What can I make with this?

Chicken or Egg?

2012-01-29T16:36:00.001Z

Here is another page from my inky 7 Gypsies journal. I took the plunge and drew the chicks freehand.

Gelly roll glaze pens

Crafter's Workshop stencil

I am trying to use up some of my ever increasing stash. This week I have made 2 journal pages and 4 ATCs but have also acquired 5 sheets of 12 x 12 card and two sheets of patterned paper - I think I am a lost cause!

I am learning to play the keyboard and my current song is 'air on a g string'. I'm trying to be good and do more practice this week. It's hard as there are 101 other things I would prefer to spend my time on. I need to borrow a nagging parent for an hour each day to make me practice ;-) Not so bad once I start playing; but the first step is as hard as getting out of bed...

Have a lovely week, Anne x

Balls

2012-01-25T17:01:00.001Z

This fun page was made in my 7 gypsies journal. I use this journal to mop up spare ink from other projects. The hair, coat, tie, socks, wings and balls are paper pieced using scrapbook paper (hair), pearl card (wings and socks) and watercolour paper that I have sprayed with ink.

Spray inks, stamps and gelly roll black glaze pen from Dyan Reaveley at Art from the Heart.

In my last job I spent my whole time juggling, and trying not to drop, an infinite number of balls of stuff. Now I am taking a break from paid work I have forgotten what balls are :-)

Have a great day, Anne x

2012-01-17T17:29:00.001Z

Smile Round Robin

I have been working on a round robin or circle journal. Here are my first pages. My theme is 'smile'. The opening page features a photo of me as an Art from the Heart fairy and a bit of writing about me. It's always difficult to know what to write; but luckily I quickly ran out of space. The hobbies bit reminded me of job applications! The background, inspired by a background on Kate Crane's DVD, is painted with Dylusions paints and Ranger Dabbers.

I love red, hot pink, orange and yellow so had to make myself use different colours on the other pages.

The second page is made from old K&Co Hopscotch scrapbook papers and the die is a Tim Holtz one. My idea is that each person will write their name, date, etc. on the dress form and put a head photo on their dress form. I have two pages like this and will add a title later when I can see how much room is left at the top.

This pieced border is Bious B Zoo Hot scrapbook paper and is inspired by the journal classes I took with Dyan at Art from the Heart. The stamp is Linda from Stampotique and the words were typed on a pc. I also used a flower stencil and glaze black pen.

My final page uses the scraps of Hot paper and more Stampotique stamps. The page is more straight in real life, but this was my first attempt at taking photos with my iPad and overall it worked very well.

All supplies are from Art from the Heart except the alphabet stickers from Crab Apple Crafts and the DVD from Craft Stamper Magazine. The K & Co pad is so old that I forget were it came from.

I enjoyed making these pages and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone else's art work.

Have a lovely week, Anne x

2011-10-23T16:30:00.013+01:00

Pretty Paper Party

I am really enjoying the challenges at Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party. Using her suggestions I selected the following papers:

This is the front veiw of the papers

This is the back of the double sided pages.

These are the two pages I've made so far:

These are some photos from my garden.
I had a trial run at the hair dressers before my son's wedding - what can I say Dallas doesn't suit me - I looked so much worse than this photo. I ended up with straight and sleek for the wedding. This photo makes me smile though.

Many years ago I used to write web pages as part of my job. Now I am going round in circles trying to get blogger to do even simple things - like get my photos in the right order. I guess a little knowledge is a bad thing and things like Blogger have made me rather lazy.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Anne x

2011-09-26T17:21:00.000+01:00

Bungee Man

I made this page as part of a two page spread at my first scrapbook class at Crab Apple Crafts. Looking through my photos January was a dull month and the only photos I took where of this little bungee man. My sister bought it for me for Christmas. He was made of bird seed and sadly didn't last long. This page makes me smile especially as it looks like he is loosing his pants ;-)

As I'm not working at the moment and am doing quite well at using up craft stuff I already own, but let me loose in a craft shop and even when I set myself a budget of just a few pounds I still come home wondering why I have bought some of the stuff e.g. alphabet stickers in colours I don't like! Oh well I guess I will get better over time.

Have a great week. Anne x

2011-09-25T17:08:00.000+01:00

Cruise Food

Last year we went on an amazing Baltic cruise and as expected the food was amazing.

This page is made from another of Shimelle's starting point challenges. Thanks to Shimelle I am really starting to get into scrapbooking and I think this is about page 23 - I wonder how many pages you have to make to call yourself a scrapbooker?

This is Shimelle's starting point...

...and this is my finished page.

Apart from the red paper under the words all the rest came from this £1 pack of paper pieces I bought from Crab Apple Crafts or the 7 Gypsies background paper. I am challenging myself to see what I can make with is pack of paper and have already started another page which I will share when complete.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Anne x

2011-09-15T18:03:00.000+01:00

Bluebell Woods

I used Shimelle's sketch of the week for my bluebell page below. I always wanted to live near a bluebell wood and after living here for over 20 years I found I had one just at the end of our street.

Here is her sketch.

Hop on over to Shimelle's blog for a video of how she put her page together. I'm looking forward to seeing your page.

I used some of my ancient 'too nice to use' papers from Stampington. The sticker says 'laugh and the World laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone'. I probably have something more suitable; but it makes me smile and I like to add in unexpected twists.

In using up my stash I am getting to know my silhouette machine and used it here for the title and ric rac border.

Enjoy your day. Anne x

2011-09-13T19:13:00.002+01:00

Introducing Miss Hettie Hedgehog

(AKA Shimelle's starting point challenge)

I am having fun with Shimelle's latest starting point challenge. The challenges are great; especially for a beginner like me.

Above is Shimelle's version and below is my background.

This is my page made from my Scrapagogo kit. I have started tweeking it already and the horizontal stripe now goes over the two side photos. It's very minimal, but that is how I tend to work. As I can't find any other pages with a diagonal photo placement I expect that I have broken a few rules :-) I like triangles, but mainly I did it to cover up the light switch on the bottom photo.

I think it needs a little something top right as I find 'white' space difficult and it needs some embelishments. Please share your ideas for embelishments as that is the part of scrapbooking that I find difficult.

In July I was lucky enough to be given a baby hedgehog to release into my garden. I bought her a lovely house, but she doesn't want to live in it. She visits most nights for her tea (chicken dog food) but sometimes lies in until after my bed time. She is completely wild now so we just spy on her from the patio windows from time to time. She is now a lot bigger and quite fluffy.

I hope you will have a go at one or more of Shimelle's challenges. For some lovely eye candy go to her web site and take a look at what all the talented scrapbookers from around the World have made with this sketch.

Have a lovely evening. Anne x

2011-09-13T08:55:00.000+01:00

Quick Card

This is a quick card I made for a wedding anniversary. The white heart is on pop dots. Coloured with gel pens and pro markers. The backing papers are ones the recipients bought me.

Have a lovely day. Anne

2011-09-11T13:21:00.001+01:00

What a Lovely Day

My niece had a beautiful vintage themed wedding: complete with ceremony in an old Hall, vintage clothes and a street party reception. They had homemade food, bunting, tressel tables, a tea urn, old photos, etc. It was a lovely memorable day.

I am very much a beginner with scrapbooking - though you would not think that if you could see my stash of scrapbook goodies. The wedding layout is based on the one below that I made at my first scrapbook class at Crab Apple Crafts.

Have a lovely weekend. Anne

2011-08-21T13:19:00.004+01:00

Shimelle's Starting Point Challenge

I am a bit of a miniturist at heart so usually find 12 x 12 scrapbook pages a bit overwhelming; but I enjoyed doing this page. I based it on Shimelle's challenge and turned the sketch to fit the photos. All the papers are from Scrapagogo's January 2011 kit, except the gray behind the photo which is the only wedding type paper I used. I used prima flowers and stars from the kit - wedding theme was stars.

So far I have only made about ten 12 x 12 pages; but I have enough papers for at least 200 :-)

Anne x

2011-08-07T20:42:00.003+01:00

Fun Swap (AKA what on earth am I going to do with this!)

The lovely Dot set a Yahoo group I belong to a challenge to create something from a scrap of peach leather and two small square envelopes. We did not know what the items would be until they arrived.

For mine I used the leather to cut out letters for the front of a little book. The book is from We Are Memory Keepers paper and I added some tiny beads to the spine.

I used the little envelopes to add in tags and used the last of the leather to create tabs for the tabs.

I had fun stamping in a few nice qotes and added some photo mounts so Janice can personalise it. The pages are all different sizes to give a fun look.

This is a little calendar that the lovely Helen made for me. Very clever use of the envelopes as the stand and the leather is the butterflies. I love it!

I am leaving my job on Friday and taking a year off to get my health back to what it was before I took the job, to have some fun, do some travelling and to do some jobs on the house. One of my tasks is to clear out my craft room and then I will be more likely to do more crafting. I need some pretty colours in what has become a rather gray life to get my sparkle back. Walking away from a well paid job is feeling a bit scarry at the moment, but I know that it is the right thing to do. I hear Gap Years are all the rage for people my age!

Love Anne x

2011-07-06T18:56:00.001+01:00

ATC swap

This is my first swap for ages. The theme was handbags or shoes. Surprisingly I don't have any shoe stamps - I think I may need some :-)

I dug out my old favorites my radiant pearls and a tiny paint brush. I wish they still made them as I love their shimmer and transparency.

Here is the card I enclosed with the swap. This is coloured with pro markers.

2011-06-26T17:07:00.000+01:00

More from Dina's workshop

Here are a few photos of my moon and star jounals

The cover of the star journal.

A face at the window.

This is my moon journal cover

Sorry about the quality of this page. I love the lady with the broom and also the wellies/ugg boots.

An altered Stampotique image.

2011-05-09T19:30:00.001+01:00

Dina Wakley Workshop Weekend

I had a fab weekend at Art from the Heart in Harrogate at a Dina Wakley weekend workshop. Three days filled with lovely people and messy paint techniques - what more can a girl want??? No stamps in this, which is new for me.

Here are a few photos of my work in progress sun book.

2011-05-06T17:00:00.006+01:00

Christmas Thank You Cards!

I have had a few days off work and have been making a few Christmas thank you cards - I received some lovely Christmas cards but didn't make any this year so will send these as soon as I have enough for everyone. I have yet to make thank you cards for the lovely birthday cards I received but I will get there eventually.

These cards are made using the winter scene it stamp set from Hobby Art. I started with one set and now I have several and two DVDs! They are great fun and very easy to watercolour if you use watercolour paper. The grass is a bit greener than it looks here.

I am very lucky to be spending the weekend at Dina Wakley stamp classes and I'm really looking forward to it.

Kind regards, Anne

2011-05-04T17:19:00.004+01:00

With one stamp and one ink pad

I am so far behind one day I will catch myself up! Here are a few simple cards made with just one stamp and one ink pad. I joined the Clarity stamp club and this is the latest stamp. The dark ones make nice men's cards.

This was stamped in brown versafine and the mount is the castle stamped randomly. The background white paper is flocked. I was saving this as it was too nice to use - then the cat walked all over it - so I had to throw away the muddy paw prints bit! It should teach me not to hoard things but I can't help it.

This is the same layout in a moss distress ink. The castle makes a nice tessellating pattern for background paper. The mount is washed over with a wet brush to give it a different feel.

This soft pink brilliance ink card is more feminine. I held the pad flat and gently rubbed over the flocked paper for a different look. This also has random castles as background interest.

Kind regards, Anne

2011-02-27T19:22:00.006Z

A few more journal pages

I have been working on a few more journal pages in my little moleskin. I love Dy's new Dylusion border stamps. Not sure the gifts work but I stuck them on before the girl! The Octopode tree is cute and the wording says 'What would you like in your stocking?'.
I think the next one is far too true...
The right hand page had blue/green ink that had seeped through and looked awful. This page has a bit of mica and is now one of my favorites. Oh those were the days when I did dressmaking in a size 10 for me! The dress form stencil was free on a magazine. Stampotique stamps.

Finally two sayings from Tim Holtz and great Dylusions border and leaf stamps.

Where did the weekend go. I had most of last week off work but I'm still playing catch up. Have a lovely week.

Anne x

2011-02-06T20:08:00.008Z

Where have I been?

I wish I could tell you that I have been somewhere lovely, but the truth is I've probably been working or playing FarmVille far too much!

This is the first card I've made in ages and it's called 'spot the stamping' as I made it for a stamping list and only manged to stamp the sentiment. This is my first play with the Time Holtz birdcage die and I chopped off the top to make it fit.

I have done quite a lot of messying around in my journals and I just love it. I often go back and add a few squiggles or colour in with my favorite red glaze pen. This is my favorite page this year. The 'lady' is from Octopode and the sentiments are from Dylusions. Dyan had the idea on her blog to use one word, one sentiment and an image. I did a few at Christmas (see below) and really enjoyed it so I've done a few more pages of sayings.

I made up a page on the pc of sentiments I like and the image is from Viva Las Vagas Stamps.

More Octopode, AFTH letters and computer generated words. Background is Dylusions sprays over random torn strips of paper - yum.

These are some pages I made around Christmas time. I like this one but the dark patch is a bit too heavy. Backgrounds are mainly Ranger daubers.

This is a bit darker in real life - sorry my photography skills are so lacking. Trees are from AFTH.

These pages make me smile.

I hope you have a lovely week.

Anne x

2010-06-29T12:17:00.002+01:00

More Karin This page is in my small moleskin sketchbook. I just think the stamp looks like she has a forced smile most of us have to adopt sometimes. I suspect today will be one of those days :-)

2010-06-27T18:04:00.005+01:00

May 2010

Edited: It was Kate who started the monthly challenges. Her fab blog is here.
At last I've finished my May journal page and am quite pleased with how it's turned out, especially the hand drawn vine. I did find it highlighted just how dull my life can be, so as Dyan suggested I made up some entries! I'm not sure who originated this idea as I've seen it on loads of blogs.

It's June and amazingly I don't seem to have hay fever, so for the first time in years I have cut flowers in the house. They are gorgeous. The cream flower isn't part of the bunch.

2010-06-20T18:36:00.005+01:00

Thanks and Stampotique

Thanks for all the lovely comments. I am rubbish at leaving comments so will try to leave more. I love looking at your art and am always amazed at the variety of ideas and the amount of talent that is all shared - for free. Thanks everyone.

I bought my first Stampotique stamp this week (ok I confess I bought 5 and have another 5 on back order - Yikes! good job I work full time!)

This is Karin and she stamps like a dream, even the very first image was perfect.

The backgrounds are the stencilled sprays I've used before and the hearts are hand drawn.
I have had an really busy week at work and have more early mornings and late nights to come. It's nice to craft to take my mind elsewhere, but I spend far too much time on FarmVille type games. I'm just a computer nerd at heart!

Have a lovely week. x

2010-06-18T16:52:00.001+01:00

Scream

I always think yellow is a happy colour but this photo fits perfectly. Sometimes I think it would be good to have a sound proofed room where you can let off a bit of steam and have a good scream. The page was made at Dyan's workshop and the challenge was to cut images from magazines on my chosen colour. Yellow was not the best choice as if you look carefully a lot of the blocks are dresses so are long and thin. The background is a set of 7 Gypsies stamps all stamped at once. I may write on this, but for now I like how it looks.

2010-06-17T16:49:00.000+01:00

Pieced Border

This is my first pieced border page made at Dyan's journal two weekend. It's coloured with watercolour pencils.

2010-06-15T16:46:00.000+01:00

Work in progress

Here are two journal pages prepped and ready for writing on. I need to stock up on black pens tomorrow.

2010-06-13T20:04:00.004+01:00

Finished at last

I started this page in August 2009 and only finished it today! I kept adding a little bit more each time I felt brave. Really pleased to have finished it. The stampotique images were destined for my little booklet but they just look right in here. I must get some of these stamps, especially the heads one which is so versatile and which I love giving red eyes. The backgrounds use masks.

This is a tag I started around the same time. Can you tell I cleaned my desk today! Yellow, orange and red are a great combo and can't fail to make me smile.

2010-06-10T17:07:00.000+01:00

Boy Card

I know this boy card is a bit rough round the edges and is not to most people's taste so I may never send him to anyone - but I love him just the same and think I need this stamp, as he's a left over from my art journaling class with Dyan.

The background is spray ink and mica over stencils on old book pages. The circles are punched and the scribble lines added later.

2010-06-08T16:53:00.001+01:00

Strange Booklet

At Dyan's jounaling class we made a booklet from three pieces of watercolour paper. We sprayed through stencils, we drew round some areas, we used gesso on top we stamped and we cleared the shelves of Stampotique stamps ;-)

Just in case the cover didn't look weired enough I made them have red eyes. Words are 7 Gypsies rub ons. This is still a work in progress as I have a few pages to fill.
They don't go with the rest of the book, but I wanted some shiny butterflies.

When I was young I used to doodle 3D boxes! and stars. These stars are drawn free hand on old music one of the ladies (Janet?) kindly brought along. The music was also spray painted.

This is the page opened up.

This time the hearts are drawn free hand. The girl on the right looks so like someone scary I used to work with! The white circles are gesso on a glue stick lid.

I don't have any of these stamps - YET! But how do I choose.

2010-06-07T16:45:00.000+01:00

Left Over Ink

At Dyan's Journaling class we made a fab little booklet using spray inks and stencils. These are pages out of my large journal that I've used to soak up the waste ink.

The picture below shows what lovely backgrounds you get if you go over with a distress ink. The music on the left and the spider's web on the right were stencilled on at the end using more distress inks. They look better in real life as they shimmer due to the mica we mixed into the sprays.

2010-06-06T16:31:00.005+01:00

Cards

For the first time in ages I made some stamped cards.

This image was given to me by the lovely Caz. I think I 'need' some of these Stampotique images. Somehow I've made this look very middle of the road rather than weird. The paper is Stampin Up and the things that look like pins on the right are a stamp - Unity I think.

Apologies for this being so blurry. It's only 4pm but there is no natural light. Stampin Up papers, Unity and inkadinkado stamps. I'm trying to add few more layers - 4 on this. I could just eat this cupcake, but thanks to poking myself in the eye I've not put my contact lenses in today so no shopping for me. It's amazing what lurks in the freezer and cupboard when you look.

Have a lovely week. Anne x

2010-06-04T16:00:00.001+01:00

Art From The Heart Journal Class

I did a fabby Journal 2 class with Dyan and will share some of the pages I made over the next few days. For now here is the page I made in my hotel roon on the Saturday night. I used a page of scrapbook paper for the border. The square top right was too white so I used it to test out my watercolour pencils. I liked the effect so used it in the page. This is one of my favorite pages, so guess who bought more of this paper?

This is a page I finished the same day. The brown at the top is where ink from the previous page leaked. You just have to go with the flow and not mind when this happens. This is another page from my small moleskin journal.

2010-06-02T17:57:00.000+01:00

Random Colours

I'm trying to use random colours of ranger daubers on my journals pages. I think the page above works but the one below doesn't. I think it's because the colours are too dark.

2010-05-31T20:55:00.001+01:00

Candles

This is a page from my small moleskin journal. I'm learning to love green

2010-05-31T20:44:00.002+01:00

We had a visitor

Her name is Rosie and she is so so cute. She is also very noisy but with a face like this she can get away with anything.

Son and daughter-in-law also visited which was fab.

Cats are pleased to have house back to themselves today, but I miss them as they live 200 miles away.

2010-05-16T16:24:00.004+01:00

Journals
Here are a few more journal pages. I'm looking forward to learning afew new techniques at an Art from the Heart workshop at the weekend. This page was difficult because it's A4 and I'm more a miniturist at heart.

2010-04-25T19:31:00.002+01:00

Sharpie Marker Blog Candy - won by Virginia

Hi Virgina, congratulations on winning the sharpies

Anne x

2010-04-25T19:11:00.006+01:00

More Journalling

I haven't done much stamping for a while. I've been baking, doing cross stitch and generally lazing about.

Here is one stamped card. The scene is made up of several diffent stamps stamped on water colour paper. I watercoloured using a water brush and markers.

I'm trying to get away from all my journal pages all looking very similar. This is a bit messy and reminds me of tree roots.
This is also done by dripping ink. I like the right hand page so much I think I'm going to leave it without words.
I seem to be drawn to pictures of chairs.

My latest page.

I hope you are enjoying journalling, if not give it a go it's great fun and a good way of getting rid of things that are doing your head in.

Have a lovely week. Anne x

2010-03-07T16:07:00.005Z

More Journaling and a special thanks to Craft Stamper Magazine

I have not been online much the last few weeks. I had a treat in the post yesterday - lots of lovely sharpie markers from Katy's Craft Stamper blog. Big ones, tiny ones and all different colours. They will make a nice addition to my copics and pro markers. I will share what I make with them.

Here is a finished page that I started at Dyan's workshop. I love the white souffle pen, shame it doesn't show well on screen.

I haven't felt like journaling for a while. I kind of got all my frustrations out and then was lost for something to say. I have a new big journal and the pages seem scary! I might spoil them! So I've gone back to small pages for a while.

Today I started a fab journaling class with Julie Pritchard. It's great as it inspires me but as I'm not copying, my pages feel more like me.

This is in my lovely little moleskin. I'll let you know what they look like when they are dry and written on.

Have a fab week. Love Anne x

2010-02-20T15:57:00.002Z

More Jounaling

Here are a few more journal pages.

2010-02-14T19:25:00.003Z

I'm in love..........with Journaling!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to Heart From the Heart for one of Dyan's fab weekend workshops. This time it was art journaling - I loved it. It was an honour to share a weekend with so many amazing women. We laughed, we cried, we ate and we made a mess ;-) I would recommend it to any one. It was so popular that while we were there most of us booked into the next weekend.

Here are a few of the pages I've made so far. I am much happier than I come across on some of these pages and have now run out of rants so it works - don't get angry get journaling!

Scroll down Dyan's blog and you will see links to some of the other ladies blogs.

My pages are made with old newspaper which gives a lovely textured result. This is my work in progress rant page. Have a rant, cover it with gesso and sugar coat the result.
This is the first page I made. I was given the word rage and the colour red.

I love my white souffle pen.

I made this at a previous workshop and it reminds me not to take myself seriously.

My wireless has died and I have had to move the pc onto a small table near the phone. It means I can watch TV but it's killing my back! At least it stops me rambling on my blog. I've made a few more backgrounds so I just need to find a few images and get going again.

2009-10-27T16:14:00.002Z

Cheats Leftovers!

This is a landscape version of my leftovers card. This time I cheated as I cut up full sheets of PaperArtsy paper! The trees are from Blonde Moments. Normally I would add some bling, but the colours make it a nice card for a man - possibly my hubby. He doesn't read my blog so he won't know!

2009-10-26T16:08:00.003Z

Left Overs!

Over the years I have trained myself not to keep every scrap of paper -afte all I have enough full size sheets to insulate a house - LOL! But when I have a few papers that go together the old habit comes back. Here I have cut the pieces 1 7/8" square and inked the edges with marmalade distress inks, pulling the colour onto the paper to give a nice border.

Whatever happened to my counter? It was merrily counting a few hundred hits and then it jumped to 7000 and then 12000. Can't flatter myself that it's real and can't remember my password to reset it either!

2009-10-25T15:21:00.003Z

Christmas Cards

Here are a couple of quick Christmas cards. Well they would be quick if I didn't faff about so much ;-) hahaha!

The first uses Blonde Moments trees and word stamps, a lovely pearlescent embossed green card and my new Waltzing Mouse frame. The frame works with nestabilities, but here I just cut it out, mounted it onto pearlescent paper and cut that out a touch bigger.

The Tilda card is my attempt to add a bit more to a card - usually I will colour in and stick the image to a smaller square card with no embelishments. It's not easy to see on here but I stamped the red card with little stars.

Now I must stop playing Cafe World on FaceBook and go and do some real cooking...

2009-10-24T14:28:00.006+01:00

Old Friends

At Port Sunny I found a bargain old PSX stamp. Last night I inked it up and coloured it to match some Stampin' Up paper. This morning whilst checking a few blogs I came across this fab layout from Taylor.

Here are my two cards. They work so well with this layout that I think it will become one of my favorites.

I should really be making skinny book pages for a swap!

2009-10-04T15:53:00.002+01:00

Friends
Thanks to the lovely Neet for my friends award and now I have the difficult task of choosing just six blogs.

I would like to nominate the following lovely people. Why not spend some time browsing their lovely art work for ideas and inspiration.
Anne
Cath
Julie
Janette
Jenny
Sylvia Anne

2009-10-04T15:51:00.008+01:00

National Card Day

In honour of National Card Day I decided to get my finger out and use up some of the lovely stuff covering my desk.

Here are a couple of simple cards cased from an idea on the Hero Arts web site. Great for using up those odds and ends of paper. On the yellow card the black and yellow card is really pearl white coloured with copics and the pink background card below is done in the same way. They both use my new Tim Holtz stamp and the papers are edged with black ink to tie them all together. I've also seen this idea with stamped backgrounds and a big flower and ribbon across the middle. Good way of using up odd coloured flowers.

Last here is a photo of my son with his new puppy Rosie. he's just back from honeymoon so we all went out for an Indian meal and now I am too stuffed to move!

2009-09-20T20:04:00.004+01:00

Blog Candy

Check out Anne's blog candy and lovely cards. If you're not lucky this time why not treat yourself to a set of stamps as it's for such a good cause. Details on Anne's blog.

2009-09-20T14:30:00.002+01:00

Mike and Marie's wedding

Here is a photo of my lovely son and gorgeous daughter-in-law just after they tied the knot on 9/9/09. Sorry the photo is a bit grainy. I'm looking forward to getting the professional photos to scrapbook. 800+ photos will keep me going for life ;-)

After taking the photo I looked to my left to see two little ones having fun. It's one of my favorite photos of the day. The children loved taking photos. It was great to see lots of relatives who live far away and everyone had a lovely lovely day.

2009-09-20T13:52:00.006+01:00

Scalloped Ovals

Haven't made any cards for ages, but feel I should get cracking with Christmas cards. One a week between now and Christmas will not be enough! This card is for my son, who like most men loves monkeys. It has a little bit of flower soft on the hat and is coloured with copics.

The scallop on the monkey card is made using a silhouette die cutting machine, whilst the oval below was cut with my new nestabilities. Both cards are approx 6" by 4". I prefer the nestabilities scallops but I am surprised how small they are. Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to use the tiny dies.

This card is a random selection of things, that tie together quite well with the colours. The background is glitter card.

2009-08-23T17:20:00.007+01:00

Workshop

During my trip round the North East I managed to fit in a trip to Graphicus - so many temptations, but I was quite good and only bought one small stamp set of sayings and a few lovely things. Shame no workshops that week.

A the end of the week I went to a workshop at Art from the Heart in Harrogate. We made a little book from a paperchase diary. We glued, gessoed, daubed and stamped. Was great fun and best of all I rediscovered the joy of doodling. Here are a couple of pages, they are a bit rough but I like that as they don't look too nice to use.

I have been playing around with similar techniques today on a tag and in a small book. I also used masks and red ink to give an extra dimension - looks orange on photo.

As you can see I was a bit heavy handed with the black ink, but that doesn't matter I can use it as a line for writing along.

Messy is best for writing over, otherwise I am afraid of spoiling the page!

This a small card I made with the bottom bit of the tag.

Best wishes, Anne

2009-08-23T17:07:00.002+01:00

Quick Catch Up

I've been off work for 2 weeks and in theory that should have meant lots of time for crafting. But what really happened was:

A few days tidying & cleaning house - it gets so bad when I work long hours
A lovely week travelling round North East of England
A fab workshop with Dyan
Shopping for wedding clothes. I now own a dress! Just need some shoes - I've seen ones I like but will I be able to walk in 4" heels?
Had my hair done as test for wedding - below is a during photo and to be honest this looked better than final result! Why does my hair dresser want me to look like someone else at my son's wedding. I just want to look like smarter version of self. A much thiner version would be nice too - but unlikely to happen in next two weeks!
Read a few books and am now on book three of TrueBlood series. I guess I'm an addict

Here is a photo of black cat Paws in her new bed! She is so difficult to photograph.

2009-07-27T16:16:00.004+01:00

Back to basics challenge

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all the craft goodies in my craft room and just seem to collect rather than use them. I look at some of the fab cards on blogs and feel overwhelmed. They are amazing and I couldn't make some of them even if I tried to copy them.

From time to time I like to set myself challenges and I really enjoyed this one. Use white card, one stamp and one inkpad to make 5 different cards. I used a Stampin' Up Real rose pad. I thought it would be really hard, but it got easier as I went along. Ok so none are masterpieces, but I would be happy to send them and most of all I really enjoyed making them. I've left the images big, so if you click on them you can see the backgrounds in more detail.

The card above is simply stamped and layered on a red border. The border was made by running the ink pad around the egde of the card to give a soild layer of colour. I cut my pieces to rough size and cut acurately after sticking, this way I only need to ink the edge. I guess I cheated a little bit using some ribbon.

The second card didn't go as planned. I tried to stamp the swirly parts of the stamp all over the background but it just looked odd. I used a matching marker to isolate the images but after I'd stamped a few on the right I didn't like it. So I rubbed over the images with a baby wipe to dye the card pink. This gave quite an interesting effect with the colour getting lighter across the card. The layering was coloured as above for one layer. The other layer was done by dragging the ink pad diagonally over the egde leaving an interesting effect.

This background was done with cut and dry foam to cover the paper in a random way, this was sprayed with a fine mist of water (you can just wet your hand and splash) dab the paper dry with kitchen roll to remove some of the water, leaving tiny random dots. If you don't have cut and dry try kitchen roll or baby wipes.

I used the rest of the water splash card to make this sideways card - though you could use it either way up. The torn edge is inked along the edge.

I cropped the image to make a square, The first layer is card pressed, with my fingers, against the ink pad to pick up the pattern of the linen ink pad. The third layer is just the flower heads stamped randomly. I used a marker, but if you have a cats eye or dew drop inkpad you could use the point of the pad. The final layer is just direct to paper again. Don't worry about overlapping lines it just adds an interesting effect. Fab easy technique which means you always have matching card.

I was going to stop at five cards, but this last card uses up all the bits I had left over. It was going to be an ATC but the measurements were not quite right. This uses prima flowers and a glitter brad. This is my favorite.

I hope this has inspired you to have a go at your own challenge. Please share any ideas you have.

2009-07-26T16:11:00.004+01:00

More Loads of Love!I had a play with the bits leftover from the last card and came up with this slightly different version. The sanded stamp works really well with loads of different backgrounds and is great for men cards.

2009-07-25T18:00:00.000+01:00

Loads of Love! Following on from the butterfly card, I made this with the rest of my sheet of kraft card. I roughed up some pretty paper with a more mustard mini ink pad; to give a more manly feel and used my new Stampin Up set Loads of Love. Bits of the truck are darkened using a grey marker. I find making cards for men quite difficult, so I must make a few more cards with this set.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I'm going for a Mongolian barbecue tonight, it's my son's birthday so guess who will be getting this card :-)

2009-07-24T18:53:00.003+01:00

Kraft Butterfly I stamped this butterfly a while ago and sprayed it with a gold glimmer mist. This bled the colours whilst keeping most of the detail. I had no idea what to do with it, but it was far too nice to bin. Here I've used the card layout from Heather, I love her kraft cards but this is my first. I couldn't find a designer paper to link the Laura Ashley ribbon and butterfly, so I stamped my own.

2009-07-21T16:38:00.000+01:00

Tilda thinking...

This card looks like how I feel today. Tilda sits and wonders what to do but can't quite bring herself to do anything! Still I did make some fab rock cakes - yum!

2009-07-20T16:32:00.006+01:00

Glitter Butterfly

This card is cased from one of my fav blogs - pine is here. The whole background card is glitter and the butterfly is from Elusive images.

Having a relaxing day off work. Trying to make some cards, but my heart just isn't in it. Fingers crossed I will be feeling more creative later in the week.

2009-07-19T19:34:00.001+01:00

Congratulations Judith for winning my mini blog candy of crochet flowers and stamped images.

2009-07-19T16:55:00.001+01:00

Wish This is my favorite Leanne Ellis image. I always wonder what she is wishing for. Nice easy birthday card with a few quirky touches.

2009-07-18T16:50:00.001+01:00

Butterfly card

Not sure about this card. I like the flowers but the butterfly is a bit lost against the designer paper. This butterfly is from an amazing set from Elusive Images. The sentiment is from Kirsty Wiseman.

2009-07-17T16:17:00.001+01:00

Flowers

This Leanne Ellis image is a bit cutsie for me, but it goes well with the Stampin Up paper. Not sure what happened with the flower, it doesn't look quite so odd in real life.

I'm looking forward to going to the theatre tonight - the tart and the vicars wife! I'm looking forward to a good laugh.

2009-07-16T16:40:00.001+01:00

Listen honey....it's not nice to ask a woman her age, but if you must know I'm 22!

I love funny images, but find them hard to find. I hope this one makes you smile.

It may just be because it's summer, but I'm enjoying using flowers on my cards. I tend to make clean uncluttered cards, so I find them difficult to use. I wish I could add lots of embelishments but it just doesn't work for me. If it looks unfinished then I'm done! These felt beauties are from Stampin Up.

2009-07-15T16:25:00.001+01:00

Wacky flower

Time and time again I find myself drawn back to this background and layout from Dyan's blog. The lovely quirky stem is from blonde moments and the other stamps from Stampin up. I am planning to go to the September mini Ranger workshop at Dyan's shop - Art From the Heart. I wish I still lived in Yorkshire then I could do all her classes...

2009-07-13T16:04:00.001+01:00

Another crochet flower

My cyber friend Anne sent me some suger nellie images including the one above. So far I have bought 3 of the images she sent me and now I have this one on order. For me swapping images is a great way of finding out if I will use an image, but doesn't seem to be a way of saving money - LOL!

2009-07-12T15:46:00.004+01:00

Crochet flowers mini blog candy

Sorry have have been absent for the last few weeks. Work has been very busy and I just haven't felt like stamping. Instead a had a go at crocheting flowers and ended up with a big pile of flowers and no idea what to do with them. I based my flowers on the inside flower on this blog, but I used double crochet rather than triple crochet on the first row.

Here is a card I made in two slightly different colourways using one of my flowers. The image is from sugar nellie and the papers are Stampin Up.

For a chance to win 10 crochet flowers and some stamped images please leave a comment below. If possible please leave a link to any cards where you have used crochet flowers. I will anounce the winner next Sunday. Good luck. Anne x

2009-05-07T18:00:00.001+01:00

Twisted Thursday's challenge

This card uses the Twisted Thursday layout. It reminds me of portrait on a wall.

The Gorjuss girl is coloured using Stampin' Up markers.

Congratulations to Anne for winning this challenge.

2009-05-06T20:52:00.000+01:00

Flower Soft

This simple card uses flower soft to add a bit of fluffy magic. Is it just me who thinks it looks like the stuff used on train layouts to make grass? The paper and ribbon are Stampin' Up.

2009-05-05T18:00:00.000+01:00

Paris

I saw this card layout on SplitCoastStampers.com but unfortunately I don't remember who made it. The original card had buttons where I have used flowers.

I was feeling totally uninspired to stamp so decided to set myself a challenge. I recently bought a book by Claudine Hellmuth which includes cards for colours and topics. She adapted the idea from something she did at art school, so as the topics don't really apply to cards I decided to make my own lists.

Here are some examples from the four lists I used:
Topics - wings, funny, places, background
Colour - black, red, pink, purple
Embellishments - brads, ribbon, designer paper
Company - ellusive images, bella,

I labelled them all 1 to 10 using excel and asked my hubby to choose a 4 digit number. The number he picked gave me Topic = Place, Colour = Autumnal, Embellishment = Flowers and Company = Bella. The Bella stamp I used is called Paris, so that is also the place. :-)

Why not write lists to suit your preferences. My lists also include use a new stamp/old stamp, use something from my desk and open a random box!

Have a lovely week, Anne

Supplies:
Paper - Stampin Up
Markers - Stampin Up and copics for the dog
Flowers - Prima with zoom dots
Sentiment - Kirsty Wiseman CD

2009-05-04T17:13:00.009+01:00

Here is a quick and easy birthday card made with a gorjuss image my mate Anne gave me. The elusive images butterflies are left over from another project. I couldn't resist using the cute chicken, though she looks a bit out of place on a pink card.

2009-04-05T11:31:00.008+01:00

More experiments

After making the butterfly card below I had some of the spiced marmalade (distress) ink and wild plum (adirondak) ink background left, so I thought I would give a more detailed explanation of what I did on the background and show a few before and after photos.

The first photo shows the background plain, and as you can see it really doesn't look much at this stage. I started with a sheet of white matt card and rubbed the marmalade ink in diagonal stripes roughly about 3" wide and 3" apart. I rubbed the pad on the paper until the colour was dark and fairly even (up and down and round and round). Then I did the same with the plum going over the edges into the marmalade to make a red colour between the orange and plum. You may need to wipe your plum pad on a bit of paper to get rid of the mamalde ink it has picked up.

Then I wet my hands and shook some water drops on the page. After about 30 seconds I blotted the paper and the ink became lighter where the water had been. I have seen this technique several times so unfortunately I'm not sure who should get the credit. I then wiped over with a baby wipe to even out the colour a little. I also wiped the back to reduce paper curl. Dry with a heat gun or place it under something heavy to dry naturally.

I overstamped with black memories using a Club Scrap stamp.

The image (Sugar Nellie by Leanne Ellis) was coloured with a mixture of ink from the marmalade and plum pads using a wet paint brush to get some ink from the pad (with the pad shut press the middle of the lid into the ink and then take the ink from the lid), copics (yippee! E000 is now available in UK) and glitter gel markers.

Then I layered everything up. In an attempt to make a card that wasn't exactly the same design as most of my other square cards, I think I may have lost the plot a bit! The happy birthday circles are from a Kirsty Wiseman CD and the flowers are prima. No idea where the bling came from! She looks a bit peaky so I think she needs a bit of blusher!

Love Anne E

2009-04-05T11:05:00.005+01:00

Spring has sprung

Over the last few weeks the weather has been lovely - well for March. Ok so it rained a bit and was windy too - stay with me here I'm thinking happy thoughts :-) As I sit and type the daffodils are in boom and the birds are busy fighting over the seed feeders and there is even a blackbird having a wash in the bird bath.

With this in mind I thought I would share some photos of blossom - I think they would make nice backgrounds so feel free to copy them if you fancy a play.

I should be making wedding invites but my lovely - NOT - e-mail system has deleted the attachment which contains the words for the inside! Oh well at least I can play on the pc a little longer with a clear conscience.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Love Anne E x

2009-03-30T21:35:00.004+01:00

Experiment

Jo mentioned that she had spiced marmalade (distress) ink and wild plum (adirondak) ink and I got to wondering what that combination would look like. I expected something firey but instead I got a kind of dull dark red where the colours merged and when I over stamped in black I got an aged sophisticated look that I really like. I hope you like it too.

The stamps are Elusive images and the ink was applied directly to the paper.

I wonder what other unusual colour combinations work well together? Any ideas?

Anne E x

2009-03-29T18:48:00.014+01:00

With some birthday money I treated myself to the lovely Elusive Images Butterfly Poppy Collage plate from Graphicus

I've been playing around with the butterfly and flower stamps from the sheet and I think I'm in love!

The background butterflies are embossed in white and with various die inks dtp over the top. The sentiment taken from a large stamp by Paper Bag Studios.

As you might have guessed I have a thing about hot pink and yellow! The background pink does blend more in 'real life'. I hope you like these cards.

I have updated my photo with one taken on my birthday. It kind of makes me look odd in the small version, so please be assured I am not quite that scary in real life....well if you saw the 'before' pictures I took when messing about you might not agree...Not sure I'm brave/foolish enough to upload them.

Anne x

2009-03-29T12:59:00.004+01:00

You know how sometimes you buy a stamp and wonder if you will ever use it....well that is what I thought when I bought this stamp. It was a bit pricy too!...but I couldn't resist as it made me smile. Turns out I've used it loads to make quick and easy get well cards.

These are destined for Afganistan - via Kirsty Wiseman.

2009-03-29T12:52:00.003+01:00

When I was tiny my Great Grandad used to call me his little princess, so it might come as a bit of a surprise to hear that I have never had a crown! Well until now.

I had a fab weekend at a paperartsy/LB Crafts event, made lots of friends and even made a lovely metal crown.

The crown is metal backed with plastic, decorated with ten second studio tools and paperartsy letter stamps. I love the scrunched up balls at the top - these are made from 1/2 polystyrene ball and crumpled up metal. I used alcohol inks and black acrylic paint to decorate.

2009-03-28T22:23:00.011Z

Never work with animals....

My cat Heidi was looking gorgeous sat in a flower tub surrounded by daffodils.

But when I tried to take a photo she got up and all I got was a photo of her eye.

Kind of cool photo but not quite what I was aiming for....

2009-03-28T22:09:00.004Z

When I offered to make wedding invitations for my son I had no idea how difficult it would be to get burgundy light weight card! This is my final mock up. Please keep your fingers crossed that they like it as they asked for a redder burgundy - but it doesn't seem to exist!.

Inside will be the words on vellum that is attached with a burgundy satin ribbon bow.

Hopefully one down 39 to go! Good job I stocked up on stamps before the postage price increase next week!

Edited 8 April - Oh no! Now I have to make 50 of the booming things! I even have to cut and fold the card before trimming and have discovered I can't do this at night as the light from the new energy saving bulbs is rubbish - guess what I will be doing all over Easter!

2009-02-15T15:33:00.005Z

I am so excited, in a couple of weeks I'm going to a craft weekend organised by paperartsy and lbcrafts. There are a few places left on the second weekend - late March. Last year I learned loads of amazing techniques but my favorite thing was making this amazing frame. I'd never done any metal work before and to be honest I couldn't see the point. But now I am hooked. Here are a few close ups.
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The embossing was done with a combination of cuttlebug embossing plates and plastic stencils which I rubbed over with Teflon tools - you could use an embossing tool but it squeaks and may tear the metal. The metal was then roughed up with a brass brush and then coloured with black acrylic paint.

2009-02-15T15:23:00.002Z

Late last year I went on a crab apple crafts weekend. It was great fun and all the people were so nice and friendly. Above is a collage I made of my cats Heidi (tabby) and Paws (black) . My photo is rubbish but you get the idea. It has a flower bottom left but it fell off and I have put it somewhere safe!!

I also made this cute little book to find in this altered tin. Also made lots of other nice things which I will share when I come across them. I'm going again in November - can't wait.

2009-02-15T15:15:00.003Z

Here are a few of my favorite snowy images. We had about 5" of snow in the midlands, but in Huddersfield they had even more. I had fun taking pictures from a moving car as we drove over the penines. I would aim at a nice scene and by the time my camera worked I would have a picture of just a fence post. The picture above is my favorite.

This is the view from my house, with the postman's footprints in our garden looking towards the road. I had to drive to work down that non-existent road. I'm a real scardy cat so I didn't enjoy it one bit. My hubby however looks on it as a challenge and likes driving in snow!

These are ice patterns on the roof of my car. They are so pretty.

2009-02-15T14:52:00.004Z

Yorkshire

Last weekend we went up to Yorkshire for my brother's birthday party and also had a quick visit round some of our relatives. It was lovely to see everyone and the party was fun.

As the midlands is a craft wilderness I booked a fab workshop at Art From the Heart with Kirsty Wiseman. Here is a page I made using papers from Kirsty's fab new CD. This is me and my lovely hubby Paul enjoying afternoon tea at the Dorchester for our last wedding anniversary. The photo quality is rubbish, but it doesn't look too bad in black and white. I've now made six 12" x 12" pages - I am a miniturist at heart and this was doubly difficult for me as it has blank space!

This wibbly wobbly flowers sits inside this lovely box. The stem is made from twisted overhead projector file. This was also made using Kirsty's lovely papers.

Kirsty's workshop was great fun and I'm so please she chose to spend her birthday with us. As always Dyan was fun too and they both put up with me sneeking off to shop with good grace - well until Dyan told me I'd spent £4563.52!!! When I picked myself off the floor I was pleased to hear that she'd pressed the wrong button!

Dyan now does mini ranger university weekends, first one starts 13th March, which I can't make so fingers crossed I can go to next one. I love learning new things but the laughs are even better.

2009-01-18T19:59:00.004Z

I really enjoyed making this card based on the tutorial on Dyan's blog I didn't have any suitable Blonde Monents stamps, but I suspect that will change on 8th February as I've booked in for a Kirsty Wiseman workshop and I am excited already :-) I live in a workshop/craft shop wilderness. :-(

The stamps are from onefourzero. I don't normally like clear stamps, but I have to say these stamped a treat. The spray is embossed in pink Blonde Moments ep. The card is from Alexander paper mill. They don't make it any more and I have only about 60 cards left :-( I suspect that will keep me going for years, but I don't like to think I'm going to run out!

The card is really pink rather than purple - I think my scanner is colour blind!

Had to work yesterday so I'm so looking forward to having a day off tomorrow.

Now I wonder what happened to the other image I stamped! Is it just me who has a craft fairy who hides my stuff? I suspect not.....

2009-01-04T18:07:00.009Z

This is my first card of 2009. I had a whole lazy week off work and only started crafting late in the afternoon of the last day!

2009-01-03T15:23:00.005Z

Julie

Suzi

Ruth

Margaret

Janet

Hazel

Nicki

Neet

Maureen

Carol

Jeannie

Janette

Renate

Here are some of the beautiful handmade Christmas cards that I received this year.

2008-05-26T23:03:00.003+01:00

I used to love skipping when I was little. Now I can't believe how difficult it is - LOL! This is my only Magnolia Tilda stamp. Guess I will have to buy more ;-) I paper pieced her dress and the trellis is ribbon.

2008-04-27T21:20:00.003+01:00

This Stella with an olive stamp from StampingBella is so much fun and she would make a great Christmas card too. The red background is also stamped with a martini glass and the word cheers. I coloured the image with a mix of copics, gel pens and SU markers. I hope she makes you smile.

2008-04-27T21:17:00.002+01:00

I love this Tilda stamp as it reminds me of hours skipping fun when I was a child. Now I can hardly skip at all! I have recently discovered ribbon and somewhat over indulged! Next time I make this card I will put more layers and paper piece her dress.

2008-04-27T21:15:00.002+01:00

A paperartsy stamped card. I could have used it for my wedding anniversary - oh well I can keep it until next year ;-)

2008-04-27T21:13:00.002+01:00

Paul and I enjoying pink Champange and afternoon tea at the Dorchester on our 25th wedding anniversary. In the evening we went to see the musical hairspray. It was a faboulously memorable day.

2008-04-27T21:10:00.002+01:00

This is my latest page in the PaperArtsy Deco swap.

2008-04-27T21:06:00.003+01:00

My tabby cat Heidi is so cute. She loves to lay in the tub by my front door. Can you see her hiding behind the fuschia?

2008-03-25T12:43:00.004Z

I have been busy making pages for a 'fat book' swap on kayscorner (http://www.kayscorner.co.uk/) I have to make 27 similar pages and surprisingly after 18 I'm still enjoying myself. Here are a selection - I will upload a better photo when I can. They have a blank area at the left so that they can be bound using O rings. The stamped image is TinkerBella from http://www.stampingbella.com/ The background is scrapbook paper from Blonde Moments (http://www.blondemoments.com/) which has been overstamped with a butterfly. The images are coloured with copics and gell pens. I can't wait to see the finished book.

2008-03-25T12:37:00.002Z

These are the pages I made for Liz's round robin. I cut up the house from the card below and added the houses as a fence. The house is acetate with perfect pearls on the back. The dolls reminded me of the paper chain dolls I used to make when I was small.

2008-03-24T17:37:00.003Z

Here are the finished pages for my book. I adapted the layout below to make a flower sign in page. I'm quiet pleased with the pages, but wish I'd overstamped the back ground. The front is UTEE and the wedding photo is one of my relatives.

My pc has been a nightmare the last few weeks - had to reinstall just about everything! You would not beleive how much I missed it...

2008-02-10T22:49:00.001Z

I've joined a paperartsy swap (http://www.paperartsy.co.uk/) where I have to use a set pack of stamps to make four 5 1/2" square pages. The pages have to be fairly flat so that other people can work on the back of the pages. Cath and Lynne were having a good laugh at the difficult challenge and also helping me with some ideas. This is the first mock up I've made. I like the flower idea but think it needs some darker colours for contrast. The squiggly ink stamp sets are lovely, but this is not one I would have chosen, so it's a real think outside the box experience.
Please share any ideas you have for using this set. I like a challenge and this is certainly challenging.

2008-02-10T22:43:00.000Z

After a bowl of the most amazing fat and crispy chips I enjoyed Lynne's workshop where I enjoyed making a cute 3D card.

I really enjoyed the workshops (www.katyscorner.co.uk) and a quick mooch round Cath's shop where I bought some fab distress inks. Was lovely to see so many friends as I haven't found any workshops in sunny Wolverhampton - well it was sunny today!

2008-02-10T22:36:00.001Z

On Saturday I went to Cath and Lynne's workshop. In the morning I had a lovely time playing with some of the new squiggly ink paperartsy stamps and acetate. The first card has perfect pearls under the acetate.

Sorry Alison I forgot to be noisy!

2008-01-13T22:37:00.002Z

I have been busy making cards some quick and easy cards using my cuttlebug embossing folders. These Bella stamps (http://www.stampingbella.com/) are lovely and perfect for quick and easy cards. Trouble is I just want them all!

2008-01-13T22:34:00.001Z

I've been making a few ATCs for a black and white swap. The original theme was 'humour' but sadly lots of people don't seem to have funny stamps! Here I've combined the two themes. It has a white border but my scanner cut it off. Stamps from StampinUp.

2007-12-31T22:24:00.000Z

Happy New Year

Well it's 10:48pm and 2007 is nearly over. I have to say it's been a fab, if demanding, year on lots of levels.

Today has been spent working on a huge Christmas jigsaw, watching tv and making a few cards. I have always loved Angi-b stamps and decided to indulge with some advance Christmas money. Really sad to see they are no longer producing stamps, but they still have some lovely ones available at http://www.angi-b-co.com/ . The stamps I have are quite small so I have used a layout I found on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ The actual card has a white border, but my scanner cuts it off!

Here's to 2008!