Circles

Here we go again, Thursday again already and another new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Challenge Blog.  Our theme this week is 'Circles' and our prize sponsor is Rick St Dennis Digital Stamps

Here's my DT card

I created the circular base card using a die from a set of Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities, I then cut the design layer using a size smaller die from the same set.

I just love this circles die set from Designs by Ryn and the theme this week was a perfect opportunity to use it.

Firstly I stamped the main image on the circular layer and stamped the single circle images on scraps of card which I then cut out using circle nesties.  I then added lots of colour using Distress Inks, applied by brush in a random manner.

The sentiment is from a set by Inkadinkado, stamped using Archival Black ink.  I then attached the small circle elements over the main image using Pinflair glue to give them dimension.

Finally, I added touches of Glossy Accents in the centres of each circle.

Thanks for dropping by to check my project today, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  The rest of the DT creations are on the CCT Blog, well worth a visit to check them out.

Beside the Seaside

Don't Thursdays come around quickly, I can't believe it's a whole week since I was telling you we had a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog, but here we are again with yet another challenge !  This week our challenge theme is 'Beside the Seaside' and our lovely prize sponsor is Whimsy Stamps.

Here's my DT card

This week my card is a little different as there is no stamping on it.  Now my Followers and regular readers will know just how much I love stamping and colouring, but occasionally it is nice to do something different.

I bought a gorgeous 8 x 8 paper pad at the Sincerely Yours show in Taunton a couple of week ago, it's by Craftwork Cards and called 'Harbour Boulevard'.  Each sheet is nice on it's own, but some have great elements to cut out and decoupage or work as elements in a design.

The background on my card is part of a sheet which has the lighthouse image on it.  The sheet was too large for my card, so I used part of it and cut out the lighthouse from the rest and attached it - can you see the join ? Ha Ha !.  I love the shell border around the edges and used the bit I cut off the bottom of the sheet to add another element on the bottom of the card.  I cut the beach hut from another sheet from the pack.  I used a little Distress Ink, applied with a brush to create a cloud effect on the background paper and distress the edges a little.

I used some Marianne's dies to cut out the wave layer, adding some DI and a little Frosted Lace Stickles on the crest of the wave to look like foam.  The sailing boat and seagull were also cut using Marianne's dies and then coloured using Promarkers.  The shells and anchor were cut with Marianne's dies and again coloured with Promarkers.  The fronds of coral were made using a Martha Stewart punch and a scrap of cardstock.

I layered up the wave and strip of shell paper, then attached the beach hut, anchor, shells and coral using Pin Flair Glue to add just a little extra dimension.  I also attached the sailing boat and seagull with Pin Flair.  Finally,  adding Glossy Accents on the anchor and the on the lighthouse glass, windows and door.

This was a really fun card to make, nice to pull all the different elements together to create a scene.

That's it from me today, hope you enjoyed seeing today's project and that you'll be back real soon.

Thanks for visiting.

So Macho !

Happy Thursday Bloggers, hope you have a wonderful day planned.

We have a new challenge starting today over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog today, this week our theme is 'So Macho' and our lovely prize sponsor is Whiff of Joy Stamps.

Here's my DT card for this week

I decided the 'So Macho' theme fitted nicely into a vintage style design as I always think this style is perfect for a man's card.

I used a number of stamp sets from Tim Holts by Stampers Anonymous and Graphic 45 to create the various elements.  Stamping the images using Walnut Stain Distress Ink and colouring with other DIs applied by brush.  I then added Glossy Accents to some of the elements - pen, nibs and the top hats  - to emphasise them a little.

The background was created using DIs and stencils by Memory Box and the scraps of ribbon were from my box of ribbon bits.

I attached some of the element using Pinflair Glue to give them a little dimension but at the same time keeping the card fairly flat for posting.

That's it, hope you've enjoyed seeing today's project, do check out the creations from the rest of the DT over on the CCT Blog, they're full of great inspiration - enjoy !

Thanks for stopping by today, leave me a little comment if you have time, I love it when I have comments to read. 

Perfectly Pink !

Good morning and Happy Thursday to you wherever you are.  This morning I awoke to a lovely blue sky and sunshine, however it didn't take long for the grey clouds to start gathering so I'm guessing we are in for another day of showers.  Oh well, I'll just have to stay indoors and craft then !

So, as it's Thursday we have a new challenge starting over on the Cute Card Thursday Blog, this week our theme is 'Perfectly Pink' and our prize is sponsored by Bunny Zoe Crafts.

Here's my DT card for this week's challenge.

Last Sunday I went along to the Sincerely Yours Craft Show in Taunton with a couple of my lovely crafting pals.  We had a nice day wandering around all the stands and finding lots of things we never knew we needed !   I couldn't resist a fabby set of flower stamps on the Honey Doo stand and also a very nice paper pad - like I need more paper to add to my huge stash !

I used the Honey Doo set to stamp the flowers onto some very pretty floral paper, which was a magazine freebie.  It's double sided and the other side was the lovely green dotty pattern and I used that side to stamp the leaves.  After cutting out, I curled the petals slightly and assembled a couple of each size of flower to create this multi-petal flower.  I added a pink faux pearl in the centre and a gentle dusting of Stardust Stickles on the petals and leaves to give a little sparkle.

I created the background using another of my new purchases - a stencil by The Craft Workshop - as I thought the hearts design would work well for a pink and girly design.  I used Distress Inks applied through the stencil onto a square of white cardstock, dried with a heat gun and then applied more of the palest DI (Spun Sugar) all over then added Picked Raspberry DI around the edges.  Finally I attached this stencilled layer over a piece of the paper used for the flower, to bring all the design elements together.

The pretty pink ribbon was from my stash as were the tiny pearl heart gems.

The little postcard sentiment is from a set of stamps by Little Claire and, as I wanted this to be a Get Well card, I stamped, cut out and attached the extra words to the postcard.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing today's project, do hop over to the CCT Blog to check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the DT, there's a really gorgeous handbag made by Deb which is well worth a look.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my little crafty space in Blogland, I really do appreciate it.

Nutcrackers, Snowmen, a bit of Tartan and a Cute Baby

Happy Weekend !   I hope you've got something nice planned to do over the next couple of days.  Me ? I'm still recovering from jet lag and getting used to the much colder and damper climate here at home brrrrr.......

Today I'm sharing pix of a quilting project I completed in time to take with me to the USA.  I created it as a gift to take to our lovely Cousin Isa who is a huge fan of Nutcrackers and all things Christmas.  As she lives in Las Vegas, she's unlikely to need a warm and snuggly quilt during most of the year, but it will be useful in the Winter I hope, when it can get quite chilly despite being in the middle of the desert.  I collected together lots of pieces of Nutcracker and Christmas themed fabrics, plus a couple of tartan-style fabrics as she was born and raised in Scotland until she married. 

Here's the finished quilt (displayed by my trusty quilt holder !)

I backed the quilt with nice soft red fleece for added cuddle factor.

Here's a close up shot of the fabric

Now for the cute baby. 

Whilst we were staying in Laughlin, NV during our vacation, we took a drive across into Arizona, into the black hills to an old mining town called Oatman.  The mines were deserted many years ago after the gold rush ended and the burros/donkeys they had used to haul loads were turned loose into the hills.  They've since continued to breed and wander around the town freely as they are protected.

As we drove slowly along, we noticed this sweet baby curled up on the edge of the road and as we got nearer I noticed it had something stuck to it's forehead, so got up close to see what it said.....

and it was... STOP do not feed me burro food I'm just a baby.   Huge Awwwwww.... moment !  All the little shops in town sold bags of burro food for $1 and I suppose people were offering some to the baby but it's too young to eat it yet so this was the best way to make sure it was safe.

Here's a couple more pix from our visit to Oatman

It was a fun day out, worth a visit if you happen to find yourself in this part of Arizona.

I'll share more of my vacation pix in posts over the coming days.  Hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek into my adventures.

Thanks for dropping by, hope to see you again soon.

Something Old, Something New, Nothing Borrowed, Something Blue....

Morning Bloggers - I bet you're thinking my Blog Posts are like Number 33 Buses, don't see one for ages, then two come along at once Ha Ha !

Well, today I'm sharing with you the first card I've created in about two months, I can't believe it's been that long since I made one, where did the time fly to ?  If you've read yesterday's missive then I guess you'll know that I've been away from my crafting stash for quite some time.  It was so nice to be reunited with it and get busy again.

This is my DT card for this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge which has the theme 'Blues and Hues'.  This week our lovely prize Sponsor is The Stamping Boutique.

I thought I'd try something new for this card and dug out the chalk pencils I'd bought but not had time to play with - just to challenge myself a bit as it's been a while since I've used pencils to colour with rather than pens.  It's the first time I've use chalk pencils as I generally use Polychromos or Prismacolour, I think I need to practice more, but it was good to try something new. 

The cute Lili of the Valley stamp is the 'Old' in my post heading, I haven't inked up this lovely in waaay too long.  I've had the plain oval and scalloped oval nesties almost as long as I've been card making and I created the rose embellishments using silicone moulds and air dry clay and finally coloured using ProMarkers, all of which have been in my stash for a long time.

As for the 'New' in my design, I used a Tattered Lace rose die which was a free gift with a new TL magazine and the papers were magazine freebies only recently acquired.  The postcard images were stamped using a set of stamps from Little Claire. which I recently bought, so are also new.   The tiny heart garland die cut was made using a Penny Black die, which is also a new item in my stash.

Final touches were some Stardust Stickles added to parcels, headband and her 'deeley Boppers' and just a little Platinum Stickles on the roses.  I used a Waco Pearlmaker Pen to add some texture to the image layer and create a few faux pearls on the background.

Do check out the fabulous creations from the rest of the DT over on the CCT Blog if you have the time, well worth a visit for some great inspiration.

Thanks for taking to the time to check out my project today, once again apologies for the lack of posts from me in the past few weeks.  Hope you've enjoyed your visit and do come back real soon !

Where Have I Been and What Have I Been Doing ?

Hi there Bloggers, I do apologise for the fact that my Blog has been so quiet in recent weeks.  Thank you so much if you've dropped by to see what I've been doing despite the lack of posts.  I hope to be back in the swing of things during the next few days, get some crafting time and sharing my projects with you.

So, where have I been and what have I been doing ?  Well.... I've been away from home and my stash for a few weeks, visiting family and friends in the UK and, very excitingly, in the USA.  We spent just over a month in and around Las Vegas, which is where quite a few of our family members live and work.  We also had a family wedding whilst we were there with the ceremony held in The Chapel of the Flowers and wedding dinner at the Bellagio Hotel which was all lovely.

I got to spend some time with my lovely pal Nicola, we met some years ago and discovered we have a connection from way back in the 1960's !  Her Dad and my Hubby worked together way back then.  We met via friends of friends and after chatting discovered our connection - it really is a very small World.  She is a Massage Therapist, Reiki Master and teaches Qi Gong and all sorts of other lovely things.  I had a couple of treatments on her amazing crystal healing mat which was wonderful and we got lots of time for chatting and catching up over some yummy herbal tea and healthy nibbles sitting out in her delightful back yard.  She very generously gave me a very interesting book filled with recipes for healthy and healing smoothies, I can't wait to try some of them.

One of the highlights of the trip was to see the 'Big Boy' steam train (biggest train ever built)  arriving in Vegas during it's journey to Cheyanne Wyoming to be renovated.  Standing out in the desert, beside the rail tracks watching for the headlights of the Big Boy as the sun went down, then feeling the ground start to vibrate as the train got nearer and then the thunderous noise as it went by on the rails about a couple of metres from where we were standing,  was such an exciting experience !  My Hubby who is a steam train fan was overjoyed that our trip coincided with this momentous occasion !  The following morning we were able to get up close to the Big Boy and the two huge engines that were pushing and pulling it on it's journey.  Down at the Union Pacific yard in the Downtown area of Vegas the Big Boy was parked up in the sidings allowing visitors and enthusiasts to get up close, discuss the renovation to be done with Union Pacific staff and get lots of photographs for the scrapbook !

Apart from enjoying time with family, lapping up the wonderful dry heat - it got up as high as 109 deg F a couple of days... lovely - we also went to Rod Stewart's concert in the Coliseum theatre inside Ceasar's Palace Hotel, which was fabulous.  Rod is such a great showman and it was fun singing along (and dancing) to all his well known songs.  We were back again at the Coliseum a few days later to see Shania Twain's concert, which again was great fun.

During a short visit to Laughlin which is still in the state of Nevada, south of Las Vegas alongside the Colorado River and like a mini Vegas from years ago, much quieter and more relaxed.  Staying in the Golden Nugget Hotel, we dined at the Bubba Gumps Restaurant there, delicious seafood and cocktails for me, sitting on the patio overhanging the Colorado River watching the river traffic, just great. 

In the 'Claim Jumpers Restaurant' in the hotel on another evening we did attempt to eat a slice of 'The Tallest Cake' - a rich chocolate layer cake around 12 inches tall, six or seven layers sandwiched with chocolate buttercream, covered with chocolate fondant and dotted with walnut 'gold nuggets' around the outside (had to be done didn't it !).  We ordered one slice and two spoons but only managed to eat half of it between us, so the rest went home with us in a box and was enjoyed all over again a couple of days later !

We also drove across into Arizona, up into the black hills to visit a little old mining town called Oatman where the wild Burros wander around the town and visitors can buy bags of food to feed to them.  So quaint and well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in that part of the world.  After leaving there were drove quite a way along part of the original 'Historic'  Route 66 before getting back to the Colorado and following the river back to Laughlin. 

I have lots of photos, will share a few with you in the coming weeks' posts, don't wish to bore you !  

Eventually, the time for goodbyes came and we were very sad to leave everyone and the fabulous weather there, we had such a great time.   Good to be home safe and sound, despite the weather - it's raining here now after a reasonably dry but cool start to the day. 

Hope you're having a great day, I will have a project to share with you very soon.

I do Love to be Beside the Seaside ..... !

I really do love to be beside the Seaside and feel myself so fortunate to live in Cornwall with beaches not too far away. 

I was lucky enough to attend yet another workshop at Scrapbook Magic in Mullion with a few friends recently.  During this workshop we decorated/altered a Configurations Box.

Here's a few pix of my project and the progress I'd made on it by end of the session.  I didn't want to hurry it just to finish by the end of the workshop and I'll be completing it at home.  I'll share more pix once it's completely finished.

 

I used papers from the Graphic 45 By the Sea range - I love this particular range of papers.  Using this sheet for the front as I figured the configurations box would mostly be displayed open and the inside page would be seen more often.  

Here's the back of the box, showing how I wrapped the front paper around over the spine and part way round the back.

Finally, here's the opened box showing the boxes I did manage to decorate and where they will fit into the configuration.

I will be doing lots of inking around the edges everywhere, adding papers to the empty boxes. embellishing the front cover and adding various items to the boxes, such as shells and other 'by the sea' items that I have in my stash or can find.

It was a fun workshop and I met lots of lovely ladies there, I'm looking forward to the next one.

Feathers

Hi there dear Bloggers, I hope you have a wonderful day, whatever you have planned.

The project I'm sharing with you today is the Birthday card I created recently for a pal.  I know she likes the CAS style and I wanted to use my recently acquired set of stamps and matching dies from Clearly Besotted Stamps, which were perfect for this style.

I love this sentiment and the feathers in the set of both stamps and matching dies are lovely.  I added the flocks of tiny birds using a stamp by Inkyliscious.

The background paper is by Stampin'Up! and I layered the stamped images onto a piece of Midnight Muse SU! cardstock.

A very simple but elegant design I think and I was pleased with the finished card.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit today, leave me a little comment if you have the time, I love to know what you think of my projects.  Thank you. 

Tag-a-Long

Welcome Bloggers, I hope you are enjoying a nice Easter weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I went along to a workshop at Scrapbook Magic in Mullion where we created tags using different techniques.

For the first tag we inked up the dress form stamp then, whilst the ink was still wet, 'kiss stamped' a reverse text stamp inked with Black Soot DI, onto the top of the inked dress form stamp.  The dress form image complete with text was then stamped onto the blank tag.

I then applied colour to the edges of the tag using Distress Inks and randomly stamped the postmark images around the edges.

I used Alcohol Inks to colour all over a sheet of glassine paper, then crumpled it up a couple of times, flattened it with my hands, then dragged a DI pad over the top to emphasise the creases.  I then used Sizzix flower dies to cut out lots of petals, from which I created three blooms, fastened together with a brad in the centre of each.  From the scraps of glassine left over, I cut out two spool shapes, again using a Sizzix die.Lengths of cotton tape were then wrapped around each spool and the spools and blooms glued to the tag.

Tag 2 was created using different techniques.

 

I first sprayed the blank tag with different colours of ink, holding the spray nozzle close to the tag, blotting and drying with a heat gun before adding the next colour.  I then dry embossed the tag with an embossing folder in the Big Shot machine.  I dragged a DI pad over the top to emphasise the embossed image.

 

The butterfly shapes were cut from Grungeboard using a die, I then painted them with white Gesso.  Once the Gesso was dry, I applied DIs to colour each one, applied Versamark all over and clear embossing powder and heated it.  Once cooled I then over stamped them with a crackle image using black Archival ink. 

 

I then attached a pen nib to each as a body and glued each butterfly to the tag.

 

Finally, Tag 3

 

 

For this tag I stamped the fancy flourish image onto the blank tag with Versamark, sprinkled on clear embossing powder and heated it.  I used nice bright colours of DIs to add colour all over the tag and  once dry I rubbed a soft cloth over the flourishes to remove any DI residue and bring out the white outline more clearly.

 

I then stamped various small images randomly over the tag using black Archival ink.  The birdcage and tiny bird were cut from Grungeboard using Sizzix dies.  I then covered them with Versamark ink and gold embossing powder before heating with a heat gun.   I cut a  small scrap of mirror foil to fit behind the birdcage and glued the tiny bird onto the cage.

 

Finally, I wrapped a length of twine around a small bunch of twigs and another length of twine around the tag and glued the twig bundle over the top.

 

I apologise but I'm unable to tell you which dies and stamps were used on the tags as they were supplied by Margaret at Scrapbook Magic for us to use during the workshop and I didn't take notes, just got very inky fingers  ! 

 

Thanks for dropping by to check today's project, I hope you've enjoyed your visit.