Can I join in please?

Afternoon Everyone.
Another really hot day, although at least we have got a bit of a breeze here.
Well I thought that as I am a special guest on the Crafty Cardmakers blog (http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.com/) then maybe it was about time that I entered one of the challenges.
Craftycardmakers Challenge
This post will probably take me half the afternoon to organise but here goes.

The challenge is 'Inky Fingers' and I think this fits the bill given that my finger tips were orange by the time I had finished.
I realized afterwards that I should have got the kids to take a picture of my fingers for you to see how NOT clean I am after a crafting session lol.
July the 5th seems to be a very popular day for birthdays among my acquaintances as I have had 3 cards to make this weekend. One is for Mike, my good friend Gill's husband. Another for Mandie, a customer at the garage who also comes to classes. And finally Kovi, one of the guys that I work with.

The card I am sharing on the challenge is made for Mandie. I know from classes that orange and brown are her favourite colours, so I hope that she likes this. I hope she also appreciates all the handmade flowers on it, I really did get a bit carried away, but I think they all fit together a treat.The main stamped image is Penny Black 3939K Queen Anne's Lace and is available from Sirstampalot. http://www.sirstampalot.co.uk/

I have used my favourite distress inks to create the stamped panel which has also got a Penny Black greeting in the corner. This comes from a wonderful clear stamp set called Salutations 30-014 also available from Sir Stampalot. It is very useful as it contains a variety of greetings as well as the little dragonflies that also appear on the stamped panel.
The background papers are from stash and have been edged with distress inks using a small piece of cut and dry foam. Of course a Cuttlebug folder and Nestabilities Scalloped square just had to find their way into the card.

 The flowers have been punched from background papers which have then been edged with distress inks. The punches are Martha Stewart and Nelly Snellan.
As this card has been made using at least one Penny Black stamp, I thought that I would get brave and enter it into the Penny Black and Allsorts challenge as well. It seems to fit the bill of 'A burst of summer colour'
I've also noticed the Sirstampalot challenge is 'Lazy  Hazy Summer Days' so lets go for the hat trick shall we.
Now if I can just work out how to link the post to the challenges we will be fine lol.
Happy Crafting, this may take a while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love and hugs
Kimx

My first Easel Card

Hello Everyone, thanks for stopping by.
I can't believe where the last few days have gone, it's back to real work tomorrow - yuk!!
I've managed to get all my cards finished for Barbara (I will share them with you as soon as she has seen them), so I thought that I would try and use up some of the bits and pieces that I created during my demos at Farnborough. I never manage to get any cards finished during a demo. I guess it is because I am showing people a technique rather than how to make a card, so I always end up with loads of things to finish. Isn't it silly how we think something must be really difficult to make when in fact it is so simple.
I have seen some stunning easel cards just lately and they all looked so complicated. But having been given a quick tutorial by Amanda at Farnborough (How stupid do I feel, its just so logical) I decided to take the plunge and make one myself.
I've used up one of the sponged and bleached pieces that I created during my demo and added some ribbon and card candy.
The second card also uses a demo piece - you always seem to end up with loads of bits all the same colour, does anyone else find that?
Isn't it amazing though how two pieces the same colour can end up as two completely different coloured cards.
I hope you like them, better get some sleep now.
Happy Crafting
Love Kimx

Windy or What!!!!

Hi Everyone, thanks for stopping by.
I cannot believe how windy it has been today.
I am at Farnborough at the moment doing the show and OMG how scary was that today.
For those of you that have never been to the show, it is held in a huge metal framed marques. Well today I have found myself not only shouting above the sound of the wind (and the aircraft taking off next door) but also cowering at my demo table as the wind howled through the tent and sounded as if it was going to rip the roof off. I just hope the weather doesn't get any worse or we might find ourselves being evacuated - health and safety and all that.Anyway today was not only my first visit to Farnborough but also my first workshop there - 'This is much more fun than Housework'.
Always a bit scary because you never know quite what to expect.
My workshop was the first one of the day, thank goodness, because when we arrived to set up at 8am we found that we did not have a plug point - no electricity and we are doing stamping and embossing and bleach......HELP!!!!
I have now established myself there as the pest who made them install a plug point before the show even started. I thought the guys were going to demolish the back wall as they put the plug in so I didn't have the heart to point out that the door wouldn't close properly, so I did that later - I hope they let me back in tomorrow.I am staying at 'Chez Till' at the moment with my friend Gill. I am being treated like royalty - dinner ready on the table when I get home, packed lunch, and I must not forget to have breakfast before I leave or I will get told off when I get home. We were up till gone midnight yesterday cutting out more of the card shapes for the workshop. Potentially I could have had 20 people on the class and you only have an hour to finish so I felt it best to prep as much as possible. With only one socket available the ladies had to conform to the great British tradition of queuing but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and managed to finish two cards.Everybody managed to add there own individuality to their cards even though we were all using the same items.
I have an almost full class tomorrow so we have spent the evening stamping and embossing a few bits so that we might be able to cut down the queuing time. It has also enabled Gill to spend the evening making the cards with one to one attention - the least I can do in exchange for her putting up with me for a few days.
As requested I have posted some close up pictures of a couple of the cards. Even that has proved to be a challenge as although I have my laptop with me Gill doesn't have the password for me to access her Internet connection and my camera is not compatible with her computer so we have done the best we can - I hope you can at least get the idea.
Must close now as another early start awaits, and my hostess needs her sleep so that she is ready to play again tomorrow evening - no more cutting so we might just play with one of the new Hobby Art clear stamp sets, who knows.
Maybe I will see some of you at the show tomorrow. Do stop and say Hi.
Happy Stamping, when you get the chance!!
Love Kimx