Saturday 31 January 2009

Sweet As Honey

Well I have had a really exciting day. I have been off work for over a year now, suffering with a very bad back. I had injections in my back at the end of last year and they have just started working a little bit, so I took my little car out for a drive, its first drive in about 15 months! I managed to get us all to Windsor and back without killing anyone so I am very pleased with myself!!




I played around with my Smirk papers when I got back and put together this little design. I just LOVE these papers, they are sooo cute! It hasn't really photographed that well, it must be the pale colours; either that or I'm not taking it in the right light (no, it couldn't possibly be my fault!) It was a very quick make.

The papers are gorgeous but I think they are made for scrapbooking more than cards because there is very little space to create around the printed images. On this one all I did was cut an 8 x 8 sheet in half, sticking it onto a base card. I then cut out the girl again and overlaid the original image using foam pads. I cut out some more of the green dotted paper which I stuck to the top so that it mirrored the paper at the bottom, and finally I added a glittery tag which I attached with ribbon. Voila, a very quick cute card for someone! PS - Natasha has already picked about 5 or 6 sheets that she wants, I knew that would happen. As she gets older she is getting into cardmaking more and my supplies are depleting far too fast for my liking :o)


Friday 30 January 2009

Yoga Lola


I was asked to make a card for someone that did Yoga, so I went on a search and found this on Pink Petticoat. I've been downloading papers from their site for ages, but have never actually done anything with them, until today that is! I've always loved this Lola Rose range, it's fun.

The perfectionist in me doesn't like that the name 'Sue' isn't quite central, but I will let it go this time! I played around in Photoshop Elements to remove it, but ended up with all sorts of variations but the one I wanted! If anyone has any tips on how to do this it would be great to hear from them!!!


Funky Love


I didn't post anything in the end the other night because I just couldn't get my act together with cardmaking! I had loads of ideas, but they just didn't come together. I think I was just too tired. I decided that it would be better to lay everything out on the table and come back to it another day with a fresh mind. I have managed to put something together now though. I thought I would do Laura's Sketch #18 on 2 Sketches 4 You. I wanted to make a Valentine's Day card, but not in pink. I am going to make a few pink cards this year for Valentine's, but wanted to make one in blue and red for a change. It took some time to co-ordinate because the black looked too strong against the other colours, but finally I came up with this card.


Recipe:

Dies: Sizzix 'Circle #1', Ellison Thick Cuts 'Hearts, Double', Sizzlits 'Hearts #5'
Paper: Bo Bunny 'Sweetie Pie Sigh' & 'Flirty Birds', Pink Petticoat 'Tis the Season Victorian Cream Big Hearts', Bazzill Bling
Accessories: Ribbon from my stash, Mei Flower glitter stickers, Stampendous word stickers

Hope you like it. It would be great to hear your comments. ♥


Wednesday 28 January 2009

My new papers!

What miserable weather it's been here today, it's what we call a 'grumpy' day in this house!

I am hoping to get some cards done tomorrow, there are a couple of sketches that I want to enter. I might have to try some of my new papers. I picked up some 'Smirk' papers, brads and stamps the other day. 'Smirk' is a gorgeous new range by Dovecraft, it has the cutest little characters on it. You can see it online at Trimcraft. The papers come in two sets, of various sizes, one set is called 'love and friendship' and the other 'naughty but nice'. The brads and stamps are gorgeous! The only tricky bit is going to be trying to keep Natasha's little hands off it!!!


Sunday 25 January 2009

A cut above the rest



I think I might need to come clean... I am addicted to blogging and sketch challenges!! I had to make a card for a friend who is a hairdresser, so I thought I would use a challenge from Cupcake Craft Challenges, Sketch #23. I wanted to create something with pastel colours as it's not usually my thing, says she with the ballerina on her blog a few days ago... but generally I do prefer to work with stronger colours :o)



Recipe:

Dies:'Sizzix Originals Die Dress Ups, Girl Hair','Body', 'Dress Up Faces'
Hole Punches: Scallop circle by Dovecraft
Paper: Old scraps from my stash, Bazzill Bling
Accessories: Ribbon from my stash, Swarovski crystal gems, brad

Let me know what you think. ♥


Saturday 24 January 2009

A little bit of lurve




I looked at my Countdown Calendar last night and realised I haven't made a single Valentine's Day card yet! Where does the time go?

I thought that I would enter the 2 Sketches 4 You fab challenge #18 while I'm on a roll! I love this blog, it really gets my mind buzzing with ideas. I've never used other's sketches before and sometimes end up doing similar designs all the time. If this happens to you then just look at some of the sketch templates out there, they really are great fun to try out. This background paper is gorgeous but it's quite dark so I found it quite difficult to match up colours with it, hence the white added to give the card some lift. The hearts are actually pink foil but they don't show up so well in the photo. I love the loopy cutter but never can work out what to use it for most of the time! (I told my other half it was called 'loopy', and he said that the name just about sums me up...charming lol)

Recipe:

Dies:'Frame Heart' by Sizzix, Sizzlits 'Love' by Sizzix
Hole Punches: Heart/Circle, both by Dovecraft
Paper: 'Smitten Mini Hearts' by Kay & Co; Bazzill Basics - Classic, Glitter cardstock from local craft shop
Accessories: Swarovski crystal gems

I would love to hear what you think of the design so if you get a minute please leave me a comment :o)

Friday 23 January 2009

My first challenge entry!



I decided to enter Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge #39. I have wanted to participate for ages but really needed to get some bits sorted on my blog before I entered (and obviously pluck up some courage to enter too!) I needed to make a man's card and thought I would do something a little more contemporary using the given colours. I used a bonus sketch by Peet that I found on 2 Sketches 4 You.






Recipe:

Dies: Cuttlebug retro squares die, 'Easy Peasy' alphabet set by Sizzix
Paper: Bazzill Basics - Bling/Classic
Accessories: Black/white gingham ribbon

Thursday 22 January 2009

Thank you!

I can't believe that people have taken the trouble to write a comment on my blog. It's so cool!! I have replied, but not sure if the reply actually gets to the people who have written. There's so much to learn about this blogging thing! It's a whole new world! I'm hoping to make a card for one of the cardmaking challenges tonight, so watch this space. I've never done a challenge before, so thought I would push myself to just get on with one!

Tuesday 20 January 2009

A dotty hello :o)




I thought it would be nice to do a little 'hello' card and came up with this dotty dog idea! It was really quick to make too.

Monday 19 January 2009

Woohoo - I've finally put on a card design!


Firstly thank you to those of you that have been popping back but have not yet had anything new to view!

I had to buy myself a new camera which I'm still figuring out how to use, but thought I would add a card just to get started. I've not quite worked out how to take the photo so that you don't end up with a crooked edge when you edit it, so I've ended up with a small black line around the edge, but I'm getting there! I went to retake it and the camera battery has just died so I thought I would just post it, otherwise I never will!

As you will soon see I love my Sizzix Bigshot Machine and I am totally addicted to all Sizzix/Ellison Design die cutters. I also love Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders.

This card was made using various Sizzix 'Dress Ups' cutters. There's a bit of an outlay to start them off, but once you have got the basic body, the girl hair and the boy hair all you need to buy are different outfits. I think they are great because you can adapt them for so many different cards.

For this card you will need;

* Sizzix Originals Die Dress Ups, Girl Hair
* Sizzix Originals Die Dress Ups, Ballerina Costume
* Sizzix Originals Die Dress Ups, Body
* Sizzix Sizzlits Decorative Strip - Strips
* Sizzix Rub Ons, Dress Up Faces
* Sandylion Sticker Designs, 'Barbie Ballet Costume' paper
* Disney 'Pixie Dust' Vellum
* Glitter glue, pop dots, gems

I used my Cricut Machine to cut out the number 5, but you could use any number embellishment. You can also get plastic number templates from Craftwork Cards, and if you draw round them onto a piece of card you will have a template that you can use time and time again.


  1. Cut a piece of Barbie paper, 15cm wide x 22cm deep, stick to front of card

  2. Cut out the number 5 on the Cricut Machine with the setting on 4.5 (or use a template/other embellishment as mentioned above)

  3. Cut the number 5 out again with the setting on 4.5 inch shadow, assemble as shown

  4. Cut out the word 'today' using an alphabet set. I used Sizzix 'Junk Drawer' but you could use anything you like

  5. Put together with the silver set underneath the pink, and slightly to the right to create a shadow, stick to the card

  6. Die cut the body for the ballerina from flesh coloured card

  7. Die cut the ballerina tights using a light pink and a darker pink for the leotard

  8. Die cut the ballet shoes and the bottom frill of the tutu from some pink glitter card

  9. Die cut the tutu from the Pixie Dust Vellum, add a line of glitter glue across the top of the skirt to hide the seam

  10. Using the girl hair cutter cut the hair out in brown card, and her hairband in pink glitter card. Assemble all as shown

  11. Finish the ballerina using the dress up rub on faces

  12. Die cut a wavy light pink strip using the Strips cutter

  13. Die cut a second wavy pink glitter strip, attach as shown

  14. Using pop dots attach the ballerina to the card

  15. Add gems to finish


Hope you like it!


Sunday 11 January 2009

Getting there!

Well I'm slowly getting there, with a little help from Ian and my book, 'Blogging for Dummies' :o) At the moment I'm trying to get my Twitter updates to synchronise on here, for some reason they don't want to play. I'm hoping to start blogging properly next week, with a view to posting my first blog card design. I'm just working out how to get my photos to look half decent. It would be great to get some feedback from you as to what you think of my blog layout so far, so if you get chance please say hi and let me know what you think! All suggestions for improvement welcomed!

Monday 5 January 2009

Hang in there with me!

Thank you for visiting my new blog! Please bear with me as I am in the process of setting it up at the moment. I am new to blogging so have a lot to learn. As you can see I need to work on my card slideshow! Hopefully over the next few days you will see some good changes.

Thursday 1 January 2009

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