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Friday 30 July 2010

Congratulations

Evening Everyone, I hope you've had a good. I can't believe that it's Friday again.
I was asked to make this card by a friend who wanted it to send to a couple celebrating the news of a pregnancy after years of trying.
It has also proved to be an amazingly well timed post as my youngest daughter Becki got the fabulous news yesterday that she has been successful in her application to Kingston University to study Nursing. Yeahhhhhhh!!!!!!!
So I am using this to send congratulations to her, I am very proud of her and look forward to my seat at her graduation in a few years time lol.
The card is an easel card - what a surprise :) - and has been made using a Penny Black stamp Congrats 3850E.
 I have just spent the best part of an hour trying to find out the details of the clear alphabet stamp set that I have used, but to no avail.
I can tell you that it has SSC088 STM 2006 on it, but I can't find it on any of the websites for the major stamp companies. Sorry I did try!!. The letters for Sarah and Robbie have been stamped on to shrink plastic with Sazon using this stamp set.
Best of Luck is from another clear stamp set, this time by Inkadinkadoo, but I'm afraid I failed you there too as I don't have the details.
I do so wish that companies would follow Woodwares example and add the details to the carrier sheet for the stamps. It would make life so much easier for those of us that who just throw away all the packaging as soon as we get the stamps home lol.
I have used background papers from my stash and have tapped an ink pad around the punched shapes before I have made the Shabby Chic flowers. I have added small punched leaves and the scrolls from the punched border to floral layout.
The pale green card has been embossed using a cuttlebug folder. I have rubbed Stardust pen on to this panel but it doesn't show in the photograph I'm afraid. Scribble the pen onto your finger tip and then rub it over the embossed panel - it leaves a very subtle trace of bling.
I drew stitched and dotted lines onto the panels using a white Gelly Roll pen.
For extra bling I have added some crystals. I hope that you approve Gilly.
I am entering this card in to a couple of Challenges
Craftalicious
Paperplay
Craftycardmakers
I was too late for Anything Goes at The Stampman so I shall have to work on something else for the next one there.
Sorry Vix my turn to stalk you now. I don't get the time to look around all of the blogs so I tend to see challenges off the back of people that I follow. But then I suppose that's how this challenge thing works right.
Hope you like the card, I certainly had a great time making it.
Must go now, I have to go back to work to do a stock count on the cigarettes - long story which I won't bore you with lol.
Have a great evening and weekend.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Wednesday 28 July 2010

Scene-It Trees

Evening All
Just a quick post before I go off to teach.
This is one of the cards that I will be sharing with the ladies tonight at Davina's.
I have to credit Anna completely for this card as I took my inspiration directly from one of the cards that she loaned me. Thank you Anna, what would I do without you :)
I have used the trees from the Countryside Scene-it set CS019D and then masked them off before adding the smaller houses and trees from the Winter Scene-its set CS007D.
I stamped with my favourite black versafine ink pad, which remained wet enough to emboss even with the masking and over stamping - how great is that!!
I have coloured in a water colour fashion using my Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink pad. This has to be my all time favourite colour combo amongst the Kaleidacolor pads.
I'm sure the ladies will come up with all sorts of wonderful scenes tonight. It never ceases to amaze me how different peoples work can be given that we are all playing with the same stamps.
I must try and remember to take my camera so that I can share some of their cards with you.
Anyway must fly, I need to get a bite to eat before I go.
Happy Crafting
Love Kimx

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Calming Waters

Evening Everyone.
No post yesterday I'm afraid since I had to be coaxed gently from off the ceiling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How stupid of me to even suggest that installing a Sky+ box would be easy. What ever was I thinking, nothing is ever simple in this house, especially if it involves technology lol.
I got absolutely nothing done either crafting, or anything else as I spent absolutely ages with an extremely unhelpful sky telephone operator. I'm afraid to say that eventually I put the phone down on her - good job we weren't in the same room!!
It was at this point that my family had to haul me down off the ceiling. Do these people go out of their way to be unhelpful and rude? And of course no one has made a note on the computer of the things that have been promised to us ' as long standing customers'. So here we are back at square one, still climbing into bed through a six inch gap until Friday, and I DO have to unload those 3 units -  arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway I've now had the day to calm down so I managed to get on with some therapeutic crafting.
As I mentioned I am teaching tomorrow evening at Davina's in Purley. Cards made with Scene it clear stamp sets.
Scene its are not usually my thing, and I have to admit that I had to get some help from my good friend  (Thank you Anna xx) But once her inspiration got me started I was fine, just as she told me I would be.
Isn't that often the way. That is where I find challenges are so useful, even if you forget to link your entry to them :)
It doesn't need to be anything more than a colour choice sometimes, but it gives me a starting point if I don't know what to do.
Anyway, enough with the novella. This card was made using the Hobby Art Scene It Coastal set CS018D, and also Scene It Foliage SC1923MD.
I made a pale watercolour background and then stamped onto it using several of the stamps from the set. The foliage has been used to tie everything together, and to give a feeling of depth to the picture.
The card was actually made for Jenny at Hobby Art to use in the gallery of her new DVD. I will share the cards that I made for the class another day.
Of course if you want to see a real Scene It expert at work don't forget to tune in to Create and Craft (Sky 671, Freeview Channel 36 and Freesat 813.) on 30th July at 10am and watch Jenny Mayes at work.
I'd better get to bed now. Its been so hot the last couple of nights that I haven't slept much, and it will be a late night tomorrow with the teaching.
Nite nite
Love Kimx

Sunday 25 July 2010

Rumble in the Jungle

Hi All
I hope you have all had a good weekend, its been hot but cloudy here, if that makes any sense.
I have had a fabulous weekend making cards for various people, and all the cards are cute. My cute phase shows no sign of letting up I'm afraid.
The card that I am sharing tonight has been made to give to my friend at work for her son who will be one on Tuesday.
I would like to enter it into the challenge over at Friday Sketchers.
The cute giraffe stamp is from a Woodware clear stamp set that has been designed by Francoise Read. It is called Jungle Pals FRCL127 and is available over at Sir Stampalot.
I have used distress inks to colour with, I do love these, and also to edge each of the card and paper panels. The leaf has been stamped and embossed onto Bazzill card stock and the image has then been painted with bleach, another of my favourite things.
I have made the giraffe 3D, and the leaves from the second image have been used to embellish the plain brown panel,
The greeting is by Hobby Art, also available from Sir Stampalot.
The leaf punch is from Woodware, so I'm sure that Sir Stampalot can get hold of it as well.
I confess that I didn't make an envelope for it - not too many flowers - but I did embellish the envelope and the inside of the card.
I will have to get away from cute tomorrow as I have a class to prep for using the Hobby Art scenic clear stamp sets.
My room has undergone a bit of upheaval tonight as the sky men are coming tomorrow to install a Sky plus box for me. I hope it is as easy as unplugging the existing one and plugging in the new one. If not they will have to come back as it will mean unloading 3 Billy bookcase units full of craft stuff !!!!!!!!!! As it is I will have to climb into bed though a six inch gap between my table and a pile of boxes. There is no chance of me falling out of bed to night that's for sure lol.
Keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow.
Thanks for dropping by.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Saturday 24 July 2010

If only Men could spell !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Evening Everyone.
What is it with Grandads and spelling their Grandchildrens names?
An old friend asked me to make a card for his Granddaughter - pink and girly, with her name on it. Should be a doddle.
I asked him to spell it for me as it is not a particularly common name.
When I took it round yesterday, he said how lovely it was, but that there was a Y in it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I suppose that with 12 children and numerous grandchildren (First Great Grandchild is on its way) it is hardly surprising that he got it wrong but it did give me a few hairy moments as I tried to change it without too much damage to the card.
Why did I get into silicone? It would have been easy with sticky fixers, they always fall off when you don't want them to, but silicone is so much more permanent !!
I think I managed to alter it without too much trouble, although I did have to add an extra panel of background paper to hide where the letters had originally been.
I seem definitely to be going through a cute phase at the moment.
I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that several of the cards just lately have been ones that I have been asked to make after people have seen the other cute cards that I have done. What ever the reason I have to say that I have been having great fun.
It has been so nice to be able to use what ever I like for a change without having to worry whether or not it can be bought from where I am teaching.
There have been lots of flowers lately as well, and that set of letter has been absolutely invaluable, I just wish I could remember who made it.
I have used a mixture of flowers which I have made, and ones that I have bought, and some more of the stamen. Of course the only trouble with all the flowers is the need for a hand made box to put the card in.
You would be so impressed Gilly I know just how much you love making boxes and envelopes lol.
I have been having a great time today making more cute cards for various people, but I will share them with you as the occasions arise, it will be nice to have some cards to fall back on for the blog.
I think I might call it a night now and get some sleep. Then again.........................
I hope you have all had a great day.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving all the lovely comments, they are so very much appreciated.
Nite nite.
Love Kimx

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Waste not want not

Evening Everyone
Isn't it hot and muggy, we could really do with a lovely storm to clear the air.
Anyway enough of the weather, back to the card making.
You know what we crafters are like, we never waste anything. Well that is never more true than when it comes to peel-offs. I use an awful lot of the little waste dots and squares on my cards. In fact I have been known to buy a peel-off for the waste alone - Sorry Shaz, but sometimes it just has to be done lol.
Anyway there are some really nice ones out there now and it seems such a shame to waste the left overs.
Several years ago a lovely lady called Marion Wright, who is sadly no longer with us, showed me how to remove the waste from the carrier sheet using magic tape, and suddenly I looked at peel-offs in a whole different light.
They still aren't my favourite crafting medium, but as I said there are some really nice ones around now so they shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.
Last Saturday I taught a class on Peel-off waste at Lavender Lane.
The manufacturers have now got wise and have actually produced a sheet that helps remove the waste - so much easier than magic tape.
Another crafty lady showed me how to use the peel-offs with acetate to give a 3D effect and hey presto a fairly instant card. Of course you can tart your card up as much or as little as you like.
Quite different from the last few cards I've posted, but I hope you like them anyway.
Must close now.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Monday 19 July 2010

Pirate Ciaran and the Black Pearl

Hi All
I finally finished Ciaran's card at 1.15am this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can imagine it has been me that has been in need of the Redbull today lol. Still I think it was worth it.
As I told you before apart from knowing that I was going to use a Tilda Pirate stamp to make the card, I had no other clue as to what I was going to do.
When I was discussing what I could do to the card to make it a little bit special - maybe some black flowers - I got a very firm message from  Jenni, his Mum - no flowers and no glitter!!!. Do you think pearls will count ??
Trouble is I had absolutely no trouble making Saskia's card, nice and girly, pink with lots of flowers and even some seed beads sown into her tiara.
So you can see my dilemma. I don't want Ciaran's card to look bland in comparison, as if I haven't taken the same amount of trouble with it. Oh how difficult it is to treat everyone the same lol.
Anyway, when the kids food was brought to the table at the party it arrived in those cardboard boxes favoured by kids meal purveyors every where, and guess what was on the outside of the box - PIRATES!
How perfect was that lol. I carefully rescued one of the boxes from a child before it got totally soaked in tomato ketchup, you know what kids are like with chips! and from there the card just grew and grew.
Isn't it funny how you can go from really struggling to get an idea to it suddenly all coming together with out any trouble at all.
I've used my nesties to cut out various sections of the lunch box and then I have used Pirate Edwin and Barrel, Anchor and Skull stamps both available from Sir Stampalot.
The background papers are Magnolia ones from my stash.
Of course pirates have treasure, especially pearls, so that was the perfect excuse to add some bling. Sorry Jenni, I tried, but I'm sure that Captain Jack would approve lol.
As you can see it is another Easel card which I would like to enter into the challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers.
I made it through work, just about but then I just had to have a granny nap. Trouble is when I woke up the house was like the Marie Celeste!!! Everyone had gone out and hadn't wanted to disturb me. My granny nap had turned into several hours!!!! Oh well I must have needed it.
I really had better get a slightly earlier night tonight all though I'm not doing too well with that one am I!!
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Crafting
Love and hugs
Kimx

Princess Saskia

Hi Everyone.
I hope that you have had a lovely day, even if it is Monday and you are back to work :)
As promised here is the card that I made for my Granddaughter Saskia's 3rd birthday.
She is definitely a girly girl, although there are times when she can be quite a tomboy. It wasn't hard to pick what I was going to do for her card, unlike her brother who was much harder, but more of that card later.
Anyway, as you can see it is quite pink. This was the colour that Sas chose when I asked her what colour she would like me to make her card. Isn't it funny how most little girls seem to start out with pink as their favourite colour lol.
The stamp is Princess Tilda and is available from Sir Stampalot. I hand stitched some tiny seed beads to her tiara. I couldn't thread the bead needle so its just as well that beading thread  is quite stiff.
 
The flowers are made using one of the Nellie Snellan flower punches available from The Art of Craft.
I added some tiny pre-made flowers from my stash. The swirls are made from the left over pieces from the border punch. You see we never waste anything do we.
I have stamped the letters on to white shrink plastic with Stazon ink and then cut each one out individually before they are shrunk. This really is one of my favourite stamp sets at the moment. It is a clear stamp set and I think it might be by Penny Black all though I am not 100% sure. It is perfect for Kids cards though.
I have decided to enter this into the Allsorts Challenge which is Summer Days, I think it fits quite nicely.
Oh by the way it is an Easel card, in case you hadn't guessed lol. I would also like to enter it in to the challenge over at Project Tuesday where the challenge is Easel cards.
Thanks for stopping by, hope you like the card.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Sunday 18 July 2010

Redbull and Proplus!!!!!!!!!!

Hi All
Sorry I've been a bad blogger over the last couple of days but I have the best of excuses - THE TWINS ARE 3.
I had every intention of posting on Saturday morning before I went to Lavender Lane, but I went downstairs for a coffee and two excited little people came downstairs and wanted to open prezzies and before I knew it I had to have my shower or I would have turned up to class in my PJ's lol.
When I got home they were still on a high - how wonderful to be three with not a care in the world.
We had a BBQ and then before we know where we were I was falling asleep at the computer so no post at all !!
Today has also been very busy with a trip to Manic Monsters with about a dozen kids all under 10. It was actually much easier than it sounds. Manic Monsters is this large indoor play area with ball pools, slides, go-carts and all sorts of safe areas for the kids to play. For a fee they also provide lunch as well so we were able to sit and keep an eye on everyone and not have to worry about getting the party food ready - very civilized.
I was even dragged onto the twisty slide by Saskia who couldn't manage to climb up it by herself, but then proceeded to come down on her own so I just had to follow her!!!!
No photographic evidence thank goodness even though I went on it several times. It was actually quite fun, but don't tell everyone. Grandchildren are a wonderful excuse to behave like a kid.
And now we come to the main reason for the Redbull and Proplus, besides all the kids that is.
He's been at it again. The Phantom Cake Maker has been honing his cake making skills on cakes for the twins.
Ciaran is SOOOO into Fireman Sam. That was the only one of his prezzies that he wanted to play with after he had opened them on Saturday Morning, a fire engine that plays the music from the TV show. Oh and it has a siren as well !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Saskia on the other hand has Pepper Pig as her favourite. I have to say I know nothing about this show yet. I have resisted the temptation to be educated but I can see I'm not going to get away with it for much longer.
I only know about Fireman Sam cause he was around when the girls were young, or was it the minded kids? Anyway even he has changed cause he is now this computer generated show -  Ciaran will not watch the old style shows with the plasticine type figures it's far too old fashioned for him. I like the old style show better, but then I am old I suppose, as the kids are at great pains to point out lol.
Jason made both of the cakes yesterday. But as he wanted to keep them as a surprise for the kids he couldn't get them started till they were in bed, so they didn't get finished till about 2.30am!!!!! Hence the need for the Proplus.
I was dispatched this morning to the garage to buy it while the cars were loaded with kids, cakes, party bags and balloons. Much coffee was also consumed at Manic Monsters so I suspect we may have to haul him down from the ceiling by bedtime he he.
They have all gone out this afternoon so I am finally able to get on with the twins cards - you know me it is rare for anyone to get their card on time.
I have finished Saskia's. Hers was easy - pink and girly, but now I have to get Ciaran's done and that is much more difficult.
I will keep you in suspense a little longer while the silicone dries. Yes there are flowers on it lol.
Hope you have had a good weekend. I certainly have.
Love and hugs
Kimx

Thursday 15 July 2010

Black and Pink flowers


Evening Everyone.
Thanks for stopping by, hasn't it been nice to see some rain.
I don't know about you but our garden has been desperate for some of the wet stuff. Everything looks so much fresher now, it's never quite the same out of a watering can is it and so much easier on the back.
Anyway the rain has stopped long enough for me to take some photos of my latest card.
I'm teaching Punched flowers on Saturday at Lavender Lane. These classes are proving to be very popular, and as you know I do like making flowers.
I decided that I would enter the challenge over at Crafts and Me as I felt that the card fitted the theme of Black, Pink and White so perfectly. I do hope that it is OK.
I'm quite enjoying entering these challenges. Sometimes it's quite nice to have something specific to work towards, it's a great focus.
I'm afraid that the focus on the pictures on the other hand is not as good as it should be. Why is it that they always look OK on the camera and then when you upload them to the computer they suddenly seem out of focus and it's now dark and too late to take new ones lol.
I made these flowers using two sizes of a Nellie Snellan punch and added some smaller punched flowers, leaves, stamen, brads, pearls and twisted wire.
The greeting is by Hobby Art and I have used a flower shaped Nestability to cut it out
I also added some faux stitching.
Looks like I've entered my pink period now, I wonder what age that represents. Both my Granddaughters like pink, so maybe I'm going backwards lol.
Better get to bed now. I need to turn the lights out before I get any more flying things in my room. You know how I feel about them !!
Nite nite
Love Kimx

Monday 12 July 2010

A Stitch in time..............

Evening Everyone I finally found that challenge that I was looking for all weekend, quite by accident in the end, isn't that typical. Anyway now I've found it I guess I had better post my card before I forget where it is again lol,
This is another card that I have made using a sponged panel that has then been painted with bleach.
I have made it as another example for my class at Davina's on Wednesday evening,( stampcraftcards) but I would also like to enter it into the  Stamp and Create Challenge.
As you know I'm very new to this challenge stuff so I hope that I'm doing it OK.
The stamped panel at the centre of the card has been sponged with kaliedacolour ink (dye based) and then parts of the image have been painted with cheap thin household bleach. This takes out the colour although it doesn't always go right back to white it just depends on what colours you have sponged on to the image in the first place.
I've used one of my Nesties, my Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder and a border punch on various pieces of card and background paper from my stash.
I must be going through a purple period at the moment, isn't that something to do with being over 50??
I have edged each panel with faux stitching which is why I felt it suitable for the challenge.
The stamps are both by Hobby Art and I have completed the whole thing with faux card candy.
I hope you like it.
I'd better sign off now I'm getting tired.
Thanks for stopping by.
Love and hugs
Kimx