A Sad Farewell

It is with great sadness that I have decided to stop my blog. I have been thinking about it for a while now and as life just seems to be getting in the way, stopping will give me a little more time for other things.
I want to say a huge thank you to all the ladies who follow the blog. I appreciate it so much as I do the many friends I have made during my blogging experience.
I hope to keep up with the blogs I visit though I may not be able to do that on a daily basis.
I will keep the current blog up for a few more days and then close it.

Thank you all for the encouragement via your comments and also for the inspiration that you have been to me.

Hugs and love to all!

Forever Santa bear

I got this wee stamp at the weekend from the Glitter Pot. I am determined to try and make some Christmas cards early this year but by the time I had these coloured in I lost the urge to make them up into cards.
One is coloured with Copics and the other with Prisma pencils. I haven't listed all the colours I've used as I would still be typing next week. LOL.
Perhaps I'll get the necessary mojo back after lunch and actually get something made up. I think I might have to use some Woodware puffy stuff to hide a few wee bits where I've been too enthusiastic with my pencils. :)
Hope you had a good weekend and every blessing for the week ahead.

Froo froo Poodle

Hi!
Today's card uses up an image I'd coloured in, some odds and ends of cs and a piece of Bo Bunny paper. When I go on one of my tidy ups, I am always amazed at the number of bits and pieces just lying there begging to be used up.
The main image is the Poodle stamp from Kim at Cuddly Buddly. The image is coloured with Prismas and matted onto aqua and pink cs from the Papermill. I've used my Scor-It to emboss a few lines onto the mat to add a bit of interest and punched the corners so that I could thread the ribbon through. The white border has been punched with the Martha Stewart Valentine lace punch that I was lucky enough to snap up from Tracy at Dies to Die for this week.
The ribbon is from Poppicrafts and the Happy Birthday stamp is from the SeeD set Celebration Messages. This set just keeps on keeping on. I think every crafter should have one - there's such a good selection of sentiments and the fonts are fab.
The brad is a Bo Bunny brad and is from a kit I got ages ago. The scallop card (love these) is from Craftwork Cards. To add a bit of bling I've glittered the butterflies and added a few gems from Papermania.

No internet

Boys a dear, power cut yesterday and no internet since. I hate it when my connection fails. Thankfully it's up and running again so I'm playing catch up. :)
Continuing on with my 'clear the workspace' drive, I've made today's card - going with the green and pink theme. Don't panic though, the next one is pink and aqua. LOL :)
I used my new Spellbinder's Peony die for this one and some scraps of green and pink cs. The centre of the 'medallion' has been stamped with Adirondack Shell Pink dye ink and is a wee stamp by Papermania.
The background paper is from K & Co. McKenna papers and the background mat has been stamped with Versamagic chalk inks Pixie Dust and Aloe Vera and is edged with another new toy, my Martha Stewart simple scallop edge punch. I got both these items from Tracy at 'Dies to Die for'. That girl gets the stuff to me the next day nomatter how late I order. She's amazing!
The ribbon and flowers are from Poppicrafts and the sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink.
The dragonfly is this month's freebie from Craft Stamper. I used the Aloe Vera ink for the image, covered it in Sakura clear glaze and glittered it with Crystal glitter. It gives the image a smashing sheen as well as a top class glittery effect. Give it a go if you haven't already tried it. :)
The gems are from Papermania, the pearls from Joanna Sheen.

Scrips and scraps

All these bits were lying on my table apart from the cork die cuts. I used my Big Shot and a Sizzix die for those. Papers are Basic Grey 'Urban Prairie', the sentiment tag is a nestie stamped with a Tiny Message from Woodware stamps and the brads are from my stash. The top mat on the inside is also a nestie - mega rectangle. The 'hi' is from the Sizzix alphabet 'Endless Love.' I also used a Cuttlebug embossing border folder for the bottom of the mat on the front of the card and scuffed it to highlight the embossing.

Have a good day!

Distress Inks and playtime!

Hi and good afternoon. Thank you for calling in today, your visit is most welcome. :)
I received my copy of Craft Stamper at long last and was having a wee nosey whilst I had my coffee this morning. There was a fabulous technique by Rachel Jackson 'Distressed Couture' which really caught my attention. Unfortunately I only possess three distress inks so I couldn't get the depth of the colour that Rachel achieved - well, truth to tell I couldn't get anything like it. LOL
I used Creative Smooth cs and my three colours - Peeled Paint, Tattered Rose and Antique Linen with stamps from Penny Black, Inkadinkado and Hero Arts for my playtime. I used nesties for mats, flowers from Poppicrafts and a big suede brad from Laura Ashley. The rectangular mat was the waste from my first experiment and I hated to throw it out. It was inked with the three colours that I had dabbed onto my heat mat and spritzed. It turned the card from totally smooth to one with a ridged texture - I kid you not - smashing stuff. I stamped round the edge of the rectangle with a swirl stamp from I'do.
The main stamp is 'Sweet Pleasure' from PB which I inked and embossed and cut out with one of my new label nesties. I couldn't find any backing paper that wouldn't overpower the whole thing so I stamped my own using the main image and 2nd and 3rd generation stamping. I punched down one edge of the bp and then added pearls to finish.
Mmmm! totally not sure about this one. It will probably be binned but at least I had a good time. :)
Have a great afternoon. Catch you soon!

Teacher's gifts

Hi at last! It's been one of those days.
Got the bathroom cleaned, had breakfast - in that order and then settled down to watch C & C. Got bored and wandered up to the craft room to check emails etc. Daughter phones in a mad hurry - yes you've guessed it 'I need ...... tonight!'
Four notebooks to be collected by hubby after work.
I've just finished them and I'm pooped but actually glad I could help. LOL.
I've used my trusty BIA, Basic Grey and Upsydaisy papers, various bits and pieces from my stash and I made some flowers using a wee technique on Hero Arts. It's really easy to do and looks very effective too.
Gems are from Papermania
Dies cuts from Sizzix
Scallop gift tags were made using my Nesties and I also used a Graphicus greeting stamp and a Stamps Away bird.
I'm off for my tea hope you like the notebooks, more importantly I hope the recipients like them. :)
Have a great evening.



These are the wee flowers I spotted on Hero Arts today:-