Dawn on a gift bag

Good afternoon, peeps and what glorious weather we're having at the moment!  I really do think that all our seasons are beautiful but there is certainly something rather special about Spring.

Well I've been absent for far too long (again!) but I just thought I'd make a quick post and show you a project I taught to a class at the beginning of the month.  The inspiration for this came from the very talented Jane's Blog and she shows a simple way of making a gift bag by folding a piece of DP around a book - here's the result:

 The cute little image is a Nelie Snellen stamp called Dawn with Birthday Cake, which I just thought was appropriate for a gift bag.  The handles and the trim are punched with a Martha Stewart punch, as are the butterflies and the flowers are made with a Tonic Petal Pairs punch.  The ribbon is from Stampin' Up and the pearls are from The Hobby House.  The tag is cut from a Go Kreate die and the sentiment is a very ancient anonymous one that's been in my stash forever!

Copics

Skin - E000, E00, E21, R20, R11
Hair - E23, E25, E27, E31
Skirt - R20, R32, R35
Top - BG70, BG72
Shoes - Tea Green, Grey Green (Promarkers), W1, W3, W5
Cake - Y000, Y11, Y21, E21, E23, E50, E51

Hey!  Are you impressed or what?  I kept a note of the colours I used!

Well it's onwards and upwards with Design Team work.  My cards for Barbara Gray's show on Sunday on Create and Craft TV have just gone postal.  She's on at 9.00 a.m.and 3.00 p.m. so don't forget to watch if you're a fan - watch closely and you may just see some of my cards as well as my talented teamies' creations.  If you miss the shows, the cards just may appear here afterwards!

Whatever you have planned, have a great weekend if I don't 'see' you before and I'll see you again soon!

Hugs

A moment of Clarity

Good afternoon, peeps!  Well it's just about afternoon isn't it and I'm posting this from wonderful Aberfeldy in Scotland where we're having a great and relaxing time at the moment.  Home on Saturday though and the holiday has passed by all too quickly.

I thought I'd just catch up by posting a few of the cards I've created for Barbara Gray's shows on Create and Craft TV - I think I'm at least two shows behind showing you some of samples, so here goes:

This picture looks a bit lopsided but I really enjoyed colouring all these pansies and leaves with my Copics.  The letter 'O' is embossed in green because I wanted it to stand out and the rest of the word 'flower' is stamped in Memento London Fog in the hope that it facded into the background a little.  The gold filigree corners are from Wild Orchid Crafts.  I don't recall this card being shown during the broadcast.

This was one of my favourite designs from the February show and it would appear that the audience agreed because the stamp sold out in a flash!  I watercoloured the images on 300 gsm hot pressed, watercolour paper, tore the edges of the paper and finished with the corners cut from a Spellbinders die and some ribbon from my stash.

This was another favourite, the Mandarin Duck and Bullrushes.  It reminds me of when I used to see one of these ducks regularly when I used to travel the Staffs and Worcs Canal and they are just so cute and colourful!  This image was coloured with Copics and I created the clouds using a cardboard template I cut out with Stampin' Up Bashful Blue ink and an old make-up brush.  I love creating skies this way.  The vines are a Marianne die and the flowers are Sweetheart Blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I loved the simplicity of this card and I simply embossed the image with Moonglow Embossing Powder and it's a shame that you can't see from the picture how it shines different colours asyou move the image in the light.  I recall that the presenter commented on the fact that I hadn't coloured the image but you can't please everyone!  The DP is a really old one from my stash but I couldn't resist using it because it has the Lily of the valley on it.

Well before this post turns into a real marathon, I'll sign off and see you again soon.

Thanks for looking today and I'd love to read your comments!

Hugs

I'm back and an announcement

Good morning, peeps!  Did you think I'd left the country then or maybe given up blogging?  I'd like to say thank you to all those loyal followers who are still here reading this on my poor, neglected blog - I promise I'll try and do better.

Where have I been?  Well I went to the trade show at the NEC and picked up some weird bug that wiped me out for a week and then life just continued at it's usual hectic pace here at Whitehouse Towers and I don't seem to have had time to do anything but work and I'm still behind!  Hey Ho - got a holiday coming up from tomorrow so maybe I'll get some time to post some of the work I've been doing that you haven't yet seen!

Today, I thought I'd show you a couple of cards that I'll be teaching at workshops at Samuel Taylor, Roseville Street on 20th March and Samuel Taylor, Brighouse on 31st March, the topic is 'Watercolour Techniques using stamps'.

This card is made with one of the stamps from the uber talented Sheena and is part of her Little Bit Sketchy collection.  I have tried to make the scene look like a tinted photograph, which I think it does and I created the effect with Distress Ink Pads.  I would have preferred to put a reflection of the hillside in the water but I don't have a great deal of success with the acetate method that Sheena uses and, whilst I could have done it with my 6" brayer, I didn't think it was fair to the ladies on the workshop to make them think that they have to have a new piece of equipment to reproduce the card, so it is as it is.

The 'frame' is created with a Go Kreate Die and the ivy is cut from a Marianne die.

This card was made from an Indigo Blu stamp called 'Poppy Meadow' and the effect was created by using water based markers.....

.....and the announcement I hear you ask.  Well, I'm absolutely delighted to tell you that I've been asked to join the lovely Sheena's Design Team and what do you think I said?  I can tell you that I'm still doing the happy dance and really looking forward to working with all the wonderful designs, many of which I already own because I think she is such a talented lady.  If you think that all she does is Paint Fusion then follow the link above and find out just how diverse the range is.

Well, tomorrow we'll be taking the High Road (or the Low Road - not sure which yet) up to Bonny Scotland for a week's relaxation, walking and eating (not necessarily in that order) but I may well be posting some more card samples from the far North.  At least the midges won't have hatched yet!

Thank you for looking today.

Hugs

Quick Valentine's Day Card

Good morning,  peeps and I’m saying this from the edge of the Northumberland National Park where we are just coming to the end of a lovely week’s holiday!  Time to go home tomorrow and it looks like there’s snow in Yorkshire so it could be an interesting journey home!

This week the challenge over at Polka Doodles is to make a quick Valentine’s Day card.  As you know, quick cards are not part of my vocabulary since I can spend many hours just colouring an image so this was a challenging challenge for me.  However, Polka Doodles CDs came to the rescue and this is what we produced together:

 

The main image was taken from the Double Sprinkles of Kraft CD and I just love the misty hear images that blend in with the clouds in this.  The words are taken from the Love and Cherish CD, as is the background paper.  There are so many wonderful images and sentiments on both of these CDs that I was almost spoiled for choice and if you’re looking for inspiration for any romantic occasion, especially wedding, then I would heartily recommend the Love and Cherish CD.  The Double Sprinkles of Kraft CD has something for every occasion.

I do hope you’ll join us for this latest challenge and get making some of those Valentine cards.  You can even collect a free digi image to use in enetering the challenge so that's an even more powerful reason to join us!  I just have to come up with something for Valentine's Day for my lovely hubby not because he’s seen this one!

Thank you for looking today and keep warm!

Hugs

Oh! Mr Postman what did you do...?

Good morning, peeps and a happy Thursday morning to you!

What did the postman do? - you may well ask!  This was in December now so the steam has stopped coming out of my ears but this is the tale.  As you can imagine, I'm always working up to the last minute with my samples for the Stamping with Clarity Show on C & C TV.  I then dash to the Post Office and despatch them via their guaranteed next day delivery service so that Barbara gets them in time to take to Peterborough.  What happened?  I had a phone call from the lovely Grace at 2.00 p.m. to say that no cards had arrived!  To cut a long story short, the Post Office had no idea where they were, their records showed that I had posted the package and that was the end of their story.  You can imagine how I felt after all that work and also feeling like I'd let Barbara down!  Anyhoo, the cards finally did show up on the following Monday - after the show had aired...:-((  Well, if Barbara ever offers those kits again you may see these cards on the TV screen but I thought I would show them here anyway, whilst I'm currently hoping that the cards I posted yesterday are safely now at their destination!

I had been wanting to have a go at a recessed card for ages and this kit with the little boy fishing and the leaves was the perfect opportunity.  The colours have come out badly in the photograph (those are always taken in a rush, as well!).  IRL the background was lovely, warm shades of yellow, rust and red.  You can find this stamp here.

This is another one of those words with a large 'O'!  The animal remountable stamps are lovely!

 

One of those endlessly useful tree and flying bird kits has been used here to create a snowy scene for  a New Year card.

 

Isn't it amazing what you can do with a Clarity Corner Stamp - this one is the Snowdrop Corner.  I stamped it with Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler and cut out the blank areas of the design to show the Cherry Cobbler card underneath.  The frame is made with a Martha Stewart PATP punch.

 

The colours aren't all that good here again but I embossed the Large Snowdrops on white card with Moonglow EP and cut them out with a Spellbinders die.  I then mounted them on dark green card to emphasise the teardrop shaped cut-outs in the border.

Well, I think that's enough for one post and thank you if you've read this far.  I should be making my next post from Northumberland because we're up there for a holiday next week woohoo!!

Hugs

Can my chum come out to play?

Good morning, peeps and I hope you're all managing to keep warm!

I just love this little chap and I placed him in front of the doorway to make it look like he's calling for a little friend:

Everything on this card is from the wonderful Polka Doodles Pretty Tuff CD.  I like to print the images in black and white to give me the opportunity to colour them with my Copics and Prismas but if you're not a colouring addict like me, you can print the images out already coloured.  The great thing about these CDs is that they're so easy to use, which is perhaps as well for me since technology is not my strongest point!

You may have noticed before that I like to use stars on male cards and these Sizzix Primitive Stars are my favourites.  The buttons are from my stash and are secured with twine.  All the papers I've used are also printed from the CD, which has a fabukous selection that are all great for male cards, as are the selection of sentiments like the one I've used here.  Like many crafters, I find male cards more of a challenge.

Thank you for visiting me today and I hope you like this card.  It's one I made a while ago so I don't have any Copic colours for you but I'm posting it today because I couldn't join in the Polka Doodles Challenge this week with the rest of my Teamies because of the continuing chaos in my craft room caused by the painter (I'll blame him because he's not around to defend himself!) and which is only just getting sorted out.  I hope you can join in the challenge this week, which is to use a template for your card or project.

Hugs

Shaped Cards

Good morning, peeps!  It's nice to see a little sunshine today after all the gloom and rain yesterday so I hope you're enjoying some dry weather too.  I certainly need it here because I have a painter working on the apartment this week and the fact that all the windows are open and my craft room in total disarray are not combining to make Diane a happy bunny!  How much chaos can one painter cause?  The answer is LOTS! but it'll look great when he's finished.

I hope that my cards today will make you smile - yes, I did say CARDS, in the plural - my blog is like buses again!

I'm taking a workshop on Saturday at Samuel Taylor, Brighouse and we're going to be making Shaped Cards and here's the first one:

As you can see, they're shaped easel cards to be strictly accurate and they're made using the House of Zandra templates.  They are both available from Samuel Taylor although they're not visible on the website but you can always just give them a call.  The template I used for this card is called Matting and Layering 3 and I used Kraft Card and DPs from My Mind's Eye and Melissa Frances all distressed with Walnut Ink DI.  The image is from Nellie Snellen and she's called Dawn with Flowers and you can buy her here.  She is of course coloured with Copics and Prisma pencils, the numbers of which are lost in the chaos that is my craft room!  The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the ribbon is from my stash.  The ladies attending my workshop will get the template for this card as part of the package and they may have time to make only this one but the fast workers can have a go at this one as well:

 

This template is called Matting and Layering 2 and I decided to line the blue card with the Melissa Frances DP, which is always a fiddle when you're creating a folded shape but I'm pleased with the result.  This time the image is a Gorjuss Girl (not sure if they still call them that!) from  Personal Impressions and it's called I love you Little Rabbit, again coloured with Copics and Prisma pencils.  The heart shape is cut with a really old Sizzix Original die and the flowers are again from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The distressing is done with Faded Jeans DI.

Thank you for looking today and I'll see you again soon when I can make sense of my craft room.

Hugs