I was in the top 3

I am stupidly happy, it's bit like how kids get when given a sticker at school - that's how I feel about my blinkie for getting in the top 3 at Little Claire's blog challenge!

I haven't blogged for a few weeks as I've been busy making cards to sell at a fayre next week and here are some of my favourites.

I call this my blue phase! I've been having such fun combining my stamps and the cutting files and am thrilled with the results, now I just need to sell a few as I'm not sure how many more occasions I can find to send them to my friends!

Hidden message

I decided to give Little Claire's blog challenge another go, this month's theme 'Open' had me puzzled until I found this template on the Silhouette online store for a flower card base that has a flap for a secret message. I resized it so that the 'you make me happy' sentiment from the Happy Days stamp set would fit in this window and then used the stamp of the cat chasing butterflies from The Smile I Bring set to decorate the front.

I love using these stamps, they always give a good impression and are fun to colour. I hope this card makes its recipient happy too.

What a lucky girl

I have a fabulous husband, who can take a hint and knows how to cheer me up. Last week was tougher than usual and I was feeling a bit glum so my husband decided to let me have my birthday present early.
It's my 40th this year (but not until September) and I had been dropping hints that I wanted a Silhouette Cameo and he found a good offer and so went ahead and bought it, and only realising when it arrived that if it wasn't tested in 28days, and he waited for 4months til my birthday, he wouldn't be able to return it if something was wrong. So when I came home in a bad mood Tuesday I got given my present early.
Wow - its amazing and now I just need more hours in the day to make all the projects bubbling in my mind. Here are the first few made using templates bought off the Silhouette store (the machine came with a $10dollar card to download some), I'm sure there will be lots more to show soon!

Up.. up.. and away

I've had this paper pad for ages, it came free with a magazine, all the sunshine this week was inspiring me to use this fun blue skies page. I could imagine floating up through the clouds in a hot air balloon, but didn't have any stamps that would fit and so decided to try something different.
These flat back gems have been at the back of my craft stash for years, I was attracted to the bright colours and they were a real bargain, but I've hardly used them as they don't fit on my cards normally. However, their sparkle and shine seemed perfect for this balloon. I drew a basket onto some scrap card, coloured it and added 4 pieces of bakers twine to attach it to a circle of silver card. A few dollops of silicone glue to attach the gems to the circle and I had the sparkliest, most decadent hot air balloon ever seen!

I found this cloud stamp which came from the SWALK Butterfly Kisses stamp set from Crafter's Comanion and it was perfect to complete the design and add a space to add me sentiment. A sweep of broken china distress ink round the edges and my card is finished.

It was so much fun to make I got carried away and made two more, one with card candi and the other with buttons and wooden beads.

My first blog challenge

Whilst looking on my favourite blogs for some inspiration for my next card, I spied the blog challenge Little Claire's blog so I thought I'd give it a go. The challenge involves recreating the sketch below and using 'spring' as the theme.

Now please be gentle with me as I feel quite nervous about putting my work out there for scrutiny, but we all have to start somewhere. My starting place was with the SWALK 'Rainbow Kisses' stamp from Crafter's Companion and I coloured this with a mixture of Spectrum Noir and Promarker pens.

I then decided on a mellow yellow and apricot colour scheme for the card base as I associate these colours with daffodils and narcissus which are abundant in this season. I used distress inks and promarkers to colour my embellishments to tone in.

And here is my entry - I am pleased with the results and love the colours. I hope you've enjoyed looking at it. It was fun using a sketch as the inspiration and definitely something I think I'd try again as the proportions of the finished card are much better than my usual haphazard method of crafting!

Changing ribbon colours

Am I alone in getting totally frustrated when I'm putting together a card and have coloured a great topper and chosen the perfect backing paper but then I can't find the right coloured ribbon? Well, I'm sure I must be the last to catch onto this, but I figured out if I used white or sheer ribbon I can colour it with one of the promarkers or spectrum noir's I've used to colour the main image and, hey presto, a perfectly matching ribbon. And it gets even better as the white ribbon or embellishments is normally cheaper than the coloured so I can save money as well! 

Pink carnation promarker and sheer ribbon

I used the ribbon on a card I was making for our friend's daughter's 5th birthday and so this Angelica and Friends 'Little Princess' stamp from Crafters Companion was perfect, and a treat for me indulging my girly side as - being the mother of two boys - I don't get to do pink and frilly very often.

Ta Dah!!!



It's finished!



I loved this project. It was special, as I explained in an earlier post, as it was using the scraps left by my mum's friend who died earlier this year. However, it would be a great stash-buster.

A very easy, repetitive pattern that is great for working on whilst watching tv or chatting with the family. I made this blanket 10x10 squares and it took roughly 40hrs so is quick to make up and gives a stunning result.

As for my friend... she loved it, which made it all worthwhile.

Spring has sprung, at last

The 1st of the month is extra special as I recently joined Little Claire's club and so get sent a new stamp each month. I love the anticipation of wondering what it will be and what the card projects will look like.

This month's arrived with perfect timing. It was the first warm and sunny spring day, and I arrived home to find my husband relaxing with a beer in the garden and the kids playing outside on their scooters. It made me chuckle when I opened my parcel from Little Claire as it was almost an exact likeness to the scene that had greeted me when I arrived home.

It seemed like fate and I couldn't resist getting crafting straight away. The stamp is called 'Happy Days' and it is so easy to use, the stamp gives perfect results that are so much fun to colour in. Here's to many more happy (and sunny) spring days.

rediscovering playing

It was a tough week last week and I really felt the need to relax and revitalise my soul this weekend, nothing fits this bill better than surrounding myself with colour and texture. All too often lately I have been fixated on the end product and forgetting to enjoy the journey. So I dug around in my crafty stash and pulled out tissue paper and oil pastels - just the vibrancy of these colour was enough to bring a smile to my face

I had so much fun playing with all these, my favourite effect was to place the tissue paper on some card and use watered down PVA glue to leech the colour out. By swirling and scrunching the paper I go lots of interesting effects.

I then experimented with the pastels, dragging them over silky card and then using my finger to smudge them gave really interesting texture, whereas using baby oil on a piece of cut and dry foam spread the colour more evenly to create some beautiful sunset backgrounds.

Of course my husband and sons reactions was to giggle and ask what on earth I was going to do with all of this (and who was going to clean up all the mess!) but sometimes it does us good just to 'play' and I was so much more relaxed and happier that it was better that any therapy. I'd love to know how you use your creativity to relax.

ooh - I love a good stamp!!!

I started card making a couple of years ago and the classes I went to focussed on decoupage and creating mats and layers - well, the novelty soon wore off. Then I was lucky enough to be bought an IPad and have spent many happy hours browsing the web and realising how many fabulous and creative ways there are of creating handmade cards. So my love of stamping started to grow.
I started with some basic stamps bought from a local craft shop and have been practising my colouring in, and now I have discovered Chocolate Baroque and WOW what amazing stamps. I've totally fallen in love with this range and on Sunday made my first purchase.

Indian Elephant and Indian Textiles

I couldn't resist these, such amazing value at £20 for 17 high quality grey rubber stamps. I ordered some distress ink so my total order came to £26 and I qualified for free delivery. They arrived within 48hrs, I am so impressed with their service.


Indian Elephant

My only complaint... I'm too busy to play with them this week and the weekend feels like a long way off!!! To take the edge off the craving I cut them out and did a quick test stamp on some copy paper and WOW again - they stamp perfectly and now the urge to craft is even greater. I have a feeling there won't be too much housework done this weekend!

Tribute to a mum

My best friend's mum died earlier this year after a short period of illness. My friend is an only child and so the burden of clearing the house has fallen to her. As an avid knitter (and hoarder) her mum had left close to a hundred part used balls of wool leftover from the many projects she'd completed. She kept all the oddments as, also being an animal lover, she would use them to make blankets to give to the animal shelter.

My friend loves crafting but we've never persuaded her to knit or crochet, but she was loathed to throw away or donate the wool as, unlike so many of the other posessions, the yarn held a significance for her. She gave me the stash and asked me to make something for her to remember her mum by. This was a great honour as well as responsibility and I was determined to find a pattern worthy of the task. After much searching I found the ideal crochet pattern on ravelry called flowers in the snow

I decided early on not to try and colour match the blanket but to randomly chose three colours for each of the 120 circles and tie them togther with a neutral beige wool. It has been liberating putting together colours and ply that would not normally go but somehow do work together. I hope will it have it finished by her birthday in two weeks time, as it will be her first since her mum's death and I hope in some way having the blanket will bring comfort and good memories of her.

I also wanted this to be my first blog post as my way of paying tribute to her and would love to hear about any craft projects you have made in memory of another.