Wednesday 20 March 2013

Update

Good evening everyone...going to keep this short and sweet.Had my operation and all went well,  have been out of bed a couple times and tomorrow will hopefully be ok to try walking to the bathroom and maybe even a shower. Well its not far off midnight so will say goodnight and also a huge thank you to all who have rang, texted or inboxed me on facebook.  Hope to catch up tomorrow xxx

Tuesday 19 March 2013

ATCs

Good evening everyone
Really sorry but the card I intended to share with you has been photographed – given to the lady that ordered it and I haven't yet got the photos sorted!
So instead of nothing I thought you might like to see a few ATCs I made for a recent swap
We all had to do 8 backgrounds then send them to the hostess to swap around and return – then a twist – some of them you had to actually use to make up your atcs and then return to the hostess again!
So this was what I did with the 3 backgrounds I had been sent..
I used my favourite decoupage sheets – and matched them to the backgrounds – or I hope I did!!!
Oh and the group should there be any ATC makers out there looking for endless swaps
I am sure all new members will be made very welcome!
And that's it for me
I will try update the blog tomorrow and over the next few days but there wont be any cards!!
Take care – and I will be back as soon as I can
Hugs to you all
Angie
x

Monday 18 March 2013

Wonderful Wings

Hello my blogger friends
Today's card was made using a new cd by Debbi Moore called Angels of Inspiration
When I first got the cds I was expecting the images to be more for sympathy cards so was pleasantly surprised at how pretty they were and also how they can be used for all events.
The theme for the cards this week on The Sunday CD Challenge Blog is Wonderful Wings and I know this is fits perfectly into that!
So materials for this card I used ….
Heat mat to work on and protect your surface – I always use it...
cream A4 card
printed sheet of pretty backing paper from the cd
Decoupage sheet
Sentiment verse stamp from Inkylicious
Narrow strip of acetate
Assorted gems and some chunky glitter
Sticky pads
Eazi Score Board & tool
Tonic 8” guillotine
Scissors
Tweezers
Shaping tool from www.dimensionstamps.com
Foam shaping mat – stamping mat or even a mouse mat
To make the card …
I folded the cream card in half to make the card blank.
The backing paper had a lovely design across the top so I used this along the left edge which I thought went perfectly,
It was stuck to the card leaving a very narrow border, then I used my corner punch that leaves a little nick in the corners.
The sentiment was stamped using a Memento Sweet Plum ink pad
After cutting out all the decoupage and building up using small sticky pads I mounted the image onto a pretty patterned pink holographic mirri card and cut out to leave a border all around it.
Versamark was rubbed over the wings and then covered with print magic crystal and heated to give a pretty shimmer to them.
This panel had a strip of quite thick acetate attached to the back then to the inside of the card – I positioned this so the angel flies above the sentiment!
I added some gems of different sizes to the card including some peel off gems.
I hope you like the card – its pretty – but I can see its not to everyone's taste.
It is another for the use or sell box
Catch you again tomorrow – same place folks
x

Sunday 17 March 2013

A Pretty Fine Shoe!

Hello my blogger friends
Well this card has taken me almost all day to make!
I knew what I wanted to do – doing it was a challenge though
But I got there in the end.
I was itching to use the fabulous new stamps I bought from www.chloescreativecards.co.uk
And also some fab super thick high shine chunky glitter
And use them I did!
I just hope the person this has been made for likes it as much as I do....
So materials for this card I used ….
Heat mat to work on and protect your surface – I always use it...
white plain 8x8 card
2 sheets burgundy 8x8 scalloped textured card
2 sheets smooth white card
Stamps – DEC06 large shoe, DEC08 Floral scroll, birthday sentiment
silver sparkle WOW embossing powder, black embossing powder
Fran-tage silver halo mix glitter
Martha Stewart Cherish corner punch
purple glittered flowers
grand nestability shapes
purple organza ribbon
Sticky pads
Eazi Score Board & tool
Tonic 8” guillotine
Scissors
Tweezers
Shaping tool from www.dimensionstamps.com
Foam shaping mat – stamping mat or even a mouse mat
To make the card …
I folded the card to create the 8x8 card blank, then stuck a full sheet of the burgundy scallop edged card using double sided tape and ensuring it was central to leave the white border all around.
I used a fancy nestie to die cut my shape from white card then cut another a few sizes smaller.
Next I used the floral scroll stamp and a versamark ink pad and stamped the design around the edges of the largest piece first then sprinkled with the silver glitter embossing powder and heated.
I repeated on the 2nd white piece.
So now I used double side tape on the back of the largest white piece and stuck it centrally onto the burgundy card.
Another piece of burgundy card was cut down to size – I removed the scalloped edges – then punched the corners with the Martha Stewart Cherish corner punch.
Large sticky pads were then used to attach the card to the white embossed piece.
The 2nd piece of white embossed card also had large sticky pads over the back and this was placed onto the burgundy.
As I had some scraps of white and burgundy I used some smaller nesties to die cut a burgundy mat for the white die cut to fit on.
The burgundy panel was covered with sticky pads and stuck in the right hand corner of the card...
I stamped the birthday message onto the white piece, ran around the edges with a pastel pink pro marker then added sticky pads to the back and stuck onto the burgundy.
And on to the shoe – I stamped the shoe 3 times with versamark onto smooth white card then sprinkled with the WOW silver glitter embossing powder and heated – I cut one shoe out and popped to a side, then cut the heal and toe front from another just inside the embossed lines, covered with versamark then dipped into black embossing powder and heated – I did this 3 times to give a high gloss finish then added tiny black sticky pads and added to the full shoe.
Next I cut out the top of the shoe from one of the spare embossed shoes, squirted some cosmic shimmer PVA onto my heat sheet, sprayed with water then mixed, next I used a fine paint brush to cover this shoe top with glue then covered with the beautiful chunky silver halo glitter and set aside to dry.
Once it dried I was able to cover the back with sticky pads and carefully position this onto the shoe itself.
WOW
To finish I stuck a purple glitter flower embellishment onto the centre of the shoe top and also onto the top right corner of the birthday message.
I tied a bow using purple organza ribbon and stuck that to the top left corner.
And that's the card all done!
At least next time I go to make something like this I know what works and what doesn't so that will save a huge amount of time!
As I said at the start – I do hope the person this is for likes it as much as I do – but I am sure she will!
Catch you again tomorrow – same place folks
x

Saturday 16 March 2013

My day out

Good evening everyone
Nothing to share today – sorry – I have had an amazing day out with a lovely couple I met through Facebook
So we went to the Harrogate Show then onto Skipton for a walk around and finally on to Embsay which is better known as Samuel Taylor's – a fab craft shop.
So arrived at the show – as we were with a disabled lady on crutches we were waved in at 9.30, half a hour before the show was to open – so it was straight to the MDF man only to be told they weren't ready so were not opening until 10am, so I went to the next on my list – Chloe's Stamps – if you haven't heard of Chloe where on earth have you been?
This is a link direct to Chloe's website http://www.chloescreativecards.co.uk/
I was like a kid in a candy shop – I wanted so many stamps, especially now she has lots of new and exciting ones....ended up spending far too much so hope I manage to create what I am picturing in my head!!!
Then over to Aly's Inky Fingers – because I am a member of her project club I get a whopping 20% of stamps so was so pleased to get all I wanted and a huge chunk knocked off too...again – hope I manage what I want to create with them...
Back to the MDF man – I love everything!!!
Bought a H U G E clock and endless different cogs in all sizes, a door hanger, a couple of plain plaques...I really could have gone on and on!!!
Got a couple of quirky stamps – its a new company but Ive seen then in the magazines – was talking to the designers and explained I have to look at a stamp and work out if it will work stamped in black as I just don't colour and was stunned when they brought out board with cad samples simply stamped onto a blank card, a stamped sentiment and a couple of gems or something – so I was hooked – just couldn't decide which 2 I wanted from the vast range – in the end I went for some to make cards especially for friends although they could be used for anyone really..check out their website here...
Picked up lots of bargains along the way too...
Only downside to the show – I was on my own – usually I have a friend with me so we decide what we are buying and what we can split costs with so missed all that – really didn't enjoy being on my own.
Didn't buy anything in Skipton and then at Embsay I just picked up the new Creativity magazine
I was so pleased to get home, have a drink and something to eat and get my legs rested – they are a mess now so about to have a long soak in a lovely hot bubble bath!
Hopefully I will have a card for tomorrow – really need to get a nice birthday card made which was one of the reasons I bought a stamp – hope its goes ok!
See you tomorrow then bloggers
X

Friday 15 March 2013

Basket!

Hi again bloggers
Not a card today – instead its a lovely little basket!
It reminds me of my grandmas sewing box – the way you open from the centre and the boxes just fall over the edge!!!
It was really easy to make with the help of the instruction sheets – putting it together was another thing!
So lets start with the basics
The kit was bought from www.cardmakingdownloads.com it is called Cantilever Rose Box and was designed by Macatelier.
The kit has just 4 sheets of printing which I did onto 128gsm matt photo paper then used crafters companion stick and stay, sprayed the sheet backs and secured it to a sheet of pink A4 card
When all the sheets were ready I cut out all the elements – and there are a lot – then scored along all the score lines.
Following the instructions made it so easy – I only used a wet glue – for me it was Cosmic Shimmer PVA – to attach the base with the lid so it opened.
The top boxes were simply folded on the score lines and had a dab of photo glue on the seams to allow time to get lined up correctly.
For me the worst part by far was making tiny holes for the brads to go through – so I used my Silent Setter and the tiniest head – this made a hole just about the right size for a brad to push through
When making up the mechanism, it was punch a hole through the mini rose, the doubled up hinge and the box side – then pushing a tiny brad through and getting the legs of the brads open and secured.
But I got there...
Its a fun idea – it would have been a lovely Mothers Day gift – filling the boxes with sweets etc
I'm pretty sure I can find another use for it though...
Would be interested to hear what you think to the box and also what you would fill it with!!!
See you next time folks
x

Thursday 14 March 2013

Cup Of Tea?

Hello my blogger friends
This is a card I made up for my neighbour Julie who shares her birthday with our lovely Layton
I think no matter what a card is shades of purple will always be happily accepted
Despite us being neighbours since 1995 I still don't know what kind of things she is in to – we spend hours chatting through the summer while I am in the garden but never really talk about ourselves
Anyway I'm sure she will have liked the card
The sheet is from www.craftsuprint.com and is called Ice Tea, it was designed by Gillian Hutchinson
So materials for this card I used ….
Heat mat to work on and protect your surface – I always use it...
white scalloped 8x8 card
Printed sheet
purple embossed card
lilac card
spotty ribbon and gem set gold ribbon slider
lilac organza ribbon
tiny gems
Sticky pads
Eazi Score Board & tool
Tonic 8” guillotine
Scissors
Tweezers
Shaping tool from www.dimensionstamps.com
Foam shaping mat – stamping mat or even a mouse mat
To make the card …
The 8x8 card was folded and a bone folder run along the crease to sharpen it.
The lilac card was trimmed so it fitted inside the scalloped edges, it was put in place with double sided tape.
The main image was cut from the sheet and matted onto a piece of purple card that had been embossed using a mask through the grand calibur.
This was trimmed and then stuck to the top left corner of the card.
I used a length of purple with white spots ribbon, slotted it through a pretty gem set ribbon slider then secured the ends under the lilac card.
The lilac organza ribbon was tied into a small neat bow with the tails left long – I stuck it to the top right hand corner with the tails draping the side of the card.
The decoupage was all cut out and fixed in place using tiny sticky pads.
The sentiment was matted onto a scrap of purple card them attached over the ribbon at the bottom of the card.
Small lilac AB gems were used to decorate the card on the corners of the purple car the 3 down the top right hand corner
2 tiny gems were stuck onto the sentiment panel.
A quickie glue pen highlighted sections of the card, mainly the butterflies – and then glamour dust was sprinkled all over.
This is another of those cards that can be made up on a square 6x6 card or added to a larger card and still look good.
It was lovely to make – the decoupage was pretty easy to cut out even for newer crafters.
Its a sheet I will use time and again I'm sure
Catch you again tomorrow – same place folks
x

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Roller Blading

Hello my blogger friends
Had some time in the craft room today so made a few cards just because I like the sheets.
This card was made using a sheet from www.craftsuprint.com and was designed by Lisa Baglietto, not sure what the item number is because I renamed the sheet and matching insert sheet.
Its simply a bit of fun but as I said I like the sheet – and that's as good a reason as any to make a card!
So materials for this card I used ….
Heat mat to work on and protect your surface – I always use it...
mid blue a4 card
Printed sheet with printed insert
piece silver card
spotty ribbon for a bow
tiny gems
Nipped corner punch
Sticky pads
Eazi Score Board & tool
Tonic 8” guillotine
Scissors
Tweezers
Shaping tool from www.dimensionstamps.com
Foam shaping mat – stamping mat or even a mouse mat
To make the card …
The mid blue card was scored on line 7 – A4 half fold line of the Eazi Score Board, folded then turned and scored again on line 7 – this section was cut away to leave the square card I needed
I trimmed the silver mirri card to fit the card front leaving the narrowest of a border then stuck to the card with double sided tape.
The main image was cut from the printed sheet and trimmed so it fit just inside the silver mat – again leaving the narrowest border. I punched the corners with the nipped corner punch then stuck to the silver mirri using double sided tape.
The pyramage sections were trimmed to size using the paper trimmer than layered up using large thin sticky pads.
When all the design was finished I cut the sentiment and used small thick sticky pads then attached to the card on the left side.
I measured a length of pretty aqua blue with white spots ribbon, folded in half then tied a box – cut the tails to show a V – then stuck the bow to top left corner.
I used 3 tiny clear AB gems in the bottom left corner, 1 was added to the exclamation mark of Oops! And 3 went on the open jacket.
And that's all there was to it!
The sheet came with 3 sentiments – the one I used, Break a leg and Happy Birthday – I used the Oops! As I wanted a fun card and could just image friends and me trying roller blading, think we would be saying rather more than Oops!
This is a card or the use or sell box.
Catch you again tomorrow – same place folks
x

Tuesday 12 March 2013

In The Jungle

Hello my blogger friends
Its my adorable grandson Laytons 5th Birthday this Thursday. Because he is having a party at one of the kiddies adventure play parks after school that day we wont get to see him but have been invited to tea on Wednesday so we can take his cards and presents then
Well presents are never hard to buy for 5year old boys – in fact we saw a lads construction type kit just after Christmas so bought that for him, then 2 weeks ago his mum asked would we buy him some more Lego – he wanted the fire station and 2 of the 3 fire engines – well the answer was simple – NO! We agreed to buy a fire engine and they bought the other – he had one bought fr christmas so now has the 3 – he can save any money he gets to buy the fire station which I believe is around £40.
Every year I have decided at the start of the year I will make the lad a really special card – but as with past years I put it off time and again until today I knew I had to do something.
So I browsed some folders and came up with a craftsuprint sheet – it was to be used as a basic 6x6 card or could be made into a shaker using the spare frame.
Well I didn't do the shaker and decided to make the card my way!
And this is what I did!!
So materials for this card I used ….
Heat mat to work on and protect your surface – I always use it...
brown a4 card
Printed sheet
A5 piece orange card
4 buttons
peel off letters and numbers
Martha Stewart bird on a branch border and corner punch set
ultra fine flowersoft in sand and toffee
Sticky pads
Eazi Score Board & tool
Tonic 8” guillotine
Scissors
Tweezers
Shaping tool from www.dimensionstamps.com
Foam shaping mat – stamping mat or even a mouse mat
To make the card …
The brown card was folded and scored then the orange card was trimmed down to fit the card front.
I punched the top 2 corners and then used the border punch to punch the bottom
The sheet was then stuck to the card with double sided tape.
I cut out the main area of the card, then all the decoupage and built that up with tiny sticky pads.
The extra frame was cut out and stuck onto the base frame using thick sticky pads.
This panel was then stuck to a sheet of mid brown card and them onto the orange card – I positioned the panel to fit just under the punched corners leaving room at the bottom for some peel offs.
I stuck the Happy Birthday Layton onto a scrap of gold cad then stuck across the top of the card using tiny sticky pads.
At the bottom of the card I stuck a large number 5 and the word TODAY next to it.
To decorate the card I added 2 green and 2 blue buttons that had a scrap of white ribbon in each – these were stuck in the card corners using Pinflair glue.
Once that set I used a Sakura quickie glue pen to outline the white fluffy clouds then covered with glamour dust – the same with the tiger and panda face.
PVA was added to the lions mane quite thickly then I covered with toffee ultra fine flowersoft.
I did the same for the sun but covered that with sand flowersoft.
All in all the card hasn't turned out too badly – has it?
And that's all there was to it!
I know I say I want to do a special card but have no ideas at all as to what I would want – then did this and just know he will like it – he takes a huge tiger to bed!
Will let you know what he though of it when I know
Catch you again tomorrow – same place folks
x

Monday 11 March 2013

Decorated Plaque

Hi again bloggers
Yesterday I shared a card I had made as part of the swaps on Stampers UK – well this is part of another swap.
It was called Secret Object swap and the idea was the hostess sent out a secret item to all who signed up for up the swap.
She set up a database so we said what kind of thing we wanted – as in colour and theme – then she matched the object to the partner
My partner was Jan who chose purple and green and any theme
The secret item was fab and I really would have loved to decorate it for me....
I was so undecided as to what to do – have a long time till it needed to be sent off but I am still trying to clear up all my swaps so set to one night when I couldn't sleep...
I started by painted the front with the lovely B&Q Funky Metallics paint in purple really called VIVID and once dry coloured the back of it with a plain emulsion called WATER.
Once all the paint was dry I set about decorating it – starting with the back – I trimmed a pretty sheet of butterfly backing paper from Blissful Butterflies by Hinny Bop to fit and used red double sided tape to hold it.
Onto the front – I stamped a lovely verse using a stamp by Inkilicious in the middle and a swirly flourish under it
Then I got out my big bag of mixed pop up flowers from www.diannesdiecuts.co.uk and luckily had plenty in green and lilac so laid a few out on the board until I found what I was happy with
It was the lovely loopy flowers – so the base was in green – then lilac - then green again – I curled the petals under on each flower so it stood proud...I left the centre for the time being...but I did add a couple of die cut flourishes behind the flowers.
On the right hand side I stuck on a beautiful decorative design made up of clear rhinestones.
I had in mind butterflies so went through my box of die cuts people had kindly cut and sent me recently and found 3 pretty butterflies in white – so I decided to colour them using Cosmic Shimmer sprays and then dried it off with the heat gun then spray Radiance Rain Pearl Lilac for a wonderful shimmer.
I stuck just the bodies of the butterflies among the rhinestones.
For the hanging flowers I actually coloured them using Pro Markers – the greens all worked great but sadly the purple shades didn't I used lilac, lavender and amethyst but they all look washed out! So I did purple one side and green the other on all 3 flowers.
Using my favourite ribbons – the spotty ones from www.meiflower.com I opted for 2 pieces of sage green and one of purple – I slotted ribbon through the flower and then through the board and stuck together with red double sided tape so no real join marks.
It worked out I used purple coloured flowers and sage ribbon and the outer ends and the green flower with purple ribbon in the centre.
The flowers I used were similar to a lotus pop up – still from Dianne's, I had plenty o lilac but not green so they were coloured with mown lawn ink pads by Tim Holtz
For the centre of the flowers I used some lovely purple glittery embellishments I had been sent from Yvonne – they are flowers and butterflies in shades of lilacs and deep pinks...
So it was the glittery flowers I used in the centre of the flowers here as well as the larger loopy flower at the top.
I used clear AB flat back gems – added one to each of the petals on the wooden flowers and then tinier gems on the flowers of the stamped flourish
Because the back of the wooden flowers was just plain I sprayed a little of the Radiance Rain – doesn't look as nice as it did on the butterflies though!
I posted this off to my partner this morning so I'm hoping it reached her tomorrow and that she is pleased with it – would hate to think it would just be popped into a drawer or cupboard when I could have used it!!!
Will let you know what Jan thought of it when she gets it!!
Bye for now then
xxx