Today is the first day.......

...........I think i've felt really well !  I cannot believe how long it is since last I posted any thing on my rambling blog........ I got really sick at the time of the Farnborough show, caught that horrible gastric bug from my Mum.....[sorry to burden you readers!] and what with one thing and another........I haven't even been into my craft room........[great sadness]..........we've also celebrated my folks 55th Wedding Anniversary, quietly, although  Mum doesn't remember a thing - she has Alzheimers, which is very sad.  DoH & I had 2 yr old grandson to stay for a week [that brought another bout of illness, not to mention exhaustion! - that's why you have kids when you're young!] followed up with DoH having asthma attack and coughing for England!........our youngest son [he's a twin] hosted the British Schools National Trampolining Competition in Bristol, it was such a fantastic day, lots of kids, lots of medals and fabby trophies............. then followed a bad bout of laryngitis DoH thought that was ok, wife with no voice....... hmmmmmmm......... Anyway's it's been a long 5 weeks. 

and so.... at long last....... back to work [or play!]   I have a very good friend who is about to have her baby christened, so I've made her a couple of invitations as samples.........I've used a lovely stamp from Elusive Images, and put clear gloss and a diamante spot over the word Babies....... along with one of my favourite Martha Stewart punches...... every workbox needs these!  The Hobby House have these punches - check them out! 

The top pic is paper from DCWV 'Nana's Nursery' paper, a sweet pram stamp from Inkadinkadoo, I've decoupaged the

hood of the pram and embossed it!   The border punch is another of the Martha Stewart punches... a deep edger punch.. [love it!!]

and the little hearts come from........ the punched out bits on the 2nd card!  Well, waste not want not!

Ok, I'm off now to do something with a new stamp from The Artistic Stamper and some vellum.............

Keep in touch........ be back soon!

Guess what I did at the weekend?!

                 


















I've been to Capture the Magic in Soham [that's near to Cambridge] that's what!  Demonstrating pens for Kuretake [Zig]..... Had a wonderful time with the fabby Brushables pens - did you know if you're quick, you can heat emboss with them?, because they are brush pens and not felt tips... you can colour your rubber stamps with confidence [I find that they work best on rubber stamps rather than on polymer clear stamps - but it does give a great effect!] , blend the colours [always remember to use the lightest colour first!] and know that the tips won't shred or fluff up.  We made some really great flowers with the Calligraphy pen collection... you can do so much more with them other than just writing....and the Dottarifics..... are just great for making patterns and backgrounds...... 
Hope you like!!

Get to visit with Vicki and the team at the Make It Show at Farnborough next weekend....... and at Ally Pally in April !

Love knows no time............

I've made lots of Valentine and Romance type cards with the lovely stamps from The Artistic Stamper, I thought it was time for something different!

They say, that there is no love like that of a mother for it's young.... and that is true.... but the love of a young father for his newborn son, is something else!These stamps just cried out to go with this gorgeous picture.... simple but so, so romantic I thought, and whilst not exactly an heirloom, it might just end up in someone's nursery!  I did say that the mojo was running didn't I?  Think must post this one off to Gingersnap for their challenge.... do go and check out the fabulous work on their webpages.........you could even apply to join their design team!  s'cuse me.... must have a go!  Off to fill in an application form!!  Happy Stamping till next time.

Shopping, Stash and Exhibitions~!!

It must be all down to the cold weather! all this crafting......... having found my mojo or whatever you call it... anyways some friends and I went to the Brighton Centre Creative Stitches exhibition at the weekend..... didn't buy much in the way of papercrafting stash!! [amazingly] but I did buy some beads to make these lovely bracelets with........... great fun to do - mind you, you do need a bead mat - 'cos otherwise the beads go rolling all over the place!!!  I do quite like millefiori beads...... so very pretty..... now, I wonder how I can incorporate them into cards?.........'scuse me, must have a go!!

TTFN!!

They're some of those stamps that you get now and then......

Oh..... you know the song......or maybe you're too young?!, but i've been having SUCH fun with these stamps............ I've come out with all the cliches imaginable........ 'love is in the air'..... 'love is a many splendored thing'.... 'love, love me do'...... I could go on....... anyways, I hope you like tonights blogging.... there's THE romance stamps from Artistic Stamper [of course].... along with some bits of ribbon, punches, bead leaves.... and Shrink Plastic....... now what fun is that! - if you haven't tried shrink..... you just gotta have a go!....... and while you're playing, check out some of the fab designs on Gingersnap for their challenge!

I did find some incredibly lovely embroidered flowers at The Brighton Centre Creative Stitches exhibition yesterday....... and I have a plan to use them with the rather gorgeous 'Roaring Twenties' stamps from The Artistic Stamper......... 'course you could use Prima Flowers......... so maybe i'll do two.... just for fun, seeing as I'm on a roll like!

I blame the fumes from the Stazon ink for all of this!... but I have had a lovely play day......... only problem is, my workbench that was so lovely and tidy, is now - not!   I really do think I need to have a bit of a clear up!!  Ah sweet Love!  Just in case you're wondering

the frilly bit under the shrink tag, is the frill from one of the Roaring Twenties ladies hats-coloured and stamped with Brush pens!   Hope your day has gone well...... enjoy!!  Happy Crafting xx

It must be all that Red..........

Having been a florist for some 25 odd years..... one gets a bit jaded about Valentines day..... so it was with trepidation that I grabbed some red papers onto the workbench along with some new stamps......I've only put two designs here, there are many more!! but don't want to bore anyone :-(  anyways some girlfriends and I went to the Creative Stitches exhibition at the Brighton Centre today.... there was loads of red around..... but I didn't find any stamps better than the lovely new ones from The Artistic Stamper! with a little bit of glitter....... and I raided a bit of feather from an old feather boa in my grandkids dressing up box !!  Well......crafting materials come from all over don't they??  I haven't made this many Valentine cards for............well, ever!  Must be the stamps!!  More Jenny please!

Romance is good for us.......

It's that time of the year when Romance is in the air! It's a great time to let 'rip' with the Mojo and have some fun..... a bit of saucy red & black.... a bit of glitz......... but these stamps from The Artistic Stamper are just F A B  for making love notes!   thought I might just send this to our postie.........well, he needs a bit of cheering up on the 14th.... !  I've entered a great challenge online at Gingersnap check this one out peeps! You too can win the new set of stamps!! Happy Crafting 'till next time.

New Years Resolution #101 - Clear up my workroom!, being Tidy and all that rubbish!!

I'd love to have big chunks of time.... but if I waited until I had a whole day when nothing else was going on or elderly parents wanting for attention or a mound of washing to see to, I'd never make another card or scrapbook a photo again!  Mornings are crazy, but in reality, you only need a few minutes before you leave for work to plan the composition for a new card.  When I return home in the evening I may have more time to begin more complicated techniques, such as acrylics or spraying backgrounds.... so that I can leave them to dry until morning, or just a half-hour to finish a card or two...  mind you, it can take a week or more to put a project together, but by the end of the week I'll have a completed project and not the regret that comes from making excuses about having no time. 

I'm not ultra organised - I confess to being a tad untidy.... having been a florist for over 25 years, a very good friend & colleague once said to me, that if she was shown a tidy workroom, she would know that the shop wasn't very busy!, and since in our shop we were always rushing around with shedloads of work, our workroom always looked like a pigsty!  My cluttered workroom space is testament to the fact that i've always got several projects on the go at once - it is I grant you easier to create when you can actually find the surface of the desk - and although I have every intention of having a clear up at the end of the day [ok, most days - alright sometimes] usually I feel very self righteous  when the room is a little tidier and more welcoming and yesterday's mess is gone - amazingly, one can also find things again!  

Talking of being tidy...my good friend Nicky invited us to a workshop the other evening, and we made some really lovely cards.... with her Stampin Up 'stuff' - it was such a fun evening!  We were using 'bits' of paper to make lollipop flowers........... that was a fun thing I hadn't done for ages, so everybody's getting lollipop flowers on everything now - for a while - well, it helps with the clear up!!

So here's to New Year's resolutions and being tidy [ha!] - I forever live in hope!!  Happy Crafting 'till  next time.

A New Year.... A New Start - Resolutions and all that!

Greetings, fellow bloggers – Happy New Year!

I hope all your Christmas & Yuletide jollifications went well, and you had a great and relaxing time with family and friends.

I confess to being very remiss about blogging for the last month, Alas, Christmas caught up with me….. did I make all my cards……… well no, I have to confess that I didn’t; some, but not all – ah the best laid plans of mice and men!, and so here we start a brand new year, and I promise to try to do better!  I had an idea to use up some random papers that I had in my bits box – they were papers that I wasn’t too enthusiastic about – and let’s face it, we all have them! …… by stamping with Versamark ink and embossing with clear embossing powder, then covering/colouring the paper with a dark colour of distress ink, finally wipe the surface with kitchen towel to remove any trace of ink from the embossed image…. and hey presto! you have a transformed paper……… open design stamps work best…. but as at this point [along with most of the rest of the country I should think] I cannot see a single green bush or plant in my garden, being that it’s all buried under 8” of snow, I thought these lovely flower and leaf stamps from The Artistic Stamper would cheer my day!  [The punch border is from Stampin Up, I have a very good friend Nicky who is an agent.... she has some really great ideas.... check out her website http://www.kilncards.co.uk/ ], and the flowers were some Prima flowers.... which I have loads of - they are just sooooooo fabulous!   For the red & pink card…. I’ve used some of THE most gorgeous natural silk paper, as a backing, it was given to me by one of my Adult Education students, in the form of a sample wedding invitation from India… it was almost sacrilegious to cut it up - but I think it was worth it!

So, two cards – variations on a theme……… I do love ‘quotes’ and ‘sayings’ to put onto cards,and I trawl the web [don’cha just love the internet?!] for poems and sayings. Hope you like…… have a go……. each and every card is going to come out differently…. would be good to make as an embellishment for a scrapbook page too!

Happy Scrappin until next time!