My craft room ...

 ... is small and cosy, and it's all mine!!  I love having this space.  It's a place where I go, close the door and immerse myself in crafting.  I don't worry about the housework, getting the dinner or doing OU assignments.  It's a haven. 

  

But it's absolutely stuffed and I think I need a bigger room!  I think the saying is that you expand to fill the room you have - it's certainly true in my case. 

The plastic boxes with blue handles (see right) are made by a company called Really Useful Boxes - and they are exactly that.  I keep my wooden and clear unmounted stamps in them.  These are the 4 litre size and each will take two layers of wooden stamps, but loads more clear stamps.  I am up to Box 25!!  You do the maths :)))

I had the shelf unit (left) built about two years ago.  It's brilliant I have places for punches, a wide shelf for lots of card blanks - all sizes and underneath the unit is a space for boxes of card as well as my travelling craft bag.  Oh yes, my sewing machine (not used for a while) is also hidden under there.  I'll have to get it out shortly to make a skirt for Kathryn.

The plastic boxes in this unit are also by Really Useful, but this time they are the 7 litre size, which is perfect for holding 12" x 12" scrapbook papers.  In fact, I think I need to get another one of those shortly as the ones I have are just about full.
 

This is my desk - a small area, but it's actually quite easy to work there as all my equipment is so easy to reach.

And this is what was on my desk today: the card I made for the One Stop Craft Challenge - along with the paints I used.  There are a couple of completed St Nick figures from the Nutcracker Sweet set and a snowflake medallion that I will be colouring soon.

And that's all for now.  I'm off to play on the Wii with Kathryn and then do another challenge which I hope to post tomorrow.  See you soon.

One stop craft challenge ...

... I've done it.  I've finished my card for this week's challenge at One Stop Craft Challenge - it's to make something that features snowflakes.  I couldn't resist this - I simply love snowflakes - and have far too many snowflake stamps, so this has been a good opportunity to put some ink on them. 

I used a soft ivory pearlised card in landscape format.  The stamps all come from a set by Elusive Images called Snow is Falling.  It's a lovely set - featuring lots of snowflakes; some very large like the centre piece of my card and other smaller snowflakes.  There are also some snowmen and a lovely plaque of snow covered houses. The image was stamped in brilliance inks silver, ice-blue and lilac.  I painted the main image with Twinkling H20s.

This is just a quick post, as I've got to take Kathryn off to her dance lesson.  Will be back later.

Blog hopping ...

...  can be quite addictive I've discovered today.  I've been looking for a few challenges to do - and found loads!!  How can anyone keep up with the number of challenges out there?  As it's all still quite new to me, I've decided that for the time beginning (at least) I'll stick to Simplicity One Layer Wednesday, Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge and add a couple of others I've found.  As a consequence of blog hopping all morning, I didn't get around to making the card I had planned.  But I'll get it finished and post it tomorrow.

The other reason for not getting the card finished, was that I had some work done in my craftroom today.  It's a small room which is packed to the rafters!  I had a bit of spare wall and thought there was enough space for some shelves, so Gareth fitted them in for me today.  I've already started to move various punches and boxes of goodies to their new homes.  Will post a picture tomorrow. 

I've not been that organised today with regards crafting.  I think it's because I'm concentrating on my assignment - and I did do quite a bit on that today.  Two questions done - four more to go. 

That's all for this evening, I'm having a few problems with Blogger at the moment.  Hopefully, normal service will resume tomorrow.  See you then.

No crafting today ...

... instead I went hunting for a new tap.  Not the most thrilling of jobs and also not very successful.  All I want is a lovely new kitchen tap that has an extendable hose, so that I can reach the corners of the drainer, in an nice antique brass finish.  No such luck.  As far as I can see, I can only get this type of tap in stainless steel or chrome.  And the price - anyone would think they were made of gold!  So I'm going to stick with my current tap - until I win the lottery and have a complete redesign!!  Well, I can dream, can't I?

I've been finalising numbers for my Stampin' Up! party on Saturday, should be a reasonably good turnout.  I've been keeping an eye on Splitcoaststampers for new stamps and things that might be in the new UK catalogue.  One of my favourite sets, which I saw well over a year ago, is the Fifth Avenue Florals - a wonderful rose outline stamp along with two further flowers and some words.  But it wasn't in the 2009 catalogue - so here's hoping it'll be in 2010.  There are others, but I'll just have to be patient!! 

I like to try out different techniques - and in 2008 I used gilding flakes for the first time.  I'd watched a demo by Dawn Bibby and thought the effect was stunning.  So I decided to make a Valentine card for Jonathan.

In my stash of peeloffs (of which I have far too many, and must reorganise) I found a beautiful black heart which I wanted to use as the focus of the card.  There are various methods that can be used to achieve this effect.  For the heart above I used a piece of double sided adhesive sheet, then I removed the top protective layer and carefully placed on the black peeloff.  Next I added some of my gilding flakes (a mixture of red, gold and silver) and rubbed with a toothbrush to burnish the flakes into place and remove any excess.  I worked over a large box to catch the excess - I don't waste anything.  I wanted a simple but striking background, so ran some red mirri card through my bug - I used the Love Language set, and rounded the corners of the card.  I used the same set for the hearts and words - these were done in shiny black mirri card.  Finally I added a strip of black ribbon.  I'm still pleased with this card.

Reviewing my cards - I realise that I have already done some cards in the one layer style favoured by Susan Raihala of Simplicity.  I used the Fantasy Tree stamp by Penny Black for several Christmas cards.  I followed some layouts that had been featured in one of the craft magazines (sorry, can't remember which one).  I was very pleased with the result.

That's all for tonight.  I'll be back again tomorrow.

Christmas preparations ....

... I think it's time I started mine.  I've seen some wonderful Christmas cards on Splitcoaststampers and Docrafts Gallery - there are so many talented people about.  And I'm only just starting to think about my cards. 

Our family and friends are spread about the UK, consequently, I have to make quite a lot of cards - normally in excess of 150!!  I usually end up helping the children too.  I also try to make some to sell at the school and/or Scout fete.  So I think I'd better get started.  To be fair, I do have some lovely Nutcracker stamps that will be perfect for a series of 10 cards.  And I know that I'm going to be using some Christmas tree and holly stamps.  I hope to get some new sets from Stampin' Up! after my party on Saturday - so I may be using some baubles too.  Below are some of the cards I made in 2008 featuring the Elusive Images Christmas Trees and Holly spray.

I did a series of eight black and white cards featuring various Christmas trees.   I did half of them with black trees on a white background and the other half with white trees on a black background.  I was very pleased with the way these turned out.  And they were popular at the school fair too - I sold most of them and had to make some more. 

For this series of eight cards, I did red,black and white.  I used the same stamps, with half the set stamped red trees on a white background and the other half red trees on a black background.  While the red trees on a black background looked great in reallife, they didn't photograph very well.  But below is one of the red trees on white - which worked really well and looked really luxurious.

I find that holly leaves tend to feature heavily on my Christmas cards - and in the Christmas trees set from Elusive Images was a beautiful holly spray which worked really well.

So these are cards from Christmas Past.  Now I need to concentrate on Christmas Future.  At craft class this morning I was playing with my Nutcracker stamps and working out different colour schemes - hopefully, I'll post some pictures later this week.  To be honest, I didn't get much done this morning as it was our first meeting since July and we all had so much catching up to do.  Swapping stories of summer holidays and showing off our new goodies :))

I'll say good night now, as I must get back to my astronomy course.  I find that making cards is a great way to avoid working on my assignment - but it's due in on 28th October so I really must get down to some serious work.  See you tomorrow.

A glorious weekend ...

... wall to wall sunshine, brilliant blue skies, birds singing and quite warm too.  It seems that summer's going out with a bang!!  We had a great weekend visiting not one, but two Food & Drink Festivals - in Nantwich and Mold.  Both were very good and I now have lots of new chuntneys, jams and cheeses to try.  The stall holders were very generous, most of them had lots of little bowls with samples of what they were selling set out and Kathryn was very busy helping herself to most of them!  I tasted some very interesting cheeses - and some that weren't so great.  I tried a lovely pork pie, but didn't buy it immediately as we'd only just arrived.  Sadly when we got back to the lady's stall, she'd sold out.  Good for her, but not so good for me.  That'll teach me to buy when I see it. 

Jonathan and Kathryn found a stall selling chocolate.   They tried two flavours I would never have considered - Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt which Jonathan says tasted as it sounds, but really brought out the flavour of the chocolate - and White Chocolate with Lemon and Poppy Seeds which, according to my two tasters, was just lovely!!  And because I was being "good" - I missed them both.  But we did have some wondeful icecream cones - handmade icecream and sorbet.  We tried carmelised apple sorbet (wonderful), plum sorbet and banoffee sorbet (scrummy), along with vanilla and belgium chocolate icecream - both delicious.

With all the wonderful food and drink on display, and the lovely colours and smells of autumn about, it made me feel very thankful for all these gifts.  So I thought I'd try to make a card to reflect this time of plenty, and tie it in with the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge for this week. 

Sketch blank



My interpretation of the sketch is shown below.  Autumnal colours are not my usual choice, but I'm really pleased with how this has turned out.

  

WMSC16

Waltzingmouse Stamps: Blessed by You; Faux Fun; Peace & Plenty; Very Vintage Labels No 10.

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Antique Linen; Spiced Marmalade; Dusky Concord; Rusty Hinge; Shabby Shutters; Wild Honey

Spellbinders:  Nesties Labels 10

Pens: Promarkers

Jonathan was also busy getting ready for the first photograph competition of the year.  Earlier in the week he'd ordered some large prints - it's just great being able to select your images at home, email them to a printing specialist and then get them back, all in about 4 days.  Anyway, we got some large sheets of moutboard from Hobbycraft and I spent this afternoon cutting it to size and then mounting the photos.  I know I'm biased, but I think Jonathan takes really good pictures.  Anyway, he's taking them to the club tomorrow and we'll find out the result in two weeks.  If you want to see Jonathan's photos, check out his website.  

Tomorrow our Craft Club starts back after a break of two months.  I know that we are all looking forward to getting back to it, although we're likely to spend most of the first meeting just chatting.  

I've just done a bit of Stat checking and see that I've had visitors from Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and South Korea - welcome to you all - and thank you for dropping by. 

That's all for this evening, I managed to get back a bit earlier than I thought.  I trust you all had a great weekend.  Back again tomorrow.

Autumn has arrived ...

... it's now official - and the weather has certainly changed.  The clear blue skies and sunshine have vanished.  It's rained almost constantly for the last two days - it's been warm though.  I don't mind autumn when it's cold, crisp and dry.  But I do so hate those warm, muggy, grey days.  Still autumn does have it's own beauty.  I love to see the trees change colours and hear the wind as it blows through the trees.  And there's nothing nicer than walking through piles of crisp fallen leaves - being careful, of course, not to disturb any wildlife that might be hiding there.

Earlier this year, Ben asked me to make a card for his Dad's birthday.  Ben wanted the card to fun.  I used a super set called Party Animal.  I liked the image of a guy celebrating with a glass of champagne - something that Kim is apt to do :)   It also gave me the chance to try out my, at the time, new promarkers.  I got them for my birthday in June.  I fell in love with them immediately - I think the finish is lovely.  It's a fairly quick card.  The background paper coordinates with the stamp set and I added the balloons and champagne bottle for extra detail.  Ben was very pleased with the card, as was I.  Ben used to make his own cards, but I suppose it's one of those things that happen as boys become teenagers - he doesn't do crafty bits anymore.

The other card was made for friends who had a new baby earlier in the year.  They already have a lovely little boy, and were delighted that the new arrival was a girl.  It gave me the opportunity to make a baby card!  And all soft pinks.  I used a lovely Forever Friends teddy which I decoupaged.  This is not a technique I do often, but it really worked for this image.  I coloured the bear with Prisma pencils and then stamped the image again on some lovely pink checked paper and cut out the blanket.  I used Spellbinders nesties circles and pinking circles to mount the image.  The backing paper with swirls is a Pink Petticoat pattern - can't remember which one.  But they always have lovely new designs and kits - you can download the images or get them on DVD.  I added personalised greetings which I did on the computer - it took a while to match the pink text to the background but it was worth the effort.  To finish it all off, I added a lovely pink organza ribbon. 

Bye for now.  I may not get chance to post over the weekend - lots of family plans.  So I'll be back on Monday.  Wishing you all a good weekend.

One layer Wednesday ....

.... gosh, it's hard to make one layer cards.  Well, it is for me ;)  The Simplicity challenge this week was to make a one layer card with nature as the inspiration.  As usual, Susan, requested that embellishments be kept to a minimum.  I've amazed myself - I managed not one card, but three!!  For someone who finds no layers really difficult, I think that brilliant.  I'd be very interested to get some feedback on these cards.  I did find them extremely difficult and I don't think I could have managed at all without my stamp-a-ma-jig. 

All the cards are A6 in size and I've gone for plain white cards with no texture.  I bought some lovely botanical stamps some while ago, but haven't really used them much.  They are all very pretty and it was tough to decide which to use.  The one I decided on is like cow parsley and is very delicate.  The images aren't as clear as I'd like; I used Marvy Le Plume pens to colour and found that the ink is a bit too wet!!  I felt that a strong sentiment was needed to balance the images and found this one in my collection.  I thought that it would add some interest to make the words in script pop - so I used red.  I'm reasonably pleased with the result.

The next card is in landscape format.  I used the wonderful Stampendous Fantasy Tree - which I've used a lot in the past.  It's such a versatile image.  Here I've kept things really simple - and it was really hard not to add something to the tree - like flower soft.  I used Tim Holtz Distress ink in Tea Dye and added a very small greeting.  My husband likes this card the best of the three.

The last of the three is my favourite.  I cut a stencil on scrap card using the Spellbinders Labels 10 set - I think is was third one in.  I sponged the shape with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tumbled Glass - which is just lovely.  Then I found my Stampendous Agapanthus stamp - one of my favourite summer flowers. It's such an elegant stamp.  I used my Marvy pens to colour this in dark green and turquoise blue and stamped over the panel.  I found a very clear and simple message - "thinking of you" - which means that the card could be used for any number of occasions.  As I said, I am most pleased with this one.

What do you think?  I'd love to get some feedback on these cards.  I found them much harder than my usual style and not an embellishment on any of them!

That's all for this evening.  Back again soon.

Rockstar and grunge ....

...  the current fashion which the teens really love.   And the Rockstar set from Inkadinkado is so appropriate.  I decided to use it and several other sets for the commissioned cards.   Sam will be 12 this weekend.  Inspiration came from several cards which I've seen on Splitcoaststampers - specifically Stampersandee, Hartvillestamper, Kellybee, Corrosive 69 and Stampersandee again; as well as from some guitar cards that I've previously made.

Sam's card - from his mum and dad

Jacqui wanted a large card (which is from her and her husband) and a smaller card which will be from Sam's brothers and sister.  Jacqui bought one of my guitar cards earlier this year and she thought that style would be good.  But I wanted to do something a little more special. 

The card is 10" x 7" and the supplies used include DCWV 12" x 12" Rockstar paper; the Inkadinkado stamps; Making Memories stamps - Just Chillin'; Waltzing Mouse Stamps - Music; Tim Holtz Distress Inks and some holographic silver card that I got from QVC.  The birthday greeting is made from a Docrafts stamp (now discontinued) which I layered using Spellbinders pinking circles.  I used Spellbinders long rectangles to make the two smaller panels and I simply cut out the backing panel.  On all three panels I used a very subtle dotty background stamp which gives a nice distressed look.  I've also done an insert for the card which has a smudged border and guitar in very light grey.  I'm pleased with how this card has turned out. 

The other card was created from most of the same supplies - but in shades of blue, brown and copper.  I added a lovely star stamp that I got free with Craft Stamper.  I used the Spellbinders Small and Large Labels to form the toppers and to finish the card off I added three little copper brads.

For Sam - from his brothers and sister

Insert from the big card

Sorry, but I haven't included links on all the supplies - as it takes soooo long to write the blog!!  If anyone wants specific information - make a comment and I'll get back to you.

As for the OLW - I'm still think about that one.  As you can see from these cards, clean, simple and one layer are not my usual style!!  So it may be a while before I get the challenge card finished.

That's all for today.  I have to do some work on my assignment, so I'll be back tomorrow.  Who knows, I might even get to post a picture of my OLW!!!  Here's hoping.

The best laid plans ...

don't always work out the way you want them to.  I got all my ironing done this morning - yea!!  But I've got another pile waiting now as I also manged to get all the washing done.  I managed to fix my vacuum cleaner and do a quick run round the house. 

So the plan for the afternoon was to make a card for Susan's OLW challenge.  However, while in the playground waiting for my daughter, one my friends came up and asked me if I could do a couple of cards for her - for tomorrow!!  So I've been busy working on them this evening.  I've almost finished them and will post pictures tomorrow.

And I think our Indian Summer has come to an end.  It was lovely this morning; really very warm and sunny for the time of year.  But the clouds arrived just as I was going to collect Kathryn from school.  And sure enough, it's been raining non-stop since about 5.00 pm.  And the weather forecast for the weekend isn't promising.



For my Mother-in-law



So instead of showing my attempt at a CAS style card for the challenge, I'll show you the cards I made for my Mum and Mother-in-law for Mother's Day. 

Last year's calender had some really pretty pictures on it, so I decided to do a bit of recycling and saved them for future use. 

For my Mum

As the pictures were quite large I needed a big card - so these are 10" x 7".  In both cases I kept the cards very simple - I just added the picture, used the wonderful medallion stamp from Stampin Up and added the greeting - also from Stampin Up.  You can find a Stampin Up demonstrator by visiting their website.

For my mum-in-law I opted for a landscape version and used some lovely brilliance inks in shades of pink, peach and yellow.  And for Mum's card I used the brilliance inks in shades of pink, purple and lilac.

They were both delighted with their cards - and I'm rather pleased with them too.

Finally, I've been checking my stats - that's the geek in me coming out to play!!  I'm pleased to say Hello and Welcome to readers in Finland and Ireland, as well as those of you from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Germany.  I love being able to see where everyone is.  I'm so glad you are enjoying my blog.  I'm having a great time writing it.  And that's all for now, I'll be back tomorrow.

Thinking cap on ...

...  that's me at the moment.  Now that I've decided to try a few more challenges, I popped over to Simplicity this morning to see what Susan has set for the OLW challenge.  The theme this week - nature.  There are endless possibilities - if only I could think of something!   The usual rules apply - card to be a single layer with the minimal embellishments. 

So, I'm going to get busy with the housework and while I'm doing it I'll think about my OLW.  Us girls are just so brilliant at multi-tasking!  Hopefully I'll come up with something and end up with a house that shining and new :)  Bye for now.

It's finished ....

... I've done it - Kathryn's little scrapbook is finished.  I based it very much on the layout that I did for Ben's book - there are a few changes, but that's to be expected.  I opted for background card in pink and lilac - suitably girly!  I'm really pleased with the way it's turned out.  Both these little books will go with me when I have to be away from the family - yes, I know I'm soft.  It was so hard deciding which pictures to include in the scrapbook - we've over 4,000 images of her.  It's mad!!  If we still had to print out our photos I'm sure we wouldn't have that many, but it does mean that I've plenty to choose from. 

I used lots of images from Waltzing Mouse Stamps to decorate Kathryn's scrapbook, they are: Celtic Hertiage, Oven Fresh Gingerbread Joy, Victorian Frippery, Sewing Box - Hugs, Faux Fun,  Off Beat Backgrounds, Free Spirit - Boy, Pic-Nic Patterns, Halloween Party and Say it with Style.  I have rather a lot of Claire's stamps ;)

If you want to see all the scrapbook - check out Flickr, but I'll show a few of my (current) favourites.

Kathryn - as a toddler

Kathryn - Benidorm last year

Kathryn - hippy chick!!

I have to say that I'm really enjoying writing a blog.  It has really helped me to focus on Kathryn's scrapbook - which I started at the same time as Ben's!!  I find that I'm looking at the various challenges out there and having taken the leap this weeek with WMSC15, I think I'll have a go at a few more. Susan Raihalla sets a "One Layer Wednesday" challenge on her blog Simplicity - I think I may have to check that out tomorrow.  I struggle to keep things clean and simple, so it will really test my ability to meet her challenge. 

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has left me a comment - I read them all and appreciate you taking the time to give me some feedback.  Anyway, it's getting late, so I'll say bye for now.  See you again tomorrow.

So pampered ...

... today - I had the most wonderful relaxing facial this morning.  I was given a course of treatments as part of my birthday present in June.  Today was the second session - four more to go - and it was fantastic.  Steph, my beautician, is super - she has the most brilliant hands.  I had a bit of tension in my shoulders and she worked it all out.  If you've not tried a facial before - I highly recommend them.

When I got home it was back to the more mundane things in life.  You know, washing, cleaning, tidying!!  I did a bit just so that I didn't feel too guilty when I went back into my craft room.  I've been busy working on the scrapbook - it's almost done.  Hopefully I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Today's cards were made for an anniversary and a birthday.  I decided that some simple flowers would be most appropriate for the card.  These poppies are just lovely - I don't know who made them as I borrowed the stamp from my friend Kath.  I embossed the image in gold and then coloured it using Twinkling H2Os.  These give a really pretty shimmer to the image.  I mounted it on some pretty paper and topped it off with a pink ribbon.   The finished card was 5 x 7 in size.

The birthday card was altogether different.  This was a special request for a 70th birthday and I was asked to include pink and black as the colours.  I decided to make a large card and opted for an A4 card.  I stamped the blank with some lovely flourish images that I got from QVC - I used Memento London Fog as it gives a more subtle finish.  The lovely pink card is from Kanban - again purchased from QVC as a set (I'm not sure whether it's still in stock).  I mounted the main piece and the topper onto some shiny black card for definition, and the I used a Marianne Design die to cut this elegant black butterfly.  The lettering and numbers were cut with the Cuttlebug Olivia alphabet.  Finally, the birthday greeting was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and I inked over with one of the Tim Holtz Distress Inks - can't remember the name at the moment.  Jackie was delighted with card and so, I believe, was her Mum.

Anyway, that's all for now.  I'm about to take Kathryn off for her ballet lesson.  Will be back again this evening.

Indian Summer ....

... today has been so warm; it's almost like summer.  I love it when you get these days in the Autumn - it makes seem like summer is still with us.  But I know that's only an illusion - it was very cold on Sunday morning.  But it's been nice and I've enjoyed it.

I was excited earlier as I posted my first challenge attempt.  It really does make you think!  And I've been reading Susan Raihala's blog - Simplicity.  She's been writing about inspiration and I found it very helpful - I'll be back there again tomorrow. 

And it got me to thinking, where do I get my inspiration?  To be honest it varies.  Sometimes I have a clear idea of what I want to do.  The card I did for Annabel (see 13 September - not sure how to do back links yet) was one of those.  

And I made a card for Jonathan's birthday - this was a special reqeust from Ben for his Dad.  They both play the online game World of Warcraft and visually it is a wonderful game.  So I did a screengrab and used that as the basis for the card.  I love the colours in the image and  I used a pearl card in deep burgundy and mounted the image onto some peach glitter paper to co-ordinate.  I added the greeting to the image in Publisher.  To add some interest I made a border on the glitter paper using the Traditional Scallop punch from Martha Stewart.  It's a quick and simple card, but really personal to both Ben and Jonathan.

And then sometimes the occasion dictates the type of card to make.  Earlier this year a friend of mine lost her mother - she'd been ill, but it was still very unexpected.  I always find it tough to do sympathy cards, but I think it's so important to show that you're thinking of the person and are there to help.  I chose this image of a tree (Kanban which I got from QVC) and embossed it in silver on black card.  I added a plain border from the Very Vintage Labels No 3 set - a clean and simple topper.  I then cut a square of vellum which has a very subtle leaf image on it and I used the Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace punch round the page set to add the border.  The sentiment was made from some Dawn Bibby peel offs which I coloured black to match the card.  Overall a clean and simple design.

And that's all for today.  I have to get some studying done tonight - studying an Open University science course about Astronomy - it's great.  I have an assignment due in October, so I need to do some reading.  I'll be back again tomorrow.

It's a challenge ...

... and it's the first one I've ever done.  I decided that it was time to attempt one of the various challenges I see on people's blogs.  I'm not sure whether this is going to work, but I've done a card for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - the sketch is shown below. 

For my take on this, I used a landscape A5 card which has a hammered texture.  I've tried to be original, but I'm not sure it is :)  However, I used the Waltzing Mouse Stamps Sweetheart set.  This is a very romantic set, in fact it's one of the first sets I bought.  I used the medium solid heart and stamped seven images in rainbow colours.  I then punched them out with a postage stamp punch (not sure which company it was from).  I inked the punched edges to match the heart and then laid them out in order.  I mounted them onto a piece of card which I shaded at the edge using Memento London Fog - nice and subtle.  I added some arrowss and a bow and arrow in the corner of the card.  The sentiment was made on my computer and cut out using the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Set.  Finally, added a smudged edge to the card using London Fog.  I'm reasonably pleased with the result.  I do hope you like it too.

That's all for now.  Will be back later.

Penguins and bears ...

... and if that's not confusing I don't know what is :)   The bears part is really easy - it's a picture of Kathryn and her friends taken yesterday at her party lunch!!  I think the girls look just fabulous.  And then there's the cake, candles and Kathryn - making a wish.


Making a wish!!



Kathryn, her friends and their bears

And the penguins bit refers to my first ever scrapbook.  From the end of November 2009 to mid-January 2010, Liverpool hosted a Penguin Trail.  This was a huge public art festival, sponsored by Liverpool Council, and involved many local community groups, schools and artists.  The penguins were positioned all over Liverpool and a trail map was produced.  We had a couple of fantastic days exploring the city, seeing the fabulous buildings and taking photos of the penguins.  It was great - so many families were out with their children having a great time. 

And in January this year, as some of you will remember, we had some really, really heavy snowfalls - so much so that Liverpool city centre actually closed at one point!!  By Saturday 9th January, the weather had eased and we made our last trip over by ferry.  Liverpool looked magical.  It was so quiet - no cars or buses about - just a few adventurers like us.  You could almost forget that Liverpool is a huge, bustling city.  We got so many photos that I decided I had to do something with them.  Digital photography is great, but it does mean that many images remain on the computer.  I'd been meaning to do a scrapbook for ages and it seemed that this was the perfect excuse.  I got some wonderful 12 x 12 papers from Purple Butterfly (one of my local craft shops) - and they were in blues, lilacs and purples with snowflake and swirl patterns.  So I went for it.  I'll show a few pages from the album, if you like to see the rest visit my Flickr page.

Kathryn, Jonathan & Ben - my favourite people!!

That's all for now.  I'm off to do some work on my little 6 x 6 scrapbook about Kathryn.  I've been busy on that - got all the photos sorted out and I've decided on the backing papers.  Now all I have to do is put it together. 

Wishing you all well - be back soon.