Christmas has landed on the workbench

Today's crafting entertainment consisted of batch making Christmas cards (looks like I will be doing the same tomorrow) Glitter from the glitter embossing powder has spread itself everywhere and some Polar White flower soft escaped as well. All in all a good productive day, I had a rest inbetween batches by using my Pro Makers to colour in some digi stamps which might end up on cards tomorrow.





Looking forward to tomorrow I have my fingers crossed my Cuttlebug and Ultimate Pro will arrive then I can do some more playing around and experimenting :0)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge...Week 103

Well after reading this weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge...Week 103 'In The Garden' I thought I would not be able to take part until I found two Hedgehog stamps both from the 'Bubbly' Birthday set.

I have also made this card to fit in with Pear Tree Designs: Challenge 2 - Floral Delights




Card Ingredients:

Penny Black Hedgehogs 'Bubbly' Birthday Set
Tim Holtz Distressed Ink - Broken China
Tim Holtz Distressed Ink - Peeled Paint
Tim Holtz Distressed Ink - Old Paper
My Mind's Eye Spring Papers - Polka dot backing paper
My Mind's Eye Spring Papers- Pink paper behind image
Kate Knight Paper - Cut out Flowers and dragonfly
Gingham Ribbon


The distressed Ink was dabbed on via a sponge for the sky and grass back ground. I coloured in the hedgehogs using some watercolour pencils I picked up yesterday from the craft shop along with the Kate Knight Paper. The flowers and dragon fly were cut from the paper and fortunatly they all had a flat edge so I used them along the bottom of the card. The two flowers that were whole I decided to scrunch up and stick together I added a gem to the middle of the flower and used the Old Paper distressed ink to weather the edges and the crumples on the flower to add some depth. The final thing I did was to add a small green gingham bow and stamp the sentiment.

Right back to the workbench and creating more cards (I guarantee most will end up being Christmas ones)

Todays Attempts

Wow two posts in a day that's a first for me :0) Well I managed to get on with some crafting and it was Christmas based today (yes I know it's almost seven months away) I thought I would try and be organised as I dread to think what would happen if I left all the card making until Oct/ Nov time. I managed to find some 'The Snowman' decoupage, backing papers and a stamp set on eBay quite cheap so bought them ( I adore the film)and I have done two so far.




I thought I would break out the rubber stamps, embossing powders and Polar White Flower Soft for the ones below. I think if I need to do any batch ones for friends/ colleagues then these are my best bet fairly quick to make and they still look good (well i think they do) The leaping deer has been stamped onto Mulberry paper and torn. I did this one as a play around card as I was not sure how it would turn out.



Well thats all I managed to get done today :0( hoping to get some more done tomorrow and i want to have a go at this weeks Penny Black Challenge I thought I would not be able to enter as the theme is 'In the Garden' and I did not have any garden related ones until I saw on a Birthday stamp set two that might just about it.

Bad day and new arrivals

Well today got off too a bad start a neighbour knocked on the the door to tell Allen (fiance) that at 3 this morning some young idiot decided to go down the opposite side of the street and knocked every single car drivers door mirror off the car the entire length of the road. Unfortunately Allen's car was parked on the opposite side of the street as dad was parked on our front. 3 hours later the mirror electrics and bracket appeared to be fixed and back on the door until we went over a speed bump and it snapped again. Lots of mumbling under breath happened.

Worse bit was it happened on the speed bump outside the craft shop where Allen was taking me (yes I do feel slightly guilty). I carried out my threat and bought myself a tote I was really happy its a Papermania one and cost me £12. While there I also picked up a dragonfly stamp with sheet music behind the dragonfly for £2 and some new watercolour pencils. I would like to make it known I only actually went to look at tote bags no purchasing was intended.

My nestibilities arrived in the post this morning but I don't think the Cuttlebug will arrive until Tuesday as coming by a courier firm rather than Royal Mail and Saturday delivery is extra for some reason?





After all the hassle this morning I have only done one easy straightforward card as I just needed to relax. Here it is, one of the Kanban Wobblers they are so sweet I had to get the Zebra :0) Hopefully I will be able to get some others done today aswell. Im actually debating about making a start on Christmas cards already that way I won't have to rush or think about them at Christmas.

New Item Ordered

Well I have ordered myself a Cuttlebug I had a discount code for Handy Hippo so I decided to order it and a couple of embossing folders just to get me started a couple of paper stacks and card hopped into the basket as well. I was torn between the Cuttlebug and The Big Shot it finally came down to the fact I have to pack everything away when I am done and the Cuttlebug folds up and I have a space I can squeeze it into whereas I would not be able to leave the Big Shot out on the bench as I had planned.

I can not wait for it to arrive :0) I did also purchase some nestibilites to have a go with as well. Think my next biggish purchase will be Crafters Companion Ultimate Pro but that will have to wait until later in the month after I have paid to have a crown on a tooth I badly chipped when I was thrown off the horse. Only just been able to face going to the dentist.

Roll on tomorrow as I really want to get on with some card making hopefully a better update tomorrow with pictures of something constructive :0)

Right back to battling with some embroidery thread and a 9 page chart.

Withdrawal Symptoms

Im starting to get withdrawal symptoms from not having done any card making for a couple of days (well apart from the failed attempt) Im going to have to get more organised and make sure I pack some bits into a box so I can do bits while at home. Currently I am alternating reading through several card magazines and starting the mother of all cross-stitch patterns.

Ive always done cross - stitch its an on/off hobby currently I have an aircraft cross stitch underway (its somewhere I just don't know where) as I could not locate it I decided to start another of a horse jumping. There are 9 pages of the pattern and its going to be big. If its finished in 10 years I will be happy.

Been looking at digi stamps and writing a list of some I would like to have thats kept me occupied for quite a while as well. Im also determined to fit card making in when I go back to work, well whenever that will be hopefully a month after leg comes out of cast. If thats the case I will have been off work 6 months

Well I have reached the conclusion when I try using card set's that come with magazines it turns into a disaster. Im going to hang fire and wait till I can get to my crafting bits. Im beginning to think I could do with a tote or something I can pack so I can move some of my crafty bits between the two places. That would be better that way I dont have to wait until the weekend to try and get it all done.

Oh well at least Im getting some more bonding time in with new hamster (the previous one Fruitloop (in my blogger avatar) passed away in Feb this year on my 25th Birthday which was also after I broke leg not a good year so far) he's named Gizmo he will have been with us a week tomorrow and is doing well still jumpy at some noises but took to us handling him very well. Only one bad photo so far as he won't stay still long enough



and my previous sweetie Fruitloop

Owww

Ive been in a bit of pain after stupidly getting sunburnt on my arms and hands on Sunday. I popped out for a bit of radio controlled flying with dad put suntan lotion on and three hours later after much holding the transmitter and many flights I could barely move my arms.

Yesterday was awful so I did not even attempt to start any cards however after much aftersun it still stings but not as bad so I think I will attempt to make one or two cards today. I will be using a Flower Fairies set that came with Let's Make Cards to just make some straightforward simple ones. I will of course still be playing around and thinking of trying different card folds etc.

Another reason for this is my card making stuff is at boyfriends parents house and Im at home armed only with some glue, knife and a ruler. (We are hoping to get a place of our own next year - fingers crossed)

Three More ......

Wow three more cards done I think this is a record (well for me) first up we have a 'Hello' card, the stamp was free with a magazine and the sentiment is from a See Dee's set which I have embossed in silver. I coloured the image with Pro Markers and went to town with Tim Holtz's Old Paper Distressed ink and Broken China on the sentiment. The backing papers and die cut/ ribbon were some I had laying around in the stash.






For the next one I used Flower Soft's Moment's in Time- Grows With Love Stamp I coloured the image using Pro Markers and watercolour pencils. Once dry I applied some Flower Soft glue and used Flower Softs Ultra Fine - Sage to add some depth to the grass (not sure if you can see in the pic). Next I used Tim Holtz's Vintage Photo around the edge of the image.

(The Trimmer I bought is a god send as the different edgings cartridges make life much eaasier)

The back paper is from My Minds Eye Pretty Please Spring Papers. I then used the small tree stamp from the Kanban Autumn set and stamped one image in Versa ink baby blue and another in Versa ink Sandstone (bottom left I think you can just make it out on the pic) The final thing was to use the sentiment from the Kanban Spring Garden set.





and finally a Christmas card the ribbon was tucked away in a drawer, the backing paper is from Crafts House Paper Pack , Plum Pudding, the Woodware Christmas Pudding stamps are coloured using Pro Markers and I decided to use Tim Holtz distressed ink - Tea Dye as the white card seemed really bright and I thought it could do with toning down. The final thing was to add a Merry Christmas sentiment to the top of the card





Phew that was a lot for a Sunday morning I think I might reward myself with a trip outside for some fresh air.

Blog Changes

Well this morning I thought I would have a play around and the result was finding the blogger template designer so I have had a quick play around. I think it looks slightly better and not as dull. Right that's enough procrastinating back to the workbench and onwards with card making before I give into temptation and go outside for a while later.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge # 102 - 'Lots of Dots'

Well after the excitement of my new purchases I decided to get cracking at making a card only to discover I had run out of double sided sticky tape and my tape roller was running out. So ensued a mad dash to the local craft shop to stock up on the supplies while there I also purchased some more paper (Im learning can never have too much) and picked up some polka dotted paper (it was new in)

Once home and settled back at the workbench (after having to move some of mine and boyfriends model kits from it) After a quick check on the blogs I discovered the Penny Black Saturday Challenge so thought I would have a play with the new items and see what I could come up with.


The result:




Im really pleased with it especially as it is only the 5th card I have made to date. (The white paper around the outside is a piece of backing paper not part of the card ;0) )

Items used

Penny Black 'It's Your Day' Stamp Set

See D's Greetings Stamp

Gold Mirror Card

Black and White Polka Dot Paper

White and Black Polka Dot Paper

Stamp-unstuff Pacific Blue Embossing Powder

Tim Holtz Distress Pad - Old Paper

Tim Holtz Distress Pad - Broken China

Red Ribbon (found lurking in a drawer)

I must be getting brave entering this I really enjoyed making it and I would seriously consider making another now but as its just gone Midnight I think I will find my way to bed.

Purchases have arrived

One very happy bunny here as this little lot all arrived this morning from various sources. I have been on a bit of a spending spree as Im really enjoying and getting into this hobby so thought it is worth the investment. The goodies are: Woodware paper trimmer with extra patterned blades (I can't cut straight with scissors to save my life), Woodware Oriental ladies stamp set, Rock-A-Blocks set, Sticky stuff spray, Two lots of Pro-Markers and 4 Sweet Pea stamps :0)

Right time to put some of these to use and get making something :0)

Back On-line and some bits and pieces

Well Im finally back on-line the internet connection should now be ok (touches a very large piece of wood)

Shamefully I only managed to get 2 cards made however I did get some toppers made. The embellishments, papers etc came from two different ATC starter packs I purchased from eBay as I really liked the designs in the packs and there was a variety of things I could do with these rather than spending a lot on the bits I would have needed to do them myself :0)




The two cards




Six Oriental themed toppers





and another six



Six Victorian (?) themed toppers





and another five.


I have also ordered a few more bits and pieces nothing exciting some Pro Markers, Rock a Block acrylic stamp blocks, paper trimmer (with 8 different interchangeable blades) Watercolour pencils, water pens, some clear stamps and I have ordered some Sweet Pea stamps as I have found somewhere on-line in the U.K that stocks them. Looking forward to them arriving and playing around with them

Internet has decided to stop working

Sorry for lack of updates and pics but the internet connection has gone down so when it is back working (fingers crossed for Saturday) expect a biggish update when it is working.I am working on an Oriental themed card and have done an ATC as well.

Drum roll...........

I have actually managed to play around with some water colour pencils and aqua pro markers and I think the pics are slightly better as well (woooo)I think the pencils have worked better for me than the pro markers but I think I must be going wrong somewhere with them.

I picked up the rubber stamps for £1 each (apart from the Christmas Pud and Penny Black Cat ones) I thought that was extremely good.I just stamped several of each image and coloured one in pencil one in pro markers. Im sure you will be able to see the difference but the lighter ones are the pencils.

The ink down the side of one of the pieces of card was me playing with some distress inks and sponge.I was not too careful with stamping the images as I just wanted to really try out the colouring aspect.I also did them on scrap card although one or two maybe cut out and used as card toppers

Again any comments etc are always welcomed

Well my first attempt at trying to make a thank you card using stamps. I don't think the card turned out too badly but I think some better photos are required. I used clear ink for the horse's head and then used copper embossing powder over the image. This was my first time using Embossing powder. I used Silver ink for 'See Dees' Thank You stamp. The backing paper was a free gift with a magazine. I had some self adhesive gems laying around which I added round the sentiment and found an off cut of ribbon to add across the corner.


Currently I am stamping out some other images so I can play around with my Aqua Promarkers and watercolour pencils I have not used either before and I am looking forward to experimenting with them and having a general play around.

Welcome to my blog hopefully over the next few days I will be getting more pics uploaded and start to blog as I go about card making. I hope to show in progress works on here as well as the finished articles :0)