Just a few recent Orders

love easel

Golfing

Teya

Mummy bear

For anyone who doesn't visit my facebook card page and see what I do, I thought I would really quickly post a few pictures of my latest card orders. I will revisit and blog about each one individually when I get the chance. I just have the rather fun task of plucking my eyebrows, so I will look like a tearful snotty mess when I have finished. Does plucking your eyebrows make your eyes water and give you the serious snuffles, or is it just me?! lol

Bet with comments like that, you are all wondering why you joined my blog hehe!...Lets just say, I'm not the most prude person of all and I will say what I am thinking at the time. Which you will either find funny or irritating?! You decide! ********

Anyways here are the pics:- feel free to take a peek and maybe place an order via my email address or my facebook page. Any orders welcome. EYEBROWS THEN FIFTY AWAITS! ;)


sorry peeps, My blog won't let me for some reason. Will try again tomorrow xx

Ballet Tilda

Bridal octagon card

Bella The Elephant Shaker

Pearls in my hair

One digi two digi Three digi four

Digi stamps have always been a horror for me. As i have previously mentioned me and technology is not great at the best of times.

For those of you who don't know digi stamps are an innovative new way of crafting. Rather than stamping using rubber, clear or wooden stamps you can order an image online pay like you would any other product, then print out from your printer. There are several advantages to digital stamping:-

1. you can save money by only having to buy the image rather than inks and acrylic blocks,- obviously just purchasing the colour medium to fill the image in. My item of choice being promarkers
2. you don't have to wait for an image to be delivered, If you want a design for a last minute order they email you the link and you download the image immediately.
3. Meaning no postage costs.
4. If storage is an issue digital images are a fab alternative. They are stored on your hard drive so taking no space in your room whatsoever.

The only disadvantage is that I enjoy stamping with inks its the feel of the stamps, getting really inky fingers-that's the fun of crafting. So I just have a variety of both digi, rubber and clear stamps.

Here is my first attempt using a digi stamp:-

I got an order for a lady at work who was celebrating, her life begins at 40, birthday. I was looking for an interesting image with a cocktail glass and stumbled across this:

This digi was perfect. The only downside to the image is that I coloured it in on 160gsm card which wasn't thick enough for the promarkers to be used so the promarkers bled a little, lesson learnt! x I added a quote and printed it off. Tearing one of the papers added another dimension. This torn paper is made using cosmic shimmers spritzed onto white card stock. This adds a glitter effect as well. 

Unsuccessful day

Evening folks,

Yet again, I haven't been updating my blog lately. I just can't seem to get the hang of it. How do I put links at the side to go to other pages I visit, challenges I take part in?! I'm lost haha!!!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and the birds singing, was way too hot and I took my coat to work, typical!! Today has been the exact opposite, miserable, wet and windy. Was stuck indoors doing absolutely nothing, my own fault, but just felt so tired, so I have been napping on and off lazy I know-But we all have days like that! don't we :). Otherwise I have been engrossed in the fifty shades series, I only had 3 chapters to finish on the second book, so I was on a mission to finish it. I don' think it's worth all the hype but now I've started I have to finish all the books. Oh my ;).

I apologise for the lack of blogs but I have all of a sudden been bombarded with card orders, which is fab, means all my hard work is finally paying off. Only trouble is I can't stop spending! My order from create and craft arrived today holographic black and silver card it was on offer, so I defeated the object and ordered two. It is stunning. I have also ordered some pinwheel bows, card stock and christmas stamps. That's right the dreaded "C" word is finally here! I am determined to get ahead this year as I have always been asked to make my friends wedding invitations. I am so pleased they have faith in me to give them what they want and it's an honour to be doing them. Just can't wait to get all the details and get started. xx

That's all for now Much love xx

Just had to share ....

                                    WELLINGTON BEAR

Apologies everyone I have a tendency to take photos when the cards are still wet. This tends to be because I usually have several cards to do that day and take a photo instantly after each card, so I don't forget to take one. There is nothing worse than making a card, not taking a photo and either wanting to tell someone what you have made but can't quite remember or wanting to show someone and you can't.

Here is a close up view of the wellington bear stamp:- 

 I tried so hard not to buy these adorable stamps and had to give in. The bear in the chair, "dad" and verse are all from the stamp sheet. I have coloured using promarkers and distress inks. The backing papers are from the ultimate wellington die cut pack and cut to size. The dark brown paper is 3 shades of brown distress inks with the verse stamped in the darkest shade. I have deliberately dropped the ink pad on the paper several times to make it looks like stains.  I have then stamped the verse on the stripey paper. Stamped "dad" on an oval cut out from a spellbinder and inked through the die.

I then added ribbon tied a bow, added gems and card candi and here is the result a beautiful card that any male would be happy to recieve. This could be done in bright vibrant colours for a child. Alternatively is you do not wish to use a bow then ruche the ribbon all along folding and sticking as you go -for an even more masculine look.

Been a while....

Hi all. Yet again it has been a while since I posted a blog. Still can't get the hang of it. Is it wrong to admit that?! :D
What is this weather playing at, one minute it is raining the next the sun is shining and you just feel so uncomfortably sticky, there is just no happy medium. If you were all granted one wish what would it be?....I would have more hours in the day. Time just flies by. I need at least 48 hours a day to feel like I am getting anywhere. But then again, *yawns* could you imagine that!!! I have been relatively busy with cards. One minute I have none to do then they come along like buses- not that I'm complaining I love making cards, putting smiles on others faces and adding a personal touch always shows someone you care.

Anyway here is what I have been up to. Here are three cards I made in the same way. Using 8 x 8 card blanks which are definitely my favourite by far.

       

                                           Close Up View

 This chef card is using Edwin the pasta chef from the magnolia range. My boyfriend is a chef and this image was an ideal cutesy image especially for him. I have coloured him in using promarkers and fine liner pens. I have used a variety of background papers and also made my own. The blue with writing on are words from the lili of the valley stamp set. I have chosen 5 words which I think sum him up or sum up his day. Ie smile, special. The blue is Big n Juicy ink pad brayered onto clarity stamp card to tie all the colours together. Buttons on male cards are a good way to add embellishment where flowers  tend to take their place on female cards. Add a ribbon round the centre and a patterned ribbon vertically tying a knot and cutting the ends to add another element of interest.

This police officer card or "under arrest" as I like to call it and "Mr Fix it" card are made using hunkydory character stamps. Great for all ages as they come with funky quotes to lighten the mood and add a touch of comedy. I have used kanban steam punk papers, hunkydory cardstock. bazzil basics card and brayered as previous. Gems, card candi and buttons finish off the cards nicely.

Strawberry kisses over indulgence and kitten

I wasn't going to upload a blog today, but have been overwhelmed by the response to a card I made for a colleague at work.

The strawberry kisses stamps range from Crafter's Companion is absolutely beautiful! They are ideal for male or female cards, but I have made two rather girly cards with them. They stamp absolutely beautifully and are soo easy to colour. The first one is the kitten in the flower pot.

Apologies for the lighting on this one, It is a lot brighter and glistens more than the picture shows. I get a lot of questions about what colour to use for the kitten. Ivory promarkers are good to take the harshness away from the whiteness of the card. Blending pinks with the blender is a good way to give a girly effect to the card. I have distressed the edges of the beaded circle with Tim Holtz distress inks. The papers are from the Do crafts capsule range.  This card was made for a 91 year old lady. Not a card you would usually associate with someone of this age, but she is incredibly modern and loves animals.

This next one is the one that has got a lot of reviews. I have entered it into the May Crafter's companion challenge blog! I think anyway! I'm not good at this! lol. I uploaded to another site, and people are asking to buy it. After I have already sold it. But can make again very similar. It uses the dog with the strawberries and cream in a bowl. I call it overindulgence because he looks satisfied with his feast of strawberries.

I have coloured him in cinnamon and tan promarkers with a hint of pink again to blend with the card. The strawberries are coloured in using pale pink, pastel pink, and antique pink for the darker bits above the glass. With a hint of berry red just around the outline. I have used hunkydory card stock for the backing papers and then distressed and dry embossed a piece of white card to accent the again and add another dimension. The wording is from lili of the valley. Adding lettering with peel offs for the name. Using a spellbinders border and crafter's companion card stock I have die cut a border to edge the embossed card. Lace from pinflair, flowers  and paper doilies from create and craft, gems and pearls are used to embellish the card and give it a luxurious feel.

I am not frightened to say, I myself LOVE IT!!!

A day in the life of:-

Thank you for everyone who has stopped by to read my blog, it means a lot. I haven't done much in the way of crafting just lately but plan to take a break from orders and do a batch for sale. This will give everyone ideas of what they can order, and also give me time to experiment with new ideas. I am overwhelmed by the support I have received.

I'm going to write a blog, that is not asking for sympathy but for people to listen and if you feel I am just a whingebag you are probably right!!! haha. But many people would have been in a similar mindset as I was at some point in there lives and at more times than one.

So here goes:-

Have you ever been in a time of your life, where you feel bored of waking up every day doing the same thing day in day out and feeling like there is no way out? I'm sure many have! I was having these days too regularly! I was having days where my make up wasn't right, having FAT days and days where I was just in tears all the time. I was too scared to try new things but wanted something to look forward to.

So I started dieting. I've always been overweight and never happy in my own skin, but tried every diet under the sun and always ended up giving up. I have a boyfriend who loves me for me and wouldn't care if I was a size 10 or a size 30, he would always say I'm beautiful. This diet lasted longer than normal, but then I got bored again and gave up.  I would sit for hours in the bathroom, or looking in the mirror hoping to miraculously be thin! But of course this doesn't happen. The bathroom was the only place I had peace and time to myself away from the world. I didn't want to feel like this any more. I have now got out of this state of mind and think if I won't do anything about it  ( at least not now) stop moaning about it and be happy in my own skin.

Craft is a good way to forget about things; get lost in the moment, and make yourself feel better. I have always been shy and at one stage of my life people would have called me a recluse! But craft made me feel I was achieving something but even better, something I enjoyed doing. Not only that you meet people you would never think you would associate with, just because you have completely different backgrounds. But you come together, in the passion that you share (craft!) . I'm not entirely sure where I am going with this, I had it all planned out in my head but now it just sounds daft typing it out. The point is something as simple as crafting can change your life-even if it does burn a hole in your purse! lol. Completing orders makes other people happy too and that is an added bonus.

In some ways, it's meeting different people that has given me the encouragement to stop being a worry wart, stop moaning about being stuck in a rut and do something about it. Don't get me wrong I have always had my support from my friends and am lucky to have a good few close ones, to have a chat, drink or dance anything really, but they don't understand the passion for card making.

One of the things I have always wanted to do is drive, I was too frightened to pick up the phone and book lessons. Too frightened to get in a car and make mistakes. But yesterday I had my first driving lesson and I loved it. Finally, I have something else to aim for along with one day owning my own craft business full time. The point to the diet etc was that I may have gave up on this, but I am not giving up on learning to drive and I'm definitely not giving up my dream.

I'm sure the diet will follow but if it doesn't I'm not going to dwell on it, I am me! and I am proud to be me! Even If I have just bored you all to sleep. :) hehe

Kanban Fan

Now I'm going to take a step back and show some cards made previously before the goody bags. I am an avid fan of Kanban, you will be aware of this the more you view my cards. I love my stamps from them and their papers. I do not tend to buy kits just in general as I don't have the imagination and creativity then, my memory draws a blank! I then become lazy and just piece the kits together and to me that's not putting any thought into it! Although I'm not badmouthing anyone who chooses to do this, as they have still made the effort to put the card together, with or without little added extras.

Anyway yet again I'm digressing! In  my previous post (my first one in January) -Yes that long ago- There are ladies stamps featured, these are Kanban, I have nearly every new stamp available. These include the vintage clothes, male steam punk collection, bears, Ladies, flowers, butterflies, background sets, lighthouse and I have now ordered the oriental stamps. I don't know what I am going to do with them yet but If you are after something oriental, please look this way! :D

But one of the most striking things they brought out, was the Kandi core! Like coredinations and other namesakes, only this is patterned! It can be distressed by sanding, inked on, stamped on, embossed, torn and made into paper flowers. Here are some cards made using this product:-

All of these examples have been put through the bigshot, with an embossing folder and then taken out and sanded with a sanding block. I have to say, I didn't invest in one of these, I raided my dads tool box and found he had 2, so thought he wouldn't miss one. LOL.  Then torn around the edges to distress further. The first one is using kanban stamps (the flowers and the butterflies). The butterflies have been stamped on white card and coloured with promarkers. Then re-stamped on acetate and sprayed with crafters companion glitter spray. These have then been folded down the centre glued down the middle, leaving the wings raised. When the lights hit these they look like they flutter. The flowers were coloured and then the clear varnish was sprayed over the top. 

Number 2

The motorcyle!

The motorcycle is a personal impressions stamp, coloured with promarkers and then glittered adding gems where I thought necessary. The background is made by using 2 shades of distress inks and then stamped with the darker colour. The cogs are stamped onto black card, from the Kanban steam punk collection and then cut out, positioning accordingly.

The dress is also a Kanban stamp, decoupaged and put clear glossy accents over the top to give it that 3D effect. The bows added an embellishment to the card, but also fitted in with the fashion theme. 

Finally the baby Alfie card is done the same way with the kandi core but the baby boy is a kanban card topper. These cards are to show distressing doesn't have to be used on vintage cards, but modern ones too! 

I will try to post a blog more regularly, I have a lot of cards I have made recently. Trying to vary the style, so would love some honest feedback. Have a lovely evening everyone. xxx

Hi all, hope everyone is well and apologies for the lack of posts. I am thinking of setting up a website which is free. I have one but I am not getting on with it at the moment. I am a technophobe for definite. When I was at school I was still using a type writer until I went to sixth form. I was in my element when mum and dad walked in with a computer. I could turn it on but that was it! haha! At the age of just 22 this is a bit strange, but here I am now trying to post a blog! Or at least remember how to! :).

Anyway, my day has been ok. Went to work this morning, day 5 of 6, now feeling it as I am up at 5am everyday! ( But hey I am not the only one)! Was supposed to be going out to dinner with a friend but she had to cancel. Was looking forward to my mushroom alfredo from Frankie and Bennys, but hey never mind there's next time! I don't need the calories anyway! lol.  Spent this afternoon with a friend having a cuppa,- definitely needed in this cold weather in April- What is going on?! So this evening now I shall probably spend making a few cards, but then maybe I may just be sad, have a nice long soak in the bath and curl up the sofa in my Me to You blanket watching the soaps! Nothing wrong with that is there?! LOL

I have popped online to show my Easter goody bags that I made for some relatives. I thought it would be something a little more personal and different from the average Easter egg. At least this way they could have a variety of chocolate and if they didn't like something they weren't going without!

The stamps I used were the Lili of the Valley stamps for the rabbit, The magnolia stamps and a kanban topper for the Ed goody bag. I Cut out the ovals using my spellbinders and my trusty bigshot with a plate that looked very much like this:-

It is safe to say I finally found a place more suitable for this plate:- the bin! :D

The backgrounds for the bags were all made using embossing folders, putting them through the bigshot then using distress inks around the outside in the  chosen colour. The blue is chipped sapphire and the pink is worn lipstick and victorian velvet. The names are stamped in momento then coloured with the matching distress ink. The stamps are coloured using promarkers. I added card candi and gems for a finishing touch. The attached 2 pieces of ribbon as a bow around the bags handle to give it that luxury feel!

Octagon boxes Labour of Love

Evening all. My day today honestly has been quite boring. However did have a friend over for  a cup of tea and a chinwag but I have been sat in waiting for a delivery. I haven't done any crafting today, so thought I would share my octagon box! All made from scratch. I have 9 photos this more or less shows how it was done.

The beginning of the box is cut out using a board- glitter girls I think?! with octagons, pentagon, triangle etc. I drew around the biggest octagon, doing this twice, one for the box one for the lid. Making a smaller octagon and joining it together with a fold down the middle of the two, for a card to fit inside. The lid is then placed on a board from crafter's companion (ultimate pro) where you score every edge then make intersections to make a box. This is repeated on the base only the lines around the edge are say 1mm smaller. I decorated the box using tim holtz distress inks and heat embossing using kanban stamps. The fairy is stamped and coloured using promarkers and the butterflies are the same, only this time stamping with stazon on acetate and spraying  with glitter to make wings. The wings of the fairy are made using the same technique. I have decoupaged the fairy 3 times!

This is a lovely keepsake. I have had several orders for these. This was for a birthday but can include dates for a wedding. For this I do a middle octagon for the card.

Here is an example with the middle octagon on the card:

Or could just make the box for a lovely gift.

Happy crafting everyone

Sam xx

All new to me

Evening everyone, not entirely sure what I am doing here, so please bear with me. Me and technology do not go at all, but everyone else was writing blogs and I wanted to give it a go. I will be updating pictures of cards I have made and obviously will continue to do so the more I have made. I would like to meet other crafters, who share the same interest in card making that I do.

Please feel free to add comments whenever plausible as I would love to know what others think. Any constructive critism is welcomed of course. But I would prefer high praise, smiling faces, clapping hands, looks of amasement (they'll all do nicely) haha! Only Joking I won't be able to see any of that. :)  Just honest  feedback is all I ask of you.

Love Sammy x