal Mary who asked if I still had this blog. The answer is yes Mary and you have prompted me to make a post on it! I wasn't sure if anyone still looked at it as I tend to be more devoted to Facebook where I have set up a business page called 'Cards By Mrs I.' Joanne I must too write to you with some swaps. xx

Last weekend was fab as I went to Peterborough to attend Leonie's first workshop there. I met some lovely friendly crafters and learn't lot's of new things. It has encourgaed me to look at my stash in a different way and try out new things which are out of my comfort zone.

So the theory is if I can update my facebook page with piccies then I can do my blog at the same time! That should be easy to remember but as for twitter - that's something I am still getting to grips with!

Piccie - Leonie, me and Andrea (C&C's magic hands!)

Crafting of a different kind!

My little boy was facinated with my gingerbread house and wanted to sit and watch the walls set before I put the roof on. When it was finished he put his arm around me and said 'Mummy it's lovely!' Happy New Year everyone!

Neglect!

Hello everyone! Hope you are enjoying the festivities. As usual I have neglected my blog in light of my new facebook page Cards By Mrs I. My intention/ new years resolution is to try and remember to update my blog when I post pics on my facebook page. Let's see if I can remember to do that! Here's a picture of my stall at a recent craft fair. Enjoy the rest of the holidays!

Clocks!

Hello I'm back in Blog Land! I treated myself to a netbook laptop so I'm well away! Here is a topical card for todau. Isn't it lovely having an extra hour! This card was an experiment with stamping and using distress inks and I was quite pleased with the result!

Macmillan Coffee Morning

On Saturday 2nd October I'm having a coffee morning in aid of Macmillan. I will be selling my handmade cards. Cheryl will be doing manicures and selling nail gift sets and Sharon is head of refreshments! We are also hoping to have Kim and her handsewn gifts. There will also be a tombola in aid of Macmillan. Looking forward to showing everyone my new pink kitchen!